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☕ DrinkCoffeeAndProfit
Smart money moves before breakfast
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· · · Partner Message · · ·
Company milestone
The company behind the EarnPhone, 490M+ users and $115M+ in revenue has reserved its ticker symbol ahead of a planned listing. The pre-IPO round is still open to retail investors.
Reserving a ticker is the step a private company takes when it intends to go public. Mode Mobile has stated an intent to list within the next 18 to 24 months. An intent to IPO is not a guarantee that one will occur, but it signals where the company is headed.
For now, the company is still private. Shares in the Regulation A+ offering are $0.52 each, with up to 20% bonus shares for early investors. More than 60,000 investors have already participated. The $0.52 share price deadline, after which the current price will not stay open.
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490M+
users
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$115M+
revenue
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32,481%
3-yr growth
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invest.modemobile.com
This is a paid advertisement for Mode Mobile’s Regulation A+ offering. Please read the offering circular and related risks at invest.modemobile.com. Mode Mobile recently received their ticker reservation with Nasdaq ($MODE), indicating an intent to IPO in the next 24 months. An intent to IPO is no guarantee that an actual IPO will occur. The Deloitte rankings are based on submitted applications and public company database research, with winners selected based on their fiscal-year revenue growth percentage over a three-year period. *Mode revenue and EBITDA numbers includes full year revenue and EBITDA of businesses acquired in 2025. Investing involves a high degree of risk, including the possible loss of your entire investment.
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Inspiration Quote for the Day
“The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.”
— Henry David Thoreau
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The Morning Ritual
Your Grill Is Costing You More Than It Did Last Fourth of July. And the Farmer Is Not the One Keeping the Money.
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I was at the grocery store yesterday afternoon, loading the cart for tomorrow. Ground beef, buns, chicken breasts, a bag of chips, strawberries for the kids. The kind of run you do on autopilot every July. Then I looked at the receipt. `$78` and change. For burgers and sides.
My wife looked at it and said, “That used to be a `$50` trip.” She was right. And the American Farm Bureau just put numbers on exactly how right she was.
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In One Sip
► The classic Fourth of July cookout for `10` people costs `$73.82` in 2026, per the American Farm Bureau. That is the highest price since the survey started in 2016.
► Two pounds of ground beef hit `$14.06`. Up `5.5%` from last year. Record high in the survey.
► The National Retail Federation says the average American will spend `$94.41` on Fourth of July food this year. Total holiday food spending: `$9.4` billion.
► The one break: gas is at `$3.84` nationally, down from `$4.29` a month ago. That helps the drive. It does not help the checkout line.
► After expenses, farmers receive less than `6` cents of every food dollar you spend. The rest goes to processing, packaging, transport, and retail. Your burger got more expensive. The rancher did not get richer.
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Why It Matters for Your Money
Start with the meat. Two pounds of ground beef: `$14.06`. Three pounds of pork chops: `$14.79`. Two pounds of chicken breasts: `$8.06`. The proteins alone run nearly `$37` before you buy a single bun or slice of cheese.
A full backyard spread with drinks costs closer to `$161` for ten guests, per Wells Fargo’s Agri-Food Institute. That is `$16` a head. Some restaurants charge less for a plated lunch.
Now multiply. If you host twice this summer and attend two other cookouts where you bring a side dish and a case of drinks, you are looking at `$250` to `$350` in grill-season spending that never shows up in your budget. Nobody writes “summer cookouts” in a spreadsheet. That is exactly why it adds up.
The broader backdrop: overall inflation hit `4.2%` over the twelve months ending in May. The cookout basket rose `4%`, tracking almost perfectly. Your grocery bill is not outpacing inflation. It is inflation.
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The Wealth Angle
I think the Farm Bureau number everybody should memorize is not the `$73.82`. It is the `6` cents. For every dollar you spend on food, the person who raised the animal or grew the crop keeps less than six cents after expenses. The other `94` cents goes to everyone between the farm gate and your plate.
That spread has been widening for decades. In 1990, the farmer’s share was closer to `30` cents. It tells you something about where the margin lives in the food system: not with the people covered in dirt.
For your wallet, the practical takeaway is that beef prices will not ease soon. The U.S. cattle herd dropped to `86.2` million head in January, per the USDA. Drought and a new screwworm outbreak in Texas are tightening supply further. When supply shrinks and demand stays firm, the price only goes one direction. Plan your grocery budget through fall accordingly.
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☕ Key Insight:
Your Fourth of July cookout just set a record at `$73.82` for ten people. But the farmer who raised the beef kept less than `6` cents of every dollar you spent. The price went up. The money went sideways.
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Coffee Break Move
If you are comfortable: Chicken thighs are running about `30%` cheaper per pound than breasts right now. Swap the cut, keep the protein, redirect the savings into next month’s grocery line in your budget. You will not taste the difference in barbecue sauce.
If you are stretched: Write down every cookout-related purchase between now and Labor Day. All of them. The cooler, the charcoal, the extra trips to the store for ice. Most families spend `$250` to `$350` on summer grilling without tracking a dime. You cannot cut what you cannot see.
I pulled the receipt out of my pocket this morning and folded it next to the coffee maker. `$78`. Tomorrow the grill fires up. The burgers will taste the same as they did ten years ago. The math behind them will not.
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