[00:00:10] Ray Latif: Hello, and thanks for tuning in to Taste Radio, the number one podcast for anyone building a business in food or beverage. I'm Ray Latif, the editor and producer of Taste Radio. And with my co-hosts for this episode, John Craven, Jacqui Brugliera, and Mike Schneider. Jackie, once again, looking very peppy for 8am in San Diego. I don't know how you do it.
[00:00:35] John Craven: On my ride over, I just blast music and I sing along and I warm up the vocal cords.
[00:00:40] Ray Latif: Okay. I used to do that, but, uh, I, I don't know any good music to listen to that will make me feel that way. What was the tune of the day?
[00:00:47] John Craven: I was listening to Chapel Roan because she has some really great sing-along songs. If you haven't listened to her, you gotta listen to her.
[00:00:53] Jacqui Brugliera: I'm on it.
[00:00:53] John Craven: But she's on the rise. Sing-along songs.
[00:00:56] Jacqui Brugliera: Ray looks so confused. I do.
[00:00:58] Ray Latif: He's like, what, what's that? Like the wheels on the bus? Is that, is that, is that like a, like a sad lid? Yum, yummy. I know who that artist is. You do? That's impressive. Yes, yes, yes. Raise more to the Wiggles these days. No, apparently her concert series has been a humongous hit to the point where they don't know what to do. Add more shows, add more capacity. So yeah, very cool. Nice problem to have. Indeed, indeed. And this is all happening Eat The Jam time as something called Brat Summer. Okay, I am completely clueless about this. I can't be the only one. It's like reinstalled TikTok over the weekend. Yeah, exactly. Called to ask where the disc was for How do you have in a quarter how do you put this into your car tape? Yes. Yes. No Brett summer. Does anyone know what this means? Am I is it already over? Did I miss it? Okay, Jackie, do you know what this is?
[00:01:54] John Craven: Yeah, I mean, I would say most people Eat The music festivals are having great brat summer. I feel like it just means like being unapologetic, being bold, having a lot of fun and kind of bragging a Little Saints about it.
[00:02:07] Mike Schneider: Like Megan Klein at Lollapalooza, did you see those outfits? Those were awesome. Did not see that. Yeah. She had a, uh, Little Saints had a booth at Lollapalooza and, uh, it looked like a really fun time. Nice. Nice. She brought the thunder outfit wise.
[00:02:21] Ray Latif: Little Saints, the maker of non-alcoholic cocktails and a non-alcoholic, we won't call it Mezcal, but Mezcal like product.
[00:02:28] Mike Schneider: She had an outfit that I call Miami camo and she dressed basically as an orange tree. Very cool. It was pretty sweet.
[00:02:34] Ray Latif: Well, I did mention I wanted to figure out for myself what Brat Summer was all about. And so John Craven very kindly asked ChatGPT to tell me, he said in the screenshot, thank you very much for this. Please explain Brat Summer to a boomer. I ain't no boomer, man. I'm like, come on, this is crazy now.
[00:02:52] Jacqui Brugliera: It's like some people are like my biological age is like, I don't know 25 when they're in their 40s. Okay.
[00:02:57] Ray Latif: Oh my god No, well, what's funny is the question Okay, explain Brad summer to a boomer and then chat GPT starts with sure exclamation point. It's very terrible about Responding to this question and they're waiting for it all more There are four topics or four answers here with an explanation past each one a youthful rebellion Pop culture influence, social media, celebration of fun and freedom. So I guess this is all attached to Brad's summer. But anyway, thank you, Jackie, for not judging me.
[00:03:31] John Craven: Ray, would you say you're having a Brad summer?
[00:03:35] Ray Latif: I don't think I could say that. I mean, for me, every summer is a Brad summer. I call it the summer of Ray. You're being pretty bratty about brat summer right now Since 2006 when I was 16 years old. I've been having the summer of Ray and it's been wonderful.
[00:03:54] John Craven: Yes If we could all have the summer of Ray, okay, that'll be the next brat summer.
[00:04:00] Ray Latif: So that's what it's a brat summer I wasn't sure if it referred to meat products like a like a sausage brat. I That'd be brought summer. Oh brought summer. Okay. Well, I actually brought some brought ish products, but I'm not gonna talk about this yet That's gonna be the second surprise, but I told everyone that I have a surprise for you and this is gonna This is going to turn a few people off in this room. Perhaps those who are listening as well, because it's completely the antithesis of what Taste Radio is all about, perhaps. I brought some Twinkies. Yes, it is a bag of GMOs here. Okay, so hostess. Well, look at that chill dude on the back of the box. What does it say? The mayor of what? No, he is Dude Dad.
[00:04:43] John Craven: Dude Dad?
[00:04:44] Jacqui Brugliera: What's he doing?
[00:04:45] Ray Latif: Dude Dad? This is like corporate marketing trying to be cool.
[00:04:47] John Craven: Yeah, I don't remember the last time I saw Twinkies.
[00:04:50] Ray Latif: Not in this room. Okay, so hostess which is the maker of Twinkies. Should I explain what Twinkies are John?
[00:04:58] Jacqui Brugliera: I would love to hear that. There's someone out there who was like, I don't know what those actually are.
[00:05:03] Ray Latif: Okay, so they're individually wrapped golden cakes. Anyway with cream filling.
[00:05:06] Jacqui Brugliera: It's like a piece of a Nerf with some stuff in the middle.
[00:05:16] Ray Latif: So Twinkies introduced a new mystery limited edition flavor in collaboration With a content creator. His name is Taylor Kalmus also known as doodad Can we please have a Twinkie fight?
[00:05:32] Mike Schneider: Can we throw them at each other?
[00:05:33] Ray Latif: Sorry for crapping on doodad. That's I mean So do dad has at Eat The got paid for this right do dad has 1.1 million followers. It's not let me see Dude Dad on Instagram his bio describes him as being a dad while staying a dude Hashtag do that even I don't know what that means actually I want to see how many followers he is older like is he an older influence No, I mean, he's a dad. He can't be that No, no, no, no, please They are nerf. OK, mystery flavor. So on his YouTube description it says Taylor Kalmas is a Colorado based video creator with the help of his wife and two best friends, Burke and DJ. He makes sketches, DIY and vlog videos about his family life. He also stars in Magnolia Network's Superdad. In which he helps other dads make their kids' backyard dreams a reality. So that's Dude Dad for ya. So Hostess partnered with him because they felt like a collaboration was a perfect match. I am curious. This smells like Froot Loops.
[00:06:41] Jacqui Brugliera: I don't know if I can take a bite of that.
[00:06:42] Ray Latif: Have they?
[00:06:42] Mike Schneider: Okay.
[00:06:44] Ray Latif: Significantly reduce the size of a Twinkie are these like mini Twinkies yes, they've changed dramatically since the 1970s Maybe last time you had one you were just a lot smaller Yeah, so I guess if you guess the flavor you can post it on the hostess Instagram page, and you'll get some prizes I I am gotta be some colorful comments. I am gonna smell this person and try it do it Fruit loops is not what this is Well, I don't know they were very kind, okay, it's most like strawberries or raspberry, okay, I think raspberry nine grams of fat
[00:07:24] Mike Schneider: 35 milligrams of cholesterol 370 milligrams of sodium. I'm going with seven grams total Carbohydrate raspberry is their mystery flavor.
[00:07:34] Ray Latif: There's protein in Twinkies It's very strawberry raspberry ish.
[00:07:39] John Craven: They must have a fun name or something to make it spicier. Oh
[00:07:42] Ray Latif: Risberry for the kids I'm sure that's TM somewhere. You know if you Eat The most recent edition of the Taste Radio newsletter you would know I talked quite a bit about gen alpha terms actually in that If you want to sign up for the Taste Radio newsletter, and you should, become a VIP. Just head to Taste Radio slash VIP to sign up. Not just the newsletter. You get all kinds of fun things coming your way.
[00:08:13] Jacqui Brugliera: Ray might send you a Twinkie.
[00:08:14] Ray Latif: We'll pelt you with Twinkies. If someone really, really, really stops throwing those, please.
[00:08:18] Jacqui Brugliera: Someone requests a Twinkie. I think we should save these and we'll send them a Twinkie. We should. We should. How many do we have left?
[00:08:25] John Craven: Six or seven? They never expire, right?
[00:08:27] Ray Latif: Yes, let's put these back in the box All right, it was fun to throw them at you guys Yeah, okay, so that was my surprise number one all right well We're gonna move on from that because I don't think we can spend more than a few minutes I don't know why limited edition has a question mark on it, but okay.
[00:08:49] Mike Schneider: I know it's because of the mystery flavor which you said is Riz berry Okay, yeah, okay, yeah, but that's Just Ice every Twinkie has a lot of mystery inside Which I didn't understand why this one needed a question mark fair enough fair enough
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[00:09:32] Ray Latif: In slightly more relevant news to the Nosh listening audience, I saw a story today penned by our colleagues Shauna Golden and Adrianne DeLuca. The title is, Akua shuts down citing manufacturing catastrophes and decline of plant-based movements. Akua. was a maker of Kelp Burgers. And their founder and CEO, Courtney Boyd Myers, announced on LinkedIn Eat The New York-based company is shutting down. And it also alleges, or excuse me, she also alleges that Akua was copied by its supply chain partner. So a lot of things went wrong here. I think, however, The thing that probably went most wrong for the company was calling their product a Kelp Burgers. I don't think I or anyone else was ever enticed to eat a Kelp Burgers. Maybe that was the problem. John Craven?
[00:10:25] Jacqui Brugliera: I mean, people do like kelp though. It's a known good for you ingredient. I think a, what's the word I'm looking for? Superfood? Superfood, I was gonna say, I mean, they're basically just, you know, pulling it out of the ocean. It's like a... Oh, unprocessed. Yeah.
[00:10:43] Ray Latif: Kelp is great, but as a burger?
[00:10:44] Jacqui Brugliera: I don't know, but I mean, at least it tells you what it is and sort of tells you it's not like some funny ingredients, right?
[00:10:52] John Craven: Yeah, I think, like, focusing specifically on it as an ingredient could have maybe had some issues. Like I know in the vegan and vegetarian community, it's an important source of like iodine and vitamin B12 that you usually get from meat products. So a lot of people in those communities eat kelp and seaweed. But for mainstream consumers, they might not understand the health benefits of kelp. And they might also deter them because they might think that it tastes very fishy or, you know, might be off-putting.
[00:11:25] Mike Schneider: It contains 20 vitamins, 16 amino acids, 6 minerals, and 11 micronutrients, making it a superfood.
[00:11:33] Ray Latif: That's all well and good. And I appreciate the fact that kelp is a superfood, but... But a burger. But a burger, exactly.
[00:11:40] Mike Schneider: Yeah, that was your point. And I think it's a great point. I think it's a Little Saints of maybe a cop-out to say a decrease in the plant-based trend where, yes, there's a decrease in the use of the word plant-based. Everybody's really tired of hearing plant-based, plant-based, plant-based, plant-based, but people are still eating plants.
[00:11:58] Ray Latif: Let's be really frank about this because if you want to be a mainstream brand, kelp, I don't think is going to be the ingredient that gets you there. I just don't see a real runway for it in that kind of way. As a hero ingredient. Exactly. I mean, yes, there are some really interesting kelp-based products at Whole Foods, at Sprouts, at whatnot. But if you want to be in Costco, if you want to be in Walmart, if you want to be in Target, That's not going to get you there. Actual Veggies, on the other hand, the brand Actual Veggies, a maker of whole food ingredient burgers, all vegetables, their black bean veggie burger is very, very delicious. And they are everywhere now, seemingly everywhere. And everyone knows what a veggie burger is. We've been growing up on veggie burgers for 30 years. So it's not a hard leap to go from, oh, I know what this is to let me try this and see if it's actually better than what I've tried in the past. Whereas a Kjellberger, you have to make that leap of faith.
[00:12:57] Mike Schneider: And Actual Veggies has a phenomenal differentiator, which is. This is actually made out of vegetables. I mean, it explains itself right there for you.
[00:13:07] Ray Latif: People know what a sweet potato is. People know what a black bean is. People know what mushrooms are. People know what roots are for the most part. I mean, I think kelp, you don't know Eat The flavor is going to be. You don't know what it does for you. Oh, is it going to be a slimy burger? Yes, all these things may have happened where they had manufacturing challenges. Yes, maybe people are becoming more confused about what plant-based foods are all about because there's been a lot of confusion Just Ice that space. You know, is it good for me? Is it not good for me? Is an Impossible Burger The Jam thing as a Kelp Burgers? Is it heavily processed? So on and so forth. But Eat The core of this discussion, Eat The core of, I think, the core problem was calling yourself a Kelp Burgers.
[00:13:45] John Craven: Well, they also had a variety of products. So they had a bunch of different products and it was all just based on the ingredient of kelp. And again, like calling that out in each individual category rather than calling out like the value props of like sustainability and what it's actually doing for you functionally.
[00:14:04] Ray Latif: No, that's a good point, Jackie. They did have a kelp jerky, a kelp pasta, kelp protein balls, spices, chocolate. But the, I think the only thing that ever could have really taken off, I mean, kelp protein balls, look, I just never, I just don't see a big runway for that either. But burgers seem to be the one way they could get in the door of a household. And it's Just Ice Just Ice don't know.
[00:14:26] John Craven: Yeah. It's also performed well in a condiment format. Like I've seen a bunch of hot sauces and spices and things like that, where it gives you that like umami flavor and it gives you a Little Saints of extra nutrients in it, but it's not like the main focus.
[00:14:41] Mike Schneider: I think what you were talking about, Ray, people, you're talking about mainstream America doesn't understand how to eat kelp and having kelp as the hero probably was the thing that really turned people off or didn't make a coup into the sustainable idea that it could have been.
[00:15:00] Ray Latif: Clearly it sounds like I'm dumping on Akua and I feel bad about that. So let me first apologize to the founders of Akua. I don't want to work for the company. Anytime a company goes under, it's not a good thing. But I do want to say that in all these conversations that I've had with entrepreneurs over the years, the one thing that typically rises to the top in terms of success is simplicity. Keep it simple, keep it easily understood, make it such that someone doesn't have to be educated to a certain point such that they have to buy a product, right? Like there has to be a point of reference in this case, like we're talking about burgers. But again, it's a large leap, I think, for the average person to go from burger to veggie burger to Kelp Burgers.
[00:15:42] John Craven: A brand that I think does a good job in like the seaweed space is like sea churrones. Like it's very playful. It's very direct, like pointed. This is kind of like a churrone. There's some sea element to it, but it's not like super focused on the ingredients.
[00:15:57] Mike Schneider: And I'm sure the founders of Akua at some point were sitting around going, kelp, simple, it's super, you know, this is going to go places. And maybe they went a Little Saints too wide on it or just, you know, like you said, Ray, positioning as a burger, things of that nature that just didn't go the way they wanted it to. And it is a shame because, you know, kelp does have those benefits and people should eat more kelp.
[00:16:17] Jacqui Brugliera: For sure. I think also, you know, sometimes like just having a lot of products too, like one of these, if it were the only thing that you focused on. it might've had a better chance for success. You know, that's something that, uh, I guess another company that was sort of this week trying to keep it simple and focus in is Eat The Change who, you know, they make fruit snacks as well as Just Ice Tea. They're getting rid of their food products and going all in on Just Ice Tea. And, you know, I think that's one of those things where sometimes what you start out with and the products that you kind of end up in, the actual opportunity might not lie in the thing that was the impetus for the company's founding, right? Right.
[00:16:59] Mike Schneider: And I'm sure there's a lot of great lessons learned from Akua Eat The founders will bring to either another company or their next startup.
[00:17:05] Ray Latif: Well, perhaps we can Eat The founder of Akua on the show if she doesn't hate me right now. Courtney, my apologies for being such a hater. I'd love to hear from her. Yeah, I'd love to hear from you as well. But she's probably going to be like, go F yourself, right?
[00:17:19] Jacqui Brugliera: Anyway, um, that's kind of what I'm, I'm like, yeah, we're all, you gave us those Twinkies.
[00:17:24] Ray Latif: Courtney, we're like that too, all the time. So as, as I'm saying that, John is going to pop some champagne here. Like I'm thirsty. He's not popping champagne. He has some non-alcoholic wine that was sent to us, I believe by the, uh, Zero Proof folks, yes? Uh, no. No. Okay. But this is a brand called Odd Bird.
[00:17:46] Jacqui Brugliera: I'm trying to keep you in suspense. I didn't mean to show you the label but cans of temper neo in the fridge that are pretty outstanding Bird has a bunch of different They have some cheers 750 milliliters like this and some single-serve 12-ounce cans, maybe it's beautiful a little label area and
[00:18:10] Ray Latif: Very tasty. Tastes like a sparkling apple cider. It's pretty close, yeah. More than it does a Blanc de Blanc, a typical Blanc de Blanc, but it's got some good sour notes to it. As far as non-alcoholic wine, we've talked about this. The sparkling stuff always rises to the top for non-alcoholic wine, that is. Yeah, that's tasty. Yeah. And definitely like the branding of it too.
[00:18:31] Mike Schneider: The Tempranillo also sparkling. It's more like a Lambrusco.
[00:18:35] Jacqui Brugliera: I like the liberated from alcohol tagline on it. It's not screaming non-alcoholic. It's a rescue mission. Liberated.
[00:18:45] Ray Latif: Just Ice me. Liberated. Fought off all that bad alcohol. It's kind of like the GIA tagline. They don't say under the influence, they say over the influence.
[00:18:54] Jacqui Brugliera: That is a great tagline. Sounds like the tagline for Four Loko, but hey.
[00:19:03] Ray Latif: Okay, so everyone here is a fan of the brand Snoods, which is a maker of Pasta Snacks. Their snacks are made from pasta.
[00:19:14] Mike Schneider: That brand came up three times in separate conversations this week alone.
[00:19:18] Ray Latif: Nice. And we've talked about Snooze on the podcast. They've joined us in a past episode of our Elevator Talk series in which we highlight early stage and disruptive brands from across the food and beverage industry. You want to take part, head to BevNET or Nosh.com to find out more. Elevator Talk is The Jam of the show. Tantos is The Jam of this brand. I have my hand. They're a maker of puffed pasta chips. There are four varieties, including their marinara. Got a lasagna in there, maybe? Their pesto, their classico, and their cacio e pepe. Cacio e pepe, I think, is the one I probably don't need to try, but the marinara one looks really interesting.
[00:19:59] Mike Schneider: So much yes. Why so much yes? Well, yes to basil and parm, crispy and puffed. I mean, it's a really appetizing looking package. I love the way they've got the chips piled up on the front. It's pretty clear to see Eat The flavor is. The flavor cues are really great on this. Yeah. Interesting packaging. I like it. What did you open up there, Ray?
[00:20:21] Ray Latif: John opened up the marinara.
[00:20:22] Mike Schneider: Okay.
[00:20:23] Ray Latif: Oh, and up the cacio e pepe too. Nice. They're really good. They're, um, they're puffed. They're puffed. This is less obvious that it's pasta. Yeah, well, this is interesting because after Snooze, this is the second product I've seen in the market that's doing a pasta-based snack. And then a couple episodes back, few episodes back, we had a brand that marketed Penne Straws. Yes. I forget The Jam of the company. I think The Jam of the company was Vintage Italia and their Penne Straws were part of this whole very, very nascent, tiny Extremely tiny, new category of Pasta Snacks. Interesting stuff.
[00:21:02] Mike Schneider: This marinara takes me back to this pizza shop that I used to love when I was a kid. And I don't know why I just got that flavor when I tasted this. And that's really awesome. I love when a snack does that. And thanks, Tantos. Yeah. Here, you want to try the pesto?
[00:21:24] Ray Latif: All of them. All of them. You might send some over here. Okay. Give you the cacio e pepe. Thank you. Yeah. So the CEO of Tantos is going to be joining us for an upcoming episode of Elevator Talk. And the founder of this company is a man named Joe Sasto. He's a chef and he has competed on Bravo's Top Chef along with other Food Network shows. So interesting stuff. I'm excited to learn more about this brand. Pretty tasty. For sure. Jackie, you got anything crunchy over there that you want to crunch into your microphone and drive our listeners crazy like we are?
[00:21:59] John Craven: I don't think I have anything for ASMR. I have some cans that I could open, you know, and maybe sprinkle on something, some sauce that could, you know, slop around. Oh jeez. I have, I have Louisa, which is a line of Latin spices and so frito. And I was actually using the sofrito on like everything all day. Yesterday brings me back to like high school. My friend is Chilean and we'd have sofrito rice and it Just Ice blew my mind. Cause I grew up on Just Ice meat and potatoes. So it was the first time I tasted flavor and. It's delicious. The taste of flavor. Literally, it was just mind blown. Oh yeah, they wouldn't even be offended. They know. So yeah, they have a delicious sofrito, which is like a really nice cooking sauce with cilantro and tomato and some peppers. And then they have sazon and adobo. So it's cool to see some, you know, clean options. A lot of people use like Goya and other traditional Latin staples. And I love their packaging. It's very clean, bright. It's delicious.
[00:23:10] Mike Schneider: And how's the flavor compared to the traditional staples?
[00:23:14] John Craven: I would say it's good. I would say what I've had is a Little Saints spicier, but I think I also like spicier and my palate and maybe Latin palates are a Little Saints more inclined to spicier. So I think maybe this is like their first entry point and then they're going to offer different levels, but it's really delicious.
[00:23:33] Ray Latif: Excellent. Nice. Nice. I'm glad your palate has evolved to appreciate spicy flavors and not bland steak and roasted potatoes. Although, you know, there was a time and place for that as well.
[00:23:45] John Craven: Yeah. Overcooked meat and like barbecue sauce, you know?
[00:23:48] Ray Latif: Overcooked meat. Oh no, that's the worst. Yeah. Yes. Okay. Now John has some more liquid for us to drink.
[00:23:55] Jacqui Brugliera: I've just moved on to a Lapos Aperitivo, which I think, Not too long ago. We talked about the lapos RTD non-alcoholic Negroni and to be clear. It's LAP o apostrophe s. Yes Beautiful looking bottle. I mean, I think probably Maybe the nicest looking in a 750 Yeah, it's very roaring 20s art deco ish there's a Little Saints of steampunk in there actually Yeah, yeah, yeah, but uh pretty solid liquid I mean, if you're into making non-alcoholic cocktails at home, want to up your game, this is pretty good. I mean, it's a nice, maybe a little sweeter than a Campari without the burn, but it's got some good complex flavor in there.
[00:24:43] Mike Schneider: I'm assuming that's what's in the Negroni as well. Probably. I mean, that Negroni is one of the top ones we've had.
[00:24:50] Ray Latif: It really is. They're Negroni. I had one a couple of weekends ago and it was pretty darn tasty.
[00:24:56] Mike Schneider: Right up there with Phony Negroni.
[00:24:58] Ray Latif: Yeah. I think if they could somehow dial back the sugar, they would be in an even better Negroni position. But, um, as it is, it's quite a good product. Mike brought about a thousand shots with him.
[00:25:13] Mike Schneider: I did. I love these shots. It's called Saga.
[00:25:16] Ray Latif: S-A-G-A.
[00:25:18] Mike Schneider: It's a line of functional shots that taste really good. I just had the Focus Plus Clarity shot called Spotlight. There's one called Sunray. These are all focused on the functionality over the flavor and they just happen to taste great. There's a panel on the side that tells you what's in it. Sunray, which is for productivity and motivation. There's Surge to activate and recharge. There's Starlight for sleep and snooze. And Ray, this one surprised me, there's Supernova, which is for euphoria and buzz. And guess what's in it?
[00:25:54] Ray Latif: I was surprised because I saw some of these shots in the non-danger fridge. And I saw John in the hallway and I said, get these out of the fridge. Someone's going to get high during the day. Cause you know, if you consume even five milligrams of THC, You will be a problem child.
[00:26:16] Mike Schneider: No, I'm just kidding, obviously. Well, I will. No, actually, that's not true. Only if it's... He had about 150. Yeah, I probably had about 30 or 40. But the only feedback on the Supernova is it looks so much like the Starlight, the Surge, and the Sunray. By all means, this package is, it's beautiful. And they made some good choices here in terms of Just Ice the colors for the functions and leaning into function versus flavor. And then all the flavors are good. So you're, you're never going to be disappointed when you drink it. And the, and the ingredients are nice and clean and all that kind of good stuff. The only thing I'd say here is that THC should probably be a little more apparent, the amount that you're getting here. But other than that, I can't wait to try this.
[00:26:59] Ray Latif: Yeah, the back of the bottle, the font is extremely small.
[00:27:03] Mike Schneider: For an old man like me.
[00:27:04] Ray Latif: Very difficult to read. I don't think even for an old man, for anyone really. No, just when I have my contacts in, it becomes a little difficult. But the ingredient label, yes, it's kind of hard to read. Everything else is sort of easy if you look really closely.
[00:27:18] Mike Schneider: But yeah, nice looking bottle. It's full of good stuff though. Things you like, things Jackie likes. I know there's mushrooms everywhere in these.
[00:27:24] Ray Latif: Send them over. High bioavailability. That's good stuff. Yeah. So thank you for sending those along. So I ran into the founders of a brand called Projo Eat The Summer Fantasy Food Show. They're a maker of coffee packets that are made with collagen. And so these are coffees that have 11 to 12 grams of protein per packet, and they come in several different varieties. There's a rich and creamy chocolate, a bold and smooth black, a smooth and creamy vanilla, and a smooth and creamy caramel. And if you recall, Progeo was actually launched as an RTD. As an RTD. Yes, yes. And so they've pivoted and gone into powders. And I had some of these Or I tried some of the products Eat The Fancy Food Show and it was fantastic. So really well done on the Pivot Projo. P-R-O-J-O. Easy to find. I like stick packs. I like coffee and I like collagen. I don't know about the combination. Well, the best part about it is the protein comes from collagen, which I think is pretty easy to consume. And the smooth and creamy call out for the caramel and also for the one that you have in your hand, Mike, which is the It is the smooth and creamy vanilla. Yes. Both of those are as advertised, very smooth and very creamy.
[00:28:49] Mike Schneider: Awesome.
[00:28:49] Ray Latif: Yeah. I'd like to try this. Yeah, it is really good. These are cool.
[00:28:53] Mike Schneider: There are a hundred calories except for the bold and smooth black, which is 60 calories coming probably primarily from the protein and then there's some smooth and creaminess added and things of that nature. So correct.
[00:29:07] Ray Latif: Now, as I mentioned, I did want to talk about a product that one could describe as a brat, but as Mike pointed out, it's more, it's better pronounced as a brat.
[00:29:19] Jacqui Brugliera: Oh boy.
[00:29:21] Ray Latif: So we had the founder, the co-founder of a brand called Lottie's Meats in a recent episode of Elevator Talk. And Lottie's Meats is a sister-owned sausage company born out of a sixth-generation family pork farm. And they make clean ingredients, high-quality meats, including their signature product, which is called the Lottie, which is a chef-crafted smoked sausage made with pork, nutmeg, paprika, and coriander, has 13 grams of protein per serving, and is, as I mentioned, all natural. It looks amazing. I love Eat The packaging is pretty straightforward, pretty minimalist, and just kind of tells you what it is. You can see the product, obviously. And it's not too often when you come across a artisanal, better-for-you meat brand, you know, typically we think about meat as a commodity product, but they've created an outstanding brand. that I think will resonate with a lot of folks. It feels very millennial, Gen Z-ish in nature. And I'm excited to try it. I didn't have an opportunity to try them yet, but they did send me three of their products, including the Lottie and then a couple of ground pork products that I cannot wait to have in the next few days.
[00:30:37] Mike Schneider: How much did they send you, Ray?
[00:30:39] Ray Latif: They sent me one Lottie and then two ground pork products. That's a Lottie. Well played, well played. Dude, Dude Dad over here.
[00:30:50] Mike Schneider: Update on the Pro Joe. One of these is Jackie friendly because it is marine collagen and no whole milk powder.
[00:30:58] John Craven: So nice.
[00:30:59] Mike Schneider: The bold and smooth black.
[00:31:01] John Craven: The black still has collagen.
[00:31:02] Mike Schneider: Yeah, it's it has a marine collagen, 11 grams.
[00:31:07] Ray Latif: And once again, shout out to Cassie Mashoff, one of the co-founders of Lottie's Meats. Really appreciate you sending some product I'm not sharing. Thanks, Lottie. 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.
[00:32:06] Pump Up: you
