Food Week September 20 – 26, 2021

Welcome to Food Week September 20 – 26. 2021. COVID is still impacting restaurant sales and the supply chain. Fruit sales are up, food-borne illnesses are down and the Great British Baking Show is back. Diet can help Alzheimers and Llamas may save us all. Enjoy.

MACRO

• Food Week September 20 finds employment is still stagnant.

• Starting to roll out booster shots.

• Llamas to the rescue?

RETAIL AND CONSUMER

• Fruit sales are over-indexing versus retail growth in general but this is likely a function of people being in stores. When it comes to produce, we don’t trust delivery.

• Hard to not be cynical and think that Walmart’s green bond is nothing more than greenwashing.

• If it seems like there are more and more shootings in supermarkets, it is because there are. But when they ban guns, they get boycotts.

• Consolidation of the meat industry means cheaper production but it also means producers keep consumer prices high.

RESTAURANTS AND FOODSERVICE

• Restaurants are at a do-or-die moment with the fall upon us. Either people will go to restaurants or they will fail. Chains grapple with reopening dining rooms as the Delta variant drives Covid-19 infections.

• Perhaps Subway’s new strategy is working. Sales are up. But I wonder what all those celebrities on TV are costing? Is it sustainable?

• The mystery of the McDonald’s veggie burger.

• The most anticipated new restaurant openings.

• Canadians hate Orange Julius most? That’s like saying I hate Packard’s as a car brand: Obscure and long in the past. What did Orange Julius ever do to Canada?

FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN

• The supply chain problems in supermarkets not only haven’t gone away, they might get worse.

• Under-emphasized in these supply chain stories is the commitment to Just-in-Time management… Empty shelves and high prices are reminders that middle-class Americans aren’t insulated. JIT is great with short and reliable supply chains but is terrible for short shelf life things like food.

• The summer’s heat cost California’s navel orange crop 14% of yield.

• How indoor farming reduces food waste.

FOOD WEEK LAGNIAPPE

• The wide variance of rice uses across ethnic cuisines is amazing.

• The Great British Baking Show is back.

• Have COVID protocols reduced the transmission of foodborne illness?

• Treating Alzheimers through diet?