When OpenAI launched its text-to-video app Sora in September, there was immediate blowback. To absolutely no one’s surprise, users on the platform had a field day using popular characters in their AI-generated videos, in all sorts ofadmittedly creative!situations. (See OpenAI founder Sam Altman grilling Nintendo’s Pikachu.)
Brands condemned the use of their intellectual property without permission. The Motion Picture Academy called out OpenAI for its blatant copyright violations. Soon after launch, Altman wrote a blog post addressing the issue, stating that Sora would give rightsholders “more granular control” of their IP on the app, adding that in the near future he expected that plenty of brands and content makers would actually welcome the chance to have their characters on the app. He called it a new form of “interactive fan fiction.”
Well, that day is here. According to a recent report in The Wall Street Journal, OpenAI has opened the floodgates and is now in talks with brands about how they can bring their mascots and characters into the app for users to feature in videos.
Its obvious why OpenAI wants brands to free their mascots. People would love to play in that sandbox with well-known characters. Hell, theyre already doing it.
But, um, what’s in it for the brands?
Most brands are still trying to figure out what their mascot stance on Sora will be. I reached out to McDonald’s, Geico, KFC, and General Mills but none were ready to comment about it on the record.
This is a newer, more urgent version of a conversation brands have been having for the past 15 years. In the age of social media, how much creative control should a brand cede to its audience? Now the stakes are even higher, given the pace of technological advancement, the public’s appetite to get AI sloppy, and our inability to distinguish between what’s real and what isn’t.
Sharing the pen
For what seems like centuries, the conversation between brands and everyone else was a one-way street. Advertising flashed in our eyes and blasted in our ears, and that was that.
With social media, a two-way conversation began. The mantra among marketers circa 2008 was to get involved in the social conversation because people are talking about your brand whether youre there or not.
In the past few years, that has evolved even further to brands actually collaborating with fans and creators. Morgan Flatley, McDonalds global chief marketing officer, calls this sharing the pen.
Historically, most brands are nervous or overprotective when they arent in full control of the creative. McDonalds was prime among them, vigilantly protecting its IP. In 2013, it won a federal case on trademark infringement in Canada against a dim sum restaurant called MacDimsum. In 2019, it sent a cease-and-desist order to a small Edmonton restaurant serving an “Effing Filet O’ Fish.”
But the success of Famous Orders, a campaign launched in 2020 where it began regularly partnering with artists to customize meals and create merch, changed things. Allowing artists like Travis Scott, BTS, and Cactus Plant Flea Market to play with its brand logos and characters, and the passionate response from fansalong with the sold-out merch and boosted salesgave Flatley and the brand more confidence to loosen the reins. The win for McDonalds was in reflecting its role in culture (the artists are genuine fans) while creating something new.
Ive become a big believer that if we lean into the right kind of creators in the right cultural phenomenon, and loosen some of our control on the brand, magic will happen, Flatley told me back in 2023 when we talked about the brands partnership with Marvel. A few years ago, I dont know that we would have felt as comfortable handing over key aspects of our brand to be part of a storyline like this, but today were really aware of the authenticity of our brand and the role that it can play.
Alyson Griffin, State Farms head of marketing, told me recently that the key to a successful partnership with creators is to be prepared to give up some control. Brand leaders must do their due diligence and vet any potential partner, but then they must let them cook. If you know you have the right person, because you vetted them to your brand needs, let them be them, Griffin said. Let them create, because then it looks and is authentic.
According to marketing intelligence firm Sensor Tower, Sora was downloaded 3.8 million times in the U.S. in its first month, despite only being available on iOS with an invite code. It was the No. 4 app in the U.S. over that same time. In a world where brands and marketers are looking for any and every opportunity to gain our attention, the temptation here is clear.
Handing over your brand IP to the Sora 2 slop factory, however, is a recipe for disaster.
Character chaos
Brand mascots have been a staple of advertising for more than 100 years. They’re used to hawk everything from kids cereal to batteries, cigarettes to insurance, and they continue to be a valuable way for brands to forge an emotional connection with people. Take the insurance industry, which has a huge roster of mascots that ai to make their brands more relatable: Jake from State Farm, the Geico gecko, Flo from Progressive, Mayhem for Allstate, Liberty Mutuals LiMu Emu (and Doug), and the Aflac Duck.
A 2021 study reported that a long-term campaign featuring a recurring character will, on average, increase market share gain by 41%. The Grimace Shake helped McDonalds boost U.S. sales by 10.3% in 2023.
When I was in journalism school 20 years ago, we got an assignment to practice whats called a survey article. Basically, you pick a topic and go ask a bunch of people the same question, then see what story angle emerges from their answer. I chose to visit as many tattoo artists as I could in an afternoon and ask them all Whats the craziest tattoo youve ever done?
Ill never forget the clear winner. When I asked the question, this artists eyes lit up, and he rushed to find a specific binder on his shelf. He frantically flipped through the photos and flash designs until he found it. There! He pointed to a photo of a mans meaty calf featuring a very detailed and anatomically correct depiction of all the characters from Winnie-the-Pooh on a picnic blankethaving an orgy.
That story taught me that some people will do anything for attention (and that I would never sing the Tigger song ever, ever again). Now that’s playing out in real time on Sora, with the app granting anyone’s weirdest visual wish.
Remember the public discourse when M&Ms talked about making the green M&M less sexy? If Mars put its beloved characters on Sora 2, the brand is one quick prompt away from someone making Behind the Green (M&M) Door. You think that Duolingo owl is weird now? Just wait.
Kevin Mulroy, founding partner and ECD at award-winning ad agency Mischief, says the upside for brands to surrender rights to their IP on Sora is still unclear. Without much narrative control, and no clear link back to a strategy, it’s highly unlikely everyday people are going to use these mascots in the way these brands intend, he says.
Strategy vs. Slop
The risk here is not just about brand mascots appearing in questionable content. Its also the trade-off between the idea of facilitating peoples creativity versus brands being complicit in the sloppification of culture by allowing their mascots to be used on Sora.
Prediction market Kalshi made a viral splash during last springs NBA playoffs with an absolutely hilarious and unhinged AI-generated spot (see above) that cost just $2,000 to make. Then in September, Jake Paul tricked folks with AI videos of himself in strange situations, later revealing that it was all a marketing stunt for Sora 2 (the spot attracted about 1 billion views in six days). Whenever new tech hits the market, the initial stunts get a ton of attention as these illustrate. But then what?
“No doubt whichever brands are first to experiment will benefit from a bump in cultural awareness, as we’ve seen with Jake Paul’s likeness, Mulroy admits. But at what cost? In a world where it has never been easier for a brand to say something, the true value is in figuring out what it is the brand should say. The latter won’t come from rogue AI content.”
Eventually every marketer will have to decide the value exchange in joining the Sora party. As Mulroy says, the key is making sure theres an actual strategy behind it.
If not, all that mascots brand value could end up getting f***ked on a picnic blanket.
Two months ago, Apple released iOS 26 for the iPhone. The new operating system includes several productivity and other enhancements, but the main feature is a new design language called Liquid Glass. The flat, minimalist look of iOS that lasted for more than a decade is gone, replaced by a transparent interface of toolbars and buttons that mimic how light bends and warps as it passes through glass.
Those who appreciate the new look of iOS often praise Liquid Glass as refreshing and unique, saying it gives the iPhones software a sense of fluidity that other touch interfaces lack. Others argue that Liquid Glasss transparent elements make the device harder to use, as the content behind iOS 26s buttons and toolbars often obscures the symbols or text that label the interface elements.
If you fall into the latter group, theres some good news. Apple is increasingly providing options to tone down the most controversial aspects of the Liquid Glass design. Here they are:
Option #1: Turn on the tint
This week, Apple released its first major update to iOS 26: iOS 26.1. This update fixed numerous bugs while also adding new features; it expanded Apple Intelligence and AirPods Live Translation features to new countries, added new swipe controls to the Music app, and overhauled the alarm clock interface so you dont accidentally tap snooze and miss your meeting.
The new clear (left) and tinted (right) options for Liquid Glass.
But as Fast Company previously reported, iOS 26.1s best new feature is a toggle that lets users tone down Liquid Glass’s design. It does this by allowing users to choose between two different Liquid Glass interfaces.
The Clear interface is the default Liquid Glass, with interface element transparency at a maximum.
The Tinted interface option reduces this default transparency to give Liquid Glass elements a more frosted look. This can greatly improve the readability of button and toolbar labels by increasing their contrast.
Turning on the Liquid Glass tint is easy, as long as you have iOS 26.1 installed on your iPhone:
Open the Settings app.
Tap Display and Brightness.
Tap Liquid Glass.
Tap the Tinted option.
As you can see from the screenshots above, the “tinted” Liquid Glass option brings a frosted look (right) to the default transparency (left).
Option #2: Increase the contrast
If youre still on iOS 26.0 or just want to eliminate the default look of Liquid Glass even more on your iPhone that’s running iOS 26.1, you can tone down Liquid Glass in three other ways.
The default look of Liquid Glass (left) versus Liquid Glass with the Increase Contrast Accessibility option enabled (right).
The first is by enabling the Increase Contrast Accessibility option on your iPhone. This feature is designed for users with sight issues, but anyone can enable it, and many have found that doing so makes Liquid Glass more palatable.
As Apple notes, enabling this setting helps Increase color contrast between app foreground and background colors. Heres how you turn it on:
Open the Settings app.
Tap Accessibility.
Tap Display & Text Size.
Toggle the Increase Contrast switch to ON (green).
As you can see in the screenshots above, enabling the Increase Contrast option (right) adds a slight outline around interface borders and adds a grey smokiness to transparent elements, which makes text and buttons easier to see than they are in the default Liquid Glass design (left).
Option #3: Reduce the transparency
A third way to tone down Liquid Glass is to enable another Accessibility option on your iPhone called Reduce Transparency.
The default look of Liquid Glass (left) versus Liquid Glass with the Reduce Transparency Accessibility option enabled (right).
This option tones Liquid Glass down even further than the Increase Contrast option, greatly reducing its transparency. As Apple notes, this option helps Improve contrast by reducing transparency and blurs on some backgrounds to increase legibility.
To enable the setting:
Open the Settings app.
Tap Accessibility.
Tap Display & Text Size.
Toggle the Reduce Transparency switch to ON (green).
As you can see in the screenshot above, enabling the Reduce Transparency option (right) virtually blocks any background content from bleeding through buttons and toolbar elements.
Option #4: Outline buttons for easier visibility
A final way to tone down Liquid Glass is to force iOS 26.1 to show borders around buttons and other UI elements. This is done via the “Show Borders” Accessibility option.
Enabling “Show Borders” (right) can help make some buttons easier to see in Liquid Glass.
This option forces outlines to appear around “prominent UI,” according to Apple’s iOS 26.1 notes.
To enable the setting:
Open the Settings app.
Tap Accessibility.
Tap Display & Text Size.
Toggle the Show Borders switch to ON (green).
As you can see in the screenshot above, enabling this option displays a thin outline around buttons and other UI elements, helping them stand out more on your screen.
Liquid Glass isnt going away
The new look of iOS 26 isnt temporarynor should it be. While there have been some vocal detractors to the new design, a large majority of iPhone users seem to love the refreshed look. After Apple spent years developing that new design, theres no way they would go back to the old one.
But Apples addition of a new tint option for Liquid Glass via a dedicated control in the iOS 26.1 Settings app shows that the company is listening to feedback from all its users and is not averse to giving individuals more control over how Liquid Glass looks to them. So, while you may not be able to turn off Liquid Glass, you now at least have three ways to tone it down.
You really have to stand up for yourself.
Thats the message Shark Tank star Barbara Corcoran sent loud and clear in a recent interview she gave LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky. The interview is full of powerful lessons from Corcorans life, but one story stood head and shoulders above the rest:
The time Shark Tank fired her, before she taped a single episode.
Corcoran said she received a call from a woman asking her to be on a new show called Shark Tank. Ecstatic, Corcoran agreed. She immediately went on a shopping spree, buying new outfits and autograph-signing materials. Im going to Hollywood! she excitedly told her friends.
Then, Corcoran got a dreadful phone call telling her they changed their mind and had decided to give her seat to another woman.
I just couldnt believe it, said Corcoran. It was the equivalent of [my ex-boyfriend] telling me he was marrying my secretary.
After hanging up the phone, Corcoran says she was crestfallen. But after taking a minute to feel sorry for herself, she took matters into her own hands.
Corcoran wrote an email directly to Shark Tank creator, Mark Burnett.
Dear Mark, I consider your rejection a lucky charm, Corcoran says. Everything good happens to me after I get rejected.
Corcoran then detailed multiple stories as evidence, including the time Donald Trump told her shed never collect a penny of her $4 million commission, after which Corcoran says she sued Trump and got every penny.
Corcoran says she ended the email like this:
I expect to be on that plane on Tuesday. And I hope you let me compete for the seat.
Shortly thereafter, Burnetts secretary wrote Corcoran telling her she would have the chance to compete for the seat.
The rest is history.
Corcorans actions teach a powerful lesson in emotional intelligence, the ability to understand and manage emotions effectively. Lets break down three valuable takeaways from Corcorans story and see how you can apply them to your own business. (If you find value in this lesson, you might be interested in my free emotional intelligence course, which provides a new tip for building emotional intelligence every day for a week.)
Dont dwell on negative emotions
Corcoran credits her employees for teaching her a lesson that helped her at this crucial moment.
I learned from my salespeople over the years that the greatest salespeople [spend] less time feeling sorry for themselves, Corcoran said. They take the hits like everybody else but they dont give themselves much time.
I mimic them in my own personality. And I really credit their example [for] what I did to Mark Burnett.
Its not just effective salespeople.
Everyone experiences failure. Everyone has bad moments. But instead of dwelling on negative emotions, emotionally intelligent people have the ability to process them and move on.
As its been said: You may not be able to stop a bird from landing on your head, but you can keep it from building a nest.
Use negative experiences as motivation
Instead of throwing herself a pity party, Corcoran used Burnetts rejection as motivation. She then channeled those feelings and emotions into her email.
It worked. Not only did Corcoran motivate herself, her quick action, confidence, and masterful storytelling convinced Burnett to change course and give her a shot.
Corcoran says she learned that lesson when her ex-husband told her he was leaving her for her secretary. Consequently, Corcoran split the business she ran with her ex in half, and he told her shed never succeed without him.
When he gave me that curse leaving, Ill tell you, I knew I was going to be successful, Cocoran said. Just to prove him wrong.
Negative emotions can be useful if you learn how to harness them. But to do that, you have to consciously decide what youre going to do with them. Be like Corcoran and use negative emotions as a catalyst for positive action.
Focus on what you can control
Corcoran realized she couldnt force Burnett to change his mind. But she could stand up for herself, which would prove beneficial for her mental state.
And by getting on that plane and showing up, Corcoran gave herself every opportunity to get on Shark Tank.
This teaches a final powerful lesson: You cant waste time on things you cant control. But you can focus on what you can control and take action accordingly.
Dealing with a customer who refused to pay an invoice? Offer them a compelling reason to pay. Got an employee whos lost their drive? Give them a listening ear and think of how you can support them.
The key is to ask yourself: What can I do to make this situation better?
So, the next time youre frustrated by someone elses actions, take a page out of Barbara Corcorans playbook and:
Dont dwell on negative emotions.
Now that Halloween has come and gone, you might have wrongly assumed that candy season is over. Not if the Hershey Company anything to say about it. In fact, the sweets are just getting started.
On its first-annual holiday virtual preview this week, the confectionary company revealed four exciting new products and explained how the company is stocked and ready to make the hectic holiday season even sweeter.
Here’s what to know:
What new items does Hershey have up its sleeve?
Hershey announced four new treats that will hit shelves this holiday season:
Hersheys Kisses Snickerdoodle Cookie Candy
Kit Kat Peppermint Stick
Reese’s Mini Trees
Hersheys Grinch Milk Chocolate Bar
[Photos: Hershey]
After extensive market research, Hershey discovered that a resounding 76% of people stated they would purchase a snickerdoodle-flavored option, and Hersey is obliging with new snickerdoodle Kisses. Its the perfect topping for a cookie and theres even a recipe right on the packaging. The gold wrapper also looks delightful in a candy dish.
Research also showed that mint is a popular flavor during the winter months. To capitalize on that trend, Kit Kat bars now have a peppermint version. These come in snack size, normal size, and king size to appease all hunger magnitudes.
Meanwhile, the classic Hersheys Milk Chocolate Bars are continuing their partnership with the Grinch, Dr. Seuss’s iconic Christmas hater. Popular characters such as Cindy Lou Who, Max, and the big-hearted green guy himself are molding into the chocolate making it extra festive.
Cheerful shapes are also here to stay. Reeses Peanut Butter Trees, now available in a mini version, are a perfect tree trimming snack.
How Hershey became a confectionary powerhouse
These days, the name Hershey is almost synonymous with chocolate bars but the company actually started with caramel.
In 1886, Milton S. Hershey founded the Lancaster Caramel Company in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. After attending the Worlds Columbian Exposition of 1893, Hershey fell in love with chocolate and created the Hershey Chocolate Company as a subsidiary of his original company.
In 1900, he would sell the Lancaster Caramel Company but retain the chocolate side of the business. That same year, the first Hershey’s Milk Chocolate bars were sold in an effort to make the confection affordable to the average person. Hershey’s Chocolate Kisses would make their debut seven years later.
In 1925, the Goodbar was introduced, and in 1963 Hershey acquired H.B. Reese Candy Company.
The Hershey Company today is the parent company for over 100 brands, including Jolly Rancher, Rolos, and SkinnyPop.
With a market cap of roughly $34 billion, the company reported net sales of $11.2 billion last year. And it’s not just about sweet treats. Hershey’s salty snacks unit in North America grew 10% in the third quarter of this year, generating $321 million.
It’s never too early
Hersheys is ready for the big holiday shopping rush. In the preview event, the company explained that customers shop early because they are planning ahead, want a little treat for themselves, and dont want to miss out on limited-edition items.
So if you were worried about missing the Halloween season, consider holiday sweets as just as satisfying. And as an added bonus, you get to create traditions around the confections that don’t require anything scary. Savor the sweetness of the season with Hersheys many merry offerings.
Technology stocks fell on Friday, amid fears of an AI bubble, a further drawn out federal government shutdown, and economic data that suggests consumer sentiment has fallen toward record-low levels.
That’s in addition to economic data that showed last month’s layoffs hit their highest level for Octoberin 20 years. That report, from global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, also also said hiring slowed to lowest point in 14 years.
Despite strong third-quarter earnings reports, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index (^IXIC) was down once again, for the second consecutive day, about 1% in afternoon trading on Friday, as big Tech Stocks tumbled, closing out the week as the Index heads toward what could be its worst week since April, when the Trump Administration introduced its Liberation Day tariffs.
Chip stock Arm Holdings plc (ARM) was down 4%, while Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) fell 3%, and Al chip designer Nvidia (NVDA) was down 1%, at the time of this writing in afternoon trading, as investors worry about high valuations, and mass layoffs in the name of artificial intelligence (AI). Tesla (TSLA) was also down some 3%.
Among those sounding alarm bells is hedge fund investor Michael Burry, who runs Scion Asset Management, and is betting against both betting against both Nvidia and Palantir. According to his Securities and Exchange Commission filings, Scion bought an estimated $187.6 million in puts on Nvidia, and another $912 million on Palantir, as CNN reported. Burry has warned both companies are overvalued. (Burry famously predicted the 2008 housing market collapse, and was made famous by the 2015 film The Big Short.)
Last week Burry posted on X, “Sometimes, we see bubbles. Sometimes, there is something to do about it. Sometimes, the only winning move is not to play,” in what some think is his way of saying there is an AI bubble.
With Black Friday just about three weeks away, retailers and shoppers have one thing on their mindChristmas, the busiest and most profitable time of the year.
And now, with Halloween behind us, Spirit Halloween has pivoted to holiday-themed Spirit Christmas, featuring festive decor, gifts, holiday apparel, and interactive displaysincluding nutcrackers, inflatable lawn Santas, and ugly Christmas sweaters.
The retail chain, owned by Spencer Gifts, launched nearly a dozen Spirit Christmas stores throughout the Northeast in 2024.
This year, Spirit Christmas is opening 30 store locations in 12 states in the Northeast and Great Lakes area, including its flagship store in Mays Landing, New Jersey.
Those stores are in: Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania (see below for a full list of locations).
As for the Spirit Halloween locations, some are making the transition to Christmas themes, while others are closing down till next year.
Here are all 30 Spirit Christmas locations, according the store locator:
CONNECTICUT
Manchester, CT
Milford, CT
DELAWARE
Christiana, DE
ILLINOIS
Bloomingdale, IL
Joliet, IL
Naperville, IL
INDIANA
Fort Wayne, IN
Merrillville, IN
KENTUCKY
Lexington, KY
MARYLAND
Waldorf, MD
MASSACHUSETTS
North Attleborough, MA
Dartmouth, MA
MICHIGAN
Grand Rapids, MI
Novi, MI
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Salem, NH
NEW JERSEY
Cherry Hill, NJ
Lawrenceville, NJ
Mays Landing, NJ
Paramus, NJ
Rockaway, NJ
Toms River, NJ
NEW YORK
Amherst, NY
Bohemia, NY
Poughkeepsie, NY
OHIO
Mentor, OH
North Canton, OH
PENNSYLVANIA
Bethel Park, PA
Erie, PA
Pittsburgh, PA
Whitehall, PA
On November 6, Sweetgreen announced that it was selling Spyce, its division that developed and made its Infinite Kitchen technology to automate the assembly of its bowls and salads. The acquirer is Wonder, the restaurant and mealtime superapp, as Fast Company dubbed it earlier this year.
With that, its time to eulogize Sweetgreens star-crossed life as a tech company. No more dreams of AI, blockchain, or robots.
Sweetgreen receives $100 million in cash and $86.4 million in Wonder stock, a positive return given that it acquired Spyce in 2021 for a total cost of $70 million. Wonder, which is privately held, was valued north of $7 billion in May after it raised another $600 million. Sweetgreen, which went public four years ago, has a market cap under $750 million.
After Sweetgreens disastrous Q2 2025 earnings report, I wrote that Infinite Kitchen represented the first effort by the company to use technology to solve its biggest problemoperationsrather than mere magic dust sprinkles to make the company look like something its not.
Now the companys latest earnings are worse, and it doesnt own what had felt like a competitive advantage.
A lot of other companies are trying to figure out how to add automation to their experience and are not willing to start over, Sweetgreen CEO Jonathan Neman told the Wall Street Journal in 2023 while showing off his first restaurant equipped with an Infinite Kitchen. Im willing to blow the whole thing up.
The question, though, is when did Neman light the fuse thats blown up Sweetgreen? Was it two years ago? Was it just November 6? Or was the bomb planted in the companys earliest days and it finally detonated? Sweetgreens stock is down another 12.5% as of Friday afternoon. (In response to queries, Sweetgreen directed me to Nemans public statements.)
In this piece, well explore:
What we still dont know about the sale of Infinite Kitchen
Whether Neman could have taken a page from Pixar or Tesla to alter Sweetgreens course
Why Neman has even harder decisions ahead to make Sweetgreen profitable
How Sweetgreens positioning as a tech company ultimately failed it
Infinite Kitchen has been working
Sweetgreen remains committed to deploying Infinite Kitchen; it opened eight restaurants in Q3 and six included the tech. More are planned for 2026.
Rather than be responsible for developing and making the systems, Sweetgreen will buy them from Wonder at cost plus 5%, which Neman said was about $25,000, putting the Infinite Kitchens cost at $500,000.
In turn, Sweetgreen promised investors that the sale will shave $8 million annually from its general and administrative expenses. Those G&A costs are high. As the veteran restaurant operator and consultant Rick Vanzura noted on LinkedIn, Sweetgreens overhead was 17.9% of sales compared with Cavas 10.8%.
But $8 million is just over 1% of expected 2025 revenues, meager savings for proprietary technology that Neman lauded again this week as having:
consistently proven its ability to deliver faster throughput, improved accuracy and consistency, and elevated food quality.
In Q3, restaurants with an Infinite Kitchen continue to realize approximately 700 basis points of labor savings and nearly 100 basis points of [cost of goods sold] improvement compared to restaurants of similar age and volume.
Why give up control of the tech driving 7% labor savings per quarter and 1% in food costs, while its improving the product itself?
Why Sweetgreen sold its big tech bet
The Occams Razor explanation appears to be that Sweetgreen really needed the money. Look at its cash on hand:
Q3 2025: $130M
Q2 2025: $168M
Q4 2021: $472M
In August, I anticipated that Sweetgreen would soon require fresh capital. I wondered whether the parties providing it would demand company control from Neman and his two co-founders in exchange.
This move cleverly sidestepped that possibility (for now) by selling the most valuable thing Sweetgreen owned that it could part with to a private company, buying Neman and company time to turn things around.
Neman still likely needs to do a more wrenching corporate restructuring that vastly reduces its overhead (read: major layoffs). The company’s new CFO reported that she’s launched a full review of the company’s restaurant expenses as well as its G&A. Well see if Neman can make some hard decisions to reinvent Sweetgreen.
The logic underpinning the Spyce sale may be irrefutable, but theres still a lot we dont know. To wit:
Whether Wonder can also license the Infinite Kitchen tech
How long Sweetgreens cost-plus deal lasts
Whether those terms also apply to future Spyce innovations
I don’t expect we’ll get direct answers but this is what investors in particular should be thinking about and monitoring.
Sweetgreens Sliding Doors moment No. 1: The Pixar path
In 1989, Pixar, six years before the debut of Toy Story, decided to sell its RenderMan technology to other companies. Pixar needed cash, especially if it was going to fulfill its vision of making feature-length computer-generated animated movies. The gambit worked. Pixar retained control of the tech, has enhanced it repeatedly over the years, and major motion pictures from other studios still rely on RenderMan.
Could Sweetgreen have decided to license the Infinite Kitchen tech to competitors rather than selling it to one and being the licensee? Doing so could have helped bring down the costs of Infinite Kitchen and spurred further innovation, as Wonder now hopes to do.
Given how hot the private markets are for robotics tech, could Sweetgreen have engineered some complex financial deal to get funding for Spyce to scale it without having to sell it? I don’t think that’s too outlandish an idea.
Alas, public market investors havent been patient with Neman (the stock is down almost 90% since it went public).
This would have been bold and visionary in 2021 after Sweetgreen acquired Spyce, r in 2023 when Neman talked of his willingness to blow the whole thing up and energized investors with the Infinite Kitchens potential.
Making that call in late 2025 when consumers appear to be cooling to bowl-based meals (the “slopcession,” or “slopapocalypse,” as it were) would have been risky. But the siren call of those labor and cost savings could have won it some customers and allowed it to control its destiny.
Sweetgreens Sliding Doors moment No. 2: The Tesla way
In 2014, Elon Musk open sourced Teslas electric vehicle patents. This, too, was a bold move for a still shaky, unprofitable company. Musk did it to accelerate the auto industrys adoption of EVs, which it did.
At the time, Teslas market cap was approximately $28 billion.
Today its $1.4 trillion.
What if Sweetgreen had open sourced Spyces patents? Would it have sparked a wave of innovation in automated restaurant tech? This is less likely than if it merely licensed systems to rivals, as the restaurant industry is far more atomized than the car business.
But the move would have been a bravura stroke that at the least would have bolstered Nemans narrative that Sweetgreen is a different kind of company.
Live by the tech narrative, die by the tech narrative
Not long after Sweetgreen went public in November 2021, Kristen Hawley, a Fast Company contributor, wrote in her food and tech newsletter, Expedite, the uncomfortable truth that salad doesnt scale like software.
Now we can confirm that restaurant automation hardware to make salads and bowls doesnt scale like software either.
Companies need a story, a vision to sell investors, media, and customers. Its why Tesla backers voted to give Elon Musk his potential $1 trillion pay package this past week. For Sweetgreen, its story has long been that this was a tech companyno, a platformthat sold healthy salads and bowls rather than a restaurant company that used tech like, um, every other restaurant chain.
I wanted to find the first instance of Sweetgreen publicly presenting itself as a tech company, and I believe it initially did so on the occasion of its 2011 Sweetlife festival thanks to a planned integration with a then buzzy social app:
We look at ourselves less as a restaurant group than a think tank, co-founder Nathaniel Ru told Mashable. Were more of tech startup than a restaurant business.
Fourteen years later, Sweetgreen is a restaurant business. Its future success will be determined by continuing to improve its operations, developing new menu items, and marketing itself as a lifestyle brand, as Neman told investors, focused on creating culture through distinct brand moments. Again, like every other restaurant chain. As I understand it, the company still has a tech team, but so does everyone else. The tech dream may die hard at Sweetgreen HQ but die it should.
In other words, the troubled companys tech Cinderella story is over. Sweetgreens enchanted digital coach has become a garden variety analog pumpkin.
Since 1818, loyal readers of the Farmers Almanac have turned to the publication for weather predictions, gardening tips, astronomy calendars, and more. But, on November 6, the Farmers Almanac announced that the 2026 edition of the magazine will be its last.
The news came through a post to the Farmers Almanac website by editor Sandi Duncan and editor emeritus Peter Geiger. It is with a great appreciation and heartfelt emotions that we write to share some sad news, the note reads. After more than 200 years of sharing a unique blend of weather, wit, and wisdom, weve made the very difficult decision to write the final chapter of this historical publication.
Per the post, readers will be able to access the Farmers Almanac website until December, and they can find the last edition of the magazine on its website, Amazon, and in certain local stores. The shuttering of this legacy publication is yet another blow to a beleaguered print media landscape.
“Tell your kids how grandad always swore by the ‘Almanac'”
The Farmers Almanac was founded by Jacob Young, a poet, astronomer, and teacher who ran the publication for 34 years. Its long-range weather predictions, which have been trusted by some American farmers over other forecasts for decades (despite the publication being notoriously cagey about how it devises said predictions), predate the creation of the National Weather Service by more than 50 years.
During its 207-year run, the Farmers Almanac has had just seven editors. Its become particularly known for its Best Days section, which offers readers suggestions on the ideal timing to garden, go fishing, kill plant pests, or even cut hair and quit smoking.
Farmers Almanac did not immediately respond to Fast Company‘s request for further details on the reasoning behind its closure, but the writing has likely been on the wall for some time now. Over the past several years, print media has become a notoriously difficult business as readers turn to digital publications and social media for their news. Print publications that have either gone fully digital or shut down entirely include O: The Oprah Magazine, Life Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, InStyle, and, most recently, Teen Vogue.
Print magazines have seen something of a revival as a luxury good among young consumers in recent months, but theyre unlikely to see a return to the heyday of publications like the Farmers Almanac. Already, dedicated fans are taking to the comments of the Farmers Almanac announcement, as well as social media, to mourn the loss of the annual publication.
Oh no, I buy this every year & my friends & family call to ask if we have any storms coming! one person commented under the publications post. The Almanac is so accurate, Ill be lost without it. Another follower on Instagram wrote: This is so sad! I just got land to start growing herbs and food, and planned to get a membership just as my dad always had.
In their note to readers, Duncan and Geiger expressed their gratitude for supporters, contributors, and partners, adding that though the Almanac will no longer be available in print or online, it lives on within you.
So go aheadplant your peas when the daffodils bloom, Duncan and Geiger wrote. Watch for a red sky at night. Tell the kids how granddad always swore by the Almanac. Thats how our story stays alive.
The Trump administration isnt backing down from its refusal to fully fund the SNAP program even after being ordered to by a judge on Thursday.
The federal government asked a federal appeals court on Friday to block a judges order directing the Trump administration to fully distribute Novembers SNAP benefits by the end of the day. In the U.S., 42 million people 12% of Americans rely on food stamps to buy groceries and afford food. Nearly 40% of SNAP recipients are children and another 20% are over the age of 60.
On Thursday, a federal judge in Rhode Island ordered the government to release the full amount of federal funds for food stamps set to be distributed in November. People have gone without for too long, U.S. District Judge John McConnell said during the Thursday hearing. Not making payments to them for even another day is simply unacceptable.
On November 3, the Trump administration said in a court filing that it would pay out half of Novembers benefits to SNAP recipients, tapping into a USDA contingency fund, after being ordered to distribute funds by two federal judges.
A day later, Trump declared that SNAP benefits will only be restored after the shutdown. SNAP BENEFITS, which increased by Billions and Billions of Dollars (MANY FOLD!) during Crooked Joe Bidens disastrous term in office will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before! Trump wrote on Truth Social earlier this week.
Last month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the SNAP program on the federal level, said that it would not deploy a $6 billion contingency fund to cover the cost of food stamps, in contrast with a version of a shutdown funding plan that was later removed from its website.
SNAP contingency funds are only available to supplement regular monthly benefits when amounts have been appropriated for, but are insufficient to cover, benefits, a USDA memo stated in late October. The contingency fund is not available to support FY 2026 regular benefits, because the appropriation for regular benefits no longer exists.
Picking up the SNAP slack
The SNAP program has found itself on the chopping block as the federal shutdown drags on, but the Trump administration has found ways to keep other programs funded without court intervention.
In the shutdowns early days, Trump ordered the Pentagon and the White House to use all available funds to pay active-duty members of the military, avoiding the fallout of service members going unpaid. In contrast to the fight over SNAP, the White House also chose to fund the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, better known as WIC, using money collected from tariffs.
The Trump White House will not allow impoverished mothers and their babies to go hungry because of the Democrats political games, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Axios.
In many cities, food banks and restaurants are scrambling to pick up the slack from the lapsed food program. In Portland, one coffee shop raised over $300,000 to provide free meals to people who have seen their SNAP benefits dry up. Many other local businesses followed suit, offering free special meals for residents in need.
The USDA has warned grocery stores offering special deals for SNAP recipients that they might be breaking the law. You must offer eligible foods at the same prices and on the same terms and conditions to SNAP-EBT customers as other customers, a USDA notice confirmed by Fast Company reads. You cannot treat SNAP-EBT customers differently than any other customers.
Wendys announced plans to close a “mid-single-digit percentage” of its underperforming U.S. store locations, or 200 to 350 of some 6,000 locations, during its quarterly earnings call on Friday.
The news comes as the fast-food giant reports third-quarter profits of $44.3 million and $549.5 million in revenue, beating analyst expectations by 2.71%. The company’s adjusted earnings per share (EPS) came in at 24 cents, versus expectations of 20 cents. International business delivered strong system-wide sales growth, with international net unit growth expected to come in over 9% in 2025.
Shares in Wendy’s Co. (NASDAQ: WEN) were up about 2% in midday trading on Friday, after Wendys stock surged 11.66% in pre-market trading.
On the earnings call, Interim CEO and CFO Ken Cook said the shutterings will begin this year and continue through 2026, but did not give a list of specific locations. (Reached by Fast Company, Wendy’s declined to provide a specific number or list of locations.)
Cook said Wendy’s will approach underperforming restaurants on a case-by-case basis. He explained some current restaurants “do not elevate the brand” and are “a drag from a franchisee financial performance perspective.” The goal is to address and fix those restaurants by improving operations, through additional technology or equipment.
In other cases, closing the restaurant “will put money back in franchisees pockets and enable them to reinvest both capital and resources in their remaining restaurants.”
The bottom line: “Closures of underperforming units are expected to boost sales and profitability at nearby locations,” Cook said.
One year ago, in November 2024, Wendy’s also announced it was closing 140 “outdated” restaurants.
