“In the coming years, we want to have more grain options for our consumers, more plant-based options for our consumers and more high-quality lean-cut meats,” CEO Niren Chaudhary said in an interview Thursday. In addition to grains, Panera executives also see a big opportunity in expanding its plant-based options. In the near term, Panera is going to try to increase its plant-based options from 25% of its menu to 50%. Rather than serving meat alternatives from Beyond Meat or Impossible Foods, Pan

Free time is “the most important thing they have,” so it’s rare that people would hang out with coworkers after working hours, she adds. To put that in perspective, the average American worker with five years of experience is given 15 days of paid vacation, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. However the United States doesn’t provide a federal paid vacation policy. According to a 2019 study, 23% of Americans don’t receive paid vacation and 22% don’t get paid holidays. That’s not the cas

Surveillance video footage from outside the jail cell of accused child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein at the time of his first reported suicide attempt in July has been deleted, federal prosecutors revealed Thursday. Bruce Barket, a lawyer for Epstein’s former cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione, complained in December that he had been told the video was missing. A day after Barket complained, prosecutors said the video had been found by MCC staff and that prosecutors were working to obtain the video

Wharton School professor Jeremy Siegel marveled Thursday at the stock market’s strong start to 2020, but said he is concerned it may not last. “I’m just a little worried that this is becoming a momentum-driven market at this point,” Siegel said on CNBC’s “Fast Money: Halftime Report.” The market’s run is reminiscent of January 2018, Siegel said, when the S&P 500 posted, at the time, its best monthly performance since March 2016. The index reached another record high on Thursday and is up more th

As 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls swarm early primary and caucus states, polls suggest at least four candidates have a real shot to claim the race’s first two prizes. Iowa and New Hampshire, at least, appear unpredictable with just under a month to go. The former vice president also has a significant edge in polls of Nevada and a massive lead in surveys of South Carolina, according to averages. The candidates will scrap for position in Iowa during next week’s CNN/Des Moines Register prima

Recent surveys exemplify a trend that began a few years ago and has accelerated over the past several months. The gap between sentiment is broad and growing, though there’s some reason to believe that a change could be coming. Chief executive officers and chief financial officers see an economy that is heading into a slowdown if not an outright recession. Recent surveys show that CEOs believe recession is the biggest risk in 2020, while almost all CFOs surveyed by Deloitte think the economy is l

The risks of being sued have skyrocketed and the price of insurance premiums is rising right alongside, especially for liability insurance to cover directors and officers, or D&O. Insurance broker and consulting firm Woodruff Sawyer said D&O costs for many companies have quadrupled in the last two years. Aon, an insurance broker to Fortune 500 companies, said its clients are paying a median 24% more in premiums from a year ago. The rate of suits filed against companies has soared an estimated 15

Verily, the health and life sciences unit of Google parent company Alphabet, has brought on some key hires as it looks to scale the business. “Health care is in a state of crisis,” said Ahuja by phone. Verily, which was previously known as Google Life Sciences, has announced a series of partnerships with health care companies, which typically involve an investment in new technology. Burke, who joined the call with Ahuja, noted that Verily’s focus on partnerships with health care companies drew h

Tel Aviv-based startup Binah.ai is showing off its app, Bvue – an Innovation Award honoree – at CES 2020. It uses light reflecting from the user’s cheeks to read their heart rate, oxygen saturation, respiration, mental stress, and heart rate variability, with more to come. CNBC was not able to measure how accurate these readings are, but Binah.ai says the app provides “medical-grade accuracy proven against medical equipment.” Watch CNBC demo the app on the CES floor.

Michael Kassan, CEO of advertising advisory firm MediaLink, said as TV ratings decline with consumers shifting to streaming, there’s increasing demand from brands to reach consumers on new streaming platforms. Peacock will be the biggest ad-supported streaming launch, as NBC looks for an opportunity to move away from the increasingly crowded subscription streaming space. Amazon is building an ad-supported streaming service in IMDb TV. “I would argue that if it’s ad-supported streaming, it’s TV i

Here’s why Jefferies upgraded Snap to a buyBrent Thill of Jefferies joins “Squawk Alley” to discuss why he sees Snap as a buy.

This year, Hollywood filmmakers are making headway in their ongoing crusade against gimmicky television technology such as motion smoothing. motion smoothing, etc.) The most infamous of these post-processing techniques is known by a number of names, including “motion smoothing,” “video interpolation,” and “the soap opera effect.” Motion smoothing has the effect of increasing the viewer’s perceived frame rate, which makes the video appear, well, smoother. Along with Johnson and Dunkirk’s Nolan, n

Hearthstone’s Solo Adventures have arguably been the best part of the card game in 2019. The story campaigns offer a more puzzle-oriented, roguelike approach to Hearthstone’s usual card-combat formula. Galakrond’s Awakening takes place in the Northrend region of Dragonblight. Now, that skeleton comes to life and takes a starring role in the culmination of Hearthstone’s Year of the Dragon storyline. Galakrond’s Awakening returns to Hearthstone’s original Solo Adventure format, which featured in e

David Solomon, chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs & Co., listens during the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., on Monday, April 29, 2019. Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Thursday:Barclays said in its upgrade of the stock that it saw “outsized global fundamental growth” in the consumer products and retail area. “SBUX continues to offer what we believe to be an attractive combination of outsized global fundamental (i.e. comp & unit) growth wit

Victoria’s Secret parent company L Brands said its holiday sales shrunk, leading the retailer to cut its earnings outlook for the fourth quarter. The news comes on the heels of L Brands promising investors in September that an “evolution” was ahead for the embattled lingerie brand. L Brands now expects to report fourth-quarter earnings of $1.85 per share, down from its previous forecast of $2.00 per share. Sales of scented candles and lotions have been propping up L Brands’ otherwise increasingl

In today’s beauty industry – as with so many others – the appearance of “more of the same” can be a death knell. In fact, there are very few people (or ideas) that are truly original — it’s a remarkably high bar to clear. Da Vinci and Einstein were originals, and as most would argue, we have yet to see their equals. For more on tech, transformation and the future of work, join CNBC at the @Work Summit in New York on April 1–2, 2020. The key is in lateral thinking and being open to new ideas.

Shoppers enter a building housing a Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. store in New York. Bed Bath & Beyond shares tanked 19% in regular trading Thursday after the retailer withdrew its fiscal 2019 outlook in after-hours trading on Wednesday. Bed Bath & Beyond on Wednesday also reported third-quarter earnings and revenue that fell short of Wall Street’s expectations. Bed Bath & Beyond will delay closing 20 of its namesake stores as well. Bed Bath & Beyond’s sales have slumped as businesses such as Amazon, W

BJ Fogg Source: BJ FoggDon’t rely on willpower when it comes to your New Year’s resolutions. Fogg, Ph.D. What you need, instead, are habits, according to Fogg, a social science research associate who founded the Behavior Design Lab at Stanford University. That’s the message of Fogg’s new book “Tiny Habits.” Just three things create lasting change: “Have an epiphany, change our environment or change our habits in tiny ways,” Fogg said. It sounds counterintuitive — how can you stick to a budget or

Financial firms are trying to help Americans withdraw money from their retirement accounts. Withdrawing money from 401(k) plans, individual retirement accounts, taxable brokerage accounts and other piles of savings can be a fraught process for people who’ve spent perhaps four decades amassing money to live off in their retirement years. They must also determine the most tax-efficient way to tap their accounts — it may make more financial sense with any particular withdrawal to use a Roth IRA ins

Lisa Su, president and chief executive officer of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), holds a 3rd generation Ryzen desktop processor while speaking during a keynote session at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Jan. 9, 2019. Improving U.S.-China trade tensions and competitor price cuts in the rear view now position hot chip stock Advanced Micro Devices to continue its impressive stock rally, according to Mizuho Securities. Semiconductor company AMD rallied nearly 150% in 2019, maki