A. Scattergood

Bastide

The L.A. Weekly has an immediate opening for a part-time food blogger.

We're looking for a stylish writer capable of accurate reporting, astute observation and, yes, the occasional striking photo. The ability to generate multiple story ideas each day is important, as is knowledge of food in general and the L.A. dining scene in particular.

This job is part-time -- we estimate about 25 hours a week -- but it's salaried, and it also includes full benefits, including vacation, sick pay and an expense account.

Please send a resume, cover letter, and links to three recent pieces of published work to sfenske(at)laweekly.com.

via Smallknot

Beer Belly's Smallknot page

Kickstarter was so six months ago. Now the newest way to fund a creative project -- without taking a loan from a guy named "Vinny the Shark" -- is a website called Smallknot, a Brooklyn-based company that aims to provide a media platform for local businesses, restaurants mostly, to raise money for specific projects.

How is it different from Kickstarter? According to Paul Choi, an independent marketing consultant who helped bring Smallknot to the West Coast, the difference is that "[Smallknot] is specifically tailored for local business, not just projects, meaning that investors can be sure that their dollars are going towards helping a small business in their neighborhood". Smallknot labels its user contributions as "investments" to further add to the theme of grassroots support.

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stevendepolo/flickr

Fruit cups

Yesterday, fruit conglomerate Dole Food sent two of its major assets winging across the Pacific. As reported in Reuters, Dole has sold its packaged foods and Asian fresh produce businesses to Japanese company Itochu Corp. for the handsome price of $1.7 billion. The deal gives Itochu exclusive rights to the Dole trademark on all packaged food sold around the world and produce distributed in Australia and New Zealand as well as Asia.

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zcopley/flickr

Peet's

German mega-corporation Joh. A. Benckiser has made California-based Peet's Coffee & Tea an offer it can't refuse. You can imagine the boardroom intrigue. Flanked by 7-foot-tall blondes, a small bald suit holds a pinkie to his lips and hisses an amount the half-shaven, Vespa-driving, kayak-trip-taking Northern California types on the other side of the table don't mind taking one little bit: "One billion dollars." Bond film stereotypes aside, you get the idea.

As reported in news outlets around the country this morning, Joh. A. Benckiser, the investment arm of Germany's prominent Reimann family, will spend approximately $977 million to acquire Peet's.

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Erika Bolden

Biggest California craft beer producer

The Brewers Association has just released this year's numbers on U.S. beer sales. If you prefer Manifesto Eagle Rock Wit to Blue Moon (which is owned by MillerCoors), the news is good. Beer sales slowed overall, slipping 1.3% by volume. Within the craft beer industry, however, numbers continued to rise, with a 13% increase by volume (almost 11.5 million barrels) and 15% increase in dollars (compared with 12% and 15%, respectively, in 2010). Thanks to 1,940 breweries in operation last year, including brewpubs, microbreweries and regional craft breweries, the number of small beer producers is the highest it's been since 1880.

Why is this small but steady increase important? In the last few years, big beer advertising has shifted (slightly) less toward bikinis and beaches, and more in the direction of "top-shelf taste," "triple-filtered" and "triple-hopped." This is an industry acknowledgment that the average beer consumer now is looking for a brew offering quality in flavor and not just a fermented corn juice buzz or barbecue accessory. A continuously growing craft beer market means more stability for your favorite local brewer, and additional brewery openings.

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Gail Silverton and Joel Gutman, co-owners of Gelato Bar, one of our favorite gelaterias in Los Angeles, recently sold their Studio City location on Tujunga Avenue. Thankfully, the shop's name and gelato production will remain the same.

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newwavegurly/Flickr

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Dippin' Dots, those frozen ice cream pellets that pop up at the county fair every summer, might not be around much longer. The Wall Street Journal reports that the company filed for Chapter 11 today in U.S. Bankruptcy court in Paducah, Kentucky.

The company has struggled to pay a $12 million debt to its biggest lender, which moved to foreclose on the loan this week. The company hopes to reorganize so it can continue to operate.

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Courtesy of El Torito.

If you've ever wondered why the food at El Torito, Chevy's and Acapulco tastes remarkably similar, it's because they all have the same corporate parent, Real Mex Restaurants, Inc.. The company, which owes $49 million to its employees and food suppliers but only has $1 million cash on hand, recently filed for bankruptcy in Delaware, reports Reuters.

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Guzzle & Nosh

Jeremiah Cillpam, operator of Chick-fil-A Hollywood.

Jeremiah Cillpam's path to deep-fried success began, serendipitously enough, with a drunken water balloon toss and an act of chivalry. Nearly a decade later, the 28 year-old is one of Chick-fil-A's youngest and most successful owner/operators, having overseen not one, not two, but three of the chain's highly coveted franchises. That includes the high-profile and eagerly anticipated location in Hollywood, set to open next Thursday, September 22nd.

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A. Scattergood

David Haskell, Susan Park & Farid Zadi

The food world in Los Angeles can often seem like a particularly small one, maybe because we're all waiting out miserable traffic in the same farmers markets and Korean BBQ restaurants. Which is where, over a smoking grill and bowls of excellent yuk hew bibimbap at Oo-Kook on Olympic, a trio of local food industry veterans met yesterday to discuss the new restaurant management company they just formed. Farid Zadi, Susan Ji Young Park and David Haskell are now not only, respectively, a chef instructor and culinary school director, a food historian, and a sommelier -- among other titles that the trio have had over the years they've been in this industry -- but fixers.

Their joint company FOH/BOH³, so named because it will encompass front-of-the-house and back-of-the-house operations, and because there are three of them, will function less as a consulting service than as the restaurant equivalent of what Harvey Keitel has been in so many films: the clean-up man, the guy you call to recalibrate a situation that didn't turn out quite the way you wanted it.

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