California Drops Mask Requirement for Vaccinated Restaurant and Bar Workers

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

• As SF restaurants and bars continue to ease into their new normal following California’s reopening, the state addressed lingering confusion over mask rules late last week and dropped mask requirements for vaccinated workers. In a 5-to-1 vote on Thursday, June 17, the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board voted to end workplace mask rules for those vaccinated, except in mass transit and classrooms or where they are required for everyone, effective immediately. As the AP reports, employers will have the choice of requiring workers to show proof of vaccination or allow employees to self-report their status, in which case employers must keep a record of those who self-report and choose not to wear masks. [AP]
• A nitro latte-slinging, queer-owned, all-day cafe is opening soon in the Mission at 302 Valencia Street, as first reported by Mission Local. Milk SF, from co-owners and partners Katey McKee and Sharon Ratton, will host an event on Saturday, June 26 for Pride Month, with a full opening set for July 1. In addition to Ground Control–brewed coffee made with beans from Highwire Coffee Roasters in Oakland, Milk SF is working on making their own boba for milk tea and will serve food from Justin Belluomini, who previously cooked at Zuni Cafe. In addition to hosting art exhibits and monthly drag shows, McKee and Ratton hope the cafe will serve as an open space for the queer community. [Mission Local]
• Oakland celebrity chef Tanya Holland’s plans for a vegetable-centric cafe at Oakland Museum of California have come to fruition, with the debut of Town Fare on Friday, June 18 alongside the museum’s reopening. The SF Chronicle reports Town Fare opened with to-go picnic boxes and a changing menu of vegetable-centric, a la carte dishes available only to museum visitors (for now at least), with plans for an expanded menu and indoor dining when the museum’s Great Hall opens in August. Town Fare is open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Friday through Sunday. [SF Chronicle]
• Bay Area grocery delivery startups have raised more than $800 million in venture funding in the first half of 2021, according to the SF Business Times, with companies like Instacart, Imperfect Foods, and Good Eggs each raising at least $100 million so far this year. To date, SF-based Instacart has raised $2.7 billion in funding, and is expecting to go public in late 2021, according to the Wall Street Journal. [SF Business Times]
• Shake Shack opens its long-planned location at San Francisco’s Westfield mall next week, its seventh in the Bay Area. The New York–born burger chain founded by food magnate Danny Meyer first landed in SF last January, following the opening of locations in Palo Alto, Marin County, and San Mateo. Like its fellow Bay Area restaurants, the Westfield mall Shake Shack will serve the Golden State Double, a burger only available in the Bay Area, when it opens on June 28, according to the SF Chronicle. [SF Chronicle]
• Northern California burger chain Gott’s Roadside will begin serving oat milk soft serve at its Ferry Building location this week, and not just any oat milk, but the world sensation made by the Swedish brand Oatly. Gott’s Roadside at the Ferry Building, an early adopter of Impossible Burger, will be the first location in San Francisco to offer Oatly’s dairy-free, vegan soft serve in chocolate, vanilla, and chocolate-vanilla swirl, alongside its existing lineup of soft serve from Straus Family Creamery.

Gott’s Roadside