Thanksgiving and Pineapples

20th November, 2023

No matter how bad inflation gets, it’s always satisfying to see the big companies get a proper grilling once in a while. And this time, it’s no exception. Let’s dig in.

This week:

🦃 Thanksgiving may be a little more expensive this year.

💉 The weight-loss drug trend is picking up the pace.

☕️ Starbucks baristas go on strike.

🥤 New York sues big bad PepsiCo.

🍍 Pineapple skins are getting cleverly used in Vietnam

SUPPLY CHAIN
TURKEY DAY GETS EXPENSIVE

GIPHY

Thanksgiving is almost here (#finally) and, while slowing inflation is making food prices a little more palatable, we’re still a pretty long way off from the pre-pandemic era.

The good news is that turkey prices are considerably lower than last year with the average retail price for a 16-pound turkey down 5.6% from 2022.

BUT, prices for almost everything else are still raging. Compared to last year, canned cranberries will still be almost 60% more expensive, green bean prices are up 9%, Russet potato prices are up 14% and prices for pies are up 48.6% since 2019. Crazy!

ZOOMING OUT: A more expensive Thanksgiving, amidst a seemingly more stable US economy, represents a worrying trend specifically in the American food industry. Deadly influenza outbreaks and water shortages, among other climate-related problems, are becoming increasingly frequent across the country, squeezing the food supply and making prices rocket. The question then becomes: will this be the new normal?

HEALTH
LOSING WEIGHT…MEDICALLY?

Weight-loss drugs - like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Zepbound - have recently seen a spike in popularity for their ability to suppress hunger for extended periods of time.

By mimicking a glucagon-like peptide (whatever that means lol) that regulates appetite in the brain, patients are able to eat less food and feel sated for HOURS. And now, a new study has found that Wegovy could cut the risk of cardiovascular deaths, among those suffering with obesity-related heart issues, by 20%!

This is great and all, but are the side effects worth it? Apart from being largely inaccessible to people who don't have $1000+ to spare, we know that weight-loss drugs can cause abdominal pain, nausea, stomach paralysis, vomitting and other pleasant stuff. Nice.

ZOOMING OUT: The big issue is how does the food industry feel about this? Walmart is already seeing people buying less food since the introduction of weight-loss drugs. And with 750 million obese people worldwide looking to, potentially, curb their eating habits, how will the Cokes or the Burger Kings of this world cope?

BUSINESS
STARBUCKS BARISTAS WANTED

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If you thought there was a strange shortage of baristas at your local Starbucks, pronouncing your name wrong while handing you your dairy-free venti-pumpkin-chai-spice-latte with an extra pump of #self-loathing…you thought correctly!

Around 5,000 Starbucks baristas across the US went on strike last week to protest:

  • Insufficient staffing

  • Firing of unionised baristas

  • Salary raises for, exclusively, non-unionised workers.

And, in an effort to deal the biggest blow possible, the unionised chai brewers purposefully protested on “Red Cup Day”, one of Starbucks’ largest promotional days of the year.

ZOOMING OUT: Despite the relationship between the coffee giant and Starbucks Workers United becoming increasingly tense, Starbucks’ bottom line hasn’t suffered much. 10,000 stores were still open on “Red Cup Day” and revenues rose to a record-breaking $36 billion last financial quarter. So, whether these strikes will actually hurt the company in the short term is up for debate.

CLIMATE
NEW YORK VS. PEPSICO

Suing a big company while throwing a fat middle finger is probably the most “New York” thing you can do.

Last week, New York Attorney General, Letitia James, sued PepsiCo for violating environmental and consumer protection laws after a survey found that the company was the largest contributor to plastic waste in the Buffalo River.

From soda bottles to Lays chip bags, PepsiCo was found to have contributed to 17% of all identifiable trash in the river. A little surprising, considering that the world’s second largest food company fervently pledged to cut virgin plastic by 50% by 2030.

ZOOMING OUT: PepsiCo has been misleading its customers about its pollution for years now and Ms. James is calling them out. Rightly so. Filed last Wednesday, the law suit will demand fines and restitution and aim to ban PepsiCo from practices that threaten the environment.

THE BRIGHT SIDE
PINEAPPLE SOAP

We don’t know about you, but we were SHOCKED to find that hollowed pineapples were used for things other than a home for SpongeBob.

Fuwa Biotech is a brilliant company that creates soaps, laundry detergents, and other everyday cleaners, using pineapple skins!

The Vietnam-based company buys the pineapple skins from nearby canned-pineapple producers, submerges them in a sugar-water mixture, and then leaves them to ferment and be broken down by their own enzymes.

After a few months, the mixture is strained and the liquid is used for soaps and other detergents, while the remaining scraps are used as fertiliser for nearby farms.

Not only does this process not involve chemicals, like phosphorus or nitrogen - which can be incredibly harmful for one’s health and the environment - but it prevents a huge pile-up of food scraps, which, if left alone, could rot and produce crazy amounts of methane. This is Food Jungle approved!

BEFORE YOU GO…

  • The UN declares that 62.6 million people are experiencing food insecurity in East Africa.

  • New EU rules will force food producers to prove their goods have not been produced on recently deforested land.

  • Saltwater from the Gulf of Mexico has creeped into the Mississippi river, contaminating the drinking water for thousands of citizens in New Orleans.

  • Tyson Foods predicts that its beef business will have an operating loss of between $400 million and breakeven, in 2024, due to tight US cattle supplies.

  • Italy bans lab-grown meat to preserve culinary heritage.

  • Ultra-processed foods now make up a majority (about 58%) of Americans’ diets.

  • McDonald’s dismisses 18 UK staff following investigation into toxic work culture.

  • Meal kit company, Blue Apron, is bought by Wonder Group for $103 million after demand for meal kits plateaus.

  • Mars buys Hotel Chocolat for £534 million.

  • General Atlantic buys a majority stake in Joe & The Juice for $600 million.

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