Dine Roundup: Dinner Lab downsizing staff; Zocalisa store closes
Dinner Lab start-up downsizes its staff
Dinner Lab, a membership-based pop-up dinner company, is reorienting its business model after discovering profits were hard to turn on its previous model.
The company is laying off 30 employees from full-time positions and is shifting to a contract-based model for its events staff, which means employees will be paid by the hour instead of a salary. This allows the company, its owners say, to operate more like Uber, which pays employees per ride.
The company throws dinner parties with up-and-coming local chefs at nontraditional locations in 31 cities—including Baton Rouge as well as New Orleans (where Dinner Lab got its start).
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Chocolate shop Zocalisa closes its storefront location
Zocalisa Fine Chocolates & Gelato, a small store selling in-house craft chocolates and hand-mixed gelato, closed its storefront location in Southgate Village on Burbank Drive on Christmas Eve.
The business is shifting its focus to the LSU AgCenter Food Incubator to refine its chocolate and caramel productions and drop gelato from the menu.
Zocalisa will remain in full operation during its tenure in the incubator, and customers can order sweets online or by calling owner Jeff Dickey.
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