Why not just takeout for your holiday meal?

Summary

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

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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.

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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?"

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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.

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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."

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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)

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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

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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.

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Transcript

[Marina Reyes]

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[Mitchell Hartman]

McDonald's snack wrap is back. You brought it back. Ranch snack wrap, Spicy snack wrap.

[Justin Ho]

You broke the Internet for a snack?

[Mitchell Hartman]

Snack wrap is back. Ba da ba ba ba.

[Sabri Benishour]

The real gifts that keep on giving are supply chains from Marketplace. I'm Sabri Benishour in for David Brancaccio. Merry Christmas. And as you unwrap your gifts today, give a thought to the supply chains that brought them to you. From manufacturer to warehouser to retailer to living room, those supply chains recently did something that they have not done before. The warehouse part of that supply chain shrank. Companies in November stocked fewer goods in warehouses than they did the month before. That is the first time that warehouse utilization, as it is called, has contracted in the history of the survey that found this out. It's called called the Logistics Managers Index. Marketplace's Justin Ho looked into why demand for warehousing space has been soft lately.

[Justin Ho]

A big reason why companies haven't been stuffing as many goods in warehouses this holiday season is because they already did that earlier in the year, says Dale Rogers at Arizona State University.

[Mitchell Hartman]

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

[Justin Ho]

As a result, Rogers says, companies are focusing on emptying out their warehouses, and he says they're not likely to restock.

[Mitchell Hartman]

Them anytime soon because of real nervousness about the economy.

[Justin Ho]

That's because in some sectors, consumer demand has been weakening. Jason Miller at Michigan State University says that includes manufacturing, which uses a lot of warehousing space to store inventory.

[Sabri Benishour]

So essentially you have a soft manufacturing.

[Justin Ho]

Sector right now, and that means you're going to be needing essentially less warehousing space. Miller says other sectors simply aren't sure where consumer demand is headed. Do things start to point up a little bit more?

[Sabri Benishour]

Do they stabilize sort of at the.

[Justin Ho]

Current relatively low blah levels, or do they even start to potentially turn down a little bit more? Miller says that means warehousing vacancy rates are likely to stay elevated well into the coming year. I'm Justin ho for Marketplace.

[Sabri Benishour]

U.S. bond and stock markets are closed for the Christmas holiday trading hours go back to normal tomorrow at the usual hour, assuming there are no major dips in the last week of 2025, the S&P 500 index is on track for its third consecutive year of double digit gains. That is despite the initial hit to the market from President Trump's tariffs and despite a cooling labor market, and despite fears of an artificial intelligence bubble that might bur.

[Mariah Pishitufly]

Every now and then I rinse it.

[Marina Reyes]

Out and I deep down.

[Sabri Benishour]

And I.

[Marina Reyes]

Needed more My kid went so bad and the smell never leaves I don't know what to do I'm always in.

[Mitchell Hartman]

The dark the sweat and dead short.

[Marina Reyes]

Smells like a dark.

[Justin Ho]

Downy rinse fights.

[Sabri Benishour]

Stubborn odors in just one wash when impossible odors get stuck in.

[Justin Ho]

This podcast is supported by Odoo. Some say Odoo business management software is like fertilizer for businesses because the simple, efficient software promotes growth. Others say Odoo is like a magic beanstalk because it scales with you and is magically affordable. And some describe Odoo's programs for manufacturing, accounting and more and more as building blocks for creating a custom software suite. So Odoo is fertilizer Magic beanstalk building blocks for business Odoo exactly what businesses need. Sign [e-mail] that's O-O-O.com cooking for family.

[Sabri Benishour]

For the holidays can be stressful. For professional chefs, that level of stress is at a whole other level. They're often cooking for overbooked restaurants and special events, plus developing holiday menus and and cooking for family get togethers family that expects them to deliver something high end and chef worthy. Marketplace's Mitchell Hartman brings us the story of a food industry power couple in Portland, Oregon. With two Beard Award nominated restaurants and a commitment to eating not so fancy home cooked family meals.

[Mitchell Hartman]

I meet Tom and Mariah Pishitufly at Gado Gado, their flagship Indonesian Malaysian fusion restaurant in a bustling Portland mini mall. Tom is the chef, Mariah runs the front of the house, the spice smells are heady, the booth is comfy and Tom orders up a sampling menu that's to die for.

[Mariah Pishitufly]

Yeah, we'll do the shumai, a roti, some rice, a little bit of rendang.

[Mitchell Hartman]

That'S a beef curry cooked in coconut milk. All standard Gado Gado fare. But for the holidays, Tom introduces new menu items and offers a platform pumped up version of Gado Gado's signature dish, a huge Dutch Indonesian spread called Ristval.

[Mariah Pishitufly]

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.

[Mitchell Hartman]

Eating together as family is close to Tom's heart. It's what he grew up with in his Anglo Indonesian family in Boston. In fact, at Gado Gado family looks like down at us from a portrait on the wall of Tom's grandmother, who he named his second Portland restaurant Oma's.

[Mariah Pishitufly]

Hideaway, after my Oma, my mom's mom, and my mom's grandmom, who all lived in the same house in Oxnard, California. They were these, like, big figures in my life growing up.

[Marina Reyes]

Your family is very like matriarchal. You have some powerful mother figures.

[Mariah Pishitufly]

My mother was the cook. She did the shopping and the planning. And, you know, all this 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.

[Mitchell Hartman]

Not easy for a judge, Definitely not easy for a chef overseeing dinner service at two busy restaurants. Still, Tom's trying to live by the principle that cooking and eating dinner with their five year old daughter matters at least as much as being a star chef. Though compared to restaurant cooking, it's much.

[Mariah Pishitufly]

More challenging at home to be presenting like, nutritious, balanced meals seven nights a week, which in our household, that typically comes down to me. Mariah has some excellent tricks up her sleeve. Taco night.

[Marina Reyes]

Tom's the chef. I do the other stuff.

[Mitchell Hartman]

During the holidays, though, Tom's not so eager to play master family chef.

[Mariah Pishitufly]

Five years ago, I'd be walking you through the feast of seven fishes on Christmas Eve and all the dishes no longer.

[Mitchell Hartman]

Nowadays, the Picha Duffelies go to Tom's sister's house in Portland.

[Mariah Pishitufly]

And last year she made the call and just said, no, I'm not turning the oven on at my house.

[Mitchell Hartman]

And for Thanksgiving, they ordered in. Mariah says it's been refreshing to let the food take a back seat.

[Marina Reyes]

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.

[Mitchell Hartman]

For Tom, doing takeout was hard to stomach.

[Mariah Pishitufly]

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.

[Mitchell Hartman]

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. I'm Mitchell Hartman for Marketplace.

[Sabri Benishour]

And on the way out here is a holiday gift for the millions of drivers traveling for the holidays. Gas prices are at the lowest level since 2021 according to AAA, down 7% in a month. Merry Christmas, Happy holidays. And in New York, I'm Sabri Ben, ashore with the Marketplace morning report. From APM American Public Media.

[Marina Reyes]

Hey, everyone. You already listened to Marketplace podcasts, so you know that it's important to understand how economic forces shape our lives. And that feels especially important now as we're all trying to make sense of the latest headlines. I'm Marina Reyes, host of Marketplaces. This is Uncomfortable, a show that explores how money bumps up against our relationships, our choices, and the parts of life we don't always say aloud. And starting January 15th, we are back every single week. New stories, new questions, and the kind of conversations that make you feel less alone in this quickly changing economy. We're tackling questions like should I turn my hobby into a money making side hustle? How do I deal with layoff anxiety? Or what do we owe our parents financially? Don't miss an episode. Subscribe to this is Uncomfortable from Marketplace. Wherever you get your podcasts.