Best of Pax Westona: May 2020

• How Cargill became the site of Canada's largest single outbreak of COVID-19 (Globe and Mail)
• Beef producers are grinding up their nicest cuts, while retailers can't meet demand for cheaper cuts (The Counter)
• The grapelord of Napa faces a threat worse than the plague (NYT)
• Fear lingers for workers at Cargill (Macleans)
• How the internet created a sport cards boom (Sports Illustrated)
• J Crew, Brooks Brothers, and the decline of American prep style (FT)
• Doordash and pizza arbitrage (The Margins)
• Inside the flour company supplying America's baking obsession (Marker)
• Will the world's breadbaskets become less reliable (McKinsey)
• The human cost of Instacart's grocery delivery (The Verge)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• Big pharmacy chains also fed the opioid epidemic (NYT)
• Americans it turns out, would rather buy from a store than online (Bloomberg)
• Old-fashioned milkman makes the rounds as U.S. shoppers stay home (Reuters)
• Amazon misses a shopping opportunity (NYT)
• From the archives (1994): The fall and rise of strategic planning (HBR)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• The human cost of Instacart's grocery delivery (The Verge)
• Amazon in advanced talks to buy self-driving car company Zoox (WSJ)
• COVID-19 lawsuit takes on McDonald's like it was a rowdy bar (Reuters)
• The case for letting the restaurant industry die (The New Yorker)
• Mom and pop retailers are struggling. Big box giants are thriving (Barron's)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• As meatpacking plants reopen, data about worker illness remains elusive (NYT) 
• Indigo CEO on retail's future after the Coronavirus (Globe and Mail)
• America's malls are incredibly dependent on struggling retailers (CNBC)
• Covid-19 makes the case for more meatpacking robots (Wired)
• The meat industry is trying to get back to normal. But workers are still getting sick (Washington Post)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Will the world's breadbaskets become less reliable (McKinsey)
• Grocery workers are in the dark about risks (Washington Post)
• Coronavirus could finally force over stored retail shutdowns (Bloomberg)
• What happened to the great American logistics machine (NYT)
• Hudson's Bay Co. accused of 'corporate shell game' in U.S. lawsuit (Globe and Mail)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• Rebuilding the economy on good jobs (HBR)
• What Couche-Tard's CEO sees coming (Globe and Mail)
• Walmart ekes out an edge in groceries during the pandemic (The Economist)
• Restaurants are facing a rotten future (Slate)
• Walmart's China plans adds optimism to Asian grocers (Bloomberg)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• Inside the flour company supplying America's baking obsession (Marker)
• Apollo Global invests $1.75 billion in Albertsons (Reuters)
• Walmart's U.S. boss expects Coronavirus to alter shopping permanently (WSJ)
• How the pandemic is changing shopping (Washington Post)
• From the archives (2005): Metro muscles into Ontario, winning A&P bid (Globe and Mail)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Coronavirus brings beer drinkers back to Bud Light (WSJ)
• How restaurants can thrive in the next normal (McKinsey)
• The world has too much wheat (Bloomberg)
• M&S to speed up latest reinvention in 'never the same again' plan (Reuters)
• Reopening retailers face tough road to recovery (Globe and Mail)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Doordash and pizza arbitrage (The Margins)
• Reitmans seeks creditor protection (Globe and Mail)
• JC Penney needs quick bankruptcy to avoid 'disastrous' result (WSJ)
• Tesco's slavery review reports abuses in Malaysia (Reuters)
• Adapting to the next normal in retail: The customer experience imperative (McKinsey)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• The pandemic helped topple two retailers. So did private equity (NYT)
• The shape of the pasta industry (Slate)
• J Crew, Brooks Brothers, and the decline of American prep style (FT)
• Grubhub rebuffs Uber's latest offer as merger talks continue (WSJ)
• How COVID-19 could change Canada's meat processing industry (Financial Post)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• How the internet created a sport cards boom (Sports Illustrated)
• Why pandemic baking is so popular (The Atlantic)
• America is stuck at home, but food deliver companies still struggle to profit (WSJ)
• Tim Hortons strikes partnership with Tencent to speed up Chinese expansion (Globe and Mail)
• From the archives (1998): Kroger to buy Fred Meyer, creating country's biggest grocer (NYT)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• KKR in talks to take majority stake in Coty's hair-care business (WSJ)
• The restaurants transforming into grocery stores (The New Yorker)
• The private brand imperative for grocery (BCG)
• Why chicken is plentiful during the pandemic while beef is not (Bloomberg)
• Canadian malls collect just 15 percent of May rent from tenants (Globe and Mail)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• The grapelord of Napa faces a threat worse than the plague (NYT)
• Retailers fight to survive amid pandemic (Globe and Mail)
• Big food brands see sales and stock prices jump on stay-at-home grazing (WP)
• Fear lingers for workers at Cargill (Macleans)
• Kroger is the pandemic's anti-hero (Popular Information)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Cargill shuts down Montreal plant after 64 workers test positive for COVID-19 (Globe and Mail)
• The struggle behind the scenes in Canada's egg business (Financial Post)
• Why Clorox wipes are still so hard to find (WSJ)
• Instacart's frantic dash from delivery app to essential service (Bloomberg)
• How Chinese consumers are changing shopping habits in response to COVID-19 (McKinsey)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• How Cargill became the site of Canada's largest single outbreak of COVID-19 (Globe and Mail)
• As restaurants remain shuttered, America cities fear the future (NYT)
• How U.S. meat plants became a virus breeding ground (Bloomberg)
• Beef producers are grinding up their nicest cuts, while retailers can't meet demand for cheaper cuts (The Counter)
• How did three meat-packing plants turn out 85% of Canada's beef (Financial Post)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• Neiman Marcus goes bankrupt, idled by virus and crushed by debt (Bloomberg)
• Footwear retailer Aldo files for creditor protection (Globe and Mail)
• Boom in canned food means a boom in cans too (NYT)
• Supermarkets on wheels get ready to roll through the neighbourhood (CBC)
• From the archives (2013): REI, Nordstrom, and the perils of no-questions-asked returns (WSJ)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• What it will take for restaurants to survive (The New Yorker)
• A quarantine surprise: Americans are cooking more seafood (NYT)
• A pandemic is not the time for food snobbery (The Atlantic)
• How the beauty industry can survive Coronavirus (McKinsey)
• American meat workers are starting to quit with plants reopening (Bloomberg)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• J. Crew didn't need to live forever (NYT)
• L Brands, Sycamore agree to scrap Victoria's Secret deal (WSJ)
• Will we work from home after the pandemic (The Atlantic)
• The pandemic may mean the end of the open-floor office (NYT)
• Amazon wins business from reluctant brands after virus closes stores (Bloomberg)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• J. Crew files for bankruptcy (NYT)
• Global brands need consumers to spend. They might have to wait (WSJ)
• How Tesco's 'doomsday exercise' helped it plan for Coronavirus (The Guardian)
• Buying consumer data? Tread carefully (HBR)
• Quarantinis, bread makers, and badminton: What's hot in down consumer market (WSJ)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• There is plenty of chicken to make up for shortages of red meat (Bloomberg)
• Driving differentiation in retail (McKinsey)
• Limiting capacity may be a death sentence for struggling restaurants (Eater)
• A guide to grocery delivery during the pandemic - and after (WSJ)
• Why are farmers destroying food while grocery stores are empty (Washington Monthly)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• Why cocktail hour is back (NYT)
• Americans are discovering frugality (Vox)
• Boneless chicken starts to vanish in U.S. meatpacking shutdowns (Bloomberg)
• Two months that tore apart the food supply chain (WSJ)
• From the archives (2011): The Brothers Zabar (Edible Manhattan)