McDonald’s shortens breakfast hours in Australia in response to egg shortage

McDonald’s shortens breakfast hours in Australia in response to egg shortage

A sign for the U.S. fast food restaurant chain McDonald’s is seen. Yves Herman | Reuters Australia is facing an egg supply crunch thanks to bird flu outbreaks — and it’s led McDonald’s to trim breakfast hours by 90 minutes, the company announced. Australia has been battling outbreaks of the Avian influenza virus in the … Read more

Inside Starbucks plans to improve stores

Inside Starbucks plans to improve stores

Starbucks Coffee shop in Krakow, Poland on February 29, 2024.  Beata Zawrzel | Nurphoto | Getty Images Starbucks cafes across the country are starting to change how they make drink orders, among other tweaks designed to reduce bottlenecks and long wait times that have dogged the chain. The overhaul comes as the coffee giant prepares … Read more

Composting set for US boom, and it needs one, decades behind recycling

Composting set for US boom, and it needs one, decades behind recycling

Some states, municipalities and private-sector companies are pushing to make composting as commonplace as recycling. But it’s a long-haul effort. Composting has many benefits for the environment. It keeps food out of landfills, leading national food chains including Chipotle to expand its use at restaurants, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Composted materials improve soil health, … Read more

Next food and beverage trends include honey, tinned fish

Next food and beverage trends include honey, tinned fish

The budding trends in food sound like a return to the diet of cavemen: Fish is the hottest protein, honey is the flavor du jour and game meat is an upgrade to charcuterie boards. That’s according to the hundreds of items on display at the Summer Fancy Food Show, a trade show hosted by the … Read more

Why your July 4th BBQ may be pricier this year

Why your July 4th BBQ may be pricier this year

Miodrag Ignjatovic | E+ | Getty Images Americans firing up their grills for Fourth of July celebrations will likely pay more for some traditional barbecue staples this year. That’s largely due to inflationary pressures in the U.S. economy and supply shocks related to specific foods such as beef and lemons, according to agricultural economists. The … Read more

How the vodka soda became ‘gay water’

How the vodka soda became ‘gay water’

Photo illustration by Emily Rabbideau – Photos courtesy of House of Love and Gay Water Late last year, 33-year-old Justin Ruka of Orlando met a flight attendant at a gay bar. About a month later, Ruka saw a familiar face coming down the aisle during an Alaska Airlines flight to San Francisco.  The flight attendant … Read more

FDA OKs first menthol e-cigarettes, citing potential for adult smokers

FDA OKs first menthol e-cigarettes, citing potential for adult smokers

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday authorized the first menthol-flavored electronic cigarettes for adult smokers, acknowledging that vaping flavors can reduce the harms of traditional tobacco smoking. The FDA said it authorized four menthol e-cigarettes from Njoy, the vaping brand recently acquired by tobacco giant Altria, which also sells Marlboro cigarettes. The decision lends new … Read more

Potatoes Are the Perfect Vegetable—but You’re Eating Them Wrong

Potatoes Are the Perfect Vegetable—but You’re Eating Them Wrong

In 1996 the United States hit peak potato. Americans were eating 64 pounds of the vegetables each year—more than at any point since modern records began in 1970. A record-breaking harvest had flooded the country with so many spuds that the government had to pay farmers to give them away. In the White House, the … Read more

Candy makers face steep cocoa prices, get creative

Candy makers face steep cocoa prices, get creative

Dried cocoa beans at the Somos Cacao farm and production facility in Ragonvalia, Norte de Santader department, Colombia, on Friday, March 22, 2024.  Ferley Ospina | Bloomberg | Getty Images There’s pricing pressure taking hold of a specific corner of global agriculture — and it’s bittersweet. Prices of cocoa have more than tripled over the … Read more