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Welcome to am Intel, your little roundup of Bay Area food and dining news. Tips are always welcome, drop them here.
It was first the return of the masks. Then, on Friday, August 20, the municipal mandate requiring proof of vaccination for guests wishing to dine or drink indoors came into effect. Now, new data from OpenTable indicates the potential impact on restaurants in San Francisco: Food services are down 16% in San Francisco from July, with business down as much as 66% below levels of 2019. Together, these figures indicate that restaurants in San Francisco were among the hardest hit in the country in August, reports the Chronicle of San Francisco.
The reasons can certainly be debated – the last weeks of August are often slow for restaurants nationwide, due to vacationing customers and the late summer slump. The numbers, however, point to a particularly difficult time for restaurants, as they experience a combination of “tough dinners, staff shortages and looming security considerations.” Specifically, top SF restaurants like China Live have seen reservation cancellations increase by 15% in recent weeks, according to the the Chronicle, while at Warung Siska in Redwood City, business is down 15 percent overall.
It’s not all bad news, however – the cancellations mean China Live has been able to accept more appointments from its Chinatown neighborhood. Demand for outdoor dining is also high, with around 30% of bookings in San Francisco in the past six weeks for outdoor tables, nearly double the rate of outdoor bookings in other cities. of the world. [San Francisco Chronicle]
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Bake Sum Bakery’s atmospheric rise throughout the year culminated yesterday with the opening of its new Oakland Bakery at 3249 Grand Avenue. Bake Sum officially opened the doors of its first permanent location, after a year of exiting the Bread Project in Berkeley and selling boxes of pastry at locations in San Francisco and Redwood City (with great success). Blending French techniques and Asian flavors, diners can expect creations ranging from purple pineapple buns and loco moco danishes to a halo halo croissant filled with ube custard.
- In just five weeks, the Dixie Fire, which burns about 175 miles northeast of San Francisco, became the second-largest wildfire in state history. As of Sunday, it spanned more than 725,000 acres, covering an area twice the size of Los Angeles. Among the more than 1,200 structures that have been destroyed is the Gin Mill, a 1930s gold rush era bar in the Plumas National Forest. The beloved local bar was one of the few in Plumas County and, as SFGate puts it, probably one of the only private drinking places in the middle of a national forest. Check out the history of SFGate for the full history of the historic bar. [SFGate]
- Since OpenTable announced the introduction of a feature to check the client’s immunization status, there has been speculation about how and what this feature actually does, given that it only clears the people in restaurants for which they have made reservations. Now, Fortune reports that OpenTable is teaming up with airport security company Clear for a vaccination check app. The free app securely connects a person’s verified identity to their proof of vaccination from hundreds of vaccine suppliers and pharmacies, according to Fortune. It will be available on iPhone and Android in September. [Fortune]
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