Uber Engineer Says Prop 22 Exploits Food Delivery App Workers, Urges ‘No’ Vote

Welcome to p.m. Intel, your midday roundup of Bay Area food and restaurant news from publications near and far. Tips are always welcome, drop them here.

• Proposition 22, the $180 million California ballot measure intended to allow food delivery apps like SF-based Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Postmates to deny standard employee protections to its delivery drivers, has an unexpected opponent: an engineer with Uber. Kurt Nelson, who according to his LinkedIn has been at Uber since 2018, and says that he still “still make(s) deliveries for app-based companies on my bike to understand the state of the gig economy,” has penned an op-ed for TechCrunch arguing against the proposition, saying that “gig drivers should be classified as employees. Yet Uber refuses to obey the law and is now seeking to get Prop 22 passed so they can write a new set of rules for themselves.” Nelson says that “in November, you will have a choice to either stand with other workers and vote no on Prop 22, or align yourself with executives and billionaires by voting yes.”
• A new Four Seasons hotel has opened at the Embarcadero, the SF Business Times reports, and what a time for that to happen, eh? Unlike most luxury hotels, however, this spot has yet to open an in-house dining destination. Instead, the Snug, a Pacific Heights bar and restaurant known for its nitro margaritas and fried chicken sandwiches, will supply guests with “cocktails delivered to their rooms.” The Four Seasons’ ground floor restaurant space is slated to open by May of 2021, but the company “is still looking for the right chef and concept to populate it.”
• Broke-Ass Stuart’s “Bitchy Waiter” says that diners need to know that “servers are literally at the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to creating restaurant policy, so please don’t take out your COVID frustrations on us if you’re unhappy with a new rule or regulation.”
• 31-year-old Berkeley restaurant Rick & Ann’s is “on precarious financial ground.” [Berkeleyside]