[00:00:10] Ray Latif: Hello, and thanks for tuning into Taste Radio, the number one podcast for the food and beverage industry. I'm Ray Latif, the editor and producer of Taste Radio, and I'm with my co-hosts for this episode, John Craven, Jacqui Brugliera, and Mike Schneider. All right. We got all the multiverse talk out of our system. What we're doing here is we're recording a couple of days before Thanksgiving 2023. Right. So understand that that holiday has not happened yet, but For listeners, we're listening to this after the holiday.
[00:00:39] John Craven: As though we have been in the holiday.
[00:00:42] Ray Latif: No. I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday, a healthy, safe, and happy one. And I hope you PR'd Mike in your Turkey Trots. Me too. John Craven, I hope you drank a lot of gravy. I'm gonna try. It's what I do. Jackie, how do you celebrate, typically celebrate Thanksgiving?
[00:00:59] Jacqui Brugliera: I'll be trotting and scrambling. So I have a Turkey Trots on the morning of Thanksgiving, and then I have a turkey scramble, which is golf on Friday morning.
[00:01:09] Ray Latif: Wow, that is epic. I want to do a turkey scramble.
[00:01:12] Jacqui Brugliera: I will not be doing any PRs. I'm not great at running, and I'm not great at golfing, but I will give it my best.
[00:01:17] Ray Latif: I thought the scramble meant you're making scrambled eggs, but you're not. Scrambled eggs with turkey, more specifically. Oh, turkey eggs? That's what I thought she meant. That doesn't sound very interesting.
[00:01:26] John Craven: Jackie would have tofurky eggs, though.
[00:01:29] Ray Latif: Now it's not often that big or perhaps interesting news hits the wire before Thanksgiving, but here we are talking about just that. Sky Partners, which is a private equity firm focused on high growth, market-leading consumer brands and backed by the one and only Kim Kardashian, announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire a significant minority stake in Truff. Truff is the ultra-premium truffle-infused brand of condiments that was founded in 2017 by Nick Ejluny and Nick Guillen, also known as the Knicks. Truff is a multi-channel food business brand that is available in over 20,000 stores, including Whole Foods, Kroger, Publix, and Target. And yeah, very exciting news for the mix.
[00:02:19] John Craven: Very exciting from a brand that originated just because the founders got at sauce on Instagram. That's right. We've talked about that on the podcast and there's interviews about it. You can go back and check out your local Taste Radio podcast.
[00:02:33] Ray Latif: There you go. Now, as part of this news, it was also announced that Mark Ramadan, who is one of the co-founders and the former CEO of Sir Kensington's and also Hugh Chocolate, not the CEO, not the co-founder of Hugh, has joined the board of Truff, which is actually pretty cool as well.
[00:02:51] Mike Schneider: Mm-hmm.
[00:02:52] John Craven: That's pretty cool. Also pretty cool. I had it on my chili last night What kind of trough just hot just the regular regular hot sauce? They make all kinds of my favorite is the white truffle Did you put a dollop of their mayo on there as well? I would if I had it, but I didn't have the males, but that's your favorite Yeah, mayo and chili Brought it up interesting. I guess it's trough me We used to eat Miracle Whip we've gone down that path though, let's not do that again.
[00:03:21] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, I got saved from Miracle Whip Yeah, I was making mac and cheese this week And I was putting a little bit of trough oil in there to you know make it fancy who the oil oh
[00:03:32] John Craven: Mm-hmm.
[00:03:33] Jacqui Brugliera: They have a white truffle oil.
[00:03:34] John Craven: Yeah the truffle oil. I have some yeah.
[00:03:35] Ray Latif: Yeah, well if we had any trough a hot sauce right now I might put it on this cookie. I brought a cookie. I baked the cookie for you guys because I thought this is so weird Yeah, I thought this would be nice. I know that was a tough transition.
[00:03:47] John Craven: Oh my goodness. Do we have any chili crisp? I need to put chili crisp on everything remember.
[00:03:50] Kim Kardashian: What is this?
[00:03:51] Jacqui Brugliera: This is cookie that doesn't look like a cookie. Oh
[00:03:54] Kim Kardashian: It's a cookie skillet. It's a cookie cookie. Oh, yeah, it's a skillet.
[00:03:59] Ray Latif: It's a skillet cookie so this is a skillet cookie, which basically you can cook in a skillet in a What do they call those pans a skillet? No the cast-iron cast-iron skillet? Well, it's still a skillet. Okay. It's made by a company called Wholly Gluten Free, which I love this brand. I've started to see this brand a lot more in Whole Foods and other spots. And they kindly sent me one of these chocolate chunk skillet cookies and I baked it in my air fryer this morning.
[00:04:28] For Future: Your easy bake oven. Thank you.
[00:04:31] Ray Latif: It does kind of look like... Air fryers are the new easy bake option. That's what I'm saying, yeah. That's amazing. But actually this does kind of look like it was baked using a light bulb.
[00:04:39] John Craven: The light bulb in the air fryer is slightly more powerful.
[00:04:42] Ray Latif: Can I see the box? Yes. Here's the box.
[00:04:45] Jacqui Brugliera: Kind of reminds me of when you go out to eat and at the end of the night, like, I don't know, you go to TGI Fridays or something and you get like a volcano cake or you get like a cookie cake for dessert.
[00:04:54] Ray Latif: Yes, exactly. But I'm a big fan of this very quickly made cookie. I feel like this is something that I could, what are you doing? Nothing. John Kramer just took a photo of me.
[00:05:05] John Craven: I did not. It looks like he warped the pan to make it balance. Can we eat this? Are we just going to stare at this thing? Is it like a cookie cake? Forks and knives and plates. Forks and knives and plates for a cookie.
[00:05:19] For Future: Household yes, we're proper teeters here a white napkin. I can't Butler here, too.
[00:05:25] Ray Latif: Oh, yeah, well you guys would be like I'm gonna blow my nose in a Kleenex and have it you have you guys use it as a napkin that's that's what we're dealing with over here Okay, anyway wait hold on let me get my knife and fork out here.
[00:05:38] For Future: Oh There you go Mike I think this needs a scoop of ice cream, right?
[00:05:42] Mike Schneider: No
[00:05:46] For Future: Sorry, Jackie.
[00:05:47] Ray Latif: Chili crisp. This is one of those times we're going to have to, I know, stare.
[00:05:50] Jacqui Brugliera: Yes. I'll just watch. It's too early for cookies over here.
[00:05:53] Ray Latif: I think I overcooked it a little bit though. At least the crust. I want it to be gooey. You're spot on, Jackie. This is exactly what it tastes like.
[00:05:59] John Craven: It's like, are you a gooey cookie? Some ridiculous gooey dessert that you get.
[00:06:03] Jacqui Brugliera: Definitely gooey. I don't like, you know, like the cookies where it just almost like breaks your teeth or it's too crunchy and not, I'm not a fan of those. That would be right up my alley.
[00:06:13] Ray Latif: Yeah. I don't like those at all.
[00:06:14] For Future: I thought you were saying no to the skillet cookie. What is wrong with you?
[00:06:17] Ray Latif: I love the skillet cookie. I don't like cookies that are way too crunchy. They're going to crack my jaw. Yeah, that's pretty good. Yeah.
[00:06:25] Jacqui Brugliera: Is that meant to be served? Like it comes out of your easy bake oven and you serve it to your guests?
[00:06:31] For Future: Servings per container, one.
[00:06:32] Ray Latif: By Ray Butler? No, there's six servings per container. One sixth of a cookie. is what the serving is. Oh, interestingly enough, the ingredients include chia seeds and garbanzo beans. Interesting.
[00:06:45] For Future: Wow.
[00:06:46] Ray Latif: Did not taste that or see that coming. No, but I guess that's how you make a Wholly Gluten cookie. Those are pretty tasty. Quite tasty. Yeah, really good.
[00:06:53] Jacqui Brugliera: Those have more protein and fiber, so I guess it's better for you?
[00:06:57] Ray Latif: Uh, I don't know if any cookies really should be called better for you. It's better for you than, I don't know, the Easy Bake Oven stuff that was served in 1986. They're not better for you than not eating cookies, right? Yes. Holy is the umbrella brand that makes Holy gluten-free. They also sent over some Holy Wholesome organic traditional pie shells. Now, again, multiverse, I'm hoping that by the time Thanksgiving rolls around, there is a delicious pie in these frozen pie shells. These are also something I've been seeing at Whole Foods more often, and I'm really excited to try these out. What kind of pie are you going to make?
[00:07:35] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah. Are you gonna make pumpkin pie?
[00:07:37] Ray Latif: Banana cream pie? Banana cream pie sounds amazing. I would love a banana cream pie. I used to be a fiend for pecan pie, especially on Thanksgiving, but it's gotten to be too sweet for me.
[00:07:47] John Craven: Too sweet.
[00:07:48] Ray Latif: Yeah. I wish that weren't the case, but it is. All right. So the second day of Nosh Live Winter 2023. Well, we're going really in the future with this episode. Now we're really going to the future. Did not know that. Yes. And I plan to be meeting with and speaking with several of the retailers and investors that are going to be at the event. Now that list of retailers and investors is growing by the day. Our attendee list is growing by the day and really excited for folks that are going to be there to meet with all these people. Now, Again, as we've talked about in the podcast in the past, it's not necessarily an expectation of having an hour-long meeting with these folks, but just getting to sit down with them for five minutes or just having a cocktail or a cup of coffee with these folks for five minutes, opening that door to a future conversation, is so critical. And having that opportunity to do so is so different then the kind of opportunity you might have at a trade show, like an Expo West, where it's just loud, it's crazy. You're trying to get through an aisle. This offers you an opportunity to meet with people on a very intimate level, even if it's only for a few minutes and have that be the beginning of a conversation that you're going to extend in the future.
[00:09:02] John Craven: That's been our marketing campaign, Ray. A meeting minus the crazy.
[00:09:05] Ray Latif: A meeting minus the crazy. Yeah. Well, you consolidated what I just said into three words. So it's very good. It's what I do. Yeah. That's what you do. That's why you're the CMO. But I bet that was Jackie's term, Jackie Ruckshield. Jackie probably, I probably take credit for it.
[00:09:18] Jacqui Brugliera: I just put that into his brain.
[00:09:24] Ray Latif: Now, one well-known investor that will be attending Nosh Live and actually speaking at Nosh Live is the one and only Patrick Schwarzenegger, who is the co-founder and CEO of a brand called Mosh, a brain centric brand of protein bars. He's also an angel investor. You forgot to say delicious protein bars.
[00:09:44] John Craven: They have like little crispies in them. I love it.
[00:09:47] Ray Latif: Yeah. He's also an angel investor. He holds stakes in popular brands, including Blaze Pizza, Super Coffee, Vrb, and Simulate. So very excited to hear from him. He's on a panel of Gen Z and millennial investors, and it's going to be sort of a, how do I get inside the mind or inside the wallet more specifically of these folks. So very excited to see Patrick once again at Notchless.
[00:10:08] John Craven: Gen Z's and millennials on the same stage together. It's going to be a stone circle death match.
[00:10:13] Ray Latif: They're gonna say it's gonna be stoned circle death match not that Can we go way into the future here?
[00:10:21] For Future: Okay, so we're skipping around here. I appreciate that I know I'm just trying to get you to talk about our sponsor.
[00:10:27] Ray Latif: Oh, yes Someone yelling and raise your every time don't forget to talk about the sponsor Well what John Kramer is holding in his hand is a carton of Clover Sonoma's organic eggnog, which is very cool now organic eggnog this organic eggnog and
[00:10:41] For Future: What is it packaged in, Ray?
[00:10:42] Ray Latif: It is, of course, packaged in one of our favorite types of packaging, that is Tetra Pak. Of course, as we know... Does anyone use Tetra Pak every day, Ray? Millions of people, Ray, in fact?
[00:10:54] John Craven: Perhaps.
[00:10:55] Ray Latif: And millions of people use Tetra Pak every day. Tetra Pak is the pioneering packaging solutions company that provides safe, innovative, and environmentally sound products that each day meet the needs of hundreds of millions of people around the world. Learn more at tetrapak.com.
[00:11:12] John Craven: You know, you're actually going to need your... And thanks for sponsoring Taste Radio.
[00:11:16] For Future: You're going to need a time machine to go back in time to be able to drink this. May I see it? Because it expired on November 19th. Oh, I think it's fine. Okay, you have a swig then. I think it's fine.
[00:11:27] Jacqui Brugliera: When do you all start drinking eggnog? Do you drink it on Thanksgiving? The day after Thanksgiving? Do you not drink it at all?
[00:11:34] For Future: I think you could start drinking it after Thanksgiving. One part eggnog, five parts booze is generally a good recipe. Oh God, he's going for it. You're pouring it over your laptop too. Have you learned nothing? It's not my laptop.
[00:11:50] Ray Latif: Just sizzling the company's equipment Oh, it's delicious well done. I feel like I drink eggnog maybe once a year mm-hmm and when I do I'm always Loving it even though it is Loaded loaded with sugar.
[00:12:05] For Future: Yeah, I was gonna say how much I'm not sure in this clip from Clover Sonoma's finest here. It is Sonoma's finest. I know it's kind of weird to have this here in Massachusetts, but You can get more when we're in California soon Cartons and carload out. I don't imagine they drink much eggnog in California sure like it's a cold weather kind of snowing I mean when we're in well typically when we're in Santa Monica. We're in Marina del Rey this time they have the outdoor ice skating going on there mm-hmm and Which is quite funny to watch. I've never seen that. Well, you don't go to the right part of town, Ray.
[00:12:41] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, we have outdoor ice skating on Coronado Island. So you're right next to the beach and you're ice skating.
[00:12:47] Ray Latif: I can't imagine how much energy it costs to do that. I don't know how much electricity it costs to keep that ice frozen.
[00:12:54] John Craven: You can surf. Why do you need ice skating? Because it's Christmas.
[00:12:58] Jacqui Brugliera: People want the seasons. I demand the seasons.
[00:13:01] For Future: That would be like me saying, why are you playing soccer when you could just ski or ice skate?
[00:13:07] John Craven: No, because I can ski and ice skate and play soccer at the same time. And yeah, that would be a disaster. Have you seen people try to do that? Yes, I have. That's crazy. Mike, you have a pouch in your hand.
[00:13:21] Ray Latif: It looks like some nice treats. What is that?
[00:13:23] John Craven: No, Ray, these are not nice treats. These are, I think I had a honey mama's moment when I, when I tried these. These are Mina snacks. These are their midnight mini cookies. They say deep chocolate, velvety white chips, and sea salt. And I mean, this is the closest thing to the next generation of Oreo that I've had. It's so good. Really?
[00:13:43] Ray Latif: Yeah. That's a, that's a bold statement.
[00:13:45] John Craven: You want to open that up? Yeah. Yeah, we're going to open these up. Ray, you got to try these. These are really good.
[00:13:51] For Future: I will. So there's cream inside. It looks like there's no cream. I don't, I don't know what he's talking about. They're nothing like chips.
[00:13:57] John Craven: You don't think they're like Oreos?
[00:13:59] Jacqui Brugliera: What do they taste like?
[00:14:01] John Craven: Oreo. If they're not Oreos. Like the outside of the Oreo. Okay. The cookie. Less of the white stuff.
[00:14:08] Jacqui Brugliera: Okay.
[00:14:10] Ray Latif: Nice.
[00:14:11] John Craven: So good.
[00:14:12] Ray Latif: They're tasty, whatever they are. And what's the brand called? Minus snacks. Oh, so I actually thought it was minus.
[00:14:21] John Craven: But it's M-Y-N-A. It's M-Y-N-A. And one of the founders' names is Pokemon. Pokemon and Darcy. I want to meet a founder named Pokemon.
[00:14:29] Ray Latif: Wait, back up for a second.
[00:14:31] John Craven: Wait, his name is Pokemon?
[00:14:33] Ray Latif: I don't know if it's a he. The person's name is literally Pokemon. The person's name is... Pokemon. Oh, yeah. That's amazing. But it's not in the way that... Gotta catch them all, bro. It's not in the way that... Ray, we gotta catch them. Okay, the person's name is spelled P-O-K-I-M-A-N-E. Oh, okay.
[00:14:53] Jacqui Brugliera: And they're called minus because it's like minus the bad stuff?
[00:14:56] Ray Latif: No, I think it's myna, like a myna bird. It's spelled M-Y-N-A. So Mike combined the S in snacks with the A in the brand. Yeah, I said myna snacks, so it sounds like myna snacks, but it's myna, like a myna bird.
[00:15:10] For Future: Yeah, we're doing an epic job. providing a service here. Description of a product that a lot of people won't be able to see and just confusing their minds. If they, I would bet our average listener is going to go online and see this product and be like, that is not at all what I was expecting.
[00:15:28] Jacqui Brugliera: I feel like the listener, because I can't really see it.
[00:15:30] John Craven: They're imagining like a bag of Oreos with a bird on it. We should have our listeners, based on our description, do an AI of the package and send it to us. Send it to ask at Taste Radio.com. Poor Jackie, she's just like, you guys are just not helping.
[00:15:43] Ray Latif: Jackie just wants to try them, that's all.
[00:15:46] Jacqui Brugliera: I'm not a huge Oreo person, so I don't know if I'd like that. I'd give them a try.
[00:15:49] Ray Latif: Okay. Well, what do you have on your table there, Jackie?
[00:15:53] Jacqui Brugliera: So last week I was talking about how I'm trying to drink less caffeine and Mudwater heard me talking about that. So Mudwater sent me a starter pack of both their OG Mudwater and then their Matcha Mudwater. Oh, cool. Yeah. And I, I'm a big fan of Mudwater. I mean, I love functional mushrooms and the big piece of like their ingredient panel is four different functional mushrooms. They have lion's mane, cordyceps, chaga, and reishi. And it's all, you know, trying to give you the energy boost and. You know, functionality of coffee, but without the crash. So they're. OG Mudwater is masala chai and it is like a cacao chai functional drink. And then their matcha is also a matcha chai. So they gave me some like coconut oil, powdered coconut, a zitzer. I like to call it a zitzer to like stir it up. So I'll be drinking this this week. Amazing.
[00:16:55] John Craven: I want you to spell that. Not right now.
[00:16:56] Jacqui Brugliera: See, it's a portable zitzer.
[00:16:58] Ray Latif: Yeah, zitzer. I love those things. I think I have like four of them. Yeah, we have a lot of those.
[00:17:04] John Craven: Yeah, we got a few That stuff is I mean if you're gonna replace coffee with something, that's it Mm-hmm.
[00:17:12] For Future: I was like that was a good plug for mud water though. I like wait for Jackie to be like use code
[00:17:18] Jacqui Brugliera: I know, I need a promo code, send me that.
[00:17:20] For Future: Code MikeIsCrazy for 30% off your first order. Just try it, just try it, see what happens. All right, well, John Craven, it looks like you have... Yeah, we're gonna move on to alcohol now.
[00:17:28] Ray Latif: Now, this is great because this week, yes, we published an episode. This is one of those episodes I listen to a few times. A great episode with the co-founder and CEO of this company. His name is Cy Kane, and the name of the brand is... Straightaway Cocktails? Straightaway Cocktails.
[00:17:45] For Future: Well, Sai is a very chill dude. And a fantastic entrepreneur. Product DNS. Listen to that episode. Yes, he sent me their latest Nitro Gin Fizz. Haven't tried this one yet, but all of his stuff's great. And if we go into the future again,
[00:18:02] Ray Latif: To the year 2000?
[00:18:03] For Future: No, just to Nosh Live and BevNET Live. We're going to be serving up some Straightaway Cocktails there.
[00:18:09] Ray Latif: Fantastic.
[00:18:10] For Future: I'm excited. I am going to hoard them all and just put them in a bag and take them home. But yeah, no, great product. I think I would give you some. I mean he sent me something. I kid, but I also can't help myself.
[00:18:23] Ray Latif: True story, the only time that John Craven checks a bag is when he's bringing alcohol back home. No, false. Really? You checked a bag for BevNET and Nosh events?
[00:18:34] For Future: There are times where you got to check a bag. We're there for like two weeks and days. I got no laundry. Like, you know, I might check a bag. We'll see. I'll check a bag, but I think I have it also. I wouldn't check. Well, I would probably check a box filled with booze. I've definitely done that on the way back from BevNetLive. Okay. No good booze is left behind. Words to live by.
[00:18:55] John Craven: Some of it goes to the San Diego office. Some of it comes back. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:18:59] Ray Latif: And of course, speaking of the events, we hope to see you in Marina Del Rey for Notch Live, Bebnet Live, Rebound Live, for our Spirit Sunday, which is part of Bebnet Live. If you are on the fence, let me talk you off the fence. You gotta be there. And if you're not there, we're going to miss you. And you're going to have FOMO sitting at home or in your office and realizing that you had an opportunity to meet some of the best people, the gatekeepers, the community leaders of this industry at Notch Live, DevNet Live, and Blueground Live.
[00:19:30] John Craven: Those questions that you're asking yourself, the ones you can't solve, the ones you don't have the answer to, they have the answers to those questions. You gotta come, you gotta ask those questions.
[00:19:39] Ray Latif: And everyone's like, oh, well, at least here in this room, it's like, oh, you get to meet Ray. I think it's going to be more fun to meet Jackie. I think it's gonna be more fun to meet Jackie. Jackie actually gets stopped at trade shows being like, are you the Jackie? Yes, she's the Jackie.
[00:19:52] John Craven: That's become the second most popular question when we go to a trade show. Can I meet Ray and then can I meet Jackie?
[00:19:56] Jacqui Brugliera: I'm just like walking by and they hear my voice and they're like, that sounds familiar, but who is that?
[00:20:01] For Future: And then it clicks. Are you the Jackie? I get that like, which John are you? Which John are you?
[00:20:08] Kim Kardashian: This is only one Jackie.
[00:20:09] For Future: We had a couple more Jackies at the company, but they just mysteriously disappeared.
[00:20:15] Ray Latif: It is you know what happened to them don't we Jackie it is kind of funny sometimes when we were at trade shows or Visiting a business and they asked John so John Craven. Oh, what do you do with the business?
[00:20:25] For Future: That's my favorite? Well, let's see every morning I get Ray his mochino hope he doesn't throw it in my face when it's too cold get raised laundry Get raised steak for lunch, and I think I'm gonna go with this line. I
[00:20:43] Ray Latif: I don't I don't really get mad unless you make direct eye contact with me and everyone knows that that's right Don't make direct eye contact with me and then we're all gonna and you like to be fine You like to do that handshake where you just go up to your hair when? Oh It's 1983.
[00:21:00] For Future: Yeah the multiverse we're coming full circle And do not touch this blazer hands off too many thread counts for most people to afford Egyptian cotton
[00:21:13] Ray Latif: That brings us to the end of this episode of Taste Radio. Thank you so much for listening. Taste Radio is a production of BevNET.com, Incorporated. Our audio engineer for Taste Radio is Joe Cracci. Our technical director is Joshua Pratt, and our video editor is Ryan Galang. Our social marketing manager is Amanda Smerlinski, and our designer is Amanda Huang. Just a reminder, if you like what you hear on Taste Radio, please share the podcast with friends and colleagues. And of course, we would love it if you could review us on the Apple Podcasts app or your listening platform of choice. Check us out on Instagram. Our handle is bevnettasteradio. As always, for questions, comments, ideas For Future podcasts, please send us an email to ask at Taste Radio.com. On behalf of the entire Taste Radio team, thank you for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.
[00:22:03] Mike Schneider: you
