Food Week September 19 – 25

Welcome to Food Week September 19 and Happy Fall, y’all. Economic pain intensifies as bankers try to break inflation. Meat substitutes aren’t selling, consumers aren’t thinking about the environment any more and even Olive Garden can’t make money. But look on the bright side: you aren’t having lamprey pie for dinner. So be happy.

MACRO

• Interest rate increases are everywhere.

• As a result, (small d) depression on Wall Street over the increases and economic uncertainty.

• And these rate increases are messing up the housing market.

RETAIL AND CONSUMER

• Consumers care about the environment less during periods of economic hardship.

• The lack of category growth has cooled the ardor of tech investors to alt-proteins.

• However dairy substitutes are still taking share from animal sources.

• Grocery co-ops are living up to their promise for the community; attacking food insecurity and justice issues.

• Discount stores raising prices fastest.

RESTAURANTS AND FOODSERVICE

• Darden Restaurants (Olive Garden, Capital Grill, Longhorn) stalled on raising prices and got stung by rising costs.

• This article about restaurant robots sems like it was written by someone who hasn’t spent any time in a QSR kitchen – automation has been incrementally applied for years. This is more related to moral panic regarding workers making too much.

• Jersey Mike’s continuing to kick butt; they are America’s fastest-growing restaurant chain.

• Restaurant reservations gone wild. Reservation brokers next?

• The best new Chefs listicle.

FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN

• 2/3rds of South Dakota’s corn – it’s biggest economic output – goes to ethanol. The majority of the rest goes to livestock feeding. Other than oil companies, I doubt that any other entity is so focused on warming the planet.

• Labor shortages endemic and endangering US produce industry.

• Hurricane Fiona hit at the worst possible time for Puerto Rican farmers.

• The wine vintage of the decade?

FOOD WEEK SEPTEMBER 19 LAGNIAPPE

• The emperor of ballpark nacho cheese. If you had nachos at a ball park, they likely came for this family.

• Bloodsucking parasite or royal delicacy? Opinions differ on lamprey pie.

• Eating an avocado a day may lower LDL cholesterol.

• Alternative simple syrups.

• About the separation between animals and meat eaters.

• Rosh Hashanah recipes.