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The Harry E. Reed Insurance Agency of Millinocket, Maine, is facing criticism for posting a racist sign on Juneteenth.
Yelp disabled users’ ability to post on the company’s page.
National insurer Progressive cut ties with the local affiliate.

Google Earth view of Reed Agency in Millinocket, Maine.
Google Earth

An insurance agency in Millinocket, Maine, is facing online backlash after a photo circulated on Facebook of a sign taped to the business’s door on Monday saying, “Juneteenth ~it’s whatever… We’re closed. Enjoy your fried chicken & collard greens.”
The image of the sign at the Harry E. Reed Insurance Agency, an affiliate of national insurer Progressive, was originally shared by a Facebook user named Alura Stillwagon, with the caption, “The racism in Millinocket is real.” The original post has been shared more than 100 times.

The insurance agency did not respond to CNBC’s requests for comment.
“I’m not angry. Anger gets you nowhere. I’m just deeply, deeply disappointed,” another Facebook user, Ken Anderson, commented on the post. “In this business, in the companies that let this business broker their products, and in the town of Millinocket, in the state of Maine, and the whole damn country. Deeply disappointed. Why? Because I know we can do better. But we’re not trying. And that’s the part that cuts deepest.”
For many businesses, Monday marked the observance of Juneteenth, a federal holiday that commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union Army soldiers arrived in Texas and announced the end of slavery to more than 250,000 Black people who remained enslaved even after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, according to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Since the image of the sign began circulating online, people have taken to online review site Yelp to condemn the insurance agency, prompting Yelp to disable users’ ability to post on the company’s page.
“This business recently received increased public attention resulting in an influx of people posting their views to this page, so we have temporarily disabled the ability to post here as we work to investigate the content,” an alert on the Harry E. Reed Insurance Agency’s Yelp page reads. “While racism has no place on Yelp and we unequivocally reject racism or discrimination in any form, all reviews on Yelp must reflect an actual first-hand consumer experience (even if that means disabling the ability for users to express points of view we might agree with).”

The agency received nearly 90 — largely one-star — Yelp reviews, with many posters condemning the insurance agency as “racist.”
Jeff Sibel, a spokesperson for Progressive, said in a statement, “We’re aware and appalled by the sign recently posted at the Harry E Reed Agency and are terminating our relationship with the agency.”

“At Progressive, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) are fundamental to our Core Values. We’re committed to creating an environment where our people feel welcomed, valued and respected and expect that anyone representing Progressive to take part in this commitment. The sign is in direct violation of that commitment and doesn’t align with our company’s Core Values and Code of Conduct,” Sibel said in a statement.
The chair of the Millinocket Town Council, Steve Golieb, released a statement Tuesday denouncing the sign.
“It is deeply saddening, disgraceful and unacceptable for any person, business or organization to attempt to make light of Juneteenth and what it represents for millions of slaves and their living descendants,” Golieb wrote. “There is no place in the Town of Millinocket for such a blatant disregard of human decency.”
President Joe Biden and the state of Maine each signed bills into law in June 2021 recognizing Juneteenth as a federal and state holiday.

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On August 15th VinFast, a Vietnamese electric-vehicle (EV) manufacturer, made its trading debut on the Nasdaq, an American stock exchange. It was quite the entrance: the company’s share price rocketed, pushing its market capitalisation from $23bn to $85bn. That is almost as much as Ford and General Motors, two giant American carmakers, combined, and seven times that of Vingroup, its parent company. On August 16th it fell a little, to $69bn.Investors are racing to get a stake in VinFast. The company is still a minnow in the EV business, but has big ambitions. In May Pham Nhat Vuong, the company’s founder and Vietnam’s richest man, said it hoped to sell 50,000 cars this year, up from 7,400 last. Although most of its vehicles are currently sold in Vietnam, it has its eyes set on the American market. Last month it broke ground on a factory in North Carolina, and has already begun selling imported vehicles in California, where it has 13 dealerships.The reviews have not been glowing. The VF8 model VinFast is selling in California is “simply not ready for America”, says Kevin Williams, an industry journalist. “Yikes,” is how Steven Ewing, another reviewer, titled his assessment of the car, citing a poor steering experience. At $46,000, it is not much, if any, cheaper than the entry-level models offered by rivals like Tesla, America’s EV goliath. A mere 128 VF8s were sold in America between February and May, according to Experian, a data-analytics firm. Even if VinFast achieves its lofty growth targets for the year, its valuation will continue to strain belief. It made a $2.1bn net loss last year, and has said it will break even, at the earliest, at the end of next year. AlixPartners, a consultancy, reckons EV makers need to produce around 400,000 cars a year before they start turning a profit. After that, the company would still have a long way to go before it caught up with the industry’s leaders. Last year Tesla sold 1.3m EVs. BYD, a fast-growing Chinese carmaker, sold 1.9m, around half fully electric and half plug-in hybrid.With a mere 1% of its shares put up for trading, VinFast’s lofty market valuation is vulnerable to rapid swings. Investors in the company may be in for a bumpy ride.■To stay on top of the biggest stories in business and technology, sign up to the Bottom Line, our weekly subscriber-only newsletter. More

A slew of fast-food chains, from McDonald’s to Taco Bell, have $5 meal deals to try to win back customers.
Runaway menu prices have scared away low-income consumers, and discounts may be the only way to get them back.
But investors are skeptical that the value meals will drive meaningful sales growth without eroding profits.

The McDonald’s logo is displayed at a McDonald’s restaurant in Burbank, California, on July 22, 2024.
Mario Tama | Getty Images

Subway started phasing out its $5 footlong sandwiches a decade ago. But these days, other fast-food chains have revived the $5 price point, hoping to win over customers who have cut back their spending.
As many restaurant companies prepare to report their second-quarter results, investors are expecting to hear that diners are visiting their locations less frequently and that sales have turned sluggish, with few exceptions such as Chipotle. In the hopes of lifting their results for next quarter, chains such as McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Burger King and Wendy’s have unveiled or revived meal deals with a $5 price tag.

McDonald’s said it is seeing traffic increase as a result, although Wall Street is not expecting a big sales bump from the promotions.
Fast food typically fares better than the broader industry during economic downturns. But the last several years of price hikes have led many consumers to conclude that fast food just is not a good deal anymore. More than 60% of respondents to a recent LendingTree survey said they have cut back their fast-food spending because it is too expensive.
Runaway menu prices have scared off many fast-food customers, including those in the low-income bracket who make up a sizable chunk of the sector’s customer base. Sensing diners’ fast-food backlash, players such as Brinker International’s Chili’s have used their marketing to highlight their own value relative to the cost of a fast-food meal. Casual-dining chains have taken some market share from the fast-food sector, Darden Restaurants CEO Rick Cardenas said in June.
“It’s the war for the less affluent customer,” said Robert Byrne, senior director of consumer research for Technomic, a restaurant market research firm.
That change in consumer behavior has also scared away Wall Street. Shares of McDonald’s, Burger King parent Restaurant Brands International and Wendy’s have all slid by double digits this year. Taco Bell owner Yum Brands is down more than 1% in 2024. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 is up 14%.

“The sense among investors is that the second quarter is probably going to be one to forget — you’re going to see a lot of large chains probably miss consensus [estimates],” KeyBanc analyst Eric Gonzalez told CNBC.
McDonald’s is expected to report its second-quarter earnings on Monday, while Wendy’s is slated to announce its results on Wednesday. Restaurant Brands and Yum Brands are expected to report their quarterly earnings the following week.

Can value meals fuel bigger purchases?

A sign advertises meal deals at a McDonald’s restaurant in Burbank, California, on July 22, 2024.
Mario Tama | Getty Images

Generally, fast-food chains tend to focus their discounts and value meals on the first quarter, when consumers are trying to save their dollars after the holiday season and stick to New Year’s resolutions. As temperatures rise, so do restaurant sales, and operators usually do not need to rely on deals to bring in customers.
But this summer is different. Fast-food chains need discounts to fuel traffic — and sales growth.
“The fact is that restaurants are running out of space to take more price on their menus,” Byrne said.
 But the value meals are not only about growing traffic.
“It’s also about converting the consumer who’s coming for the deal to a higher-ticket consumer by introducing other add-ons or other things that they might do,” Byrne said. “The risk is that they don’t.”
Without convincing customers to add a milkshake or another entrée to their order, the discounts ding profits and become unsustainable in the long run. That is a big worry for investors who are already skeptical that chains will not see the traffic bump they are hoping for.
“The value menus rolled out toward the end of the quarter. There’s just a fear that it’s not going to get any better, and it’s going to be a race to the bottom,” Gonzalez said.
Subway’s $5 footlong presents its own cautionary tale. Although the deal was popular with customers, it outstayed its welcome with operators, eroding their profits and compounding other issues with the brand, such as sales cannibalization from its massive footprint. That led to restaurant closures, angry operators and years of searching for a new way to bring back customers.

Franchisee skepticism

Investors are not the only ones skeptical about the promotions — so are franchisees, who often push back against discounts because they hurt their profits.
Franchisees have also gained more power to resist parent companies’ deal strategies in recent years. Many franchisees are larger these days, with more restaurants and sometimes even private equity money.
At McDonald’s, franchisees banded together to form the National Owners Association in 2018, rebelling against the burger giant’s unpopular discounts and plans for store renovations. Since then, the chain’s operators have fought back more against management’s plans.
An initial proposal of McDonald’s $5 value meal did not pass muster, so Coca-Cola chipped in marketing funds to make the deal more attractive to operators. Coke CEO James Quincey said on Tuesday’s earnings call that the beverage giant has seen weaker away-from-home sales in the U.S. as quick-service restaurants struggle. To boost demand, Coke is partnering with food-service customers to market food and drink combo meals, according to Quincey.
McDonald’s on Monday extended its value meal past its initial four-week window. Ninety-three percent of its restaurants voted in favor of the extension, executives wrote in a memo to the U.S. system viewed by CNBC.
The promotion is bringing customers back to its restaurants, according to both executives and foot traffic data. June 25, the launch day of McDonald’s $5 meal, drew 8% more visits than the average Tuesday in 2024 so far, according to a report from Placer.ai. The pattern repeated in the following days as the chain exceeded year-to-date daily visit averages. Placer.ai also found that discounts helped drive traffic to Buffalo Wild Wings, Starbucks and Chili’s.
In his quarterly survey of more than 20 McDonald’s franchisees, analyst Mark Kalinowski of Kalinowski Equity Research asked respondents what percentage of their sales were helped incrementally by the $5 meal deal. The average response was 1.3%.
“These responses may suggest that the $5 Meal Deal should be viewed as an initiative that may help prevent some customers from going elsewhere, as opposed to a big sales builder,” Kalinowski wrote Wednesday in a research note about the survey results.

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“Jurassic World: Dominion” roared to the top of the domestic box office over the weekend, generating more than $143 million in ticket sales during its debut.
Around 10.8 million moviegoers turned up to see “Dominion” domestically, representing around 66% of the overall moviegoing audience during the weekend, according to data from EntTelligence.
“Top Gun: Maverick,” which snared another $50 million in ticket sales during its third weekend in the U.S. and Canada, represented 26% of the domestic moviegoing audience.

DeWanda Wise and Laura Dern star in Universal’s “Jurassic World: Dominion.”

“Jurassic World: Dominion” roared to the top of the domestic box office over the weekend, generating more than $143 million in ticket sales during its debut.
Internationally, the film has secured around $245.8 million since opening earlier this month, bringing its global tally to just under $390 million.

Around 10.8 million moviegoers turned up to see “Dominion” domestically, representing around 66% of the overall moviegoing audience during the weekend, according to data from EntTelligence.
“Top Gun: Maverick,” which snared another $50 million in ticket sales during its third weekend in the U.S. and Canada, represented 26% of the domestic moviegoing audience.
“Maverick” has continued to draw in audiences and saw just a 44% drop in ticket sales between its second and third weekend. This is the second weekend in a row that the Tom Cruise-led sequel has held strong at the box office. Between its opening week and second week, the film saw only a 32% drop in ticket sales. Typically, films will see between a 50% and 70% drop between the first and second weekend
“‘Top Gun: Maverick’ is still flying high even in the face of stiff competition from ‘Jurassic World: Dominion,'” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “For movie theaters, this is a dream scenario of having two blockbusters on their screens at once generating excitement and buzz surrounding the movie theater experience.”
For “Jurassic World: Dominion,” however, this game of diminishing returns could be much more severe. The blockbuster feature has received overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics and could see a steep drop off in ticket sales after its opening weekend if word of mouth from moviegoers is also sour.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal distributed “Jurassic World: Dominion.”

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