The Best One Yet - 🍔🚧 “New Big Mac” — McDonald’s Big Renovation. Rover’s puppy sleepover. Charlie Munger’s greatest hits.

Episode Date: December 4, 2023

McDonald’s just announced 50 changes to the iconic Big Mac — It’s a huge risk… and it reminds us of a quote in an old Sicilian novel.Rover, the dog-walking app, was just acquired for a shocking $2.3B (that’s ½ a Lyft) — Because Rover pivoted to puppy sleepovers… and away from Mitt Romney.And one of the world’s greatest investors passed away at 99: Charlie Munger, the architect of Berkshire Hathaway — So we whipped up Charlie’s Greatest Hits.$MCD $QSR $BX $BRK.ASubscribe to our newsletter: tboypod.com/newsletterWant merch, a shoutout, or got TheBestFactYet? Go to: www.tboypod.comFollow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypodAnd now watch us on Youtube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. Welcome back. It is Monday, December 4th. And today's pod, it is the best one yet. Jack, it is a T-boy, man. Now that we're not live, and there's no studio audience watching us. Oh, what's going on?

I'm sorry, but I'm not wearing makeup today. I mean, I want to call out to people. There's no laugh track. Who's over there? I'm lonely over here, Jack. I miss the Yetis and Besties, team. We're still riding a high. Do you remember when we handed the microphone to the crowd and we went?

Celebrate the wins. And they said Celebrate the Windsor? That was awesome. I should point out, Jack, I did strain a hammy. You did? Because you hugged me so hard when we got on stage. Yeties! Thank you for coming out to our live show.

Jack and I are thinking about more for next year. In the meantime, Jack, first story for today's pod. What do we got? For our first story, the McDonald's Big Mac is the most sold hamburger in history. But the Big Mac is about to go through its biggest renovation in history. For our second story, it's a big Mac. rover. The dog walking app was just acquired for a shocking $2.3 billion. Besties, this story is about dogs, sleepovers, and dinkwads. For our third and final story, one of the greatest minds

in investing passed away last week at the age of 99, Charlie Munger. So over the weekend, Jack and I whipped up Charlie's greatest hits. But Yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. That is a mix of stories, man. Did you go to a wedding recently? Yeties, did you happen to notice someone new at that wedding over the weekend? At that wedding, sure, there was a baker, a caterer, a DJ, probably a wedding planner moving around somewhere. But, Jack, can we talk about the newest role at that wedding? The newest wedding position is social media concierge. That's right.

Yeties, couples are hiring professional social media people to work their weddings. And the social media concierge is actually exactly what you expect it to be. Yeah, the social media concierge is running the Instagram. the TikTok and the Snapchat accounts for your big day. You've heard of a social media manager for a brand. Why not a social media manager for that lucky couple at the altar? Because Yetis, the social media concierge is live tweeting the ceremony. They're Snapchatting the cake cutting.

And they've edited your uncle's speech down to 20 seconds for TikTok. That's crucial. Because Yeti's the bride, she can't get caught hashtagging from up at the altar. I mean, Jack, if the conga line isn't live streamed on Instagram, did it even happen? The wedding content curator. This could also be the most lucrative job in holy matrimony. Yetis get this. Up in Napa, California, a social media concierge is charging $4,000 per wedding.

Four grand to film Get Ready with the groom. $4,000 to turn your wedding story into a Facebook story. Yetis, the average couple hires like a dozen different wedding vendors these days. Only one of those vendors is paid to DM from the dance floor. DM from the D-Flaw. Hey DJ, let's in our three stories. Picks, or it didn't happen. Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm.

They had an idea to cause a cultural storm. 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.

For our first story, McDonald's is making the. biggest change ever to the most famous burger ever. The Big Mac, it's getting gutted and renovated. Oh, watch out. This is awkward. Yeties, the Big Mac, it is 55 years old now, isn't it, Jack? Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun. Yeties, we're just going to cut right to it.

Here's the news. After seven years of testing and tinkering, McDonald's is now overhauling just about every ingredient in the Big Mac. Besties, what Jack and I are trying to say here is that Ronald is getting a little work done. A lot of work done. But he's not getting it done on his red nose. He's getting it done on his burger. Yeah, there's going to be some minor changes to this Big Mac.

They're going to make the Big Mac have fresher pickles, fresher lightest, and a half ounce more of special sauce on every paddy. There's also going to be some mini innovations, some innovations. Yeah, like they're going to put the new Big Mac on a shiny brioche bun, aren't they, Jack? Which isn't just for taste? That new bun, preserves. heat of the patty better. Yeah, but it's not just minor changes in innovations.

They're also doing some innovations with the Big Mac. A big one. They've cultivated an entirely new strain of onion. A new vegetable for the Big Mac. They're playing God over there, Jack. And Charles Darwin, you know about this? They're even changing the operations in the back. They used to cook eight Big Macs at a time.

Now they're only going to cook six. because they want to give every Big Mac special attention. Those beef patties need some space. Yeties add it all up. And McDonald's is making 50 different tweaks to their most iconic product. It's the biggest change to the biggest burger in history. So Yeties, we know what you're thinking here because we were wondering it too. Jack, why are they doing this exactly?

It's because McDonald's is getting eaten by a trend. The better burger trend. The better burger trend. Now, Bessies, we should point out that, When it comes to its old rival, McDonald's is actually crushing Burger King right now. McDonald's is beating Burger King. Their sales jumped 10% last quarter compared to Burger King's 2%. But according to the Wall Street Journal, the Big Mac, hath fallen. American consumers rank the Big Mac, the 13th best burger in the industry right now.

And it turns out we can blame that on the better burger trend. Think about it. There's a lot of chain burger spots that are pretty darn good. I mean, I'm looking out the window right now, Jack. I see a five guys, I see a smash burger. Are you thinking of what I'm thinking? Shake Shack. Why not? You could probably hit that too.

That's a good burger. And the Shack burgers got grass-fed patties. That's pretty high end. That burger studies abroad in Paris over at Shake Shack. Consumer tastes in America have up-leveled, but Ronald's recipe hasn't. And McDonald's, they can't afford to let this trend continue. Because the burger is everything when it comes to American fast food. Yeties, when you look at the numbers, the burger is the burger is the trend.

the bedrock of American mouths. 40% of fast food sales in this country are hamburgers. Sit down, stand up, and stick that in your mouth yet. He's four out of ten fast food dollars is covered in ketchup as a hamburger. Now, our immediate thought to this news from McDonald's sounds like a huge risk. I mean, 50 different changes, man. Are you getting 50? I didn't even know there were 50 parts of the Big Mac that they could change. Is nothing sacred? Pyrus are going to hate this.

Oh, and you know what? That's happened before, hasn't it, check? Coca-Cola changed their Coca-Cola. recipe in the 1970s. And what happened then? Consumers revolted. They had to reverse course. So you look at the situation here, Yetis, and 50 different changes to the Big Mac,

that could ruin the Big Mac. Is the Big Mac still the Big Mac if 50 things about it have changed? And is the hamburger still going to be able to wear that creepy mask if the Big Mac has changed? Probably. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at McDonald's? In order for things to stay the same, they must change. Yeties, that's a quote from a famous 1950s Sicilian novel called El Gato Pardo. In order for things to stay the same, they must change.

It's an observation in the book that everything that we think is the same actually has evolved. And that holds true with America's most famous food products. Jack and I jumped in T-boy style Oreos. They changed their cream recipe back in 1997 to be kosher, and they never looked back. Crafts mac and cheese, they changed from artificial cheese to natural. in 2016, and they've never looked back. Even McDonald's has switched its key French fry cooking oil

back in 1992, and they never looked back. Yes, a universally beloved product is a delicate thing to tinker with. But the reality is that hero products are always tinkered with in order to keep up with the times. Because like Giuseppe

Tomase de Lampedusa once wrote, perfect pronunciation, Jack. In order for things to stay the same, they actually must change. For our second story, Rover, the dog walking app is celebrating an incredible $2.3 billion exit. And its success shows a generational divide between boomers and millennials. Yeties, remember the gig economy? Like, Jack, are people still talking about the gig economy, man?

We got all the attention 10 years ago. Every developer was trying to launch the Uber for blank. Yeties, you could not get through a pitch deck without seeing slide six. We are the Uber for Blank. Those were the gig apps. Like Rover. Rover is the Uber for dog walking. Yeah, you pay some rando 15 bucks to walk your Rottweiler and you do it on Rover.

And then you give that Walker a rating up to five stars for accountability, just like you do on Uber. If you think about it, Yeti's, the Uber for dog walking kind of sounds like a punchline. But it's not. It's actually a profit machine. Get this besties. Last quarter, Rover turned a 11. million profit on $66 million a dog walking revenue. Who's a good boy?

Who's a good boy? And here's the news. Rover was just acquired by Blackstone for $2.3 billion. All right, full disclosure here. Jack and I saw that number. We were shocked. That's a big number, isn't it, Jack? That's half a lift.

One of the biggest exits for a company this year. A $2.3 billion sale, Yeties, that is a huge win for Rover. Because Rover was just declared half as valuable as one of the of the OG gig apps lift. But yet is here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. Rover's most important product, its most profitable product.

Its profit puppy, in fact, is actually the sleepover. It's the sleepover, not the dog walking. Since Rover was founded in 2011, that Rottweiler could get a walk from a five-star rated Rover dog walker. But Rover's business, it isn't just dog walking anymore,

is it, Jack? In fact, 70% of revenues for Rover are overnight stays. We repeat, 70% of Rover's revenue is coming from sleepovers with that Siberian Husky. Let's paint the picture for you. Please, Jack. Let's say you're a dinkwad. Double income, no kids, with a dog. And you want to act like a dink for a night by popping over to Palm Springs for the weekend.

As a dinkwad would do. Oh, the hotel doesn't allow pets? No problem. Your Roddy can stay overnight with rover. And here's how. If you're a dog lover, you can board pets. at your home and then charge that dinkwad $45 bucks a night. That's how overnight stays happen on the Rover app.

Or these sleepovers on Rover can happen a different way. Yeah, the owner of the dog can ask you to come to their home and pets it for a night. You spend a night in their gas room. You take care of the dog. Maybe you go into the fridge, not too shabby. Treat yourself to the snacks. Make yourself at home. And Yeties, when we look at the numbers, these sleepovers on Rover are a pure profit puppy.

Sleepovers are twice as valuable to Rover. as dog walking is. And why is that, Jack? Rover takes a 29% cut of that $45 bucks a night. So with 70% of its business overnight stays, Rover isn't really a dog walking app anymore, is it, Jack? Rover is the hotel tonight for hounds. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Rover? Millennials treat puppies different than Mitt Romney did. Jack and I have talked to about P-U-P-P-Y puppy. Like, Like people ultimately prioritize puppies. Yeah.

But millennials actually do spend the most of any generation on their puppies. Millennials spend 25% more on their pets every year than boomers do. Well, the reality is that there is a generational difference in how generations treat and spend on their pets. For example, remember when Mitt Romney allegedly strapped the family dog on the roof of the car during trips? They were driving on the highway. They had the dog on the roof apparently. The dog was in a dog crate just getting blown. away in that box of metal. Now, Jack, I would like to say this on your behalf since you're the

dog owner. Jack is a proud millennial dog owner. He would never, you would never do that, would you man. I would never. River is a delicate and relatively nervous dog. We don't even put her in a kennel. Well, Rover knows that millennial dog owners will happily pay a premium to keep their corgi feeling calm. This generation is willing to pay more for the hotel tonight of hounds. Because when there's a generational divide, there's a once in a generation opportunity. For our third and final story, last week, we lost arguably the most important investor in the world. We lost Charlie Munger at the age of 99. Now yet he's Jack and I jumped into Charlie's story and Charlie made billions by betting on boring.

First, we actually lost a lot of important people last week. We did lose a lot of important people, Jack. Like we lost Sandra Day O'Connor at the age of 93. She was the first woman to sit on the Supreme Court. She made a huge impact on jurisprudence. And we lost Henry Kissinger at the age of 100. A former Secretary of State under multiple presidents shaped decades of foreign policy. And at 99 years old, we lost Charlie Munger.

This legendary investor was worth $2.6 billion. Yeah, he's famous for co-leading Berkshire Hathaway with Warren Buffett, the most powerful investing firm in the world. Yeah, Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger were BFF. F F. Is that again, Jack? Best financial friends for life. The ultimate finance power couple.

Now, interesting thing about Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett is famous for building Berkshire Hathaway. And that's true. He did build it. But Charlie Munger was the architect of that plan. He set out the blueprint that Warren Buffett's been following. And that blueprint worked because for the past 50 years, Berkshire Hathaway has averaged a 19.8% annual return.

For the past 50 years, that firm has performed twice as well as the entire stock market. That's why Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger are the best investors of all time. And they didn't grow up on Wall Street, did they, Jack? They grew up both of them in Omaha, Nebraska. Not too shabby. Oh, and Charlie Munger, he used to work at Warren Buffett's grandfather's grocery store. So these two were like friends when they were kids.

And he learned about investing by playing poker in the Army. They're like Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. but instead of filming culture, financing capital. And a lot handsomer. But yet here's what Jack and I found fascinating about Charlie Munger. Charlie is more famous for what he says than for what he does. He's the rare character who's as good with words as he is with numbers. So Jack, what did you and I do all weekend long, my friend?

We whipped up Charlie Munger's greatest hits. Yeah, we whipped up a Beatles-like album of the beautifully simple life advice from one of the smartest people on earth. Let's kick it off with Charlie Munger's advice for work. Yeah, pretty straightforward. He says, if you don't respect your boss, don't work for them. I agree. Makes sense.

And Nick, what was Charlie's greatest investment ever? Ah, that would be Costco. Charlie said, I'm addicted to Costco. I will never sell a share of Costco. Kirkland Brand for Life. And Nick, what was one of Charlie's secrets to success? Well, it was books. Charlie said that reading is how you rise above ordinary people.

you just need to read a lot of books. But what was his other secret about books? Don't be burdened by a bad book. Apparently Charlie Munger said that a majority of the time he read books, he never read past the first chapter. He doesn't read books by their cover, but he reads them by their first chapter. Jack, apparently Charlie Munger still thinks Harry Potter is a muggle

because he didn't get past page 63 of Harry Potter. He's still at the beginning of Sorcerer of Stone Man. You really think he didn't read the chapter two? It's a great book. Apparently Hagrid scared him off. And finally, Charlie had some very particular opinions about the crypto industry. He said that crypto is crap. It's a gambling contract.

And it's contrary to the interests of civilization. Charlie Munger, he didn't hold back, especially in his later years. Hey, Bitcoin, Ben, earmuffs. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddy Charlie Munger? Charlie Munger is a billion-dollar reminder of the benefits of boring. Yeties, Jack and I are huge fans of innovation. Yes, we are. We are all captivated by what's new, what's different, what's just, wow.

But Charlie is different. He's a reminder that innovation isn't the only path to success. In fact, Charlie's entire billion-dollar investing philosophy is built off the opposite of innovation. Charlie Munger's fundamental rule was boring. He said to repeat what works. Charlie is you convinced Warren to invest in boring into reliable brand-name companies. So Berkshire Hathaway made so. much money by investing in Coca-Cola, Costco, American Express, into insurance companies and

railroad companies. Now, Jack and I should point out that when it came to investing, Charlie and Warren didn't get it all right. They missed most of the tech boom, and they invested in Kraft Heinz, which was one of their biggest losers ever. But Charlie once said that life isn't about getting it all right, it's about getting most of it right. If you want to know why Berkshire Hathaway is the most successful investment firm on Earth, it all began with Charlie. Because Charlie Munger believed in boring. Just repeat what works. Taras, I mean, Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us to kick off the week?

McDonald's is gutting and renovating every aspect of their famous Big Mac burger. Because in order for things to stay the same, they actually must change. For our second story, it's Rover. The dog walking app sold for $2.3 billion thanks to overnight pet sitting. Because millennials don't treat their pets like Mitt. Romney did. And our third and final story is Charlie Munger. The architect of Berkshire Hathaway's investment strategy passed away at the age of 99. He's a billion dollar reminder of the benefits of boring. Now time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Jack and me because we discovered some

gems when we were jumping in T-boy started by that McDonnell's story. How'd the Big Mac get its name? How did the Big Mac get its name? From Esther Glickstein, a 21-year-old secretary who was working at McDonald's. The McDonald's Big Mac was named by a corporate secretary over at McDonald's in the 60s. The Big Mac was going to be called the aristocrat, but she spoke up and said, what is an aristocrat that's not pronounceable,

and it's kind of elitist. So McDonald said, you know what? We won't go with the aristocrat. What should we go with? And what did Esther Glyxian say, Jack? The Big Mac. It's simple. It's clear.

And it's not the aristocrat. Exactly. By the way, Yeties, If you have the best fact yet, we've got a form on our website you can fill out. Send them to us. We'll get you on the pot. We actually have a link in this episode description. You can send in your best fact yet.

But in the meantime, Yetis, before we go, if you don't respect your boss, quit your job. If you don't like your book, stop breeding. And if you're at Costco, stay at Costco. Stay at Costco. If you know, you know, Jack and I will see you tomorrow. And before we go, congratulations to legendary Yeti. Alexandra Kravici Kramer, based in Vermont, who has got? Um, is this, it's not a rocket launch, it's a book launch.

She really is a bestie because she just launched a book of poetry. It's called The Rivers Keep Singing. Are you going to do a reading first year? No, but if you follow her Instagram account at Aesthetically Poetic, you can find out yourself. Alex, congratulations. And congratulations to Melissa and Max, who attended her live show last week and just got engaged in California. Oh my God, I wish we'd seen this. the ring. That is fantastic. Congratulations, guys. And congratulations to Sevi Agura, a fifth grader we just

met at our live show last week. Well, Sevy landed the lead role of Mr. Crabs in her school musical for SpongeBob. Sevy, so cool to meet you. Thanks for coming to the show. Let's celebrate that win. You're the best of Bikini Bottom. Let's put it that way. And congratulations to Yeti's Daniel and Adam, who are moving in together in Asheville, North Carolina. And congratulations to Angelo and Lexi, celebrating five years together in Belgium. And John and Christy Desmond have a one-year wedding anniversary celebrating in New Jersey. And happy anniversary to Billy and Belize in Costa Rica. And Carson and Cole just got married in Austin, Texas.

Guys, if you hired a wedding social media concierge, we got to see these pictures. Happy birthday to Lee Hollingsworth in the outer sunset of San Francisco. And Arturo is turning 11 in New Providence, New Jersey. Happy 18th birthday to Lindsay Gibbs and Hickory, North Carolina. Carolina. And Janet Barry's turn 24 in Greenville, South Carolina. Happy 30th to Eric Luke in Chicago. Not doing logistics. And happy birthday to Riley Byrne in Chicago. Who actually does do logistics. And happy 32nd birthday to Anthony Whitlow in Albany, New York. And Lexi Sanders in Westchester, Pennsylvania, happy birthday. Happy birthday to Walter L. Marguson, the third.

Walter listens to us every day in the middle of the ocean because he gets to work on a Disney Fantasia Cruz. And happy birthday to Z Way Pay, over in Napa. And Alexa Kalingo is a two-time best fact yet, submitter, and celebrating a birthday. Get this, Shelley and PJs are two monkeys turning 28. Shelley and PJs, happy birthday. And to anyone else, celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins.

This is Jack. I own stock of Disney and Berkshire Hathaway, Nick owned stock of ShakeShack, and we both own one Bitcoin. A Bitcoin named Ben. Ben, you are not going to believe what Charlie said.