Shoppers walk through Manhattan on Nov. 7, 2025, in New York City. Spencer Platt | Getty Images High-income consumers are trading down, Gen Z is spending less, and low-income shoppers are still struggling, according to many consumer companies that shared their latest quarterly results in recent weeks. Those trends may not bode well for the…
Workers picket in front of a Starbucks outlet in New York City, U.S., Oct. 1, 2025. Brendan McDermid | Reuters Starbucks Workers United launched an open-ended strike in at least 40 cities Thursday on Red Cup Day, one of the chain’s biggest sales days of the year. The protest, which the union says involves more than…
Fast-casual salad chain Sweetgreen is struggling as its traffic and sales continue to fall and it reports millions in losses each quarter. Its earnings worsened in its third quarter this year, as same-store sales declined 9.5% due in part to a 11.7% drop in foot traffic. Sweetgreen revolutionized the quick service industry after launching in…
Starbucks workers and supporters practice picket outside a Starbucks location in New York, US, on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025. Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images More than 100 lawmakers urged Starbucks to resume bargaining talks with Workers United, the union representing the coffee giant’s baristas, in letters sent to CEO Brian Niccol on Monday….
Kai Yang Chan (left) and JiaYi Zhou (right) run Singapore-based bakery Cake Inspiration. Courtesy of Cake Inspiration When Kai Yang Chan and Jiayi Zhuo matched on Tinder at age 19, neither of them expected that it would lead to marriage. Six years later, not only have they tied the knot — they’re also business partners….
Many restaurants may need to rethink their mandatory gratuity policies if they want this income to count as qualified tips for their workers under the new tax laws. The “no tax on tips” provision in President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act allows certain workers to deduct up to $25,000 in “qualified tips” per year…
Texas Roadhouse on Thursday evening reported a mixed third quarter as stubbornly high beef prices continued to weigh on profitability, overshadowing what was otherwise the highest quarterly revenue, same-store sales, and traffic growth of the year. Revenue in the quarter ending Sept. 30 increased 12.8% year over year to $1.44 billion, exceeding the LSEG-complied Wall…
A DoorDash bag on a bicycle in New York, US, on Tuesday, May 6, 2025. Yuki Iwamura | Bloomberg | Getty Images DoorDash reported third-quarter earnings that missed analyst expectations and said it expects to spend “several hundred million dollars” on new initiatives and development in 2026. The stock plummeted 20% following the report. Here’s…
A Starbucks outlet in Hangzhou in east China’s Zhejiang province Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. Long Wei | Feature China | Future Publishing | Getty Images Starbucks on Monday announced it is forming a joint venture with Boyu Capital to operate the company’s locations in China. Under the terms of the deal, Boyu, an alternative asset…
A Taco Bell restaurant in El Cerrito, California, US, on Tuesday, April 29, 2025. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images With more consumer companies preparing to report third-quarter earnings this week, Wall Street will be watching for signs of a bifurcated or “K-shaped” economy as consumers diverge in their spending behaviors. There have…
