Stephan's Thursday Picks

• How 10 billion pounds of lettuce travel from farms to dinner plates (WSJ)
• Unilever sales jump on emerging market demand for Dove soap (Bloomberg)
• Cracker Barrel CEO stepping down after logo redesign, activist pressure (WSJ)
• This summer's status symbol is a $3.99 bottle of water (WSJ)
• Mondelez lifts outlook on higher quarterly sales (WSJ)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Can Chez Panisse change with the times? Does it need to (NYT)
• Nestle sells half of waters unit to Platinum Equity for $3.4 billion (WSJ)
• Nestle shares tumble as coffee, cocoa prices hit profits (FT)
• McCormick to seek London listing following tie-up with Unilever (WSJ)
• From the archives (2004): Food fighter (NYT Magazine)

  Stephan's Monday Picks

• Rise of delivery apps takes a bite out of Big Pizza (FT)
• Parasitic outbreak puts Big Lettuce in PR mode (WSJ)
• Conagra's 'show-me' CEO says every product needs to earn its keep (WSJ)
• How brands sneak in cheaper ingredients to protect their profit margins (Bloomberg)
• Why protein is suddenly in everything from Pop-Tarts to Cheerios (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Reinventing a giant: Galen Weston uses the founder mindset in a family empire (YouTube)
• Consumer spending is up, but that signal no longer means what it once did (BCG)
• Adult happy meals lure even high-earning American diners (NYT)
• Metro and FGF enter into a strategic partnership for Premiere Moisson's commercial bakery manufacturing operations (Metro)
• From the archives (2007): Can Galen Weston Jr. save Loblaws (Toronto Life)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Dates are suddenly on track to become a $55 billion market (Inc)
• Big box retailers have a new strategy of breaking into urban markets (NYT)
• How Aldi is taking on US supermarkets with its $4 almond butter (BBC)
• Why are berries everywhere, in every season? Driscoll's (NYT)
• Michael's goes form 'grandma's store' to unlikely success under Apollo (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• More Americans than ever are taking weight-loss drugs (NYT)
• Food and beverages have gone bananas (NYT)
• Wild coffee swings usher in new era of market volatility (Bloomberg)
• Walmart announced price cuts. Trump tried to take credit (NYT)
• White House pressures top US grocers on beef prices (WSJ)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• The pursuit of hungriness: 250 years of American food innovation (NYT)
• Nestle to change KitKat recipe in Europe to make it crispier (Bloomberg)
• California bans 'sell by' labels, hoping to cut food waste (NYT)
• What Big Food did to ice cream (Medium)
• Big brewers are making outsized bets on tiny cans of beer (WSJ)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Unilever CFO Srinivas Phatak on how to perform and transform (BCG)
• When times are tough, people eat more beans. It's happening again now (NPR)
• Being creative requires taking risks (Escaping Flatland)
• Whole Foods CEO wants to put a banana in your Amazon box (Bloomberg)
• Prized by 'MAHA influencers' and chefs alike, craft flour is on the rise (NYT)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Strategy, anomalies, and scientific revolutions (Substack)
• Can Lululemon fend off its younger, hotter rivals (Globe and Mail)
• Why the industry is obsessed with gimmicky flavours (Bloomberg)
• Dates double in sales as consumers move away from ultra-processed snacks (The Guardian)
• From sardinemaxxing to skincare, here's why tinned fish is the new 'it' product (CBC)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Unilever to build new U.S. research facility (WSJ)
• Men are spraying themselves 100 times in new fragrance frenzy (Bloomberg)
• Retail stock surge with US shoppers surprising Wall Street (Bloomberg)
• Americans spent $2.4 billion on Korean beauty last year. It's about to get even better (WSJ)
• Did Trump take tomato? Here's what's behind the latest grocery price shock (CBC)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• How Barnes & Noble became private equity's most radical retail experiment (Bloomberg)
• Lululemon settles dispute with founder (WSJ)
• For ailing Lululemon, going private might not be a stretch (FT)
• He invented the Basque cheesecake. He prefers chocolate (NYT)
• Swiggy CEO vows to stay out of Amazon-Walmart spending war (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• The paradox at the heart of American meat consumption (Vox)
• Experimental drug yields dramatic weight loss (NYT)
• Why the dream of the feel-good millennial brand didn't last (WSJ)
• Khloe Kardashian popcorn takes off after winning coveted Starbucks display (Bloomberg)
• Japanese retailer pioneer who transformed 7-Eleven dies at 93 (WSJ)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Walmart sees signs at gas pump that consumers are stressed (WSJ)
• What comes after Peru's food revolution (Bloomberg)
• The world has officially reached peak bagel (WSJ)
• AI could transform economy, but no evidence yet of widespread job losses, Bank of Canada says (Globe and Mail)
• From the archives (2000): Craig Claiborne, 79, Times food critic and editor, is dead (NYT)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• GLP-1 users are taking a bite out of restaurants (WSJ)
• Why are life is now on subscriptions (NYT)
• The shoppers redefining how to save money on groceries (NPR)
• The world is awash in bourbon. That's a problem for big booze (WSJ)
• Do you have a mango dealer (FT)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Why beef prices won't drop anytime soon (Bloomberg)
• As AI upends shopping, retailers tailor their pitches to chatbots (Globe and Mail)
• Frozen TV dinners get a high-protein makeover for the GLP-1 era (Bloomberg)
• No whey, a cottage cheese shortage! Demand surges amid protein craze (CBC)
• What India's Diet Coke shortage means for the U.S. (The Atlantic)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• The Nortena burrito takes New York (The New Yorker)
• Doris Fisher, co-founder of the Gap, dies at 94 (NYT)
• Kraft Heinz CEO pushes value: Consumers are literally running out of money (WSJ)
• Will AB Foods' split from Primark unlock its potential (The Grocer)
• From the archives (2007): Michelin sprinkles stars on Tokyo (FT)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Loblaw 'fighting back' against price hikes and seeing strength in discounted sales (Globe and Mail)
• The invisible force making food less nutritious (Washington Post)
• Thai food in America enters an adventurous era (Bloomberg)
• Is China decoupling on food (FT)
• AI in shopping. Transforming the retail ecosystem (McKinsey)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• What I learned about billionaires at Jeff Bezos' private retreat (The Atlantic)
• The Japanese designers changing menswear (NYT)
• How the Walkman, Game Boy, Liquid Death, and Pokemon became surprise hits (HBR)
• Why do the top sushi restaurants leave us so bored, and so broke (NYT)
• From the archives (2025): The great French Fry mystery (Toronto Life)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• How agentic AI is transforming retail merchandising (BCG)
• IHOP, Cracker Barrel, and Red Lobster cash in on catering (NYT)
  
• The humble bean gets a high-end glow-up (Bloomberg)
• Why it's time for Canada to consider a national fertilizer strategy (Globe and Mail)
• What happens when AI runs a store in San Francisco (NYT)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• State of Food and Beverage: The choices CPG leaders can make to renew growth (McKinsey) 
• The US small town coffee shop that created a viral drink (The Guardian)
• Unilever bets big on gummies as next frontier of wellness (Bloomberg)
• The $40 half chicken that ruffled Brooklyn (NYT)
• From the archives (2015): Unilever must aim not to spread itself too thinly (FT)