Tuesday Jan.25, 2022

☕ Starbucks as an insurance perk

Auditioning to be the Taco Bell Business School mascot [Patricia Marroquin/Moment via Getty Images]
Auditioning to be the Taco Bell Business School mascot [Patricia Marroquin/Moment via Getty Images]

Hey Snackers,

Looking for a tomato-ey taste of what it’s like to be royal? Queen Elizabeth is said to be releasing a line of condiments, and a small bottle of Her Majesty’s ketchup could be yours for £7 ($9.50).

Stocks fell sharply and then rallied for the second afternoon in a row, but the Dow still closed slightly lower and the tech-heavy Nasdaq slumped 2.3%. Pfizer launched the first study testing an Omicron-specific vaccine in people, while the IMF cut this year’s global growth forecast as recovery slows in the US and China.

Grande

Insurance giants offer perks like Starbucks discounts and Prime subs for safe driving

Going 50 in a 30… Forget the free cold brew. Safe drivers can now earn discounts at Starbucks through a data-sharing deal between life insurer John Hancock and car insurer Allstate. Hancock customers already earn discounts on life insurance, Starbucks lattes, and Amazon Prime subs for making healthy lifestyle choices. Think: getting 10K steps in or eating kale. Now they’ll also get perks for driving safely.

  • Different datasets: Hancock uses health data from Apple Watches and Fitbits to inform life-insurance prices, and Allstate uses driving data from GPS systems to help set car-insurance prices.
  • But safer drivers don’t just crash less… they also live longer. That’s why Hancock is incentivizing its life-insurance customers to enroll in Allstate’s tracking program to earn rewards for not speeding.
  • Win-win: Both insurers hope to gain access to each other’s customers by giving them more ways to earn rewards.

Surveillan-surance… is becoming more popular as data collection gets easier. In 2018, Hancock became one of the first major US life insurers to use personal health data to set all its prices. Today many insurers like United Healthcare, Oscar Health, and CVS-owned Aetna also use interactive systems to track and reward customers for risk-reducing behaviors. Like: jogging or getting a mammogram.

There’s a trade-off between savings and privacy… Data-tracking programs let Hancock customers save money on insurance premiums and lattes. But those savings come at a cost — in some cases nearly constant surveillance. Critics of data-driven-pricing programs worry they could be problematic for other insurers too. Think: health insurers denying coverage to people with preexisting conditions. As connected devices increase, so will the prevalence of consumer data.

Crunch

Taco Bell opens a business school, because the most in-demand ingredient is retention

Welcome to Taco B-school... where an MBA comes with a CGC (Cheesy Gordita Crunch). Taco Bell is launching a business school for aspiring franchisees in partnership with the University of Louisville. The six-week boot camp will train existing Taco Bell managers on financing, HR, marketing, and other topics related to running a business. TB employees who are accepted will receive scholarships to cover tuition, plus some enviable Taco B-school swag.

  • Most of Taco Bell's 7K locations are franchised, aka: owned by ordinary people or orgs. Taco Bell sells the rights to use its brand (as long as the gorditas are crunchy, no one knows who owns it). Franchise owners give TB a cut of their sales.
  • The new program will be supported through the Yum Center for Global Franchise Excellence, which aims to unlock opportunities for underrepresented communities through education on the business of franchising.
  • KenTacoHut: TB's parent, Yum Brands, also owns KFC and Pizza Hut. Yum shares are up 18% over the past year as drive-thrus + fried foods = pandemic comfort.

Taco baseball cap... T-Bell isn't the only chain to start a school for employees: McDonald's Hamburger University has been training managers and franchisees for 60 years, and California staple In-N-Out runs a university for new managers.

  • While fast-food jobs are often seen as stepping-stones to other careers, TB wants to show restaurant leaders “how their careers could flourish” at Taco Bell.

There’s nothing tastier than retention… because internal marketing has never been more important. The Great Resignation is real: US job openings soared during the pandemic as workers quit for greener pastures, while employers dangled wage hikes and benefits like free college tuition to attract flighty labor. The restaurant industry still hasn’t recovered the 650K jobs lost early in the pandemic. Benefits like educational development could be the difference between shuttered chains and a thriving business.

What else we’re Snackin’

  • Independent: Intel plans to build Earth’s largest chip manufacturing plant on US soil, as the global chip shortage continues disrupting supply chains and President Biden pushes for increased domestic production.
  • Sue-gle: Google was sued by four attorneys general over misleading users about when their locations were being tracked — while profiting from the alleged deception by using the data to fuel its ad biz.
  • Cron: American restaurants are asking Congress for more grant $$, as indoor dining has fallen since Omicron hit. The $28.6B in aid that lawmakers extended last year reportedly saved 900K jobs.
  • Crisis: As concerns mount over a Russian invasion of Ukraine, the US and EU are preparing to respond with sanctions. Since Europe conducts more trade with Russia, it would be hit harder economically than the US.
  • Depart: Kohl’s stock surged 36% yesterday as the struggling department store flirted with takeover offers from suitors. PE firm Sycamore is reportedly willing to pay a big premium on the shares.

Tuesday

  • Earnings expected from: Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, Verizon, Texas Instruments, American Express, General Electric, 3M, Lockheed Martin, Capital One, and Alaska Air

Authors of this Snacks own: Bitcoin, and shares of Apple, Starbucks, CVS, Microsoft, and Google

ID: 2005618

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