🍔 Uber Eats goes ghostbusting
Hey Snackers,
Another school shooting yesterday, in Nashville, left seven people dead, including three children. This year there have been 129 mass shootings in the US alone. Our hearts go out to the victims’ loved ones and to everyone who’s lost someone to gun violence.
In markets, the S&P 500 ticked up and regional-bank stocks recovered on news of a Silicon Valley Bank sale. Cryptos fell, with bitcoin sinking below $27K, after the Commodity Futures Trading Commission sued top exchange Binance.
Uber Eats is chopping thousands of “virtual brands” as delivery apps crack down on menu dupes
Browsing 10 menus… from the same joint. Uber Eats is going ghostbusting as hungry users get bogged down by menu dupes. The food-delivery app launched “virtual brands” (VBs) in 2017 to let restaurants offer unique online-only menus under different names. For example, IHOP has a “Thrilled Cheese” virtual shop that you wouldn’t associate with IHOP, and Denny’s operates “The Burger Den” brand for late-night orders. But some VBs are getting heat for effectively spamming the app, and Uber Eats plans to axe 5K of them, The Wall Street Journal reports.
- Taking out: The cuts mostly target VBs with duplicate menus, not the OG restaurants. For instance, a brunch spot offering the same breakfast burrito across a dozen different brands would get its dupes axed.
- Order up: More listings = more chances of being picked by scrollers. That’s why 41% of independent restaurant operators ran virtual brands last year. Uber Eats’ VBs have quadrupled since 2021, and make up 8% of US and Canada offerings (but less than 2% of orders).
Ghost kitchen, real problems… VBs were uber-popular during lockdowns as shuttered restaurants used their kitchens to whip up online orders to recoup sales. Big chains like Denny’s and IHOP parent Dine Brands have used VBs to market new delivery-only concepts (fine). But some restaurants have taken advantage by rolling out several brands with exactly the same menu (not fine). Now delivery apps are trying to reel it in:
Too many cooks in the kitchen can make a big mess… That’s why Uber wants to clean up a barrage of cooks on its app. Users can get frustrated by choice paralysis when there are too many options, especially when many are the same (like: endlessly browsing Netflix). For delivery apps, eliminating dupes and improving curation could ease selection fatigue and boost orders.
Crocs is still thriving with comfy clogs, proving not all pandemic trends have fizzled
Jibbitz on the red carpet… At some point in the past few years Crocs experienced a vibe shift from ugly-cringe to ugly-cool. The comfort-forward footwear brand regained relevance during the pandemic and hasn’t let its momentum slip off: Crocs’ sales rose 61% last quarter, and its annual sales have tripled since 2019. The clog-olossus expects another record year of growth as marketing investments pay off.
- Living room to runway: The brand has dipped its rounded rubbery toes into the luxury market through collabs with designers like Salehe Bembury (Versace, Yeezy). His $85 slingback Crocs can sell for hundreds of dollars on StockX.
- Crocstars: Celeb endorsements have helped the brand expand beyond its workwear roots. Musician Questlove rolls up in Crocs to awards shows like the Oscars, and Post Malone, Bad Bunny, and J. Biebs have signed endorsement deals.
Skewing younger… and more passionate. From superfans who own dozens of pairs to collectors who seek out rare collabs, the Croc life isn’t just about comfort. Growth has been fueled by Gen Zers who see the foamy shoes as a blend of comfort, nostalgia, and wearable meme (picture: KFC Crocs). Last year US teens ranked Crocs as their #5 preferred footwear brand. Zillennial-fave footwear company Hey Dude, which Crocs bought for $2.5B in 2021, moved up to #7.
Functional is still fashionable… because the comfy life is hard to leave. Pandemic thrivers like Peloton and Zoom experienced a boom thanks to necessity (think: no gym, closed office). But their stocks have plunged from those highs as demand for their products cooled. Meanwhile, Crocs stock is up 48% over the past year because people aren’t willing to give up the sweats-and-clogs life. As workers’ tight grip on remote work shows, it’s hard to sacrifice strides made in comfort.
Heard on the Block: "CFTC"
🕵️ Like a financial investigator who specializes in complex corn crime…
While the SEC regulates securities like stocks and bonds, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulates the US derivatives markets, including futures and options on futures (picture: corn futures). The CFTC has said that some crypto, like bitcoin, is a commodity, meaning it should oversee bitcoin derivatives trading. Yesterday the CFTC sued Binance — the world's largest crypto exchange — claiming the exchange failed to register with the CFTC while letting scores of US customers trade crypto derivatives. FYI: nearly 20% of Binance's revenue comes from US customers.
What else we’re Snackin’
- Rally: Silicon Valley's going to Raleigh. First Citizens BancShares stock surged 54% after the FDIC said that the North Carolina bank would buy $72B of assets from failed Silicon Valley Bank at a discount of $16.5B.
- TikOff: Bipartisan support for a Tik ban is ramping up. US House Speaker McCarthy said lawmakers would move forward with a bill that would give POTUS the power to ban (or to force the sale of) TikTok in the US.
- Unmagical: Even the happiest place on Earth isn’t immune to cost slashing. Disney plans to start cutting jobs this week, for a total of 7K before summer, partly to help make its streaming biz profitable.
- GuacOut: To settle a lawsuit, Chipotle will pay ex-employees a combined $240K after it closed a location that workers tried to unionize. Only one Chipotle has unionized, but Starbucks has seen 290+ stores join a union.
- Nascoin: Nasdaq plans to launch its own crypto custody offering (picture: a place to keep your coins) by June. The move signals a shift as traditional-finance titans make a play for the “future of finance.”
Tuesday
- Earnings expected from McCormick, Walgreens, Dave & Buster’s, and Lululemon
Authors of this Snacks own bitcoin and shares: of Apple, Disney, Microsoft, Uber, Starbucks, and Yum Brands
ID: 2815870