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369 — Brazilian Bun Lift
61 Plays1 month ago
Ty & Eric stake out a Subway to assess the local scene while discussing Mongolia’s freaky diet, Subway’s 10,000 restaurant expansion, the national sandwich of Uruguay, toasting a footlong from the inside out, building border walls with integrity, and Erewhon’s $30 ice cubes.
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Transcript
Energy Levels and Listener Feedback
00:00:03
thinkfresh
Eric, Eric, Eric. We are so back, bro. So back. Yes. I like your energy. It's way better than my contemplative energy. Thank God, dude. Your contemplative energy is... sir It's an audiobook. Let's just say that. It's not a movie. No, you're right. It's a snooze fest. Snooze, you lose. Yeah. But you got to bring high T talking. The T stands for talking to this podcast.
00:00:29
thinkfresh
I heard ah people listen to this podcast to fall asleep. We're getting that feedback a lot. And for those people, I have one thing to say to you. Wake up! Or sweet dreams. Sweet dreams, cowboy. Yeah. Kapow. Kapow.
Recording on Location: Subway Setup
00:00:46
thinkfresh
How are you doing on this beautiful fine Thursday afternoon. We're recording this a day early. And we are recording this from the mobile Podmobile outside of, you guessed it, a Subway sandwich franchise. We're scoping things out. Good cop, bad cop on the beat. Watch in the patrons go in and out. I might do a stop and frisk and see what kind of sandwich they made.
00:01:09
thinkfresh
A stop and toast, if you will. A stop and toast, yes. Dude, it's been a minute since we've eaten out of the way, and I gotta say, I don't miss that one bit. I know, we should go a minute longer. Yeah, I'm happy to do 25 minutes longer. Perfect. We won't be eating there after the episode either, just in case you were wondering. Far too full from the cup of soup I just slurped up.
00:01:34
thinkfresh
Try to add more sound facts to our podcast. It's hard. We're not really a we're not really a that animated. No, definitely not. um What's new in your lifetime? What's going on? Oh, man. So let's see here. I just learned some interesting news about the way. Would you like to hear it?
00:01:53
thinkfresh
Yes way. Yes way.
Subway's Global Expansion Plans
00:01:55
thinkfresh
No way. So Subway has announced this week, Eric, that they are planning over the next year or two to open 10,000 new locations. Subway is opening 10,000 new locations this year. They're gonna open a couple thousand this year. This is probably like a four year plan, to be honest, but They're hoping to have 10,000 franchises. There's more than enough. I don't don't know the numbers, but there's more than enough. I can drive to at least 20 subways without looking at Google Maps. That's how many there are.
00:02:36
thinkfresh
Like I can just just drive to 20 of them. Bro, you just drive three blocks from here and you'll cross four by accident. They find you. They do find you yeah at your lowest usually. yeah facts It's in every way you go. So that's kind of surprising because they have roughly 44,000 locations to date.
00:02:57
thinkfresh
assuming mean they haven't made any new ones since we last talked about that number. So that's like a big jump. That's 20% more, 25% more. yeah so Huge. What's leading the charge here? Because last I heard, ty their sales were dwindling. That's what I heard too. They were holding emergency meetings. the Their profits are shrinking. The footlong is the same size. um I think what's what's going on here eric is they're realizing that we are kind of washed as a brand in North America. no So these 10,000 locations, some of them will be in existing markets like France and United States and wherever they have it. um But they're mostly interested in entering new markets. And the markets in particular that they announced were Uruguay.
00:03:46
thinkfresh
Oh. And Mongolia. Muy bien. Yeah. I'm so confused, though, because there's no way they can squeeze 10,000 subways into. I know Mongolia is a big country, but there's not that many people there. Who's going to go to this?
00:04:02
thinkfresh
I don't even know what the Mongols eat. Like, I don't know what their typical diet is, but I doubt it's 12 inches of meat, cheese, and bread. Yeah, I guess. I just googled it. And just like every other place on earth consists of dairy products, meat, and animal fats. That's basically what I just said. So maybe we're okay. um The Mongolian diet is far from being called healthy, according to LupinePublishers.com.
00:04:32
thinkfresh
This is the Genghis Khan era of food, so it's unclear. Wait, what do you mean it's far from being healthy? That's just what this article said, which I'm not gonna read. It's just a snippet I found. Okay, fair enough. But if that's the case, then they've probably struck gold. Yeah, for sure.
Mongolia's Market Potential for Subway
00:04:50
thinkfresh
They're like, wait, you guys have a far from healthy. Dude, they're like, fuck, how have we not tapped this market before? Dude, wow, the holy grail of fast food. Dude, it's like throwing a stake into ah like a line pit. like You're just going to have fucking hordes of people lining up at Subway. That's pretty awesome. Dude, that makes a lot of sense then, because like I said, I think the population of Mongolia is really small. It's 3.4 million people. Wow. So that's like same as Vancouver, right? I think so. So imagine 10,000 Subways in just Vancouver.
00:05:26
thinkfresh
So, okay, you're you're doing some math here, 3.4 million divided by... Let's assume that every single one of the subways ends up in Mongolia because of their the the very, very hungry, very, very fat Mongol people. oh That's one subway for over 340 civilians.
00:05:48
thinkfresh
pretty impressive that sounds like a lunch rush to me no kidding yeah dude that's uh that's a lot of footloans every day just for my sanity can you do 3.4 million times 12 yeah of course you want to know how many inches we're talking i want to know how many inches that is per day assuming they eat once a day 40,800,000 inches. Hell yeah, dude. They're circling the earth eight times a day there. that is some Those are some big numbers they're putting up. Wow. Big people. So maybe the Subway CEO has finally woken up and is realizing like, we got to tap new markets. We've run the American market dry, the Canadian market.
00:06:29
thinkfresh
pretty much damn near every market. Dude, the problem with the American market is no one is thinking about subway anymore. Every single conversation is always Shake Shack versus In-N-Out, Shake Shack versus In-N-Out. Dude, the age-old question. It's going to go down in ah history books as like the great debate of our time. and well It's the new talking about the weather for the bi-coastal elites. Exactly. it's It's really just a race war hidden in plain sight. Are you team West Coast or East Coast? Exactly.
00:06:58
thinkfresh
Dude, I had to just look up some common Mongolian cuisine like meals just to rest assured that they're like not just eating junk food. And it doesn't sound like it. I'm looking at your screen and not a single word is like legible. I know, but there's some pretty funny names for their dishes. like They eat something just called buzz, which is steamed dumplings with minced meat, and they eat something called boo dog. How long is it? What do you mean? like How many inches? Is it a hot dog?
00:07:28
thinkfresh
It's a boo dog. No shit, but is it a of sausage or some kind? Dude, I'll just describe it to you. A unique dish where an animal, usually a ghost, goat or a marmot, is cooked from the inside out with heated stones placed inside its body. That sounds like torture to me. Dios amigo. I've never heard of that concept, to cook from the inside out.
00:07:51
thinkfresh
that that ist but like The Western mind cannot even fathom him how we would do that. yeah The only way I know how to do that is to put the steak on low heat because that cooks the inside, but I'm not inverting the steak. That's the next level animal domination. Not only are we killing and cooking an animal, but we're cooking it inside out. don't like The closest I can think of this in Western cuisine is when you get the meatball sub and toasted.
00:08:22
thinkfresh
because you got this hot stone-like object entering a cold sandwich and then by the time you have first bite that heat is dissipated um and kind of distributed amongst the entire meal. No, I totally agree man. ah Another one is the debunked pizza sub.
00:08:42
thinkfresh
Yeah. It's kind of, sub's kind of the same thing it's kind of backwards, isn't it? It's a little, dude, it's a little backwards. Like the fact that they had the sauce and cheese on top. Just twist the little thing. Okay. That's ah a really funny sentence. youll just let that soon a second I know. I'm pretty half proud of myself. They call it the pizza sub, but it's that sub way. They should invert the language and make it sub pizza.
00:09:12
thinkfresh
Okay. I don't know. i and um It's wordplay. It is. You're playing with the words.
00:09:21
thinkfresh
They say don't play with your food or words. That's right. So based on the two things you just talked about, Tai, it sounds like Mongolian food is kind of a mix of Chinese food and Russian food.
00:09:34
thinkfresh
That would make so much sense. Geographically speaking, it's at the intersection of art and design. Mm-hmm. It is this fusion food between two world powers. Wow. They're stuck in the middle with you. Wow. They are inside. the they are the They are the meat in the sandwich of Russia and China. Wow. Dude, Ukraine could only dream of having such strength.
00:10:04
thinkfresh
I don't know. That's a ah tricky job to be the intermediary between those two. I would imagine that Mongolian politics are very, very very challenging. very neutral very neutral and They try not to say too much. I feel like they don't care about politics. They're more focused on eating boondogs or whatever. yeah boonogs Yeah. If I was a Mongolian, I would also just be like, yeah, whatever you guys say, you guys got the nukes.
00:10:29
thinkfresh
i mean It's kind of crazy because thousands of years ago, they were the US and Mexico of the Eastern world. you're right China built the wall. right Stay out. That's right. They're the reason that we got the first border wall. That's kind of wild when you think about it.
00:10:49
thinkfresh
so like Will the Canada, no, sorry, the Mexico USA border become the next Great Wall? Absolutely not, dude, because we don't live in a time where people make great artifacts like architecture anymore. Like the American Mexico border wall at its best will be made of barbed wire and like just like metal fencing. Yeah, it's not going to be exactly like the subway, actually, if you think about it.
00:11:16
thinkfresh
it it will look exactly like the subway because the subway we're looking at has like sheet metal for a kind of decor a motif so i don't know it's possible that the uh it'll be flimsy yeah like one more hurricane and it's going down exactly So I don't think that it will be ever remembered unless it's actually made from like large stone blocks layered up to create a castle-like structure. That would be pretty cool. That's a wall I can get behind or on top of. Yeah, you'll have to get behind it, Ty. That's the whole point. That's true. um Take a side. Wow. So, okay. So Mongolia, probably a gold mine for Subway.
Why Uruguay for Subway's Expansion?
00:11:59
thinkfresh
um you know, praying for their success. So they stay alive. So we have something to talk about. yeah But Uruguay, is there any reason why they would choose that other than the simple fact that there is no current subways there?
00:12:16
thinkfresh
I don't really know. I think they're pretty established in other areas of Brazil and Argentina and Chile. So it makes sense to just move into neighboring countries. That's how imperialism works, right? Spreading like a disease. One border at a time. That's true. But I also get the vibe that like Uruguayans are very patriotic in the culinary sense. you know I mean, they stick to their um traditional foods. This is a total assumption, by the way, but their food is so good. I imagine that they would. Why would you eat anything else? It's like Italians like we just eat Italian food. It's the best food.
00:12:54
thinkfresh
So why, it's like if Subway opens in Italy, which it has, I'm not surprised no one eats there because why would you? Nona's got the better panini. That's true. Shout out to Nona. um You're right about Italy and Italy does have great regional cuisine. So good that there's millions of Italian restaurants and it even inspired Subway itself to make a sandwich.
00:13:20
thinkfresh
But I don't know about any cuisine from Uruguay that's made its way into popular culture. like There's no Uruguay restaurants. I'm not talking about popular popular culture, though. I'm talking about like regional preference.
00:13:34
thinkfresh
Like if you were a Uruguayan and you're thinking like, what do I want to eat tonight? You're probably just going to go get an empanada or like some dish that you've eaten your eat whole life because it's the best thing that you can get. Right. Why would you take a risk on a sandwich chain from Connecticut?
00:13:52
thinkfresh
That's a really good point. Like you're sticking to, it looks like they eat something called asado, which is real beef, or chavito, which is a popular sandwich with beef ham, mozzarella, lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise. Si, si, claro. Have you had a chavito before? No. Me either. Dude, we should try to recreate this here. It's often considered Uruguay's national sandwich, the chavito. We've never even had it.
00:14:16
thinkfresh
javito poppi two This is what they're competing with, though. This is what you're trying to say, right? Exactly. Dude, it's the BMT versus Chafito. It's the In-N-Out versus Shake Shack. And it also sounds like they're gatekeeping these grails of ah of a dish, you know what I mean? Because I've never heard of half of these. I'm looking down the list. I've heard of empanadas, of course. Mm-hmm. I've never...
00:14:37
thinkfresh
Mate, I've heard of Mate. Mate, yeah, of course. From the Yerba plant. Of course, Yerba Mate. Wine and beer is cool. yeah That's an option. That's crazy that and we're looking up a list of the top five types of food that Uruguayans eat and one of them is just wine and beer. Very cool, very cool. I would love to try their food. i would I would also try to travel there at some point because I saw Anthony Bourdain go there. He loved it.
00:15:06
thinkfresh
um He was kind of shocked at how good it was. No way. Which is kind of, creeper it would be my reaction as well. Cause I just don't know anything about it. Yeah. So yeah, weird move for a subway, honestly. It doesn't seem that weird now that we're talking about it simply because there is a, a, like a national interest in sandwiches. That is true. And that might just be enough to convert a few progressive, your wins.
00:15:37
thinkfresh
Yeah, maybe. I mean, meat between bread unifies all, you know? That's true. Just like Mongolia is the meat between Russia and China. Exactly. It's the meat between rice and bread. Yeah. Whoa.
00:15:54
thinkfresh
But yeah, man, that's that's awesome. We've got to try this you're going sandwich. No, I'm trying to figure out where we can cop one here in Vancouver. Like we could obviously recreate a sad version of it. Like 20 feet from us in the next 10 minutes. But I don't have a list of ingredients and yeah in the image. No image but beef ham wants a lettuce tomato mayo. It's pretty simple. They love their beef in Uruguay. It's central to their diet.
00:16:18
thinkfresh
Dude, thank God for Reddit, Ty. Because I just looked up a thread that says, you're going VC-ers, where can I get an authentic Canadian Chivito? Great question. And um there's no responses. Oh, shit, no comments. Not a single response four months ago. We might have to make our own. Damn. Well, OK, I did another Google, and apparently El Camino's has one. Oh, OK.
00:16:43
thinkfresh
I didn't realize El Camino's was, had any Uruguayan food at all. I've been there a few times and never, I just, am I, I'm bad to just just assume it's just like Spanish. Yeah. I mean, not far off. Yeah. Fair enough. Dude, it looks like a good sandwich. I'm looking at photos of it right now. Yum. Kind of looks like a, like a bacon, egg, and cheese, but like cracked out. Yeah. 100%. A BLT that like is on Royds. Hmm.
00:17:13
thinkfresh
Wow, lovely. Very lovely. um Now I'm salivating. My bay wants to plan a trip to South America at some point, probably the next year or so. Soon. Uruguay has always been like a want to visit on that list. So I think even more now I want to try it. We'll have to figure out how to do that. My bay is like Sao Paulo pilled as well right now. Really? Yeah, because we have some in-laws in-laws in south america in brazil so the goal is to go visit them sometime in the next couple of years yeah dude i was about to ask like is there like
00:17:52
thinkfresh
I don't know, like ah Love is Blind Brazil or something that I'm not watching? Because all these girls are want to go to South America. Oh shit, there probably is. Oh no. They're watching too long to handle. Rio version. Fuck. Those guys are probably so ripped. I don't stand a chance. Babe, it's not going to be like that when we visit. There's normal people there too. Yeah. Fuck. Well, regardless.
00:18:16
thinkfresh
I mean, we'll be pretty blessed as well. There's some fine ladies there. I imagine it's true. If she runs away, I'll have options, got options. Don't forget it. Um, what else is new time? Oh, actually real quick on the subway opening new places, they're closing them here.
Challenges in North American Market
00:18:35
thinkfresh
Like a friend of the show.
00:18:38
thinkfresh
recently sent us an article that was saying like one is closing in Victoria. I like the pause there where you like redacted the name. Front of the show.
00:18:51
thinkfresh
yeah Yeah, so yeah, they're dropping like they black olives around this neighborhood. can't They can't compete with the local chains. Exactly. People just don't care about Subway anymore like they used to. I actually think it's kind of like a war on handhelds, to be honest. and I think it's like in general, the fork and knife establishments are like they're cleaning up around here.
00:19:13
thinkfresh
and don't I don't know what's up with that. I think people just want to be serviced. They don't want to DIY it. Could it be a national shift towards being germaphobes post COVID? This is a post COVID society where touching your food is a no-no if you're in a first world country.
00:19:29
thinkfresh
Yeah, I think that's like a symptom of it. But I think that's also like a derivative problem that comes from just the shift to knowledge worker economy as well. Like we're not getting the blue collar boys in here as much as they used to be because they don't exist. We have an Amazon campus now. Like we have Deloitte's got a giant tower. You think the Deloitte guys want to go to Subway? Well, they probably do.
00:19:52
thinkfresh
They want to, deep down, but they know they have to get the consultant bull. That's true. It's part of the brand. Yeah, exactly. so You can only eat so many consultant bulls. It makes me realize, actually, is there a subset of the male identity? like What subset? Subset. Whoa. um like Some variation of the of men that don't go to Subway?
00:20:16
thinkfresh
Because it's all the blue collar guys, all the tech workers actually probably do. like I know some of the developers at the plant have talked about that in length, so my Amazon argument's out the door. But is there like a group of guys that just don't go? Great question, Ty. Do gay guys like Subway? They love Footlong. um I walked into that one immediately. I don't know, man. I don't know. I don't know. This is this is tough because a lot of people will say they don't want to go.
00:20:45
thinkfresh
but deep down they do. You know what I mean? Like elite types. Like people who think they're too good for the way will say like, I would never eat there. I'd rather just eat at a mom and pop sandwich shop or, or Jimmy John's or something like that. No, that's all social signaling. They're exactly they're they're lying to your face.
00:21:02
thinkfresh
That's what I'm saying. They probably still do want to go. So is there a group that truly never went and will not go and doesn't want to? I can see you growing out of it in old age. Like you hit 80 years old and you're just like, I can't take it anymore. Like you may literally die if you try to digest it at that point.
00:21:20
thinkfresh
But you're not like completely annexed from Subway. like You still had a lifetime that you got to share with it and grow together. It truly helped you grow physically larger.
00:21:34
thinkfresh
um So I don't even know if that counts. I know who's not eating there. Who? Doctors. Oh, oh shit. Doctors and dentists. Yeah, you're right. You're absolutely right. They can't have any kind of stench on their hands when they return to work. It's not safe. You're not even the stench, dude. It's unhealthy. fuck i think the time I was thinking more like you can't return to work smelling like the way because like you're going to be operating on somebody and they be like they're wake up from their deep slumber. Can I get a bite? Lunch is ready. Exactly. But yeah, you're right. The health effects might be enough to turn the prudent consumer away. Like, I don't know how many dentists or doctors recommend Subway. I don't think it's nine out of 10 or four out of five. Exactly.
00:22:27
thinkfresh
Wow. Huh. But then, like, you know how, like, so many nurses smoke? Like, so many, like, so many, help hits yeah, I live by a hospital. They're constantly just like sucking back big drags of cigarettes in the alley outside because it's a stressful job. Makes sense. You need an outlet.
00:22:45
thinkfresh
I guess so. And nurses, like, they haven't, like, they don't have a PhD. And so they may not have gotten to that chapter yet where it says smoking's bad. Yeah, 100. It could be just a lack of education. Like, they they haven't made it all the way. Right, right. and they're So doctors are like, I learned about this in school, bad, bad. But the nurses, like, they haven't gotten that far yet. Yeah, dude the nurses, so even though like the doctors in residence, they're still learning, right? Exactly.
00:23:14
thinkfresh
Yeah, it could be that, but I also just think there's something that's like a little cheeky about advice when you know you shouldn't. Oh, dude, it makes it all that much better. And our and ah good healthcare care workers, nurses, including they go through so much trauma that they don't have the means of processing because they're trained to like physically heal, not mentally. So a cigarette will do that. And I think a foot long could fulfill the same job.
00:23:39
thinkfresh
I don't know, dude. I think all that sodium will get you, your heart racing even more so just to like get it out of your system. So I don't know. I think, I think if you were already going through something traumatic and you down to 12 inches, you might just hit the end. the metal Yeah, you're right. Imagine if like your brain surgeon is visibly shaking because he got the meat sweats from lunch. Yeah, it's not very sanitary. No, it's not at all.
00:24:08
thinkfresh
There's like eight trucks just like pulled up. What's going on here? It's chaos around here. Absolute chaos. It's quite interesting to watch. Oh, it's really unfolding right before our eyes. That's right. Well, Ty, it's we're nearing the end, but I have to get this topic out because we've pushed it away like three or four times now. And I know, you know, big ice pack doesn't want to talk about it, but we will. Dude, the people need to know. It's the Arrow 1 $30 ice.
The Luxury Ice Cube Controversy
00:24:39
thinkfresh
hang Yeah. Okay. This has been, I've been thinking about this every day since I learned about it. And I got to say, and there's so many things here that piss me off, but a lot of things that I'm just, you know, where do I tap the debit card? You know, dude, you want, you want to cop the $30 ice pack. There's only eight ice cubes in this penny pound ice balls ice pack. And that would make it four bucks a ball.
00:25:08
thinkfresh
four bucks a ball four bucks a ball that's cheaper than the meatballs at subway i guess yeah i mean dude there's nothing better than taking a swig of your nagroni and looking down at a perfectly spherical clear cube or a sphere that is like just beautifully crafted keeping your drink cold and signaling to others that you are a man of taste one hundred you don't fuck around with um Bullshit crushed ice from Starbucks. Yeah, I mean you're you're somebody who? Is willing to go the extra mile for quality you won't you believe that ice cubes should have integrity? Mm-hmm and I if you're hosting and you don't have the spherical cocktail ice balls with a Z You're not living not a very good host. No your trash host
00:25:54
thinkfresh
Yeah. so Dude, I am 100% down for these ice cubes. I know they're getting a lot of heat, which maybe be makes them melt on TikTok. like They're blowing up on TikTok. These things are so like in the zeitgeist right now. Because people just don't understand. How can they cost $32? But you know what I say to that?
00:26:16
thinkfresh
Um, how come your ice cubes are free? It must be low quality and the maybe from sewage water. Yeah. We're comparing something free to something that is like outrageous, expensive. Yeah, totally. But you know what though, like I listened to an interview from the founder of this ice cube company and he said, he said it in one sentence, just to completely describe why he makes these very, very expensive ice cubes. Did he say, get your money at broke boy?
00:26:46
thinkfresh
more or less. He said, you wouldn't put regular unleaded in a Lamborghini. Oh, let's go. So he's like, you buy in this like $80 dollar bottle of whiskey and you're gonna, what? Water it down with tap water? Put that Flint, Michigan in there. Put the Flint in there, yeah.
00:27:05
thinkfresh
And then it just clicked for me. I'm like, duh, the ice cube is such an important part of the beverage. And that's how like they think about it in New York cocktail bars, which are inspired by Japanese cocktail bars, which think of ice as a part of the drink, not just an afterthought.
00:27:26
thinkfresh
So it it all kind of makes sense to me. So I'm completely game for these. And I think they should be a regular a regular feature in my freezer. I totally agree. um The only thing that this type of ice does not service is like if you're paid by weekly week two and you got a ice soup.
00:27:45
thinkfresh
you're like you're not saving any money by getting the cocktail ice no i wouldn't put these in ice soup unless it was a special occasion unless it was like a pre you know preemie for the for the main course yeah it's for valentine's day yeah But i'm I'm super down for these. there Also, the reason they're so expensive, Eric, is a few different reasons. And I'll tell you why before we end this episode, please. One of them is obviously better water. They use super crisp, super clear, extremely well filtered water. It's poured hot and slow into a special freezing container that pulls out any impurities as it freezes. And it takes, I think, like three days to freeze.
00:28:29
thinkfresh
Wow. And then it's cut by hand with a band saw in order to create the shape. um So they actually have an artisan like sanding down this bad boy to get it just right before they package it and send it your way. um But the last reason that these ice balls are so good is because Eric, they are made with ligma.
00:28:53
thinkfresh
off. You know what that is? I'm not saying it. Oh, come on. Dude, nice try. Ah, shit. Dude, you have to do way better than that. Well, that ends this episode of Red Heads. Thank you for listening. All right. Think fresh, everybody. Ciao.