Raphael Stevens

Walmart said Wednesday it will offer a 10% employee discount on nearly all groceries.
The employee discount previously applied to fresh produce and most general merchandise, such as clothing and toys.
The company’s decision comes as tariffs drive up consumers’ worries about higher prices.

Groceries are seen at a Walmart supermarket in Houston, Texas, on May 15, 2025.
Ronaldo Schemidt | AFP | Getty Images

As tariffs spark worries of higher prices, Walmart is dangling more discounts for its own employees.
The largest private U.S. employer said Wednesday that it will offer a 10% employee discount on nearly all groceries, including milk, meat and frozen food. That discount previously applied to fresh produce and most general merchandise items, such as clothing and toys, but only to other food during the holiday season.

In a memo to employees obtained by CNBC, Walmart’s chief people officer, Donna Morris, said the expanded price cut takes effect immediately. Walmart’s approximately 1.6 million U.S. employees qualify for the discount after their first 90 days with the company. With the expansion, the reduction will now include 95% of regularly priced items across the store, she said.
“We’ve heard your feedback that these savings make a real difference for you and your families,” she wrote in the memo. “And we have continued to hear that you would like to see this benefit expanded. In fact, it’s one of our most requested benefits.”
Walmart’s announcement comes as economists and companies closely watch how rising tariffs trickle through the U.S. economy and shape consumer spending. The consumer price index, a closely watched inflation metric from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, came in better than feared on Tuesday, with food prices flat. Yet the data still pointed to higher prices on some items. For example, household furnishings and supplies rose 0.7% month over month after climbing 1% in June.
Walmart itself has warned that higher prices are coming. In May, the company’s CFO, John David Rainey, told CNBC that the discounter was “wired for everyday low prices, but the magnitude of these increases is more than any retailer can absorb.”
The expanded employee discount could boost Walmart’s own business, too. It could motivate its huge workforce to spend more of their money at its stores and website rather than at other grocers or retailers. And the perk could also help attract and retain workers.

Walmart announced the expanded discount at its holiday meeting in Houston, which all store managers attended.
According to a video obtained by CNBC, Walmart U.S. CEO John Furner brought a Walmart store manager to the stage to read the surprise announcement that its 10% discount on food would become year-round.
“All I can think is about my associates back at home,” the store manager told Furner, as he thanked him. He said employees at his store “don’t know how they’re going to be paying their next meal and now this is going to help them.”
Walmart is scheduled to report its latest earnings on Aug. 21. The retailer’s expanded discount was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. More

After bucking industry trends, fast-casual chains like Chipotle and Cava are finally feeling the consumer slowdown.
Restaurant executives have said that diners are “cautious” or dealing with an economic “fog.”
Like diners, investors are also pulling back from fast-casual eateries.

A customer carries a Cava bag in the Brooklyn borough of New York, US, on Monday, May 6, 2024.
Gabby Jones | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Cava stock tumbled 16% in afternoon trading on Wednesday, making it the latest fast-casual chain to feel Wall Street’s wrath after reporting disappointing quarterly sales.
A year ago, eateries like Chipotle Mexican Grill and Cava were reporting double-digit same-store sales growth, even as the broader restaurant industry posted falling traffic and slumping sales. But times have changed. This spring, fast-casual chains saw foot traffic decline as sales slowed down or even shrank.

To explain the downturn, executives have said that diners are “cautious,” in the words of Sweetgreen CEO Jonathan Neman, or dealing with an economic “fog,” according to Cava CFO Tricia Tolivar.
And just as diners are finding reasons why to cut back on their Shake Shack burgers or Chipotle bowls, investors are trimming their fast-casual holdings after rewarding the companies last year for outperforming the rest of the industry. So far in 2025, Shake Shack shares have fallen 16%; Chipotle stock has slid 28%; Cava shares have tumbled 37%; and Sweetgreen stock has plunged 70%. Of the notable publicly traded fast-casual chains, only Wingstop has managed to stay in the green this year, with gains of 20%.
More broadly, investors have grown more cautious about betting on any restaurants, given weak traffic trends and concerns about consumer spending, according to a research note on Sunday from UBS. Even fast-food companies have struggled with the traffic declines and sluggish sales growth, despite their historical reputation as a safer bet during economic uncertainty.
While some fast-casual chains flagged company-specific reasons for their weaker-than-expected results, executives also said that economic uncertainty is weighing on consumers – and hurting their sales.
Generally, fast-casual diners are higher income and more likely to have white-collar jobs. However, Chipotle CEO Scott Boatwright blamed a pullback from low-income consumers for the chain’s same-store sales declines of 4% in the second quarter.

“You have to look no further than what’s going with our competitors with snack occasions or $5 meals. That’s where the consumer is drifting towards, [with] value as a price point, because of low consumer sentiment. I think as sentiment improves, the business will improve. I think that’s probably the biggest headwind we face,” he told analysts on the company’s earnings conference call on June 23.
The University of Michigan’s index of consumer sentiment slid in April to 52.2, one of its lowest-ever recorded readings. It held at that level in May before rising in June to 60.7.
Fast-casual chains are seeing consumers’ economic anxieties in their own research, too.
“Through our regular consumer research, we hear concerns about elevated prices, future job prospects and general anxiety about the future,” Wingstop CEO Michael Skipworth said on the company’s earnings conference call in late July.
The chicken wing chain reported same-store sales declines of 1.9% for the quarter, a dramatic reversal compared to its growth of 28.7% in the year-ago period.
On the company’s earnings conference call on Thursday, Sweetgreen’s Neman said that the chain saw “a more cautious consumer environment starting in April” — coinciding with the drop in consumer sentiment. A “subdued industry backdrop,” particularly in several of the chain’s biggest urban markets, contributed to Sweetgreen’s “really, really rough quarter,” according to Neman.
That’s one reason why the salad chain reported a steeper-than-expected decline in its same-store sales and cut its full-year forecast for the second straight quarter. Sweetgreen executives also attributed the weak quarterly performance to a tough comparison to last year’s steak launch and the transition of its loyalty program.
To improve its value perception among customers, Sweetgreen is increasing its chicken and tofu portions by 25%, improving its chicken and salmon recipes and implementing some promotional pricing, like $13 menu bowl drops for its loyalty program members.
As for Cava, the company had been wowing investors with impressive same-store sales growth since its initial public offering two years ago. But this quarter, the Mediterranean chain reported same-store sales growth of 2.1%, well below Wall Street projections of 6.1%. Executives said that it faced difficult comparisons to the year-ago period’s same-store sales growth of 14.4%, which was fueled by its own steak launch and strong demand at newer restaurant locations that waned this year.
“Cava isn’t so special after all. After blowing out same store sales in Q1 of 10.8%, it fell in line with the industry at 2.1% in Q2. It’s not negative, so that’s helpful,” Tracey Ryniec, stock strategist at Zacks Investment Research, said.
Cava executives also acknowledged that economic concerns are weighing on diners.
“Certainly, we’re operating in a fluid macroeconomic environment and it’s one that sort of creates a fog for consumers where things are changing constantly and it’s hard to see the clear. And during those times, they tend to step off of the gas,” Tolivar said on the company’s conference call on Tuesday evening.
Still, Cava isn’t seeing consumers trade down to cheaper protein options, or experiencing any other deeper business concerns, co-founder and CEO Brett Schulman said. And as it enters the third quarter, its same-store sales have improved, Tolivar said.
And Cava isn’t the only fast-casual eatery anticipating a return to form in the latter half of the year, especially as consumer sentiment improved in June and July.
Chipotle said its traffic started growing again as the burrito chain exited the quarter and continued into July. Sweetgreen has seen “modest” improvement in its same-store sales so far into the third quarter, according to Neman.
And while Wingstop executives said that they’re still seeing weaker consumer demand, the chain is facing easier comparisons to last year’s performance. More

Cava’s quarterly revenue missed estimates due to weaker-than-expected same-store sales growth.
The Mediterranean restaurant chain lowered its full-year forecast for same-store sales.
Cava also announced an investment in Hyphen, a restaurant automation startup.

Customers arrive at a Cava restaurant in New York City on June 22, 2023.
Brendan Mcdermid | Reuters

Cava on Tuesday lowered its full-year forecast for same-store sales growth after a disappointing second quarter.
For the full year, Cava now anticipates same-store sales growth of 4% to 6%, down from its prior range of 6% to 8%.

Shares of the company plunged more than 20% in extended trading. The stock has fallen 40% this year, including the after-hours move.
Here’s what the company reported compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Earnings per share: 16 cents vs. 13 cents expected
Revenue: $280.6 million vs. $285.6 million expected

The restaurant company reported second-quarter net income of $18.4 million, or 16 cents per share, down from $19.7 million, or 17 cents per share, a year earlier.
Net restaurant sales climbed 20% to $278.2 million, largely thanks to new restaurant openings.
The chain’s same-store sales, a metric that only tracks the performance of restaurants that have been open at least a year, rose 2.1% during the quarter. While Cava managed to buck the industry trend of same-store sales declines, Wall Street was projecting growth of 6.1%, according to StreetAccount estimates.

Cava said its quarterly traffic was “roughly flat.” A year earlier, the company’s same-store sales climbed 14.4%, fueled by nearly double-digit traffic growth. At the time, Cava CEO and co-founder Brett Schulman credited the introduction of its grilled steak option as one reason customers kept coming to restaurants during the quarter.
CFO Tricia Tolivar told CNBC on Tuesday that the second quarter started off with strong same-store sales growth, which led the company to reiterate its prior outlook when it reported its first-quarter results. However, she said, once the chain celebrated the one-year launch of grilled steak, it saw that growth slow.
Rival fast-casual chains have also struggled this quarter with slumping sales. Chipotle Mexican Grill reported same-store sales declines of 4%, while salad chain Sweetgreen saw its stock plummet after the company cut its outlook for the second straight quarter.
Aside from lowering its same-store sales forecast, Cava reiterated other key financial projections for the full year. The company still anticipates adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $152 million to $159 million. Cava also maintained its forecast for restaurant-level profit margins of 24.8% to 25.2%.
Cava on Tuesday also announced that it participated in a $25 million Series B funding round for Hyphen, which automates plate and bowl portioning. Chipotle Mexican Grill, which has already invested in Hyphen, led the funding round with Cava.
“By piloting Hyphen’s automated digital makeline, we have the opportunity to increase order accuracy and speed during peak digital hours, while reducing complexity for our team members,” Schulman said in a statement. More

The Food and Drug Administration is considering revoking its authorization of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine for healthy children under the age of 5, the drugmaker confirmed to CNBC.
The move could leave many kids with no available shots against the virus, though Moderna’s shot will be an option for those at increased risk of severe illness due to at least one underlying condition.
It would add to a string of recent efforts by U.S. health agencies to change and undermine immunization policy since Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent vaccine skeptic, took the helm.

A nurse prepares doses of the Pfizer vaccine during a COVID-19 vaccination event at Josephine’s Southern Cooking in Chatham, Illinois, Dec. 30, 2021.
Brian Cassella | Tribune News Service | Getty Images

The Food and Drug Administration is considering revoking its authorization of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine for healthy children under the age of 5, the drugmaker confirmed to CNBC on Tuesday. 
The move could leave many kids with no available shot against the virus, as jabs from Moderna and Novavax are cleared for more limited populations. While Covid typically causes mild symptoms in most children, others, such as infants under 1 or those with certain health conditions, can be at a higher risk of severe illness and hospitalization.

If the FDA pulls the authorization, it would add to a string of recent efforts by U.S. health agencies to change and undermine immunization policy since Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent vaccine skeptic, took the helm. HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The FDA told Pfizer it might not renew its longstanding emergency use authorization for children ages 6 months to 4 years, the company said in a statement. Pfizer said it has requested the authorization to remain in place for the upcoming fall and winter season and is “currently in discussions with the agency on potential paths forward.”
The company said that the FDA’s “deliberations” are not related to the safety and efficacy of the shot, “which continues to demonstrate a favorable profile.”
The Guardian first reported on the FDA’s potential move. Moderna is working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to boost supplies of its own Covid shot for children, the Guardian reported Saturday.
In July, the FDA granted full approval to Moderna’s Covid vaccine for children — but only for those with one more more health conditions that may put them at increased risk of severe illness if they become infected. The shots from both Moderna and Pfizer use messenger RNA technology.

Kennedy has targeted those vaccines in the past, filing a petition in May 2021 demanding that the agency revoke authorization of the jabs.  
Meanwhile, Novavax’s protein-based shot has never been available for children under 12. 
In May, Kennedy announced that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has removed its recommendation of Covid vaccines for healthy children and pregnant women. 
But in updated guidance days later, the CDC said the shots “may” be given to those kids if a doctor agreed that it was necessary. Covid vaccines during pregnancy are now listed as “No Guidance/Not Applicable,” where they were previously recommended for all pregnant adults. More