So I was going through them after it came out, and there were some pretty eye-popping details in there. Tomatoes are up an enormous amount, for example, Brooke?

Yeah, Julie. I actually got to catch up uh between the opening bed and now with uh Wells Fargo, agricultural economist, Michael Swanson. and I I asked him. I said, why are tomatoes up 40% compared to a year ago? And he actually said that because of that cold weather in Florida, that actually led to a smaller supply within tomatoes. and therefore, these companies, these tomato producers ultimately had the ability to raise prices even higher because tomatoes are pretty inelastic, Julie. We expect that when we go out and we buy a burger or we buy a sandwich, or we're just looking to make dinner, we're going to pay those higher prices for tomatoes. Therefore, once we do see a higher uh supply of tomatoes, that should then drop entirely. And so that was an interesting one for sure.

Yeah, definitely. I mean, but also beef prices what at a record here. Um coffee prices up there. Those were the kind of the other ones that stood out.

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, those are two points of this release that we continue to go back to each and every single month. as you can see on your screen. Coffee prices are up nearly 19% compared to a year ago. This is something that we heard from Dutch Bros, uh CEO, as well as Starbucks's CEO weighing on the quarter. We also have beef and veal prices higher. Now, coffee keep in mind, this is something that many companies hedge against. And so they're probably locked into many contracts compared to a year ago when coffee prices were higher. Now, we are seeing better weather patterns. So that should bring coffee prices down soon. That's encouraging Michael Swanson had told me, but beef and veal continues to be a category that is largely considered uh very sticky considering the fact that we still have this cattle inventory that's been lower compared to previous years. And that continues to be an issue for uh cattle ranchers, for manufacturers, for producers. And that's continuing to drive beef prices higher. Something to look out for Julie within the next report perhaps for when we reflect back on May. We also have Memorial Day coming up and we know that this is the start of barbecuing seeing barbecuing season, and that could drive prices higher as well.

Um and what about where we saw declines?

Yeah, we did set get some good news, some ongoing good news when it comes to eggs. We also saw declines when it comes to butter actually, and also baby formula. So just to walk you through that. Uh Michael Swanson also actually said that now we're seeing egg inventory not only improve, but now we have about one more egg per person than we did this time last year. Now, that sounds so minimal, but he was just sort of saying that this goes to show how volatile this category is. and of course, you can't help but think of those major surges we saw back in 2023. Similar butter saw a high demand back in recent years. So that's sort of seeing a decrease now, especially because we're seeing more cattle come into inventory that are then being used to milk as well. That was an interesting little fun fact. and baby formula, we're surpassing that supply shortages, and so we're seeing some relief there as well. So all all good news on that front, Julie.

Um let's talk about another way to measure how much people are spending on food. Um there's a workplace food platform called Fooda. You and I are familiar with it because sometimes we have Fooda here in the office. Basically they bring in different food to the office. Um they have a new Fooda price index. And I guess it when they come into an office, they either pay the office either covers the cost of the lunch or they don't. And so they're measuring when they don't what people are willing to pay for that lunch and how much they're paying and kind of getting a a feel for for rising lunch prices through that.

Yeah, so right now according to that index, what they pointed out was that year over year, we are seeing about a 4.8% increase, nearly 5% in just how much uh you know, workers, everyday people are going into these offices and then buying their lunch, are willing to spend, are spending. I also think there's a convenience factor into this as well as Julie, hey, it's in the office, I don't have to leave, it's right there. So I'm going to spend up. But the average price point as you can see on your screen now, I mean, this is somewhat concerning to me, Julie. This says that uh the average worker who's buying food within the office is spending about $14.17. Now, compared to a year ago, that's up about more than a dollar, about 57 cents. And so when you think about that increase year over year, maybe it doesn't change much, but definitely it's incrementally more. And also Julie, I can't help a question. Does this does this protein craze pray into this? I know this sounds crazy, but bear with me, Julie. I mean, are we talking people buying more steak options, maybe more beef options as opposed to chicken options? That's another question I had to while looking at this report.

Right. Is it just because the overall cost is going up? Is it because they're, you know, more willing to splurge on that stuff. That's a good that's a good question. Maybe we need some follow up investigations. We'll we'll do some follow ups. We'll do some investigations too.

We'll do some follow ups. Okay. We'll do some investigations too.

Thanks Brooke. appreciate it.