The Corner Economy

In February 2025 a Washington, DC bakery was paying more than double the year before for eggs and raised prices on about a third of its menu. Bird flu was real: more than 40 million laying hens died in 2024. But by one opinion writer's account, the price on many commercial egg contracts follows a published quote built from a thin cash market. In June 2026 the Justice Department and 17 states announced settlements with three big producers over claims that they coordinated bids into that market. The companies admitted no wrongdoing, and the settlements still need court approval as far as we can tell.

Tess and Ray follow the egg from the cash market to the bakery invoice. They give the producers' side a full hearing, then look at the slow part nobody talks about: the price coming back down. Some places dropped their egg surcharges and some places' prices stuck. The episode ends with one question to ask your supplier on Monday. This is general information, not legal or financial advice.

Sources:

https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/23/economy/surging-egg-prices-bakeries/

https://apnews.com/article/egg-prices-collusion-settlement-d32b05892541613df3f4e4932109ee0c

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/apu0000708111

https://basketreport.com/prices/eggs/history/

https://washingtonmonthly.com/2026/07/02/egg-prices-collusion-doj/

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-requires-egg-producers-end-coordinated-benchmark-manipulation

https://openclassactions.com/news/doj-egg-price-fixing-settlement.php

https://www.scrippsnews.com/business/egg-producers-will-pay-3-3m-and-donate-53-million-eggs-to-settle-price-fixing-claims

https://nsjonline.com/article/2026/07/egg-producers-to-pay-3-3m-donate-53-million-eggs-to-settle-price-fixing-claims/

https://stockanalysis.com/stocks/calm/financials/

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167268118301112

https://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/article/why-do-prices-rise-like-rockets-but-fall-like-feathers

https://www.livenowfox.com/news/egg-prices-waffle-house-surcharge-ends

https://www.worldjournal.com/wj/story/121368/9665851

http://www-tx.ers.usda.gov/data-products/charts-of-note/112677

https://laist.com/news/food/the-price-of-your-diner-breakfast-may-be-going-down

Supported by Lynqly.

Performed by synthetic voices.

It's holiday-order and wedding-quote season, and bakers keep hearing that cocoa crashed. Tess and Ray follow the price from the trading screen to the cake maker's inbox. There's a record close in December 2024, a short dip to about three thousand dollars a tonne in spring 2026, and a rebound to near fifty-six hundred by October. Underneath all of that sit the hedges, the ten-month lag and the cocoa-butter ratios that actually set what couverture costs.

The twist: the crash was a short window that mostly closed before it could reach anyone buying by the case. A supplier pricing off a hedge near six thousand dollars is close to today's market, not miles above it. The Monday check: pull your last chocolate invoices, find out when your price resets and what it's tied to, and line each invoice up against where futures stood about ten months earlier. Some figures here come from secondary summaries and are flagged in the episode as such.

Sources:

https://bigtimetrivia.com/blog/cocoa-prices-fall-european-grinding-rises/

https://capital.com/en-eu/analysis/cocoa-price-forecast

https://www.icco.org/cocoa-market-report-for-december-2024/

https://www.cobank.com/knowledge-exchange/chocolate-lovers-shift-to-premium-brands-as-cocoa-prices-swing

https://www.investing.com/commodities/us-cocoa

https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/news/6367283

https://cocoasupply.com/the-commodity-cocoa-market-explained-pricing-futures-and-how-contracts-work/

https://panamir.com/cocoa-market-trends-february-2026/

https://hershey.gcs-web.com/news-releases/news-release-details/hershey-reports-second-quarter-2026-financial-results

https://www.eqs-news.com/news/ad-hoc/lindt-sprungli-reports-solid-half-year-results-and-confirms-full-year-guidance/3dd1e4bc-a507-474a-aa26-25ed1bc67f54_en

https://www.sg-network.org/en/news/20260416-barry-callebaut-reports-decline-in-volume-and-earnings

https://businessmodelanalyst.com/halloween-candy-prices-cocoa-crash-hershey/

https://www.whitakerschocolates.com/blogs/blog/cocoa-prices-drop-will-chocolate-prices-follow

Every Monday, thousands of stylists pay rent on a small private room before their first client sits down. Tess and Ray follow that rent out of the suite and through the franchise system. Part goes to the building's landlord. Part goes to a royalty taken off the top with a monthly floor. Then come flat brand, tech and relief fees, and whatever is left goes to an investor who was told this is a landlord business. Then they turn it around and ask what the stylist actually traded when she gave up a commission split for a fixed weekly bill.

The answer depends on her slowest weeks. We go through one openly illustrative model that compares a suite with forty-five percent commission. We also read the suite industry's own words about what it's selling, and look at why the government's earnings numbers can't tell us whether suite renters come out ahead. The episode ends with one thing to work out before Monday: your break-even week, and the three lines in your suite agreement worth reading again. Figures are dated and attributed. Some sources disagree, and the episode says so where they do.

Sources:

https://fddexchange.com/fdd/my-salon-suite-2026/

https://1851franchise.com/franchise-deep-dive-my-salon-suites-franchise-costs-fees-profit-and-data-2723246

https://www.franchisechatter.com/2025/12/21/my-salon-suite-franchise-review-2025-costs-fees-news-average-revenues-and-or-profits/

https://www.fdd.ninja/brands/my_salon_suite/2025/charge_monthly_fee_custom_proprietary_software

https://franchiseoverview.com/company/my-salon-suite

https://phenixsalonsuitesfranchising.com/looking-ahead-to-2026-exciting-news-for-phenix-salon-suites-franchise/

https://phenixsalonsuitesthesky.com/faqs/

https://www.finsmes.com/2022/12/tsg-consumer-partners-acquires-radiance-holdings.html

https://www.ainvest.com/news/sola-salons-franchise-growth-real-pre-ipo-case-software-partnership-2607/

https://imagestudios.co/how-much-does-it-cost-to-rent-a-salon-suite/

https://strandculture.com/research/22-commission-booth-rental-salon-suite-math/

https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?ioType=o&queryParams=39-5012

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LEU0254709400A

https://www.shearsuites.com/post/10-benefits-of-salon-suites-for-stylists

https://docketpack.com/salon/salon-contractor-classification/

https://lutily.com/blog/the-suite-migration

https://www.betheboss.ca/resources/interview-with-a-ceo/my-salon-suite-ken-suddaby

https://www.franchising.com/sponsored/my_salon_suite_seeking_multiunit_franchise_partners_for_semiabsentee_opport.html

https://www.franchisechatter.com/2025/02/27/qa-with-scott-thompson-chief-development-officer-of-sola-salons/

https://www.icsc.com/news-and-views/icsc-exchange/phenix-salon-suites-is-expanding-especially-in-the-northeast-heres-the-space-its-looking-for

https://www.franchising.com/amp/news/20260527_sola_salons_builds_q1_momentum_with_new_signings_openings_and_enhanced_2026.html

https://hotnfresh.app/franchise/sola-salons

https://franchisedepth.com/franchise/my-salon-suite/

In 1910s Iowa, a barber could be arrested for taking a quarter tip. Today nobody goes to jail for tipping. But when a client taps a tip on a card reader, the shop pays a percentage on that tip and on the sales tax too, money that was never the shop's. Tess and Ray follow that fee from the tap to the deposit. Along the way: Illinois's one-of-a-kind ban on fees on tips and tax, now stuck in federal court; the state rules on whether an owner can take the fee out of a worker's tips; and the 2026 IRS rules that turned the tip screen into a tax record.

They also give both sides of the argument, including bank and think-tank critics who say bans like this mostly help big retailers. Then they end on two things to look at on Monday: your processor statement and your own tip screen. This is general information, not legal or tax advice.

Sources:

https://paymentreview.com/blog/illinois-interchange-fee-law-tax-tips/

https://bankingjournal.aba.com/2026/09/court-exempts-federal-credit-unions-from-illinois-interchange-law/

https://thecudaily.com/judge-permanently-bars-illinois-from-restricting-interchange-fees-at-fed-charters-state-charters-remain-under-law/

https://convenience.org/stay-current/news/2026/october/12/illinois-attorney-general-files-appeal-to-protect-state-law-limiting-swipe-fees

https://restaurantlawcenter.org/case/illinois-bankers-association-et-al-v-kwame-raoul/

https://news.wttw.com/2024/10/30/illinois-landmark-law-limiting-credit-card-fees-put-legal-test

https://www.aba.com/-/media/documents/case-documents/2024-12-20-illinois-bankers-association-v-kwame-raoul-opinion.pdf

https://mavengity.com/articles/finance/illinois-interchange-ban-charter-exemption-map/

https://www.mypayadvisor.com/insights/tipping-fees-on-pos-systems

https://celermerchants.com/blog/full-service-restaurant-payments/

https://www.merchant-account-services.org/blog/tip-adjustments/

https://electronicpaymentscoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Illinois-State-Sales-Tax-Interchange-Report-9.24.24-1.pdf

https://archive.commonsenseinstituteus.org/colorado/research/taxes-and-fees/the-economic-impact-of-state-restrictions-on-interchange-fees

https://laweconcenter.org/visa-mastercard-settlement-benefits-merchants-makes-state-swipe-fee-carveouts-more-harmful-icle-finds/

https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/CEI-Written-Testimony-on-S688.pdf

https://cei.org/studies/the-hidden-costs-of-interchange-fee-bans/

https://paymentreview.com/blog/credit-card-fees-deducted-from-tips/

https://www.clarkhill.com/news-events/news/can-an-employer-deduct-credit-card-costs-from-employee-tips/

https://rsmus.com/insights/tax-alerts/2026/no-tax-tips-final-rules-confirm-qualifying-occupations-tip-definition.html

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/treasury-irs-issue-final-regulations-listing-occupations-where-workers-customarily-and-regularly-receive-tips-under-the-one-big-beautiful-bill

https://www.taxpenaltytool.com/refund-checkup/hair-stylists/

https://chairhold.com/blog/2026-state-of-solo-beauty-business-numbers/

https://www.restaurant.org/research-and-media/research/restaurant-economic-insights/analysis-commentary/elevated-costs-continue-to-pressure-restaurant-profitability/

https://www.richmondfed.org/-/media/RichmondFedOrg/publications/research/econ_focus/2024/q1-q2/economic_history.pdf

https://www.historylink.org/File/22487

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/33170/33170-h/33170-h.htm

https://www.investigatemidwest.org/when-tipping-was-illegal-in-iowa-and-how-a-u-s-president-broke-that-law/