Ford issued the recall because high voltage battery main contactors may overheat from DC fast-charging and repeated wide-open pedal events, which could result in an immediate...

Sam's Club's same-store sales growth has outstripped that of Costco in the second quarter of this year, according to Bloomberg. Read More 

Three people have died in Washington state after becoming infected with listeria bacteria found in milkshakes sold at a burger restaurant, health officials say. 

The Washington State Department of Health says the foodborne outbreak responsible for the deaths and three hospitalizations originated with bacteria present in “all milkshake flavors” sold at a Frugals location in Tacoma. 

“Investigators found listeria in the ice cream machines, which were not cleaned correctly. No other Frugals restaurants are believed to be affected,” the department said in a statement. “The restaurant stopped using its ice cream machines Aug. 8, but listeria can sicken people up to 70 days later.” 

FOX Business reached out to Frugals, which has five locations in Washington and three in Montana, for comment on the deaths. 

NEW JERSEY CLOSES 27 BOSTON MARKETS AFTER FINDING ‘VIOLATIONS OF WORKERS’ RIGHTS,’ $600K IN WAGES OWED 

Although most people avoid serious illness after eating food contaminated with listeria, the department is warning those who “are pregnant, aged 65 or older and those with weakened immune systems [to] call their health care provider if they ate a Frugals’ Tacoma milkshake between May 29 and Aug. 7, 2023, and have listeria symptoms.

“People who are not pregnant usually have a fever, muscle aches and tiredness. They may also get a headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance or seizures,” health officials said. “Those who are pregnant usually have a fever, muscle aches and tiredness. However, listeria can cause pregnancy loss or premature birth. It can also cause serious illness or death in newborns.” 

TACO BELL CUSTOMER CLAIMS ‘PAY-IT-FORWARD’ SCAM LED TO CONFRONTATION THAT LEFT HER ‘SCARED’ 

The Department of Health also said, “Genetic fingerprinting of bacteria in the milkshakes shows it’s the same strain of listeria that hospitalized six people between Feb. 27 and July 22 (five people in Pierce County and one person in Thurston County).” 

All six people impacted by the outbreak had conditions that made their immune systems weaker, and two of those who survived said they had Frugals milkshakes prior to becoming sick, health officials added. 

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS

The CDC describes listeriosis, which Washington officials say the people suffered from, as a “serious infection usually caused by eating food contaminated with the bacterium listeria monocytogenes.” 

“An estimated 1,600 people get listeriosis each year, and about 260 die,” it says on its website. 

Read More 

Fast-food dining rooms are changing as companies embrace new technology to automate tasks and speed up production. But industry experts argue that they won’t necessarily disappear. 

Companies today are already experimenting with new restaurant formats that better adapt to consumer demands for fast and convenient service. 

For instance, Chick-fil-A is testing out two new concepts in Atlanta and New York that are geared toward mobile ordering. One concept is a pick-up-only service where customers order and pay online before picking up their food. The other concept uses an elevated kitchen that sends orders to a four-lane mobile order drive-thru underneath. 

CHIPOTLE ROLLS OUT ‘AUTOCADO,’ A ROBOT TO HELP MAKE GUACAMOLE FASTER

Taco Bell began experimenting with a similar format that also involved a four-lane drive-thru and elevated kitchen. 

Last summer, Panera tested out its first “Panera To Go” restaurant format, a digital-only bakery-cafe, as it continues to invest in “the digital guest experience” from in-cafe kiosks, rapid pick-up as well as drive-thru pick-up. 

ORDERING FAST FOOD? A ROBOT MAY TAKE THE ORDER, WHETHER YOU KNOW IT OR NOT

Meanwhile, Wendy’s is automating its drive-thru ordering with generative artificial intelligence and also piloting robot delivery. CKE Restaurant Holdings, owner and operator of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, partnered with OpenCity’s AI proprietary voice-ordering platform at select restaurants in the U.S.

The pandemic isn’t what spurred the change, although it did accelerate it. 

“The convenience driver that moves consumers off-premises has become more and more important as the years have passed, and operators have been focused on this channel for its growth potential,” Hudson Riehle, the National Restaurant Association’s senior vice president of research, told FOX Business. 

“When the pandemic disrupted consumer dining habits, accelerating their comfort levels with technology and electronic payments, it made off-premises an even more important factor for restaurant growth,” Riehle added.

Today, over half of adults – about 66% – say they are more likely to order takeout from a restaurant than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered in-person dining, according to the National Restaurant Association. 

MCDONALD’S UNVEILS A TEXAS TEST RESTAURANT WITH DRIVE-THRU FOOD CONVEYOR BELT

Consulting firm McKinsey & Company said a “digital revolution is changing the way business is done.” The firm even went as far as to say that “restaurant companies that are slow to adapt to these developments could be left behind.” 

However, Marbue Brown, a customer experience executive and founder of The Customer Obsession Advantage, argued that some dining spaces will remain relevant, depending on the type of food it serves and the experience the restaurant offers. 

Brown told FOX Business that Buffalo Wild Wings, a casual restaurant and sports bar chain, is a good example of that. 

“You’re going to have a shared experience watching sports [and] interacting with people. That dining room is serving a certain kind of purpose,” he noted. 

GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE

Similarly, Starbucks is often used as a spot where students come together to hand out and do homework together, he added. 

“In a lot of the fast-food scenarios these days, dining rooms are not serving the same kind of purpose,” as they once were, according to Brown. 

For instance, McDonald’s used to serve as a great place for play dates, since some used to have playgrounds attached to the dining space, Brown added. 

Although some dining spaces may slim down or take on a new layout, Brown doesn’t see them going away completely. Rather, he expects that there will be more of a hybrid model. 

Amas Tenumah, founder of Better Xperience Group and former vice president of operations of Wonderful Brand, told FOX Business that “the dining room is not going anywhere.”

“Instead, don’t expect to have humans man them,” he said, adding that “our future is going to be more humans interacting with machines.” 

Read More 

Few can resist the lure of a pumpkin spice latte (PSL) in autumn.

This fall, Starbucks is celebrating the 20-year anniversary of the creation of the beverage that changed the way the world sees pumpkin-flavored drinks.

Since its launch in October 2003, the PSL has become Starbucks’ most popular seasonal beverage, with hundreds of millions of cups sold in the last two decades, according to the coffee chain.

PUMPKIN IS BACK: DUNKIN’ ANNOUNCES ITS NEW FALL MENU

FOX Business spoke with one of the original PSL creators, Peter Dukes, about how the last 20 years have turned into a pumpkin spice takeover.

“This idea of pumpkin was something that just didn’t exist,” the global growth and concepts director said. 

Before the PSL hit the market, Dukes said most food stores carried a limited selection of pumpkin products.

Those products included pumpkin purée, which is used to make pumpkin pie and other baked goods.

“Walk down a grocery aisle now, and you can see the entire aisle on both sides filled with pumpkin spice products,” he said. 

STARBUCKS CHANGES ICE FOR DRINKS, SPARKING DEBATE

Before the pumpkin spice craze, Starbucks focused on leveling up its menu with unique items after seeing successful peppermint mocha sales during the 2002 holiday season.

Pitching to a consumer group, the coffee chain presented several new beverage ideas — including a pumpkin latte, which scored low for likelihood to sell but high for uniqueness.

Dukes and about six other Starbucks colleagues then brainstormed ways to elevate the pumpkin beverage, experimenting with a slice of pumpkin pie and a shot of espresso.

DUNKIN’ SPIKED PRODUCTS TO LAUNCH IN 12 STATES: ‘GROWING APPETITE FOR ADULT BEVERAGES’

“Literally, we took some espresso, just poured it on the pumpkin pie and then tasted it,” he said. 

“Just to get a sense of what the flavors are like when you mix pumpkin pie and espresso.” 

Based on taste-testing sessions at their Seattle, Washington, headquarters, the team knew that curating a pumpkin “sauce” would best mimic the flavor profile of a heavier-bodied pumpkin pie.

The sauce, which includes real pumpkin, would complete the recipe for what Starbucks dubbed the “pumpkin spice latte.”

The seasonal drink launched on Oct. 10, 2003, in 100 Starbucks stores between Washington, D.C., and Vancouver, B.C.

There was “immediate excitement” from customers and store workers, Dukes reported.

STARBUCKS PROFITS BEAT ESTIMATES, SHARES DIVE ON OUTLOOK

“We knew by the second day that we had a winner by picking up the phone and talking to the store managers [and] hearing the excitement in their voices,” he said.

Each season moving forward, the PSL’s popularity grew, escalating with the emergence of social media in 2008.

In 2014, Starbucks released the official @therealPSL Twitter account, which today has more than 82,000 followers on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Customers including celebrities and content creators began posting on Instagram, Twitter, Vine and other platforms to share their PSL love.

The rage for the fall flavor has made “pumpkin spice” a household name. 

It was even added to the dictionary by Merriam-Webster in September 2022. It defines it as “a mixture of usually cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and often allspice that is commonly used in pumpkin pie.”

“If you asked anybody in that room if pumpkin spice was going to become an entire industry … nobody would have guessed that,” Dukes said, referring to the Starbucks latte creation. 

“It’s been kind of cool to see it take off.”

What has stuck with PSL fans is the drink’s representation of fall, Dukes suggested.

GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE

“I love the fall time period,” he said. 

“It’s a fleeting time period where you get the fall leaves turning colors, the weather turning, football is back, kids are back in school … [The PSL] packages all of that in a cup.”

The drink continues to be a fan-favorite due to the combination of a love for fall and the unique taste profile, Dukes said.

Starbucks’ competitor Dunkin’ announced its fall drink lineup last week, including its Pumpkin Spice Signature Latte, Nutty Pumpkin Coffee and Pumpkin Swirl.

Also, General Mills announced that it’s “bringing all the fall vibes” with new products and “the return of bestsellers like Pumpkin Spice Cheerios and Pillsbury Pumpkin Spice Grands.”

Now, with 20 years in the rearview mirror, Dukes gave a shout-out to the Starbucks colleagues who accompanied him at their “liquid lab” to create the iconic drink.

READ MORE FROM FOX BUSINESS

“It takes a team effort, for sure,” he said. “Congratulations! Look what we’ve all done.”

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER

Dukes hinted to FOX Business that this won’t be the last of Starbucks’ new and seasonal menu hits.

“Innovation is in our DNA at Starbucks,” he said. “Who knows what’s next?”

Read More