Archived edition. Published Friday 18 September 2026. Market levels and indicators are as they stood that morning.

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Before the day
begins.

A sharp daily read on Australian food and beverage, the technology reshaping business and the conversations worth hearing.

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The economy at a glance

Australian Indicators

Checked daily · ABS / RBA / Westpac / NABUnderstand the Indicators
Inflation (CPI)3.5%CurrentDown from 3.8% · 26 Aug 2026Next release: 30 Sep 2026Cash rate4.35%CurrentUp from 4.10% · 6 May 2026Next decision: 29 Sep 2026, 2:30pmConsumer confidence84.4Sep 2026 · Westpac indexDown from 88.9 · 8 Sep 2026Next release: 13 Oct 2026Business confidence-8Aug 2026 · NAB indexDown from -6 · 8 Sep 2026Next release: 13 Oct 2026Unemployment4.5%CurrentUp from 4.4% · 20 Aug 2026Next release: 24 Sep 2026GDP growth0.4% q/qJune 2026 · 2.1% y/yNext release: 2 Dec 2026Housing & Value11,531,100 dwellingsUp 54,400 in Jun qtr 2026Mean price: A$1,100,400 · down A$8,200Australia 10 Year Government Bond5.202%Daily closing yield · RBAUp from 5.182% · +2.0 bpsAs at 9 Sep 2026

Economic indicators are sourced from the organisations shown and may be revised, superseded or released on changed dates. They are not real-time. General and indicative information only—not financial product or investment advice. Verify the latest figures and release dates using the linked source before relying on them.

Industry pulse

Top 5 Australian F&B

The most commercially relevant food, beverage, retail and hospitality stories.

  1. 01Sydney Morning Herald Good Food

    One of Brisbane’s best restaurants gets a cookbook

    Now you can cook zucchini chips at home, along with more than 100 other recipes that span Hellenika’s 16-year history.
  2. 02Inside FMCG

    From grocery to foodservice: Italy maps its next phase of Australian growth

    “Australia is an increasingly sophisticated and receptive market for Italian food.”
  3. 03QSR Media Australia

    The chain has over 900 restaurants in Japan.

  4. 04RetailBiz

    Liquor sales: Delivery curbs, trading hours in spotlight

    Liquor delivery curbs and trading hours have made news around Australia.
  5. 05Australian Hotelier

    Ryan family buys Royal Oak Hotel Double Bay

    After 15 years of stewardship, the Malouf family has sold the renowned Sydney pub in an off-market deal.

Signals shaping business

Top 5 AI & Tech

The developments most likely to change how teams operate, compete and make decisions.

01Business Insider

Uber employees say AI is doing everything from writing support chat responses to answering questions in Slack

Amid Uber layoffs, employees link job cuts to AI's growing influence, highlighting tools like ChatGPT and productivity dynamics in the tech industry.

02The Verge AI

Claude Code relaunches Projects to manage multiple AI agents in the cloud

03WIRED AI

The AI Slowdown Debate Crashed Salesforce’s Party

04The Decoder

Anthropic keeps pushing Claude Code toward autonomous coding with new parallel agent workflows

05Business Insider

Alex Karp says the AI safety debate is really about nationalizing AI labs

Palantir CEO Alex Karp argues that AI safety concerns could ultimately push frontier labs toward nationalization over intellectual property liability.

Hiring now · Refreshed daily

Jobs in Foodservice

Current Australian openings at the major food and beverage employers we track.

Private sector roles

Loading roles…

Sourced directly from employers’ own career sites.

Public sector portals

18 Sep

Search food and hospitality roles directly on each government’s own jobs portal.

Australian Government APS JobsNationalAPS Jobs — “food”Every Australian Government agency.AAFCANS, Army and Air Force Canteen ServiceNational · DefenceAAFCANS CareersCafes and canteens on Defence bases.NSW GovernmentNew South WalesI Work for NSW — Food ServicesPre-filtered to food services.Victoria State GovernmentVictoriaCareers.vic.gov.au — “food”Victorian public sector roles.Queensland GovernmentQueenslandSmart Jobs and CareersAll Queensland departments.Government of South AustraliaSouth AustraliaCareers.sa.gov.au — Food & HospitalityFood and hospitality hub.Government of Western AustraliaWestern AustraliaWA Government Jobs — “food”All Western Australian agencies.ACT Government, Canberra Health ServicesAustralian Capital TerritoryCanberra Health Services CareersCatering and food services in ACT Health.

Links open each government’s official jobs portal. We don’t list or store these roles.

Recruitment agencies

Specialist

FMCG & manufacturing desks

National coverage

Executive

Senior & leadership appointments

Retained search

Contract

Temp & project placements

Plant and site based

Coming soonRecruitment agenciesOpenings placed by specialist food and beverage recruiters.

One line · One new world

Puzzle of the day

Draw one continuous path from the rocket to the planet, filling every tile once.

Open today’s puzzle

Side hustles · Worth a look

Side hustles

$

Octopus Group

Paid surveys

A consumer research panel operating across Australia and New Zealand. Joining is free — you fill in a profile once, then studies arrive by email or app when your details match what a client is looking for: grocery habits, dining out, what you drink. Most take ten to twenty minutes, and rewards are paid in cash rather than points.

Join Octopus Group Free to join

Octopus Group Enterprises, ABN 99 657 650 194. Our link is a referral link and we may earn a credit if you join through it, which costs you nothing and plays no part in what we list. See our terms.

Weekdays · Before the day begins

Ten essential stories. One focused morning read.

The Daily F&B Briefing brings Australian industry intelligence and the technology shaping tomorrow into one comprehensive, considered edition.

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