Instacart “shoppers” went on strike Sunday
Vanessa Bain, a Menlo Park–based Instacart shopper — that is, the person who walks the aisles of a grocery store, picks up the items from an order, then delivers that order to an Instacart customer — said in a Medium post published last month that “thousands” of the SF-based company’s shoppers will be protesting from November 3-5, and are “demanding that Instacart restore the default tip amount to at least 10% and to remove the confusing ‘service fee’ which the company pockets for themselves.”
Instacart shoppers are considered contractors by the company (though, legally, that must change for California shoppers as of January 1, when AB5 kicks in). Speaking with the Merc, Bain says that her weekly income for a 40- to 45-hour work week has dropped from $1,500 to “only a couple hundred dollars,” all due to changes in tipping and pay formulas. When contacted by the Merc for comment, an Instacart spokesperson said via statement, “We take the feedback of the shopper community very seriously and remain committed to listening to and using that feedback to improve their experience.”
Soda Rock Winery held a wine tasting over the weekend
A wine tasting at a Healdsburg winery might be unremarkable on other occasions, but as Soda Rock Winery’s 1860s-era building was destroyed last week, it feels like big news that they still managed to hold an event on its grounds Saturday. KRON 4 reports that firefighters were able to save a barn on the property, and that’s where the tasting was held. Owner Ken Wilson says that he held the tasting because, “We kinda gotta say the reality that yes, this winery burned, but Alexander Valley will be here next week and the years to come.”
Om Malik has had it with food delivery
Malik, a highly influential voice in the tech world (1.4 million followers on Twitter, for example) who is based in San Francisco, wrote over the weekend that his delivery of “a very spicy curry and some rice” was supposed to arrive at 7 p.m. but wasn’t delivered until 10. As opposed to pulling a Lizzo, Malik writes that it’s not delivery people who are blame to poor customer experiences like his, it’s the current food app model. “All these big unicorns chasing growth and high valuations, touting banal phrases about empathy and emotional design, don’t know diddly-squat about the idea of experience,” he writes, but “you can’t get there without taking care of the delivery people.”
Alison Rose might be one of the Bay Area food scene’s most influential investors
In a weekend profile, the Nob Hill Gazette ran down the local restaurants that investor Alison Rose has a hand in, including Protégé, Che Fico, and Moongate Lounge. The Santa Cruz native is known for hosting investor dinners in her Palo Alto home with meals prepared by the area’s best chefs. Says Protégé’s Anthony Secviar, Rose is “a very savvy diner and has a great reference point for quality, product, and execution. She has a great feel for our industry and what will succeed based on a given concept and demographic.”
The Washington Post is looking at how Bay Area restaurants are approaching climate change
In a story that begins with the closing of Anthony Myint and Karen Leibowitz’s eco-minded The Perennial, The Washington Post has a lengthy piece on Restore California, the pair’s climate change campaign that’s pushing a surcharge on restaurant checks. “Chefs possess all this cultural capital, they’re agile, they get stuff done and make things work,” Mynt tells reporter Sarah Henry. “This could become a global movement of chefs who want to do the right thing.”