There are two things that I wouldn’t want to deal with in the morning: explaining that I am not a tween and having someone stand between me and that piping hot cup of joe. For thousands of Starbucks users my morning nightmare scenario came true earlier this week. [More]
Food & Personal Care
Food Industry Initiative Highlights How Little The FDA Knows About What’s In Our Food
By 8.28.14
For decades, the food industry has been able to use ingredients that are “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS) without approval from the FDA. When first used in the ’50s, this was intended to apply to ingredients, like vegetable oils and vinegars, where an additive’s safety is common knowledge, but in 1997, a backlogged FDA allowed food companies to merely submit their GRAS findings instead of the supporting data, creating a loophole the food industry has exploited to include a vast number of chemical ingredients that manufacturers claim are safe but which don’t go through a rigorous approval process. Feeling pressure from the public to pull back the veil on the GRAS process and its ingredients, the food industry announced a transparency initiative yesterday that may be a step in the right direction, but highlights just how little the FDA seems to care about the “F” part of its name. [More]
Chipotle CEO Details Why His Company Is Better Than Other “Irrelevant” Fast Food Chains
By 8.27.14
Most mega fast food chains are being pulled in two directions these days — trying to satisfy those consumers who want quality ingredients and healthier options, while also pushing bottom-dollar value menu items to diners whose primary goal is to eat something fast and cheap. It would seem like one of these would have to win out in the long run, and according to the co-CEO of Chipotle, the cheap and easy route will soon be a thing of the past. [More]
Tim Hortons: Nice To Meet You, America! Have A Buffalo Crunch Doughnut
By 8.27.14
You might’ve heard that Burger King is merging with Tim Hortons, a restaurant chain based in Canada. But because many Americans might not be as familiar with the company, Tim Hortons is offering a sort of “howdy do!” from our neighbors to the north, apparently, by way of a “Buffalo Crunch” doughnut. [More]
Woman Upset That Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut Cereal Came With The Extra Crunch Of A Dead Mouse
By 8.27.14
First things first: If you don’t want to see a deceased rodent lying atop a bed of cereal, don’t click on any of the links in the below post. Because when a woman poured her grandson some Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut Corn Flakes and saw a dead mouse fall out, she made sure to take a photo as proof. [More]
Taco Bell, Where A “Lifetime Of Food” Costs Just $10,000
By 8.27.14
What would you say if someone told you the rest of your meals for your entire life were covered? Great, right? But could you buy a “lifetime” of food for $10,000? Maybe at Taco Bell, as the chain’s new “Eleven Everlasting Dollars” contest claims each winner will win free Taco Bell food for life. [More]
Little Caesars Makes Pizzas Out Of Giant Flat Pretzels
By 8.26.14
While chain pizzeria competitor Pizza Hut stuffs pizza crusts with anything they can think of, Little Caesars keeps it simple. Their gimmick is having “Hot-N-Ready” pizzas with basic toppings ready to go at low prices during dinner hours, so getting a pizza requires no advance thought. Now they’re joining both the Exotic Pizza Wars and the fast-food pretzel bun trend with a burger on a giant pretzel. [More]
Bedbugs Continue To Infiltrate New York Subway System In Search Of Fresh Blood To Suck
By 8.26.14
Remember earlier this month when we told you that bedbugs were spotted on at least three New York Subway trains? Things apparently aren’t bug-free yet. In fact, the bugs seem to be staging some kind of coup – biting conductors and all. [More]
It’s Official: Burger King To Merge With Tim Hortons In $11B Deal
By 8.26.14
Young love! It happens so fast. It feels like only yesterday, after all, that we first noticed Burger King and Tim Hortons were holding hands. And now the new couple have made it official — they’ll be merging to create one of the largest fast food companies out there. [More]
Cats Take Over Pizza Hut Japan, Serve Fur-Stuffed Crust And Cuteness
By 8.25.14
Do you enjoy Pizza Hut’s products, but wish they could be served up by someone with a surly, anti-customer attitude, no food service or management skills, and with a generous sprinkling of cat hair on everything? Perhaps you would enjoy the fantasy world in current Pizza Hut ads in Japan, where cats have been hired to run a Pizza Hut franchise because OH MY GOODNESS LOOK AT THE KITTY. [More]
Taco Bell Bosses Accused Of Forcing Worker To Give Customers Fake Money As Change
By 8.25.14
We would all be a lot richer if we could each invent our own money but alas, that’s just not how it works (I’d be a millionaire if only I could buy stuff with high fives, sigh). Which is why officials are none too pleased with the operators of two Taco Bell locations in New York, after a worker claimed she was forced to pass fake cash to customers as change. [More]
Back-To-School Halloween Candy Keeps Kids Healthy And Happy
By 8.25.14
Okay, we get that it’s difficult to swap out seasonal sections in retail stores, and that items sell out when we think it might be too “early” for the next holiday to come along. However, Michael spotted an odd combination of one retail “holiday,” back to school season, and the following holiday, Halloween. [More]
Burger King Mulling Idea Of Merging With Canadian Coffee Chain Tim Hortons
By 8.25.14
Love is in the air this bright Monday morning, and it smells like Whoppers and coffee: Burger King and Canadian coffee chain Tim Hortons have confirmed that they’re courting the idea of a merger, sending pulses racing, hearts soaring and the stock market into palpitations. Ah, young merger-related love. [More]
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5 Best Lines From Review Of Entire Taco Bell Dollar Menu
By 8.22.14
This week, Taco Bell took a break from its 172-year tradition of selling handcraftd, top-of-the-line, high-priced authentic Mexican cuisine to launch a dollar menu. Since even that is too expensive to convince me to eat at the Bell, I have to rely on some brave canaries willing to test the air of this fast food coal mine to see if this stuff is safe. [More]
DEA To Change Classification of Some Frequently-Abused Painkillers Like Vicodin
By 8.22.14
As a country, we sure do like our prescription painkillers. In fact, we like them a bit too much: Americans consume 99% of all hydrocodone drugs manufactured in the world. Prescription drug abuse — and deaths from overdose — are rampant. The DEA is hoping to stem the tide of abuse and overdose with a new rule that changes the way some painkillers are classified, and will make them harder for individuals to get. [More]
90,000 Pounds Of Caesar Salad Kits Sold At Sam’s Club Recalled Because Listeria Isn’t A Tasty Ingredient
By 8.22.14
When you’re in a rush and don’t have time to gather all the ingredients to a salad, grabbing a pre-made kit might seem like a convenient and healthy idea. That is unless that salad kit comes with a little something extra – let’s say, maybe, listeria. Doesn’t sound so appetizing, now does it? [More]
Marketers Think It’s Time To Prepare Your Batches Of Halloween Cards
By 8.21.14
How early is “too early” for a store Halloween display? It used to be that seeing Halloween candy and merchandise on the shelves in July shocked us, but it no longer does. Are retailers wearing us down? Will they begin to stock costumes and pumpkin spice flavored foods even earlier, pairing Fourth of July and Halloween items as Halloween and Christmas are inevitably paired now? [More]
400 People Continue Starbucks Pay-It-Forward Chain For 11 Hours
By 8.21.14
For about 11 hours, the customers of a Florida Starbucks kept a pay-it-forward chain going. Almost 400 cars each paid for the order of the customer behind them in line, continuing the chain from morning rush hour until dinner time. Are these chains inefficient? Sure. Do they brighten the day of both customers and employees? Generally. [More]
