foodndrink.org Miniblog

Who's Really Attacking Ultra-Processed Food Science?

Ultra-processed food has acquired critics, defenders and, now, a rather awkward paper trail.

A review led by Erica M. LaFata at the Oregon Research Institute looked at 69 academic papers published between 2009 and 2025 that pushed back against the Nova system, or highlighted possible upsides of ultra-processed foods. Nova, for the uninitiated, sorts food by how and why it is industrially processed; its ultra-processed category covers the usual suspects: packaged snacks, sweets, fizzy drinks and ready-made bits in boxes.

The striking part was not that Nova has critics. It does, and some criticisms are perfectly fair. The striking part was who was making them. Of the 69 papers, 91.3% included at least one author with links to the food industry. Across all 232 authors, 68.5% had some industry relationship.

And much of that was not plainly declared. For 71.1% of authors with identified industry ties, those links were found only through public records, not in the papers themselves.

That matters. LaFata’s team found that papers involving authors with industry ties were more likely to defend ultra-processed foods or suggest benefits. Which does not automatically make the arguments wrong. But it does make transparency feel less like a bureaucratic nuisance and more like the whole point.

If the debate over ultra-processed food is to be taken seriously, readers, journals and policymakers ought to know who’s holding the fork.

Posted on 25 September 2026

How Did Friendly's Lose 763 Restaurants And Still Keep Its Pulse?

Friendly’s is one of those American chains that poses a fascinating question: how does a business lose 763 restaurants and still not quite lose itself?

The numbers are stark. The company that once peaked at roughly 850 locations now has 87 across 11 eastern states, with about a quarter of them in Massachusetts. Yet the brand still has a pulse because it owns something harder to manufacture than scale: memory.

Founded in Springfield in 1935 by brothers Prestley and Curtis Blake, then just 20 and 18, Friendly began by selling five-cent double-scoop cones in the depths of the Depression. Food arrived later, then expansion. By 1951 there were 10 sites. By 1974, 500. By the mid-1990s, about 850.

Then came the familiar chain-restaurant cycle: ownership changes, stale dining rooms, shifting tastes and two bankruptcies, in 2011 and again in 2020 after Covid hammered dine-in trade. Hershey bought the business in 1979 and sold it nine years later; Amici Partners acquired it in 2021, promising a reset.

Barbara E. Kahn of Wharton argues the brand still has “positive DNA”. That feels right. Friendly’s was never just burgers and sundaes. It was ritual: family booths, hot fudge, supermarket tubs in the freezer. The challenge now is not to invent a new identity, but to modernise the old one without sanding off the nostalgia that made it matter.

Posted on 20 September 2026

The Brands Winning 2026 Were the Ones You Already Knew

2026 did not reward novelty so much as recognition. If anything, it gave the nod to brands already sitting in the kitchen cupboard, quietly getting on with it.

Morning Consult looked across 2,800 brands in sectors including food, tech and hospitality, and the picture was stark: only 14% managed to improve purchase consideration this year. That is the lowest level in five years, and a sharp comedown from 2025, when 94% posted growth. Consumers, squeezed by inflation and spending more carefully, did not go wandering. They reached for the usual.

In food and drink, that meant the old hands did best. Snickers and Hershey’s were among the standouts, helped by the sort of familiarity that becomes oddly powerful when budgets tighten. Shoppers leaned towards staples and small comforts, with fizzy drinks, juice, crisps and frozen food all showing growth across at least half the brands in those categories.

Drinks were especially lively. Of the 25 brands across all industries that have now managed five straight years of growth, eight were beverages. Packaged food did not place a single brand on that list. The pattern is fairly clear: established names were better at turning recognition into intent.

Mr Pibb topped the lot. Coca-Cola’s relaunch gave it a proper shove, and consumers responded to something both known and slightly off-centre. Familiar, but with a wink.

Posted on 14 September 2026

How AI Is Sending Travellers To The Dishes Guidebooks Missed

People used to plan a trip and ask where they might eat. More and more, they’re planning a trip because of what they might eat once they get there. That shift is measurable: travellers rate food and drink at 8.2 out of 10 when choosing a destination, and two-thirds say it matters more now than it did five years ago.

The interesting part is where this appetite is leading them. Not just to starched-tablecloth restaurants, but to market stalls, cookery lessons, producer visits and food walks where a place explains itself one bite at a time. Among Asian travellers, culinary experiences now rank in the top three reasons to travel, and cities such as Chiang Mai, Bangkok and several in Vietnam have become especially popular for bookable food activities.

Technology is giving this habit a quiet shove. Social recommendations can point people towards the noodle shop behind the pharmacy or the market with the alarming fish and excellent soup. Smarter search tools are helping travellers find regional dishes and local specialities that guidebooks often skate past.

Then there’s the souvenir question. Increasingly, people are bringing home olive oil, spices, preserves and useful kitchenware instead of a magnet with a donkey on it. Around 55% say they’d consider travelling somewhere specifically for pantry goods or cooking kit.

The real appeal, though, is older than any app: local identity. A city can hide in plain sight, then introduce itself properly in a bowl.

Posted on 8 September 2026

The Real Reason Restaurant Chains Ditched Their Loudest Colors

A lot of restaurant chains didn’t lose their loudest colours by accident. They grew out of them.

The old fast-food look was built to grab attention and charm children: bold reds and yellows, huge signs, plastic seating, sometimes a play area bolted on like an afterthought from a sugar rush. McDonald’s was the clearest example. You saw the roof, the arches, the colour scheme, and you knew exactly what it was from half a mile away.

Then the audience changed. Chains wanted office workers, coffee drinkers, breakfast regulars, people who didn’t want to feel like they were eating in a soft play centre at 8.15 on a Tuesday. So the design language shifted towards café territory: greys, black, muted greens, wood-effect panels, softer lighting, less visual shouting.

There’s a practical reason too. Plain, standardised buildings are easier and cheaper to update. If your restaurant is basically a neat grey box, you can swap signs, screens and furniture without rebuilding the whole thing every time branding moves on. That matters when digital ordering screens and delivery pick-up zones have become central to the layout.

Minimalism also became fashionable more broadly, and planning departments tend to prefer something less brash. Fair enough. But something got traded away in the process. The new version is tidier and more adaptable. The old one had personality. You never mistook it for an insurance office. Posted on 5 September 2026

How Viral Recipes Turned Jarred Beans Into A Supermarket Gold Rush

The bean aisle has had a glow-up, and not just the dusty “emergency chilli” kind. UK shoppers bought 7.3% more beans, pulses and soya-based staples in the first half of 2026 than a year earlier, according to NielsenIQ data analysed by Madre Brava. Dried lentils led the stampede, up 23%, but the real plot twist was at the posher end of the shelf: canned and jarred butter beans jumped 30.3%.

That rise owes a lot to new brands, smarter packaging and the mysterious power of social media, where a creamy butter bean can suddenly achieve influencer status. Products from names such as Bold Bean Co, Navarrico and M&S have helped turn legumes from cupboard backup into aspirational supper.

The money side matters. Meat prices, especially beef and lamb, have stayed painfully high, and retail meat sales slipped 1.8%. Fake meat is losing momentum too, with volumes down 4.3%, though Quorn has shown some fresh growth. What people seem to want instead is simpler food: cheaper, higher in fibre and less processed.

Campaigners have been pushing this shift for years, and retailers have noticed the margins as well as the morals. Through Bang in Some Beans, companies including Sainsbury’s, Lidl GB, M&S, Subway and Harvester have pledged to sell more legumes. Turns out the humble bean is now both budget strategy and status item. Posted on 31 August 2026

How Pubs Stole July From The Shops

July should have belonged to the shops. It had everything: blazing heat, barbecue weather, and the men’s World Cup giving everyone an excuse to buy snacks, drinks and things they absolutely did not need but suddenly felt were essential to national morale.

And yet retail still slipped.

The volume of goods sold across Great Britain fell 0.5% in July, according to the Office for National Statistics, after a 0.7% rise in June and a 1.3% increase in May. Food and drink did well, helped by the heat and match nights, but that wasn’t enough to save the month.

The real casualty was non-food retail, down 1.3%. Clothes sales cooled after discounts were pushed earlier into June, and the heat seems to have persuaded plenty of people to stay home rather than wander the high street looking for linen trousers and regret. Furniture sales also weakened, with few households keen to rethink their interiors while melting. Department stores were hit too, partly by stock shortages and delivery delays.

Meanwhile, pubs were having a glorious time. Because they sit in hospitality rather than retail, their success doesn’t lift shop figures, even if they emptied wallets just the same. The British Beer & Pub Association said the World Cup brought an extra 30 million pints and around £150 million in added sales, helped by longer opening hours and England reaching the semi-finals.

Retail didn’t lose July to apathy. It lost it to pub gardens, big screens and one more round.

Posted on 24 August 2026

Why Coffee's "Testosterone Boost" Is More Complicated Than It Sounds

Coffee has acquired a new gym-bro superpower online: apparently it “boosts testosterone”. Not so fast.

A Finnish study of 2,264 adults aged 46 found that people who drank more coffee tended to have less body fat, less visceral fat and more skeletal muscle, even though their BMI was much the same as everyone else’s. In men, higher coffee intake was also linked with higher total testosterone. Sounds thrilling. Until the asterisk arrives.

The same men also had higher levels of SHBG, a protein that grabs hold of sex hormones in the blood. So while total testosterone went up, free testosterone — the portion not bound up — actually went down, along with the free androgen index. Which is rather different from “coffee makes you more manly”, and much more scientifically awkward.

There were other potentially positive links. Men who drank more coffee showed lower fasting insulin, lower insulin during glucose testing, less insulin resistance and better insulin sensitivity. Researchers also saw lower levels of branched-chain amino acids, which have been associated with metabolic problems.

Women showed a different hormonal pattern again, with higher SHBG and lower free testosterone, but no matching rise in total testosterone.

The crucial caveat: this was a snapshot study, not proof of cause and effect. It can spot patterns, not hand coffee all the credit. So yes, your flat white may be associated with a healthier metabolic profile. But no, it is not liquid testosterone.
Posted on 17 August 2026

From Meme Stock To Buyout Target: Wendy's Wildest Plot Twist Yet

Wendy’s has spent the past year behaving less like a steady fast-food chain and more like a stock-market oddity. Now comes its strangest turn yet: a possible buyout led by billionaire investor Nelson Peltz.

Shares jumped as much as 17% on Wednesday, before settling around 12.5% higher at $8.50, after the Financial Times reported that Trian Fund Management could move within weeks to take the company private. Trian already owns roughly 16% of Wendy’s and is said to be assembling a group that includes Flynn Group, one of the chain’s biggest franchise operators, and Abu Dhabi-based BlueFive Capital.

Peltz has not exactly arrived out of nowhere. He has been tied to Wendy’s since the 2000s and served as chairman for more than 15 years, stepping down in September 2024. In February, Trian told regulators it was weighing options to boost shareholder value, including taking control of the company, arguing the shares looked cheap after a brutal slide. Over the past 12 months, the stock has shed nearly half its value.

If Trian formally makes an offer, Wendy’s independent directors would have to choose: negotiate with Peltz directly or test the market with a wider auction. The board says it would review any proposal carefully.

Only weeks ago, Reddit traders were trying to “save” Wendy’s in a brief meme-stock burst. Now the joke may be over, and the real money may be walking in through the door.

Posted on 13 August 2026

Delivery Quietly Became The New Power Move In Restaurant Catering

Catering used to sit in the back booth, useful but easy to ignore. Not now. It’s moving faster than the wider restaurant trade, and the numbers have stopped being coy about it.

Monkey Catering Platform’s 2026 State of Catering report, built from more than 100 brands, 8,000 locations and over $1 billion in annual sales, reckons US catering will grow 5.3 per cent a year through 2032. The broader restaurant industry is expected to manage about 3 per cent in 2025. That gap matters.

The best operators aren’t merely keeping up. In the first quarter of 2026, brands with mature catering programmes posted year-on-year growth of 10 to 20 per cent. The trick is changing, though. Average order value hit roughly $416 in 2025, only 3 per cent above the year before, so the easy lift from inflation and fatter tickets is fading. More orders, not bigger ones, is the new hunt.

That shifts the spotlight to customer ownership. Marketplaces are sending more business, rising from 12.8 per cent of catering orders in 2021 to a projected 36 per cent in 2026, but those orders come in 6 to 8 per cent smaller on average and with thinner margins.

The real gold sits closer to home. First-party orders and repeat customers do the heavy lifting, with 60 per cent of orders coming from just 5 per cent of customers. Delivery tells the same story: in-house fulfilment climbed from 31 to 53 per cent since 2021, while specialist catering couriers rose from 4 to 21 per cent. Pickup, meanwhile, is slipping quietly out the side door.

Posted on 8 August 2026

Why Are Mocktails Winning Without Replacing Alcohol?

Mocktails are not marching in to evict alcohol. They are applying for joint tenancy.

That is the real story behind the category’s rise. In the US, non-alcoholic drinks sit inside a $260 billion alcohol market, and IWSR expects the alcohol-free segment to reach $4 billion by 2027. Beer still dominates, accounting for 85% of sales, but spirit alternatives and ready-to-drink serves are where the excitement is; NielsenIQ reports non-alcoholic RTD spirits grew 171% in a year.

The surprise is that abstainers are not the whole market. Far from it. Around 93% of people buying these alternatives also buy alcoholic wine, beer or spirits. They are not renouncing pleasure. They are editing it. A negroni on Saturday, a zero-proof paloma on Tuesday, sleep intact.

That helps explain why mocktails are winning. They answer a modern craving for choice, not purity. Adults want something more grown-up than cola in a nice glass. They want ceremony, flavour, occasion, but not always the fog afterwards.

Some brands mimic familiar spirits closely, like Ritual Zero Proof. Others lean into herbs, teas and botanicals, making drinks that echo whisky or red wine without impersonating them. It is less replacement than expansion: a bigger drinks menu for a more selective drinker.

Posted on 3 August 2026

The Airport Snack That Secretly Wrecks Your Flight

The real saboteur at the airport is often the innocent-looking snack pack: crisps, sweets, fizzy drink, maybe a coffee for courage. It feels practical. Your body disagrees.

Plane cabins are dry enough to turn a grape into a raisin. That low humidity, along with changes in pressure and oxygen, makes dehydration more likely. Then travellers make it worse by avoiding water to skip loo visits, or by leaning on booze and too much caffeine. The results are familiar: headache, fatigue, dizziness, dry skin, bloating, even cramps.

Salty and sugary snacks are especially sly. Salt ramps up thirst and can leave you puffy. A carb-heavy, ultra-processed snack gives you a quick lift, then drops you through the floor. Not ideal at 35,000 feet.

Better choices are almost boring, which is how you know they work: unsalted nuts, Greek yoghurt, cheese sticks, hard-boiled eggs. Add water-rich foods such as grapes, watermelon, cucumber or celery. And water alone is not always enough; electrolytes help your body hang on to the fluid, so foods like bananas and avocado, or an electrolyte tablet in your bottle, can earn their keep.

One more thing: don’t fly on an empty stomach. A sensible meal before boarding beats fainting artist chic every time.

Posted on 29 July 2026

Why Does Rick Steves Trust A Handwritten Menu More Than A Five-Star Review?

Rick Steves trusts a handwritten menu because it usually tells you more truth than a glossy rating ever could. After 50 years of eating his way across Europe, the 71-year-old guidebook writer’s rule is simple: eat the food that belongs to that place, in that season, and preferably grew nearby.

His ideal meal is what he calls “zero kilometre” eating: regional produce, local wine, and dishes that make sense for the month. In Rome, that might mean zucchini flowers or fava beans in summer. The biggest clue is often the dish of the day. He once assumed specials were just sales patter; now he sees them as the kitchen’s freshest idea.

A short menu, written by hand and in one language, wins his trust quickly. To him, that suggests a place serving locals and cooking what the market offered that week. Rather than stand under a famous monument paying too much for mediocre pasta, he’d rather walk three blocks to a family-run spot where granny’s probably still peeling potatoes.

He’ll splash out, but usually on Michelin’s Bib Gourmand places, not the starred temples. Better value, less fuss. He also recommends bakery lunches, department store cafeterias such as Tibits in Switzerland, and eating late. At 7, tourists. At 9, locals. Near closing time, if you’re lucky, the chef might tell you where to eat tomorrow.

Posted on 24 July 2026

Plant-Based, Protein, Baby Formula: The Food Niches AI Can Quietly Sway Most

Some food searches are little more than a spark and a reaching hand. A person wants a snack, a drink, a takeaway, an ingredient for tonight’s supper. They search, glance, choose, buy. In that brief passage from want to purchase, automated search summaries now sit close to the decision itself, quietly nudging attention and trust.

Food and drink stand apart because speed matters. People often do not spend days comparing options. They move in minutes. That makes these summaries unusually powerful at the precise moment choice is still soft.

Yet not all food buying is hurried. Plant-based products, protein and sports nutrition, and baby formula ask more of the shopper. Here people tend to pause over ingredients, nutritional value, safety, and the standing of the brand. A short, confident summary beside a search result can shape first impressions before a product page is even opened.

That is the quiet sway. Not loud persuasion, but framing: which features seem important, which brands appear credible, which sources feel trustworthy.

For food brands, the lesson is plain. Product details need to be clear, accurate, and consistent wherever they appear online. Strong specifications, tidy content, and citations on respected third-party sites improve the chances of showing up in these summaries. As search changes, the brands most likely to win attention are the ones that make themselves easy to understand at speed.

Posted on 14 July 2026

Why Independents Could Outplay The Big Chains This World Cup Summer

The chains will do what chains do in a World Cup summer: print posters, chill lager, and hope the tills begin to sound like maracas. But independents may have the sharper chance.

New analysis from money.co.uk suggests the 2026 World Cup could add £4.2bn to UK food and drink sales, with revenue from May to July running 9.3% above a normal non-tournament year. That is not a polite nudge. That is a proper shove.

The obvious winners are pubs, hospitality venues and restaurants, especially those with decent footfall and a habit of putting football on screens rather than treating it like an unfortunate rash. Late kick-offs should bunch spending into the evening, which suits smaller operators rather well. They can be quicker on their feet: one-off menus, sharper booking offers, local promotion, and a room that feels like a crowd rather than a waiting area with condiments.

There is also the shared-experience factor. People do not merely buy a pint on match night; they buy atmosphere, noise, tribal nonsense and something fried at half-time. Independents tend to be better at that sort of thing because they trade on personality, not uniformity.

The wider picture matters too. Accommodation could see a £3.5bn uplift, while rail and transport may gain another £1.8bn, as people travel for screenings and gatherings. The big chains will get their share. But for independents, this could be the summer to nick the ball and keep it.

Posted on 6 July 2026

Dunkin’s Eagle Cup Turns a Bicentennial Tie-In Into a Retail Rush

As America edges toward its 250th birthday, Dunkin has discovered that a commemorative vessel can generate more excitement than the drink it carries. On June 29, the chain introduced a limited-edition Eagle Cup across the country: a clear, eagle-shaped container sold for $10.99, bundled with a free medium beverage.

The real inducement may be hidden inside. Each cup includes a code that can be activated by July 31, 2026, unlocking one $3 medium Refresher or Dunkin’ Zero per day for 30 days, so long as redemption also happens by that date.

The cup itself is gloriously overdone: spread wings, an eagle-head lid, and a pink-and-orange straw. That was quite enough to set off a scramble. Some stores ran out within hours, with demand described as unusually strong.

Online, the object promptly became a tiny national pageant. Dunkin’s Instagram compared the cup with an actual bald eagle, noting that one comes with a straw while the other can stretch beyond six feet and dive at about 100 miles per hour; both, it added, count as protected national symbols. The joke landed. A Snackolator Reel drew more than 280,000 views, and an X post from @thedealsguy_ passed 620,000.

The release sits alongside Dunkin’s Fourth of July menu and merchandise collection, which includes themed drinks, doughnuts, tees, swimsuits, totes, and other summer Americana. Posted on 2 July 2026

Britain’s Cocktail Habit Has Shrunk to Can Size

Britain appears to be trading the romance of the bottle for the brisk efficiency of the can. New WSTA data in its Sip 2 report shows UK off-trade ready-to-drink sales reached £704 million last year, with volume up 12% and value up 17%, making RTDs one of the few alcohol segments still expanding.

That growth has come as traditional spirits soften. In the three months to January 2026, off-trade spirits sales were down nearly £40 million year on year. Gin, vodka and whisky, once the darlings of the home bar boom, are now losing spend to pre-mixed descendants; the WSTA estimates 44% of RTD growth comes from drinkers moving money out of spirits.

The shift has an obvious logic. After lockdowns in 2020 and 2021 turned kitchens into amateur cocktail bars, the cost-of-living squeeze made the whole ritual feel expensive and faintly theatrical. Canned cocktails kept the occasion but trimmed the fuss and the bill. Duty changes helped: spirits duty saw its steepest rise in almost 50 years in August 2023, followed by inflation-linked increases.

What looked temporary now seems embedded. Mintel’s 2026 UK Vodka, Gin and RTDs Market Report found 57% of buyers purchased gin, vodka or RTDs for at-home gatherings in late 2025. Premium spirit-based cans, including espresso martinis, margaritas, mojitos and pornstar martinis, have lifted quality expectations. Online sales are accelerating too, with Grand View Research forecasting 15.6% annual growth in the UK RTD cocktail market through 2033.

Posted on 28 June 2026

A World Cup of Goals, and Concessions at a Premium

At this World Cup, the ticket is only the first tollgate. In the stadiums of the U.S., Canada and Mexico, food and drink have become a second spectacle, sometimes comic, sometimes punishing.

Miami offers perhaps the clearest emblem: $75 “Fancy AF Tots” — really three fried hash-brown patties with caviar, crème fraîche and chives — while caviar alone is $70. There is also a 5-pound chicken-and-cheese Empanada Mundial for $40, plus pan con lechon on a full Cuban loaf. Los Angeles contributes a $22 Twinkie cheeseburger, topped not with dessert but with a bacon-wrapped jalapeño stuffed with brisket and cream cheese. Guadalajara lists rib-eye tacos at $8. Vancouver leans local with short rib poutine and a maple bacon smokie.

Yet beer has drawn the sharper resentment. In Toronto, German engineer Thomas Schüller paid 24.25 Canadian dollars, about $17 or 15 euros, and still admitted he would buy it anyway. In Europe, many fans are used to paying nearer 4 or 5 euros. In Mexico City, some beers ran from 299 to 310 pesos, near the city’s 315.04-peso daily minimum wage.

Prices vary widely. In Atlanta, Arthur Blank’s low-cost policy held: $3 pizza, $4 32-ounce sodas, $5 cheeseburgers, $6 chicken tenders with fries, and beers from $8. Jonathan Arango said a family order there came to about $50.

Posted on 23 June 2026

Where Pattaya Gets Cheap, and Real

Pattaya sells an image first: the beachfront table, the late-night neon, the international menu with prices calibrated for visitors who do not plan to ask questions. It is easy, arriving there, to mistake performance for cost of living.

But the city’s more telling secret is practical. Eat a little off-script, where residents eat, and Pattaya becomes markedly cheaper. Local Thai restaurants, noodle stalls, and food courts outside the main tourist strips serve meals that are both more rooted in everyday Thailand and far less expensive than the places designed for passing trade.

Along Tepprasit Road, family-run noodle shops turn out large bowls of soup, stir-fries, and rice dishes for about 50 to 80 baht. The rooms are often plain, almost incidental, but the food is fresh, full of flavour, and difficult to fault on value.

The same logic holds inside shopping centres. Food courts in Big C stores are a local standby, with Thai staples at prices that undercut many resort-area restaurants. A Massaman curry with rice can cost around 70 baht, and pad kra pao, fried rice, curries, and noodle soups generally stay in the same affordable range.

For longer stays, the arithmetic becomes obvious: three solid meals from neighbourhood places can cost less than one dinner at a beachfront restaurant. In Pattaya, thrift and authenticity often sit at the same table.

Posted on 20 June 2026

Atlanta’s Strange World Cup Luxury: Affordable Stadium Food

World Cup stadium food pricing in North America is mostly a lesson in resignation. At New York/New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium, a four-tender combo with fries and Coke is $19 before 6 per cent tax; fries alone are $8, a hot dog $8.50, water $5, and alcohol runs from $16 for a 16-ounce canned beer to $19 for seltzer or a canned cocktail. At Los Angeles Stadium, beef-loaded nachos are $19.75 before 9.75 per cent tax, a bean-and-cheese burrito $16.50, premium beer $18.50, water $5.25. Dallas charges $8.25 for water.

Elsewhere, Monterrey sells Michelob Ultra for 310 MXN and Corona for 299 MXN, with water at 80 MXN and fries at 200 MXN. Toronto is slightly gentler on beer: 16.75 CAD for the cheapest 16-ounce option, though water is 9 CAD.

Then there is Atlanta, behaving almost suspiciously reasonably. At Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Arthur Blank’s AMB Sports and Entertainment keeps permanent fan-first pricing in place regardless of event, including this World Cup. Chicken tenders with fries cost $6 before Atlanta’s 9 per cent tax; pizza slices are $3, a cheeseburger $5, a grilled chicken sandwich $6, water $3, and the cheapest 20-ounce draft beer $9.

Blank’s logic is simple: no price gouging, and no exceptions. The policy stayed intact for the 2019 Super Bowl and, after discussion with FIFA, remained untouched for the World Cup too.

Posted on 16 June 2026

McDonald’s Finds Growth at the Top While Gas Prices Squeeze Its Budget Diners

McDonald’s is making more money, but the customers with the least slack in their budgets are still getting body-slammed by gas prices.

On its first-quarter 2026 earnings call in Chicago, the company said low-income traffic remains under pressure even after rolling out cheaper menu options. Management tied much of that strain to elevated fuel costs and inflation, which are hitting lower-income consumers harder. Higher-income customers, meanwhile, are still spending steadily, helping McDonald’s gain share.

For the quarter ended March 31, net income rose 6% to $1.98 billion, or $2.78 a share, from $1.86 billion, or $2.60 a year earlier. Revenue climbed 9% to $6.5 billion from $5.95 billion. U.S. comparable sales increased 3.9%, reversing a 3.6% decline a year ago, largely on higher check averages. Global comparable sales also rose 3.9%, versus a 1% decline last year.

The company expanded its value push in April with McValue, adding an under-$3 lineup that includes a $2.50 McDouble and a $1.50 Sausage McMuffin, alongside a $4 breakfast deal, a $5 McChicken meal, and a $6 McDouble meal.

McDonald’s is also leaning harder into beverages and chicken. After closing CosMc’s last year, it launched McCafé refreshers and crafted sodas, with Red Bull drinks due later in 2026. With beef prices still historically high, chicken is gaining appeal, and the chain says it has added about two share points in that category.

Posted on 9 June 2026

UK Food Makers Brace for Higher Prices, Job Cuts as Energy Shock Bites

Britain’s food and drink manufacturers, confronted by costs that rise like a soufflé in a draught, are preparing a distinctly uncomfortable menu of responses: dearer products, fewer jobs, thinner marketing budgets and postponed investment.

A first-quarter survey by the Food and Drink Federation found 82% of UK food and drink businesses expect to increase prices, while 33% are considering restructuring or reducing headcount. The poll covered manufacturers of varying sizes.

The immediate prod came from the Iran conflict and the energy shock that followed. Repeating its April outlook, the FDF said UK inflation for food and non-alcoholic drinks is likely to hit 9% to 10% by December. Drawing on International Energy Agency analysis, it described the Iran war as having triggered the worst energy crisis on record, exceeding the combined shocks of 1973, 1979 and 2022.

For manufacturers, the trouble is expense rather than supply scarcity. Businesses reported shifting procurement, trimming marketing and shelving capital projects; only 21% plan to improve production energy efficiency.

Confidence, meanwhile, has dropped through the floorboards. The FDF’s net confidence measure slid to -64% in Q1 from -31% in Q4 2025. Some 67% said conditions worsened quarter on quarter, and the Q2 outlook registered -51%, the weakest since early 2022.

Energy support topped the wish list for 69%. For 51%, energy makes up 5% to 9% of costs; for 8%, 20% to 24%. Rising labour costs are also spurring automation, squeezing bonuses and widening pay pressures.

Posted on 8 June 2026

Belgium’s Most Intriguing New Tables, Treats and Bottles

Belgium’s food map currently glitters in four very different places. In Brussels, Chaga hides above Avenue Marnix inside the Faubourg 21 hotel, near the European quarter and unusually alone there as a true gastronomic address. After a drink at Bar 21, Amar Hennebert’s domain, dinner rises to Kevin Lejeune’s fourth-floor dining room, where the former La Paix and La Canne en Ville chef, Gault & Millau’s 2021 Revelation, uses a robata grill to give fish and meat smoke without fat. Japanese inflections, citrus, texture contrasts and Vincent Wynant’s wine or non-alcoholic pairings carry through to petits fours and a parting homemade cake.

Elsewhere, Boudin de Liège gained PGI status in November 2025 after ten years of talks. The city’s white sausage, documented since at least the 18th century, is two-thirds lean pork, one-third cheek fat, plus milk-soaked bread and exactly 3g of whole marjoram leaves per kilo. Marjoram was revived in 2014 on the citadel slopes; dried for three years, it can reach €150 a kilo. About 12 butchers make around 60kg weekly, more at Christmas.

Wittamer’s revived Cavell tearoom in Uccle pairs a redesigned 2022 interior with mille-feuille, savouries, Chant d’Eole and chocolates by Christophe Museur, around €2 each.

In Ghent, Michel Moortgat’s Dada Chapel turns a restored 17th-century building into a distillery of vodka, Brhum, three 2024 gins, a negroni, iris-root spritz, coffee liqueur and Black Fuel whisky with Channel Zero. Posted on 6 June 2026

Domino’s Eyes Protein as Pizza Chains Chase Health-Halo Demand

Domino’s may yet decide that the path to modern healthfulness is not through fewer calories, but through the ancient and noble art of adding more things to bread.

After a recent investor call with CFO Sandeep Reddy, Bernstein analysts outlined several menu ideas they believe could be in Domino’s longer-term development pipeline: a protein-boosted pizza, an updated chicken platform, and tweaks to familiar formats such as deep dish or new stuffed-crust variations. Reddy did not identify any specific upcoming product.

The notion fits a wider restaurant trend. Maeve Webster, president of Vermont-based Menu Matters, said protein remains unusually persuasive because consumers grasp it instantly. In her view, people generally treat added protein as an uncomplicated health upgrade, whether or not nutrition is quite that tidy.

That instinct matters commercially. Protein gives indulgent foods a sort of halo, softening guilt while preserving pleasure. Webster also pointed to the spread of GLP-1 drugs as one force behind the obsession.

There is, however, a small nutritional comedy in the background: fiber is beginning to rival protein as the macro nutrient of the moment, and the need for more fiber is arguably greater. But protein, by all appearances, has better publicity. It sounds vigorous, tastes agreeable, and can make an extra slice of bacon seem less like surrender than strategy.

Posted on 4 June 2026

From 43p to £4.79: McDonald’s UK Prices Then and Now

McDonald’s in Britain has pulled off a neat trick: it still sells familiarity, even though the numbers on the board now look like they’ve been through therapy.

In 1986, the chain was still in growth mode across the UK. That year brought Happy Meals to British customers, added more drive-thru sites and marked the opening of its 200th restaurant in the country. The menu was leaner too, long before today’s ecosystem of wraps, coffees, vegetarian choices, delivery and app deals.

The Big Mac is the cleanest measuring stick. When McDonald’s entered the UK in 1974, one cost 43p. By 1986, it was about £1. In 2026, a standard Big Mac is typically around £4.79, while a medium Big Mac meal averages roughly £7.60.

Other staples tell the same story. Small fries, once priced in mere pence, now usually sit around £1.79 to £1.99. A Happy Meal generally comes in above £4.00.

That sounds like a dramatic jump, and in cash terms it is. But inflation complicates the outrage. A 1974 Big Mac priced at 43p works out to about £3.91 in today’s money, and some analysts argue that several core items have broadly moved in line with inflation rather than wildly outpacing it.

So the menu has swollen, the costs have climbed, and the promise is basically unchanged: quick, recognisable, relatively affordable food. Posted on 3 June 2026

Soft Shell Crab’s Brief, Glorious Visit to San Diego

There are delicacies which owe half their charm to rarity, and the soft shell crab must be counted among them. Its season in San Diego is now underway, though only for a brief acquaintance. A soft shell crab is not a separate species, but a blue crab caught in the tender interval after shedding its old armor and before the new shell hardens. Recalcification begins within 2 to 3 hours, and even with proper storage there are only about 24 to 28 hours between capture and table.

The romance of the first full moon in May is only partly deserved. Blue crabs from the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland and Virginia, and from warmer Gulf waters in Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas, molt according to climate: southern harvests may begin in March, while the colder northern Atlantic can continue into September. This year, Water Grill and King’s Fish House began serving live Chesapeake Bay blue crabs on May 3, two days after the full moon.

At Herb & Sea, Aidan Owens planned ahead for a fried soft shell crab with späetzle, gribiche, and local greens, likely through the first week in June. Brian Okada devised four versions this year: at King’s Fish House, a Southern-style plate with corn succotash and fried green tomato, and a piccata preparation with Israeli couscous, lemon butter, and capers. At Water Grill, the first dish is Thai-leaning, later changing to one with watermelon, cucumber, and brown butter-soy ginger sauce. La Corriente keeps a soft shell crab taco as long as possible; Ironside Fish & Oyster expects a crispy battered version with ramps soon.

Posted on 1 June 2026

Gilroy Gardens Brings Back Its Award-Winning Cherry Jubilee for a Month of Fruit-Fueled Absurdity

About 90 minutes south of San Francisco, Gilroy Gardens is once again doing the sensible thing and devoting a full month to cherries.

From June 5 to July 5, 2026, the produce-themed amusement park will revive Cherry Jubilee, the festival it introduced last year and which subsequently collected an IAAPA Brass Ring Award for Best New Food & Beverage Event. Evidently, the amusement-park industry looked upon an avalanche of cherry-flavored invention and decided this was progress.

This year’s edition expands the edible ambition: more than 50 cherry-infused food and drink options are planned, including 30 new recipes. On the menu are cherry teriyaki skewers, turkey legs glazed in cherry barbecue sauce, cherry-seasoned fries, fruity cocktails, and deep-fried cheesecake finished with cherry sauce, which feels like the sort of idea that should either be banned or celebrated.

The festival is also stocking its calendar with live performances from the Merry Cherry Bunch, plus storytime, slapstick, STEM activities built around baking and math, and Cherry Dome games such as roller skating and pitch ’n’ win. A Fourth of July all-you-can-eat barbecue is also scheduled.

Gilroy Gardens, which opened in 2001 as Bonfante Gardens, spans 536 acres and is better described as a botanical garden that accidentally acquired rides. Its 10,000-plus trees, six garden areas, gentle attractions, water features, and famous Circus Trees make it especially suited to families with younger children.
Posted on 30 May 2026

WK Kellogg Tries to Reintroduce Cereal as a Sensible Breakfast

WK Kellogg is attempting a modest but pointed act of reputation repair: explaining cereal to people standing in front of the shelf wondering whether they’ve accidentally wandered into the confectionery aisle.

Its new on-pack system, SPOONS, will appear on the back of U.S. boxes from now into next year, starting with familiar names including Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies, Raisin Bran, All-Bran and Frosted Mini-Wheats. The acronym flags simple ingredients, protein, outstanding fiber, other nutritious foods, nutrients you need and single-digit sugars.

The idea is to make cereal’s case quickly: many shoppers now scrutinise sugar, processing, fiber and protein, while regulators and industry groups push clearer nutrition information. The FDA proposed front-of-pack labels last year, and the Consumer Brands Association already offers SmartLabel via QR code.

Cereal has had a rougher cultural ride than it once enjoyed. Consumers increasingly see it as overly processed, too sugary and nutritionally thin, while hurried breakfasts have shifted toward bars and other grab-and-go options. WK Kellogg, acquired by Ferrero for $3.1 billion, is betting that some of cereal’s problem is simply poor communication.

Its research found many users do not realise cereal can naturally provide fiber and other essential nutrients, or that many varieties are made from relatively few ingredients and contain less added sugar than assumed. A serving of Raisin Bran, for example, delivers 7 grams of fiber and 5 grams of protein. Posted on 29 May 2026

Soda Wants to Fix Your Gut Now

The soda aisle is having a wellness rebrand, which is either progress or the final triumph of millennial self-optimization. For years, soft drinks were mostly sugar delivery systems with mascots. Now the industry is being reorganized around beverages that promise to do something besides taste good.

Functional drinks, a broad category that includes probiotic and prebiotic sodas, hydration products, energy drinks, and beverages fortified with vitamins, minerals, or adaptogens, are gaining ground because shoppers increasingly treat drinks as part of a daily health routine. Flavor still matters, but so do digestion, immunity, hydration, and the comforting idea that your can of fizz might also be your life coach.

The hottest fight is in prebiotic and probiotic soda. Brands built around gut health and lower sugar have moved from niche curiosity to serious threat, especially with younger consumers who scrutinize ingredients and nutrition more closely than previous generations.

Big beverage companies have noticed. Instead of waiting for the trend to pass, they are trying to buy or build their way in. Coca-Cola recently launched Simply Pop, entering the prebiotic soda market with a product tied to digestive-health messaging. PepsiCo went even bigger, acquiring Poppi for nearly $2 billion, one of the clearest signs yet that functional beverages are being treated as the industry’s next major growth engine.

Hydration drinks are rising too, marketed around electrolytes, performance, and everyday wellness. The result is a beverage business increasingly shaped by health claims, convenience, and lifestyle branding. Posted on 28 May 2026

Tomatoes Lead a Sharper Spring Rise in Grocery Prices

The grocery bill, that petty extortionist waiting at the end of every aisle, grew sharper teeth in April.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data show food-at-home prices were 2.9% higher than a year earlier, the fastest annual grocery inflation since August 2023, when the rate was 3%. Month to month, grocery prices jumped 0.7% from March, after a mild dip the month before. In March, annual grocery inflation had been 1.9%, meaning April delivered the biggest one-month acceleration since May 2022.

The broad inflation rate reached 3.8% in April, the highest since May 2023. The BLS did not publish most category-level figures for October 2025 because of the federal government shutdown.

The starring villain was the tomato. Prices climbed nearly 40% from April 2025, the steepest increase among food-at-home items tracked by the BLS. Fresh vegetables rose 11.5%, helping push fruit and vegetable prices up about 6%.

Meat kept up its familiar campaign against household budgets. Uncooked beef roasts cost almost 18% more than a year earlier, steaks rose just over 16%, and ground beef increased 14.5%.

Coffee, that morning necessity masquerading as a personality trait, was nearly 20% more expensive than a year ago.

Not everything misbehaved. Poultry prices rose less than 1%, fresh whole chickens fell nearly 2%, and egg prices dropped more than 39% after last year’s spike.

Posted on 26 May 2026