🦃 An expensive Thanksgiving

PLUS: 300+ readers recently launched businesses. November 24, 2021 [The Hustle]( If you don’t already know, The Hustle has a membership & community for folks wanting to learn about how to build & grow a business -- Trends. This Black Friday, Trends is partnering with a squad of handpicked creators to give our members access to some of the most popular business-building courses around, free of charge. Not already a member? You’re in luck -- we’re also offering you [your first year of Trends for $100 off](. Last thing -- we’re taking a break the rest of the week. See you Sunday! Today’s rundown: - Not so thankful: Thanksgiving is looking a lot pricier this year. - It’s showtime: A deep dive into the economics of Broadway. - Our readers rock: 300+ of them launched businesses during the pandemic. Learn about some below. Let’s do it. The big idea [cooked turkey]( Thanksgiving will be more expensive this year. What gives? The busiest phone line this week will almost certainly be the Turkey Talk-Line. Operated by Butterball -- which claims to sell ⅓ of Thanksgiving [turkeys]( -- the line will field 100k+ calls related to cooking time and stuffing best practices. It’ll probably hear a few of these questions, too: “Yo, why is everything so expensive this year?” Prices for Thanksgiving favorites… … are [up across the board](, compared to the first week of November 2020: - Thanksgiving meats (+7.4%) - Sides (+6.3%) - Pies (+4.7%) The price increases come as grocers deal with supply chain issues while trying to meet rising demand. Thanksgiving was a subdued affair in 2020 Smaller gatherings led to demand for smaller birds. This year, people are looking to get festive. About 36% of consumers are planning for a dinner with 10+ people; this is ~2x more than 2020 (19%) and nearly on par with 2019 (40%), per [The Wall Street Journal](. Larger turkeys are back in the mix but there’s a shortage of some real necessities like pie crust, cream cheese, cranberry sauce, and -- please, no -- liquid gravy. There could still be deals Bloomberg notes that many shoppers stocked up early this year. Prices may wane today as grocers discount any excess inventory. So if you told your family, “don’t worry, I’ll put Thanksgiving together at the very last second,” you may actually come out ahead. And if you need recipe inspiration, the experts at Butterball’s Turkey Talk-Line have you covered: For the first time, they are spreading their magic on [TikTok](. [Share on Facebook]( [Share on Twitter]( [Send as email to a friend](mailto:?subject=The%20Hustle%20wrote%20something%20I%20think%20you%27ll%20like...%0A&body=Thanksgiving+will+be+more+expensive+this+year.+What+gives%3F%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fthehustle.co%2F11242021-Thanksgiving-dinner-inflation%3Futm_campaign%3DWednesday%2BEmail%26utm_content%3D11242021-Thanksgiving-dinner-inflation%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Ddaily%0A%0AYou%20can%20subscribe%20with%20my%20link%20here%20to%20get%20the%20latest%20in%20tech%20and%20business%20daily:%0A [View on our website]( SNIPPETS Tile’s new owner: Tile, whose bluetooth trackers keep track of millions of belongings, got [acquired]( for $205m by Life360, a location-sharing app. Gigantic Niantic: The AR company that built the tech behind Pokemon Go, [raised]( $300m at a $9B valuation. Everything’s bigger in Texas: Samsung [announced]( it has chosen Taylor, Texas, as the location to build its $17B chip factory. Spare some change: Jeff Bezos [donated]( $100m to the Obama Foundation, with no restrictions on what the funds can be used for. Finally: Google [rolled out]( a new messaging feature that shows iMessage reactions as emojis, making Apple-Android texting a little less of a pain. --------------------------------------------------------------- Hey — enjoy getting quick updates on what you care about? Take [20 seconds]( to personalize your Snippets. Pick your preferences👇 and we’ll send you more of what you love. Boom. [Personalize my Email →]( It’s Showtime [gross revenue of Broadway]( What are the economics of Broadway shows? Though megahits like “The Lion King” or “Hamilton” happen every few years, the formula for Broadway success remains elusive. In terms of revenue, Broadway was as healthy as ever before the pandemic struck: - Revenues have increased every year since 1985-86 - Annual attendance has shot up from 6.5m (1984-85) to 14.7m (2019) From 2018-19, the average income of Broadwaygoers was $261k -- roughly 4x the median household income in the US. We wanted to dive deeper. Who invests in these shows? How much do they cost to operate? How much money do they bring in? To find out, we researched statistics dating back to the 1920s and spoke with several insiders about production, theater ownership, and the difficulty of predicting a hit. [Read the full story →]( Free Resource 5 social media strategies you’re sleeping on Great social media marketers can make the gig look so easy. Some people have that creative knack for cranking out quippy memes and tweet threads. Some just have good taste, and do their damn homework. We’re here to help. With the homework part. Blog post: [5 ways to make content that slaps on socials]( If you haven’t considered leveraging micro-influencers on TikTok or having your CEO do storytime, here are some underrated ideas. These scroll-stopping techniques are backed with recent data, bolstered with personal insights, and brought to you by HubSpot. [Lowkey bangers →]( pandemic launches [working on a laptop]( Our readers launched 300+ businesses during the pandemic When the world screeched to a halt in the spring of 2020, most people paused with it -- but a brave few sprung to action. We asked if anyone had launched a new venture during the pandemic, and 300+ of you responded with your stories. Businesses spread across industries, with most falling into: - Food & beverage (10.8%) - Retail (7%) - Apparel & fashion (5.1%) Why launch during the pandemic? Founders cited a number of reasons: - “Pet adoption rates were at an all-time high, and I knew that once the country opened back up, people would need sitting services.” (-- Amber Kelly, [Beach Buddies](, dog walking and pet sitting in DE) - “Both my wife and I were laid off [during the pandemic] and we had always wanted to start our own business, so it was the perfect time.” (-- Brad Abell, [Littlest Babe](, a baby products company) A ton of other really cool businesses emerged: - [Made by Koa](: a bedding company solving the age-old problem of changing duvet covers - [Deskvana](: a meditation and breathwork app that integrates with Slack - [Hampr](: an on-demand app for laundry service - [Dovey](: a virtual dating site for long-distance couples - [Minimalist Chocolate](: an ethical, guilt-free chocolate brand - [Terra Karta](: a company that flips and sells lots of vacant land To read the full story, including revenue and fundraising data, click [here](. [Share on Facebook]( [Share on Twitter]( [Send as email to a friend](mailto:?subject=The%20Hustle%20wrote%20something%20I%20think%20you%27ll%20like...%0A&body=Our+readers+launched+300%2B+businesses+during+the+pandemic%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fthehustle.co%2Fentrepreneurs-of-the-covid-19-pandemic%2F%0A%0AYou%20can%20subscribe%20with%20my%20link%20here%20to%20get%20the%20latest%20in%20tech%20and%20business%20daily:%0A [View on our website]( Podcast Dr. Andrew Huberman’s meteoric rise to fame Sam and Shaan are starstruck. The Stanford professor and neuroscience expert wants to optimize you. He’s known for breaking down all kinds of health topics, especially related to how our brain controls health, behavior, and perception. It’s why his podcast became a chart-topper in less than 10 months. The boys unravel his brain. The doc doesn’t disappoint. My First Million show highlights: - [Meet Dr. Andrew Huberman]( - [On his fast rise to fame and wealth]( - [3 simple steps for better health and focus]( - [“The nutrition space is a disaster”]( - [Why he continues to teach]( [Listen here →]( AROUND THE WEB ✈️ On this day: In 1971, the infamous D.B. Cooper [parachuted]( from a plane he’d hijacked with $200k in ransom money, leaving behind only speculation into who he was and what happened to him. 🗿 That’s cool: Here’s [a map]( of every UNESCO World Heritage Site in the world. 👂 How to: Deep or active listening can be an important tool for understanding others, especially if you’re coming from opposite sides. Here’s [how]( to do it. 🍄 Wait, what: Using a particular [fungus](, researchers have been able to derive a wild strawberry scent from trash. This knowledge could be used to sustainably produce aromas and flavors. 💲 Savings: Here is a roundup of 100+ Black Friday deals from D2C brands, curated by [The Fascination](. 🤗 Cure boredom: [This website]( will take you to a random livestreamer who has no other viewers. 🍰 Aww: Here’s a stop-motion video of animator Andrea Love baking a tiny cake made entirely out of wool. It is [adorable](. Meme of the day [Thanksgiving meme] Source: [Good Housekeeping]( How did you like today’s email? Refer friends. Help us grow. Get cool stuff 🤠Share The Hustle with your custom referral link: [ Your referral count: 0 Today's email was brought to you by [Trung Phan](, [Jacob Cohen](, [Juliet Bennett Rylah](, [Rob Litterst](. Editing by: Zachary “Emptied my wallet on a turkey” Crockett. [PODCAST]( [JOBS]( [CONTACT US](mailto:news@thehustle.co) [Facebook]( [Youtube]( [Instagram]( [Trends]( 25 FIRST ST. 2ND FLOOR, CAMBRIDGE, MA 02141, UNITED STATES  +1 888 482 7768 Never want to hear from us again? 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