(Joshua Blanchard/Getty Images) |
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Taco Bell sells 100 million Crunchwraps every year, and we’ve now seen 20 years since its June 22, 2005, launch. The Crunchwrap concept had languished in development for a decade while corporate recipe developers at Taco Bell labored to turn a folded tortilla into a structural masterpiece that could be reproduced tens of thousands of times a day around the country. It became the fastest-selling menu item in the chain’s history, moving 51 million units in its first six weeks.
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- The Crunchwrap has spawned legions of imitators, but remains a major accomplishment in culinary innovation in its own right.
- Straightforwardly, designing anything that’s produced on the order of millions is a supreme challenge, and that’s not even factoring in whether or not it actually sticks.
- That’s one reason that top-notch chefs are willing to leave gigs at high-end, exclusive restaurants to run the menu at national food chains. That kind of role means a chef can create dishes at, say, Sonic that would reach more diners in an hour than they would in a year at the trendy joint.
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Sure, you can gauge a product by its mimics. But the reality that the Crunchwrap has remained a staple on Taco Bell’s ever-changing menu board is a victory in its own right. |
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There’s a bigger lesson here. As everyone from home cooks to professional chefs to major outlets follow the lead of big brands by concocting vegan Crunchwraps or “better” Big Macs, there are still people for whom the genuine articles have meaning — be that as an indulgence, a tradition, a last resort, or quick and affordable means to an end. Even with a proliferation of dupes, Taco Bell sells 100 million Crunchwraps every year and McDonald’s sells 550 million Big Macs annually in the US alone.
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This $674B Industry Missed the Bigger Picture |
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Just 30 top-performing metro areas capture two-thirds of all AI job postings, based on a new analysis from nonprofit Brookings Metro. The report looked at data from 195 of the largest US metropolitan areas to determine where they stood as far as AI talent, innovation, and adoption. |
- Brookings found that much of AI opportunity is concentrated among the usual suspects, with the Bay Area accounting for 13% of national job postings featuring AI skills and San Francisco and San Jose the only “Superstars” on the list.
- Combined with the “Star Hubs,” which includes places like Seattle, Austin, and Washington, DC, the 30 top-performing metro areas captured 67% of total AI job postings.
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“While the Bay Area’s dominance isn’t going down, we see other places rising up the ranks,” Shriya Methkupally, senior research assistant at Brookings Metro, told Sherwood News.
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More than half of US metro areas were in the bottom two tiers, suggesting “significant shortfalls in talent pipelines, research infrastructure, and enterprise adoption.” |
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While the Superstars are only on the West Coast, Star Hubs and Emerging Centers are popping up in places around the country, including within the Sun Belt and the Rust Belt. The spread of those metro areas are separated out by category and ranked by AI job postings per 100 people employed in the area — it’s very cool, so definitely give it a look.
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According to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, consumer prices rose 2.7% year over year in June, slightly above expectations and the fastest pace since February. President Trump’s sweeping tariffs may finally be filtering through to nudge up prices on a range of goods. Beyond the monthly ups and downs, we charted what inflation has hit hardest — and the categories where prices have actually fallen — in the last 12 months.
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Which chain restaurant has experienced Big Tech-level growth? |
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