Welcome to Food Week December 8, 2023. Lots of fun stuff this week. Vanilla is now more valuable than silver. McDonald’s new concept opens. A $25 family meal from Target, Weeds that beat Roundup. How Costco can make you fat. And Impossible hot dogs for those who need a more mysterious meat. And more. Enjoy
MACRO
- Employers added a 199,000 jobs in November but the food and hospitality industries actually shrank.
- World food commodity index down almost 11% from last November.
- Credit cards now the main form payment for consumers. Which probably isn’t a good thing.
RETAIL AND CONSUMER
- Is Costco making you fat? Quite possibly.
- The Target $25 holiday meal deal is back.
- Frozen foods, once considered passe, aren’t going anywhere.
- Higher prices can more than make up for lower volume as Campbell’s stock goes up after a quarter where sales units fell.
- Kava and kratom beverages are gaining momentum as brands are developed. But are the addictive qualities being properly addressed?
RESTAURANTS AND FOODSERVICE
- CosMc – McDonald’s answer to Starbucks, opens. Avatar is part alien, part surfer, part robot, hitting all the important demographics.
- Starbucks is pivoting more to food even as it moves away from in store consumption. However stock value is plummeting as it deals with a combination of labor and PR woes.
- About Tom’s Restaurant, or as you know it, Monk’s from Seinfeld. Also the inspiration for the ear-worm cure Tom’s Diner by Suzanne Vega.
- Swiping or tapping costs fast food workers tips at drive thru. Tablet tipping may make up for some of it but maybe not. But people don’t like it.
FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN
- Koch Industries forces suppliers to pay termination fees. DOJ sues.
- The salmonella cantaloupe outbreak continues to spread.
- Weeds out-thinking Glyphosate.
- 2 freezes in the last 12 months have blown up citrus production in Georgia.
- Vanilla is now worth more than silver, thanks to weather woe sin Madagascar.
- Giving your life for lobster.
FOOD WEEK LAGNIAPPE
- Impossible hot dogs are here. Finally a meat substitute that is less mysterious than the meat it replaces.
- The stinkiest of stinky cheeses
- A white Christmas mojito.
- Cocoa good for your brain, particularly in adults with poor diets.
- Cooking oils and your health.
- The difference between Angostura and Peychaud’s bitters.
- Vegan ribs with edible bones because… people want to eat bone substitutes?