[00:00:10] Ray Latif: Hello, friends, 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-host for this episode, John Craven and Jacqui Brugliera. This episode features an interview with Megan Klein, the founder and CEO of adaptogenic non-alcoholic cocktail brand Little Saints. You ever had a Little Saints? Everyone's had a Little Saints. They are delicious. Very tasty. Megan came Be The office a couple weeks ago, and she brought with her their newest product, which is a spiced Old Fashioned.
[00:00:48] John Craven: Yum.
[00:00:48] Ray Latif: It's pretty darn tasty.
[00:00:50] John Craven: Is it pumpkin spiced? It's got an orange little color out there. No. Okay, good. The spice in this.
[00:00:56] Jacqui Brugliera: I feel like that would ruin an Old Fashioned.
[00:00:59] John Craven: Yeah, I mean someone's doing a pumpkin spice old-fashioned. I could not have just come up with that.
[00:01:04] Ray Latif: There's no way No people putting pumpkin spice and everything and everything I can't see any specific spices that are in this but it does contain and we talked about this in the interview with Megan it does contain Damiana which apparently is intended to trigger a, I don't know how to describe this, a pleasure kind of response. So it's like in your mouth or like, we should probably stop this conversation right now. Anyway. Yeah. We'll get into it. So this is a little tease for the interview with Megan. Okay. So put that down right there. We're back not all of us from London Mike is I think on his way back Maybe he went to an Arsenal match. Yeah, I don't know if he made it out. He did He went to the Champions League match between Arsenal and I think it's called Shocker Tar don't don't kick or something like that. Don't end up in jail Ever heard from him since yeah He might be in a prison or not not a prison a jail because the prison is when you actually get convicted And then you have to stay there, but is that how it works. I think so I
[00:02:07] Jacqui Brugliera: I don't think that happened, but I'm curious to hear.
[00:02:10] Ray Latif: Well, he hasn't called for bail money yet. Yeah. But no, it was, as we mentioned last week, we had an incredible experience in London. That was on Wednesday that we recorded that episode. And on Thursday, we continued our travails around the city. And I was able to record many interviews that are going to be featured in upcoming episodes of Taste Radio, including ones with Olivia Ferdi, who is the co-founder. of Trip with Josh White, who is the founder of a brand called Cano Water, very interesting brand. Monica Berg, who is the founder of a really interesting liqueur brand called MUYU, M-U-Y-U, and also the co-founder of one of the best bars in the world called Tyron Elementary. So a lot coming down the pipe for Taste Radio. Tune in for those amazing episodes. I think they're going to be amazing episodes. Sure hope so. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:03:09] Jacqui Brugliera: I mean, you're involved, so.
[00:03:10] Ray Latif: Oh, thank you, Jackie. Thank you so much for saying that.
[00:03:13] John Craven: Don't want to get any bad reviews on. The Apple podcast site yeah, we can't afford that just leave us a good review.
[00:03:20] Ray Latif: Yes, please It keeps Ray awake at night when we don't get new reviews I sometimes cry you do I cry not on my not in my bed I cry on the floor next to my bed because I feel So bad about myself that I have to get on the floor and not sit on the bed and this I'm gonna go leave a five-star review to ensure you sleep in your bed tonight It's got dark and weird It got one of the two. Yeah, I think it got more weird than it got dark, but we'll keep moving. So I'm also going to be involved, of course, in our live events as the emcee for pretty much every single one of our competitions. I don't think I've been kicked out of those spots yet.
[00:03:59] Jacqui Brugliera: Not yet. You're our game show host, right?
[00:04:00] Ray Latif: I am our game show host for the New Bedward Showdown, for the Nosh Pitch Slam, for the Brew Barn Pitch Slam, and of course, one of my favorite new pitch slams, which is the Cocktail Showdown, the Ready to Drink Cocktail Showdown. BevNET Live, Notch Live, Ruban Live, it's all coming up faster than you think. And early registration is ending on Friday?
[00:04:21] Jacqui Brugliera: Today. I mean, this is published on Friday, right?
[00:04:24] Ray Latif: Oh my gosh. Today? Today! If you're listening to this today and you're not immediately pausing and going to your computer and registering for BevNET Live, you're literally costing yourself money.
[00:04:35] John Craven: I mean, unless you're already registered.
[00:04:37] Ray Latif: Unless, yes, of course.
[00:04:39] John Craven: Just saying. Don't go register again. That makes people upset.
[00:04:42] Jacqui Brugliera: Or you could. You could register other people.
[00:04:44] John Craven: This is true.
[00:04:45] Ray Latif: How much do you save, Jackie?
[00:04:47] Jacqui Brugliera: $100 a ticket.
[00:04:48] Ray Latif: $100 a ticket.
[00:04:49] Jacqui Brugliera: And you can Save Money the hotel room right now too. So even more money to save.
[00:04:55] Ray Latif: And don't you get, I guess, earlier access to do the one-on-ones?
[00:05:00] Jacqui Brugliera: You do? Yeah. So as soon as you register, you get access to that. You get access to sampling opportunities to make sure that you're in our sample fridges and our sample central. Make sure your product is there front and center. Lots of opportunities come to you as soon as you register. So you just gotta, you know, click that button and then you get access to everything.
[00:05:17] Ray Latif: And the one-to-ones I was referring to are one-on-one meetings with retail buyers from retail stores and chains that you want to be in, including of course, Whole Foods.
[00:05:29] Jacqui Brugliera: Yes. And then at Brewmound also, there'll be some distributors to take meetings too. So all three events will have those one-to-one meetings.
[00:05:39] Ray Latif: Very exciting stuff. Also very exciting. We are going to award the best new products and some of the most amazing people and brands of 2024 in our best of 2024 awards. Nominations are closing soon. If you want to Let it be known that you think your product or brand or client you work with or a client's product is worthy of such an award. Please nominate them. Go to BevNET.com, Nosh.com or brewbren.com. You will find information on how to nominate them and nominations are closing next week. So that's the first, November 1st.
[00:06:18] Jacqui Brugliera: Yep. A week from today. So you have one week to do it. It's really easy. You just go onto our sites, you'll see in the menu that you can nominate for all of these awards. So we are accepting nominations for Spirits, for BevNET Non-ALC products, for Nosh, food products, and then also for beer and beyond products on brew bound. So all of them are open for nominations. Like we were saying, if you have a product, if you think your brand of the year, or if you have clients that you believe are worthy, submit those nominations, we will be publishing the full list of nominees to showcase all of those and give them recognition because it's important. And we are excited to see what you, what you submit.
[00:07:01] Ray Latif: Okay. Question. And I'm going to ask you, Jackie, cause you'Be The director of marketing. Can I submit or nominate Taste Radio as the brand of the year?
[00:07:12] Jacqui Brugliera: I mean, you can.
[00:07:13] Ray Latif: Okay, cool.
[00:07:15] Jacqui Brugliera: I don't know if a Taste Radio is a CPG product and it will win, but you can still nominate it.
[00:07:21] Ray Latif: It is a, it's a brand. We'll take your money, Ray. Wouldn't Be The smartest thing to do. Darn it. Okay, fine. Well, I guess there are podcast awards out there that are probably more appropriate.
[00:07:31] John Craven: Yeah. You should get a podcast award.
[00:07:33] Ray Latif: Yes. I think Taste Radio deserves one.
[00:07:35] John Craven: The new podcast showdown? I mean, we're not new. New podcast showdown.
[00:07:39] Jacqui Brugliera: Oh, that'd be interesting. I'd like to see AI like create like a version of that.
[00:07:44] Ray Latif: You know what I would love to see? I would love to see Spider-Man at Brewbound Live, and Spider-Man, the most current edition of the character, is being played by Tom Holland. Tom Holland, big time Hollywood actor, and also a beer entrepreneur, which is kind of surprising, right? Because Tom looks pretty young. I still think of him as a teenager. He's still got that baby face, but no, he's in the beer business now. But I should say he's in the non-alcoholic beer business. as the co-founder or at least backing a new brand called Bureau. I think it's pronounced Bureau, B-E-R-O, which debuted last week in three styles. The brand is also backed by a consumer product centric investment firm called Imaginary Ventures. Tom Holland has been sober for a couple of years, apparently, according to a press release. And so he said, quote, I wanted to create something that reflected my lifestyle and values. It's a brand that It's meant to be a quality craft beer. And of course, as everyone loves to do when they're drinking beer, live life to the fullest. I like this. I like this for Tom. I like this for the beer industry. Kind of validates everything that's going on in a, I guess, even more mainstream way in that there are certainly younger consumers who are getting into beer and probably looking at non-alcoholic options and, you know, having Tom Holland involved is a good thing for the category.
[00:09:13] John Craven: It's not a celebrity tequila, so I think it's, in all seriousness, I think it's, it does, at least at its start, seem like they've communicated it in a way where this feels like authentic and it has a story based on, you know, as you mentioned, his sobriety that kind of rationalizes why he's doing it, which I think is something that a lot of times with celebrity products feels a little lost or unclear. You know, but obviously, as we know, that stuff's good for PR, but doesn't necessarily translate to consumers actually wanting to adopt the brand and consumer for the long term. So, you know, to that end, I haven't tried the product yet, but we'll compliment that it looks like a pretty slick package and again, well thought out. So kind of nice to see that from a celebrity backed brand.
[00:10:04] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, and I feel like Tom Holland, he's like a beloved celebrity, like no one doesn't like him, you know, and somebody probably doesn't. But you know, but like, you know, there's a few of them out there. But most people like him. And also people love Spider Man and the Marvel Universe. So I think it's like a celebrity that has a huge platform that is liked by many. and is also launching something that's authentic to him. I also don't think that he's, you know, co-signed on many products or any products in CPG. So he was really, you know, specific with what he was going to do, which I think people appreciate.
[00:10:41] Ray Latif: Yeah, it's a great looking package, as you mentioned, John. I've seen on LinkedIn that people are associating it with David, the new protein bar brand. That's true, very similar vibe there. It has a minimalist gold label, which again, looks very much like David.
[00:10:56] John Craven: It's funny, everyone does silver and all of a sudden gold looks like a, you know, unique aesthetic, which... No Noctibiro, but you know, just funny how design trends sort of have a slightly cyclical side to them. But yeah, you know, I am also curious, given that his brand equity skews towards a younger demographic that maybe isn't drinking beer right now, at least from a Data perspective you know curious if this will be something that could be a Little Saints of a catalyst for trial there Yeah, I mean, that's kind of what I was saying.
[00:11:28] Ray Latif: I think for younger consumers who? You know may not have considered beer as an option because of the alcohol. Maybe this is that Replacement for sparkling water in the evening or whatever else you might be drinking as a libation with friends and socially so yeah interesting to see if this all or how this all plays out. It doesn't feel young though. The packaging, the branding, it definitely feels like a more premium option for premium consumers. And typically when we're talking about premium consumers, they're a bit older, have a bit more disposable income. And as far as I can tell, this is not inexpensive, according to the article on Brewbound, which was penned by our wonderful colleague, Jessica Infante. A six-pack sold direct-to-consumer is about $16, and a 12-pack is $30. So, not your Boone's Farm or Natty Lights, you know, so.
[00:12:22] Jacqui Brugliera: Definitely not.
[00:12:23] Ray Latif: No, not that. But hopefully we can get some in the office soon, because I'd love to try this product. As you all know, I'm a big fan of wine. I'm still searching for a really great non-alcoholic wine. I don't knock on non-alcoholic wines. I really do like some of the stuff that's come out there, but I want something that's Really, really great. But there is still plenty to drink of the alcoholic variety, including some products that I'm going to unveil here. But before I do that, I should, I should offer some context on why we're talking about wine here. So the McBride Sisters, which is a wine brand launched Be The Sisters McBride, has collaborated with a very unlikely partner. That is Colgate, if you can believe it. Yes, the toothpaste. And so basically they have come out with a limited edition set where you can have Red Wine and White Teeth. So this is their McBride Sisters collection paired with Colgate Optic White. So inside this package. We have a bottle of their red blend, the McBride sisters red blend from Central Coast or from Central Coast of California. We have two optic white overnight whitening pens. And I believe one, I'm not sure what this is. Oh, look. Just to check your teeth. It's a mirror. It's a compact mirror so you can check your teeth as well. Oh boy. Look at that.
[00:13:49] Jacqui Brugliera: I think this is the time of year where all like the weird gift sets for the holidays come out, you know, and I guess someone could gift this to someone and be like, Hey, you know, just in case you want to make sure your teeth are white.
[00:14:00] Tom Holland: You're kind of saying you need teeth whitening too.
[00:14:03] Ray Latif: It's a little.
[00:14:03] Jacqui Brugliera: I guess they're blaming it on the wine. They're not blaming it on the person.
[00:14:06] Ray Latif: Well, yeah, exactly. They're talking about how, you know, you're drinking wine and at the end of the night, you might need a little Colgate optic white, you know, whitening pen. No, no, no, no, no. You just hate it on this. I'm not kidding. What is it? It's a whitening pen. Snatch that away. No, I think, I think this is a, you know, it's clever. I don't think we've seen a collaboration like this. And I'm really excited to drink this wine because McBride sisters make some really good stuff. And I, I used to use these overnight whitening pens, but I don't use them very often anymore.
[00:14:37] Jacqui Brugliera: I used to use them too.
[00:14:38] Ray Latif: But here's the exciting thing too. Don't, oh, these are very expensive, John.
[00:14:42] Tom Holland: Is there something in here that's very light? Yes, it's a whitening pen. Whitening pens are very light.
[00:14:48] Ray Latif: It's a lot of packaging for... Yeah, well, these are expensive. It's a premium product. See you later. Okay.
[00:14:54] Tom Holland: How expensive, right?
[00:14:54] Ray Latif: John's going to try to return this to CVS for like a store credit. Yeah, for some gift cards. Exactly. No, these are going to come in handy for BedNet Live. I'm going to take these for BedNet Live. So in case I'm on stage. Just be whitening mid showdown. With my pocket mirror right here. See, look at this. That's pretty nice.
[00:15:12] Jacqui Brugliera: Who needs like a speaker ready room? You just got that little mirror and a whitening pen and you're ready to go.
[00:15:16] Ray Latif: You should have seen me in London. Did I have a green room? No, I was lifting speakers and putting them on stands. I was setting up AV. I was doing all that stuff. Not as glamorous as you all I'm making it out to be. But thank you so much to the Wonderful folks behind the McBride sisters collection, and this is actually retailing can see if you can get so much this this Collaboration is retail the price is right.
[00:15:40] John Craven: I'll go in 1998.
[00:15:41] Ray Latif: What are you? I don't know. I just don't want to go over Jackie is a hundred percent correct. It's selling for $49.99 No Uh, more collaborations for those of you who love collaborations. Swiss Miss. Everyone knows Swiss Miss is a Coco brand. Jackie, I'm Jackie's smiling. Cause this is your like products from her youth brands.
[00:16:06] Jacqui Brugliera: Oh, just reminds me of like a cold Christmas day, you know, or coming in from playing in the snow.
[00:16:14] Ray Latif: And you dump a bunch of marshmallows in your hot cocoa. How many marshmallows? Would you just coat the entire thing?
[00:16:20] Jacqui Brugliera: So many marshmallows. Like I just wanted to make fluff out of it. You know, the marshmallows like melt.
[00:16:28] Ray Latif: Okay, so Swiss Miss has collaborated with a whiskey brand called Hotel Tango to create the Swiss Miss Schmallow, which according to the company is the perfect whiskey for your winter activities. It's a toasted marshmallow in cocoa infused bourbon, which combines the flavor of Swiss Miss hot cocoa with the artistry of a well-crafted bourbon. making it the ideal spirit to enjoy at your next holiday gathering or as a gift for your favorite bourbon aficionado. How do we not have any cups here? Do they add Swiss packets to the whiskey?
[00:17:01] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, that's all they do. You know, they just dump it in and take it out.
[00:17:05] Ray Latif: I hate to tell you, but. As beautiful as this bottle looks, and it does look beautiful, it's like a very wide and thick flask. It says that it's made with natural and artificial flavors, so I assume that it's the flavor of Swiss Miss hot cocoa. It's like Dorito booze again. The empirical stuff, I think, doesn't use artificial flavors.
[00:17:26] John Craven: No, it doesn't. Well, I mean, but Doritos do, so I'm just saying. Okay.
[00:17:32] Ray Latif: Well, anyway, Hotel Tango Distillery, this is not the first time I think they've come out with some interesting stuff. I don't remember the other one. Yeah, I'm trying to remember what it was as well. But this product is selling for $28 at Cask Cartel. I think this is a really cool gift. That's what I would say. I think this would be a really fun gift. I don't know if I would drink it, per se. Yeah, it looks cool. I don't think I would personally drink that. Okay, we don't have any cups. I don't know why.
[00:17:57] John Craven: Just take a swig from the bottle, right?
[00:17:59] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, I just don't associate Swiss Smith's with like premium whiskey.
[00:18:03] Ray Latif: He's thinking about it. I'm not going to take a swig from the bottle.
[00:18:05] Jacqui Brugliera: How does it smell? Does it smell like chocolatey?
[00:18:08] Ray Latif: It does smell more chocolatey than marshmallowy. OK, let's pause. I do want to I just want to take a quick swig. Oh, OK, let's pause for a second. Hold on. Cups have magically appeared. Cups have magically appeared. Pause midway so I could go get some cups. I got some nice holiday red cups. This is something, it's a mug that you'd probably use for cocoa. From Not Neutral, they make great mugs. Yeah, this is like the old man way of drinking whiskey too, because you're drinking out of a mug.
[00:18:34] John Craven: Right, yeah. Geez, that, give me, that's a ridiculous splash. Give me a tiny little like, there you go, scotched.
[00:18:40] Ray Latif: Okay, enjoy. Hold up.
[00:18:48] John Craven: We're like one of those news anchors just sipping booze with a little shake.
[00:18:53] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, I feel like I'm watching the news right now.
[00:18:56] Tom Holland: How is it?
[00:18:57] John Craven: I'm not getting much cocoa on the palate. It tastes like sweet whiskey with, um, I mean, it kind of does taste like Swiss Miss. I guess. Well done then. There you go. That's what they wanted.
[00:19:13] Ray Latif: All right. Let's do one more collaboration. Okay. Aura Bora, a maker of sparkling waters made with botanicals, has partnered with Magnolia Bakery, the famous bakery based in New York. They have many retail stores. They also have a line of cookies that we've sampled here on the show. They have partnered on a new flavor. This is their apple cinnamon. It's a described as flavored sparkling water made with real cinnamon extract. I'm excited to try this. I think we might have to rinse out the mugs here.
[00:19:44] John Craven: We're not going to chase that.
[00:19:46] Ray Latif: You know, you know, you want to try this? Well, I mean, I do, but I don't want to pour in a whiskey cup. OK, I'm going to try this.
[00:19:52] Jacqui Brugliera: I love all their seasonal flavors. Like I remember they, do they still have a green bean casserole? That was like one of my favorites.
[00:19:57] Ray Latif: Green bean casserole was legit. They don't, I don't think they have that, but.
[00:20:00] Jacqui Brugliera: Anything they make is delicious.
[00:20:02] Ray Latif: What's surprising about this is this is one of the first Ouroboros products that I can recall that has calories in it.
[00:20:09] John Craven: 20 calories.
[00:20:09] Ray Latif: It says 20 calories. It says there's no sugar in it, but yeah, somehow it has 20 calories.
[00:20:17] John Craven: I think they're selling this in the Magnolia Bakery shops.
[00:20:19] Ray Latif: I take that back. It says it has six grams of total sugars, but no added sugars from apple juice. Yes.
[00:20:26] John Craven: Yes.
[00:20:27] Ray Latif: It's apple juice. It's apple juice from concentrate along with natural apple flavor and cinnamon bark extract. So yeah, we can get behind that. I almost wish though they had a banana pudding variety, banana pudding or Bora bananas becoming an in demand flavor, at least in this office.
[00:20:46] Jacqui Brugliera: Oh, we should put in some requests for flavors.
[00:20:48] John Craven: A Taste Radio flavor.
[00:20:49] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah.
[00:20:51] Ray Latif: Didn't we talk about that already with Ouroboros?
[00:20:52] Jacqui Brugliera: I don't know.
[00:20:53] Ray Latif: Were we going to have a Taste Radio flavor? Don't know. Can we talk about my favorite topic of all time? Football? Yeah. Soccer? No. Kids drinks. Kids drinks, yes. I am a big fan of kids drinks. They come and go all the time. New ones are launched and then they disappear within a matter of months. This is a brand that I think actually might be able to solve the problem or at least solve this consistent turnover of kids' drinks. That brand is Koya. Koya, a maker of plant-based protein drinks and shakes has launched Koya Kids. It's a new line that comes in three varieties. They have a chocolate, vanilla, and a fruity cereal. Each contains nine grams of protein and 21 essential vitamins and minerals. They're all packaged in Tetra packs. I believe they are eight ounce Tetra packs. I'm kind of excited. I feel like this is something that is really good for kids that are on the go, perhaps, you know, going to their next, soccer practice or basketball game or whatnot, and just a really easy option to get some nutrition and protein in your body. It feels like a very kids style package and the branding looks kind of fun. It's not too dissimilar from what we've seen on the flagship line of Koya products, but I think this actually has some legs.
[00:22:25] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, I think the flavors are fun and kids would like them. I think also Koya has great like market penetration and there's, you know, a lot of parents are already going to know and trust the brand. So they're going to trust that they're going to be good for their kids. So yeah, I'm excited for them to go into this and try it out. And like you said, a lot of like kids brands come in and come out, but they're already an established brand. So I'm curious to see how that works for them.
[00:22:51] Ray Latif: Yeah. Chris Hunter, who's the co-founder and CEO of Koya, said that the idea came from personal experience. His three sons would regularly drink Koya's core line of plant-based protein drinks, but would often leave the 12-ounce servings unfinished. So this gives them an easy option or a relatively easy option to finish. So hopefully it'll be good for him and his family, and hopefully it'll be good for a lot of other families as well. All right, John's been chomping at the bit because he brought a lot of products back with him from London. His side table here is just coated and covered with products.
[00:23:28] John Craven: Jeez, you make it sound like crazy. Yeah, a couple of brands from folks that we met at our various meetups and such. This one first is a brand called Chili Maven. They're making two salsa macho products. Made in Mexico company is based in the UK with the founders from Texas originally.
[00:23:49] Ray Latif: Alexa Fernandez.
[00:23:50] John Craven: Yes. Who is super lovely. And yeah, really excited to try these products have not yet, but really love the branding that she's created for it too. It's really slick looking.
[00:24:00] Ray Latif: Yeah. Gillian Maven also makes some mole products that we brought back with us and yeah, really excited for these brands. They look totally authentic and the salsa matcha is a really, it's a bit of a different
[00:24:14] John Craven: Style than I think we've seen so very excited to try that and very excited for it to come stateside if and when it does also have some Laura aperitivo de limon or a limon excuse me We had this at the trip meetup. They're making the gronies out of it. Is it a limoncello?
[00:24:34] Tom Holland: It's kind of like a limoncello
[00:24:37] John Craven: I think a little, maybe less, uh, or lower proof. Their sort of signature drink is, uh, making a spritz out of it just with the product itself with the Allura and soda water. But, uh, they also, at the trip event, uh, were making a Negroni where they, uh, I think subbed the vermouth for this, which was quite delicious. So, uh, shout out to them. Was excited to bring that back. Uh, full disclosure. I did have a Negroni made with the Allura.
[00:25:05] Ray Latif: Um, I'm not going to say when I drank it. But it was delicious. It was delicious.
[00:25:10] John Craven: And one more is a brand called Quarterproof, which is a UK brand. Products also here, I think, in New York and Miami, they said. But it's a, they're kind of trying to create, you know, standard spirits, but lower proof, Quarter Proof. So this one is, let's see, their agave, it's 15% alcohol, which I think they said makes a margarita that'll be about 6% alcohol, just for point of reference. Really kind of like that. You know, we've been talking a lot about low-alcohol products lately in addition to non-alcohol. So this seems like a pretty interesting approach to that with, you know, flavor that's going to be closer to the real thing than a full NA spirit would.
[00:25:51] Ray Latif: Yeah. Interesting they're not describing it as a tequila or mezcal. Well, I guess they can't because it's not. So they describe it as an agave spirit drink. And this is the Blanco variety because it hasn't been aged at all. It's very, very clear that this is 15% alcohol. I think that is the biggest font on there.
[00:26:11] John Craven: Yes.
[00:26:11] Ray Latif: Quarter Proof is the logo on the top of the label. And then at the bottom is in huge lettering, 15% alcohol by volume. So good stuff. Jackie, you got anything?
[00:26:24] Jacqui Brugliera: I don't have any products from London because I couldn't check a bag, but I do have other products that were here waiting for me when I came back.
[00:26:31] Ray Latif: Jackie, how do you travel? I don't know.
[00:26:34] Jacqui Brugliera: Thankfully, the Airbnb had laundry or else I would have been a Little Saints smelly. But at the office, I found Climbing Kites. It's a new brand of THC infused sparkling waters. And the packaging is really fun. They have like call outs on the front for the different flavors. Each one is different in the level of THC and CBD, which I think is interesting. I know sometimes it's like hard when you're doing both flavors and different levels of THC, but they do have a. Let's see a five milligram THC. They have a 10 milligram and then they also have a 2.5. So they have like different levels for, you know, different levels of consumers for this. But when you pick it up, you don't really think that it's THC right away. It looks like almost like just a sparkling water. So I thought that was interesting and it could be a little. you know, dangerous for people, but they do have like a call out right in the front center about the THC and the CBD in the product.
[00:27:43] Ray Latif: Yeah. It's a really, really good looking can. And no, you wouldn't know that it's a THC beverage. It looks like a tea or something like that. I do like Climbing Kites as a name. That itself feels a bit more THC-ish.
[00:27:58] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah. Yeah. It's fun. It's fun. It's playful. It's not overtly THC, which I appreciate. I think like a lot of the THC brands have gotten better with their branding and becoming a Little Saints more mainstream with that branding. I also have another product, which would be good for holidays. called Outrageous, and these are dairy-free oat milk cream cocktails. So this one is the espresso variety, so I'm gonna guess it's gonna kinda be like an espresso martini experience, but it's dairy-free. And then this one is a bourbon cream, so it has oat milk liqueur and small batch bourbon whiskey in it, and then they have just their traditional oat milk cream liqueur. But I thought it was interesting. I feel like, you know, if people want something a Little Saints creamier on the holidays and they don't like dairy or they can't consume dairy, it's a good alternative. And yeah, I think the packaging also is pretty clean.
[00:28:57] Ray Latif: Yeah. Cool looking.
[00:28:58] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah.
[00:28:59] Ray Latif: I do want to talk about a couple more brands, which to start with. Okay. How about this one? So Momofuku. has launched a new product. This is their garlic crunch, which is a little similar to their chili crunch in that it is made with oil and seeds and wonderful flavors that you can use on a lot of different things. But of course, garlic crunch would mean that the primary ingredient or the primary flavoring is garlic. And so it, it looks amazing. I haven't tried this yet. I specifically brought it out here because Mike's not in the office, and I know he would try to steal this and open it up and, you know, drink half of it immediately. It's safe now. Geez. Yeah, so this just launched, and it doesn't, as far as I can tell, it doesn't have any heat. It's just really focused on garlic. The garlic, so. I want to dip into this garlic crunch with some pita chips. Issa's, I S S A apostrophe S has some new restaurant style pita chips that they sent to me. And, uh, I tried this stuff when I was in New York. I think I originally saw this at the Sahadi store in Brooklyn in industry city. And, uh, I was really impressed with the product. So I know you're John, a big pita chip eater. No.
[00:30:19] Tom Holland: Sure. Yeah, like a pizza chip. I think we should try dipping it in some garlic crunch. Okay. I don't have any hand sanitizer with me. So maybe you can do that.
[00:30:27] Ray Latif: What excuse?
[00:30:28] Tom Holland: Okay.
[00:30:28] Ray Latif: So no, but these are actually described as pita dips, not pita chips. It says crispy, like a chip made to dip.
[00:30:33] John Craven: So why don't we open them up here?
[00:30:35] Ray Latif: Okay. Hold on. You can do this.
[00:30:36] John Craven: Just pour a few on the table. I'll eat them off the table.
[00:30:39] Ray Latif: I'm getting some good sound effects here. Oh, these look, these look amazing. They smell amazing too.
[00:30:48] John Craven: Just give me a little pour.
[00:30:51] Ray Latif: Okay, one's good. One's good, okay. Okay, do you wanna dip into the... What could go wrong? Uh, a lot, actually. I like it. Here, I'm gonna... Here, should I open this over the laptop here? Jeez! What could go wrong with garlic oil spilling all over the place?
[00:31:09] Jacqui Brugliera: It's not wor... Oh my gosh! Just waiting for an explosion of oil everywhere. Looks like a nice level scoop. Mmm.
[00:31:19] Ray Latif: Good? Oh, Mikey, he loves it. He wants another.
[00:31:25] Tom Holland: Yeah.
[00:31:26] John Craven: You're right. Mike, Mike would steal this whole jar.
[00:31:28] Ray Latif: I know he would. Okay. So it's a really good combination as expected. Yes. Okay, well hold on he says well done mofo go all right save some for the team, but what oh my I know I'm like waiting for his finger to land Don't just put your pinky nail in it.
[00:31:46] Jacqui Brugliera: Oh my gosh
[00:31:53] Ray Latif: So good. Okay, I have to seal this up. All right Thank you listeners for bearing with us while John was crunching his Isis pita chips and mofuku garlic crunch. We appreciate you and I really mean that thank you so much to our listeners You guys are the best and thank you for all the kind words that you share with us and the notes you send us on LinkedIn and Instagram.
[00:32:15] John Craven: And the five-star reviews you're about to post.
[00:32:17] Ray Latif: The five-star reviews. And I'm being really, really serious. It's really humbling when I get a message on LinkedIn or Instagram or an email saying you really love the show, you like our banter, you like our interviews. It means a lot to us. And as John mentioned, if you could, please, Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. We would be very, very happy and appreciative that you did. You can just go to Apple Podcasts on your app, and I think you can also do it on your PC now as well. Pretty easy. Just go to the bottom of the page and you'll find a way to leave us a review. On that note, I think it's time to get to our interview with Megan Klein. As I mentioned at the top of the episode, Megan Klein is the founder and CEO of Little Saints, a brand of zero-sugar, non-alcoholic cocktails and spirits infused with functional mushrooms and other adaptogens. A former practicing attorney, Megan launched Little Saints in 2021, following entrepreneurial ventures in food and farming. Little Saints markets several canned cocktails, including a Paloma, Negroni Spritz, Ginger Mule and Spicy Margarita, and also sells a mezcal-inspired spirit called Saint Ember. While the products are primarily sold direct to consumer, the brand is carried nationally at Sprouts and is rapidly expanding distribution at other retail chains. In the following interview, Megan discusses how her personal interest in Better For You adult libations led to the creation of Little Saints. She also speaks about the brand's unorthodox social media strategy, why dropping CBD from the products had a big impact on sales, why the company invests heavily in meta ads, how Little Saints navigated a controversial issue, and how she prepared for an appearance on the ABC business competition show Shark Tank. Hey folks, it's Ray with Taste Radio. Right now I'm honored to be sitting down with Megan Klein, who is the founder and CEO of Little Saints. Megan, great to see you.
[00:34:27] Megan Klein: Great to see you, Ray. I'm so excited to be here. Finally, we're making it happen.
[00:34:31] Ray Latif: I know you're here at BevNET HQ in Newton, Massachusetts. You're here in full dress, so to speak.
[00:34:38] Megan Klein: Actually, this is half dress. This is like business on the bottom and mushrooms on the top. Like sometimes it's like full mushroom.
[00:34:44] Ray Latif: What Megan's talking about is that she has a mushroom headband on right now. If you're not watching the video, it's pretty impressive. It's a real reishi mushroom.
[00:34:53] Megan Klein: It's a huge reishi mushroom. It's about a six inch wide dried reishi mushroom that I glued on. I made this. I know that's very shocking. I glued onto a headpiece.
[00:35:02] Ray Latif: Why is it? Why would it be shocking?
[00:35:03] Megan Klein: It's really not. Have you seen my Instagram?
[00:35:07] Ray Latif: Yes, I encourage folks to go to the Little Saints Instagram account. Do you guys have like 55,000 followers or something?
[00:35:13] Megan Klein: Yeah, about 55. It's at Little Saints Co. Yeah.
[00:35:15] Ray Latif: That's really impressive for a brand that's just about three years old.
[00:35:18] Megan Klein: Yeah, three years old, no celebrities. I mean, listen, we do a lot of meta advertising. Like we're 85% D to C sales. And then also my CMO, Katie and I love to just do weird, wacky, ridiculous content. We dress up as the characters, you know, to show people what the ingredients feel like, not tell. And so if you've seen our Instagram, we do like ridiculous. We're like, I'll dress up like Damiana, Katie I'll dress up like Reishi and we'll like show what they would do if they went to Lollapalooza or something like that.
[00:35:48] Ray Latif: Well, Mike, our CRMO loves, loves what you guys do. And it's like encouraging other people, other founders, you should do what Little Saints is doing, you know, ask Megan what she's doing and do that. That's what he says. So just so you know.
[00:36:02] Megan Klein: Just have no filter in between what's in your head and what goes out on the internet.
[00:36:07] Ray Latif: Oh, I don't know if that's.
[00:36:09] Megan Klein: That's my, that's my method.
[00:36:11] Ray Latif: Okay.
[00:36:11] Megan Klein: That's your method. Not necessarily your advice. Kind of. I mean, that's what we do for our Instagram.
[00:36:17] Ray Latif: It is.
[00:36:18] Megan Klein: Yeah. Maybe that's not a good idea from the look on your face, but that's what we do.
[00:36:23] Ray Latif: I would say within reasons, certain, I mean, you don't want to get in trouble. Is that a yes or a no?
[00:36:29] Megan Klein: We kind of do.
[00:36:30] Ray Latif: Okay. How?
[00:36:31] Megan Klein: I mean, I just, I think that what is really important for all brands and us, like, especially as authenticity. And so like, if I am starting to filter myself, like I feel like I can feel it and probably like our customers can feel it. So I feel better in myself if I'm totally. unfiltered on things. And like, I think that that authenticity shows through to our customers, you know, like we've got a really high returning customer rate, like we've got pretty good engagement on our Instagram. And I would like to think that's because people kind of see us like really not giving. Sure sure and like hopefully kind of feeling like oh cool like I kind of want to do that too And I want to try these drinks because like whatever these girls are drinking.
[00:37:12] Ray Latif: I want to try Were you always someone who is without filter or did it take you time to get used to that?
[00:37:20] Megan Klein: I mean, I used to be a lawyer. So I definitely, I know it's really, I was not, I was not suspecting that.
[00:37:26] Ray Latif: Yeah.
[00:37:26] Megan Klein: I used to, I was a lawyer for 10 years, which is insane, but yeah. So I definitely have to have a filter during the day, like at work. I was never, I never felt like I was myself. And then at night I would. you know, go out and I lived in New York. I was like pretty wild. I drank a lot. And like, I just, then like the filter would come off, but I was for so many years, for decades, I was living kind of a dual life where I would have like tons of filters and like be really buttoned up during the day. And then just like completely the opposite at night. And then slowly over the years, like those like day and night kind of morphed together. And now it's just the same all the time.
[00:38:03] Ray Latif: I think that's a great lead into the development of Little Saints, which is a mushroom powered non-alcoholic cocktail. And you brought us some new product. This is the latest from Little Saints, their Spiced Old Fashioned Sparkling Cocktail. It's made with Reishi and Damiana. Damiana for life. I'm sorry, for love.
[00:38:28] Megan Klein: Yeah, for love.
[00:38:29] Ray Latif: What's Damiana? What's the function?
[00:38:30] Megan Klein: Damiana is like a flower botanical. And it is like, you can't say this on a can, but people think of it as like an aphrodisiac, kind of like it gives you like some body feels. So Reishi Mushroom, what I'm wearing on my head, if I were to embody Reishi Mushroom, I'd be like a chill, cool girl, kind of nothing bothers me. I'm just like really relaxed and at ease, but not sleepy. And then the Damiana, if we go through our characters, Damiana is like all sexy and like inner body and like really kind of like amps it up a Little Saints.
[00:39:01] Ray Latif: Okay. Yeah. Well, on the back of the can, it says that Damiana Well, the product itself is formulated to arouse positive emotions and playful desires. So, okay. It's 1130 AM.
[00:39:13] Megan Klein: Well, I'm drinking it right now, so watch out.
[00:39:15] Ray Latif: Yeah. I'm going to sip on this as well. As someone who loves old fashions. This is a fantastic product. Please forgive me for not drinking it with ice.
[00:39:25] Megan Klein: Oh, you don't want ice?
[00:39:26] Ray Latif: Well, yeah. So Kenny Sadowski, the Beverage Whisperer, encourages folks to drink things not cold. Yeah, because I think you're getting more of the flavor if you are just tasting it sort of at room temperature. So this is great. There's a Little Saints of a cola kind of essence to it as well. Is that intentional or is it just sort of a kind of a deliciousness that I'm getting with this?
[00:39:49] Megan Klein: It's, you know, we were trying to get as close to the like cocktail flavors as you can. And without like bourbon in there, like that flavoring is kind of the closest to make it taste like, you know, we want to, if here's the spectrum of like, this is sparkling water and this is an old fashion, we want to be like much closer to old fashion.
[00:40:06] Ray Latif: Gotcha. It's really good. Really, really good. Going back to your interest in mushrooms and non-alcoholic cocktails, it sounds like in your personal life, you wanted to step away from some of the going out in the late nights and so on and so forth. I mean, was it something that took some time for you to get interested in this space or was it just, you know, I'm done with nightlife and I really want to find a way to sort of fill that void with something positive and healthier?
[00:40:34] Megan Klein: Actually, I wanted to keep nightlife there. I just wanted to drink something else. That was like my whole thing. Like I still go out all the time and like, I love going out dancing and staying out late. I just was realizing that like the alcohol part of it was like, what was like making me feel like tired and burnt out all the time. So I was, you know, I've been an entrepreneur in food and beverage for a little while. I, um, founded the brand Field and Farmer, which had like salad dressings and dips and juices. And before that I ran a hydroponic basil farm.
[00:41:04] Ray Latif: This is all after you were an attorney or left your law firm?
[00:41:07] Megan Klein: This is all after. So attorney first. And then I knew, I just felt like, I was like, this is not right. And even at the end of being an attorney, I was an attorney for Earth Justice. So I was doing nonprofit environmental work and I really like felt passionate about the work that they do. But just like in terms of like the impact that I was making, I'm not like that fun and like that great to be around when I'm fighting all the time. And I found that like, I wasn't actually inspiring any of my friends and family to like, love the environment more by being an earth justice attorney. I was kind of just getting angrier. And then COVID, January, 2021, I was living alone in Detroit during the pandemic. Do not recommend. I didn't have any friends there.
[00:41:45] Ray Latif: I mean, I love- If there's another pandemic, definitely don't move to Detroit.
[00:41:48] Megan Klein: Do not do that. Well, I love Detroit. Like I completely love Detroit. It was just like, I just moved there and I had no friends. So I was basically just like in this house by myself and I had, gone from drinking alcoholic cocktails with friends and like, you know, socially for a long time to doing like Zoom happy hours and then also having like a Negroni or two. It wasn't like I was like drinking bottles of wine by myself, but I was having like a cocktail or two. you know, probably more nights than not throughout the week. And with just no distractions and just me and myself in this house, I was like, Oh God, like I really see that this is like, you know, making me anxious. I kind of feel like I'm spending my morning meditation and yoga, just getting back up to baseline. If I don't have two coffees, like I'm not really like totally there. And so I tried Dry January for the first time. Well, no, I tried Dry January a million times, like every year and failed. And so this time, I had like this big kitchen table and I bought everything that was out there and like lots of beautiful brands that are still there today.
[00:42:48] Ray Latif: You're talking about non-alcohol.
[00:42:49] Megan Klein: Yes. Non-alcohol cocktails that are still there today that I still drink, but like everything had sugar in it. Even if it was called white grape juice concentrate, I was like, okay, this has a bunch of grams of sugar in it. Nothing, like, had a smell. And, like, I'm really into essential oils and smells and terpenes, which are just aromatics. And, like, that's why we like alcohol. One of the reasons, you know, with, like, wine, we, like, we associate the smell of a good wine with, like, a positive experience we've had before. And so that's, like, a multisensory kind of, like, attractive thing about alcohol. So sugar, no smell, and then nothing had, like, a functional ingredient that like really resonated with me. Of course, there are brands that have functional ingredients in them, but in my personal life, I like to like not stack too many adaptogens. Like if I have like a bunch of adaptogens all in one, I feel kind of crazy. So I just like, I was like, okay, like I work with really potent functional mushrooms in my coffee and just in supplements. And like, I know that when I have them alone, they're really effective. And so I was like, I want to do something with like mushrooms and scent and no sugar. And that's how Little Saints was born.
[00:43:54] Ray Latif: What was your first step to saying, okay, I have this idea, how do I create the first can of Little Saints?
[00:44:00] Megan Klein: Well, I work with a food scientist with her masters in adaptogens and a bartender to create the flavors.
[00:44:05] Ray Latif: How'd you find those folks?
[00:44:07] Megan Klein: We had formulation at our, like Field and Farmer is the fresh factory, which is like the parent company. And it has a, a co-packer. It's mostly a co-packer. So like, I already had worked with food scientists and I just understood the process. And so I didn't work with the food scientists that I knew, but I just kind of talked to my network and I was like, I need someone who really understands like mushrooms and adaptogens to help me with this. So, and then I went to them and I was like, listen, these are the parameters. It's gotta be like. super clean label, it's gotta be sugar-free with only pure monk fruit juice concentrate. We actually used Stevia in the beginning too and dropped that, but like, I just kind of gave them the flavor profiles and like the parameters in terms of like clean label and ingredients and we just went back and forth.
[00:44:47] Ray Latif: You originally included or used Stevia in the products?
[00:44:50] Megan Klein: We originally included Stevia and also we originally included CBD. CBD. Yeah.
[00:44:54] Ray Latif: I wanted to ask about that because when I first encountered Little Saints, it was at Erewhon and I'm pretty sure it was 2021 or 2022. We launched at Erewhon in November, 2021.
[00:45:02] Megan Klein: Okay.
[00:45:05] Ray Latif: Yeah, it was December. It was when I was at BevNET Live in December, 2021. And I remember seeing the can. I'm like, wow, this is so interesting. It's so differentiated. It's not like anything I've seen before. It had mushrooms, CBD, it was an on-off cocktail. It seemed like the convergence of a lot of trends happening in one can. But to be completely honest with you, Megan, I think I told you this before. I was like, this is totally an Erewhon product. And that's not a knock on brands that are in Erewhon, but it's like, okay, I'm going to see this here, but I may not see it a couple of months from now. How are you able to get interest beyond that West LA crowd, which for sure embraces these kinds of concepts, loves products like Little Saints, but how are you able to get buy-in beyond those pockets in the United States that are known for a bit more eccentric consumption of food and beverage?
[00:45:55] Megan Klein: Well, first of all, I think like dropping CBD was a big part of it. I mean, 2022, I was still self-funding it. I mean, I think you know this, but I started the brand when I was 42. I thought I would get married and have kids. I had a big savings instead of like birthing children, I put it into the brand. And so I was like, you know, I am all in invested at the time. I was terrified because we actually launched with a, like an alcohol distributor in California because like we were doing really well at Arowan. So I was like, okay, this makes sense. Like, we're going to get this out to a broader group of people with this alcohol distributor. And, um, again, that had CBD in it. And even for California, like the, you know, the, the brand didn't have big enough brand awareness. Like I'll totally take full responsibility for that. And then also like, we thought that like, there was a lot of awareness of non-alcohol in 2022, but as you know, like it's super, it's grown so much. And so like. Even in California, like there wasn't enough interest from grocery and retail and liquor stores to get Little Saints off the ground. So then in 2023, we still had CBD in the product, but I was like, okay, like we either like go out of business and I just lost all my savings or we completely pivot and become a DTC brand. Because we knew that like when people tried the product, they for the most part liked it. We knew that there was a lot of education to be had. You know, I've done like hundreds and hundreds of in-person events. And what really resonates with people is like just a sugar-free non-alcoholic cocktail. Sometimes the mushrooms are confusing, but not that often. The CBD was very confusing. And so what we started to do was just meta ads. We were like, okay, we're going to like do like educative, informative, like Instagram ads so that people start to recognize the brand. They see like normal people drinking it and they like can understand what the use case is for it. Because I think people like, as you said, like it seemed niche. It seemed like, how would I actually use this? Like, what is this thing? So we really just completely pivoted. And in 2023, you know, like 95% of our sales were DTC. We were mostly just like an econ brand. And then we dropped CBD from the cans in November of 2023. And that's when Little Saints became much more mainstream. I didn't realize how much CBD was hindering our growth. We surveyed our customers, we talked to a lot of people, and what we started to see was that CBD was more of a hindrance. For example, I was at a dinner party with this woman and she was like, I really love your drinks and I drink them all the time at home, but I'm afraid to bring them to my friend's houses for dinner because I think they're going to think they're drugs because they had CBD in them. We know CBD is not a drug, but like it was just like this kind of association. And so we were like, okay, well, we don't want that. And the purpose of having the CBD in there in the first place was to kind of give that take the edge off feeling. And also in 2023, we found like the best mushroom supplier ever. They do, like it was not the same mushroom ingredient supplier we had in the first place, they do 70% beta-glucan reishi mushroom extract. And like the beta, I'll just geek out for a second, the beta-glucan is a functional part of a mushroom. And like if you take a regular ground up reishi mushroom, including all the fibers and the fruiting bodies and everything, if you dry that up, And like you test the beta-glucan content, it's going to be about a 0.1% potency. The Reishi mushroom that we use in Little Saints is the beta-glucan is actually extracted from the mushroom with ultrasound. And then they're using a 70% beta-glucan extract for like the ingredient that they provide to us. So like our Reishi mushroom extract in these cans is 70% beta-glucan, which like, you know, is like about like 700 times more potent than it would be if we just like dried up the mushroom and put it in here. Sorry, that was a lot.
[00:49:31] Ray Latif: No, it's really, really interesting. And I think as a loyal consumer, that kind of information is great. It's really helpful. It's something that you can probably share with others. You know, they use this really special technique to get the most out of the mushroom. But as you mentioned earlier, you had said most people were interested in this idea of a sugar-free non-alcoholic cocktail. So if the mushrooms are secondary, why spend as much time and money and focus and resources on that part of the product and the brand?
[00:50:08] Megan Klein: Listen, everything that we put in there is like the most premium ingredient that we can possibly find.
[00:50:13] Ray Latif: But I'm saying just mushrooms in general, you know, what does it do for the end consumer if the end consumer isn't necessarily looking for that type of functional ingredient, if they just want a great tasting sugar-free cocktail?
[00:50:25] Megan Klein: Well, listen, because I think that like functional NA is like the next iteration of this category. And I think that there are, there's a lot of competition in NA, as you know, and like, there will be like more sugar-free options out there. They probably won't taste as good. And like, I think that personally, and like, in terms of our customers, they want like an extra added benefit. you know, like a sugar-free non-alcoholic cocktail. At the end of the day, it's like a healthy, like soda drink, but there's like not any like real benefit to it. And we wanted to like, make sure that there was something functional in there. So it's like, Oh, I'm actually, instead of drinking alcohol tonight or for this drink, like I'm putting something in my body that's actually really good for me.
[00:51:03] Ray Latif: Yeah. That's a good point. I think a secondary reason for drinking something or eating something is always a reason for people to pay a premium for sure as well. But getting to trial is really difficult. Everyone knows this. Liquid to lips is the phrase that I've been hearing for the past 14 years in this business. Especially difficult, I think, when you're primarily D to C. How are you getting people to try this product when most of your business is online?
[00:51:31] Megan Klein: Well, we do a lot of product donation. So in the beginning I was like paying for event sponsorships and we were getting a lot of liquid to list through like paid stuff. And that really wasn't moving the needle. And so we've got a really good network of people that reach out to us events. So we like, you know, we donate to probably 40 or 50 events.
[00:51:51] Little Saints: What kind of events are these?
[00:51:52] Megan Klein: Sometimes it'll be like a charity event, like a party, and they'll just, they'd want a non-alcohol option. And it's something that would be like aligned with our values. So it's something like pretty fun. Like we're not sponsoring yoga events. Like we definitely want to be like known as like a nighttime beverage.
[00:52:06] Ray Latif: I like the way that you're looking at this strategically, which is that Little Saints is a nighttime beverage. It's a fun beverage for evenings. It's not something where, oh, after a hot yoga session, I'm going to reach for a spiced old fashioned cocktail. That doesn't make any sense.
[00:52:25] Megan Klein: Doesn't make any sense.
[00:52:26] Ray Latif: No. Do you expect that Little Saints would be distributed in places where nightlife is most celebrated? Bars, restaurants, nightclubs, et cetera?
[00:52:37] Megan Klein: Yes, that is like definitely our goal. And that's what we're really pushing for in Miami to start. And then in 2025, we're going to roll out that program. It's been tough. We don't have national distribution. We're not with like a Southern or a breakthrough or anything. Our only national distribution is Sprouts, our first retailer, which we love, and we're doing really well there, thankfully. But yeah, like the 2025 problem we're really trying to solve is just getting Little Saints cocktails, like on the menu so that there is that choice there.
[00:53:03] Ray Latif: And you're doing this starting in Miami because you're based in Miami.
[00:53:05] Megan Klein: Yeah. Yeah. And because we're based in Miami, we love Miami. And also there's like not, uh, the non-ELK menus in Miami are not as advanced as they are in other big cities like LA and New York.
[00:53:16] Ray Latif: Picking your spots has got to be so important too. You can't just say we want it everywhere in Miami.
[00:53:21] Megan Klein: It's funny cause you think of like the use case of like, you know, let's just call it like a high noon. You would have it at the, we're in Miami. So like people drink these at the pool all day long. Like you have them, like many, many people just have them in their fridge that they grab for one after work rather than like having, so it's like we, we've seen like alcohol with like nightlife and all that stuff, but it's really just the use case of like when you would have grabbed for like a glass of wine or like a day drink.
[00:53:46] Ray Latif: I'm sorry if I'm coming across as challenging here, Megan. I'm asking just a few questions, but I think challenging you is probably what you're used to now, especially given your recent appearance on Shark Tank, or I'm sorry, your upcoming appearance. We're recording this about a week and a half before the show airs. Congratulations on getting on the show, number one. I know you can't reveal too much about what happens on the show.
[00:54:07] Megan Klein: Yes. And please remind me of that so I don't mess up. Yep.
[00:54:09] Ray Latif: Okay, don't worry, we can edit after the fact as needed. There's a big smile on your face, I don't know if that means anything, but I'll just leave it at that. You were interested in the show, just like a lot of entrepreneurs are interested in the show. A, you're hoping to get a deal, but I think probably the best part of it is it gives you a national ad in a lot of ways. What was your interest? I mean, again, I think it's the same interest as most people. Was your interest, you know, similar and, you know, how are you preparing for that airing? Cause you're going to get crushed once you get on the show or once that show airs.
[00:54:42] Megan Klein: I really wanted to, you know, we're always talking about internally and like, how can we make this like more accessible to people? I mean, obviously Little Saints has a high price point, you know, relative to other. What is the price point? This is like $5.49. For an eight ounce can, okay. For an eight ounce can. That's fair. Five dollars on the website. And then our bottle of St. Amber, which is our best selling product. It's like a tequila mezcal alternative.
[00:55:03] Ray Latif: Remind me to talk to you about that as well.
[00:55:05] Megan Klein: Oh God. It's 50 bucks. 50 bucks. They're not cheap and what we've seen is like men are actually like the biggest purchaser of the Saint Ember which is great for us because you've seen Little Saints like you know it's skewed feminine and with then we started seeing that like men were really buying the spirit especially and that was super exciting to us because it's not like we ever weren't trying to, you know, have men buy it, but it was like really fun to see them adopt it. So we've done a lot more of our advertising be male focused. We're doing like a little like branding, like refresh to have it skew a Little Saints less feminine because we really want this to be something that like is not like a niche non elk thing. Like we've been seeing, you know, maybe if it was two years ago, one friend out of 10 friends would have like known what non elk is and had that in their fridge. And I think that's really increasing to like,
[00:55:54] Little Saints: Oh, for sure.
[00:55:55] Megan Klein: Maybe like three or four or five people. And so we wanted to, we're always like doing things to like reach a broader section of people. And so obviously like Shark Tank helps us do that to really get like Little Saints, of course, but like non-ALC like on the big screen. Like I think people, most people have now heard of it, but it's like, okay, great. If we can get out there and be like, this is not like in quotes, like sober movement. This is just like. an alternative to alcohol. I think it's just drinking something better than alcohol whenever you want to make that swap. So you could do it like one drink a night's a Little Saints, like one night a week's a Little Saints, like maybe one week a month is a Little Saints, like whatever you want to do. I just really wanted to get that message out there that like Non-alc is like not necessarily replacing alcohol. Like I wanted to get that message like really out there nationally. Like if you drink Little Saints or any non-alcoholic beverage it doesn't mean that you can't drink alcohol anymore. Like 90% of our customers still drink alcohol. It's like this is replacing sparkling water. It is replacing like just having to order like a sparkling water at Lime at a restaurant. It's replacing like being at home and grabbing a LaCroix instead of like a non-alcoholic Little Saints cocktail. So I really wanted to get that message out there that like Little Saints is like and non-alch is like an additive to people's lives. It's like really fun and it doesn't mean boring.
[00:57:12] Ray Latif: Yeah, I think the mainstreaming of non-alcoholic cocktails and just non-alcoholic beverages, non-alcoholic analogs is grown dramatically over the past year. You go into a restaurant and the non-alcoholic options are very visible on menus now. In fact, in some cases they're pretty big, the option, the number of options. Non-alcoholic beer, I think is helping drive that movement forward as well. So it feels like you wouldn't have to explain the potential for this category as much as you may have a year ago. you know, just a brief preview. I mean, did the judges, I mean, was that part of your pitch is that this isn't something that's niche anymore. This is a humongous opportunity in market. And did the judges.
[00:57:53] Megan Klein: I can't say anything about the judges, but I will say, yes, that's always my pitch that this is not niche. This is like a billion dollar category that's growing at a hundred percent year over year. And like, this is like going to be in everyone's fridges, like sometime soon. And like, you know, I'm as I would talk to any investor or like really anyone, like this is like just at like the beginning, like we are like really catching fire right now. And like now is the time as an investor to get in.
[00:58:19] Ray Latif: How much market research do you incorporate into those pitches? Or is this just based on what you're seeing in your own sales data?
[00:58:26] Megan Klein: Oh no, like it really is the same as like any investor pitch. So I'm incorporating is as you probably know this, like there's not like the best numbers on NONALC. They're kind of a Little Saints all over the place, but I always incorporate as much data as I can.
[00:58:40] Ray Latif: The person you were trying to reach, hopefully you reached them, the judge, that is the shark as it were. Did you feel nervous or did you feel confident getting on the show or when you actually presented?
[00:58:51] Megan Klein: Oh, for sure. I mean, I definitely went in and out of being super nervous. Like I was practicing my pitch with the team, I think two days before or something. And I was like, oh my God, this thing sucks. Like I can't get my like energy right. Like I, I definitely, of course I was nervous. And then I, I On the day of, I just kind of danced in the green room all day long and like drank St. Ember from the bottle. It was like making myself laugh. And I was like in good energy when I went out there to pitch.
[00:59:17] Ray Latif: Were you wearing the mushroom?
[00:59:18] Megan Klein: I can't tell you.
[00:59:19] Ray Latif: Oh, right. Okay.
[00:59:20] Megan Klein: You're good, Megan.
[00:59:21] Ray Latif: Okay. See, the producers are probably really happy that you're talking to me about this or not talking to me about this. St. Ember is a product that I recall us trying last year on the show on Taste Radio. And my co-hosts and I were really loving the liquid. We were really impressed with this idea of a non-alcoholic tequila mezcal alternative or analog mezcal analog. There was a bit of controversy when it came out because you described it as Mezcal. And some people took offense to that because Mezcal has a history, it has a tradition. Was that something that you were able to kind of overcome and apologize for? Did you have to apologize for it or?
[01:00:05] Megan Klein: Yeah, listen, we fucked up. I mean, like that was like the first time that I was like on a big level. I mean, you saw my face was all over the internet for a day. It was really all over the internet for a day. Like we made a mistake, you know, and we had a whole team behind it. And at the end of the day, like it's my fault. And so, You know, there still are like a lot of non-alcoholic spirits called mezcal and called tequila. And like, you know, we just did not slip under the radar like that. And like we realized what a mistake we'd made when my face was all over the internet. And listen, we pivoted fast. We were like, we fucked up. We started putting surveys out for a new name. All we did was run through that first initial batch of bottles. And then we came out with the new name and I think like September 2023. So it was really only like a couple months afterwards. The thing is our can cocktails are named after the cocktail that inspired them. And I know that from like a consumer standpoint, it's really important for people to like kind of know how to swap it out. Like, so like our Spicy Margarita, someone can grab that can and be like, Oh cool. Like I understand the use case for this. And that was our intention when we called it St. Mezcal, we fucked up, we changed the name and we, you know, like. Now we do a lot of education on like our Instagram and stuff, just showing people pouring it into cocktails, showing people pouring it into a margarita to really like show what the use case is. But yeah, no, I mean, like we. spent a whole shit ton of money, like changing the name and like saying we were sorry and moving forward. And we also were a 1% for the planet partner. And so we donated 1% of the proceeds of St. Ember to Sacred. I love, do you know Sacred Agave? They're a nonprofit that like supports indigenous communities in Mexico that grow agave.
[01:01:47] Ray Latif: Did people accept your apology or did they, they were just like, uh, you know, okay, fine. They changed. Good for them.
[01:01:53] Megan Klein: I don't know, actually. I mean, I got a lot of attacks in the beginning. Like no one said thank you in the end. I don't know. I hope so. You know, listen, all we can do, this is what I teach my team. All we can do is like not make the same mistake twice. And like we're entrepreneurs. And so like, I'm pretty risk tolerant and I'm going to go out there and I'm going to make things that I think like need to be out there. And like, if I, you know, make a mistake, I'm going to own up to it and move forward. That's all we could do.
[01:02:20] Ray Latif: Before we wrap up, I want to go back to meta ads for a second, because this is a big part of your business strategy, has been for some time. Meta ads are really helpful for D2C, for online. Is it a sustainable marketing strategy or is it sustainable as a big part of your marketing strategy as you move forward to wholesale?
[01:02:38] Megan Klein: Absolutely. Like I've actually been shocked at like what brand awareness we can achieve through meta ads. Like everyone's looking at their phone and like I would like to think that our meta ads are doing well because they're pretty entertaining and they're educational and we're really trying to educate people about how to drink Little Saints and like the category in general. We've seen, I can just use our Sprouts data, like we got in writing from the Sprouts buyer that we were like the number one selling non-ALC brand in their dry July innovation set. And, you know, we don't have a celebrity. Like I think that all of our money goes into meta advertising. So I have to think that like people recognize the brand from that. And then that also translated to like them picking it off the shelf. We also have gotten a lot of wholesale customers who have seen our ads and thought like, Oh, that's interesting. Like, can you send me a sample? I might want to like put this on our menu.
[01:03:27] Ray Latif: What makes for an entertaining meta ad?
[01:03:29] Megan Klein: Well, I do some of them and I just do ridiculous things like squeezing a lion's mane mushroom into my mouth and, you know, just doing like fun things like that.
[01:03:37] Ray Latif: I haven't seen that one.
[01:03:39] Megan Klein: It's totally ridiculous. But, you know, just doing things that it's like my real story, which is like I was like drinking too much. Like I didn't want to give up my lifestyle. I didn't want to give all new friends like. I now drink this and like, I feel great and I have good energy and like, this is a great alternative with no consequences. So like that kind of messaging works. Like I said, you know, men are increasingly buying our St. Ember. So we have like men going on there in their kitchens, like showing how they drink it, which is, might be different than I drink it, you know, and just like having like real people showing how they're incorporating this into their life has really helped with our brand awareness.
[01:04:14] Ray Latif: Anyone doing shots of St. Ember?
[01:04:17] Megan Klein: You gotta come to our Shark Tank watch party. There might be a shark shaped ice luge.
[01:04:24] Ray Latif: Wow.
[01:04:24] Megan Klein: Yeah. Okay. So you can take shots.
[01:04:26] Ray Latif: Is that happening in Miami?
[01:04:27] Megan Klein: Yeah.
[01:04:28] Ray Latif: I think I'm going to be in London at the time. I know.
[01:04:30] Megan Klein: Yeah. It's going to be completely insane, but yeah, no, I would recommend not taking a shot, but like, I don't know if you wanted like a quick little boost of lion's mane, do it, do whatever you want. My brothers really like mixing Little Saints like into their alcoholic cocktails. Yeah. they think it gives them less of a hangover, that's great. Do whatever you want to do.
[01:04:48] Ray Latif: I just think about guys in tequila or guys in Mezcal and the first thing that comes to mind is shots. So I don't, I hope that's not the way they're consuming it, but you know.
[01:04:56] Megan Klein: It's not bad for you. Do whatever you want. We should have taken shots today, Ray.
[01:05:00] Ray Latif: Oh, shoot. We should have actually.
[01:05:01] Megan Klein: We should have taken shots.
[01:05:03] Ray Latif: Next time.
[01:05:04] Megan Klein: Yeah, but I'm wearing a Reishi on my head, so we're drinking the spiced Old Fashioned.
[01:05:07] Ray Latif: And you might actually knock it off if you've kicked back a shot like that.
[01:05:10] Megan Klein: Oh yeah, I can't lose the crown. I can't lose the crown.
[01:05:11] Ray Latif: Yeah. Megan, this has been incredible. I could talk to you forever, but I know how busy you are and you're in town doing a production run right now.
[01:05:18] Megan Klein: Yes, we love Ride Coast. We love you. We are doing, we're doing a new spirit, which I will not reveal what it is, but that is what I'm here to do. And it is a banger and I cannot wait. I'm going to drink it all the time.
[01:05:30] Ray Latif: Well, Andrew's a good friend, so maybe I can send him a couple bucks and he'll reveal what it is. No, I would never do that. Thank you so much again for coming out to our office. This has been so much fun. And thank you for creating such a great product. Little Saints, fantastic.
[01:05:43] Little Saints: Cheers.
[01:05:47] 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.
[01:06:37] Little Saints: you
