The Best One Yet - 🍳 “The All-you-can-eat T-Shirt” — Denny’s walking billboard. Disney’s Jedi CEO. Holiday spending, because jobs.

Episode Date: November 22, 2022

It’s our last pod until Monday, November 28th, so we’re looking at The Return of the Jedi in real life — 3 years ago, Disney’s Bob Iger quit, now he’s back as CEO. Breakfast icon Denny’s just launched a bottomless breakfast blouse that broke Black Friday: A $6 t-shirt worth 1,000 pancakes. And your wallet is smaller than last year, but thanks to jobs, experts think you’ll spend more on the holidays than last year (spoiler: It’s a “Santa Splurge”).$DIS $DENN $WMT $AMZN $SPYFollow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypodAnd now watch us on YoutubeWant a Shoutout on the pod? Fill out this formGot the Best Fact Yet? We got a form for that tooLearn 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 Tuesday, T-Boy Tuesday, November 22nd. And today's pod, for a lot of particular reasons, is the best one yet. Back in the New York move. Well, we are right back in New York City. Here we go, Jack. Nick and I are back in New York for the last pod before Thanksgiving.

Last pod of the week, recording from downtown Manhattan. Jack, I got one question for you. How do I look? All right, dinner tonight. You look fantastic, by the way. J.G. Mellon Burger or Artichoke Pizza. I love me at J.G. Mellon Burger. Can I give you a three to one countdown?

All right, here we go. Three, two, one. Pizza by the slice. It's always both. Jack, what's our first story for today's pod? Two years ago, Disney's most famous CEO quit. You did. Today, Disney's most famous CEO is back.

It's the return of the Jedi. For our second story, Denny's just launched what we're calling a bottomless breakfast blouse and a broke black product. That's $6 t-shirt. It's worth a thousand pancakes. For our third and final story, we just got the Santa Watch prediction for 2022. How much you will spend over the holidays. And the data reveals what we are thankful for. But Yeties, before we hit that fantastic mix.

Jack, perfect pod to end the week on, man. Yadies, we know where you are right now. Yeah, you're at Gade 43B at the airport. You're flying to see your family for Thanksgiving. Honestly, TSA probably just confiscated your shoes. We hope they give them back. Yeah, really should give them back. Perfect timing, though, because the Wall Street Journal just announced what we're all interested

in. Yes, Jack. The top 20 airports in America. All right, Jack, number five, who we got. Phoenix. Number four, who we got? Number three. Minneapolis. Number two. Atlanta. But who is the number one best airport in America, Jack? San Francisco. The old SFO. San Francisco, apparently has America's top number one airport.

Best trolleys. Best airports. Not too shabby over there. Funny thing, though, we were literally, you were just in San Francisco. I was at that SFO airport, like within a, a four. few hours. And I live there for like a year. So we've seen these rankings in action. We just experienced the number one ranking. Yet he's Terminal 1 has a free touchless seltzer fall. Jack, it's like a free pre-flate perier. I call it a seltzer fall because it's a waterfall of selter. I would bathe in this. Terminal 2 has a napple wine tasting bar. Runways and

reeslings. Pinoes and pilots, baby. That's what SFO does. Oh wait, you're feeling flustered? Yes, I am. Go do some downward dog and asana in the yoga. Jack, your pet's feeling stressed. How about a free CBD dog treat in the pet relief area? Emphasis on relief. Yeah. Most of all, though, SFO, Nick and I appreciate this one a lot. Yeah, we do.

It's the quietest of all the U.S. airports. Get this. San Francisco removed half of their airport loudspeakers. And they only make local gate announcements, which means like, Gate 43B, you're only going to hear that they're boarding if you're near Gate 43B. It is so quiet at San Francisco. You can hear your flea. light not taking off.

Namaste at my gate. San Francisco's airport almost feels like a spa. If the spa confiscates your drinks over four ounces and you don't want to touch the floor in the back of the back. So to all the Yetis traveling for thanks, get. And all the besties in the air right now. May your airport feel inspired. Let's hit our three stories.

Let's hit him. Fifteen 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 an norm. 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, Disney just shockingly fired at CEO. And then they shockingly brought back the old CEO. This is the return of the Jedi. Yeah, but Jack, how's Yoda feeling over there? Disappointed Yoda is.

All right, yeties, first of all, Jack and I should just do an early shout out here. Disney, 99 years old, about to turn 100 years old. This company is iconic. Disney, 100 years old. But over that long span of being a company, get this, it's only had eight CEOs. Eight CEOs over a century. That's shocking. That's 12 and a half years per CEO, Nick. That's a good Thanksgiving trivia. And one of them was a born and raised New Yorker who grew up wanting to become an anchor man. One of them went to. When to you? to Ithka College in upstate New York and was a weatherman there.

He reported a lot of snow, as Buffalo could tell you right now. Snow, snow with a low pressure system bringing snow. Now, that man joined ABC News and ABC News ultimately got acquired by Disney. That ABC News dude ultimately became CEO

of the entire Magic Kingdom. You know who we're talking about here. He literally had the keys to the castle. Bob Eager. For 15 years, the CEO of Disney, Bob Eiger, transformed Disney from a Mickey Mouse to a Black Panther. That's right. He spent $8 billion, $4 billion each, to acquire Marvel.

The Superhero Series. And acquire Lucasfilm, aka Star Wars. And right before he finished being CEO, Talk to me, Jack. He launched Disney Plus, which now has more subscribers than Nuff. And after 15 years of leading Disney, Bob Eiger handed the company to another Bob. It was pretty funny. It was another Bob.

I'm actually surprised his name Bob didn't disqualify him from replacing Bob. At that point, you just go by Robert. But the other Bob was Bob Chapp. He took over in February of 2020. February of 2020. That is some rough timing, Jack. In his first month on the job, the pandemic, crushed Disney's movie theater business and its theme park business.

This new CEO, Bob Chapeck in February 2020, he was not the same guy as Bob I got. No, he wasn't a savvy media TV. guy like Bob Iger. This Bob was a theme park guy. He was a savvy theme park guy. Honestly, given the importance of Disney Plus to Disney's future, we were surprised they

picked a theme park guy to run the business. Well, on Sunday night, Jack and I were preparing for our trip to New York when suddenly at 10 p.m. After three years, Disney made a shocking late night announcement. Bob was out. Bob was in. Yeah, the new Bob was just

fired and replaced by the old Bob. Yeah, they brought back Bob Iger. Yeah. Like return of the Jedi. Bob Iger is Obi-Wan Kenobi. Exactly, Jack. And Wall Street was so thrilled to have old Ben Kenobi back that they pumped the stock up by 8% yesterday.

New Bob fired, old Bob back feels like a takeaway. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Disney? A Jedi is only as good as his apprentice. Jack, can you repeat that one more time? A Jedi like. A Jedi. More Jedi-like. Is only as good.

Exactly. As his apprentice. Jeddies just speak slower. That's like half the profession. Yetis, we've all seen Star Wars episode four. Rule number two of being a master Jedi is to train a young Jedi. That's right. The apprentice is just as important.

But what's rule number one, by the way? That's a different pod jack. Bob Eiger was a powerful CEO. But his mistake, maybe it was not training a successor. He did a phenomenal job transforming Disney for 15 years. And yet, his handpicked successor, which he had 15 years to train, got fired in less than three years on the job. Iger was a Jedi who failed to train an apprentice in the ways of the force.

And now that Jedi is back as CEO, but only for a two-year contract. Yeah, his number one job right in how is to find another apprentice. If you're at Disney, you know Bob Iger's only going to be around for a little bit. Exactly. He's just keeping the ship sailing while I find a new person. It's only because a Jedi master is only as good as their apprentice. For our second story, Denny's, America's biggest breakfast chain, just created the greatest Black Friday sale ever.

Denny's top diners are about to become walking billboards for Denny's. But Jack, let's put Game of Thrones aside for a second. For 69 years, there has been an epic battle in Middle Earth. Denny's versus IHop. Yeah. Who could flip more flapjacks for pancake patties? Denny's. These two pancakes yet,ies.

What the all? Olive Garden was to breadsticks. Pioneer the whipped cream topping is a breakfast condiment. Whip cream is a breakfast condiment, thanks to Denny. This is all before cookie crisp. Kaukeeps. Yeti's Denny's is famous for having the lowest price to calorie ratio of any fast food chain we've ever jumped into.

I was so excited to learn this next point. This is good. Denny's is the only pure play hash brown stock on stock market. Denny's IPOed back in 1968. they now got 1600 locations. We repeat, Denny's IPO. This is a publicly traded stock where you can get sausage in the form of a patty or a link. Now, here is what is critical about their business model.

Breakfast, as we've told you, is a powerful, consistent, habit-forming product. Interestingly, for Denny's, most people go there for the weekends to eat their pancakes. People want pancakes, especially on weekends. Get this fact, Jack. One third of sales happened on the weekends before noon. So like breakfast or brunch on the weekend. Depends on you getting in before noon on a Saturday. So here's Denny's challenge.

They're open seven days a week. They might be open 24 hours, right? How do they get your breakfast habit for all seven days of the week? Well, here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. It's with a subscription, of course. Introducing the Denny's $6 everyday value t-shirt. Yeah. They have a subscription in the form of a t-shirt.

We repeat. Denny's is getting. getting you to come every day with a t-shirt subscription. Here's the deal, Yetis. There is a black t-shirt for sale for $6 at denies.com. One t-shirt. And it says every day on the t-shirt. There's nothing else particularly special about it.

But here is the differentiator. This is the fascinating part. If you wear that Denny's t-shirt into a Denny's, you get breakfast for free. All year long. All year long. If you wear the Denny's everyday black t-shirt, you get two eggs, two strips of bacon, two pancakes, hash browns for free every day for a whole year. That's enough to make a lumberjack sit down and just stay sat down because it is so much food.

That's why we call this the bottomless breakfast blast. That's what we're calling it. It's valid for one free, everyday value slaying breakfast. Now here are the numbers. Since that breakfast typically costs $6 and theoretically you could have 365 of them with this t-shirt. This t-shirt is only $6, but it's worth over $2,000 of free breakfast. 2,186 to be precise.

That's right. Denny's just turned a coupon into a fashion article. The way, Jag, and I see it, this is a $6 breakfast subscription with a free t-shirt. Now, Yetis, we know what you're thinking. Yeah. You want to do the breakfast double-dip. You're going to try to pull it off, cheat the system. You're going to have breakfast at Denny's for free and then take off the shirt in the parking lot and give it to your buddy and give them breakfast for free too.

That's why they've got a QR code on the sleeve of the t-shirt. Yeah, they're going to scan the QR code and make sure no one else. else has used it today. Nice tried, Darlene. Back to the line. No, it's tried, Dahlene. Now, there are only 150 of these t-shirts, and they go on sale Thursday at midnight. They're going to go fast. That's right. Denny's is taking Black Friday and turning it into a t-shirt subscription. Perfectly put, Jack. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Denny's? If you know, you know. Yeties, great brands. Don't have customers. Great brands have fans. And fans have inside jokes, unique terms that only they know.

It's their own language. The mattress, mattress, mattress. Just like countries have their own language, brands can too. Great brands recognize fandom and elevate those insiders. Even if it's costly. Like selling a $6 t-shirt with $2,000 of breakfast food value. Smart brands serve perks to their most passionate fans. Because if you know, you know.

Now a word about our sponsor, Robin Hood. A lot of Yetis don't realize how much prep work goes into this pod. We spend hours every morning jumping in T-boy style to earnings reports, CEO tweets, breaking news, heavily. Jack and I are toggling tabs like you toggled IM Convo's in 2004. Having eight tabs open can be stressful. You don't need that, especially when invest. Robin Hood offers it all in one app. Whether you want to trade options, ETFs, or stocks through Robin Hood Financial,

or you want to buy some Bitcoin on Robin Hood Crypto. You can do it all. on the Robin Hood app. If you're not investing in Robin Hood yet, to get started, go to Robinhood.com slash T-Boy and choose your free stock. That's robinood.com slash T-B-O-Y. Limitations apply. Robin Hood Financial LLC, member SIPC, all investments involve risk.

By the way, this podcast is not owned or part of Robin Hood. We are not employees of Robin Hood. For our third and final story of the week, we just got the estimates on how you are going to spend this holiday season. Record spending. And the reason for that record. record estimated spending reveals what we are thankful for. All right, Yeties.

The holidays. Time of year to toss on that slamming salmon sweater and just, you know, just reflect out there. And on the last pod before Thanksgiving, Nick and I are spending this moment, this story to reflect. This story, we're going to reflect. On the last year, we're going to reflect. If you were invested in the stock market this year, like Jack and I have, chances are you probably lost money.

Like, you lost a bunch of money probably. The last year has been a reflection of losses for us. Pretty, pretty bad. Because it was almost exactly one year ago. This is wild. That the NASDAQ stock index peaked at an all-time high. One year ago, all-time high. Celebrate the wins.

Where are we now, Jack? In the past year, the NASDAQ is down 30%. And some tech stocks are down way worse than that. Brinkle on some context here. Amazon has lost over a trillion dollars in value. In the past year, Bitcoin is down 72%. And Peloton, it's still in PT rehab and it's hammy. If you own real estate, that's probably gone.

Even the bored apes have lost their yachts. A lot of wallets have gotten a lot thinner in the past year. The only prices, though, Jack, that haven't fallen? Are the prices we want to fall? Yeah, milk, gas, and your monthly Netflix subscription. It hasn't been a great year for Americans' personal finances. But Jack, how about we take a break from reflecting and do a little bit projecting? Santa Watch 2020.

Santa Watch 2020. I mean, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are right around the corner. This could be a good deal. year for gifts and presents. Because here's the theme of the holiday spending 2022. Your wallet is smaller, most likely this year, but your spending isn't. Experts estimate that spending over the holidays is going to pop 7%. Experts think we're going to spend 7% more on the holidays this year. And that is after two years of jumps. Yeah. Two years ago, gift spending jumped 9%. And the year after that, it jumped 14%. Now it's jumping 7% this year. You got inflation, higher interest rates and a sad

market. But it's not stopping us from going to Brookstone and getting some massage thing. You know what I'm getting you, Jack? A massage thing? A self-driving podcast microphone. But if there's a massage microphone, I'm going to get that for you too. Now, Yeties, before you add more items like a massage wallet spending microphone thing. You didn't sound excited about the microphone, Jack. I just want to point that out. Before you add items to your wish list, you may not get more gifts this year. Right. Jack and I should point out everything is, you know, 7% more expensive than last year. You might get the same toy tractor as this year. It was just 7% more your parents or Santa had to spend on it.

But still, people are going to spend 7% more. In this economy? Yeah, in this economy. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are everyone listening to this? Bob? We are thankful for jobs. Yeties, the reason holiday spending isn't expected to fall this year, Americans, we still got jobs.

We do. Despite all the negativity you're probably hearing about this economy, economy, the inflation and everything, more than 96% of Americans who want a job have a job. 3.7%. That is the record low unemployment rate. Just about everyone who wants a job. Yes, the tech industry. The tech industry has been hit hard. We've got friends who have been hit hard. Product managers. They've lost jobs. But fortunately for them, there's a silver lining. They probably have a fantastic resume if they worked at a big tech company with good prospects and strong networks. So all our tech buddies out there,

You got this. We know it hurts, but you got this. But for the great majority of Americans who have jobs, as long as they keep getting paychecks, they're unlikely to slow their spending. And that is why Americans have smaller wallets, but still record spending. Because of jobs.

This Thanksgiving, Yetis, we're thankful for jobs. Jack, can you whip up the leftovers? I mean, the takeaways for us over there. Disney fired their CEO. Brought back their old one, Bob Hager. Bob Iger. He's a great legendary. Master Jedi, but he needs to train an apprentice.

For our second story, Denny's just launched a t-shirt that gets you free breakfast for a year. What a subscription. Brands, they should have their own language. If you know, you know. For our third and final story, spending by Americans over the holidays is expected to rise this year. It's because of jobs. We're thankful. So many Americans have them. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one actually whipped up by Jack and me. We decided to just create something for you today. Well, Thanksgiving is in two days. So we put our heads together in this one. We talked about the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Yeah, Jack and I, like, we're just walking by Broadway. We're like, oh, yeah, there's going to be some huge balloons here in, like,

few days. The first one goes all the way back to the 1920s. But we know what you're curious about. What is the longest-serving, longest-tenured balloon in the Macy's balloon arsenal? Can I guess? This is good trivia for Thanksgiving, by the way. What's number three? Number three is Bowlingle. Number two is Ronald McDonald. Number one, longest tenured, Macy's balloon? Snoopy. Snoopy. By wait, do you know my mom actually held the balloons?

She did? She was a balloon handler one year. Was she afraid that the helium was going to pull her up into the sky? We got her back in one piece. What balloon did she hold? They don't let you do Snoopy. She was a rookie. They're not giving her a Snoopy on that first row.

But she had great form, and we were very proud of her. Alice, what a legend. Yeties, Jack and I are going to miss you the next three days, but we can't wait to have you back on Monday. We're going to rest our bones and fill our bellies. We hope you do too. With turkey bones. Jack and I, we'll see you next week.

And before we go, congratulations to Claire Burdette, a Yeti who helped launch the Artemis 1 rocket into outer space. Wow. Yeah, it's up there. And congratulations to Azejo, Samson, who passed the Series 7 and the Series 66 down in Houston, Texas. We can relate to that. 13-year-old Maddie Kakes, good luck on your sixth grade science test. We know today you got this. And big shout out to Tol.

Tolkien Tokashova, who's flying from Kazakhstan to San Francisco to be with her husband. And Lizette Ortiz is visiting New York City for the first time from Texas. I think those were some good pizza recommendations we gave earlier. Artichoke's a good spot. Not too shabby. And happy birthday to Emily Tiernan, a Princeton Tiger from Chevy Chase Maryland. And a happy 23rd to Giovanni in Northern Virginia. And happy birthday to Eric Jansen and Plantation, Florida.

And Matt Caldwell's got a birthday over in Brooklyn. Happy birthday to Sisi on in Brooklyn, New York. Sam Shane has got a birthday down in San Francisco. And happy birthday to Esther Kim, who's on her way to the gym. Classic. Down in L.A. And enjoy that birthday, Caitlin Bolt, down in Wrigleyville, Chicago. Doing logistics.

And happy birthday to Sarah Peters, a brown bear laxer who's celebrating in Weston Mass. Just outside of Providence. Is that so? It's so. It's so. And to anyone else celebrating something today, make it a T-Ball. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack.

I own stock of Amazon, Disney, and Netflix. Nick and I both own stock of Pelton and Robin Hood, and we both own some Bitcoin. Bitcoin and Ben. Now, a word about our sponsor, Robin Hood. A lot of you listen to our show while you're driving. Two hands on the wheel. Keep it 10 and 2. You might be cruising, Chris, no rush. Stay in the right lane. Or you might be doll lane from Duncan, dotting from lane to lane. And there are different drivers on the road. They're different investors too. Maybe you're cruising down the long-term lane with stock investing, or maybe you're a more advanced full-speed trader. Well, the Robin Hood app helps put you in the driver's seat wherever you're at in your investing journey. If you're not investing on Robin Hood yet, to get started, go to robinood.com slash

T-Boy and choose your free stock. That's Robinhood.com slash T-B-O-Y. Limitation supply. Robin Hood Financial LLC, member SIPC, all investments involve risk. By the way, this podcast is not owned by or part of Robin Hood, and we are not employees of Robinhood. Uh-oh. Physically, when you do Cookie Crisp, you physically transform. Like, it's kind of a Hulk situation.

I don't know what's going to get. Like, I'm worried we're going to be out at dinner. And someone's going to be like, cookie crisp. And you're going to be like, what? It's like a triggering word for you, you know. Cool, cookie crisp.