Subscribe to The Best Idea Yet here: https://wondery.com/links/the-best-idea-yet/Episodes drop every Tuesday, free to listen to wherever you get your pods.Break out the bubbly, turn on the jets, and hop into our Hot Tub Time Machine: we’re going back to the origins of the Jacuzzi. The world’s most iconic whirlpool has become a symbol of status and luxury—think Scarface’s bathtub. But its roots are humble, starting with a family of seven Italian immigrant brothers. Over three generations, they pivoted one technology from airplanes to agriculture to the 1st-ever modern hot tub. It’s also the story of overcoming tragedies, and a devoted father trying to save his young son’s life. Find out why family businesses actually end… why half a pivot is more like a flinch… and why the Jacuzzi is the best idea yet.Subscribe to The Best Idea Yet for the untold origin stories of the products you’re obsessed with, and the bold risk takers who brought them to life. https://wondery.com/links/the-best-idea-yet/—-----------------------------------------------------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/ 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 origin story of the Jacuzzi?
Yeti's Happy New Year. Jack and I, we are still on vacation, but we whipped up something special for you to kick off 2025. Today, we're serving up an episode of The Best Idea Yet. The Best Idea Yet, our weekly deep dive series where we cover the incredible untold stories behind the most viral products of all time.
And this one is the story of Jacuzzi, because Hot Tubs is just the start of what these seven Italian-American brothers created. We repeat, this is on Jacuzzi because you have no idea the story behind Jacuzzi.
Now, after this episode's over, subscribe to the show, The Best Idea Yet, to get episodes just like this every Tuesday.
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In the meantime, Jack, let's hit Jacuzzi.
You and Molly love popping up to Napa.
Yeah, we do pop up. That is like our verb of choice.
You're so right. But you know what's funny? Like when you're driving up to Napa and everyone's envisioning what it is, like this wine mecca of the world. Yeah. The first winery that you pass, when you make a right off a 101, it says the Jacuzzi Winery. It's got to be a typo. Well, you know, I saw that at first and I was like, well, this sounds like a fun idea.
Yeah, I would do a wine tasting in a hot tub. Not too shabby.
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Chapter 2: How did the Jacuzzi brothers pivot from aviation to hot tubs?
Yes, it does. Jack, this ain't no translation error. I mean, Jack and I did get curious about this Jacuzzi winery situation. Well, it turns out when you check out the ownership structure of this winery, it actually is the Jacuzzi family, like Jacuzzi Incorporated, Jack.
The Jacuzzi family, they're not just doing hot tubs and bubbles in hot water. No. They're doing bubbles in wine, too. Yeah, and the reason that the Jacuzzi family had so much money to buy a winery is because the Jacuzzi family created the most iconic product of its kind. What's so shocking about the Jacuzzi family to me isn't the number of family members. There were 13 siblings, by the way.
Good point. It's the number of different businesses they ran together. Because yetis, Jack and I love a pivot story. There are product pivots, there are use case pivots, there are marketing pivots. There are moving sofas up the staircase pivots. Ross with friends, if you know, you know. But besties, there is one pivot in particular that Jack and I have noticed is bigger than
than just all the others. It's bubbly, it's steamy, and it's part of your room upgrade at the Ramada because that pivot is the jacuzzi.
You know me. My name can send goosebumps up and down your spine, make you forget your troubles and put your mind completely at ease.
The name Jacuzzi is trademarked, but it's also used generically to mean any jet-powered hot tub. Yeah, Jack, it's become one of those things where you say the specific brand name to mean any make of that one thing. Like you got your ChapStick, you got your Band-Aid, you got your Tupperware, and... You got your jacuzzi. But this 20th century invention draws on 4,000-year-old traditions.
It is humans.
We've been soaking in hot springs since we stood on two legs from Japan to Mexico to Iceland. But it's jacuzzi that brought hydrotherapy into the modern era. creating a global market that's expected to surpass $6 billion by 2026. In fact, there is an estimated 26 million operational hot tubs around the world. And Jack, could you sprinkle on a little more hot context for us over there, please?
That is one hot tub for every Floridian, plus every Utahan. You can't forget about Utah. But the jacuzzi journey is about so much more than just kicking off your boots and soaking under the park city stars. Yeti's, this story's got everything. Fighter pilots... game shows, Scarface's bathtub, and seven brothers running this business together.
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Chapter 3: What challenges did the Jacuzzi family face?
And I'm Jack Kravici-Kramer. And this is The Best Idea Yet. The untold origin stories of the products you're obsessed with and the bold risk-takers who brought them to life.
I got that feeling again Something familiar but new We got it coming to you I got that feeling again
I would define reclaiming as to take back what was yours. Something you possess is lost or stolen, and ultimately you triumph in finding it again. Listen to Reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky wherever you get your podcasts.
Let's start this episode by easing into our hot tub time machine. Let's do it, Jack. I like it. We're standing on an athletic field, ringed by a racetrack, just steps from the San Francisco Bay. The air is thick with July summer heat and the buzz of propellers as a biplane takes flight. It's 1915, and we're at the Panama Pacific World's Fair in San Francisco.
Now, this 10-month expo, it's showcasing the best in technology, from steam locomotives to this newfangled airplane thingamajiggy. It's like CES for the Woodrow Wilson era. Yes, it is. And since it's 10 months long, 18 million people visit. Nick, that's a fifth of the U.S. population. That is huge. The people came to see a direct telephone line that connected San Francisco to New York.
No, you hang up. No, you hang up. And they also came to see a new form of travel that was still in its infancy. Airplanes.
Now the crowds are oohing and the crowds are aahing as they watch the stunt pilot of one of these aeroplanes in action. But there's one observer who's not so impressed.
He's a young mechanic who goes by the name Raquel Jacuzzi. He's working as an engineer and about to change aviation history. Little does he know, his family name will become synonymous with relaxation. Yeah, Rachele, he's an Italian immigrant.
13!
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Chapter 4: How did hydrotherapy influence the creation of the Jacuzzi?
In the meantime, he's working as an engineer for the future founder of the aerospace company, McDonnell Douglas. This guy is obsessed with flying. Obsessed. So while most people in that airfield are dazzled by the aviation demo, Rokele is noticing something that might only be obvious to an engineer. The stunt plane's propellers aren't very efficient.
For their size, they're not giving the plane the liftoff that they should. And Rokele thinks, I can do better than that. And you know what? He does. Because Rokele invents the toothpick propeller. It's made of wood, but it's narrower, it's straighter, kind of looks like a toothpick. They're stronger than a toothpick, though. Oh, yeah, yeah, they are.
And the improved aerodynamics of this Jacuzzi propeller packs a punch while being lighter than most existing propellers. It's a huge advancement in aviation. To manufacture his new propeller, Rekele opens a machine shop in Berkeley, California and calls it Jacuzzi Brothers Incorporated. Because besties, this guy has so many brothers. He could cast an entire episode of the Jersey Shore.
Now, interesting, Jack.
Back in the old country, Rakeli and his family had been known as the Iakutsis.
But in 1907, Papa Iakutsi relocated the entire family to avoid the coming war. That coming war wasn't World War I, but a forerunner called the Italo-Turkish War. Papa Iakutsi had seven sons in danger of being drafted into the war and six daughters to protect as well. So they arrived at Ellis Island in waves, where their name was misspelled from Yakuzy to Jacuzzi.
I mean, Jack, the same thing happened with my family at Ellis Island. We lost the O on Martello, and I kind of miss it. Can we bring that back? You got robbed. We got robbed. I can feel for these Jacuzzi boys. And Jack, by the time Rick Kelly starts his machine shop, most of his brothers have joined with him in America.
So they're manufacturing enough toothpick propellers to impress everyone from celebrity pilot Charles Lindbergh to a feisty new division of the U.S. Armed Forces known as the Air Force. When America enters World War I, Rick Kelly's toothpick propellers help win it, allowing American dogfighters to dominate the airspace. And less than 18 months later, the war is over.
Great news for society, bad news for the defense industry. No more war means no more military contracts for the Jacuzzi brothers. So the Jacuzzi brothers, they need to pivot. Pivot! Now, Nick, as far as pivots go, this first one from Jacuzzi, it's pretty logical. Okay. Rakele loves flying. And back then, anyone could fly. There was no regulation, no FAA to drag you back down to Earth. Oh.
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Chapter 5: What was the market response to the first Jacuzzi product?
It's wildly effective. And as soon as the Jacuzzis put this new pump on the market, it is in high demand. Soon, the lettuce seedlings, blossoming almond trees, and fragrant orange groves feeding America are being watered by the hot, new, powerful pump. Oh, baby.
The Jacuzzi pump.
The Jacuzzi pump. I'm sorry, Jack. Pause the pod for a moment. Time check here.
America is sliding into the Great Depression, and yet the big new invention transforming California's economy are these jacuzzi freaking pumps.
I mean, what's good for California, it must be excellent for the Jacuzzi brothers. It is. And even the youngest brother, little Candido Jacuzzi, is pitching in for this family business. Unlike Rikele and his older brothers, Candido had only gotten a little taste of schooling.
As one of the last siblings to arrive in the United States, his English isn't great, but he's going to school at night and he's selling jacuzzi water pumps door to door by day. Despite being the worst brother at English, Candido is a natural born salesman. He's like heading out to the farms, demonstrating a new pump.
And it turns out the language of sales isn't about the words you're actually saying. It's just about making a relationship with people. It's pretty inspirational. Soon, the Jacuzzis are handling everything from deep well injector pumps to swimming pool supplies. America doesn't run on Duncan. By the 1930s, it's running on jacuzzi pumps. Yeah, it is.
But in 1937, Rekele, working feverishly on new inventions, from solar power generators to crop defrosters, he suddenly dies of a heart attack at the age of 50. Rekele, he's been the family's leader and the primary driver of the company's entire strategy.
Without Rekele, there would be no pumps. He took the company from the air to the ground. So now everyone is wondering, who will leave the jacuzzis next?
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Chapter 6: Why is the Jacuzzi considered a symbol of luxury?
Candido is married. He's got four kids. Now, unfortunately, the Jacuzzis, they are no strangers to tragedy. And while Candido is in his office one day, he receives awful news. His youngest son, two-year-old Kenneth, has been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis.
And doctors are saying that he won't even make it to age eight. So Candido and his wife, Inez, are determined to save their two-year-old son. They put Ken into a full body cast for a full year. Wow. And inject him with gold salts. Nothing is working.
Well, we should point out, Jack, that almost nothing is working because one of Kenneth's doctors tries a new technology, a little something that hasn't actually been applied yet to kids.
It's called hydrotherapy, and it uses a big oval-shaped metal tub that's called a Hubbard tank. The Hubbard tank... basically looks like a giant metal sink. Yes. It has motors that heat and stir the water. And the patient sits on a bench in the tub and lets the hot water massage their pain away. I'll tell you that. It looks like something that belongs to a barn. Yeah, I know what you mean, Jack.
They're not selling this thing at Sharper Image. So does this creepy looking new metallic structure work? Oh, it works. It's relaxing. It's calming. And most of all, it helps ease little Ken's swollen joints and stiff muscles. His parents are thrilled. It's a big, ugly sink, but it's a miracle.
His mother, Inez, takes little Kenneth in for treatments twice a week, an hour drive away from their house. He's basically living in this thing just to stay alive. And his fingers are like pruned up 24-7. But the long drive is super painful for little Ken. So Inez begs Candido to take a look at the Hubbard. Here's what she's thinking. Uh, hey, Candido, your whole family works with water, right?
Like, could you build something like this tub for our boy?
Maybe even better.
Every big moment starts with a big dream. But what happens when that big dream turns out to be... A big flop. From Wondery and At Will Media, I'm Misha Brown, and this is The Big Flop. Every week, comedians join me to chronicle the biggest flubs, fails, and blunders of all time, like Quibi. It's kind of like when you give yourself your own nickname and you try to, like, get other people to do it.
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Chapter 7: What impact did the Jacuzzi have on modern wellness?
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Okay, so at this point, we have little Kenneth Jacuzzi, a boy with a chronic debilitating condition. His family has found a hydrotherapy treatment that works, but traveling to and from those treatments is wreaking havoc on his body. But there is one silver lining. Ken is a Jacuzzi. He's from a family of brilliant engineers and inventors perfectly poised to create something new.
Because Candido Jacuzzi now knows that this freaky metal hummocker schlemer of a water tub machine may save his son. And his family business is water pumps, so he's got to whip up one of these for their home. But turns out it ain't as easy as filling a tub. Because remember, yetis, Candido's the salesman. He's not the engineer.
But he's also proof that you shouldn't put people in a box. He's determined to find a way. So he starts taking a Jacuzzi Brothers sump pump, the kind you'd use to get water out of the basement, and he begins adapting it for use in a bathtub. We have a picture here. Nick, can you describe what we're looking at? Yeah, I'll describe this, Jack.
This initial water pump bathtub thing, it's kind of like a speedboat motor crossed with a Vitamix, you know? Yeah. But you put it in a bathtub. So it basically takes a big pool of water in your bathtub. Yes. And turns it into like a bubbly adventure. It makes you feel like a smoothie is what we're saying. Looks a little dangerous. I'm actually kind of scared as we describe it.
This little contraption, it is churning bathtub water just like that ginormous Hubbard tank. But here's the question, man. Is it working? Absolutely, it's working. Ken is on his hydrotherapy treatments every day in the comfort of his own home now with no brutal commute to and from that Hubbard tank.
Thank God.
And when they show Ken's doctor their contraption they built, his response is instantaneous. He doesn't just say it works. He implores them, you got to make more of these things. Yeah. Okay, so this is basically the same pump that the Jacuzzi family used for food on farms, but they've now applied it to tubs for people. It's another pivot.
They didn't just pivot the product, they pivoted the purpose. Totally. And the whole hydrotherapy unit was literally just meant to be a device for Ken. But once the idea is in Candido's mind, it all makes sense. Yeah, it does. Look, not everyone has a farm they need to irrigate, but Everyone gets sore muscles and sore joints, and everyone loves a bubbly frenzy of a hot tub situation.
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