Welcome to Food Week October 13. Focusing on our small corner of the world and our own unresolved issues. The Kroger Albertson’s merger. Wither consumer spending. The impact of the new generation of weight loss drugs on consumption. The future of alt-protein. Glyphosate. Deli-core fashion. Canadian cuisine. And cheese addiction. Enjoy!
MACRO
- People love to predict the impending recession. Over and over again.
- Albertson’s misses a compliance deadline on the mega-merger. Deal with Kroger still not done done.
- Hell in the Mideast – links irrelevant.
RETAIL AND CONSUMER
- It isn’t just snack food companies that are worried about an overall reduction in consumption from weight loss drugs. However snack giant Pepsi says, nope, not worried.
- Love Costco, hate their self-checkout. Glad to see it scaling back.
- Walmart warning that consumer spending is starting to wane. Conagra disagrees and looks for more growth.
- Grocery Outlet is weird. They insist the love brands; they just may not have them when you get there. But the food safari approach has worked in a few different ways so maybe it will for them too.
- Beyond Meat has lost 97% of it’s stock value. Alt-proteins are dead until they come up with a new approach.
RESTAURANTS AND FOODSERVICE
- Delicore is fashion inspired by delis. There is hope for me yet.
- Yelp has a lot of issues, not the least of which were paid reviews. It is trying to address that.
- Develop your brewery. Open your brewery. Immediately sell you brewery. The curious case of the Chicago Guinness property.
- The rise of the egg bite.
- Zurich meets Oshkosh: Beer cheese fondue.
- The recurring advertising-versus-reality lawsuit, this time over burgers. This is why McDonald’s and Wendy’s & Subway have lawyers.
- Kendall Jenner heads to the Illinois to promote tequila and to touch Midwesterners, I guess.
FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN
- Villages in South America where 98% of children have detectable levels of glyphosate in their blood. The chemical causes developmental issues.
- Four common food additives, brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben and red dye No. 3, are now banned in California. Substitutes area availabel but concer is over the precedent behind this decision. FDA has not banned these.
- Climate change messing with hops. I can think of a few IPAs where a more limited supply would improve things.
- Dominica is a small Caribbean island – it is a test case for raising food in a warmer world with rising seas.
FOOD WEEK OCTOBER 13 LAGNIAPPE
- It was probably inevitable but Ozempic, Wegovy et. al. are causing side effects in some people.
- Berndt the Bread is a anthropomorphic piece of very depressed and cranky bread that is on a children’s show in Germany.
- Cheese addiction is a real thing.
- The next big thing may be the Blue Zone diet.
- How your body metabolizes caffeine. Some do it slowly, some fast, some not at all. (I am definitely a fast metabolizer.)
- Canadian cuisine (really Pacific Northwest).
- Chewing and spitting is a real eating disorder.