Stephan's Friday Picks

• The billion-dollar battle to own 7-Eleven (Bloomberg)
• E.l.f Beauty to acquire Hailey Bieber skincare brand Rhode in deal valued at $1 billion (CNBC)
• Barbecue maker Napoleon has always been proud to be made-in-Canada. But a closer look shows the harsh reality of manufacturing at home (Globe and Mail)
• Costco defies tariff volatility with higher profit, lower prices (Bloomberg)
• From the archives (2017): The case for good jobs (HBR)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• 7-Eleven shareholders back management as Japanese owner fights Couche-Tard takeover bid (Globe and Mail)
• JBS minority shareholders approve dual US-Brazil listing (Reuters)
• DoorDash seeks $2 billion in convertible bond after deal spree (Bloomberg)
• Inside the arms race to create a better lactose intolerance pill (NYT)
• Shein working towards Hong Kong listing after London IPO stalls (Reuters)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Inside the test kitchens helping restaurants navigate the trade war (Bloomberg)
• Canadian Tire will acquire trove of Hudson's Bay assets, but not Zellers (Globe and Mail)
• Meituan, JD.com's food delivery war worsens $100 billion rout (Bloomberg)
• Robert F Kennedy Jr's battle with Big Food (FT)
• More than 8,300 Hudson's Bay employees will be out of a job next week (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Ontario judge approves $500 million settlement in Loblaw, George Weston bread price-fixing case (Globe and Mail)
• At Amazon, some coders say their jobs now resemble warehouse workers (NYT)
• Shein breaking EU consumer protection rules, watchdog says (WSJ)
• PepsiCo is pushing back its climate goals. The company wants to talk about it (WSJ)
• How chilly Winnipeg turned the humble Slurpee into a religion (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Are Kroger's secret shopper profiles costing you money (Consumer Reports)
• Federal Trade Commission drops pricing lawsuit against PepsiCo (WSJ)
• America's breakfast cereals are becoming less healthy, study finds (NYT)
• Nestle boss says predecessor 'weakened the fabric' of the company (FT)
• Read the full "Make America Healthy Again' report (NYT)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Building a strong middle class requires high productivity, high dignity service jobs (HBR)
• World crazy for chicken is losing its biggest supplier (Bloomberg)
• Plant-based meat has a problem. It may need more meat (WP)
• Walmart to cut 1,500 corporate jobs in restructuring (WSJ)
• From the archives (1997): The coolhunt (The New Yorker)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Target sees sales falling this year as turnaround falters (NYT)
• Amazon gives refunds for years-old returns (Bloomberg)
• Marks & Spencer expects $400 million hit from cyber attack (WSJ)
• Kraft Heinz mulls deals after Berkshire Hathaway exits board (Bloomberg)
• Home Depot maintains guidance as US spending holds up (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Chinese Gen Z's 'emotional spending' fuels big gains for Pop-Mart-crazed investors (Bloomberg)
• The golden age of the fried chicken sandwich (The Atlantic)
• Two million meat sticks a day isn't enough for Chomps' CEO (Bloomberg)
• Why are we so obsessed with Costco (CBC)
• The booming business of returned products (NYT)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Generating creative strategy possibilities (Medium)
• What 350 retailers say about the future of merchandising (BCG)
• Former Burger King boss picked to oversee Panera, Pret a Manger (WSJ)
• The rising stakes of innovation in the consumer sector (BCG)
• Walmart warns about ability to 'absorb' tariff costs without raising prices (NYT)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Walmart becomes biggest retailer yet to pass through tariff price increases (WSJ)
• Walmart is prepping to meet its next customer: The next AI shopping agent (WSJ)
• Canadian Tire to buy Hudson's Bay stripe design, other intellectual property (Globe and Mail)
• Dick's Sporting Goods to buy Foot Locker for $2.4 billion (WSJ)
• From the archives (2010): Canadian Tire going back to the basics (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Hudson's Bay to choose a new owner in the next two to three weeks, court told (Globe and Mail)
• Woolworths is cutting prices. Expect more supermarket competition but not an all-out price war (The Guardian)
• Why America's 'beautiful beef' is a sore point for Europe (NYT)
• The new way bosses talk about workers (WSJ)
• Buying misfit fruits and vegetables can help reduce your grocery bill. And there's an app for that (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Chinese e-commerce giants make expensive bets on fast deliveries (Reuters)
• Are we ending the golden age of secondhand shopping (WSJ)
• Danone buys majority stake in plant-based formula maker Kate Farms (WSJ)
• Kohl's is looking to refinance just as it searches for a new CEO (Bloomberg)
• Carney's new cabinet adds several rookies, moves Anand to Foreign Affairs (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Integrating strategy with planning and budgeting processes (Medium)
• The stealthy lab cooking up Amazon's secret sauce (WSJ)
• An 80,000 year history of the tomato (Works in Progress)
• Formaje, the choicest cheese shop in the world (FT)
• South Africa's recently listed budget grocer plans more stores (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• The demise of outdoor dining isn't really what anyone wants. How did we end up here (Slate)
• From $10 toothpaste squeezers to 'recession blonde' hair, women's beauty trends are a pulse on the economy (Globe and Mail)
• Why Marcella Hazan is still teaching us how to cook Italian (NYT)
• Hudson's Bay seeks to repay as much as $165 million in senior debt with cash from liquidation sales (Globe and Mail)
• The secret to high-performing strategy teams (BCG)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• 25 years of NYC dining (NYT)
• Amazon makes 'fundamental leap forward in robotics' with device having sense of touch (The Guardian)
• Where grocery price inflation is causing the most shopper stress (Bain)
• Costco in deal with with Affirm giving shoppers monthly payment plans (Bloomberg)
• From the archives (1999): Don't eat before reading this (The New Yorker)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Instacart debuts 'Fizz' alcohol ordering app to target Gen Z users (Bloomberg)
• When did restaurant salads get so ... unwieldly (NYT)
• Grubhub owner Wonder gets $7 billion valuation in new funding (Bloomberg)
• How the best restaurants can make you feel (The Atlantic)
• Ambani's 12-cent cola erodes Coke, Pepsi dominance in India (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Uber to buy a $700 million stake in Turkish delivery app Trendyol (Bloomberg)
• PepsiCo makes bigger bet on sports with revamped marketing unit (Bloomberg)
• WK Kellogg cuts outlook over tariffs, softening sales (WSJ)
• DoorDash buys Deliveroo for $3.86 billion (WSJ)
• Clorox revenue drops, expects slowdown in shopping to continue (WSJ)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Training a novice strategist (Medium)
• 3G to buy Skechers footwear brand for $9.4 billion (Bloomberg)
• Temu stops China shipments to U.S. consumers (WSJ)
• When launching a product during a recession pays off (MIT SMR)
• High beef costs hurt Tyson Foods (WSJ)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• Big Farming's big battleground: an English village making a stand (Bloomberg)
• How Scheel's conquered Middle America (Washington Post)
• Chef Boyardee sold to private equity for $600 million (WSJ)
• Kohl's CEO fired for funneling business to romantic partner (WSJ)
• The MAHA-friendly app that's driving food companies crazy (WSJ)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• The end of the 'generic' grocery store brand (The Atlantic)
• Loblaw has added dozens of new Canadian suppliers, but expects the Buy Canadian movement to taper off (Globe and Mail)
• E-commerce sellers brace for end of de minimis (WSJ)
• Couche Tard wins access to 7-Eleven owner's confidential financial information (Globe and Mail)
• From the archives (2010): Inside The Bay's scheme to steal the fashion crown from Holts (Toronto Life)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Is this the end of cheap stuff (Bloomberg)
• Amazon pressures suppliers to cut pries to limit Trump tariff shock (FT)
• Healthy sodas are drawing Coca-Cola's and PepsiCo's attention (Bloomberg)
• How 5 restaurants work wonders with no kitchens (NYT)
• US shoppers pay for Trump tariffs on Temu, doubling some prices (Bloomberg)