The Intelligence Brief is our weekly compendium of food and drink news sourced from outlets all over the world, including right here at home.

It’s hard to believe that we are careening towards October, which brings us 7 months into the pandemic so far. While BC started as a model for the country in the early days of Covid, as of last week the province had the highest rate of active cases per capita in Canada. As our numbers continue to climb and we inch closer to cold and flu season, we continue to cover how the bar and restaurant industry is coping through these ongoing challenges…

In an effort to curb new cases, the province announced expanded fines last week for bars and restaurants who are found to be in violation of Covid restrictions.

Vancouver chef and restaurateur Umberto Menghi has announced the temporary closure of Giardino:

“In a heartfelt letter shared to the restaurant’s website and social media, Menghi says, “This decision was not made lightly, but was made in order to protect our valued customers and staff.” Menghi adds that under current restrictions on capacity and group size, as well as distancing mandates due to the public health orders aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19, it is challenging to provide Giardino’s expected high standard of hospitality.”

Despite nearly 700,000 documented cases of Covid-19 in the state so far, Florida has decided to go ahead and re-open their restaurants at full capacity.

“The lifting of restrictions in Florida comes by way of an executive order issued by DeSantis. The order takes effect immediately, and strips city and county governments of the power to enforce mask-wearing mandates, shutdown restaurants, or issue fines to businesses that ignore other coronavirus-related mandates. The executive order will make it extremely difficult for city and county governments to crack down on restaurants and bars that are identified as COVID-19 hotspots.”

Meanwhile, New York has announced that it will restart indoor dining this Wednesday. However, capacity will be limited to 25%.

A Seattle line cook shares her experience with a boss who refused to follow Covid restrictions and her struggle to address the issue with them directly.

“Many of us in the industry were at some point taught to keep our heads down and defer to the authority of chefs, managers, and owners; there is a huge problem with workers not feeling like they have the authority to stand up to their bosses. In the time of COVID-19, however, there has to be a clear and efficient way for us to speak up and report problems when we see them happen. After all, if we’re responsible for serving the public, then whether we like it or not, we’re implicated in the protection of the public’s health and safety.”

Something to look forward to in these challenging times: Mount Pleasant will soon be home to the newest location of Thierry.

We may not be able to drink in bars and restaurants past 10pm, but luckily a few of Vancouver’s favourite bartenders are making sure we can enjoy a good cocktail at home.

Seeing as we’re all in the need of some comfort food these days, consider paying a visit to Meat and Bread for their classic porchetta sandwich.

Just a few months after leaving the Bon Appetit Test Kitchen due to the company’s history of racism, pay disparities and tokenization, Sohla El-Waylly has announced a new YouTube show!

“The premise of the show echos the fun, weird challenges El-Waylly’s performed in the Bon Appétit test kitchen’s popular YouTube videos. Though she remains at the magazine as the assistant food editor, El-Waylly was released from her video contract, along with fellow staffers Rick Martinzer, Priya Krishna, Molly Baz, Gaby Melian, and Carla Lalli Music, following unsuccessful negotiations over race-based pay discrepancies within the test kitchen.”

In a first for the US, Berkeley has banned junk food items from the checkout aisle.

Similarly, a number of states in Mexico are looking to ban sales of junk food to minors.

Here we are worrying about toilet paper and active yeast supplies, little did we know, the pandemic is causing a run on refrigerators.

“According to NPR, a number of factors have contributed to the empty floor space in the appliance section, everything from a springtime run on fridges and freezers because we were all stockpiling enough food for the End Times, to stores being conservative with their product orders out of fears that nobody would be making major purchases this year, to production slowdowns caused by the pandemic itself.”

In a long overdue change in branding, the Mars corporation has announced that it is changing the name of Uncle Ben’s rice to Ben’s Original.

“The company is making good on a promise it made in June, when it and other major brands such as Aunt Jemima acknowledged their use of racial stereotypes and committed to making changes. That promise came amid a wave of reactions from businesses and corporations following nationwide protests in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd in May.

Remember the baking craze that took hold early in the pandemic? Well, it seems the trend has taken a delightfully weird turn…

Finally, forget about the Beards and the Michelin stars. These new awards out of South Carolina are recognizing restaurants that have stepped up their Covid safety measures.