Stephan's Monday Picks

• Costco, Sam's Club are full of Gen Z shoppers (WSJ)
• The century-long saga of the Caesar salad (NYT)
• The fried chicken sandwich wars are more cutthroat than ever before (Bloomberg)
• Why refrigerators and other kitchen appliances break so easily now (Washington Post)
• What do bagged chickens have to do with sliced cheese (NYT)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Ozempic is changing the way people eat. Snack companies are paying close attention (CBC)
• Windsor has a problem: Not enough tech workers to work on their farms (Globe and Mail)
• Your old clothes are worth billions (WSJ)
• Want an iced coffee. Brands want you to make your own (WSJ)
• From the archives (2022): What we write about when we write about food (NYT)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Hudson's Bay to buy Neiman Marcus - with help from Amazon (WSJ)
• Australian supermarket chains could be broken up as a 'last resort' under Coalition proposal (The Guardian)
• Investor group raises Macy's buyout offer - again (WSJ)
• Costco's rotisserie chicken is now sold in a bag. Cue the panic (Washington Post)
• The fast food fight over the $5 deal meal (WSJ)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• How the Kindle became a must-have accessory (again) (WSJ)
• Online shopping warehouses are reshaping America (Bloomberg)
• Sainsbury's backs guidance after robust growth in grocery (WSJ)
• RBI signs two deals in China to bolster presence (Globe and Mail)
• Why cheap toilet paper sets off alarm bells for some investors (WSJ)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Strategy & sustained innovation (Medium)
• Amazon, built by retail, leans into its AI future (WSJ)
• The world of luxury fruit (NYT)
• The Save Mart Companies acquired by Jim Pattison Food Group (Grocery Dive)
• Walgreens plans 'significant' store closures, citing weak consumer spending (NYT)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• How the sausage is made (Grub Street)
• Alimentation Couche-Tard CEO Brian Hannasch to retire in September (Globe and Mail)
• The AI boom has an unlikely early winner: wonky consultants (NYT) 
• McDonald's says no thanks to plant-based burgers (Quartz)
• Meet Brian Hannasch, the American in charge of a beloved Quebec brand (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• LVMH's Bernard Arnault emerges as personal stakeholder in Richemont (FT)
• DoorDash held talks with UKs Deliveroo on takeover (Reuters)
• Ottawa ends decades-long ban on Newfoundland's Northern cod fishing (Globe and Mail)
• Shopify beefs up AI offerings with new products meant to boost merchants' sales (Globe and Mail)
• Why your Starbucks Frappuccino is now half price (WSJ)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Getir set for breakup and Mubadala cash injection (FT)
• Canada's boss economy: What explains the boom in management jobs (Globe and Mail)
• Go woke, go broke? Not a chance, say Ben and Jerry (WSJ)
• BoC's Macklem says Canadian economy appears to be on track for soft landing (Globe and Mail)
• Every year, StatsCan tweaks how it calculates inflation. Here's what you need to know about this year's changes (CBC)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: How management can most effectively use boards (Medium)
• How pets became big business (NYT)
• The crazy economics of the world's most coveted handbag (WSJ)
• What it takes to rewire a CPG company to outcompete in digital and AI (McKinsey)
• Amazon mulls monthly fee as part of revamp of unprofitable Alexa service to include generative AI (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• A supermarket trip may soon look different, thanks to electronic shelf labels (NPR)
• Target tests an AI tool to help its works aid shoppers (NYT)
• Americans have lost the plot on cooking oil (The Atlantic)
• How to avoid scams and shoddy wares on Amazon (Wired)
• How PBMs are driving up prescription drug costs (NYT)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Sobeys slowing e-commerce expansion in bid to improve profitability (Globe and Mail)
• The self-checkout revolution (WSJ)
• Boston Pizza scales down in bid to serve underserved markets (Globe and Mail)
• How retail media can top the CMO agenda (BCG)
• From the archives (2018): The Ocado Way: The British future of grocery e-commerce is coming to Canada (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Rescuing the decade: A dual agenda for the consumer goods industry (McKinsey)
• Ottawa set to stop open-net salmon farms in B.C., giving the industry 5 years to transition (Globe and Mail)
• McDonald's ends AI drive-thru trial as fast-food industry tests automation (The Guardian)
• Oxtail is gaining fans. Not everyone is happy about that (NYT)
• Revolutionizing procurement: Leveraging data and AI for strategic advantage (McKinsey)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• For Geoffrey Hinton, the godfather of AI, machines are closer to humans than we think (Globe and Mail)
• B.C. sets minimum wage, other rules for app-based ride hailing, food delivery (Globe and Mail)
• Amazon fined by California for failing to disclose worker quotas (WSJ)
• Grieving families blame Panera's charged lemonade for leaving a deadly legacy (Bloomberg)
• Customer experience gets worse. Again (WSJ)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Strategy at human scale (Medium)
• Rice farming gets an AI upgrade (Hakai Magazine)
• The impact of rising cocoa prices (JP Morgan)
• LCBO blindsided by Ontario cancelling pilot to scan customer ID's at northern stores, exec emails show (CBC)
• China's lust for durian is creating fortunes in Southeast Asia (NYT)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Banana giant held liable for funding paramilitaries (BBC)
• Four major UK supermarkets accused of misleading 'freshly baked' bread claim (The Guardian)
• Yum! Brands former CEO on why you should never stop learning (HBR)
• Keep calm and allocate capital (McKinsey)
• Inside Mexico's anti-avocado militias (The Guardian)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Dollarama sees profit jump 20% in first quarter (Globe and Mail)
• Creating a data advantage in marketing (BCG)
• State of the consumer 2024 (McKinsey)
• The end of one-stop shopping (Axios)
• From the archives (2023): As dollar stores proliferate, some communities say no (NYT)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• The QR backlash has won. Restaurants are ditching them (WSJ)
• How Amazon blew Alexa's shot to dominate AI (Fortune)
• Applebee's, IHOP look to service diners hungry for deals. Will profits take a hit (WSJ)
• Games are proving their pull on news and tech sites (NYTNYT)
• Target's online chief turned to stores to solve its online fulfillment problem (WSJ)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Shopping centers are making a comeback (NYT)
• Costco is the hero America needs now (Washington Post)
• Don't call it an 'ethnic' grocery store (NYT)
• Alibaba's new e-commerce strategy faces tough competition (WSJ)
• Ontario College of Pharmacists director under pressure to step down over Shoppers Drug Mart lawsuit (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: The downside of scaling strategies (Medium)
• How the fridge changed flavor (The New Yorker)
• The ballad of Birkenstock (Bloomberg)
• Food companies are still paying the price for years of inflation (WSJ)
• The food fight for Swiss Chalet is a lesson for all family owned companies (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Why are Target and Walgreens slashing prices (The Cut)
• Ultra-cheap meals from China's delivery giant are hugely popular. Deliver drivers are bearing the cost (Rest of World)
• Canadian agri-tech tackles food insecurity with AI and automation (Globe and Mail)
• Canadian retailer Simons is expanding. Can it succeed where its peers couldn't (CBC)
• Japan runs on vending machines. It's about to break millions of them (NYT)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Harnessing analytics and AI to shape the future of mobility retail (McKinsey)
• This is peak subscription (The Atlantic)
• Mindshare matters. Now markets can measure it (BCG)
• Why Lululemon's stock is going out of fashion (WSJ)
• From the archives (2015): Lululemon combines Ayn Rand and yoga (NYT)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Best Buy catches AI fever (WSJ)
• Walmart CEO Doug McMillon's success story (Fortune)
• Retailers hate when you buy big things on your laptop (WSJ)
• How Beyond Meat is trying to get its sizzle back (LA Times)
• Dollar Tree explores sale of Family Dollar (WSJ)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Why US grocers must play to their strengths (BCG)
• Canada's first full-scale free grocery store to open in Regina (CBC)
• Generative AI is now scanning your Amazon packages for defects before they get shipped out (Fast Company)
• Companies are getting smarter about raising their prices (Bloomberg)
• Nestle CEO says feeding ageing populations a priority as birth rates fall (FT)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Strategy & Scale: Lessons from architecture (Medium)
• Are loyalty card discounts a good deal for UK consumers (The Guardian)
• Walmart Canada CEO sees growth in groceries as $3.5 billion revamp plan unfolds (Globe and Mail)
• Waitrose committed to paying more for cocoa. Chocolate bar sales skyrocketed (WSJ)
• Feeling consumers' pain, retailers bring back discounts (NYT)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Dr. Pepper ties Pepsi as America's #2 soda (WSJ)
• Amazon to expand drone delivery service after clearing FAA hurdle (CNBC)
• Costco and BJ's, usually go-to's for everyday foods, now gobbling up discretionary market share (WSJ)
• Why Canadians pay different prices for the same groceries (CBC)
• Asics stock catches fire along with its dad shoes (WSJ)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Yes, Walmart store managers really can make $500,000 a year (Bloomberg)
• Orange juice crisis prompts search for alternate fruits (Bloomberg)
• The restaurant world still has a child care problem (Eater)
• The king crab kings (Bloomberg)
• From the archives (2021): Pellet ice is the good ice (The New Yorker)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Store brands are filling up more of your shopping cart (WSJ)
• Reimagining the apparel value change amid volatility (McKinsey)
• Hold the French Fries! Paris Olympics chart a new gastronomic course (NYT)
• Points influencers are everywhere. Some deals are too good to be true (Washington Post)
• Food delivery apps rack up $20 billion in losses in fierce battle for diners (FT)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Doug Ford's change to booze sales could cost far more than $225 million (CBC)
• The loneliness of the American worker (WSJ)
• Stanley Goldstein, who helped make CVS a pharmacy giant, dies at 89 (NYT)
• Shein promised to have a big U.S. IPO. Its China roots got in the way (WSJ)
• New York's biggest produce market is at a breaking point (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Surfaces concave and convex (Medium)
• Buying groceries at Shoppers Drug Mart? You'll pay a buck more for those chickpeas (Globe and Mail)
• Why a shabby luxury brand is hard to fix (WSJ)
• Why does a simple summer dress cost so much now (The Cut)
• Lululemon restructures product and brand teams (WSJ)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Maker of Twinkies and Wonder Bread files for Chapter 11 (NYT)
• Why banning tweens from buying anti-aging creams won't stop the Sephora kids (CBC)
• Loblaw and Empire being investigated by Competition Bureau for anti-competitive practices (Globe and Mail)
• Is this the end of Instagram cookware (NYT)
• Ontario to pay $225-million to Beer Store to speed up corner-store beer purchases (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Menu for one: GenAI lets restaurants get personal (BCG)
• Amazon plans to give Alexa an AI overhaul (CNBC)
• Best Caisse scenario (Globe and Mail)
• London Drugs employee data leaked on dark web after cybersecurity breach (Globe and Mail)
• From the archives (2011): The dollar store economy (NYT)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Suncor moves on gas station plans, deciding which to renovate and which to sell (Globe and Mail)
• 'Bromakase' is the new steakhouse (NYT)
• Quebecor says Loblaw deal with telecoms is anti-competitive (CBC)
• Can beef be 'low carbon'? The USDA thinks so (Undark)
• Amazon is reviving its logistics expansion and reshaping its U.S. distribution (WSJ)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• When did teen boys get a nose for $300 cologne (NYT)
• The one place in airports people actually want to be (The Atlantic)
• The executive that turned around Barbie has a new long-shot mission: Save Gap (WSJ)
• After industry boom, Quebec distilleries fight for shelf space on liquor store shelves (CBC)
• Canada's inflation rate slowed to 2.7% in April, boosting bets for June rate cut (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: The business of strategy consulting (Medium)
• Loblaw agrees to support grocery code of conduct after years of negotiation (Globe and Mail)
• California considers limits on self-service checkout (NYT)
• How companies can make dynamic pricing fairer for customers (BCG)
• How to navigate pricing in disinflationary times (McKinsey)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• Customers are fed up with anti-theft measures at stores. Retailers are blaming organized crime (CBC)
• Amazon's appearance at Upfronts highlights push beyond digital ads and into traditional media (CNBC)
• McDonald's makes new pitch to inflation-weary eaters: A meal for $5 (WSJ)
• Olive oil is how much now? Prices jump - again - amid worldwide shortage (CBC)
• From the archives (1985): The McBurger stand that started it all (NYT)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Walmart's reign as America's biggest retail is under threat (WSJ)
• How a 'strange', 'evil' fruit came to define Italy's cuisine (NYT)
• Red Lobster preparing to file bankruptcy this month (WSJ)
• How Uniqlo's 'millennial Birkin' is beating designer bags (Bloomberg)
• The 100-year quest to make a paper water bottle (WSJ)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Britain's biggest retailer isn't British and isn't a retailer (FT)
• Kraft Heinz explores sale of Oscar Mayer (WSJ)
• Fast food forever: How McHaters lost the culture war (NYT)
• America can't quit intermittent fasting (The Atlantic)
• Amazon Web Services chief to step down (WSJ)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Promise over purpose (Medium)
• Poppi is making soda cool again (Texas Monthly)
• Ted Baker, Brooks Brothers launch liquidation sales in Canada (Globe and Mail)
• America's yoghurt love affair is over (FT)
• How Body Shop Canada is coping with filing for creditor protection (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Hot honey is the king of condiments (NYT)
• Is Temu legit (The Strategist)
• What a Zoom cashier 8,000 miles away can teach us about the future of work (Vox)
• Amazon's new fee on sellers likened to 'kick in the gut' (Bloomberg)
• The hot business of cold storage (Sherwood)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Meet AdVon, the AI-powered content monster infecting the media industry (Futurism) 
• Uber and Instacart team up on restaurant deliveries, challenging DoorDash (Bloomberg)
• Sweetgreen is introducing steak. What about its climate goals (NYT)
• For CEOs, the future is a state of mind (BCG)
• From the archives (1959): The making - and selling - of Coca-Cola (The New Yorker)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Panera to discontinue charged energy drinks (NYT)
• In budding battle over lab-grown meat, Florida takes an opening stab (CBC)
• Hudson's Bay to close Regina store next year, latest in series of cuts (Globe and Mail)
• Campari CEO bets on growth in U.S., Asia-Pacific despite sector struggles (WSJ)
• Shopify shares plunge nearly 19% on lower-than-expected outlook for next quarter (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• How online shopping is saving bricks-and-mortar retail (WSJ)
• The package king of Miami (New York Magazine)
• Consumers fed up with food costs are ditching big brands (WSJ)
• How bad are ultra-processed foods, really (NYT)
• Canada is hiking taxes, regulation, as U.S. economy booms (Fortune)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Where to start with strategy (Medium)
• How to prepare for the CFO role (McKinsey)
• Overcoming retail complexity with AI-powered pricing (BCG)
• Milk has lost its magic (The Atlantic)
• Woolworths CEO announces worse-than expected results for March quarter (The Guardian)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Canada's shopping for a foreign grocer. Can an international retailer succeed here (CBC)
• Loblaw CFO pushes back on claims its pricing practices are unfair (Bloomberg)
• Loblaw boycott organizer says she met with CEO to talk about grocery prices (Globe and Mail)
• The year is 1966 - and there's a protest over Loblaw prices (CBC)
• Lavender is the springtime answer to pumpkin spice (NYT)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• How Pet Value monetizes our fur baby love (Globe and Mail)
• Wayfair's new strategy looks built to last (WSJ)
• The future of New York City's pizza is electric (NYT)
• Loblaw's facade of benevolence has fully cracked (Globe and Mail)
• From the archives (1999): The inner Jeff Bezos (Wired)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Technology in retail: Escaping the complexity trap (Bain)
• Ralph Lauren invites everybody to return to (his) office (NYT)
• Walmart takes on Trader Joe's and Whole Foods with new premium brand (WSJ)
• How did Black Forest cake become the world's favourite dessert (NYT)
• More stores are ditching self-checkout amid theft and customer complaints (CBC)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Tim Hortons parent reports 18% profit boost on strong demand (Globe and Mail)
• Getir, a rapid grocery delivery service, exits the U.S. and Europe (NYT)
• Hudson's Bay cuts dozens of jobs, cites pressures on retail sector (Globe and Mail)
• Same-store sales drop at Starbucks, pushing revenue down 1.8% (NYT)
• McDonald's posts rare quarterly miss as customers turn picky (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: How to be a good board member (Medium)
• Will Americans ever get sick of cheap junk (The Atlantic)
• Rising food prices send more shoppers to Aldi (WSJ)
• How supplement stores are trying to tap into the Ozempic boom (NYT)
• Billionaire Geiger nears $7 billion L'Occitane buyout sources say (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• California's fast-food chains are now serving sticker shock (WSJ)
• It introduced Ozempic to the world. Now it must remake itself (NYT)
• The era of one-stop grocery shopping is over (WSJ)
• Founder of Freshii suing company that bought his restaurant chain (Globe and Mail)
• You know LVMH for its bags. It's also a titan of real estate (WSJ)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Unilever boosted by power brands as consumers trade back up (WSJ)
• Nestle sales growth slows sharply as demand remains weak (WSJ)
• With new salt and sugar limits, school cafeterias are cringing (NYT)
• Cocoa's surge is drawing Africa's farmers back to the bean (Bloomberg)
• From the archives (2014): Sobey's Marc Poulin: The shrewd negotiator at the heart of Canada's grocery wars (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Metro quarterly profit drops 14.5% (Globe and Mail)
• Michael Mauboussin: Valuation multiples (Morgan Stanley)
• Telus Health 2024 Drug Trends Report (Telus)
• Foxtrot, Dom's Kitchen & Market closing all locations (Eater)
• How matzo is made (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Why you can't get a restaurant reservation (The New Yorker)
• The Chinese site that rewired online shopping (NYT)
• Amazon is ending Prime Air drone delivery in California (The Verge)
• Behind a vegan chef's holistic empire, an ugly reality (NYT)
• Big Junk Food's campaign to get you eating Doritos and Oreos for dinner (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: The Goal and Playing to Win (Medium)
• China's bubble tea boom creates a half-dozen billionaires (Bloomberg)
• Kroger, Albertsons to sell more stores, looking to appease regulators (WSJ)
• The truth about organic milk (The Atlantic)
• Modern clothing has a plastics problem (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Canada targets 12 foreign grocers to lure to food retailing market (WSJ)
• Nordstrom to evaluate founding family's interest in pursuing take-private deal (Reuters)
• Experts say Indigo needs a turnaround as privatization nears (Globe and Mail)
• The unstoppable rise of Shein (The Guardian)
• How Amazon became the largest private EV charging operator in the US (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Welcome to pricing hell (The Atlantic)
• Bayer, Nestle, Unilever, and other multinationals cut back in Africa (Bloomberg)
• Five truths (and one lie) about corporate transformations (BCG)
• Inside Amazon's secret operation to gather intel on rivals (WSJ)
• From the archives (1997): Despite rebound by Amazon, more internet rivalry is ahead (WSJ)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• A day in the life of a Walmart store manager (WSJ)
• A tale of two sauces: Spicing up diversification (MIT Sloan Management Review)
• Canada's inflation rate rose to 2.9% in March, boosted by higher prices (Globe and Mail)
• Shein deliveries fuel UniUni's $50 million funding round (Bloomberg)
• Cool comes to the humble produce aisle (WSJ)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Federal budget to include tax hikes for wealthiest Canadians, some corporations (Globe and Mail)
• Customers flock to Costco to buy gold bars (NYT)
• Ghost kitchens are disappearing, squeezed by demand and complaints (NYT)
• The dairy industry's rebranding of bird flu (Vox)
• Pharmacists file proposed lawsuit against Shoppers alleging practices compromised patient care (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Strategy in highly fragmented industries (Medium)
• Delivering greater value through loyalty and pricing (McKinsey)
• Why is there so much plastic food packaging (NYT)
• Pepsi, Doritos return to Carrefour (Washington Post)
• Amazon to remove 'Just Walk Out' technology at U.S. grocery stores (WSJ)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Inside Amazon's push to crack Trader Joe's - and dominate everything (WSJ)
• Tesco says price pressures easing as profits soar (BBC)
• Psychological safety levels the playing field for employees (BCG)
• Tupperware is in trouble (The Atlantic)
• How far $100 goes at the grocery store after five years of inflation (WSJ)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• The 67-hour rule (The Atlantic)
• Australian grocery giants may face millions in fine under new grocery code (Bloomberg)
• Grocery giants including Tesco, Woolworths team up to launch $125M VC fund (Reuters)
• Amazon CEO Andy Jassy's 2023 Letter to Shareholders (Amazon)
• Do we really want a food cartel (The Atlantic)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• State of Grocery Europe 2024: Signs of hope (McKinsey)
• Pay CEOs for performance, not failure (Globe and Mail)
• How an Afghan supermarket chain in Hamilton is helping newcomers find work (CBC)
• Big grocers, retailers want Ontario's recycling plan changed (CBC)
• From the archives (2017): What happened to J Crew (NYT)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Jamie Dimon's Letter to Shareholders (JP Morgan Chase)
• Generative AI is not ubiquitous in the business world - at least not yet (WSJ)
• Provinces signal growing backlash against exclusive deals between insurers and pharmacies (Globe and Mail)
• Meet the robots slicing your barbecue ribs (WSJ)
• A growth journey toward green and local (McKinsey)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Good Strategy / Bad Strategy & Playing to Win (Medium)
• Tesco sits at the top of the food chain but rivals are getting peckish (Tesco)
• Consumers hate 'price discrimination' but they sure love a discount (NYT)
• How Emily Weiss influenced everything (Elle)
• How some of your favourite brands are brought back from the dead (CBC)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Brands are concerned about how they're perceived by ChatGPT (Fast Company)
• Daniel Kahneman: The unlikely economist (Morningstar)
• Here's who should pay for everyone's Ozempic (Slate)
• People are fed up with Loblaw's store prices. Would a boycott accomplish anything (CBC)
• Canada's unemployment rate jumps to 6.1% as job creation stalls (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Women lead here - but why do so many of them leave (Globe and Mail)
• Another AI target: Food waste (NYT)
• A hit brands 'one size fits most' is dividing America's teens (WSJ)
• Dollarama reports 24% profit boost in fourth quarter, hikes dividend (Globe and Mail)
• From the archives (2021): The hog barons (Vox)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Big Food and dietitians push anti-diet advice, despite rising obesity (Washington Post)
• Tina Lee reveals moments that changed everything (CBC)
• Apotex `buys specialty pharma Searchlight in $500 million-plus move to diversify from generic drugs (Globe and Mail)
• What we know - and don't - about the national school food program (CBC)
• Canadian Tire's down year prompts zero bonuses for executives (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• The new hotel essential: Easy take-out food (WSJ)
• Investors spoiled for choice with top ice cream makers for sale (Ben & Jerry's)
• How playing offense on sustainability can power e-commerce (McKinsey)
• Quebec franchisees sue Tim Hortons, claiming declining profits (Globe and Mail)
• Home Depot buys roofing distributor in deal valued at $18 billion including debt (WSJ)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: How to become a strategic CFO (Medium)
• How Lidl's breakneck expansion came to a juddering halt (The Telegraph)
• Inside the A&W test kitchen, a battlefield (CBC)
• How fashion can afford and accelerate decarbonization (McKinsey)
• Insolvencies, shifts in consumer behaviour keep liquidators busy (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• When you miscalculate the value of brands (Rita McGrath)
• Has the luxury e-commerce bubble burst (NYT)
• A $20 billion merger depends on whether you think Walmart is a supermarket (WSJ)
• Bank of Canada warns of 'low productivity emergency' (Globe and Mail)
• Hershey, Mondelez bet big on Easter as cocoa price crisis looms (Reuters)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• The fight for AI talent (WSJ)
• Lidl US expands garden centre concept (Lidl)
• Kroger to close three Ocado fulfillment centres (Grocery Dive)
• Temporary residents jump to 2.7 million as Ottawa tries to curb migration (Globe and Mail)
• From the archives (1992): Priced to go (The New Yorker)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Larry Fink's 2024 Annual Chairman's Letter to Shareholders (BlackRock)
• Ontario College of Pharmacists seeks restrictions on exclusive deals with insurers (Globe and Mail)
• Visa and Mastercard agree to cap swipe fees in settlement (NYT)
• Lina Khan: America has a resiliency problem (Foreign Policy)
• With move to limit temporary workers, Ottawa is 'attacking the demand curve now' (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Michael Porter's three great strategy contributions (Medium)
• One CEOs radical fix for corporate troubles: Purge the bosses (WSJ)
• Philip Kotler and Giuseppe Stigliano on redefining retail (McKinsey)
• Dynamic pricing is coming for everything (Vox)
• This startup promised to help fashion go green. Brands didn't want to pay for it (WSJ)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Weston, McCain met to discuss bread prices, plaintiffs in class action lawsuit allege (Globe and Mail)
• Large grocers took advantage of pandemic supply chain disruptions, F.T.C says (NYT)
• Poland's grocery price war is spurring losses in retailer shares (Bloomberg)
• With TikTok under fire, brands that rely on it worry (NYT)
• Food weaponization makes a deadly comeback (Foreign Affairs)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Discount grocers smell opportunity amid rising prices (Washington Post)
• Amazon's new focus: Fending off rivals Temu and Shein (WSJ)
• Canada's population shock drives most of recent productivity declines (Globe and Mail)
• Unilever approaches private equity for its ice cream business (FT)
• From the archives (2000): Ben & Jerry's to Unilever, with attitude (NYT)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Wonder, Mac Lore's food-delivery startup, raises $700 million (WSJ)
• Beauty stores like Sephora draw teens driven by social media (NYT)
• Dynamic pricing is coming for grocery stores (NPR)
• Canada's inflation rate takes a surprising dip to 2.8% (Globe and Mail)
• How AI is transforming the business of advertising (FT)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• AI-generated food photos look tastier than the real deal, study finds (National Post)
• FedEx and Amazon discussed partnership as competition for returning packages intensifies (WSJ)
• How dollar stores exacerbated American food deserts - and what it means when they leave them (Salon)
• What must Nelson Peltz do to get some respect (NYT)
• Ben & Jerry's owner loses its taste for ice cream (WSJ)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Investment strategy and artificial intelligence (Medium)
• Did a wine-world insider swindle his Bordeaux-swilling pals (Grub Street)
• Costco is about to open sushi counters nationwide (Food & Wine)
• Using AI to identify edible mushrooms could kill you (Washington Post)
• Crafts retailer Joann goes bankrupt as consumers retreat (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• The Vicunas and the $9,000 sweater (Bloomberg)
• Of course America fell for Liquid Death (The Atlantic)
• Empire sees comparable sales growth, declining adjusted profits as shoppers feel inflation (Globe and Mail)
• The delivery driver who took on his faceless boss (FT)
• Amazon will let sellers paste a link so AI can make a product page (The Verge)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Harry Rosen launching $50-million overhaul of its retail stores over five years (Globe and Mail)
• Why we're now living in the golden age of snack food (Bloomberg)
• Shoppers Drug Mart says it doesn't have medication review targets, but records show it does (CBC)
• How can we transition to a more sustainable protein production (BCG)
• From the archives (1970): How Colonel Sanders built a fried chicken empire (The New Yorker)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• We still don't know how much things cost (WSJ)
• Dollar Tree, Family Dollar to close more than 1,000 stores (Washington Post)
• Loblaw facing backlash as it tests receipt scanners at self-checkout (CBC)
• HelloFresh investors struggle to swallow strategy revamp (Globe and Mail)
• Altria Group plans to sell part of Anheuser-Busch stake (WSJ)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Marc Lore is trying to build the Amazon of food delivery (NYT)
• Lego builds market share as ever-popular toy bricks defy demand drop (WSJ)
• Walmart wants to teach store managers compassion (NYT)
• How KitchenAid chooses colours for its appliances and cookware (Eater)
• The new science of what ultra-processed food does to your brain (WSJ)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Strategy & artificial intelligence (Medium)
• When your restaurant cancellation fee costs as much as your dinner (NYT)
• Manulife drug plan members continue to face barriers when trying to fill prescriptions at pharmacies of their choice (Globe and Mail)
• Fruit chaos is coming (The Atlantic)
• Chocolate makers try a new recipe: Less chocolate (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• How restaurants defied the doomers (The Atlantic)
• Why cabbage is the coolest menu item (NYT)
• Why you can't get a table for six at a restaurant (WSJ)
• Consumer goods: A changing landscape for successful M&A (McKinsey)
• New York-style bagels are making it big in London (NYT)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Analyzing the CEO-CMO relationship and its effect on growth (McKinsey)
• Amazon is launching a smaller version of Whole Foods (Quartz)
• Aldi to add 800 new U.S. grocery stores by 2028 (CNBC)
• Europe is wargaming a food crisis (Bloomberg)
• From the archives (1997): The forgotten benefactor of humanity (The Atlantic)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• The $2.99 Trader Joe's tote is causing chaos (NYT)
• Asia's e-commerce battleground is expanding fast (WSJ)
• The mysterious rise of the Chinese ecommerce giant behind Temu (FT)
• Temu's push into America pays off big for Meta and Google (WSJ)
• Bank of Canada holds interest rate steady, offers few hints about timing of future cuts (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Enshrining structural presumptions governing mergers in the Competition Act is not good for Canada's competitiveness (CD Howe Institute)
• Grocery prices are higher than ever - could chains like Walmart help (Vox)
• Ozempic may blow the federal budget (NYT)
• The battle over the trillion dollar weight-loss bonanza (The Economist)
• Investors raise Macy's buyout bid (WSJ)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: The magnificent seven stocks (Medium)
• The economics of smaller groceries (NYT)
• The skyrocketing costs driving cheeseburger prices up - and restaurant owners out (WSJ)
• The Body Shop to cut more than 200 jobs in Canada (Globe and Mail)
• Macy's stores aren't fun places to shop. It's new CEO wants to fix that (WSJ)