McDonald’s Says No More Free Refills, Unpacking the IntelliPhone, and More

Editor’s Note: Inc.’s Daily Digest distills the biggest small business news of the day.

As retailers and grocers from Target to Amazon Fresh to fast food chains minting $3 and $5 menus, something has to give. That something is soda.

McDonald’s recently said it is phasing out soda fountain stations–and it will start charging for refills. The news may be hard to stomach for consumers, however, for franchise owners it’s a refreshing turn. Sodas have long served as one of the highest margin items on fast-food menus–and they’ve saved franchise owners from dipping into the red countless times over the years. This is especially true when franchise systems–you know who you are–have pushed different freebies and loss leaders. Long before the $3 and $5 menus, there was the dollar menu, after all. These loss leaders can sting, as franchise owners often can’t pick and choose which campaigns they can participate in.

We take a deeper look at what the soda change means for franchise owners, and whether making diners buy second or third refills will make them say, “No, thanks!”

Here’s what else we’re keeping an eye on today:

1. If you just got a new iPhone, you just bought the last horse and buggy, technologically speaking. Expect a closer explanation of Apple’s plans to make an IntelliPhone, loaded up with AI power that will let users deploy augmented and virtual reality, monitor their health data, and do pretty much everything they can do on a PC. Watch for more developments on this tectonic tech shift.
2. Is Elon Musk’s leadership of Tesla worth $56 billion? Giant pension fund CalPERS doesn’t think so. Its management, which has a whopping $469 billion under management, plans to vote against a renewed bid for the colossal pay package the volatile CEO was refused earlier. It’s a clap-back for Elon, sure, but it’s also a message to other CEOs who might try to use the potentially record-setting benchmark to boost their own pay.
3. The dream of the 1990s is alive at Abercrombie & Fitch, as younger shoppers go in for the retro look. After offering a forecast of a 10 percent sales increase from 2023, one analyst said of the once-controversial apparel maker: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a brand come back from the dead this fast.”
4. More price drops, this time from Walgreens, which is trimming the totals on 1,300 items. Further adventures in retail reductions may come from Dollar Tree, which is taking over 170 of the 370 stores its rival discount chain 99 Cents is abandoning after its April bankruptcy filing.