[00:00:10] Ray Latif: Hey, folks, I'm Ray Latif, and you're listening to the number one podcast for anyone building a business in food or beverage, Taste Radio. This episode features an interview with NFL superstar Patrick Mahomes and marketing guru Michael Fedele, the Lead Investor and founder, respectively, of upstart brand Throne Sport Coffee. It's no secret that Patrick Mahomes is one of the best players in the NFL. What's perhaps less known is his beverage of choice throughout the day, coffee. The three-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback is said to drink at least five cups a day to stay energized. It's fitting, then, that Patrick is the Lead Investor in Throne Sport Coffee, a better-for-you iced coffee brand developed for athletes and active consumers. Founded by former body armor marketing chief Michael Fedele, Throne is made with sustainably sourced Arabica coffee and contains 150 mg of natural caffeine per 11-ounce can. The products, which are sweetened with cane sugar and enhanced with B vitamins, electrolytes, and BCAAs, come in four varieties, Mocha Java, Salted Caramel, French Vanilla and Black. Prior to Throne's launch on May 16th, I sat down with Patrick and Michael who discussed the origins of the brand and their relationship, why their target audience includes both health-minded athletes and blue-collar workers, the reason that they don't describe the products as energy drinks, the company's initial focus on convenience stores, and how Patrick is highlighting his consumption habits to build an authentic relationship with consumers. Hey folks, it's Ray with Taste Radio. Right now, I am supremely honored to be sitting down with Michael Fedele and Patrick Mahomes of Throne Sport Coffee. Michael, how are you? I'm doing well, Ray. Thank you so much for having us on today. Super excited to be here. And Patrick, how are you?
[00:02:10] Michael Fedele: Doing great, man. Appreciate you having us. I'm excited to talk about sport coffee.
[00:02:14] Ray Latif: Absolutely. Can I clear the air just quickly before we get started here? Patrick, as everyone knows, you are the best player in the NFL. At least that's my opinion. I think a lot of listeners would agree. But I'm also a Bills fan. I'm and Buffalo Bills fan. You guys have torched us, you in particular, for the past four or five years. And, you know, Bills fans are forgiving, kind people though. So, you know, as long as you bring, I don't know, a few cases of Throne Sport coffee to Highmark Stadium the next time you're there, I think we're good. I think we're all set. All will be forgiven.
[00:02:48] Michael Fedele: No, the schedule's coming out. So I'll make sure I have some on me. We go to Buffalo Bills year. I'll be at Orchard Park and I'm excited to get back there. So I'll make sure I bring the Throne Sport coffee with me.
[00:02:58] Ray Latif: There you go. Thank you very much. People will be cheering for you. I'm not even kidding.
[00:03:02] Michael Fedele: I don't know about that.
[00:03:04] Ray Latif: Actually, I don't know about that either. Michael, you and I have known each other for quite some time back in the Body Armor days. As beverage guys know, this is a very, very tough business. It's very tough to be successful with one brand. It's almost impossible to be successful with two. Why, after running marketing for so long with Body Armor, and even though it was a humongous success, would you ever get back into this business?
[00:03:28] Patrick Mahomes: Ray, listen, I love beverages, I love people, I love creating, and I love building culture, right? And that's very important to me. And when I was thinking through kind of my next opportunity post-BodyArmor, again, fortunate enough to be the head of marketing at BodyArmor getting back to 2012, up until the Coca-Cola acquisition, thinking about what I was going to do next, right? And, you know, easily folk can fill their time with consulting, advising, whatever the case may be. And, you know, I thought about kind of what was important to me, and that was, you know, indeed doing something that was fulfilling, Creating working with people doing something that I genuinely enjoy and started thinking about beverages amongst other things. And in the beverage space for me again, I've been in beverages for 15 years prior to body on road with Coca Cola, working on powerade and vitamin water and in the marketing space. And I had the opportunity to see so many different. Consumer consumption habits over the years and working with, you know, many different active adults and professional athletes and amateur athletes. 1 thing I observed specifically was, you know, folks choosing coffee for for energy right prior to. Athletic exertion, not only just in the morning, but. before going to the gym, before going to training, on a big game day, whatever the case may be. And I started asking folks specifically, you know, what coffees are you reaching for? And they're like, I don't know, a pot that's been sitting there for six hours, or, you know, maybe someone will go to the convenience store, the gas station, pick PECS product up. And, you know, given how frequent active adults and health-minded active adults and athletes consume ready-to-drink coffee or coffee in general, I said, why isn't there a brand for the active adult or t of the foundation for com coffee, active adults and tons of caffeine, specifi I give them a better for y goes to a gas station or c it up and they see a gla milkshake that's sitting and 46 grams of sugar. A who cares about what they have to grab that for th influence for our coffee.
[00:05:32] Ray Latif: Absolutely. Patrick, you're an active athlete, active adult athlete, and Michael told me that you drink five cups of coffee a day. Is that right?
[00:05:43] Michael Fedele: I drink a lot. It gets a little bit more during the season than it is in the off season, but I mean, I drink a lot of coffee. I wake up every single morning and I'm getting coffee for sure.
[00:05:52] Ray Latif: Are you drinking hot coffee or are you typically a cold coffee consumer?
[00:05:55] Michael Fedele: I really used to be just strictly hot coffee, kind of to piggyback what Michael's saying. I didn't want to go to the convenience store and get that sugary coffee. And when I drink my hot coffee, I would drink black coffee to try to be the healthiest it possibly can be. And so it actually was cool this last year when Michael sent me some of the samples, and I was able to try those out and know that I was drinking a coffee, which I love, but a healthy version of that. And I could drink it during the season and didn't have to worry about the effects of how I feel after, if I'm sluggish after the coffee's kind of worn off or anything like that. It was just truly something that I believe in and I think it's gonna take off whenever you get the Throne Sport Coffee in the right hands and see that you can drink those cold, ready-to-drink coffees later in the afternoon and you don't have to worry about that hangover from all the sugar kind of wearing off and knowing that you have the healthy version for yourself.
[00:06:44] Ray Latif: Getting Throne Sport Coffee in the right hands is really important. Michael, how did you originally get sport coffee, Throne Sport coffee into Patrick's hands. How did you meet and how did you get him interested in it at a certain point invested in the brand?
[00:06:59] Patrick Mahomes: Yeah, for sure. So, I mean, we, we met for the first time last year and started, you know, talking about opportunities and chopping it up again. Patrick's done a phenomenal job for himself, not only on the field, but off the field from a business standpoint over the years. And he's got an amazing team around him. So we connected through some folks in Patrick's inner circle and kind of hit it off from the jump started just again talking about beverages and products and then also, you know, obviously, his success, both on and off the field. And long story short, and say, hey, listen, this is a, an idea I have. And again, given his consumption habits across. coffee, which are very genuine. He's like, you know, mind-blowing emoji, like, I think we have something here, so let's figure out how we can, uh, we can formalize something. And honestly, you know, in terms of working with Patrick to be the Lead Investor on Flow and Sport Coffee, there's no one else I'd rather partner with to build this brand. Again, his passion, A, about the product and what we're doing, which obviously comes through in terms of how he talks about it, but beyond that, you know, he wins at the highest level. He knows how to win in all aspects of what he involves himself in. And, you know, I like to think, oh, you know, we can do something really special with growing sport coffee in terms of really disrupting the category. It's a $7 billion category, right? Ready to drink cold coffee and it's growing 10% per year. And, you know, you go to any of these convenience stores, gas stations and some grocery as well, it's the same old brands that are in there. A lot of dark brown and beige and black packaging. And, you know, we're excited to introduce growing sport coffee to the world, tell folks and educate folks about our better for you story and, you know, create some excitement, disruption and some color kind of in that coffee category space.
[00:08:28] Ray Latif: Now, typically I don't drink a lot of flavored coffee, but you guys stole my heart with the French Vanilla. I love vanilla as a flavor, and I'm going to try this right now. And while I'm trying it, I'd love to hear from you, Patrick. You know, this conversation actually makes me, oh, there we go. See, we're brothers in coffee here. This conversation makes me recall one I had with Kobe Bryant, rest in peace. Kobe Bryant was one of the largest investors in body armor early on in his developments. And he talked about his first conversation with Mike Rapoli, who was one of the co-founders of body armor and how he convinced him to invest. What aspects of this brand of this business really convinced you to take part as the Lead Investor, Patrick?
[00:09:11] Michael Fedele: I think first off, what always got me was the passion that Michael talked about and how he truly believed in Throne Sport Coffee and that it could really get you to the next level. And then that's what you're always looking for. And as an athlete or as a person, you've seen the health craze kind of go throughout the nation is that you really want to take your body to the next level and be the healthiest that you can be. And so everything I put in my body, I'm looking at the labels, I'm paying attention to what's in it. And so whenever Michael talked about all how much healthier and how much natural caffeine you're going to get from this coffee, I thought it was just a no brainer. And I knew from my experiences of playing in the NFL or being around pro athletes and seeing how they really invest in their bodies as well. I knew that once they saw Throne Sport coffee and how much health benefits it has, that it was going to take off in the NFL. And I'm excited for the real world to see it and how they can take off where they train and how they kind of help perfect their body and be healthier for their lives as well.
[00:10:09] Ray Latif: Well, I've had my first few sips of the French Vanilla variety. It is remarkably delicious. You know, I'm not a huge sugar person. And the fact that this only has eight grams of sugar per 11 ounce can is fantastic. It doesn't taste artificial in any way, shape or form. In fact, I think the only sweetener in here is cane sugar. Is that right, Michael?
[00:10:30] Patrick Mahomes: That's correct. Natural cane sugar. So the French Vanilla, the Salted Caramel and the mocha. have eight grams of natural cane sugar, which obviously is easier for your body to break down and turn into fuel or energy. And our black coffee, just 25 calories and one gram of natural cane sugar. So no stevia, no erythritol, no artificial sweeteners, just the cane sugar.
[00:10:47] Ray Latif: The best part about it is it's not overwhelming. It's not filling. It's not a coffee milkshake, like you guys mentioned, you know, in describing some other brands. I feel like I could, I already finished half the can. I'm sure I could finish another two pretty easily.
[00:10:59] Patrick Mahomes: In Ray, that's by design, right? So it's 11 fluid ounces per can. So it's not 15 or 20. And it's not super small either, whether it's six or eight. So 11 ounce, you have the opportunity to have presence via shelf visual. But then beyond that, again, you want folks to consume this and have the ability to go out and hit the practice field or go for a run or hit the gym or whatever the case may be. So that was all by design. And part of that are consumer insights in terms of working with folks like Patrick and other active adults that use the product and use coffee regularly.
[00:11:30] Ray Latif: It feels like this is also a product that sort of straddles the line between coffee and energy. And on the side of the can, it describes this as coffee plus to get going, to keep going as trademarked. How much of your positioning is really designed to attract coffee consumers versus energy consumers?
[00:11:49] Patrick Mahomes: It's going to be focused on coffee. We are a coffee. We're not an energy drink, we're a coffee, right? We're going to be in the coffee door in convenience, we'll be in the coffee sets in grocery, and we'll be in the coffee section on Amazon, right? And that's important for us. There's a huge opportunity. Again, I mentioned it earlier, right? $7 billion category in ready-to-drink cold coffee, single serve, right? It's set to potentially surpass roasted coffee and, you know, coffee, instant coffee, literally next year. It's pretty wild in terms of what the growth is. And Gen Z is more likely to pick up and drink a ready-to-drink cold coffee than any hot coffee. So the trends are wild. They're going to continue to grow. There's such a need for a product like this. It's a huge consumption occasion for so many people, so many active adults, so many athletes consume coffee before they go hit the gym, before they go for a run, as an afternoon pick-me-up. You have these gentlemen that are working outside all day landscaping, manual labor, blue-collar guys, and they want to hit the gym at five o'clock when they get off of work. They're stopping at a gas station or convenience store. They're picking up TBD coffee or another type of drink and fueling up to hit the gym for an hour or hour and a half afterwards. That's our consumer, and we're going to make a splash with that consumer. We're a coffee, and Coffee Plus is specific to that. Again, we're made with premium Arabica beans from Central and South America. to our legitimate coffee. Beyond that, 150 milligrams of natural caffeine, all the flavors you're tasting in that French Vanilla, right? It's natural flavors. Again, the natural sweetener, natural cane sugar. And then we've got 100% daily B vitamins loaded with electrolytes, potassium plus sodium, and then BCAA. So again, it is genuinely a better for you product than what's out there on the market and couldn't be more excited to get this in folks' hands and drive trial and hopefully keep them coming back for more.
[00:13:35] Ray Latif: Absolutely. I'm going to try the, the Salted Caramel variety right now. And while I'm doing it, Patrick, you know, Gen Z consumers are known for being able to sniff out inauthentic messaging, connections with different brands. In fact, there's a whole blowback against celebrities going on right now in social media. You know, how do you authentically connect with the typical, the target consumer for Throne Sport coffee?
[00:14:01] Michael Fedele: Yeah, I think first off to kind of hop on what Michael was just talking about. I mean, I'm drinking these coffees before I go work out early in the morning, and it's not giving me the jitters. It's not giving me anything like that. It's giving me that natural feeling of I can go out there and get the workout that I want, and I think that was big for me. I mean, just because that's what I want to do every single day. I want to be the best I can be and get my body in the best shape possible and be able to get the most out of every single workout. to kind of show that it's authentic to me is that I do it. I mean, I'm drinking it every day. I gave it to my QB room actually today, and I pass it out and let the guys try every single flavor. And I want others to get this. I want others to see the benefits that Throne Sport Coffee is giving me. And I think when it's true to you, you can really speak in that way. And I think people can authentically hear it in your voice that you believe. You believe in the product. more than the investment. You believe in the product and think the product's going to kind of keep taking off to another level because of the, I would say, the best benefits that it gives you every single day. And sometimes I have to stop myself. I started talking too much. I get a little damped up because I know that I want to get this great product into the best people's hands and really let their lives be better for it.
[00:15:09] Ray Latif: By the way, the Salted Caramel is fantastic. One great thing about the Salted Caramel is that it still tastes like coffee. So many times I'll taste a Salted Caramel flavored product and all you're tasting is salt or caramel or a combination of both. This actually tastes like coffee that has Salted Caramel flavor. Well done.
[00:15:26] Patrick Mahomes: Thank you. We want them to be smooth and very drinkable.
[00:15:29] Ray Latif: Yeah. Michael, you shared with me that this is not launching, this brand is not launching in a space that a lot of brands launch in, which is the natural channel or specialty, or even in some cases, conventional grocery. You're going into C-stores in the heartland of America. Why was that your retail strategy?
[00:15:46] Patrick Mahomes: Yeah, I think for a number of different reasons, right? Working with Patrick, obviously, he's enormous everywhere, given the amazing success he's had, again, both on and off the field. You know, that said, to focus on the geography, right, literally the, you know, 15, 20 states in and around, you know, the heartland, you know, we think that there's a great opportunity to do that. And so many brands, as you know, right and wrong are indifferent. For many brands, it works really well to focus on the coast or in urban areas or in that natural food chain. That's right for a lot of brands. For us, I think we have a crystal clear vision and strategy for where we want to go and how we want to take this to market. So it's doing that in the right way. But upon launch, again, we're going to be in 3,000 plus outlets, brick and mortar outlets in more than 20 states. That's just the start. And we're going to continue to expand upon that as we go throughout this year and early next year and already have some retailers locked in. beyond the launch retailers. And then obviously we're available via Amazon as well as sportcoffee.com. So if you are in geographies outside of those 20 states and you want to order, you can, you know, purchase 12 packs. But then we also have our trial pack, which is, you know, four pack of product. I think, you know, for so many brands, you know, you want folks to go online and go to Amazon and buy your 12 pack. No one's tried one can of you yet. How can you expect someone to do that? So we wanted to make sure we had the right offerings for the consumer. Therefore, the four pack trial pack to have folks taste every flavor and then we can come back and pick what they want more.
[00:17:04] Ray Latif: So last question, Patrick, it's really important to get the community excited about what you're doing. And the community I'm talking about is the pro football community, the NFL community.
[00:17:15] Michael Fedele: I think for me, I'm just going to do whatever I can to set the right stage of Throne Sport Coffee can make your day better. I think that's going to come with me just keeping doing things like this, interviewing, showing the benefits that it's given me in my life, not only on the field, but off of it as well. And then just keep introducing people to it. And that's what I've been trying to do so far. And I feel like I've been not in from the very, very beginning, but I've been in for a long time. And I got to do the samples, give my feedback to Michael. And I feel like we've come up with four great flavors where, like you, I drink strictly black coffee. And being able to drink the French Vanilla, the Salted Caramel, and then the Mocha Java, it's really been something where we've came up with flavors along with the black that I think people will love. Um, and we're going to keep doing whatever we can to keep introducing more with feedback from the consumer as well.
[00:18:04] Patrick Mahomes: And Ray Patrick's being humble. He's working. We're putting him to work as part of Throne Sport coffee. Like, yes, you know, again, he was very much involved in the, in the product innovation and providing feedback on samples. Even as when I was finalizing the ingredients, you know, what do athletes care about in their product, right? Maybe something we should consider including here. But beyond that, he's met with retailers. He's communicated to other different folks that are going to help move the needle on the business, whether it's on the manufacturing side or distribution side. So he's in this thing, and it's awesome to have a partner behind the scenes who's as committed as Patrick is to this. It's off to a great start.
[00:18:38] Ray Latif: Well, as anxious as I was seeing Patrick on the field against the Bills, I'm even more anxious now because all the energy you're going to be getting by drinking this coffee before games, during games, perhaps, is this going to make us, I don't know. I'm just worried. I got to tell you. But I'm very, very excited for Throw-In-Sport Coffee. Congratulations to both of you for creating a dynamite brand out of the gate. Really excited to see where this all goes. Let's stay in touch and I'd love to continue this conversation as the brand continues to develop.
[00:19:09] Michael Fedele: Awesome, Ray. Thank you so much. Yeah, I appreciate you having us, man. We're super excited.
[00:19:17] 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. On behalf of the entire Taste Radio team, thank you for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.
[00:20:07] Michael Fedele: you
