Surprise: Here’s some news to make you feel all warm and fuzzy about the world, even if only for a fleeting moment. In the past few days, Americans have really been getting into the true holiday spirit — they’re leaving servers generous tips and heartfelt messages of thanks.

At a diner near Seattle this weekend, a regular customer left a tip that mathematically works out to about 7,600 percent: Dwayne Clark, a local businessman ABC News says has been eating at Brief Encounter for eight years, left the restaurant’s 12-person staff $3,000 on his $39 meal. He also scribbled a note on the back of his receipt that said, “You guys do a great job! When I was 7, I washed dishes and my mom cooked in a diner like this, we were dirt poor and didn’t have money for Christmas. Hopefully, this will help all of you have a better Christmas.”

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Admit it: You take the occasional food photo on your phone. You might even do it a lot. If you’re not guilty of this all too common practice, you must know someone who is. At some point, you’ve probably patiently awaited permission to dig into your entree while someone’s iPhone hovers over your plate. And, cringing as you witness the unappetizing photo going up on Instagram, you’ve probably wondered how much more space these kinds of humble brags can take up on the Internet.

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Six years ago, an episode of Canadian Top Chef featured a moment that would never be replicated on its American counterpart under any circumstances. Nothing about most of the episode was particularly outstanding: It had a French theme with New York-based chef Daniel Boulud dropping in as a guest judge, and the elimination challenge required each contestant to cook with a different protein common in French cuisine.

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The National Labor Relations Board, the federal government agency in charge of enforcing labor laws as they relate to unions and unfair labor practices, has overturned its previous ruling on the 2015 case known as Browning-Ferris Industries. The case centered on the concept of joint employers — namely, who is held responsible for how workers are treated when more than one entity controls or supervises their work.

In early October, Danny Meyer made a big announcement. It wasn’t about tipping, or another iteration of the Shake Shack hot chicken sandwich. This one was different. He would be entering the world of private finance, starting a $200 million investment fund, with stakes in reservation-making app Resy and the New York City-based Joe Coffee. His fund, Enlightened Hospitality Investments LP (EHI), now joins a group of newly formed investment funds cleverly eyeing (and investing in) restaurants.

It’s quite an about-face from the climate just a decade ago. “Ten years ago, investment took place much farther down in the growth cycle of a concept,” says Greg Golkin, who co-founded the Kitchen Fund in 2016 to invest in early-stage scalable restaurant concepts. “You would see private equity funds or strategics coming in when brands were at scale. If you had an early-stage restaurant concept, you had to source capital from high-net-worth friends and family, or from family offices [a more formal version of investment vehicle for high-net-worth private individuals]. There was no strategic capital in the space early on.”

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A woman at a Seattle pizzeria got into a dispute with the staff after they reportedly did not give her enough Srirarcha with her order. The customer called 911, and when the cops arrived at the scene, they found the woman and her husband outside the restaurant engaged in a melee with another fellow, who also threw a trash can at the window. According to the blotter, the woman “kept bringing up” the hot sauce issue while dealing with the police.

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Ken Friedman, the restaurateur behind New York City restaurants the Spotted Pig, the Breslin, and others, has been accused of sexual harassment by multiple women, the New York Timesreports. Ten women have come forward to say Friedman subjected them to unwanted sexual advances, including public groping, lewd text messages, and daily unwanted touching. Some of the women also say they endured catcalls and gropes from Friedman’s friends while working at the Spotted Pig, the West Village gastropub known for its V.I.P. clientele.

If  just-announced changes to Department of Labor regulations go past the proposal stage, employers will be able to pool tips earned by servers, allowing them to share the tips with untipped employees like cooks, dishwashers, and others in the back of house — if they share them at all.

The proposed changes, first announced in July, roll back the Obama administration’s 2011 regulations that expressly prohibited the distribution of tips to anyone other than the front-of-house staff who earned them. Backers argue it’s a regulation that could go a long way towards erasing income inequality between back and front of the house. Others say it’s a recipe for a host of evils, ranging from tip-pocketing by management to unsustainably high labor costs. All optimists and skeptics can seem to agree on is this: It’s complicated.

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Here’s a new item in the produce aisle for people who adore avocados but are terrified of slicing the fruit themselves: seedless avocados. The strange product, which looks more like a cucumber or zucchini, is being featured by British retail chain Marks & Spencer.

M&S claims this thing, officially known as a “cocktail avocado,” is 100 percent edible, skin and all. The name presumably comes from the fact that it’s much safer to consume after throwing back a few alcoholic beverages: No sharp knives are required to enjoy this delicacy.

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Crystal Duncan, formerly Director of National Distribution Sales at Georgia Pacific and Sharon Cox formerly AVP of Carolina Health System have established Cox Duncan Network LLC (CDN), a consulting-execution firm based in Charlotte which provides for foodservice leaders and their distributors, a 360-degree perspective by leveraging our unique expertise in Food safety, Food management and Health & nutrition. We provide one-source for digital technology to train and retain staff, the Transition learning model to drive change and improve departmental outcomes, and food safety protocol to mitigate risks and meet HACCP and FSMA regulatory requirements.

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