Chobani cheats on dairy (with oats)
Hey Snackers,
Someone give Burger King a hug — first it faced a vegan lawsuit over its plant-based Whoppers (they're cooked beside beef), now it's running out of zesty sauce because of the global horseradish shortage.
Stocks inched down Wednesday after a big delivery of earnings reports from your go-to big box retailers.
Victoria's Secret's quarterly loss grows 6 times bigger — it badly needs a new leader
Nothing silky smooth about it... L Brands, which owns Victoria's Secret, just announced (another) depressing quarter of business: Its loss ballooned by over 6 times to $252M. L Brands' plus-sized loss is the combination of 2 key brands:
- The Good: Its Bath & Body Works chain's skincare lineup keeps having a moment — sales rose 11% last quarter.
- The Bad: Victoria's Secret sales sank 8% as bralettes replace pushup bras.
- Overall: Vicky's makes up 57% of L Brands' sales — that has an impact.
American dream (but also awkward/uncomfortable)... Les Wexner, a son of Russian immigrants, founded L Brands in Ohio in 1963. Awesome. But he's still the CEO — an 82-year-old man decides what panties should be sold with PINK scripted across the butt. The rejection of uber-sexified models lately has sunk the stock by 85% in the past 4 years.
It's time for some shareholder activism... Wexner is inextricably linked to Victoria's Secret as long as he's CEO (btw - he's also Chairman of the board). He represents the off-brand, out-of-touch past. Replacing him with someone who actually reflects women today could save Vicky. We've seen that happen before:
- Papa John's booted founder John Schnatter after a racial slur — Shaq is the new face, and shares are up 50% this year.
- Weight Watchers was beaten by paleo/keto/Atkins — Oprah rejuvenated the brand as an investor and spokeswoman.
Chobani launches its first non-dairy product: Oat (milk)
Free the nipple... Lactose legend Chobani already dominated yogurt: 19% of all yogurt sales in the US and 43% of all Greek yogurt sales are Chobani's. But the still-private company just announced its 1st non-milk lineup, an oat-based family of oat milk, oat yogurt, and Greek yogurt with oatmeal. Here's the bold move: They're all labeled only "Oat." No "milk." No "yogurt." Mic drop.
Cleanup in the dairy aisle... Chobani's yogurt sales are still growing 8% per year even as overall US yogurt sales are slowing. And America's biggest milk processor, Dean Foods, filed for bankruptcy last week. Alt-milks are having a moment — but oat milk's the one going viral:
- Soy's out: The seasoned elder plant-based beverage isn't trendy enough.
- Almond's too thirsty: It requires 8X as much water to grow the nuts and produce the milk as oat milk does.
- Quinoa, flax, and hemp: Still not mainstream.
- Oat milk is now top-shelf: Sales have surged 636% in the last year (led by the Oatly brand).
- And it gets dual-generational love: Boomers now reach for plant-based milks (rising lactose intolerance with age) along with Millennials (because it's just, you know, different).
How do you know if it's a trend or a fad?... Your Snacks team noticed 2 industries that often face fad challenges: Fashion and food. We can't tell you if oat milk's a sustainable trend or a fad that ends before your next grocery run. But we can give you this framework — if you're planning to invest, consider the trend vs. fad phenomenon:
- We think athleisure is a trend with staying-power, but fast fashion is/was a fad that's out.
- Non-processed foods are a trend, juice cleanses are/were a fad.
- Plant-based beverages like oat milk can spill either way.
What else we’re Snackin’
- Splurged: PayPal drops $4B to treat itself to shopping rewards platform Honey (unclear if they got a discount code)
- ABV: White Claw, the spiked seltzer brewed (?) by Mark Anthony Brands, is expecting to hit $1.5B in sales this year
- Sharp: Levi's CEO thinks scanners that measure every inch of your body will send clothing sizes "out the window" in 10 years
- Dig: Apple breaks ground on its new Austin campus that will house 500 iWorkers — and President Trump considers exempting it from tariffs
- Racketeered: General Motors alleges in a lawsuit that Fiat Chrylser bribed auto worker union negotiators to make life worse for GM