Marketplace Morning Report: "Why not just takeout for your holiday meal?"

Date: December 25, 2025
Host: Sabri Benishour (filling in for David Brancaccio)
Runtime: ~10 minutes

Episode Overview

This Christmas Day edition focuses on two main topics:

• The surprising contraction of warehousing during the holiday supply chain push and what that signals for the broader economy.
• How even professional chefs are embracing the simplicity (and sanity) of takeout for family holiday meals, exploring how traditions change to prioritize time together.

Key Discussion Points

1. Shrinking Warehousing During the Holidays

Segment starts: 00:46

• Main Insight: For the first time in modern record-keeping, American companies reduced warehouse usage heading into the holiday season, signaling a significant shift in supply chains.
• Data Source: Logistics Managers Index.
• Why it happened:
  • Companies had already stocked up earlier in the year, partly due to tariffs and trade uncertainties.
  • There’s a "real nervousness about the economy," with decreased consumer demand and a softer manufacturing sector.
• Expert Commentary:
  • Dale Rogers, Arizona State University (01:44):

    “Because of the tariffs and uncertainty, we saw really the fourth quarter surge happen in the early summer.”

  • Jason Miller, Michigan State University (02:07):

    "You have a soft manufacturing sector right now, and that means you're going to be needing essentially less warehousing space."

• Looking ahead: Expect elevated vacancy rates in warehouse space to persist well into next year.
  • Miller (02:35):

    "Do things start to point up a little bit more? Do they stabilize sort of at the current relatively low blah levels, or do they even start to potentially turn down a little bit more?"

2. Market Update

Segment begins: 02:50

• Status check: US bond and stock markets closed for the holiday.
• Key stat: The S&P 500 is poised for a third straight year of double-digit gains despite several headwinds:
  • Tariffs introduced by President Trump.
  • A cooling labor market.
  • Worries about a "bubble" in artificial intelligence stocks.

3. Holiday Cooking, Chefs, and the Joy of Takeout

Segment starts: 04:41

• Story Focus: Chefs Tom and Mariah Pishitufly of Portland, Oregon, illustrate how, even in the food industry, holiday traditions can evolve. Running two nomination-heavy restaurants, they've shifted from culinary extravagance to embracing takeout at home.
• Restaurant: Gado Gado (Indonesian-Malaysian fusion); Oma’s Hideaway.
• Restaurant holiday specials:
  • A massive sharing dish called "Ristval," comprising 50 small plates—a festive, familial tradition.
  • Mariah Pishitufly (05:54):

    "Meant for sharing—50 small plates at the table with a couple different types of rice sort of exemplifies, like, a lot of celebratory feeling."

• Family background: Tom honors matriarchal family heritage—his mother was a Massachusetts Supreme Court justice, and also the family cook.
  • Mariah Pishitufly (06:35):

    “My mother was the cook. She did the shopping and the planning…while she juggled a job. She was a Supreme Court justice in Massachusetts, the first Asian woman judge. But she would always come home and make us dinner.”

• How holidays have changed for them:
  • Family, not food, now takes center stage—no more “feast of seven fishes” or elaborate spreads.
  • They often gather at a relative’s home, sometimes skip turning the oven on entirely, and increasingly order takeout or keep meals simple.
  • Mariah Pishitufly (07:51):

    “We’re a family with a chef. We have this privilege to be around, like, really extravagant food a lot. The holidays for us are really more about family.”

  • On shifting away from elaborate meals:
    • Mariah (08:04):

      “At first, it felt sacrilegious, but we had so much more time to play cards and games and hang out. That’s sort of the vibe now, I think, is like, less extravagance, more time.”

• Advice for home cooks and chefs alike:
  • Mitchell Hartman (narrator) (08:19):

    "Tom’s advice for star chefs and humble home cooks? Consider doing takeout for your next family feast. Or tacos or hot dogs with all the fixins. Whatever’s easiest to keep your family eating together."

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• Dale Rogers on why warehouses are empty:

  “Because of the tariffs and uncertainty, we saw really the fourth quarter surge happen in the early summer.”
  (01:44)

• Mariah Pishitufly on matriarchs and food:

  “My mother was the cook. She did the shopping and the planning…while she juggled a job. She was a Supreme Court justice in Massachusetts, the first Asian woman judge. But she would always come home and make us dinner.”
  (06:35)

• Mariah Pishitufly on the holidays:

  “At first, it felt sacrilegious, but we had so much more time to play cards and games and hang out. That’s sort of the vibe now, I think, is like, less extravagance, more time.”
  (08:04)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Shrinking warehouse trends: 00:46 – 02:50
• Market update: 02:50 – 03:39
• Holiday cooking with pro chefs, the case for takeout: 04:41 – 08:35
• Closing (gas prices update): 08:35 – end

Final Takeaway

This episode offers a snapshot of economic momentum as 2025 ends—from surprising trends in logistics and warehousing to the personal choices families and even top chefs are making about what really matters at the holidays. Underpinning it all is the advice to opt for what brings people together, even if it’s takeout.