WEBVTT - Amazon Phone Ban Hampers Workers in Warehouse Collapse 0:00:01.800 --> 0:00:04.440 This is Bloomberg Business Week. I'm Carole Masser and I'm 0:00:04.480 --> 0:00:07.280 Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stanovk. We're here every day bringing 0:00:07.320 --> 0:00:09.799 you the latest news from the world to business and finance, 0:00:09.840 --> 0:00:13.640 plus technology, politics, economics, all furnishing the power of Business 0:00:13.680 --> 0:00:17.119 Week reporters and editors, not to mention our journalists and 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:20.000 analyst in more than one twenty countries. You can download 0:00:20.000 --> 0:00:23.239 Bloomberg Business Week and iTunes, SoundCloud, or Bloomberg dot Com. 0:00:23.400 --> 0:00:25.200 You can also listen to our radio show at two 0:00:25.200 --> 0:00:27.760 pm Eastern Time on the Bloomberg Radio or watch us 0:00:27.760 --> 0:00:31.840 on YouTube search Bloomberg clovel News. All right, so let's 0:00:32.120 --> 0:00:36.080 talk about the latest when it comes to the coronavirus 0:00:36.360 --> 0:00:38.400 and of course the pandemic. I should point out global 0:00:38.440 --> 0:00:41.200 COVID cases passing two hundred seventy point two million deaths 0:00:41.240 --> 0:00:45.480 topping five point three million. More than eight point shots 0:00:45.479 --> 0:00:49.479 have been given out seventy point four Now, because that 0:00:49.520 --> 0:00:51.279 was a couple of hours ago, was it? Okay? So 0:00:51.320 --> 0:00:53.800 you just got the latest and I didn't realize, but 0:00:53.840 --> 0:00:55.880 I had heard in a reminder that we've had more 0:00:55.920 --> 0:00:57.680 COVID deaths in the United States this year than we 0:00:57.720 --> 0:01:00.040 did last year, which to me was like shooting with 0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:02.800 vaccines available. Um, Lucky for us, our team has gotten 0:01:02.880 --> 0:01:05.959 Dr Michelle Longmyer. She's chief executive officer of MEDABAL. She's 0:01:06.000 --> 0:01:08.720 with us on the phone from Palo Alto, California. Hey, 0:01:08.800 --> 0:01:11.880 Dr Longmeyer. Uh so let's talk about it. I think 0:01:11.880 --> 0:01:13.880 it's about a year or so ago that we caught 0:01:13.959 --> 0:01:17.440 up with you. Um, what's what's new in your orbit? 0:01:17.600 --> 0:01:20.199 What lasting changes do you think are going to stay 0:01:20.200 --> 0:01:24.440 with us post pandemic as a result, you know, I 0:01:24.480 --> 0:01:27.840 think everyone is thinking about not only vaccination, right, but 0:01:27.959 --> 0:01:31.040 boosters were We definitely are seeing the importance of the 0:01:31.080 --> 0:01:34.880 booster shots with the omicron variant. And you know, I 0:01:34.880 --> 0:01:37.720 think in our world where my company it takes part 0:01:37.720 --> 0:01:40.840 in the development of vaccination or just you know, have 0:01:40.920 --> 0:01:44.720 a very forward looking perspective on the importance of you know, 0:01:44.760 --> 0:01:47.200 not only the vaccine, the tracing of the variants, and 0:01:47.200 --> 0:01:49.760 then of course the importance of the booster shops. Help 0:01:49.800 --> 0:01:52.520 us understand where things could be right now when it 0:01:52.520 --> 0:01:55.200 comes to vaccines for every American. And again this is 0:01:55.240 --> 0:01:57.920 my world, so I'm still waiting for those vaccines to 0:01:57.920 --> 0:02:00.240 become available for for kids under five here in the US, 0:02:00.280 --> 0:02:02.480 help us understand where clinical trials are and where they 0:02:02.520 --> 0:02:05.560 still need to go. Yeah, I mean, it's very important 0:02:05.640 --> 0:02:08.639 in the vaccine strategy that we really canvass you know, 0:02:08.680 --> 0:02:11.919 the full population. As we see with a variant, anyone 0:02:11.960 --> 0:02:15.640 who's not protected with immunity then becomes, you know, a 0:02:15.639 --> 0:02:18.760 potential source of not only in section and sickness, but 0:02:18.880 --> 0:02:22.240 also mutation of the virus itself. So, you know, in 0:02:22.280 --> 0:02:25.720 the vaccine strategy, it's incredibly important that we're actually we 0:02:25.760 --> 0:02:27.520 get to a point where we have the clinical data 0:02:27.840 --> 0:02:31.000 to offer the vaccination to people of all ages. You know. 0:02:31.040 --> 0:02:33.799 In parallel, it's very important that people get the vaccination 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:36.760 and then follow up with those booster shops because we're 0:02:36.760 --> 0:02:39.679 seeing that the immunity offered by the booster shot is 0:02:39.720 --> 0:02:42.639 likely extremely you know important when we look at these 0:02:42.760 --> 0:02:46.360 variants where the original vaccination was developed against a slightly 0:02:46.360 --> 0:02:50.840 different strain. Are we and just kind of about uh, 0:02:51.040 --> 0:02:53.560 just kind of about forty seconds left here, um in 0:02:53.680 --> 0:02:56.840 terms of clinical trials, are we all kind of in 0:02:56.880 --> 0:02:59.280 a clinical trial right now? By taking that third booster 0:02:59.320 --> 0:03:01.680 shot when it kind to we'll see how effective it 0:03:01.720 --> 0:03:05.800 is against a Macron. Well, it's an interesting question. Certainly, 0:03:05.880 --> 0:03:09.480 we are tracking the efficacy of the booster to this variant, 0:03:09.840 --> 0:03:12.840 and it's something that all vaccine manufacturers and the overall 0:03:12.880 --> 0:03:15.919 clinical trial industry is looking at um and something will 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:18.120 continue to track. All right, We're gonna leave it on 0:03:18.160 --> 0:03:20.000 that note. So glad we were able to connect Dr 0:03:20.040 --> 0:03:23.160 Michelle Longmier, she's chief executive officer at METABAL on the 0:03:23.200 --> 0:03:25.800 phone from Palo Alto, California. You know, Tim, Tim, We 0:03:25.919 --> 0:03:27.679 we know it's just we have to see how it 0:03:27.720 --> 0:03:29.320 all plays out and we'll get a better idea of that. 0:03:29.360 --> 0:03:32.080 Have an effective the boosters are essentially or whether or 0:03:32.080 --> 0:03:34.280 not we're gonna need a whole new booster again question 0:03:34.400 --> 0:03:38.400 by the way, Yeah, it's like, wait a second, kind 0:03:38.440 --> 0:03:41.400 of aren't we No, I mean we've we've been all 0:03:41.480 --> 0:03:44.120 part of this grand experiment, like, you know, working it 0:03:44.160 --> 0:03:48.200 out together. This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer 0:03:48.440 --> 0:03:52.760 and Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. The 0:03:52.840 --> 0:03:56.080 nation continuing the damage to really kind of work their 0:03:56.080 --> 0:03:58.640 way through, uh, dealing with the damage and loss caused 0:03:58.680 --> 0:04:02.120 by that historical and catastrophic group of tornadoes. That moved 0:04:02.120 --> 0:04:04.160 across the broad section of the country this weekend in 0:04:04.200 --> 0:04:06.640 a so if that's at times was as wide as 0:04:06.640 --> 0:04:08.760 three quarters of a mile. I mean, I've seen the footage. 0:04:08.800 --> 0:04:11.320 I've looked at a lot of the cover. It's just remarkable, Tim, 0:04:11.360 --> 0:04:15.680 how much and unfortunate how much was impacted as a result. 0:04:15.800 --> 0:04:18.760 It included a tragedy at an Amazon warehouse. And on 0:04:18.800 --> 0:04:21.200 Saturday night, this story caught my eye. It was by 0:04:21.240 --> 0:04:23.760 our own Spencer Soaper, technology and e commerce reporter for 0:04:23.839 --> 0:04:27.120 Bloomberg News. He joins us now on the phone from Seattle. Spencer, 0:04:27.160 --> 0:04:29.360 before seeing the story, I didn't know that Amazon had 0:04:29.360 --> 0:04:32.160 any sort of policy when it came to having phones 0:04:32.360 --> 0:04:35.560 on people who work in these fulfillment centers. Bring us 0:04:35.600 --> 0:04:39.360 up to speed on on why now the deadly collapse 0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:41.839 at this Amazon warehouse is putting the spotlight on the 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:45.719 phone band. Okay, yeah, so the phone band goes back 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:50.440 years and before the pandemic hit. Uh, employees will be 0:04:50.480 --> 0:04:53.560 required to leave their phones in their cars or leave 0:04:53.600 --> 0:04:56.440 them in lockers at the facilities, you know, before checking 0:04:56.480 --> 0:05:01.320 in and going through security. And Amazon relaxed those rules, um, 0:05:01.360 --> 0:05:03.839 you know, because of the pandemic and just the you know, 0:05:03.880 --> 0:05:07.200 the need for people to see alerts and keep in 0:05:07.279 --> 0:05:10.120 contact with loved ones and that sort of thing. UM. 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:13.400 And then you know, Amazon has been hinting this year 0:05:13.440 --> 0:05:18.320 that they would return UM to this phone band potentially 0:05:18.360 --> 0:05:20.800 at the turn of the year in some places were 0:05:20.839 --> 0:05:24.120 actually some facilities were actually returning to it a little 0:05:24.160 --> 0:05:26.880 bit earlier than that, just kind of feeling employees out 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:30.800 on how they'd react. And so obviously after this tornado 0:05:30.880 --> 0:05:35.039 hits UM, people are you know, very keen to have 0:05:35.120 --> 0:05:37.680 their have their phones with them. It's it's something that 0:05:37.720 --> 0:05:41.799 I think many workers want anyway, for a variety of reasons. 0:05:41.839 --> 0:05:45.039 You have kids in daycare or school, you have loved 0:05:45.080 --> 0:05:47.680 ones who have an emergency and might need to contact you. 0:05:48.080 --> 0:05:52.680 But this this uh tornado that collapsed the facility and 0:05:52.839 --> 0:05:56.159 UM in Illinois and killed six people, it just really 0:05:56.720 --> 0:06:01.400 really reinvigorated this. This conversation made me think, too, Spencer, 0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:04.200 that I think years ago there was a point where 0:06:04.440 --> 0:06:06.880 if you had a cell phone, you wouldn't just pull 0:06:06.920 --> 0:06:09.200 it out in a meeting and like look at what 0:06:09.320 --> 0:06:13.680 was on it, or excuse yourself from a conference room 0:06:13.839 --> 0:06:17.080 meeting to take a call. And things have certainly changed 0:06:17.120 --> 0:06:20.400 in offices where I see people I've done it like you, 0:06:21.040 --> 0:06:22.919 It's just like we've moved to a different level. Like 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:25.400 you have your phone on with you at all times, 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:30.960 but in warehouses and factories and distribution centers, like, it's 0:06:31.000 --> 0:06:33.880 a realization that that's not necessarily the case for a 0:06:33.880 --> 0:06:37.960 lot of workers. Yeah, and and there has to be 0:06:38.040 --> 0:06:42.000 some differentiation, right, There's a difference between having a device 0:06:42.040 --> 0:06:44.200 in your pocket that kind of a lurkes you to 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:47.359 an emergency, and there's and there's also a danger of 0:06:47.760 --> 0:06:51.960 wandering an industrial work area with your phone in front 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:55.320 of you watching Instagram or TikTok, you know. So, um, 0:06:55.400 --> 0:06:58.360 they definitely need rules around these things. But I think 0:06:58.400 --> 0:07:00.800 a lot of employees and particularly would come be like Amazon, 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:03.839 which you know, wants to deliver wants to customers. First, 0:07:04.240 --> 0:07:06.799 there's not a lot of trust. You're in this huge 0:07:06.839 --> 0:07:09.600 facility there, you like, we don't have access to a 0:07:09.640 --> 0:07:12.640 window or anything or cancer what's going on outside. People 0:07:12.680 --> 0:07:17.080 would prefer to have access to information about you know, 0:07:17.120 --> 0:07:20.120 extreme weather events themselves without having to go through some 0:07:20.200 --> 0:07:23.760 kind of Amazon filter and without being isolated from it. Right. 0:07:23.800 --> 0:07:25.400 I think about how the times you've been in I 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:26.960 know we've been in a news room, right Tim and 0:07:27.240 --> 0:07:29.280 send your phone goes off on some kind of weather alert. 0:07:29.760 --> 0:07:33.760 Are some concerns, yeah, he Spencer. I'm wondering if this band, 0:07:34.000 --> 0:07:35.960 if it goes to smart watches as well, because one 0:07:35.960 --> 0:07:39.480 thing anecdotally that I've noticed, especially for for people who 0:07:39.600 --> 0:07:42.160 work in situations where they're not really supposed to have 0:07:42.200 --> 0:07:45.239 their phones on them, is that they've resorted to smart watches. 0:07:45.360 --> 0:07:47.600 And increasingly we've seen the smart watches be able to 0:07:47.640 --> 0:07:50.800 correct connect on their own to cellular right, you don't 0:07:50.800 --> 0:07:53.160 need to have WiFi for it. Are those band as 0:07:53.160 --> 0:07:56.120 well or have where those band during the band? I'm 0:07:56.160 --> 0:07:58.040 not clear about that, but definitely there have been a 0:07:58.080 --> 0:08:01.520 lot of people talking about investing in those devices. Um, 0:08:01.560 --> 0:08:04.920 you know where Amazon employees if this band is to 0:08:05.240 --> 0:08:08.200 is to come back and uh so, yeah, I imagine 0:08:08.240 --> 0:08:11.800 it could be a tricky thing to to enforce. So 0:08:12.000 --> 0:08:18.080 is Amazon gonna do anything differently? No idea, um um, 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:21.720 trying to hear more from them, you know. Least I 0:08:21.720 --> 0:08:24.760 saw was that this band would this band would come 0:08:24.800 --> 0:08:27.640 back into effect in December, but with with the COVID 0:08:27.720 --> 0:08:30.280 and new variants emerging, who knows if that gets kicked 0:08:30.280 --> 0:08:31.880 down the line again, and who knows if this is 0:08:31.880 --> 0:08:34.120 the kind of incident that gets them to rethink it entirely. 0:08:34.240 --> 0:08:37.360 Because there are also some like school, some workplace shootings 0:08:37.360 --> 0:08:39.440 and things. There was a big shooting and the FedEx 0:08:39.520 --> 0:08:43.520 facility recently that got them talking about cell phones as well. 0:08:43.600 --> 0:08:45.440 So this is a kind of the kind of event 0:08:45.480 --> 0:08:49.000 that could encourage an employer to do things differently. What 0:08:49.040 --> 0:08:58.280 about other employers, Yeah, um, I don't I didn't do 0:08:58.320 --> 0:09:01.320 a survey of every employer in the in the country, 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:03.320 but there are places that don't allow them. But also, 0:09:03.559 --> 0:09:06.600 like I said, there's a difference between having a phone 0:09:06.720 --> 0:09:10.080 with you at work and having your phone out in 0:09:10.160 --> 0:09:12.920 front of you and not paying attention when when it's 0:09:12.920 --> 0:09:16.000 a safety risk. So I think that's the conversation that's 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:18.600 going to be happening now. And companies also may ban 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:22.560 them for sake for um uh, to protect sensitive information, 0:09:22.679 --> 0:09:24.840 that sort of thing. So there's just all kinds of 0:09:24.920 --> 0:09:28.400 layers and reasons to do things. But in this particular situation, 0:09:28.559 --> 0:09:32.200 employees are saying, you know what, these devices can be lifesavers. 0:09:32.240 --> 0:09:33.839 I want to have it with me. Spencer just in 0:09:33.840 --> 0:09:35.880 the last thirty seconds that we have with you. M 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:38.520 Right before you came on, you published a story about 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:41.480 that the warehouse claps is being investigated by OSHA. What 0:09:41.760 --> 0:09:45.480 are we looking for? What are you following here? Well, 0:09:46.160 --> 0:09:50.280 it's pretty um expected that OSHA will investigate. We had 0:09:50.320 --> 0:09:53.040 six people die at a workplace, so and it's gonna 0:09:53.120 --> 0:09:55.280 they have up to six months. So imagine they're just 0:09:55.320 --> 0:09:57.040 going to try to see what kind of safety protocols 0:09:57.080 --> 0:09:59.280 they had in place and that sort of thing. Was 0:09:59.320 --> 0:10:02.960 Amazon doing drills for this type of behavior? Um? But again, 0:10:03.000 --> 0:10:05.440 OSHA's rules are pretty soft. You know a lot of 0:10:05.480 --> 0:10:09.280 things that they recommend employers do or just recommendations, and 0:10:09.320 --> 0:10:11.560 so there's no penalty for not doing them. So I 0:10:11.600 --> 0:10:14.800 am kind of curious to see what takes up. All right, Spencer, 0:10:14.840 --> 0:10:17.120 thank you so much, Bloomberg News Technology and e Commerce 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:20.680 for Porter Spencer Sober Sober that is joining us from 0:10:20.679 --> 0:10:25.200 our Seattle bureau. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with 0:10:25.280 --> 0:10:30.640 Carol Messer and Bloomberg Quick Takes. Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. Well, 0:10:30.640 --> 0:10:33.120 it's not been easy running a restaurant during COVID. We 0:10:33.160 --> 0:10:35.920 all know that, right, But for one dining establishment in 0:10:35.920 --> 0:10:38.280 New York City surviving COVID took it to becoming more 0:10:38.280 --> 0:10:40.760 profitable than ever. Tim It's a great story. It is 0:10:40.800 --> 0:10:44.520 a great story, and it's right Joshua Brewstein, Technology editor 0:10:44.520 --> 0:10:47.400 for Bloomberg business Week. Joshua story is featured in the 0:10:47.480 --> 0:10:49.640 upcoming issue of Bloomberg business Week magazine. You can read 0:10:49.679 --> 0:10:51.760 it now on the Bloomberg and at Bloomberg dot com 0:10:51.760 --> 0:10:54.200 slash business Week. Joshua joins us now also joining us 0:10:54.240 --> 0:10:56.719 as Joel Weber, Editor at Bloomberg business Week. He's with 0:10:56.800 --> 0:11:00.440 us in the Bloomberg Interactive Broker Studio as well. Twenty 0:11:00.440 --> 0:11:04.360 five dollar an hour minimum wage, No outdoor seating, uh, 0:11:04.480 --> 0:11:07.440 no tipping, uh. The list of things that makes dirt 0:11:07.480 --> 0:11:09.960 Candy in the Lower east Side unique, Joel, it continues 0:11:10.000 --> 0:11:13.240 to go on. Well, the the outdoor seating is actually 0:11:13.240 --> 0:11:15.679 part of that part of that story because when when 0:11:15.760 --> 0:11:18.280 josh first pitched this story, it was sort of like, 0:11:18.320 --> 0:11:22.000 look like every restaurant, especially New York like kind of 0:11:22.040 --> 0:11:26.400 the Kingdom of of restaurants, um is going through something 0:11:26.480 --> 0:11:29.560 right now, and and can we use dirt Candy as 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:33.560 a vehicle to to basically right along and see what 0:11:33.600 --> 0:11:37.800 this is like for for chefs, the employees, everything, and 0:11:37.800 --> 0:11:40.240 and it ended up being sort of this amazing look 0:11:40.800 --> 0:11:44.680 under the hood in the in the kitchen, on the countertop, etcetera. 0:11:44.960 --> 0:11:47.800 As Josh followed it for months. And you know, I 0:11:47.800 --> 0:11:49.680 think that outdoor seating thing is part of it. And 0:11:49.720 --> 0:11:52.280 it's the opening anecdote, which is like a lot of 0:11:52.320 --> 0:11:55.080 these restaurants have those sheds. They came in handy for 0:11:55.120 --> 0:11:56.959 a while, and even when it's cold like now and 0:11:57.040 --> 0:11:59.760 nobody's really using them, although maybe starting to trickle through, 0:11:59.800 --> 0:12:03.800 you quite fair to bring them tear them down yet. Um. 0:12:03.840 --> 0:12:05.680 And what's amazing about the story is you know that 0:12:05.760 --> 0:12:07.760 that sort of is an embodiment of it. But there 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:12.400 have been many things that have pushed restaurants as entrepreneurs 0:12:12.440 --> 0:12:15.000 and these chefs to like come up with a new 0:12:15.040 --> 0:12:18.400 way of doing things, and believe it or not, despite everything, 0:12:19.120 --> 0:12:21.320 Dirt Kenny is more profitable than ever. How have they 0:12:21.360 --> 0:12:24.800 done it? Josh? Yeah, I mean it's interesting because, as 0:12:24.840 --> 0:12:28.319 you said, Um, Dirt Candy did a couple of things 0:12:28.360 --> 0:12:31.000 that would seem to make it harder to be um 0:12:31.040 --> 0:12:33.760 to be more profitable. It raised wages which were already 0:12:33.800 --> 0:12:36.240 pretty high for a restaurant. It was paying eighteen dollars 0:12:36.240 --> 0:12:39.679 an hour before the pandemic UM and then had to 0:12:39.760 --> 0:12:43.600 lay off its entire staff in March. And when they 0:12:43.679 --> 0:12:47.360 reopened UM in May of this year, they came back 0:12:47.400 --> 0:12:50.520 with twenty five dollars um for the opening for the 0:12:50.559 --> 0:12:55.480 opening wage, uh, including health benefits, which is pretty much 0:12:55.520 --> 0:12:58.360 unheard of in the restaurant industry. That was a that 0:12:58.360 --> 0:13:00.400 would ended up being an advantage. Are one of the 0:13:00.520 --> 0:13:02.880 key challenges that restaurants are having right now, which is 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:06.600 hiring people um. And the other thing. It was also 0:13:06.600 --> 0:13:09.439 an advantage when they were laid off, right. Yeah, absolutely 0:13:09.480 --> 0:13:14.199 when UM, when they laid people off in because their 0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:18.840 wages were higher, Uh, the employees got higher unemployment checks, 0:13:18.920 --> 0:13:20.959 which you know, wasn't a direct benefit to the restaurant, 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:23.240 but did make everyone feel a little bit better about 0:13:23.280 --> 0:13:27.040 what was, you know, an unbelievably bad situation. I was 0:13:27.080 --> 0:13:30.079 particularly surprised that even with all those great benefits that 0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:33.280 you don't typically associate with a job at a restaurant, 0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:35.959 she still had a really hard time getting people back 0:13:35.960 --> 0:13:38.640 to work. Yeah, did you say two out of the 0:13:38.679 --> 0:13:41.160 forty people? Am I getting that stat right, that's about right. 0:13:41.200 --> 0:13:43.760 I think they had thirty five people before the pandemic. 0:13:43.800 --> 0:13:46.840 They laid off about thirty of them and made this 0:13:46.920 --> 0:13:49.320 offer when they were going to rehire, Hey, you can 0:13:49.360 --> 0:13:51.319 all come back. We're gonna give you these big races. 0:13:51.559 --> 0:13:53.560 You'll be able to buy into health insurance. And only 0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:56.760 two people came back, which I think really is a 0:13:56.800 --> 0:13:59.719 testimony to how much people in the restaurant industry just 0:13:59.760 --> 0:14:02.200 don't around anywhere very long. If you let someone in 0:14:02.280 --> 0:14:04.040 your restaurant like leave at the end of the shift, 0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:06.560 Amanda saying, like, you know, chances are that they might 0:14:06.600 --> 0:14:09.920 not come back, coach, So they're just a lot of movement. Um. 0:14:09.960 --> 0:14:11.640 She one thing she was able to do was get 0:14:11.679 --> 0:14:14.120 new people in the door faster than I think some 0:14:14.200 --> 0:14:16.240 of her competitors were, just because you know, you pay 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:19.480 people more money, they're more likely to show up. So actually, 0:14:19.560 --> 0:14:21.800 let's just you know, talk about dirt candy in in 0:14:21.840 --> 0:14:24.560 a bigger sense, which is, you know, this is uh 0:14:24.720 --> 0:14:27.880 revered restaurant among vegetarians. Right, So what has she done 0:14:27.880 --> 0:14:31.560 with the menu during this time? Yeah, So one thing 0:14:31.760 --> 0:14:33.680 that she did with the menu, and this was something 0:14:33.720 --> 0:14:38.400 that Amanda said was difficult for her to um to stomach. Basically, 0:14:38.560 --> 0:14:42.400 was she really paired it down? She simplified it dirt. 0:14:42.440 --> 0:14:44.720 Candy's a tasting menu, which means that you can only 0:14:44.880 --> 0:14:47.760 order one thing. It's a it's a five course tasting menu. 0:14:47.880 --> 0:14:50.440 She used to have multiple tasting menus. But now you 0:14:50.520 --> 0:14:52.640 go in and it's basically, as she put it, as 0:14:52.680 --> 0:14:55.160 kind of like an admission. Uh, you know, you pay 0:14:55.320 --> 0:14:59.160 the dollar and you get dinner, and it's a great dinner. Um, 0:14:59.240 --> 0:15:01.320 you're not gonna get to choose, you're not gonna be 0:15:01.320 --> 0:15:04.640 able to substitute things. And that does a couple of things. 0:15:04.720 --> 0:15:07.160 It allows her to cut way back on food waste 0:15:07.160 --> 0:15:10.160 because she's able to meticulously plan how much she's going 0:15:10.200 --> 0:15:13.000 to need. And I was surprised at how much of 0:15:13.000 --> 0:15:16.760 a difference that makes, and just the economics of a restaurant. Um. 0:15:16.880 --> 0:15:19.480 The other thing it does is if you restaurants have 0:15:19.480 --> 0:15:23.040 a problem typically where if they raise if they raise prices, 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:26.120 people order less. You know, if if you go in 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:29.400 and the entrees costs more, maybe you just don't order appetizers. 0:15:29.400 --> 0:15:31.480 But if it's a tasting menu, you're kind of going 0:15:31.480 --> 0:15:33.600 in and you're either in or you're out, and so 0:15:33.680 --> 0:15:36.000 that for her has worked. Can I just say she 0:15:36.040 --> 0:15:39.160 get rid of tipping, which I talked about a lot, 0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:41.560 because I just gotten a point where I'm very happy 0:15:41.760 --> 0:15:44.280 to tip people, but there's tip jars everywhere, and when 0:15:44.280 --> 0:15:46.440 it comes to restaurant space in particular, I think, let's 0:15:46.480 --> 0:15:50.200 pay people a real wage um, which is an experiment 0:15:50.240 --> 0:15:52.440 that New York has flirted with before. Right. So the 0:15:52.520 --> 0:15:55.040 fact that we've we've had ebbs and flows and now 0:15:55.040 --> 0:15:59.680 it's back to somebody uh leaning into a different model, right, Yeah. Absolutely. 0:15:59.720 --> 0:16:03.920 I mean this was a previous question about restaurant labor. 0:16:04.000 --> 0:16:07.400 Amanda wasn't early was an early pioneer in going for 0:16:07.440 --> 0:16:09.480 a service feed instead of tipping, and a lot of 0:16:09.480 --> 0:16:12.880 people who tried this, other other upscale dining establishments um 0:16:13.040 --> 0:16:14.800 gave up on it. But she's stuck with it, even 0:16:14.800 --> 0:16:17.480 though she said it wasn't very good for her business 0:16:17.520 --> 0:16:19.960 for quite some time, but it has. I think it 0:16:20.000 --> 0:16:22.680 earns her some reputation and it does kind of add 0:16:22.720 --> 0:16:24.920 to the the just the or of the restaurant, which 0:16:24.920 --> 0:16:26.000 is how you get people in the door to a 0:16:26.000 --> 0:16:29.120 certain extent, So she able to make this work because 0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:31.640 part of your story dives into the idea that she's 0:16:31.680 --> 0:16:34.600 only been able to make this work through consulting fees. 0:16:34.640 --> 0:16:36.280 And indeed, one time when you were in there talking 0:16:36.280 --> 0:16:38.440 to her, she was actually working on a consulting project, 0:16:38.480 --> 0:16:42.520 I think building a menu for a university. Um. Can 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:46.640 she make this work? Yeah? So that that anecdote, UM, 0:16:46.880 --> 0:16:49.840 was about halfway through my time there. I started spending 0:16:49.880 --> 0:16:53.720 time there in the spring. Um. And but and you've 0:16:53.760 --> 0:16:56.920 just been tell you a lot of everyone of the 0:16:56.960 --> 0:16:58.480 same question for the story was when are you going 0:16:58.520 --> 0:17:02.720 to take me to the rest anyway? Forgive me good? Um? 0:17:02.840 --> 0:17:05.400 And so at that point she was saying, it's really tough. 0:17:05.480 --> 0:17:07.080 And by the fall she was like, you know, all 0:17:07.080 --> 0:17:09.960 of a sudden, things are working, are working better. I'm 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:12.320 able to cut down. She's cutting down on labor costs 0:17:12.359 --> 0:17:15.040 even though wages were up because she employed fewer people. 0:17:15.320 --> 0:17:17.800 I'm saying with food, prices were up, but the quantity 0:17:17.800 --> 0:17:19.920 of food she was using was less, and she raised 0:17:19.920 --> 0:17:23.160 her prices. And everyone's been stuck inside and really wants 0:17:23.160 --> 0:17:24.919 to go to a restaurant, so demand was way up. 0:17:26.080 --> 0:17:28.320 So what are the remaining challenges that she's sort of 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:34.160 obsessed with as we're looking at Macron, etcetera. What what 0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:35.800 what are the things on the horizon that she's still 0:17:35.800 --> 0:17:37.960 stressed about and just got about thirty seconds. Yeah, I 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:41.479 think the main thing with restaurants is uncertainty. Um, you know, 0:17:41.600 --> 0:17:43.280 who knows what's going to happen with the next wave 0:17:43.280 --> 0:17:45.199 of the pandemic. That's why Joel is you alluded to. 0:17:45.359 --> 0:17:48.000 She's uh, you know, doesn't really like the dining Shed, 0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:49.920 but she won't tear it down because who knows what's 0:17:49.920 --> 0:17:54.480 coming next. I like the Dining Shed, even even in 0:17:54.480 --> 0:17:57.560 December January. I just think they're great. I really like them. 0:17:57.600 --> 0:18:00.280 All right, Um, thank you so much. And maybe in 0:18:00.280 --> 0:18:02.880 the new year you'll take us to this restaurant you're invited, Okay, 0:18:02.880 --> 0:18:04.679 all right, we're gonna hold you to it. Joshua Brustin 0:18:04.760 --> 0:18:07.480 these Technology editor Bloomberg Business Week here in our interactive 0:18:07.480 --> 0:18:10.199 broker studio along with Till Webber, Editor Bloomberg Business Week. 0:18:10.240 --> 0:18:12.840 Check out this story uh in the upcoming issue of 0:18:12.840 --> 0:18:15.680 Bloomberg Business Week magazine. It will be on newstands, online, 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:19.240 and of course, on the Bloomberg terminal. This is Bloomberg 0:18:19.240 --> 0:18:22.920 Business Week with Carol Messer and Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim 0:18:22.960 --> 0:18:27.440 Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. This story is today's Bloomberg Big Take. 0:18:27.600 --> 0:18:30.240 It's pretty incredible. The question on everyone's mind, what could 0:18:30.280 --> 0:18:33.960 possibly go wrong with our economic global economic outlook, our 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:37.679 Bloomberg Economics team with the biggest economic risk for two 0:18:37.720 --> 0:18:39.479 and here to tell us about them, and there are 0:18:39.520 --> 0:18:42.880 quite a few. Is Bloomberg Economics chief economis economist Tom 0:18:42.960 --> 0:18:46.120 or Like He joins us on the phone from Washington. Hey, Tom, 0:18:46.160 --> 0:18:48.359 good to have you here with Tim and myself. So 0:18:49.040 --> 0:18:53.920 this story pretty incredible. Um, there is quite a bunch 0:18:53.920 --> 0:18:58.320 of things that could go wrong in two Is that fair? Well? 0:18:58.680 --> 0:19:00.800 I think if we look back at the experience of 0:19:00.840 --> 0:19:04.080 the last two years, Carol, a lot has gone wrong, 0:19:04.520 --> 0:19:11.240 right from the virus to inflation, of flaring geopolitical tensions. 0:19:12.240 --> 0:19:14.800 And I think for economists that means we just have 0:19:14.920 --> 0:19:18.720 to be a bit humble about our capacity to look 0:19:18.760 --> 0:19:22.480 into the future and pay much more attention to the 0:19:22.600 --> 0:19:27.399 risks they're looking into. That means thinking about army cron 0:19:28.040 --> 0:19:32.240 It means thinking about what happens if inflations is high, 0:19:32.520 --> 0:19:36.879 can markets sustain a tightening head? And of course geopolitical 0:19:36.920 --> 0:19:42.000 tensions from Russia, Ukraine to Taiwan, two elections everywhere from 0:19:42.040 --> 0:19:44.560 France to Brazil. Tom, is it fair to say the 0:19:44.760 --> 0:19:47.600 biggest risk out of all those is is potentially new 0:19:47.680 --> 0:19:52.000 variants and omicron. Yeah, that's right, and we're seeing from 0:19:52.119 --> 0:19:57.479 the consequences of that already with the UK encouraging people 0:19:57.560 --> 0:20:02.359 to work from home, masque restrictions in other parts of 0:20:02.400 --> 0:20:06.080 the world. I think it's important to keep in mind though, 0:20:06.320 --> 0:20:10.440 that there is a Goldilocks scenario for if it turns 0:20:10.480 --> 0:20:14.879 out to be really contagious but not very deadly, then 0:20:15.280 --> 0:20:19.280 the world could get a low cost inoculation and that 0:20:19.359 --> 0:20:22.080 could be a trigger the things that get back to 0:20:22.240 --> 0:20:25.199 some version of pre pandemic normal. This is exactly what 0:20:25.240 --> 0:20:27.680 we talked about last Friday with dr Im las Bader 0:20:27.800 --> 0:20:30.200 from n y U laying gown the idea that if 0:20:30.240 --> 0:20:33.879 this is potentially you know, spreads more easily, but it 0:20:34.000 --> 0:20:37.480 is less deadly and doesn't make us sick, then it 0:20:37.520 --> 0:20:42.200 could be Okay. We just don't know that yet though. Yeah, 0:20:42.240 --> 0:20:44.720 it's still just too early to say. And right now, 0:20:44.760 --> 0:20:48.400