The Best One Yet - 🦄 “Glammed Gas” — Costco’s 1st gas station. World Cup’s $15B triumph. Chanel’s oldest shirt. +The 5 Coffee Rule

Episode Date: July 21, 2026

A VC-backed boogie gas station? And a new Costco gas station too?... We know why gas got a glow-up.America super-sized the World Cup to great success… because in live sports, more is more.Chanel acquired the oldest shirt-maker in the world… and it’s actually a contrarian AI bet.Five coffees a day keeps the doctor away…$COST $SBUX $LVMUYGrab your Tickets to the IPO Tour: Our In-Person OfferingSan Francisco 9/23: https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1C0064AFB5F688BDBoston 10/14: https://tickets.citywinery.com/event/tboy-the-ipo-tour-in-person-offering-8cdhupSeattle 11/4 (21+): https://www.axs.com/events/1446394/the-best-one-yet-ticketsNEWSLETTER:https://tboypod.com/newsletter OUR 2ND SHOW:Want more business storytelling from us? Check our weekly deepdive show, The Best Idea Yet: The untold origin story of the products you're obsessed with. Listen for free to The Best Idea Yet: https://wondery.com/links/the-best-idea-yet/NEW LISTENERSFill out our 2 minute survey: https://qualtricsxm88y5r986q.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_dp1FDYiJgt6lHy6GET ON THE POD: Submit a shoutout or fact: https://tboypod.com/shoutouts SOCIALS:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tboypod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tboypodYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tboypod Linkedin (Nick): https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-martell/Linkedin (Jack): https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-crivici-kramer/Anything else: https://tboypod.com/ About Us: The daily pop-biz news show making today’s top stories your business. Formerly known as Robinhood Snacks, The Best One Yet is hosted by Jack Crivici-Kramer & Nick Martell. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Tuesday, T-Boy, Tuesday, July 21st. And today's pod is the best one yet. This is a T-boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. And a happy earnings season to all those who celebrate. Tesla and Google announce earnings tomorrow.

Ooh, that's $5 trillion of updates right there. Domino's Pizza just announced earnings? Not quite $5 trillion right there. You know, that's a pizza company based in Michigan. Five trillion calories. That's what it is. In the meantime, we got three fantastic stories for the coolest place of capitalism. We got jack.

For our first story, Costco just launched their first stand-alone gas station. And we found another new gas station that's selling macha, quissants, and poetry? We explained why it took 100 years to disrupt ExxonMobil. Oh, baby. For our second story, the World Cup is over. It was the first ever $15 billion sporting event. Besties America's Super Size Soccer and the recipe, oh, it were. And our third and final story is Chanel.

Chanel just acquired the oldest shirt company in the world. Interesting. It's nearly 200 years old and the only have one store. Because in the age of AI, Chanel is making the ultimate contrarian bet. And it looks good. But besties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Oh, what a mix of stories. Love the mix live from Nantucket. Pause the pod if you're on your first cup of coffee for the day. Okay, second cup of coffee. Who's out there? Raise of hand. Who's had a hat trick before half time? I'm a decaf dude, but Jack, you've never turned down a cup of coffee. Well, it turns out the

healthiest Yeti listening right now is the one who's had five cups of coffee. We repeat, five cups of coffee is the new kale. Get this. The American Heart Association says that five cups a day is perfectly safe. In fact, Jack, three to five cups of coffee isn't just safe. It's good for your heart. 400 milligrams is the sweet spot of caffeine. Lovely. It's linked to lower heart disease and lower heart failure. And lower risk of stroke and lower type two diabetes. Cue the cappuccino's. Pour the pourovers right now. Jack, do they sell flat white coffee by the keg yet? Not only does it wake you up, It keeps you alive, literally. Jack, before you have your six cup of coffee,

can you sprinkle on some context for us, please? Yeah, we're not talking five cups of coffee culottas at Dunkin. Sorry, darling, this study didn't endorse pumping six shots of hazelnut syrup. The unit of measurement we're talking about is a simple eight-ounce cup of Joe. Oh, and not all caffeine is created equal. Right, the energy drinks with cans decorated like exploding dynamite. Yeah, Dutch Bros will explode your dynamite. Energy drinks are generally associated with car.

cardiovascular harm, according to their heart association. Oh, and Jack, if you do hit a five-cup habit, it'll cost you. Walk is always extra. So is this coffee routine. We whipped out the whiteboard here. Five cups of coffee times $7 per coffee times 365 days a year. Now, to be clear, Nick pays $7 for a cup of coffee. I do not.

It's $12, but whatever, Jack. Nick's math, that's $12,000 of coffee every year. But maybe, just maybe it is worth it if it adds five caffeinated years to your life. So, besties, congratulations on getting clearance from the American. American Heart Association. Five cups a day keeps the doctor away. Although Duncan's 48 ounce cup, that's not one cup. That's six cups right there.

I don't care how many marathons you run, darling. It doesn't count. This guy wants two pumps. Let's sit in our three stores. 15 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, but the best is a norm. Jack Nick, that's it.

I don't even think they need to practice. 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. Start the show. First, a quick word from our sponsor.

For our first story, two wild new gas stations just launched in America, and they're made for zillennial dinks. They're giving zolennial. We'll tell you why it took gas stations a century to get a glam up. But, Jack, before we tell that story, what's the coolest club in America right now? It's not the discotheca down in Tribeca. No, no, no, no, no.

It's Costco. Yeah, that's right, because one out of seven of you is a member right now. Including yours, truly. And here's the news. Costco just launched their first ever stand-alone gas station in Southern California. They got another one coming over to Hawaii right after that. Exxon Mobile is dialing Code Red right now. Oh, yeah, because Costco's gas is 5 to 6% cheaper than regular gas.

Now, yes, Costco already has 750 gas stations attached to their superstores. And yeah, they're a profit puppy, puppy, one-tenth of the best. business 30 billion bucks. $30 billion of Costco unleaded. Sprinkle on the contact, Jack. That is 10 times bigger than Buckees and half as big as Shell, the multinational oil. Okay, but beside everything Jack just said, this first Costco standalone station, it's like the Madison Square Garden, a gas.

At 17,000 square feet, it's got 40 freaking gas pumps, but they only sell two products. Oh, what are they, Jack? Unleaded or diesel. Ain't no food cord in Nile 6 here. there is not a single hot dog soda combo you can get. Now, Costco must be thinking, we only have to break even on gasoline. Our real profit puppy is the card. That's right, because 50% of Costco's net income,

their profit is the $65 a year membership. So if Costco starts getting gasoline-only members, that's a win. Even if you don't get a double-chunk chocolate chip cookie. But pause the pot, because Costco isn't the only one in town with a new gas station concept. Get this. Down in lovely Los Angeles,

Maggie's Refuel just launched the first ever venture capital-backed gas station. Or the first nice gas station, as they describe it. Which they do. They raised $2 million and opened this location in Beverly Hills in 2027. Jack, how would you describe this location? Now, why don't you tell us what's on the rack over there? Picture your typical gas station? It's the opposite.

Yeah, they're not serving chewing tobacco, twinkies, or bacon-wrapped, grease, glazed burger jerky on rolling hot dog grills. You know, I worked at a gas station and had to clean those rolling hot dog grills. I think that's a trick question, Jack. You can never fully clean. That's true. The more you rub the grease. It's a horror movie. I know what you're talking about. Now, this gas station, Maggie's refuel and Southern Cal,

serving double-digit lattes, artisanal soft surfroyo, and local Ube pastries. Plus, there's a whole section for EV charging and online order ahead via their dedicated Silicon Valley design. And Jack, just to make clear how millennial-coated this gas station is, why is it called Maggie's in the first place? Because the owner is the proud owner of a French bulldog. A Frenchie adorable name Mattie. Who definitely has their own Instagram account. Now, is the unleaded gasoline organic tunic? Jack, do the water taps pour out spin drift when you turn them on?

This sounds like a millennial gas station Nirvana. It's like a Glacier and Chevron had a baby who was raised in Narnia. We said raised in Narnia because a nice gas station like we're describing, it doesn't exist. You can't get a luxury one. At least not in the U.S. Because this luxury version is inspired by the boutiqui gas chains of Japan and Italy. Where they don't take pit stops, they take premium stops. And the early investors of Maggie's are Starbucks and 7-Eleven executives.

They want a taste of that boogey millennial money. Okay, but Jack, now let's add it all up when it comes to these two interesting gas stations. More money seems to be going into gas stations since the invention of the windshield squeegee. And there is a tidal wave of trends that explain a key part of it. First, electric cars are going in reverse. They're not replacing gasoline anytime soon. And the war in Iran has America more focused on gasoline than ever. But still, why has it taken over a century for the gas station to finally get a glam up?

It's not there will be blood. It's there will be espresso. You know, I just realized I should have used the windshield squeegee to clean off the grease. I think they do. I think they do. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies wondering about the disruption of the gas station? Retail follows the regulars. Yeties, health and wellness-focused, Lennyals, we got news for you and us.

Gas stations don't care about us. You're not the target customer of gas stations because you're not a regular gas station customer. You see, gas station owners want to serve truckers, not dinks, and we got the data to prove it. The average trucker visits a gas station 700 times a year. That's three times per workday. Meanwhile, the regular American visits a gas station 70 times per year. That is one tenth as much. The other core gas station customer is a construction worker. Because their vehicle needs fuel every day, and so does their ballot. So if you're 28 and live with roommates on the Lower East Side of New York,

you visit a gas station for your Memorial Day weekend road trip. That's it. And that's why for breakfast, the gas station is offering sausage egg cheese bagels, not assaicables. Because it's built to serve a trucker, not a Pisces. If you're wondering why gas stations don't cater to you, this is it. It's because you're not a regular. And retail follows the regulars. For our second story, America supersized the World Cup.

and it was a triumph in almost every single statistic we could find. American capitalism did not spoil the World Cup. It enhanced it. And this is the new playbook for all of Sports Inc. We got the receipts. Yet he's starting yesterday. The football stadiums that hosted soccer for a month began converting that beautiful natural grass into artificial turf.

Absolute shame. I love to growing that stuff, Jack. And not MetLife Stadium is now officially MetLife Stadium. Unless you study abroad in Paris, you won't be saying Mboppe for another four more years. Cheers. But before you start planning for your fantasy football draft, there's some huge lessons from America's World Cup. And the first lesson, as we find in a lot of business stories, is that FIFA got, oh, it got lucky, Jack. It got so lucky. So lucky. It got luckier than the fans who skipped the first boring 90 minutes of the World Cup final and only watched the really exciting extra time. That was us. Which was yours truly. Yeah. But Bassie, the World Cup, it was so lucky because it got the three S's. Well, the superstars played amazingly. They played super. It got Cinderella stories that were incredible.

and it got really just great sunny weather. Got sunny weather, the three houses. Oh, and Justin Bieber made a surprise appearance at the first ever World Cup half-time show. The biggest brand winner of this tournament? It's got to be Adidas. Oh, Adidas, they got lucky, too. Biggest brand awareness by a mile. Because the two finalists, Spain and Argentina, they were both wearing Adidas.

So Adidas won their sixth World Cup in the last 10. The biggest loser of the tournament? Got to be Drake. Yeah, Drake, not so lucky, the rapper Drake. He lost one and a half million by betting on Argentina to win the finals. Although even luckier than Adidas Jack was probably the prediction markets. Yeah, Drake, he was one of three million new betters on Kalshi alone. I think he mean predictors?

Oh yeah, they weren't betting on Kalshi. They were predicting on Kalsh. But luckiest of all, Besties, was beer. For the first time in 10 years, sales of ails here in the States, rose 4% in the first four weeks of the tournament. Because 290,000 bruskies were consumed just in the stadiums during this world show. Just by the Scots. And Boston got tapped out.

Dahlin! But some other triumphs of the tournament weren't luck, they were strategy. Some of them were hits, some of them were misses, but let's break them down, T-boy style. Let's start with the hits.

After decades of investment, America is now finally a soccer country. And we mentioned the receipts, and here they are. 50 million people watched the USA versus Belgium in the round of 16. 47 million people

watched England versus Mexico in the quarterfinals. We don't have the numbers yet for the semifinals or the finals. But those numbers? Those aren't NFL numbers. Those are NFL playoff numbers.

Because there are only three more watch sporting events in 2025. The Super Bowl, the AFC championship game, and the Thanksgiving NFL game. But Jack, there's also one thing that the World Cup beat the NFL. Yeah, the average ticket to get into the World Cup final on Sunday at MetLife Stadium, $10,809. Which makes it the most expensive sporting event in history beating last year's Super Bowl by 3%. But the biggest receipts were gross. Oh, they were so gross. as in gross domestic product.

I see what we did there. Because Fivas expected to announce $15 billion in revenue made on this World Cup. 15 billion in revenue on this World Cup is three times more than the last World Cup in Qatar. Because Bank of America data says that Americans spent 6.3% more in June of this year than June of last year. FIFA and the United States agreed to profit max this World Cup,

and it worked. If there is any beer left, pop it open to celebrate. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at? the World Cup. When it comes to live entertainment, more is more. Yeties, the fear going into this expanded World Cup was that the increased number of teams and matches would dilute the value of the tournament. Because the tournament's expansion, it was driven by revenue goals, not soccer goals. But this increased commercialism, it simply gave us a bigger helping of something amazing. It gave us more matches. 104 matches this World Cup is 63% more than any World Cup before it.

And yet, still 99% of tickets were sold despite surge pricing on all of them. And more teams invited to the World Cup meant more underdogs got to play. We got to see Kay Verde's 41-year-old goalie become a star. And more teams in the tournament meant more host cities got to have a team in town for a month. Not just a local GDP went kind of cool. Greenville, North Carolina. Erling Holland lived there for a month. How cool is that if you live in Greenville?

Another more is more, first-ever World Cup final halftime show. It was awesome. Although hydration breaks were also the first thing everyone hated, Jack. Yeah, they shouldn't have done that. That was a more is less situation. Yeah, but let's be honest, a good bathroom break opportunity for a newbie American soccer fan out there. True. And I bet you the Premier League is going to add hydration breaks to their games.

Which was more advertisements. Yeties, you still may not know what the word nil means. Or why the players are still upset about an ankle that appears to have exploded based on the reactions? But everyone agrees that the World Cup was a triumph. And we think every future World Cup and other big sporting cups, competitions will copy this exact playbook. Because so far the limit does not exist. The new sports biz strategy, more is more. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, the oldest shirt company in the world was just acquired by Chanel.

Because in the age of AI, Chanel is collecting artisans. But yet he's to tell the story, let's go back 100 years ago when Coco Chanel invented the LBD. That's not the abbreviation of an American president. No, it isn't. That'd be LBJ. Right. LBD is the little black dress. Ah, the little black dress. But Coco Chanel, French fashion icon for women, she happened to have a polo playing lover a hundred years ago in 1926. And she bought him one thing. A Charvet. One thing and one thing only. The oldest shirt maker in the world. They've been tailoring colors and khakis for dudes since 1838. Destes, if you want to wear the same button down as Napoleon Bonaparte. Yeah, that Napoleon, you shop at Charvet. Winston Churchill, JFK, they're Charvei super fans.

And today, it's got a cult following of this niche fashion label that if you know, you know. If you know, and George Clooney, we know you're listening to this show. We see you in the Shrveh. This brand uses 100 shades of fabric and 400 textures to customize any shirt for $736. That's how they do $20 million

in revenue despite having just one store in Paris. And yetes, we are telling you all this because the story comes full circle after a full century. Chanel just acquired its founder's favorite men's shirt brand Charvet for an undisclosed price. Huge, because for 100 years,

Chanel didn't have a single label for men. Now they've bought the Ultimate Gentleman's brand. For the dudes. But Bessie's, this is what Jack and I really find fascinating about the deal. There's a pattern emerging from Chanel, the $19 billion privately owned luxury company. Jack, you want to whip out the whiteboard here

and what we've been mapping? In 2012, Chanel acquired Barry. A Scottish cash beer shop. One year later, they acquired Cause. A French glove maker. Then Maison Michel. A hat maker in Paris. A silver designer also in Paris. And Rovetta. A fabric mill all the way over in northern Italy.

Most recently, Les Altilié. A custom shoemaker who, yeah, makes the shoe for your particular Hobbit foot. The pattern that Nick and I noticed is that Chanel doesn't do blockbuster M&A Gucci deals like trying to acquire Michael Corse. Trying to become Dolce and Gabana and Chanel. Instead, Chanel quietly has been acquiring. Or collecting dozens of niche artisans. Yeah, how would you put it, Jack?

Basically the Ron Swanson's of the industry. Which Chanel is going to definitely appreciate as an analogy. Craftsmen who haven't focused on scaling, they've just focused on their craft. Besties, these are not labels you would recognize. These are not logos you would stick on a fanny pack. But each of these brands Chanel is acquired does one thing and one thing only for over a century. So Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies looking at Chanel? When AI hits an all-time high, art will hit an all-time high too.

Yeties, Chanel has been a lot of time. acquiring expert artisans not to chase scale like the rest of the fashion industry. Chanel is buying craftsmanship, which it believes is an appreciating asset. You see, Chanel's recognized that in an online digital factory-driven mass market world. The most diminishing asset is artistic skill. And in this emerging age of AI, we think that human skill will be even more rare. As we all depend on AI more, fewer and fewer humans will be able to craft a shoe, or a shirt, or a shawl by hand than ever. Or even the LBD.

Even LBJETs. As AI hits an all-time high, so will the value of human art. That's why Chanel's secret M&A strategy is to acquire artisans. Collect them. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for T-Boy Tuesday? Costco and Silicon Valley are both building new gas station concepts. And the reason gas stations don't cater to you? Well, you're not the target customer, and retail follows the regulars.

For our second story, America's World Cup was a triumph, thanks to luck and strategy. And that strategy will define lives. sports going forward. More is more. And our third and final story is Chanel. They acquired Charvei, the oldest shirt company in the world. Because when AI hits an all-time high, art hits an all-time high, too. But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, breaking news for your Cobb salad. Few you pointed out, Taylor Farms is not the source of the cyclosporiasis diarrhea outbreak. On Monday, the FDA said that their testing of Taylor Farms came up with a false positive.

Which means the explosive Taco Bell outbreak situation, we still don't know where it's coming from. Although Taylor Farms is continuing their voluntary recall of iceberg lettuce, we recommend you be careful with lettuce. Jack actually asked for our sandwich day to hold the lettuce. You did say hold it. Second day in a row. I've said no lettuce, please.

More alf alpha. In second, Paramount and Warner Brothers getting married, merging? Well, one federal judge just said no. Although the Trump administration approved this mega-media merger, 12 states are suing to block it. And the judge says that the two companies can't consummate the merger with states cases pending.

So Beavis and Baeufi and Bae, they can't move in with Harry Potter just yet. Just literally like someone standing up at a wedding and saying, I believe these two should not be wet. And finally, how much would you pay for a leather jacket? Worned by a famous tech CEO? Well, the leather jacket of Envidia CEO, Jensen Wong,

just sold for nearly one million bucks at auction. Sotheby's estimated it would sell for $40,000, but they got 65. Bidders in a bidding war. Final price, $960,000 for a leather jacket worn by the leader of a chip company. Going once, going twice, sold. You'd be a pretty good auctioneer. I was pretty good, right? Now, time for the best fact yet, which for T-boy Tuesday is a little bit of extra T-boy trivia. New York City has a lot of sidewalk scaffolding. Seventy-five hundred sidewalk sheds of scaffolding across the city. How much is that? Well, they cover 330 miles of sidewalk with scaffolds above them,

Which would be 12 and a half marathons of scaffolding if you ran across it. And why is there so much scaffolding? Well, one New York City law requires that any building over six floors tall get inspected every five years to make sure like a brick doesn't fall out and land on the sidewalk. So most of the scaffolding you see, it's not for building new buildings. It's not for construction. It's for checking like the facelift situation of existing buildings. It's for inspections.

And that feels a little overly costly for me. And that is why when you're walking around New York City, there's a high chance you're walking under scaffolding. And you really hope that an accumulated puddle of water doesn't drip on you right as you're walking. I used to stand under the air conditioners and catch the water in our mouths. We didn't really think about it. Yeties, you looked fantastic today. Jack, you are glowing. Oh, wait, is that a six cup of coffee?

Are you pushing the limits on me over here? No, dude. Three to five is a great sweet spot for me. That's like every hour you're basically doing that. You're hydrated. Yiddies, if you haven't yet, grab your tickets to our live shows. We got three left for the year. one in San Francisco is next.

September 23rd at the Palace of Fine Arts. Go to T-Boypod.com to grab your tickets or check out the links on our episode description. Nick and I, we'll see you tomorrow. We'll see you there for your 7th cup of coffee. And before we go, a happy birthday to Legendary Yeti, Christine Jones, the fastest walker in Arlington, Virginia. And happy birthday to Carlos,

celebrating with buddies coming over from Brooklyn in Manhattan. And Sufi Magid in Sandy Springs, Georgia. We see your birthday. Happy celebrations. Happy birthday to Ali Shams, all the way over in the Middle Eastern Nation of Bahrain. And Philip Hanks, we see your 42nd. Enjoy the celebrations down in North Kakalaki. Happy 51st birthday to Devin Chen in Silicon Valley. And a shout out to Ben Balter, who wrote a book called Open and Async about collaborative software.

He gave T-Boy's shout-out in The Acknowledgement. Wait, so he reversed shout-out. It was a reverse shout-out. And now we're re-shout. So we're back to pre-shoutting. And finally, a big shout-out to Jake Freund from Minneapolis, who wants us to create a library of all of our takeaways. It's a great idea. It's a great idea.

Drop a comment if you think we should. a takeaway library. And to anyone else celebrating something today, make it a team. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. Nick and I don't own any of the stocks mentioned today.