[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 I'm with my co-hosts for this episode, Jacqui Brugliera, Mike Schneider, and Melissa Traverse. In this episode, we sit down with Jesse Bongiovi Jovi, who is the co-founder of Hampton Water Wine, a rosé wine brand that has taken the industry by storm. If Jesse's last name sounds familiar, it's because it does. He's the son of Jon Bon Jovi, the famous rocker, who is the other co-founder in Hampton Water Wine. I seriously hope you slipped in some Bon Jovi lyrics.
[00:00:48] Jacqui Brugliera: Like, does it make a difference if you make it or not?
[00:00:51] Ray Latif: Uh, no, I didn't do that. Come on. But I will say it was a really outstanding interview. I enjoyed every minute that I talked to Jesse. Because you had each other and that was a lot. Stay tuned for it, folks.
[00:01:13] Jacqui Brugliera: It's coming soon.
[00:01:28] Ray Latif: Yeah, we're looking forward to having John and Carolyn back in the office and at the upcoming Taste Radio meetup in New York City, which is taking place in just a few days, Tuesday, April 15th at Rethinks Community Kitchen in Greenwich Village. If you haven't already registered, please do so now. The registration list is getting long and very busy. Taste Radio slash NYC. And in just a few weeks, we'll be in Austin, Texas on May 6th, which is also a Tuesday, at Torchy's Tacos at their Oaks at Slaughter location. It's going to be a blast. Taste Radio slash Austin is how you register and sign up for that event. If you are interested in becoming a partner at any of our upcoming meetups, just let us know. Send me a note, rlatifatbevnet.com. We'd love to have you on board. We'd love to promote what you're doing via the meetups, via our banners, via our promotion of the events. So just let me know, rlatifatbevnet.com. Melissa Traverse, thank you for being here. It's so fun when you're in the studio. I always love having you here. Thanks so much for doing it.
[00:02:40] Mike Schneider: Well, it's such a pleasure to be here to see your sunshiny faces. I think it's been raining for the last like 50 days straight here in the East Coast, so it's a pleasure to be here.
[00:02:50] Ray Latif: Yeah, it has been raining quite a bit. And sunshiny faces, typically, I think mine is, I don't know, I think it's been a little weathered, shall we say, because of the rain. Jackie, poor Jackie, I don't know, she was fighting some kind of weird traffic today.
[00:03:07] Melissa Traverse: This person was trying to do a world record for a traffic standoff. And he's been there since yesterday at 2pm. So I don't know about that one. But I don't know if I'm as sunshiny either after this morning.
[00:03:18] Ray Latif: Can I ask you a quick what the heck is a traffic standoff?
[00:03:22] Melissa Traverse: Who knows, there's a world record for anything, but I guess he's just trying to stop traffic. And he's been doing it for almost 24 hours.
[00:03:29] Jacqui Brugliera: He's trying to get the Guinness Book world record for biggest asshole.
[00:03:33] Mike Schneider: Yes, he's not even protesting anything. He's just being a noose at me.
[00:03:38] Ray Latif: I hate this guy.
[00:03:38] Melissa Traverse: He just wants the attention.
[00:03:40] Ray Latif: That's a really good point, actually. If you were actually protesting, if you were putting your life on the line, because if you're standing in traffic, you are. And if you're putting your principles on the line by doing such things, you know, there's, even if you hate what's happening, you got to respect it. But what this guy's doing sounds quite obnoxious. And did you curse at him when you, did you roll down your window? Because you clearly have an old car.
[00:04:04] Melissa Traverse: I didn't get to see him to flip him off, you know? We had to go really far around. But would you? Yeah, she said she was going to flip him off. I think I'm going to just mean mugged him. I'm not much one for flipping off, but, you know.
[00:04:16] Jacqui Brugliera: Just leave that to the people who are spray painting everything orange in England, you know, and blocking traffic. They're producing oil, at least. They're standing for something, not just standing for blocking traffic.
[00:04:28] Ray Latif: Yes. Well, if you want to learn about the best way to block traffic, I don't know. Does Nonbase cover that?
[00:04:35] Mike Schneider: You know, Nonbase covers just about, I wouldn't be surprised if you could find the answer to that on Nonbase.
[00:04:43] Ray Latif: Well, I got to say, I mean, it has been a huge hit, Melissa. I don't know how many people have emailed me, talked to me at an event and said, Nombase is just incredible. And there's a lot of excitement and there's just a lot of enthusiasm for a platform that finally, finally brings all the information you want together in one place.
[00:05:03] Mike Schneider: And that was really the idea to have a centralized hub of information for everything that we do. And as we've talked about before, we put so much work into it to make sure that all the information there is top quality. So if any folks out there in the audience haven't gone to Nambase yet, nambase.com, make sure you check out our directory to either put your listing in there or update it. So we did. feed it with listings, but you may want to go in there and change out the picture, change out some of the information so that people can get ahold of you. So definitely check that out. And the Nombase Podcast, I'm so excited to finally have a home for that. And the last two podcasts that we've done, I mean, I don't know, I guess it's my baby. So I'm a little biased. but we had a show with Pierre Germain and Pistachio about growing retail. And Pierre is, he's just so smart and gave so many really specific- Pierre Germain of?
[00:06:02] Ray Latif: Fishwife.
[00:06:03] Mike Schneider: Fishwife, yes, thank you.
[00:06:04] Ray Latif: And previously of Petit Pot.
[00:06:05] Mike Schneider: Petit Pot, yeah, exactly. And he, he just, have you ever been to a kid's party where they have one of those cray paper balls as a favor and you unwrap the ball and all these prizes fall out?
[00:06:15] Jacqui Brugliera: No, but I've talked to Pierre and it, He's so smart. And every time you talk to him, it's like, can I talk to you more?
[00:06:22] Mike Schneider: Yeah. I mean, the information that he was talking about how to minimize and sometimes avoid slotting in free fill, when to expand, specifically how to drive velocity. So definitely check that out if you haven't already. And then we also had Jason Smith of Ithaca Hummus New With Jana Goodbaum of Happy Wolf. And again, Jason Smith, he's just like the stuff that comes out of his mouth is gold. He went through and specifically talked about the exact stores that are good to demo in, how he puts his team together, the software he uses, so very specific stuff.
[00:06:56] Ray Latif: No one needs this information though, right? I mean, like you don't want to know how to avoid slotting fees. You don't want to know the best ways to drive velocity. You certainly don't want to know the best retailers to demo your product. You just want all that money vacuumed right out of your pocket. You don't need any of that.
[00:07:08] Mike Schneider: Everyone wants a shortcut, everyone wants to figure it out for themselves.
[00:07:11] Ray Latif: Everyone wants to spend more money than they need to, right?
[00:07:13] Mike Schneider: Exactly, exactly. And if anybody out there has an idea for a show, maybe you're a brand and you're trying to figure out the answer to a specific problem, reach out to me, mtravers at BevNET.com. I'd love to chat and see if we can get you some help and perhaps make a podcast out of it.
[00:07:31] Ray Latif: Absolutely. And we had an episode of Elevator Talk recently where a participant reached out after the show and asked if we knew of or could help her with co-packing solutions, with ingredient supplier solutions. And immediately I thought of you, Melissa and Jacqui sent her your way and I hope you had a good conversation. I'm sure you did.
[00:07:54] Jacqui Brugliera: They can also just search nonbase.com for starters too. And then once they have a bunch of questions, ask us. There's other questions. And the other thing here is like, I know we have suppliers and service providers who are listening to us right now. Go to nonbase.com, search for your company. It's probably in there and you haven't claimed your page yet. There's so much cool stuff you can do there to set up your page. Yes, we've done our best to explain who you are, but nobody does it better than you.
[00:08:19] Ray Latif: Absolutely. And I think the best part about Nombase is that it is a platform, as I mentioned, sort of with that human element as well. I really don't necessarily love when I go to a place and all it is, is the program or the software, just knowing that someone can reach out to you, Melissa, and have a conversation with you. It's just a warm and fuzzy feeling.
[00:08:41] Jacqui Brugliera: It's a cool concept that we've been working on for a long time. Jackie, I mean, like, what is it? We've got search, we've got community.
[00:08:48] Melissa Traverse: Yeah, we got search, community, jobs, press releases. We have our Slack community and this is something that's evolving too. This is something that's gonna constantly evolve and grow. We're gonna add new features. So we wanna hear what you think of it and we wanna get your feedback because it's going into it in real time.
[00:09:07] Mike Schneider: To Jackie's point, Nonbase is evolving. I'm working on a program that I'm super excited about.
[00:09:14] Jacqui Brugliera: Me too. It's constantly evolving and we want to hear from you. Just send email to Melissa or ask at Taste Radio dot com. We'd love to hear from you. We're so psyched about it.
[00:09:25] Ray Latif: I am so psyched for the team at Lesser Evil. I sat down with Charles Korostein last year, I believe it was in late July, and I went to the Lesser Evil facilities, they have more than one in Connecticut, and we just had a fabulous conversation. I was able to visit the place and places where they actually make the popcorn. And it was very Willy Wonka-ish, but there is a method to that madness, so to speak. And Charles leading the helm, just an incredible place, person and brand and team, obviously. And so when I heard last week that Hershey had agreed to acquire the company for $750 million, I was just so elated. That's close enough. That's pretty close. Mike raised his right pinky to his lip once again. You're only about a quarter mil away from a bill, but I think they're going to get there. I still think it was funnier when he said one million. Yeah. So if you're not familiar, Lesser Evil is the maker of organic popcorn and healthy snacks. They've been around for some time. They were in all kinds of trouble before Charles took over the company, I believe it was in 2010 or around that time. And they have just turned into this amazing platform that makes really delicious food, way better for you alternatives than what has previously been out there from popcorn to cheese balls to kids snacks and cool collabs. But like, this is the modern brand that I think really represents what people want. Simple, easy to understand, delicious, better for you.
[00:11:00] Melissa Traverse: It just tastes so good. Like I go to other popcorns and then I go back to them because it's just, I could eat an entire bag in one sitting. So I think that quality and the branding and the collabs, it's just like a great like formula for success.
[00:11:15] Mike Schneider: The way that Charles has grown that brand has been so impressive and I'm so happy for them.
[00:11:20] Ray Latif: Yeah, and I would say this also, you know, if you think about what it takes to be a great company, definitely listen to anything that Charles has talked about on a podcast or written about or anything that's been written about the brand, because He is very transparent about what it takes to execute upon a vision, to lead a company with intentionality, and to establish good working relationships with your partners, retailers or otherwise. Definitely check out the interview that I did with Charles. It is published or was published on July 30th of 2024. It's titled, Lesser Evil Is Doing Good, Really Good, Attitude and Operations Are the Keys.
[00:12:04] Jacqui Brugliera: You're good at those titles, right?
[00:12:06] Ray Latif: You like that? And I didn't even use chat GPT for that one. I feel more awake already.
[00:12:10] Jacqui Brugliera: Ray makes these all up in there. I'm always tickled. Yes. Oh, okay.
[00:12:17] Ray Latif: Ray, that is not. Moving right along. Congratulations also to the team at Mela, Dominic Perpera, the founder.
[00:12:25] Jacqui Brugliera: Sounds like something my grandpa would have said. I was tickled by that one.
[00:12:33] Ray Latif: Mela, as folks probably are familiar with, Mela is a brand of watermelon water. They describe themselves as watermelon water. It's really watermelon juice and it's a plant-based hydration platform. We first met the folks at Mela, Dominic specifically, was that three years ago on stage at WebNet Live when he participated in the New Beverage Showdown. Everyone was really excited about this brand. The watermelon juice comes, the watermelon water comes in these 16 ounce cans, really catchy branding. And when we saw Dominic at the Miami Beat Up in February, he had a big smile on his face and he seemed so happy and excited. And we're like, what's going on? You seem particularly tickled, Dominic. And he's like, we got a big announcement to make. It's going to happen in a couple of months. And I'm like, ooh, exciting. Can you share any details? He's like, it's big. We'll just let you know.
[00:13:28] Jacqui Brugliera: So then he tried to distract us with his tattoos.
[00:13:30] Ray Latif: Yeah. What the heck is going on today, Mike? What do you mean? I was not part of that. I was not part of that, by the way. So Mellow was acquired by a company called King Juice. You may not know the name King Juice, but they are the parent company of a brand you probably do know, which is Calypso Lemonades. So terms of the deal were not announced or they were not revealed. But I am so excited for more Mela to be in more places. And that's exactly what King Juice is going to do. So congratulations once again to Mela, to Dominic and to the King Juice team. You guys get a hell of a brand.
[00:14:09] Mike Schneider: I take a lot of beverages home and share them with my family. And that was one that my 10 and 12 year old boys were psyched about.
[00:14:17] Ray Latif: Yeah, I recall John Craven was talking about how his daughters would text him from college or from wherever. And the text would just be, we need more mellabro. Yeah, we need mellabro. It would just be mellabro. Yeah. Yeah, I think that's what it was. Call him bro. That's how the kids talk today. More mullet bro.
[00:14:40] Mike Schneider: My kids call me bro too. Do they really? I kind of like that.
[00:14:43] Jacqui Brugliera: My daughter Megan calls me kitty. Kitty? What's up kitty? I don't know. Where did that come from? What is going on here? What's up kid? How you doing kitty? Like you're a little kitty. Not like you're like a meow kitty. Not a cat, no.
[00:14:58] Melissa Traverse: That's what I thought.
[00:15:01] Jacqui Brugliera: K-I-D-D-I-E, kitty. What's up, kid?
[00:15:03] Melissa Traverse: Okay.
[00:15:04] Jacqui Brugliera: Got it.
[00:15:04] Melissa Traverse: That makes more sense.
[00:15:06] Jacqui Brugliera: Kitty. Yeah. Kid-y.
[00:15:08] Ray Latif: I think the E, adding the E is a very sports thing to do. Like when you say Schneide, you know, instead of Schneider, you say Schneide. I guess Schneids are spider. Yeah. Like a lot of people, like for sports. As an example, if someone's name is Bruce, they go Bruce-y. Bruce-y, sure. Ray-y. Yeah. No, they don't say Ray-y.
[00:15:25] Melissa Traverse: Ray-y, yeah. Jackie's quick way to be cool.
[00:15:33] Ray Latif: Yeah. They would just double my name. Like Jackie, they would say Ray, Ray, Ray, Ray. Yeah.
[00:15:38] Jacqui Brugliera: Melissa.
[00:15:40] Mike Schneider: My nickname is Mo bro. Sorry. We have bro in the Mo bro.
[00:15:44] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah. What's wrong with our podcast today? I feel like I said it on fire when I said tickle.
[00:15:50] Ray Latif: Yes. Yes. Mo bro. I like that. Okay. Well, if you want to know exactly how all these deals happened and get the full story behind the acquisition of Lesser Evil and Mela, you got to be an insider. You got to go to BevNET.com slash insider or Nosh.com slash insider. It's very easy to sign up. It is a modest cost. and an important way for you to stay on top of everything that's happening in food and beverage. Once again, BevNET.com slash insider or Nosh.com slash insider. Okay. I've got a surprise for all y'all. I need a moment to prepare. So while I'm preparing Mike, you you're drinking your can of ish. So talk about your ish.
[00:16:38] Jacqui Brugliera: Okay. So ish is a brand of, uh, they call themselves the mindful drinking company. They're a brand of non-alcoholic premium cocktails from Denmark. And I'm drinking the spritz right now. As everyone knows, I'm sober curious. And I feel like this, this is one that just hits so nicely. It's got the bitter flavor that I like, and it just, it reminds me of what I've been quote, missing. I really like this.
[00:17:09] Mike Schneider: At what point do you go from sober curious to Sober Informed?
[00:17:14] Jacqui Brugliera: Melissa, here's the thing. We need to spend hours on this conversation.
[00:17:20] Mike Schneider: I just don't get it.
[00:17:21] Jacqui Brugliera: When am I just sober? I mean, I guess if I stop. I'd have to just stop for at least a year and then just be like, I'm never drinking and then be ashamed if I did it again. So I don't know, something like that. Okay.
[00:17:35] Melissa Traverse: Fair enough. Fair enough. Every once in a while. I'll keep tabs on it. We should have like sober flex or, you know, like kind of like flexitarian. Flexible.
[00:17:44] Jacqui Brugliera: Okay. As everyone knows, let's, let's start over. And everyone knows I'm sober flex. Soberflex. Soberflex.
[00:17:51] Ray Latif: Yeah. I think that the term that everyone wants to be a part of or wants to be associated with is probably moderation. Yes.
[00:17:59] Mike Schneider: Moderation. For sure.
[00:18:00] Ray Latif: Yeah. I mean, you know, just don't overdo it.
[00:18:03] Mike Schneider: Especially at this age. Don't overdo it.
[00:18:05] Jacqui Brugliera: Soberflex.
[00:18:06] Mike Schneider: I'm taking it.
[00:18:07] Ray Latif: Don't overdo it on booze. Don't overdo it on sugar. Don't overdo it on fatty foods.
[00:18:13] Mike Schneider: Just have a good time. Enjoy yourself.
[00:18:14] Jacqui Brugliera: Isn't Anthony Bourdain the one who said moderation and everything including moderation?
[00:18:19] Ray Latif: OK, fair enough. I like that. I like that.
[00:18:21] Mike Schneider: It's been a while.
[00:18:23] Ray Latif: All right. So as I mentioned, OK, so this might be my favorite marketing initiative of the year. And it's coming from the folks at Evolution Fresh. Evolution Fresh is a maker of cold pressed juices. They also make a fantastic real fruit soda that they launched, I believe it was last year. And so they've been a rave for it for a long time. A favorite of Ray. A rave rate? I like that, a rave rate. Nice. So they have announced a way for folks to sneak. They're actually promoting something that's not necessarily legal per se, but it's fine. To sneak their real fruit soda into theaters and reclaim their soda moments in a guilt-free yet rebellious way. They have a soda smuggling device. Okay.
[00:19:09] King Juice: Wow.
[00:19:10] Melissa Traverse: I love this. This is actually pretty great. I love sneaking things into movie theaters. Yeah, I feel like the game changer is you always have to bring like a big tote into the movie theater and they're never checking it, right?
[00:19:20] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, but once I got some stuff with my kids ahead of the movie and I just stuffed it in my coat and I went to pay for the tickets and everything fell out. And it was one of those moments where everyone was like, Just looking, looking, looking, looking. And I just picked him up and put him in my coat. No one said anything.
[00:19:39] Mike Schneider: You can do whatever you want. You just can't get caught. Yeah. No, you can get caught. Nobody wants to get caught.
[00:19:45] Ray Latif: I mean, I was that guy that was smuggling booze into the theaters. I'll admit that. Until I made the humongous mistake of trying to smuggle a Bloody Mary into the theater via my pocket. And I was covered in tomato juice, olives, all those little accoutrements that come. And it was just a disgusting mess. It was just a glass that you stuck in your pocket. I wish I could explain how ridiculous and stupid this was, Melissa, but it was pretty bad.
[00:20:11] Melissa Traverse: Was this like a morning movie? Like what time of day was this?
[00:20:13] Ray Latif: It was like an 11am movie. It was the movie Alien Covenant, which we were so excited to see. My dear friend Adam Stern and I, we were going to go see it. Oh, Stern was there.
[00:20:22] Melissa Traverse: There's a shot. That makes more sense that you both were doing this.
[00:20:25] Ray Latif: And I was trying to bring Bloody Mary's for everyone, and it just turned into a disaster.
[00:20:29] Jacqui Brugliera: For listeners who don't know, Ray Adam Stern are the human equivalents of Bert and Ernie. My bird I think so, okay.
[00:20:42] Mike Schneider: Yeah for sure.
[00:20:43] Ray Latif: Definitely turns definitely he's got to laugh and I yeah I'm more responsible and buttoned up.
[00:20:50] Mike Schneider: Yeah, I was gonna say the the the focus on being germ-free to Birds also like except for the pigeons that doesn't make sense.
[00:20:59] Jacqui Brugliera: But yeah, I
[00:20:59] Ray Latif: Yeah, well, I can see Sterno taking baths more often. I'm not a bath kind of guy. Ray would have a bottle cap collection. He would have an extensive bottle cap collection that he hoards, I'm sure. Okay, can we please get back to evolution? Okay, so they sent me this amazing box, and I opened it up, and they have an instruction manual on how to use it. It says, take a stand against concession stand soda. And they have steps here. They have step one, step two, step three. And so the first step is to pop a can of Evolution Fresh Real Fruit Soda into the secret compartment. The secret compartment of what? You may ask. It's the secret compartment of a fedora! Yes, yes, dear folks, yes.
[00:21:37] Melissa Traverse: What if we all walked into a movie theater wearing those, though? I think that would look a little strange.
[00:21:42] Ray Latif: And so what's amazing is there is a secret compartment, as you can see, if you're watching the video, there's a secret compartment all the way in the bottom of the... Would you look at that? Yeah. What do you call this part of the hat? The top?
[00:21:59] Mike Schneider: I don't know what kind of hat that is. It's almost like a cowboy hat.
[00:22:03] Ray Latif: It is actually more of a cowboy hat.
[00:22:05] Melissa Traverse: That's a big fedora.
[00:22:06] Ray Latif: I mean, Indiana Jones would be like, huh?
[00:22:07] Melissa Traverse: Yeah.
[00:22:08] Ray Latif: So anyway, you got your secret compartment. Well, let's see you activate it. Yeah. You take a can of Evolution Fresh real fruit soda. The one I have in my hand is their tropical mango, which by the way, contains five grams of sugar, pre and probiotics. and is made with real squeezed fruit. It is USDA organic, contains 45 calories per 12 ounce can and five grams of sugar. This is going to be just like me at the movie theater where things fell out. It's going to fall out of your hat. Here we go. We're going to put this in here.
[00:22:37] Mike Schneider: Is this a play to get Evolution Fresh into movie theaters? Is this the ultimate pitch?
[00:22:43] Ray Latif: Perhaps. But if you see, this is actually pretty good. It doesn't fall out. Wow. And here we go. I think it's just to promote sophomoric behavior. Hold on.
[00:22:52] Jacqui Brugliera: Bear with me, folks. Yeah, Ray, go for it.
[00:22:54] Ray Latif: Oh, you're replacing... Oh, it doesn't...
[00:22:58] Jacqui Brugliera: It's my hat.
[00:22:59] Mike Schneider: It's a small hat, or you have a big hat.
[00:23:01] Ray Latif: Did you just throw my hat? What?
[00:23:06] Melissa Traverse: That cost me a lot of money. You look like a cartoon character.
[00:23:07] Ray Latif: What do you mean? All right. Yeah, this is not necessarily the... You look like that cartoon character, the cowboy with, like, the big hat. Okay, this is... Yeah.
[00:23:18] SPEAKER_??: Wow.
[00:23:18] Ray Latif: In terms of fashion, I can't even put my headphones back on, so I couldn't hear what you were saying. She was saying nothing but nice things about you. Stop filming me. My goodness. All right. Well, Evolution Fresh. I love this idea. I probably need a slightly bigger hat, but for folks who have a smaller head than I do, I have a big brain, you might want to consider getting one of these.
[00:23:38] Mike Schneider: It makes you look taller.
[00:23:39] Ray Latif: It does make me look taller. And I got to say, I do feel like this is one of the funnest and most creative marketing initiatives that I've seen in a while. So good job, Evolution Fresh.
[00:23:49] Mike Schneider: Well done.
[00:23:50] Ray Latif: All right. Jackie's in tears. I don't know if she can talk about anything that's currently on her desk, but she'll try.
[00:23:56] Melissa Traverse: I'll try. I can't follow up with that. I have a Brad Avery here called Coacqua and it is a line of coconut water and they have a bunch of interesting flavors. So this is just, they're still coconut water, literally just coconut water with a little bit of cane sugar.
[00:24:14] Jacqui Brugliera: What was it before?
[00:24:15] Melissa Traverse: What was it before?
[00:24:16] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah. It's still coconut water. It's still, yes. Before.
[00:24:22] Melissa Traverse: Yeah. Um, that's a good dad joke.
[00:24:28] Ray Latif: That was Jackie being both frustrated and annoyed at the same time.
[00:24:34] Mike Schneider: I love when Mike cracks himself up more than anything.
[00:24:41] Melissa Traverse: Well, beyond what they still are, they also have Citrus Circus. They have an espresso one called Espresso'd. And then the one that I'm drinking right now is Sour Soppin'. So this one has coconut water and sour sop juice. and a little bit of cane sugar.
[00:24:59] Jacqui Brugliera: Also known as guanabana, right? Soursop, same thing? I believe so. How much sugar is in that one? Those are those are known to be like the most sugar intense fruit.
[00:25:08] Melissa Traverse: Yeah, this one has 21 grams of total sugar.
[00:25:12] Jacqui Brugliera: OK, that's not too bad.
[00:25:14] Melissa Traverse: Not terrible, but yeah, some really cool flavors like Soursop and have you had like an espresso coconut water?
[00:25:22] Jacqui Brugliera: I haven't had that one. It's in the fridge upstairs and I've been curious about it, but I don't like such a coffee purist that I don't always try those coffee flavors. How is it?
[00:25:31] Melissa Traverse: Oh, actually, it's pretty good. Yeah.
[00:25:34] Ray Latif: Coffee and coconut water was a really good pairing. So I agree. The winner of our second ever New Beverage Showdown was a brand called Coco Cafe, and they made a blend of coconut water, coffee and coconut cream. I believe it's actually espresso. And it was really delicious. And Vita Coco, if folks remember, Vita Coco bought the brand about three or four months after its debut, after it won the New Beverage Showdown, actually. So, yeah.
[00:26:03] Mike Schneider: I think Harmless Harvest also had a coffee skew that I really enjoyed.
[00:26:06] Ray Latif: So we need more coconut water and coffee collabs or combinations. That's the takeaway here. Time for my surprise yet? No, we're going to skip you cause you threw my hat. We're doing my surprise. Okay.
[00:26:19] Jacqui Brugliera: We haven't even gotten a chance to really talk about these on the show because, well, we got them before they came out, but I got the Super Foodio Peanut Butter Butter Cups. So, yeah, Jackie introduced me to this brand. We were in UK and I saw it.
[00:26:37] Ray Latif: Because the Super Foodio is a UK based brand.
[00:26:39] Jacqui Brugliera: Right, we're in UK, we're in London and we were at Whole Foods and I saw the brand and I was like, that looks really cool. And then for some reason I didn't pick it up and then we're standing on the street and Jackie goes, And I was like, oh, thank goodness you bought those.
[00:26:51] Melissa Traverse: I was like the buttons, the peanut butter buttons. They're just like so good.
[00:26:55] Jacqui Brugliera: And then I got to meet the founder and we sat down for like a couple of hours. I don't know where the time went because it was like, it felt like we'd only been sitting there for 15 minutes, but we had been sitting there for so long. You know what I mean? Like the time just flew by. I was like talking to an old friend, but we have the original here and the no added sugar. I'm going in. There you go. I'm going in.
[00:27:15] Ray Latif: Yes, there are a few peanut butter cups just with no chocolate. I mean, they are chocolate.
[00:27:23] Mike Schneider: Oh, peanut butter with, you know, the current state of things could work out really well for them.
[00:27:29] Ray Latif: Good point. Good point, Melissa. All right, well, Mike is chowing down on his peanut butter cups there. I just took one down. Melissa's got a whole bunch of stuff in front of her that looks pretty tasty as well.
[00:27:41] Mike Schneider: Yes, I do. So I have a couple of bars here. And you know, the bar category is one that I often think of as being so saturated. It must be such a difficult category for brands to get into. But I was recently talking to Casey Gaston, who's the global Yep, Global Forager for Whole Foods Market. And I asked, are there any categories that are so saturated, they're really difficult for brands? And I thought her answer was so refreshing. She said, as long as it tastes good and it shows innovation, the sky is the limit. And I think that's something that we all want to believe. But to hear that from a buyer and from the chief forager, I think is really refreshing. So I have BonBee Honey's bar right here. More like a candy bar. This to me is like a payday almost.
[00:28:26] Jacqui Brugliera: Or like a way better bit of honey. But yeah, I get some payday vibes from that too. But it's so much easier to eat than a payday where it was like taking your dental work out. And the Bambi came into the office and it went like that. And people were so excited about this. And I went and ordered more and I accidentally ordered it to the office instead of home. And before I could grab them, like they were a third gone. I ordered three boxes of it because it's so good. My family really liked it.
[00:28:56] Ray Latif: I remember when the founder came to Nosh.
[00:28:58] Mike Schneider: This is probably one of them.
[00:28:59] Ray Latif: Yeah. The founder was at Nosh a couple of years ago, Nosh Live in, uh, I think we were in Marina Del Rey at that point. We were. And, uh. Indeed. Everyone was raving about her bars. Yeah, that stuff is phenomenal. Yeah.
[00:29:10] Mike Schneider: They're so delicious, such a clean ingredient panel. Kendra Bennett is just the kind of founder that you just can't help but love. It's a family owned business. So this one is super special.
[00:29:22] Jacqui Brugliera: The thing that I've noticed about this is that it's not a polarizing brand at all. It's one of those that everybody, as long as you're not allergic to honey or nuts, When they eat it, they like it, all generations. It's crazy good.
[00:29:36] Mike Schneider: And I just saw these featured in the Nosh reviews on Nosh.com. So check that out if you haven't already. I also have here a Mosh bar, which of course is the partnership between Patrick Schwarzenegger and his mother, Maria Shriver. You know, I think low sugar, high protein bars are so tough to get tasty. This has 12 grams of protein, three grams of sugar. And I specifically grabbed the lemon white chocolate crunch because You can do a peanut butter, you can do a chocolate. And I feel like, you know, you can get that right. But to get the white chocolate version good, I think is really saying something. And I thought these were so tasty. This is whey protein and almonds and just a lot of really good stuff.
[00:30:21] Jacqui Brugliera: So you know what that's powered by, right? One of our dear sponsors.
[00:30:25] Ray Latif: Cognizant.
[00:30:26] Jacqui Brugliera: Cognizant.
[00:30:26] Ray Latif: It sure is. Love it. Yeah. The brain health benefits and body health benefits from this, I think, are a nice addition to a protein bar. They definitely differentiate one from another. And I don't typically love when protein bars are just 30 grams of protein. It's just like stack. So you're just chewing for, it seems like 10 minutes before you can actually swallow it. Mosh, the bars are really delicious. They're easy to eat. And again, the brain health benefits help the brand to stand out from The Fresh of the category.
[00:30:57] Jacqui Brugliera: There's something for everyone in those bars too. There's, there's some that are like more cookie forward and then some that are more fruit forward. So if you don't like cookies or the peanut butter, then you can go for like the lemon bar. Pretty great. And then there's a blueberry one too.
[00:31:10] Ray Latif: I'm just waiting for the, uh, good stuff. for the limited edition white lotus variety, where it's just like a see-through label.
[00:31:19] Jacqui Brugliera: What's the poison fruit called?
[00:31:20] Mike Schneider: Oh, it looks like a pear.
[00:31:24] Melissa Traverse: Yes, it does. But you need the seeds. You need the seeds, right. Oh, no.
[00:31:28] Ray Latif: Patrick, don't make that one. Don't make that one. I don't watch that show, and I'm probably happy. I guess I'm happy that I don't.
[00:31:35] Mike Schneider: That would have been a good April Fool's release for Mosh.
[00:31:40] Jacqui Brugliera: Well, fortunately we can still make it. Here we go.
[00:31:43] Mike Schneider: I also have the Salad Sprinkles. I was introduced to these founders and this brand at Expo West. And actually just yesterday I was chatting with Blakely and Jordan about the brand. So I have here the classic herb flavor. They also have a chili crisp flavor, but the one that I totally fell in love with first and love is their maple sea salt. I think I'm more likely to put something on a yogurt bowl than I am maybe on a salad. So they did a collaboration with Painterland Sisters at Expo West. I died. So good.
[00:32:16] Jacqui Brugliera: I love Painterland Sisters. That's such a good product.
[00:32:20] Mike Schneider: So Salad Sprinkles.
[00:32:21] Jacqui Brugliera: Check them out. Killer collab. Speaking of killer collabs, killer collab.
[00:32:25] Ray Latif: I do gotta say, I was introduced to that brand as well. I think Amit Richmond introduced me to that brand, Salad Sprinkles. And what really struck me was that Salad Sprinkles is part of this, I guess, it seems like a burgeoning segment of products that you can add, they add flavor in some way or another, they add texture in some way or another. And I was thinking of Chutni Punch as a really good example of that as well, where you take these delicious Indian inspired flavors and you can put them on anything and it just enhances your food so much.
[00:32:53] Jacqui Brugliera: I'm glad that's what struck you and not the can of Evolution Fresh falling out of your hat.
[00:32:59] Ray Latif: It was not going to fall out of my hat. That is a well-crafted, high-quality hat right there.
[00:33:03] Mike Schneider: That could have been dangerous. And I will point out that in the Whole Foods Market trend report for 2025, crunch was one of their number one trends. So this certainly falls in New With that.
[00:33:13] Ray Latif: There you go. Alright, it's time to get to our featured interview for this episode. That's with Jesse Bongiovi Jovi, who as I mentioned at the top of the show, is the co-founder of award-winning rosé wine brand Hampton Water Wine. I met up with Jesse amidst the tropical buzz of the Nassau Paradise Island Wine and Food Festival, which was held last month in The Bahamas. As part of our conversation, Jesse explains how a focus on accessibility without pretension is at the core of Hampton Water's success, and how he's built a premium French rosé brand by staying scrappy, authentic, and grounded. Hey folks, it's Ray with Taste Radio. Right now, I am supremely honored to be standing with Jesse Bongiovi Jovi, who is the founder of the Hampton Water Wine Company. Jesse, great to see you. Thank you for having me. We're in a very loud atmosphere right here in The Bahamas on Paradise Island for the... Now, I always get this wrong for some reason. It's the Nassau Paradise Island Wine and Food Festival. I believe that's what it's called.
[00:34:19] Jesse Bongiovi: If you say so. I trust you. I got off the plane about two hours ago. Wait a minute.
[00:34:25] Ray Latif: Did you really just get here?
[00:34:26] Jesse Bongiovi: Oh yeah. Landed today. Flight was delayed an hour and a half. Where are you based? New York City. Oh, good for you. What part? What borough? I live in Manhattan. I live in Greenwich Village.
[00:34:34] Ray Latif: Oh, good for you. Nice, nice. You know, I think about like Rose and I think about Greenwich Village and I feel like they're a nice match.
[00:34:41] Jesse Bongiovi: Without a doubt.
[00:34:41] Ray Latif: Especially in May. Oh yeah. May is a good time.
[00:34:44] Jesse Bongiovi: The season is coming, though, you know, it's like it's starting to get warm. We're starting to get when you're had the long winter like we had, you get that 55 degree day. You're like, oh, we're back.
[00:34:54] Ray Latif: You know, we had three good years where we didn't have a lot of cold weather and ice. And then I live in Boston and you live in New York. And there's just sheets of ice that just like covered both cities. And I'm like, where did this come from? I thought we were New With this global warring. You know, it was brutal.
[00:35:09] Jesse Bongiovi: It was a rough. It was a rough winter, for sure.
[00:35:11] Ray Latif: Which is why it's good to be here in The Bahamas. Yeah, no kidding. But you're here for literally less than 24 hours.
[00:35:16] Jesse Bongiovi: Yeah, it's true. Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me. No problem at all.
[00:35:18] Ray Latif: I really appreciate it. Hampton Water Rose is just on fire. And you guys have been killing it for a long time now. Talk about the origins of the company. Why did you decide to get in the wine business?
[00:35:28] Jesse Bongiovi: Yeah, so I came up with the idea back in 2016. And the running joke, I grew up going out to the Hamptons. For those that don't know, on the east end of Long Island, beach town, lots of fun. People kind of go out there Amanda Huang out from the city. And the running joke was that we drank more rosé than we drank water. So me and my buddies from college called everything we were drinking Hampton Water. And truthfully, one night I said it to my dad, who's always been a big rosé drinker, and he was like, man, that's a funny name. You know, imagine if somebody put that on a bottle. And the idea just stuck with me. What I started to realize is that my friends and my parents were all drinking rosé, but there was a big disparaging in the quality, right? My friends were drinking California rosés, Long Island rosés, and they were buying basically based on the label. My parents knew a little bit better, and so they were drinking brands like Dominat, Whispering Angel, Manuti, Mirabal. And what I realized is that there wasn't so much that it was a price difference, but my friends didn't know enough to go, I'll have the Miraval. They didn't know how to pronounce it. They were intimidated to walk into the restaurant. And so my whole thinking was, if you could create a high-end French rose, but market it in a way that spoke to a younger consumer, then you could cover the spectrum of drinkers. And so we partnered with Girard Bertrand in 2017. We've been producing the wine ever since, and we've been off to the races. It's been a lot of fun.
[00:36:41] Ray Latif: The question wasn't about, do they like it? It's the question about accessibility.
[00:36:45] Jesse Bongiovi: 100%. And I think that it's about breaking down that barrier where you walk into a wine store, you walk into a great restaurant, and they've got a list that's two inches thick. You don't know where to start if you don't know a lot about wine. Right. Rosé is something that's very easy for people to understand. They know that there's not as many rules around it as a red or a great white or even a champagne. And so my whole perspective was There's an interest of younger consumers that aren't necessarily wine drinkers, but suddenly they're buying rosé. And so my whole perspective was if you could get a high-quality liquid, but talk about it in a way that people didn't feel intimidated, where you're not talking about, let me tell you about the grapes and the acidity of the soil and the terroir and the aging process. You talk about hanging out with your friends, you talk about a barbecue, you talk about coming to the beach in The Bahamas. That's something that resonates with people. So for us, it's always been about what's the occasion first, and we're just here to enhance that occasion. But how do you walk that line?
[00:37:40] Ray Latif: Because I think sometimes when someone says Hampton Water, even if they don't know the name of the brand, if they hear Hampton, they're like, oh, Real Housewives. And it cheapens the brand. For sure. So how do you walk the line between accessibility and where you are, which is a premium rosé?
[00:37:57] Jesse Bongiovi: So for us, we always say we're a serious wine that doesn't take itself too seriously, right? Fair enough. We've gotten four 90-point ratings in a row from Wine Spectator. We were the first Rosé ever to be both on Wine Spectator Island Wine Enthusiast's Top 100 list. This vintage just got a 91 from Decanter Magazine. It was the highest-rated Rosé on the list.
[00:38:14] Ray Latif: And which vintage was that?
[00:38:15] Jesse Bongiovi: 2023. Okay. So, again... These are the types of things that the highest end $200 bottles are dying to get. For us to be a 1999 Rosé, you're not going to break the bank giving it a try. And again, if you don't know a lot about wine, you go, 90 point rating, that must be pretty good. And then again, we're not beating you over the head with, and let us tell you about why this is so fancy. We're making frosés with it, we're making cocktails with it, we're making it so that it's accessible to the consumer. Our point of view is that it's accessible aspiration. So you have this idea in your mind of what the Hampton Water, but you can enjoy the Hamptons no matter where you are. The Hampton lifestyle is like we like to say.
[00:38:53] Ray Latif: I asked him before we hopped on the mics how many people walk up here and say, oh that's Bon Jovi's wine, that's why I'm drinking it. And you're like, basically nobody.
[00:39:00] Jesse Bongiovi: Yeah, it's gotten rarer and rarer. People now are familiar with the brand and they know the diver, they recognize the name, they've seen it on TV shows like Summer House and Below Deck and all these different things. So the association, we always like to say it's just the cherry on top. For us, this isn't a celebrity brand, this is a family business. But again, people would always say to us, how come you didn't call it Bed of Roses Rosé? But we were like, that's here today, and it's gone tomorrow. You know what I mean? That's a vanity project. For us, we wanted this to be a serious business. You know, we wanted it to be really high-quality liquid first. And then if you find out and you're a fan of my dad or you're a fan of the music, then great. It's an added bonus on top of it. But again, it's grown to such a point now that it's grown legs of its own, and people come to it because of the quality of the liquid. You've been doing this since 2016, but you sound like a grizzled veteran at this point.
[00:39:50] Ray Latif: The booze business will take years off your life. Well, you're still looking pretty young, my friend. You're looking good. But what's the most important lesson that you've learned to this point?
[00:39:58] Jesse Bongiovi: Well, you know, the funny thing that we always heard from the very beginning, especially when we first started, right, was one, I was 22 years old. People heard that I was young, and then they saw Jon Bon Jovi's associated with it, and they said, oh, what do you know about the wine business? And so for me, it was all about showing up and doing what we say, right? Like, it's gotten to a point, truthfully, where I don't need to be in The Bahamas, but I wanna be here. It's important that we're in places like Atlantis. It's important that we're in places like the Ocean Club and all these things, because one, that's where American consumers are coming down on vacation, and two, My point of view has always been it's about putting in the work, right? And there are so many quote-unquote celebrity brands that don't work because the people behind it don't put in the work. Me and my dad work. We show up every single day to make sure that this thing is working.
[00:40:50] Ray Latif: I bet there's people listening right now and they're saying, where did this guy's work ethic come from? Because, you know, He's the son of a very famous rock star and probably, you know, was eating with a silver spoon. I'm not saying that, but people probably listening and saying, oh, Jesse Bongiovi Jovi. Yeah, I know all about it. Like, where'd your work ethic come from?
[00:41:08] Jesse Bongiovi: Well, I mean, look, you have a 40-year career like my dad has had in anything, whether you're an accountant or, you know, a famous musician. There's a certain amount of hard work and determination that comes along with that. And then I played college sports. I've never been, you know, especially, again, going back to high school football, college football, I was never a big guy. I was never the fastest guy. I was never a freak athlete like some of these people are, you know? And so for me, it was always about I got to show up and outwork the next guy that shows up. Yeah. So I've tried to take that into this, and everything that I do has always been about You might be bigger, faster, stronger, have a bigger budget, whatever it is, we're going to show up and we're going to put the work in. And that's always been something that's hugely important.
[00:41:46] Ray Latif: So I just went to a dinner with Michael Simon, who is the celebrity chef. Everybody knows him. He's a very down to earth, blue collar kind of guy. And he's very open. He's very much an open book. And I asked him a question about influencers. And I said, how do you navigate influencer culture? And with a brand like Hampton Water, I imagine influencers are a big part of your marketing strategy. How do you make it work? How do you tell a story that's authentic? via an influencer, because influencers, I think, by definition, are not necessarily the most authentic people.
[00:42:15] Jesse Bongiovi: You know, I think for us it's about working with people that represent the brand in a strong and healthy way, right? So, I've always joked, you know, when we first started this, I was like, Everybody who's got, you know, a thousand followers was saying, oh, pay us a ton of money. They assumed we had huge budget dollars there. And I always said, look, I don't want to pay a, you know, a Kardashian or somebody like this a million bucks to hold my bottle and talk about it once, but I want to be in their fridge. So my whole thing has always been, look, We want you to come to the party, come to the event we're throwing, come to the dinner that we're putting on, come to whatever. But we're inviting customers, we're inviting our social media followers, we're making it something that is always consumer-facing first. And then if you, the person with a million followers, wants to come, then great. We've got a table for you, we've got a seat for you, we've got a bottle for you, come hang out. But for us it's always, again, it's about that authenticity, it's about people that represent the brand in a strong way, but ultimately it's about We want you to make the brand your own. We want this to be in your fridge. We want you to want to share it with your friends, as opposed to, they paid me $20,000 and look at this beautiful bottle that's my new favorite thing this week. For us, it's about having that, not even so much that genuine connection, but it's like, use it if you want. Here's a case. We'll keep your fridge stocked. And if you don't like it, then don't ask us for more. But people seem to like it, and so we keep a lot of people's fridges stocked up.
[00:43:37] Ray Latif: A lot of people like the brand. You're sold in 50 states. You told me you're sold internationally. Yeah. I mentioned at the top of our conversation, Hampton Water is on fire. I see it everywhere. And I also asked you, are you guys still independent?
[00:43:50] Jesse Bongiovi: Oh, yeah.
[00:43:50] Ray Latif: Are you aligned with the strategic at this point? You said, no, we're still independent. And then I asked, how many of these strategics are knocking on your door? And you said, pretty much all of them. How do you say no? How do you say now's not the right time? Because you know what? When someone says, I'm going to give you a check, it's probably kind of.
[00:44:07] Jesse Bongiovi: a nice thing, but yeah. It's definitely nice. It means that it's working. And our point of view is that there's still a lot of runway ahead of not only Hampton Water, but Rosé as a category. You know, we just launched the Bubbly back in October. We're having a tremendous response to it. I mean, you can look in this box right here. It is full of empty bottles of not only the still, but also the Bubbly.
[00:44:30] Ray Latif: We don't have video, but that is a lot of empty bottles.
[00:44:33] Jesse Bongiovi: Yeah. You know, so We still think that the road is long ahead of us. And one big thing that when we first started the company, Rosé had existed, you've seen it in Boston, in New York, in Miami, in D.C. Rosé has existed on the East Coast for 25 years. My parents have been drinking it for 30 years on the East Coast. But Chicago is one of our biggest markets. They just found out about Rosé seven years ago. When we first were walking into accounts in Chicago saying, we've got this great brand, it's from France, we've got these great ratings, they were going, we have a Rosé, it's $9, we don't need a $13 Rosé. This isn't something that consumers here care about or know about. The next summer I went back and they were like, oh my god, Hampton Water. We're so glad you guys are here. We're so excited to try it. Rose is exploding here. And so we're those other brands that many of them now have aligned with bigger partners, like the Whispering Angels of the world, like the Miravals of the world, the Menudis of the world. When they go into those markets, they don't have the same 10-year head start that they have on us in New York. So when we go into Louisiana, we go into Minnesota, we go into Wisconsin, we go into Michigan, they're going, Rose, great. And ours has 90-point ratings. Ours has all of these great accolades. Ours have won all these awards. and they haven't in the last 10 years. So we have the ability to show up at the same time and say, which one do you think is better, bar manager, consumer, buyer for a retail store? And they go, we love yours. So the label jumps off the shelf. People know the brand. And again, the Rosé wave is only working its way into the middle of the country. And then our point of view is that outside of the United States, Rosé has existed in the UK forever. Obviously, it's existed in France for 1,000 years. So the opportunity outside of the US is still massive. And I mean, we're already now the number three selling rosé in the US. Wow. So we just passed Miraval last year to become the number three selling rosé. So again, the runway is still massive ahead of us.
[00:46:24] Ray Latif: It's just weirding me out, Jesse, because I'm talking to you and you seem like the most founder of founders. And is it as much about passion, is it as much as about education? Like, is it every day I have to bring what I have in my heart and in my mind?
[00:46:39] Jesse Bongiovi: You know, I certainly didn't go to school to become a psalmist. I have a degree in political science. I'm still waiting to use it. But yeah, you know, again, I think that it's all about We built the plane while we were falling through the sky in the first two years. I mean, literally when we first launched, we were only in basically the tri-state around New York City. So we were in New York, we were in New Jersey, we were in Connecticut, because I could get there in my car in one day. And then as we expanded in that first year, it was, OK, I can get on a JetBlue flight down to Miami for really cheap. I can get up to Boston on the Amtrak really cheap. So that's really how we grew it. And then as the brand continued to get more notoriety and we expanded, you know, then we built out the sales team. We have 35 people across the country now. So the company has grown to, you know, a pretty massive scale. But again, the The big belief is that, like I said, there's just a lot of runway ahead of us, but we want to show up in ways that a lot of other brands are not. And my dad always says, we're like Avis, we work harder. So when these other brands go, oh, yeah, yeah, we'll come, and then they hire somebody to just come and pour, I get on the plane and come down. So again, I think that that's what's led to a lot of the success. And so many people will promise the world, and we heard this in the first year, Everywhere I went, people were saying, oh yeah, you know, we'll see you in three months, whatever. And then when I show up that weekend, they go, oh, you know, you meant it. And again, it was about not outstretching what I could cover at first. And that's something that we as a leadership group have really ingrained in the team is you don't have to be everywhere. Find 20 places that you can make every bartender your best friend and send your friends in and you go in and bounce around. Lock down those 20 spots so they know you and they have your cell phone number and then go from there. And so that's always been really the core of the business is. How can you affect your neighborhood first and then go to the next neighborhood and go to the next neighborhood? You don't have to own West Hollywood. You can own one block and build it from there.
[00:48:46] Ray Latif: I'm telling you, we're, we're, we're, we're teaching here. We're doing lessons here and I appreciate it.
[00:48:50] Jesse Bongiovi: Seminars tomorrow morning, 7am.
[00:48:53] Ray Latif: You're on a flight tomorrow morning. Jesse, man, this has been so good. Thank you so much for taking the time.
[00:48:58] Jesse Bongiovi: Thank you.
[00:48:58] Ray Latif: I came into this, I'm sure a lot of people come up to you and say, I have an expectation of who you are going to be and what you're all about. And my expectations are completely different than what it is that I'm talking to you about. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. I wish you all the best of luck with Hampton Water. Clearly, you're doing well. And I feel like there's going to be a very, very good outcome for you. I appreciate it.
[00:49:17] Jesse Bongiovi: Well, if those listening, check us out on our website, HamptonWaterWine.com. You can find us all over the United States, all over the Caribbean. So come check us out.
[00:49:25] Ray Latif: Well done. Cheers. That brings us to the end of this episode of Taste Radio. Thank you so much for listening. Taste Radio is a production of BevNET.com, Incorporated. Our audio engineer for Taste Radio is Joe Cracci. Our technical director is Joshua Pratt, and our video editor is Ryan Galang. Our social marketing manager is Amanda Smerlinski, and our designer is Amanda Huang. Just a reminder, if you like what you hear on Taste Radio, please share the podcast with friends and colleagues. And of course, we would love it if you could review us on the Apple Podcasts app or your listening platform of choice. Check us out on Instagram. Our handle is bevnettasteradio. As always, for questions, comments, ideas for future podcasts, please send us an email to ask at Taste Radio. On behalf of the entire Taste Radio team, thank you for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.
[00:50:20] King Juice: you
