How Califia Farms is growing its funding and portfolio in a pandemic

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How Califia Farms is growing its funding and portfolio in a pandemic

As coronavirus has ramped up demand for plant-based foods and beverages, companies are working to keep shelves stocked and figure out what to launch next. 

In the midst of the pandemic, Califia Farms unveiled its new vegan butter line at Whole Foods in May. The launch of its plant-based butter, which is made with avocado or olive oil, cashews, tiger nuts and nutritional yeast, comes after Califia Farms raised $225 million in a massive funding round earlier this year. 

Greg Steltenpohl, CEO and co-founder of Califia Farms, spoke to Food Dive about the growth of the plant-based dairy space and how the company is launching products and raising funds during a pandemic. And as protests against systemic racism have popped up across the nation, Steltenpohl also spoke about choosing to pause promotion efforts during this tumultuous time. This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

Food Dive: Why launch the plant-based butter product now and how does it stand out from the competition?

GREG STELTENPOHL: Califia is really unique in that it’s a 100% plant-based company, which compared to most of our competitors, which are actually owned or are very large multinational companies like Danone, Nestlé or PepsiCo and Starbucks, which has a joint venture, … these companies have very diverse portfolios. So what makes Califia really unique is our independent company status that’s 100% plant based. Our whole purpose is to try to bring a wide set of alternatives across the whole dairy landscape.

Permission granted by Greg Steltenpohl via Califia Farms

 

Butter is a pretty high volume category for the supermarket… So we looked at it and we said there were three big factors driving it. One, our brand was built to travel across the dairy case. B, there is a definite need amongst plant-based consumers or plant-centric consumers to have a great solution for a vegan or plant-based butter. And then thirdly, what I mentioned earlier is that it’s a large and important category to the retailer and the consumer. And for us being a smaller company, it’s an opportunity to expand our presence and awareness in that dairy case. 

What are the challenges and benefits of launching a product in a pandemic?

STELTENPOHL: We’ve all seen in the last week of social unrest, life under COVID is not a cut and dry thing. It’s not like, ‘Oh it’s COVID, so therefore X, Y or Z.’ … The truth is that the beginning, in the first month of COVID, all innovation launches were out the window. In fact, I would say almost the first two months, and retailers had no mindshare for either having a conversation about the future, or trying to address anything else except making sure they were delivering fulfillment of their current product allocations. In fact, many retailers were asking producers, like us and other brands, to cut down on the number of SKUs that they were shipping, so that they could have the warehouse space for the highest velocity items. 

The COVID that we’re in now has morphed a little bit. Both our social listening and consumer insights have shown Califia that people have evolved from comfort foods, which is where they had familiarity and comfort and convenience, which was the first month and a half of COVID and quarantine. Well, the result is weight gain, waistline enlargement, people not getting quite as much exercise as they used to and also getting tired of the same old thing that they were always buying.

So now, all of a sudden, we’ve been getting a lot of calls from retailers around what’s next and what can Califia deliver on innovation this year. And I think what we’ve heard back from those retailers that they love the idea of having an incredibly active holiday season. And as you’ve probably heard the cliche things, it’s sold out of bread making kits and yeast so at least we know a lot of Americans know how to make banana bread by now. I think this reexposure to baking and reexposure to home cooking has stimulated people’s curiosity about cooking with vegan and plant-based recipes more…. So we think it’s actually an incredible time to launch a plant butter. We will be taking this on the road to conventional retailers before the end of the year as well and they’re pretty excited about giving their shoppers a little bit more variety on the shelf.

Now with everything happening with the protests, how do you market new products in a time like this?

STELTENPOHL: I think every brand should be asking themselves some hard questions about that. So the truth is that we actually stopped at this point in our development, we have stopped all social media production of any paid advertisement of any kind. Actually, whether it’s social, digital or non-digital because I guess there’s no other way to put it, it doesn’t feel right in the face of the sensitivity and pain that people are feeling around these critical issues, which have been ignored for a long time. That’s my personal viewpoint, and I think all of our folks in the marketing group, just felt like not advertising was a better statement around solidarity with what a lot of our core shoppers and consumers feel right now.

It’s hard for me to make a business case study out of that and say, ‘Oh this is the way for long-term loyalty’ because we’re in uncharted territory to be honest with you. Our brand was named after a beautiful black queen so it’s pretty hard for us to act like none of this is happening. [The brand’s name comes from the mythical warrior Queen Califia.] And I think that actually our company internally is inspired for change and inspired to make deeper commitments to support these communities that have been not just underserved but persecuted and that includes a lot of people of color as well. There’s a lot of Latino communities in California that have very difficult access to healthy food, just like the African American community does. So we think food justice is also going to emerge as a topic of conversation after the emotions and the rawness of the moment move into more action orientations. 

How does the $225 million financing round secured earlier this year help the company’s growth goals?

STELTENPOHL: Well the company has different uses for capital and half of it went to buy out some shareholders so that we could have a greater alignment around the long-term vision for the company. And we also have applied some of that funding towards capital projects that will help us be able to compete against these bigger companies, the so-called Big Food.

There are a lot of structural advantages that large companies have and to be very blunt with you about innovation launches, Califia is fortunate to have survived COVID with a very good performance record of delivering on time and serving these bigger retailers like Kroger, Publix, Target and so on. And many small brands couldn’t do that either because their funding was interrupted, they just didn’t have the scale to negotiate with pressurized private contractors and so on. It’s been a very tough time for some smaller brands to launch innovation items at the same time. And so I think this turbulence of the period we are in has benefited the larger companies.

Califia is just on the cusp of being a fly on the back of the elephant — at least we’re in a place that they can’t quite swat us off at this point. I’m very proud of the fact that we earned that. The company is 10 years old this year and our team worked hard to earn a place of trust with retailers. So my encouragement for younger brands is to have the tenacity and resiliency and have those goals be on par with your passion and innovation.

Califia Farms

 

Califia Farms has launched a variety of products in the last year, like protein-enriched oat beverages and now plant-based butter. How do you decide what products to add to your portfolio?

STELTENPOHL: We do a tremendous amount of listening, both social listening and behavioral observation. And we synthesize that with data that we look at on a global basis around where trends are going and when there is what we feel is kind of a tipping point. Not that a tipping point has happened because that’s when everybody else jumps in. Like in surfing, my son surfs and I surfed a bit when I was younger, but you have a place on the wave and you have to paddle and get out there earlier to earn your place on the wave. And if you pick the right spot and if you paddle at the right time, you will get on that wave in a very good position. And so, in picking innovation, I think you have to look at what we call foresight, which is based upon deep listening and consumer behavior observation, with the insights of data and then the secret sauce is the third thing, which is what we call product vision… You have to have a vision of something that even the consumer hasn’t quite even seen themselves yet.

What do you expect to see from the future of the plant-based industry? Will this growth rate continue? 

STELTENPOHL: Yes, very much so [expect growth to continue]. We do see the tipping point of the decline of animal agriculture as a preferred form of eating in developed countries. We see that rate of decline steepening. And we also see that COVID has provided increased tailwind for people synthesizing the connection between planetary impact or footprint, the more carbon dioxide, lower water usage, lower land use and personal health — meaning lower calorie, lower sugars, lower unhealthy fats, less processed ingredients and actually higher quality nutrition. 

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1.5 Million More Laid-Off U.S. Workers Seek Unemployment Benefits

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1.5 Million More Laid-Off U.S. Workers Seek Unemployment Benefits

WASHINGTON (AP) — About 1.5 million laid-off workers applied for U.S. unemployment benefits last week, evidence that many Americans are still losing their jobs even as the economy appears to be slowly recovering with more businesses partially reopening.

The latest figure from the Labor Department marked the 10th straight weekly decline in applications for jobless aid since they peaked in mid-March when the coronavirus hit hard. Still, the pace of layoffs remains historically high.

The total number of people who are receiving unemployment aid fell slightly, a sign that some people who were laid off when restaurants, retail chains and small businesses suddenly shut down have been recalled to work.

Last week’s jobs report showed that employers added 2.5 million jobs in May, an unexpected increase that suggested that the job market has bottomed out.

But the recovery has begun slowly. Though the unemployment rate unexpectedly declined from 14.7%, it is still a high 13.3%. And even with the May hiring gain, just one in nine jobs that were lost in March and April have returned. Nearly 21 million people are officially classified as unemployed.

But that doesn’t capture the full scope of the damage to the job market. Including those the government said were erroneously categorized as employed in the May jobs report and those who lost jobs but didn’t search for new ones, 32.5 million people are out of work, economists estimate.

Thursday’s report also shows that an additional 706,000 people applied for jobless benefits last week under a new program for self-employed and gig workers that made them eligible for aid for the first time. These figures aren’t adjusted for seasonal variations, so the government doesn’t include them in the official count.

In February, the economy fell into a deep recession, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the association of economists that is the official arbiter of recessions. The Federal Reserve estimated Wednesday that the economy will shrink 6.5% this year. That would be, by far, the deepest annual contraction on records dating to World War II.

Even as restaurants, bars and gyms reopen, they are doing so at lower capacity. And consumer spending on such services remains far below what it was before the viral outbreak.

Unemployment benefits are providing significant support for jobless Americans, with total payments having reached $94 billion in May — six times the previous record set in 2010 just after the previous recession. This time, the benefits include an additional $600 a week from the federal government.

But that extra benefit is set to end July 31, and the Trump administration opposes extending it. Its opposition has set up a possible clash with House Democrats, who have approved legislation to extend the $600-a-week in federal benefits for an additional six months.

Republicans in Congress argue that the extra $600, which comes on top of state benefits that average about $375 nationwide, means many of the unemployed are receiving more money from jobless benefits than they earned at their old jobs. Republicans argue that this discourages people from returning to work.

Studies suggest that roughly two-thirds of the recipients are receiving total unemployment aid that exceeds their previous paychecks. But many workers are also wary about returning to their old jobs for fear of contracting the virus. And recipients who receive aid can lose their benefits if they turn down job offers.

Karin Jensen of Concord, California, has been out of work since being laid off from a managerial position with Men’s Wearhouse in late March. Jensen, 27, says she plans to return to her job whenever she is called back and is grateful that her company is continuing employee health care in the meantime.

Jensen acknowledged that receiving the extra $600 has made her less eager to return to work because she is among recipients whose total benefits exceed their former income. But she’s also worried about returning to retail work.

“I’d be in close contact with people,” Jensen said. “We have to measure customers, actually touch them. There’s no way we could do any minimum social distancing if we were to return to business as usual. I’m more than a little uneasy about it.”

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Revealing how a children’s hospital coped with the Great Flu

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Revealing how a children’s hospital coped with the Great Flu

Dr Barry Kennerk, Resident Historian and Archivist at Temple Street Children’s Hospital, records how entries in a diary at the Irish Sisters of Charity Archive shed light on a forgotten, yet traumatic, aspect of the hospital’s history — the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919

Dr Barry Kennerk

The familiar blue-painted door at Temple Street Children’s University Hospital in Dublin is now closed for much of the day, apart from an hour in the morning when the post is delivered. It will remain so for the duration of the coronavirus outbreak. Inside the darkened front hall hangs a painting of Mother Mary Aikenhead, foundress of the Irish Sisters of Charity. She presides benignly over the unnatural gloom and as I arrived for work yesterday, I wondered what would she, and the order of nuns she founded, have made of the Covid-19 crisis?

A strong track record
Long before the Irish Sisters of Charity established Temple Street Hospital in 1872, they already had a strong track record in the provision of medical care. During the 19th century, they dealt with successive outbreaks of cholera and typhus and when influenza struck in October 1918, (misnamed ‘Spanish Flu’) the community annalist kept a diary.

Her loose-bound notes, held at the Sisters of Charity Archive in Sandymount, serve to demonstrate the order of nuns’ resilience and fortitude in the face of great personal risk. Between 1918 and 1919, over 20,000 Irish people were killed by the Great Flu and according to an official estimate, a further 800,000 fell ill. Worldwide, a staggering 40 to 100 million people were killed by a pandemic that scourged the globe in three or four waves. When the outbreak reached Irish shores in May 1918, the country was already geared for adversity, albeit of a different kind. In late 1914, Belgian refugees arrived via Red Cross ships and some of them needed medical care at Temple Street. By the end of that year, the wartime privation had become so severe that the matron, Miss Margaret O’Flynn described it as having ‘thrown an enormous burden on the resources of the hospital’.

Easter Week 1916 exacted a particularly exhausting toll due to the stream of wounded adults and children, but a still greater challenge lay ahead.

In early October 1918, over a space of just 24 hours, 12 of the 18 domestic staff at Temple Street took sick with influenza along with six nuns and a number of nurses. At that time, there were just two staff nurses and 16 students or ‘probationers’ in the building so the temporary loss of even a few of these would have made a significant difference to the hospital’s ability to cope. Soon, the institution was stretched to breaking point and as the diarist recalled: “Those who were on their feet were tired to the utmost… whole families were coming in. We were reduced to putting babies in clothes baskets at the fire for no care was refused, though where to put them was often a puzzle.”

Response
The treatment options varied; brandy and opium to relieve pain and beef tea to strengthen the constitution. However, in the face of complications caused by secondary pneumonia, the best treatment, then as now, was excellent nursing care.

During the outbreak, the streets around Temple Street Hospital were sprayed with a solution of Jeyes Fluid and carbolic acid and by early November, 50 people were being buried at Glasnevin Cemetery every day (the usual number was about 12). The relatively youthful tenement community was particularly vulnerable because, unlike the Covid-19 outbreak, the disease affected two age groups in particular — children and young adults. Many of the children who contracted it lost their hair and it made their throats too sore to swallow food.

Some people tried to treat themselves with hot towels, whiskey and quinine, and the nuns from Gardiner Street did their part by visiting families. They brought many of the children back to Temple Street and afterwards one of the nuns recalled:

“It was pitiful to see an old granny turning up as the sole survivor to rear the little orphans… Thank God we did not lose any of the sisters or the nurses although some of them were very bad with pneumonia and were anointed.”

The medical advice, given by Dublin’s Chief Medical Officer, Sir Charles Cameron, was for people to stay indoors until the peak of the crisis had passed. Some bacteriologists advised the public to avoid crowds (particularly in confined spaces), to eat well and spray rooms with oils of eucalyptus or peppermint.

However, as the month went on, there were also calls upon the Government to conduct a thorough scientific investigation and to devise an effective vaccine. Initially, schools were kept open in Dublin.

Instead, they continued to limp on with half-empty classes. However, as the crisis took hold, many of them closed their doors and at Ravenswell in Bray, the Sisters of Charity converted one of their schools into a makeshift hospital for children. As the outbreak worsened, the wards at Temple Street were completely crowded. The sisters encountered cases where: “Father, mother and all the children were prostrate with the flu and in order to try and save the parents, they [the Sisters of Charity from Gardiner Street] would bring the children in a cab to us.”

Tubercular bone disease upsurge
Through unfortunate bad timing, Temple Street Hospital was also dealing with an upsurge in cases of tubercular bone disease; more common in children because it did not tend to settle in one place in the body as it did in adults.

It was now crucial to isolate infectious patients from other healthy children in the hospital, so the sisters prepared a 12-bed fever ward for influenza sufferers and moved the TB cases out to their newly opened hospital in Cappagh. They later recalled: “However, we found this number quite inadequate and we felt we could not cope with the number of cases so with the Mother General’s permission, three huts were purchased from the American Naval Station at Queenstown. They cost £290. These huts merely acted as a shell as concrete foundations had to be laid and the huts laid on walls and concrete four feet high. We used two of them for wards.”

‘An awful epidemic’
There was a third wave of influenza cases during the spring of 1919 and in the aftermath, the Sisters at Temple Street described the preceding months as “an awful epidemic”. It had completely upended normal routines and had tested hospital staff to the limit.

Nor was the impact simply felt locally; it could sometimes have farther-reaching consequences.

For instance, when a 21-year-old schoolteacher from Tipperary named Margaret Boylan died in November 1918, her friend, Maggie Callan, a young nurse from Temple Street, sent a message of condolence to the funeral.

When I left the hospital yesterday evening, I once again read the Sisters of Charity motto in Latin over the doorway of the Outpatients Department: ‘Caritas Christi urget nos’ (Christ’s love compels us). Across the lane, that sentiment is echoed by a colourful notice, newly daubed on a wall outside the Emergency Department: ‘Not all superheroes wear capes’; a secular motto for a more secular age perhaps, but I think Mary Aikenhead would be proud.

Her legacy is in safe hands.

Dr Barry Kennerk, PhD, is Resident Historian and Archivist at Temple Street Children’s Hospital.

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Flamur Beqiri murder: Swedish kickboxer in court accused of Christmas Eve murder in Battersea

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Flamur Beqiri murder: Swedish kickboxer in court accused of Christmas Eve murder in Battersea

A Swedish kickboxer has appeared in court accused of carrying out the Christmas Eve murder of a man in front of his wife and young child in south London.

Anis Fouad Hemissi, 22, allegedly gunned down fellow Swede Flamur Beqiri on the doorstep of his home in Battersea, south London, in an “organised hit”.

The 36-year-old was shot multiple times as the family returned to the property at about 9pm.

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Mr Beqiri was shot dead in front of his Battersea home

It is claimed the defendant flew into the UK four days before with the sole purpose of “executing” Mr Beqiri, before travelling to Denmark.

Mr Beqiri, who had Albanian heritage, had been living in London for a few years and reportedly ran a record label at the time he was killed.

According to reports, Mr Beqiri is the brother of former Real Housewives Of Cheshire star Misse Beqiri.

He met his wife, Debora Krasniqi, at his sister’s wedding. The couple married at the Villa d’Este, a five-star hotel in Cernobbio, by Lake Como in Italy, in October 2018.

Hemissi was arrested at Copenhagen Airport on 20 January and extradited to the UK on Monday.

He was brought before the Old Bailey in central London on Thursday to face charges of murder and possession of a firearm.

The case was adjourned by Judge Angel Rafferty QC until 27 August, and Hemissi was remanded in custody.

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Intuit Shows Why D&I Remains Important In Maintaining An Inclusive Culture

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Intuit Shows Why D&I Remains Important In Maintaining An Inclusive Culture

No matter how tumultuous are the current events of the day, an organization is only as strong and resilient as the culture it fosters for its employees.

In our video above, produced in partnership with PwC’s CEO Action Coalition for Diversity and Inclusion, Cherise Slover shows how she acted to create programs that foster a culture of inclusion for the LGBTQIA community at Intuit.

During her time as a senior CX specialist for Intuit, Slover realized that she wanted to start a family with her partner, but, due to the limitations of Intuit’s parental leave policy at the time, she learned that she didn’t qualify for any benefits or time off.

“Non-same-sex couples get to take six months off to spend with their new child, and I get to get my two weeks of vacation time,” she says.

It was nearly a deal-breaker for her, but rather than leave the company, Slover decided to create the culture she wanted to see, and she found that senior leadership was more than willing to support her.

“We always talk about diversity as a fact, but inclusion is a choice,” Sasan Goodarzi, Intuit’s CEO says. “If anyone ever has the courage to come into my office and say, ‘I want to drive change,’ my job is to make sure they have everything at their fingertips, because you can’t just say you want to create an inclusive environment and make it so.”

“Coming from the bottom up and trying to drive that change from the top down was very, very scary,” Slover says, but now, as the global pride chair for Intuit, she has turned trepidation into action by building a network that includes programs such as the Ally program, a multi-level inclusion training that teaches team members how to provide safe spaces so that everyone feels empowered to bring their full selves to work. And to Slover’s surprise, it “spread like wildfire.” 

“I just wanted to make a change for our company and our community,” Slover says. “I didn’t realize it would have a complete ripple effect across the entire industry.”

Watch the video above to see how Goodarzi, Slover and the rest of Intuit worked together to create a company culture for good.

PwC’s new series, “Act On Change,” produced in association with the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™, highlights the many ways companies and their leaders are affecting change for a more diverse, inclusive and better future. With more than 900 CEOs that have taken the pledge, CEO Action is the largest CEO-led business coalition focused on advancing diversity and inclusion in the U.S. To learn more, visit CEOAction.com.

This article was paid for by PwC and co-created by RYOT Studio. HuffPost editorial staff did not participate in the creation of this content.



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Gulabo Sitabo to stream with subtitles in 16 languages

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Gulabo Sitabo to stream with subtitles in 16 languages

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Gulabo Sitabo will premiere with approximately 16 language subtitles.

The Amitabh Bachchan-Ayushmann Khurrana starrer “Gulabo Sitabo” will premiere digitally with over 14 language subtitles, including Arabic, Russian, Polish and German. The Shoojit Sircar directorial, which was scheduled to get a theatrical release, is headed to a streaming platform as cinema halls remain shut amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The film will premiere with approximately 16 language subtitles. It will be available in Arabic, Russian, Polish, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Indonesian, Malay, Korean, Greek, Hebrew, Turkish along with English upon its release on June 12.

In “Gulabo Sitabo”, scripted by Juhi Chaturvedi, Bachchan is seen as Mirza, landlord of an old dilapidated ‘haveli’ in the heart of Lucknow, named Fatima Mahal, while Ayushmann is his shrewd tenant, Baankey. Their situation is akin to that of Tom and Jerry, with witty banter adding to the quirk factor of the script.

The slice-of-life dramedy, which is produced by Ronnie Lahiri and Sheel Kumar, will stream on Amazon Prime Video.

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#CMU – High-Level Forum pushes for the completion of the Capital Markets Union

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#CMU – High-Level Forum pushes for the completion of the Capital Markets Union

The High-Level Forum (HLF) on Capital Markets Union (CMU) has published its final report on the EU’s Capital Markets Union. It sets out a series of recommendations aimed at moving the EU’s capital markets forward. Completing the CMU has now become particularly urgent in order to speed up the EU’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

A fully-fledged CMU would help rebuild the EU’s economy, by providing new funding sources for businesses and investment opportunities for Europeans. It will be vital for mobilizing much-needed long-term investments in new technologies and infrastructure, to tackle climate change and to deliver Europe’s New Green Deal and Digital Agenda. In today’s final report, the HLF proposes 17 inter-connected ‘game changers’ – measures the EU needs to urgently implement in order to remove the biggest barriers in its capital markets.

Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said: “The Capital Markets Union is a major element of our post-coronavirus recovery strategy. Savers and investors will play a vital role in getting the economy moving again and they need to have the confidence to invest through capital markets. And companies need to be able to access diversified sources of market-based financing anywhere in the EU. The Capital Markets Union can be a game changer provided we now make meaningful progress – the High-Level Expert Group has provided valuable input to make this happen. The Commission will now carefully consider each of the recommendations ahead of the next CMU Action Plan in early autumn.”

Thomas Wieser, chairman of the forum, added: “The report does not contain abstract ideas or high-level principles that should be achieved. Rather, it has very precise and clear recommendations on what should be done in order to move Europe forward. We emphasize that this is not a menu from which one can order two or three courses, and go home satisfied. The 17 clusters of measures are mutually reinforcing, and dependent on each other.”

The HLF is made up of 28 high-level capital markets experts. Between now and 30 June, Commission services will seek feedback from stakeholders on the report.

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More dental care available in Wales from July

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More dental care available in Wales from July

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Andrew Goodall said people who have experience problems will be offered help first

More dental care will be available for patients from 1 July, the chief executive of NHS Wales has confirmed.

Andrew Goodall said people who have experienced problems during lockdown will be offered help first.

“A wide range of care will be available at most local dental practices for patients who urgently need them,” he said.

But the restoration of services needed to be gradual, he said at the daily Welsh Government press briefing.

Routine activity had stopped during the pandemic because many dental procedures use drills and other tools that create spray, leading to a higher risk of transmission of the virus.

“The restoration of dental services needs to be gradual to continue to protect dental practice staff and patients,” Dr Goodall said.

It is not expected that routine dentistry such as fillings will be available until 2021, however.

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Routine dentistry is not expected to be back up and running until 2021

The Welsh Government has faced calls to reopen surgeries from dentists themselves, who warned of an impending health “disaster”.

Dr Goodall said the plan was to restart services in three phases, with the first beginning in July.

“The group of people who have experienced problems during lockdown will be offered assessment and care first,” he said.

“We will progress based on urgency and patient need until the restoration of routine check-ups in the final phase.”

Further phases will be “about restoring activities in different ways”, Mr Goodall said, adding he hoped routine assessments could be restored.

Despite the pandemic, Dr Goodall said dentists had been open when necessary for urgent care, with 11,500 people seen and 140,000 consultations done remotely.

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Image caption

Routine dental procedures have been cancelled during the pandemic

Meanwhile Dr Goodall reiterated that a “cautious approach” will be needed to easing any lockdown restrictions.

The chief executive responded to a question as to whether so-called “social bubbles”, introduced in England, would be part of the next lockdown review.

Dr Goodall said: “We’ll be approaching the next phase of lockdown review through next week in particular, and the first minister alongside the cabinet will be reviewing any opportunities to see what the next steps are for lockdown restrictions”.

The next lockdown announcement in Wales is expected on 19 July.

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Milap Zaveri says John Abraham starrer Satyameva Jayate 2 can’t roll without cinematographer and the stunt directors : Bollywood News – Bollywood Hungama

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Milap Zaveri says John Abraham starrer Satyameva Jayate 2 can’t roll without cinematographer and the stunt directors : Bollywood News – Bollywood Hungama

Filmmaker Milap Zaveri was looking forward to the shooting of Satyameva Jayate 2 with John Abraham and Divya Khosla Kumar from April 10, 2020. Amid nationwide lockdown due to the outbreak of coronavirus, the shoots have been halted in the country. With restrictions being lifted slowly, shootings will resume soon adhering to government guidelines.

While the makers are currently working on procuring permission to shoot in Filmcity Mumbai, the filmmaker is in dilemma since the cinematographer, Sujith Vaassudev, and action director duo Anbu-Arivu are in Kerala and Chennai, respectively. He can’t think of beginning the shoot since the action directors are required. Once they receive the permission, they’ll have to arrange for their travel to Mumbai. Even after they land, they’ll be in 14-day mandatory quarantine before they can go on set to work.

Anbu-Ariva have worked on several South films. Milap Zaveri was mighty impressed with their work in KGF Chapter 1. They worked in Mumbai Saga with John Abraham and the actor loved their work. So they decided to rope the action director duo. The director revealed that they have choreographed several bare body action scenes for John.

Satyameva Jayate 2 is set for October 2, 2020 release.

ALSO READ: John Abraham and Emraan Hashmi’s Mumbai Saga to resume shooting with 12-day schedule in Hyderabad

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€75m childcare package skimpy, providers warn

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€75m childcare package skimpy, providers warn

Seas Suas describes plans to reopen childcare facilities as “short-sighted, confusing and lacking in detail’

Almost double the €75 million promised to the childcare sector was required if keep creches used by healthcare workers were to stay open after the summer, providers have warned.

Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Katherine Zappone yesterday (June 10) announced the funding package to help childcare facilities closed during the pandemic reopen on June 29.

But the association of independent early learning and care providers, Seas Suas, has described the plans as “short-sighted, confusing and lacking in detail”.

A Seas Suas spokesperson also said the proposals showed a lack of understanding in Government of the problems facing the sector at this time, warning that they estimated €130m was needed to keep creches operating until the end of the year.

“The average creche cares for approximately 40 children,” the spokesman said.

“For the period of this funding package, occupancy levels will fall to as low as 10 children with only one in four returning. With demand down and costs significantly up for at least six months, this funding will quickly run out.

Warning the bailout money could be gone by the end of August, the spokesperson added: “The crisis in childcare is not about reopening, it’s about staying open.”

“Staying open over the next six months when demand is down and costs are up is the challenge,” he continued.

“In our own detailed submission to both the Departments of Children and Youth Affairs and Public Expenditure and Reform, we estimated that support of €130m over six months to the end of this year is required.”

In a statement, a spokesman for Minister Zappone recognised that a reduced number of children were likely to attend early learning and childcare (ELC) services in the initial weeks of reopening.

“This necessitates a tailored model, which will allow providers to operate with less parental income,” the spokesman added.

“It will also ensure that childcare providers will not have to charge higher fees than they did pre-Covid-19, even though the costs of providing childcare will increase.”

The new measures, which will run from June 29 to August 23, include: a once-off reopening grant of €18m for centre-based providers opening on June 29 and in late August; a once-off capital grant of €14.2m, which all registered centre-based services reopening between June 29 and the beginning of September can apply for; and the continuation of the Revenue-operated Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme, amounting to €32.8m.

The funding will also ensure that all the Department of Children and Youth Affairs funding schemes, including universal subsidies and targeted subsidies for parents, will be available again for children attending ELC services from June 29.

Commenting on the plans, Minister Zappone said: “Many parents need to return to work to support their families. Childcare is essential to this and a critical element in enabling our economy to get up and running again. We have clear public health guidance for the childcare sector on how this can happen as safely as possible. We now have a funding model which supports the public health guidance. I believe it supports the sustainability of the childcare sector. It is the first step back towards full capacity.”

peter.doyle@imt.ie

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