The Best One Yet - 🍦 “King of Cone” — Joy’s ice cream cone monopoly. Skechers’ soccer deal. Tipping’s tipping point.

Episode Date: August 18, 2023

It’s our last pod until Tuesday, September 5th as we take our annual vacation… but we whipped up 3 fantastic stories for ya: There are 17K ice cream parlors in the US, but 1 cone company dominates the market — Joy Cones proves that in some markets, boring is better. Skechers just signed England’s #1 soccer player to a lifetime deal to wear Skechers cleats — But its goal isn’t to be #1, it’s to be #3. And Tipping has reached a tipping point and we found the culprit: Toast — Toast’s payments tablets have turned “Tip Creep” into “Tip Fatigue” and now a “Tip Turnaround.” Subscribe to the TBOY Newsletter at tboypod.com/newsletter. File a claim for the Facebook privacy settlement here: https://facebookuserprivacysettlement.com/#submit-claim $SKX $NKE $ADDYY $TOST $UL Want merch, a shoutout, or got TheBestFactYet? Go to: www.tboypod.com Follow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypod And now watch us on Youtube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Friday, the real Friday, August 18th. And today's pot. Our last pod before vacation is the best one yet. Yeties and besties, it's an honor to be able to pod with you one more time before we take some time off. SPFT boy, Jack, where are you heading out? When are you heading out, my friend?

I'm staying for a week in the mountains of Vermont and then a week on Block Island on the beach. I'll be yelling across from you from across the water, whatever water that is. Yeah, you're going to be on Nantucket, which is a bigger Block Island that also has an air part and more jeeps. And more popped collars, I believe, Jack. I believe that's correct as well, yeah. Nick, if the wind is right, I can shout, this is Jack, you'll be able to hear me. You're like, H.Y. H, I'm like, TVO.R.

This is Nick. This is Jack. As long as the $60 lobster rolls don't get in the way. First story, what do we got on the pod, Jack? For our first story, there is one company that makes two out of every three ice cream cones in the United States. Who is it, Jack? Joy Cones.

Joy Cones. Joy Cones dominates the cone market because Joy Cones is not creative. For our second story, Skechers is getting into soccer cleats, and they just signed England's best soccer player. Because the sneaker market is a fight for number three. And our third and final story. For the last three years, we have all suffered from tip fatigue. 20%?

Tips have hit a tipping point. For handing us bread? There are gratuitous gratuities. And we found the company responsible for that team. hip creep. But before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. What a mix of stories today, Jack. Love the mix. Grab your calendar and open it up and circle this date. August 24th. Yet he's take out the calendars and write that one down. Next week, we have an assignment for you on that day. Next week on Thursday, August 24th, call in sick. Call in sick because August 24th is the sickest

day of the year every year. We repeat. More Americans. Call in sick on. On August 24th than any other day. On August 24th, we bet you'll be too ill to commute. On August 24th, we bet you'll be too unwell to work well. You'll be too queasy to typey. I'm sorry. It's the black lung. Funny thing about August 24th, we jumped into the numbers, T-boy style.

Yes, we did, yeties, and we discovered that more people take sick days, but fewer people are actually sick. Yeah, if you think about it, autumn is cough season, right? And if you think about it more winter is flusiness. season. And spring is allergy season. You're wondering here, what is wrong with your body when it is 70 degrees and sunny out there on August 24th? Is the weather too nice for your immune system? Are your white blood cells a little too relaxed over there?

Yeties, don't worry. Your secret next week, it's safe with us. Besties, wink, wink, we got your back. Come to think of it, I think I'm coming down with something too. Cough, cough, cough, cough. Nick, I hear some raspiness in your voice. Cough, cough, cough. Might have to get my parents to sign a permission slip for me. Cough Cough. Yetis, we are taking two weeks of vacation starting this Monday.

We're going to be back right after Labor Day. As always, whenever we take time off from this show, we thank you. Because you are our listeners, the Yetis, and the besties, you are our bosses. Thank you for giving us this precious time off. And we hope you can get some time off to. Vacation days or sick days. Cough, cough, let's hit our three stories. Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dawn.

and it costs a cultural storm. It's the best one. 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. For our first story, two at every three ice cream cones in America

is made by just one company, Joy Cones. Joy dominates the ice cream cone industry because they know their role. Yes, they do. But yet is the most important question of the summer. What is it, Jack? It's not, is it chocolate sprinkles or rainbow sprinkles? No, no, no, no, no.

We all know the answer to that. Is it dish or cone? Cup or cone, what do you want, Yetis? You gotta pick one. Well, trick question. I always get a cone and then ask them to plop it into the dish. Because we all know the existential problem with the cone, don't we, Jack? What, it's an edible container?

You can't do hot fudge on a cone, man. True. Hot fudge on a cone today. Burn unit tomorrow. Yeties, over the last decade, the ice cream business has had a redone, had a renaissance in America. Yeah, there are now 17,000 ice cream makers in America.

That is an all-time high for making ice cream. But while there's 17,000 distinct ice cream companies, there's basically only one ice cream cone. And that cone, that company, that monopoly is Joy Cones. Joy's flagship factory in Pennsylvania can make 20 million ice cream cones per day. Jack, can we sprinkle out of little context here? That's enough to serve an ice cream cone to every single New Yorker, twice. Twice. This is a company that was founded a hundred years ago by a couple of Lebanese immigrants.

Today, it's owned by the employees, a thousand of whom control the cone economy. Because Yetis, the cone is the all-important hardware for your soft serve. Two out of three of those cones is made in America by joy. That's right. Their market share is over half of the cone market. One company. Keebler is a distant number two in the cone industry at only 15% of the market. Those little elves, they've got to work a little harder, Jack. Joy came to dominate through dozens of cone acquisitions over the years. Yes, they did.

And now their cones are the chassis under your chocolate Sunday. But Yetis, while you're thinking about maple or chocolate this evening, we're going to tell you about the dirty little secret of the ice cream business. Oh, great point, Jack, the dirty secret about the ice cream business. Yeties, here it is. The cone is actually harder to make than the cream. Yeti's ice cream? It's an impressive feat of chemistry.

We'll give you that, mint chocolate chip. That is not too shabby, my friend. But the cone. The cone is a combination of baking, engineering, and architecture. The cone, it is basically like the invidia of the whole ice cream industry, Jack. Joy has four, 500,000 square feet manufacturing facilities, pumping out cones every day. Joy, they're basically like a Boeing factory filled with sugar. And wrap your head around this manufacturing process.

Yeah, this thing, this is totally proprietary. They're going to mix the batter and then squirt that into their own caps. cast iron cone-shaped mold. And then that batter is going to bake in the mold for about 100 seconds while the mold rotates in a 400 degree oven. Yeties, if you're running an ice cream shop, try pulling that off in the back office. Yeah, try squeezing that Manhattan Project next to the freezer. Sure, some ice cream parlors do waffle cones on their own, but honestly, that's a low-volume business. Most ice cream parlors dread the idea of having to bake their own ice cream cones.

And that is why the ice cream industry out there. sources it's cones. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Joy Cones? Familiarity can beat creativity. Yet is the ice cream industry is unleashing some crazy flavors on us lately. That's the trend. Like Jack, I just saw a balsamic honey cookie dough flavor from salt and straw, I think. Ice cream parlors are under pressure to differentiate with insta-famous flavors like that one. On the other hand, after 100 years, Joy still only makes three cones. Cake cones? Sugar cones and waffle cones. Because Joy knows that the cone plays a supporting role to ice cream.

Joy knows it should not be the Picasso on your froyo. Joy is the frame at best. Because consumers want a familiar cone so they can focus on the challenge of eating ice cream. And businesses, they also want familiarity. They want a reliable supply of cones they can depend on. So besties, Jack and I love celebrating innovation and creativity on this podcast all the time. But for ice cream cones and for joy, 100 years of familiarity wins.

When it comes to cones, boring is better. For our second story, Skechers, just signed Harry Kane, England's best soccer player to wear Skechers on the pitch for life. With its stock at an all-time high, Skechers is trying to be fetch. Oh, Jack, Skechers, the only shoe that feels like 1996. Put them on, tie those shoes, and you're transported back to a Blink 182 concert. Jack, the last time I put on Skechers, I thought I was a spice girl. Yeah, it is. When you think of Skechers, what do you think of?

You're thinking of Chunky. That's the word I'm thinking of Jack. And Chunky is now a trendy type of shoe. Good point, Jack. And in the last few months, Skechers has been on a throwback sponsorship tour. Their marketing team is off the hook. Martha Stewart got a collection of Skechers shoes. Snoop Dog got a collection of Skechers shoes. There's a Rolling Stones commemorative edition of Skechers. Oh, and then, Jack.

You hear that? Is that Pickleball? Skechers is now the official shoe of British pickleball. All of those headlines are consistent with the Skechers you know. Yes, they are. Shoes for people still on Facebook. Exactly. But Jack and I noticed something funny here.

We've noticed a pivot from this publicly traded sneaker company. Perhaps inspired by Birkenstocks and Crocs, this formerly lame shoe company is trying to be cool. Well, Skecher stock is at an all-time high. And their quarterly sales just jumped by 8. So Skechers can afford a brand makeover. And how are they really kicking off this makeover, Jack? By signing Harry Kane. That's right. Yeti's Skechers just kickstarted an image makeover by signing the top goal

score of the English national soccer team. Harry Kane is still in his prime and he just announced that he's going to wear Skechers cleats this season. I'm sorry, Jack, sit down, stand up and try these shoes on again. Are we talking Nike here? No. What about Adidas? Nope. At least Puma. Is he doing anything with Puma?

He's wearing Skechers. Yet he's Harry-Styles-Cain. They may be the same person. I saw him again. Yet he's Harry-Styles-Cain. Just signed not just a Skechers deal. A lifetime global Skechers deal. That means when Harry Kane, the footballer, is done with his career, he'll eventually be buried in Skechers. And guess what? This British soccer star isn't the only star athlete who's wearing Skechers' cleats right now. Over on the baseball diamond in the U.S., Clayton Kershaw,

three-time Sy Young winning pitcher for the Dodgers, he wears Skechers too. Skechers, Skechers has pulled off a pivot from just chunky to performance. It's got baseball cleats in the U.S. and soccer cleats in Europe. You know what that sounds like? Sounds like our takeaway. I actually didn't know what it sounded like, Jack, so I'm glad you said that. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies?

over its Skechers. In Sneakers, the fight is for third place. Yetty, since 1980, Nike has been number one in sneakers and Adidas has been the perennial number two. Together, those two control about half of the entire sneaker mark. On the other hand, number three, that position has always been up for grabs. The fight for bronze and footwear has been bruising and everyone's going for that bronze medal. For example, Converse was once number three, and Reebok was also once number three. New Balance was once number three. Under Armour for a while was number three. They've all been number three at one point or another,

and yet after some point, all of them faded. Now, Skechers is taking it shot by pivoting to performance with some big athlete signings. Because in the sneaker industry, you just can't unseat Nike or Adidas. So third place is first place. For our third and final story, faced with the fancy payment tablets these days, we all are experiencing tip fatigue. But Nick and I found the culprit.

It's toast. And toast and their tablets are loving every person out of this. Yet is, you have seen a hundred headlines on it, but you have experienced it a thousand times. Tip creep. Yeah, tip creep. What is it, Jack? When the pandemic hit, we were all happy to start tipping more because the service industry needed help back then. Service workers need those tips.

We need to pay them the tips. That's what we got to do. But it's not just waiters and waitresses. and bartenders and bartenders anymore. It seems everything we buy, we are then asked to select a tip amount after. Uber ride, Instacard order, DoorDash delivery. 18% 20% percent, 22% tip. Coffee shop, farmers market, fifth grade bake sale.

25% tip, 30% tip, 35% tip. Jack, I did a Girl Scout cookie purchase. I felt the pressure to have to tip. More and more places are asking for tips that never had historically. Yes, they have. And now that is leading to the awkward tip standoff. You've been there. The cashier is standing there. And you have to decide whether to click the no tip or 18% or 20% or 22%. They're like kind of looking away, but like you know, they're not totally looking away.

And the people behind you in line, they're watching too, wondering what you're going to do. You cheap latte loving son of a gun. We're surprised vending machines don't ask for a tip. This podcast, pretty close to asking for a tip, Jack. But yet he's here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. Tipping has hit a tipping point. Survey show that two-thirds of Americans are fed up with the increased pressure recently to tip. What Jack and I are saying here is that tip creep has led to tip fatigue.

Randy Marsh from South Park predicted this years ago. So he totally did. Adam, play the tape. Nobody should have to feel the shame. The humiliation of being asked to add money under their grocery bill. Help now. Let's make grocery stores a safe. space for all. Together, we can make a difference. Because charity shaming hurts everyone.

But you know who's not fed up with this tip creep? Jack, who's not fed up with this tip creep? Toast. Yeah, Toast, the $12 billion publicly traded technology company that's based in Boston. Just outside Boston. Toast provides the payment, reservation, and ordering technology that restaurants, cafes, and bars have been using. Well, Toast just announced earnings, and Jack and I were curious. A record 7,500 stores and restaurants added those payment tablets from Toast in just the last three months. Yeti's Toast is now used at 93,000 restaurant locations.

Toast is making tipping totally unavoidable. Those tablets are everywhere. Last quarter, Toast even signed a deal with Marriott Hotels. And what does that mean, Jack? Now, every time you buy something at a hotel, you're going to have to decide, should I leave a tip or not? One second, Jack. They're just going to ask you one more question on the screen. So what's the takeaway for our buddies over at toast?

We're in the middle of a tip turnaround. Yeti's frictionless technology, consumers love it, but honestly, it gives you no excuse not the tip. And that's caused a backlash. The tip creep we were talking about led to tip fatigue, which is now resulting in a tip turnaround. This is just unfortunate. Get this, Yetis. According to Toast, the average tip percentage has now fallen to a five-year low of 16.7%. That is bad news for the servers and bartenders, who's a... income depends on tips. They depend on it. It's really sad news for an entire industry. But it's still

good news for workers who already had decent wages all along, but have suddenly started getting tips because of these tablets. So the tipping industry, it has been disrupted by frictionless tipping technology. First, it saved the tip, but now it might be killing the tip. And honestly, we still can't figure out what to tip for a tip. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us for the last pod before vacation? Joy owns 70% of the U.S. ice cream cone market because it knows its role. Yeties, with the cone, boring is better. Familiarity beats creativity. For our second story, Skechers is making a pivot to performance athletes with soccer and baseball cleats.

In the sneaker industry, the fight is for number three. Number three was like the real number one. For our third and final story, toast payment tablets. Ask us if we want to leave a tip for things we've never historically had to tip for. Here is what Jack and I have noticed. Tip creep became tip fatigue, which is now a tip turnaround. But tonight when you go out to dinner, definitely tip more. You always got a tip.

You're always got a tip. You're always got a tip. We are in the pro tip camp for sure in case that wasn't clear. But yeties, this show's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, mortgage rates just hit their highest level in 20 years. The average mortgage rate is now 7.09%. Yes, it is possible for houses to become even more expensive, apparently.

And second, SpaceX, Elon Musk's private space company, reportedly just had its first ever quarterly profit. SpaceX is like UPS. It gets paid to ship cargo, but to outer space. And finally, if you want to make some money, time is running out to make a claim on Facebook's $725 million lawsuit. You got one week left. Anyone in the U.S. who used Facebook in the last 16 years, you can file a claim and get paid. by Facebook for their dirty deeds. In fact, Jack and I did this and we'll provide the link in today's episode description.

We both filed a claim. We got the link. We're making this as easy as possible for you to get paid by Facebook. It's your last chance to Zuck Zuck. It's in the episode description. Now time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Jack and me and this isn't exactly a fact. It's actually some book recommendations.

Nick and I love bringing the best insights from the books we read into this podcast. People ask us how we whip up the takeaways. A lot of it's because Jack and I are reading all the time. Given that we're going on vacation, we're about to read a couple more books on the beach, we hope. So Jack and I decided to put together a couple of book recommendations for the next couple weeks while we're off the pot. We're including Nick's favorite and my favorite. We're going to whip up the takeaways on those business books and put them in the newsletter just for you. So you can subscribe to our newsletter at t-boypod.com slash newsletter. We got some good business book beach reads in mind.

Once you read these things, Jack, you're going to look fantastic. call it the T-Boy book report. Yeties, you've looked fantastic all summer. Jack and I were going to miss you the next couple weeks. Jack, I'm going to miss you the next couple weeks. I'm going to miss you too, man. But Jack, we can't just leave the Yetis empty-handed, can we? Well, we already left him a book report.

We did, we did. But you want to whip up a couple bonus pods? We're going to try to whip up a couple bonus pods. Yeties, we're going to whip up a couple bonus pods for you. And you know what? We're not even going to ask for a tip. Check out your feed, see what we drop. And Nick and I will see in a couple weeks.

In the meantime, until later, Labor Day, celebrate the wins. And before we go, a happy birthday to Yeti Goravatra over in Cupertino, California. And happy birthday to Marissa Kirchner in Cheshire, Massachusetts. Just that's how Boston. And Bo Gallardo, it turned nine years old over in Westchester, Illinois. Happy birthday to Star Shang in Shanghai, China. And Molly Giles, happy birthday celebrating in New York City.

Happy birthday to Caitlin Morris, who's celebrating with a Barbie-themed birthday in Huntington, Long Island. Great lacrosse team. And Tony Tao is celebrating that birthday on the very tippy top of Mount Tam. Happy 24th birthday to Cameron Granley in Anaheim, California. Christy Wydenor happy birthday down in McAulaney, Florida. Happy birthday to Seth Peterson in Virginia Beach, Virginia. And Kevin Goodwin, happy 25th birthday down in lovely D.C. And happy birthday to Dante, the leader of the Lost Boys. Dante, the legendary Yeti.

And congratulations to Andre and Jen. Jack, he proposed to Jen. at Niagara Falls in the water, in the mist. Under the Falls. I don't know about that. I hope not for their sake. An Albano and Haley, happy eight-year anniversary down in lovely Los Angeles. And happy eight years together to Jeff and Kyle G. In the car right now in New Hampshire.

And Matt Ames just became a pot father over in New Jersey. Congratulations to Grace Katrown, who just had her baby, Audrey Claire, down in Atlanta. And Andre and Asia are getting married. weekend once from Michigan, once from Michigan State. It's a tale of true love, Jack. And congratulations to Kevin and Nancy Dwyer, who are celebrating the wins at the Beyonce concert. That is a win to celebrate. And to anyone else who celebrates something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins. Jack and I will see you in a couple weeks. This is Jack. Nick and I really did file a claim to get paid by Facebook.

You're like, H-Y-H! I'm like, TVO-I. This is Nick. This is Jack. This is Jack. Thank you.