Popeyes launches new $5 deal as fast food competition heats up
(NEW YORK) — As fast food chains continue to drop prices on popular menu items in hopes of enticing hungry customers, Popeyes is entering the arena with a new $5 deal.
The popular fried chicken chain announced new value offers on Monday, which includes an order of three pieces of its signature bone-in chicken for just $5.
The fast food franchise, which first started in New Orleans in 1972, timed the news in tandem with National Chicken Month.
“We first saw the ‘Value Wars’ taking off early in the summer, as consumers were looking for ways to indulge in their favorite foods, without the high price tag,” the company wrote in a blog post Monday. “This made our team think, how can we continue to serve our food, without compromising on the quality we are known for, but at a price our customers will be happy with?”
“This new promotion celebrates what Popeyes does best — Fried Chicken,” the company continued. “Each piece is expertly marinated in Popeyes signature blend of savory Louisiana herbs and seasonings, then battered in a crunchy southern coating and fried to golden brown perfection.”
According to Popeyes, the $5 deal is available at participating locations nationwide in restaurant, through the Popeyes app, or online.
“As consumers look for more ways to enjoy their favorite meals without breaking the bank, Popeyes is excited to join this conversation centered around guest satisfaction,” the company wrote.
The news comes on the heels of McDonald’s extending its $5 value meal and similar offers from competitors like Wendy’s, Burger King and even Chili’s.
(NEW YORK) — Wallace “Wally” Amos Jr., the founder of Famous Amos cookies, has died, his family said Wednesday. He was 88.
He died “peacefully” at home following a battle with dementia, his family said.
Amos, a native of Tallahassee, Florida, opened the first Famous Amos cookie shop in Hollywood, California on the famed Sunset Blvd. in 1975. Amos’ cookie brand exploded in popularity over the years, becoming known for its signature beige packaging and blue lettering.
“With his Panama hat, kazoo, and boundless optimism, Famous Amos was a great American success story, and a source of Black pride,” read a statement from the Amos family.
The statement continued, “It’s also a part of our family story for which we will forever be grateful and proud. Our dad taught as the value of hard work, believing in ourselves, and chasing our dreams. He was a true original Black American hero.”
The statement also asked for contributions to Alzheimer’s Association.
“We also know he would love it if you had a chocolate chip cookie today,” the statement finished.
Amos was recognized as the Horatio Alger Award recipient in 1987, an award who recognizes Americans who are “contemporary role models whose experiences exemplify that opportunities for a successful life are available to all individuals who are dedicated to the principles of integrity, hard work, perseverance and compassion for others.”
Amos’ membership page on the award’s website details a career as a music agent prior to Famous Amos. The founder also authored several books including The Famous Amos Story: The Face That Launched a Thousand Chips, The Cookie Never Crumbles: Practical Recipes for Everyday Living and The Man with No Name: Turn Lemons into Lemonade.
(NEW YORK) — Inflation is down significantly from its 9.1% pandemic-era peak in 2022, but the cost of food — especially groceries — may continue to puzzle some consumers at checkout lines as new data showed two major categories with slight price increases.
Despite signs of overall inflation cooling compared to a year ago, the current rate of 2.9% remains higher than the Federal Reserve’s target.
The latest Consumer Price Index report for August, released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Wednesday, showed that while inflation has softened, staples such as groceries are up 1.1% compared to 2023 with higher prices on some common household products like eggs and meat, poultry and fish.
Breaking down the latest inflation data on food and grocery prices
The food index, which is comprised of food away from home and food at home, has increased 2.1% over the last year — and after rising 0.2% in each of the previous two months, was up another 0.1% in August.
There was a slight 0.3% drop last month for takeout and dining, according to the CPI, but food at home remained unchanged.
“Food away from home slowed a little bit at 3.9% year over year, versus that .9% for the food at home category,” Dr. Michael Swanson, Wells Fargo’s Chief Agriculture Economist, told ABC News. “So they’re both slowly kind of trending back down, but still, that’s a big gap and it’s been a pretty persistent gap, which really speaks to the wages at the restaurant level.”
He reminded that “if you can bring yourself to spend a little time prepping food or cooking food at home, you’re going to save yourself a lot of money.”
Grocery prices slowly rise in two major categories, what it means
Food at home rose at a slower pace than overall inflation at .09% over the last year, but two of the six major grocery store food groups — meats, poultry, fish, and eggs — rose last month and by 3.2% over the last 12 months.
The popular animal proteins went up 0.8% in August and eggs increased 4.8%, as dairy and related products increased 0.5% in August.
“When we see a category like eggs where it came in at $3.20 for a dozen at the national number — vs. a year ago in August where it was $2.04 and the answer is, why?” Dr. Swanson posited. “We know that we dealt with avian influenza early in the year, barns are being repopulated, but we’re not right back to where we were previously. So there’s a good, clear story about what happened there.”
“The big dollar category is meat, poultry and eggs — of the food at home category — which had the two worst performers across the entire supermarket,” Swanson said. “It wasn’t really that the ranchers got more money or the wholesalers got more money this month, we saw the retailer spreads move up.”
Food price predictions as we inch towards fall, holidays
Swanson likened food price fluctuations to seasonal weather patterns that yield long term benefits: “For example, how much snow did you get in California and will there be enough melt and water to fill the reservoirs to then be able to grow more strawberries.”
“We’re gonna have the biggest corn and soybean crop ever in the history of United States, according to the USDA,” Swanson said, which he explained has dropped the prices “way down from a year ago.” He continued, “that’s really important to the consumer ultimately, because that’s what impacts [the price of] chickens, beef and everything else — so there’s good news, but it’s not here just yet.”
How grocers are meeting shopper demand for lower prices
“No retailer simply gives you money, if they’re going to give you lower prices or better value, it’s because they went out and fought with their suppliers to get it for you,” he explained.
“What we’re seeing in that universe of wholesalers and food manufacturers, they’re starting to get a lot more pressure from the retailers to say, ‘Help me out here, because I need to do more for our shoppers,'” Swanson said. “It’s a slow process, but it’s been a complete tide shift in mentality and so all the retailers, to some degree have gone back to say, ‘You just have to do better than that.'”
Swanson found in looking at the Federal Reserve Board which tracks capacity utilization in food manufacturing, that “during the peak of the crisis — they didn’t have any spare capacity, so they weren’t interested in negotiating with food retailers like Walmart.”
Since that’s no longer the case, Swanson said we’re starting to see “a little bit more and more slack” which makes wholesalers “more susceptible to arm twisting from the food retailers.”
(NEW YORK) — Stocks plummeted on Monday as markets worldwide reckoned with a disappointing jobs report last week that fueled concern of a possible recession.
When markets opened on Monday morning, the S&P 500 fell about 4% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped more than 6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell roughly 1,000 points, or nearly 3%.
By the end of the trading day, markets had recovered some of the losses but each of the major stock indexes remained down more than 2%. The S&P 500 fell 3%, suffering its largest loss in a single trading session since 2022.
The market downturn triggered calls for a large interest rate cut at the Federal Reserve’s next meeting in September. Some investors voiced an even more urgent request for a rare emergency rate cut as soon as this week.
Japan’s main Nikkei 225 stock index dropped more than 12%, its worst day of trading since 1987.
In early U.S. trading, chipmaker Nvidia plunged more than 14%. Apple fell more than 8%.
“Investors are feeling massive pain globally,” Dan Ives, a managing director of equity research at investment firm Wedbush, said in a note to clients. U.S. markets, he added, are “trading heavy in the red across the board.”
Employers hired 114,000 workers in July, falling well short of economist expectations of 185,000 jobs added, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data on Friday showed. The unemployment rate climbed to 4.3%, the highest level since October 2021.
The unemployment rate has soared this year from 3.7% to 4.3%. That trend has triggered a recession indicator known as the “Sahm Rule,” which says that a rise of 0.5 percentage points in the unemployment rate within a 12-month period typically precedes a recession.
On Sunday, Goldman Sachs economists raised the probability of a U.S. recession in the next year from 15% to 25%.