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☆ Apartments Could Be the Next Real Estate Business to Struggle
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-04 | by ( Joe Rennison | Julie Creswell | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Rents have soared in recent years because of housing shortages across much of the country and a bout of severe inflation. But a growing number of rental properties, especially in the South and the Southwest, are in financial distress. In many parts of the country, rents are starting to fall. Interest rates, ratcheted higher by the Federal Reserve to combat inflation, have made mortgages much more expensive for building owners. These problems haven’t yet turned into a crisis, because most owners of apartment buildings, known in the real estate industry as multifamily properties, haven’t fallen behind on loan payments.

Persons: haven’t Organizations: Federal Reserve Locations: Houston, Tampa, Fla

☆ Office Building Losses Start to Pile Up, and More Pain Is Expected
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-06 | by ( Joe Rennison | Julie Creswell | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Four years on, hybrid work has become common, and the strain on property owners is intensifying. While the number of office buildings reaching critical stages of distress remains small, the figure has increased sharply this year. And investors, lawyers and bankers expect the pain to grow in the coming months because demand for office space remains weak and interest rates and other costs are higher than they have been in many years. The problems could be especially severe for older buildings with lots of vacant space and big loan repayments coming up. Empty and nearly empty office buildings also hurt restaurants and other businesses that served the companies and workers who occupied those spaces.

Locations: New York, San Francisco

☆ Target Scales Back Pride Month Displays After Backlash Last Year
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-10 | by ( Julie Creswell | More About Julie Creswell | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

After being criticized last year for its store displays for Pride Month, the annual celebration in June for L.G.B.T.Q. Target has often displayed its Pride apparel and merchandise prominently in many of its stores, sometimes near the entrances. Last year, however, Target faced outrage and calls for boycotts from some conservative commentators and customers over the displays, which included clothes and books for children about transgender issues and gender fluidity. At the time, the chain expressed concern for its employees’ safety after saying some customers screamed at workers and threw Pride-themed merchandise on the floor. Target ended up moving the displays from the front of some stores and placing them in the back.

Persons: Organizations: Pride, Target Locations: L.G.B.T.Q

☆ Same-Store Sales at Starbucks Drop, Pushing Revenue Down 1.8%
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-30 | by ( Julie Creswell | More About Julie Creswell | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Throughout the Covid pandemic, various supply chain issues and high inflation, Starbucks could still count on its consumers to buy their iced oat milk lattes. But that economic certainty may be in doubt after the coffee giant reported weaker-than-expected revenue and earnings in the latest quarter. Starbucks said on Tuesday that global revenue fell 1.8 percent, to $8.56 billion, while net earnings slid 15 percent, to $772.4 million, in the three months that ended March 31. Starbucks also lowered its revenue and earnings growth for the full year, reflecting the difficulties in the quarter. “It did not meet our expectations, but we understand the specific challenges and opportunities immediately in front of us.”

Persons: ” Laxman Narasimhan, ” Organizations: Starbucks Locations: United States

☆ With New Salt and Sugar Limits, School Cafeterias Are ‘Cringing’
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-25 | by ( Julie Creswell | Audra Melton | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Around 11:40 on a cool spring day in early April, students began to stream into the lunchroom at Haleyville High School in Alabama. Cheerleaders, soccer and baseball players, and other members of the student body filed through the lunch line and sat at their tables. and prom as they dug into plates of chicken Alfredo, green beans and salad. Emma Anne Hallman, standing in a corner, watched the teenagers carefully. As the child nutrition director for the Haleyville City School District, she has the job of feeding 1,600 students, in prekindergarten through 12th grade.

Persons: Alfredo, Emma Anne Hallman Organizations: Haleyville, School, Roaring Lions, Haleyville City School District Locations: Alabama, prekindergarten

☆ Delivery-Only Restaurants, Once Pandemic Successes, Face Uncertainty
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-12 | by ( Julie Creswell | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

On a recent afternoon, the kitchen inside a Denny’s in the Jackson Heights neighborhood of Queens was bustling. Some orders were whisked away to customers sitting in booths, while others were boxed and set aside for pickup. The takeout orders were mostly from the Denny’s menu, but some were from the Burger Den and the Meltdown, two delivery-only brands that the chain owns. The strategy of maximizing kitchen resources blossomed during the Covid pandemic, when restrictions shut down indoor dining and customers ate more meals at home. As their kitchens sat idle, many restaurants across the country, desperate for revenue, switched to delivery mode.

Organizations: Employees, Burger Locations: Jackson, Queens

☆ With Cyberattack Fix Weeks Away, Health Providers Slam United
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-08 | by ( Reed Abelson | Julie Creswell | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

More than two weeks after a cyberattack, financially strapped doctors, hospitals and medical providers on Friday sharply criticized UnitedHealth Group’s latest estimate that it would take weeks longer to fully restore a digital network that funnels hundreds of millions of dollars in insurance payments every day. UnitedHealth said that it would be at least two weeks more to test and establish a steady flow of payments for bills that have mounted since hackers effectively shut down Change Healthcare, the nation’s largest billing and payment clearinghouse, on Feb. 21. But desperate providers that have been borrowing money to cover expenses and employee payrolls expressed skepticism at that estimate, worrying that it could be months before the logjam of claims and payments cleared up. “We have nearly a three-week gap in cash flow,” said Brad Larsen, a psychologist and founder of Portland Mental Health & Wellness in Oregon, adding that the group had received only about 10 percent of its expected insurance payments. He said the practice had to borrow $300,000 to meet its first of two payrolls for the month.

Persons: UnitedHealth, payrolls, ”, Brad Larsen, “ It’s Organizations: Portland Mental Health, Wellness Locations: Portland, Oregon

☆ Cyberattack Paralyzes the Largest U.S. Health Care Payment System
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-05 | by ( Reed Abelson | Julie Creswell | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

An urgent care chain in Ohio may be forced to stop paying rent and other bills to cover salaries. In Florida, a cancer center is racing to find money for chemotherapy drugs to avoid delaying critical treatments for its patients. These are just a few examples of the severe cash squeeze facing medical care providers — from large hospital networks to the smallest of clinics — in the aftermath of a cyberattack two weeks ago that paralyzed the largest U.S. billing and payment system in the country. They also urged health insurers to waive or relax the much-criticized rules imposing prior authorization that have become impediments to receiving care. And they recommended that insurers offering private Medicare plans also supply advanced funding.

Organizations: Change Healthcare, UnitedHealth, Human Services Department Locations: Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania

☆ Companies Were Big on CBD. Not Anymore.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-28 | by ( Julie Creswell | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Just below rows of energy and kombucha drinks at Westside Market, a deli in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, sit a few glass bottles of Vybes. The drink, which comes in flavors like strawberry lavender and blood orange lime, is made with cannabidiol, more commonly known as CBD. That has hindered the potential growth for the drink, said Jonathan Eppers, who left the technology industry to create Vybes in 2018. “For the first two years, we were riding a rocket ship,” Mr. Eppers said. Start-ups flooded the market with products, many promising to soothe stressed-out and anxious consumers.

Persons: Jonathan Eppers, Mr, Eppers Organizations: Westside, Target, Walmart, “ Locations: Chelsea, Manhattan

☆ F.T.C. Sues to Block Kroger-Albertsons Grocery Store Deal
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-26 | by ( Julie Creswell | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Federal Trade Commission on Monday sued to block Kroger, the supermarket giant, from completing its $24.6 billion acquisition of the grocery chain Albertsons, saying the deal would hurt competition in the industry. The agency said the deal, which would be the largest supermarket merger in U.S. history, would also likely result in higher prices for groceries for consumers and, with fewer supermarkets, reduce the ability for grocery-store employees to negotiate higher wages and better working conditions. “This supermarket mega merger comes as American consumers have seen the cost of groceries rise steadily over the past few years,” Henry Liu, director of the F.T.C.’s Bureau of Competition, said in a news release. “Kroger’s acquisition of Albertsons would lead to additional grocery price hikes for everyday goods, further exacerbating the financial strain consumers across the country face today.”The agency’s lawsuit is the latest move by the Biden administration to take a tougher stance on mergers. In recent years it has challenged several big deals, including the drug maker Amgen’s $27.8 billion acquisition of the pharmaceutical company Horizon Therapeutics; JetBlue’s proposed $3.8 billion purchase of Spirit Airlines; and Microsoft’s $70 billion acquisition of the video game maker Activision Blizzard.

Persons: ” Henry Liu, Biden, JetBlue’s, Activision Blizzard Organizations: Federal Trade Commission, Kroger, Albertsons, Competition, Horizon Therapeutics, Spirit Airlines, Activision Locations: ’

The holidays are a hectic time of year for everyone. But for those working in the retail and logistics industries, it’s the busiest time. From selecting the carols that play in the store to deciding the most eye-catching places to display toys to getting those Amazon packages to your doorstep on time, there are thousands of people responsible for making the holiday shopping merry. Here are a few of their stories. Nordstrom starts setting the scene a year in advanceWhen shoppers across the country walk into a Nordstrom this week, they will be met with twinkling lights, garlands hung around the store and Mariah Carey crooning that all she wants for Christmas is youuuuu.

Persons: Nordstrom, Mariah Carey crooning, Paige Boggs Organizations: Nordstrom

Ms. Aitchison, 55, who works for a senior living home, advises her family each year that she plans to make the holidays smaller, spending less. “I’m a huge gift giver,” Ms. Aitchison, who started her shopping in early November. I’m always running around the last week before Christmas because I have to find just a few more gifts.”There are many reasons for people to be more prudent in their holiday spending this year. While inflation is less rapid than it was a year ago, millions of shoppers still feel sticker shock when buying groceries. And higher interest rates have meant larger credit card bills and, for home buyers, mortgage payments.

Persons: Christina Beck, Beck, Kristin Aitchison, Aitchison, “, Ms, I’m Locations: Minneapolis

☆ Retailers Need You to Buy That Diamond Ring. No, Seriously.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-22 | by ( Julie Creswell | Jordyn Holman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Retailers Need You to Buy That Diamond Ring. No, Seriously. For many companies and industries, the winter holiday is their most critical time, when they make as much as a third of their annual revenue. Here’s how the numbers break down →

For years, landlords around the world clamored to get WeWork into their office buildings, a love affair that made the co-working company the largest corporate tenant in New York and London. Now, WeWork is perhaps days away from a bankruptcy filing — and its demise could not come at a worse time for office landlords. With fewer employees going into the office since the pandemic, companies have slashed the amount of space they lease, causing one of the worst crunches in decades in commercial real estate. Many landlords have accepted lower rents from WeWork in recent years to keep it afloat, but its bankruptcy would be an enormous blow. Some landlords might quickly accept lower rents from WeWork as part of a bankruptcy reorganization and keep doing business with any new entity that emerges, but others might have to fight in court to get anything.

Locations: New York, London, WeWork

☆ Those Doritos Too Expensive? More Stores Offer Their Own Alternatives.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-17 | by ( Julie Creswell | More About Julie Creswell | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For years, customers stopping at Casey’s General Stores, a convenience store chain in the Midwest, hadn’t thought twice about snagging a soda and a bag of Lay’s or Doritos chips. But over the past year, as the price of a bag of chips soared and some customers felt squeezed by the high cost of gas and other expenses, they began picking up Casey’s less-expensive store brand. So Casey’s began stocking more of its own chips, in a variety of new flavors. With supply chain issues affecting what was on the shelves, people were buying basically whatever they could find. And they kept buying even as prices soared when the food and beverage brands raised prices to maintain their profit levels while still covering rising ingredient and labor costs.

Persons: hadn’t, Casey’s, ”, Darren Rebelez Organizations: Casey’s, PepsiCo, “

☆ Supply Chain Hurdles Complicate Food Companies’ Climate Pledges
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-22 | by ( Julie Creswell | More About Julie Creswell | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

As consumer patterns have changed since the start of the pandemic, food companies have experienced significant demand. The war in Ukraine and extreme weather, such as droughts and floods, also disrupted supply chains, causing companies to get ingredients and goods from different suppliers. At PepsiCo, which began setting targets to reduce emissions in 2015, emissions in its supply chain are up 7 percent from its baseline, according to its 2022 climate report. Chipotle, which set a goal of halving its emissions by 2030, reported a 26 percent surge in supply chain and other emissions in its 2022 report. This week, heads of governments, corporations, climate advocacy groups and activists are gathering in New York City to discuss, debate and attend protests about climate issues.

Persons: ”, Barry Parkin, We’ve Organizations: PepsiCo Locations: Ukraine, New York City

☆ Pork Industry Grapples With Whiplash of Shifting Regulations
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-05 | by ( Julie Creswell | More About Julie Creswell | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Other farmers say they’re simply not going to modify how they raise pigs. “We’re losing money in the pig industry,” said Trish Cook, the president of the Iowa Pork Producers Association, who, along with her family, raises pigs near Winthrop in eastern Iowa. “The idea of having a large capital expenditure with no clear payback on it doesn’t make business sense to us. However, Mr. Fong said that soon “we’ll be faced with some shortages and price hikes.”Mr. Davis of Oliver’s Markets said he already bought pork from Niman Ranch, a producer that exceeds the California criteria, but had also always offered customers less-expensive pork options. “Chicken and pork are still very affordable options, especially when compared to beef prices,” Mr. Davis said.

Persons: “ We’re, ”, Trish Cook, Ronald Fong, Fong, “ we’ll, Mr, Davis Organizations: Iowa Pork Producers Association, California Grocers Association, Labor, Oliver’s Markets, Tyson Locations: Winthrop, Iowa, California

New York is doing better than San Francisco — Manhattan has a vacancy rate of 13.5 percent — but it can no longer count on the technology industry for growth. More than one-third of the roughly 22 million square feet of office space available for sublet in Manhattan comes from technology, advertising and media companies, according to Newmark. The company has opted not to renew leases covering 250,000 square feet in Hudson Yards and for 200,000 square feet on Park Avenue South. Twitter, Microsoft and other technology companies are also trying to sublease unwanted space. The large amount of space available for sublet is also driving down the rents that landlords are able to get on new leases.

Persons: Newmark, ”, Ruth Colp, Haber, Colp Organizations: sublet, New, New York State, Spotify, Trade Center, Twitter, Microsoft, Wharton Property Advisors Locations: York, Francisco —, Manhattan, New York, Hudson Yards

☆ Despite Aspartame Warning, Beverage Companies Likely to Stick With It
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Julie Creswell | More About Julie Creswell | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

About eight years ago, in response to customer concerns about possible health risks associated with the artificial sweetener aspartame, PepsiCo decided to remove the ingredient from its popular diet soda. A trip through the grocery store reveals the ingredient on the labels of not only diet sodas but also diet teas, sugar-free gums, sugar-free energy drinks and diet lemonade drink mix. By some estimates, thousands of products contain aspartame. The use of aspartame, which is often known by the brand name Equal, in food and beverage products has long been scrutinized. The latest iteration came on Thursday, when an agency of the World Health Organization declared that aspartame could possibly cause cancer and encouraged people who consume a significant number of beverages with aspartame to switch to water or other unsweetened drinks.

Persons: Coke Organizations: PepsiCo, Diet Pepsi, Pepsi, World Health Organization Locations: Diet

☆ Cheaper Than Water? Retailers Try to Unload Bud Light.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Julie Creswell | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

With the summer sales season well underway — the four months between May and August make up as much as 40 percent of annual beer sales — the question swirling around Bud Light is whether the slump is temporary or the new normal. “Here we are about 10 weeks into it, and we’re still seeing double-digit declines in volumes nationally,” said Bump Williams, who runs the consulting firm that bears his name. A third of distributors believe the impact on Bud Light will be permanent. When asked how long he thought the sales declines would linger, Mr. Wagner shrugged. “I’ve seen longtime Bud Light customers trying other beers,” he said.

Persons: Light, we’re, ”, Bump Williams, Bud, Wagner, Busch, Glenn Miller’s, Wagner shrugged, “ I’ve Organizations: Anheuser, Busch, Molson Coors, Wall, Jefferies, Bud Light

☆ Energy Drinks Are Surging. So Are Their Caffeine Levels.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( Julie Creswell | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

A 12-ounce can of Red Bull contains about 114 milligrams of caffeine — more than three times the amount in a 12-ounce can of Coca-Cola. Prime Energy has more: 200 milligrams in each 12-ounce can. A 16-ounce can of Bang Energy Drink, the size typically sold in convenience stores, has 300 milligrams of caffeine. The Food and Drug Administration has investigated a handful of reports over the years involving people dying shortly after consuming energy drinks or five-hour energy shots. Pediatricians recommend that youths ages 12 to 18 should not consume more than 100 milligrams of caffeine per day and that children under 12 should avoid caffeine completely.

Persons: Red Bull, Paul, Bull, ”, Ryan Stanton Organizations: . Prime Energy, Bang Energy, Mr, Prime Energy, ”, Drug Administration Locations: Britain, Lexington, Ky

☆ Anheuser-Busch Changes Beer Marketing Focus After Transgender Promotion
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Julie Creswell | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The beer giant Anheuser-Busch InBev on Thursday said that it would focus its marketing campaigns around sports and music and assign senior executives to oversee them, in the wake of controversy over a Bud Light promotion featuring a transgender influencer. In a call with analysts to discuss the financial results, Anheuser-Busch executives were peppered with questions about the backlash. They repeatedly noted that the promotion was limited to one influencer, Dylan Mulvaney, and one social media post, and that beer cans displaying her image had not been produced for mass distribution. The company said that senior executives would oversee all marketing campaigns before they are rolled out, and that it would largely focus its advertising and marketing around sports and music. The company noted it was a sponsor of the recent NFL draft and the Stagecoach music festival in California last week.

A real estate investment fund recently defaulted on $750 million of mortgages for two Los Angeles skyscrapers. And a big New York landlord is trying to extend the deadline for paying down a loan for a Park Avenue office tower. Office districts in nearly every U.S. city have been under great stress since the pandemic emptied workplaces and made working from home common. But in recent months, the crisis has entered a tense phase that could damage local economies and cause financial hits to real estate investors and scores of banks. Lenders are increasingly reluctant to make new loans to owners of office buildings, especially after the collapse of two banks last month.

☆ 2 Executives Are on Leave After Bud Light Promotion With Transgender Influencer
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Amanda Holpuch | Julie Creswell | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The maker of Bud Light, Anheuser-Busch, said on Tuesday that two of its executives were on a leave of absence after the beer was featured in a social media promotion by a transgender influencer. Bud Light’s sales have slumped amid calls for a boycott because of the advertisement and criticism of the company’s response to the backlash, which included targeted harassment of one of the executives who is on leave. Alissa Heinerscheid, the vice president of marketing for Bud Light, and Daniel Blake, who oversees marketing for Anheuser-Busch’s mainstream brands, were on leave, the company said in a statement. “We have made some adjustments to streamline the structure of our marketing function to reduce layers so that our most senior marketers are more closely connected to every aspect of our brands’ activities,” Anheuser-Busch said in a statement. “These steps will help us maintain focus on the things we do best: brewing great beer for all consumers, while always making a positive impact in our communities and on our country.”

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