An Impossible Whopper from Burger KingPhoto: Michael Thomas (Getty Images)
People abstain from meat for plenty of reasons—ethical, dietary, religious—and for many, this choice is a serious one. That makes this news of a Burger King in Brooklyn, which admits to serving regular beef burgers to customers who’d ordered vegan Impossible Whoppers, more than a mere mix-up.
Eater reports the Burger King at 736 Broadway in Brooklyn has for weeks been filling Seamless delivery orders for Impossible Whoppers with regular Whoppers, asking the Seamless driver to inform the customer of the switch. But according to customers who spoke to Eater, drivers had not informed them of the substitution, and their receipts read “Impossible Whopper.” The Impossible Whopper is only available in select cities, and NYC is not yet one of them, despite what the Seamless version of BK’s menu advertised.
“We have recently become aware that due to a technology error, one of our franchisees incorrectly listed the Impossible Whopper as a menu item available at some New York-area restaurants through two third-party delivery platforms,” a Burger King spokesperson told The Takeout. “The issue has been corrected and the item is no longer listed as an option until we officially bring the Impossible Whopper to New York. We apologize for any confusion this has caused. Any guests who ordered an Impossible Whopper through delivery in the New York area and have any questions may call 866-394-2493.”
The Seamless page has since removed the Impossible Whopper, which had reportedly been listed since May 20.
It’s reasonable to believe some customers may not have noticed the burger substitution, as Impossible Foods boasts its burger “delivers all the flavor, aroma and beefiness of meat from cows.” This video sheds some light on just how much Burger King has touted the “real” meatiness of its Impossible Whoppers.
The numbers: The U.S. created just 75,000 new jobs in May and employment gains earlier in the spring were scaled back, an ominous turn that points to a slowing economy and is likely to put more pressure on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates.
The meager gains in May fell far short of the 185,000 MarketWatch forecast, but how stocks react Friday will likely depend on whether Wall Street thinks the Fed will act soon.
Hiring slackened off in almost every key segment of the economy and employment fell in retail and government. The pace of wage growth over the past year also slowed.
The news was not all bad. The unemployment rate clung to a 49-year low of 3.6% and a broader measure of joblessness that includes part-time workers dipped to the lowest level in 19 years.
Part of the reason hiring may have tapered off, economists say, is a growing shortage of skilled labor in the tightest labor market in decades. Many companies say they can’t find people to fill a large number of open jobs.
What happened: Professional-oriented companies added 33,000 jobs, hotels and restaurants boosted payrolls by 26,000 and health-care providers hired 16,000 workers. These have been the three fastest-growing areas of the economy since an expansion began 10 years ago.
Employment was weak everywhere else. Construction companies hired just 4,000 new workers while retailers shed jobs for the fourth straight month.
Government also cut 15,000 jobs, failing to get a boost from temporary Census hiring.
Employment gains for April and March were also reduced by a combined 75,000, revised figures show.
The economy has created an average of 151,000 new jobs in the past three months, down from as high as 238,000 at the start of the year.
The slowdown in hiring and shift toward lower paying jobs in social services and hospitality appears to have put a halt to broad wage gains.
Although the average wage paid to American workers rose 6 cents to $27.83 an hour, the increase over the past 12 months slowed to 3.1% from 3.2%. It peaked at 3.4% earlier this year.
Big picture: The pace of hiring has slowed since the end of last year, and even after the poor May report, the labor market is still healthier than it’s been in several decades.
Still, the economy appears to have been shaken by festering trade tensions with China and a slowdown in the key manufacturing sector. If the labor market or other indicators shows further weakness, the Fed would almost certainly cut interest rates to help shore up the economy.
What they are saying?: “If the Fed wants evidence the trade dispute has rattled business confidence enough to cause economic problems,” chief economist Chris Low of FTN Financial wrote, weak job gains in May and “fading wage pressures should do the trick.”
“The cracks that had been showing in other data on the economy became very apparent in the May jobs data. Unemployment held steady at 3.6% — still near a half-century low — but job creation stalled,” said Jim Baird, chief investor officer at Plante Moran Financial Advisors.
“Today’s 75,000 jobs number could mark the beginning of the end of the strong jobs expansion, or it could be an outlier. We’ll have to see another couple months of jobs numbers before we can establish hiring is slowing down,” said Robert Frick, corporate economist at Navy Federal Credit Union.
Market reaction: The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 index had risen for three straight sessions after Fed Chairman Jerome Powell indicated an openness to a cut in U.S. interest rates.
The company's stock, which has a market value of $7.4 billion, is up more than 400% since it went public at the beginning of May.
Credit Suisse analyst Robert Moskow's new price target of $125, up from a previous target of $70 per share, is the closest to the stock's price of $126.30 following its latest surge. Beyond priced its initial public offering at $25 per share.
The company said Thursday that it expects annual revenue to exceed $210 million, more than doubling last year's net sales, but Moskow's estimates put 2019 sales at $224 million.
"Inbound interest from restaurant chains has increased following the tremendously positive publicity during the Beyond Meat IPO," he wrote in a note.
Executives told analysts on the conference call that they only include post-trial distribution to restaurants in the company's forecasts.
"Importantly, when discussing guidance, CEO Ethan Brown said, 'We're being very conservative' and let investors know that no foodservice customers are included in guidance until they are past the testing stage," Goldman wrote.
Goldman Sachs analyst Adam Samuelson raised his price target to $76 from $67, and Jefferies analyst Kevin Grundy raised his price target to $105 per share from $85.
Beyond Meat reported first-quarter revenue of $40.2 million, up 215% from a year ago, and a net loss of 14 cents per share on a pro forma basis.
In a new service announced Friday, customers will be able to order groceries online, and then a Walmart worker will drive the food from a nearby store and deliver it to fridges in customers' kitchens or garages. It is Walmart's latest innovation in its grocery business, which makes up more than half of the company's annual sales.
Walmart piloted its new service in New Jersey for five months and is ready to expand. The option will be available to more than a million customers this fall in Kansas City, Pittsburgh and Vero Beach, Florida. Walmart charges a fee for regular grocery delivery orders, and it did not disclose how much customers will have to pay for in-home delivery.
Here's how the service works: Customers can purchase groceries online and select a delivery day. Walmart's employees will wear a camera when they enter customers' homes, allowing shoppers to watch the process live from their phones. Customers won't have to pay for a camera, but they will have to purchase a special door lock. Walmart did not say how much the lock will cost.
Walmart believes it can entice shoppers with another convenient perk as part of its in-home delivery service: Later this year, customers will be able to leave their returns from Walmart's website on their counter and the employee will bring the item back to the store.
In-home grocery delivery is not an entirely new concept for Walmart.(WMT) The company partnered on another grocery delivery option in 2017 with smart-security company August, which makes locks that customers can monitor on their phones. That test included drivers from a crowd-sourced startup to deliver the items to customers. Amazon(AMZN) launched Key in 2017 that allows delivery drivers inside customers' homes when they're not around.
The biggest barrier Walmart will face with its new service is that most people don't want strangers in their homes.
Bart Stein, a Walmart executive who leads the in-home delivery service, acknowledged some customers during the pilot test were initially skeptical of the concept. But he said Walmart had been able to change opinions once customers tried it out.
"We really saw the tables turn after one delivery during our pilot testing around how people would trust a service like that," he said.
One way Walmart is trying to alleviate customer concerns about the service: A biography with three fun facts about their delivery employees.
Walmart workers who've been at the company for at least a year can apply for the in-home delivery position. If they get the job, they will go through training and the role will become their main responsibility.
Walmart US e-commerce chief Marc Lore did not say how many employees will be diverted to these new delivery jobs, but it's another skilled position the retailer has created as new technology emerges. Walmart has also created 30,000 "personal shopper" jobs in stores who select groceries for customers' online pickup and delivery orders.
Walmart's new delivery model comes out of its tech incubator, Store No. 8. The incubator develops companies, such as Jetblack, Walmart's chat-based shopping service in New York City, that help it stay ahead of future shopping trends.
"We're taking it out of Store 8 and bringing it into the core business," Lore said at a presentation to reporters on Thursday. Lore emphasized that Walmart will be able to use its own store network, grocery supply chain and employees for the service. He argued that combination will help distinguish the offering from competitors.
Walmart has added thousands of grocery pickup locations from stores, same-day home delivery options and introduced voice ordering for groceries off Google Assistant.
The numbers: The U.S. created just 75,000 new jobs in May and employment gains earlier in the spring were scaled back, an ominous turn that points to a slowing economy and is likely to put more pressure on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates.
The meager gains in May fell far short of the 185,000 MarketWatch forecast, but how stocks react Friday will likely depend on whether Wall Street thinks the Fed will act soon.
Hiring slackened off in almost every key segment of the economy and employment fell in retail and government. The pace of wage growth over the past year also slowed.
The news was not all bad. The unemployment rate clung to a 49-year low of 3.6% and a broader measure of joblessness that includes part-time workers dipped to the lowest level in 19 years.
Part of the reason hiring may have tapered off, economists say, is a growing shortage of skilled labor in the tightest labor market in decades. Many companies say they can’t find people to fill a large number of open jobs.
What happened: Professional-oriented companies added 33,000 jobs, hotels and restaurants boosted payrolls by 26,000 and health-care providers hired 16,000 workers. These have been the three fastest-growing areas of the economy since an expansion began 10 years ago.
Employment was weak everywhere else. Construction companies hired just 4,000 new workers while retailers shed jobs for the fourth straight month.
Government also cut 15,000 jobs, failing to get a boost from temporary Census hiring.
Employment gains for April and March were also reduced by a combined 75,000, revised figures show.
The economy has created an average of 151,000 new jobs in the past three months, down from as high as 238,000 at the start of the year.
The slowdown in hiring and shift toward lower paying jobs in social services and hospitality appears to have put a halt to broad wage gains.
Although the average wage paid to American workers rose 6 cents to $27.83 an hour, the increase over the past 12 months slowed to 3.1% from 3.2%. It peaked at 3.4% earlier this year.
Big picture: The pace of hiring has slowed since the end of last year, and even after the poor May report, the labor market is still healthier than it’s been in several decades.
Still, the economy appears to have been shaken by festering trade tensions with China and a slowdown in the key manufacturing sector. If the labor market or other indicators shows further weakness, the Fed would almost certainly cut interest rates to help shore up the economy.
What they are saying?: “If the Fed wants evidence the trade dispute has rattled business confidence enough to cause economic problems,” chief economist Chris Low of FTN Financial wrote, weak job gains in May and “fading wage pressures should do the trick.”
“The cracks that had been showing in other data on the economy became very apparent in the May jobs data. Unemployment held steady at 3.6% — still near a half-century low — but job creation stalled,” said Jim Baird, chief investor officer at Plante Moran Financial Advisors.
“Today’s 75,000 jobs number could mark the beginning of the end of the strong jobs expansion, or it could be an outlier. We’ll have to see another couple months of jobs numbers before we can establish hiring is slowing down,” said Robert Frick, corporate economist at Navy Federal Credit Union.
Market reaction: The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 had risen for three straight sessions after Fed Chairman Jerome Powell indicated an openness to a cut in U.S. interest rates.
Activist firm Elliott Management announced Friday it plans to acquire bookseller Barnes & Noble for roughly $683 million, including debt.
The deal values Barnes & Noble at $6.50 a share, a 43% premium to the retailer's 10-day volume weighted average closing share price before news of an imminent deal leaked Thursday.
After the announcement, the stock was up 10% to $6.56 per share, in premarket trading.
Barnes & Noble has faced continued pressure from Amazon and independent booksellers. Its shares had fallen roughly 25% year to date before the news leak. Within the past five years, Barnes & Noble has lost more than $1 billion in market value.
In search of a turnaround, Barnes & Noble said last year it was exploring a sale after having received "expressions of interest" from "multiple parties," including its chairman, Leonard Riggio, who founded the company in 1965.
Riggio has entered into a voting agreement in support of the transaction, the company said Friday.
As a private company, Barnes & Noble will likely be more free to make the changes and investment that can be unwieldy under a public spotlight. Part of the bookseller's turnaround plan has included closing some of its more than 600 stores across the U.S. and relocating to smaller spaces that receive a fresh and modern look. The company has said its prototype stores encourage shoppers to buy books online or from a tablet.
The retailer has shown small signs of upturn. In March, it reported that over the holidays, sales at locations open for at least a year during the quarter rose 1.1 percent — its best quarterly performance in three years. As of January, it had $15 million in cash and cash equivalents.
For its part, Elliott, the firm founded and led by billionaire Paul Singer, acquired Britain'sbiggest bookseller, Waterstones, last year. Owning the two book retailing giants could give Elliott synergies and buying leverage with publishers, people familiar with the industry say.
Elliott will operate the two retailers independently, the company said on Friday, though Waterstones CEO James Daunt will oversee both retailers as chief executive.
The deal, which will be structured as a merger, is expected to close in the third quarter, the company said. Elliott and Barnes & Noble expect to amend the agreement to utilize a tender offer structure, thereby likely reducing closing time by several weeks.
Barnes & Noble also will pay out a quarterly cash dividend of 15 cents per share, payable on Aug. 2.
