🍕 Domino’s Uber pivot

…and America’s dairy debacle means spilled milk   Spreading the cheesy bread (Domino’s)   Yesterday’s Market Moves   Dow Jones 34,347 (+0.25%) S&P 500 4,472 (+0.74%) Nasdaq 13,919 (+1.15%) Bitcoin $30,352 (-0.90%) Dow Jones 34,347 (+0.25%) S&P 500 4,472 (+0.74%) Nasdaq 13,919 (+1.15%) Bitcoin $30,352 (-0.90%) Hey Snackers, Santa Cruz surfers have been getting their boards stolen by an unlikely culprit: a 5-year-old [sea otter](. Officials are trying to catch the creature they endearingly call “Otter 841.” Maybe she just wants to shred some gnarly waves. The S&P 500 hit a 15-month high after US consumer prices came in lighter than expected, with inflation cooling to 3% in June (the slowest pace since early 2021). Traders crossed their fingers that the Fed’s expected rate hike in July could be its last of the year. Slice Domino’s pies are coming to Uber Eats as delivery app-ettite heats up Tastier than a cheese pull… Pizza lovers will soon be [able]( to order [Domino’s]( on [Uber Eats]( and Postmates. The world’s largest pizza biz serves 1M+ customers daily, and this is its first delivery-app partnership in the US. Domino's has long avoided third-party delivery in the States, preferring to handle orders through its own (popular) app and nearly 7K+ locations. Now: - New screen: Starting this fall, Domino’s will list on Uber Eats in four cities, including Las Vegas, and expand to the rest of the country by year’s end. - Same driver: Domino’s will still use its own delivery drivers for Uber orders, to ensure quality control and track its ’zas (#DeliveredHot). - Pricey slices: The pizza powerhouse expects to generate $1B in extra sales through the deal, with Uber as its exclusive partner through 2024. The OG pizza deliverer… Domino’s had long been an outlier (#rebel) for exclusively handling its own orders and deliveries, allowing let it to keep 100% of each sale (instead of paying fees to apps). But the calculus may’ve changed as Uber and [DoorDash]( take a bite out of Domino’s revenue. Food-delivery apps made up 14% of all pizza sales in the US over the past year — nearly 3X higher than prepandemic. Rivals like [Papa John's]( and [Pizza Hut]( have been on third-party apps since 2019, and Little Caesars joined Uber in April. Now Domino’s execs think the app-y opportunities outweigh the risks of losing full control. THE TAKEAWAY Have your pie and eat it too… By listing on Uber but still delivering its own pies, Domino’s can keep its satisfaction guarantee while gaining exposure to new customers. Uber also plans to share some customer order data with Domino’s. Meanwhile, loyal fans will likely keep using the Domino's app for exclusive offers. Investors seemed to find it all pretty tasty: after yesterday’s announcement, Domino’s stock jumped 11%. Spoiler America’s got (too much) milk, leading farmers to discount and dump excess dairy Crying over spilled skim… America is [frothy]( with excess milk after dairy production hit a record high in May. Demand isn’t keeping up with cows’ output, and cheese factories hamstrung by labor shortages can’t curdle it fast enough. The last time farmers were drowning in dairy was when Covid closed restaurants and schools. Faced with spoiling supplies, farmers have reportedly been dumping dairy into sewers and pouring it on their fields. - Udders in overdrive: Dairy cows don’t have an “off” switch, so the only way to limit milk output is by sending them to slaughter. - Dairy discount: Milk prices have dropped as producers try to encourage bulk buyers to purchase their glut, and June’s consumer inflation #s show price drops have trickled down to shoppers. Perishable probs… Milk has a short lifespan, and suppliers can’t even offload it to schools in cartons (ICYMI: it’s summer break). The USDA has historically stepped in to buy (longer-lasting) cheese to stabilize milk prices, and recently started step one of bidding to buy 47M pounds, which could bring dairy prices back up. But the issue might be deeper: while dairy-cow numbers grew 13K from last year (as of May), milk consumption has trended down as plant-based options sip away at Big Dairy’s 86% market share. THE TAKEAWAY Discounts alone don’t revive thirst… Falling milk prices aren’t enough to [persuade]( Gen Z to opt for 2% over macadamia #mylk. So the dairy industry is leaning on marketing. Recently it ran a splashy ad featuring Aubrey Plaza. A few years ago it launched an #UndeniablyDairy campaign (the hashtag has 216M views on TikTok), and had MrBeast tour a virtual dairy farm in “Minecraft.” The ’90s “Got Milk” campaign famously stalled dairy’s decline, and Hailey Bieber recently wore a “Got Milk” shirt on Insta, jus’ sayin’. Junk Snacks Unpacked: The junk-fee crackdown A banking battle is underway as financial regulators crack down on “junk fees.” On Tuesday, regulators [ordered]( [Bank of America]( to pay $250M+ in fines and customer repayments for violations including double-dipping on fees, withholding credit-card perks, and opening accounts without customers’ consent. - Junk fees = additional charges, often not clearly stated, that are usually tacked on at the end of a transaction (think: airline seat selection fees, resort fees at hotels). - Double-dipped: In the case against BoA, these fees included $35 overdraft charges that could occur several times on one transaction if a merchant resubmitted a request for payment. Regulators say the bank stopped the illegal practices in 2021-22. - Trend alert: The moves against BoA are significant, but they pale in comparison to the $3.7B regulatory action brought against [Wells Fargo]( in December over overdraft fees and other violations. Last fall, watchdogs slapped [Regions Bank]( with a $191M fine over surprise fees. By the numbers: - 27% of checking-account holders are regularly hit with fees, costing them $288/year on average. - 85% of Americans have encountered junk fees, a 2019 survey said. - 90%: the drop in revenue from overdraft and insufficient-funds fees that BoA saw when it slashed these penalties in early ’22. What else we're Snackin' - [Ouch]( EU regulators hit [Illumina]( with a record $476M fine for completing its acquisition of cancer-testing startup Grail without approval. EU and US regulators have been cracking down on mergers. - [File]( A gov’t investigation said tax-prep titans including [H&R Block]( sent taxpayers’ info (like: filing status, income) to [Google]( and [Meta]( for years, citing “reckless” data handling. Experts said the fallout could be a “mortal blow” for some companies. - [Musky]( As if Elon Musk needed another company to run, he launched another company. xAI's goal is to “understand the true nature of the universe,” with more deets expected in a Twitter Spaces tomorrow. - [Decline]( Your “team coffee chat” is pricier than cold brew. [Shopify]( embedded a cost calculator in employee calendars to help avoid pointless meetings. A 30-min sync with three people can cost up to $1.6K. - [Coined]( A majority of crypto investors in a survey said they wanted regular financial disclosures from digital-asset projects. The SEC has argued that many tokens are securities that lack proper disclosures. 🍪 Thanks for Snacking with us! Want to share the Snacks? Invite your friends to sign up [here](. Snack Fact Of the Day The US has nearly 1B square feet of empty office space [Read more]( Thursday - Earnings expected from Cintas, Conagra, Delta, Pepsi, and Progressive Authors of this Snacks own shares of: Delta, Google, Uber, Shopify, and Yum! Brands Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate... [See more]( [Sherwood Terms and Conditions]( • [Our Editorial Principles]( • [Contact Us](mailto:hellosnacks@sherwoodmedia.com) • [Privacy Policy]( • [Advertise with us](mailto:advertising@sherwoodmedia.com) [Unsubscribe](