The Best One Yet
🍨 “Ice Cream of the Future” — Dippin’ Dots’ resurrection. YouTube’s now #1 for podcasts. Northwestern’s stadium disruption.
Tue, 19 Nov 2024
Dippin’ Dots was bankrupt… but a 2nd scientific breakthrough has given it a hot comeback.YouTube is now the #1 podcast platform, beloved by Gen Z… Apple is for oldies, Spotify for Millennials.Northwestern University’s new football stadium is the most expensive… but also the smallest?Plus, how Levi’s 501 jeans went from gold rush miners to Bruce Springsteen’s butt… and took down the Berlin Wall.$JJSF $GOOG $AAPL $SPOTCheck out our Instagram for your chance at free TBOY holiday merch: https://www.instagram.com/tboypod Want more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of Levi’s 501s: The World’s 1st Jeans 👖Subscribe to The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinks to listen.—-----------------------------------------------------GET ON THE POD: Submit a shoutout or fact: https://tboypod.com/shoutouts FOR MORE NICK & JACK: Newsletter: https://tboypod.com/newsletter Connect with Nick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-martell/ Connect with Jack: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-crivici-kramer/ SOCIALS:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tboypod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tboypodYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tboypod Anything else: https://tboypod.com/ Subscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It’s The Best Idea Yet.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Chapter 1: What is the best ice cream of the future?
Chapter 2: Why is YouTube the top podcast platform?
For our second story, Dippin' Dots, the self-proclaimed ice cream of the future, went bankrupt back in 2011. But a second scientific breakthrough is giving Dippin' Dots a second life. Uh, Yetis, we all remember our first time, don't we, Jack? It was awkward. It was uncomfortable. I don't know what you're talking about, Jack, but I was thinking about my first bite of Dippin' Dots.
That's what I was thinking about, which are those chili balls of ice cream that are like frozen beads of flavor. I don't know about you, man. Dippin' Dots, they're shaped in quarter inch spheres of beaded ice cream. They're like Haagen-Dazs for astronauts. And Jack, now that I think of it, there was a Dippin' Dots store. We would like Friday night,
movie theater, put on some juicy sweatpants, walking over past the Pinkberry and go to Dippin' Dots on 86th Street. Well, it's apropos because Dippin' Dots was actually invented by accident in 1988, just like you and me were. That's right. Invented by Kurt Jones of Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. Go Salukis.
Kurt Jones majored in agriculture, so he tried to use cryogenics to create frozen food for cows.
But he ended up accidentally mixing cream with the liquid nitrogen in like a very bizarre but delicious twist of fate. So he battened that technology and turned it into a commercial ice cream product. And that product was Dippin' Dots. Dippin' Dots. And Jack, what kind of numbers was Dippin' Dots doing at its height?
At its height, it had 1,000 locations you could buy it in America with 95% brand recognition.
That's right. The reason I saw Dippin' Dots at like six bar mitzvahs, Jack, was because 95% of America recognized the Dippin' Dots brand. But soon thereafter, Dippin' Dots, well, they dipped. The frozen balls hit the walls. Yes, they did. And Dippin' Dots filed for bankruptcy in 2011 for a few reasons. The main reason was logistics. It was. Because get this.
Due to the molecular makeup of Dippin' Dots, they must be kept at negative 40 degrees Fahrenheit or else the balls will melt into each other. Now, Jack, could you sprinkle on some more chemistry context for us over there, please? A typical commercial freezer bottoms out at zero degrees.
You can't get down to a negative 40, which meant that forever Dippin' Dots could only be served at special Dippin' Dots distributors. Besties, think about it. That is why you've only seen Dippin' Dots available at theme parks and restaurants that were controlled by Dippin' Dots. Those are the only places that had these special freezers that could go down to negative 40.
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Chapter 3: What are the unique features of Northwestern's new stadium?
You know, I come from a long line of Brattleboro High School quarterbacks.
Yes, I do. Watching football with all the brothers.
Yes, and we were over chicken wings when we noticed something funny on the screen.
Northwestern University was playing Ohio State in football at Wrigley Field. Jack, I'm sorry, I gotta ask, why did Northwestern University's football team play in a baseball stadium for their football game?
It's because Northwestern's football team is temporarily homeless.
That's right, Yetis. Their stadium at Northwestern, Ryan Field, it was demolished to make room for their new stadium, the new Ryan Field. And yesterday, Northwestern unveiled both the price tag and the design of this brand new stadium. And it happens to be the strangest combination of two extremes that we have ever seen.
Because the new Ryan Field is going to be the most expensive collegiate stadium by far at $850 million to construct. Jack, that is two times bigger than any other college stadium in America. And it's going to be privately funded by the Ryan family, whose descendants will always be accepted to Northwestern after this. And no taxpayer money was needed for this expensive stadium.
Which is really nice. So, Yetis, this brand new stadium is two times more expensive than any other stadium in America. That is a wild stat.
But the wilder part, it's that this huge stadium that's the most expensive by far is going to be half as big as other stadiums.
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