The Best One Yet - 🍆 “$746 to eat duck brains?” — Noma’s restaurant disruption. Rolls-Royce’s pimp my ride. Microsoft’s infinity stones.

Episode Date: January 11, 2023

Noma was crowned #1 restaurant in the world 5 times, but shockingly just announced it’s shutting because the fine dining business model is broken. For the first time ever, the average Rolls-Royce car sold for over $500K — because they’re not selling cars… they’re selling art. And Microsoft is going all-in on ChatGPT if it turns Bing into a Google-killer.$BMWYY $MSFT $GOOGFollow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypodAnd now watch us on YoutubeWant a Shoutout on the pod? Fill out this formGot the Best Fact Yet? We got a form for that tooLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Wednesday, January 11th, and today's pod is just the best one yet. T-B-O-I. It's a T-boy. But Jack, last night, the rain was so strong, it woke us up three times. We had to stick a towel under the curtains. Yeties, the rain is so bad in California right now.

There's a new meteorological term. They're calling this a parade of rainstorms. We're experiencing mudslides and avalanches at the same time in one state. It is scary. to see. Okay, Yeti's in California, you stay safe and dry. Jack and I will make today's pot a at T-boy. Yes, we will. Jack, what's our first story? Rolls Royce just had their best year ever thanks to one new feature. One new feature, and that feature is Pimp My Ride. For our second story, Microsoft. They have a new plan to beat Google. Okay, here it is. Infinity Stones, like Iron Man's

Infinity Stones. And our third and final story is Noma. The most awarded restaurant in the world is shockingly shutting down. Because the restaurant business model, it is broken. Send it back to the kitchen. But yet, he's, before we hit that wonderful mix. Just a fantastic mix for a Wednesday check. We've got an update from outer space. Besties, we've got news from the atmosphere.

The ozone layer is back, baby. The old ozone layer. Step on down, ozone. Come on over the time. We blew a hole in it years ago. Yeah, but now we're patching it back up. Okay, we got this. Get this, Yeties.

The United Nations just issued a report that the ozone layer above our heads is on pace to be fully restored by 24. Okay, full disclosure, we have not saved it yet, but we're making big moves, and this is a big deal. Now, the ozone layer protects your skin from ultraviolet radiation. Radiation bad, ultraviolet worse. So fixing the ozone would be the biggest win for planet Earth since like the tree. Jack, fixing the ozone would be the biggest win for the world since. sand beaches. Sand beaches. What a blessing. Trees. They're so charming. But here's the wildest part. A top threat to the ozone layer, you're not going to believe it. It wasn't cars, it wasn't trucks,

and it wasn't forest fires. What was it, Jack? Hairspray. It was hairspray. Like John Travolta, 1970s, Greece's Lightning, hairspray. Yeties, every time your mom sprayed her perm back in the day, a polar bear got a sunburn. You weren't just spraying your hair. You were spraying the whole world. Now, yeties, those hair spray toxins, they were banned in the 1980s. Montreal Protocol. And since 1989, the ozone layer has bounced back. Which means the ozone rebound may be mankind's

greatest team effort. Welcome back, ozone. Welcome back! It's great to see you up there. You're looking great. You look fantastic. Let's hear our three skies. Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm. They had an idea to cause a cultural storm. It's the best one yet. I don't even think they need to practice.

50%. That's a fat. Tea Boy City on your at list If you know you know Cause we're ready to go We can't wait no more So just start the show Start the show For our first story

Rolls Royce just had its best year of sales ever And it's been around For over a century Because Rolls Roy stopped making cars Started making art A beep beep beep I got a back you up right there Jack

Rolls Royce they do not like to be referred to As a car company That's right They actually call themselves A luxury house It's like they think they're LVMH over there. This ain't no grease monkeys over at Rolls-Royce.

No, no, no, no. They think they're Gucci. It's like the Prada of the strata. Rolls-Royce, you recognize them because of that angel on the hood, that beautiful little ornament with the wings going back. It's very aerodynamic. It's like she's embracing the air. She's actually avoiding the air, but I'm no engineer.

Well, the Rolls-Royce, it happens to be the car of choice for Mr. Monopoly. Their chassis cost more than your condo. In 2022, Rolls-Royce sold a company record 6,000. of those silly expensive cars. 6,000 cars. That was their record.

Jack, can we sprinkle on a little context here? Not that many cars. No, it's not that many cars. Ford sold 2 million cars last year. Heck, Ford sold 500,000 Ford F-150 trucks in the last year. So glad you just said, heck. So 6,000 isn't much, but the price of the average car sold. That was pretty much.

That's the key, because the average Rolls-Roy's car just passed 5.000. $500,000 for the first time. For the first time in Rolls-Royce's 119-year history, the average car was over half a million dollars. Unprecedented, there's no precedent, baby. Parent company BMW is up 7% on the week celebrating those results. Now, yet here's what Jack and I find fascinating about this story. Rolls-Royce isn't thriving because of like the supremium trend that we've been talking about. It's not just that.

It's something more unique. Rolls-Royce is thriving because of customization. Get this. Rolls Royce, again, it is a car company, has 90% of their buyers personalize their cars. Not personalizing by like getting the upgraded 19 inch rims. We're talking you're going to build your Rolls Roy's part by part feature by feature like it's a Mr. Potato Head. There's some crazy customization options. Okay, for example, it's not just a champagne cooler like in your prom limo that you had a few years ago. You can also get a cigar bin or a fully cashmere interior.

And it's not just crazy. customizations. There also are crazier customizations. Let's say Orion's belt is your favorite constellation of stars. I'm looking at it right now, man. You can get an orientation of lights on the ceiling of the car that resemble Orion's belt. We repeat, you can be driving, look up, and you've got like the Northern Hemisphere big dipper in your car in your Rolls-Royce. But we think the even crazier option? Oh, can we talk about the craziest of customizations, Jack? You can select one craft artisan at Rolls-Royce to truly assemble and to woodwork a one-of-a-kind wooden interior, like tables and consoles. Jack, if you were slam and Sam, you could have them input an organic slam and salmon

in that Rolls-Royce interior. They can whittle your family crest into it if you have a family crest. Jack, for your birthday, if you want, you can get that Brooklyn Bridge book that you love covering a Rose-Royce interior. Forget the book. Why don't we just carve in the bridge? No kidding. to yourself. We're talking about the MTV show Pimp My Ride at scale. It's like Rolls Royce is being run by exhibit. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Rolls Royce? Rolls Royce stopped selling cars and they started selling art.

Rolls Royce is a case study in category design. They have rethought the category that they compete in. Category design. The ultimate way to stand out is to create a whole new category. You don't compete to be better. We've told you, you compete to be different. Rolls-Royce is different from other luxury sports cars because each rolls is one of a kind. Rolls-Royce isn't selling a luxury car.

It is selling an individual piece of art. These personalized Rolls-Royces, they're the first ever art where the canvas is a car. These Rolls-Royces, they are a totally different category. And selling art is way more profitable than selling a car. It is way more profitable. For our second story, Microsoft has a solution to beat Google, start buying ChatGPT. Because what Microsoft is really looking for is the Infinity Stones. Oh, Yet he's last month, Jack and I introduced you to the Chatbot artificial intelligence, ChatGPT.

It's the AI that did a script of our podcast. Pretty darn good. Yeah, yeah. Well, last week, Jack and I told you that Google just considered ChatGPT, a code red threat to its online search business. Well, yesterday, that code read threat to Google, it became a real threat to Google. According to people familiar with the matter, Microsoft is planning to incorporate chat GPT into Bing. According to the PFWTMs, now you know Bing, you've heard of Bing. Have you heard of Bing? Do you know Bing actually?

Should we even have said that, Jay. Bing is a four-letter made-up word that Microsoft invented back in 2009. Yeah, I just wanted to sound Googly. And Bing has basically become one of the rare, one of the not-rarified punchline products. Bing, Microsoft's online search engine surprisingly still exists. It's still there. You're still there. Okay, now get this.

Over 90% of the world uses Google, about like 93% Google searches. But a determined and loyal 3% are using Bing to search the web instead of Google. It's like fetch. Sorry, Gretchen. It's not happening. The most Bing term of 2022, by the way. Oh, this is good. This is good.

What was the most big term of 2022, Jack? It was Google. Yeah, where can I find Google? That's what you're binging for. But with chat GPT, this powerful artificial intelligence, Bing may not be a punchline product anymore. No, with this AI bot, Bing could offer human-like full sentence answers to your search query. And I'd take that over Google's list of like endless paid links and more links. and then you click in the link and you got to search again.

And it's a sponsored ad. Yeah, it is good. With chat GPT baked into Bing, Bing could catapult way up higher in the online search market. And that's why Microsoft is about to spend a lot of money. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Microsoft? What Microsoft actually wants is the Infinity Stones. Yet he's Microsoft had a taste for the power of online search 20 years ago. Back in the day, every Windows PC came with Internet Explorer and MSN search built in.

Buffering, but not long after like Y2K, Microsoft started losing online search to Google. It just couldn't compete. But Microsoft sees ChatGPT as its Infinity Stones. Like the Infinity Stones, like from the Marvel Superhero movies, like Iron Man past the Spinity Stone. Chat GPT is the all-powerful force worth doing anything to obtain in order to immediately become number one. ChatGBTGPT is the infinity stone that even Dr. Strange would sacrifice his life over. Which explains another report yesterday from Semaphore. Get this, Microsoft will reportedly invest $10 billion to own 49% of ChatGPT's parent company. And if this chat bot supported Bing

works, Microsoft will probably buy the rest of ChatGPT. Because to Microsoft, ChatGPT is its Infinity Stone. Now a word about our sponsor, Robin Hood. A lot of Yetis don't realize how much prep work goes into this pod. We spend hours every morning jumping in T-boy style to earnings reports, CEO tweets, breaking news headlines. Jack and I are toggling tabs like you toggled IM Convo's in 2004. Having eight tabs open can be stressful. You don't need that, especially when invest.

Robin Hood offers it all in one app. Whether you want to trade options, ETFs, or stocks through Robin Hood Financial, or you want to buy some Bitcoin on Robin Hood Crypto. You can do it all on the Robin Hood app. If you're not investing in Robin Hood yet, to get started, go to robin hood.com slash T-Boy and choose your free stock. That's robinood.com slash T-B-L-Y. Limitations apply.

Robin Hood Financial LLC, member SIPC, all investments involved with us. By the way, this podcast is not owned or part of Robin Hood. We are not employees of Robin Hood. For our third and final story, the number one restaurant in the entire world, NOMA is shockingly shutting down. And that reveals the future of the high-end. restaurant business. But Jack, we're going to talk about this story.

And I'm sitting here with my podcast co-host, a retired ex-waiter at the Olive Garden. I got to ask you a few questions. First of all. Fine dining made you think of the Olive Garden. It did, Jack. What was the most extravagant dish that you guys served at the Olive Garden? It was like a white truffle tortellini. Depends how much money you have.

Quail rigatoni. What are you talking about? It was actually the braised beef tortelloni. You thought I said tortellini? Yeah, I thought. Tortelloni. But slightly above the Olive Garden lies Noma, the Copenhagen Denmark-based restaurant that pioneered modern Nordic cuisine. In just 20 years since opening, Noma was named the number one restaurant in the world five times.

Basically, they won the World Cup of Food five different times. That is unprecedented. This restaurant has enough Michelin stars to make NASA jealous. We're talking about the most innovative restaurant since the Spork. Nastro tourists fly to Denmark just to dine. at Noma for one meal. And then ironically, that meal costs more than the flight they took over, right, Jack? That's right, because one seat at one table costs $420. I'm about one second. Actually, it'll be $700 if you do the wine pairing. They have a very nice peanut. Noma isn't a place to get dinner. It's a place to get an experience.

You only dinner at Noma. Noma eats your net worth, Jack. Nick, what's on the menu today? Okay, let me actually jump in T-Boy's style here first, Jack. Okay, Jack and I call this a luxitarian menu. Jack, you know what you're going to kick off the meal? What am I going to kick off? A foraged spruce tree tip over a duck brain custard. You'd have to pay me to eat that. Okay, but we have to pay you to eat the second course, which is a bear meat dumpling with cogi butter and beet sashimi. Hope it's not a quala bear. I can't make any promises. Finally, Jack, your third course is going to be grilled reindeer penis ragu. I can't stop. Santa just started a petition.org on that one.

But that legendary award-winning menu is shutting down because chef René Red Zeppi says, the economics of high-end dining just don't work. He says that the fine dining business model is broken. Okay, just to sprinkle on some context here, we're talking about a restaurant charging the highest prices in the world, and yet they can't even make a profit. Part of the reason they're shutting down is emotional. They set such high expectations of insanely extreme cuisine. It is grueling to come up with enough.

other deer brain cocktail recipe every other Saturday. But the big cost that killed profitability was the people. Yeah, it's the labor cost. Because even at those prices, high end just wasn't sustainable with so many chefs that they needed. Because dining at Noma was like attending a show. It required a skilled, huge staff that worked long hours. Honestly, the business model wasn't really restaurants.

It was more like Hollywood, more like Broadway. So Noma, the number one restaurant on earth is shutting its doors after next winter. Jack, you know what that means? Get that duck brain casserole now before it's gone. Yeah, limited supplies while they last. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who whip up something honestly incredible over at Noma? The future of fine dining isn't restaurants, it's brands. Yeties, in the past, scaling a restaurant concept meant two things, franchises or chains, just like Burger King.

But to scale fine dining, the solution looks like pop-up restaurants and branded packaged goods. And that's why Chef Renee Reney. at Zepi is closing the restaurant, but scaling the brand. Once this restaurant closes, it'll be the beginning of a new concept, Noma Labs. Noma Labs, which will be pop-up restaurants around the world and packaged grocery products distributed around the world. For six months, Noma is going to open a temporary pop-up cafe in Kyoto, Japan. And then they're going to sell cans of Noma's famous mushroom broth over at Whole Foods.

If Noma were a sports team, this would be like the New York Yankees shutting down Yankee Stadium. But then traveling to play games around the world and sell Yankee merchandise around the world. Noma is shutting down the number one restaurant in the world, but it's to scale the brand global. That could be the future of fine dining. Jack, can you and that giant tortelloni whip up the takeaways for us over there? You know, I call the Alph Garden my alma mater. Rolls-Roy's just sold a record number of cars for a record high million dollars each. Because Rolls Royce changed their category.

They're not selling cars. They're selling personalized art. For our second story, Microsoft is reportedly going all in on chat GPT to finally make Bing a thing. Because to Microsoft, chat GPT is its infinity stones. Our third and final story is NOMA. The number one restaurant and the only one serving brain guts is shutting down in a year. Because the future of fine dining isn't restaurants, it's brands. and reindeer penises.

And duck brain. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Ty from lovely Santa Monica, California. Nick the other day mentioned on the pod that he randomly walked across a couple of coyotes the other day. I thought there were a couple of dogs in the park. Apparently, there were a couple of coyotes in San Francisco. Is it coyotes or coyotes?

It depends how well you know the coyote, Jack. Well, Ty lives down the street in Los Angeles, and he sees coyotes on. Santa Monica Beach every once in a while. Yeah, get this fact. Coyotes are actually in love. They're great loving animals. They're great parents. They build strong families.

Apparently, unlike many mammals, coyotes, they mate for life, like humans. And when they have offspring, they part part together, like mom and dad. And when the coyote cubs grow up, they live with their mom and dad, with their family for their whole lives. Coyotes, they got a rebrand.

Coyotes, they're lovers, not fighters. Disney's got to make, like, I don't know, they got to do something with coyotes. Don't tell Noma, Jack. They would serve coyote. Don't tell Noma. Coyote tie, that's an appetizer.

Yetis, you look fantastic today. And if you want to help grow the pod, turn to a buddy next to you and say, hey, H-Y-H-T-B-O-Y. Have you had the best one yet? That's how we grow. If you know, you know. Nick and I, we'll see you tomorrow. Can't wait.

And before we go, happy birthday to legendary Yeti, Lizzie Horvitz, our sustainability buddy from Cleveland, Ohio. Cleveland. Paris on the lake. And a happy birthday to Abby, who's shopping at Whole Foods, listening to T-Boy in Isle 6, and celebrating that birthday in Seattle. And happy birthday to Fernando Grigio, a fintecho founder in Cori-Chiba, Brazil. And Dia, happy birthday over in Bangalore, India.

And happy birthday to Austin Pitts, up in Seattle, Washington. Stay safe, stay dry. And to anyone else celebrating something today, make it a T-Bull. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock of Disney, and Nick and I both own stock of Rob. Robin Hood. Now, a word about our sponsor, Robin Hood.

A lot of you listen to our show while you're driving. Two hands on the wheel. Keep it 10 and 2. You might be cruising, Chris, no rush. Stay in the right lane. Or you might be doll lane from Duncan, dotting from lane to lane. And there are different drivers on the road.

They're different investors too. Maybe you're cruising down the long-term lane with stock investing, or maybe you're a more advanced full-speed trader. Well, the Robin Hood app helps put you in the driver's seat wherever you're at in your investing journey. If you're not investing on Robin Hood yet, to get started, go to robinid.com slash T-B-Boy and choose your free stock. That's Robinhood.com slash T-B-O-Y. Limitations apply. Robin Hood Financial LLC, member SIPC, all investments involve risk.

By the way, this podcast is not owned by or part of Robin Hood, and we are not employees of Robinhood. Is it coyotes or coyotes? It depends how well you know the coyote, Jack. Well, Ty lives down the road in Los Angeles, and he seeks coyotes on Santa Monica Beach daily. Yeah, which is why. I don't want to sit down. Which is why he's being ravished by coyotes right now. Oh, I like you.

That was really funny. That wasn't like me. Yeah. You're like, Ty is a coyote. He's just rounding up.