The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has caused countless restaurants and stores across the country to alter their services or close entirely, some for as long as a month so far. This stretch of downtime has been devastating for many small businesses that usually get by on week-to-week sales. At Old Town Pizza & Brewing in Portland, Oregon, owner Adam Milne had to lay off two-thirds of his staff as the brewpub transitioned into carry-out only service. In the process he racked Continue reading
On Tuesday, Disney CEO Bob Iger surprised the business world by announcing that he would immediately step down from the top job. After 15 years in charge of the entertainment giant, Iger passed the reins to a company veteran named Bob Chapek who had been overseeing Disney’s theme parks division. Although the news caught many observers off-guard, Iger insists that this plan has been in the works for some time. “It’s only abrupt in other people’s eyes because we haven’t Continue reading
Since 1978, Bob’s Red Mill has made high quality whole-grain products that are staples of upscale grocery stores across the country. The California company generated more than $50 million in sales in 2018 and employs nearly 600 people. Although staffers at Bob’s Red Mill enjoy wide-ranging benefits including profit sharing, their stake in the company got even bigger at a recent birthday party for founder Bob Moore.
During a speech in front of many employees, the 91-year-old entrepreneur announced that Continue reading
In 2017, the home goods company Brandless launched with a novel way to take on Amazon as well as other big-box retailers. The direct-to-consumer startup sold high-quality, organic versions of everything from toilet paper to beauty products in simple, no-frills packaging. Brandless claimed that this eliminated the so-called “BrandTax” levied by many companies, which could account for as much as 40 percent of the product’s actual cost. With little money spent on traditional marketing, Brandless initially charged just $3 for Continue reading
The national unemployment rate is currently at 3.5 percent, its lowest point in decades. As a result, retailers and restaurant chains across the country are having a difficult time finding workers to fill low-wage positions. “Understaffing is a massive problem,” said Jonathan Maze, executive editor of Restaurant Business Magazine. “You have companies that are stressed to try to fill hours and keep people on, and it can lead to violations.”
According to a recent ruling from a Massachusetts court, Continue reading
In 1933 Nathan Glickberg opened a fruit and vegetable stand in Manhattan before eventually moving into a nearby storefront. His grandson Howie expanded the store in the 1970s, adding more groceries and specialty items as well as a new name: Fairway. In the years since, the store became a staple for many New Yorkers drawn by Fairway’s low prices and wide selection of quality products. Then in the early 2000s a private equity firm bought a controlling stake in the Continue reading
Although milk was a staple of the American diet throughout the 20th century, today’s consumers don’t drink nearly as much of it as they did in the past. In 2018 Americans each drank an average of 146 pounds of fluid milk, a category that includes everything from skim milk to heavy cream. While that’s still quite a lot of dairy, it also represents a 26 percent decrease in consumption since 2000. Along with this declining demand, milk companies have also Continue reading
This week, Google announced that it’s launching a banking service next year that will offer “smart checking” accounts to mobile-focused customers. Known as Cache, the program is the result of a collaboration between the search giant and two banks: Citigroup and Stanford Credit Union. Although details of the partnership remain limited at this time, Google eventually wants Cache to become an extension of its Google Pay app. The company also claims that customers will “benefit from useful insights and budgeting Continue reading
On Wednesday, the Walt Disney Company purchased all of the film and TV assets owned by the historic movie studio 21st Century Fox for $71.3 billion. Along with taking hold of successful film franchises like the Alien movies and Marvel’s X-Men, Disney also now controls the rights to TV shows like The Simpsons, This Is Us, and Modern Family. All told, the entertainment giant has gained thousands of new titles to join its other legendary properties such Continue reading