The Daily Valet. - 4/27/20, Monday
✔️ Are We Going Meatless Soon?
Monday, April 27th Edition
I’m not baking bread during this quarantine, but I am eating a lot of bread. Does that count?
Cory Ohlendorf , Editor ⋯ @coryohlendorf
Today's edition is presented by
Today’s Big Story
Meatless Monday?
The U.S. could be weeks away from meat shortages
First, it was the hand sanitizer. Then toilet paper started flying off the shelves. Now, as several of the nation’s largest meat processing plants have been forced to temporarily close due to the COVID pandemic, meat producers are warning of potential shortages.
Tyson Foods, one of the biggest meat processors in the U.S., didn’t mince words in a full page New York Times spread that ran on Sunday, in which they warned, “the food supply chain is breaking.”
“As pork, beef and chicken plants are being forced to close, even for short periods of time, millions of pounds of meat will disappear from the supply chain,” John Tyson, Chairman of the Board of Tyson Foods, wrote in a letter published as an advertisement. “As a result, there will be limited supply of our products available in grocery stores until we are able to reopen our facilities that are currently closed.”
The first big poultry plants closed on Friday and almost a third of American pork capacity is already down, according to Bloomberg. While hundreds of plants across America are still running, the growing number of supply disruptions is raising serious questions over global shortages.
Meanwhile, prices are surging. U.S. wholesale beef touched on a record last week as wholesale pork soared 29%—the biggest weekly gain since 2012.
A spokesperson with the U.S. Department of Agriculture told Time that the USDA, together with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will work to “ensure the food supply chain remains safe and secure.” Of course, it’s hard to say for how long. Total American meat supplies in cold-storage facilities are equal to only about two weeks of production.
↦ FYI: The Kitchn has a handy guide on the best ways to freeze and thaw meat.
Gates Foundation Takes on COVID-19
Bill Gates has committed $250 million toward fighting the pandemic
Bill Gates expects his foundation to work “almost entirely” on the coronavirus pandemic, the Financial Times reports. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has worked on the eradication of HIV and malaria. But the Microsoft founder said the foundation has shifted much of that focus to work on the coronavirus.
The foundation has pledged a total of $250 million “to support development of diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines; and help mitigate the social and economic impacts of the virus.”
The ability for parts of the United States to safely and effectively begin to lift coronavirus restrictions will depend on the country's capacity to aggressively test for and trace new cases of the virus, Bill Gates told CNN Sunday.
“What we don't know is, if we go slightly back to normal, which activities create the risk of a rebound?” Gates said. “We need to put in place a very dense testing regime so you would detect that rebound quickly and not wait for the ICUs to fill up.”
↦ Dig Deeper: Gates writes in his Gates Note blog about the scientific advances we need to stop COVID-19.
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The Demand for Flour Reopened This 1,000-Year-Old Mill
It’s back in business for the first time in 50 years because of the quarantine bread craze
Baking has become a favorite hobby of the homebound, as cities around the globe ask residents to self-isolate. You've no doubt noticed a tweet or two.
Regular five-pound packages of flour have been selling out, so some stores—with access to massive 50-pound sacks usually sold to industrial-sized bakeries—have been packaging their own consumer-sized bags for customers, reports NBC News.
In fact, flour is in such short supply that a quaint flour mill in England, which produced flour for centuries before shutting down to be a full-time tourist attraction, has since started commercial production back up again.
According to Food & Wine, the owners thought that since there weren't any visitors on the horizon, that this would be a good time to re-embrace the mill's commercial production capabilities. In its first fully functional 10-day period, they milled a ton of wheat. As a result, it has already been able to deliver 200 three-pound bags of flour to local stores and bakeries.
↦ Go Deeper: I'll see your sourdough and raise you this cat-shaped loaf.
Kanye’s a Billionaire
Making him the second rapper ever (after Jay-Z) to achieve the financial milestone
Kanye West is now officially a billionaire, reports Forbes. When the publication's annual billionaires list appeared earlier this month without his name, West reached out—in a way only Kanye could.
He texted the Forbes team that he was hurt that he'd been snubbed: “You're toying with me and I'm not going take it anymore.” Then he directed his team to provide what Forbes felt is “an authentic numeric look into Kanye, Inc.”
Melodrama aside, it's no doubt that this guy has made serious money (I mean, he owns a tank and a 4,000-acre ranch). Forbes says Kanye is officially worth $1.3 billion, climbing out of a $50 million hole—a debt he himself admitted to in 2016.
His music and publishing rights are worth at least $90 million, but much of his net worth comes from the fact that he earns 11% royalty on all Yeezy revenue. Last year, that revenue topped $1.5 billion. And that wealth will surely only grow as the Yeezy brand continues its relentless growth in the lifestyle category.
↦ FYI: According to CNN, West says his actual net worth is $3.3 billion and he texted his contact at Forbes again, indicating they counted incorrectly.
In Other News
Other Things We’re Talking About Today
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Amazon’s Million Dollar Prefab Homes
They’re betting that modular can go mainstream
Prefab has long been the unattainable unicorn of architecture—the perfect marriage of high design, efficient building and affordability. Throw in some eco-consciousness and it all seems too good to be true, right?
Not if you ask Plant Prefab. With a combination of design star power, cutting edge tech and a vertically integrated business model, serial entrepreneur Steve Glenn thinks he's landed on the perfect formula.
Amazon seems to agree. According to Marker, the company is a major investor and is providing Plant with the very latest in voice technology to make these prefab homes as smart as they are stylish.
An Amazon spokesperson says they invested in Plant “because it’s created an easy way to build modern, energy-efficient, sustainable and connected custom homes that are more efficient and affordable than traditional homebuilding.” But my question is do they ship free with Prime?
What We’re Buying
While barbers are closed and you may be growing out a quarantine beard, you shouldn't let your other hygiene and grooming habits fall by the wayside. The Orijin Sponge is the greatest sponge you'll ever get for yourself. It's made from a fibrous perennial root that grows naturally in Asia and offers excellent exfoliation. This one is infused with charcoal and bamboo for their natural anti-microbial and pH-balancing properties. You can use it from head to toe and it won't crumble after excessive use. It's a small investment with a big payoff.
↦ Get It $19 at Huckberry
Today’s Deals
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Morning Motto
There are some upsides to the uncomfortableness.
↦ Follow: @furthermore
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