Stephan's Friday Picks

• Fifteen of the CNE's wacky new foods, ranked from best to worst (Toronto Life)
• 8 new restaurant memoirs that stir the pot (WSJ)
• The calculus of value (Oaktree Capital)
• The forgotten history (and slippery science) of canola oil (Eater)
• From the archives (2013): Tough turnaround job awaits new Rona CEO Sawyer (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Why gloomy consumers keep spending (BCG)
• AB Foods to buy rival Hovis in UK bread combination (Bloomberg)
• The revenge of millennial cringe (The New Yorker)
• Spinning textile waste into value (BCG)
• How product operating model is transforming consumer product companies (Bain)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Carlsberg falls after CEO warns of weak consumer spending (Bloomberg)
• Are samosa's unhealthy? Some Indians find official advice hard to swallow (NYT)
• There's money to be made from 'MAHA'. Food companies want in (NYT)
• Canola industry asks Ottawa to curtail vegetable oil imports after China imposes new trade restrictions (Globe and Mail)
• Amazon has tried to crack Walmart's grocery empire for decades, with limited success. A massive same-day grocery expansion could change that (Fortune)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Inside the automated warehouse where robots are packing your groceries (The Verge)
• JD.com's revenue climbs after foray into food delivery (Bloomberg)
• Bag charms selling for $1,000 are retail's next little luxury (Bloomberg)
• The U.S. alcohol industry is reeling from Canada's booze boycott (WSJ)
• Ulta Beauty, Target to end partnership (WSJ)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• World food prices at two-year high on rising meat and edible oils, FAO says (Reuters)
• The social media trend machine is spitting out weirder and weirder results (Bloomberg)
• Data monetization in the age of Gen AI (McKinsey)
• Trump tariffs and jabs push Canadians to exit Florida enclave (Bloomberg)
• Simons is a rare success story during tough times for department stores (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Corporate divestitures: Considering stranded costs (McKinsey)
• The innovation edge for retailers (BCG)
• The top 20 food trends of the past 20 years (Eater)
• Different kinds of smart (Collaborative Fund)
• From the archives (2013): Portugal billionaire sells lollipops, champagne in Poland (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• The AI-first consumer products company (BCG)
• Canada's lobster industry is on a roll. But we can't take the good times for granted (Globe and Mail)
• Can cosmetic acupuncture be the new botox (NYT)
• How Warby Parker has kept the price of glasses at $95 for 15 years (WSJ)
• The one feat of leadership Patagonia's founder couldn't pull off (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• The age of AI (Globe and Mail)
• How doodles have become a billion dollar businsess (Bloomberg)
• Nicotine is hot. Beer is not. What vice stocks say about America's guilty pleasures (WSJ)
• Why the minibar vanished. How hotels maximize profit from your stay (WSJ)
• Where new India tariffs could hit. Your kitchen cabinet (NYT)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Costco customers shocked after someone drained all the funds from their gift cards (CBC)
• Gen Z wants what you don't want. How to profit from Y2K's comeback (Globe and Mail)
• Prepare to pay more for your morning coffee, mocha, or matcha latte (Globe and Mail)
• Ozempic is shrinking appetites. Restaurants are shrinking their food (NYT)
• Sweetgreen nixes fries that sought to 'redefine' fast food (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• The man who would save fro-yo (NYT)
• American consumers are getting thrifty again (WSJ)
• For London's blockbuster Indian restaurants, New York is next (NYT)
• The robots are taking over your food delivery (WSJ)
• M&Ms owner turns to gene editing in bid to secure cocoa supply (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Meat is back at Eleven Madison Park, after four vegan years (NYT)
• Is it cake or is it salad (NYT)
• The South African businessman who turned Le Creuset into commercial gold (WSJ)
• Starbucks struggles to find a new identity in cutthroat China (Bloomberg)
• From the archives (2022): What's on Will Guidara's plate (WSJ)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• The brutal trade-off that will decide the future of food (Vox)
• How the right operating model can fix a strategy that falls short (McKinsey)
• Amazon to offer same-day grocery delivery in 2,300 cities (Bloomberg)
• Walmart expands 10% employee discount to groceries (WSJ)
• Metro's third quarter results fall short of estimates as Buy Canadian trend begins to lose steam (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Forget back to office, let's focus on back to the restaurant (Globe and Mail)
• The Home Depot doubles down on data science (Wired)
• American orange juice exports to Canada get squeezed (Globe and Mail)
• U.S. inflation held steady at 2.7% in July (WSJ)
• China escalates Canada trade spat with more levies (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: How I do strategy - Part Two (Medium)
• Can AriZona's 99-cent iced tea survive Trump's tariffs (NYT)
• Inside Target, frustrated employees and search for new CEO (WSJ)
• First Nations groups raise questions about lack of consultation before sale of 1670 Hudson's Bay Company charter (Globe and Mail)
• Landlords say Ruby Liu's plan to take over 25 Hudson's Bay properties defies 'commercial sense' (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Oreos combined with Reeses? Inside the Manhattan Project of snacks (WSJ)
• Bicks pickles no longer stocked at some Canadian retailers (CBC)
• What lobsters and chicken says about Europe's trade logic (NYT)
• What's more American than the McLobster (WSJ)
• Pick your own is the future, says sunflower farmer (BBC)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Aldi's passionate, cultlike following fuels its rapid expansion plan (NYT)
• Shopify again becomes Canada's most valuable company after big second quarter (Globe and Mail)
• Canadian Tire sales grow in second quarter, profit down (Globe and Mail)
• McDonald's sales return to growth, pushed by promotions (NYT)
• From the archives (2009): Aldi looks to the U.S. for growth (WSJ)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• A punchy $50 billion sales goal gets J. Martins mulling over M&A (Bloomberg)
• The quest to build a perfect protein bar (The New Yorker)
• Ikea kitchens coming to Best Buy as chains aim to revive sales (Bloomberg)
• Greg Ramier to replace retiring Pet Valu CEO Richard Malsbarger (Globe and Mail)
• End of de minimis alarms e-commerce sellers, consumers (WSJ)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Once a retail empire, Carrefour struggles to win back investors (Bloomberg)
• The new 'perfect combination': The Reese's Oreo cup? The Oreo Reese's cookie (WSJ)
  
• Target executive says stores in-stock levels are improving (Bloomberg)
• Why the Mediterranean diet is so good for you (Washington Post)
• Haribo only makes gummies. Why this single-product strategy works (WSJ)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: How I do strategy (Medium)
• Feeding the Maine lobster roll boom (NYT)
• Dubai chocolate is raising pistachio prices and farmer profits (Bloomberg)
• What's ahead for food (WSJ)
• Weston family to avoid auction in bid for Hudson's Bay charter (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Ralph Lauren's vintage man of mystery (NYT)
• Weston family to buy the Hudson's Bay charter to donate to museum in $12.5 million deal (Globe and Mail)
• Starbucks abandons mobile order, pickup-only stores (WSJ)
• When NASA got caught up in the cola wars (NYT)
• From the archive (2017): This secretive billionaire makes the cheese for Pizza Hut, Domino's, and Papa John's (Forbes)