Brig. Gen. Bud Anderson, who single-handedly shot down 16 German planes over Europe in World War II and became America’s last living triple ace, a fighter pilot with 15 or more “kills,” died on Friday at his home in Auburn, Calif., northeast of Sacramento.
General Anderson, who teamed with the renowned Brig. Gen. Chuck Yeager in combat and later in the storied age of pioneering test pilots, was 102.
His family, in a statement on General Anderson’s website, said he died in his sleep.
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Axios reports Amazon wants Prime to be to sports streaming what ESPN was to cable.
The big picture: Streamers are battling for live sports rights and the advertising dollars that come with them, Axios’ Tim Baysinger writes.
Amazon is closing in on a deal to make it one of three partners with the NBA, a source with knowledge of those talks confirmed to Axios. Adding the NBA would be the latest salvo for Amazon’s quickly-growing sports business.
The tech giant is heading into its third season as the exclusive home of the NFL’s “Thursday Night Football” — for which it’s paying $1 billion per year.
Amazon extended its deal with the WNBA for two more seasons. And next year, Prime will begin streaming NASCAR races.
The new food drive-thru Salad n’ Dash is part of a growing trend,
Axis interview Sweetgreen CEO and co-founder Jonathan Neman is trying to reach profitability by steering the salad chain toward suburban expansion, in-store automation and beefed-up menus (literally).
- “So much of our business was heavily dependent on urban and office traffic before COVID,” Neman told Axios’ Hope King last week on “Leading Indicator,” a podcast from Public, an investing platform.
- “[W]e’ve only gotten back to 50% of pre-COVID levels,” Neman added. “We’ve now seen … this is the new normal.”
Sweetgreen has about 230 locations. “We think that there can be thousands,” Neman said, noting that fast-casual competitor Chipotle plans to double its footprint to 7,000 stores.
- “Four years ago, the company was 75% urban,” Neman said. “Today, we’re 50-50 and starting to lean more suburban — a product of what the country looks like … and [because] we had already penetrated” urban markets.
- Sweetgreen caters to higher-income households. Although the chain has passed some of its higher operating costs on to customers, consumers haven’t really pushed back.
? For the busiest restaurants, Sweetgreen sees huge potential in its Infinite Kitchen system, which automates and speeds up assembly.
- The average Q1 margin for the two first Infinite Kitchen stores was 28%, or 10 points higher than the average store.
? To attract more male customers and create more dinnertime demand, Sweetgreen recently added a “caramelized garlic steak” topping.
- Over time, Sweetgreen wants the mix of its business from lunch and dinner to reach a 50-50 split, Neman told Bloomberg.
? What’s next: Sweetgreen sees potential in using AI to create personalized nutrition products and menus.
- The company’s current AI use is more mundane — for sales forecasts.