Welcome to Food Week January 2 – 8, 2023. Our first update after the long holiday. Emerging trends continue to gain steam: rising restaurant employment, failing grocery delivery services, non-alcoholic beverage curiosity and the relationship of food to health. Plus a fond reminiscence of the Arch Deluxe. Enjoy!
MACRO
Respectable but not torrid jobs report and slowing wage growth could mean soft landing from inflation.
Sectors of the economy are laying off, like tech and finance.
New COVID variant XBB.1.5 is the most transmissible one yet. Great.
RETAIL AND CONSUMER
Boisson is a chain of stores dedicated to non-alcoholic liquors. We love the Guinness NA and there are good IPAs available too. The industry is now focused on liquor substitutes.
Consumers focusing on gut health – looking for info, products from grocers.
The FAST act about to be implemented on California. It sets standards for wages for fast food but is being billed as a way to give independent restaurants an advantage.
Are drones really the answer for the last mile of the food supply chain?
FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN
Needless to say, the sheer quantity of rain in California means trouble for agriculture.
Disastrous bottleneck of perishable foods in Algiers.
The truffle industry is garbage. Truffle oil is disgusting and made from synthetic oils, not truffles. Most truffles are flavor-less and augmented with the fake truffle oil. The high quality, flavorful varieties are rare and extremely expensive.