business

As winter weather moved into San Francisco, Mayor London Breed had some chilly news for restaurant owners and their patrons. “Sadly, beginning the end of the day Friday, we will need to eliminate indoor dining” Breed said.

This is a 2-minute summary of what’s on the ballot. Click here to listen to them all.

Late last year, the Richmond City Council directed the city manager to explore ways of bringing in more tax revenue.   

You’ll see the fruits of those efforts on the ballot, in the form of Measure U.  

It was just two years ago that India Supreme Court decriminalized homosexuality, but the real hope for change might not lie in politics.

Millions of U.S. office workers have now stretched into their sixth month of the world’s largest work-from-home experiment. Before the pandemic started, just 4% of Americans worked from home. Once the pandemic kicked in, that number jumped to 34%.

Many businesses, shops and restaurants, have stopped accepting cash as a way to protect their employees from the coronavirus. But, when cash is no longer accepted, many people get left behind — the unbanked and the underbanked.

A few weeks ago, University Press Books in Berkeley announced it would shut for good after nearly 50 years in the business. Now, the remaining East Bay independent bookshops  are turning to the community to hold on. 

San Francisco rent prices have fallen double digits this past month. But how exactly are these decreases related to COVID-19?

In California, farms have not been immune to COVID-19. A Farm Bureau Federation survey recently found that more than half of farms across the state have lost customers or sales due to pandemic. Small family farms are especially vulnerable.

Gov. Newsom announced in-store shopping can resume. County health officials in parts of the Bay Area haven’t approved this yet. We visit Oakland’s Fruitvale District to hear non-essential small business owners’ concerns and how they’re surviving.

The COVID-19 lockdown has forced many street vendors inside, but now the sounds of the street are returning.  

A big question looming over counties’ re-opening is how small businesses are going to operate.

A new survey from a San Francisco restaurant trade group finds that they can’t survive by doing takeout and deliveries alone.

Fremont lawmakers might postpone a scheduled increase in minimum wages set to take effect this July. They’re meeting next Tuesday to hash out the details.

The gooming industry is one of many that have been hit hard by coronavirus closures — nail shops, hair salons, and barbershops. The government doesn’t consider them essential services.

Toni Morrison once said that in chaotic times is when artists must go to work. Theaters, concert halls, and other event venues are shut down. But that isn't stopping Bay Area artists from shining on the virtual stage.

It can be hard to run a successful restaurant in the Bay Area. And there are additional challenges that come with being a trans chef. But despite those hurdles, one Oakland restaurant owner is determined to make it work.

From Facebook’s new privacy features, to Uber’s worker policies, the tech companies in our backyard are changing the way people around the world live every day. Rex Crum, senior business editor at the San Jose Mercury News and Bay Area News Group, gives us an update on what’s going on in Silicon Valley, and what should be on our radar. 

Let’s start with a little backstory. More than $15 million was raised for last year’s elections in San Francisco, according to the city’s Ethics Commission. That’s a lot of cash! About a third of it came from independent groups that raise private money to influence voters. The concern with these political action committees or PACs is that, because they’re private, you don’t really know who’s behind them. 

President Trump’s had both strong rhetoric and policies on immigration during his presidency. One way that immigrants’ lives are impacted is through remittances — money sent from the U.S. to other countries. 

Governor Gavin Newsom, last week, signed AB5: that’s legislation that transforms the way workers are identified and get paid in California.

The Bay Area’s long history of chocolate spans all the way back to the Gold Rush. Since then, the region has been a source for chocolate innovation again and again, from a Berkeley-based revolution in chocolate desserts to a craft chocolate revolution in the ‘90s that turned the industry on its head.

There’s a long history of chocolate making in the Bay Area that goes all the way back to the Gold Rush. Over a century later, a new guard of chocolate makers is picking up where a previous generation of innovators left off, and they’re leading a small but potent revolution in the chocolate industry.

Today, we have a show that may make your mouth water — it's about the Bay Area’s long history of chocolate connoisseurs. And, we’ll meet local artisans who are changing the way we consume it.

In light of the closure of the Haight Ashbury Music Center, our news team started wondering about the current state of craftsmanship in the Bay Area, and beyond. That led us to Todd Oppenheimer.

The Haight Ashbury Music Center is selling off its gear. The store’s been around for some 40 years — it was opened by the brother of Janis Joplin’s bassist. And it’s been a centerpiece of the Haight Street experience ever since. So what happens when a place known for culture and counterculture loses its music?

The fate of a homeless encampment near a Home Depot in East Oakland was decided early Wednesday morning at an Oakland City Council meeting. 

The Stud, a gay bar and performance space in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood, turned 50 in 2016. But, it was also in the news that year for another reason: The owner was calling it quits after a new landlord upped the rent by nearly $6000 — from $3800 a month to $9500.