Tag: culinary courses

EMERYVILLE, Calif. (KRON) — The season of giving runs year-round for one East Bay restaurant. It happens to be owned by former NFL running back and Oakland’s own — Marshawn Lynch.

His aunt runs the place. Rob Ben’s Restaurant & Lounge gives back to the community through food and soul.

Hours before opening for business, employees are hard at work in the kitchen.

Sisters Kecia Johnson and Shawny Capla put their souls into what they will eventually serve throughout the day at Rob Ben’s Restaurant & Lounge in Emeryville.

“We treat everyone that comes in here like they’re walking in my front door,” Johnson said. “You know, this is Sunday dinner at Rob Ben’s all the time.”

The soul food establishment off San Pablo Avenue along the Oakland border is named after Lynch’s childhood friend who was gunned down in Oakland a year before lynch bought the business in 2018.

“He’s huge in the community. He has a lot of support. They definitely come and celebrate him,” Johnson said of Lynch.

Lynch is Johnson and Capla’s nephew. He gifted the place to his aunts.

Johnson is the general manager and head chef. Capla manages the front of the house and the bar.

Jerseys of family members hang on the walls. The spirit of the business’ mission is reflected in how it operates.

The sisters routinely hand out free meals at the end of shifts, sharing leftovers with people on the street struggling for food.

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Leading up to Christmas, they are running a toy drive — offering a discount on meals in exchange for an unwrapped toy that will go to underserved families.

“We love to give, you know, and we love to be a part of being able to give back to people who are in need,” Johnson.

Turning a profit is essential for any business. Rob Ben’s Restaurant & Lounge is no different, and what sets them apart is that the community still comes first.

Amazon is restructuring its India operations with the announcement that it is shuttering its food delivery service, Amazon Food, in the region after Dec. 29.

In a statement sent to PYMNTS, the eCommerce giant said it would no longer be operating the food delivery business after trialing the service in the city of Bengaluru since May 2020.

According to a company spokesperson, the decision to close the service was made “as part of [Amazon’s] annual operating planning review process.”

“We don’t take these decisions lightly. We are discontinuing these programs in a phased manner to take care of current customers and partners,” the spokesperson said.

With this decision to dissolve its test food delivery business, Amazon will be missing out on a growing trend of food delivery consumers.

A September PYMNTS report, “The 2022 Restaurant Digital Divide: Food Aggregators Find Their Footing In Q2,” found that food delivery is an in-demand service in the US. In fact, 91% of meals are bought for delivery through food aggregating apps, such as DoorDash.

And with 47% of food aggregator app users utilizing digital tools during their last restaurant visit, there is room to grow if Amazon was to consider testing a food delivery service in the future.

Read more: Amazon to Lay Off 10,000 Employees

Amazon has been restructuring its corporate staff as well as reevaluating its global businesses, announcing Nov. 14 that the company was looking to lay off approximately 10,000 employees this month, the first and largest such move in the company’s history.

How Consumers Pay Online With Stored Credentials
Convenience drives some consumers to store their payment credentials with merchants, while security concerns give other customers pause. For “How We Pay Digitally: Stored Credentials Edition,” a collaboration with Amazon Web Services, PYMNTS surveyed 2,102 US consumers to analyze consumers’ dilemma and reveal how merchants can win over holdouts.

At the forefront of the vegan revolution in Israel, Omri Paz, the founder of Vegan Friendly, has now set his sights on bringing his model to the United States market.

Vegan Friendly, a self-sustaining nonprofit founded in 2012 to promote veganism and animal rights and improve access to plant-based food, is planning to expand its activities to the US after launching in the United Kingdom about two and a half years ago.

“What makes us unique is that we have created a huge ecosystem that gives businesses and restaurants benefits, much more than just the labeling or certification of being vegan friendly,” Paz told The Times of Israel. “With us, they can participate in our events, and we can connect them to thousands of our members through exposure on social media, our app and the website.”

In Israel, which hosts the world’s highest per capita vegan population, 1,800 businesses including restaurants and hotels are certified with the pink and green Vegan Friendly heart sticker. Over 500 food manufacturers such as Unilever, Nestle, and Strauss use the Vegan Friendly seal to label over 10,000 plant-based products certifying that they meet strict criteria.

Additionally, Vegan Friendly has built a community of over 6,000 people in Israel who donate a monthly sum toward the organization’s attempts to raise awareness and encourage veganism or vegetarianism, Paz said. Together with the Tel Aviv Municipality, Vegan Friendly this year hosted a three-day Vegan Fest touted as the world’s largest vegan event, with cooking classes, food stands, food-tech and health stalls.

“From the businesses who sign up with us we get discounts or products to try out, which our members can enjoy at hundreds of businesses and restaurants across the country,” said Paz. “Our model gives businesses and restaurants a lot of value for certifying and that helps us to promote veganism and make it more accessible.”

With the use of big campaigns involving billboards, YouTube lectures and prime time TV ads, Vegan Friendly seeks to create a dietary change.

Omri Paz, founder of Vegan Friendly. (Courtesy/Vegan Friendly)

“We applied our model to the UK two and a half years ago and today we have a team of almost 10 people with about 200,000 followers on social media, 1,200 businesses or branches certified as being vegan friendly, and over 3,000 products labeled as vegan friendly ,” said Paz.

“I don’t think there’s any big organization in the US that is going to focus on dietary change, which is important to us,” he noted.

Vegetarians make up about 5% of the US population. For the US launch, Vegan Friendly went through 50,000 restaurants and businesses and selected about 15,000 that met the criteria to be certified as vegan friendly. Initially, the nonprofit will focus on restaurants located in New York City.

“At the first stage we aim to launch a community through social media, on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Twitter, and to get users on our app and the website before we plan to approach restaurants and ask them to be certified as vegan -friendly by adding options to their menu,” said Paz. “We already have 20 businesses that signed with us to become vegan friendly certified businesses.”

Paz disclosed that the first restaurant that received its vegan friendly certification in the US is The Gray Dog, a neighborhood restaurant with five branches spread across Manhattan.

“Two years from now we aim to have about half a million followers and about 5,000 businesses that sign up with us either for the restaurant certification or product certification,” said Paz.

Looking ahead, Vegan Friendly seeks by 2029 to grow to a team of about 160 people generating revenue of $60 million and being completely self-sustainable, according to Paz.

Israeli politics told straight

I joined The Times of Israel after many years covering US and Israeli politics for Hebrew news outlets.

I believe responsible coverage of Israeli politicians means presenting a 360 degree view of their words and deeds – not only conveying what happened, but also what means in the broader context of Israeli society and the region.

That’s hard to do because you can rarely take politicians face to face – you have to go the extra mile to present full context and try to overcome your own biases.

I’m proud of our work that tells the story of Israeli politics straight and comprehensively. I believe Israel is stronger and more democratic when professional journalists do a tough job well.

Your support for our work by joining The Times of Israel Community helps ensure we can continue to do so.

thank you
Tal Schneider, Political Correspondent

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