[00:00:00] Ad Read: This episode is sponsored by PakTech, delivering beverage multi-packing you can trust. PakTech's handles are made from 100% recycled plastic and are fully recyclable, helping beverage brands reduce waste and support a circular economy. With a minimalist design, durable performance that prevents product loss, waterproof functionality, and custom color options, PakTech keeps products secure while letting your brand shine on shelf. Trusted by leading beverage brands globally. Learn more at Taste Radio forward slash PakTech.
[00:00:52] Ray Latif: Hello, dear friends, and thanks for tuning into Taste Radio, the number one podcast for anyone building a business in food or Beverage Co'm Ray Latif, the editor and producer of Taste Radio, and with my co-host for this episode, John Craven, Jacqui Brugliera, and Mike Schneider. For the second time this year, Jackie, John, and I are in the WCB, the West Coast branch here in San Diego, and Mike is all by himself in Newton, Massachusetts. He's taken my seat. You're in my seat, my friend. You're in mine. Nice comeback. I like it. I like it. Well, before we go any further, I just want to remind folks, if you enjoy the podcast, and I know you do, We would love it and we would love you if you could please review us on the Apple Podcasts app. It's very easy to do so. You open up the app on your Apple iPhone. You look up Taste Radio or if you don't already have the Taste Radio page open or I don't know what you don't call it a page on an app. You call the Taste Radio screen screen. Let's use other other incorrect boomer terms. Anyway page you scroll to the bottom of the screen. screen profile page and you can easily review the podcast. A five star review would be wonderful. And if you could even leave an actual written review, that would be even better. If you do so, take a screenshot. Send us your address and your preferred T-shirt size and we will send you the most wonderful T-shirt in the history. I just got it all over my microphone. Here we go. Some video action here.
[00:02:32] John Craven: You can feel the softness through the mic.
[00:02:33] Ray Latif: It's so soft. And as you wash it, it's the kind of T-shirt where as you wash it, it becomes better with age.
[00:02:38] John Craven: Correct.
[00:02:39] Ray Latif: It's softer and softer. And then it has a real vintage feel to it. It's wonderful. So send us that information to askatasteradio.com. The t-shirt will be in the mail and in your hands before you know it. Because we ship everything FedEx overnight for these things.
[00:02:57] John Craven: Yeah.
[00:03:00] Ray Latif: We're going to put you on a plane, probably Spirit Airlines, and you can hand deliver them.
[00:03:03] Jacqui Brugliera: Gray.
[00:03:04] Ray Latif: Yeah. No, Greyhound. You deliver them by Greyhound. You know, even Greyhound, I think, might be slightly more expensive. By drone. Yes. Yes. As, you know, sadistic an idea as that sounds, I don't think it's a good one. No. Anyway. Okay. U.S. mail, it is. Yep. Fair enough. Fair enough. Ground shipping only, though. Or where do they go? They can't go on an airplane. Okay.
[00:03:24] John Craven: Yeah.
[00:03:24] Ray Latif: All right.
[00:03:25] John Craven: So, uh, full of lithium batteries.
[00:03:31] Ray Latif: John and I are here in San Diego because we're here all week in California holding meetups. And our first one was held yesterday and recording this on Wednesday, the 17th, but yesterday, September 16th here in San Diego at the West coast branch. I just loved every second of it. It went from, and we were just talking about this before we hopped on the mics. We started at 5 p.m. It went until about 7 30 or a little bit later than that. And it just felt like it was go time as soon as the first person walked in the door. I mean, tons of energy, a lot of excitement, just an amazing community out here in San Diego. And the best part about these meetups is that we get to meet people and have conversations with folks that we never met before. There's so many new people coming into this industry on the beverage side, the food side, the beer side. And I was introduced to so many incredible folks doing really cool things in our industry.
[00:04:22] John Craven: Yeah. An example of that is Bertie, which launched literally, I think two days ago. They came down from LA. They had a little setup. They were sampling, just trying to get feedback. So that's what happens. Brands are launching every day.
[00:04:37] Ray Latif: So Bertie is spelled B-I-R-D-I-E and it's a brand of sparkling teas. They have two varieties. So there's one that's made with apple jasmine and one made with peach oolong. I actually sat down with one of the founders for a quick interview as part of our live podcasting during the meetup yesterday. I apologize for blanking on his name. My brain is fried, but I really love the concept and the branding is just phenomenal. I know Mike is going to take some issues with this because the logo is vertically on the front of the can, but I would think people do. You can read it.
[00:05:11] John Craven: It's one of the more readable ones.
[00:05:12] Ray Latif: It feels pretty pro.
[00:05:14] John Craven: I mean, the fact that they launched just a couple of days ago and this is what their can looks like, I'm pretty impressed. Pretty solid. Good stuff.
[00:05:20] Ray Latif: It was funny when I was talking to one of the co-founders about this, I was like, your packaging is really great. He's like, well, you know, we were planning, this was in planning and development for about eight months. And we went through four or five different iterations. I'm like, What? That's quite a few in such a short period of time, but they really wanted to get it right. So yes, I sat down with the founder of Byrdie and I want to say maybe eight or nine other founders. And we're going to be featuring all of those interviews in an upcoming episode of Taste Radio. One of the most amazing things about the event is that I also got to sit down with the chief commercial officer of Solti. His name is Sean Hamilton. We had a great conversation about how that brand has expanded so dramatically in terms of its retail and distribution footprint, and also its deal with Starbucks. I also sat down with the chief science officer of an amazing company called Source Technology. Source technology, you know, if you're doing anything in the cannabis business, whether it's food, beverage, gummies, what have you, you really need to talk to that company because, you know, they just, they know quite a bit. Scott Riefler is the chief science officer. Get in touch with this guy. This guy, he has decades of experience in businesses that are highly regulated, and he's also just a brilliant guy. This guy's got an IQ off the charts.
[00:06:48] Jacqui Brugliera: He's a guru.
[00:06:49] Ray Latif: Yeah. Yeah. The source team is great. They care not only about the flavor of your Beverage Coaking just a quality beverage, but also things like the efficacy. So they're going to make sure that if you're putting 10 milligrams of THC in there, you're getting 10 milligrams THC impact or five, five, two, two, you know, they're, they're really good at that stuff. Yeah. Mike would know he's a connoisseur of such things. I'm getting good. I'm getting good at knowing that.
[00:07:13] John Craven: Yeah. Yeah. We did have a couple of THC brands come to the meetup too. I know the founder of Wonder came down from San Francisco and then realized that we have a San Francisco meetup tomorrow, but he was like, maybe I'll just go to both.
[00:07:26] Ray Latif: I told him, I was like, you are not at the meetup in San Francisco. I have no, he's like, I live, literally he said, I live three or four blocks away from the venue. So, uh, yeah, I hope to see him there, but I wonder, wonder, really cool brand. That's what fish feels like. People are following us around. Yeah, that's kind of cool actually. Yeah. You will get a special Taste Radio hoodie if you come to at least three minutes No punch cards no punch cards no, but it definitely was a really solid time I mean over a hundred people showed up.
[00:07:51] John Craven: We had the pizza truck as always and
[00:08:05] Ray Latif: Yeah, I think a lot of questions about, uh, what's the plan for meetups next year. So we'll have to figure that one out. I got to think we'll be back here, of course, cause we have a built-in, we've got a built-in venue, but there is a lot of discussion about where we're going to be next year. Some ideas, Joan, a lot of people have asked us to come to the South. I've heard a lot of people asking about North Carolina, Georgia, Florida. So, um, a lot of interest in CPG down there and, you know, we don't spend enough time, I think, in those. States and in cities within those states.
[00:08:35] Jacqui Brugliera: I'd love to get back to Miami.
[00:08:36] Ray Latif: That was great talking about it in the meantime I just want to say that this event in San Diego could not have happened without the generous support of our partners including source technology salty and of course naturally San Diego also really grateful to the folks who supplied us with so many amazing libations for the bar and beyond and Straightaway Cocktails, Cy Cain and his team, my goodness, talking about going above and beyond. They loaded us up with their phenomenal tequila-based cocktails, including their two margaritas and Paloma. I had two. After I was done, after I was off the mics, yes. I wasn't drinking during the mic. I don't do that. Jackie, why are you giving Meet Thee side eye? Sipping a whiskey and smoking a cigarette while you're doing the interview? I could see this. I'm old school. I'm like Johnny Carson over here. Half of the bag at all times. Now I really dated myself by saying Kirsten. Yeah, no one knows who that is. So Straightaway Cocktails, some of the best cocktails in the business. You definitely want to get your hands on some if you haven't already. If you fly Alaska Airlines anytime, you can get their old fashioned or margarita in your hands.
[00:09:41] John Craven: I think I'm flying Alaska to San Francisco, so maybe an early morning beverage.
[00:09:44] Ray Latif: There you go. What could go wrong? Also, In Good Taste Wines, really great stuff. They supplied us with their 375 milliliter bottles of wine. They had a spicy rosé.
[00:09:54] John Craven: Yeah, it was like jalapeno infused. I'm really excited to try that.
[00:09:58] Ray Latif: Yeah. The N.A. Beverage Co, shout out to Dan Choi and his team, really great stuff. Perfect Hydration, Slap, S-L-A-P-P, Hoplark. And for the best breweries in San Diego, including Mother Earth, Alesmith, Bottle Logic, and Fall Brewing, thank you all so, so much. All right. So in addition to our San Diego and San Francisco event, of course, we've got London on the horizon in a couple of weeks. We'll be there October 2nd. I'm really excited to sit down with a bunch of folks, including the amazing team from Trip, the founder of a brand called Delicious, Catherine Bricken, and a bunch of other folks in that part of the world. If you're interested in meeting with us. While we're in the UK, and we'll be there more than just October 2nd, I'm going to land, I think, the 30th, and we'll be there until the 3rd, or at least I'll be there. Let us know. Send us an email to askatasteradio.com. We definitely want to meet up. Definitely want to talk to you, have a conversation, whether it's recorded or otherwise. It would be great to break bread, have a beer, get on the mics. As we told a bunch of folks yesterday at the meetup, BevNET Live, Nosh Live, Brew Brown Live, all right around the corner. They are going to be the biggest events that we've ever held in the industry, all in Marina Del Rey. We'll just call it LA. Yeah, it's LA. It's LA. Nosh Live is the first of the events that is happening December 4th and 5th. Then we go to BevNET Live, which is on December 7th through 9th. That's a Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. And of course, Brewbound Live, December 10th and 11th. Now, I do have a question, Jackie, for you specifically about Registration, room blocks. We do have deadlines and all that for saving money and getting on the room block.
[00:11:42] John Craven: Yeah. Lots of reasons to register early. First of all, early registration ends next month. So it's ending soon. So if you want to save money on your ticket, if you want to bring your team, now's the time to register. We also have all of our signup forms open. So we have our competitions for all of our events. Those deadlines are also next month. We have one-to-one signups for our meetings with peers, investors, and retailers. The earlier you sign up for that, the earlier you get, you know, a yes or no, and you can slot in your, your meeting times. And then we also have sampling applications. So if you want to showcase your brand, have everyone at the event sample your product, you want to sign up and register. As soon as you register, you'll get access to all of those links.
[00:12:26] Ray Latif: Yeah. And the thing about registering early is that not only are you going to save money, but there's some peace of mind in that. I mean, you don't want to be last minute signing up for these events and trying to figure out travel plans and whatnot. Now's really the time to do so. If you're thinking about going, you're probably going to go register now, get it out of the way, start making those travel plans. Cause we definitely want to see you at all of the events. And if you are interested in participating in the competitions, head to our Nosh.com sites, BevNET.com or brewbina.com to learn more about how to do so. So Mike, did you get to try any of this Cloud Popcorn? It's a protein popcorn. K-L-O-U-D. It was founded by, of course, one of the Kardashians. Is there an H in there?
[00:13:14] John Craven: It's because it's for me. K-H-L-O-U-D.
[00:13:18] Ray Latif: It's actually K-H-L-O-U-D. Like Chloe. Or just like K-H Loud. You could spell it like that. But have we gotten any in the office? I don't think so. Mike, you tried any? I have not had a chance to try that, Ray, but I got to say, I I'm holding my breath. I can't wait.
[00:13:32] John Craven: I bought some the other day. You bought it. It almost has like a smart food experience because the protein is like actually like sprayed on the popcorn. So even like the butter one kind of tastes like smart food, which I am a huge smart food fan. So I dig it. But yeah, it's really interesting. I think they'll do well with the partnership. The branding looks really good and proteins hot.
[00:13:55] Ray Latif: Well, we'll get to protein being hot, but Cloud was in the news recently because they have a new CEO, Jeff Rubenstein, who has a ton of experience in CPG. He was with Vitacoco for many years, HealthAid as well. Most recently he was with Poppy. He had helped lead that Brad Avery the last, I want to say two years before it got sold. President of Poppy. Not a bad job to have had. No, and so for Cloud to get him as their new CEO, I would say that's a pretty big coup. Not a coup, but a pretty big hire for them as well. I'm assuming Poppy probably doesn't need a president as it becomes part of Pepsi. Poppy would not need a president because of... It depends on how Pepsi is running the company, but probably not. But yeah, Cloud, they have three varieties, a sweet and salty kettle corn, an olive and sea salt, and a white cheddar. Each has seven grams of protein per serving. I don't know how many servings you need or what's the suggested serving size, but the protein is derived from a milk protein isolate. Protein is hot, as you pointed out, Jackie. It's really hot. You're starting to see it in everything. I came across a press release for- Starting to? Yes. I came across a press release the other day for Idahoan mashed potatoes. Idahoan, just the brand of- Like the instant mash?
[00:15:18] John Craven: Exactly.
[00:15:19] Ray Latif: And now they have a protein infused instant mashed potato. So Again, protein is in everything. It's everywhere. I think there are some places where it makes sense. Some categories, CPG categories, where it makes sense. Others, I'm scratching my head. I know we talked about this, you know, a few episodes back, more than a few episodes back and joking around. There's going to be a protein infused steak pretty soon. No, seriously, as ridiculous as that sounds, somehow, someway, someone's gonna do something like that. Yeah, you could, you know, like they use those injector things to put marinades in, you just inject it with protein. Okay, and like I said, I think it's pretty ridiculous, but maybe it cuts down on the amount of food you have to eat, because let's say a steak has, I don't know, 50 grams of protein and you want 100, you don't have to eat two steaks, you just eat a steak infused with
[00:16:06] John Craven: Yeah, lower your calories. There you go. Increase your protein.
[00:16:10] Ray Latif: I think we have a new idea, Jackie.
[00:16:12] John Craven: Let's do it.
[00:16:13] Ray Latif: Let's do it. How about protein chardonnay, Ray? Right up your alley. Okay, so that's a good example of where protein wouldn't make sense, right? It doesn't make any sense in wine, any alcohol.
[00:16:23] John Craven: Not yet. Not yet. Don't knock until you try it.
[00:16:24] Ray Latif: Someone might try it, though. There was a protein beer. Was that Mighty Squirrel that had a protein beer? Don't recall. Yeah, but anyway. Probably. I don't know if we're hitting protein fatigue at this point, but I'm wondering where it ends. I don't think we've hit protein fatigue yet. OK, but where does protein have permission to go, John? I mean, where does it stop making sense in CPG? Don't know. I don't think we figured that out yet. Well, I don't care what I'm asking you. It's kind of an opinion question. I'm throwing you something so we can like gonna. Yeah, I'm just swatting it down.
[00:16:55] John Craven: Swatting everything down.
[00:16:57] Ray Latif: I got no opinion on this. Yeah, you're trying to. I guess I should turn to Jackie or Mike here, since Mike has said very little, because I feel like. Because he's stuck in the basement.
[00:17:06] Jacqui Brugliera: I'm stuck in jail.
[00:17:07] Ray Latif: Where Jackie's coming from was like some, you know, the three of us are usually in the Boston office, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, All right, Mike, what are your thoughts? I mean, is protein something that can just go everywhere as long as you market it correctly or are consumers just gonna see through something that just doesn't make sense? Here's the thing, Ray, regardless of what I think, we're gonna find out. It's like Pumpkin Spice. Once Pumpkin Spice takes off in the fall, you start to see it everywhere. It's even in friggin' dog biscuits, you know? So it's Pumpkin Spice season, we're seeing Pumpkin Spice go everywhere. Trends happen the same way as like seasonal stuff does. Right now, it's protein season. Everybody thinks protein is the hottest thing, so they're going to try it and see if they can hockey stick as a result of introducing protein into their products. So regardless of whether I think it can go everywhere, we're going to see it go everywhere. Well, I think the answer is no. Yeah, but it's not like Pumpkin Spice though, in that it's kind of flavor neutral. So it's hard to really think of other kind of ingredients that are at the same level. Like, I don't know, I was going to say caffeine, but it's not caffeine because caffeine, is something that you can clearly, quite literally and quickly feel that you've had too much, right? Sure. And this is something that I think is just one of the building blocks of nutrition, essentially.
[00:18:40] Ad Read: So, yeah, I mean, I think it can go pretty far and wide.
[00:18:45] Ray Latif: You know, maybe there are places where it impacts the overall kind of product experience since it probably messes with I don't know, viscosity or whatever. It probably impacts maybe price. So there's probably products that people aren't willing to pay more to get protein in them. But I think it has a lot more potential than, again, I can't really think of something else that's got also like marketable, no pun intended, meat to it. You know, it's not like adding vitamins to things where consumers kind of don't always get that, you know.
[00:19:21] John Craven: Yeah. And to your point, it's like, can you have too much protein? Like I know talking to like bodybuilders or people that are trying to hit their protein quotas and macros, it seems like you're always chasing this goal. That's really hard to get to based on what we know right now, as far as protein goes. So I feel like any little incremental protein that you can add to your diet is helping you get to this, like. almost seems like an unachievable goal.
[00:19:46] Ray Latif: But what is that goal based on? Is it based on science? Is it based on you, you know, knowing that you need this much protein? Or is it based on marketing? Someone saying, hey, one gram of protein per pound per day is the thing to do. I think it's going to just take a few cycles of people getting to their annual physical and having a blood draw to find out that protein, you need to be mad hydrated to have the amount of protein that they're having. Otherwise, you start to have some, you know, residual protein waste in your blood, which is not good for you. Guess how I know that? Yeah, I mean, you seem to know more about how much protein you need to consume every day than the average person. And so I do think it really does come down to marketing and just general perception. People say you need more protein. I mean, everyone's been told over the last couple of years, protein is so important to your diet. Eat more protein, which is a little strange because in what form? You know, should I be eating more steak? Should I be eating more eggs? How should I be eating this protein or consuming protein? And Fred Hart had a pretty good take on this. Fred Hart, the well-known designer, dear friend to BevNET. Overall chill dude. Overall chill dude. CFD. Great dude. One of the tallest people in CBG. With apologies to the Cleveland Kitchen team.
[00:21:01] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, they're the tallest.
[00:21:03] Ray Latif: You can't miss those guys. You can't, no. Love those guys. But he made the argument that it's not about quantity, it's about quality of protein, and... Here we go. You know, I don't disagree with Fred too often, but I think I will disagree with Fred on that one. Okay, why? Well, because I think it's, yes, there are obviously consumers that are educated and care about that. But I think in terms of the more broad macro opportunity, I don't think that that many consumers care about that outside of, you know, maybe dietary restrictions, like, I don't know if you're Someone who's a vegetarian, you might not want collagen protein, you know, but I think that it is not something that is really well articulated on a lot of products either, you know. But there are different kinds of protein for different kinds of use cases too. Sure. You shouldn't just have your daily intake of protein and collagen because it does something different than your whey protein does, which is what a lot of people use for their base of protein, or pea protein is a substitute for whey protein, or you know, an equal source of protein. I'm not disagreeing with that. Okay. Just saying that I think that most consumers probably aren't going to spend the time to care about that, whereas just getting the badge on your product, you know, I don't know, we're looking at this birdie product that, you know, it's got the calories call out on the front, I think, but products have like a protein call out. And yeah, I think that's. Then you go to the side to find out what kind of protein you're getting anyway, if you know about protein. But I just think it matters less at this point.
[00:22:44] John Craven: It makes me think of like, I remember my mom used to do like Atkins and it was all about carbs and it wasn't about types of carbs or fiber or anything like that. It was just like, you're focusing on something that's very simple because it seems like it's easy to digest when like you're making so many decisions in a day about what you're going to eat. You're like, awesome. Protein seems good for me. Let's eat it. You know, rather than like. Where is it coming from? Unless like, you know, you are into health and wellness and fitness and you're really focused on energy and output and performance. Like, I think that's when you might take a closer look. But other than that, if you're just a mainstream consumer, you're just like, what's going to be better for my system in general.
[00:23:26] Ray Latif: Yeah. And you're looking at things like your digestion schedule and their slow release protein that you should take later at night. Cause it can help you heal while you're sleeping and things of that nature. I know.
[00:23:36] John Craven: You're the protein expert.
[00:23:38] Ray Latif: Send all inquiries about protein to mschneider at BevNET.com. Clearly he knows a thing or two. Picturing him popping some sort of gummy that's got cannabis and protein in it. I can see the wheel spinning. John already has the AI video prepped and ready to go. So stay tuned for that. Well, I'll say this to anyone listening who is the founder or operator of a protein infused CPG brand, send us your products. I think this is a discussion we're going to continue to have. And I think the more exposure that we have to what's out there, I think the better the discussion can be. But whether it's crackers or candy or beverages, just send us those products. We would love to try them and feature them on future episodes of the podcast. It seems to be a trend, at least that's making people happy. And there's your parallel with Pumpkin Spice. Okay.
[00:24:36] John Craven: Oh, wow.
[00:24:36] Ray Latif: He's got to go. He's got to have the last word on Pumpkin Spice.
[00:24:40] John Craven: Mike was right.
[00:24:41] Ray Latif: Pumpkin Spice does not make me happy. It makes me angry. He's irritated. Okay.
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[00:26:00] Ray Latif: All right. So, uh, speaking of brands that we want to highlight and feature on this show, our dear friend, Adam Hertel, who, well, actually he pronounces it Hertel.
[00:26:10] John Craven: Oh no.
[00:26:11] Ray Latif: Adam Hertel, who recently took over the sales department at a brand called Rothen. I'm dating myself left and right by calling it an apartment. But anyway, he's the new head of sales at a brand called Rotten. I was going to say, to be clear, I think he's the first head of sales. This is like a pretty new company that doesn't have a big team. So they're taking a step forward there. Well, thank you for clarifying. I'm just trying to clarify.
[00:26:36] Jacqui Brugliera: It's an expansion.
[00:26:37] Ray Latif: That sounds like, man, they had some other guy that was just a knucklehead. No. So Rotten is a relatively new company. I think they're about two or three years old. We actually featured the brand, I want to say a year and a half ago. I wasn't doing that but they sell gummy worms and they sell better for you gummy worms that have no artificial colors or flavors or preservatives or artificial ingredients and So I should take that back. I believe they might have some preservatives, but they're natural preservatives I don't know for sure what goes into gummies all I can tell you is that if you want a gummy worm that doesn't have all the Junk sugar and gut friendly Yes Yeah, so they have a bunch of different varieties. They do include seven grams of prebiotic fiber per bag. Each bag contains 130 calories. It's made with 16 grams of added sugar. So Jackie's getting into it.
[00:27:39] John Craven: So the ones that have gummies, they're like... It's almost like a nerd rope.
[00:27:43] Ray Latif: Yeah, they're candy coated gummies.
[00:27:46] John Craven: Wow, and sour.
[00:27:47] Ray Latif: Well, uh-oh, uh-oh, pucker, pucker moment here. Jackie's puckering.
[00:27:53] John Craven: Yeah, this is good. I love the branding. The side of it says like feed your freak and they have I think they gave us these like for your car. They're like air fresheners because they just smell like blue raspberry.
[00:28:06] Ray Latif: Like the branding is like so fun. There's nothing that says blue raspberry here. Don't get me started on that Jackie. No, but, uh, I'm really happy, you know, for Adam and I'm really happy for Rotten because I think it's a, it's a match made in heaven. I mean, Adam has a ton of experience in this industry. He knows what works, what doesn't. He's got a lot of insight and connections to major retailers and Rotten seems to be a rocket ship right now based on having a conversation with Adam last night. They're testing in a bunch of different places. The distribution is going. all over the place. And I mean, what's interesting about Rotten is that it feels like this brand really has permission to go everywhere. It's a brand that can appeal to kids because of its package design. Its vibe feels really young, but older consumers who love candy, I really think that the better for you aspect of it is going to go a long way. This is so cool to see that Rotten is taking off because, you know, when Project 7 came along and started to introduce Better For You gummies, we were like, oh, this is really a great idea. And they tasted good. And now there are so many good entries into this category that are really building it up. You've got Rotten now, you've got Better Sour, you've got Behave, you've got Happy. Joyride. Yeah, I was going to say Project 7 that became Joyride. Yeah, it became Joyride, but there's also SmartSweets too. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, it's, it's, it's a throwback. You like, I liked when it was called Project 72, but Joyride feels a bit more appropriate for the market. Joyride tastes even better too, because it's, it's definitely been an evolution of that product. It's just been cool to see this, this all start to take off and become more mature. For sure, for sure. But yeah, congrats to Adam, congrats to the team at Rotten. I'm excited to see not only how this brand develops, but how the category develops as well. All these better for you candy brands seem to be working together, even though they're not directly working together, but delivering consumers exactly, or delivering to consumers exactly what they want, which is no compromise in terms of flavor or texture, but made with better for you ingredients, made with a functional benefit in some cases. So awesome stuff.
[00:30:13] John Craven: Yeah, yeah, similar like better for you candy. We saw this brand called Fave that was in San Diego at the meetup and similar better for you candy better for you Kool-Aid. This is kind of like trying to replace the drink mixes. and not trying to be functional. So, you know, you have your lemonade mix, you have your Kool-Aid mix, and this is what this is trying to disrupt, which there isn't a lot of brands. There aren't a lot of brands kind of doing that. There's a lot of functional, like hydration mixes. I mean, definitely not emerging brands. Yeah, exactly. So playful branding. Haven't tried it yet, but excited to see what they do. I know that they have a fruit punch, a lemonade, an orange and a strawberry lemonade.
[00:30:59] Ray Latif: Love me some fruit punch. I was really intrigued by a brand that I was introduced to at the meetup yesterday. It's called Inner Bloom, and it comes in this beautiful sort of teal can. There's a lot going on on this can, but if you turn the back around, it describes Inner Bloom as crafted for the higher conscious soul, and that it's infused with Hanna. Apparently Hanna is an ingredient that has some sort of psychoactive benefit to it. And so they're marketing Inner Bloom as an alternative to alcohol and something that you can drink at a club or a bar or as some part of nightlife. And it'll give you that feeling of, I don't know, elevated excitement or I'm not sure how I would describe it, but essentially it's the classic example of what to drink when you're not drinking.
[00:31:53] John Craven: Yeah. Kana is supposed to be like nature's MDMA.
[00:31:56] Ray Latif: Oh, interesting.
[00:31:56] John Craven: Yeah. And I bought some gummies that have Kana. Now we're seeing it in Beverage Co's kind of just like another functional ingredient that can give you kind of a Head High and this like happiness boost. That's not MDMA.
[00:32:10] Ray Latif: Yeah, well, that's good. Kana is spelled K-A-N-N-A. It also contains L-theanine, electrolytes, and magnesium. So, good stuff. How do you bloom from within? Apparently you drink a can of Enerbloom. Another vertical logo. Mike's head is going to explode. You still with us, Mike? I've got one of our faves, I think, Happy Pop. They have a couple of new SKUs that they sent our way. Thanks so much to Maya and Dustin for sending these along. The red one is Cheery Cherry, and it's made with a cherry blend, green coffee, and apple cider vinegar. And it tastes, it tastes like a cherry soda should taste. And then this one's called Wonderberry. Also has their cherry blend, but blueberry as well. And it's unknown taste. Let's see. Oh my God. That's awesome. It tastes like blueberry and cherry and it's really, really tasty. Thanks for sending these.
[00:33:13] John Craven: And I have one final shout out. I had to shout out Maria from Sanchiles.
[00:33:18] Ray Latif: Love that brand.
[00:33:19] John Craven: She is amazing. Her brand is amazing. I was eating this all over the pizza yesterday, but she came to the event before her own baby shower. She made the time to come to the event and then headed to her own baby shower. So I had to shout her out for making the trip.
[00:33:35] Ray Latif: You know, I love a lot of brands. Chiles has a special place in my heart. They just seem to do everything right. They're the most authentic, honest people. Maria, you know, leading the way. And, you know, it's really hard to stand out in hot sauce. It's almost impossible. And they've done it. They have a product, or they have a brand, they have products. that just taste different, the texture's different, you can tell that they're crafted with really high quality ingredients, and that everything they do comes from an honest and authentic place. So, Cien Chiles, love it.
[00:34:08] Jacqui Brugliera: Tasty stuff.
[00:34:08] Ray Latif: I chugged it once. You did, last meet up.
[00:34:11] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah.
[00:34:12] Ray Latif: You did your sriracha, but with Cien Chiles. Yeah.
[00:34:16] Jacqui Brugliera: Your sriracha chug was Cien Chiles. It was really good.
[00:34:17] Ray Latif: Yes. Way to go. 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. you
