Latest news with #SalesDecline
Reuters
4 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Jack in the Box CEO says Hispanic consumers pulling back spending over 'uncertainty'
Aug 7 (Reuters) - Hispanic consumers in Jack in the Box's (JACK.O), opens new tab core markets "face uncertainty and have pulled back their spending," with the issue having an outsized impact on the U.S. fast-food chain's sales, its CEO said. Same-store sales for Jack in the Box declined 7.1% in the third quarter ended July 6. The company also reported a decline of 2.6% in same-store sales for another taco chain it owns, Del Taco. Jack in the Box CEO Lance Tucker, speaking on an earnings call on Wednesday, separated the pullback of Hispanic consumers from other trends, such as a drop in spending by lower-income consumers that he said was "well in line with industry trends" Tucker said the proportion of Hispanic consumers at Jack in the Box, which has core markets in Texas, California and the U.S. Southwest, is twice as high as some major competitors. Tucker did not specify the "uncertainty" he believes Hispanic consumers are facing. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have been intensifying efforts in recent months to deliver on Republican President Donald Trump's promise of record-level deportations. Rita Fernandez, director of immigration policy at UnidosUS, which describes itself as the largest Latino civil rights group in the country, said many migrants have been withdrawing from public life. "Jack in the Box is a favorite destination and dining choice for many Hispanics," she said, but "a day laborer who is undocumented maybe isn't going to take that lunch break at Jack in the Box if he doesn't know if he'll encounter ICE on the way." Tucker said the pullback in spending from Hispanic consumers has been "pretty consistent" since the beginning of the year. Trump's second term began in January. The timeline is consistent with what Wingstop CEO Michael Skipworth said last week, when he said areas with a high proportion of Hispanic and low-income consumers have had weaker demand since the beginning of the year.
The Independent
17-07-2025
- Automotive
- The Independent
Jaguar Land Rover cutting up to 500 UK jobs as Trump's trade tariffs bite
Luxury car maker Jaguar Land Rover is axing up to 500 management jobs in the UK amid pressure on sales due to trade tariff woes. The Tata-owned firm said around 1.5 per cent of its UK workforce would be affected by the job cuts, which are going as part of a voluntary redundancy programme for managers in the UK. A spokesperson for Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) said: 'As part of normal business practice, we regularly offer eligible employees the opportunity to leave JLR through limited voluntary redundancy programmes.' It comes after JLR revealed last week that retail sales plunged 15.1 per cent in the three months to June after a temporary pause in exports to the US and the planned wind-down of older Jaguar models. The company said the significant fall in sales was partly driven by the pause in shipments to the US in April after President Donald Trump's administration introduced new tariff plans. In April, the US government said it would launch an additional 25 per cent tariff on car imports into the US, in an effort to encourage more car production within the country. However, the US and UK have since agreed a deal which would see a lower 10 per cent tariff applied to the first 100,000 UK-manufactured cars imported into the US each year. UK cars imported to the US beyond this threshold will however face a 27.5 per cent tariff. JLR halted new shipments to the US in April but restarted exports in early May amid hopes that a trade deal for the sector would be struck. The car firm saw wholesale sales in North America drop by 12.2 per cent year-on-year after the pause. But wholesale sales in the UK were also heavily down – tumbling 25.5 per cent in the second quarter – after the planned wind-down of older Jaguar models. Jaguar stopped selling new cars in the UK late last year as it shifts its production to new electric models, which are set to go on sale in 2026.
The Independent
11-07-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Breakfast cereal sales declined for decades before Kellogg's sale to Italian company
Breakfast cereal could use a lucky charm. U.S. sales of the colorfully packaged morning staple have been in a decades-long decline, a trend back in the spotlight with news that Italian confectioner Ferrero Group plans to purchase the American company that makes Kellogg 's Corn Flakes, Froot Loops, Rice Krispies and other familiar brands. Except for a brief period during the coronavirus pandemic, when many workers were home and had time to sit down with a bowl of cereal and milk, sales of cold cereal have steadily fallen for at least 25 years, experts say. In the 52 weeks ending July 3, 2021, Americans bought nearly 2.5 billion boxes of cereal, according to market research company Nielsen IQ. In the same period this year, the number was down more than 13% to 2.1 billion. Cereal has been struggling for multiple reasons. The rise of more portable options like Nutri-Grain bars and Clif Bars – which both went on sale in the early 1990s – made it easier for consumers to grab breakfast on the go. Concerns about food processing and sugar intake have also dimmed some consumers' enthusiasm for cereals. One cup of Lucky Charms contains 24% of a consumer's daily recommended intake of sugar, for example. 'Cereal finds it really hard to get out from underneath that,' said Tom Rees, global insight manager for staple foods at the consulting company Euromonitor. 'It can't escape the fact that it doesn't look like a natural food. You have to create it and form it.' Rees noted that for decades, cereal manufacturers focused on adding vitamins and minerals to build cereal's health credentials. But consumers now are looking for simplified ingredient lists. Artificial dyes — like the petroleum-based colors that brighten Froot Loops — have also come under fire. Last fall, dozens of people rallied outside WK Kellogg's Battle Creek, Michigan, headquarters demanding that it remove artificial dyes from its cereals. Kellogg and General Mills — another major U.S. cereal maker — have since pledged to phase out artificial dyes. Add to that, consumers are expanding their idea of what breakfast can be. Yogurt and shakes have replaced the traditional bacon and eggs. Kenton Barello, a vice president at the market research firm YouGov, said his polling shows that Generation Z consumers, who were born between 1997 and 2007, eat more vegetables for breakfast than other generations. Barello said YouGov's polling also shows that members of Gen Z are less likely to eat breakfast but still buy ready-to-eat cereal, suggesting they're eating it as a snack or for other meals. 'With younger generations, there are differences in their relationship with food and these eating moments,' Barello said. 'They are going about breakfast in a different way than Millennials, Gen X and Baby Boomers.' Cereal's struggles are part of what led to the breakup of the Kellogg Company. In 2023, the century-old company that put Battle Creek, Michigan, on the map split into two companies. Kellanova took popular snack brands like Cheez-Its, Pringles and Pop-Tarts as well as international cereals, and WK Kellogg made cereals for the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean. In 2024, M&M's maker Mars Inc. announced a plan to buy Kellanova for more than $30 billion. That plan has cleared U.S. regulators but is still awaiting regulatory approval in Europe. WK Kellogg was left to try to rejuvenate the cereal business. The sale of WK Kellogg to Ferrero doesn't mean supermarket cereal aisles are at risk of extinction. Packaged food companies have options for turning around their soggy cereal sales, Rees said. He thinks Kellogg's Mashups line, which mixed brands like Frosted Flakes and Froot Loops into one box, appeal to younger consumers, who tend to like interesting flavor combinations. The market may also have a fragmented future, according to Rees. Companies may have to accept that younger buyers want a sweet-and-spicy cereal while older buyers might want a Keto-friendly option. 'The future might be realizing that the era of 'This brand will serve everybody' isn't going to happen,' Rees said. Julia Mills, a food analyst with the consulting company Mintel, thinks the shrinking population of children in the U.S. gives cereal makers the opportunity to shift to more sophisticated flavors and packaging. Cereal could be positioned as a fancy topping for yogurt, for example, or a fiber-rich food that can improve gut health. Some niche cereal brands, like high-fiber Poop Like a Champion cereal and high-protein, zero-sugar Magic Spoon, are already doing that. But legacy brands say they shouldn't be counted out. Jeffrey Harmening, the chairman and chief executive officer of Cheerios maker General Mills, said his company considered trying to acquire Magic Spoon. Instead, it made high-protein versions of Cheerios, which now outsells Magic Spoon. 'The key to longer term is, honestly, is giving consumers more of what they want,' Harmening said during a conference call with investors in March.
