Salumi Is Building a Production Facility for National Distribution

Welcome back to Eater News, a semi-regular round-up of mini news bites. Have info to share? Email intel to seattle@eater.com.

• ‘Tis the season for business deals, apparently, as several restaurants have new owners, including Sand Point Grill (purchased by Travis Rosenthal, who owns Rumba and Tango) and the Canterbury on Capitol Hill (purchased by Pavit Jagga and Ryan Lewis).
• And last October, Grant Peak Capital quietly purchased a majority stake in Salumi, the famed cured meats shop and deli in Pioneer Square. Gina Batali and her husband, Brian D’Amato, maintain a minority share, and the new cash infusion will allow the business to open a new production facility for more cured meats for the deli and for nationwide ordering.
• An investigation into August’s disastrous net-pen collapse of farmed Atlantic salmon in the Salish Sea shows that Cooke Aquaculture under-reported the number of escaped salmon by more than half. The company also failed to perform essential maintenance, which led to the incident.
• In a major about-face from last summer, when a popular South Korean chicken chain said it had no plans to enter Seattle, Bonchon will indeed open an outpost at Broadway and James, near Seattle University on Capitol Hill.
• Bitcoin speculators won’t be able to spend their cryptocurrency at any Starbucks locations. The controversial digital currency is accepted by about a dozen restaurants, but Starbucks isn’t jumping on that bandwagon. Nor is it planning to release its own cryptocurrency.
• Amazon’s Treasure Truck is going national as the e-commerce giant plans to hawk its wares in Whole Foods parking lots.