Growing conditions in the Pacific Northwest were less than ideal this season. Nonetheless, onion producers in Washington and Oregon expect a good crop as harvest gets underway and onions head to storage.
Seattle-based FC Bloxom Co. works with several growers, shippers and packers in eastern Washington and markets yellow, red, white and sweet onions, said William Bloxom, an owner of the company. Harvesting of early yellow and red varieties was underway in mid-July and will run through September or October. He expected good production but said onions will not be as large as they were in past years. “It’s been a little cool,” Bloxom said. He also said the company’s acreage will be the same, but he expected higher yields. “It should be a pretty good harvest,” he said. Click here to read the full article. 

McDonald’s and Chipotle Mexican Grill say customers squeezed by inflation are choosing cheaper menu items and visiting their restaurants less often, signaling trends that could be hitting the broader restaurant industry.
The two companies were among the first restaurant chains to report their second-quarter results. Wingstop, Starbucks and Taco Bell owner Yum Brands are all scheduled to release their earnings reports within the next week. Click here to read the full article. 

In addition to reporting on unusual new products – such as a beer brewed with recycled hot dog water (!) and augmented reality contact lenses –Datassential shared several notable foodservice and retail movements in its recent Midyear Trends Report. According to the data firm’s information and analysis, consumers’ behavior in 2022 reflects their concern about prices, their interest in unique items and their embrace of technology in learning about and buying goods and services. Click here to read the full article. 

More than a third of the nation’s restaurants are putting their recruitment efforts on hold to protect margins from soaring wage rates, according to a new survey from the Alignable Research Center.
The inflationary pressure is so intense that 4% of establishments are even laying off workers, the researcher found. Click here to read the full article. 

Extreme drought and inflationary pressures are forcing US farmers in Western states to sell off their cattle herds in greater numbers, at levels not seen in over a decade.
Nearly 80% of the western region of the US is experiencing extreme drought conditions — and has been for nearly a year, according to the America Farm Bureau Federation. But the most recent week-long heatwave, impacting nearly 80 million people across the country, has brought things to a boiling point for farmers and ranchers. Click here to read the full article. 

On a quiet, drizzly Monday night in December 2021, Madison Shapiro decided on a whim to review Skirt Steak on @sistersnacking, a TikTok account she shares with her three sisters. She saw that the New York restaurant was drawing buzz for its $28 steak dinners with unlimited fries, and she knew timeliness was key. She quickly pulled together her positive review and sent it to her sisters for editing. They posted it two days later and by nightfall it hit a million views. Click here to read the full article. 

The beloved Klondike product, packaged ice cream in a taco-shaped cone, has been discontinued. "Over the past 2 years, we have experienced an unprecedented spike in demand across our portfolio and have had to make very tough decisions to ensure availability of our full portfolio nationwide," a Klondike Brand representative told CNN Business in an email, adding "we know this may be very disappointing." Click here to read the full article from CNN Business. 

​On July 22, USDA-NASS will release the July Cattle report with national estimates of cattle inventories by category along with the first estimate of the 2022 calf crop. With widespread drought conditions continuing in 2022, the focus will certainly be on the female side of the industry in terms of how much beef cow herd liquidation has occurred and how much more is ahead. What we know now is how much female slaughter has already occurred. Beef cow slaughter was up 14.6 percent year over year in the first half of the year. This follows a nine percent increase in beef cow slaughter last year. The beef cow herd inventory is likely to be down by 2.5-3.0 percent in the mid-year inventory. This would be a July 1 beef cow inventory that is the smallest since 2015 or earlier.

Now that every brand has a chicken sandwich on the menu, the next so-called menu category “war” just may be chicken nuggets.
Sure, the item has long been one of the top sellers at McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Chick-fil-A (among others), but now heavyweight chicken chains are vying for nugget market share as the demand for boneless chicken continues to rise, while the demand for chicken overall does the same. Click here to read the full article. 

​Has “pizza fatigue” set in for consumers? BTIG analyst Peter Saleh believes there’s evidence one of the industry’s early COVID stars has begun to dim a bit. The category, as reports suggested, absorbed the pandemic’s disruptions better than peers. Pizza witnessed the largest per-dollar order jump in limited service, according to Sense360, with figures per transaction increasing 11 percent. This was a common theme throughout, but definitely in pizza. Customers made fewer trips, yet ordered more. Click here to read the full article. 

Restaurant portions are getting smaller, and diners aren’t happy. 
“Shrinkflation,” or the paring down of serving sizes to offset higher costs, is a hallmark of inflationary environments such as the one the US is currently experiencing. It’s on the rise, and it has gotten so noticeable that consumers are venting about it online, review website operator Yelp Inc. said in a report on activity during the second quarter. Read the full article here. 

The consumer price index (CPI) jumped 9.1% over the 12 months ended in June before seasonal adjustment, marking the largest increase since November 1981, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported We Gasoline, shelter and food were the biggest contributors to the surge, compared to the prior year, the government said. The food index increased 10.4% in the latest 12-month period, the largest increase since February 1981.
Over the same timeframe, the index for meats, poultry, fish and eggs climbed 11.7%. All food consumed at home was up 12.2%, while food away from home rose 7.7%.
However, when comparing seasonally adjusted prices in June to levels in May, the index for meats, poultry, fish and eggs was the only major grocery group to decline, retreating 0.4%. That one-month dip was due to lower prices for beef and pork. The beef and veal category fell 2.3% in June from May, while pork was down 1.6%. Meanwhile, chicken prices gained 1.7% in June vs. May.

Tyson Foods is finding success with a flexible scheduling pilot program introduced at several of its poultry plants that is part of the processor's broader strategy to retain workers.
Tyson began testing the flexible workweek in late 2021 and early 2022 at facilities in North Little Rock, Ark.; New Holland, Penn., and Broken Bow, Okla.

Google plans to change its search engine to appeal to younger audiences, including the ability for a user to pan their camera over an area to "instantly glean insights about multiple objects in a wider scene," reported Business Insider. Click here to read the full article. 

Why should operators care about mastering limited-time offers (LTOs)?

• ½ of consumers ordered an LTO in the past two weeks
• After consumers experience an enjoyable LTO
  • 82% will return to order it again
  • 75% will tell other people about it
  • 65% will return to order something else
• LTOs drove restaurant visits for more than 50% of consumers in the past month

Use this e-book from Simplot for tips on creating the next great LTO for your operation.

The restaurant industry’s employment numbers are still slowly recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, with food and beverage businesses adding 41,000 jobs in June, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics report.
However, the hospitality and entertainment industry has still been one of the slowest industries to recover from the employment downturn as job numbers are still down 7.8% since Feb. 2020, right before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The overall U.S. unemployment rate remained unchanged from last month at 3.6%. Click here to read the full article from Nation's Restaurant News.

The global supply of chickpeas could drop as much as 20% this year, according to data from the Global Pulse Confederation, putting one of the world’s favorite dips in jeopardy: hummus.
Poor weather and the war in Ukraine have curtailed chickpea supplies, sending the price of the protein-rich bean soaring, according to a new report by Reuters. Click here to read the full article from Fortune. 

Food prices are on the rise worldwide, including essential staples like bread, milk and eggs. The United Nations’ Food Price Index tracks the monthly change in the price of a basket of food items. The five commodities making up this basket are cereals, vegetable oils, sugar, meats and dairy products.
In March 2022, the index recorded the highest price levels in its three-decade history. It has since come off that high slightly, but it is still well above levels seen in previous years.
Click here to watch the video.

Bar and restaurant owners are busy. You have so many things to consider every day: finances, branding, quality control, staffing, labor shortages – the list goes on. And on top of all of that, there’s employee safety. As a bar or restaurant operator, you need to make sure the people who run your business are safe.
Commercial kitchens are hazardous by nature. Danger comes with the territory when you’re surrounded by knives, hot ovens, boiling oil, and slippery floors. Over 93,000 non-fatal injuries were recorded by restaurant workers in 2019. That’s why it's critical to train your teams for optimal commercial kitchen safety. Click here to read the full article. 

Did you know that food is the top spending priority for Gen Z, accounting for 23% of their discretionary spending? Or that, when choosing where and what to eat, this generation seeks out operations that deliver on food qualities such as clean, fresh, and nutritionally beneficial?
Download this report to better understand the ABCs of Gen Z. You'll be equipped with insights to attract this food-savvy generation to your foodservice operation. 

In today's highly competitive environment, restaurant marketing requires precise, dependable, and complete consumer data. Data acquired about your actual consumers can be used in both online and offline marketing campaigns. 
​As technology evolves and client tastes change, successful marketing techniques must be examined and updated accordingly.
Every stage of the client's journey should be examined. For example, how do new consumers find your restaurant on the internet? Is your website optimized, and does it provide a good user experience? How can you keep consumers coming back for more?
Click here to read the full article. 

Compared to previous generations, members of Gen Z are just not going to restaurants as much.
When Gen Xers were young adults, they averaged 284 visits a year, according to a report by The NPD Group. Millennials were impacted by the Great Recession, so they averaged 40 fewer visits than Gen X when they were young adults. Gen Z’s comes in at about 218 visits per year. Click here to read the full article.