Hello there.

Happy Wednesday! I hope you’re hungry, because today we’re running a special on food drama, apparently.

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The thing is, whether or not Taco Bell has anything to do with this outbreak, people are still gonna blame Taco Bell. They oughta consider bringing that chihuahua back; let him take all the heat. Anyway, let’s get into it. 👇

Sweetgreen's stock bounced 15% on Friday after the CDC officially blamed Taco Bell's iceberg lettuce for a nasty parasite outbreak that sickened over 1,600 people. The salad chain had tanked 26% earlier in the week because investors assumed fresh produce places were the problem. Turns out Sweetgreen doesn't even use iceberg lettuce.

But the plot thickened over the weekend. The FDA initially announced they found the Cyclospora parasite on lettuce samples from Taylor Farms, the supplier linked to Taco Bell. Then they took it back, calling the test result a false positive. Awkward, and definitely not related to Taylor Farms’ recent massive donation to a Trump super-PAC.

Still, the FDA says their investigation hasn't changed. They're still pointing at Taylor Farms based on interviews with sick people, not lab tests. Taylor Farms already recalled all their iceberg lettuce from central Mexico and stopped sourcing from there entirely. 94 people have been hospitalized so far, but no deaths have been reported.

If nothing else, this is a reminder that stocks can move hard on headlines before anyone knows the full story. Sweetgreen got punished for something that had nothing to do with them. Taco Bell's parent company, Yum Brands, dropped about 8% for the week and is now stuck dealing with a food safety mess that regulators still can't definitively trace. Sometimes the market panics first and figures out the facts later. Invisible hand and all that.

Pile on the pastrami. It’s IPO summer, baby.

Blackstone bought Jersey Mike's for around $8 billion last year, and now they're flipping part of that investment to the hungriest IPO market we’ve seen in quite a while.. The sandwich chain just set terms for a $1 billion IPO that values the whole company between $6.7 billion and $7.8 billion. Shares are expected to price between $21 and $25.

Jersey Mike's has over 3,300 locations, and most of them are run by franchise owners. That means the company doesn't actually make sandwiches. It collects royalties and ad fees every time someone else does. Same-store sales grew 50% from 2020 to 2025, and the average location pulls in $1.4 million a year. That's a lot of cheddar for relatively small and inexpensive storefronts.

So Blackstone is selling about $660 million worth of shares but keeping 68% control after the IPO. Classic private equity playbook: buy, improve, cash out, but stick around for more upside. If this works, we could see a flood of restaurant IPOs follow. Dunkin' and Arby's owner Inspire Brands already filed back in May. It’s just the thing to do right now, apparently. Expect Jersey Mike's to start trading under the ticker JMKE by the end of July.

A lot can happen in a week!

Let’s take a quick look at who struck gold and who struck out since our last issue:

Apple Inc. (AAPL): +3.23%
Microsoft Corporation (MSFT): +2.01%
NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA): +1.35%
Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM): +0.55%
Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN): +0.50%

Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SPCX): -8.47%
Tesla, Inc. (TSLA): -3.70%
Meta Platforms (META): -1.57%
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.B): -1.43%
Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL): -1.02%

That’s all for today. Write us and let us know your thoughts on the market, the newsletter, or the weather—we’d just love to hear from you.

Till next time,
— Brandon and Blake of Invested Inc.