Delivery laws, JBF halls, Cookbook covers, Beef round 2, and more...
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Delivery laws, JBF halls, Cookbook covers, Beef round 2, and more...
Family Meal - Friday, March 17th, 2023
Hello Friday,
Tuesday’s paid edition is copy/pasted below as usual. If you’d like to get Tuesdays’ on Tuesdays too…
And if you are working in an American bar today, I am sending you all my best green thoughts. (I hope you make lots of money.)
Let’s get to it…
The Law – Per Joe Guszkowski in Restaurant Business, “Delivery companies like DoorDash and Uber Eats can continue to treat their California drivers as independent contractors rather than full-fledged employees, a state court ruled [this week]. It’s the latest decision in the tug-of-war over Proposition 22, the gig-company-backed law that voters approved in November 2020. The law shields the companies from having to reclassify their drivers as employees with full benefits and protections.”
Is it a tug-of-war if one side always wins? Or are the tech companies just having a tug?
The Platform – The James Beard Foundation announced more details on their “Platform by the James Beard Foundation, a state-of-the-art show kitchen, event space, and educational hub for outstanding culinary arts programming, and Good To Go by JBF, a retail incubator for fast casual concepts featuring rotating menus from established operators who embody JBF’s mission and values.” Both of which will be housed in the Pier 57 food hall in NYC.
An official announcement page has a calendar of themes throughout the year, what look like some opportunities for chefs and businesses to take advantage of the “platform,” and all kinds of underlying questions about what it means for the Oscars of food to be running a movie theater of food.
NB – Per the press release: “Applications for the Good To Go by JBF kiosk, including criteria, timeline, and details, will be available on the James Beard Foundation website beginning April 1, 2023. Further details on Good To Go will be announced soon.”
And “For food and beverage industry members interested in learning more about participating in Platform programs, they can complete the form on the Platform by JBF website.”
For design fans – Designer Frances Baca took over Stained Page News on Wednesday for a deep dive on “8 Cookbook Covers That Break the Mold.” If you’re working on a cookbook and want to nerd out on cover details, Baca will get you there via paragraphs like this one on Madeleine Kane’s design for Parwana: “The title is a crisp white stylized serif typeface debossed within a textured gold foil frame that glimmers softly when angled toward the light. The frame sits authoritatively atop the photograph, clearly visible but almost appearing to blend into the fruits and flowers around it. The small subtitle dangles from the left side of the leaves and pomegranate seeds, receding into the composition. The skillful combination of type and image reinforces a clear visual hierarchy, and gives subtle form to the idea of interconnection so central to the book.”
OK!
And last but not least: The Bear – A very short teaser for The Bear season 2 is out now, with network FX tweeting “It’s not a reopening, it’s a rebirth,” and some vague questions about how the restaurant might transform with all that tomato can cash.
Fine. But honestly, I think we all know the only way this season can go is with Carmy taking that money, running back to NYC to open his own place and compete with the previous jerk chefs he worked for, become like them in the process, and get cancelled.
Anything less is Hollywood.
And that’s it for today. Except of course for Tuesday’s paid edition, which is copy / pasted below as usual. Once again, if you’d like to get Tuesdays’ on Tuesdays too…
I’ll see paying subscribers back here on Tuesday, and everyone else on Friday for next Family Meal.
And don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and Instagram, and send tips and/or a crisp white stylized serif typeface debossed within a textured gold foil frame that glimmers softly when angled toward the light to andrew@thisfamilymeal.com. If you like Family Meal and want to keep it going, please chip in here. If you got this as a forward, sign up for yourself!
Here begins the Family Meal that went out to paying subscribers on Tuesday, March 14th:
SVB, FDIC, BLM, ALM, and more...
Hello Tuesday,
Starting off the week with some unpleasant flashbacks doused in past-is-present pain. Woohoo.
Let’s get to it…
For the Somm: The Bankers – Less than two months ago, wine writers were quoting Silicon Valley Bank’s 2023 State of the Wine Industry report. Now that bank has failed, and there’s an FDIC receivership notice at the top of that report.
That’s kind of bad news for the state of the wine industry, because per Esther Mobley and Jess Lander in the SF Chronicle: “Since 1994, Silicon Valley Bank has extended more than $4 billion in loans to wineries and vineyards, providing financing for endeavors like vineyard acquisition and development, real estate and equipment purchases, according to the bank’s website. [SVB wine division founder Rob McMillan] carved out a niche by establishing the bank as one of the few institutions that could cater to the nuanced needs of the wine industry. Wineries tend to make substantial investments in land, equipment and other assets years before they can sell a bottle of wine — a complex system that McMillan made a business of understanding.”
Full fallout of the failure still unclear, but Biden tweeted yesterday that “Everyone who had deposits at those banks can access their money today. That includes small businesses that need to pay their employees and stay open.”
Good luck, all!
The Wounds – Here’s Ming Tsai on Instagram this week: “I was recently interviewed locally here in Boston about my career as a chef. I made some comments I regret, including those about the Me Too movement…”
Why? He made a dumb joke about roofies that did not go over well (they rarely do!), added some fat jokes for good measure, and seemed to give a “not all chefs” style answer to a question about Me Too. (Instagram callout via interviewer / chef Irene Shiang Li. Full interview on YouTube here.)
And here’s Virginia’s Brian Noyes on Facebook two weeks ago: “Emotions are running high after an unfortunate situation that occurred at our [Little Red Truck] bakery on Saturday. First and foremost, I sincerely want to apologize to all involved. Apologies are in short supply these days, but I’m old-school and I’ll go first. I want to be clear—we love all of our customers and all of our neighbors. We opened fourteen years ago with a singular goal: we serve everyone.”
Why? Noyes says that when an All Lives Matter protester wanted to buy coffee for a Black Lives Matter protester, Little Red Truck comped the coffee, and another All Lives Matter protester got upset. (Tim Carman has more details on what happened next in WaPo on Friday.)
SNAFU.
And last but not least: For Design Fans – Maybe an obvious joy, but I love a big, open room where the ceiling, not the floor — or at least not just the floor — signifies the transition to a new space. That’s what I see going on in this Eater photospread on Zeru, Miami. Right? Right.
And that’s it for today.
I’ll see everyone back here Friday for next Family Meal.
And don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and Instagram, and send tips and/or substantial investments in land, equipment and other assets to andrew@thisfamilymeal.com. If you like Family Meal and want to keep it going, please chip in here. If you got this as a forward, sign up for yourself!