Month: August 2014

A new “minimum wage fee” tacked on to receipts at a Minnesota restaurant is proving hard for customers to stomach.

Facebook users are bombarding Oasis Café, an eatery in Stillwater, Minnesota, with negative reviews, many vowing to never eat there again, after the owners began adding a 35-cent surcharge below the tax on bills this week.

“If you need to raise prices, so be it,” Ryan Stegeman, a University of Minnesota student, wrote in a one-star review hidden by the administrator of the Oasis Café Facebook page. “But to blame it on a fair minimum wage law is petty.”

Minnesota raised its minimum wage by 75 cents to $8 last week — the first increase in the state since 2009.

An owner of the café claimed the 35-cent fee was a way of “thumbing my nose at the law change,” according to CBS-affiliate WCCO.

“Shame on your protest over over a small increase in pay required by law,” wrote Facebook user Terry Edgar in a one-star review. “Hopefully customers will not continue to patronize your cheapskate establishment.”

By Wednesday evening, the café’s most recent Facebook post, a photo of huevos rancheros slathered in cilantro salsa, had 94 comments, most of them berating the restaurant’s owners for refusing to pay its employees a living wage.

Oasis, which did not respond to a call from The Huffington Post, is not the only eatery that’s asked its customers to help absorb the cost of Minnesota’s new minimum-wage law.

Blue Plate Co., which owns eight restaurants throughout the Twin Cities area, said it would make servers pay the card fee on tips paid with credit cards, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Clarification: Language has been amended to more precisely describe Blue Plate’s policy regarding customers who tip with credit cards.

What’s it like to sell your artisanal goodies at Smorgasburg, the open-air food market in Brooklyn’s trendy Williamsburg neighborhood?

The Story Exchange recently headed across the river on a steamy Saturday morning to chat with vendors who sell a tantalizing array of foodie options, from sweet confections to spicy noodles. Given that we cover female entrepreneurs, we interviewed Keavy Blueher and Allison Kave of Butter & Scotch, Lane Li of Noodle Lane and Taryn Garcia of Vendome Macaron.

From a business perspective, all four say Smorgasburg has been the opportunity of a lifetime. It’s allowed them to start food businesses with little overhead, while developing a following among the thousands who visit the market each weekend. All are planning to open brick-and-mortar locations (Vendome Macaron has even attracted an investor as a result of its three-year presence at Smorgasburg.)

“Being attached to Smorgasburg really gives you street ‘cred’… so people know that you’re a legit business,” Blueher says. “It’s always nice being able to name-drop Smorgasburg.”

Beyond the exposure, the congenial atmosphere of Smorgaburg — as well as other markets, like nearby Greenmarket in Manhattan’s Union Square — make it a particularly supportive environment for female entrepreneurs to thrive.  “The greenmarket is a real community, and you really get to know the people – not just the customers, but you really get to know all of the people that you are working with,” says Beth Linskey of Beth’s Farm Kitchen, who sells jams and chutneys in Union Square. “We really consider ourselves neighbors.”

The mood and spirit seems a far cry from the cut-throat kitchens of the restaurant industry, which have developed a reputation for being hostile to female chefs. (We recently took a look at sexism in the restaurant industry in this two-part series:  Why We Care About Female Chefs.)

Instead, the sights, sounds and smells of Smorgasburg combine in a welcoming marketplace, for vendors and hungry tourists alike. For more, read our article, A Feast of Opportunity, and listen to short interviews with the female entrepreneurs who are successfully growing businesses there.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio may have finally taken up residence at Gracie Mansion, but his Brooklyn roots are showing in this promotional video about composting.

Narrated by de Blasio’s daughter Chiara, the sweet video — a HuffPost Green excl…

As a member of the House Committee on Agriculture and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Department Operations, Oversight and Nutrition, I have been consistently engaged in efforts to promote healthier eating habits and better nutrition for American…

Two Southern-style pop-ups are coming up this weekend, and they have almost identical names: Maison Dixon and Mason Dixie Biscuit Co. To help avoid any confusion, here’s how to tell them apart. Maison Dixon Where: Capitol Lounge, 229 Pennsylvania Ave. SE When: Aug. 9 from 5 to 10:30 p.m. Maison Dixon has held pop-ups monthly all summer. Who’s behind it: […]

After the shuttering of his Cleveland Park restaurant Palena, chef Frank Ruta is re-emerging on the dining scene this September at Bread Furst. Ruta will oversee Bread Feast, a nightly dinner at the Van Ness bakery of Mark Furstenberg. Former Palena pastry chef Aggie Chin will also assist. “This is not a pop-up,” Furstenberg says. “I’m […]