Target ain’t exactly hurting is our point here — its average customer makes ~23 trips per year, spending ~$50 each time; sales topped $107B last year.

Yet we grimaced when we learned about Target’s growing inventory loss problem.

How much are we talking here?

Last fiscal year, the retailer saw $763m in “shrink”: loss of inventory, whether by accident or a deliberate act like shoplifting, fraud, or cargo theft.

CEO Brian Cornell expects Target’s inventory losses to balloon beyond $1B this year.

• It’s not just Target — Walmart, Walgreens, and Home Depot also recently lamented theft increases.

What’s changed?

Organized retail crime is up. (Or, in Target parlance, up & up.)

“It’s not people shoplifting an individual item for personal use,” National Retail Federation president Matt Shay told CNBC. Stores, he said, are fighting “sophisticated” networks stealing throughout the supply chain — on docks, trucks, and railways, as well as in stores.

Efforts to limit secondary markets for stolen goods are underway; a law goes into effect next month requiring US online marketplaces to verify high-volume sellers.

It’s easy to blame criminals, but…

… retailers must also look inward; investing in loss prevention can, y’know, prevent losses — yet 68.5% of retailers do not have teams fighting against organized retail crime.

Perhaps that’s because external theft only accounted for 37% of lost inventory last year — employee theft (28.5%) and process failures (25.7%) were other major culprits.

Back to Bullseye: Listen, we’re not saying he’s running a crime syndicate, but does anyone else have a presence in all ~2k Target stores? Just saying, it’s a little suspicious.

2) The Bitcoin faithful haven’t reached the moon yet, and it appears there are fewer folks who have faith that’ll happen soon. With the price of Bitcoin down to $26.8k from its 2021 high of ~$69k, 12k+ people gathered at the Bitcoin 2023 conference in Miami Beach to talk shop, down from 25k+ in 2022.

3) Esports industry investors may need to press pause and reconsider their gaming strategy. Esports group FaZe Clan, which went public on the Nasdaq last year, laid off 40% of its employees and risks delisting if it can’t get shares back above $1. Meanwhile, America’s biggest esports league saw a 32% dip in spring season viewership compared to 2021.

4) In its chase for domestic dominance, JPMorgan Chase has opened branches in 25 new states and DC since 2018, and now boasts ~4.8k branches nationwide. (For context, Bank of America claims 3.9k branches.) JPMorgan’s expanding footprint matches its outsized role in US banking — it’s responsible for 13%+ of deposits and 21% of credit card spending.

2) The Bitcoin faithful haven’t reached the moon yet, and it appears there are fewer folks who have faith that’ll happen soon. With the price of Bitcoin down to $26.8k from its 2021 high of ~$69k, 12k+ people gathered at the Bitcoin 2023 conference in Miami Beach to talk shop, down from 25k+ in 2022.

3) Esports industry investors may need to press pause and reconsider their gaming strategy. Esports group FaZe Clan, which went public on the Nasdaq last year, laid off 40% of its employees and risks delisting if it can’t get shares back above $1. Meanwhile, America’s biggest esports league saw a 32% dip in spring season viewership compared to 2021.

4) In its chase for domestic dominance, JPMorgan Chase has opened branches in 25 new states and DC since 2018, and now boasts ~4.8k branches nationwide. (For context, Bank of America claims 3.9k branches.) JPMorgan’s expanding footprint matches its outsized role in US banking — it’s responsible for 13%+ of deposits and 21% of credit card spending.

OK, great pep talk. Now get out there and submit some cover letters!

If you’ve pursued white-collar work lately, there’s a good reason why your head’s always looking for a good wall to smack itself against: The market is brutal, per The Wall Street Journal.

Remember the friendly post-pandemic hiring market?

That’s been pretty well-obliterated in many industries, including real estate, finance, and tech. It’s a simple case of supply and demand:

• Supply is down: US job postings have dropped by ~500k since 2022.
• Demand is up: The market’s flooded with experienced candidates following two layoff-packed years — tech firms alone have shed ~363k roles since last year.

The result?

Competition. So much competition. AT&T, for one, said its applicants per posting have nearly doubled YoY.

Employers are realizing they once again get to be picky as hell.

• Companies are taking longer to make their picks, per WSJ, with hiring now averaging 11 weeks, up from seven weeks in 2021.
• That’s taking its toll on candidates, who’ve seen the norm increase from one or two interview rounds to an average of three to four.

In other words, if it isn’t going great for you out there, it isn’t necessarily on you.

By the way…

The WSJ highlighted an applicant who completed nine rounds of interviews only to have the company ghost her.

Prospective employers, need a quick etiquette refresher? We pulled together this handy guide:

• Candidate completes one interview: Not OK to ghost.
• Candidate completes two or more rounds: Not OK to ghost.

That’s it. Hope this helps.

Target ain’t exactly hurting is our point here — its average customer makes ~23 trips per year, spending ~$50 each time; sales topped $107B last year.

Yet we grimaced when we learned about Target’s growing inventory loss problem.

How much are we talking here?

Last fiscal year, the retailer saw $763m in “shrink”: loss of inventory, whether by accident or a deliberate act like shoplifting, fraud, or cargo theft.

CEO Brian Cornell expects Target’s inventory losses to balloon beyond $1B this year.

• It’s not just Target — Walmart, Walgreens, and Home Depot also recently lamented theft increases.

What’s changed?

Organized retail crime is up. (Or, in Target parlance, up & up.)

“It’s not people shoplifting an individual item for personal use,” National Retail Federation president Matt Shay told CNBC. Stores, he said, are fighting “sophisticated” networks stealing throughout the supply chain — on docks, trucks, and railways, as well as in stores.

Efforts to limit secondary markets for stolen goods are underway; a law goes into effect next month requiring US online marketplaces to verify high-volume sellers.

It’s easy to blame criminals, but…

… retailers must also look inward; investing in loss prevention can, y’know, prevent losses — yet 68.5% of retailers do not have teams fighting against organized retail crime.

Perhaps that’s because external theft only accounted for 37% of lost inventory last year — employee theft (28.5%) and process failures (25.7%) were other major culprits.

Back to Bullseye: Listen, we’re not saying he’s running a crime syndicate, but does anyone else have a presence in all ~2k Target stores? Just saying, it’s a little suspicious.

OK, great pep talk. Now get out there and submit some cover letters!

If you’ve pursued white-collar work lately, there’s a good reason why your head’s always looking for a good wall to smack itself against: The market is brutal, per The Wall Street Journal.

Remember the friendly post-pandemic hiring market?

That’s been pretty well-obliterated in many industries, including real estate, finance, and tech. It’s a simple case of supply and demand:

• Supply is down: US job postings have dropped by ~500k since 2022.
• Demand is up: The market’s flooded with experienced candidates following two layoff-packed years — tech firms alone have shed ~363k roles since last year.

The result?

Competition. So much competition. AT&T, for one, said its applicants per posting have nearly doubled YoY.

Employers are realizing they once again get to be picky as hell.

• Companies are taking longer to make their picks, per WSJ, with hiring now averaging 11 weeks, up from seven weeks in 2021.
• That’s taking its toll on candidates, who’ve seen the norm increase from one or two interview rounds to an average of three to four.

In other words, if it isn’t going great for you out there, it isn’t necessarily on you.

By the way…

The WSJ highlighted an applicant who completed nine rounds of interviews only to have the company ghost her.

Prospective employers, need a quick etiquette refresher? We pulled together this handy guide:

• Candidate completes one interview: Not OK to ghost.
• Candidate completes two or more rounds: Not OK to ghost.

That’s it. Hope this helps.

Whether you’ve flipped sizzling beef over a Korean barbecue, crunched down on a tangy piece of kimchi, or basked in the warm steam wafting off a bibimbap bowl, the experience is captivating. 

What you might not know, though, is that your meal likely came with a heaping side of government funds. 

In 2009, the South Korean government launched the $40m Korean Cuisine to the World campaign with the goal of improving South Korea’s global reputation through its food.  

In the years to come, the government would spend millions of dollars opening Korean restaurants abroad, developing and standardizing recipes, and working to make South Korea a culinary destination for international tourists.

But can food really help elevate a country’s reputation? And how much further can South Korea push its food campaigns?  

Diplomacy on the menu

Gastrodiplomacy, a term first coined by The Economist in 2002, happens when governments try to increase the value and knowledge of their nation through food. 

Though the term was born in the 21st century, the tactic can be traced back to the Greeks and Romans inviting their adversaries to the table to break bread, drink wine, and settle arguments. 

Much later, President Richard Nixon’s attempt at using chopsticks in China led to a rise in Peking duck on American menus, while a dessert served in a shoe during a meal between Israeli and Japanese prime ministers caused an uproar. 

“Food’s universal importance makes culinary diplomacy effective everywhere in the world,” wrote Sam Chapple-Sokol in The Hague Journal of Diplomacy. “A government can rely on the friendlier aspects of its image to appeal to foreign governments and populations.”

Nixon gives “chopstick diplomacy” a try in 1972. (National Archives)

Those friendlier aspects of a nation’s culture can be a welcome reprieve from the usual, more forceful tactics countries use to gain power, such as military or political agendas. 

“You don’t reach people through rational information. You reach them through emotional, trans-rational connections that come through music, food, art, dance, and culture,” Paul Rockower, a leading expert in gastrodiplomacy, told The Hustle.

Reaching people in this way is known as “soft power,” or a country’s ability to accomplish its goals through positive attraction rather than through exerting force. Rather than coming directly from government actors, it’s born from their collaboration with cultural sectors. 

Thailand was the first country to launch a formal gastrodiplomacy plan with its 2002 Global Thai campaign.

The campaign hinged on making it as easy as possible to open Thai restaurants abroad: Templates were made for opening different types of restaurants — from fast-casual to high-end — and assistance was given with sourcing authentic Thai ingredients and obtaining visas for chefs. 

When the program was launched, there were ~5k Thai restaurants globally. Today, there are more than 15k. Thailand also saw steady growth in foreign tourists over the years, peaking pre-pandemic with 40m visitors in 2019 who spent a collective $56.7B.

After seeing the success of Thailand’s campaign, other countries followed suit: Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan, Peru, and the Philippines have launched official gastrodiplomacy efforts. 

As did South Korea, which executed one of the most impactful gastrodiplomacy campaigns yet and ignited a cultural movement. 

Kimchi meets the world

In the late 2000s, South Korea had a problem. Despite being home to international conglomerates like Hyundai and Samsung, and an acclaimed film scene, the general public didn’t realize many of the country’s leading cultural and business exports were Korean. 

The Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands Index, an indicator of a country’s popularity for investment and travel, ranked South Korea 33rd out of 50 countries.   

“The nation brand was being cannibalized by the Japanese brand,” said Rockower.

Then-president Lee Myung-bak, a former CEO of Hyundai Engineering & Construction, was bothered by South Korea’s lack of recognition. He set a goal to move up to 15th place on the index by 2013. 

And Lee decided the quickest way to get there was through the world’s stomachs.

He vowed to expand the country’s international culinary footprint through a ~$40m campaign. Among his goals:

• Increasing the number of overseas Korean restaurants from 10k in 2007 to 40k by 2017
• Opening 100 top-tier Korean restaurants around the world by 2017
• More than doubling agricultural and seafood exports, from $4.4B in 2008 to $10B by 2012

The campaign got to work immediately. In 2009, the country registered gochujang (red pepper paste), doenjang (soybean paste), and ginseng with the Codex Alimentarius Commission, an international organization that oversees food safety standards and guidelines that can elevate knowledge of listed foods. As of 2021, South Korea has established six Codex standards. 

While Rockower says gastrodiplomacy is a long-term tactic that takes years to show results, rankings and lists can serve as short-term outcomes that prove the efficacy of a country’s campaign. They can also help assert countries as “foodie” destinations in the eyes of tourists and the media. 

And more projects followed: 

• First lady Kim Yoon-ok served Korean food to US Korean war veterans in 2009
• Researchers investigated whether a Korean diet would be an effective weight-loss tool for Westerners in 2012 (it wasn’t)
• In 2013, Kimjang — the practice of making and sharing kimchi — was added to UNESCO’s list of Intangible Heritage 

The country’s officials realized one traditional dish could best elevate its brand: kimchi, a salted and fermented vegetable dish made most commonly with cabbage. 

The government created the World Institute of Kimchi in 2009. The institute’s mission was (and still is) simple: to drive the growth of the kimchi industry through technological development and to establish “the status of South Korea as the mother country of Kimchi.”

American media coverage of kimchi (via assorted newspaper clippings) 

The campaign was boosted by giant South Korean companies and smaller grassroots efforts. 

• CJ Foodville, one of the largest food producers in South Korea, launched Bibigo, a fast-casual chain that also sells products in grocery stores and online. CJ Foodville’s parent company now accounts for 40% of the US dumpling market and sold $508m of Bibigo dumplings around the world in 2020, $318.5m of which came from the US alone. 

• The Bibimbap Backpackers — a group of five 20-somethings sponsored by the Korean government and CJ Foodville — traveled to 15 countries over 255 days in 2011, cooking Korean food and teaching locals about Korean cuisine. 

• Similarly, the Kimchi Bus promoted Korean heritage through the craft of making kimchi in 34 countries around the world, covering 80k kilometers. 

South Korea’s campaign also coincided with important food trends unfolding in America. 

Korean tacos topped with kimchi took off in 2008 when chef Roy Choi started his Korean taco truck, Kogi, in Los Angeles, home to the largest Korean population in the US. When the Kogi truck opened for business, it posted its location on Twitter and regularly drew lines of 300-800 people. 

Korean tacos from a Bay Area food truck. (Arnold Gatilao via Wikimedia Commons)

Around the same time, interest in functional foods and gut microbiomes led even more people to try kimchi. 

Driven in part by this proliferation of Korean products in the US, South Korea’s kimchi exports reached a record high of $159.9m in 2021. 

Surfing the Korean wave

While Korea’s food campaign was powerful, the kimchi did not stand alone. With an uptick in South Korean food came a rise in South Korean culture abroad. 

“That was the brilliance of South Korea’s gastrodiplomacy campaign,” says Rockower. “Suddenly you had Korean films, Korean music, Korean food, and the ubiquity of it helps create people who are more interested.”

Korean trends and exports are increasingly part of the international pop culture landscape, including:

• Korean beauty products (the market was valued at $8.3B in 2021)
• Netflix’s Squid Game (and the streaming service’s $2.5B investment in a Korean studio)
• The Oscar-winning film Parasite 
• Music, including K-pop (particularly popular are the groups BTS and Blackpink) and the 2012 hit song “Gangnam Style”
• Mukbang, a social media trend where people eat on camera 

An ultimate mashup of Korean culture and food occurred when musician Michelle Zauner’s book Crying in H Mart became a mainstay on bestseller lists in 2021 and 2022. (H Mart, an American supermarket chain specializing in Korean food, now has ~100 locations in the US.) The book will be adapted for film by Orion Pictures.  

Shoppers enter an H Mart in Irvine, California. (Nandaro via Wikimedia Commons)

While none of these cultural trends can be traced directly back to the original Korean Cuisine to the World campaign, each serves a pivotal role in building the country’s reputation and introducing its food to foreigners. 

“Food has come to the forefront of contemporary popular culture: star chefs, social media, TV, movies,” Fabio Parasecoli, a professor of nutrition and food studies at New York University, told The Hustle. “Gastrodiplomacy responds to a growing interest in food as a way to express cultural capital… to know the ins and outs of foreign cuisine is now a sign of culture and refinement.”

Hungry for more

Fourteen years later, the success of South Korea’s gastrodiplomacy is evident. Yet the country is still searching for something elusive: brand recognition. 

In 2018, a poll from the Korean Food Promotion Institute indicated ~88% of US residents were satisfied with Korean food but only ~63% were aware of it. Meanwhile, the Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brands Index (what the Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands Index is now called) ranked South Korea 23rd last year, several spots from its goal of 15th.     

Korean banchan (side dishes) at a dinner table. 

Last year, the Korean Food Promotion Institute noted Japan had branded its food as high-end, clean, and fancy, and Thailand had branded its cuisine as down-to-earth. 

“Korean cuisine, too, needs branding and an image for global prominence,” says a report from the Korean Food Promotion Institute. 

So, by the end of this year, the country intends to finalize a strategy to solidify its culinary brand. Consider it the next course of South Korea’s gastrodiplomacy.

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Australian strongman Troy Conley-Magnusson spun a 99.2k-pound Ferris wheel around with his bare hands this week in just under 17 minutes. Not bad. But is Troy emotionally strong? Also yes: He dedicated the feat to a late 11-year-old friend and used the platform to raise funds for a children’s charity. In today’s email: This food is stellar: Step into the Space Culinary Lab Thinking outside the boxes: People aren’t moving for new jobs like they used to Weekend Reads: Get yourself cozy for a hyperlink mosey Around the Web: A helpful friend, new in climate tech, how to make fairy butter, and more internet finds

The big idea

How to barbecue in outer space Space is tough. Design firm Nonfiction’s Space Culinary Lab solves for human food rituals in zero gravity. 2023-05-19T00:00:00Z Juliet Bennett Ryla

In space, no one can hear you “mmm” — over your algae snacks, that is. As part of the Deep Space Food Challenge — a competition hosted by NASA, the Canadian Space Agency, and the Methuselah Foundation to imagine cuisine for long space missions — future-focused design firm Nonfiction built a Space Culinary Lab. The California-based company considered not just the challenges of space — no gravity, limited room — but the pleasure we derive from eating. “Food is more than just shoving nutrients down someone’s throat,” Phnam Bagley, founding partner and creative director, told The Hustle. “You can have the best, most functional food in the world, but if people don’t want to eat it, they won’t eat it.” The Space Culinary Lab… … is the size of a large fridge. It has four components: An aeroponic microgreens garden. It floods seed pods with nutrients and water — and tending it potentially improves mental health. The algae snack system turns ultra-nutritious algae into tasty snacks that can be customized with nuts, spices, and more. A creaming machine, to emulsify mess-free smoothies, sauces, and foamy coffee drinks. “Starbucks [isn’t] popular because they serve you black sad coffee; it’s because there’s this whole variety of textures and flavors,” Bagley said. The space BBQ. Proteins are marinated in a carbohydrate solution (e.g., soy sauce, maple syrup), then a laser draws grill marks on them. The heat produces caramelization without an open flame. Why these things? Astronauts face radiation, isolation, and muscle mass and bone density loss, among other challenges. The first astronauts to reach Mars must remain mentally and physically fit while conserving resources and bringing everything they’ll need with them. Bagley advocates for “bringing our human nature to these extreme environments” — the ritual of morning coffee, the agency to flavor food to our preferences. Not only that, success out there bodes well down here. “One thing about space that I’ve really believed since I was a little girl is that it’s an accelerator of innovation,” she said. “If you know how to solve for extreme environments, then you’ll be able to help people on Earth with very limited resources.” For more: Listen to Bagley’s TED Talk here.

TRENDING

Sure to be an ongoing issue: A Texas A&M-Commerce professor attempted to fail several students after ChatGPT claimed credit for their papers. The problem? ChatGPT isn’t designed to identify AI-generated content. The university is now investigating.

CHART

Olivia Heller

Settling for settling? Job seekers’ relocation reluctance breaks records Moving for new jobs is at an all-time low. 2023-05-19T00:00:00Z Jacob Cohen

For a nation full of aspiring movers and shakers, we sure don’t seem to be interested in a whole lotta moving. Just take a look at the latest stay-tistics from business coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas’ recent quarterly survey: In Q1, just 1.6% of US job seekers relocated for new jobs, the lowest level on record. For reference, between 1986 and 1997, almost one in three job seekers (~29%) relocated for roles. As recently as Q4 of last year, 3.7% made a move. Throughout 2020, 5% did. Prior to the pandemic: 6.8%. Why they’re going nowhere fast Two words: Housing and WiFi. Rising interest rates have made relocating an unattractive option, and fewer companies are requiring employees to be in the office full time. Heck, forget leaving town, it’s hard enough getting people to leave their couches: For the first time since the pandemic started, average occupancy rates at city offices surpassed 50% in January… but have stayed put since. Kastle Systems, which monitors office key fobs, found that less than half of workers across 10 of the largest US cities made it into the office in the week ending May 10. BTW: Just one person working from home can have a downstream effect on a local economy, per WFH Research. In New York, local businesses are estimated to lose $4.6k annually per remote employee.

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In case you missed ‘em, here’s this week’s best… Tweet: That feeling when your boss spends an hour on constructive criticism but finishes it off with, “Otherwise, you’re doing great!” Story: Our deep dive into why Salvador Dalí is the most faked artist in the world, and how his legacy was thrown into disarray by an American investment myth. Video: Like finding a needle in a stack of 2x4s, carpenters are hard to find. Watch this clip nailing down why America has so few. Blog: Business doesn’t have to mean crunching numbers and tracking spreadsheets. With creative entrepreneurship, you can make a living doing what you love. Chart: Extra virgin is getting extra pricey, but in the meantime, olive oil startup drama is stirring on LinkedIn.

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As part of the Deep Space Food Challenge — a competition hosted by NASA, the Canadian Space Agency, and the Methuselah Foundation to imagine cuisine for long space missions — future-focused design firm Nonfiction built a Space Culinary Lab.

The California-based company considered not just the challenges of space — no gravity, limited room — but the pleasure we derive from eating.

“Food is more than just shoving nutrients down someone’s throat,” Phnam Bagley, founding partner and creative director, told The Hustle. “You can have the best, most functional food in the world, but if people don’t want to eat it, they won’t eat it.”

The Space Culinary Lab…

… is the size of a large fridge. It has four components:

• An aeroponic microgreens garden. It floods seed pods with nutrients and water — and tending it potentially improves mental health.
• The algae snack system turns ultra-nutritious algae into tasty snacks that can be customized with nuts, spices, and more.
• A creaming machine, to emulsify mess-free smoothies, sauces, and foamy coffee drinks. “Starbucks [isn’t] popular because they serve you black sad coffee; it’s because there’s this whole variety of textures and flavors,” Bagley said.
• The space BBQ. Proteins are marinated in a carbohydrate solution (e.g., soy sauce, maple syrup), then a laser draws grill marks on them. The heat produces caramelization without an open flame.

Why these things?

Astronauts face radiation, isolation, and muscle mass and bone density loss, among other challenges. The first astronauts to reach Mars must remain mentally and physically fit while conserving resources and bringing everything they’ll need with them.

Bagley advocates for “bringing our human nature to these extreme environments” — the ritual of morning coffee, the agency to flavor food to our preferences.

Not only that, success out there bodes well down here.

“One thing about space that I’ve really believed since I was a little girl is that it’s an accelerator of innovation,” she said. “If you know how to solve for extreme environments, then you’ll be able to help people on Earth with very limited resources.”

For more: Listen to Bagley’s TED Talk here.

Just take a look at the latest stay-tistics from business coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas’ recent quarterly survey:

• In Q1, just 1.6% of US job seekers relocated for new jobs, the lowest level on record.

For reference, between 1986 and 1997, almost one in three job seekers (~29%) relocated for roles. As recently as Q4 of last year, 3.7% made a move. Throughout 2020, 5% did. Prior to the pandemic: 6.8%.

Why they’re going nowhere fast

Two words: Housing and WiFi. Rising interest rates have made relocating an unattractive option, and fewer companies are requiring employees to be in the office full time.

Heck, forget leaving town, it’s hard enough getting people to leave their couches:

• For the first time since the pandemic started, average occupancy rates at city offices surpassed 50% in January… but have stayed put since.
• Kastle Systems, which monitors office key fobs, found that less than half of workers across 10 of the largest US cities made it into the office in the week ending May 10.

BTW: Just one person working from home can have a downstream effect on a local economy, per WFH Research. In New York, local businesses are estimated to lose $4.6k annually per remote employee.