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☆ Starbucks’ new CEO lays out improvement plan
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

New York CNN —During his first earnings call as the new Starbucks CEO, Laxman Narasimhan praised the company for its financial performance. In the quarter ending on April 2, sales at company-operated Starbucks stores open at least 13 months jumped 11% globally, including a 12% increase in North America. Before officially becoming CEO in March, Narasimhan spent about six months shadowing former interim CEO Howard Schultz in an incoming CEO capacity. Since December 2021, about 300 Starbucks stores have voted to unionize and been certified by the NLRB. It’s a relatively small number compared to the roughly 9,300 company-operated Starbucks stores in the United States.

☆ Bud Light wanted to market to all. Now, it's alienating everyone
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

New York CNN —For years, Bud Light leaned on jokey ad campaigns and its designation as a light beer to push sales. Now, Bud Light finds itself seeking younger drinkers, and stumbling through America’s polarized landscape in the process. There have been calls for a Bud Light boycott. And the stock of Bud Light owner Anheuser-Busch (BUD) has fallen only about 3% in the last month, suggesting Wall Street isn’t too worried. Bud Light, he thinks, could be missing out on that type of support.

☆ Burger King’s secret weapon against McDonald’s is the Whopper
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The plan is still in early stages: Burger King has invested $40 million as of the end of last year. At US Burger King locations open at least 13 months, sales jumped 5% in the quarter, thanks in part to the burger. “I don’t know what his place might be in the future.”The fast food war heats upFor Burger King, the Whopper is more than just a burger. But even if the Whopper isn’t all that different from other fast food burgers, it’s the one Burger King has got. For Burger King, “the challenge is you’re competing against McDonald’s, and McDonald’s is really good,” said Senatore.

☆ Anheuser-Busch facilities face threats after Bud Light backlash
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

New York CNN —Several Anheuser-Busch facilities received threats last week, a company spokesperson confirmed, following weeks of backlash against Bud Light because it sponsored two Instagram posts from a transgender woman. Mulvaney’s timeline shows one previous post that is also marked as a Bud Light partnership. Siegfried Anthony/STAR MAX/IPx 2023/APMulvaney is among many social media personalities that Bud Light partners with, Anheuser-Busch said in a statement to CNN last week. “F**k Bud Light, F**k Anheuser-Busch,” he said. Anheuser-Busch (BUD) is set to report its first-quarter financial results, including revenue, on May 4.

☆ McDonald’s is just going to offer the Big Mac sauce by itself now
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: 1 min

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☆ McDonald’s is upgrading its burgers
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —McDonald’s, which has been focusing on upgrading its core items to boost sales, is rolling out a series of changes designed to improve its signature burgers. The Big Mac will come with more Big Mac sauce. “In an environment where our customers are looking for the simple and familiar, our core menu items have never been more relevant,” he said. McDonald's USAFocusing on promoting its core menu items, rather than introducing new products, is a way to keep processes simpler and reduce friction in the kitchen. “Throughout 2022, some of our most successful campaign platforms brought our customers closer to the core menu items,” Kempczinski said during the January call.

☆ Behold the stuffed crust bagel
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Now, Philadelphia cream cheese and H&H Bagels, a New York City-based bagel shop, are trying to please the carbohydrate- and dairy-loving communities with a new and dubious spin on the stuffed crust: The bagel stuffed with cream cheese. But unlike stuffed-crust pizzas, the bagel is filled with cheese after it is baked, making it more of a cream cheese bagel donut, if not in spirit then at least in form. What’s so wrong with slicing a bagel and slathering on a healthy amount of cream cheese? New York doesn’t have a specific bagel tax, explained Ryan Cleveland, a representative of the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Philadelphia cream cheese, which struggled with shortages in the past, turned that issue into a marketing opportunity as well.

☆ Bud Light's inclusive ad campaigns are good for business
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

For Bud Light in particular, reaching a new audience is crucial, Alissa Heinerscheid, vice president of marketing at Bud Light, said in a recent Make Yourself at Home podcast interview. Bud Light had “been in decline for a really long time,” she said. From dylanmulvaney/InstagramCurrently, we’re about two weeks into the Bud Light backlash. The performer and TikTok personality, who had partnered with Bud Light previously, has been open about transitioning on Instagram and TikTok. And Texas congressman Dan Crenshaw also weighed in, saying he’s in favor of a Bud Light boycott but doesn’t stock the beer.

☆ Here's what's getting cheaper at the grocery store
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Grocery prices finally dipped in March, falling for the first time since September 2020, according to data released Wednesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The meats, poultry, fish and eggs index fell 1.4%, pulled down by another month of large decreases in egg prices. In the year through March, grocery prices jumped 8.4%, outpacing overall inflation of 5%. Grocery prices finally fell in March. But more recently, egg prices have been coming down.

☆ The beef supply is shrinking. That means meat isn't going to get much cheaper
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

A contraction in beef supplies “has been coming for a while,” said David Anderson, a professor in Texas A&M University’s agricultural economics department. Beef supplies are shrinking after farmers sold off cattle in response to drought and high costs. The “big unknown is going to be consumer demand.”The beef supply tends to grow and shrink in roughly 10-year cycles, said Lance Zimmerman, senior beef analyst for the North American market with Rabobank. “If that’s the case, beef prices may be steadier.”And with food inflation stubbornly high, consumers are already cutting back on certain items, including beef. If demand remains strong, “we may see some higher beef prices,” towards the fall and later, Bernt said.

☆ The creator of the Catan board game has died
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Klaus Teuber, creator of the blockbuster board game Catan, has passed away. “It is with profound sadness that we at Catan Studio acknowledge the passing of Klaus Teuber, legendary game designer and creator of the beloved board game Catan,” the game publisher’s said in a statement posted to Facebook and other social media platforms Tuesday. Catan, originally called Settlers of Catan, came out in 1995. “With sales nearing 25 million copies worldwide, Settlers of Catan is becoming the most popular board game since Risk and Monopoly,” according to the Atlantic. “Thank you Klaus for the joy you have brought to my life through the brilliant game of Catan,” another wrote.

☆ Report: McDonald's tells corporate employees to work from home for layoffs
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —McDonald’s instructed corporate employees to work from home this week in anticipation of layoffs, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. McDonald’s has 150,000 employees in its company-owned locations and offices globally, with 70% of those positions outside of the United States, according to the Journal. McDonald's CEO said in January that job cuts were coming. Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service/Getty ImagesIn January, McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said in a memo to staff that job cuts are coming. Meta (META), owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, said in March that it would make a second round of job cuts.

☆ Starbucks shareholders want more information about the company’s anti-union efforts
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

New York CNN —Starbucks’ investors have voted in favor of an independent review of the company’s aggressive anti-union efforts. The assessment would include remedies if it finds that Starbucks has broken its own stated commitment to workers rights. Starbucks workers rally in celebration of the first anniversary of the union's founding on December 9, 2022 in New York City. Over the past year and a half, Starbucks has been waging a bitter fight against unionization efforts. During a hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee about the company’s labor practices on Wednesday, one former employee said he was wrongfully fired after organizing.

☆ High egg prices send profits at largest US producer soaring more than 700%
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Chris Isidore | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —Cal-Maine Foods, the largest egg producer in the United States, reported revenue doubled and profit surged 718% last quarter because of sharply higher egg prices. Despite the higher prices, the total number of eggs it sold edged up 1%, so its overall revenue rose 109% to $997.5 million. A deadly and highly infectious avian flu has forced US farmers to kill millions of egg-laying hens, reducing the country’s egg supply and driving up prices. Egg producers’ pricing decisions have been criticized by some politicians, who accuse them of profiteering and price gouging. Egg prices did start to retreat slightly in the government’s most recent inflation reading for February, but are still up more than 55% from a year earlier.

☆ Bernie Sanders questions Howard Schultz on Starbucks' labor practices
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

New York CNN —Senator Bernie Sanders, who has roundly criticized former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz over the company’s blatant attempts to shut down its own workers’ unionization efforts, will finally get to question Schultz during a Senate hearing Wednesday. It’s a relatively small number compared to the roughly 9,300 company-operated Starbucks stores in the United States. Howard Schultz at the Starbucks annual shareholder meeting in Seattle, Washington on March 22, 2017. “Starbucks respects the right of all partners to make their own decisions about union representation,” Schultz said. In prepared remarks for the hearing, Schultz argued that “Starbucks has engaged in good faith bargaining,” saying that delays are coming from the union.

☆ Pepsi has a new logo
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

New York CNN —If someone were to ask you to draw the Pepsi logo from memory, what would you draw? Pepsi has changed its logo over the years. The “Pepsi” in the logo “is decoupled from the globe,” noted Todd Kaplan, Pepsi’s chief marketing officer. Pepsi says that the changes its making are distinctive enough to do the trick, and highlight modern elements like Pepsi’s zero-sugar line. To highlight the zero line, the new logo uses black font and a black border, a nod to Pepsi Zero’s black can and label.

☆ How Girl Scouts found itself in a cookie debacle
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

New York CNN —For decades, Girl Scouts has used cookie sales to raise funds and teach scouts about entrepreneurship. “Right now we are focused on ensuring all Girl Scouts have a successful Cookie Season,” Girl Scouts USA told CNN in a statement, adding that it is also focused on optimizing its operations “in real-time, and [capturing] learnings that will inform our strategy going into future seasons.”But for the scouts, those learnings have been hard-won. That meant shoppers could order it themselves, though Girl Scouts encouraged them to ask scouts to place the orders. Plus, Girl Scouts built a lot of hype with the limited-time offer, creating a sense of urgency, Esper noted. Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times/Getty ImagesYet as customers clamored for the cookie, scouts and their parents learned there was no chance of increasing supply by the end of the cookie season in April.

☆ New Starbucks CEO plans to pull barista shifts in stores every month
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN —Starbucks’ new CEO Laxman Narasimhan teased his plan for the company in a letter to employees. It includes working in Starbucks stores as a barista once a month. “Critically, we will reinvigorate our culture around what it means to be a partner at Starbucks,” Narasimhan continued. Starbucks employees react and cheer at the sound of honking motorists supporting them in a nationwide strike at the Starbucks at 1601 W. Irving Park Road on Dec. 16, 2022, in Chicago. Schultz, who remains on Starbuck’s board, is scheduled to testify about Starbucks’ labor practices during a Senate hearing next week.

☆ Lab-grown chicken is one step closer to being sold in the US
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —Americans are one step closer to being able to buy chicken grown from animal cells, also known as lab-grown meat. Good Meat, the developer of such a chicken product, announced Tuesday that it has received a so-called “no questions” letter from the Food and Drug Administration. That letter states that the administration is satisfied that the product is safe to sell in the United States. The FDA issued a similar letter to another company that makes meat from cultured chicken cells, Upside Foods, in November. Supporters hope that cultured meat will help fight climate change by reducing the need for traditional animal agriculture, which emits greenhouse gases.

☆ Premarket stocks: Five questions for the Federal Reserve as the banking crisis drags on
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

A policy rate announcement is expected on Wednesday along with new economic projections, and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will face the press to answer questions. Is the Fed’s fight against inflation destabilizing the banking system? The US banking system is under a lot of pressure right now. Lagarde opted to portray that rate increase as a signal that the financial system remains strong. Yet, ironically, the banking mess is now helping tech companies and cryptocurrencies as investors flock out of the banking system in search of alternative safe spaces to store their cash.

☆ Starbucks’ new CEO steps in two weeks early
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Starbucks’ new CEO Laxman Narasimhan has taken over the reins from interim CEO Howard Schultz, about two weeks sooner than planned. In addition to taking over as CEO, Narasimhan joined the board Monday. Incoming CEO Laxman Narasimhan speaks from the stage during Starbucks Investor Day, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022, in Seattle. He remains on the Starbucks board. During his time as interim CEO, Schultz laid out a “reinvention” plan that would update stores and, he said, improve conditions for workers.

New York CNN —The banking meltdown over the past week has left us with more questions than answers. Here are five questions that experts answered Wednesday night. Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers told CNN that despite scary headlines, now is not the time for consumers to panic. Some context: Those regulations passed in the wake of the Great Recession laid out stricter rules for the banking industry. Of course, others note that the risk of letting the 16th-largest US bank collapse, and potentially letting its tech industry customers also fail, could have far-reaching and potentially devastating consequences.

☆ Tyson is laying off nearly 1,700 poultry plant workers
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —Tyson is laying off nearly 1,700 workers as it closes two poultry plants in an effort to boost profits. In this case, Tyson is pointing to weakness in its poultry operations. Tyson, a major meat and poultry processor, mentioned problems in its chicken business during a February analyst call discussing the company’s most recent quarterly results. Tyson announced Wes Morris as the new head of its poultry business in January. Morris, a long-time employee of the company, left Tyson in 2017 and had since consulted for its poultry business.

☆ Grocery prices: Eggs are finally getting cheaper in the grocery store
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Grocery prices rose slightly last month, but eggs are finally getting cheaper in the supermarket. In February, egg prices fell 6.7% compared to January, according to seasonally adjusted data released Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In the 12 months through February, egg prices rose 55.4%. The difference was even more pronounced when looking just at grocery prices, which rose 10.2%. Menu prices, which also factor into overall food inflation, rose 8.4% throughout the year.

☆ Food is getting cheaper. But not for you
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

When food producers started raising prices a few years ago, they blamed their own costs, including higher ingredient prices. Many food companies are forecasting that they might slow down or pause price increases — but not lower them. But ingredients typically make up a small portion of overall food costs. Companies are maintaining elevated prices, or continuing to increase them, at a time when many Americans are already struggling to pay for food, especially as pandemic-era food stamp benefits expire. So people keep buying food at the grocery store, despite higher prices — giving producers an opportunity to convince retailers that those higher prices won’t drive customers away.

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