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Spring 2018
The Begonia A Magazine About Wonderful Things
Written and Edited By: Alejandro Cervantes Kayla Govea Patrick Haney Maya Mikelson
LASA High School Class of 2021
Contents
Spring 2018
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Letters from the Editors
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Is Infrastructure Reform Actually Beneficial to the Economy?
Exerpts and opinions from writers and editors
A political commentary by Maya Mikelson
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How the Unemployment Rate Relates to Infrastructure Spending Detailed charts and stats about critical issues
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Austin Food Culture
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How to Start a Business
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Chow cops
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Safety Through the Pros
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The Local Groceries
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Grocery Stores Around Austin
Alejandro Cervantes’ in-depth article about food businesses and restaurants in Austin
A step-by-step guide to jumpstarting your business
Explanation of the unknown world of food safety by Patrick Haney
An infographic of Austin’s health inspection stats and facts
Kayla Govea’s comprehensive examination of local groceries around Austin
An interactive map of Austin showing local groceries and some facts about them
LETTERS FROM
Patrick
I am a 15 year old student currently at LASA High School, and I enjoy playing video games, photography/image processing, and I’m a current LASA water polo goalie. The topic of food safety interested me, as food culture is not the only aspect of the food service world. Restaurants and companies must adhere to rules and ordinances set and maintained by Environmental Safety and Health Department officials. I, personally, love food and cooking, as I regularly attend the Culinary Institute of America, and currently hold a Food Handler’s license, however I wanted to explore beyond the culture and cooking, and take a dive into the law and order of the food world.
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I am in 9th grade at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy in Austin, Texas. I have been on the debate team since 7th grade. In my free time I volunteer for Democratic candidates in national races by calling and texting voters. On most Tuesday nights, you will find me watching election results. I hope to become a political reporter with an emphasis on data based journalism. I chose this topic because I wanted to write about a specific political issue and dive in to the details of it. I chose to write about infrastructure because of it’s importance to the economy, the conflicting points of view on spending and the intricacies of an infrastructure bill.
maya
THE EDITORS
ndro
Aleja
Hello to all walks of life reading this magazine! I am a fifteen year-old student currently attending the Liberal Arts and Science Academy. In my free time, I like to play video games, skateboard. After school I am part of the baseball team and am striving to improve as much as I can in all aspects of my life. I decided to write about Local Austin Food business that I feel many Austinites love to eat at! I have been eating food for almost all of my life, so I felt that I would be able to cover the topic quite well.
I’m a freshman at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy. I enjoy playing with my dog, running track, and watching youtube videos. On the weekends, I like to spend time with my friends shopping or just hanging out. Lately, I’ve been obsessed with disposible cameras and documenting memories on them! I chose to write about local grocery stores here in Austin because I don’t think they get enough recognition and I want to bring to light what truly makes the local groceries. I hope my article teaches readers about these businesses and the struggles they go through.
a
kayl
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Is Infrastructure Reform Beneficial to the Economy? Funding towards infrastructure could help repair the US crumbling infrastructure or cause an economic decline. By: Maya Mikelson Spring 2018
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overnment spending of any kind can be beneficial in a recession because we need to stimulate the economy which is suffering from insufficient demand and too many idle workers who need jobs. We are not in that position now. With the economy at full employment, increasing government spending takes workers from the private sector, adds to government debt, risks raising interest rates, and can overheat the economy. This is all about the short-run, macroeconomic effects of government spending. There is another issue, though. Government spending on public goods can increase the long-run productivity of the economy if these public goods are currently insufficient to serve our economy’s needs. This is arguably the case now for infrastructure. Thus, while it is a bad time to be doing infrastructure spending from a short-term macro perspective. From a long-term, public goods perspective, we may need better infrastructure to help
our economy be able to grow at a good rate. massively overspending the amount they receive Ideally, we would be able to wait until a recession in taxes. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 was to do this, but maybe doing so will hamper our estimated by the Congressional Budget Office to long-term prospects. This is what makes this a increase the debt by $1.5 trillion over the next 10 difficult question right now. years. A huge infrastructure bill would cost trillions According to “The Balance,” a news organization of dollars and explode the deficit. centered around finance, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 was passed at the beginning of Former President Barack Obama’s first term as a response the Great Recession to function as an economic stimulus. It modernized current infrastructure by focusing expenditure on clean energy and federal buildings, along with providing better education and health care. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the ARRA passed when the unemployment rate was 8.3 percent. According to “FiveThirtyEight”, the unemployment rate is close to the lowest it’s been in 50 years. While this sounds beneficial, the unemployment rate creates unstable economic circumstances. Federal Reserve A highway used for transporting goods. (Photo economists are already worried about by Maya Mikelson.) the potential for overheating which can create high inflation that has to be countered by If the economy is in a good position, more stimulus high interest rates. In times when the economy is isn’t good and if, in the future, the economy declines, booming the government should pay down their the ability to enact stimulus will be necessary to debt, but the federal debt is high in relation to avert a crisis. If the debt to GDP ratio is too high at gross domestic product (GDP). the beginning of a recession, stimulus is impossible. Government debt provides the economy with stimulus It creates a debt burden that makes stimulus versus and increases interest rates because it increases deficit spending harder in the future when there is the demand for borrowing money — increases in a recession. If there is already a huge debt, the demand raise prices and the price of borrowing government has to pay interest on it’s debt, they money is the interest rate. The government is also can’t devote that spending to stimulus. The state of infrastructure in the United States is fragile. Many dams, roads, and other structures are falling apart, or are no longer the correct size to support their population. The American Society of Civil Engineers rates the state of infrastructure and releases a report card. They assess several different factors when determining a grade, does it meet current and future demand, condition, is current funding enough to meet need and others. The grades range from ‘A’, fit for the future, to ‘F’, unavailable conditions. They gave the United States a “D+” in infrastructure. The US currently has no A highway overpass. (Photo by Maya Mikelson.) ‘A’s and one ‘B’ but most of the grades
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are in the ‘D’s. This is the rating system that most of the country uses when evaluating the state of American infrastructure. They estimate that it would
“We’re dealing with 19th or 20th-century infrastructure in a 21stcentury economy” - Steve Sandherr
it is impossible to know “what kind of impact a water crises will have” as it is so “important to our health and overall well being,” said Pena, Texas Rep. Rodriguez Chief of Staff. Many parts of the United States’ infrastructure is critical and a failure of them could be catastrophic. For example, there are a series of locks and dams on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, which allow barges to use the river for transport. “The barges are responsible for an enormous amount of agriculture products,” said UT Professor Emeritus Dr. Leigh Boske. “A couple of those locks and dams are really in very bad condition, if one important lock shuts down, the entire river system in the United States would shut down too.” Companies would have to switch to a more expensive mode of transport, trucks. “It would represent an enormous increase in grocery store food prices. It’s not even clear, if the waterways shut down, whether trucks would be able to handle all that,” said Boske. Some parts of American infrastructure should be a higher priority than others, based on their importance to the United States’ economy. For example, the tunnel under the Hudson River is collapsing, and when it does, it means many hundreds of thousands of people can’t get to work. Bloomberg reports that the northeast contributes $3 trillion to the United States economy per year, and if the tunnel collapses, that would be significantly impaired. The Trump administration recently cut funding to the Hudson River Tunnel. If Congress tries to add funding to
cost about 4.59 trillion dollars over 10 years to update the infrastructure to an acceptable level. “We’re dealing with 19th or 20th-century infrastructure and we’ve got a 21st-century economy,” said Steve Sandherr, Associated General Contractors of America CEO. “We have in some cities water systems that were built in the 1800s, an interstate highway system that was designed in the 1950s, and significant airports that were built in the middle of the last century that all need to be refurbished.” Every inefficiency caused by infrastructure causes the economy to be less productive. “If you have a bridge collapse and trucks have to take a different route that makes goods more expensive. If you have airports that don’t have enough runways, and are congested, that’s a drag on the economy,” said Sandherr. “When you drive on roads that are in bad shape, it causes stress to your vehicle and additional repairs so that’s a drag on the economy. The infrastructure system acts like a skeleton for the economic body. Unless its strong, you’re gonna have challenges to economic sustainability and growth.” In Texas, the water systems are older and locals could be facing a crisis like Flint, Michigan had unless we modernize it. A failure in Texas’ water systems would have similar consequences. This potential crisis could end up similar to what’s happening with Cape Town, South Africa’s water crisis. Cape Town is running out of water. If our water system falls apart, there would be no way supply potable water to everyone who needs it and it would be effectually the same as running out of water. Texas’s water system could have chemicals from the pipes that when the pies were made, wasn’t considered to be a problem. Recently, Cape Town’s credit rating was downgraded because of an imminent President Trump doesn’t want to fund increase in debt to solve the crisis, which could repairs of the Hudson River Tunnel. (Photo potentially cause economic harms because it means buying the bonds are more risky. But, by Maya Mikelson.)
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repair the Tunnel, President Trump may be more inclined to vote against it. That tunnel should have a higher priority than infrastructure in other areas of the country. Infrastructure across the Rust Belt, the Midwest, and much of rural America doesn’t contribute as much to the United States economy as the northeast. But, most of those areas do contribute in the way of agriculture. This may not be a huge burst to the economy, but is where much of the countries’ food is grown, and the countries’ crumbling infrastructure could harm food distribution systems. Infrastructure legislation is generally considered beneficial to the economy. Pena said anything, including reform that creates jobs for people in need of employment and pursuing better paid jobs is essential. New jobs mean people are able to spend more and Congress is considering working on infrastructure put more of their earnings back into legislation. (Photo by Maya Mikelson.) the economy. percent rate that the Federal Reserve considers The current rate of unemployment the natural rate of unemployment. According to is 3.9 percent in the United States, lower than Bloomberg, a low unemployment rate risks the what some economists currently considered economy overheating, and the Federal Reserve without leading to increased inflation. According (Fed) is already raising interest rates to fix the to FiveThirtyEight, members of the federal reserve problem. On March 21, 2018, the Fed raised rates are already concerned at the current rate of by a quarter point. unemployment, because it’s lower than the 4.6 If the unemployment rate decreases much farther, the Fed would be forced to raise interest rates more and possibly cause a recession. If the unemployment rate gets too low, every job that’s added is inefficient because it doesn’t create enough added productivity so every job doesn’t pay for itself. Each job doesn’t hire someone who is unemployed, but hires someone who is already employed in the private sector. Private firms then have a harder time hiring and have to raise wages which increases inflation. Funding for infrastructure now would force the government to pay more for employees, and take them away from the private sector. According to FiveThirtyEight, to fill the government’s construction teams, they would have to hire people from the private sector, igniting a war over the increasingly rare worker and increasing inflation. This would eliminate An intersection at night. (Photo by Maya the benefits of government spending. Mikelson.) Taking workers away from the private sector
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would hurt the economy. According to FiveThirtyEight, the private sector is better at building things that meet private needs, but it generally isn’t as good
A house built by the private sector. Maya Mikelson.) at supplying public goods, like most infrastructure projects because it can’t get paid for them. It is hard to know whether we need more public infrastructure projects like roads, or bridges; or more private construction projects like houses and office buildings. After an influx of workers to the public infrastructure industry, the private sector would no longer be able to manage the demands of the people because those same workers would no longer be working in the private sector. Spending on infrastructure could hurt the economy, but not spending could potentially be worse. According to FiveThirtyEight, government stimulus during the Great Recession was very effective. For every dollar the government spent, it caused $1.50 of economic output. Gabriel Chodorow-Reich, a Harvard economist, estimates that every federal dollar spent now would result in less than a dollar of economic activity, because that money is better spent in the private sector. Jason Furman, an economic adviser for Former President Obama, estimated that infrastructure legislation wouldn’t create any new jobs, it would move jobs from the
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private sector to the public sector. Passing infrastructure reform has been beneficial to the economy in the past, but when people use that as an example, they are omitting the fact that historically when we have engaged in major efforts to revitalize our infrastructure, it has been during recessions when the unemployment rate was much higher. The federal government seems poised to pass reform, if Republicans and Democrats can agree on a deal that President Trump will sign. Some areas of infrastructure spending are critical enough that they are worth the negative macroeconomic effects. Whether or not the government manages to pass infrastructure reform, the condition of the United States will not be in a suitable condition, either from an imminent economic decline, or due to infrastructure’s terrible condition. The best course of action would probably be not to spend too much, but to fix the of our nation that are crumbling (Photo by parts and that are most critical to our future productivity.
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A road with houses that would not have been built without the private sector. (Photo by Maya Mikelson.)
US Statistics
Trends and Stats in Food and Grocery Grocery stores are abundant in the US From small Mom-and-Pop huts to huge mega-compounds, grocery stores are the #1 way of getting food adn groceries in the US, far surpassing online grocery shopping, discount stores, and farmer’s markets.
Supermarkets in the US More than 2/3 of US grocery shoppers go to a supermarket for their groceries.
48M
$683B
38,571
$30.02
Grocery Employees Nationally
Total Supermarket Sales - 2017
Supermarkets in the US
Average sales per customer transaction
Most common items Americans buy a multitude of groceries, from pickled kumquats to prickly pear sodas. However, of the hundereds of thousands of varieties, bread stands out of the most. It is th emost purchased item in US supermarkets, above milk, meat, and cereal, and is abundant in American households.
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The Hummus cuisine on a stormy day. (Photo by Alejandro Cervantes).
Austin Food Culture The Various Foods You Can Find In Austin! by Alejandro Cervantes
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n a winter day, foot traffic was slow for the Hummus Cuisine. The couple working the food truck was serving only one customer but still looked happy making falafel and enjoying light conversation. Exchanging their life stories, and just having a nice time in the cold weather. Food trucks are some of the smallest food businesses, but always seem to be quite welcoming. Austin has a wide variety of food from high-end dining to compact food trucks and delivery. Many take pride in Austin’s
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wide range of food choices. Three food businesses were interviewed about how they struggled to start their business, their current way of running it, and how they view food in Austin. One of the choices of variety in Austin is Chinese food. “Chinese-American food is so well recognized and is so popular in America that we feel that it is almost synonymous with pizza and hamburgers,” said Min Choe, CEO of Tso Delivery. Austin has scores of cultures, and Chinese food is one of the prevalent businesses seen often. Austin is also home to less common
food cultures not seen as often. the Hummus Cuisine is a Lebanese food truck. “I’m from Lebanon. This is our food, the hummus, the thumbuli, all kinds of stuff,” said Charlotte Massaad, Owner of the Hummus Cuisine. Austin provides a platform for all kinds food cultures. “We use the best ingredients we can find,” said Vidal, owner of Valentina’s Tex Mex BBQ. Vidal and many other business owners pride themselves on serving food that is of quality standards.
“My wife Jenna Choe, she is our culinary director and her background is in Chinese American food, and so we took her culinary experience and my passion for business entrepreneurship and you know have the great fortune of having other partners on our team who fill a lot of critical roles in the success of the business” -said Choe. All these businesses have support from family. He believes involving family into work and passion helps to motivate people. It takes a lot of work to run a business. The aspect of family was found in every business, family supports the workings of these businesses. Massaad said she moved from Lebanon 36 years ago. Family drew the Massaad couple to Austin, and here they were able to start the Hummus Cuisine.
A look at the outside of Tso Delivery. (Photo by Alejandro Cervantes).
“I have spent the past 17 years working in food industries and have taken inspiration from everywhere I go. I would have to give credit to my family for allowing me to do this, it is a very time consuming job and they allow me to pride myself on cooking great food for every occasion” -said Miguel Vidal Starting a business can be hard “Number one, you have to have deep deep passion for it. Number two another thing that is very important is you have study what other restaurants have done. Learn and benchmark from other restaurants,” said Choe. A common theme among business owners
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is the struggle of starting. “It took like, a few, three months for people to get to know us,” said Massaad. Starting a business is one of the most challenging obstacles. Starting can be hard but after that it gets easier. It takes a lot of work to start “It’s not uncommon for a business to take anywhere from six months to a year just to get open,” said Choe. A common theme among all the businesses was the time it took to get started. Once they had the idea, it just took time, passion and perseverance to get open. “You have start little bit, little by little and then when you start getting better, more customer, you start going up up, you know up, little by little,” said Massaad. Anyone is able to start a business. Massaad gives simplistic advice to help.
“I’ve taken inspiration from everywhere I go. Moving has helped us to expand,” said Vidal. Businesses can stem from almost any idea. These businesses have stemmed from passion and heritage. Austin has many food trucks. Austin takes pride in the amount of and originality of food trucks all over.
“I love food trucks! I didn’t even know about food trucks untill I open my own. I like it, I enjoy it” -said Massaad. Food trucks are a great way to sell food and stay mobile. “I have one and I love it. It is such a great idea, to be able to put food on wheels,” said Vidal. The food truck allows for one to move to hot spots and stay trendy.
A Picnic table at Valentina’s Tex Mex BBQ. (Photo by Alejandro Cervantes). Spring 2018
Other food styles are delivery. Delivery also has the idea of mobility behind it. Delivery allows people to stay in the comfort of their homes and get the food they enjoy. “Food culture in Austin is one of the best in the country. There’s no doubt about that. It’s got so much versatility. It is very diverse!” said Choe. Food in Austin is quite diverse, and being able to cater to an audience at home helps. Food in Austin is prided by its residents very much, especially food trucks. In all places they were dedicated to their work and helping other customers. Austin food culture has fascinating choices everywhere you go, such as fancy restaurants and quick food trucks, even delivery! Austin prides itself on its food and it’s diversity.
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A view from on comming trafic looking at Valentinas’s Tex Mex BBQ. (Photo by Alejandro Cervantes).
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Customers at Valentina’s Tex Mex BBQ. (Photo by Alejandro Cervantes). 19
How to Start A Business 5 Easy Steps
Step 1
Have a passion for a career
Step 2
Create a business plan
Step 3
Arrange opportunities to finance your business
Step 4
Start to acquire a location
Step 5
Open the doors and start to take in customers
These are some simple steps to help you succeed in a food business. Spring 2018
Here is a picture of the front of Hummus Cuisine after 4 years
Here is a picture of the front of Tso Delivery after 1 year
Here is a picture of the front of Valentinas BBQ after 16 years
ess.
usin starting a b f o s ic s a b e very ll but are th ne form or another. a m s m e e s ps in o nd may ell known a talked about these ste w re a s p te wed These s ple I intervie o e p e th f o All
Scources’ 1. Hummus Cuisine owner Tony Massaad 2. Tso Delivery owner Min Choe 3. Valentinas BBQ’s Morgan Howry
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A cargo vessel carrying containers for a grocery store brand on June 26, 2017. The grocery store “Franprix” is a regional company in Paris, France. (Photo credits: Patrick Haney)
Chow Cops
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Food inspectors and the silent war behind what you eat
man in a white lab coat, with sleek, plastic boots, a clipboard with several crisp pieces of paper, and white canvas pants pushes open the glass door of “The Curry Blend.” The customers don’t seem to mind, and continue eating their meals and socializing. However, the man detects an air of tension radiating from the manager, who is at the register watching him. He is a stocky Indian man, wearing black jeans and a button-down shirt. The man is giving the inspector a look of vulnerability and fear. The man is used to this
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kind of attention. The inspector looks down By Patrick Haney and spots his foot in a puddle of dark-red liquid. He ticks off a box on his checklist. Consumers might not know it, but when they eat, whether at a restaurant, or munching a snack from a store, they’re putting themselves in the middle of a silent war over their safety. Restaurants and food service facilities constantly create ways of jeopardizing customer safety, and while there are some that show impeccable skills at keeping a safe environment, health inspectors still need to watch
over all restaurants. The food on their plates, in their chip bags, or around their Popsicle stick could be contaminated with bacteria, industrial cleaners, and many other toxins. It could get them sick, or kill them. Health in-
spectors in the United States are taming the volatile world of food service, where invisible microbes have more killing power than an M4 carbine, and pests seem to appear out of thin
“Currently, your score must be at or above 70 points. If you score lower than a 70, you have to clean up and get ready for a re-inspection.” air, like in a bag of rice, or sack of potatoes. Travis County has their own Health Inspection team, part of the EHSD, or Environmental Health and Safety Department. Lori Murphy, ESHD supervisor says, “My officers inspect each establishment every 6 months. Each restaurant must apply to and conform to a schedule where officers conduct routine, yet surprise visits to their facility.” When a restaurant is created, they go through many processes and checks to obtain licenses for various permits. During this time, the restaurant is registered with the Environmental Health and Safety Department for periodical
inspections. These inspections are rhythmic, yet unpredictable, and do not happen at an expected time, to use a “surprise” method to not allow restaurants time to prepare and clean up. A 311 operator who was interviewed says that “currently, your score must be at or above 70 points. If you score lower than a 70, you have to clean up and get ready for a re-inspection.” Health inspection papers sometimes can be seen taped to storefront windows with enlarged alphabetic letters on their heading, usually ranging from an A to a C. These are through a point system, where every establishment starts with 100 points, and has points deducted for infractions as the inspection occurs. Like student grades, these scores are categorized into letters, where A represents scores from 90 - 100, and B represents 80 89, and so on. Albert Ortiz, a Travis County workplace inspector, who works closely with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration stated that “I use Hierarchy of Controls to set the foundation for grading. If the controls are in place grading is simple. When controls are not in place you start with Human Life as a priority to address safety areas. Property and equipment take second place of priority after human life protection is addressed.” During inspections, not only of food serving
Heirarchy of Controls chart. (Photo credits: ChemCert) 23
establishments but of any place, inspectors use the “Hierarchy of Controls” method. This is represented as an upside-down pyramid of ways to instilling worker safety in order of least to most effective, from bottom to top. At the bottom, the least effective way to enforce workplace safety is to provide workers with “PPE”, or Personal Protective Equipment. This can mean ear protection, steel toe boots, heavy-duty gloves, and more. This also applies to food service. In a food service environment, one threat to food and workplace safety is undercooking meat, which can leave dangerous pathogens in the meat, posing as a danger to both employees and customers. The most basic and non-effective way to prevent undercooked meat from sickening people is to provide employees with gloves and masks. This is a temporary solution that can lower risk but cannot get rid of it. To entirely remove the risk of
undercooked food sickening people, the hazard must be eliminated: by fully cooking food. Elimination of a hazard is at the top (base) of the pyramid and is the most effective way of preserving workplace safety. But what happens when a hazard is found?
“First and above all employee ownership of their own safety. Once employees place their safety a priority then you enhance the safety program with Hierarchy of Controls.” Minor infractions can just be cleared up after the inspection, including a dirty countertop. However, if there is a greater hazard, like a pest infestation in stored food, everything es-
Grilled Salmon with Indian herbs (Photo credits: Dhruv Ruttala) Spring 2018
calates. “[If that happens,”]”, the 311 operator says, “special actions will be taken and determined back at the health department building. [This can include] fines, license suspension,
and legal action, [among other penalties ]. [Closing a restaurant down is an extreme case], but if the hazard is too great, then this may happen temporarily.” Keep in mind that most penalties don’t result in an establishment closing down. Minor ones can dock off a couple points on a restaurant’s inspection score, but in the case of a pest infestation, as mentioned above, fines will probably be laid down, and the establishment may close for several days while pest control takes care of the infestation. Most establishments in Austin score highly, though, so don’t worry about inspection scores every time at a restaurant, store, or food truck. In the end, “if you see something, say something”. The 311 operator recommends that “health violations can be reported to 311, and an investigation will follow, with an inspector dispatched there. Usually, it’s by a customer who sees a violation, such as a pest, but occasionally we get one from a concerned employee. We encourage facility employees to report any violations they see. Usually, employees are frightened to do so, as they could get fired, but we don’t disclose such information of witnesses to employers and managers.” The customer has the capability to help control the food safety in a food service establishment. Even if they think that it’s “morally wrong” to report the establishment, it still is
important to protect the safety of employees and customers. Ortiz said that “first and above all employee ownership of their own safety. Once employees place their safety a priority then you enhance the safety program with Hierarchy of Controls.” Not all restaurants can depend on customer report`s eliminating hazards. It is part of the employees and managers’ importance to protect the workplace. If they focus on their safety, employees can help find dangerous hazards to eliminate, instead of trying to avoid them, and make the workplace safe overall. For more information about Travis County Health Inspections, visit the Environmental Health and Safety Department’s site at austintexas.gov. The site includes health inspection records, where consumers can look up the current and previous inspection scores of any food service establishment in Travis County.
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Pros Heal th I nspection in Austin No violations means
If a score at or less than
points are given
is given, a re-inspection is required
100
Undercooked food must be announced to the consumer
Self-Service Food Market:
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70
Employees with contagious/impairing medical conditions are excluded from work
+140F
Hairnet
41F to 140F
>41F
No Hand Jewelry Sterile Lab Clothing
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Royal Blue Grocery on 3rd and Brazos St.
The Local Groceries An inside look into the local grocery store of Austin By:Kayla Govea
T
he shelves are stocked with all kinds of food. The store is packed with people picking out all their produce and products to take home to enjoy. There are many local grocery stores here in Austin that get overshadowed by larger scale grocery stores, while also facing many challenges. However, these stores have much to offer including locally sourced products, an appeal to customer needs, and a
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welcoming environment. Since local grocery stores are such small businesses, they are customer oriented and interact well with their community. ¨That sense of community is what, I think, makes it interesting for both the customers and the staff” Peg McCoy, owner of Farm to Market grocery, says.“We sell what our customers want and ask for, when the demand goes away, it leaves our shelves. What we do is very much guided by our customers¨. Craig Sta-
ley, the co-owner of Royal Blue GroRoyal Blue Grocery and Farm to cery said. Market Grocery, as But one thing that comes well as many other as a negative from being grocery stores that “We really love what are locally owned such a small business is how hard it is to comwe do. Feeding peo- here in Austin, sell pete with the larger scale locally sourced prodple is very rewarding, companies.“ It’s that kind ucts in their store. of dynamic about how Since these products hearing that people to provide at this size are being brought love what we do is of a store and with this straight from local a dream come true.” suppliers, the groamount of buying power how to provide the kind cery store doesn’t of prices that people are use pesticides on Craig Staley willing to pay,” Peg Mctheir produce, which Coy states. makes their products The health aspects of cleaner, healthier, and shopping local is another better on the body. key point in why people shop here. These stores have roughly 30%- 40% “The large chain stores have all of locally sourced products in their those bad things that they spray that stores, which is more than larger makes it look pretty and presentable chains have. Shopping at businesses but it’s at the cost of the stuff being like these ¨keeps the money spent heavily sprayed with things you don’t local, supports a business that is want to put in your body,” Allison contributing selection, quality, conDavis, a local grocery store shopper, venience, and neighborhood vitality¨ says. Staley says. Local grocery stores face constant struggles that come along with owning your own businesses, as well as the struggles of owning a small scale grocery store. It is a preconceived notion that owning a small scale business is easy to maintain, but, from what interviews with these businesses showed, that’s far from the case. They have to work hours and hours on end to keep up with the ever changing system of food markets, as well as owning and running a business by themselves. ¨ You know the
Farm to Market Grocery with the sign “ Eat Local “
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first couple years I worked like 80 hours a week and now I still do sixty hours.¨ McCoy says. With being in such a tough line of work, competition occurs especially with larger nationwide chain stores. ¨We have to be perfect in every element of what we do, there is no margin for error. It feels like if we ever stopped trying to be better or just became complacent in how we ran the business, we’d be gone in weeks.¨ Staley says. It’s such a cutthroat line of work because with having a larger chain grocery store everywhere you look, these small business have to keep up with them. Owners of these local grocery businesses face having to compete with the larger chains that are dominating in this business. It is ¨nearly impossible” Staley said, ¨that’s why there are so few businesses out there like ours.
Royal Blue Grocery on 3rd and Brazos St. stocked with food. Spring 2018
We are lucky enough to have figured out a formula that works; location, environment, staffing, selection, and making our own prepared foods are the key elements¨. Since local grocery stores work on a smaller scale and have less buying power than the large chains do, it becomes challenging for these owners to sell and price their products in competition with these supermarket chains. “ It’s that kind of dynamic about how to provide at this size of a store and
What I strive for is to not be fancy but to have good products. - Peg McCoy
with this amount of buying power how to provide the kind of prices that people are willing to pay,” McCoy states. That is why cost is another complication that follows grocery businesses. Many customers complain about the pricing of the products on their shelves. ¨Sure, it is a little more expensive but with the all the pros that they offer, paying some extra cents or dollars is totally worth it,¨ Davis explains. Looking in from the owner‘s point of view, it makes sense as to why some products might cost slightly more than products seen at any other large scale store. They ¨[pay] pennies on what I pay because they buy pallets when I buy a
case and so I’m paying almost what it costs on their floor, so there’s not significant money in it for me to make anyway.¨ McCoy states, ¨I always took offense when people would say ‘oh it’s so expensive’ and I’m like ‘well it costs so much to get.’¨ Despite the challenges they face, local grocery stores continue to work in this line of work because, in the end of the day, they do this because it‘s what they love to do.
Owning a local grocery store business is not easy due to the competitiveness of grocery stores all around, with the addition of the struggles that parallel owning your own businesses. Needless to say, they never cease to try to better themselves with providing products with the customer’s satisfaction at heart. That is what local groceries are all about. ◊
The produce of Farm to Market Grocery on South Congress Ave.
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THE LOCAL GROCERY 18
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Spring 2018
STORES ALL AROUND AUSTIN 1. Avenue B. Grocery 9 am - 6 pm 4403 Avenue B, Austin, TX 78751 (512) 453-3921
2. Farm to Market 8 am - 8 pm 1718 South Congress 78704 (512)462- 7220 peg@fm1718.com
5. The Bee Grocery 7 am - 12 am 8 am - 10 pm on Sunday 1001 E 6th St 78702 (512) 861- 5002
6. Royal Blue Grocery 7 am - 12 am 301 Brazos St Suite 110, 78701 (512) 386-1617
9. Tomgro Grocery 6 am - 10 pm 1313 Montopolis Dr 78741 (512) 385-0799
10. Bread Basket 6 am - 1:34 am closes @ 12 on Sun. 2623 Jones Rd 78745 (512) 892-4829
11. Lone Star Family Market 9 am - 6 pm 512 W Stassney Ln 78745 (512) 383-855
14. All Star Grocery 3 6 am - 12 am 4600 Teri Rd 78744
15. Rabbit Food Grocery 11 am- 7 pm 12 - 5 pm Sun. 2210 S 1st St 78704 (512)666-8638
13. Barton Food Mart 7 am - 12 am 7:30 - 12 am on weekends 1500 Spyglass Dr 78746 (512)327-5145
17. David’s Food 912 W Mary St 78704 (512) 443-1057
18. The Corner Market 9 am - 11 pm 10 am - 8 am sundays 11010 Domain Dr (512) 834-4100
3. in.gredients 4. Dia’s Market 9am- 10am 8 am - 9 pm closes at 9 on Sun. 9 am - 6pm on 2610 Manor Rd Sundays 78722 812 Justin Ln (512) 275-6357 78757 feedback@in.gredients.com (512) 520-5115 7. Nungent Grocery 6 am - 12 am 808 Justin Ln 78757 (512) 371-8991
8. Fresh Plus Grocery 8 am - 10 pm 2401 San Gabriel St 78705 (512)524-1394
12. Westlake Grocery 7 am - 10 pm Sunday: 9 am - 9 am 96 Redbud Trail 78746 (512) 328-0463
16. Jester Market 7 am - 11 pm 8 am - 10 pm on Sun 6507 Jester Blvd #101 78750 (512)231-0802 h4equities.com
19. Speedway Market Monday - Friday:10 am –12 am Saturday: 9 am–1 am Sunday: 9 am – 12 am 104 E 31st St # A 78705 (512) 478-1320 10 am – 12 am
Sources: Gang, Soap Factory. “Neighborhoods of Austin Poster.” Soap Factory Gang “Grocery Stores Austin, TX.” Google Maps, www.google.com/maps/search/grocery+stores/@30.3093877,-97.6865118,13z/data=!3m1!4b1. “Grocery Stores Austin, TX.” Yelp, www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=Grocery%2BStore&find_loc=Mueller%2C%2BAustin%2C%2BTX&start=30&l=g%3A-97.64869378691407%2C30.34667622212974%2C-97 .75169061308594%2C30.257751243532237.
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Dear Reader,
Thank you for reading this edition of “The Begonia.� At the beginning of 2018, we showed up to third and seventh period Ezine with only a small idea of what we wanted to work on and what we were going to be doing. Weekly we came to class, ready to work and excited to be learning how to make a magazine. We all had different ideas of what we wanted to write and learn about. Infrastructure and food became something that everyone in the group could find something that interested them. Those may not sound similar, but infrastructure is defined by Merriam-Webster as the resources required for an activity, which would include food, food distribution and what is traditionally considered under the umbrella of infrastructure. We started off the year learning how to use applications like Adobe Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator; we are now producing a magazine. We learned how to interview professionals, ask questions, write, edit and design. These skills will continue to benefit us as we move forward in life and school. None of us may take another Graphic Design class, but these skills will continue to serve us well. Writing is helpful is almost any field you go into and for the rest of our experience in school; being able to ask good and well thought out questions is important. We all created ideas for alternative story forms that paired well with our article topic ideas, and conveyed a message through images and charts instead of words. It was an interesting experience, thinking about creative ways to express data and facts. After we finished them, we submitted them and then made edits from the feedback we received. Writing the feature article was a favorite part of the process for some. After deciding the general topic of our magazine, we all came up with ideas for who we could interview. Some of us had trouble getting responses and scheduling times around school. After some challenges, we all had our interviews lined up, and then recorded. Using the information we gained we came up with ideas for our article. After extensive editing, what you read, are our final articles.
Thanks, The Begonia Staff
Spring 2018
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The Begonia Spring 2018
June 2018