🍹 “Spritz School” — Aperol’s secret academy. Meta’s Ray Ban ban. James Patterson’s MrBeast book. +$500 AI toothbrush

0:28This is Nick. sign up ASAP. And this yogging event is powered by Liquid IV, so you'll get some free product and some free us. Maybe a peek of Nick's spandex. It's thebestrunyet.com, so stretch out those hammies. RSVP now. And Jack, let's hit our three stories. What do we got on the pod? For our first story, the Aperol Spritz. It's about to hit$1 billion in annual sales, but it didn't happen by accident. No, Aperol's success is actually thanks to a secret Spritz school. For our second story, smart glasses are getting banned at restaurants, bars, and nightclubs, and this is just the beginning. No meta Ray-Bans allowed, and the backlash began with Kylie Jenner.

1:05And our third and final story, James Patterson just published a book yesterday. He co-authored with Mr. Beast. But Jack, is this Boomer Beast book already a bust? We'll explain why that might be the case. But yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. What a mix of stories. Love the mix for Ceviche Wednesday. We've seen AI dog collars. We've seen AI lollipops. We've even seen an AI ice-making machine. Jack, we have seen AI that detects if AI was used to counter a cyber attack of a rogue AI. But Dyson just launched an AI toothbrush for$500. And besties, this toothbrush live streams the brushes with a real-time video feed.

1:43It's like ChatGPT and Sonicare had a baby. Raised by Christopher Nolan. This is, without a doubt, the most expensive toothbrush in human history. Yeah, we double fact-checked it because Dyson says the AI studied 500 ,000 dentists to make it happen. So it's basically a toothbrush doctor. And the camera shoots 28 frames per second. So it's basically an IMAX camera. And it live streams you're brushing in one hand to your phone in the other hand. So that you can follow the thistles like it was a real life oral documentary. Besties, this$500 toothbrush actually lets you shoot jet streams to the dirtiest parts of your mouth like it's a water pick.

2:16And you target that water pick based on the live stream you're looking at on your phone. Yeah, but pause the pod. That's the most disturbing video you're ever going to see. Yeah, the inside of your mouth in 4K. Is that a molar or is that yesterday's mango? I don't know, but either way, I feel icky already, Jack. You paid$500 for this thing. The same price as a Kate Spade handbag. Oh, but the biggest problem, what is it, man? Your dentist is going to suspect that you cheated. Uh, Jimmy, are you using AI to brush those teeth? Be honest, Jimmy. We have an honor code in this office. AI, it's coming for your crest.

2:48Jack, let's hit our three stars. 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.

3:15Start the show. First, a quick word from our sponsor.

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4:00We're talking about a franchise opportunity to open up one of these things and run it. And it'd be semi-passive income. There's no staff needed on site, so there's some management required while the golfers are swinging woods, but not so much management that you need to commit to this fully. Actually, another night was started by a couple of guys with young kids who just wanted to play more golf anytime they wanted. Now they've got 70 locations and want to add more. You could be number 71 by launching Another 9 Franchise near you. So head to www.franchise.another9.com to run one of your own. That's www.franchise.another9.com.

4:33Monarch. 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. Besties, 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.

5:01Because 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. Our 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.

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5:42For our first story, The Aperol Spritz is about to pass$1 billion in sales and is still going viral. Because 16 years ago, Aperol opened a secret Spritz school. Besties, happy late summer Spritz season to all those who celebrate. Last month, we told you about the Hugo Spritz. Searches on Google for that drink are up 2 ,000 % this year. But still, that is a fraction of the OG, the classic Aperol Spritz. Like tanning, tennis, and travel. Aperol Spritzen is now an official summer ritual. And Jack says Spritzing, which will now live in your ears forever, because the term is originally German. Yeah.

6:21In the 19th century, Austrian soldiers went to Venice and didn't like the wine there. And in 2006, I went to Middlebury and learned German. So that's why this is all happening. Add it all up, and Aperol was founded in 1919 by Luigi and Silvio Barbieri brothers living in the lovely town of Padua. Just outside Venice. And it took them seven years of experiments to come up with their aperitivo pre-dinner drink. In the 1950s, a bartender mixed Aperol with Prosecco and seltzer for the first time, inventing the spritz. But for 80 years, Aperol remained a niche regional business. Peak annual sales barely passed 50 million bucks.

6:53Until 2003. That's when Aperol was acquired by their bigger rival, Campari. Ah, Campari, the red hero of the Negroni, classic. And in the last 20 years, Aperol's sales have grown by 20x to$900 million. In fact, Aperol is now outselling its parent company, Campari. So Nick and I jumped in T-boy style to answer the question, how did Campari turn Aperol into an almost$1 billion brand? They did it with a secret school. Okay, but first let's sprinkle on some context. Yes, Aperol has benefited from the early dinner trend of the last few years. 5 p.m. reservations are up 90 % on resi, which is peak operativo time.

7:28And Aperol Spritz got referenced in five episodes of The White Lotus Season 2. That's publicity you can't pay for. But 10 years before all of that, Campari noticed that bartenders were botching this critical beverage. Because every drinking establishment is an independent business, they can do things how they want to do things. And that's a problem, because Campari has no control over how each Aperol Spritz is made. Coca-Cola and Corona, they control the quality of their product because they control their can. But Aperol Spritz requires the bartender, which meant there was zero consistency. So in 2010, they opened up the Campari Academy to train bartenders globally to become spritz masters.

8:07So like a doctor or a lawyer, Campari thought that bartenders needed some license training. An official license to serve. You got a driver's license, you need a spritz license too. Besties, you've heard of a license to kill. Well, think of this as like a license to not spill. Because lesson number one at Campari Academy was the pass method of creating this beverage. Professor, I'm raising my hand over here. Can you please explain what is the pass method exactly? P-A-S-S. First, you pour the Prosecco. Then you add the Aperol. Then you splash the soda. Then, and only then, do you add the slice of orange.

8:37The order matters because the Aperol must be poured second in order to preserve the orange color of the drink. And let's be honest, the orange color leads to the Instagram post, which is half the reason you bought the thing. That's Jack's everything. Oh, but Professor, I believe there's also another rule. Is there another rule we have to learn? Three, two, one. Three parts Prosecco, two parts Aperol, one part soda water. And the real ones know it's different if that Aperol was mistakenly poured twice. Now, for 16 years, Campari Academy has run pop-up classes worldwide, and they taught 13 ,000 bartenders how to make the spritz just last year.

9:10And by investing in that education, Aperol has improved their signature drink worldwide and gone from 60 million spritzes in 2010 per year to 1.5 billion this year. All right, we'll take another round. to Jack. What's the takeaway for all our buddies over at the billion dollar Aperol Spritz? To create a category, create a curriculum. Yetis, habits don't just happen. They're evolved and also they're taught. And there's a wild history of business products so innovative, they needed to teach the customer how to use them. Like De Beers. They didn't just run diamond ads a hundred years ago. They founded the Institute of Diamonds.

9:46To make the diamond the default engagement ring, They taught jewelers the four C's of the stone. Or how about the early 1900s? Jell-O didn't sell their dessert in stores. It was actually sold by door-to-door salesmen to educate housewives on what this new jiggly dessert was and how to make it themselves at home. And 23 years ago, Campari scaled the spritz by starting a school. Teaching consistency is how Aperol grew from a$50 million business to a billion dollar brand. For our second story, Meta's Kylie Jenner deal has backfired magnificently. Smart glasses are getting banned. Now that glasses with cameras are mainstream, everyone seems to hate them.

10:26Yeti's golf courses, they kick you out for wearing jeans. The Vatican will kick you out for exposed shoulders. And you got evicted from that 10th grade birthday party for showing a little bit of midriff. Private businesses can deny any customer for any reason, unless it's illegal discrimination. And in New York City, we just found the first restaurant to kick you out for wearing smart glasses. The New York nightclub basement in Queens will permanently ban you if they catch you with meta Ray-Bans on your person. And it's the start of a trend. In the UK, Weatherspoons, a chain of 800 pups, already ban smart glasses.

10:58Just like with Google Glass 15 years ago, people are being shamed for wearing cameras on their face. And besties, if you have to say, don't worry, I'm not recording you to make people feel comfortable. You're making people feel uncomfortable. It's a wild update. There has now been a dramatic and sudden flip on smart glasses from interesting to ick. And we can pinpoint the exact moment that we all went from thinking they're techie to thinking they're toxic. It's two words. Kylie Jenner. The cursed quest to make meta glasses cool. That is an article headline from New York Magazine last week from Carrie Batten.

11:32You see, 7 million pairs of meta Ray-Ban glasses were sold in 2025, but they didn't really enter the mainstream until this past August. That's when Kylie Jenner got her own pair, designed by Meta, called The Starfire. Now, besties, we covered that story on the pod, but when Kylie posted about her new Meta Rape bands on Instagram, Jack, what was the reaction? The comment section lit up. In a bad way. And the comments are the content. And here are some of the comments. It looks like the beginning of a Black Mirror episode. Oh, hell yeah, no girl. Meta surveillance is not chic. So out of touch, this is actually insane.

12:06Those are the most liked comments at the top of her post, with over 6 ,000 likes each. And Jack, what's the comment that you see the most? Referring to the glasses as predator glasses. Also, creep glasses or perv glasses, those are popular terms now too. Yetis. Since Meta Ray Bands had their Kardashian moment, we've thought about it, and we expect formal bans of camera glasses in lots of places. We think smart glasses are going to get banned in doctor's office waiting rooms. Privacy, please. In movie theaters. No piracy, please. In our Equinox gyms. Please remove your smart glasses before entering the steam room.

12:37Besties, in the UK, courts will already confiscate your glasses. Those are Her Majesty's orders. We think smart glasses bans are going to happen first at fancy intimate spots as a luxury flex, but eventually we expect laws to ban these things. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Meta? Zuck's smart glass strategy is to brute force them onto our face. Yetis, this is a really bad moment for anything that could be perceived as surveillance. Over our vacation, the biggest story was backlash against Flock, the license plate scanning cameras. And Nick, it's easy to call these smart glasses Flock, but on your face.

13:12But besties, we bet that Zuck is going to fight back hard. Because since 2019, Meta has dropped 88 billion bucks on smart glasses and headsets. That's why he's giving them away, to force them into our culture. New York Mag estimates 1 million pairs of smart glasses from Meta have already been gifted to people. Because everyone on Instagram with 20 ,000 followers was gifted a pair. Meta partnered with Barstool and Oakley to get in with the sportsy and outdoorsy crowds. And Zuck's given a pair to every blind veteran to push a feel-goodsy vibe. The commercials for Meta Ray-Bans are on every screen, every red carpet, and every award show.

13:43Besties Dylan Thomas once said, Do not go gentle into that good night. Well, Zuck won't go gentle without a billion dollar fight. So Zuck's response to the new smart glasses backlash, brute force. Now, a quick word from our sponsor. Nature raised farms. Yetis, you're walking to the grocery store, excited to cross off your list. That empty shopping cart is an ocean of opportunity. Then you get to aisle six and it hits you. Oh boy. Choice paralysis. Yes, we whipped up takeaways about this on the pod. Too many options. It's like a game of chicken. Do I go with that chicken or that chicken? Yeah, the irony of having so many chickens to choose from, you cannot choose.

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14:48Because that recipe is really simple, and so should be your chicken. Nature Raised Farms, it's built on a simple belief. Food shouldn't be complicated. This episode is brought to you by Bill, the intelligent finance platform that helps businesses scale with proven results. Yet he's paying and getting paid? That is a pain for small and medium-sized businesses. Jack, did you send the invoice? Did they see the invoice? Did you remember to remind them to see to pay to remember to pay the invoice? If you drop the ball in any one of those steps, you don't get paid. Nope. And you're missing out on cash flow.

15:17You should not have to chase your customers. This isn't TAG. So powered by AI, Build is all that simply and automated so that you don't have to. ACH, credit card, check, international wire transfers. They probably do carrier pigeon bill pay if that's how you want to get paid. Bill is the intelligent finance platform trusted by nearly half a million businesses and 98 of the top 100 US accounting firms to manage, move, and maximize your money. They have securely processed over a trillion dollars in real transactions. That is proven infrastructure you can actually trust. So besties, talk to an expert at bill.com slash proven and get$150 gift card as a thank you.

15:52That's bill.com slash proven. Terms and conditions apply. See offer page for details. For our third and final story, James Patterson has written 393 books, but his book with Mr. Beast might be a bust because Mr. Beast and James Patterson violated the cardinal rule of collabs. Oh, Jack, if we're going to tell this story about other stories, why don't we start with James Patterson? Because he's the number one bestselling author. Your mom loves his stuff. Yeah, she does, because James Patterson cracked the Da Vinci Code on how to write books faster than a young Dan Brown. James Patterson is a volume guy.

16:31You're not going to believe the number of books he has published. Get this, 393 books. Those are R.L. Stine numbers, Jack. He is 79 years old, like very senior citizen, and still publishes a book every two weeks. You go to Pilates every two weeks. He publishes a book every two weeks. Yeah, but the truth is, he doesn't write books. he manufactures them. That's right, because James Patterson writes an extensive outline and then hands it off to a co-author to turn it into a full book. So it's basically a publishing factory. Even Patterson's publisher once described his work as paint by numbers, but for books.

17:07But Nick, it's working. More than 425 million copies sold. 67 separate New York Times number one bestsellers. That's a record. Besties, by the time we finish this podcast, he'll have written another sequel about the book we're covering right now. And Nick, what does James say when people criticize his books for being lowbrow? He sarcastically apologizes for, you know, bringing paid customers into bookstores. If James Patterson were born 50 years later, he would have become Mr. Beast. Funny timing about that observation, Jack. Because James Patterson is partnering with Mr. Beast. That's right. Yesterday, James Patterson, the legendary author, and Mr.

17:44Beast, the legendary YouTuber, debuted their first book together. The title sounds like a Mr. Beast video. The most dangerous games. One billion dollars. One chance to save the world, but at what cost? It's the only book we've ever heard of that has a YouTube trailer. It really does. Oh, and Mr. Beast, he posted a YouTube video about this book. Read my book and you can win a million dollars. Also a true story. The games begin in Antarctica, where one wrong step on the ice will kill you and they never let up. Shark water off a remote Chilean island. Desert heat that cooks you where you stand. Storm-battered peaks and caves so black you cannot find your hand.

18:18No rescue, no second chances, a billion dollars to whoever is still standing. That also sounds like a YouTube video, but strange. On the day this book premiered, yesterday, the book is already 30 % off on every website. And also strange, Jack, pre-orders for the book were only numbering in the four digits last we checked. And anonymous sources told Semaphore that Mr. Beast's James Patterson novel was on track to be a historic bomb. I'm sorry, pause the pod here, Jack. We gotta check the business math. What is going on, man? The number one author, the number one YouTuber, a number one bust? Does that add up?

18:53That's the cliffhanger. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at James Patterson and Mr. Beast? It's the cardinal rule of collabs. There's got to be overlap. And yet he's just never collab outside of a Venn diagram. That's what we're saying. Every day as we scan the news to decide what to cover, we come across a half dozen new collabs that have launched. Jack Crocs and Poppy are launching a gut health sandal right now. You see this? Collabs are common because they're cheap and effective. Both sides simply share each other's audiences and both sides win. On one condition, though, as long as those audiences have some form of overlap.

19:27President Clinton actually co-authored a book with James Patterson in 2018. So did Viola Davis and so did the late, great Dolly Parton. And guess what? Each of those three books hit number one on the New York Times bestseller list. Because Bill Clinton, Dolly Parton, and Viola Davis, they all have overlapping boomer book fans with James Patterson. You see, the overlap is proof that a collab could work. There's proof that some people like both and you're exposing one to the other. But Mr. Beast, his YouTube native audience is famous for not reading books. They're famous for watching videos instead.

19:57So, Bessies, if it does turn out that The Most Dangerous Games is a bust of a book, we already know why. They violated the cardinal rule of collabs. The two circles didn't overlap. They violated the Venn diagram. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for Saviche Wednesday? Aperol now sells$900 million a year, up 20x in 20 years, thanks to Campari Academy and Spritz Lessons. To create a new category, create a curriculum. Meta Ray Bands are banned at New York's hottest club, and the bans are just beginning. But Zuck's in too deep to quit, so he's trying to brute force them onto our faces.

20:33And finally, James Patterson and Mr. Beast publish a book, and sales reportedly are not looking good. Because they violated the Venn diagram. Classic. But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, Shein, the super fast fashion disruptor, just went public in Hong Kong. And Jack, how did that IPO look? Not good. Uh-uh. Shein's stock fell on day one. It was once worth$100 billion, now just$25 billion. Besties, Shein is now making 4 ,700 new fashion designs every single day. But it's the number one victim of the trade war. And Gen Z prefers shopping secondhand.

21:07If you want us to do a story on the Shein IPO, comment haul microplastics or landfill in today's comment section. Second, MapQuest is number one in the App Store because of lake drama. That's right. Last week, President Trump issued an executive order changing Lake Ontario's name to Lake America. Google Maps and Apple Maps complied with the president's request, but MapQuest refuses. Although they have added a new feature letting you change the names of the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Ontario to whatever you want them to be. The website's pretty hilarious. Golfof.mapquest.com slash link Ontario. And finally, Stan Kroenke has bought the Los Angeles Angels baseball team for$4 billion, record sale for an MLB franchise.

21:47Kroenke now owns the NFL's LA Rams, the NBA's Denver Nuggets, the NHL's Colorado Avalanche, and the MLB's LA Angels. Oh, and Jack, don't forget lacrosse here. He also owns the National Lacrosse League's Colorado Mammoth and the Premier League's Arsenal Football Club. Oh, and Major League Soccer's Colorado Rapids. I mean, can you share some for the rest of us? At this point, he's just going to start his own league, Jack. I mean, obsessed. Now time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Matthew Hawkins, a legendary Yeti from Tulsa, Oklahoma. In the background of Tuesday's podcast, this Yeti thought he heard the chirp of a smoke detector in one of our recording studios.

22:25That chirp indicates that the batteries are low on a smoke detector and they need to be changed. We should get on that, Jack. But the best fact yet is that smoke detectors use an incredibly small amount of radioactive material. That's right. It is the predictable decay of that radioactive material that interacts with the smoke critical for the alarm. Your smoke alarm saves your life when little radioactive material touches smoke. Exactly. Now, most smoke detectors, they actually need to be changed every 6 to 12 months, by the way. Is that true? That seems way more frequent. Well, Jack, here's the helpful hint from Matthew.

22:56To remember to change your smoke alarm, do it every daylight savings time. But yetis, unless you're Daenerys Targaryen, we suggest you listen to Matthew's advice. Yetis, you're looking fantastic over there. Jack, you are looking fantastic too while you stretch out those glutes. I see you. I see you making that move. On September 22nd, the night before our San Francisco show, we're doing a run. Visit thebestrunyet.com to RSVP. We can't wait to see you there. And Jack, before we go, could you give us one last spritz for the besties? This one's going to register on the Richter scale. Spritz. It's the new cookie crisp.

23:27Jack, nice ASMR. Apple's taking this episode down. And Jack and I will see you manana.

23:37And before we go, a happy birthday to legendary Eddie Jasmine Big Boss Gonzalez Hernandez in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. Happy birthday to Casey M. from Brooklyn Heights, who's got a legendary night planned, going out with his buddies for an all-you-can-eat sushi. And Owen in Boulder, Colorado, is turning 20. Happy birthday. Happy birthday to Caden Ma in Los Altos, California. And Maria Montemoro has got an anniversary of a new job over in Milan, Italy. Congratulations. Happy three-year anniversary to Judy and Phil in Saratoga, California. And if you want to get a shout-out on the show or have the best fact yet, submit yours in the form in our episode description.

24:11And to anyone else celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins.

24:18This is Jack. Nick and I both own stock of Apple. Gusto. Yetis, there's nothing more satisfying on a Friday evening and celebrating the wins of our company from that week. Like how we triumphantly completed payroll paperwork right before the tax deadline. Hey, we're just kidding. That's not a win to celebrate. But it is an annoying thing that we did have to do. Yeah, we did. Because if you're an entrepreneur, you're the HR team, the benefits team, the payroll department, and you have to be all those things before your morning coffee. Double digit latte. But you could be doing it all with Gusto.

24:45Gusto is an online payroll and benefit software built for small businesses. It's all-in-one, remote, friendly, and incredibly easy to use, so you can pay higher on board and support your team from anywhere. So save time with built-in automated tools like offer letters, onboarding documents, direct deposit, and more. And it's super simple to switch to Gusto. You can just transfer your existing data to get up and running fast and don't even have to pay a penny until you run your first payroll. Because you're not toasting a Negroni on Friday to celebrate that paperwork. Nope. So besties, try Gusto today at gusto.com slash tboy and get three months free when you run your first payroll.

25:15That's three months of free payroll at gusto.com slash tboy. One more time, gusto.com slash tboy.