USHG votes, Matriarchy CA, Sweetgreen at $1B, Baroo math, After Grace, and more...
Family Meal - Tuesday, October 30, 2018
Hello Tuesday,
Let’s get to it…
The Vote – We are finally one week from the midterms, and Priya Krishna has a rundown on how some restaurants are encouraging staff to vote, from paid time to cash incentives and a mix of both, in Grubstreet. Quick sample:
Union Square Hospitality Group: “Will give employees three hours of paid time off,” and “also put together a task force that made posters in both English and Spanish to help the staff learn how to register, and distributed prestamped envelopes.”
Cava: “Two hours of paid time off for employees across its nearly 70 locations to vote on Election Day.”
Boba Guys: “Decided to reward people for voting by offering a bonus hour’s worth of pay.”
Cultivar (Boston): “Offers up to three hours of (unpaid) time off, and anyone who votes will be entered into a raffle to win a Visa gift card.”
Not every restaurant can do all these things, but at the very least maybe send around a note letting everyone know that all the (nonpartisan) info they’ll need to exercise their right is at vote.org. Ahem.
Moving on…
The Restaurant Obit – In Los Angeles, “The math eventually caught up with Baroo, which served its last meal on Saturday.” That’s probably because the initial calculation (as so often happens) was never about the math, according to the NYT’s Tejal Rao: “Before Baroo, [Kwang Uh] had long dreamed of opening a restaurant, but several investors looked at his résumé and passed. It had some big names on it, including the world-renowned Noma, in Copenhagen, but it was just a résumé, they told him. Mr. Uh lacked a reputation as a chef. He needed to prove himself. He and [Matthew Kim] decided to open a small place with no outside investors, as a kind of testing ground. In Los Angeles, they found an old Thai noodle shop by a 7-Eleven on Santa Monica Boulevard, where the rent was about $2,000 a month.” Self now proven (I assume), Uh is looking to open something with chef and writer Mina Park.
The Raise – “Sweetgreen… is aiming for a valuation that surpasses $1 billion in a new funding round, several people with knowledge of the matter said. Fidelity Investments is leading the round, which is close to being finalized, said the people, who asked not to be named discussing private information. Sweetgreen is seeking to raise about $200 million, one of the people said.” Details from Leslie Picker and Lauren Hirsch in CNBC.
P.S. – Valuations shmaluations. For a relatively concrete look at that fast casual $$$, remember Danny Meyer’s Shake Shack drawdowns are public, and if you can use a calculator (easier here where Nasdaq lists prices at time of sale) and cry at the same time, you can dream big too!
The Profile Treatment: Matriarchy Edition – The SF Chronicle’s entire Food + Home section was dedicated to “Matriarchy” this Sunday, but it’s not easy to see that on the website, so here’s editor Paolo Lucchesi’s tweet with both a photo of the cover and a thread of the stories. And here’s a direct link to “The matriarchs of Bay Area cuisine, past and present” by Jan Newberry with micro tributes to: Barbara Tropp; Judy Rogers; Patricia Unterman; Deborah Madison; Joyce Goldstein; Nite Yun; Dominica Rice-Cisneros; Sarah Kirnon; Pim Techamuanvivit; and Gabriela Cámara.
The Close – Per Ashok Selvam in Eater Chicago: “Without warning, Gideon Sweet — the restaurant collaboration between celebrity chef and TV personality Graham Elliot and Matthias Merges’ Folkart Restaurant Management (Mordecai, Old Irving Brewing) — has closed in the West Loop’s restaurant row, a spokesperson confirms... A prime piece of West Loop real estate — with a massive and secluded patio — perhaps is up for grabs…”
The Loophole – Also in Chicago, this time via Ryan Ori in the Tribune: “Chef Curtis Duffy has picked his next destination, almost a year after Grace abruptly closed amid a dispute with the acclaimed restaurant’s owner. Duffy and former Grace general manager Michael Muser plan to open a new restaurant on the ground floor of Fulton West, an office building in the city’s Fulton Market district, according to people familiar with the deal… Muser said no lease has been signed, and that no business deals — including a lease — will be signed until after Duffy’s noncompete agreement expires Nov. 22.” New lawsuit in 5, 4, 3…?
The Law – “A proposal to ban new corporate cafeterias in San Francisco — an effort to boost local business and street activity — was met with unanimous disapproval from the city’s Planning Commission [on Thursday].” But Eater SF’s Caleb Pershan writes, “the commission’s 5-0 negative recommendation doesn’t doom the legislation outright: Instead, the proposal will move forward for consideration by the Land Use and Transportation Commissions.” So, mostly doomed…
“The Life of the Party” – In Charleston, Hanna Raskin reports: “The owner of Normandy Farms Bakery and One Broad says he will no longer expose himself in public after being reported to the police on Friday evening for pulling down his pants at a downtown event showcasing women-owned businesses. ‘You know I’ve always been the life of the party,’ Mike Ray says. ‘But this attempt didn’t go over so well. I had a horrible lapse in judgment.’”
And that’s it for today. Wish I had a “last and least” for you after such a rough week, but couldn’t find anything worth sharing. I get a lot of good tips for harder news stories, but please don’t be shy about sending the funny/weird stuff too!
Good luck to everyone working where the ghouls go tomorrow night, and Happy Halloween!
I’ll see you here Friday for next Family Meal.
And don’t forget to follow me on Twitter, and send tips and/or Danny Meyer’s remaining 379,443 shares in Shake Shack 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! Most archives at thisfamilymeal.com for now.
P.S. – Not exactly restaurant related, but if you have time for a longish read today, check out this Crain’s Chicago Business story on the demise of Treasure Island, “the once-beloved grocery chain, which introduced Chicagoans in the 1960s to then-exotic European foods.” As finances got tight near the end, the family that owned the company was allegedly managing cash flow problems by “borrowing” (my quotes) child support money (my italics) garnished from employee checks…
P.P.S. Obviously the best Halloween candy, and the one that should top every single one of these ridiculous lists, is a single, fun-sized Butterfinger, eaten only at Halloween and never again for exactly one year. You’re welcome. End end.