Best of Pax Westona: July 2019

• Amazon is watching (One Zero)
• Why Americans just can't quit their microwaves (The Atlantic)
• How did protein bars become so popular (Topic)
• Amazon's most ambitious research project is a convenience store (Bloomberg)
• The launch of the Cosmic Crisp apple (California Sunday Magazine)
• My frantic life as a cab-dodging, tip-chasing food app deliveryman (NYT)
• The rise and fall of French cuisine (The Guardian)
• The next level of personalization in retail (BCG)
• How billion dollar 'unicorns' are changing the beauty industry (Vogue)
• How our global food system wastes 46 million tonnes of fish every year (Hakai Magazine)
• How Etsy crafted an e-commerce comeback (Fortune)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Aldi and Lidl are doing less well at home (The Economist)
• How to get markdowns right (McKinsey)
• From environmental leader to 'worst company in the world' (NYT)
• Chuck E. Cheese parent calls off merger (Reuters)
• Beyond Meat on track to deliver profit this year (WSJ)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Why Whole Foods hasn't satisfied Amazon's grocery appetite (NYT)
• Sweetgreen, pointing to its own past, hatches new model (WSJ)
• Uber talks with European supermarkets about grocery delivery (Bloomberg)
• Why we need Trader Joe's YouTube channel now more than ever (Fast Company)
• Takeaway and Just Eat to merge in $10B deal to take on Uber Eats and Deliveroo in Europe (Tech Crunch)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• Amazon's revolutionary retail strategy? Recycling old ideas (Wired)
• Why millennials love canned cocktails (The Atlantic)
• The convenience store, re-imagined (CBC)
• Store brands cut into Big Food (WSJ)
• Ice cream sales soar as Britons continue their love affair with cool (The Guardian)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• Are Oreos part of a mindful diet? Snack makers promote chewing thoughtfully (WSJ)
• How our global food system wastes 46 million tonnes of fish every year (Hakai Magazine)
• In major switch, DoorDash announces that tips will now go to workers (Fast Company)
• How Etsy crafted an e-commerce comeback (Fortune)
• From the archives (2016): Failure to lunch (NYT Magazine)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Contact lens startup, big on social media, may be bad on eyes, doctors say (NYT)
• Kroger goes full robot to take on Amazon with Ocado (Bloomberg)
• Consumers turn from diapers and detergent to eye rollers and jelly masks (WSJ)
• Amazon's rise to power has been great for consumers. But has it gotten too big (Vox)
• How billion dollar 'unicorns' are changing the beauty industry (Vogue)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• The next level of personalization in retail (BCG)
• Japan's convenience store woman has lessons for retail tech (Nikkei Asian Review)
• The problem with America's protein diet obsession (Quartz)
• Walmart deepens store-digital integration as web unit struggles (Bloomberg)
• With so many vacant stores, e-commerce is only part of the problem (WSJ)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• The rise and fall of French cuisine (The Guardian)
• Amazon warns customers: Those supplements might be fake (Wired)
• Court filings say corporations fed opioid epidemic (NYT)
• A prescription for pain at the American drugstore chain (WSJ)
• Muji's minimalist aesthetic is too easy to knock off (Bloomberg)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• Amazon's most ambitious research project is a convenience store (Bloomberg)
• Cosmic Crisp apple launch (California Sunday Magazine)
• 10 technologies that could combat climate change as food demand soars (MIT TR)
• Amazon offers sellers a leg up, with a catch (WSJ)
• My frantic life as a cab-dodging, tip-chasing food app deliveryman (NYT)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• How hunger and obesity coexist in America (Bloomberg)
• Instacart workers say the app manipulates them into low-paying deliveries (Eater)
• How NASA made Tang cool (Food & Wine)
• Nutrition: The missing piece of the corporate wellness puzzle (Forbes)
• From the archives (2014): The slow death of the microwave (Quartz)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Wall Street's great ice cream bailout (Bloomberg)
• Arby's has an answer to plant-based meat: A meat-based carrot (NYT)
• Looking for cookies in all the wrong places (Taste)
• Nestle creates new chocolate - with no added sugar (Bloomberg)
• McDonald's deal with DoorDash delivers blow to Uber Eats (WSJ)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• The business of the body (The Economist)
• Amazon Prime Day brings sales, and risks for retailers (NYT)
• IKEA to close its only US factory (WSJ)
• AI drug hunters could give Big Pharma a run for its money (Bloomberg)
• Why companies like Ocado produce gobbledegook (FT)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• How did protein bars become so popular (Topic)
• The seltzer bubble (NYT)
• Budweiser APAC IPO hit by investor pushback (Reuters)
• Beauty brands focus on women of colour (WSJ)
• Barney's New York explores options which include bankruptcy (Reuters)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• Amazon's latest experiment: Retraining its workforce (NYT)
• Postmates has explored a sale to Uber or DoorDash instead of going public (Vox)
• Why Americans just can't quit their microwaves (The Atlantic)
• Plant-based dairy has a new competitor in flora-based foods (Quartz)
• Road-tripping with the Amazon nomads (The Verge)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• Walmart got a $10 billion surprise after it bought Flipkart (Bloomberg)
• The decline of Dean & Deluca: Why premium grocers are biting the dust (Washington Post)
• Inside Greycroft's VC playbook for investing in the grocery industry (Digiday)
• A vegetable startup wants to raise at least $500 million (Bloomberg)
• From the archives (2005): How Costco became the anti-Wal-Mart (NYT)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Impossible Foods is introducing a (fish-less) fish product (NYT)
• Amazon Alexa offering NHS health advice (BBC)
• World's coffee farmers seek to set minimum price to help poor farmers (WSJ)
• Amazon workers in Minnesota plan to strike on Prime Day over labor practices (Tech Crunch)
• Alibaba has claimed a new record in AI language understanding (MIT Technology Review)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Move over Monopoly: Hasbro's next big growth engine is Magic (Bloomberg)
• Scientists create beanless coffee without the bitterness of regular Joe (NPR)
• Beetles and flies are becoming part of the agricultural food chain (The Economist)
• Kohl's is betting on Amazon returns to drive sales (NYT)
• P&G, in search of new markets, is going after bugs (WSJ)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Campbell tries to reheat soup sales (WSJ)
• All that online grocery shopping is creating a cold storage shortage (LA Times)
• Amazon's Deliveroo invested halted for U.K. scrutiny (NYT)
• Spurred by Amazon, supermarkets try swapping cashiers for cameras (WSJ)
• Sandpiper Group joins growing opposition to Baker's HBC privatization bid (Globe and Mail)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• America has reached peak mask (The Atlantic)
• How Costco quietly became a $7 billion fast fashion powerhouse (Fast Company)
• How Costco gained a cult following (The Hustle)
• Chobani turns to fair trade program to help struggling dairy industry (NYT)
• Amazon is watching (One Zero)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• Walmart is losing $1 billion as it tries to catch Amazon (Vox)
• The evolving perspectives and strategies of dairy executives (McKinsey)
• Amazon wants to make Whole Foods a beauty destination (Quartzy)
• Nestle wraps Yes bar in paper as it seeks to cut plastic waste (Bloomberg)
• From the archives (1986): Pasta (The Atlantic)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• The place to be on Canada Day? Lining up for Mandarin's free buffet (Macleans)
• E-commerce turns the tables on restaurant space (WSJ)
• Why you still can't buy fireworks on Amazon (Wired)
• Struggling beauty giant Coty to restructure operations (WSJ)
• How Americans decided dogs can't eat grains (The Atlantic)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Subway got too big. Franchisees paid a price (NYT)
• Shots go on a health kick (WSJ)
• Amazon Prime Day 2019: eBay offers deals to compete (Vox)
• Would you drink water out of a can? Pepsi wants to find out (NYT)
• Walmart turns to VR to pick middle managers (WSJ)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Why science can be so indecisive about nutrition (The Atlantic)
• Target pulls new thread in bikini yarn (NYT)
• Retailers such as Barney's Tiffany become restauranteurs to boost sales (CNBC)
• Amazon adds Rite Aid locations to package delivery network (WSJ)
• Grubhub is buying up thousands of restaurant addresses. (The New Food Economy)