TOP STORIES

Out of Work and Tips, Restaurant Workers Face Their Own Coronavirus Crisis

Many servers and bartenders who have lost work amid the coronavirus outbreak are now contending with a challenging economic reality: how to make up for lost tips.

Take Ian Prebo. On a good night, Mr. Prebo was making $400 in tips bartending at Seattle's Blue Moon Tavern, which closed this month after a patron caught Covid-19. Since then, like many bars and restaurants across the country, Blue Moon Tavern -- which can't provide takeout or delivery -- has remained shut.

Red Robin Reaches Standstill Pact With Vintage Capital >RRGB

Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Inc. on Friday said it has reached a standstill agreement with Vintage Capital Management LLC that averts a proxy battle with the private-equity firm, which holds an 11.6% stake in the restaurant chain.

Red Robin said it has agreed to name restaurant-industry executive Anthony Ackil to its board--the fifth independent director it has added in the past eight months.

STORIES OF INTEREST

U.S. Further Eases Curbs on Seasonal Worker Visas During Coronavirus

WASHINGTON -- The State Department is further easing requirements on seasonal foreign worker visas, following agriculture industry warnings that a bottleneck created by coronavirus-related curbs could prompt a farm-labor shortage at the peak of spring harvest.

Under the latest rules, which the State Department issued Thursday, most applicants will no longer need an in-person interview to get visas for farm or other seasonal work, such as landscaping, fishing or working at resorts. That requirement had slowed the number of workers entering the U.S. The State Department paused most visa processing in embassies and consulates abroad due to the pandemic.

Cheesecake Factory Shares Down 14% After Furloughing Employees

The Cheesecake Factory Inc. shares were down 14% to $16.87 after the company said, that due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, its chief executive and other named executive officers have elected to reduce their 2020 base salaries by 20%, effective April 1.

The restaurant company also said in a filling that its board of directors will take a 20% reduction in annual cash retainer fees.

Cheesecake Factory said it has reduced pay for all corporate employees and bakery administration employees by graduated amounts of between 10% and 20%.

FUTURES MARKETS

Hogs Finish Limit Down, Cattle Comes Close -- Market Talk

15:25 ET - Lean hogs on the CME finished the day limit down, dropping down 4.5 cents per pound -- or 6.6% -- to 64.25 cents per pound Friday. Meanwhile, live cattle futures dropped 4.4% to 89.425 cents per pound, coming close to its own extended 4.5 cent limit. For hogs, the main reason for today's drop was news of a bigger hog supply in the US than previously expected, according to the USDA's hogs and pigs report released Thursday. "One number that stood out to analysts was the size of the US pig litter increased 3% in the past year, and now averages 11 pigs per litter," says Karl Setzer of AgriVisor. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com; @kirkmaltais)

CASH MARKETS

 
Estimated U.S. Pork Packer Margin Index is currently unavailable. 
 
 
Beef-O-Meter 
This report compares the USDA's latest beef carcass composite 
values as a percentage of their respective year-ago prices. 
 
                                 Beef 
          For Today             Choice  111.2 
      (Percent of Year-Ago)     Select  110.4 
 
USDA Boxed Beef, Pork Reports 

Wholesale choice-grade beef prices Friday fell 73 cents per hundred pounds, to $252.84, according to the USDA. Select-grade prices rose 21 cents per hundred pounds, to $242.38. The total load count was 124.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 27, 2020 17:48 ET (21:48 GMT)