Panda Express is funding a university fellowship, and Jack Link’s is hosting a ‘meat retreat’

Happy Friday! And as always, we are here to make your weekend slightly more fun with our weekly collection of weird retail news. This week, we heard about a fast food chain funding a PhD level fellowship—at an Ivy League school, no less. And then one food brand is taking the upcoming National Jerky Day (Is that a thing?) too seriously and hosting a “meat retreat” that comes at a hefty price and includes several ranch-specific activities.

• Panda Express is funding an Asian American studies fellowship at an Ivy League university.
• In honor of National Jerky Day, Jack Link’s is hosting a “meat retreat” that starts at $2,700 and will be held at a limited-time dude ranch resort.
• A Panama-based speakeasy makes cocktail recommendations after doing a tarot card reading of the customer.

And for our loyal newsletter subscribers, we hope you had a hard time spotting our weekly sneaky piece of fake weird retail news. This week, we might’ve included a bit about two very upset Florida women who we said were suing a local burger joint for misleading customers by not using enough mustard on its burgers. Alright, now, whatever your feelings are on putting mustard on a burger, we’re not sure it’s worth suing a place over.