Restaurant Traffic continues to slow
Casual Dining
- In the week ending 2/20, Casual Dining posted three weeks of negative traffic (-3.65%) from (-2.15%) the previous week.
- February MTD Casual Dining is (-3.1%), slowing from +6.2% in January.
Quick Service
- In the week ending 2/20, QSR posted three weeks of positive traffic, +3.06% from +3.76% the previous week.
- February MTD QSR +3.4%, slowing from +6.5% in January.
SBUX - The labor problems are not going away
The Senate HELP Committee doesn’t normally issue subpoenas. In fact, the panel has never approved a subpoena to compel witness testimony. HELP has only ever issued two subpoenas for documents in 1983 and 2006, according to a recent National Archives review shared with Politico.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will vote on March 8 to subpoena Schultz to testify in a wide-ranging hearing about the state of union organization efforts, collective bargaining, and working conditions, Committee Chair Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Wednesday in a statement. Also, an administrative law judge has ordered Starbucks to rehire seven Buffalo area workers involved in union activity and give back pay and damages to dozens of others who lost wages due to company retaliation, Starbucks Workers United reported Wednesday. Judge Michael A. Rosas of the National Labor Relations Board issued the orders as part of a 218-page decision that found Starbucks committed massive labor law violations in Buffalo, the union said. The union reported that Rosas directed Starbucks to reopen a closed location in response to union organizing and to bargain with the union for workers at the Camp Road store in Hamburg, where violations occurred, and the union lost an election. The union added that judge also demanded that Starbucks posted a notice of its labor law violations in all of its stores across the nation and ordered Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz to be present for a reading of the company's violations in its stores here. Starbucks Workers United won its first campaign to unionize workers at the coffee company's shop on Elmwood Avenue in Buffalo in 2021. So far, 268 company-owned stores have voted to join the union.
Walgreens
Walgreens (WBA) in partnership with DoorDash (DASH) and Uber (UBER) announced free, same-day Rx delivery of medications for the prevention and treatment of HIV. This service is available to eligible patients within 15 miles of thousands of participating Walgreens retail pharmacies nationwide. This initiative is the latest offering in an ongoing collaboration between the three companies. The strategy’s targets include a 75% reduction in new HIV infections by 2025 and a 90% reduction by 2030.
