The Best One Yet - 🍭 “The Glazed Dark Knight” — Krispy Kreme’s hero. Nintendo’s Wii renaissance. Economic Sneak-flation.

Episode Date: April 13, 2022

Did you notice there were 5 chips missing from your Doritos bag? It’s not you — it’s “Shrinkflation”... and a new variant just emerged. Nintendo is merging its 2 most popular things: Wii Sports and the Nintendo Switch. And Krispy Kreme just tied the price of its donuts to a gallon of gas because the Glazed Original is Krispy’s Batman product.$DNUT $NTDOYGot a SnackFact? Tweet it @RobinhoodSnacks @JackKramer @NickOfNewYorkWant a shoutout on the pod? Fill out this form:https://forms.gle/KhUAo31xmkSdeynD9Got a SnackFact for the pod? We got a form for that too:https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe64VKtvMNDPGSncHDRF07W34cPMDO3N8Y4DpmNP_kweC58tw/viewformID: 2124160Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

That Ricola, oh my God, that Ricola, it's not a hard candy. It's an experience. Dude, it's not a product. It's an experience. Oh, it's an experience. Here we got, three, two. This is Nick. This is Jack.

And this is Snacks Daily. It is Wednesday, almost Thursday, April 13th. To kick it off, the greatest piece of public transportation in the U.S. is New York City subway. So Snackers, it was hard for us to see the images yesterday of an attack on commuters just trying to go to work on the subway. Ten people shot in Brooklyn. Yeah.

The story's still developing, but it's a scary situation. But we love our fellow New Yorkers, and we love New York subway, always. Today's pod is the best one, yeah. It's a TV O-Wy, Jack. What do we got for our first story? Crispy Cream is tying the price of its glazed donuts to the price of gasoline. Yeah, but Krispy Cream's glazed donut, it is the hero product we don't deserve. For our second story, the inflation report for March just hit.

It did. We're focused on shrinkflation, inflation, inflation, sneaky cousin. And we're focused on swapflation, which is inflation, sneaky cousins, sneaky cousin. Third and final story is the Nintendo Wii, the most physical digital game ever. It's back. Because Nintendo created the Metaverse before the Metaverse was even a thing. But Snackers, before we hit that wonderful mix. I love this mix today.

This was a shocker of a mix. Let's talk about the opposable thumb. Please, the most important part of our anatomy, the opposable thumb. Snackers, the Thackers. Thumbs that we homo sapiens have that we can pinch against our other fingers. We're doing it right now. That is what lets mankind build tools, create fire, make artwork. The human thumb is humanity.

But we just got the biggest evolution of the thumb since the Neanderthal. Yeah, Darwin's going to love this. Netflix will now let you two thumbs up your favorite schmovie. Two thumbs up. Two thumbs up. Not just one, because like, what are you talking about? Now, Snackers, if you dislike something on Netflix, you can always give it a thumbs. down. Yeah, Space Forest, for example. We kind of expected more. If you like a show on Netflix,

you've always been able to give it a thumbs up. Pee-blinders, pleasant surprise, thumbs it up. But how does the algorithm register the emotion of loving a schmovie on Netflix? There is a deep emotional chasm between liking a movie and loving a movie. Well, Netflix just finally gave us the two thumbs up button. You can't go more than two. This is basically Netflix's version of the superlap. It's the most interesting. thing to happen to the hand since the index finger. The biggest development for the palm since the high five. The biggest force of peace since the peace sign. Let's hear our three stories. Two stories? Let's thumb our three stars. You're tuned in the snacks daily. We spoke to the lawyers and we

got to get something legal out the way. The snacks about the hearing food is air candy. They don't reflect the views of the robberhood family. It's all informational just so. You know, we're not recommending any securities. It's not a research report or investment advice. Not. I offer or sale about security. Right. Snacks is digestible. Business news for you. Robberhood Financial, LLC, member Fembra,

SIPC. For our first story, Krispy Cream is pegging the price of a glazed donut to a gallon of gasoline. This isn't about the price of a Krispy Cream glazed donut. No, it's not. No, it's not. It's about how they use the glazed donut.

Jack, last month, the President of the United States tapped the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. President Biden released oil to the country to try to lower gas prices. Perfect timing this week. Krispy cream tapped the strategic carbohydrate reserve. Release the glucose. Snaggers, Krispy Kreme, they are now officially pegging the price of a dozen glazed donuts to a gallon of gasoline. But like in a good way.

Right. So a dozen glazed donuts is usually eight bucks at your local Krispy Kreme. Good value for your money. But this week, it's $4.11 for a dozen glazed donuts. And Jack is this going to change? Because it feels like it's going to change. If the price of gas changes, the price of a dozen donuts will change. Yeah, if AAA says the price of regular unleaded falls, the price of a dozen donuts is going to fall.

This sounds familiar, though. Doesn't Krispy Kreme giveaway glazed donuts for specific buzzy reasons like before? This is what Jack and I found interesting about this story. We noticed a trend here. Jack, senior week of last year. Yeah, I think we had an intro in the pod around like Krispy Kreme donuts if your graduation ceremony got canceled. Yeah, you got a free glaze. Jack, what if you voted in November?

2020, you got one of those little stickers on your shirt. If you had one of those stickers, you could display it out of Krispy Cream and get a free glazed donut. Jack, what if you got vaccinated back in 2021? This was nuts. If you were an early vaccinator, you got a free glazed donut one per day for the rest of the year. It's like they invited you into the Krispy Cream so you could put your face under the glazed waterfall. So what's the deal with Krispy Cream and this classic simple glazed donut? Now, this is what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. The Donate. Crispy Cream mentioned it 35 times in their IPO paperwork. It's like the breadstick at the Olive Garden. Yeah, it's like the Olive Garden breadstick. If you dipped it in sugar and then turned it

into a circle so it was easier to eat. Speaking of sugar, there are 20 different donut flavors at each Krispy Cream store. Yeah, Jack and I know the Krispy Cream store is like the back of our tongues. You got a lot of flavors here, Jack. You got strawberry, lemon custard, apple fritter, sprinkles. But the glazed donut represents 64% of donut sales at Krispy Kreme. Snackers, two out of three bites of a Krispy Kreme donut are a glazed Krispy Kreme donut. So the simple glazed donut is the most popular product. It's also the most profitable product. Because the recipe for this donut is so simple. Yeah. You look at the glazed donut. They're no expensive sprinkles. There's no like cacao imported. There's no Sicilian lemon

custard that they brought in for a special occasion. It's your classic yeast and sugar combo. It's iconic, foundational, and universally recognized according to Krispy Kreme. And Krispy Kreme is giving this below. loved product away for free because they want to, as they say, leveraged free glazed donuts to reach new customers. So let me get this straight. The one product, customers are most willing to pay a Krispy Cream. Crispy Cream gives away for free like all the time. So Jack, this is like Apple saying everyone wants the iPhone. Why are we just give them away for free though on the first day of every month? That's a genius idea. Apple, I hope you're listening. And that they never would do it.

So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies confusing us over a Krispy Kreme? The Glazed Donut is their Batman product. It's the hero they don't deserve. Okay, we've never seen this before. Except in the movie Batman. The Glazed Donat is their best selling and most profitable product. They should be charging more for it, not giving it away for free. Jack and I are looking at this.

It's the first ever hero product we've ever seen. That's also being sacrificed every single day. The Glazed donut drives all. all the sales, and yet it's often given away by Krispy cream completely for free. Okay, so it's just like Gotham needs Batman. Crispy needs the glazed donut. And like Batman, the glazed donut doesn't get the credit and respect you think it deserves. Officer Gordon, this is the hero Crispy needs, but not the one it deserves right now.

For our second story, Jack is down to an entire package of Ricola. Jack is causing the shortage of Ricola cough drops over here. here. Orders Ominek, midweek update. They always make me sneeze. Peppermint makes me sneeze. Snackers, second story, actually. Inflation is bad. Jack, what's worse than inflation?

Shrinkflation. And we're seeing a new variant swapflation. Which is leading to a new disease, sneakflation. Snickflation. Snackers, we got the consumer price report yesterday and learned that the stuff we have to buy in this country is up 8.5% on average, compared to last year. I think we're supposed to drop a trigger warning there, Jack, because your mattress, mattress, mattress, mattress is about to cost a whole lot more. But a sneaky thing we

told you about last year, we need to update you on. We're not talking about inflation. No, we're not. We're talking shrinkflation. Snackers, shrinkflation. It is the crafty, scheming, devious, evil cousin of inflation. It's the Todd Cleary of price increases. What are you doing over there, man? Todd. Would it kill you to play some competitive sport? Snackers. If a company raises prices, look, you get annoyed. You hate that. We all hate that.

Would that make you love me, Dad? But if the company offers the product at the same price, instead they may now shrink the product. Here's a classic instance of shrinkflation. Okay, Jack, what's your favorite Prinkles flavor? Mesquite barbecue. It's sophisticated. Well, if that Mesquite Barbecue Pringles goes for $5 and you get $50

pringles, with shrinkflation, you still pay $5 for that box of Pringles? They didn't increase the price. No, they didn't. But you're only going to get 40 pringles in there, not 50. That's shrinkflation. And you can only do shrinkflation with certain products. For instance, you can't have a gas station start selling gas for $4 a half gallon. People would be like, I see what you did there and I'm not fooled by it. So instead, what happens is like McCormick ground pepper. They start selling it in 10-ounce bottles instead of 12-ounce bottles.

But the size of the bottle is the same. It's just full of some air. Or Coton-O. They sell toilet paper, but right now they're selling it to you. with 28 fewer sheets of toilet paper. You're only going to notice that when you're in a very sticky situation. You are, and then it's too late to get angry at Cotonel. But Snackers, here's what Jack and I find fascinating about this story. We got an update for you. There is a new variant of shrinkflation that has emerged.

It's called swapflation. And it's part of the disease of sneakflation. Shrinkflation is when you get less product for the same price. Now, swapflation is when they swap out the ingredients. So you get the same price and the same amount. but you're getting a lower quality product. For example, a company replaces sugar as an ingredient with high fructose corn syrup. Right. You're just trying to enjoy some cupcakes.

You're a little more hyped up than usual. Right. The sneaky soda company, they didn't shrink the size of the can they're selling you soda in. They just shrank the quality of the ingredients. Or what's getting worse is now it's not just products. They're also service industries where they're starting to adapt this swapflation. Marriott and Hilton Hotels, for example. it's always nice to come back to one of their hotel rooms with a nice stack of clean, fresh, folded towels. When you're traveling, you come back and you just want a comfy nice new towel.

Sometimes I'm thinking about taking towels home with me. We'll strike that one from the record. But Snackers, to reduce the cost of housekeeping, hotel chains aren't cleaning and folding towels daily like they used to. No, they're not. So you're getting the same number of towels for the same price that you always paid for the towels in the hotel room. But your experience is lower quality towels. Right, because your body hair is still like in the old towels. Just don't turn that towel into a tattletail.

It's worse if you're a tattletail. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are doing all this swap flation on us? You can protect yourself. The power is in the packaging. Snackers, the reason this is all happening, all this shrinkflation stuff, is because the market, insane pandemic imbalances are still messing with all of us. And the war in Ukraine has only made inflation worse. Now, some companies are blatantly raising prices, but hey, at least we respect the honesty of an $18

salad. It's right there on the menu. It's other companies that are doing it sneaky with shrink and swapflation instead of just honestly raising prices. So Jack and I were talking before the pot and we thought, you know what? For this takeaway, we want to arm you because our best defense against sneakflation, it's labels. It's time to be your Great Depression-era grandparent. Check the label, check the weight, check the ingredients on every single label you see before. you buy it. Whip out the magnifying glass in aisle 6 if you have to and don't get fooled by sneak fletia. Snackers, respect the rapper. Inspect the rapper. For our third and final story, Nintendo is merging its two most popular products this month. You get the Wii Sports for the

Switch. Nintendo's most physical game ever is back. It's back, baby. Nintendo. 133-year-old company, by the way, Nintendo just, it goes back, Jack. It goes back real far. Japan does video games. Japan does ancient. They've been shuffling cards over at Nintendo before Mario could crawl. But then they became a video game company. And over the years, Nintendo watched PlayStation and Xbox start to blow it away. Yeah, but then they had a comeback product.

The Wii, that was their comeback product. Nintendo Wii, nothing to do with Adam Newman's Wii work. No, the first controller, you could swing in a comedically awkward way. Nintendo Wii changed gaming. It brought video games from the basement to the living room. Yeah, your whole family could now play Wii. Like, they could use the controller as a tennis racket and a golf club. Like, your mom doesn't know who Zelda is, but she knows what Wii is.

The Wii came out in 2006. And in spirit of that mid-2000s bonanza, Nintendo just launched their much-hyped Nintendo Switch sports. So Nintendo is combining their two most popular concepts here, right, Jack? We Sports and the Switch console. Okay, so it comes out a. April 29th, which is like way too early for the holiday sales rush. Or way too late for last holiday sales rush. Either way, it was like the worst time of year you could have launched this thing.

Yeah, most video games launch in November. This one's launching in April. Right before you go outside for this summer. Now, we want to pause for a second, acknowledge how ridiculously popular Nintendo Wii Sports was. Okay, Snackers, you're going to want to sit down, stand up, sit back down again when you hear this. We sports is more popular than like anything people pay for. Nintendo Wii Sports sold 82 million copies for like 50 bucks each. It's the number one Nintendo video game ever.

That is more than any addition of Mario, Super Smash Brothers, Pokemon, or Zelda, any of them. Like 10 times more than Super Mario Kart 64. Combined. Not combined. No, throw a banana on that one. Throw a banana peel. But Snackers, it's not just the video games because there are more Wii Sports sold than any music album ever. That's right.

Jackson's Thriller, sold fewer albums than games of Nintendo Wii Sports. We Sports get these guys a Grammy. And now with Nintendo Switch, their most popular console ever, you have a reason to buy that sports game you remember from Wii once again. Yeah, Jack, let's say you want to play soccer with like this new Nintendo thing. What is that going to look like? Well, you break off the JoyCon controllers of the Nintendo Switch and you strap one of them to your thighs.

Sounds fun. Then you can do penalty kicks in the living room with a kick. motion and like channel your inner Leonel Messi. You're running out of octaves there, I know. I didn't play, I played handball. It does sound like a fun laugh, right. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over Nintendo? Nintendo is bringing us to the Metaverse, but without the big, ugly headsets.

Yeah, Snackers, the Metaverse, it is defined by the hardware you access it with. And that is a virtual reality headset. Zuck's Metaverse depends on that huge headset. It's why we're seeing so many Oculus assets. But here's the thing. The Metaverse is really just an immersive world that you can escape to. And for decades, Nintendo has made not just video games you play on a screen, but immersive video games. 1984, Nintendo came out with Duck Hunt, which required a toy gun to shoot the ducks. In 2005, Guitar Hero required a toy guitar so that you could immersively become Van Halen.

And then Pokemon Go. It had you chasing virtual Charzards through the real world Central Park, trying to get a Charzart. And now this year, Nintendo Switch Sports lets you set up your buddy for a volleyball spike right in the living room. So Snackers, Facebook's Metaverse, it blocks out the entire real world with a huge headset. Nintendo's Metaverse proves you can include the real world. Jack, can you in that bag of a regal a whip up the takeaways for us over there? Krispy Kreme stock is down 20% since I bought it. It's not actually the takeaway, but they are treating their glazed donut like the dark night.

For our second story, we have bad inflation in this country. but even worse, shrink and swapflation. And sneakflation. Snackers, to protect yourself from sneakflation, respect the rapper, inspect the rapper. For our third and final story, Nintendo. They're channeling their inner we with Nintendo Switch Sports. Yeah, it shows how Nintendo's doing the Metaverse. Their version, no big, ugly headset.

Now, time for our snack fact of the day. Send him by Baz Grand from lovely Seal Beach, California. If someone wants change for a dollar, you're going to have to get specific how you want change for a dollar. Very specific, Snackers. Because to make change for a George Washington bill, there are a whole lot of options. To be precise, there's 292 different ways you can break a dollar. And for those of you hoping that we end up making a correction on tomorrow's podcast,

there actually are 293 ways we discovered if you make one exception. If you change a $1 bill to a $1 coin, then there's 293 ways to break a dollar. you can do a handful of Jeffersons or like dozens of Lincoln's. Either way. Holy second or two Kennedys, baby. Yeah, I forgot about that one. They're sneaky. Everyone's just doing four quarters, though, right? Like, why else would you break it off?

292 of those permutations are completely worse. Snaggers, you look fantastic today. If you come across a product where something just seems a little off in the packaging, even though it's the same price, send a pick our way. Hashtag sneakflation. We all got to protect ourselves.

If you know, you know. And before we go, happy birthday to Golan Levy, turning 21 down in Naples, Florida. Happy 32nd birthday to Ryan Rodriguez in Atlanta. Bridget Hayes, enjoy the birthday up in Harlem, New York City. And happy 12th birthday to Bennett Burnage in Kansas City. And Lauren Smith, turning 26 in the West Village. Happy birthday. Jack, where did we get that great burger?

Fairfax Burger. It was a great burger. And to anyone else celebrating something today, make it a T-Bor. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock of Krispy Kree. and nickel and stock of Apple. Robin Hood Snacks, newsletters, and podcasts reflect the opinions of only the authors who are associated persons of Robin Hood Financial LLC and do not reflect

the views of Robin Hood Markets Inc. or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates. They are meant for informational purposes only and are not a recommendation to buy or sell any security, cryptocurrency, or investment strategy in any account. This is not an offer or sale of a security, not a research report, and is not intended to serve as the basis for any investment decision. Any third-party information provided therein does not reflect the views of Robin Hood Markets, Inc., Robin Hood Financial LLC or any of their subsidiaries or affiliates. All investments involve risk, including loss of principle and past performance, does not guarantee future results.

Robin Hood Financial LLC, member FINRA SIPC. Strawberry, lemon custard, apple fritter, sprinkles.