Demand for more nutritious food options on children’s menus continues to climb as health-conscious Millennial parents seek options that align with their own dietary values. Now more restaurants seem to be responding, with traditional kids …
According to industry experts, consumers can expect to see higher prices in the last quarter of this year in several grocery categories. Ingredient suppliers are seeing longer lead times because of issues like labor shortages …
As competition intensifies across the media advertising landscape, major retail players are differentiating themselves with technologically-optimized content that advances the omnichannel purchasing experience. The recent partnership between Walmart and media corporation Meredith has upped the …
On a recent earnings call, Kroger CFO Gary Millerchip said the retailer will be “passing along higher cost to the customer where it makes sense to do so.” The CFO acknowledged the company’s facing pressures …
As the U.S. restaurant industry pushes towards pandemic recovery, a new report from Lending Tree shows some cities are bouncing back faster than others. For the study, researchers examined four key metrics from the 50 …
Coffee’s popularity in the U.S. shows no signs of slowing. More than half of Americans over 18 years old drink coffee daily, with the average coffee drinker consuming three cups of coffee per day, as …
Dealing with a shallow labor pool, major companies are increasingly turning to creative – and, in some cases, controversial – measures to attract new hires. Here’s a look at some unique moves made recently along …
Higher pay. Flexible work hours. A retirement account. What more do workers want? The answer is: plenty. The pandemic changed the way a lot of people think about work, and employers are not only scrambling …
Ahead of Labor Day Weekend, the labor situation for grocers and restaurants is anything but rosy. Although both the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and ADP showed a net gain in jobs for August, hiring …
Of the approximately 7,300 U.S. stores opened, or planned to open in 2020 and 2021, 43% are dollar stores, according to Coresight Research. Dollar General opened 1,000 new stores in 2020 and has 1,050 more …
Food companies have had to get creative to attract workers during the ongoing labor shortage. An Oregon McDonald’s is now even looking to hire teen workers as young as 14, according to a report from …
Chronic labor shortages and mandatory overtime appear to be fueling union unrest as the economy bounces back from the pandemic, with workers realizing they aren’t as powerless as they once were. “With the pandemic and …
The COVID-19 pandemic simply accelerated Americans’ shift to a home-centric lifestyle, according to a new report by The NPD Group. But the tendency to largely hunker down at home was already apparent prior to the …
It seems like every few weeks food delivery apps are finding themselves in hot water. Most recently, Chicago officials accused both DoorDash and Grubhub of harming city restaurants and customers through high fees and other deceptive …
Loyalty programs continue to gain traction across the food industry as restaurants and retailers implement new offerings to capitalize on customer allegiance. The increase is widely tied to pandemic-induced spikes in digital commerce along with …
Bojangles closed all of its company-owned stores today and will do so again on September 13 in an effort to give its employees and managers a “well-deserved break.” However, employees will not be paid for …
With daily COVID cases up 11% since last week in the U.S., signs of the pandemic’s staying power threaten to disrupt the nascent effort to attain some semblance of normalcy. The Delta variant has turned …
Albertsons Cos. has begun piloting an Instacart-powered online grocery pickup service in six major cities. The new click-and-collect service, which is currently available in 40 stores, will work in tandem with Albertsons’ Drive Up & …
Walmart plans to open up its in-house delivery platform, Spark Driver, to other businesses. The retailer is doing so to allow the independent contractors out delivering Walmart merchandise to make additional deliveries along the way, …
With July U.S. retail sales off 1.1% overall, Walmart bucked the trend, reporting a second-quarter increase of 2.4%, compared to last year, while Amazon missed revenue estimates for the first time in nearly three years. …
What will the post-pandemic future hold for wine retailers? The global wine sector is large and highly fragmented, so it’ll take some time to fully measure and understand COVID’s impact on the segment. For wine …
With ESG topics becoming increasingly important to consumers, food companies are noticeably increasing their efforts. Below are a few recent examples of new ESG initiatives in the industry. MCCORMICK ADVANCES SUSTAINABILITY STANDARD McCormick & Company …
Editor’s note: Juan Ruiz is a finance and investment professional with over 30 years’ experience collecting and reviewing wines. He’s a graduate of New York’s Institute of Culinary Education’s Intensive Sommelier Program and a certified …
As pandemic restrictions eased, pent-up consumer demand kept inflation elevated. In July, the overall consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.5%, a somewhat moderate gain relative to recent increases. Yet, over the past 12 months, price …
Restaurant menus – like so much of society amid the pandemic – have undergone a whirlwind of change in recent months. The coronavirus has required as much, with restaurants having to deal with supply uncertainties …
Hiring and retaining employees has been a battle throughout the coronavirus pandemic, so companies are upping their game, waving perks like signing bonuses at workers. Now, the latest trend entails major employers like McDonald’s offering …
Since acquiring Whole Foods for $13.7 billion in 2017, Amazon has been looking to further expand into the $900 billion U.S. grocery industry through its Amazon Fresh stores. And, with online grocery delivery growing about …
In a major merger announced Thursday, Panera Bread joined forces with Caribou Coffee and Einstein Bros. Bagels to form Panera Brands. The new group includes more than 4,000 fast-casual restaurants. The pact sent reverberations throughout …
Kroger and ghost kitchen start-up Kitchen United have teamed to provide shoppers with on-demand takeout and delivery food. Through the partnership, Kitchen United will feature up to six restaurant brands inside select Kroger locations. The …
One of the most successful limited time offerings (LTOs) over the past year has been McDonald’s “Famous Orders” celebrity collaborations. McDonald’s has been utilizing LTOs to attract consumers for years with items such as the …
COVID-weary Americans thought the summer would bring freedom from face masks, but the Delta variant – more contagious than its predecessors – has put the kibosh on that, threatening the nascent recovery in the food …
With a slew of earnings being released over the past week, The Food Institute looked into which companies are thriving, as well as which companies are experiencing issues. EARNINGS ‘WINNERS’ McDonalds (MCD) Global comparable sales …
Maryland without crab cakes. An ahi tuna shortage in Hawaii. Clams missing from the menu in Massachusetts. Are we running out of fish? “Yes, there is a shortage of fish, in some part, because of …
Eighty-four percent of consumers globally order chicken from a restaurant at least once a month, according to new research by Technomic. The latest chicken product in high demand appears to be nuggets. POPEYES DEBUTS NUGGETS …
Starting Thursday, hundreds of San Francisco bars will require patrons to show proof of vaccination or a negative coronavirus test before they can drink inside. The decision was made by the San Francisco Bar Owner …
While grocery stores are experiencing an uptick in foot traffic this summer, most salad stations have stayed dark. Many grocers, including Hy-Vee’s, Wegmans, and Stop & Shop have no plans to reopen them anytime soon, …
