GRAPHIC: Production contracts, a Biden administration target, have a huge...
According to a USDA report, the percentage of cattle and hogs sold under contract has nearly doubled from 1997 to 2017. This article is republished from The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting....
View ArticleStarbucks union vote count in Arizona postponed, ballots impounded
A Starbucks request for review is holding up the company’s latest union vote. Workers, however, say they’re undeterred. Starbucks employees at a Mesa, Arizona, location were awaiting the tally of...
View ArticleArizona Starbucks store votes to unionize, as organizing drive gains momentum...
The Mesa Starbucks store is the third company-owned location to vote in favor of unionization since December. Pictured above: Workers gather in protest outside of Starbucks’s Seattle headquarters on...
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Higher pay, better benefits, and full disclosure define a post-pandemic...
Bonnie and Israel Morales, the owners of Kachka in Portland, Oregon, created a new, three-part business model to address employee inequity. At 4 p.m. on a winter Friday, Portland, Oregon’s Kachka...
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As the pandemic ebbs, surviving restaurants face a new challenge: each other
New data reveal a problem that aid packages can’t fix—too many restaurants, all competing for the same customers. Numbers don’t lie, but they do sometimes struggle with follow-up questions. In the...
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Seaweed farming has vast potential—but good luck getting a permit
In Washington state, the permitting process involves nine different agencies, and is so burdensome and time-consuming that few people bother. HOOD CANAL, Wash. — On a gray February afternoon, Joth...
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How war, weather, and Covid-19 are rekindling the food vs. fuel debate
Cooking oil prices have nearly tripled since 2020, heating up the conversation around how we use our finite supply of soy and corn. Brittany Melenchuk knows that griping about how much she’s paying...
View ArticleThe hardest story to write
Dear Reader, I’m writing with news I hoped I’d never have to report. After nearly seven years publishing some of the most provocative and memorable food stories in journalism, The Counter will cease...
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McDonald’s franchises planned to pay tens of millions in PPP loan dollars to...
The Covid relief loans were designed to keep workers employed, but fast-food franchises allocated money to their landlord, the McDonald’s corporate office. In partnership with The Intercept. At the...
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Happier employees, higher profits: Restaurant owners spend more, and it pays...
Cutbacks have defined the pandemic era restaurant—but when owners invest more in their employees, everybody wins. Like many restaurant operators over the past two years, Greg and Daisy Ryan, co-owners...
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How some big grocery chains help ensure that food deserts stay barren
Supermarket chains can keep low-income communities from easy access to food, with a dastardly (but legal) provision they write into lease agreements. Last fall, first-year law student Karissa Kang...
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