Bankrupt Red Lobster is getting rid of Endless Shrimp — and bringing back a menu classic Endless Shrimp became a viral sensation. But it spelled trouble for the restaurant chain

In early September, just days after Brian Niccol had stepped into his role as the new chief executive officer at Starbucks, he published an open letter addressed to all the coffee chain’s partners, customers and stakeholders acknowledging two major truths about the brand: The first is that Starbucks, with its nearly 16,500 United States locations, is “woven into the fabric of people’s lives” and the communities they serve; the second is that, in its effort to grow and expand (and explore the limits of what a frappuccino cup can hold), Starbucks doesn’t quite feel like Starbucks anymore.

“There’s a shared sense that we have drifted from our core,” Niccol wrote. “We have an opportunity to make the store experience better for our partners and, in turn, for our customers.”

For anyone who has visited a Starbucks, especially a pick-up-only location, recently, Niccol’s words likely ring true — and are certainly reflected by customers on social media. One post on X, formerly Twitter, from late October, reads: “Starbucks going from a genuinely nice place to sit and read or hang out to a high octane, clamouring production warehouse for pickup and drive-thru orders is one of the hardest hospitality fumbles of all time.”

In his letter, Niccol said some customers still experience the magic of “connection and joy, and of course great coffee” at their US-based locations, but sometimes Starbucks isn’t delivering. “It can feel transactional, menus can feel overwhelming, the product is inconsistent, the wait too long or the handoff too hectic,” he wrote. “These moments are opportunities for us to do better.”

He continued: “Today, I’m making a commitment: We’re getting back to Starbucks. We’re refocusing on what has always set Starbucks apart: a welcoming coffeehouse where people gather, and where we serve the finest coffee, handcrafted by our skilled baristas. This is our enduring identity. We will innovate from here.”

Now, nearly two months into Niccol’s tenure at Starbucks, and following a disappointing quarterly earnings report, it’s starting to become more clear what exactly getting back to Starbucks looks like for the company — and it likely involves way more Sharpies than one might initially suspect.

As reported by CNBC, Starbucks's same-store sales fell for the third consecutive quarter, and this quarter’s 7% decline in same-store sales was the company’s steepest drop since the COVID-19 pandemic. “Our fourth quarter performance makes it clear that we need to fundamentally change our strategy so we can get back to growth and that’s exactly what we are doing with our ‘Back to Starbucks’ plan,” CEO Brian Niccol said in a statement.

His plan has four main components:

Empowering Starbucks baristas to take care of their customers

“We’ll make sure our baristas have the tools and time to craft great drinks every time, delivered personally to each customer,” Niccol wrote in his overview of the “Back to Starbucks” plan. “For our partners, we’ll build on our tradition of leadership in retail by making Starbucks the best place to work, with career opportunities and a clear growth path.”

One of the key ways Niccol said he plans on supporting baristas is by simplifying the chain’s now-expansive menu and introducing “customization guardrails” to streamline the ordering process. Currently, Starbucks says there are about 170,000 possible drink combinations available to Starbucks customers, but outside estimates have put the number at more than 300 billion. (And, as Inc. editor at large Bill Saporito wrote in the New York Times a couple weeks ago, “The person in front of you always seems to be ordering 100 million of them.”)

Starbucks baristas have consistently raised the alarm about how the number of possible drink customizations, which many customers select through the chain’s digital app for online ordering, has clogged their workflow and resulted in additional labour. Simplifying the menu, especially going into the holidays, is one way to address those concerns.

Get the morning right, every morning

“People start their day with us, and we need to meet their expectations,” Niccol wrote. “This means delivering outstanding drinks and food, on time, every time.”

One of Niccol’s main goals is ensuring customers are hand-delivered by a barista within four minutes of ordering, a metric the chain only meets on half of its orders. “When you start to use that metric, you quickly discover where our stores have a real problem,” Niccol said. “We’re going to be maniacal about getting after it.”

Again, simplifying the menu is one place to start, though according to the Associated Press, Niccol said the chain is also looking into how stores are staffed during peak hours. The chain will also stop charging customers extra for non-dairy alternatives and will return the condiment bar, which had been removed during the pandemic, to stores.

Reestablishing Starbucks as the community coffeehouse

For decades, Starbucks founder Howard Schultz positioned the coffee chain as a “third place,” where customers could spend time drinking coffee, listening to music and socializing. However, in recent years, Starbucks has turned its attention to crafting mobile orders and accommodating delivery — a strategy that was only further cemented during the pandemic.

However, Niccol said it is time for the business to get back to offering a better experience to customers who want to linger for a while

“We’re committed to elevating the in-store experience — ensuring our spaces reflect the sights, smells and sounds that define Starbucks,” he wrote. “Our stores will be inviting places to linger, with comfortable seating, thoughtful design and a clear distinction between ‘to-go’ and ‘for-here’ service.

According to CNBC, Starbucks is contemplating bringing back ceramic mugs for dine-in beverages, as well as returning to stocking physical newspapers. In another return to tradition, baristas will also go back to writing customers’ names on their cups, as opposed to printing off stickers. It’s a personal touch Niccol believes will make a difference. That is, once the company stocks back up on Sharpies.

“I thought the number I heard was something like close to 200,000 Sharpies we’ve got to track down,” Niccol said in an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as just going to the Staples and picking up some Sharpies.”

Telling their story

“It’s time for us to tell our story again — reminding people of our unmatched coffee expertise, our role in communities and the special experience that only Starbucks can provide,” Niccol said. “We won’t let others define who we are.”

One of the ways the company is doing this is by returning to, as Quartz put it, “old-fashioned TV ads to turn things around.” According to the publication, customers can expect to see “lively ads that showcase the efforts of agronomists, master roasters and the baristas whipping up the beverages.”

“It reminds customers across age groups that Starbucks serves the best coffee,” Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol, told investors during the company’s earnings call on Oct. 30.

Red Lobster is making big changes to its menu as part of its restructuring after filing for bankruptcy. Gone is the popular Ultimate Endless Shrimp deal, but the seafood chain is introducing new dishes and bringing back a fan favourite.

As for the Endless Shrimp, it’s no more. The promotion, which debuted during the pandemic to boost foot traffic, quickly became a viral sensation. But behind the scenes, the deal spelt trouble. On Today (CMCSA+0.67%), Adamolekun jokingly stated, “I know how to do the math,” hinting that the deal cost the company more than it was worth.

Once available every day, the promotion was eventually scaled back to just Mondays. Ultimately, it resulted in long wait times, overstretched kitchens, and what some employees described as pure “chaos.” While the deal isn’t returning anytime soon, Adamolekun left the door open for a potential comeback down the road.

Looking ahead, Red Lobster plans to simplify its menu by focusing on items that allow for better food preparation and faster service. “I want to lower the check,” Adamolekun said, “but giving people options is more important.”

Red Lobster, which filed for bankruptcy in May, isn’t planning to close any more locations. Instead, it’s investing in infrastructure and technology, with up to $60 million dedicated to a “brand refresh.” Part of these changes will be incremental, Adamolekun notes, adding that customers will soon notice the adjustments in lighting, music, and decor. These upgrades will “transport diners to somewhere new,” he told Today.

The New York Times (NYT.N), opens new tab Tech Guild is ending a week-long strike that started one day before the U.S. presidential election and will return to work on Tuesday, it said in a post on X on Monday.

More than 600 tech workers of NYT, including software engineers, designers and product managers, had gone on a strike amid stalled contract negotiations over pay and job security, planning daily protests during the crucial election day period.

Negotiations between the guild and the publisher have not progressed since the strike began, the spokesperson for the New York Times said in an email response.

"We look forward to continuing to work with Tech Guild to reach a fair contract that takes into account that they are already among the highest-paid individual contributors in the company," the spokesperson said.

The Tech Guild has been in contract negotiations with NYT for more than two years.

"We clearly demonstrated how valuable our work is to The New York Times, especially on election night, and showed that we have the full support of subscribers and allies across the country going forward," said Kathy Zhang, Tech Guild unit chair.

Collapsed cryptocurrency company FTX is suing Binance and its former CEO Changpeng Zhao, alleging that $1.8 billion was "fraudulently transferred" by FTX management to Binance and its executives.

The lawsuit relates to Binance's sale of its stake in Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX, which it acquired in 2019 but then negotiated to sell back to FTX in July 2021.

According to the lawsuit, FTX's Alameda Research division directly funded the share repurchase using tokens which had a then fair market value of $1.76 billion. Alameda, the lawsuit alleges, was insolvent at the time of buying the shares and could not therefore afford to fund the transaction and it should not have been allowed to proceed.

"By this lawsuit, the Plaintiffs seek to recover, for the benefit of FTX’s creditors, at least $1.76 billion that was fraudulently transferred to Binance and its executives at the FTX creditors’ expense, as well as compensatory and punitive damages to be determined at trial," the administrators for the FTX estate said in a filing made on Sunday in the U.S. state of Delaware.

A Binance spokesperson said: "The claims are meritless, and we will vigorously defend ourselves."

Zhao, known as "CZ", could not immediately be reached for comment.

The lawsuit is the latest battle between FTX and Binance.

FTX was one of the largest cryptocurrency firms in the world before it collapsed in late 2022.

Arch-rival Binance, then led by Zhao, was set to come to its rescue and buy FTX's non-U.S. unit as it struggled to stay afloat in November 2022, before Binance withdrew its offer.

FTX founder Bankman-Fried was sentenced in March this year to 25 years in prison for stealing $8 billion from customers. He has appealed the conviction.

Zhao was sentenced to four months in prison earlier this year, after pleading guilty to violating U.S. laws against money laundering at the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange.

Yum! Brands' (YUM.N), opens new tab KFC has sued Church's Texas Chicken in federal court, accusing the rival fast-food chain of violating its trademark rights in the phrase "Original Recipe."

KFC told the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, opens new tab on Friday that its competitor's use of the phrase in ads for its fried chicken is likely to confuse customers.

Spokespeople for Church's did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the complaint on Monday.

"On behalf of all fried chicken lovers out there, we take it personally when another company tries to claim our iconic taste and branding as their own," a KFC spokesperson said. "We remain committed to protecting our brand's intellectual property and safeguarding the experience of our customers."

KFC has been using "Original Recipe" to advertise its chicken's secret blend of herbs and spices since 1972, according to the complaint.

KFC said that Atlanta-based Church's began using "Original Recipe" in its marketing in late September. The complaint cited Church's ads for its chicken legs and thighs that say "Our Original Recipe Is Back."

The complaint said that KFC sent a letter to Church's representatives last month expressing concern that the ads will confuse consumers and "undoubtedly have the effect of diminishing the distinctive quality and value of KFC's famous marks."

Church's has not responded to the letter, KFC said.

KFC asked the court for an unspecified amount of monetary damages and an order blocking Church's from using the phrase.

The case is KFC Corp v. Church's Texas Chicken, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, No. 4:24-cv-01000.

For KFC: Joseph Petersen, Craig McDougal and Christin Jones of Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton

For Church's: attorney information not yet available

“America First” is returning to the world stage. Donald Trump’s election victory heralds a revival of his nakedly transactional approach to foreign policy and trade. That will further erode global principles and make the United States a less reliable ally. Its friends in Europe and Asia may then hedge their bets, ultimately strengthening its rivals China and Russia.

The president-elect’s first stint in the Oval Office showed that he cares little for rules and alliances but has a fondness for autocrats. More recently he has called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “genius” for invading Ukraine and described Chinese President Xi Jinping as “brilliant, opens new tab” for controlling his people with an “iron fist”.

Trump has also said he would encourage Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” with those members of the NATO defence alliance that do not spend enough on defence. And he has promised to impose 10% tariffs on imports, even from friendly countries.

A relatively benign interpretation of these statements is that Trump still values these partnerships but is making threats to get better deals from allies on defence and trade. Robert O’Brien, who was U.S. national security advisor during Trump’s first term, argues, opens new tab that the president-elect would secure “peace through strength” by a robust foreign policy.

“Washington’s friends would be more secure and more self-reliant, and its foes would once again fear American power. The United States would be strong, and there would be peace,” O’Brien wrote in Foreign Affairs in June.

The snag is that Trump seems happy to throw his weight around to get a better deal even if that means bullying partners. He does not believe in the rules-based order, where principles govern international relations and trade. O’Brien calls it a “fictional abstraction”.

As a result, allies in Europe and Asia will trust the United States less and view it as an unreliable partner. They will look for alternative ways to protect themselves in a world where might matters more than right.

EUROPEAN DANGERS

Ukraine has the most to fear from Trump’s election. He may bully President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to accept a bad peace deal with Russia by threatening to cut off arms supplies unless it agrees terms.

The president-elect has said he could end the war in 24 hours, though he has not said how. His running mate, JD Vance, suggested, opens new tab that a deal could involve Kyiv giving Moscow the territory it currently illegally occupies and a guarantee that Ukraine would not become a member of NATO.

A bad peace deal in Ukraine would undermine the European Union’s defences by strengthening Russia. But Trump’s second term will also pose a broader challenge to the bloc as tariffs would hit its members’ already weak economies.

A shaded map showing aid given to Ukraine by various European countries as a % of GDP

EU countries would ideally close ranks, invest more in their own defence, and provide more aid to Ukraine so it could keep fighting if the United States cut it off. But there is little chance that the EU, which has weak powers over foreign and defence policy, will do anything so bold. Some of the same nationalistic sentiments that helped Trump win are buoying right-wing political parties in Europe, many of whom are sympathetic to Russia. That makes it hard to agree on common action at the European level.

What is more, Germany and France, the EU’s two leading powers, are in the midst of political crises. Add in the fact that many governments have weak finances and it is hard to see Europe coming together strongly in the face of geopolitical threats.

It is more likely that each country will seek to put together a patchwork of deals. Some will seek to curry favour with Trump, some will cosy up to Putin and some will try to do both.

China will exploit these divisions. It will argue that Europe should make common cause with it on trade if both face U.S. tariffs. And it will do the same on fighting global warming if Trump carries out his threat to once again pull the United States out of the Paris climate agreement.

ASIAN RISKS

Xi will be looking for any opportunity to advance his ambition to incorporate Taiwan into China. He might interpret pressure by Trump on Ukraine as a sign that the United States would also do little to defend Taipei, especially as the president-elect has accused Taiwan of “stealing” the U.S. semiconductor industry.

Other American friends and allies in the Asia-Pacific region are already nervous about Trump’s return. Any weakness towards Taiwan would make them doubly so. Japan and South Korea will be less sure that the United States would defend them if China decided to bully them. As a result, they may seek to build their own nuclear weapons.

Meanwhile the Philippines, which has been shifting towards the United States partly to protect itself from Chinese aggression in the South China Sea, may in future be reluctant to antagonise Beijing. Vietnam, which has also been edging towards Washington, could conclude this was no longer wise. Even India, which became closer to the United States after a border dispute with China, has been repairing its relationship with the People’s Republic.

An area chart showing total ASEAN exports to China and the US from 2014 to 2023

If China was able to dominate countries in its neighbourhood, it would establish itself as the undisputed hegemon of East Asia. If its close ally Russia was at the same time able to bludgeon Ukraine into a bad deal, the two powers would collectively have a strong position throughout Eurasia.

China argues that the United States is in decline. This is not entirely true. While it no longer dominates the global economy as it did in the 1960s, its long-term prospects may be better than those of the People’s Republic and its demographics certainly are.

But these are not the only reasons the United States is the world’s most powerful nation. Since World War Two, it has invested in a global network of alliances and the rule of law. If Trump imperils these, he may find that putting “America First” fulfils the prophecy of American decline.

China's Baidu Inc (9888.HK), opens new tab unveiled a slew of new applications for its artificial intelligence technology on Tuesday, including a text-to-image generator and a tool that enables users to develop software applications without coding expertise.

The country's leading search engine company is among tech firms shifting their focus to the commercialization of large language model (LLM) applications after nearly two years of heavy investment in research and development in models that they tout as alternatives to OpenAI's GPT.

At the annual Baidu World Conference, CEO Robin Li introduced I-RAG, a text-to-image technology that leverages Baidu's search capabilities to address the "hallucination" issue, referring to the generation of images that deviate from the input text or contain non-existent elements.

Li said the company's Ernie platform now handles 1.5 billion user queries and interactions daily, a significant increase from the 200 million daily requests reported in May.

These interactions include tasks such as generating text, answering questions, and assisting with various applications utilizing AI.

Baidu's commercialization efforts have largely revolved around its AI agents, which allow users to create their own applications.

The company has also integrated the technology into its existing product lineup and offering it to external users via its cloud services.

Baidu also unveiled a pair of glasses featuring a built-in AI assistant, developed by it hardware division, Xiaodu. The gadget is equipped with cameras to capture photos and videos and supports voice interactions powered by Ernie.

The company is not aiming to create a "super app" based on AI, Li said, signalling a divergence in strategy from other companies such as ByteDance, which has launched multiple standalone AI apps this year.

Baidu also introduced Miaoda, which utilizes its LLM capabilities to generate code, allowing users to develop software applications without extensive coding expertise.

Bitcoin stood on the verge of $90,000 on Tuesday, riding a wave of euphoria since the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president on expectations his administration will be crypto friendly.

The world's biggest cryptocurrency has become one of the most eye-catching movers in the week since the election and touched $89,637 in Asia - a gain of more than 25% since Nov. 5.

It is surging along with Elon Musk's automaker Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab, which is up nearly 40% since voting results rolled in as investors figure Trump's friends and interests will do well while he is in office.

"Obviously (it's) a clear Trump trade as he is so supportive of the industry, and this can only mean more demand both for crypto stocks as well as the currencies themselves," said Nick Twidale, chief market analyst at ATFX Global in Sydney.

"The fact that bitcoin was trading near all-time highs when the election result came through meant that it had clean sky above."

Trump embraced digital assets during his campaign, promising to make the United States the "crypto capital of the planet" and to accumulate a national stockpile of bitcoin.

It is not clear how or when that could happen but the possibility drove a speculative surge in crypto mining and trading stocks.

"I think it increases the chances that other nation states buy bitcoin in a bid to front run the U.S.," said Matthew Dibb, chief investment officer at cryptocurrency asset manager Astronaut Capital.

"Additionally I think it would be a crazy catalyst for the U.S. listed Bitcoin miners ... given possibilities of such entities getting nationalised."

Crypto miner Riot Platforms jumped nearly 17% on Wall Street overnight and rose further in after-hours trade. Fellow miners MARA Holdings (MARA.O), opens new tab and CleanSpark (CLSK.O), opens new tab leapt nearly 30%.

Software company and investor in bitcoin MicroStrategy (MSTR.O), opens new tab announced it had spent about $2 billion buying bitcoin between Oct. 31 and Nov. 10. Shares rose 26% and were still gaining in after-hours trade.

The euphoria extended across the crypto landscape with smaller tokens such as ether and even one-time joke currency dogecoin having surged.

Crypto investors see an end to increased scrutiny under U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler whom Trump has said he will replace. Trump also unveiled a new crypto business, World Liberty Financial, in September.

"What we're seeing isn't just a price milestone; it's a signal that the market is warming to the idea of bitcoin as a more stable, even politically favoured, asset," said Justin D'Anethan, head of Asia-Pacific business development at digital assets market maker Keyrock.