[00:00:10] Ray Latif: Hey everyone, I'm Ray Latif and you're listening to the number one podcast for the food and beverage industry, Taste Radio. This episode features an interview with Cole Pearsall, co-founder and chief sales officer of Acid League, a company with an ambitious plan to revolutionize everyday pantry items via food science-driven innovation. Just a reminder to our listeners, if you like what you hear on Taste Radio, please share the podcast with friends and colleagues. And of course, we would love it if you could review us on the Apple Podcasts app or your listening platform of choice. If you're trying to catch flies, try honey. If you're attempting to land distribution at every Whole Foods in North America, vinegar might be your best bet. At least that was the case with Acid League, a platform brand of experimental condiments and beverages that is aiming to redefine center store categories for modern consumers. The brainchild of food scientists, Acid League launched in the fall of 2020 and markets raw and unfiltered vinegars and vinaigrettes made with esoteric flavors such as Toasted Thai and Smoked Malt, apple cider vinegar tonics promoted to quote, taste as good as it makes you feel, and a line of non-alcoholic wines called Proxies that are made from juices, tea, spices, and bitters. Leading with a tagline of gut-friendly gastronomy, the Toronto-based company had a remarkable start even before getting out of the gate. Despite having no commercialized product, Acid League won a commitment from Whole Foods to carry its entire vinegar line into all of the retailer's locations in the U.S. and Canada. Acid League, which operates its own production facilities, has expanded its presence in Whole Foods and several other retail chains and also operates a robust direct-to-consumer business anchored in subscription-based ordering, limited-edition products, and curated kits. Although the company has only been in market for a handful of months, Acid League has already generated millions of dollars in revenue and closed in a $4.7 million capital round in April. In the following interview, I spoke with co-founder and chief sales officer Cole Pearsall about the genesis of Acid League, how his background in food science and the diverse experience of his three co-founders spurred the company's development, and how their collective vision is expressed in the brand and innovation strategy. He also explained why trust was the key factor in winning over Whole Foods, the use of product as a form of marketing, and how the company aligns its retail and e-commerce strategies. Hey folks, it's Ray with Taste Radio. I'm in downtown Philadelphia, and sitting in front of me is Cole Pearsall, who is the co-founder and CSO Acid League. Cole, how are you?
[00:02:58] Cole Pearsall: I'm doing fabulous. Happy to be here. I can't wait to explore the show and be here in Philadelphia.
[00:03:04] Ray Latif: Explore the show, the show of Expo East. I didn't mention that. That's why we're here. But we're actually outside of the convention center, really getting this good urban feel of Philly. No doubt.
[00:03:15] Cole Pearsall: I love the grunge. I love the dirt. Shout out to the people who keep this place nice and clean.
[00:03:22] Ray Latif: We're in an area that probably could be wiped down here and there. But I mean, that's a city for you. No doubt. Yeah. And you're from a pretty big city yourself.
[00:03:30] Cole Pearsall: I am representing Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Hello to all my Canadians listening to this.
[00:03:35] Ray Latif: Yeah, Canada. I've only been to Montreal. People are telling me I'm missing out by not going to Toronto. And I know I am. But if there's one thing that people should know about Toronto, what is it?
[00:03:46] Cole Pearsall: In my opinion, being fortunate enough to have traveled the globe, I'd say is one of the most diverse places you can find on the entire planet. We have two Chinatowns, little Jamaica, little India, everything you can possibly imagine. Cuisines, languages, everywhere you're hearing and smelling different culture and just appreciating all those around you. It's a very tolerant and accepting place.
[00:04:09] Ray Latif: Can we get the folks from Expo East and New Hope to move Expo East to Toronto?
[00:04:13] Cole Pearsall: I don't know if Canada is going to let everybody over the border, to be honest with you.
[00:04:17] Ray Latif: I think you're right. I think maybe now is not the right time to do this, maybe in a year or two. I have to say thank you so much for bringing me two of your products. These are two of the most beautifully packaged beverages I've ever seen. They are both non-alcoholic wines and they are called Proxies, P-R-O-X-I-E-S, which is one of the product lines that Acidly markets. Tell us about proxies. What makes these so special, these non-alcoholic wines so special, aside from their incredible branding?
[00:04:51] Cole Pearsall: Absolutely, Ray. So not only are they designed by our amazing art director, Ray, but they are also crafted by a product development team that has been able to master the skill of being able to layer complexities that you would find in wine, the tannins, the structure, the mouthfeel, but be able to implement that without going through a primary fermentation process from sugar to alcohol. And to do that, we accomplish it by mixing our living vinegars, the Acid League mix, and has been making since day one, but also a mixture of teas, extracts, been able to get some bitters in there as well, and many derivatives that you wouldn't naturally find that you would have as an input in wine, but as a tasting note. For example, the one that you have in front of you is nightshade made with Sangiovese grapes. There's also some sun-dried tomatoes in there, some green olives. All of these components are able to replicate that experience of wine the same way that you'd love to pair it with food. but sans the alcohol. And that's really important, especially in a movement that modern day people have been going through, that they're looking for alternatives and other options to be able to enjoy their food experience without having to have the booze with it.
[00:06:07] Ray Latif: One of the first things I said to you when you put the bottles down is, well, I asked you if you've been to Noma, if you're a fan of Noma, because I'm looking at these bottles and what they represent and their ingredients, and they're reminiscent of something that Noma would serve. Noma being the number one restaurant in the world, three-star Michelin, recently three-star Michelin-rated restaurant. And when I say Noma, I think about your background as a food scientist because a lot of what they do is based in food science. So how did you get into this field and how did it play into, how did your experience play into the launch of Acid League?
[00:06:46] Cole Pearsall: That's a great question. I come from a culinary background. My first job was working back of house. And you really get a feel for Whole Foods play together, the chemistry and be able to have, how can things pair? Why can you manipulate a dish by either making it with an addition of heat or an addition of acid? And how can you manipulate that to be able to come up with a completely different result depending on how you prepare it? And so I was fortunate enough to be able to go to the University of Guelph, one of the best food science universities in the world. And while I was there, I was able to take courses like food chemistry, food engineering, and industrial microbiology. And all of these backgrounds and all of these resources end up being able to show you how you can manipulate a food and a food system. How can you change the way in the organic chemistry of a product to be able to change the sensory capabilities? One of the early projects that my co-founder and I, Alan, worked on was we had a previous business of pop-up dinners. And what we did was carbonate fruit. What happens when you take a grape and when you pop it in your mouth, it's the grapiest grape you've ever had. Well, you understand by understanding food chemistry that your pain receptors in your mouth are amplified when you have a carbonated beverage. That's why if you have a Coca-Cola that's flat, it's not nearly as satisfying as you do when it's cold and it's fresh, right out of the can. So because of that, it really enables to change your experience around the product. And when you understand those concepts, it really plugs in very well to CPG. You're able to understand concepts that maybe are not applied on a regular basis. And one Acid League's bread and butter is that we've been able to develop this innovation arm Not only are my co-founder and I food scientists, but able to pull another five and six food scientists from our program to be able to have this very robust product development team. And it's really been able to help us flex a muscle to be able to come up with new innovations on a constant basis.
[00:08:55] Ray Latif: The basis of Acid League is in food science and applying that knowledge to CPG. But a lot of times CPG is just about sales and marketing, right? This business is not an easy one to get into. So how did you set yourself up for success beyond your experiences in food science?
[00:09:13] Cole Pearsall: I think you hit the nail right on the head there, Ray. In a lot of ways, we are makers and we know our culture. We know the movements of people that gravitate towards Natural Products. When you understand maker culture, you understand who your customer is. And because everybody on the Acid League team, whether you come from the wine world, whether you come from an industry background, or whether you come from the food science program, everybody is a maker. And that allows us to be able to tap into a community, a more mass community, the ones that you would find in Whole Foods, to be able to really understand what are people looking for, what are new innovations, and how are you able to take advantage of that to be able to bring maybe products that For example, our popular in the chef world, right now, Yuzu is massive. But Yuzu was massive five years ago in restaurants and kitchens. And when you have an ear to the ground, you're able to very quickly understand how can you apply that and rapidly produce it into the CPG space.
[00:10:16] Ray Latif: It almost seems like the fashion industry. I think of that movie, I'm going to sound like an idiot here, but I think about that movie, The Devil Wears Prada, when the devil in the film was talking about a certain color that was represented in a dress. but that color wasn't just an ordinary blue. It was a very, very specific blue that would eventually get filtered down to mainstream fashion. And I assume that's sort of what you're talking about in terms of food.
[00:10:45] Cole Pearsall: That's exactly right. And what's even more fortunate is being able to take that and launch it on a DTC platform. You're able to test new ideas, be able to really understand who your market is, and then scale it over to the retail side. So exactly what you're talking about, the fashion world, Think about the fall drop and the summer drop. But instead of having a summer line, we have the better barbecue kit. Our gochujang mole ketchup or maple harissa mustard. How can you do barbecue better? That's the summer line. As you transition into fall and you start talking about more earthy flavors, the colors are starting to change all around you. How can you take advantage of that and really find ways to be able to create products that people are going to receive extremely well, but not have to do them a year in advance. When you have this arm and an amazing, talented product development team, you can drop one new product a week and really be able to tap into that. And when you find a winner, that's when you were able to scale it up and bring it over to retail.
[00:11:49] Ray Latif: The through line in everything that you do is acid. I think about the, I think it was a TV show by a well-known chef. I'm forgetting her name. Perhaps you can remind me. Samin Nosrat. Samin Nosrat. And it was fat, salt, acid, heat. You're using the acid or you're taking the acid part of that and building a brand from it. What was your first product line?
[00:12:10] Cole Pearsall: So when my co-founder and I first met, we walked down the grocery aisle and you see this undervalued pile. You understand that there's red wine vinegar, white wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, and malt vinegar. But there was no revolution to the vinegar world until balsamic came over in the 80s. Well, why is that? Well, this is all industrially processed, super punchy product that really lacks flavor nuance. And what we did was we spent the first nine months basically developing a vinegar fermentation technology. And that technology allows us to pretty much take anything that you could imagine, from juicing in the sturgeon flowers and making in the sturgeon vinegar, to one of our first products that we launched was our Garden Heat, a mixture of carrot, celery, jalapeno, and tomato vinegars. It's earthy, vegetal, a little bit spicy. and really revolutionized a category that's been sleepy. But fundamentally, Acid League, in its name, sort of lends itself into two ways. When you think about the shelf-stable world, and again, this is where the food science background really lends itself, everything needs some sort of preservation agent. And to be able to drive that pH down, to be able to have something shelf-stable, most of the time what's used is citric acid and white distilled vinegar. But what happens when you have this beautifully crafted mango jalapeno hot sauce and you're all of a sudden diluting it with this super punchy, very green white distilled vinegar, but instead now you're adding the nuance of a mango jalapeno vinegar and you were able to get these depth of flavor, but forget the mango jalapeno vinegar because it's already a mango jalapeno hot sauce. What if you were adding red chilies to it or habaneros? I guess the list goes on and on. You're able to understand fundamentally, you can insert yourself into many different product categories, from hot sauces, to vinaigrettes, to broths, to sauces. It's endless. And it's really amazing to be able to understand that all of Natural Products can be made with that same fundamental component. And what we're trying to do is really revolutionize the middle of the grocery store, be able to add design and innovation and new things to be able to get consumers and makers accessible products. And they don't have to conform anymore to what has just been on the grocery store up until now. The second component, the league, We collaborate with an immense amount of different companies, not only companies, but what happens when you go to the Niagara region and you get a single varietal grape and you produce that into a red wine vinegar, or you work with a local brewer and use their malts. There's an organic farm and you're able to ferment that, make 200 bottles and drop it as a limited edition online, the league fundamentally is all of the people that make up what Acid League is today and allow us to be able to express ourselves in so many different ways.
[00:15:08] Ray Latif: Earlier when I asked about sales and marketing, I asked, how do you build a business without having an experience selling a CPG product or brand? And you've just sold me, sitting across from the table, why this is a concept that will work. But I'm not a retailer. The retailer you did convince, however, is one of the biggest in the game, Whole Foods. And you've done it in a really, really impressive way. You're in every single Whole Foods, acidly in every single Whole Foods North America. And you're only a year and a month old?
[00:15:41] Cole Pearsall: Yes, sir.
[00:15:41] Ray Latif: And how many products, how many SKUs do you have in Whole Foods right now?
[00:15:46] Cole Pearsall: At this current time, we have nine products. And in January, we'll have another 15. And then by March, we'll have another three to that. It'll be a grand summary of about 25 products nationally distributed across the United States.
[00:15:59] Ray Latif: This is unheard of. I don't think I've ever heard of a brand do this this soon. How did you convince the buyers to see and believe in your vision?
[00:16:08] Cole Pearsall: Well, the same way that I feel like I sold you. I guess I should be a Whole Foods buyer then. You know what? They're looking for trust and legitimacy. And when we flew down to Austin without a brand, really without any labels or any products, We told them that there is potential to be able to really revolutionize the center store. And when a buyer hears that, and they see that there really isn't any innovation coming, but they now hear about a pipeline. So whether or not we launch with our core line of Living Vinegars, within that presentation a year ago, even though none of these products were developed, we knew vinaigrettes were going to be on their way, the hot sauces were going to be on their way, our ACV Carolina mop sauce was going to be on its way after that. And right now, we're recording this on September 21st, I believe, we are now going to be launching our broth bombs. So another example, you have another sleepy category. You have chicken stock, beef stock, vegetable stock in a 16 ounce carton that's pretty much sitting on the shelf collecting dust. Better Bouillon came along. They have this paste. But really, there was no flavor differentiation. So what happens when you have a Shio Ramen broth bomb or a Pho broth bomb made with imported Vietnamese lemongrass and Thai basil? And instead of having to go to your local grocer, which we would strongly encourage to go to your Asian supermarket and collect that product yourself, it's not accessible to a lot of people. But now, Anybody that's walking into their local Whole Foods will be able to have that authentic flavor, reconstitute it with water, use it as a pan sauce, whatever you can culinary creativity. The imagination is really endless. And when we conveyed that to the buying team at Whole Foods, they got it, they understood it, and they trusted us. And like everything, it's a partnership. It's two ways, you know. They have needs and innovations that they're looking for that maybe we're not able to spot. And we received that extremely well.
[00:18:20] Ray Latif: They saw your vision and they trusted you, but why did they trust you specifically?
[00:18:26] Cole Pearsall: Yeah, I think the legitimacy that myself and my other co-founder from being food scientists, Scott, the third co-founder, who came from an innovation background, pretty much sold ideas for a living and created a business out of that. And Ray, our art director, who had a very strong background in visual design. And although we didn't have full packaging design at the time, The same way that you described that fashion, there had never been anything that really popped out on the shelf. And Ray, earlier on, before we started recording this, I showed you what it looks like to have 14 products sitting and taking up an eight-foot spot on a shelf. And boy, it's beautiful. And that is something that really hadn't been seen. And I truly believe that they were willing to take the risk because they saw what could have come after that.
[00:19:16] Ray Latif: When it comes to the end consumer, though, Using your products in their kitchens might be a little bit of a stretch for the average consumer, even the average Whole Foods consumer, because you are using ingredients that some folks are not familiar with, some flavors that might be too exotic for some folks.
[00:19:34] Cole Pearsall: I think that we make these products in some ways accessible. And although you're describing having a stretch of some ingredients, packaging design is incredibly important. So first example is when we first created our vinegars, when you see a strawberry rosé vinegar on the shelf, that's something that nobody's really seen before. How do you encourage somebody to be able to pick that up and really understand, how do you apply this to your everyday cooking? Well, we applied strategies from the wine world. On the side of the label, we have pair with, notes of, and all of a sudden people are primed immediately to understand, wow, I really can use this instead of my typical red wine vinegar. but now I can make a beautiful summery arugula salad with some goat cheese and some walnuts and be able to have this fresh vegetal and fruity type of vinegar to be able to use that as a product. I mean the same thing extends to the Meyer lemon honey vinegar. There was a massive wellness trend towards taking apple cider vinegar shots in the morning. You saw that brand Ethan's in the store. You see other brands that really have tremendous sell-through because they're raw, they're organic, they're unpasteurized, and they're all filled with that friendly bacteria. Something that I didn't mention a little bit earlier on is we don't make any compromise in that in our technology. Every single one of our vinegars all derives and is all fundamentally filled with that concentrated gut friendly bacteria. And now no longer do you have to pinch your nose to be able to do that. And you see a trend to be able to say, Oh, I'm going to make a living tonic in the morning. I'm going to mix our Meyer lemon honey with some soda water and have a more pleasurable experience. Not only that, and have the gut friendly bacteria, but it tastes delicious as well. And so when you understand these components, and that's how we've learned tremendously well from the retail world and how that applies back to DTC. Earlier, I talked about DTC feeding into retail. Well, when we understood that Meyer Lemon Honey was by far the most well-received product on the market, then we launched a line of living tonics. We now have a subscription platform online where every month everybody gets a 300 milliliter bottle, 10.1 fluid ounces for you Americans, of Passion Fruit Oolong Tea Living Tonic or Chaga Maple and Balsamic Living Tonic. It allows people to have a more, and I used the word earlier, accessible understanding of how to use these better for you products.
[00:22:08] Ray Latif: I'm sure there are some folks who would want to try these products in store. Obviously, sampling has been almost non-existent at a lot of retailers since the outset of the pandemic. But is there a way that you've been able to talk to the folks at Whole Foods about a long-term strategy for demoing and sampling?
[00:22:28] Cole Pearsall: Yeah, well, a really important part of our strategy is being able to utilize our online platform to have products as marketing. And what that is able to do is instead of having somebody go to the grocery store that might not have seen Acidly before, well, all of a sudden they see our brand online and it really encourages people to go to the store and sort of understand products on a more mass level. So for example, We have very niche and very limited edition products that you would find online, ones that are far more extreme and from an ingredient point of view than you would find in the grocery store. And all of a sudden, that barrier to entry, the ability to see something as a little bit more approachable, It's only when you have had the top, you know, when you've had the most extreme that you can backtrack now and say, hmm, maybe this doesn't seem so wild anymore. And to answer your question more directly, you know, amongst not being able to sample that product, it really has been able tragic for Acid League. You know, I'm still amazed by the growth that we have had in a year without having that trial in store. However, we are working on innovations to have a little bit more smaller packaging to be able to have something that maybe sits on the neck of the bottle to be able to have something. Easier to digest, so to speak. More easier to digest. It's not, you don't have the price point to be able to sort of overcome and really you'll be able to sort of give it in a sealed sample the same way that you are probably going to be experiencing tomorrow at the show. And that's actually why I'm here, because I really want to be able to see what the new world of sampling is going to be like. It's going to be able to work tremendously to our benefit to be able to have that insight on a ground level instead of making assumptions sitting behind a computer screen.
[00:24:14] Ray Latif: You mean you don't want to sample vinegar in little spoons like they have in the past?
[00:24:19] Cole Pearsall: I think you'd be so surprised that when we first started this business and when we were giving people vinegar on a spoon, their faces lit up. They had never experienced a sensory experience like that they had in their entire life. It really turned what they perceived as vinegar as this real, pretty much punch to the face of acid and real shot to something that had a lot more complexity, a lot more nuance. And in some ways it's a little tragic to not be able to continue to have that experience.
[00:24:48] Ray Latif: Well, one day at a time. And I think, you know, it's an interesting point you bring up with DTC and using that platform to introduce the brand and your products to consumers. And, you know, if you can convert folks into long-term consumers of the brand, it is advantageous to do it direct to consumer because you don't have the distributor margins. You don't have the retailer margins. So that being said, what part of your business right now is direct-to-consumer and what do you expect it to be long-term?
[00:25:21] Cole Pearsall: What's really wonderful being able to create what we think is a sustainable brand is being able to go and have multiple channels of people being able to try Natural Products, whether it be more mass retail and also online. However, the way that the world is moving right now, I truly believe that that online platform is going to overtake retail. No matter how many doors you have, and no matter how many people are walking through those retailers, truly the market online is really the untapped world where you have that direct conversation with the customer. And it's really wonderful to be able to launch not only the Wine Proxy monthly non-alcoholic wine club, where people are able to try three new SKUs each month, as well as that, we also have the wholesale arm, where now you're able to go into a nice restaurant and be able to order something on a non-alcoholic menu. So the same way that we take advantage of having retail food products like sauces and condiments and vinegars in the store, You are also be able to do that online with a little bit more niche. Now you're able to have proxies sitting in your local restaurant. And then you also have those online as well. And that also extends to the future other products that we're going to be coming up with as well. Like there really is no shortage of innovation. And I can tell you this, if the PD team really had their way, they'd be flexing a lot harder than they do right now. So it's kind of exciting to be able to actually hold them back in some ways and be able to say, hold on, hold on, you know, we can only produce so much at a certain period of time. And one of the most amazing things is almost every single product is produced in-house. And that's incredibly important to us. It's made by makers for makers. not having to compromise by working with a co-packer. I mean, admittedly, right now, we have three facilities and are consolidating them all into one, which is incredibly tough. However, that's going to pay off big time for us, not only from a margin perspective, but also control. You have the ability to create whatever you want, whenever you want, on your own time, on your own dollar.
[00:27:32] Ray Latif: It can be expensive though, right? I mean, to run your own production facility, it's obviously expensive to co-pack and co-manufacture as well. But just setting up the initial capital expenditures that you have to launch a manufacturing facility, I mean, that's a pretty hefty outlay.
[00:27:47] Cole Pearsall: No doubt. However, we see it as a long-term investment. And ultimately, being able to bring these products in-house allows us to be able to have those saved margins. What you're compromising now pays off tenfold to three years from now. And even more, you're not having to consult food engineers. You're not having to consult food scientists to develop your product on your behalf anymore. And that also, utilizing that availability, I mean, what could be better? Being able to walk into your own facility and be able to see your own team innovating and utilizing that automatic bottling line, which as anybody who runs a facility knows, literally one day is working and the next day you have four things going wrong. But then you have the kettle and you have this and that. And really it's, imagine the inventing room in Willy Wonka. If anybody out there, I recently re-watched the movie and I saw it and I thought to myself, this is Acid League HQ. This really represents what we're trying to accomplish with a test kitchen mixed with a vinegar fermentation vessel that we created mixed with an automatic bottling line. It's truly a wonder to behold.
[00:29:03] Ray Latif: I think one of the most overlooked aspects of direct-to-consumer e-commerce is the social media, the social marketing component, because a lot of people will point to that as being the way to reach new consumers, to wet the pilot of existing consumers. But it's not easy. I don't think it's as easy as people think it is. I think that the common refrain I hear is, oh, you know, well, we'll be on Instagram or we'll create some TikTok videos. And that's how we're going to reach all these folks. And they'll eventually become customers of ours. And I don't think that's necessarily the way it works, or at least doesn't work for a lot of folks that way. So how do you think about social marketing, social media, as it relates to your e-comp business?
[00:29:43] Cole Pearsall: You're right, it's not easy. What we're looking to do is create an experience for our customers. And something that, as you mentioned, is overlooked is what does that premium feel look like? How do you really create a difference? in the way that people are receiving your brand. One of those things that we did was very early on, we came up with a magazine. We literally, every single one of our consumers, when you order a product online, has a beautifully well-designed magazine that has stories from our makers. I even wrote one myself on vinegar fermentation technology. What is it? How does it work? A lot of people have no idea that it derives from alcohol and uses bacteria to be able to take that same alcohol and ferment it into acetic acid. What does that unboxing look like? We spare no expense when we really want to create a lifestyle for people. And what it looks like when you get home and you're able to open that box and you're able to see this modular system with jars and glass and even our wine proxies. That speaks volumes. And without talking the talk and instead walking the walk, that's when real word of mouth gets around. You have people commenting and tagging people on your Instagram platform. They are excited to share this beautiful brand, not only from a flavor and innovation perspective, but visually. We want people to be proud of putting their products on their kitchen table. We want to have that Aesop effect, if you will. We want to be able to have a real experience that transcends just eating. So although the experience is happening in real life, Fortunately, there's so many people in the world who want to share it with everybody as well. And I feel like we've been able to tremendously overcome that barrier to entry instead of having to pay advertising dollars and be able to have affiliate marketing or sponsors. That word of mouth effect has worked incredibly well for us. And I feel like to any brand that really does want to scale and be able to create a new direct to consumer brand, Take from the Airbnb world. Why not, instead of having a five-star experience, what does an 11-star experience look like? And then work back from that. And I think that we've done a tremendous job of being able to create that and be able to have that legitimacy and word of mouth that's been able to successfully grow our direct-to-consumer business. And fortunately, it works both ways. People that gravitate from retail all of a sudden pick a bottle up on their shelf and whoa, who's this Acid League brand? And then go to online. And then also from online, they're saying, wow, you can also find these products in Whole Foods. You can also buy these products in Fresh Thyme and many other local grocers in their local city.
[00:32:41] Ray Latif: One of the things you mentioned earlier that really struck me is the power of product as marketing.
[00:32:49] Cole Pearsall: Can you expound on that? Absolutely. Engaging the customer and keeping them interested in the product is incredibly important. And if you are pushing the same emails out about the same flavors that you're talking about on a regular basis, that's not very engaging. But all of a sudden you have a once a week email coming out of a Buddha's hand barbecue sauce coming out. And you're like, I want that. And I want that before anybody else can take it because this has to be added to my pantry. You know, think about sneaker culture and a new sneaker drops and it's one of a hundred. You want to be one of those people that have like one of that one of a hundred products. And in the same world, we want to play that in food. And it's really neat to be able to see how people receive that because the same people are coming back and they're telling their friends as well. And all of a sudden you see pantries that are stocked with different acid-lead products, and every night of the week they're able to try something new. And I think that's what's the most important. Education is very important to my partners and I. We want to be able to show different types of culture and be able to recognize Alan is Vietnamese. We want to be able to pay respects to his background and be able to show people that wouldn't have otherwise been exposed to Vietnamese culture. What's it like to have a different type of fish sauce? Whether or not we're collaborating with the Red Boat, for example, or using that as a derivative in one of Natural Products, Now people are a little bit more tolerant and I talk about that about being in Toronto, I truly feel like that's represented in the brand, that tolerance and that platform that we're able to put our collaborators on, but also culture and cuisine. People want to learn. People are hungry for new education and new ways to be able to apply food, eat food, and share food with their friends. And product as marketing and that new email really allows that education aspect to come along. Because we're not just dropping the product, we're dropping a story as well. We're talking with the maker who made that product. What's the history? Where did it come from? And that is so critical.
[00:35:06] Ray Latif: Food does definitely bring people together and brings cultures together. I mean, I think about probably the best example I can think of is the favorite food, people's favorite food in the UK, or at least in England. You know what it is? butter chicken, if I'm not mistaken. It's essentially, yes, it's curry. I mean, and who would have thought that curry butter chicken would be top of the list for English folks. But it just goes to show the influence of food in introducing new cultures, new experiences in a way that you wouldn't be able to do otherwise.
[00:35:38] Cole Pearsall: Absolutely. And it's a lot of fun. You know, we have a product right now in Whole Foods called Seaside Fish and Chip Sauce. It's one of my favorite products that we've made. And although it's pretty darn niche, it's called Seaside Fish and Chip Sauce. You can use that. It's our Smoked Malt vinegar with cornish sea salt. It's basically a seasoned malt vinegar, but I can tell you this, Ray, nobody's had a malt vinegar like this in their entire life. You have this caramel nutty flavor with this subtle smokiness. But you don't have to use it on fish and chips. I'm an avid doll eater. I love lentils. What happens when you finish the dish with lentil? Now you have an Indian dish from doll and you're able to pull in the same way that we're talking about how that popular dish is curry. But we're creating that pathway now. We're not waiting for other culture to be able to influence that. We're making that influence.
[00:36:32] Ray Latif: You mentioned the word critical earlier when talking about one aspect of your product marketing strategy. And I think another critical aspect of it is that you're creating an opportunity for consumers not just to buy one product, but to buy many of your products. So instead of say, pulling a single bottle of an Acid League vinegar off the shelf at a Whole Foods, they might buy 10 different products from Acid League. And I believe that's your website. You got it.
[00:37:02] SPEAKER_??: Okay.
[00:37:02] Ray Latif: Again, I think that would lend itself to really focusing on that e-commerce strategy. But is that what you're seeing as well? I mean, are you seeing a lot of people, are you seeing more and more items in a single cart as you guys continue to scale and grow?
[00:37:16] Cole Pearsall: You hit the nail right on the head. And in so many ways, that cart side has just grown and grown and grown. As you have, we've done well over 200 products online right now. it's really interesting to see the mix and matching that people do. But I think what's more important, not more important, however, it's great to be able to give the consumer variability. But a lot of consumers don't know what they want, and you got to tell them what they want. And kidding is incredibly important as well. Kidding? Kidding. So we have a better barbecue kit, for example. We had a Father's Day kit. Ways to be able to you know, increase that card size. Subscription also does a really great job as well. You know, you see so many companies doing tremendously well that have a subscription platform where once a month, somebody gets it in the mail. They don't have to think about it. They've already subscribed. The Wine Proxies is a good example of that. The Wine Proxies, every month you get three new flavors and you're part of a wine club as well. And so there's the subscription arm, like the Living Tonics I talked about. We have a Welcome to the Big League. And Welcome to the Big League is our four core vinegar line. You know, our apple cider, maple products, our Garden Heat, Meyer Lemon Honey, and Strawberry Rosé. Instead of having to have somebody buy just one of those vinegars, now they have four of those vinegars in their pantry. And I think that because of that, they're able to see how applicable all of these different things are in their everyday cooking. And what's even better is they're able to take that now and be like, wow, if I can do this with vinegars. what can I do with the sauces that they're going to be coming out with as well? What can I do with the broth bombs that I'm going to be coming out with as well? And so, yeah, adding that extra cart size and being able to give people options of what we, the makers, feel are the best to be able to collab, like have, you know, instead of having four vinegars, now you can have a kit that has a vinegar, a vinaigrette, a sauce, and you name it. We came out with a dash of dashi. And you know, what's a really high end dashi like? You know, it's like, it's so much fun to be able to create these pseudo dishes for people. And it's kind of, they already know how to use it like right away. And so that's worked tremendously well for in our benefit, I'd say.
[00:39:39] Ray Latif: Well, forget subscriptions. What if you could just fill people's pantries all the time? Oh, wait, you guys have something in the works.
[00:39:46] Cole Pearsall: So think about Food52. Food52 create a platform of followers that trust that curation. Food52 doesn't make the products themselves, but they hand select the products that are being featured on their platform, which I truly appreciate because curation is absolutely important. But we've taken the matters into our own hands now. A sneak preview is to the Living Pantry. The Living Pantry is all of your basics, all of your essentials, made by our makers. So not only are you able to create a platform that has all of your essentials, done more high-end, like a Kraft, Worcestershire sauce. Living Pantry is this concept, similar to Food 52, but made by us, where you don't have to worry about these limited edition products anymore. At any given time, you'll be able to come over to our website and be able to have what we're calling the Living Pantry. We want it to keep on growing. be able to have more variability, but more long term, you know, a more long term following. And it's really neat to be able to curate in our own way what we feel like the modern pantry is going to look like.
[00:41:00] Ray Latif: You know, Cole, it's not too often that I speak with founders whose companies are less than a couple of years old, at least for Taste Radio. Typically, I'm talking to folks who have sort of been there, done that, built and sold businesses, or at least built very successful brands, even if they haven't exited yet. And I feel like This is a great exception to that because you guys have done something that is innovative, intelligent, different, and really special. That's not to say that there aren't other brands that represent those descriptors, but Acid League is different, and it's really cool to see, and I really appreciate you sitting down with me today.
[00:41:42] Cole Pearsall: I greatly appreciate that, Ray. I think there's two things to say about that. One, team is everything. They are my family. I love them to death. There's no Acid League without the people that we've been able to bring on. Operations, production, product development. These people put so much work every single day into what they do and they love it. And we together, even though we've only been together once, two weeks ago, starting this business, the entire team has only been together one time. We've completely created a remote team.
[00:42:13] Ray Latif: What?
[00:42:14] Cole Pearsall: Yeah. And the fortitude and the trust that everybody has in each other has been able to get us to where we are right now. And hard work really does pay off. I would say the other thing is... the amount of resources there are out there and a platform like yours, you have been able to guide us in so many ways. BevNET has been able to instill amounts of confidence that you know that other founders are going through the same thing that you are. You're able to learn. I can't tell you how many things we've been able to glean from being able to listen to podcasts like yours, from PR to opening up your own manufacturing facility, to be able to talk to buyers. Being able to learn and apply those learnings in an agile and dynamic way and trusting the process has allowed us to be able to get where we are right now.
[00:43:07] Ray Latif: Well, thank you so much for saying that, you know, our team is also amazing. And once again, thank you so much for taking the time to be with me today. You know, this is interesting. This is my first, well, technically my second live interview, live person, in-person interview since February of 2020. And I couldn't think of a better person to do it with. This has been amazing. So happy to hear it. Thank you again. That brings us to the end of this episode of Taste Radio. Thank you so much for listening, and thanks to our guest, Cole Pearsall. As always, for questions, comments, ideas for future podcasts, please send us an email to askatasteradio.com. On behalf of the entire Taste Radio team, thank you for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.
