Citing a single unidentified source “close to the process,” the New York Post reported today that activist investor Nelson Peltz is considering making a competing bid for CKE Restaurants , the owner of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s. A couple of weeks ago, the private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners agreed to buy CKE for $928 million, including debt. Competing bidders have until April 6 to make offers. But Pacific Coast Business... 

The funniest thing I’ve seen so far this week: Audrae Erickson, president of the Corn Refiners Association, telling the Wall Street Journal the other day that the mini-trend of food companies switching from high-fructose corn syrup to sugar is “nothing more than a marketing gimmick.” The Corn Refiners Association is little more than one giant marketing gimmick. This is the outfit that put together the ” Sweet Surprise... 

The Center for Science in the Public Interest has issued a “report card ” for food and entertainment companies on their policies for marketing food to kids. Not surprisingly, CSPI graded on a curve. “Most food and entertainment companies have received Fs,” the group said. One should not expect objective assessments from CSPI, which exists to tweak big businesses—especially Big Food—on health matters and other issues.... 

Daniel Angerer, chef and owner of Klee Brasserie in Manhattan’s Chelsea district, has mounted a rather clumsy and fairly gross publicity stunt: serving cheese made with his wife’s breast milk . Great restaurants and great chefs don’t have to rely on gimmicks. And great chefs care more about food than they do about attention. Angerer is an Iron Chef winner. ” ‘I think a lot of the criticism has to do with the combination... 

The “trade down” effect for fast-food restaurants is over in the United States. During hard times, companies like McDonald ’s (MCD) benefit from people eating on the cheap rather than at pricier sit-down restaurants. At least, they benefit for a while. If things don’t improve soon enough, the effect vanishes. It pretty much has for McDonald’s.  Read More →

The contamination of perhaps thousands of food products with salmonella should be a wake-up call to apologists for the industrialized food system. It’s not possible to bring the system down and get everyone to eat an all-local, all-fresh diet, as some “locavores” say they want. But to continue to pretend that our food system is just fine as it is amounts to an endorsement not only of widespread illness, but also of chronic... 

There can no longer be any doubt that with the change of administrations in Washington has come a radical transformation of how serious the Food and Drug Administration now is when it comes to regulating the food industry. Under President Bush, the agency was essentially toothless. Food companies, realizing this, ran wild, promoting their products with the gusto of snake-oil salesmen, and with a similar capacity for shame. Diamond Foods , for... 

Bloomberg News starts off its article about Monsanto (MON) CEO Hugh Grant by characterizing him as ” a man trying to feed the world .” Which, viewed from one perspective, may be accurate enough. But from other perspectives, he could be characterized as “a man recklessly introducing genetically altered crops into the food supply” or “a man trying to control markets through ruthless, anti-competitive practices.”... 

You have to sympathize with Starbucks (SBUX) on this crazy culture-war nonsense that some of America’s gun nuts and their opponents have decided to foist upon the company. Said gun nuts decided to target Starbucks to test their addled theory that they somehow have the right to openly carry their guns into private establishments . They don’t, and Starbucks has the right to not let them—or anyone else—into their stores…  Read More →

I’ll give Rosecrans Baldwin the benefit of the doubt on his anti-popcorn screed published by Slate today. He admits from the outset that it’s “irrational,” and he makes a decent case. But in doing so, he makes a couple of points that leave me scratching my head. I like popcorn OK, as long as it’s fresh, liberally salted, and, ideally, coated with real butter. But I’m not dogmatic on the issue, and there are... 

A week ago, I passed along the news that the American Academy of Pediatrics was calling for requirements that food companies affix warnings to food products that the group said pose a particular choking hazard. Either that or some foods, like hot dogs, need to be “redesigned ,” the group said. Slashfood quoted Dr. Gary Smith, the lead author of the paper that AAP’s recommendations were based upon. “If you wanted to design... 

Here’s a little anecdote that shows how big a challenge it will continue to be to get China to behave like a citizen of the world and a trustworthy trading partner. Officials in Wuhan destroyed 3.5 tons of beans , after it was discovered the beans had been treated with a highly toxic pesticide that has been banned for use on foodstuffs. Not only that, but city officials also had the temerity to tell everybody what happened. Publicizing... 

On Friday, the day I finished writing the feature published today about the state of California’s crackdown on infused drinks , the San Francisco Chronicle ran a front-page article on the subject . Writer Demian Bulwa apparently had no better luck than I did in pinning down just why officials from the Alcoholic Beverages Control Department has been cracking down on bars in the Bay Area that concoct their own infusions.  Read More →

The news media don’t pay so much attention these days to openings of new Krispy Kreme (KKD) outlets, probably because openings have dwindled as the company’s fortunes have sunk. But thank goodness, we always have Peeps. Whether or not there is any actual Peep-related news, journalists jump all over the popular, marshmallow, Easter-season candies every year, starting right around now, when they hit the stores (hey, we wouldn’t... 

Announce a recall of millions of pounds of beef and, yeah, sure, people worry. But announce a recall of Girl Scout cookies and people might freak out. Luckily, the current recall of some Lemon Chalet Cremes was pretty small. And even if you wind up buying some of the affected batch, the cookies might smell and taste bad, but they’re perfectly safe to eat. Little Brownie Bakers, the Louisville, Ky.-based company that is one of two makers...