[00:00:10] 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 I'm with my co-host for this episode, Mike Schneider and Brad Avery. Brad, welcome back to the show. Hello. Thanks for having me back. Great to see you. John's out of town. John Craven, that is. Jackie was supposed to join us, but she's a little out of pocket, so to speak. Mike, you're here. I just made it. Yeah, I rolled in.
[00:00:38] Mike Schneider: Yeah, I came in with Starbucks late boxing. No Brad, please Oh my goodness, Amanda would kill me
[00:00:48] Brad Avery: I was coming in from the Boxing Day brunch, watching a little Premier League, and then I was like, oh, it's time to record. Boxing Day brunch. What is Boxing Day again? The day after Christmas. The day after Christmas.
[00:00:59] Ray Latif: But it's when you- It's supposed to be taking things back that day. I think that's what it's- it's a Canadian thing, isn't it?
[00:01:03] Brad Avery: I think so.
[00:01:03] Ray Latif: Yeah. You re-box stuff you don't want, you bring it back to the stores.
[00:01:06] Brad Avery: It's UK, it's Canada, you know, it's the Commonwealth.
[00:01:08] Ray Latif: Yes. But it was a Boxing Day brunch focused on Premier League football. Premier League football and other things. Arsenal top of the league right now.
[00:01:16] Brad Avery: We are top of the league. We are top of the league. I love it. Yeah. I had nothing to do with it except for support.
[00:01:23] Ray Latif: Okay. Brad, how was your holiday?
[00:01:24] Mike Schneider: It was very nice. I watched I watched basketball.
[00:01:28] Ray Latif: That's what I did basketball. I don't never pegged you as a basketball fan.
[00:01:31] Mike Schneider: Oh, I love it I've been following pretty closely this year's that's my good stories going on. We're the middle of a Pistons losing streak. Oh, yeah, it's terrible Wild to see you a Celtics fan. Yeah. Okay. Yeah born and raised in Massachusetts. So by default I How is it possible? You've been with BevNET since 2016. Seven years.
[00:01:54] Ray Latif: I did not know you were a basketball fan.
[00:01:57] Mike Schneider: I've gotten a little deeper into it over the past couple years, to be honest.
[00:02:01] Brad Avery: Now I know how John Craven feels when we start talking about football.
[00:02:03] Ray Latif: Yeah, but John's always known we're soccer fans. I just didn't know that about Brad. Yeah. Anyway, as we're coming up on the end of the year, the annual tradition of BevNET and Nosh publishing their top 10 most read stories of 2023 is something that always attracts a lot of attention. I was flipping through those stories and it was really cool to look back as far as January of 2023 to see what people were reading and what really piqued their interest. And what it might foretell for 2024, given that these stories are generating a lot of attention for one reason or another, whether it be because of a story about funding or a story about some sort of controversy, a new ingredient, a retailer. And it was interesting for Nosh in particular, the number one news story for 2023 was about Erewhon. Earlier this year, Erewhon announced that they were going to launch a pop-up in New York City, and everyone lost their minds.
[00:03:07] Brad Avery: Lost their minds.
[00:03:08] Ray Latif: Yes.
[00:03:08] Brad Avery: And then they lost their way.
[00:03:11] Mike Schneider: Erewhon did. What was it? An executive posted it online, and then the company immediately was like, wait, wait, no, that's not happening. Correct. It was in May.
[00:03:20] Ray Latif: Executive Vice President Vito Antacci posted this on LinkedIn. He said that they were going to launch or they were sorting through hundreds of inquiries from brands interested in participating in a New York City pop-up. And it was going to be like a smoothie-focused pop-up, but they were going to have some brands in there as well.
[00:03:37] Brad Avery: And those pop-up growths are going, no!
[00:03:40] Ray Latif: Yeah, exactly. So, Nosh published that story, and then, I think it was a couple days later, it turned out that Erwan had nixed those plans, or that they just had too much interest, and it just didn't seem fair for whatever reason. I don't know exactly why they nixed them, but...
[00:03:58] Mike Schneider: Yeah, I don't know why either, but I think in terms of determining why it was the most read story, Erewhon's been in the zeitgeist this year. I mean, they have been getting out there more in the mainstream media overall. You got fashion products now that just have the Erewhon logo on them. You've got all this buzz. There's been a few profiles in mainstream outlets about how many stores they have again. I want to say six, seven, something like that. Yeah. Not even Southern California. It's not even like they're over a dozen stores. And yet this, this retailer is such a giant cultural figure now, especially for California. And I think for a lot of startup brands where it's a real make or break
[00:04:43] Brad Avery: Store to get into you nailed one part of that which is that it's a big cultural phenomenon for one part of California Yeah that the industry Loves them some Erewhon, but make her break.
[00:04:55] Mike Schneider: Yeah Right way to put it, but it can be a launchpad for for a lot of brands. That's just to get ready Yeah, it's not gonna break you if you don't get into Erewhon. That's a bike break you if you get into Erewhon Yeah expensive side.
[00:05:11] Brad Avery: Yeah, so there's a double-edged sword there. Any retailer that you get into, you know, once you get in, there are all kinds of additional costs that some founders don't understand exactly what it means to get into retail and how, what it means to stay on the shelf and what it means to maintain velocity and, and, you know, we joke about Erewhon, but it's the same for any retailer that you get into. It's like, That's not necessarily going to lead to success getting into retail, so be ready.
[00:05:39] Mike Schneider: Especially a store like Erewhon, where there's so many products on the shelf, so many different brands you've got to compete with and stand out against. So there's the element of, okay, you're in, great, but so are a hundred other brands that you are now on shelf with, and you've got to get As much as those shoppers there are like primed for discovery and want to try new things, you got to get them to pick up yours over any of the dozens of other new things that they have in front of them.
[00:06:05] Brad Avery: It's weird when there's like a, it's like walking into a treasure room. Which cup do you pick up first? You know, which gem do you pick up first? They're all over the place in Erewhon.
[00:06:13] Ray Latif: Well, that's the whole point. So when I did a Taste Radio interview with Kabir Jain, who was the chief operating officer of Erawan, did this a couple of years ago, he had talked about how much they focus on new products and introducing new products on a very consistent and frequent basis. So like every two weeks they're bringing in new products, particularly when it comes to beverages, because that's what their consumers expect. And that may be a good thing for brands in that, you know, let's say you launch a new brand and you're like, I'm looking for a retailer. Everyone's willing to take a shot on you. If you meet the criteria for getting in there, you have to be natural, organic. you know, clean ingredient label, et cetera. But most of all, you have to be innovative and have some sort of differentiated approach to a particular beverage category or food category. I guess the hard part is how to stay on shelf.
[00:07:02] Brad Avery: Let's say you get in there. And then there's the other hard part too, which is that when one comes in, one has to leave. I mean, so there's, there's that piece too. And when we don't talk about that as much, I was having some conversations with the retailers at BevNetLive and at NoshLive in our one-to-ones, and they were talking about, yeah, you know, that's just the way it goes.
[00:07:19] Ray Latif: Yeah, totally. It's super competitive. I hear that from retailers all the time. It's like, OK, if we bring you in, someone else is coming off. And our expectations are that you're going to generate more incremental value to our stores by having your brand, your products in there. And if that's not the case, why bring you into their stores? But I think the thing with Erewhon and the whole pop-up in New York City was, you know, does this foretell a potential more permanent location on the East Coast? I think based on what Erewhon had said, is that they're really focusing on their stores in Southern California, in Los Angeles area more specifically. And I misspoke. It's not six or seven stores. They have 10 stores. They've been introducing, they've been launching new stores. They have I thought they were opening up one in Malibu. Pasadena, I thought. They have one in Pasadena. They have one in Pasadena. That's a new one. They have one in Culver City, Calabasas, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Silver Lake, Studio City, Palisades Grove, and the flagship in Venice and Santa Monica. Well, the original in Venice.
[00:08:20] Mike Schneider: But I think what's the thing about the pop-up, too, is that, like I said, you've got them now kind of part of the national discussion in some regards. And so you're going to have people in New York who have heard of this store out in California, and there's going to be hype for like a pop-up, I think. You know coming to the East Coast it generates excitement and when you've got again like you know profile pieces in I think like the Atlantic I want to say or you've got you know fashion models wearing Clothing bearing the brand name. You've got people who are like well. What's this mythical store? That's 3,000 miles on the other end of the the country and
[00:09:00] Ray Latif: It's true. It's true. And I think the last thing I'll say about it is that we always hear from investors about velocity and proving yourself out in one particular market, even in one particular store or chain, and showing that you can actually sell your product and support your brand in that one particular store, chain, or area. And it doesn't necessarily need to be Erwan. Erwan is probably the most high profile one and the one that's going to generate the most interest. But let's say even locally here in the Boston area, like a Cambridge Naturals, very small store, very small chain. But let's say you're doing really well in there and you can prove that your brand is resonating with their consumers and maybe you can transfer or that interest can translate to another store, another retail chain.
[00:09:44] Brad Avery: It also depends on your brand. Don't sleep on Whole Foods Local either. There's all kinds of great, you know, entries into retail and it just depends on, you know, it depends on you. It depends on your audience. I think taking on your local market first is a pretty good strategy. For sure.
[00:10:00] Ray Latif: On the BevNET side of things, the number one story was actually about kratom. I think I'm pronouncing that correctly. I think it's just kratom.
[00:10:09] Mike Schneider: Kratom. What is kratom, Brad? Kratom is officially classified as a drug. It is a plant-based substance that is said to have opioid-like properties. It's been highly popular in recent years. Because it's plant-based. Yeah, it's plant-based. It is a plant-based solution. And so there's been a number of states passing legalization bills to sort of protect the sale and possession of kratom, but the FDA has been very, very clear. They do not like it. It is not approved for food or beverage, and they are enforcing it. And that's what our number one story of the year was actually about was a raid by U.S. Marshals at the behest of the FDA against a company called Botanic Tonics, which makes a brand called Feel Free.
[00:10:56] Ray Latif: A big part of your story, Brad, was about a class action lawsuit that was filed by Romello Torres, who is the alcoholic in recovery, who alleged that Botanic Tonics and 7-Eleven had falsely advertised their feel-free shots as a safe, sober, and healthy alternative to alcohol. Mr. Torres was not doing so well. He said that he had an addiction to the shots and worsened to the point where he was drinking 10 of them a day and spending $3,000 a month on the products, experiencing, quote, severe withdrawal symptoms when he attempted to quit. This sounds like a movie. Danny Stepper, you out there? Oh, geez. This is not a good thing.
[00:11:37] Mike Schneider: It's notable that feel-free shots contained both kratom and kava. And kava, yeah. So it's a combination of the two, and I don't know that there's even much research that's been done on how those two ingredients interact with one another.
[00:11:53] Brad Avery: When there's not a lot of research on cannabis yet, you gotta believe that there's not a lot on kratom.
[00:11:59] Mike Schneider: Yeah, and so the issue that kind of came up is Feel Free Botanictonics is a pretty young company. They're only about two years old and they very quickly attracted a lot of controversy and there's allegations that the products are addictive. There's even a subreddit with, I think I last checked, there's over a thousand members about people who are claiming that they have become addicted to the shots and are trying to get sober. From them goodness and again. These are just allegations of users online But that's what the class-action lawsuit you were talking about as soon as you said opioid. I was like not for me Yeah, I don't know that it's I think it's opioid like properties is what the FDA has said enough.
[00:12:36] Brad Avery: That's the addiction probably that they're talking about
[00:12:38] Mike Schneider: And so Feel Free actually this year released a version of the shots without Kratom in them anymore. And so they do have, I believe, the classic that is still has Kratom, but they released a version that just has Kava.
[00:12:52] Brad Avery: Yeah, they just called it Feel Free of Kratom.
[00:12:54] Mike Schneider: and some other functional ingredients.
[00:12:56] Ray Latif: And to be clear, the story that you wrote about the feds kicking down the doors of botanic tonics, that was a story that came after your story about the class action lawsuit. So the class action lawsuit, that news came in April 6th. And the story about the feds seizing the $3 million worth of Kratom products was on May 3rd. So very interconnected stories. I haven't heard much since.
[00:13:20] Mike Schneider: I haven't heard too much since. I need to dig back in.
[00:13:23] Brad Avery: I pictured the rock kicking down the door and waving the fort, yeah.
[00:13:26] Mike Schneider: Yeah, but they took over $3 million worth of Kratom. Everybody get down! They took shots, they took the raw powder that they had, they took a lot of inventory from their offices.
[00:13:39] Ray Latif: Alright, before we go any further, I'd like to thank our 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. You can learn more at tetrapak.com. One of the other news stories that really stood out for me, and I should note that typically, or at least for the last five years, the top news story on BevNET has been about like Monster or Bang. And there's plenty about Monster and Bang in these top 10 stories, but it was the one about White Claw. going dry and introducing a zero alcohol sparkling water product. Okay. Who saw this coming? Uh, not me. Mike, did you see a White Claw zero, zero alcohol coming in?
[00:14:29] Brad Avery: Uh, I mean, anything's possible with White Claw, I suppose at this point.
[00:14:34] Mike Schneider: Well, my initial thought was, isn't that just a seltzer? Yes. White Claw zero. But I think there's some, uh, some extra. Bipolar. Some other ingredients in there to kind of give it some, some, uh, extra flavor. I'm a powered bipolar.
[00:14:46] Ray Latif: Well, according to the article, it's being billed as a premium seltzer for adults, okay, with an added boost of electrolytes and just a touch of sugar. Why sugar? Two grams per 12-ounce can. I don't get that.
[00:14:59] Brad Avery: I mean, most seltzer, zero sugar, natural flavors.
[00:15:03] Ray Latif: I mean, Brad, in your hand, you have a can of Ouroboros, a holiday variety, which is their chai cranberry, which is amazing. And I look at the Ouroboros and I look at the White Claw Zero, I much would rather have the Ouroboros, but maybe having the White Claw in your hand at a party says a little bit more about you. You feel like you're more as part of the group holding a White Claw?
[00:15:25] Mike Schneider: And I feel like a little bit of a broken record repeating this, but I've been saying, you know, part of what Liquid Death's success is, is that it's largely an NA play. They created a canned water that looks like a beer can. And so you no longer feel when you're at a party and you don't want to drink, like you're the dork that's holding a bottle of water. You feel cool holding it. And maybe that's part of what this is as well, is that it's the White Claw brand. And so there's still no loss.
[00:15:52] Brad Avery: Wait, you don't want to say dork, I don't think, in three.
[00:15:54] Mike Schneider: No, it's fine. That's fine. I'm saying you're the dork at the party. I'm not accusing anyone who doesn't want a drink of that experience. Oh, maybe.
[00:16:05] Brad Avery: Okay. Yeah. That could be true.
[00:16:09] Mike Schneider: I've had people like marketing professionals in this industry say to me, he's like, I feel like a badass when I'm holding a Liquid Death. Yeah, people. Yeah. I've like, that was a direct quote from someone who I don't remember.
[00:16:23] Brad Avery: My son to see uncle acid in the dead beats metal band and there's Liquid Death everywhere. I mean it was yeah, it's pretty cool. Well, they did really Remember that was a great band. They're sick, right? I have no idea what you guys talking about. It's like If Black Sabbath just continued, they just have one song and they play it over and over and over again. That's one of their songs, by the way, over and over again. Great band. So remember Mike Cesario, Badminton Live. You know, metalheads are going to want to hold this at shows and stuff.
[00:16:52] Mike Schneider: Mike Cesario would be the founder and CEO of Liquid Death.
[00:16:55] Brad Avery: Right, Mike, sure. You're going to have enough money to get there.
[00:16:58] Mike Schneider: That was in every Live Nation venue. Yeah, my biggest mistake ever.
[00:17:03] Brad Avery: As a judge the new beverage showdown was like that. They're not gonna be able to do this obviously They did and it's just been fun to see It's like a little stab every time I see you like I went back and watch the video though You were the one judge on that stage.
[00:17:19] Mike Schneider: It was kind of like I think this could have some legs I said it could have some legs, but I
[00:17:23] Brad Avery: But I just had no idea how creative Mike Cesario and his team were going to be. I didn't know they're going to be like full albums on Spotify. And just the execution has been phenomenal.
[00:17:34] Mike Schneider: But like going back to the point about like them as an N.A. play and like fitting into this non-alcoholic trend that we're seeing overall, like I got an alcohol alternative. But alcohol alternative. Yeah. I think you've got to think of Liquid Death in part of that conversation. 100 percent.
[00:17:47] Brad Avery: 100 percent. Because he saw the future. He made the can look a little bit, just a little like
[00:17:52] Mike Schneider: It looks like a beer can looks like a beer can people talk about getting pulled over and they have to cop has to take it in like I have to prove that it's got like the edge of a beer can it's got like it's got that that metal vibe to it and it's just I don't know it's just amazing product yeah and I was just saying back to White Claw so I think there's some of that there and why White Claw wants to do is your percent is that you get the White Claw brand there's still no laws when you're drinking it it's you know you have that Attitude.
[00:18:21] Brad Avery: This is the thing we tell founders, first of all, good liquid in the can. Second of all, you have to have a good brand, liquid in the can, have a good brand, you know, and then you're onto something there. And then you have to have people that just understand the brand and vibe with the brand. And there you go. So if one of those two things doesn't work.
[00:18:38] Mike Schneider: Funny enough, Liquid Death's flavors also have a little bit of sugar in them. I believe they use agave nectar for it. They do. They're teas and... Yeah, they're sparkling. Right. Yeah.
[00:18:47] Ray Latif: Yeah. I think the thing with White Claw that's going to be interesting to see is, and they're launching this new Forest Cue line on New Year's Day, is whether or not you start to see them making inroads in places where Liquid Death has already made those inroads. So are you going to see... Different audiences though, right? I don't know. I'm not sure. I wouldn't be surprised if we start to see the same people who are drinking Liquid Death drink, have a White Claw in their hand. I wouldn't be surprised.
[00:19:15] Mike Schneider: Depending on the occasion. And you know, depending if you're already the White Claw consumer. Like personally, me as a consumer, I'm not the White Claw consumer. And so like for me, I'll try this. Like I'm curious, but I'm not the type of person normally drinks a White Claw. But if you're the type of person normally drinks a White Claw and you want a night off from drinking, maybe this is what you go for.
[00:19:34] Brad Avery: I think it also... Do they take nights off?
[00:19:37] Ray Latif: I think there's also a question about whether or not... 2024 will be that sort of inflection year for any position brands or alcohol alternative position brands. I'm holding in my hands two products that fit within that category. Luna Bay, which is a brand of kombucha, hard kombucha and hard teas. They recently introduced a new tea mocktail line, 0% alcohol. And then there's another brand that I'm holding in my hand called Per Se. And they're positioned as an alcohol-free craft cocktail. The variety I'm holding is a mojito.
[00:20:13] Brad Avery: There is a lot of good stuff in that category. You've got Guia, you've got Malate, you've got Bombas, you've got the Soie. I mean, there's a lot of quality.
[00:20:24] Ray Latif: Tiny, tiny, tiny brands in comparison to White Claw. Yeah, absolutely. The quality's there. You know, Liquid Death and White Claw, I feel like, are another sort of plane than these smaller brands. So the quality's there, the brand is there, but the marketing dollars. Yeah, but does White Claw open up the door to these brands that give them more of a path to be able to drink these products?
[00:20:49] Mike Schneider: Yeah, it's hard to say because White Claw, again, it's a sort of premium seltzer, and these are, you know, cocktail alternatives, you know, however we want to refer to them. I think it's, you know, I was saying it's kind of there's been this refinement of the alcohol occasion of like when you want to drink like, you know, we know that people are drinking less overall alcohol, but when they are choosing to drink alcohol, they're going more for premium products like they want to make that. They want to make the calories or the experience of drinking worth their while, so they're willing to spend more on like an expensive spirit, or they'll try a new kind of fancy canned cocktail, and they're drinking less beer and, you know, a lot less of, you know, Cooper Spirits overall. And then they are embracing all of the alcohol alternative products and the non-alcoholic products and giving those a try. And I think we're still waiting to see which brands are going to be able to stand out or stick.
[00:21:43] Brad Avery: I also saw a path to victory for cannabis there in BevNET Live, where the strategics in past BevNET lives have been like, yeah, we're not touching that cannabis. And now they're kind of like, huh, yeah, we'll talk about it. We're interested in it. Yeah, we'll even taste it. So not that that's necessarily an indicator of what's going to happen in the industry, because we're all, you know, first movers looking ahead, the best, brightest, newest products hitting us first. But yeah, that just seemed to be an attitude that we haven't heard before from the strategic.
[00:22:13] Mike Schneider: And maybe that's part of that is just growing cultural acceptance of cannabis as it's like becoming more normalized as part of just sort of everyday life rather than a illicit drug. And now it's, you know, we're at 10 years now, I believe, of legal cannabis in Colorado. And so we are looking at You know, cannabis just becoming a more acceptable part of society, and therefore, strategics are now not as afraid to touch it, because everything's trending in the direction of it being accessible legally in our lifetime in the near future.
[00:22:44] Brad Avery: And I think the other piece of it, in beverage, it feels a little more controllable. I mean, I had Calexo, Drippy, and Magic Cactus, and did not melt once.
[00:22:54] Ray Latif: You know, one story that generated some interest or quite a bit of interest actually on Nosh was the news that the Family Fund, a new fund launched by experienced entrepreneurs and CPG venture specialists, Josh Wan from Forrest Brands, Sean Kelly from Carew and Kurt Seidensticker from Vital Proteins launched this $25 million fund and talked about how they're taking a founder first perspective into this fund. They expect to make 30 core deals, or at least at the time of the announcement, it was 30 core deals with check sizes of about a million dollars a piece. And I mean, you know, we get this question all the time. Where can I find money? Can you introduce me to investors? So on and so forth. And I think with the family fund in the announcement that Springdale Ventures had closed their $40 million fund, I like this. And I think it says something about maybe investors being willing to make smaller bets or at least relatively smaller bets for seed in Series A rounds and that
[00:24:00] Mike Schneider: Maybe there's less of a worry than there had been at the beginning of the year about You know these funding opportunities for brands I mean, I think something was gonna give eventually and but it is what we've seen and this was like a very constant theme on stage at our events at Nosh and BevNET live is that Money is still hard to come by for a lot of brands, especially early stage brands. And it's not going to be like that forever. But what is changing is the investor philosophy. And the number one thing I feel like we've heard, at least in my mind, the number one takeaway is that now your company needs to be set up for profitability, path to profitability, rather than the growth at all cost mindset and, you know, running at a loss. And so that seems to be one of the big changes. It's still hard out there to raise money and even, you know, these investment firms, you know, raising funds has been difficult. I talked to Genevieve Gilbreth at Springdale and I was talking to her exactly about this and she said, yeah, I mean, it was hard for them to raise a fund right now, but, you know, they did it and now they want to continue investing in early stage CPG brands.
[00:25:12] Ray Latif: Or at least emerging stage, you know, they've got to be a year or two in.
[00:25:15] Mike Schneider: Emerging stage, yeah, I believe that's their philosophy. And they also are looking to average at about a million dollars a check.
[00:25:21] Ray Latif: Yeah, and these million dollars a check, again, these are seed and stage investments. They're not talking about angel investments at this point.
[00:25:26] Mike Schneider: Right, they're not angel investments. They do seed and stage, early stage brands. And I asked her as well, you know, are you more, you know, tougher on the brands that you're investing in? She said that the environment has sort of led them to be, you know, apply a little more scrutiny and focus a little more, although she said they, from the get-go, when they started the firm in 2019, they always were more looking for the path to profitability ahead of the curve there. But She said that, yeah, they they've been a little more strict, strict. Yeah, exactly. But that doesn't mean that they're not investing in these brands. And she said it's been really hard for the early and middle stage brands, the ones that don't yet have, you know, that proof point, but are trying to get there and trying to show that, yes, we will have that proof point. We're gearing things up to have that proof point, but we need the money first in order to get there. So that's the really the challenge for brands right now, because it's not as though no one's raising money.
[00:26:25] Ray Latif: Yeah. One of the other really interesting things about the family fund is that they have a bunch of limited partners that are former founders, or I guess founders in CPG, including those Birch Benders, Perfect Snacks, Sweet Leaf Tea, Supergoop, Cooper Spirits, Skinny Pop, and Koya. So I think those limited partners have some great perspective on what it takes to create a successful brand and how to scale it as well. So, and they can probably see where the holes might be in a particular business strategy and say, eh, this isn't really going to work or you know what, they're on the right track. They just need a little bit of money and potentially some value added advice and insights from folks who have been there and done that.
[00:27:05] Brad Avery: I mean, that's what I would hope for from the family fund, just with that all-star list of investors. For sure.
[00:27:14] Ray Latif: Well, the next time that we chat, Mike and Brad, I mean, we might have a conversation here or there before the New Year. I'm not going to talk to you before next year. Okay, well, fine. But the next time most of us chat...
[00:27:26] Mike Schneider: They hate each other in real life.
[00:27:29] Ray Latif: No, no, no.
[00:27:30] Brad Avery: Who's going to troll you about Man United?
[00:27:32] Ray Latif: Exactly, exactly. But it'll probably be in 2024. And I just want to say, it's been great working with both of you, Mike, on the marketing and Taste Radio side of things, Brad on the editorial side of things. And, uh, I'm excited for our team and I'm excited for the industry next year. It'll be a lot of fun. Absolutely.
[00:27:52] Brad Avery: Yeah, right. Thank you for all that you do for the industry and for us here at BevNET. And thanks for just being a phenomenal host of Taste Radio. Appreciate that, Mike, and happy new year to all.
[00:28:02] Ray Latif: 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.
[00:28:52] Brad Avery: you
