$1.1 Trillion for Restaurants & Gen Z Plumbers

we love dining out & #bluecollar on tiktok

Author

Sammi Cohen
June 13, 2024

Articles of the Week

BeReal, the app known for its fleeting photo sharing window, has been acquired. The company was No. 1 on the Apple App Store for much of summer 2022, but the growth has dropped off substantially since then. On Tuesday, the French app developer Voodoo announced that it purchased the company for €500 million (about $537.23 million).

Young social-media stars earn more from TikTok than from their day jobs; ‘You don’t have to get your bachelor’s to be happy.’ Skepticism about the cost and value of four-year degrees is growing, and enrollment in vocational programs has risen as young people pursue well-paying jobs that don’t require desks or so much debt, and come with the potential to be your own boss. 

Apple announced Apple Intelligence on Monday… This was a long time coming, and everyone was predicting that Apple would finally announce their entrance into the AI race. Apple Intelligence is a personal intelligence system for iPhone, iPad, and Mac that combines the power of generative models with personal context. And they also announced that Siri will be powered by Chat GPT, so we should expect a much more intelligent Siri that the Siri we know and love (or just deal with?) today.

The plan will cost at least $5 more per month and include access to high-fidelity audio and new playlisting tools. Spotify will position this new option as an add-on for existing customers. That means most users will remain on their current Spotify plans, but still interesting to see how they’re continuing to add even more premium payment tiers.

Shari Redstone's National Amusements has ended deal discussions with David Ellison's Skydance Media, the firm announced Tuesday afternoon. Redstone's merger talks with Skydance was seen as lifeline for Paramount Global, the struggling entertainment giant that National Amusements controls. In a statement, National Amusements said "they have not been able to reach mutually acceptable terms regarding the potential transaction with Skydance Media.”

The WNBA registered its highest attendance in 26 years for an opening month to the season as well as its most-watched start. The league announced Monday that 400,000 fans attended games since the season tipped off on May 14 through the end of the month, its highest since nearly the league's inception.

People's 'magic number' for retirement rises faster than inflation, jumping 15% in just a year and a whopping 53% since 2020; while retirement savings falls to $88K. One of the biggest differences in generations: Gen Z started saving at 22 and expects to retire at 60; Boomers+ started saving at 37 and expect to retire at 72.

US Restaurants Hit Their Highest Revenues Ever

Chartr

Despite some evidence that the backbone of the American economy, the mighty consumer, could be starting to crack under the weight of inflation, the nation’s restaurant industry remains on track for a record year. Chartr outlines this incredible trend in their full article here.

Data out last week from the National Restaurant Association revealed that America’s restaurants — from fine dining to fast food — are set to haul in a total of $1.1 trillion this year, the highest figure on record, a few days later the WSJ reported that the hottest corner of the retail real estate market is the restaurant business.

Those reports underscore one simple fact: America has been dining out more and more, and its showing no intention of stopping. Indeed, data from the USDA reveals that 53% of household food expenditure is now spent on food away from home, up from 41% in 1997. Despite inflation, Americans still need to eat, and they aren’t willing to sacrifice dining out at their favorite restaurants despite their higher cost of living.

Deep Dive: Kosas

Kosas is a clean beauty brand that has been exploding in popularity over the past year. The company was founded in 2015 by Sheena Zadeh-Daly. They’re known for their revealer concealer and had a viral moment on Tiktok last year when several customers stated that it started smelling funky (like blue cheese?), but they’ve recovered from this hiccup. The revealer concealer is now its top seller and the complexion category makes up 60 percent of its sales.

The company is on a rapid growth trajectory with $120 million in sales in 2023, up from $80 million in 2022. They’re expecting to bring in $150 million this year.

Since its founding, Kosas has attracted numerous investors, including VMG (which had a hand in some of beauty’s most high-profile acquisitions (think Drunk Elephant and Briogeo)), Stripes Group, Beechwood Capital, and others. In addition to Sephora, its main retailers include Mecca, SpaceNK, and Credo. It’s been reported that they are looking to sell this year.

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