The Best One Yet - 🫐 “Great Fruit Heist” — China’s blueberry theft. AI Anti-Doomers. Vegas’ $70M stock gift. +Champagne Extra Alc

Episode Date: September 16, 2026

What do Driscoll Blueberries, farmers, & undercover Chinese spies have in common?... China and America’s Situationship.Trump, Jensen, and the All-In oppose AI regulation… so we give that argument some airtime.Red Rock Resorts gifted its employees free stock… right after it lost in the Supreme court.And France is waiving its rules on max alcohol allowed in champagne… just this once.$RRR $NVDA $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.

Thanks to Liquid Ivy for sponsoring this episode. The OG lemon lime combo, our favorite, gives you three times the electrolytes of the top sports drink, plus eight vitamins and nutrients for ultimate hydration. So head to Liquidivy.com and use code 2026 T-Boy for 20% off your first order. This is Nick. This is Jack. It's a Wednesday, Cevice Wednesday. September 16th, and today's pod,

it's the best one yet. This is a T-Boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. One week from today, checking the calendar, T-Boy Live straight out of San Francisco. We still got some tickets available. Now, Yeti's, if you've never been to one of our live shows, you should know that. I give Nick about six hugs.

But here's my pledge. If you come to our show next week, Nick and I will hug each and every one of you after the show, whoever wants a hug. It's like a rock show of business use. By the way, we're performing at the Palace of Fine Arts. It is a literal palace. And for what it's worth, we write off each hug on our accounting statements at the end of the year. That's true.

We ran it by the finance team. They're on board. Link and buy out for tickets. Grab them now. Jack, we got three fantastic stories for the best show and business. But what do we got on today's TV? For our first story,

what do blueberries, farmers, and undercover Chinese spies have in common? Besties, nothing explains the U.S. China situation ship quite like the blueberry. For our second story, yesterday we covered the AI doom debate and we compared AI to nuclear. But today we're sharing the other side of the AI argument.

Not AI doomers, AI bloomers. And our third and final story. One casino in Las Vegas is gifting $70 million of company stock to the employees. Not too shabby. Because every company has three things they can do with their profits. And we'll tell you each of them. But yet, he's before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. What a mix of stories.

Love the mix for Civece Wednesday, Jack. The next time you sip some champagne, it's going to come with extra hangover. And an Advil. Well, hopefully an ad bill. And you're going to need a designated driver because the amount of alcohol and champagne just hit an all-time high. From 13% to 15% Sacreblee, Jack. McMoy Hennessy is now Moewey Hennessy.

Don Paragnan, more like damn, Paranyan. What's going on over there? Yety, champagne is sparkling wine from the specific champagne region of France. Yeah, why don't you sprinkle on? Why do you pour on some more context, Jack? It's a highly regulated product. The government has set a limit

on the amount of alcohol permitted in each bottle. No more than 13% alcohol, the limit does exist. Anything higher? Not possible. But this summer's, record heat wave in France made the grapes ferment more than usual. Like Biggie Smalls once said, Mo fermentation, mo alcohol. So for the first time in history, France is going to increase the alcohol limit from 13% to 15% for champagne. Just this one time guys don't get used to this. So Tattonje now

now tastes like vodka this year. And champagne is getting its drink on. And because of climate change, Somaliers are warning this is going to be the new norm. Besties get used to the extra alcohol in that cup. 2% more fun per glass, apparently. Just as everyone's drinking less alcohol, grapes, we're making more of it. Yeah, they're working overtime. Because to quote the mean girls, the limit does not exist. Sorry, Tantan-Ton-Jay. Cut us off, cut us off.

Jack, let's 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, there's a blueberry revolution happening in China. It involves spies, theft, and blueberry ice cream. And the humble blueberry is a microcosm of the awkward U.S. China situation ship. Oh, yeah, it is, you know, you're a fan to the ship.

earlier this year, one of our most popular stories. What was it, Jack? Driscoll's Berry Company, the $7 billion berry brand. Biggest berry brand on earth. Started with one farm down in California. Jack, could you sprinkle on some context, please. Driscoll's is now doing more sales than Wendy, Oatley, and the cheesecake factory. But here's the key insight. Driscoll's is the Jurassic Park of the food industry. Because Driscoll's doesn't own the fruit.

They own the DNA. Driscoll's is a lab. They engineer adaptable berries that do well in this climate. Like the hairless raspberry? Or how about the jumbo strawberry? That's iconic jack. Those ones don't just do well in this climate. They're really good to your palate, too. Yeah. Basically, they've turned the farmer's market into a padden office. That's the business model. In 1989, they set a corporate goal. We want to make our four key berries in all four seasons of the world and grow them in all four corners of the world. And they pulled it off because they don't grow a single berry at Driscoll's.

They license their berries to farms to grow. But plot twist. Driscoll's expansion to China has become an undercover spy drama. And the hero or the victim is the humble blueberry. To sprinkle on some context, in the United States, Asia's green macha and Asia's purple Ube, those are exotic fruits to U.S. consumers. But over in China, the blueberry from America, that is their exotic fruit. So 15 years ago, Driscoll execs went to China with the goal, let's make the blueberry the next big food trend in China.

And they would use their perfected blueberry DNA to mass produce this fruit, little Eden over in China. The result was a blueberry utopia. Chinese production of blueberries surged by 25x in the last 16 years. In fact, in 2020, China overtook America as the top blueberry grower on Earth. And last year, China produced nearly three times as many blueberries as the former capital of the world for blueberries, the United States. Besties, if you got a buddy hanging out in Beijing right now, they'll tell you that the blueberry ice cream is what's trending on social media. And picturing that girl from Charlie in the Chocolate Factory, who was just like one giant blueberry?

Oh, she would be like a hero in China right now, Jack. And since blueberries are known to be good for your vision, parents are even buying blueberries to save their kids from their screen addiction. Isn't that wild? So parents are loading up on blueberries too, but here's another plot twist on top of that plot twist. Driscoll's is pissed

because the surge is driven by farms that got Driscoll's secret blueberry recipe but aren't compensating them with royalties. Get this, allegedly Driscoll's proprietary blueberry plants were stolen, mass bred as starter plants and then sold to rival growers in China. And to confirm that suspicion, Driscoll went full Jason Bourne. They hired a private investigator to go undercover across China's plant nurseries. These blueberry spies were pretending to be farmers.

Buying the blueberry plants from local farmers and then DNA testing him back in a laugh to prove they were originally Driscolls. Get this, the International Blueberry Organization. Real thing, by the way. They confirmed that thousands of illegal nurseries were operating in China with Driscoll's proprietary blueberry variety. Add it all up, besties, and Driscolls has now filed 20 lawsuits against companies in China for blueberry IP theft. They've only won two of them. Oh, we should point out, this is the plot of Beer Fest, Jack. A blueberry beer?

They stole our blueberry recipe, Jack. What's the takeaway for our buddies making blueberries over at Driscolls? The most awkward situation ship in capitalism is the United States in China. Now, yeties, look, what happened to the Driscoll's blueberry over in China, that is the same experience that Nike, General Motors, and Starbucks have had as well. Their expansion to China turned from huge profit puppy 15 years ago to economic nightmare today. Because on the one hand, China's 1.4 billion people, that is a market too big to resist. But because China requires that Western companies share their trade secrets with a local company,

the risk is that you lose control of your IP. And we see these ironies and paradoxes elsewhere, too. Like our tech hardware is made in China, but much of our software is banned in China. China is still our biggest trading partner, but it's simultaneously our biggest trading foe. Besties, we need China because they have rare earth minerals that we depend on and can't get anywhere else. But we also wish China would stop hacking us and stop shipping us fentanyl that's poisoning our cities. Besties, the Blueberry Heist is a case study in what corporate theft really looks like. But it also reveals that the United States and China is the awkwardest situation ship in capitalism.

Awkward. For our second story, President Trump called Jensen Wong live on stage to call AI fears a hoax. So we're giving the anti-regulation side the floor, because four of their eight arguments are better than you think. Yeties, yesterday on the show, we covered Dario's essay, We Must Pace the Frontier. And we covered the sudden consensus that we need AI regulation right now. But the all-in podcast isn't on board. That show is hosted by four prominent. and venture capitalists who hate AI regulation.

They're not AI Dumers. They're AI bloomers. Bloomer's. One of the co-hosts is David Sacks, the former AI czar in the Trump White House. Sacks is the intellectual driver of America's policy to not regulate AI. And the rest of the all-in guys, they're AI maximalists. They're constantly tweeting about it more than they post puppy picks. And on Monday, while they were interviewing the CEO of NVIDIA on stage at their summit, Jensen Huang got a phone call from Donald Trump, which Jensen put on speakerphone. Then Trump spent five minutes explaining why we don't need.

regulation live on the live podcast. While Jensen and the four podcast hosts heartily agreed with everything Trump said. Well, a couple of legendary besties and yetis asked us to give their viewpoint some air time on our show. So that's what we're jumping in T-boy style to do. Yeah, let's do it right now. We're calling this group the League of Anti-Doomer AI Gentlemen.

And they've got eight reasons why the Doomers are wrong, why we should not regulate artificial intelligence. Some we agree with, others we don't. The first reason why we shouldn't regulate AI comes from Donald Trump himself. He said yesterday, it's a hoax. The robots are not going to be taken over the world. That's not going to happen. The counterpoint here, nobody can predict the future with certainty. We don't know if the robots are going to take over the world. Reason number two, why we shouldn't regulate AI comes from Jensen Huang. He said yesterday that pausing, pacing,

those are voluntary things that Anthropic and Open Ag can do if they feel their companies are out of control. But the counterpoint here, the nature of AI is that it is a race. So independently disarming yourself, that's not a realistic thing companies doing capitalism. Reason number three, not to regulate AI comes from David Sachs. He said yesterday that existing laws already hold AI labs accountable for any damages caused by them.

Like Nick, if a company's model causes a crisis, they can be sued. David thinks that's enough laws right there. But the counterpoint here, well, if open AI's models are used to create a biological weapon, there's no lawsuit that's going to bring justice to the people who got poisoned or a pandemic. Reason number

four not to regulate AI comes from Palantir's chief technology officer who wrote an op-ed yesterday in the free press about it. He said that AI Dumerers are members of effective altruism, the movement that was beloved by Sam Bankman-Fried, the crypto guy who's in jail now, so basically guilt by association. The counterpoint to that is that 33,000 scientists signed that letter a few years ago, remember that, calling for a pause in AI, including Elon Musk. And Jack, Elon is definitely not a member of the progressive effect of altruist movement. Which leads to reason five not to regulate AI.

predictions of AI dooming the world, those are performative. People say it just to go viral. And we've seen this. Like saying AI will end the world, that's a great way to get love from the algorithms and from investors. Reason number six, not to regulate AI, anthropic and open AI are self-serving. They're pushing for new regulation now to lock in their lead in the race. Reason number seven to regulate AI, doomers have no credibility. They've said AI would take all the jobs, but that hasn't happened yet.

And reason number eight, why we shouldn't regulate AI, China. China? If we regulate, China won't, and they'll win the race and become the super-intelligent global overlords. And there's nothing our blueberries can do about it. Besties, some of these are valid points as we just shared with you. We're not going to try to rebut every one of them, but we are good and get into our takeaway. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies looking at the AI doomers and the AI bloomers? To quote Obi-Wan, only a Sith deals in absolutes.

Yet he's as is the case with so many debates in society today, people are picking sides. The loudest voices in the debate are the accelerationists, the maximalists on one side, like the all-in podcast hosts, who just want the foot on the gas. And then the other side, you got the doomers who are screaming that all this has to stop a SAP. But it's not black and white like that. The choice isn't to either impound AI for good or let it run wild and take over the world. The choice is common sense democratic guardrails, because it's unrealistic to expect companies to regulate themselves.

The choice is to treat this industry like we treat every industry with rules. something in the middle of the two loudest people in the debate. Besties add it all up, and when it comes to the accelerationist versus the doomers, the doomers versus the bloomers, that's the wrong question. Because only a Sith deals in absolutes. Now a quick word from our sponsor.

For our third and final story, one Las Vegas casino just gave out $70 million in stock to its employees. It's a gift, and that's actually one of the three ways that every company can capitalize on their cash. Oh, but Jack, let's start with some T-boy trivia. Tea Boy trivia, what do we got? Why don't you teed up for us, Jack? What American City has the highest percentage of their GDP coming from tourists? It's not Hoboken. Shockingly, not Hoboken. I don't think you're going to get this, Nick.

Do you know the answer? I was going to say Reno, but where are we going with? No, it's Orlando. Orlando, Florida. Well, was runner-up Vegas, man? We got to go with that. Runner-up is Las Vegas, because what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas? Like the 40% of every dollar spent in Vegas that is actually spent by an out-of- towner. But what about the locals? Yeah, the loks. They want to gamble to. And that's the simple premise of Red Rocks Resorts, which created the Las Vegas Locals Market, as they call it. Red Rocks Resorts, they own 23 casinos just outside the Las Vegas strip. Yeah, they're in Vegas, but they're not quite in Vegas. It's actually owned and operated by the Italian-American family, the Fertita brothers.

Frank III and Lorenzo, they took over from their father, Frank Fertita Jr. I think that's Frankie Snake Guys, Frater Jr., aka Jack. As an Italian I feel like I can say, the whole family sounds like characters from a Scorsese film. I know, this is wild. They actually have a chandelier in one of their casinos that includes 1.6 million Swarovsky. How do you say that, Nick? Swarovsky, Jack. That one's not Italian. But correction, Jack, this casino is mostly owned by the Fertita Brothers.

Because they IPOed the company in 2016. And side note, you may have heard the Furtido brothers because they used to own Ultimate Fighting Championship, UFC, until 2016. Or you may have seen the Furtita Brothers because their cousin, Tillman Fertita has a show on CNBC and is the current U.S. ambassador to Italy living on a mega yacht. And what's his nickname, Nick? A.k.a. Thelman Fortita Johnny Double Dex. He's the C-Snake. But last week, Eddies, they decided to dilute the family ownership of Red Rocks casinos just a tad by giving away a bunch of

free stock. And here's how it all went down. Bestie's picture a mandatory all-hands meeting, just like your own company holds. Yeah, attend in person if you can. Otherwise, here's the Zoom link. But the CEO opened up this meeting by announcing, everyone is walking out different than how they came in. Because they're walking out with at least $1,000 in company stock. A thousand bucks, it's a gift to all full and part-time employees, all 9,700 of them, to celebrate the 50th birthday of the casino. I'm sorry, did I say $1,000 per employee?

You did yet. I meant $1,000 per year of service that you've worked for this company. So, yeah, Dese, you've worked there for five years. Here's $5,000 of the company stock. If you've worked here 10,000 dollars of company stock. Seven of the employees have actually worked there since the 1970s. They got $45,000 worth of stock. But the winner was Ida Johnson, a cook, who began her career with this company's first casino in 1977.

She's walking away with $49,000 of Red Rock stock. Add it all up, literally, and this was a $70 million gift to the company's 9,700 employees. Not too shabby. This is a case of feel-good capitalism we were pumped to cover. But, Jack, we should point out, Red Rock Casino, is not unis. And the Fratita brothers aren't the mothers Teresa. So we should also tell you Bessie's that the Supreme Court just ruled last week that the Fratitas have to negotiate with the union of their casino who they've been fighting to not recognize. And right before the labor talks began,

they gave the union members a nice little gift. Can I call it an offer they couldn't refuse neck, or is that a little too? Forget about it. Jack. What's the takeaway for our buddies over at the Red Rocks Casino? Just as important as how you make profit is how you spend profit. Yeties, Red Rock Casino, they've made record profits the last five years, a billion dollars cumulatively since 2021. There are a few things businesses can do with the cash profit that they've made. What are they, Nick? Like first, you can reward shareholders, the owners of the company with dividends, which is

a cash check directly to your brokerage account, or with stock buybacks, which tends to to boost the stock price of the owners. Another thing you can do, you can pay down your debt. Got to put to sleep those IOUs. Or you can invest in the business. To launch the next big thing that'll make even more profits. in the future. But besties, within that third bucket of what you can do with your cash, you could build a new factory, hire new employees, do mergers and acquisitions, research and development. Those are all ways

to invest in the future of the business, but Red Rock Casinos found another option. You could reward the employees. You see, Yetis, Vegas has a brutal retention problem with turnover. It is very costly if you're a casino operating there and losing people every other week. So Red Rock turned all their employees into owners who are now more invested in the company's long-term success. Wala, the employees are now more likely to stay with Red Rocks and more likely to serve customers with a smile, which is good for the business. And maybe they're more likely to accept that union labor negotiation. So, Bastie is just as important as how you make a profit is how you spend that profit. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for Sveitchie Wednesday? Driscoll's has lost control of their

patented blueberry DNA to China, where it's flooding the market. The U.S. and China, the most awkward situation ship been all the capitalism. For our second story, the all-in podcast, the President and Jensen Huang are AI maximalists. No regulation, please. But only a Sith deals in absolute. It's not all or nothing. Like every industry, the answer is it's something in the middle. And our third and final story is Red Rock Casino. They're giving $70 million a free stock to 9,700 employees. Never let a profit-tunity go to waste. Profits can go to the owners to pay down debt or right back to the company. Can we trademark profit tunity, by the way? Okay, hey guys, pause the pod and call the lawyers. But best use this pod.

not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, happy Fed-Rade hike day to all those who celebrate or don't celebrate. At 2 o'clock Eastern time, our central bank is expected to raise interest rates for the first time since 2023. On the Kalshie predictions market, there's an 87% likelihood right now of a rate hike happening. Because with the inflation situation worsening from the warner-on, the Fed's got to do what the Fed's got to do. Some disgusting economic medicine jack. Second, the wraps are working. Sweet Green is growing its Gen Z customer base twice as fast as any other generation. And the reason? It's the raps. The fast casual salad chain debuted wraps. They rolled them out earlier this year.

I love a sweet green salad, but they tend to be way too huge. Raps are right-sized. That feels like a dig, but also a compliment at the same time, Jack. As part of the plan, they also recruited like a thousand social media influencers to promote sweet-creen as part of the event. All Gen Z. And according to the CFO, Gen Z is into it. And now sweet-creen stock is up 16% in last month. And finally, the newest edition. to the sphere in Las Vegas, it's Oprah, baby. She's running a three-day immersive experience in the giant Las Vegas dome. She's doing singers, hype-up speeches, Oprah's signature interviews.

It's all going down over there. The sphere's business, by the way, has become the hottest in entertainment. The publicly traded sphere stock is up 50% this year and is up 6x since its lows of 2025. IMAX and the sphere dominating on Wall Street right now. Now, time for the best fact. Yeah, this one sent into us by Legendary Eddie. Dylan Steinfeld from lovely Atlanta, Georgia. Push and play.

Hey, besties. Hispanic Heritage Month began on September 15th, and it starts in the middle of September for a reason. It rides a massive wave of independence days. Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, all celebrate on the 15th, Mexico on the 16th, Chile on the 18th, and Belize on the 21st of September. Originally just a week, it became a full month

thanks to a 1988 act of Congress. Feliz's Day de la Independencia to all who celebrate. Wow. Is it a coincidence that all those independences happened at the same time? I mean, Simone Bolivar just riding his way through, making waves down there. Jack, also, you got to respect a month where you make the official month half of two months. Dylan, I would love a follow-up fact about why all those independence days happened at the same time. Jack, that challenge has been accepted because you can never let a profitunity go to waste. This is not about profits, Nick, but I like you, you know, proving to the trademark office that we used it before anyone.

We used it. We used it. Yeah, it is. You look fantastic over there. Jack, you are glowing before the hair and makeup of next week's show. If you want a hug from me, buy a ticket. If you want a hug from Nick, buy two tickets. You want a second hug from Jack. Just buy that one ticket. He'll give you the second hug. My hug has a lot more torque than Nick's hug. I don't even think Nick's going to dispute that. Can't wait to see you there. Grab your tickets in this episode description or go to T-Boypod.com and bring a buddy. My preference is one arm under, one arm over. If you know, you'll soon know.

And Jack and I, we'll see you there. And before we go, a happy birthday to Diego Villanueva, our fourth shout-out on his birthday from Panama City, but living it up over in Korea. Congrats, Diego. Happy birthday to Jaden Rosenthal. She is celebrating her 21st with a spotted cow in her hand. And Alex Bourne, happy 33rd, down in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Happy birthday to Aaron Drew DeVera, doing logistics just outside Chicago. And Samantha Carroll's got 15th birthday on the books down in Quantico, Virginia. Happy 28th birthday to Logan Miller in St. Augustine, Florida. And Shelley Shoe, a failed sub-local comedian in Raleigh, North Carolina, has a very funny birthday. Oh, it's a sub-local failed comedian? That's comedic right there. There's the best. And finally, Bree Jong and Xavier Kowalski have got a second anniversary.

Congratulations down in Gainesville. Jackie, giving a chomp. Go Gators. And to anyone else celebrating something today, make it a tee boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack, Nick on stock, and Nike.