Big Juice has been misleading us for years
Vinyl is winning, others are struggling.
Hi there,
Hope you’ve been having a good weekend, The Stuff is here to cap it all off with zero April foolery.
It’s pretty well understood these days that juice isn’t actually good for you but a brilliant piece of investigative journalism has further highlighted the deception of Big Juice.
Conor Clary revealed that most fancy juices, whatever flavour they purport to be are really just different colours of apple juice. Applejucification is running rife across well-known brands like Innocent (owned by The Coca-Cola Company) and Naked (owned by PepsiCo until 2021). Apples tend to be in surplus in the US so are the most cost-effective way of making juice sweeter without just plonking in loads of sugar which would run counter to the healthy option messaging/propaganda. You can watch the full video here.
Stay juicy,
Hugo
Chief Juicer
The Business of Stuff
The Stuff
London’s mega-sewer has been completed 💩 - the Thames Tideway Tunnel has been finished after eight years and is expected to be fully operational by next year. It comes in the same week that Thames Water (the owner) goes into urgent restructuring talks as they are facing insolvency and even for a water company, liquidation isn’t a good thing.
Vinyl has outsold CDs for a second year in row 💿 - streaming accounts for 84% of recorded music revenues but vinyl accounts for the biggest share of physical sales. Bafflingly people are also still buying half a million cassettes each year in the US.
Papa Johns pizza to shut 10% of its restaurants in the UK 🍕 - sloppy pizza (aka Papa J and Dominos) has struggled with the arrival of endless excellent sourdough options. This is forcing Papa Johns to close a number of underperforming locations in order to make its UK business (and second largest outside of the US) more profitable.
Visa and Mastercard agree settlement with merchants 💳 - after two decades of bitter negotiations the payments companies have reached an agreement that retailers say will save them £30bn in swipe fees.
Boeing boss stepping down amidst safety issues ✈️ - Dave Calhoun has quit as CEO but will have a financial interest in the company for a long time as he has $51million in stock options. He admitted in an interview on CNBC that they basically just want to get planes out the door as quickly as possible which leads to inherent dodginess.
Elliott’s latest battle is with AC Milan ⚽ - the investment firm has been in the news recently for trying to buy Currys (electrical store not Jalfrezis) and Scottish Mortgage. It is now locked in a legal fight with AC Milan which it sold for €1.2 billion in 2022, the highest price paid for a football club outside the Premier League. Blue Skye has accused Elliott of violating its rights as a minority shareholder when it sold the club.
Ferrari sales double in Taiwan as everyone makes money from chips 🚗 - the island is now the fifth richest country in the world which has been driven by a boom in semiconductors. Lovely for the individuals but as we all know driving around in Rari is a surefire way to attract unwanted interest from your neighbours and competitors.
Muji is the latest high street victim ✏️ - I’m still not quite sure what category they fit into but I usually find something to buy when I’m in there, it’s just a pleasant experience shopping at Muji. Unfortunately, the odd bit of stationery I buy is not enough to keep them afloat and so Muji Europe has appointed administrators. No stores will close in the short term as the move is part of a “planned strategic restructuring”.
Garden centres are worried early Easter will impact sales 👩🌾 - its often this weekend when people go into their garden for the first time in 6 months and realise there’s a bit of work to do but this is of course massively impacted by the weather. Easter weekend sales can account for up to 30% of annual revenue.
Independent takes over Buzzfeed and Huffpost’s UK operation 📰 - its part of a multiyear licensing deal that will enable the pooling of data, technology and advertising revenue between the different brands (and their sub-brands including Tasty).
Quote of the week
“Life is the sum of your choices” - Albert Camus