[00:00:00] John Craven: BevNET Live, the premier event for beverage industry executives, is coming up fast on June 10th and 11th in New York City. Hundreds of beverage founders, investors, and retailers are already confirmed. Don't miss your chance to build momentum mid-year and set yourself up for a strong finish. Early registration pricing ends Friday, April 24th. Register now and save $100 at BevNetLive.com.
[00:00:39] Ray Latif: Hello, and Thanks For tuning into Taste Radio, the number one podcast for the food and beverage industry. I'm Ray Latif, the editor and producer of Taste Radio. And with my co-host for this episode, John Craven, Jacqui Brugliera, and Mike Schneider. As Mike pointed out, this is a very special episode of Taste Radio because our dear colleague, Amanda Huang, has done yeoman's work in putting together the studio for us for this particular episode. It is, um, It was a hairy affair, to say the least. I feel like something could explode at any moment. No, no, no. I wouldn't say that. No. As I mentioned, Amanda Huang is our dear colleague. She is one of our photographers, videographers. She is our video designer in so many ways. She's a designer, right? She's a user experience designer. Yeah. I don't know why I called her a photographer, but she does photography. She does photography, yeah. Jack of all trades. Amanda does a little bit of everything.
[00:01:33] Jacqui Brugliera: She also beat me in tennis the other day. She's got an amazing backhand. Okay, she smacked Mike and took away his racket told him he can't play She's like you're here. You just suck dude your skills are your skills are inferior to my stick to buries
[00:01:55] Ray Latif: Well if you're listening to this episode on the day that it was published it is Friday the 13th This is the first Friday the 13th that I remember in some time, and it's October Friday the 13th so These days it's not spooky as much as it is bad luck.
[00:02:10] Mike Schneider: I feel I know I'm a Do you believe it's bad luck.
[00:02:16] Jacqui Brugliera: I'm really in luck as Friday's my birthday I
[00:02:18] Mike Schneider: Is it really?
[00:02:19] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah. October 13th is your birthday? Should I not give that out on a podcast?
[00:02:23] Ray Latif: I don't know.
[00:02:23] Jacqui Brugliera: It's probably not hard to find. I think it's fine for you to do that on a podcast. You'll get extra presents.
[00:02:27] Ray Latif: Well, happy birthday.
[00:02:28] Jacqui Brugliera: Thanks. You going to dinner? I don't know. I don't know what the future will hold, Ray.
[00:02:33] Ray Latif: Don't people let you know, you know, your friends, your family, let you know if they're going to take you out to dinner ahead of time? Or is this like a big surprise?
[00:02:39] Jacqui Brugliera: I just don't have plans on Saturday. Not Friday.
[00:02:42] Ray Latif: Ah, okay.
[00:02:42] Jacqui Brugliera: That's good. Cause it's Friday the 13th on.
[00:02:44] Ray Latif: Yeah.
[00:02:44] Jacqui Brugliera: I mean, I'm just gonna, you know, hunker down at home and going back to whether it's spooky or unlucky. If you got Texas Chainsaw Massacred, I think it'd be a little of both. We're talking about October the 13th, Friday.
[00:02:55] Ray Latif: Why would you ever get Texas Chainsaw Massacred? Oh, I see. It's Halloween. Yes. It's a confluence of the two movies that are most terrifying, at least the franchises.
[00:03:04] Mike Schneider: People have a real fear for it though. I actually, fun fact, the name for having fear for Friday the 13th is frigatriskydecaphobia.
[00:03:14] Jacqui Brugliera: What? Frigatriskydecaphobia? That just rolls right off the tongue.
[00:03:18] Ray Latif: I'm so frigging afraid of Friday the 13th. Is that where that came from? I think so. Okay.
[00:03:25] Jacqui Brugliera: That is, yeah, quite, quite the word. We should have had Ray say it. What is it?
[00:03:30] Mike Schneider: Yeah, it's frigatriskydecaphobia.
[00:03:32] Jacqui Brugliera: Frigatriskaidekaphobia?
[00:03:34] Ray Latif: Let's go, Ryan, come on. Sorry, I'm sipping coffee over here. It's perhaps because we had such an amazing meetup last week here at BevNET HQ, one that I'm still recovering from, and I need my coffee to keep going here. As we've talked about in the podcast, we did host a meetup last week. Was it October 4th? Is that the day? I think so. October 4th. Fantastic. We had well over a hundred people here from all parts of the food and beverage industry, lots of entrepreneurs. So great to see someone like Porvi Patodia, who's the founder of Biene here, a Biene maker of chickpea-based snacks, including roasted chickpeas and puffs and such. I love like we have folks like her here because she is such an inspiration to other entrepreneurs here in the area. Someone who really built her business from the ground up, bootstrapped and has done amazing things with that brand.
[00:04:29] Jacqui Brugliera: She inspires people beyond the area as well.
[00:04:31] Ray Latif: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.
[00:04:33] Mike Schneider: Yeah. And she was recently on Community Call too. So for people that weren't at the meetup and want to tap into some of her insights, they can check that out.
[00:04:41] Jacqui Brugliera: Absolutely. Perhaps on a podcast?
[00:04:43] Mike Schneider: Yes. Yes. Check it out on the Community Call podcast on your streaming platform of choice.
[00:04:49] Ray Latif: There you go. Also love to see Greg from Howie Spiked, Greg Howard, that is. Howie Spiked is the maker of Spiked coffee cocktails. The name of the brand is Al Caccino. If you watch the Cocktail Showdown last year, I believe it was December of 2022, Al Caccino participated in that competition and they just released a new 13.5 ounce vodka coffee cocktail that comes in this clear can. I love this. so that you can actually see the mudslide looking liquid, colored liquid that is, in the can. I'm a big fan of this package. Those are what, 15% alcohol? 13.5%. That makes all the difference. I love that, yeah. And it is, let's see, what are the ounces in this? It looks like an eight ounce bottle.
[00:05:37] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, I think that's probably about a hundred milliliter.
[00:05:39] Ray Latif: No, probably 125 milliliter. Interestingly enough, I don't see the size of the can. Oh, it's 200, excuse me, 200 milliliters. 200, that's way off. Way off. Looks way smaller from over here, right?
[00:05:51] Jacqui Brugliera: Way out of line, way out of line. Just drink it and find out.
[00:05:54] Ray Latif: Yeah. Yeah. Also loved seeing Shannon Edgar, who's one of the founders of Stormalong Cider, who is the founder of Stormalong Cider, which is a maker of ciders based here in the Northeast. He brought along some really delicious treats, including some secret vials that Jon Landis I got to try. I loved one of their products in particular. It's called a Ragtime Reserve and it looks like and feels like and almost drinks like a canned cocktail. It's part of their Rare Apple series. It comes in a 12 ounce slim can, 8.3% alcohol by volume. Just a really delightful product and the packaging is amazing. It has this sort of like Art Deco 1920s kind of vibe to it. And I posted it on Instagram and lots of folks responded and they were like, I love that product. I love that brand. So great to see Shannon and Thanks For bringing products. Also great to see the folks from Al's, which is a brand of non-alcoholic beer. John, you got stuck with those guys. John and Mike, you both got stuck with those for a while. Tasty stuff.
[00:06:51] Jacqui Brugliera: Love the retro look of the brand. So big fan. Yeah. Their first time in Boston and they were really enjoying it.
[00:06:58] Ray Latif: Yeah. Albin and Fannie are the founders. I believe the brand is named after Albin. I think so. That's correct. Yeah. They came, uh, they came here all the way from New York city based in Jackson Heights. And, uh, Al and I both have, or Albin and I both had a good chat about Jackson Heights. I got to get out there for a haircut, apparently. Just so you, just so you know.
[00:07:21] Mike Schneider: Does he have a recommended barber? Is that why?
[00:07:23] Ray Latif: No. So Jackson Heights has a large Southeast Asian population and the salons and barbershops there are known for doing more than just giving you a haircut. They'll give you like a head massage. They'll like crack your back and stuff. It's like a whole experience. I want to go.
[00:07:41] Mike Repole: It's like a chiropractic haircut.
[00:07:43] Ray Latif: Uh, perhaps, but yeah, look it up on YouTube. Actually, there's, there's actually videos that you can see of these barbershops in Jackson Heights. And, uh, yeah, it's, it's pretty entertaining stuff. Also the folks from Spade.
[00:07:56] Jacqui Brugliera: They get the bi-coastal MVP.
[00:07:58] Ray Latif: I know.
[00:07:58] Jacqui Brugliera: I was like, this is the only brand that went to both. I mean, not the same folks. I, you know, the founder Blake came to the San Diego one and, uh, I think some of his colleagues came to the one here at our office. They did in Boston. But yeah, I really like this Dr. Spade. It's kind of a... Spade is a line of sparkling soda and... Or sparkling soda. Obviously sparkling soda. It's flat soda. How about that? No, uh, spade is, um, you know, has all these kinds of cool flavors and they have a Dr Pepper, Dr. Spade flavor. That's really good. Zero calories. Cool looking package too. Yeah. It's a really, really delicious Dr Pepper, whatever. Dr. Riff. Dr. Riff. Super good.
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[00:09:14] Ray Latif: Now, I don't know if the folks from Pickle Juice, the Pickle Juice shot, were here at the meetup, but I did see a bunch of these shots up front near the cooler. And I figured, well, I have three of them here. So we have one, two, three people here in the studio. Not going to do it. Why not?
[00:09:32] Jacqui Brugliera: It's like you and cheese. I'm just not going to do it. Yes, you are. I guess I'll have to do two.
[00:09:36] Mike Schneider: Pickle Juice isn't your thing. This isn't just Pickle Juice, though.
[00:09:40] Ray Latif: This is chili lime Pickle Juice. It's USDA organic.
[00:09:43] Jacqui Brugliera: I mean, look, Pickle Juice is, I would say, the epitome or textbook definition, whatever, of a polarizing product. Either you're super into Pickle Juice or you're not. And I have nothing against pickles for a record. I just don't want to drink the juice.
[00:09:59] Ray Latif: Mike you're way ahead of the game Michael drink much. I gotta get ahead. Okay.
[00:10:03] Jacqui Brugliera: I'm ready to do the second one now, okay We'll do the second one reference here now.
[00:10:06] Ray Latif: I just want to point out that I've never done I can't recall ever doing one of these no I'm excited no yeah, yeah, but Move your laptop out of the way you might yeah, you might you might sizzle it.
[00:10:18] Jacqui Brugliera: It's not mine I Don't know what happened to my laptop Ray we have we have video proof
[00:10:29] Ray Latif: Um, the, the benefits of Pickle Juice are apparently for their, for recovery, right? Yes. Okay.
[00:10:35] Mike Schneider: Yeah. I used to drink Pickle Juice after basketball games sometimes just, you know, open the little can in my fridge in my dorm and just chug.
[00:10:44] Ray Latif: Well, I went up and down the stairs a number of times this morning, so I play soccer this morning.
[00:10:50] Mike Schneider: Let's do this. All need recovery, different levels of activity.
[00:10:55] Jacqui Brugliera: Ray's primary activity up and down stairs and the ironing motion for blue shirts.
[00:11:00] Ray Latif: Obviously, yes, exactly. I couldn't do the entire shot in one slug, but yummy. No, this is great.
[00:11:07] Mike Schneider: Does it taste just like Pickle Juice or does it taste a little bit different?
[00:11:10] Ray Latif: No, it tastes just like Pickle Juice, and I was expecting a spicier taste to it because it says chili lime, but this is delicious. I like this a lot, actually. It's really tasty.
[00:11:20] Jacqui Brugliera: Well, I mean, there's a whole case upstairs with your name on it, right? Well, now there is.
[00:11:23] Mike Schneider: I wonder if you make picklebacks with those, if it just cancels out the effects of the alcohol, you know, stay hydrated, drink some whiskey.
[00:11:32] Ray Latif: Picklebacks. I remember when Pickleback, that was a big thing when I first came to DevNet.
[00:11:36] Jacqui Brugliera: That sounds too much like Nickelback. I want to stop this conversation right now.
[00:11:39] Ray Latif: You don't like Nickelback? Oh, jeez, guy. The sound that Mike just made, that was a little weird. That was the Pickle Juice. It was not the Pickle Juice. All right. I wish we had a bit of a chaser, though, because I mean, I like I like the flavor of Pickle Juice, but I wish we had a little water here, perhaps water packaged in a Tetra Pak. I want to Thanks For presenting sponsor for this episode. That's Tetra Pak, the pioneering packaging solutions company that provides safe, innovative and environmentally sound products that each day meet the needs of hundreds of millions of people around the world. Learn more at tetrapak.com. What if, what if vitamin water were packaged in a Tetra Pak? I think that could be kind of cool. Like maybe like a food service size of vitamin water. Does anyone still drink vitamin water? You're ruining my segue, John. Look at this.
[00:12:38] Jacqui Brugliera: I just feel like... Oh, that would be a great idea, Ray. I would love to have a food service size of vitamin water.
[00:12:45] Ray Latif: Here you go. How about a food service size of body armor? How about that? Oh, that is even better, Ray. You genius. A.I. Mike has entered the chat, apparently. The point of the segue I was trying to make is that Mike Repole, who is the co-founder of both Vitamin Water and Body Armor, is back in the game, so to speak, although more specifically back in the snack game. He is, or was, did acquire Pirate's Booty. So back in the snack game, he has acquired a majority stake in a company called Junkless Foods. I had not heard of Junkless Foods before this was announced. Have you, did you guys hear about it? Yeah. I think we've covered it, had it at some point. Okay.
[00:13:32] Jacqui Brugliera: I think we've, we've gotten Junkless.
[00:13:34] Ray Latif: You've gotten Junkless. It's a good, a good brand name.
[00:13:36] Mike Schneider: Yeah. I love the name.
[00:13:39] Ray Latif: I mean, it's pretty clear what they don't have in their products. They don't Behave Candy junk. Or do they have less? I don't know.
[00:13:49] Jacqui Brugliera: It's genius, isn't it? You're talking to a real genius, Mike. That's Mike Repole.
[00:13:53] Ray Latif: According to the Nosh article about this story, Junkless was founded in 2017. They're based in Michigan and sell five varieties of limited ingredient chewy granola bars and two flavors of crispy protein bars. They previously sold a line of crispy cookies, which have been discontinued. So they had to get rid of the junk. They got rid of the junk. Exactly. That's what you gotta do.
[00:14:14] Jacqui Brugliera: They need less of it.
[00:14:15] Ray Latif: Yeah, no, I saw a lot of talk about this on LinkedIn and a lot of people praising Mike Repole as being a genius when it comes to CPG and someone who can take a brand not only to the next level, but to the upper echelons of success in food and beverage. And I think people expect nothing less with Junkless, so.
[00:14:34] Jacqui Brugliera: Well, he's certainly one of those rare people that I think has had, I don't know, zero failures, basically. So, I mean, not that all of these brands didn't have unsuccessful SKUs, but all of the companies that he's gotten involved with, I think have eventually, you know, turned into something pretty big. So.
[00:14:55] Mike Schneider: Yeah. He has a lot of success taking something that's in conventional grocery and growing it too. Like Junkless Foods in a ton of stores, maybe not like, you know, your specialty or your Lazy Acres or things like that, but they're in Walmart and Target and larger retail stores and trying to hit, you know, more of a mainstream consumer with just a very simple value proposition, which is less junk.
[00:15:22] Jacqui Brugliera: Speaking of less junk. Speaking of less junk, I've got I've got a better for you gummy in front of me called Behave Candy behave has a line through it because it's pronounced behave. Okay Mike you're That's what the founder Mesa Chehada told me.
[00:15:39] Ray Latif: Okay, so Mike is the proper way to say it Mike just rose his right pinky finger to his lip and Mike Conflates Dr. Evil. You conflated Dr. Evil and Austin Powers. Austin Powers is the one who says, behave.
[00:15:52] Jacqui Brugliera: Oh, Behave Candy he's million... I know, right?
[00:15:56] Ray Latif: Just because they're two characters played by the same actor, you can't do that. In the same movie. In the same movie. By the way, I didn't know, the first time I watched Austin Powers, I didn't know Dr. Evil was Mike Myers. Did you? Yes, yeah, okay Only the instant that I saw him only the instant that you saw him. All right. Did you know that fat bastard?
[00:16:18] Jacqui Brugliera: Uh-huh
[00:16:26] Mike Schneider: Smoking a pancake.
[00:16:28] Jacqui Brugliera: Next thing you'll tell us is that he's also Mike Myers. Okay, so it's a better for you gummy. I've got a bag of stars in front of me. One gram of sugar. These are raspberry pineapple apple gummy stars. And there's another pack over here that I also sort of demolished over the last day or two called that's watermelon mango lychee. And yeah, these are these are pretty tasty. There's also new sours that are three grams of sugar. Nice.
[00:16:58] Ray Latif: Pretty good. Seems like we're seeing so many new low sugar, non-nutritive sweetened gummies and candies coming to market. It just feels like we're just seeing this as a moment for these kinds of brands.
[00:17:10] Jacqui Brugliera: These also have a little bit of like licorice flavor to them too. So maybe that's the, maybe that's coming soon. Who knows? But I don't know. These are really tasty. I like them. Mean my only issue with all this is nowadays when you see like an adult chewing on some gummies. I know Hey guys, I see what you're saying, okay, I just need to take a nap on the table
[00:17:33] Mike Schneider: But also, I mean, gummies are huge in the vitamin space now too. So adults are taking gummies for their vitamins, for their edibles. And I also have a brand with me, which is called Choosy, which is kind of an extension of the gummy for vitamins. It's almost like a Starburst. So this one is for beautiful hair. It's very clear what the function is. This one is sweet raspberry. The wrapping is just like a starburst. It tastes very similar to starburst, but it's like a treat that has vitamins in it. I always was like hoarding the red and pink starburst. So this one's for me.
[00:18:13] SPEAKER_??: Nice.
[00:18:13] Ray Latif: Yeah, but why is it? I mean, I'm thinking about the opportunity for these low-sugar gummies and candies. And yes, certainly there's a functional component to some of these brands, but who eats most candy in America? I would assume it's kids, right? So are these products and these brands being marketed to kids as much as they are adults? It doesn't seem like it. I don't know.
[00:18:35] Mike Schneider: I think adults do eat candy. It's just not as, they're not doing it in front of other people.
[00:18:42] Ray Latif: Jackie's like, I eat three bags of candy a day.
[00:18:45] Mike Schneider: You know, or they're looking for better for you options and not eating it as often, I would say.
[00:18:52] Jacqui Brugliera: Because Jackie's housing a chosen and I'm eating behave.
[00:18:55] Ray Latif: It's funny you say that, though, because there is a there's a wide receiver for the Seattle Seahawks. Uh, his name is DK Metcalf and apparently his, most of his diet is comprised of candy. He eats like three or four bags of like Sour Patch Kids. And yeah, that's his, he eats like, he drinks like a cup of coffee in the morning. And then he eats like three or four bags of candy, like big bags. And that's his diet.
[00:19:19] Mike Schneider: Yeah.
[00:19:19] Ray Latif: It's really weird. That's some gummy bears. Not cramping up. Yeah. Marshawn Lynch, who used to be a running back, well-known running back for the CLCU since retired. He was known for his Skittles.
[00:19:29] Jacqui Brugliera: What's with Seattle?
[00:19:30] Ray Latif: I don't know.
[00:19:31] Jacqui Brugliera: But he was crazy about Skittles.
[00:19:32] Ray Latif: He would eat Skittles in the middle of the game. No wonder everyone wants to play for Seattle. Yeah, right? Pete Carroll, he's got the head coach. He must know something.
[00:19:38] Mike Schneider: I guess also sugar is kind of a recovery thing sometimes. Like I used to drink chocolate milk because of the sugar for recovery.
[00:19:45] Ray Latif: And the protein, right? And the protein.
[00:19:46] Mike Schneider: Yes. And the protein.
[00:19:48] Ray Latif: Before we get to something else, I got to mention this. So our colleague Martín Caballero was out in Atlanta for the NACS show. That is the National Association of Convenience Store Show last week. And in one of his articles about the show, I had seen a new tagline for BAI, B-A-I, the low-calorie brand of refreshment drinks that has or is infused with coffee fruit as its functional components, I would guess. I think that's how you describe it. Anyway, the brand, as we know, was acquired by Dr Pepper Snapple for $1.7 billion dollars seven years ago. Oh, stop. Oh, behave with your pinky.
[00:20:33] Jacqui Brugliera: I did it right that time.
[00:20:34] Ray Latif: And I was kind of shocked by this new tagline. It's Wonder Water. It's what it is. Sounds like a superhero. They got the Gallagher brothers? I mean, the thing is, I never would have described Bai as a water in the first place. No? No. Okay. And wonder is such, like, I guess it's alliterative? Wonder water? I don't know. I mean, like, but it just, to me, speaks to... Reminds me of drowning. I don't know. Some, no offense to the marketing professionals here, some marketing team coming up with this tagline, thinking it's brilliant, and it really ain't. I'm sorry to say.
[00:21:13] Jacqui Brugliera: Jackie, can you imagine us sitting there going, wow, that's brilliant. I can't imagine.
[00:21:19] Ray Latif: All the money they spent, I'm sure, doing focus groups, doing surveys, and being like, what do you think of this tagline? What do you think of this tagline? Okay, we'll go with it's wonder water. I mean, that's usually how it goes.
[00:21:28] Jacqui Brugliera: That's the best we got. We'll go with it. Exactly.
[00:21:30] Mike Schneider: It's kind of like a large umbrella, you know, like it's like this could cover anything. So we're just going to say Wonder Water rather than doing something.
[00:21:39] Jacqui Brugliera: I mean, it's I don't know. It's one of those like head scratcher, you know, a brand trying to present itself as water, which is Jackie was sort of pointing out. It's like the most broad. you know, common ingredient in all beverages, right? But this isn't water. It's a flavored still beverage with some functional ingredients in it. People drink it because it has flavor and sweetness. So I don't know.
[00:22:09] Mike Schneider: It's losing its identity a little bit. You know, they're just trying a million things. They have a lot of different types of products now, and now they're just trying to have this one umbrella term for all of it.
[00:22:20] Ray Latif: I guess. Wonder water. Apparently there's a new call out for new great taste and more benefits, which I mean, I guess both are good things, but it's wonder water is something that would actually honestly make me. Not necessarily. Less interested. Less interested in this brand. Yeah, who reads the label anyway, right? I do. I do. Especially, and this is the last thing I'll say about it. So the photo I'm looking at right here is of their Malakai coconut variety, which to me looks like it has a whitish color to it. So if I see a beverage that has a whitish color to it and isn't clear, and then I see something that says it's Wonder Water. It's Cloudy Dishwater. It's quite confusing is what it is. So. Yeah. Fair enough.
[00:23:05] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, all right You know I saw that I scratched my head and I moved on I'm done. I'm done. It's the therapy couch here for a waking night stick to Pickle Juice, right? so we got a nice box of rind remix from our dear friend Matt Weiss does everyone know what rind is I Okay, Ray, do your thing. Ryan being a brand of dried fruit snacks that has now expanded into these other tasty snacks called Ryan Remix, which has there's a pina colada and a cocoa berry. This cocoa berry Definitely super fond of that. That one's great. I love went to the standard snack playbook for success and added chocolate. Like that a lot. This is going to do really well. It's got, uh, dried strawberries, dried, uh, cocoa almonds and dried blueberries in it. Uh, highly recommend. You don't share that. I'm going to knock you out. Mama said, knock you out. Okay, here you go. How'd I do Matt? How'd I do?
[00:24:15] Mike Schneider: That was pretty good at, um, NACs this week. People probably saw a lot of combos because combos is an OG convenience store snack. And I have a better for you option right here. You've got rivals. I have rivals.
[00:24:29] Ray Latif: Yes. Nice.
[00:24:30] Mike Schneider: So rivals, it is a line of stuffed snacks. So this one is extra cheddar Mac. We have late night pizza and spicy street taco. So similar flavor profiles as you know, traditional combos, I would say the texture is a little bit different, like combos are more like pretzels. These remind me of like, almost like a combo of combos and 3d Doritos. Do you remember those the crunch?
[00:24:53] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, that's not that's not a bad shot. Did you do the flight yet?
[00:24:57] Mike Schneider: I did do the flight. Yes.
[00:24:58] Jacqui Brugliera: All right. What's your favorite?
[00:25:00] Mike Schneider: I really liked the late night pizza just because I was a pizza, like combo fan growing up. I love anything pizza, pizza, goldfish. So that's my favorite.
[00:25:10] Jacqui Brugliera: I really liked taco Doritos back in the day and they, they don't, I don't think they make those anymore, but, but, uh, the, the taco snacks kind of remind me of those. I like that a lot too, but the pizza ones are the best.
[00:25:21] Mike Schneider: Yeah, I like the names too, like late night pizza. Everyone has a memory of late night pizza and that is the best time to eat pizza. Cold pizza.
[00:25:29] Ray Latif: What about Elio's? Were you an Elio's consumer?
[00:25:32] Mike Schneider: Yes, I was an Elio's consumer.
[00:25:35] Ray Latif: What were those ones you get from the convenience store? It was like a round pizza for like a dollar and you'd put that.
[00:25:40] Jacqui Brugliera: I grew up in New York. I'm pretty sure those were just straight up illegal, right?
[00:25:45] Ray Latif: Yeah, well, you could get, you know, and you can still get a good slice of pizza for a buck. Well, maybe not a good slice, but a slice of pizza for a buck. But the Celeste Pizza, I remember getting those in college a lot, actually, after a night of, you know.
[00:25:58] Jacqui Brugliera: That's standard Boston pizza in that era. It kind of tasted like a Celeste. Yeah, yeah, you'd go to like a you get like the pub pizzas that are like tiny yeah, I got Cape Cod pizza or things like that I Went to college in Ohio, and we had a full slice I did go I did go to school at Miami.
[00:26:17] Ray Latif: Yes. No. I'm just kidding Miami of Ohio Miami University, right?
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[00:27:12] Ray Latif: I saw this on Nosh.com and I got to call it out because I'm really excited for this. Asha Abolasia, who is the founder and CEO of Mason Dixie Foods, is going to be on stage at Nosh Live. Very excited. She's a brilliant entrepreneur. We've had her on Taste Radio a couple of times. Mason Dixie makes these incredible frozen biscuit products and frozen waffle products, including waffle and biscuit sandwiches. My mouth is watering. their egg, sausage, and biscuit frozen treat sandwich. I just, it has really, it really has. It saved me so many times. When I have an early morning flight and I just want to get something in my stomach and get out the door, 45, no, not 45 seconds, about an hour, a minute and 45 seconds. A minute and 45 seconds in the microwave. And it is as good a breakfast as you'll have. Microwave.
[00:28:03] Jacqui Brugliera: I was just legit picturing in your bedroom, one of those like heat lamp racks where you just like roll out of bed and you're like grabbing a Mason Dixie. They're just ready to go. You've got like a Pee Wee Herman style.
[00:28:14] Ray Latif: Even though I didn't go this year and you know, you see a lot of that stuff there, you know, the fried chicken, heat lamps, you know, the, the automated pizza makers and stuff like that. Sure. All the Krispy Kreme doughnuts and Chester fried chicken. You can eat. You cannot go to that show and not eat fried chicken.
[00:28:37] Jacqui Brugliera: I almost want to go to Knack's now.
[00:28:39] Ray Latif: It's almost like when you go to the Fancy Food Show and Jackie's like, you cannot go there and not eat cheese.
[00:28:43] Mike Schneider: Yeah. Cheese is my thing. I also don't eat chicken. So Fancy Food Show is more my speed.
[00:28:48] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, they do. Plant-based is just illegal in X. Yeah, it's not. The time that Jackie was like rolling a whole wheel of cheese down the aisle.
[00:28:55] Ray Latif: Anyway, you gotta hear Asha Balesha. You gotta see her on stage. She's just fabulous. Nosh Live is happening November 30th and December 1st in Marina del Rey. Now is the time to sign up. You can still save money if you sign up for Nosh Live right now, right, Jackie?
[00:29:13] Mike Schneider: Yeah, you got a week to save. So sign up this week and you can save an extra $100 per registration.
[00:29:19] Ray Latif: There you go.
[00:29:20] Mike Schneider: Don't forget we added retail one-to-ones.
[00:29:23] Ray Latif: Yes, exciting stuff. The retail one-to-ones are also happening. What retailers are participating?
[00:29:28] Jacqui Brugliera: Well, among others, we've got Thrive Market, Kroger, Kroga, Fresh Market, and Foxtrot. Hey now. Outstanding. Imagine if we had a Kroger in Massachusetts. I mean, you can't say Kroger with a mass accent when there's Kroger here.
[00:29:44] Mike Repole: Kroger.
[00:29:44] Jacqui Brugliera: I wish there were a Kroger here. Kroger kid. We don't have it. We called it Kroger though. Kroger. In Ohio. Yeah, in Ohio. You definitely did.
[00:29:52] Ray Latif: Where's your mother? She's a Kroger. Kroger kid. She's getting groceries at Kroger for supper. Oh, we missed out. We missed out on a lot. If there's one takeaway from all this, come to Nosh Live, November 30th and December 1st. It's going to be a ball.
[00:30:08] Jacqui Brugliera: But we do have Style Mockit.
[00:30:10] Ray Latif: We do have Style Mockit.
[00:30:11] Jacqui Brugliera: And Style Mockit is going to be represented at BevNET Live. Outstanding. Because we've got for the one-to-ones at BevNET Live, the entire Albertson's umbrella represented.
[00:30:20] Ray Latif: Wow.
[00:30:21] Jacqui Brugliera: That's exciting. The BevNET Live one-to-ones powered by SIP and high touch distribution.
[00:30:26] Ray Latif: Outstanding. Very excited. Very, very excited for Marina Del Rey in late November and early December.
[00:30:32] Jacqui Brugliera: And you're coming back as the host of the Cocktail Showdown, right? I think we just added that. The Cocktail Showdown is back. I am returning as the host of many competitions.
[00:30:43] Ray Latif: Tell them about our spirit stuff. Yes. No, it's very exciting. Spirit Sunday has been announced. Spirit Sunday is happening on December 3rd. We have a slate of speakers who will be talking about the evolution of this exciting industry. We'll also be showcasing the return of the Cocktail Showdown, the RTD Cocktail Showdown, in which we'll be pitting several entrepreneurial cocktail brands against each other to win the coveted title of RTD Cocktail Showdown champion.
[00:31:10] Jacqui Brugliera: Fun times. Can't wait.
[00:31:11] SPEAKER_??: Yeah.
[00:31:12] Ray Latif: Spirit Sunday returning that was one thing Jackie that we were we thought was brilliant when we came up You know we do have to have putting the marketing minds together here We do have to have like a monster truck themed kind of promotion Is it the Worcester Centrum If you're from the inside joke, yeah, you know exactly Come see buzzard and bulldozer. No, what the hell I forget and bones Bigfoot, you know barefoot and bigfoot.
[00:31:50] Jacqui Brugliera: No duke it out So bad. All right, so bad. Oh, so getting back to reality, normal stuff here. I have a product you might like, Ray. Speaking of Spirit Sunday and cocktail showdowns, this is Americano Shakerado from Fast Penny Spirits. It's a coffee cocktail. I think this thing clocks in around 13% too. It's made with their Americano Bitter Liqueur Mad cap coffee Scrappy's chocolate and orange bitters. Wow. It's quite delicious. I know you're a fan of the coffee cocktail So I'm gonna I'm gonna give this one to you to try.
[00:32:26] Ray Latif: I am a fan and it's interesting They don't describe it as an espresso martini. I kind of like that.
[00:32:31] Mike Schneider: They don't I like the name. It's like Americano shaker Otto. Oh
[00:32:35] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, it's got a good vibe to it, right? Because it's AMAR, I thought it was perhaps made with Amaro, Amaricano.
[00:32:42] Ray Latif: Amaricano Chacarato. And it describes itself as a captivating canned cocktail that combines Amaricano Amaro, Amaro, excuse me, madcap coffee and Scrappy's Bitters. Yeah, very cool stuff.
[00:32:52] Jacqui Brugliera: Make sure to shake it up, though, before you pour it.
[00:32:54] Ray Latif: And it's nitro-dosed, yeah.
[00:32:55] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, it's quite good, highly recommend. The package is really cool looking, too. Yeah, it's beautiful. It's super intriguing. Definitely got some of that Art Deco vibe that I described. Jamie, who is the founder's cocktail showdown hopeful. But it almost looks like it's on fire too, the way that it glistens. I like it.
[00:33:10] Ray Latif: The label, yeah. Yeah. It was so great seeing her at DevNet Live last year in December. And I've been meaning to get out there to Washington, the state of Washington, to go see her operation, but haven't yet had the opportunity to do so. Hopefully we'll do soon. Alright, I got something really exciting here. This is a box from a company called Tokyo Treat and Tokyo Treat Based on what is that? Tokyo Treat is I'm reading from their website here the ultimate monthly pop Japanese snack subscription box offering a curated selection of up to 20 limited edition exclusive treats that embody the essence of Japan Japanese KitKats these are all Condition products. Okay, so you got the now what kind of Kit Kats are in there? Well, let me just dust off my Japanese translator here. Yeah, there's also like a nice little booklet here that describes what's in the box. I want to guess what it is.
[00:34:10] Jacqui Brugliera: I'll pass it down here and I'll tell you what it is. I mean, it's got hazelnuts on it. So I'm gonna go with hazelnuts.
[00:34:15] Ray Latif: I love these snack subscription boxes. Don't don't don't wreck the Tokyo box. No, I love these subscription boxes. It's like, it's so fun to get something new and different in the mail every month. And that's what they do. You're not getting the same kind of stuff every single month and you're surprised by what you're getting, especially because everything in here is limited edition.
[00:34:37] Mike Schneider: It's really fun.
[00:34:38] Ray Latif: The question I have, it's not hazelnut. Oh, it's chestnut chestnuts, whatever close enough. But we've got some, uh, some potato chips from a company called Kokea Kokea pride potato. He said, we present these potato chips with the utmost pride. Please enjoy our crisp savory and delicious potato chips. I like that. Just straightforward with the description there. What flavor are they? Nothing. I think they're just straightforward potato chips. There's even a beverage in here. It looks like some sort of orange soda in this hundred milliliter can. Exciting stuff. I'm going to try that later. I don't know what this is. This looks, appears to be some cookies. Pass them over here. I'll translate. Okay. You'll translate. Mark's going to translate. Yeah, there's actually a lot of stuff I don't know there, but that's why the booklet's here.
[00:35:26] Jacqui Brugliera: Oh, here's the cookie.
[00:35:27] Ray Latif: And there's a bowl of ramen. Exciting.
[00:35:31] Mike Schneider: Cool. It's a great idea to promote brands, you know, from Tokyo. I don't know if they are, are they targeting the U.S. market, Ray? Like did they just send it to you? Okay.
[00:35:41] Ray Latif: Yes. So these boxes are distributed nationally across the United States. You can order them directly from Tokyo Treat. And again, I think you can decide how many you get, you know, per year, but typically it's once a month.
[00:35:57] Jacqui Brugliera: 1.5 times we're just Google translating This one Google translate so much better it just says that this one says let's go exclamation point
[00:36:12] Ray Latif: So these obviously I can't reach out. I can't read Japanese. These are pickled daikon potato chip. Yeah And what's cool is the booklet also tells you obviously because most people who are getting these are probably not able to speak Japanese Actually, that's a pretty big assumption. I'm not sure who their target consumer is but And it'll tell you what potential allergens are in here. So for these potato chips, it'll say it may contain traces of peanuts, sesame, shrimp, cashew, et cetera, et cetera. Is it suitable for vegetarians? Yes, et cetera. So.
[00:36:50] Mike Schneider: Cool. Yeah, I think it's, it's smart. I know like a lot of my friends from Ireland, they get their own boxes sent from home with all these brands to make them, you know, feel like they're still at home. And I think this is a great opportunity for people maybe from Japan that are living in the U S and people that are curious about trying new snacks.
[00:37:09] Ray Latif: Yeah, yeah, I bet a lot of Japanese expats are craving some of the cuisine from home, or at least the snacks from home. And this is a great way for them to get it. So tasty. That brings us to the end of this episode of Taste Radio. Thank you so much for listening. Taste Radio is a production of BevNET.com, Incorporated. Our audio engineer for Taste Radio is Joe Cracci. Our technical director is Joshua Pratt, and our video editor is Ryan Galang. Our social marketing manager is Amanda Smerlinski, and our designer is Amanda Huang. Just a reminder, 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. Check us out on Instagram. Our handle is BevNetTasteRadio. As always, for questions, comments, ideas for future podcasts, please send us an email to ask at Taste Radio.com. On behalf of the entire Taste Radio team, thank you for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.
[00:38:13] Mike Repole: you
