Business Wars

It’s 1982, and after months of bitter fighting, Nolan Bushnell of Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza Time Theater and Robert Brock of ShowBiz Pizza Place finally strike a legal truce. With the video game market crashing and the novelty of their brands fading, Chuck E. Cheese faces mounting debt and is forced to file for bankruptcy. ShowBiz Pizza, also feeling the economic strain, realizes their only chance to survive is by merging with their former rival. But is combining forces enough to revive these ailing businesses? 

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It’s 1976, and Atari founder Nolan Bushnell is on a mission to launch a family arcade disguised as a pizza parlor. He comes up with a name that’s impossible not to smile at—“Chuck E. Cheese”—and combines pizza, video games, and animatronic entertainment. The chain quickly becoming the go-to destination for a generation of American kids. And as business takes off, hotel mogul Robert Brock sees the potential to franchise, but after feeling misled by Bushnell, he demands their contract be torn up. Brock goes on to create a rival chain called ShowBiz Pizza Place, pitting his bear mascot, Billy Bob, against Chuck E. Cheese’s scrappy rat in an all-out battle for pizza parlor supremacy.

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Get ready for a Business Wars pizza party! Sporkful podcast host Dan Pashman and Eater NYC reporter Melissa McCart join David to settle the years long debate: is East Coast pizza really better? Then, Dan goes out in the field to put hot honey pizza to the test. Plus, find out how foodies read the trends to determine whether a slice is all hype, or worth the wait.

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Beyond Meat and Impossible Burger boomed in the 2010s, but changing tastes have turned their sizzle into a fizzle. And as they continue to slide deeper into debt, these companies have struggled to get back on top of the plant-based food chain. . What’s next for these meatless giants? Jason Kartalian and Mike Keller, co-hosts of the podcast Vegan Hacks, join David to discuss the future of Beyond Meat, Impossible Burger, and the meatless meat market as a whole. 

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It’s 2022 and Kim Kardashian is chowing down on a Beyond Burger. But the Internet buzzes over whether she actually ate it. Meanwhile, after a boom in business during the pandemic, Americans are now cutting back on plant-based meats. And concerns are growing over their nutritional value. That creates a financial pinch for both Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat, and both companies will have to consider cutting the fat in their operations. Just as the industry looks like it's overcooked, one company revamps its recipe with health in mind. And the other adopts bolder, beefier, and bloodier brand. 

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It’s 2019 and plant-based meats are on fire. But they’re also under fire. Supporters of the beef industry start a food fight with the plant-based meat industry. It kicks off on Super Bowl Sunday, with an aggressive TV ad. But Pat Brown’s Impossible Foods fights back with an ad of its own. Meanwhile, Ethan Brown pushes Beyond Meat to grow at all costs. As debts mount, Ethan tries to get the king of burgers, McDonald’s, to bite on a new plant-based patty. And, as the heat turns up at both companies due to pandemic-induced demand for their products, some employees get queasy about their company’s founders.

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It’s 2016 and both Pat Brown’s Impossible Foods and Ethan Brown’s Beyond Meat are cooking up plant-based burgers for mass consumption. Ethan tries to woo Whole Foods executives to carry his Beyond Burger in their stores from coast-to-coast. Pat’s taking a different route. He’s asking celebrity chefs to put his Impossible Burger — a plant-based meat that bleeds — on their menus. Soon enough, fake meat gets truly famous. But as Beyond Meat tries to cash in on Wall Street and as Impossible Foods gets its patties into Burger King, meat-raising ranchers in America’s heartland are on the attack. 

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It's 2008 and two men, both vegans, ponder what they can do to improve the climate. Though they’re on separate sides of the country and in different professions (but they coincidentally share a last name)— Ethan Brown is in the fuel cell business and Pat Brown is a lauded Stanford biochemist — they land on the same solution. They’re going to try and lessen the climate impact of animal agriculture by making meat from plants. Ethan calls his company Beyond Meat and notches the first commercial breakthrough, a fake chicken strip. Pat is not far behind, and launches Impossible Foods two years later, setting off a heated rivalry. 

Listen to Business Wars on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. Experience all episodes ad-free and be the first to binge the newest season. Unlock exclusive early access by joining Wondery+ in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts. Start your free trial today by visiting wondery.com/links/business-wars/ now.

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From smash burgers to plant patties, this episode is serving up some of the biggest trends in the burger world, and examining whether they're here to stay. Later, David puts some of Southern California's most iconic burgers to the test with Josh Scherer and Nicole Enayati, co-hosts of Mythical Kitchen, and Eater LA Reporter Mona Holmes.

Listen to Business Wars on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. Experience all episodes ad-free and be the first to binge the newest season. Unlock exclusive early access by joining Wondery+ in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts. Start your free trial today by visiting wondery.com/links/business-wars/ now.

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Once upon a time, it was Anna Wintour’s world and we were all just living in it. Now, social media creators are starting to drive the conversation around fashion trends – while legacy magazines like Vogue figure out how to stay relevant, and avoid losing touch with their readers. Washington Post Style Writer Rachel Tashjian joins David to unpack the next wave of fashion journalism, and what the future of Vogue might look like. 

Listen to Business Wars on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. Experience all episodes ad-free and be the first to binge the newest season. Unlock exclusive early access by joining Wondery+ in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts. Start your free trial today by visiting wondery.com/links/business-wars/ now.

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