🍣 “Miso Pilates” — Nobu’s hospitality empire. ChatGPT-5’s therapist. Crocs vs Stocks. +Labubu Raves.

0:28This is Nick. cruise where I saw other people surfing better than I do. Well, isn't that just a standard Saturday for you? So Jack, can I just say one more thing, please? It's true. Nothing beats a Jet 2 holiday. Well, we got three fantastic stories for today's show. Jack, what do we got on the T-boy? For our first story, Nobu is a Michelin-starred restaurant with 56 locations and 42 hotels. But wildest of all, this billion-dollar restaurant Nobu is now opening a Pilates studio? For our second story, how the economy is doing is split between two types of consumers, those who own stocks and those who own Crocs.

1:15Yeah, those Crocs. And our third and final story is ChatGPT5, the Cinco. ChatGPT5 launched last week, and it's being hailed as the biggest development in AI history. For techies, it codes better, but for normies, it therapizes. But yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Perfect mix of stories to kick off the week check. Love the mix. The hottest party this weekend. Nick, tell us what it was. La Boo Boo Raves. No joke. The viral new Chinese doll everyone's talking about it made it into the club. We have told you besties about the La Boo Boo doll, the Gen Z beanie baby with a billion bucks in sales.

1:56It looks like a Furby and a Teletubby had a baby together that was raised by trolls. Jack, if this thing talked, it would kind of sound like Jack in the Box from Elf. You know what I'm talking about here? Yeah, the one that goes, Now, Yetis, we've covered La Boo Boo Doll's business twice on this podcast. But the La Boo Boo virus is spreading so fast through our culture, there are new variants. Like late night La Boo Boo dance fests. Get this, Yetis. According to Gothamist, parties are popping up across New York City with LaBubu as the focus. Over at the Monarch Club in Brooklyn, LaBubu raves are going till 4 a.m.

2:34And the climax of the party is a mystery box unveiling at the center of the dance floor. Yeah, it's Saturday night. 800 adults attended a late night LaBubu fest for a mass unboxing ritual. They drank, they danced, and they traded$28 Chinese dolls. And then DJ plays K-pop. The partiers clip La Boo Boo's on their pants. Hey, Diplo, more La Boo Boo. Most La Boo Boo see you play. Now, Beanie Babies had an epic fever in the late 1990s. But Jack, those Beanie Babies didn't make the beat drop, did they, man? No, they didn't. So yet, he's no judgment. But if you sweated it up at a La Boo Boo rave until sunrise this weekend.

3:13Well, no judgments, no judgments. We're calling it the next La Boo Boo launch, a dating app. Is there going to be a mystery box in this dating app? I think every dating app's kind of a mystery box. Let's hit our three stories. 15 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 the norm. Jack Nick, that's it. I don't even think they need to practice. 50%, that's a fat tip. T-Boy City on your at list. If you know, you know, cause we ready to go. We can't wait no more, so just start the show.

3:51Start the show. First, a quick word from our sponsor.

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4:56Indeed.com slash podcast and mention T-Boy. Terms and conditions apply. Need a hiring hero? This is a job for Indeed-sponsored jobs. Monarch. Yeah, it is. You know my first money lesson? It was where to put our lemonade stand. I was wondering, it was on the Upper East Side. Do we do it on Lexington Avenue or Park Avenue? Wait a second. New York City has lemonade stands on the sidewalk? They didn't. We were pioneers, Jack. Lexington Avenue is more commercial. Park is more residential. So what did we learn, Jack? Families are willing to pay more for lemonade. So you set it up on Park. Yeah, we did it on Park.

5:27Besties, no one gives you financial lessons in life. You end up figuring most of it out as you grow up. But we love Monarch because it's like a financial advisor in your pocket. Because every minute it's tracking your savings, spending, investments, and more. For instance, Monarch's goal tracking feature shows if you're on track for that summer trip to Santa Fe. And it tells you what percent of your income is going somewhere. that's a surprise. I open Monarch all the time because it takes the mental load off tracking my finances. And whether you're single, you're in a family, or you're dinking it up, Monarch's the way.

5:51Our personal fave, the AI Weekly Recap, a once-per-week gut check on what you did with your money. Hey, Nick, you've spent 96 bucks at kids' lemonade stands since July. Yeah, because we pioneered it for him, Jack Restes. Write your own story with Monarch. Use code tboy at monarch.com to get your first year of Monarch Core half off at just 50 bucks. It's 50 % off your first year at monarch.com with code tboy. Hi, all. This is Kim and Penn Holderness from Laugh Line. Summer is here, which means it's officially travel season. And when you're out there making plans, you need somewhere reliable to stay.

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6:50For our first story, Nobu, the fancy Japanese fusion restaurant, now also owns 42 hotels. And they just launched a Pilates studio? we'll tell you how Nobu managed to scale the two hardest things in hospitality, food and fancy. Yetis, let's travel back to when I was in high school. My parents went out for a date and they came back with some leftovers in a tray with rock shrimp. Had you ever had rock shrimp, Jack? So I went to Nobu once. Baird's dad brought me there. Oh yeah, yeah. That's a good parent trip, Jack. Yeah. And I did not order a single thing. I let him manage it all because I had no clue.

7:30That's a familial write-off right there. That was back in 2003. It was the Nobu in Tribeca. Nobu is a very cool Japanese and Peruvian fusion restaurant. It's a Tokyo chef who studied in Lima. And their sushi has got so much swagger, it needs its own talent agent. Hey, UTA! Now, Nobu began in Los Angeles in 1989. Robert De Niro dined there and was such a fan of the miso black cod, he asked for a New York location. But Nobu Matsuhisa, the chef, patiently refused until 1994 when he got offered a lot of money. He opened up a restaurant with De Niro's De Niro. And that became the modern blueprint for the premium restaurant venture, the three C's, Jack.

8:15You need a chef, you need a celebrity backer, and you need a cash money investor. Well, now Nobu's a Michelin-awarded restaurant brand worth$1.3 billion with a B dollars. It's serving up some unicorn teriyaki. Jack, the last time I walked by the Tribeca location before it closed, Russell Crowe walked out and fell on top of me. So you're telling me that the gladiator tackled you on the streets of New York City? I haven't showered since, Jack. But basically, still, this headline 31 years later is what we find fascinating. Nobu just launched a Pilates retreat in Ibiza. A record scratch. Excuse me?

8:52Why is Nobu hosting retreats focused on Pilates on the biggest club and island in the ocean? It's not just a retreat, Nick. Nobu already has a Pilates studio at their London hotel. Pause the pot again. Did you just say Nobu had a hotel? Yeah, plot twist. Nobu has 56 restaurants, but also 42 hotels with plans to open 40 more. From Tulum to Orlando with a little bit in Saudi Arabia in between. Nobu's also got condos and fitness centers and a Nobu yacht. That's right. You could take a cruise with their yellowtail jalapeno poppers on the poop deck. Nobu is a global luxury brand with restaurants, hotels, fitness centers, condos, and yachts.

9:33But Jack, let's add it all up for a sec and talk about the numbers. Those 56 restaurants each make on average$10 million in revenue per year. It's like half a billion dollars total in revenue on F &B, food and beverage. Now we should point out Nobu doesn't own most of the restaurants. They license them like McDonald's does. But here's a wild detail. The Nobu CEO says that each seat in their restaurants makes as much money as each room in their hotels. Because each hotel room only serves one customer a day. But each restaurant chair changes over with six new customers each day. So what we're saying is that Nobu has scaled luxury like Louis Vuitton, but in an industry with margins thinner than a French fry.

10:15Because the profits on a luxury handbag is like 90%. But Jack, the profit on a scallop flown in from Hokkaido overnight? Much slimmer. Yeah, way less. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our... Oh, by the way, before our Chicago show, before your flight arrived, I did the omakase at Nobu. Really? Well, you said it was a write-off. Wait, I haven't done our quarterly accounting yet. Okay, so Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Nobu? Be really good at not being bad. Yeti's Chef Nobu spoke to the Wall Street Journal and said the reason he's successful is that celebrities trust my food. They return to Nobu not just for the taste, they return for the very high quality floor.

10:58Basically, it's the same reason that McDonald's is so big. You know what you're getting, it's the consistency. The same Big Macs are served at the same quality in Dallas to Detroit. And the same Nobu Toro Tuna Tartare is served in the same quality in Melbourne or in Malibu. It's a reminder about an important consumer psychology. We fear downside more than we desire upside. We fear loss more than we crave a win. We're more worried about not losing something than we are about gaining something. Well, McDonald's does it for a mass audience and Nobu does it for celebrities. They deliver consistency.

11:35It's not about being good. It's about being really good at never being bad.

11:46For our second story, the big question in this economy, do you own Crocs or do you own stocks? The answer determines whether you're spending more or less. It's Crocs versus stocks, and that is how we can understand today's economy. Nick, last week, there were too many earnings reports for us to cover on the pod. 20 % of the S &P 500 reported earnings last week. Not too shabby. And the big theme Nick and I noticed is that CEOs were totally split down the middle on whether the US economy was doing well or not. Jack, let's bring out group number one. Crocs, McDonald's, and Under Armour each said that the American consumer is in rough shape right now.

12:28Stocks in those three companies fell last week as their CEOs said customers cut spending in the second quarter. Basically, people are buying fewer sweat-wicking Big Mac clogs right now. And this simple quote from the McDonald's CEO sums up their challenge. Here's what he said. I mean, we've got lower-income consumers that remain under pressure. Their visits to fast food restaurants were down double digits again in quarter two. The main reason? Same as it's been the last few years. High prices and inflation are squeezing consumers. That monster is still warring. So besties, companies that serve lower and middle income Americans are struggling.

13:04But Jack, what about the companies serving higher end Americans right now? They're surging. It's a Dickensian tale of two economies, Nick. Because get this yet, these comments from Disney, Uber, and Shopify were the opposite of Crocs, McDonald's, and Under Armour. Let's kick it off with Disney. They said, I know there's a lot of concern about the consumer in the United States right now, but we don't see it. Jack, how about Uber? Their CEO said, we're not seeing any signal of consumer weakness. And Shopify said that tariff impacts have not materialized into lower e-commerce activity. So besties, when Jack and I whip out the whiteboard and look at the earnings from last week, here is the theme that we are really seeing.

13:44People who get on an airplane to take a vacation to Disney World, people who take Ubers to work, and people who buy cute tops online are all feeling good right now. But people who are tossing on some Under Armour and eating Big Macs and strutting around in Crocs, they are not feeling as good right now. It's a Dickensian tale of two economies. That also comes down to one wild hero stat. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are everyone in this economy? If you own stocks, you're feeling rich. But what about the other half of Americans? Yetis, the U.S. economy overall is growing despite tariffs thanks to this stock market.

14:22Stocks are at all-time highs, mainly because of AI hype driving big tech valuations into the trillions. Now, Jack and I have told you that the stock market is not the economy, but how the stock market is doing affects the economy. Because if your stocks are up, you feel richer. And if you feel richer, you're going to spend more. Yeah, get this. The top 20 % of income earners are responsible for half the spending in this country. That's a wild stat that I want to repeat. The top 20 % income earners in America are responsible for half of all consumer spending. But Jack, I got another stat for you.

14:59Only half of Americans own stocks. So these all time high market records aren't getting them to open up their wallets. Add it all up and companies catering to the bottom half of earners in America are struggling, but companies catering to the upper half are surging. Or the way we see it, it's stocks versus crocs. Because if you own the market, you're feeling rich. But if you don't, you're feeling squeezed. Now, a quick word from our sponsor. NetSuite Next. Yetis, they say time travel is not possible. But have you heard of this theory? Every day your business is late to AI, you fall two days behind.

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16:03So besties, if you aren't sure how to use AI for your company, this is honestly the perfect place for you to start. NetSuite. And once you use it, it'll feel like time travel with Michael J. Fox in a good way. So yeah, it is for the first time ever, you can try NetSuite Next for free. If your revenues are at least in the seven figures, go to netsuite.ai slash tboy. Built for every industry, ready for every boardroom, netsuite.ai slash tboy. Built. Yeah, it is full disclosure. I used to own an apartment, but then my wife and I sold it and now we're back to renting, baby. I'm owning, but we both suffer the same issue, Nick and me.

16:35Yeah, we do. We're not getting points on rent or mortgage payments right now. Yeah, that's why we were shocked and are now both seriously considering what we just heard from Built is wild. Because paying for the roof over your head, it's our single biggest expense. Whether you rent or you own, that's the case. Well, Built will pay your mortgage or your rent for you, so you get the points. Points can be redeemed toward your next flight, hotel, lift ride, Amazon.com purchase, and more. Personally, I'd use them in the Built travel portal or simply use them toward a future rent payment. And one unexpected benefit of Built is that every member gets access to its agentic neighborhood concierge in the Built app.

17:10First, you download the Built app. Second, you link your credit or debit card. And then you ask the Built neighborhood concierge to basically be your AI butler. Makes you feel fancy. So download the Built app and join the membership for where you live at joinbuilt.com slash tboy. That's J-O-I-N-B-I-L-T dot com slash T-B-O-Y. Use our link joinbuilt.com slash tboy so they know Nick and Jack sent you.

17:34For our third and final story, last week, Sam Altman launched chat GPT-5, the Cinco. And he says, it'll be like a PhD student in your pocket. I really hope the Cinco catches on. OpenAI marketing team, you're welcome. But the big question, do you want AI to be your colleague, giving you yes, no answers, or do you want it to be your therapist? But first, Jack, I guess we should begin with a little bit of congratulations for our buddies over at OpenAI, right, man? OpenAI employees are able to sell their stock in the company right now at a$500 billion valuation. Our buddy Peter, I'm seeing him this weekend, Jack, he's buying me the drink.

18:16I already called it. Now, if it does sell at$500 billion, that would make OpenAI the most valuable startup in business history. More than SpaceX, more than ByteDance, more than a couple TikToks. And if you compare OpenAI to publicly traded companies, it's the 20th most valuable company on earth right now. It's as big as Netflix and the product isn't even three years old yet. The product, by the way, ChatGPT, which has 700 million weekly users. And that number is two Netflixes, Jack. OpenAI is setting financial and tech records like Shohei Otani. He can pitch and he can bat. And here's the news.

18:53ChatGPT5 launched on Thursday, and it's free for all to use. Sam Altman unwrapped it in front of us last week like a Christmas present. If you're a free user, you can ask it up to 10 questions every five hours. If you want more than that, you got to start paying. Now, we'll explain everything you need to know, but first, this is not AGI. ChatGPT5 is not super intelligence. No, us humans still have a leg up on this thing for a little bit longer at least. Sam Altman says it's like having a PhD student in your pocket. Well, I don't have a PhD, so do I have a leg up on this thing? Chat GPT-3, that was basically like a high school student.

19:31Chat GPT-4, that was kind of like a college student. But this one, it's as smart as a grad schooler. This thing was on the dating apps. Everyone would be swiping, right? Not a big partier. Not a big partier, though. Now, at first, when Nick and I were reading about Chat GPT-5, we're like, okay, this is the iPhone 16. It's a little bit better in every metric than the previous version. That was from our research. But OpenAI says this is actually a bigger leap than that. They basically say it's like going from a Game Boy to an N64. Which is a pretty big technological leap. And we can kind of see that.

20:03Like the answers now arrive twice as fast than ChatGPT4 with 45 % fewer factual errors. So it's smarter, it's faster, it's less wrong and less annoying, but it still has hallucinations. Jack, could you please explain that less annoying though? Basically, it won't suck up to you as much. It'll be less sick and phantic. Yeah. And it's going to use fewer emoji. Yeah, it did use a lot of emoji. Actually, you can now make your chat GPT bot more cynical or more nerdy. You can kind of like, you know. You can choose your tone. Yeah. No, there's still no sassy option, but yeah. Grok is the sassy option, I think.

20:34Now, the biggest improvement here is if you're a coder. Because developers with the paid version of chat GPT now have the highest level of vibe coding. Vibe coding. Basically, you can create an entire computer program from scratch. Just describe to ChatGPT the app you want, and it will give you that app. But the biggest update for us consumers, us normies out there, what is it, Jack? Next week, we'll be able to connect our ChatGPT accounts to our Gmail accounts and our Google calendars. That's right. So ChatGPT 5 could become your personal assistant. It could proactively set up that meeting with Marsha over in marketing.

21:11You could ask your ChatGPT, hey, are there any important emails in my 68 unread emails? Or can I just relax for the weekend? And we'll tell you you can relax for a moment. I've read through all your 68 emails. Everything can wait till Monday. And then we'll judge you for requiring 143 emails just to plan that bachelorette party. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at ChatGPT5, the Zinko? Do you want a colleague or do you want a therapist? Yetis, there's one other chat GPT change from last week that didn't get attention, and we think it's big. HSPDs. HSPDs, high stakes personal decisions.

21:49Like stuff having to do with your romantic relationships, your personal health. Like, should I propose to my girlfriend? People are asking this to chat GPT. I mean, Jack, a critique from the past versions of chat GPT was that it would give yes or no answers to huge life decisions. Now, not only is that just ill advised because it doesn't have enough information to give you a yes or no. It also became a legal liability for OpenAI. So now, instead of telling you what to do, ChatGPT will guide you with questions. For example, if you say, should I break up with my partner? Instead of giving you a yes or no, it'll ask you questions like a therapist would.

22:24Because OpenAI has realized that these high-stakes personal decisions are big use case, but big risk. So the power of AI isn't just getting you an answer as quickly as possible, but it's helping you find the answer yourself. That's why we think the future of AI may look less like a yes-no colleague and more like a questioning therapist.

22:48Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us to kick off the week? Nobu is co-owned by Robert De Niro and has become a global restaurant and hotel and Pilates empire. That's right. Black miso cod on the reformer. Yetis, they're not just good. they're really good at never being bad. AKA, they're consistent. For our second story, companies catering to high-enders are surging. Companies catering to the bottom half are not. Or as we call it, it's stocks versus crocs. Half of Americans own stocks. The other half feels squeezed. And our third and final story, ChatGPT5 is here and free to use. The Cinco.

23:25And it's led to a$500 billion valuation for the parent company. I want you to say Cinco, Jack. ChatGPT5, the single. Because AI isn't just a yes-no colleague, this version is also a questioning therapist. But yetis, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, Sweetgreen stock sank 28 % after announcing their first ever revenue decline. To get customers back in the door, Sweetgreen says they're boosting portions. I bet this is protein maxing, Jack. We've always found their sales to be huge. You never finish your salad. I know, I'm a lightweight, I'm a lightweight. Bigger portions could bring people back into the store, but also hurt profits.

24:05It's basically a salad 22 situation. I see what you did there. And second, it's the final zucking. Instagram just added maps, which happens to be a Snapchat feature that they stole. Instagram's map sharing feature will now show you where your friends are based on their posting and their tagging. Oh, buddy Timmy, he's right over there. Although it brings up safety concerns and privacy concerns. I mean, do you want to give Zuck that data or show every one of your friends where you are? You can turn it off though. We should let you know that. But it also means that everything about Snapchat has finally been copied by Instagram.

24:41And finally, Apple just had its best week on the stock market in five years. Why? The CEO Tim Cook gifted Donald Trump with pomp and ceremony, a golden statue. A golden statue that said made in America, which is ironic though, because the iPhone is not made in America. Although it was seen as enough of a public flattering of the president to keep the iPhone exempt of tariffs. And just the right quantity of gold. Now time for the best fact yet, which, because it's Monday, means T-Boy trivia. Jack, what have we got this week? Nick, what is the most popular dinner served at the International Space Station?

25:20That's right. Which food has been re-engineered for space and is now the most requested dish? I think it's the most eaten dish, right? Yeah, it really is. Okay, so Yetis, here are the four options, and you can vote in our Spotify poll right now. Is it hamburgers, peanut butter, pizza, or ramen? Drop us your comment on the most popular dinner at the International Space Station and vote in our Spotify poll. And don't say Dippin' Dots. That wasn't an option, although it was our first guess. Yetis, you look fit. You hear that, Jack? Oh, is that a LeBubu rave? I got a LeBubu rave to get to. We got to end the show.

25:54So, Yetis, you look fantastic. If you haven't yet, tap to follow us. And that way, you can hang out with T-Boy every single day. Nick and I, we'll see you tomorrow.

26:06And before we go, a happy birthday to legendary Yeti Anthony Lewis down in Bethlehem, Georgia, who's also a fantastic husband. Happy 30th birthday to Diana Yu in Beijing, China. And Jonathan Davis turning 37 years old in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey. And happy birthday to Sam Mott from Virginia, the best Euchre player on the East Coast. And a happy birthday to Yo-Yo Chuang celebrating all the way over in Taipei, Taiwan. Happy birthday to Rich Jaffe in Powley, Pennsylvania. T-Boy gives him and his daughter a reason to connect daily. We're honored by that. And a congratulations to Yeti Antonio Nakad and the NG Cash team in Brazil, who just raised 27 million bucks from Andreessen, Endeavor, and a whole bunch of VCs.

26:49And happy 13 years together to Sammy and Jaime Arteaga in Everett, Washington, just outside Seattle. And Joe and Emily Driano in Bellingham, Washington, our first-time parents to a real-time human. Congratulations. And happy five-year anniversary to Rahm and Prasanti in Dallas, Texas. And Steven and Michelle Sheck are buying a home in Colorado. Congratulations, guys. Congratulations to Chloe Boroff in Greenville, South Carolina, for finishing that physical therapy class.

27:20This is Jack. Nick and I both own ETFs of the S &P 500, and we both own stock of Apple and Shopify. And I own stock in Disney and Netflix. And I own stock of Crocs. So I guess I'm both Dickensian tales. You're the Cinco, Jack.

27:42This is Hannah Berner, the co-host of Giggly Squad. We could all just stay in bed scrolling through other people's vacations forever but where is the fun in that the best memories come from stepping outside of your little bubble and being open to the unexpected and what better way to be open to the unexpected than finally booking that trip to Europe you guys know I'm a Delta girly every time I go I get my Delta headphones and when I fly to Europe Delta treats me like a queen and they'll treat you too I was always a little nervous about navigating a foreign country but then I realized it's so important to grow and see different cultures and to put yourself in different situations and Delta held my hand the whole time.

28:25Being away just helps you put life into perspective and your little worries are not so bad. Travel really is the best way to discover something new about yourself and grow from the experience. Step outside your comfort zone this summer, get some Delta headphones and fly with Delta Airlines. They truly are the best way to get to Europe and they just make the whole journey feel so comfortable and seamless. Go book your next chapter right now at delta.com.