Matthew Boyle

Walmart’s focus on women — spurred by a class-action gender discrimination lawsuit — left Black men and women on the outside looking in, according to a half-dozen African-American former associates who worked at Walmart’s headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas. These people, who requested anonymity as some still live there and all fear retribution for criticizing the nation’s largest employer, depicted an environment where promising Black staffers repeatedly failed to break into the company’s… Show more

Walmart’s focus on women — spurred by a class-action gender discrimination lawsuit — left Black men and women on the outside looking in, according to a half-dozen African-American former associates who worked at Walmart’s headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas. These people, who requested anonymity as some still live there and all fear retribution for criticizing the nation’s largest employer, depicted an environment where promising Black staffers repeatedly failed to break into the company’s officer ranks, while White women gained, buttressed by a strong career-development network. Show less

It’s called the “Minnesota Paradox”: the clash of progressive images and racial divides that roils the Gopher State. The puzzling phenomenon also exists at Target, whose downtown Minneapolis headquarters lies a short drive from the spot where George Floyd died at the hands of the police.

The retail giant wants to grab a share of the $3.6 trillion in health spending by leveraging its 150 million weekly shoppers.

The Amazon threat has forced the stodgy grocery industry to experiment with smart carts, dynamic price tags and in-store delivery warehouses.

The privately held, family-run chain based in Rochester has only 98 stores scattered across six eastern states, fewer than Walmart operates in New York state alone. But it punches well above its weight, combining the product breadth of a Walmart, the quality of a Whole Foods, and the quirkiness of a Trader Joe’s.

Wal-Mart overhauled its campus recruiting program this year to lure more applicants from top-flight colleges: students who typically juggle offers from Google and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Historically, Wal-Mart found most of its entry-level executives at state schools within a day’s drive from its headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas.

Long known for squeezing its vast network of suppliers, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is about to step up the pressure. The focus this time is delivery scheduling, and the company’s not messing around. Two days late? That’ll earn you a fine. One day early? That’s a fine, too. Right on-time but goods aren’t packed properly? You guessed it -- fined.

Wal-Mart is the biggest U.S. grocer. If it wants to sell a cantaloupe off-season that tastes as sweet and juicy as in summer -- and keeps it a step ahead of discount competitors nipping at its heels -- it gets to. The retailer teamed up with seed experts at German agriculture giant Bayer AG to help develop a bespoke melon that’s pleasing to the palate but still tough enough for the trek from warmer climes.

Marc Lore and his management team are in charge of Wal-Mart’s entire domestic e-commerce operation, overseeing more than 15,000 employees in Silicon Valley, Boston, Omaha, and its home office in Arkansas. They were assigned perhaps the most urgent rescue mission in business today: Repurpose Wal-Mart’s historically underachieving internet operation to compete in the age of Amazon.

Carlos Brito says the company he runs resembles the bottles of beer it sells, in one important way: The contents are under pressure. Now, Brito -- a millionaire who wears jeans to work, eschews an office and prefers flying coach -- has embarked on his biggest move, a $106-billion deal to buy SABMiller Plc.

Peter Harf is first among equals in a trio of executives who manage the $14 billion fortune of Austria’s Reimann family. The closely held investment firm Harf runs as senior partner, Luxembourg-based JAB Holding Co., widely known as JAB, is plotting a massive challenge to Switzerland’s Nestle SA in the global coffee industry.

Vodka distillers who sought to win customers with flavors from marshmallow to cupcake saw the experiment backfire as consumers tired of the tastes. That hasn’t stopped whiskey producers from trying the same trick.

Dunkin’ Donuts is a household name in the U.S., yet across most of Europe, the 64-year-old coffee and pastry chain is largely unknown. The business has more than 150 European stores out of 11,000 worldwide, but that doesn’t come close to what company executives say is the great untapped potential to entice svelte Europeans to their flavored coffees and glazed breakfast treats. Europe accounts for only 1 percent of the company’s $9.3 billion in sales. So Dunkin’ Donuts is now in major expansion… Show more

Dunkin’ Donuts is a household name in the U.S., yet across most of Europe, the 64-year-old coffee and pastry chain is largely unknown. The business has more than 150 European stores out of 11,000 worldwide, but that doesn’t come close to what company executives say is the great untapped potential to entice svelte Europeans to their flavored coffees and glazed breakfast treats. Europe accounts for only 1 percent of the company’s $9.3 billion in sales. So Dunkin’ Donuts is now in major expansion mode, with plans to open an additional 1,150 outlets from Leeds in the north of England to Bulgaria and Georgia in Eastern Europe. Show less

RumChata, a combination of the Latin favorite horchata, dairy cream, and rum, sits in the profitable eye of a perfect trend storm: Hispanic flavors are hot; rum-infused tiki cocktails are in; and consumers are looking for simple yet novel drinks to mix for themselves at home

Ben & Jerry’s support of the Vermont's GMO labeling law -- a swirl of savvy public relations, financial backing, and grass-roots activism -- pits the ice cream maker against the world’s biggest food companies, including its own corporate parent. Unilever has openly opposed state efforts to legislate GMO labeling, throwing money into campaigns to defeat an initiative in California. But it has quietly allowed Ben & Jerry’s to assert itself as a vocal proponent of such laws, especially in Vermont.

The Oxford-educated Noah Bulkin, 37, spent 15 years cutting deals as a mergers & acquisitions banker for Merrill Lynch and Lazard Ltd. before leaving last year to start his own pub company, Hawthorn Leisure Ltd. He’s acquired hundreds of struggling pubs and plans to turn them around by tracking everything from the price charged for beer to daily sales fluctuations to customers’ drink preferences.

Nestle’s Institute of Health Sciences, a research arm of the world’s largest food company, is developing tools to analyze and measure people’s levels of dozens of essential nutrients. The goal is to offer supplements tailored to an individual’s needs, possibly through a device not unlike its Nespresso machine -- though that could take many years to develop.

Brazilian dogs are different from canines in Britain or the U.S., Purina says, and it’s spent the past two years designing kibble to prove it.

Costco Wholesale Corp., Safeway Inc. and Whole Foods Market Inc. now sell hemp, which is on the cusp of a breakthrough thanks to easing cultivation bans and the food industry’s hunger for nutritious plants. Even the stoner stigma is slowly abating as hemp gets recognized for its ability to deliver protein, rather than psychoactives.

After years of peddling sugar, salt and fat, companies in the $1 trillion food industry are on a protein binge to capture the health-conscious consumers whose distaste for conventional packaged foods has resulted in anemic growth for household staples like Kellogg’s cereals and Campbell’s soups. Enter pulses, a branch of the legume family that includes dried peas, beans, chickpeas and lentils and brings a health-food halo via protein without the fat and cholesterol associated with animal… Show more

After years of peddling sugar, salt and fat, companies in the $1 trillion food industry are on a protein binge to capture the health-conscious consumers whose distaste for conventional packaged foods has resulted in anemic growth for household staples like Kellogg’s cereals and Campbell’s soups. Enter pulses, a branch of the legume family that includes dried peas, beans, chickpeas and lentils and brings a health-food halo via protein without the fat and cholesterol associated with animal products. Traditionally sold only in the health-food aisle, they have found their way into Newman’s Own pretzels, Barilla pasta, Post cereal, even Triscuit crackers. Show less

As consumers turn away from the supermarket freezer -- two- fifths of U.S. adults say frozen dinners have little nutritional value, according to researcher Mintel -- sales of Lean Cuisine have dropped by more than a quarter in the past five years.

Paul Polman, the head of margarine maker Unilever, has demonized butter in the past, saying the
dairy fat “kills.” With sales of the company’s spreads sagging, he is now embracing it. Here's why.

What happens to the food industry when one out of three Americans say they're cutting back on gluten, the stretchy protein that's become the latest dietary bogeyman.

Boomers have trillions in spending power, yet marketers still don't know how to reach them. Here's why.

This is what happens when brand marketers don't place limits on social media campaigns.

From the markets of Southeast Asia to the aisles of American supercenters, Unilever, the Anglo-Dutch maker of household staples such as Dove soap and Lipton tea, has accelerated its sales growth, new-product development, and presence in emerging markets over the past three years while many of its rivals in the $7 trillion consumer-goods sector, Procter & Gamble in particular, are struggling amid the prolonged economic downturn.

Remember Jordache jeans? Today Jordache Enterprises is the very model of corporate diversity. It includes commercial real estate, hotels and resorts, nightclubs, food manufacturing, renewable energy, an airline, and, of course, the fashion business that started it all. A rare look inside the Nakash family, founders of the Jordache empire.

While Franklin & Marshall College may not have the cachet of Yale University in the eyes of most Americans, for trendy European teens the Pennsylvania liberal arts school easily trumps the Ivy League icon.

Wal-Mart, for decades a paragon of logistics, now needs to hire consultants to help keep its shelves stocked. This was the first story to chronicle Wal-Mart's struggles with out-of-stock products, which has only gotten worse since then.

How Subway transformed the $5 footlong sandwich from gimmicky promotion into a fast-food colossus.

A day with Jim Sinegal, the Merchandising Maestro who gets shoppers to buy 2,250-count packs of Q-Tips and mayo by the drum.