• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, June 28, 2023

America may be gearing up for a murkier-than-usual Independence Day, what with clouds of Canadian smoke darkening parts of the country and blistering heat blanketing others.

None of that, of course, is likely to dampen the national enthusiasm for July 4^th festivities. Aldi is zooming in on inflation relief for barbecues. With a contest called "Cookout Kickbacks," the grocery chain is focused on three numbers. First, there's $67.73, the average cost of a July Fourth cookout, as calculated by the American Farm Bureau Federation. Next, there's $46.86, which is how much the limited-assortment retailer says those items cost at Aldi. Then there are its gift cards, valued at $20.87, which is the difference.

It plans to award the gift cards to 1,000 customers, chosen at random.

"Summer is meant to be spent with friends and family around the grill, and we don't want shoppers to miss out on any of the fun," says Scott Patton, vice president of national buying, in its announcement. "At ALDI, our fresh meat selection embodies quality and affordability, saving customers from getting burned at checkout so they can host this Fourth of July without any stress on their budget."

And Pepsi is taking its July 4^th swagger out to the ball game, rolling out Pepsi Colachup, a cola-flavored ketchup developed with the Culinary Institute of America.

The creative condiment is debuting in exclusive in-stadium sampling during games at Chase Field in Phoenix, Yankee Stadium in New York, Target Field in Minneapolis and Comerica Park in Detroit.

"We're thrilled to elevate this unparalleled pairing and build off our #BetterWithPepsi campaigns of past summers when we proved that pizza and burgers go #BetterWithPepsi," says Jenny Danzi, a senior director at Pepsi, in its announcement. "We invented Pepsi Colachup to reinforce just how well hot dogs and Pepsi go together."

Pepsi cites data from the National Hot Dog & Sausage Council, estimating that Americans eat more than 150 million hot dogs each July Fourth.