Welcome to Food Week October 6, 2023. Lots of curious things going on. Kroger’s protection racket. Target’s theft deflections. Rocket fuel in bottled water. A ham bar. An Advent calendar for frozen entrees. Eggo’s in something called Appalachian sipping cream. (I don’t claim to understand everything, I just print the news.) And more. Enjoy!
MACRO
- Wow. Payrolls for September increased by 336k, defying expectations.
- But huge concerns that rising bond yields will mean higher interest rates and soon./
- You can make an argument that US government actions had no influence on inflation, given supply chain (reflected internationally) and Amazon’s .
RETAIL AND CONSUMER
- Kroger threatens to hold local products hostage unless merger approved. Really.
- In order to make the little monsters happy. consult this article before you purchase your Halloween candy.
- It’s not evil or dangerous but honestly, a Stouffer’s Frozen Food advent calendar sounds like one of the dumbest ideas ever.
- More doubt on Target claims that shoplifting is making them close stores.
- Will Ozempic, et al. makes snack makers to finally offer healthy items?
- You should wash your bananas before peeling them.
RESTAURANTS AND FOODSERVICE
- Fast food drive-thru processing always getting better. Hard to believe that most – especially McDonald’s – resisted for so long.
- $20/hr. minimum wage now a reality in California.
- The Starbucks unionization fight just added a new layer of complexity.
- Foodservice needs 2.6 million more workers. Every year.
- A visit to a ham bar.
FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN
- Flashfood app finding success in reducing food waste.
- Nevada bottler sells water with literal rocket fuel in it, kills somebody, gets sued, claims it didn’t know how to test for that. I dunno, maybe you test to see if it’s water or not and go with that.
- Changing fermentation in ruminants to reduce methane.
- Are animal rights backsliding in Europe?
- The first signs of the impact of El Nino: Peruvian crops not flowering in dry conditions
FOOD WEEK OCTOBER 6 LAGNIAPPE
- Wrote about this before but, ewwww. Coke, Mountain Dew, too.
- UK banning single use plastics. But is California using a truly rigorous process to ban ingredients? Or are legislators just being reactive?
- Inter generational eating disorders.
- Girl Scout cookies going up in price.
- Canadian holy place: the first Tim Horton’s.