Instacart Launches New, Higher Fees to Cover Prop 22 Expenses

Welcome to p.m. Intel, your bite-sized roundup of Bay Area food and restaurant news. Tips are always welcome, drop them here.

• Instacart has increased its prices, ostensibly to pay for the worker benefits the company promised as it pushed for the voter-approved denial of employee protections known as Prop 22. The SF Chronicle reports that its service fee for California customers has been increased from 5 to 8 percent, an effort to cover the perks offered as part of delivery companies’ $220 million campaign to ensure its workers remain independent contractors. It joins Postmates, Uber Eats, Doordash, and others — all of which argued that if Prop 22 failed, prices would go up — in adding fees anyway, once Prop 22 passed.
• Bayview program SF Black Wall Street has launched a program called “Bring Back the Block Fridays,” at which local bars and restaurants offer neighborhood-themed food and drinks. [SF Weekly]
• Nitoto’s Free Range Flower Winery makes flower-based wines from a shipping container in Oakland. [NBC Bay Area]
• Palo Alto restaurant Ada’s Cafe, which works with members of the disabled community to offer training and empowerment, is holding a fundraising auction to stay in business through the pandemic. [ABC 7]
• Two Bay Area wine companies are reportedly plotting IPOs. [SF Chronicle]
• Fourth generation Potrero Hill resident Alex Pavloff has launched Farm to City Meat Service, a subscription box packed with specialty cuts and meaty standbys. [Potrero View]
• Local experts worry that a fear of vaccinations might keep SF bars and restaurants from operating at full capacity for a long, long time. [SF Gate]