Welcome to Food Week October 17 -23, 2022. This week, we learned that Illinois is not in Italy, no matter what the Barilla Pasta company insists, pop Tarts is adding tajin, Circle K is adding marijuana, McDonald’s is adding Krispy Kreme and alt-proteins may start adding animal fats. And the reappearance of the spudnut. Enjoy.
MACRO
- Stock market goes crazy, in good way for a change. And strong labor market means the FED will continue tor raise rates.
- The US budget deficit fell by a record amount.
- The UK mess gets worse. Lettuce defeats Truss.
RETAIL AND CONSUMER
- Barilla claims it is the number 1 pasta in Italy. Illinois company, domestic production. Lawsuit proceeds.
- Starbucks sells Seattle Best brand to Nestle, thereby focusing on marketinf it flagship brand only in retail.
- Stock prices for consumer brands staying strong in down markets.
- Pop Tarts adding some Tajin spicing.
- Circle K getting into the marijuana business.
RESTAURANTS AND FOODSERVICE
- Trapping workers by making them pay for training.
- McDonald’s partnering with Krispy Kreme. While not unprecedented, big clown has rarely allowed another branded product to be served in their restaurants.
- Door Dash is trying its hand at stadium foodservice. It remains a solution in search of a profitable problem.
- Arby’s labelled bourbon sells out.
- High end restaurants cultivate scarcity. The next step is the Paywalled Restaurant.
FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN
- The dairy workforce is not seasonal. The industry requires workers year round but employment is in remote rural areas that are losing population.
- Among the casualties of a broken supply chain is C02, which messes with soda suppliers.
- How Russia steals Ukrainian grain.
- Company is going to add cultivated animal fats to plant based proteins. Flavor is one thing but mouth feel is another and many animal proteins aren’t that close to the animal eating experience. This may solve that.
- Japan imports lots of food. A weaker yen helps sell exports but make imports more expensive
FOOD WEEK OCTOBER 17 LAGNIAPPE
- Why deli sandwiches taste better than yours.
- The spudnut, for those of you who never heard of it. And a donut shaped nectarine.
- The line between cultural pride and loss of authenticity is fuzzy: Korea’s cuisine is a cultural export.
- Probably the most complex of the classic cocktails is the Zombie. How to make. Spoiler alert: there’s a lot of ingredients you don’t have.