It may come as a surprise that Monster Beverage Corporation, which sells Monster Energy drink, is the best-performing U.S. stock in 30 years, even over tech giants such as Google, Apple, Nvidia and Microsoft. The company has been run by South African billionaires Hilton Schlosberg and Rodney Sacks since they acquired Hansen Natural in 1990. Monster, followed by main competitor Red Bull, is the leader in the $21 billion energy drink industry. Watch the video above to learn how an unassuming company came to have such wild success by focusing on marketing to audiences of sports such as UFC, MotoGP, Formula 1 and Nascar.
Food delivery is a booming business in 2024. There's one food delivery trend, however, that hasn't gone along for the ride: ghost kitchens.
Once a pandemic darling that raised more than $3 billion in venture funding, the ghost kitchen industry is falling short of lofty expectations. Euromonitor International estimated that the ghost kitchen industry could reach a market size of $1 trillion by 2030.
Big brands wanted a piece of the pie. Companies such as Wendy's, Ruby Tuesday, TGI Fridays and Wingstop all joined the wave of ghost kitchens."It is clear that the impact of ghost kitchens was overestimated," said Evert Gruyaert, restaurant food and service leader at Deloitte. "And we see that today with the decline in ghost kitchens."
Consumers complained about the clandestine nature of ghost kitchens, and food delivery apps shuttered thousands of the virtual kitchens. Then consumers shifted back to brick-and-mortar restaurants in droves, forcing investor pullback and mass closures of ghost kitchens.
Now the smaller businesses left in the industry are pivoting to a new business model to survive. Some hope to diversify the food business to expand to events and catering, not just delivery. One such business is New York City-based Nimbus Kitchen, a co-cooking space hoping to shed the negative connotation of ghost kitchens.
"Shared kitchens and co-cooking infrastructure like Nimbus is here to stay," said Camilla Opperman, Nimbus Kitchen co-founder. "We believe that the future of the industry is catering towards not only the delivery concepts, but to all of these different kinds of food businesses that ultimately need the kitchen space to legally sell to the end consumer."
Watch the video above to find out more about the rise, fall and future of ghost kitchens and if the business can pivot to return to its pandemic highs.
2023 saw slightly less enthusiasm among Singaporeans to invest in cryptocurrency. The Independent Reserve Singapore polled 1,500 people for its latest cryptocurrency index and found ownership slipped three percentage points from the year before. Nadirah Zaidi reports.
For troupes seeking good quality, attractive and lightweight lion heads for their performances, there is only one man they would trust – Henry Ng, who is believed to be the last remaining lion head maker in Singapore.
CNA is marking its 25th anniversary this month. We are taking the opportunity to look ahead to the next quarter century in Asia. Today's focus is business and work. Much has been said about the 21st century being the Asian century, with analysts saying the future is Asian.
Some of them project the region's share of global GDP will hit 52 per cent by 2050. The ADB describes Asia as being in the middle of a historic transformation and predicts that by 2050, its per capita income could rise six-fold in purchasing power parity terms to reach Europe’s current levels.
CNA is marking its 25th anniversary this month. We take the opportunity to look ahead to the next quarter century in Asia. Today's focus is on tech. Here's a look at China's long-term semiconductor ambitions and the new frontier of quantum computing.