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ABC Cancels ‘The Chew’ After Seven Seasons

By on May 23, 2018

The next season of The Chew will be its last. ABC confirmed today that it’s canceling the celebrity chef-hosted daytime talk show, Deadline reports.

The Emmy Award-winning program is presently hosted by chefs Michael Symon, Carla Hall, fashion consultant Clinton Kelly, and, until recently, chef Mario Batali. Batali was suspended and ultimately fired from the show in December amid widespread reports of the chef’s alleged sexual misconduct that spanned two decades. (In a segment that acknowledged Batali’s suspension, Symon, Hall, and Kelly released a group statement saying “Our commitment to our viewers remains the same — to deliver the entertaining show that you’ve come to expect.”) Batali is currently the subject of a criminal investigation led by the New York Police Department into the misconduct allegations lodged by several employees who worked at the Spotted Pig.

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Just last week, co-host Carla Hall addressed the vacant co-host slot left by Batali, stating that The Chew had no plans to replace him, and that the remaining hosts had “become closer” since the incident.

A representative for ABC called the cancellation a “business decision.” Recent ratings suggest that despite the chef’s firing, he continued to have a negative impact on The Chew’s viewership. During the most recent season, the number of women viewers ages 18-49 plummeted by 17 percent, making it the least-watched season since the talk show first aired in 2011, according to Page Six.

Daphne Oz, one of the original co-hosts on the show and daughter of dubious TV health personality Dr. Oz , departed last August. Producers also elected not to refill her seat on the show.

The Chew will continue to air new episodes from June through September. After that, Good Morning America will be expanded to three hours to fill its current time slot.

Read more at Eater.com: https://www.eater.com/2018/5/23/17386220/the-chew-cancelled-abc-mario-batali-carla-hall

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Starbucks tops Apple Pay as most-used mobile payment app

By on May 23, 2018

If there was any doubt that Starbucks is as much a media platform as it is a coffee shop, new stats from eMarketer should lay it to rest. Starbucks, not Apple, Google or Samsung, has the greatest penetration of proximity-based mobile application payments in the U.S.

This year, 23.4 million people ages 14 or older will use the Starbucks app to make a point-of-sale purchase at least once every six months, according to revised estimates released by eMarketer today.

That gives Starbucks a slightly dominant share of the U.S. mobile payments marketplace, just ahead of Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay — a ranking eMarketer projects will remain in place through 2022.

“The Starbucks app is one of the bigger success stories in mobile proximity payments,” explains eMarketer forecasting analyst Cindy Liu. “It has gained traction thanks to its ability to tie payments to its loyalty rewards program. For users of the app, the value of paying with their smartphone is clear and simple—you can save time and money at the register, all while racking up rewards and special offers.”

from Media Post: https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/319591/starbucks-dominates-mobile-payments-market.html

 

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Tech stays top of mind as Starbucks maps future growth

By on May 22, 2018

The Starbucks Corporation could not be a more perfect example of the proverb, “A rolling stone gathers no moss.” Rampant global expansion, along with diversification and risk taking in the areas of product testing, employee relations, technology, and sustainability, have all propelled the coffee mega-chain into lifestyle-brand status.

But what happens when sales are up and the heart of your business—customer traffic to your store—is down? Starbucks’ 2018 first-quarter fiscal earnings report showed net revenues of $6.1 billion but also revealed a company that struggled to attract holiday shoppers (holiday traffic was down and limited-time holiday beverages and merchandise underperformed).

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President and CEO Kevin Johnson, who took over for Howard Schultz early in 2017, says the decline in transaction comps is fixable. “We have a clear understanding of the issue and are accountable to fix it just as we did with throughput at peak,” he said during the first-quarter earnings call. “The strength of our core customers, the performance of our business through the morning and lunch daypart, and upcoming food, beverage, and digital innovation, gives us confidence that we will be successful in doing so.”

But how?

Perhaps some answer can be found in Starbucks’ official mission statement, which it rolled out in 2008: “To inspire and nurture the human spirit—one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time.” Here are five ways Starbucks plans to infuse that human connection into its future strategy.

Read more at QSR Magazine: https://www.qsrmagazine.com/consumer-trends/5-ways-starbucks-innovating-customer-experience

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Allbirds Created a Shake Shack Shoe for New York’s Biggest Burger Fans

By on May 21, 2018

Ground yourself Shake Shack-lovers: the food chain is releasing a limited edition collaboration with Allbirds, a footwear company.

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On May 24, Allbirds will sell the Shake Shack Tree Runner shoe at the original Shake Shack stand in New York’s Madison Square Park. The sneakers come in the company’s most well-known design, but with a mostly white base and green trimming and laces (as a nod to Shake Shack’s branding), and will cost $100. It comes with an exclusive three-pack lace kit and a special shake, called the Hokey Pokey.

The collection is the second one to promote the Tree Runner, a shoe released by Allbirds in March. Unlike its original shoes, which were made out of merino wool, the Tree Runner is made from eucalyptus fiber, as part of the company’s mission to work with sustainable materials. The shoes laces are also made out of recycled plastic bottles.

This is the latest brand collaboration for Allbirds, which worked with Nordstromin March to release five exclusive colors of the Tree Runner in nine different locations (as well as selling them online). Allbirds previously worked with fitness-wear company, Outdoor Voices, on a collection that included two exclusive colors and a tote in November 2017, and a few months earlier in July, Allbirds released its Wool Loungers in three different colors, each representing a different downtown Los Angeles company.

Allbirds is part of the most recent wave of, as IAB’s CEO Randall Rothenberg calls, ‘direct brands.’ Instead of selling the sneakers at third-party stores (like Footlocker) or online marketplaces (like Amazon), Allbirds sells directly through its own site or its own brick and mortar. The implication: it can control the first-party data that typically went to the retailer. It’s a new game.

Read more at AdWeek: http://www.adweek.com/digital/allbirds-created-a-shake-shack-shoe-for-new-yorks-biggest-burger-fans/

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