Bitcoin News Australia

Eggs are outta control, with prices up a whopping 49% this year.

In perspective: Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows the average US price of a dozen large, Grade A eggs was ~$3.59 in November. Last November, you would’ve paid ~$1.72.

Why?

There are a few compounding factors scrambling up prices, but the biggest is bird flu.

You can eat an egg laid by a hen with bird flu, but most chickens will die if infected. This year, 57.7m+ poultry birds have been infected, the worst outbreak in US history.

Additionally:

• The cost of chicken feed is up.
• People still eat eggs when prices rise, driving the prices even higher, Daniel Sumner, a professor of agricultural economics at the University of California, Davis, told Marketplace.

BTW, if you look back at that BLS data, you’ll find egg prices also spiked in 2015. Why? Again, bird flu.

It’s not just the US

For example:

• In Britain, egg prices are up due to bird flu, plus the war in Ukraine driving up energy and chicken feed prices. Farmers, who say they lose money on egg production, are cutting back or quitting.
• In Japan, wholesale egg prices are up 31% YoY due to rising chicken feed costs and bird flu.

Meanwhile…

… chicken meat prices — up 14.5% YoY in October due to decreased supply and increased demand — are starting to fall.

Bird flu is less likely to impact broilers (birds used for meat) than layers (birds used for eggs) for one simple, if not morbid reason: they don’t live as long.

Some may consider this dope news.

Google plans to start serving ads for some CBD products in January. A Google spokesman told The Wall Street Journal that the move comes as interest in CBD products has surged.

• In 2021, the FDA reported that it expects the $4.6B CBD market to quadruple by 2026.

As part of the pilot, starting Jan. 20, Google will allow for the promotion of FDA-approved pharmaceuticals containing CBD. The ads will initially be restricted to people ages 18+ in California, Colorado, and Puerto Rico.

Interestingly, the move comes as the FDA announced it’s reviewing regulatory plans for CBD-containing foods and supplements that it plans to outline in the coming months — a development that sank cannabis stocks between 5% and 9%.

Further reading: Weed brands have high hopes for the metaverse.

If you’ve ever eaten an entire loaf of brown bread while flipping through a menu the size of a small novel, you know the Cheesecake Factory.

First opened in 1978 in Beverly Hills, the restaurant now has 211 North American locations and consistently ranks as a customer favorite. And it’s seeing record revenues despite doing arguably everything wrong, per Vox.

Restaurant rebel

The rules for a successful restaurant are simple: minimize everything. Labor, ingredients, and menu offerings are often cut to scale successfully.

Meanwhile, the Cheesecake Factory:

• Has 250+ items on the menu
• Makes its food on-site from scratch
• Strives for a lavish, in-person dining experience

During the pandemic…

… that spelled danger for the chain. The company furloughed 41k hourly workers and was charged by the SEC for failing to disclose it was bleeding out $6m in cash per week.

But Cheesecake pivoted its efforts to delivery, rehiring the majority of its employees to sling carbs to couch-bound customers.

Still cheesin’

Nevertheless, the Cheesecake Factory bounced back. The company reported record revenue of $769m in July 2021, and topped that with $832.6m in Q2 of 2022, despite inflation and reduced consumer spending.

Even more shocking: The restaurant’s most popular dish isn’t cheesecake at all. It’s fettuccine alfredo, which is ordered 200k+ times every month.