A fraudster in South Carolina combined the tradition of pranking fast food restaurants with a new variation of the CEO scam last week, convincing employees at a Starbucks to give them all of the money in the store. [More]
Food & Personal Care
Grocery Stores Jumping Into Meal Kit Market
By 8.9.17
Your mission? Make a delicious home-cooked meal for dinner. Here are your options: Walk around your massive local grocery store picking up each ingredient piece by piece, or walk into the store, grab a box full of pre-selected, pre-proportioned ingredients and walk out. Which would you choose? Grocery stores around the country are hoping it’s a variation of the latter, as they gear up to compete with online meal kit services. [More]
Walgreens Charged Soda Tax On Unsweetened Beverages
By 8.8.17
It’s only been a few days since Chicago’s tax on sodas and other sweet drinks went into effect, and already some Illinois residents are claiming they’ve been charged improperly for drinks that don’t contain any sweeteners. [More]
Lawsuit Claims Dunkin’ Donuts Blueberry Bakery Items Don’t Contain Actual Blueberries
By 8.8.17
A year after lovers of fruit-flavored donuts sued Krispy Kreme alleging the company’s blueberry donuts didn’t contain any real blueberries, another donut chain is facing a similar lawsuit: Customers in Chicago have filed a class-action seeking lawsuit against Dunkin’ Donuts, claiming the company’s bakery items lack any actual blueberries. [More]
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Papaya Recall Expanded, More Than 100 Salmonella Cases Linked To Fruit
By 8.7.17
Late last month, federal food safety regulators revealed they had linked a possible Salmonella Kiambu outbreak, including several illnesses and one death, to recalled papayas. Now a second recall has been initiated, as the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continue investigating the outbreak, announcing that more than one hundred people have fallen ill. [More]
4 Things LuLaRoe Sellers Say About The Stress & Cost Of Their Job
By 8.7.17
LuLaRoe, best known as the company behind the lycra leggings that at least six of your high school friends are trying to sell through Facebook, markets itself to freelance “consultants” as a possible pathway to financial independence and stability. But once again, LuLaRoe sellers are coming out of the woodwork to allege that this job is putting stress on their well-being, financially and physically. [More]
Heineken Drinker Claims He Became Violently Ill After Finding 2 Geckos In His Beer
By 8.7.17
There’s nothing quite like sitting back and enjoying a cool beverage. But according to a new lawsuit, one man’s beer-drinking experience was anything but relaxing after he claims he found two geckos submerged in his can of Heineken. [More]
Which States Have Tax-Free Holidays, And When Do They Happen?
By 8.4.17
As families prepare to send their little ones back to school, they’re heading to malls, big box stores, and other retailers to fill their backpacks and closets. While many companies offer deals and programs targeting back-to-school season — we’re looking at you Target — many states are also offering their own deals in the way of sales tax-free weekends. [More]
GrubHub Will Buy Eat24 From Yelp For $287.5M, Free Delivery
By 8.4.17
Just two and a half years ago, Yelp acquired the food delivery site and app Eat24, which seemed like a complementary business at the time. Now GrubHub is buying the site for $287.5 million — a little more than double what Yelp paid for it in 2015 — while the two companies will keep linking to each other and referring customers back and forth. [More]
British Bar Chain Bans Swearing & Patrons Are Totally Ticked Off
By 8.4.17
If you can’t tell your friend about that one time you were so sh*tcanned you f***d up your f*****g phone when you dropped it in dog sh*t while having a few drinks at the bar, is it really an authentic bar experience? Some pub patrons in England — where bar owners are trying to appeal to families — don’t think so. In fact, they’re pretty f*****g pissed off about new bans on swearing in bars. [More]
Maine Raises Legal Smoking Age To 21
By 8.4.17
As the Food and Drug Administration considers lowering the level of nicotine in cigarettes to reduce the likelihood of addiction, some states and cities have taken it upon themselves to discourage smoking at a young age. This week, Maine joined New Jersey, California, and Hawaii to raise the minimum legal smoking age to 21. [More]
Sapporo Goes Shopping In Craft Beer Aisle, Picks Up Anchor Steam For $85M
By 8.4.17
With a dwindling beer-drinking population in its home country of Japan, Sapporo Brewing has set its sights on U.S. shores to bolster its business, snapping up Anchor Brewing Company — maker of Anchor Steam — for $85 million. [More]
Taco Fatigue Sets In Among Americans, So Taco Bell Turns Elsewhere
By 8.3.17
Investors expect so much from publicly-traded companies. Specifically, they expected sales at the same store to increase 5.9% over last year across the Taco Bell chain, and they only increased 4%. The rest of Yum Brands depends on Taco Bell, but has the company finally reached Peak Taco? [More]
Marijuana Company Turning Entire Town Into Pot Tourism Destination
By 8.3.17
If the idea of a marijuana-friendly town gives you an anticipatory buzz, you may consider taking a trip to California, where one municipality is slated to become one big pot tourism destination. [More]
Dunkin’ Donuts Dropping The “Donut” In California Test
By 8.3.17
It’s just common knowledge that shortening your name makes you so much cooler; Alexander to Alex or Robert to Bob or Christopher to Topher. Okay, might not always be true, but Dunkin’ Donuts appears to be embracing its nickname in hopes that it will bring in more customers to buy drinks, sandwiches, and pretty much anything other than donuts: The chain will go by just Dunkin’ at some California stores. [More]
‘Certified Angus Beef’ Brand Ground Chuck Recalled For Potential Styrofoam Pieces
By 8.2.17
People don’t want fillers in their ground beef, and they especially don’t want fillers that are not, strictly speaking, food. That’s why 4,922 pounds of ground beef have been recalled: The processor discovered that it may have chunks of the extruded polystyrene (what we commonly refer to as “styrofoam”) mixed in with the beef. [More]
Uniqlo Wants To Sell Shirts In Airport Vending Machines
By 8.2.17
Splashed by a cab in the rain at the airport? Hit by a bit of projectile vomit unleashed by your offspring? Uniqlo will sell you a shirt out of a vending machine at the airport. [More]
Determined To Get It Right, McDonald’s Testing Chicken Tenders Again
By 8.2.17
More than two years after McDonald’s brought back its Chicken Select tenders for a limited time, the Golden Arches is once again trying its hand at the chicken meal, this time with a crispy buttermilk version. [More]
