Daily Industry Digest — Thursday, September 25, 2026
Costco closed FY2026 with an 11% revenue jump to $95.7B and a Q4 EPS beat, with digitally enabled sales up nearly 20%. Two fresh grocery openings landed Sept. 23 — Whole Foods in downtown San Diego and Food Lion in Summerfield, N.C.
- Costco closed FY2026 with an 11% revenue jump to $95.7B and a Q4 EPS beat, with digitally enabled sales up nearly 20%.
- Two fresh grocery openings landed Sept. 23 — Whole Foods in downtown San Diego and Food Lion in Summerfield, N.C.
- FDA and USDA opened a new multistate E. coli O157:H7 outbreak probe (25 cases, source unidentified) as a fresh sprouting-seed recall hit shelves.
- Athletic Brewing and olive-oil brand Graza launched a non-alcoholic collab brew, keeping the NA-beer innovation cadence going.
- Non-alcoholic pioneer Hoplark moved to liquidate under Chapter 7 and signaled a suit against Brooklyn Brewery — a fresh sign of shakeout in the NA category.
- Constellation Brands drew another analyst markdown (Citi cut its target to $165) as bev-alc large-cap sentiment stays soft.
- DMEXCO 2026 in Cologne put "agentic" advertising center stage, with OpenAI, Amazon Ads and Adform detailing AI ad tooling.
- Meta's Muse agent added a wall of retail partners at Connect and leaned into a transaction-fee model rather than upfront ad spend.
- Primary consumer M&A and funding stayed quiet in the window; Distribution & DSD produced no net-new development.
Pillar quiet in-window
Repeated date-qualified searches across national three-tier players (Southern Glazer's, RNDC, Reyes, Breakthru), grocery wholesalers (UNFI, KeHE, C&S) and foodservice (Sysco, US Foods, PFG, McLane) surfaced no net-new…
UPDATE: Costco caps FY2026 with a Q4 beat
After Wednesday's close (Sept. 24), Costco reported Q4 net sales up 11.2% to $93.9B (total revenue $95.72B, +11.1%) and diluted EPS of $6.75, ahead of the $6.55 consensus; comparable sales rose 9.4% and digitally enabled…
Whole Foods opens in downtown San Diego
The Amazon-owned grocer opened a 45,400-sq-ft store in downtown San Diego on Sept. 23, stocking more than 1,500 products from California-based suppliers.
Food Lion opens a new Summerfield, N.C. store
The Ahold Delhaize banner opened a store at 413 N.C. Highway 150 West on Sept. 23, with grand-opening giveaways for early shoppers.
Fresh multistate E. coli probe and a new sprouting-seed recall
As of Sept. 23, FDA and USDA were investigating a new outbreak of 25 E.
Restaurants expand CPG lines as dining-out spending rebounds
Fresh analysis (Sept. 22) flagged foodservice operators pushing further into packaged retail brands as consumers shift dollars back toward restaurants; Bank of America data showed restaurant spending up 3.3% year over…
Athletic Brewing and Graza launch a non-alcoholic collab brew
On Sept. 23, Athletic Brewing and olive-oil brand Graza released "Cold Off The Press," a limited non-alcoholic beer made with Graza extra-virgin olive oil, available in 6-packs of 12-oz cans direct-to-consumer.
Non-alcoholic pioneer Hoplark moves to liquidate
Reporting on Sept. 22 detailed that Hoplark — a Boulder-based non-alcoholic hop-water and tea brand that raised more than $25M — is liquidating under Chapter 7 (revenue fell from ~$9.3M in 2024 to ~$630K in 2025) and…
Constellation Brands draws another analyst markdown
On Sept. 22, Citi's Filippo Falorni cut his Constellation Brands price target to $165 from $185 while maintaining a Buy, following the company's recent quarterly miss and reset FY2027 guidance, with the stock trading…
Valuation signal: primary deal tape stays thin
The freshest money-side developments in the window were the Constellation markdown and Hoplark's Chapter 7 liquidation (an NA-category distress event) rather than new M&A or funding rounds; repeated searches of the deal…
DMEXCO 2026 puts agentic advertising center stage
At the Sept. 23–24 Cologne conference (theme "Scaling Intelligence"), OpenAI presented on advertising within ChatGPT and Amazon Ads ran a "25 Years of AI in Advertising" session, framing the shift toward AI-mediated…
UPDATE: OpenAI's ChatGPT Ads app for Shopify expands markets
Following the Sept. 16 debut of Sponsored Agents (with Shopify as first e-commerce partner and HubSpot as first CRM partner), OpenAI's ChatGPT Ads app for U.S.
Meta leans into a transaction-fee model for Muse
At Connect (Sept. 23–24), Meta said its Muse agent will stay free for most users under what Mark Zuckerberg called a "novel business model," with Meta expecting to profit by taking a small fee on purchases, bookings and…
Meta's Muse becomes a shopping agent with major retail partners
At Connect (Sept. 23–24), Meta expanded Muse's commerce reach with partners including Walmart, Sephora, Best Buy, Gap and Wayfair (plus Expedia, and Instacart "soon"), access to the full Shopify product catalog, and…
Adform brings agentic advertising to its stack via MCP
At DMEXCO on Sept. 23, Adform showcased an agentic-advertising capability that connects AI directly to more than 800 capabilities across its Adform FLOW platform through a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server.
Meta pairs Muse with an AI-hardware push
Alongside the Muse software expansion, Meta used Connect (Sept. 24) to unveil a wave of new AI-glasses and devices designed to put its agent on more surfaces.
- Whether the FDA/USDA E. coli O157:H7 outbreak source is identified and triggers named-brand recalls.
- Constellation Brands' next earnings print and whether more banks cut bev-alc targets.
- Follow-through from Meta Muse's retail partnerships (Instacart integration timing) and early data on agent-driven purchases.
- Any first primary consumer M&A or funding round to break the quiet window; watch trade/deal press (BevNET/NOSH, Food Dive, Axios Pro, PE Hub).
- Fallout in the non-alcoholic set after Hoplark's liquidation — consolidation, shelf resets, or additional distress.
- Distribution & DSD for the next net-new three-tier or wholesaler move after a quiet stretch.
Costco Wholesale Reports Strong Q4: Revenue, Earnings Beat EstimatesBenzinga
Costco Wholesale Corporation Reports Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2026 Operating ResultsThe Manila Times / GlobeNewswire
New Whole Foods Market in San Diego, California, to Open September 23Whole Foods Market
Food Lion Opens New Grocery Store in Summerfield, N.C., on Sept. 23GlobeNewswire
Recalls and Alerts: September 23, 2026eFoodAlert
Restaurants expand CPG brands as dining-out spending reboundsFoodNavigator
Athletic Brewing Company and Graza Cook Up Non-Alcoholic Collaboration Brew, 'Cold Off The Press'PR Newswire
Hoplark Files for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Liquidation; Signals Potential Lawsuit Against Brooklyn BreweryBrewbound
Hoplark Raised $25 Million as Nonalcoholic Drinks Boomed. It Just Filed for BankruptcyInc.
DMEXCO Highlights 2026: How AI Is Shaping the Future of Marketing, Media, and CommerceDMEXCO
OpenAI tests sponsored AI agents inside ChatGPT ads (Shopify, HubSpot)Quartz
Meta's Muse personal agent is a hit, as AI commerce starts to take offCBS News
Adform Showcases Agentic Advertising at DMEXCOMarTech Cube
Meta is betting big on its Muse AI agent with a blitz of new gadgetsCNN