The Best One Yet - 🐮 “Got Dairy?” — Big cheese's turnaround. Flo’s $1B menopause app. Starbucks’ double-pump plan.

Episode Date: July 31, 2024

Women’s health app Flo just hit a $1 billion valuation… so it’s expanding to Millennial Menopause.We crunched the numbers on Starbucks… it’s officially Wall Street’s least-loved fast food chain.The Dairy Industry is living its best life… because Big Milk bet the farm on cheese.Plus, every olympic swimmer is peeing in the pool… because the gold is worth the yellow.$SBUXSubscribe to our Saturday Newsletter: tboypod.com/newsletter  Watch us on YouTube Submit Facts & Shoutouts Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn (Nick) & LinkedIn (Jack)About Us: From the creators of Robinhood Snacks Daily, The Best One Yet (TBOY) is the daily pop-biz news show making today’s top stories your business. 20 minutes on the 3 business, economics, and finance stories you need, with fresh takes you can pretend you came up with — Pairs perfectly with your morning oatmeal ritual. 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 Wednesday, Wednesday, July 31st. 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. Jack, is there anything more wonderfully American than our gymnastics teams?

Have you seen these teams, man? It's incredible. I watched the men's competition last night. And the finalist on the pummel? Yes. With the glasses, Stephen? He was sitting, focused, waiting for his moment the whole night. and then he delivered.

He went like from Clark Kent nerdiness to full on Superman in that episode. It was incredible on the balance beam. Speaking of Clark Kent, I can't believe how built those guys are. Oh, it's insane. The men's and the women's teams, it is like you've got Penn State and Stanford. You've got California, Massachusetts. It's like every race, every background, it is the most wonderfully American team. But those red pants, the male gymnast wear?

I kind of want a pair. They kind of look like elves in those. Okay, maybe I won't get a pair. But Jack, three stories for today's team boy. we got on the pod, man. For our first story, it's Flow. The period tracking app just hit a one billion dollar valuation. So flow is pivoting to millennial menopause. For our second story, we just crunched the numbers on Starbucks' latest earnings report. Starbucks, it is officially Wall Street's lowest-valued, least-liked, fast food chain. And we have the numbers to prove it. Yes, we do. And our third and

final story is about the dairy industry. Big Dairy. Farmers are pivoting. from milk to cheese. Big milk, just bet the farm on big cheese. And we'll tell you the whole story, starting with the got milk ads. Sargento, yes, please. But Yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Wild mix of stories for Saviche went. They love the mix jack.

Nick and I have a secret to share, but you need to promise you won't tell anyone. Confession, it's about peeing in the pool. Now, to be clear, we're not peeing in the pool. I never peered in the pool. No, I never have done it before, but check, everyone else is peeing in the pool. The Tadletale in this case is the Wall Street Journal, which just published an article titled The Dirty Secret of Olympic Swimming. Because apparently everyone pees in the pool.

It's the dirty secret of these Olympic games. Literally. We're talking blood, sweat, tears, and urine. A whole bunch of it, Yiddies. Get this, Yeties. There is so much pee in those Olympic swimming pools. Yeah, Jack. That they need to replenish the chlorine levels every hour.

Hey, Pierre, what is going on with the pH level, my friend? Backstroke to butterfly, these swimmers are letting it fly. But Jack and I had to ask the question, why are Olympians treating the pool like a 100-meter-long toilet? Apparently, the swimsuits that Olympic swimmers wear take a really long time to take off. Oh, and on top of that, no one knows it's you when you pee in the pool. True. You can't be blamed, so it's a tragedy of the common situation. No one's like, raise your hand if you're, uh, yeah. But it's true. Apparently, you need like three different people to help you put on that Olympic bathing suit.

Well, Jack, just asked three-time American Olympian swimmer Lily King. Lily King confessed to the Wall Street Journal that she's peed in every professional swimming pool she's ever swamming. But that's not even the wildest part, is it, Jack? The wildest part is it's not just a little pee they're letting out. No, it's not because besties, the swimmers, are so hydrated. It's a big pee in that pool. It's like an Austin Powers pee, if you know, you know. But we should point out, fortunately, because they're so hydrated, it's also a clear pee.

So it's the least gross kind of pee. Yet, he's added all up, and the next time you're doing the front stroke, but you feel a warm patch of water, they're going to want to hold your breath and swim as fast as you can. Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies who are apparently peeing in the pool? The gold, it's worth a little bit of yellow. Those swimmers, they're trying to make the pool pee and go mainstream. Literally. It's time to normalize the pool peak.

Jack, I think we just ruined a lot of summer camp. Hold on. Yeah, I'm not normalizing the pool pink. Hey, you said it before I did. Yeah, these last night three stories. I think it's on the microphones. 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. 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, Flo, the biggest women's health app in the world just became a unicorn. The next untapped market in health is millennial menopause. Now, Yeties, Jack and I have talked to you before about the blind spots of business. That's where the opportunities are. Well, for the venture capital industry, their blind spot historically has been women's health. Yeah, specifically for that industry, it's been menstruation. The men who run venture capital funds were quick to finance erectile dysfunction pills

because they were familiar with it personally. Venture capital, they know a thing or two about erectile dysfunction. If it lasts longer than four hours, Jack, call Andreessen Horwitz. Well, this week, a major venture capital firm called General Atlantic played catch-up big time in the women's health finance department. With a $200 million check written out to a startup called Flow. Flow is now the first women's health app to achieve unicorn status. It's now a $1 billion-dollar valued Femm Tech app. Jack, let's jump in T-boy style.

Flow is an app that helps women track their periods, manage their ovulation, and control their pregnancy. Now, interestingly, in 2023, Flo launched Anonymous mode to protect women's privacy after the fall of Roe v. Wade. And according to Flo, 380 million. women have downloaded their app and 68 million still use it every month right now. Jack, can you sprinkle on a little context of those big numbers, please? 68 million monthly active users is roughly equal to the number of half of America's adult women. But yet he's interesting thing. Flow realized a problem that we've discussed before and we've seen it in places like with dating apps.

Sometimes your users age out of the offering that you're giving them. Well, perfect timing. Because the most shared New York Times magazine article of last year was actually about the topic of menopause. And Nick, why was everyone so curious about this article about menopause? Well, Jack, let's talk about numbers again. Half of the human population is going to go through menopause, and yet we have very little information out there about it. According to McKinsey, each year, 450 million women experience perimenopausal or menopausal

symptoms. That's a lot of women experiencing something that doesn't get a lot of attention. Here's the issue, though. Hallie Barry, the Oscar-winning actress, she knows nobody's reading that McKinsey report. No, not enough people aren't. So Hallie Barry took her star power to Washington, D.C., this May, to talk about menopause. Yeah, she brought that James Bond-style firepower to a bipartisan Senate committee pushing for legislation for menopause research and education. Every woman goes through the hormonal shift known as menopause, including Hallie Barry right now. Now, on average, Eddie's period stopped for women permanently at around the age of 50s. to. Perimenopause can start as early as 40 with symptoms lasting up to 10 years.

So, Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies over at flow? Actually, for the whole world. We are in the third phase of Femtech. Yeti's Femtech, the sector of the tech industry that is focused on women's health. Ten years ago, Femtech was a tiny niche, but it's not anymore. By 2027, Femtech is expected to be a $60 billion a year industry. And now, Yeties, in the time over the last half decade, Jack and I have been doing, in this pod. We've noticed the trend, the rise of this industry. Phase one of Femtech was tech to help you track periods. Phase two of Femtech was to help women on their pregnancy journeys. But now, years later, we're seeing phase three. And that phase is menopause. Menopause. Just as the

millennials who probably developed these apps come of menopausal age. A long-neglected industry is young no more. And now we're in the third phase of Femtech. Flow is growing with its audience by putting an entire fundraise into menopause. For our second story. Starbucks, its stock, just hit its lowest level in five years, and Jack and I found out why. Here's why Starbucks is actually the least valuable food chain on Wall Street. All right, Jack, pour yourself a cold brew, because we've had a lot of fun covering Starbucks this year, haven't we, my friend?

Most recently was Starbucks's announcement of electric vehicle charging stations. Yeah, you can now charge your Volvo while. they make your venti. Starbucks also launched a movie studio to spread low-key pro-coffee themes throughout movies and documentaries. The wild hot story of a frappuccino love. Starbucks also introduced olive oil coffee. They're introducing bubble tea this summer and they've launched late night latte delivery. Starbucks is basically like, ain't somebody going to match my freak and nobody's going to match that freak. And despite all that freak, Starbucks just announced yesterday that sales fell for a second quarter in a row, and the stock has now fallen by 30% so far this year.

Again, we don't want to sprinkle decafine on the caffeine, but like, it hasn't actually been a fun year for Starbucks stock, has it, Jack. It's been about five years. Starbucks today is worth less than it was five years ago. Darlina Duncan, she's dancing in her donuts when she saw that stock price. It's shot in Freda for Dahlene, which translates to glazed donuts. So, but Jack and I were curious. What exactly is wrong over at Starbucks? Jack, how should we explain it? Well, like a coffee bean, the CEO is getting squeezed from every side. Lax Narasman, who's the newest CEO of Starbucks, but he's getting squeezed four different ways. First, he's getting squeezed by the three-time former CEO, Howard Schultz, who's been vocal about Starbucks's struggles.

Hey, Howie Schultz, the founder of Starbucks, has been tweeting feedback. I'm sorry, feed forward for the current CEO. Awkward. This guy's also getting squeezed by Starbucks's own baristas. Yeah, 11,000 baristas have unionized across the chain. He's also getting squeezed by a big, famous activist investor. Elliott Management bought a bunch of Starbucks stock, and now they want change ASAP. But worst of all, Starbucks is getting squeezed hard by the competition. Over in China, luck in coffee already has 16,000 locations getting Chinese consumers hooked.

Here in the U.S., Dutch boys and Dunkin' Donuts, have more mojo than Starbucks does. Oh, and by the way, consumers are getting frustrated, too, because your wait time has been longer. It's never been longer than this. The average wait time for your coffee at a typical Starbucks has doubled since the pandemic. 40 minutes for an orange mocha frappuccino.

How much orange is in that thing, man? Now, the CEO, this guy lacks, he has a plan. He does, he does. And what does he call that plan, Jack? The triple shot reinvention with two pumps. Darling! We kind of love how he's marketed this turnaround plan. for Starbucks. The highlight of the turnaround plan is to add eight new stores every single day

for the next seven years. But funny thing, Yetis, Jack and I don't think that idea is going to work because of our takeaway. I just want to repeat, Starbucks's plan is to add eight new stores globally every day for the next seven years. Let's just focus on getting us the cappuccino's within 30 minutes. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies? No, I said Nick. It's still not ready? All right, Sorry, what's the takeaway for our buddy is over at Starbucks? Store for store, Starbucks is the least valuable chain in fast food. Now, yeties, Starbucks is a public company. It's worth $85 billion.

It's huge. It trails only McDonald's in fast food valuation. But we crunch the numbers. If you look at Starbucks on a per location basis, it's not the second most valuable fast food chain. It's actually the least valuable chain on Wall Street. Get this. We found a set of three.

restaurant chains that illustrates this wild difference, Starbucks, Chipotle, and Kava. Starbucks has 37,000 locations globally, and it's worth $85 billion. Chipotle has 3,000 locations globally worth $70 billion. And Kava has just 300 locations, and it's valued at $9 billion. All right, so, Jack, let's whip out the whiteboard. On a per location basis, Kava is valued at $30 million per store. Chipotle is valued at $22 million per store. But Starbucks is worth just $2 million per store, a level of magnitude smaller than Kava and Chipotle.

We repeat, Starbucks is that just $2 million valuation per store. That's it. On a per store basis, Kava is 15 times more valuable than Starbucks, and Chipotle is 10 times more valuable than Starbucks. What we're saying is that Wall Street thinks Starbucks's best days are behind it. And they've downgraded the stock accordingly. So, Basties, if you want to understand how bad the Starbucks situation really is, don't look at the revenues, don't Look at the wait times and don't wait for that bubble tea. Look at the value per location.

It reveals that Starbucks is the least-liked chain on Wall Street. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story. Got milk? Well, not exactly. Americans are consuming dairy, but they're just not drinking it anymore. The U.S. dairy industry is losing on milk, but it's found a new cash cow. Literally.

And we'll tell you about it. Uh, Yeti's a quick trigger warning if you are lactose intolerant, because the rest of the story, it is going to rub your tummy the wrong way, isn't it Jack? True. And it starts with one of the most famous advertising slogans in American commerce. It was invented 30 years ago, and it was by dairy. Yes, Got Milk. A happy 30th birthday to Got Milk, which started back in 1993. Got Milk, question mark. Every celebrity posed with a milk mustache for an ad in some magazine. with Got Milk. Supermodels, wrestlers, even Bart Simpson, Kermit the Frog. They all did Got Milk commercials and ads.

In the 1996 presidential election, both candidates, Clinton and Bob Dull, posed with a milk mustache for like a sign of unity over their shared love of milk. I mean, honestly, Jack, kind of wish that podcasters could get in on this. I'll do a Got Milk ad. I could see you with that mustache. You'd look great in that thing. I heard it's not a real milk mustache. It's like some kind of white glue. Don't ruin it for the kids, Jack. Don't ruin it for the kids. Yetis, the Godmilk campaign. It peaked in the late 90s, 25 years ago. And milk, honestly, it's gone a little sour ever since. Dietary preferences, alternative milks, they've steadily cut the American consumption milk down these days. I mean, if you think about it, humans are the only animal that drinks milk in adulthood.

And we're also the only animal that drinks the milk of another animal. We're also the only animal that builds airplanes. But, Yeti's... In fact, Jack and I jumped in T-boy style. This is one of the ones. wildest drops in consumption we've seen of any product any time in history. The American consumer, on average, consumes half as much milk today compared to 1975. Even believe it or not, ice cream sales are down 25% in the last 25 years according to the USDA.

Never thought we'd see the day. So you'd think dairy is doomed. Americans are consuming half as much milk and 25% less ice cream. You would think Ben and Jerry are freaking out right now. You'd think the industry has gone from utter to gutter. But you'd be wrong. Because the dairy industry has pulled off a powerful pivot with their protein. A protein pivot, the likes of which Jack and I have never seen, honestly, it's one of the most strategic moves in all of business.

In the past 25 years, a new Big Three have emerged to replace milk in Big Dairy. We've basically gone from liquid to solid. Because butter sales are up 43% of. per capita in the United States in the last 25 years. Cheese is up 46% and yogurt has surged 142% per capita in America. Milk used to be the cash cow for cows, but no longer. Yadis, Jack and I have told you on this pod about the great snack surge, a big trend in America right now.

Since work from home, you've been popping more 3pm pick me up snacks. Well, the cheese industry is now a booming snack category for dairy. Cottage cheese. Cheese it. goldfish. Those sales are stronger than ever and they all got cheese. And we've covered all of those stories on this podcast, haven't we, Jack? Oh, and yogurt? It's no longer considered just a breakfast food like it always has been. And that is why Chobani, the Greek yogurt company, is worth a whopping $10 billion. That's more than lived. If you got to utter, it's like butter.

No, I kind of like it, Jack. Let's just roll with it. I was kidding. I was kidding. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are anyone in marketing. Some of the best marketing is never actually seen. Now, Eddie, a key reason that dairy has stayed so top of mind is because of behind-the-scenes marketing, BTS marketing. Dairy farmers fund a group called Dairy Management Inc. It's a marketing group funded by pretty much all dairy farmers across the United States. Yeah, interesting thing, Yetis.

Remember that viral butterboard trend that surged on TikTok last year? Well, Dairy Management Inc. kicked it off. Why did Mr. Beast tour those dairy farms for that YouTube video? Because Dairy Management Inc. invited him. Why did Taco Bell release a frozen Mountain Dew drink with a dash of dairy? And why for McDonald's does 80% of the menu items include dairy? Because Dairy Management Inc. partnered up with those brands. Pretty much any new thing that showcases dairy, there's a good chance dairy management

ink was behind it. 30 years ago, Got Milk was created by a similar Dairy Farm marketing board. And Got Milk got pretty far. Management, Inc. is doing the same thing today. Because some of the best marketing we've ever seen was never actually seen. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for Saviche Wednesday. Flow is the first women's health app to hit a $1 billion valuation. Because we're now in the third phase of Femtech menopause. For our second story, it's Starbucks. They just reported a second straight quarter of sales shrinkage. Store for store, Starbucks is now the least loved food chain on Wall Street.

And our third and final story is Big Dairy's Big Pivot. They've replaced shrinking milk sales with growth in all other dairy products. Because the best marketing you've ever seen happened behind the scenes and you never saw it. You heard it though on this show. Yeah, and you see what we're saying. But yeties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, the big earnings yesterday was from Microsoft and they announced,

how did it look, Jack? Disappointing. The 50% owner of OpenAI and ChatGPT disappointed investors after hours. Yeah, Microsoft stock fell 6% as investors are losing patience to see a return on AI. Second, the women on the U.S. gymnastics team just reclaimed their gold medal. Just one day after the U.S. men took bronze in gymnastics, our women's team won gold in the team all round.

It's the biggest medal in gymnastics. By the way, Simone Biles now has five gold medals. She's kicking off her redemption games with a victory. And finally, viewership of these Olympics is getting a gold medal too, because viewership is up 80% from the Tokyo Games. NBC is 11. Yeah, they are. The opening ceremony actually got 29 million viewers,

which is the biggest number since the 2012 games. Peacock is peacocking right now. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in from legendary Yeti, Tomaz Bajio, from the lovely North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii. Last week, we covered a story on the rise of Cheez-It. The 100-year-old company is seeing a snack sales surge for their legendary Cheez-It. But get this. The most expensive Cheez-It ever is on sale right now.

You could have it for $6,000. This is wild. There's a $6,000 cheese-it on eBay. And why is it going for $6,000, Jack? Because it has no hole in the middle. Yeah, this is the only Cheez-It that's ever been found without a dimple hole in the middle that thing. The eBay listing is hilarious. It's described as extremely rare cheez-it.

It has no hold that's perfect puffed, not been touched by human hands, and it's completely edible. And it says he's willing to haggle on the price, which he's set at $6,000. Now there have been no bids yet. So, like, you could name your price on this thing, Jack. I don't know, I'm feeling birthday gift vibes. Yeah. And we'll link to the account on eBay. It's just four pictures of the same Cheez-It in a plastic bag, like a zip-block bag.

But this is the most expensive cheese-it yet. If someone buys it. Right, right now it's worth nothing. Yeties, you look fantastic for Cevice Wednesday. And if you want to help grow the show, the best thing you can do right now is to leave a review. Jack, we got some cool reviews lined up. We got some great ones recently. A favorite reason of mine is from Lage 440V on Apple.

All right, Jack, what did Lage 440V say about the pot? Simply said, I'm 11 years old. I listen to this podcast every morning. And I love it. Lege 440V. We love you. He got right to the point. Yes, he did.

And yeah, he is the best one yet. Yetis, you can drop down and leave a rating and review right here on Apple or Spotify. In the meantime, Jack and I are not going to pee in the paper. No. I mean, ocean, of course I will. Well, now this is awkward, Jack. I don't know about that. Jack and I will see you tomorrow.

And before we go, a shout out to Yeti, Elena in San Francisco, who's studying for her CFP right now. Elena, you got this. Happy birthday to Natalie Harris McRow in West Haven, Connecticut. And Paulina Barnes is turning 27 years old in the lovely sunny San Diego, California. And a fantastic, happy birthday to our buddy, the Prince of Podcast, the Sultan of Sound, the King of Queens, Yee, Lee. Happy birthday, Yee.

And to anyone else, celebrate something today, make it a T-Boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock of Kava, and Nick and I both own stock of Chipotle. Where are you going to draw the line? With the ocean I just told you It starts with oceans Then it's lakes

One of the low jacket