Restaurants
A Peek Inside The Cratered Catering Industry
As weddings, parties, and other events continue to be canceled, the pandemic has left the nation’s caterers with almost zero business. David Cingari of David’s Soundview Catering in Stamford, Connecticut says that one wedding cancellation cost him $6,600 and a graduation party this spring would have brought in $300,000 if it hadn’t been cancelled. To make ends meet, Cingari caterer opened up a pop-up restaurant, but it’s $600 in earnings don’t compare to what he was making catering.
“It’s the year of the pivot,” said Holly Sheppard, founder of Fig & Pig catering in Brooklyn. Forty of Sheppard’s wedding events have postponed for next year, and the remainder were cancelled altogether. She has since invested in a barbecue pit and become a female pitmaster on an upstate New York roadside. “We’re creative thinkers,” said Peter Callahan of Peter Callahan Catering in New York, “and right now people are thinking about how to shape their businesses for the need at hand.”
Star Chefs Fade As Restaurant Teams Enter The Spotlight
For centuries, the work of chefs remained behind closed doors. But in the 1970s, more chefs entered the spotlight and agents promoted their charismatic personalities, landing them higher-profile cooking engagements and appearances. At L.A.’s Ma Maison and Spago, Wolfgang Puck hob-knobbed with Hollywood celebrities, becoming a public figure unto himself. In New York, Mario Batali transitioned from distinguished chef at his flagship restaurant Babbo to Food Network star, host of ABC’s television show The Chew, and author of numerous cookbooks. By the 2000s, the celebrity chef had become a widespread, if relatively new, phenomenon. Despite the gleaming reputation of star chefs, they often ran kitchens where the staff who did most of the work rarely got credit for their contributions, even if they created dishes on the menu. Many chefs allowed a notoriously harsh and inhospitable restaurant kitchen culture to continue, or they even encouraged it. But the pandemic has blown the kitchen doors wide open, and hospitality workers are getting organized and more vocal about inequities in the industry. At Tartine in San Francisco and Voodoo Doughnut in Portland, Oregon, workers have unionized to lobby for their rights. In Chicago, 20 employees at the popular Fat Rice restaurant levied charges against the chef for creating a hostile work environment, leading the restaurant’s closure. The pandemic has leveled the restaurant playing field, and the value of a restaurant’s entire hospitality team has come into stark relief. It takes more than a great chef for a restaurant to survive and succeed.
Italians Reopen Medieval “Wine Windows” To Maintain Social Distance
Wine windows, buchette del vino, are small hatches built into stone buildings that were once used to sell wine directly to Tuscany’s working class residents. The bubonic plague reached Italy in 1629 and by the time it had passed in 1631, nearly 1 million Italians lost their lives to the epidemic. During that time, some of the nation’s best winemakers such as Antinori (which is still a leading winemaker), would sell wine and take payment in a contactless transaction using a metal plate passed through the wine window. Now, for the first time in centuries, several wine windows have been reopened to serve food and drinks while maintaining social distancing guidelines during the current pandemic. The Vivoli ice cream parlor put its wine window to use by selling gelato and coffee through it. More than 150 of these historic wine windows remain throughout the city of Florence, all protected by the city’s Wine Windows Association. While the windows have been frequently vandalized due to their accessibility, Matteo Faglia, President of Wine Windows Association, hopes people change their attitude toward them in light of current social distancing requirements. Fagila told Insider, “We want to put a plaque by all the wine windows, as people tend to respect them more when they understand what they are and their history.”
Amazon To Buy 16% Stake In Popular UK Food Delivery Service Deliveroo
Amazon’s approval to buy a minority stake in Deliveroo came after a long dispute in which lobbyists tried to convince regulators that the deal would not violate fair competition regulations. Back in May 2019, Deliveroo announced that it had raised $575 million in funding carried by Amazon. Two months later, the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority disagreed to the deal. Later last year, the CMA launched a formal probe to test possible anti-competitive implications of Amazon’s investment. But when the pandemic hit this year, the competition watchdog reconsidered. Last week, CMA issued its final decision, giving Amazon the green light to acquire its minority state in Deliveroo. However, regulators warned that if Amazon increased its control of the food delivery service, that additional investment would trigger further investigations.
Actor Morgan Freeman Joins Fight To Save Independent Restaurants
Morgan Freeman has partnered with celebrity chef Andrew Zimmern and his company, Intuitive Content, to produce a new video ad for the Independent Restaurant Coalition urging Congress to pass the Restaurants Act. The ad makes a fervent plea to pass the bipartisan bill to aid ailing independent restaurants with $120 billion in relief. It includes details on how the pandemic has disproportionately decimated independent bars and restaurants, the most prevalent small businesses in America. Within the clip, Freeman mentions the 15 million restaurant workers in the U.S. who would be affected by 85% of restaurants closing permanently. He also reminds us that one in four Americans who have lost their jobs in the pandemic are restaurant employees. “Without your help, our favorite places to eat will be gone forever,” Freeman says. Get the full story here at People or here at ABC News.
Beverages
$2 Billion In Lost Champagne Sales Deflates Grape Market
As the pandemic persists, demand for celebratory bottles of bubbly have taken a nosedive, crippling France’s Champagne region. Producers have millions of excess bottles in inventory, according to a recent Associated Press report. “We are experiencing a crisis that we evaluate to be even worse than the Great Depression” said Thibaut Le Mailloux of the Champagne Committee, known as CIVC, which represents around 16,000 winemakers. The committee estimates losses of $2 billion for this year with 100 million bottles of champagne throughout the region that will go unsold by 2020’s end. On August 18, CIVC will hold a meeting to look at strategies that minimize the economic fallout. The most likely option will be a substantial cap on future wine grape production to prevent the price of Champagne from plummeting in the wake of high supply and low demand. Subsequently, unprecedented amounts of grapes and alcohol will reportedly need to be destroyed or sold to distilleries at low prices. .
Why “Clean” Wine Is Not So Transparent
Social media and wine enthusiasts erupted last month when actress Cameron Diaz and fashion entrepreneur Katherine Power launched their new wine company, Avaline. The pair have marketed their wine as a transparently labeled product with no additives, using the term “clean wine.” It’s true that winemakers are not required to list ingredients on wine labels and additives such as sulfites are sometimes used. “No transparency, no labelling,” says Power. In the video posted to Instagram explaining their wine, Diaz and Power mention making their wine “clean.” The problem is, there is no definition of that term, just as there is no official definition of “natural” wine. “Most wine is, essentially, just fermented grapes,” says Dave McIntyre, The Washington Post’s weekly wine writer. “And, really? In Los Angeles, they couldn’t find sustainable, organic, biodynamic or natural wines?” Some experts say this isn’t the first time they’ve heard of “clean” wines. “I’ve been in the industry for close to 30 years and this comes up periodically, just under different names… [like] ‘minimal intervention,'” says Dr. Creina Stockley, former Manager of Health and Regulatory Information at The Australian Wine Research Institute. “It’s a marketing exercise,” she adds.
Craft Distilleries Pivot Back To Booze After Making Hand Sanitizer
In the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic, hand sanitizer was flying off the shelves as hospitals, medical workers and profiteers bought out the supply. In response, the Food and Drug Administration temporarily eased regulations, allowing distillers and other companies to produce and sell the product. For distillers, making hand sanitizer made perfect sense, especially when sales of booze dropped as bars and restaurants closed. The equipment and proper licensing to handle ethanol were already acquired, leaving only the final steps of actually manufacturing and selling the product. To make hand sanitizer, Jonathan Eagan, a co-owner of the Arizona Distilling Company, spent $50,000 on alcohol this past spring. Shortly afterward, he says the company made enough money to cover two months of lost liquor sales. However, as panic-buying of the disinfectant subsided and larger companies stabilized production, “the business just kind of dried up” in the last few weeks, according to Eagan. Now, many distilleries that made the switch are going back to making booze. “It kept the lights on, it kept the guys working and employed when we were shut down for tours and tasting,” Barry Butler, owner of Tarpon Springs Distillery, said of producing sanitizer. But “as a long-term economic solution for a distillery, it’s not a way to make money,” he added.
Airlines Crack Down On Passengers Drinking Their Own Alcohol Onboard
To maintain social distancing between staff and passengers during the pandemic, airlines have minimized food and drink service and suspended the sale of alcohol on flights. Yet federal rules allow each passenger to bring a quart-size, zip-top bag full of 3.4 ounce containers of booze. Drinking that alcohol on board, however, is prohibited, and airlines have begun to crack down on passengers who do so. Southwest Airlines has seen such an increase in passengers drinking their own booze on board, it prompted the company to add a new line at the end of its in-flight safety announcements: “It is also prohibited to consume alcohol that you’ve brought.” American Airlines has experienced the same difficulties, according to Ross Feinstein, director of AA operations communications.
There is a loophole, however. Flight attendants are allowed to serve alcohol that passengers have carried on board, similar to wait staff uncorking and pouring a bottle of wine you have brought to a BYOB restaurant. While airlines are not required to serve you your own alcohol, standard in-flight practice varies among airlines. JetBlue allows BYOB, and American Airlines does not. Get the full story here at USA Today, or here at Business Insider.
Cooking
On Second Thought: Trader Joe’s Decides Against Changing Its Food Product Names
After a Change.org petition earlier this month aimed to eliminate Trader Joe’s “racist” packaging, the company released a statement saying it was working toward doing just that. Now, Trader Joe’s has reversed course and says it will keep its product names such as Trader José’s for Mexican food, Trader Ming’s for Asian food, Trader Giotto’s for Italian food, and Trader Joe San for Japanese foods. In a statement on its website, the grocery store chain said, “We want to be clear: we disagree that any of these labels are racist,” and added, “We do not make decisions based on petitions.” San Francisco Bay Area high school senior Briones Bedell, who launched the petition, said she and her family frequently shop at Trader Joe’s and had always found the labels to be offensive. Despite the fact that more 5,000 people signed the petition, Bedell caught flak from conservatives for encouraging cancel culture and also from liberals for wasting time on a minor issue. Caught in the crossfire, Trader Joe’s has opted to make no changes to its product packaging.
U.S. Milk Sales Soar During Pandemic And “Got Milk?” Ads Return
U.S. sales of milk have been declining for decades as consumers have sought new beverage options such as fruit juice and plant-based soy, almond, oat, and other alternative “milks.” Last November, the country’s largest milk producer, Dean Foods, filed for bankruptcy protection. Borden Dairy, another major producer, also filed for bankruptcy in January. However, the pandemic has triggered a spike in milk sales, as children eat more at home and adults purchase more milk for home cooking and baking. From January through July 18 this year, U.S. retail sales of milk were up 8.3% to $6.4 billion, according to Nielsen. During the same period last year, milk sales were down 2.3%. To capitalize on recent increases in milk consumption, the popular “Got milk?” ads, which had been retired six years ago, are now back. The original “Got milk?” campaign, created by the ad agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners for the California Milk Processor Board, debuted in 1994 and frequently featured celebrities with milk mustaches. The current campaign features curated internet videos of people doing funny things with milk such as opening a gallon with their toes and jumping into a kiddie pool filled with milk and cereal.
Some Good News: 20 Inspiring Stories In The Food World
Despite the disruptions and extreme challenges faced by restaurants, food producers, distributors, and farmers, there are good things happening in the food world. Civil Eats compiled a list of 20 uplifting stories in which “people across the country are still demonstrating compassion, ingenuity, and solidarity as they work together to solve problems and stand up for what they believe is right,” according to Civil Eats editors. There has been surge in community supported agriculture (CSA) subscriptions supporting regional farmers; there is more local, fresh milled flour available than ever before; community food co-ops and food banks have reshuffled to become stronger than ever; and there is a marked increased in access to healthy food in so-called “urban food deserts.” There is even a group of young adults flipping an abandoned North Carolina Prison into a sustainable farm.
BIPOC Bon Appetit Staff Depart From Popular Test Kitchen Video Series Citing Racial Discrimination
Bon Appétit magazine’s video series lost three employees of color nearly two months after management publicly pledged to work on dismantling racism within the organization. Priya Krishna, Sohla El-Waylly and Rick Martinez announced last week that they are leaving the Test Kitchen series after weeks of failed contract negotiations. Senior food editor Molly Baz also announced her resignation from the series in an Instagram post saying she would not appear on Bon Appétit’s YouTube channel out of respect for her colleagues. Test Kitchen manager Gaby Melian has also left the series due to unsuccessful negotiations. The departures came soon after Bon Appétit’s parent company, Condé Nast, named Sonia Chopra, the former managing editor at Vox Media’s Eater, as the new executive editor. The popular food magazine’s inequitable treatment of staff was first made public in June when staffers and contributors alleged racial discrimination. Assistant editor El-Waylly was the first staffer to call for the resignation of editor in chief Adam Rapoport, accusing the magazine of only paying White editors for appearing in the popular Test Kitchen videos. Despite her experience as a restaurateur and chef, El-Waylly said hired her for a $50,000 salary to help White editors who had much less experience. When a photo of Rapoport appearing in a racist Halloween costume resurfaced online, the editor in chief resigned his post. He had been Bon Appetit’s editor in chief for 10 years. In an interview with Business Insider, El-Waylly explained that her new contract offer on June 8 included a raise but wasn’t even close to what White co-workers were being paid.
Cereal Sales Skyrocket As More Americans Eat Breakfast At Home
With more Americans at home, cereal sales have shot up 11.8% year over year, according to Nielsen data. Companies like Kellogg’s, General Mills, and PepsiCo say breakfast product sales have soared in recent months. At fast-food and fast casual chains, however, the opposite is true. “There’s not much recovery in the breakfast day part right now. In terms of day part, breakfast has dried up,” said Panera CEO Niren Chaudhary. To capitalize on sales of breakfast foods eaten at home, several competitors have entered the marketplace. Magic Spoon is one such product, a keto-friendly cereal start-up aimed at adults. “We have seen a bigger demand in our cereal,” said Magic Spoon cofounder Gabi Lewis, “from both new customers discovering Magic Spoon for the first time…but also our longtime customers who have been ordering more cereal at a time while at home.” While many industry analysts question the longevity of the sales spike, others aren’t worried. “We’re pretty confident that the at-home consumption is going to remain elevated,” said Kellogg’s CEO Steve Cahillane. “And we’re assuming a deceleration, obviously, from the height of it as people become more mobile and things do return back to normal, but we’re still seeing good overall consumption.”
Supply Chain
Food Shortages? Soaring Prices? Economist Stats Say Otherwise
Catherine Kling, an economics professor at Cornell University, said “I’ll bet I’ve been to 50 talks in the last five, 10 years where the beginning is, ‘We have to feed 9 billion people by 2050. This is a crisis situation.’ The word ‘crisis’ gets used regularly.” But the numbers tell a different story. Tom Hertel, an economist at Purdue University, says it’s true that from 1900 to 2000, the number of people on earth grew four times in size; however, by the end of the century, food prices has dropped by one-third. On the whole, food has been getting cheaper and cheaper around the world. Hertel and Kling claim that poverty, war and political oppression are what make people go hungry, not food shortages. So why do forecasters and lawmakers keep harping about potential food shortages? “Part of the reason may be it’s an effective communication device,” says Kling. She says that farmers and lobbyists may claim the world needs more food so that governments don’t enforce environmental regulations that may reduce overall farm output. Hertel asserts that scientists too have a reason to exaggerate or overstate food shortage risks: it helps raise money for agricultural research. “The issue is not, can we produce enough food,” says Hertel, “It is, can we produce enough food in a way that doesn’t destroy the environment.”
Agriculture
Hundreds Of Farmers Go Bankrupt Despite Record Levels Of Federal Aid
More farmers are filing for bankruptcy despite receiving record-high levels of federal aid throughout the pandemic. About 580 farmers have filed for chapter 12 bankruptcy protection in the yearlong period ending June 30th, 8% more than the previous year. Bankruptcies slowed down for farmers this April after government officials approved $16 billion in direct support. By the end of the year, a record-high $33 billion in support is expected to be granted to struggling farmers, according to the University of Missouri’s Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute. “Agricultural markets have been horrible,” said Wisconsin based attorney Paul Swanson, “and the pandemic exacerbated it, big time.” Swanson currently has 40 open farm-bankruptcy cases, about one-third more than last year. Hog farmers lost almost $5 billion in actual and potential profits alone in 2020, according to the National Pork Producers Council.
Federal Relief Package Shortchanges America’s Small Regional Farmers
In March, Congress approved a multibillion-dollar bailout for farms taking losses due to the pandemic, leaving the Agriculture Department to decide where money would be spent. Two months later when the plan was released, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said its $16 billion would be a “lifeline” for farmers of “all sizes and all…production.” An NBC News analysis found that the initial estimated 700,000 payments, which totaled $5.6 billion, has strongly favored large farms over small ones. Data also revealed that corporate farms used loopholes to acquire large sums, and substantial payments were made to foreign-owned operations. As a result, numerous struggling farmers remain ineligible without access to any Congressional funds.
Some telling numbers: the top 1% of recipients received a total of $1.2 billion, which is over 20% of the total funds made available. Also, the top 10% received 60% of the money, leaving the bottom 10% with just 0.26%. While the top 10% of recipients received average payments of $95,000, the bottom 10% averaged around $300. Nearly 2,300 operations received $250,000, the payment cap for a single farm. However, the Agriculture Department allows single farms to receive as much as $750,000 if three shareholders each spent over 400 hours working in the business. Experts claim there is no limit on payments for farms organized as “general partnerships,” due to a loophole in farm subsidy policy. This presumably explains why the Titan Swine hog farming partnership received more than $2.5 million and five other large farming operations got $1 million or more each.
Regulations
FDA Calls For Phase Out Of Potentially Harmful Fast Food Packaging
Takeout containers that may contain fluorinated compounds can stay in the soil and within our bodies long after the food has been ingested. These compounds are just one of nearly 5,000 perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, a class of compounds that have been connected to health hazards such as liver damage, impaired immunity, birth defects, and cancer. First created in the 1940s, PFAS repel grease, oil, and water, making them very useful for packaging greasy French fries and burgers. According to the Centers for Disease Control, PFAS have been found in nearly every American tested for them. Last week, the Food and Drug Administration announced an agreement with three major manufacturers of chemical products to phase out the PFAS known as 6:2 fluorotelomer alcohol (a.k.a. 6:2 FTOH). It is incumbent upon food retailers to implement PFAS-free packaging. Companies like Taco Bell and Whole Foods have promised to quickly implement chemical-free wrappers and containers. FDA spokesperson Peter Cassell said that not all PFAS have been found to be dangerous, and current food packaging does not warrant any immediate health risks. The phase-out has been given up to five years for completion. Starting in January 2021, packaging manufacturers must curtail production within three years, and existing products may be used for another 18 months after that. The FDA will track their progress in reducing 6:2 FTOH and will continue to study PFAS in general.
Health
Onions Linked to Salmonella Recalled From All 50 U.S. States And Canada
Red onions that were potentially contaminated with salmonella were shipped to all 50 states as well as Canada, according to health officials. Last Saturday, Thomson International in Bakersfield, California, recalled all red, white, yellow and sweet yellow onions shipped from May 1 to the present due to concerns of contamination according to the Food and Drug Administration. Onions were sold in cartons and mesh sacks with brand names including Thomson Premium, TLC Thomson International, Kroger, Food Lion, Hartley’s Best, Tender Loving Care, El Competitor, Imperial Fresh, Onions 52, Majestic and Utah Onions. Packaging photos of the onions can be found on the FDA’s website. The FDA teamed up with the CDC to investigate whether an outbreak of salmonella newport infections could have been connected to the onions. As of now, the FDA has not found a source of contamination. According to the CDC, officials have reported 640 illnesses and 85 hospitalizations in 43 states, and no reported deaths.
Walmart, Kroger, Publix, and Giant Eagle grocery stores across the U.S. have also recalled at least 50 ready-to-eat products that contain the onions, including salads, pizzas and hoagies.
Science
Chipotle Mexican Grill Upcycling 3 Million Avocado Pits A Year Into Clothing
Chipotle Mexican Grill has about 300 million avocado pits left over every year after making guacamole. To upcycle them, it launched the Chipotle Goods clothing line featuring plant-based dye made from the pits. The collection is gender neutral and includes items like avocado dyed shirts and tote bags, custom order shirts, avocado lined jean jackets, sweatshirts, hats, reusable lunch bags, leggings, and baby onesies. The dye is created by simmering the pits in water to extract the color. Chipotle plans to donate profits to organizations that focus on making fashion or farming more sustainable. .