The Best One Yet - 🪖“Army’s GeekSquad” — US Military’s Tech Recruits. Converse’s MJ moment. Din Tai Fung’s dumpling empire.

Episode Date: June 16, 2025

The best player in the NBA Finals wears Converse… so they launched a sneaker dating show?War in the Middle East means the US Army has a new recruit… Palantir, Meta, and OpenAI.Din Tai Fung is now the most lucrative restaurant chain in the US… because of 1 lucky number.Plus, Summer Fridays are disappearing… so happy Summer Monday. $MSFT $AAPL $NKEWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of… Beanie Babies 🧸Subscribe to The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinks to listen.TBOY Live Show Tickets to Chicago on sale NOW: https://www.axs.com/events/949346/the-best-one-yet-podcast-ticketsAbout Us: The daily pop-biz news show making today’s top stories your business. Formerly known as Robinhood Snacks, TBOY Lite is hosted by Jack Crivici-Kramer & Nick Martell.GET ON THE POD: Submit a shoutout or fact: https://tboypod.com/shoutouts NEWSLETTER:https://tboypod.com/newsletter SOCIALS:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tboypod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tboypodYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tboypod Anything else: https://tboypod.com/ Our 2nd show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. Welcome back. It is Monday, June 16th. And today's part is the best one yet. This is a T-boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. But man, Yetis, there is a lot going on right now. Across the country, you have protests. Outside of the country, there's a new war in the Middle East. And then on Saturday, a state representative from Minnesota and her husband were assassinated. Yeties, we don't cover all that news on this show. That's not possible for us. and it's not what the show is about. But here's the thing. Jack and I live and breathe the news every day to create this podcast. We feel it and we see it just like you do. What we do do is find the best business stories and takeaways that will make you the most interesting person in the room.

And make each episode the best one yet. So Jack, we got three fantastic stories for today's T-Boy. What's on the show? For our first story. The best player in the NBA finals is wearing the smallest shoe brand. Converse. And Converse is launching a sneaker dating show, Jack. We got to jump into this.

For our second story. With war escalating in the Middle East, executives from Meta, Palantir, and Open AI are joining the U.S. Army Reserves. Literally. Because Big Tech is the new drill sergeant. And our third and final story, guess what's the most lucrative restaurant chain in America? You're never going to guess it. Hint, they're known for soup dumplings, okay?

Answer, they're called Dintai Fung. Dintai Fung! They make more money per restaurant than anyone else in the country because of one lucky number. 18. 18. But Yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. I mean, what a mix of stories. Love the mix today.

Hawaiian shirt day. Cupcake birthday day. Bring your kid to work day. But of all those office traditions, one is the most holy. Summer Fridays. Yeah, baby. The time-honored corporate law that workers may leave their desk three hours early on Friday. Exclusively from June to August, Memorial Day to Labor Day. You can ditch your desk by 12 and you're good. Hit the Hamptons by 2 p.m. You're really good. We think summer Fridays is a productivity boost. It incentivizes you to work officially and get your work done early.

But get this, besties. New data shows that summer Fridays are going away. They're going extinct. A poll conducted by Monster this month found that just 16% of U.S. workers get summer Fridays. But according to a different survey, back in 2019, 55% of American companies got summer Fridays. So pre-pandemic, most workers could leave work early on Friday. Today, very few can. And Jack, what is the ironic force that is killing summer Fridays? It's work from home any other day. That's right. With flexible work weeks, bosses think there's less.

need for flexible Fridays. We gained some flexibility Monday through Thursday. We lost some flexibility on Friday. So besties add it all up and yeah, we know summer Friday happens to be the top rated work perk. So maybe there's lesson here from Greek mythology to help it go down easier.

Like Icarus, the American white collar worker flew too close to the sun. But the sun didn't burn our wings. No, he didn't. Just made us work till 5 o'clock on summer Fridays. Happy Summer Monday, Eddie's Jack. Let's hit our three stories. 15 years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dawn. They had an idea that caused a cultural storm.

It's the best one yet, but the best is an norm. Jack Nick, that's it. 50%. That's a fat tip. Tea Boy City on your at list. If you know, you know, because we're ready to go. We can't wait no more, so just start the show. First, a quick word from our sponsor.

For our first story, the best player in the NBA finals is wearing Converse sneakers? And Converse just launched a dating show. I'm sorry, pause the pod. What is going on here, Jack? Here's how the inventor of basketball shoes is finally re-entering basketball. Now, yeah, it is.

If you've seen the movie air about Nike and Michael Jordan, then you know how Converse blew it. In 1984, Converse had Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, they were the number one basketball shoe. Converse controlled the universe. The Converse. All-Star, aka the Chuck Taylor, aka my go-to shoe for playing pickup on 79th Street, Converse invented the basketball shoe in 1917.

But Michael Jordan signed with Nike, and the rest is history. In 2003, Nike actually bought Converse for less than a billion dollars. Well, let's sprinkle on some financial context, Jack. Today, Nike brings in about $50 billion a year in revenue. How are our buddies over at Converse doing? Well, they're only bringing in $2 billion, so 4% of Nike's overall revenue. In fact, yet he's today, Converse is less a basketball shoe. It's more of a streetwear brand.

Yeah, Converse is about rebels, not rebounds. And you don't wear Converse to the court. You wear it to get coffee. But not anymore. Because this year's NBA MVP, who is also playing in the NBA Finals, is Shea Gilgis Alexander. And he's a Converse guy. And SGA is a Converse guy. That's right.

The biggest surprise of the NBA Finals is that Converse has snagged the spotlight from Nike. But besties, as shocking as that headline was, this is even bigger. Converse just launched a dating show. It's called Chuckmates. And yes, it's a dating show. That's right, a blind dating show hosted by Amelia Dmoldenberg, and it's about Converse sneakers, Jack? Here's the deal. Potential daters chat with each other, but they can only see the shoes that they're wearing, and of course, they're all wearing Converse. You wear Chuck's, you're going to get kisses. Now, I watched one episode. It was okay. The YouTube video got a million views. Not too shabby at all. Love is blind. Is bigger, but hey, love is also well-dressed in some cases. And it's all part of a

Converse nationwide ad campaign called Love Chuck. All right, so Jack, can we lace up for a second, add all this up for the besties out there? A nationwide brand campaign, a flashy new dating show. They're on the court in the NBA finals. What's next for Converse? Well, Jack, Converse is finally, going to sell a basketball shoe again. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Converse? Converse is doing what Nike did 40 years ago. They're betting it all on one guy. All right, yeties, we saved the best for last.

The real shocker here is that Converse does not sell a single basketball shoe right now. That's right. Converse only does casual streetwear. They still sell the Chuck Taylor's, but those don't really qualify as basketball shoes anymore. You're going to break an ankle as soon as you put that thing on, man. But that's all changing now. Because 10 years ago, Converse's basketball scout, Adrian Stelly, met SGA while he was still playing in high school. And Converse decided to go all in on this one player. So this fall, fresh off his MVP season, fans can finally buy the Shea-Doh-1 Converse sneaker.

Converse's first basketball sneaker in years. So as next season tips off, Converse is taken on Nike, Adidas, and New Balance with one shoe about one. Just like Nike went all in on Jordan with a signature Jordan shoe, Converse is going all in on Shea with a signature Shea shoe. That's right, Yeti's 40 years after Converse got Nike'd, Nike could get Conversed. For our second story, as war in the Middle East escalates, we're looking at the U.S. Army's newest surprise recruits. Because on Friday, executives from Palantir, meta, and Open AI got promoted as military officers. But besties, let's start this story with just a random coincidence. And what's that, Jack? Donald Trump and the U.S. Army have the same birthday. Yeah, it's June 14th. One in 1946, the other, back

in 1775. So in Washington, D.C., they celebrated with the military parade. And that display of military muscle, it came one day after two other major military events. One of them you probably saw, one of them you probably didn't see. First is Israel attacking Iran's nuclear scientists and nuclear facilities. On Friday, stocks fell and oil prices rose because of it. But the second story is that the U.S. military promoted four officers to the U.S. Army Reserves. They're tech workers, including Andrew Boz Bosworth, the number two at Meta, who answers directly to Mark Zuckerberg. Yeah, that guy, Boz, who's usually on like a Dell computer type in a Wansom Code, is now an Army reservist. Plus, two other engineers and millionaires from Palantir and OpenAI. They're in the

Army. Besties, what Jack and I are saying here is that America's top techies are now in the Army's newest unit, and it's called Detachment 201. This sounds like the plot of the sitcom. It's like Match 2.0, basically, Jack. But it's a real story. These tech reservists will only serve 120 hours a year, so they're weekend warriors, literally. Although we should find out, unlike other Army Reserve members, there's no basic training involved if you're coming from the big tech industry. They don't have to, like, do 10 pull-ups. There's no push-up minimum on these guys. They're there for the brains, not the bicep. That's what the service is for. But Jack, can you please sprinkle on some interesting historical business context for us, please? We saw something similar happened 75 years ago,

when during World War II, the United States called on automotive companies to win that war. That's right, besties. Ford, Dodge, and Chevrolet, they retooled their factories during World War II for aircraft instead of making cars. They started making bombers instead of Buick's. And it looks like something similar is happening right now. Today, generals say that the key to modern warfare is AI and drones, tech business. So we're recruiting from big tech. And just like in World War II, tech companies are now pivoting their know-how to support national defense. Now, we should point out these new recruits, they're going to be operating independently, not as part of the tech companies they're working for. So Baz won't be working with Meadow when he's helping out the military.

And these techies, they also won't be in any combat roles. Instead, they're going to going to be teaching soldiers how to operate AI powered attack systems, for example. Or maybe simply review the systems of the military and give advice on how to prove software and operations. Basically, you think of these guys like the geek squad, but for the jarheads. That is the best way to sum this up. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our big tech buddies serving in the army? Tech is following the Palantir Path. Ah, the Palantir Path. Yeties, 10 years ago, the tech industry was full of and led by Progressive Optimus, who didn't want to see their tech used by the military.

So Big Tech avoided doing business with the Army. And when they did, employees staged boycotts and protests. But there was one exception here, wasn't there, Jack? Palantir. Yeah, Palantir. That was the one company that for 20 years in tech has enthusiastically supported the U.S. military. You know what Yeti's today? Palantir is the most important tech contractor for the entire U.S. military.

By far. And it's the biggest gainer of America's top five. stock so far this year. Palantir is up 84%. So yet he's added up and execs from meta and Open AI just joined the inaugural class of U.S. Army reserves, the Tech Corps. But they're all following Palantir's path. It's the Palantir Path. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, a soup dumpling chain from Taiwan is taking over America and it's called Din Tai Feng. These 16 family-owned restaurants have more sales than any other restaurant in America. It's all because of one lucky number, and we got that number. But Jack, before we start this story,

we have to point out the best dumplings in the country, where would one find them? Across the street from the apartment you and I had in New York City. It was called Vanessa's Dumpling on East 14th Street, and they sold a dozen dumplings, boiled or green. for three bucks. We'd come home from work at the banks, and basically our buddy Timmy would have spent $12 for about a thousand dumplings that he'd toss into our mouths. It was a fun time. The sesame pancakes were fantastic as well.

They burned you, but it was a good burn. But besties, the lines right now are for the first East Coast location of Din Tai Fung. Din Tai Fung, a Taiwanese dumpling chain that opened up in New York City one year ago. And this location is huge. 25,000 square feet. It's a restaurant in Midtown Manhattan. the size of a best bot. They now have 16 locations in the U.S. so far, and basically it's like the Disney World of Dumplings. This is edible theater right in front of you. Most of the locations

are on the West Coast. This is the first East Coast location, but the business actually goes back three generations to Taiwan. It actually started as a cooking oil business before they pivoted to restaurants in 1958. And now they specialize in soup dumplings. The most delicious thing in the world. And at the New York City location, they have 34 chefs. who makes 16,000 soup dumplings every day. But the wildest part about those insane numbers is that there's no machinery involved. This is all completed by hand.

Hand-made dumplings. More on that in a bit. That's actually key to our story. But here's the shocker, yet it is, Din Tai Fung is now number one in America for sales per restaurant by far. They did $411 million in sales last year in the U.S., which turns out to be $27 million per restaurant.

per location. All right, Jack, you used to be a waiter at the Olive Garden. I'm sorry, wine salesman of the month at the Olive Garden. Could you please sprinkle on some context for us comparing this restaurant to other American restaurant chains? One, Dintai Fung, does the same sales as two cheesecake factories, five Benihana's, or six Olive Gardens. All right, Jack, what if we compare Dintai Fung to fast food chains in America? Chick-fil-A has the highest fast food sales per restaurant. Dintai Fung does four times as much. So we did a restaurant chains. We did fast food chains. What about, I don't know, Jack, really expensive fancy restaurants fine dining? Nobu. The most expensive sushi restaurant in New York City, nobu does $10 million per location. Dintai Fung does almost three times that much. In fact,

as Jack and I jumped in T-boy style, we could only find 14 restaurants in America with more sales than the average Dintai Fung. And those 14 restaurants are all one-offs. They're like fancy restaurants with Michelin Stars. Dintai Fong has 16 restaurants doing 27 million bucks, baby. It's a combination of high-end and scalable that we've never seen in the restaurant industry. And Dintai Fung, it is family-owned. They have no franchises, and yet they have multiple locations punching a bum their weight, making Ronald McDonald choke on a fry. So how does Dintai Fung, or DTF, if you will, how are they putting up numbers that will make Wendy's blood? Well, they're doing it with the number 18.

Because every Dintai Fung soup dumpling gets 18 folds. It's a precise process to keep all the soup in there. And it's part of the brand's golden ratio. That one specific number actually reflects their entire corporate strategy. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies fold and dumplings at Dintai Fung? There are lucky numbers. And then there are lucrative numbers. Now, yeah, it is, these 18 pleaded folds in a dumpling,

that's not just for good luck. It's actually a highly strategic detail driving the chain's success. This is their hero product, and folding the dough 18 times enhances the structural integrity and optimizes the taste. But it's also a talent strategy because Dintai Fong requires a 12-week training program to teach the proper 18-fold technique. That's wild, and it also ensures that each employee is committed to the business. But Jack, it's also a logistic strategy because requiring each dumpling have 18 folds means you get the same size of every dumpling at every location, 21 grams per a dumpling. And with every dumpling being 21 grams because of the 18 folds, they can order the exact meat portions and not have any waste. 18, yetis, that is an intentional

number. It is an engineered number. Dintai Fung soup dumplings, they operate with the precision of SpaceX. There are lucky numbers, and then there are lucrative numbers. And did typhungs were pretty lucrative. Jack, could y'all whip up the takeaways for us to kick off the week? Converse is getting back into basketball this fall, and they just launched a sneaker dating show. Converse, they're doing what Nike did 40 years ago. They're bedding it all on one guy. For our second story, the U.S. Army now has a reserve corps of tech executives who put in 120 hours of service a year. But when it comes to tech support in the military, they're all just following the Palantir Path. And our third and final story is Din.

Ty Thong. DTF has $27 million of sales per location, the most of any chain restaurant in America. And it's all thanks to the number 18. That's not a lucky number. That's a lucrative number. But Yeties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, meta's AI app has become an awkwardly embarrassing privacy disaster for users. And you got to know about this because it could get weird. All right. So meta AI is a chat bot that's trying to compete head on with chatchy, and Claude. The difference for Met AI is their news feed. Yeah, it turns out the goal was to open people's eyes on how to use AI by seeing how your friends use it. But people didn't realize their searches are public. Yeah. So they're asking AI very personal things and it's going on a news feed all their friends can see. You're like sharing your tax info, your draft letters to lovers, confessions, like, oh, I got a thing on my thigh. What is the thing on my thigh? You don't want people to know about the thing on your thigh, man. People are finding out. And second, a follow up from our Friday.

a story about deportations affecting the economy. President Trump told ICE to pause raids and arrests at farms, hotels, restaurants, and Home Depot. Because unauthorized immigrants provide key labor in those industries and, as Trump said himself, can't be replaced. So he wants to avoid what we said on Friday. He wants to avoid more deportations, leading to fewer workers, leading to higher prices. He's trying to avoid deportation inflation. And finally, Mattel, the toy company, announced a partnership with Open AI. To put a brain inside Barbie dolls? What's going on over there, Nick?

Okay, okay. So they're using Open AI's technology. Mattel will bring the magic of AI to age-appropriate play experiences with an emphasis on innovation, privacy, and safety, end quote. Let's try to translate that. Please, Jack.

Their hot wheels are going to be self-driving. Yeah, I think Barbie's going to be able to write the term papers for you, Jack. Now, time for the best fact yet. Today, it is T-Boy Trivia sent in by our buddy Wild. up in Shelburne. The Pixar movie Cars stars Lightning McQueen, a red race car voiced by Owen Wilson. Cachow!

Nicely centered. Now, here's the question. Why is this Lightning McQueen race car the color red? It probably has something to do with this quote. And here's the quote. Ask a child to draw a car and certainly he will draw it red. In fact, have you noticed the race car emoji is red as well? Interestingly, all the race cars in the world seem to have a red element. them. So here's our trivia. Who famously said this quote. Ask a child to draw a car and certainly he will draw it red. Here's a hint. He built an entire company based on that principle. And the answer is coming up in tomorrow's pod. Yeties, you look fantastic over there to kick off the summer Mondays. Jack, you're looking great too. Might I suggest maybe we jive in tea boy style and research

dintai fun a little bit more? What do you think? Dude, I would love some soup dumplings. I haven't had I lived in New York City. I'm sorry, waiter. There's only 17 folds on this dumpling. We're going to need the whole meal to be combed. You just got that waiter fired. Okay, I'm sorry. You're right.

It's 18. It was my mistake. I miscounted. Oh, boy, it's a write-off. It's a right-off, Jack. Yet he's telling buddy today, H-Y-H-T-B-O-I. That's how we grow the show.

Have you had the best one yet? And Jack and I will see you tomorrow. Here we go. A happy birthday to our buddy, Dave Reed, the former 14th Street roommate from New Canaan, in Connecticut. Happy anniversary to Nick and Molly, who got married seven years ago today. I was there. It was a beautiful ceremony. Oh, Molly looked fantastic. She still looks fantastic. Molly, that was so much fun. Didn't you shoot a cannon? We shot a cannon. We, we promised you we'd have adventure.

Man, have the last few years been an adventure. Great work. Happy birthday to Wes Yang in Las Vegas, who's also a new dad to baby Kaylee. And Ramsey's Gonzalez over in Philly is also looking for a job, so hit him up because he's having the best birthday yet. Happy birthday to Jesse Carrasco and Dana Point, California, hoping to catch some waves today. And Annabelle Lippincott Paxoy in San Francisco, but from just outside Boston, is celebrating a fantastic birthday. Happy anniversary to Nicholas Isserra and his wife, 13 years of marriage together. Jack, their first date was at a museum in Buffalo, New York, and he proposed at the Louvre in Paris.

Congratulations to Elizabeth and Michael, who are getting married this week in Charlotte, North Carolina. Can't wait to see the pics. Congrats, guys. And Patrice and Connor just got engaged in Cincinnati. We got a marketing guru and a minor league player for the Cardinals, Jack. That's got to be a cool ring. Happy housewarming to Megan Choi in New York City.

And Gerald Zingraff is returning from Beach PTO. He actually saw me at the Ferry Building Jack during a board meeting in January. And Gerald, you looked fantastic for it. You crushed it. And to anyone else who's celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. Nick and I both own ETFs of the S&P.

500. How should I say Cachow, Jack? Cachow. Cachow. Thanks for asking.