It’s hard to believe we’re heading into July, but here we are — and with another edition of Fish Insights! This month we’re buzzing about the labor market, of course, and the fact that travel is back. I’m going to say that one more time for the people in the back — Travel. Is. Back. But we also dug into some of the stories you may not have heard of, like the fact that at-home, virtual workouts might not actually have the staying power we all thought they would and that grocery stores are jumping onto the ghost kitchen bandwagon.
That said, we encourage you to kick back with a cold beverage (it’s hot out there) and enjoy this month’s Fish Insights!
Restaurants
- Fast casual — and fast-growing — salad chain Sweetgreen filed for an IPO. (Fast Company)
- McDonald’s has launched a loyalty program to help compete with breakfast rivals Starbucks and Dunkin’. (Restaurant Business)
- These are the top 500 restaurant chains in America. (Nation’s Restaurant News)
Travel & Hospitality
- In mid-June, TSA reported over 2 million passengers screened at airports in a single day — the first time that’s happened since early March 2020. 🎉 (The Associated Press)
- Stop the presses — Americans can travel to Italy again! (Condé Nast Traveler)
- Travel demand is up, but hotels are facing a labor shortage. (CNN Business)
Fitness, Health, & Wellness
- Interest in at-home workouts has reached an all-time pandemic low as people head back to the gym. (CNBC)
- Peloton targets the corporate wellness space as its next growth move. (CNBC)
- A new study says coffee drinkers are over 20% less likely to develop chronic liver disease. (CNN Health)
Retail
- Grocery stores are getting into the ghost kitchen game. (Modern Retail)
- 649,000 retail employees quit their jobs in April, the largest one-month exodus in over 20 years. (The Washington Post via Boston Globe)
- Looking for new revenue streams, Netflix has opened an e-commerce shop. (Retail Dive)
Beauty
- Here’s why some salon workers aren’t tossing their face masks quite yet. (Vox)
- Are 70s hair trends back? Apparently. (Glamour)
Home Services
- In some cities, plumbers are earning over, or close to, $100K a year. (Yahoo! Finance)
- Lumber costs are slowing down home renovations, which had risen dramatically during the pandemic. (USA Today)
As always, we’d love to hear what you think about Fish Insights. Feel free to shoot me an email at adavidson@fish-consulting.com if you love it or have ideas for how we can improve it.
