Balenciaga Coffee Cups and Dior Water Bottles
Wiz Khalifa's Launching Mushroom Kits
Good morning and happy Monday. Hope everyone’s doing well today. I am still full from a frantic food tour of Pasadena this weekend where we tried to fit in all our old favorites in about 48 hours.
🥣Kellogg’s is Sunsetting Cereal
Cereal for breakfast was definitely the norm in the 90s and early 2000s. Now, most consumers are more health conscious and aware that most cereals have an insane amount of sugar. Mid-sugar high is probably not the best way for children to be sent off to school. While cereal sales saw a pandemic surge of 5.2% in 2020, they plummeted 8.7% in 2021 and another 3.9% in 2022. The company that claimed its cereals were “more than good, they’re great” and whose mascots were central to millennials’ first memories of advertisements, Kellogg’s, will start to separate itself from its cereal division. The company will spin off its North American cereal arm into a new company called WK Kellog, named after its founder. The brand claims the transition will allow Kellog’s top management to focus on snacks. This feels like part two to the end of the got milk era.
🥤Losing a $900 Water Bottle Hits Different
People are shelling out hundreds of dollars on luxury-branded, reusable drink containers. Versace is selling a bedazzled travel cup with its name portrayed in gold jewels above a lion’s head for $1,175. Dior’s sleek black and silver water bottle sells for $880. Miu Miu has a powder blue water bottle retailing for $180. Balenciaga’s plain black New York coffee mug is listed at $125. Tiffany & Co sells a set of two ceramic tumblers in its signature eggshell blue for $240. Who, you may ask, is buying these lux bottles and mugs? People that claim drinking out of a Prada canteen is an unparalleled imbibing experience. “It isn’t just about the brand, the beverage, or the convenience of it all”, the Prada Canteen owner says, but also “the commitment and sacrifice that afforded me the ability to buy the water bottle in the first place.” Stars, they’re just like us.
🍜Momofuku Hit $1M in Revenue, Half of Which Comes From Non-Restaurant Ventures
Founder and chef David Chang opened Momofuku Noodle Bar in 2003 and the brand has since grown to six restaurants and a packaged-foods arm, Momofuku Goods. In 2019, Chang appointed a new CEO who’s since grown Momofuku Goods into a grocery store staple. Marguerite Zabar Mariscal, the great-great-granddaughter of Louis Zabar of New York grocer fame, began her career at Momofuku in 2011 as a press intern for the restaurant and assumed the role of CEO at the age of 26. This is the first year Momofuku’s non-restaurant ventures will match revenue of its restaurants, totaling $100 million in combined revenue. Momofuku goods recently announced $10 million in funding from Siddhi Capital and Alliance Consumer Growth, bringing total funding to $27.5 million. There’s certainly a trend among notable restaurants to expand their brand beyond the dining room. The success of Momofuku and Rao’s (recently acquired by Cambells) proves there is demand for restaurant quality at home. Other brands are already taking note and looking to follow the same model; I saw Carbone pasta sauces on the shelf of my local market the other day and wouldn’t be surprised if I start to see more.
🍄Wiz Khalifa Wants You To Grow Mushrooms
No, not that kind. The rapper launched his DTC mushroom growing brand called Mistercap’s earlier today. The grow-your-own-functional-mushroom kits include varieties like oyster, shitake, and lion’s mane. And the name Mistercap’s is actually a riff on Khalifa’s first stage name that traces back to when he was in high school. TBH the packaging is pretty fun. Khalifa claimed to stay true to his brand by being ahead of the curve and engaging in this growing category. “Mushrooms are something that’s growing in the research space, consumption space, and it’s a big topic in mental space.” While celebrities are announcing partnerships or investment in food and beverage brands constantly, Khalifa is certainly doing so in a different and new way.
♻️Starbucks Pilots 100% Reusable Cups at Select Stores
In an effort to meet sustainability goals, the coffee giant is pledging to move away from disposable cups by 2030. At some of its stores, Starbucks already doesn’t serve its drinks in disposable paper or plastic cups. They provide a reusable plastic cup to customers who forget their own, which can be dropped off in bins at various locations. Personally, I love this initiative and think it could actually make change if rolled out across all its stores. But I do not envy their team currently mapping out this reverse supply chain since 2030 is a tight deadline.
📈DoorDash switches to Nasdaq from NYSE
DoorDash will transfer its listing from the New York Stock Exchange to the Nasdaq and expects to begin trading on the new exchange on September 27 using the same ticker, “DASH.” The Nasdaq has had five times more IPOs than the NYSE in the last 40 years, so it’s no surprise that the NYSE wants to secure more tech company listings. DoorDash’s move comes as the tech IPO market is supposed to pick up after a two-year slump.
Go get ‘em today.