Food Week November 22 – 28, 2021

Happy Thanksgiving weekend, a time when we are grateful for things we have in our lives and probably distressed by the choices we made Thursday afternoon. We are grateful for good employment numbers, Chobani CEO Hamdi Ulukaya, Chè (the drink, not the revolutionary) and pumpkin pie. We are distressed by Omicron and the usual suspects of inflation, supply chain issues and climate change. Nonetheless, Enjoy!

MACRO

• For Food Week November 22, we saw the lowest initial unemployment claims since 1969!

• Zoom stock decline demonstrating people heading back to offices.

• However, Omicron variant spooks the financial markets and everyone else.

RETAIL AND CONSUMER

• Emmanuel Faber lost his CEO job at Danone because of his commitment to the environment. He hasn’t changed any of his opinions. Time interviewed him.

• On the other hand, Chobani is planning an IPO and everybody gets fed.

• The quick onset of inflation – permanent or not – didn’t give time for Dollar Tree to adjust its selection or decrease sizes. Kinda dilutes the premise. Can I suggest the 5 quarter store?

• Nonalcoholic bottle shops. The popularity of cocktails leads to alternatives that are low or free of alcohol.

RESTAURANTS AND FOODSERVICE

• Unique (to us) drinks like Vietnamese Chè fill market demands for new and interesting drink occasions. Drink chain Bambū brings Chè to the masses.

• As arbitrary as these go but a ranking of top steakhouse chains. Interestingly has Longhorn at number 4, ahead of several, much more expensive alternatives.

• Covid and the labor shortage may have prompted it but QSR is reassessing its commitment to dine-in areas

• A new movie about how bad things can go in a restaurant

FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN

• Ethical concerns aside, the US model for large scale livestock production has already been exported, leading to huge impacts on the climate.

• Related, Nobody knows about the future of cultivated meat. It may not matter as other alternatives are developing much more quickly.

• This year we’re calling it Strikesgiving. Workers have the upper had for the first time in a generation. Kroger and Kellogg are part of ‘Strikesgiving’ wave.

• Millennials were burning out before the pandemic, which has let to all this reassessment.

• Tomatoes, like a lot of commodities, are higher in price. But it is a lot of things contributing: climate and viruses, in addition to supply chain.

FOOD WEEK LAGNIAPPE

• Mycology on demand. In case you mush up and eat a suspicious mushroom.

• Storing fruits and vegetables effectively requires some strategy. But you can keep produce fresh for weeks

• The Four Corners potato had a crucial role in the nutrition of the Southwest native peoples and was almost forgotten. Potatoes are usually good. Occasionally not.

• Pumpkin Pie eaters = Abolitionists. Southern states considered Thanksgiving an act of aggression. Contributed to the popularity of pecan pie.