The Best One Yet - 🌽 “Xi’s surprise Iowan fam” — China’s President’s Midwestern history. Chipotle’s new robo-veggie chain. Windfarm City’s cancellation.

Episode Date: November 14, 2023

China’s President Xi is visiting San Francisco this week to meet President Biden — But his old host family in Iowa from 1985 is the guest of honor, because deals are about relationships. The founder of Chipotle just launched a new vegetarian restaurant chain run by robots: Kernel — But behind the scenes, it’s really a hybrid (like everything else).New Jersey was going to build the biggest offshore wind farm in the US, but Windfarm City just got canceled — Because interest rates are kryptonite for long-term projects.We have a few more tickets to TBOY Live in San Francisco here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/shack15-live-the-best-one-yet-tickets-755859846147$CMG $GESubscribe 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. It's Tuesday, T-Boy, Tuesday, November 14th. And today's pod, it is the best one yet. It's a T-Boy Jack. Yet he's our first T-Boy live show in San Francisco. It already sold out. It's sold out in hours.

Jack and I were checking. I'm like, oh my, my, it's gone. It's done. Tickets are sold out already. Nick and I have never done a live show before, so it was really cool to see this thing sell out. What a thrilling morning, Jack. That was just incredible to see. I texted my mom.

I texted your mom, I think. But here's the thing. Nick and I talked to the venue, we got them to find another 50 seats. We got the venue to unlock 50 more tickets for you, Yetis. As of this recording, there actually are a few more tickets available. Actually, 49 more tickets as of right now, Jack. Yetis, thank you for the show of love. We'll drop the link in this episode description for those final seats.

Grab the tickets while you can. Jack and I can't wait to see you. Jack, what are our three stories for today's show? For our first story, the founder of Tripotle, just launched a new restaurant chain. A robot restaurant chain. But you can't serve robots without a side of humans. For our second story, 15 miles off the coast of New Jersey,

a power company was building wind turbines a thousand feet tall. But that huge project just got canceled, so Jack and I will tell you why. And our third and final story. Tomorrow, in San Francisco, President Biden is meeting with China's President Xi. But the surprise guest of honor of that meeting, who is it, Jack? An 85-year-old married couple who farms in Iowa. An 85-year-old farmer couple from Iowa. They're the guests of honor.

We'll tell you why in the story. The Midwest does big dinners. But yeties, before we hit that fantastic mix of stories. What a mix of three stories. Love the mix, Jack. Yeties, there's a baseball hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York. Besties, there's a hockey hall of fame in Toronto, and there's a rock and roll hall of fame up in Cleveland.

But the biggest business Hall of Fame of the mall is the National Toy Hall of Fame in Rochester, New York. That's right. There's a Hall of Fame for toys, and it's in upstate New York. Because the toy industry is work hard, play hard. Literally. Now, yeah, he's Nick and I looked at the roster. The National Toy Hall of Fame is already stacked with some legendary toys. Jack, let me read them off the whiteboard for you. Scrabble, Game Boy, Easy Bake Oven.

All of those toys are in the Toy Hall of Fame. But the Toy Hall of Fame also has some surprise members already inducted. Also in the Toy Hall of Fame is the rubber ducky. A bucket of sand. And even cardboard boxes. What about the scissors in the top drawer you weren't supposed to play with, but you do play with? It feels like they're just reaching at this point, Jack. Yeties, without further ado, here's this year's National Toy Hall of Fame inductees.

The first inductee is the baseball card. The second inductee is the cabbage patch kid. The third inductee is the Fisher Price corn popper. And the final inductee, it's the Nerf Squishy ball. I wasn't sure which kind of Nerf ball it was until you said squishy ball. I mean, I was going for dramatic effect. I think that's what you do in these award ceremonies, I guess. But Yeties, for the third year in a row, one nominee got snubbed again.

Besties, for the third year in a row, one nominee left empty-handed. For the third year in a row, one year. Toy's acceptance speech wasn't red. And that toy is Ken. Why did Ken get snubbed again, Yetis? Why did Ken and his bleached hair go home all alone again, besties? Well, that Ken explain. Doesn't seem to matter.

We know how hard you try, Ken. You're always beached to us, Ken. Let's beach our three stories. Dojo Mojo, light them up. Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dawn. They had an idea to cause a cultural storm. It's the best one yet. 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. Actually, Jack, let's mix things up.

Let's start with that China story. Here it is, Yeti's. For our first story, President Xi of China just arrived in America. But there's a story about President Xi that nobody is talking. about. President Xi's favorite Americans are an old couple in Iowa. Jack, the biggest geopolitical meeting of the year. Where is it? What is it? What's going down, man? It's this week right where you are, Nick, in downtown San Francisco. There are a lot of police around yet is because President Biden and President Xi of China are meeting tomorrow in downtown San Francisco. It's a presidential

summit between Rocky Balboa and Ivan Drago. President Xi and President Biden are the most important mandate in a decade. President Xi, of course, is the authoritarian-like leader of China who is focused on making them the world power. And the topics of his chat with President Biden are huge topics. They're going to talk about the pandemic and trade wars and tariffs and Taiwan and AI and TikTok, some heavy stuff. They're also going to talk about the red phone that's only to be used in international crises between the United States and China. But yet he's, President Xi and President Biden are also going to talk. About Iowa?

The guests of honor are Roger and Sarah Landy, a married couple from Iowa. That's right, Yetis. This week, President Xi of China is going to meet the American president and top tech leaders and two 85-year-old Iowans. Yeah, the third and fourth wheel at this mandate are an 85-year-old married couple who have been farming in Iowa their whole lives. Yates, we could not wait to tell you this story. Because 38 years ago, a young, sheesh and.

Before he was president of China, visited America for the very first time. It was 1985. Xi Jinping was 31 years old, and he and four of his peers, they had a bit of a cultural exchange. They visited the United States to learn how agriculture works in a capitalist country. Now, besties, as you can imagine, a young Xi from China didn't have any money, so he did what we would all probably do if we were traveling and didn't have any money, didn't he, Jack? He stayed with a host family. Yeah, he found a host family.

family was the landies. And who are the landies, Jack? They're a lovely family in Muscatine, Iowa, who was willing to take in a foreign explorer. So this family of farmers in Iowa led president, I'm sorry, the young Xi Jinping spent two weeks living in their son's bedroom in the middle of Iowa. Xi Jinping stayed for two weeks in a bedroom that was covered in Star Trek posters because it was the bedroom of an adolescent American boy. I'm just picturing him fitting in that, like, twin. bed jack. Well, it's like, and then there's a spaceship over here. So, Xi Jinping, one of the most

powerful people in the world, got a Midwestern personal experience back then. He got a tractor ride. He got to eat a lot of corn. It was his first American impression. President Xi's first barbecue was an Iowa pulled pork potluck did. They say you never forget that first pulled pork jack. But he also got a business experience in Iowa. Yeah, because that Iowa family took him on a grand tour of the grain companies that happened to be based in Iowa, too. He got a tour of Monta. Santo, Cargill, even Quaker Oats. And get this about she's visit to Iowa. It turns out his favorite book was Huck Finn.

38 years ago, she was a huge fan of Mark Twain's writing, not too shabby. So the Landies took him on a barge ride up the Mississippi River from Huck Finn. Yet he's in the 38 years since she first visited America, he and his wife have met up with the Landis from Iowa a whole bunch of times. It's a lovely and wholesome story about pen pals and good buddies from across the world. And what she wants, she gets. And so he's invited that Iowa couple out to San Francisco this week. The Landis are the guests of honor for the meeting with President Biden and President Xi.

Who would have seen that coming 40 years ago? So Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies who are anyone doing a business deal? Every deal, big or small, comes down to relationships. Like, yeah, it is. One thing Jack and I have found in all of the business deals we've ever done is the word relationships. Because dollars and cents matter in any deal. But so do the relationships between the people negotiating. Yeah, like that deal, it could be a perfect win-win.

But if the people on each side of the deal hate each other, that deal's probably not going to happen. That's why we're glad that President Xi and President Biden are meeting this week. To keep the peace, that relationship matters just as much as trade or politics. It's also why we're glad that the Landy's family is going to make an appearance. Yeah, because even in talks with mighty world powers like the U.S. and China, a personal touch can make the difference. Because every deal, big or small, comes down to relationships. For our second story, the founder of Chipotle just launched a vegetarian robo restaurant called Colonel. The key about this robo restaurant, though, it's not all robots.

Jack, in order for us to tell this story, let's travel back to 1993. We were like barely alive, but like Jurassic Park came out that year, that was kind of big, right? We were five, and that year, Chipotle was created in Boulder, Colorado. It was. Chipotle, the founder, Steve Ells, invented the fast casual restaurant concept in 1993, the same time as Velociraptor. But 20 years later, he was forced to step down from the company he found it. 20 years later, for Chipotle to glow up, it needed. a more seasoned business executive. And that worked because without Steve Al's,

Chipotle has grown up. Chapoile has grown up. Jack, can you serve it to us with a side of avocado? The stock has more than tripled since the founder stepped down in 2015. And this week, Yetis, Chipotle's founder moved on

to introduce his brand new restaurant chain baby. Its name is Colonel. And one surprise about Colonel? Well, it's a vegetarian fast food chain. And another surprise about, Colonel. It's run by robots. R2D2 is whipping up tofu. That's what's happening at Colonel. In the backjack, they got Optimus Prime, like cutting carrots with that big left hand. You know the one with the machine gun kind of a thing? But there's two funny asterisks yet that we should

tell you about this brand new restaurant concept, which opens next year in New York, by the way. Okay, the first asterisk that Jack and I noticed, Colonel is plant-based, but it's not plant-based. It's a vegetarian restaurant, and there's a difference. There's a difference because over the last five years, every fast food chain has experimented with plant-based meats, like beets that are imitating meats. But Colonel's not doing that. They're not trying to serve beyond burgers or impossible burgers. They're serving veggie burgers. The way he put it was, it's not trying to be beef.

We're not trying to be pork. We're like letting the kale run with, we're like letting the cauliflower be itself. We're letting the lettuce be lettuce. Let us, lettuce. That wasn't the most important asterisk we noticed. Good point, Jack. There was something else we noticed about that. this restaurant too. This robo restaurant isn't quite a robo restaurant. Yeah, because there are going to be

robots at this new robo restaurant, but there are going to be people running the robots in the restaurant. Yeah, robots will do most of the prep, but three people will always be on staff to make sure if C3PO doesn't get out of line. You're going to have some employee sending Roomba's around to like brush up all the french fries on the ground. But they're not paying the robots. And with those savings, they're going to pay the human workers more. But Jack, of course, you know what's going to happen when you walk up to one of these robots and ask about getting guac. They're going to say extra. Quack is extra. It doesn't matter if it's humans or robots behind the counters. The guac, it's always extra. So the founder of Chipotle has created a second restaurant chain. It's a

vegetarian robo restaurant chain, but they're keeping some people on the staff too. It feels like there's just a takeaway mixed in there, Jack. So Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies over at Kernel? The future isn't black or white. The future. is hybrid. Yeties, every time something innovative happens, we all assume the extreme outcome. But when you look back at history, we don't end up with the extreme outcome. We end up with something in the middle. Everyone thought work from home was going to be the full thing, but now it looks like the answer is hybrid. Everyone thought electric cars were going to be the future, but right now, hybrid cars are winning. And when we look at the future of retail and

restaurants, it's not all human, but it's also not all robots. It's hybrid. Some, robots and some people, like this new restaurant chain kernel. Because the future, it isn't black or white. When you look back on history, the future is always hybrid. For our third and final story, America's biggest offshore wind energy farm off the coast of New Jersey just got canceled. Because another victim of inflation and interest rates is long-term thinking. Jack, let's whip out the map, please. The Jersey Shore, it's known for a lot of things. What kind of kind of things come to mind when we're saying Jersey Shore. I visited Manisquan. I visited Atlantic City.

And I visited Cape May, which is exit zero on the Jersey turnpike. Feels like you're avoiding the question, Jack. What comes to mind when you're hearing Jersey Shore? Saltwater taffees. Classic. The MTV show Jersey Shore. And Agabagoole. Yodies.

The capital of American wind energy was supposed to be New Jersey. Wasn't it, Jack? This July, a project called Ocean Wind got final approvals. It was going to be the biggest offshore wind farm in the United States. Besties, we're talking 98 giant wind turbines. Each of them 906 feet tall, Jack. We sprinkle on some numerical context to that place. Each of these giant wind turbines was going to be three quarters as tall as the Empire State Building.

And there was one Danish company called Orsted that was supposed to build and install all 98 of these giant wind turbines. Let Nick and me repeat for a second. In the Atlantic Ocean, 15 miles off the shore of New Jersey, a skyscraper city of windmills was going to be built as tall as the Empire State built. And yet this city in the water of windmills was going to be so far away from the Jersey shore that snooky and the situation would barely even see it on the horizon. It sounds fantastic. I was thrilled about this project.

But Jack, I'm sorry, one second. Let me pause the pod for a second. I'm looking out the window. And where is this wind farm city off the coast of New Jersey? New Jersey? Where is the capital of climate change technology in America? I'm not seeing it, Jack, because it looks like it's not there. It got canceled. Yeties, Orsted's stock fell 26% on the news that they're canceling this big project. This huge windmill project. They'd already spent a lot of money on this project, and now it's not even going to happen. So it's bad news for

Orsted shareholders, but it's also bad news for the world, which could really use some clean energy winds right now. And yet we just lost 98 giant wind turbines that would have been pretty helpful for that, Jack. It would have been symbols of clean energy right off the beach. Instead of burning coal or oil, we were going to catch those big Atlantic winds that pirates used to enjoy that could just power so much of New Jersey, Jack. It would have cleaned 500,000 homes and you barely would have seen these things from the beach. Now, yet as we know what you're wondering here, why are they canceling this giant wind turbine city in the middle of the Atlantic? Nick, did the New Jersey boaters sabotage the project? Was it the whale migrations, Jack? Did the wind go on strike too?

No, it was none of those Yetis. The reason this wind farm was canceled was, they say, supply chain and tax credit issues. But they also say it was canceled because of interest rates. And that got Jack and I thinking about a takeaway. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are anyone with a big project? The kryptonite for a long-term project is high interest rates. Yetis, anyone who's trying to buy a home right now knows how expensive high interest rates can be. And it's the same issue with this wind project. With big long-term

projects, they require more money. So big projects raise money by issuing debt. And that debt means paying interest. And the higher interest rates are, the more expensive it is to borrow that money. Well, high interest rates, they've increased the cost of building that offshore wind farm by 50% in the last two years. And that 50% higher cost is the difference between a profitable wind farm and an unprofitable wind farm. Okay, so Yetis, think about this for a second. A high interest rate, that can kill the entire financial viability of a billion-dollar decade-long project.

Just changing the interest rates can do that. Which means another victim of inflation and the high interest rates that came with it is this giant wind farm off the coast of New Jersey. Because, Basties, when it comes to doing a long-term project, high interest rates, that's the kryptonite. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us for T-Boy Tuesday? President Xi and President Biden are meeting this week in San Francisco to thaw China-U.S. Relations, but an old couple from Iowa is joining too.

Because in every deal, big or small, it comes down to relationships. For our second story, Chipotle's founder is launching Kernel, a vegetarian not quite robo restaurant. Because the future isn't black or white. The future is hybrid. And our third and final story, a wind farm in New Jersey was going to be an engineering and clean energy marvel. But it just got canceled. Because high interest rates are the kryptonite to long-term projects. But Yeties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today.

First, America's credit rating outlook just got downgraded by Moody's to negative. Why is our credit rating getting a warning, Nick? Why, Jack? We have another government shutdown looming this Friday. Prognosis negative. And second, restoration hardware, the furniture store. They just opened, get this, a caviar bar. That's right, a bar that only serves caviar.

This furniture company opened a hotel and then a private jet and now a caviar restaurants. And finally, Iceland is prepping for its biggest volcano eruption in years. If your flight to Europe gets canceled, just blame the Fagradas Fjol volcano. Sorry about the pronunciation. And then after you blame that volcano, you can blame the pronunciation on Google because that was not clear, Google. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Dia Chakra Bordi from lovely Little Rock, Arkansas.

The International Cricket World Cup is going on right now. Yeah, get this. A million fans are going to actually see the cricket matches live, like in person, at this World Cup for cricket. And for the first time in history, the host nation is undefeated, which is pretty special. That's right, Yaddies. India has won all nine games of the Cricket World Cup. So far.

South Africa was ranked number one, but India beat them, too. And the finals of the Cricket World Cup are coming up this Sunday. Yetis, you look fantastic for T-Boy Tuesday. And Jack, you look fantastic for unlocking more tickets to the T-Boy Live event, not too shabby. We got 50 more tickets. You can find the link in the episode description if you want to be there in San Francisco with us. By the way, Ken, we know you didn't get Toy of the Year,

but we may still have a ticket for you for the live event. promo code canoff. Pro tip if you're hosting a live event, always leave one ticket in case Ryan Gosling wants to come. Now Jack's getting nervous because he thinks he looks like Ryan Gosling. It's true. When everyone in L.A., someone comes up to Jack and says, Ryan? It's happened twice. Twice is a lot, let me say.

I'll take twice, dude. I'll take twice. Yeah, it is Nick and I. We'll see you tomorrow. I'll make it a third. You look like Gosling. That doesn't count. It's still twice.

Yet he's Nick and I. We'll see you tomorrow. And before we go, wishing a bright, happy, and festive and colorful dowali to all our Hindu yetis out there. And a big happy birthday to McKenna, Chloe, and Matthew, triplets who are celebrating together today. And Adam Brink from Baltimore, but living just outside Boston, is celebrating the birthday over in Rome, Italy. Happy 30th birthday to Sam Ivanovsky in Little Rock, Arkansas. And Sally Mangan, an aspiring Dinkwad, is turning 26 on her commute. right now in Philadelphia.

Happy 50th birthday to Jason Erman in Houston, Texas. And Karina Ortiz, Happy Dirty 30, also in Texas, celebrate that win. Happy birthday to Onica H from Bermuda. And Vincent Morency is turning 27 in years and two years old at Vanguard. He hasn't missed the day of this pod since he was 25. That's a win to celebrate. And to anyone else, celebrate something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins.

This is Jack. Nick and I both on stock at Chipotle. Hold on a second. We're about to produce another show. Amazing. Episode 1,10012 or whatever. Probably something like that. It's you and me. And we just sold out the show.

We sold out the show in San Francisco. It's amazing.