Stephan's Friday Picks

• Mondelez trims outlook as high cocoa prices erode performance (Bloomberg)
• The innovation that's killing restaurant culture (The Atlantic)
• How Nestle's CFO sharpens focus across a global portfolio (McKinsey)
• Hershey warns of weak Halloween sales, nudges up outlook (Bloomberg)
• From the archives (2019): Hershey's CEO knows how to get Americans to indulge (NYT)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• The agentic commerce opportunity (McKinsey)
• What we can learn from Loblaw's failed No Name stores (Globe and Mail)
• Bad news for Ruby Liu and her Bay 2.0 master plan (Toronto Life)
• Whole Foods, MAHA, and the battle over healthy eating in America (NYT)
• Restaurants are embracing restraint, with smaller menus, and diners are eating it up (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Pumpkin spice lattes, a U.S. fall favourite, divides Europe (NYT)
• Going down the junk food rabbit hole (NYT)
• Amazon to lay off up to 30,000 corporate workers (WSJ)
• Keurig Dr Pepper turns to private capital to back $18 billion deal (WSJ)
• Oxford Properties, RioCan in showdown over future of Bay store at Toronto's Yorkdale mall (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Culture change strategy (Medium)
• Don Don Donki billionaire primes 24-year old heir for retail empire (Bloomberg)
• 2025 Halloween candy trends (NYT)
• Procter & Gamble to focus on innovation, not discounts, to attract wary customers (WSJ)
• How Depop captured the heart of Gen Z (NYT)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• Deforestation is imperiling coffee cultivation, report finds (NYT)
• Japanese convenience stores are hiring robots run by workers in the Philippines (Rest of World)
• Target to slash corporate workforce after quarters of stagnant sales (WSJ)
• P&G slashes tariff impact by 50% as earnings beat estimates (Bloomberg)
• Cargill taps AI to get more meat off bone as US herd slumps (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Can the golden age of Costco last (The New Yorker)
• Why everything from soap to perfume smells like food now (Bloomberg)
• All dressed chips were a Canadian secret. Now they have a rare shot at U.S. stardom (The Star) 
• Lidl sees profit rise in UK as discounter reaches 1,000 stores (Bloomberg)
• From the archives (2023): The complete history and strategy of Costco (Acquired)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Canada's inflation rate quickens to 2.4% ahead of BoC rate decision (Globe and Mail)
• US government shutdown delays Unilever's Magnum ice cream spin-off (Reuters)
• Food inflation is going up. And there's nothing anyone can do about it (Globe and Mail)
• Reckitt Benckiser logs higher sales as consumers spend on self care (WSJ)
• Walmart reorganizes merchandising team, with focus on technology (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• The hidden way using a rewards card can cost you more (Washington Post)
• The Loyalty Trap (Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator)
• Can you trademark peanut butter and jelly. Smuckers says yes (NYT)
• Walmart creates roles to lead drone and autonomous delivery tech (Bloomberg)
• Amazon plans to replace more than half a million jobs with robots (NYT)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• MAHA sets up fight over saturated fat (NYT)
• Avoiding ultra-processed foods is completely unrealistic (The Atlantic)
• How America got hooked on ultra-processed food (NYT)
• Strawberries in the sky are the future of food (Bloomberg)
• Amazon delivery firms are bailing amid rising costs, meager profit (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Walmart, once a byword for low pay, becomes a case study on how to treat workers (WSJ) 
• I tracked Amazon's Prime Day prices. We've been played (Washington Post)
• What Hamburger Helper knows and GDP misses (Daily Economy)
• The return of Tescopoly? How Britain's biggest retailer dominates everyday life (The Guardian)
• Potato chip flavours are going wild (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• How CPGs can rethink costs to regain performance (McKinsey)
• Nestle to slash 16,000 jobs in price-cutting push (NYT)
• Canadian Tire to bring back the Hudson's Bay blanket (Globe and Mail)
• IKEA's yearslong price-cutting bonanza is coming to an end (WSJ)
• From the archives (2017): How big business got Brazil hooked on junk food (NYT)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• For Uniqlo's founder, conquering America is personal (NYT)
• The matcha market cracks under pressure (NYT)
• Soon you'll be able to shop Walmart on ChatGPT. Here's why it matters (WSJ)
• Canadian Tire reports breach of e-commerce database involving customer info (Globe and Mail)
• Protein is showing up in Doritos, Waffles, and now even Pop Tarts (Bloomberg) 

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Functional strategy (Medium)
• Is Kansas City still the barbecue capital of America (NYT)
• The incredible growing refrigerator (NYT)
• Restaurants are bringing the heat as spicy dishes attract trend-chasing customers (CBC)
• What it takes to build or remake a world-class team (McKinsey)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Buldak's spicy ramen is riding TikTok fame to the top (Bloomberg)
• How Dick's Sporting Goods loyalty program helped spur a $13 billion boom (Bloomberg)
• The protein bar king and the battle for the holy grail of fat substitutes (Men's Health)
• Agentic commerce is redefining retail - here's how to respond (BCG)
• If an energy drink drank an energy drink, you'd get a Celsuis (NYT)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• PepsiCo urgently overhauling portfolio amid activist fight (Bloomberg)
• Lay's chips are getting a makeover for the MAHA era (WSJ)
• How generations of selecting breeding created miserable chickens (Bloomberg)
• In food label fight, Europeans debate how the sausage gets made (NYT)
• From the archives (2017): Don't call it pink chocolate (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Why everyone is talking about food inflation (FT)
• Canadian companies serve growing appetites for eating local (Globe and Mail)
• Nestle bows out of imitative to reduce dairy's climate impact (Bloomberg)
• Amazon Pharmacy to launch electronic kiosks for prescriptions at One Medical locations (Reuters)
• N.B. seafood processor fined record $1 million for breaking temporary worker program rules (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Startups are eating Big Food's lunch (WSJ)
• It's time to rethink the workplace meeting (Globe and Mail)
• Sharpie found a way to make pens more cheaply - by manufacturing them in the US (WSJ)
• Why did Walmart just buy a shopping mall (NYT)
• We need to worry more about Canada's economic growth (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Revisiting my definition of strategy (Medium)
• Why America's fridges are overflowing with sauce (Bloomberg)
• GenAI gives retailers an edge over suppliers (BCG)
• Starbucks' roller coaster week of job costs and store closures (WSJ)
• Craft breweries struggle as sales and appetites wane (NYT)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Amazon launches brand aimed at deal-conscious shoppers (Bloomberg)
• Loblaw piloted ultra hard discount stores in Ontario. A year later, most are closing down (CBC)
• The latest little luxury: Fancier, fattier butter (Bloomberg)
• Meet Costco's newest customers - young people on the hunt for deals and trending products (CBC)
• The chocolate world's biggest supplier faces a shakeup (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Ottawa weighs greater retail access for U.S. dairy industry (Globe and Mail)
• The rise of drive-through U.S. coffee chains with a need for speed (FT) 
• Amazon's stock appeal hit by intensifying cloud competition (Bloomberg)
• Walmart steps up automation with labour-saving sensors (FT)
• From the archives (2017): The many failings of Canada's supply management system are government's problem, not farmers (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• McDonald's quest to reclaim biggest restaurant title starts in Texas (Bloomberg)
• DoorDash unveils Dot, its autonomous robot built to deliver your food (TechCrunch)
• Tesco's edge in UK grocery wars in the spotlight after 40% rally (Bloomberg)
• In nod to MAHA, Walmart ditches dyes, other artificial ingredients in food brands (WSJ)
• Maple Leaf Foods spins off its pork business to focus on high-protein goods (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• 'Struggle meals' and Hamburger Helper are trending because food is so expensive (CBC)
• Uber sees non-takeout deliveries becoming a $12.5 billion business (Bloomberg)
• The world's 50 best restaurants in North America (NYT)
• As unemployment rises, the promise of a grocery store job lures hundreds (CBC)
• Chinese retailer Miniso jumps on collectible toys train spinoff (WSJ)