Best of Pax Westona: August 2019

• Big Alcohol's pursuit to make weed beverages (The Verge)
• Auchan China's chairman on the future of grocery (McKinsey)
• Why meal delivery companies are everywhere (The Atlantic)
• The rise of the virtual restaurant (NYT)
• The Californication of American restaurants (Eater)
• How Target managed a big box turnaround (Fortune)
• The Popeyes chicken sandwich is here to save America (The New Yorker)
• LaCroix won the bubble battle, but it's losing the sparkling water war (Bloomberg)
• The inside story of the fall of Overstock's mad king (Forbes)
• Why are products for older people so ugly (MIT Technology Review)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• How Amazon's shipping empire is challenging UPS and FedEx (WSJ)
• Forever 21 is said to prepare potential bankruptcy filing (Bloomberg)
• He ran an empire of soup and mayonnaise. Now he wants to reinvent capitalism (NYT)
• Hudson's Bay selling Lord & Taylor banner amid privatization battle (Globe and Mail)
• From the archives (2005): Metro in deal to buy A&P Canada for $1.7B (CBC)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Why are products for older people so ugly (MIT Technology Review)
• What sandwich war? KFC sells out of plant-based chicken in Atlanta (NYT)
• Spanish delivery app targets supermarkets as consolidation looms (Bloomberg)
• Falling tobacco demand spurs Philip Morris, Altria to talk merger (WSJ)
• Why complexity sells (Collaborative Fund)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Here are the crazy pictures from Costco's opening day in China (Quartz)
• J&J ordered to pay $572 million in landmark opioid trial (NYT)
• Pets can't save struggling food makers (WSJ)
• Kraft Heinz' CEO Patricio's premiumization plan will face challenges (Chicago Business)
• A war between Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods and cattle ranchers draws in veggie burgers and Tofurkey (Washington Post)

Stephan's Tuesday's Picks

• What Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop really sells to women (The Atlantic)
• A tooth-straightening startup runs into resistance (Bloomberg)
• It's not always excellent to be Jamie Oliver (NYT)
• Getting sharp on omnichannel shoppers in apparel (McKinsey)
• White Claw craze: Why the canned drink is a US summer obsession (The Guardian)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• The inside story of the fall of Overstock's mad king (Forbes)
• Amazon has ceded control of its site (WSJ)
• The collective memory of American shoppers (NYT)
• Why everyday is 'National Something Day' (The Atlantic)
• Eataly's Andrea Guerra on the company's Canadian expansion, it's split from Batali and what you should call it (Financial Post)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• LaCroix won the bubble battle, but it's losing the sparkling water war (Bloomberg)
• The Cheesecake Factory is the restaurant America wants, deserves (LA Times)
• Retail divide widens as shoppers seek value and convenience (WSJ)
• Welcome to the promoconomy (NYT)
• From the archives (2014): Our Canadian CEO of the year you've probably never heard of (Globe and Mail)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• How Target managed a big box turnaround (Fortune)
• The hottest thing in food is made of peas, soy, and mung beans (Bloomberg)
• Cereal makers try again to jump start stale sales (WSJ)
• The Popeyes chicken sandwich is here to save America (The New Yorker)
• A Popeyes chicken sandwich and a tactic to set off a Twitter roar (NYT)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Momofuku's secret sauce: A 30-year-old CEO (NYT)
• The Californication of American restaurants (Eater)
• Is sugar toxic? Here's the actual truth about the sweet substance (Inverse)
• The entire west coast goes cage-free on eggs as Oregon signs on (Bloomberg)
• Alberta beef producers say their 'ahead of the curve' as consumers look for sustainable meat (CBC)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Is it time to let employees work from anywhere (HBR)
• You're either Team Pulao or Team Biryani (Taste)
• A super sad true chef story (Eater)
• High-end hot pot heats up in the U.S. (Fortune)
• Smart ovens have been turning on overnight and pre-heating to 400 degrees (The Verge)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• If strategy is so important, why don't we make time for it (HBR)
• Four Loko makes hard seltzer now (Grub Street)
• The burger recipe that changed food internet forever (Food52)
• What's fresh in fruit? Grapes that taste like cotton candy and grape soda (WSJ)
• Plastic bags are killing horses and cows across the state. What's Texas to do (Texas Tribune)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• Is Big Soda winning the soft drink wars (Politico)
• A nation awash in cardboard. But for how long (WSJ)
• America has never been so desperate for tomato season (The Atlantic)
• The rise of the virtual restaurant (NYT)
• From the archives (2013): Paul Sobeys' patient and painstaking approach to building an empire (Globe and Mail)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Are you agile enough for agile management (WSJ)
• Packaging solutions. Poised to take off? (McKinsey)
• Why do appliances have their own jingles (The Atlantic)
• It's hot. It's August. It's pumpkin spice time? (NYT)
• As customers begin to shop through voice assistants, what can brands do to stand out (HBR)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Why Amazon pays warehouse employees to tweet about their jobs (Vox)
• Cashierless stores make inroads in U.S. (WSJ)
• How nutcrackers became New York's best hustle (Grub Street)
• Amazon's autonomous robots are now delivering packages in California (WP)
• Trader Joe's, H-E-B, Wegmans and Costco share competitive edge (Winsight Grocery Business)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• H&M and Zara are closing stores to get ahead (Fortune)
• The quest for lab-made dairy (NYT)
• Inside General Mills' plan to make Lucky Charms seem hip (WSJ)
• The last robot-proof job in America (The New Yorker)
• Sea buckthorn is the latest superfruit to crack Michelin-starred restaurants (Bloomberg)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• Can Britain's top bookseller save Barnes & Noble (NYT)
• Why you can't escape spiked seltzer this summer (Slate)
• Home Depot's CFO on how the retail giant returned to health (WSJ)
• We put a 'sin tax' on cigarettes and alcohol. Why not meat (Vox)
• Today's contrarian ketchup consumers (Bloomberg)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• FedEx, UPS find formula for delivering seven days a week (WSJ)
• The best probiotic? Fruits and vegetables (The Atlantic)
• Canadian Tire buys all Party City stores in Canada for $175M (CBC)
• Climate change threatens world's food supply, United Nations warns (NYT)
• From the archives (1985): Beatrice agrees to $6 billion buyout offer (Washington Post)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• How the Beyond Meat sausage is made (Bloomberg)
• Tainted pork, ill consumers, and an investigation thwarted (NYT)
• Cherry capital of the U.S. faces competition from Turkish imports (WSJ)
• Cashless stores alienate customers in the name of efficiency (Wired)
• This is the beginning of the end for the beef industry (Outside)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Why meal delivery companies are everywhere (The Atlantic)
• The fasting cure is no fad (WSJ)
• Kosher food merger opens new chapter for famous name (NYT)
• The business of sleep (GQ)
• Cult favourite Topo Chico breaks out of Texas with help from Coke (Bloomberg)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• DoorDash buys a rival, Caviar, for $410 million (NYT)
• Meatless burgers stoke sales and questions about nutrition (WSJ)
• How savvy retailers can gear up for the 2019 holiday season (McKinsey)
• Amazon in early talks to buy a stake in India's Reliance Retail (Reuters)
• Meet the man coating fruits and vegetables to alleviate food waste and world hunger (Newsweek)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• Amazon pushes brands to be less boxy (WSJ)
• Oatly's path to alt-milk world domination starts in New Jersey (Bloomberg)
• Impossible Foods receives FDA approval for 'bleeding' plant burger (Reuters)
• She was Filipino food's greatest champion. Now her work is finding new fans (NYT)
• From the archives (2014): The hard truth about Tim Hortons (Macleans)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Big Alcohol's pursuit to make weed beverages (The Verge)
• Is fair trade finished (The Guardian)
• Auchan China's chairman on the future of grocery (McKinsey)
• High end diapers test how much more customers will pay (WSJ)
• Why Amazon hasn't dominated the clothing industry yet (MIT Technology Review)