Episode 657

A Tiny Bit Better Doesn’t Cut It… We See You Lunchly

September 20, 2024

When worlds collide, do consumers benefit? The hosts weigh in on Lunchly, the much hyped new Lunchables competitor launched by uber influencers and entrepreneurs Mr. Beast, Logan Paul and KSI. They also highlight unusual collaborations between fashion and consumer brands, and reach for healthy soups and shots.

In this Episode

0:25: LOUIE-ville? Church Time. The Kids Are Not Alright. Breakfast Totes. Maker’s Mahk. The Perfect Collab. – Ray returns from Kentucky and gets schooled at home, before the hosts highlight the Taste Radio Meetup on September 25 and an interview with serial entrepreneur Jeff Church at the event. They then turn their attention to Lunchly and whether the brand’s positioning as a healthier alternative to Lunchables holds water. Ray also reports on his experience visiting the Maker’s Mark distillery and the launch of the bourbon brand’s new cellar aged expression; Jacqui praises Heyday’s new soups; and the Newton-based hosts munch on a new line of crunchy, spicy cookies and sip on cold-pressed juice shots and guayusa-infused energy drinks.

Also Mentioned

Suja, Lunchly, Prime, Feastables, Jimmy Dean, Klondike, Good Humor, Popsicle, Maker’s Mark, Momofuku, Sunnie, Lunchables, Milk Bar, Momofuku, Heyday Canning, Sofresco, Ability Energy

Note: Transcripts are automatically generated and may contain inaccuracies and spelling errors.

[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-host for this episode, John Craven, Jacqui Brugliera, and Mike Schneider. I should say titles because I say my title, right? Nobody wants to know. Nobody wants to know. They can Google us. Google. Look at someone like me for titles because titles don't matter here at BevNET. By the way, I'm the CMO. Jackie we can run away Jeez it was good to be Well, I don't want to say it's good to be out of town, but it was nice to be in a different state last week I was in Louisville for a couple days. Yeah, okay, so I got this yesterday. Mm-hmm I've been saying Louisville all this time. It's Louisville. And I was talking to someone yesterday and they were ready to smack me across the face because they were like, it's Louisville. It's not Louisville. It's more like Louisville.

[00:01:11] John Craven: Louisville. You can... Louisville, but Louisville is more like it.

[00:01:16] Ray Latif: She looked at me like I was crazy. Yeah. And I broke into a cold sweat. I was like, oh my gosh, because I was saying Louisville to everyone when I was down there. Yeah, they know you're from out of town. Okay.

[00:01:25] Jacqui Brugliera: I feel like there's a lot of cities like that, like Baltimore or Baltimore or New Orleans versus New Orleans. New Orleans.

[00:01:32] Ray Latif: New Orleans. New Orleans was the one that I referenced. It's not New Orleans. It's not New Orleans. It's New Orleans. Yeah. Or New Orleans. Or New Orleans. Yeah, but you still, I mean, I think New, you can still say New, just don't say Orleans.

[00:01:44] John Craven: I think you just have to be from the area to know how to say it correctly. How do you say San Diego? San Diego.

[00:01:54] Ray Latif: I have a friend who is from Puerto Rico. He says San Diego or something like that.

[00:01:59] John Craven: Heaven. How'd I do?

[00:02:03] Ray Latif: So you're excited to go to heaven next week.

[00:02:05] John Craven: I am excited.

[00:02:06] Ray Latif: I call it home. Mike's going to get a halo above his head, become an angel and head to heaven. Now, of course, we've been talking about this for a while. The Taste Radio Meetup in San Diego is next week on September 25th. Exciting news. We're going to be interviewing the one and only Jeff Church, who is a co-founder and former CEO of Suja, for a live interview. We're going to be having him there for a live interview at the event. So I'm going to be sitting down with him. for about 20-25 minutes and we chat it up, talk and shop, talk about industry trends, news, how he's supporting early stage brands, what he's seeing on the ground in the trenches, so to speak. It's gonna be very exciting and you're gonna have a chance to meet Jeff, talk to him, bend his ear if you were attending. It's a very easy way to attend. Just go to BevNET.com or Nosh.com, look up Taste Radio Meetup, fill out the registration form and we'll see you there. Now you don't need necessarily to fill out the form. We just would prefer if you do that way we can order The right amount of pizzas and beer and wine and whatnot so yeah, we have snacks for you enough snacks a pizza truck, right?

[00:03:09] Mike Schneider: We'Are Not ordering pizzas. They just make the pizza. It's like a pizza conveyor belt. It just keeps coming out.

[00:03:15] Ray Latif: Oh, okay I didn't know that all this time I thought we were ordering pizza and the fire was just for show they were just defrosting the pizzas in the Red Baron

[00:03:24] John Craven: I thought we is pretty busy during the event. This is true He's almost never seen with a piece of pizza in his hand in fairness I'm not sure I've ever had a piece of pizza from that pizza truck either.

[00:03:35] Mike Schneider: Oh, I have I'm gonna fix that I had the meatballs good

[00:03:42] Ray Latif: Yeah, I don't know John's not eating the pizza. He's drinking the tigronies. I just go behind the bar and put them all in my bag and then we're like sorry we're out. John's on a tigronies side. Are you that guy that actually brings alcohol on a plane even they tell you don't drink the alcohol on the plane if you bring it on with you?

[00:03:57] Mike Schneider: Okay, well, first of all, have I ever brought alcohol onto a plane? Well, yes, of course, in my bag. I have brought some canned cocktails, probably including Tegronis, in my carry-on, but I do not consume my own alcohol on the plane. I smoke my own cigarettes, but no, I'm kidding.

[00:04:16] Ray Latif: That almost felt like a congressional hearing where you're like, I categorically deny these charges that have ever sips my own alcohol on a plane.

[00:04:25] John Craven: Well, it was not my meth.

[00:04:27] Mike Schneider: Do not smoke cigarettes or anything. But anyway, no, I, you know, you'Are Not supposed to do that. I don't want the flight attendants have a tough job. I'm one of those people that just tries to be chill, not make their job any harder. Wait a minute. What does that have to do with their job? Are you worried that you're going to get all banged up? I don't know. I've been on a plane where somebody's like vaping in the bathroom. It's a whole thing. Why would you do that?

[00:04:48] John Craven: Why would you make someone enforce the rules? I mean, it's difficult on a flight attendant. They're trying to keep everybody happy. You start to break the rules just a little bit it makes things awkward for them.

[00:04:59] Mike Schneider: I fly jet blow mostly jet blue excuse me No more to blue status for you. I get free alcohol. I don't know why would I bring my own? Fair enough very good. They don't have to groan ease on the flight that that's true, but I can survive a couple hours without a Negroni side note. It's negroni week this week, so Make sure you have a negroni.

[00:05:20] Ray Latif: I'm gonna have a lap us or funny negroni anyway, Jackie. What what's that airline you flying to London?

[00:05:26] Jacqui Brugliera: Oh, I don't know yet.

[00:05:28] Ray Latif: What?

[00:05:30] Jacqui Brugliera: Jackie.

[00:05:33] Ray Latif: I feel like the Bev financial department, not the financial department, what do you call those people? The financial department. The finance department is going to have a word with you, Jackie, because those prices get higher and higher as you get closer to the date of your flight.

[00:05:48] Mike Schneider: She's fine. She's fine. We found a cargo flight for her.

[00:05:51] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah. LAX has flights every day, you know, nonstop to London. It's just as expensive from, you know, Boston, honestly.

[00:06:00] Ray Latif: But then you have to drive to LAX.

[00:06:02] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, I got places I can stay. I go to LAX all the time.

[00:06:05] John Craven: I'm gonna try to get Jackie to surf with me in San Diego, but that's another thing. But Jackie is an awesome couch surfer.

[00:06:11] Ray Latif: Okay, good to know.

[00:06:12] John Craven: I am. I got places. She's quality. She can hang ten on the couch.

[00:06:16] Ray Latif: Yeah, well, I mentioned it because the week of October 14th, of course, we're gonna be in London. The four of us will be in London. Attending a bread and jam festival known as Cheers, and we will also be hosting our own thing or possibly things.

[00:06:31] John Craven: Details very soon.

[00:06:32] Ray Latif: In the city.

[00:06:33] John Craven: I'm so excited. Bread and jam festivals. So good. We get to meet the whole UK community. find out about all the new products, trends, can't wait to meet you. Just hit us up on Instagram ahead of time so we can find some time to, you know, because there's going to be so much for us to do, so much for us to see.

[00:06:51] Mike Schneider: Which, like, football club would be most likely to kill both of you? Because I'm going to find a pub that's

[00:06:59] John Craven: Into both of those teams and or clubs or whatever you call them and then the Millwall would kill anyone But I'm Chelsea a Tottenham fan for me. Oh for both of us Chelsea.

[00:07:10] Ray Latif: Yeah Chelsea you get the Chelsea mile.

[00:07:14] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, look it up Google it I feel like I have to do deep research before I get to London about all the football clubs and the dynamics So I'm informed

[00:07:26] John Craven: Yeah, I definitely would not wear an arsenal kit in West London. I'll tell you that.

[00:07:30] Ray Latif: Fair enough. Fair enough. Well, once again, if you are in London, planning to be in London or anywhere in the UK, or actually, you know, within driving distance of London, let us know.

[00:07:41] Mike Schneider: You know, Eastern Europe, it's not that far.

[00:07:42] Ray Latif: Eastern Europe, yes. We would love to see you, would potentially love to interview you. We do have some interviews on the docket. More will be revealed in the days to come. Ray is bringing extra tape. I'm bringing extra tape. Yes, audio tape is what we use. People don't know that, but we're like, we're just fitting in with the trends of nostalgia and throwbacks, you know, so yeah. John slacked this to the company yesterday, and this is, uh, it kind of blew some minds. I'm not too, too surprised that influencer worlds are colliding. Now, some of the biggest influencers in the world are involved in what I'm about to talk about, namely Logan Paul, Mr. Beast and KSI. Mr. Beast, obviously known for his Feastables chocolate and his, what? 100 million subscribers on YouTube, KSI and Logan Paul, also very popular on the socials and the founders of Prime. They have collaborated on a Lunchables type brand called Lunchly. And as Austin Reif tweeted, each box will contain Prime and Feastables. Austin also noted, this is going to crush it. Okay. Oh, all right. That's a good take on this new product. I don't know. I mean, do we need a new Lunchables? We might. Do we need a new Lunchables? Oh, man. We definitely need one that's better for you. I don't know if we do.

[00:09:12] Mike Schneider: This is like a weird sort of concept, these lunch kit things that feels very, uh, I don't know, American, I guess, but, you know, hey, pay extra money for the convenience of having a lot of processed food in a little box, kit, whatever. I don't know. The reactions to this were pretty interesting. I mean, definitely a lot of people who just want to dunk on, uh, prime and Logan Paul right now you know i think certainly the timing of this if they did this you know a year ago it probably would have had you know much more uh this is gonna crush kind of responses than it did but you know the reactions again were kind of surprising it's like we've seen plenty of celebrity products that are truly without, you know, merit or reason for being. And this one seems like, all right, you can kind of get it. But I don't know, I would say the art on those boxes isn't the most appetizing.

[00:10:03] Ray Latif: I want to go to Jackie on this because I feel like Jackie may have at one point in her life consumed Lunchables, and I don't say that I say that only because you say you know Funyuns back in the day and stuff like that I mean you're right you're right.

[00:10:16] Jacqui Brugliera: I did consume a lot of Lunchables growing up I It definitely wasn't the best for me. It was super convenient and it tasted good. I think it like Craven was saying, this makes sense, the collaboration, but I don't know. I think they're targeting kids and they'Are Not really giving them a better option. That's the thing that I am hung up on. It's like just rebranding and making Lunchables cool again with some influencers, but they'Are Not better products. So that's kind of the struggle.

[00:10:59] Ray Latif: Was that you talking or was that me? It was my voice coming out of Jackie's mouth.

[00:11:06] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah.

[00:11:07] Ray Latif: I mean, I'll just talk about the three varieties here and then John, you can follow up. There's a fiesta nachos, nachos with queso blanco and salsa. There is a the pizza, the pizza being in quotes, because clearly it's not pizza, uncured pepperoni and cheese pizza. Apparently you just have a cracker, put some pepperoni and put some, I don't know, shredded cheese on it. I'm going to vomit. You have some turkey stackems, turkey cheddar cheese, and crackers. And these are the three varieties they're coming out with.

[00:11:33] Mike Schneider: I think the one thing that seems very different about this than like what Lunchables brought to the table back in the day is that this kind of is including two packaged products, Feastables and Prime, that are like super widely available. So in essence, there's no real value in putting those inside of a box, right? And, you know, I guess you kind of have to not be tired of either of those products, which have been really in our face for the past year or so to pay money for them to get whatever the actual food item is, which we haven't tried it. So, you know, I don't know. I'll reserve judgment.

[00:12:09] Jacqui Brugliera: Maybe those nachos are like the most mind blowing nachos ever or something, but I feel like that's probably an afterthought though, you know, and just like a vehicle for these two brands.

[00:12:20] John Craven: What does this do for companies like Sunny who are trying to bring a better for you snacking option in that similar sort of format?

[00:12:27] Mike Schneider: I mean, I think it's probably irrelevant to Sunny. It's more like, you know, I think the biggest risk probably is to someone like the Lunchables brand where it's just a brand that's been around for forever and it probably will siphon some consumers off of that at least for a little while to try it. But it's hard to look at this and think it's necessarily going to be some lasting like seismic shift that you're going to see there. I think the consumers who were onto a Sunny were into better for you and maybe things that are a little more, I don't know, carefully curated. Allergen friendly. Yeah, allergen friendly, like You know, again, I feel like it's a different consumer base.

[00:13:09] Ray Latif: Although they make two big callouts on the upper right-hand part of the front label, they call out the protein in the case of the pizza, the quote-unquote pizza. It's 12 grams of protein per package. And they also note it's made with real cheese and real is a big font here. Yes. As opposed to, I don't know. Cheese whiz? I guess. Or Velveeta? Yeah.

[00:13:34] Mike Schneider: I am pretty sure that the Lunchables products also now call out protein on the front of the box. I don't know what their other claims are, but the Lunchables of, you know, Jackie's era, I think, have been evolved.

[00:13:47] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, I wasn't looking for claims or function.

[00:13:50] Mike Schneider: Yeah, you are. You are correct. I think it doesn't come with like a little Halloween size candy bar to like, do we get a full size feastable and a lunchly and a full size prime?

[00:13:59] John Craven: That would be a big box for a full size prime and a full size feastable.

[00:14:03] Ray Latif: Yeah. Like, yeah, I mean, this is the thing. Like, this is a convenient thing for parents who don't have a lot of time. I just, I feel bad because this is just, as you mentioned, John, the most American lunch that you could possibly give a kid. You have an artificially sweetened sports drink, you have a chocolate bar, and then you have just processed food on top of processed food. So this is not solving a problem in my opinion. This is just adding to the problem. That's my hot take.

[00:14:34] John Craven: Sounded just like Jackie.

[00:14:38] Mike Schneider: We have the same sort of sick humor I still wonder you know the grand scheme of things if this is you know I mean a lot of social media influencers youtubers have been slinging overpriced you know merch You know, buy a $50 t-shirt with someone's logo on it. Like, I don't know, you know, I mean, we're feel like we're splitting hairs, but curious to see if this thing rolls out in retail and how it does.

[00:15:07] Ray Latif: Okay. Fair enough. Fair enough.

[00:15:09] Mike Schneider: I'd also wouldn't mind trying the products, but hey.

[00:15:12] Ray Latif: Just for fun. I don't doubt that people are going to be wearing lunchly t-shirts and hats and things like that. It's so ironic because like you're buying their product and you're also at, you know, you're a walking advertisement for them as well. And we're starting to see that with haute couture as they call it. And we talked about this with Heinz, Heinz and Kate Spade aligned joint forces back in the day. And now they have Heinz t-shirts and bags and whatnot. And then today just saw this on the, on the wire. It's just unbelievable. It is. Yes. So Jimmy Dean, you know, the brand of breakfast sandwiches and sausages. You mean those things that you eat three of every morning? I don't eat three of those every morning. I wouldn't be on the screen. I'd be the entire- You do like the breakfast sandwich though. I do, yeah, but I like Mason Dixie. Yeah, okay. Yeah, I love that stuff. I mean, I love- Amazing. It's stuff is really, really good. I love Rudy's. Rudy's makes excellent breakfast sandwiches as well. So why not Jimmy Dean? Once in a while, just mix it up. For crying out loud, we talked about this. Now I need a Mason Dixon. Okay, so Jimmy Dean has partnered with rising designer and content creator Joe Ando, and they have just released a limited edition tote bag. It's designed to tote the new Jimmy Dean griddle cake breakfast sandwiches, and they can be pre-ordered on JimmyDeanGriddleBag.com while supplies last. JimmyDeanGriddleBag.com?

[00:16:39] Mike Schneider: Wait, so it's designed just to carry the Jimmy Dean product. Yes.

[00:16:42] Ray Latif: Yes the griddle cake breakfast sandwiches. Yes, just strange Yes, so we've mentioned this way too many times I just find it kind of strange and then I also find this kind of strangers is also followed up on the wire There's a brand called King ice which according to this press release is the premier name in street wear jewelry Didn't know this, but they have partnered with three beloved ice cream brands, Klondike, Good Humor, and Popsicle to release intricately designed, iced out necklaces, each representing a different brand. I don't know what the heck is going on here. Side note, Popsicle is a trademarked name, so you can't go ahead and say, I'm going to write down Popsicle without that little TM, just so you know.

[00:17:25] Mike Schneider: It's like Dumpster.

[00:17:26] Ray Latif: Dumpster is also a trademark name.

[00:17:28] Mike Schneider: I mean, are those all Unilever brands? Yes, they are all Unilever brands. So it's kind of like you partner with Unilever.

[00:17:35] Ray Latif: I'm just trying to figure out in three separate companies just to, you know, who would want to wear an iced out. The Klondike one looks kind of cool.

[00:17:43] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, I could see that more than a Jimmy Dean tote. Like, you know, rappers, like sports stars, they're always having new jewelry. I think they would rock that. Those are kind of cool. I mean, you know what? I mean, it's not terrible.

[00:17:57] Mike Schneider: But to answer your question, probably no one. This is just to make you think about Unilever ice cream brands for a little while. It's fine. But here's the thing. And they'll just rinse and repeat with something else.

[00:18:06] Jacqui Brugliera: But I will say Klondike and Popsicles are pretty iconic. So I feel like someone might wear that.

[00:18:13] Ray Latif: I just think that this is one of the weirdest things about, again, not crapping on American culture, but it's like you aren't getting paid to wear this. Like you are intentionally wearing a brand logo on your neck. It's almost like putting a tattoo of Klondike on your arm or something like that. Wrapping your car if they said we're going to reward ten lucky fans with $10,000 each to wear this for years and like a year supply Klondike bar Exactly exactly, but to hang this around your neck and say I'm advertising clients a good Halloween costume Halloween's coming up What would be the Halloween character? You're the client wearing mine?

[00:18:49] John Craven: Yeah, okay?

[00:18:50] Mike Schneider: I don't know

[00:18:51] John Craven: You're just a crazy individual. You're just a polar bear. Klondike rapper. You just dress up as a polar bear and just start housing everyone. OK, fair enough. I don't. Just eat everyone in your path. What? That's what polar bears do. Is that true? They're pretty aggressive. Those are the apparently the most aggressive of all bears.

[00:19:08] Jacqui Brugliera: Even though they look nice and cute. They look cute, don't they?

[00:19:11] Mike Schneider: I thought it was grizzly bears, but they're polar bears.

[00:19:13] Jacqui Brugliera: I think polar bears are more aggressive.

[00:19:14] Mike Schneider: Yeah, probably because we're boiling the earth and they have nowhere to live.

[00:19:17] Jacqui Brugliera: They're angry at us.

[00:19:18] Ray Latif: There you go. Anytime you boil the earth, bad things happen. True story. Polar bears get pissed. Yes.

[00:19:23] John Craven: Have you seen the size of polar bears?

[00:19:25] Ray Latif: Yeah. I just want to go back and touch on my little visit to Louisville. Something useful for our listener. Yes, exactly. Yeah, Louisville. I met up with the Maker's Mark innovation team and part of the experience was to taste the 2024 edition. of their seller-aged product. They released one last year as well, and this is, I believe, the most or the longest-aged product that they've ever released. So it was pretty interesting to talk to their team about how they perceive innovation, because Maker's Mark is a very well-known, old brand that has a very specific flavor, I guess, in a very specific kind of approach to what they call their flavor vision. So they have very specific flavor notes and a mouthfeel that they want people, their consumers to experience. typically with every expression that they sell. And so they don't do things like RTDs, obviously. They don't do things like rye whiskey.

[00:20:30] Mike Schneider: There's no orange-flavored Maker's Mark.

[00:20:32] Ray Latif: There's none of that stuff. They're gung-ho and very stick-to-their-guns about, this is who we are, this is what we represent, and we'Are Not going to deviate from that. And what was interesting is that Maker's Mark, the brand is owned by Suntory, Suntory Global. And I'm sure that Suntory is probably talking to their team and I'm sure their marketing team is talking to their innovation team and saying, hey, you know, have you looked at the trends? You know, how are we going to be able to attract younger consumers? How are we going to be able to attract newcomers to bourbon and so on and so forth? It's an interesting dynamic. I mean, they're feeling the pressure on all sides, but what they said is that the innovation team and the distillers really, it comes down to them. They have the final say on what they're going to release in terms of new products. But also don't F it up. Pretty much. Pretty much. Yeah. So I was able to taste the cellar aged. This was the only product of theirs, however, that actually tasted a little different than Maker's Mark. It didn't have the classic Maker's Mark Taste Radio mouthfeel. It actually felt like a different whiskey entirely. Some people in our group liked that. Some people didn't. I think there's just the traditionalists and there's those that are appreciative of something new. And I was on the latter side of things, but very exciting stuff. Excited to follow up on this conversation or follow up on the trip with a conversation with the innovation team. Stay tuned for that.

[00:21:54] Mike Schneider: Maybe a tasting on a future podcast. Cause I'm sure you brought some back.

[00:21:57] Ray Latif: I brought back something else, but it wasn't the Sailor Age. The Sailor Age, they only made like 1,500 bottles of it. I mean, you should get at least three, don't they know who you are?

[00:22:04] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, you could have snuck some out.

[00:22:05] Ray Latif: You had to wait in line. Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah. I wouldn't do that. Then I was just going to hand that over.

[00:22:09] John Craven: I wouldn't wait in line. I thought they were going to coat you in the Maker's Mark wax. No. I did dip. I dipped a bottle in the Maker's Mark wax. Oh, you didn't stick your finger in? Because I wanted a fully dipped Ray. That's what I told Finance. We were approving for that.

[00:22:22] Ray Latif: We're going to have to talk about that later. I think the reason they didn't give me a bottle is because I called it Make As Mock. Make As Mock. Make As Mock. Sella aged. They were like, get the hell out of here. Sella aged, kid. I went to Louisville and I had some Make As Mock. Who's this loser? Who's this loser?

[00:22:39] John Craven: Wicked big loser.

[00:22:40] Ray Latif: OK, I'm going to throw this up in the air. The first guy to grab it, as in Mike John Craven, gets it. This is a new collaboration between Milk Bar and Momofuku. It's their Momofuku Chili Crunch Super crunchy cookies. Wow.

[00:22:54] Mike Schneider: I mean, the most obvious collaboration ever, right?

[00:22:57] Ray Latif: It is indeed.

[00:22:58] Mike Schneider: Since David Chang and Christina Tosi were basically working together as the starting point for Milk Bar, right?

[00:23:05] Ray Latif: Exactly. Christina Tosi is working as a pastry chef in the back of David Chang's Momofuku Siam Bar, or Siam Bar, I'm not pronouncing it correctly. They became two independent companies, that of Momofuku and Milk Bar, in 2012. Now they're back together again with this limited edition product. Mike, I'll let you go at it.

[00:23:26] Logan Paul: I Are Not seen these.

[00:23:29] Ray Latif: Yes, they are available starting today, the date of this recording, September 17th, retailing for seven bucks at the respective companies' websites. Yeah, I'm sending it on over. I'm not crazy about trying these just yet because they're super crunchy. This happens all the time. Just wait one second. Damn it. I have no patience to this.

[00:23:49] Jacqui Brugliera: Are they like super crunchy? Like they'll break your teeth? Like Mike, how's it going over there?

[00:23:52] Ray Latif: Mike, are they going to break your teeth? No. We've talked about this too. Jack and I are against crunchy stuff that's going to break your teeth. Yeah. They'Are Not that crunchy. They're really crunchy, but they'Are Not break your teeth crunchy.

[00:24:02] John Craven: It says super crunchy. They are super crunchy, but they're in a way that is kind to your teeth.

[00:24:07] Mike Schneider: Okay, this is the chili come through It's got a little like zing to it that I feel like honestly could almost be mistaken for ginger Okay, so yeah, you know the umami comes late like really late.

[00:24:21] John Craven: It is a little bit of um chili Action, but I don't know. I want more chili if you're gonna go for a chili crunch collaboration. Yeah

[00:24:29] Mike Schneider: I'm not a massive fan of Milk Bar, like packaged products, but this one's actually pretty good. I kind of like the salty, savory thing.

[00:24:38] John Craven: I like the salty, savory thing.

[00:24:39] Mike Schneider: Sweet, salty, savory thing.

[00:24:41] John Craven: And I think they calling it a super crunchy cookie is going to scare the Rays and Jackys of the world away from it. But it's definitely not that crunchy.

[00:24:51] Ray Latif: I think this is for fans who say they want chili crunch on everything. Like you guys.

[00:24:56] Mike Schneider: I don't want chili crunch on everything. I do.

[00:24:59] Ray Latif: Okay.

[00:24:59] Mike Schneider: So then, you know, he drinks chili crisps. So, okay.

[00:25:02] Jacqui Brugliera: I would want more of the flavor. I feel like whenever I see a cookie, that's trying to do like a little bit of savory, I'm skeptical. I'm like, is it actually going to be good?

[00:25:10] Mike Schneider: It tastes like a riff on a ginger snap to me. Okay. It's a riff on a gingersnap. I thought it was going to be like a Nilla wafer with chili crisp. Chili crisp cream, like in the middle of a sandwich cookie. That could be.

[00:25:23] John Craven: This is not going to hurt your teeth. Go for it.

[00:25:26] Ray Latif: OK, I'm going to have one momentarily while I'm not talking. OK, yeah, but thank you so much to the team at Milk Bar Momofuku for sending this over. I may share with the rest of the company. I'm not sure yet. Go for it.

[00:25:38] Jacqui Brugliera: This is definitely not going to hurt my teeth. I have Hay Day's new soups. And this one specifically is their mole chili, which looks really, really delicious. I know they had a whole end cap at Whole Foods, my local Whole Foods. I wanted to buy one of every single one. I know that they launched them officially like a month or two ago, but I'm starting to see just like a big footprint in Whole Foods.

[00:26:01] John Craven: Can you eat that? Is it vegan? Is it vegetarian? Yeah, it's vegetarian.

[00:26:06] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, it's veggie chili with rich warming flavors of mole. They have a bunch of different varieties of soups. They also have a grilled cheese tomato soup, a creamy coconut corn chowder, which is all plant based, and a golden butternut lentil stew. And also what's cool is that they partnered with a bunch of brands on their soups and stews. So they use like Tillamook cheddar in their grilled cheese tomato soup. They use diasporicose turmeric for their lentil stew. So really cool to see them incorporating other brands too in this new product launch.

[00:26:37] John Craven: Oh man, I feel like the Grinch's small heart grew three sizes that day. I didn't think I could love Heyday Canning anymore, but they've got mole now. Have you tried? You got to try this.

[00:26:47] Jacqui Brugliera: I know, I haven't tried it yet. You have to try it. I'm about to just like pop it open and just drink it. I probably could.

[00:26:52] Ray Latif: Go for it. Alright, it's the it's the battle of samples over here. John's got a whole bunch Mike's got one in his hand Who's gonna start?

[00:26:59] Mike Schneider: All right, so I've got a whole pile of beverages over here. Cold press juices from Sofresco. I found these, I think in a store in maybe Vermont, and then they were nice enough to send a whole selection of these kind of little, I wouldn't call this a shot. What would you call this? I think that's a shot.

[00:27:16] Logan Paul: It's a shot.

[00:27:17] Mike Schneider: It's a three ounce shot. It's like a, yeah, how many ounces is that bottle? 3.7. There you go. But it's, the mouth is wide, so it's more of a sipping top here.

[00:27:26] John Craven: Those remind me of the Moju shots that we like in UK, in terms of the shape. Yeah, I like that a lot.

[00:27:34] Mike Schneider: They've got a ginger, a collagen one, an energy with coffee berry. What else do I have here?

[00:27:40] John Craven: I tried the collagen.

[00:27:41] Mike Schneider: Mango, banana, and this one's kind of my favorite. I've actually bought this a couple times. It's just ginger pineapple.

[00:27:47] John Craven: That sounds good. How gingery?

[00:27:49] Mike Schneider: It's, I would say, not as gingery as this immunity ginger shot, but yeah, really tasty stuff.

[00:27:56] Ray Latif: I've also got some beverages. I've got a four pack of 16 ounce cans from a new brand called Ability. It's described on the front of the pack as a clean, natural energy drink made with guayusa. Why you suck are you so let's open this up? It's founded and backed by athletes and professionals from around the globe for everyone seeking a healthy and beneficial option It has B vitamins no artificial sweeteners sustained energy 275 milligrams of organic caffeine whoo Botanical antioxidants and no crashes. I'm just reading the top because I can't open this box.

[00:28:30] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, you're struggling over there.

[00:28:32] Ray Latif: Yes, all right. Let's It resembles you know laptop doesn't I mean cannabis no it resembles a Can of a traditional energy drink that you would say anything but Red Bull really it's a very shiny black can with orange in white lettering Let's try this 60 cars is this gonna give Mike some ability on the soccer field Let's hope so he needs it.

[00:28:56] Mike Schneider: No. I'm just kidding.

[00:28:57] John Craven: Yeah. I'll take it.

[00:28:58] Ray Latif: Let's try this.

[00:28:59] John Craven: Why are you kidding? Oh?

[00:29:01] Mike Schneider: Kinda looks like a beer when you pour it out.

[00:29:03] Ray Latif: It does look beerish. The color looks like a light lager and there's a surprising amount of effervescence. It's good. Like a lot of things with non-nutritive sweeteners, you can taste that quite a bit. There's erythritol, stevia, but other than that, this is a pretty solid product. 60 calories per 16 ounce can. It's got 12 grams of added sugar. And that comes from, I believe, apple juice concentrate and fructose. Thanks to the team of Ability for sending this over. Slick looking can. 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.