Hackers Causing Trouble
Also "horse race" takes on a whole new meaning
Good morning, hope everyone had a nice weekend. Mine was spent watching football and packing for a trip! I leave Thursday morning and will be out of office for two weeks so it’ll be quiet on this end of things for a bit. Sorry to the newly subscribed! Glad you’re here! After this week, the next time you’ll hear from me is December. But don’t worry, you’ll have at least one more newsletter (maybe two) from me before I take off. Okay, some news.
👤$250k of Kit Kats were Hijacked
A quarter of a million dollars worth of rare Japanese Kit Kats were stolen en route to the United States earlier this month, according to the New York Times. Danny Taing, founder of Bokksu, a New York based company that sells Japanese snacks in subscription boxes, ordered 55,000 skus hoping to include them in his packages. The shipment had coveted flavors like melon, matcha latte and daifuku mochi which would have turned a profit of $250k. But, they never made it to their final destination. The shipment was part of a growing corner of the criminal world of “strategic theft” that the F.B.I. says accounts for $30B in losses annually (up 700% this year alone), food among the top targets. Essentially, the offenders hack email accounts of employees at freight companies and then use them to respond to freight broker’s posted jobs on trucking boards (think Craigslist for freight). Then, they arrange their own separate trucks to steal the freight, and hold the load hostage until their extortion demands are met. Seems to me like its time for IT at freight companies to revisit their email phishing trainings.
👾Hackers Responsible for Hidden Valley Ranch Shortage
Speaking of hackers, three months ago Clorox was hit with a cyberattack which resulted in sales falling 31% from the previous quarter, the lowest sales in 8 years. According to the company’s management, the hack took 275 employees out of work, shut down factories, and they’re “not yet back to normal”. Since Clorox owns many pantry staple brands, the attack resulted in a Hidden Valley Ranch shortage. Although, I must say I think the Taylor-Swift-Seemingly-Ranch incident likely spiked sales on already tight inventory. In case you have no idea what I’m referring to, read this.
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🎧Zedd Invests in BetterBrand, Not Like They Even Needed It
DJ and songwriter, Anton Zaslavski (aka Zedd), invested in the food tech company BetterBrand shortly after the company closed its Series A funding round. But who’s really stealing the show is BetterBrand’s founder, Aimee Yang. She founded the company in hopes of reinventing the bread aisle with her innovative “grain-changing” technology. Not only has she achieved that goal with the brand’s hero product The Better Bagel, but she’s also breaking industry records. The pre-money valuation for her brand was $170 million, the highest Series A valuation posted by a female founder in venture history. What glass ceiling?
🎾Fostering the Athlete Investor Pipeline
In other celebrity investing news, Belarusian professional tennis player Aryna Sabalenka invested in Bee Keeper’s Naturals, according to the brand’s Instagram. It seems more common that brand partnerships with athletes grow beyond just pushing product. Brands used to pay athletes to rep their logo on gear visible as they played or stood on the podium. That evolved to broader endorsements on social media with product placed in videos and posts. Over time the brand-athlete relationship has turned symbiotic. Rather than brands paying athletes, athletes are investing in brands. With this change, brands have a larger responsibility to foster good relationships with the athletes they sponsor. Instead of viewing sponsorships as a short-term endorsement, brands need to view these relationships more long-term in order to build a pipeline of future investors.
👕Om Som Left Their New Merch Launch in the Hands of Their Intern
And wow, he crushed it. Love that he got his dance team involved. Love that he pulled it off in two weeks with a limited budget. Love that he took it one step further with a behind the scenes reel, explaining that the brand let him do this. I don’t know why but I love when brands post about the interns. I think previously, I’ve mostly seen it when interns mess up and brands own it in a funny / endearing way on social media like, “Yeah, that was the intern. No, we didn’t fire him.” We’ve all had a day one and have embarrassing stories from our first forays into the working world. Mine was after an event hosted by the magazine I interned for, when I drove over the front of the parking space divider with a car full of rented glassware as my boss (the magazine’s event planner) was in her car watching me. Once the front of my car was over, nothing else to do but drive the back tires over while my wincing face didn’t seem to garner any sympathy from my boss and her RBF as the sounds of glass shattering filled my ‘98 Honda CRV.
🐎Joe Holder Raced a Horse, and Drank Joggy While Doing So
Fitness writer and runner, Joe Holder, raced against 40 horses. And beat 39 of them. In a recap written for GQ, Holder described his experience competing in the race that has been going on since 1983 in Prescott, Arizona. “Runners try to beat horses (and their riders) over routes of 25 or 50 miles of strenuous trail through the tall pine trees on Mingus Mountain. Legend has it that the event was originally based upon a bar bet.” The plant-based energy drink Joggy, founded by Ty Haney (former founder of activewear brand Outdoor Voices), helped fuel Holder on his first ever trail run.
🍅Do Runners Actually use Heinz?
In a recent Instagram post, Heinz claimed that “Runners everywhere are using Heinz packets on their runs” which seems generous. To feed this alleged demand, they’ve mapped out running routes in the shape of their keystone logo on various fitness apps marking restaurants that serve their packets. The comments are hilarious.
🦃Allison Roman’s Thanksgiving Newsletter came out!
Your fave food influencer, cook book author, genuinely entertaining human,
, released her annual Thanksgiving newsletter full of recipes and a cooking video part of her series Home Movies.
🧂Salt and Straw Launched Ice Cream Sheet Cakes for Christmas
Remember last week when we established the sheet cake is trending? Well we weren’t kidding! Portland-based ice cream brand Salt and Straw made 7 layer ice cream sheet cakes as part of their Christmas menu. Their inspiration? Dwanta Claus. Also known as Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who just so happens to own a stake in the ice cream powerhouse.
🍪Siete Launched Dairy-Free Cajeta
My friend made dulce de leche cookies last holiday season that were a true labor of love. I may have to get this for her this year to save her the time making the dulce de leche / cajeta. Curious about the difference? Dulce de leche uses cows milk while Cajeta uses goat milk. But siete’s uses neither so idk where that leaves us. Alex if you’re reading this, sorry I spoiled the surprise!
🥤7-Eleven is Getting in the Gas Station Game?
Apparently this is old news, but I’ve never seen a 7-Eleven gas station in the wild until this last weekend.
That’s all for today. Have a great Monday!