Walmart's taking steps to "broaden the company’s appeal to prospective job seekers," per The Wall Street Journal. "So far, that has included raising pay for thousands rof workers and offering more and better opportunities for training." Among the employee-friendly initiatives is a "program to recruit and train college graduates to become store managers, promising a starting wage of at least $65,000 a year and an accelerated two-year track into the top store job."

Imagine: an eco-friendly rapid COVID-19 test that does away with nose swabs, with results easier to read.  Eco-Flo, designed by a London-based studio, uses  a developing technology that tests for the virus using saliva samples -- and would be biodegradable and recyclable, unlike the standard at-home test made out of single-use plastic. "The test kit is just a concept without a prototype for now, but manufacturers should take note. The number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. is , growing again, and at-home testing is here to stay," per Fast Company.

"After years of industry buzz, Instacart has taken a preliminary step to pursue an initial public offering," filing "a confidential S-1 draft registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission," according to Supermarket News. This comes after a tricky time in March, "when the company cut its valuation by nearly 40% to $24 billion amid market volatility that triggered a technology stocks selloff."

"In 2020, most clothing companies flatlined, but Hill House took off like a rocket," thanks to the Nap Dress, a $125 cotton pinafore, "simple and comfortable enough to sleep in and put-together enough to Zoom in," according to The Cut. Many different iterations of the dress are still trending and worn by celebs. Some see this single item of clothing "as the building block of a lifestyle empire," to be built by D2C company founder Nell Diamond. Much of this post is a profile of Diamond, whose "inescapably rich," yet "disarmingly sweet" mystique -- and social media stardom -- is …

Used car behemoth Carvana, which reported its first-ever sales decline in April, is laying off 2,500 employees or 12% of its workforce in what it is calling a “right sizing” maneuver. Executives of the 10-year-old company will go unpaid for the rest of 2022. Those giant glass vending machines they put up couldn't have helped their bottom line either.

To celebrate its return, Panera is giving away Frontega Chicken Sandwiches to the first 500 MyPanera Members that reply to a Tweet using #FrontegaFan. Since removing the sandwich from the menu earlier this year, Panera has seen a 300% increase in mentions of Frontega Chicken across social channels, as more than 550 fans shared their strong feelings and disappointment about the removal.

Convenience giant 7-Eleven is bringing back its “Brands with Heart” program for a fourth year. It is “designed to give innovative brands the opportunity to enter a new retail channel and introduce their products to 7-Eleven, Speedway and Stripes customers across the country,” per Supermarket News. Emerging brands can make their case for why they deserve a spot on the store shelves at the chains, which operate more than 13,000 stores in the U.S. and Canada.

CKE Restaurant Holdings, the parent company of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, plans to overhaul the restaurants, including extensive remodeling that will involve $500 million in investments. “The Franklin, Tenn.-based company said it will spend $60 million on what it is calling a ‘brand transformation’ that will include new digital menu boards at the drive-thrus and dining rooms, new equipment and streamlined menus to make the restaurants more efficient and employees’ jobs easier,” per Nation’s Restaurant News. “The remainder of the spending will come from franchisees, whose restaurants make up 94% of the two brands’ locations.”  

Amazon fired more than a dozen senior managers at a Staten Island warehouse where employees last month voted by a wide margin to unionize. “Many of the managers had been responsible for carrying out the company’s response to the unionization effort," per The New York Times. “Several were veterans of the company, with more than six years of experience, according to their LinkedIn profiles.”

The bloom may be off the rose for Rivian, once the darling of upstart electric vehicle companies. "Less than two weeks ago, Rivian was responsible for quarterly losses reported by both Amazon and Ford Motor Co., each of which had invested billions only to see Rivian's value crash early this year,” per USA Today. “On Monday, Rivian's stock price tumbled further on a report that Ford was getting rid of 8 million shares in the company.”