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Articles by Philip Lempert
Good to the Last Drop? Climate, Kraft Heinz and the Coming Coffee Shake-Up
Kraft Heinz announced it’s selling control of its North American coffee business to private equity firm One Rock Capital Partners at an enterprise value of $650 million. The package includes Maxwell House, Gevalia, Nabob, Yuban, Tassimo, Ethical Bean and Sanka, plus the roasting plants in Jacksonville and Vancouver, according to Daily Coffee News. Kraft Heinz keeps a 30% stake, expects about $500 million in after-tax cash to pay down debt, and figures the deal closes in mid-2027.
It’s Election Day: What Today’s Vote Could Mean for Our Food World
Today’s midterms decide all 435 House seats and 35 Senate seats. Forecasters have leaned toward Democrats in the House for months, and as of yesterday Kalshi gives Democrats a 73% chance of a sweep of both houses. Wall Street analysts expect a House flip and see the Senate as within reach, though less likely.
The Price Tale of Two Holiday Tables
The turkey is the cheapest thing in the store this November. The roast you’re planning for Christmas may be the most expensive thing you buy all year. I’ve been watching holiday food prices and trends for a long time. On November 23, 2004, I gave my top 10 Thanksgiving tips on TODAY and said the only Thanksgiving “deal” was a coupon in the Sunday circular to get them into the store.
Turkey Gravy Chips and Chocolate-Dipped Wavies: When Limited Editions Cost More Than They Give Back
As of this past Sunday, you can buy one. Lay’s rolled out its “Holi-LAY’S” collection on October 25 with Cheddar Scalloped-Style Potatoes and Roasted Holiday Turkey, the latter one formulated to taste like turkey with gravy. Maple Bacon lands November 8. Then on December 1, select retailers get Lay’s Wavy chips coated in milk chocolate, plus a Dubai-style dark chocolate version with pistachios, and PepsiCo says those will spread to more stores in 2027.
When the Thermometer Becomes Part of the Supply Chain
I spent my teenage summers breading and deep-frying clams at a Howard Johnson’s on the Garden State Parkway. By August the kitchen was its own weather system, that wall of heat off the fryer stacked on top of whatever New Jersey was already doing outside. Nobody called it climate anything back then. It was just August.
Kroger's Pricing Problem Isn't Just a Glitch, It's Been Reported Before
A new report came out last week from the Center for Responsible Food Business (CRFB) and it should give the folks in Cincinnati cause for alarm. Government inspectors checked 101 Kroger stores across nine Ohio areas between 2022 and mid-2026. They found that in 58 stores more than one in three stores were overcharging shoppers at the register, and it favored Kroger about three times as often as it favored the customer. Average overcharge: north of 20% above the shelf price.
The Basket Is the Business: A Smarter Thanksgiving and Kroger's Red Bull Gamble
Diesel is surging, Thanksgiving is coming, and supermarkets need to spend less time on the price of the turkey and more on the value of the entire holiday basket. Nobody wakes up during Thanksgiving week thinking, “I have to run to go buy a turkey” because it’s always been there. These days shoppers are worrying about the whole meal and what it’s going to cost. Supermarkets have always had the premise that the turkey just gets shoppers through the door and they will make margin on the rest.
California Labels "Real" Food. Will Grocers Make Shoppers Feel Something?
For the first time, a state government wants to show, right on the package, that a food isn’t ultra-processed. When I first wrote about California’s move to become the first state in the nation to legally define ultra-processed food back in April, I said that “in my view, it is the most coherent food policy framework any U.S. government body has produced.” On September 28, Gov.
SPECIAL BREAKING NEWS EDITION: The Amazon-Walmart War Just Changed Weapons
For a quarter of a century Amazon and Walmart have fought over who has the lowest price. Earlier today, Walmart signaled that fight is no longer the one that matters most. On Tuesday, Walmart put Walmart+ and Sam’s Club Plus together for $120 a year. Bought separately, those two memberships ran $218. One price now gets you Sam’s Club access and member pricing, free delivery from both chains, Peacock or Paramount+, a dime off a gallon of gas at more than 17,000 stations, and 2% back in Sam’s Cash.
Kennedy's Ultra-Processed Food Rule Won't Fix What's Wrong with America’s Eating Habits
On Monday, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stood up in Washington and announced two things he’s calling among the most consequential food policy moves in a generation. First: a proposed rule requiring manufacturers to notify the FDA when they self-determine a new ingredient is Generally Recognized as Safe. That’s the GRAS loophole, the one that’s let companies add thousands of untested compounds to our food since 1958 without so much as a phone call to FDA.
Feeding Generation Alpha Before They Even Show Up
When I went to college “campus dining” meant a steam table, a soft-serve machine, and a sign that said Taco Tuesday. The cafeteria workers were usually older, overweight and the extent of their cooking skills was to take premade foods out of their pouches and boxes and reheat them. So when I tell you a foodservice company is now building menus for kids who won’t set foot on a campus until 2028, we need to give them accolades for planning ahead – but with some caution.
The Seafood Aisle Is Paying Full Tariff Price. The Beef Aisle Just Got a Free Pass
I’ve been buying shrimp at the same fishmonger in Santa Monica for more than two decades, and this summer was the first time the guy behind the counter shrugged and told me the price had gone up again “because of Washington.” Too much of the coverage buries the lede under trade-policy jargon. In late July, the Office of the United States Trade Representative announced new Section 301 duties tied to a forced-labor investigation, and shrimp took a hard hit.
The Price Cut Paradox
When a grocer tells you it just lowered prices on thousands of items, the first thing you feel is relief. About three seconds later comes the question, so what was I paying before? This fall the price cut has become the grocery industry’s favorite announcement. Aldi kicked off its fall price reductions on September 23, trimming prices on about a third of the products it regularly carries through at least November 3 and pegging shopper savings at roughly $86 million.
The Grocery Shelf Is Moving Faster Than the Government’s Numbers
I was standing in the cereal aisle last week when a woman next to me picked up a box, put it back, picked up a smaller box of the same brand, and just shook her head, put it in her cart and walked away. That for me tells the story of grocery shopping in September 2026 in one purchase. Two announcements this week that might not look connected, but they are when you look at them side by side.
Late Breaking: Trump Steaks Failed. His 90-Day Beef Plan Might Take Ranchers Down The Same Path
A note to our readers: Due to the importance of this beef issue - The Lempert Report is being sent to you today Monday. We will resume our regular schedule of Tuesday (and Friday edition for paid subscribers) next week. On Friday, August 21, President Trump announced on Truth Social, not through USDA or any formal rulemaking, that the U.S. will allow up to 300,000 metric tons of ground beef into the country over the next 90 days with no out-of-quota tariff. The pitch was simple.
The Super El Niño Is Coming. Here's Where it Lands at the Grocery Checkout
Personal note: Even the Supermarket Guru needs a week off the shelves. The Lempert Report is taking a break next week - the week of August 24th - vacation time! We'll be back to our regular Tuesday/Friday schedule starting September 1st. If anything big breaks while I'm out, don't worry—I'll write it up and get it to you that week regardless. A storm in Florida is not a weather story—it is a tomato problem. A drought in California is not a climate statistic—it is a lettuce problem.
A Raise at Amazon/Whole Foods and Robots at Pilot Mark a New Era for Retail Labor
I've seen a lot of "employee benefit" press releases cross my desk, and most of them are worth a paragraph. This one's worth the lead. Starting October 1, every Amazon employee in the U.S. in its fulfillment center,s corporate offices, Whole Foods stores, gets a new Employee Grocery Discount. On Amazon.com, it’s 10% off eligible fresh groceries, pantry staples, and everyday essentials sold and shipped by Amazon. Order Whole Foods Market online for delivery or catering, and it’s another 10% off.
The U.S.-Canada Trade War Just Went from Tariffs to Bans and the Dairy Case, Beverage Aisle, and Margins Are at Risk
On Tuesday night, the Trump administration signed a series of proclamations banning the import of certain Canadian dairy products, whey, molasses, motorcycles, and a wide range of alcoholic beverages, including beer, wine, whiskey and vodka. The U.S imports include Molson and Labatt beers. Canada exports over a half a billion dollars of whiskeys to our states including Crown Royal, Canadian Club and Yukon Jack.
35-Year-Olds Are Already Planning for 80
This week’s Friday edition is a special one, and it’s just for paid subscribers. On Wednesday I walked onto the main stage at Groceryshop 2026 in Las Vegas to interview Jostein Solheim, who runs Unilever Wellbeing, and I wanted you to hear what he said before anyone else. Your support is what lets me spend time on conversations like this one and bring them back to you in full.
The Most Overlooked Price Hike in Food
We spent two years arguing about the price of eggs. Then it was the price of beef. What no one is talking about is the price of water. For forty-plus years I’ve walked supermarket aisles with a notebook and now my iPhone, tracking what we pay for coffee, beef, cereal, bottled water and just about everything else. But I never really paid attention to the water coming out of my home faucets it just showed up on the utility bill that most of us pay without really reading.
Your Shoppers Think the Candy Aisle Is Ripping Them Off and They Are Right
When Trey Stewart went shopping at Walmart, he probably thought he was going to save money. Then he walked into the candy aisle and what he saw shocked him enough to make a video that went viral. That’s what every grocer, drug chain and mass merchant should be worried about over the next eight days. Americans will spend a record $4.1 billion on Halloween candy this year, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF), up from $3.9 billion in 2025.
I Asked AI What to Get for Dinner at Five Santa Monica Stores. It Couldn’t Name and Price a Single Dish.
FMI’s new Power of Foodservice at Retail 2026 report has the numbers to back that up. Half of all same-day dinner decisions get made between 3 and 7 p.m., which is worth remembering the next time a store manager walks past the prepared foods case that’s half empty at 4:30… because the morning crew already clocked out. As I’ve written before, my local supermarket makes great pizza by the slice, and I would probably buy a couple every week.
Is Aldi on Tuesday, Erewhon on Saturday the New Way of Shopping?
When I visit supermarkets, I look around – not at the décor or foods – but at the customers. Coresight’s research backs up what I see: two out of three baby boomers say they hunt for coupons or special offers and usually try to save money when they shop for groceries. Gen Z? Just 38.5%. Might sound surprising as boomers have 52% of all household net worth and only account for about 30% of households. Millennials and Gen Z are 37% of households but hold just 11% of the wealth.
Supermarkets are Cutting Grocery Prices. Consumers Don’t Feel It.
Last week I walked the aisles of 8 different supermarkets: national chains, regionals, specialty and an independent and I saw the same thing. Brightly colored tags announcing a new, lower price. Aldi has cut prices on nearly a third of what it sells, in a fall promotion that runs through at least November 3. Walmart said in August it would cut prices on about 11,000 more items, paid for in part with $2.9 billion in tariff refunds.
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