1) To help streamline operations for Chili’s 1.1k+ locations and 60k workers, CEO Kevin Hochman ended an unnecessary shrimp-bagging process that’ll save the company ~$6m a year. He also ended the practice of serving fries in baskets, saving employees from washing 40m baskets a year.
2) During an internal presentation, Meta’s vice president for VR, Mark Rabkin, told staff that Meta has sold 20m+ Quest headsets to date. For comparison, the Nintendo GameCube only sold 21m consoles ever.
3) Well, that’s… neat. Check out Ford’s 14-page patent application for a system that could make it easier to repossess a car with self-driving tech. “We don’t have any plans to deploy this,” a Ford spokesperson told NPR.
4) In 2022, Americans spent ~$1B buying air fryers, up 51% from 2019. Adam Graves, president of Nestle US’s pizza and snacks division estimates that ~60% of US homes now have the kitchen gadget.
5) China is expected to increase its defense budget by 7.2% to 1.56T yuan ($230B). Last year, the US government authorized $800B+ in defense spending for 2023, up from $767B in 2022 and $755B in 2021.
