[00:00:10] Ray Latif: Hey folks, 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 the podcast, and I'm joined by my BevNET and Nosh colleagues, Jacqui Brugliera and Mike Schneider. 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 would review us on the Apple Podcasts app or your listening platform of choice. Several folks have done that over the past couple weeks, that is leave a review on the Apple Podcasts app, and they've gotten a t-shirt, a Taste Radio t-shirt in return. It's an easy way to do it once again. Just send us a screenshot of your review to ask at Taste Radio along with your mailing address and the t-shirt size of your choice. We'll send that t-shirt out as soon as possible. Some people get it as soon as two or three days, which is really nice given the summer weather. You know, you need good t-shirts for the summer weather.
[00:01:07] Jacqui Brugliera: We've even trusted people too who didn't have a screenshot, I'm just saying.
[00:01:12] Ray Latif: This is true. It's not a requirement. I want to make that clear. It's not a requirement to send a screenshot. It's not a requirement to leave a review. If you love the podcast, we'd just love to send you a t-shirt. We know you'll be wearing it proudly, and that helps people tune in as well. It helps build awareness for our show. So it's all good.
[00:01:29] Jacqui Brugliera: It says you're a part of the industry without saying you're a part of the industry. It's like a meme on TikTok.
[00:01:35] Ray Latif: Exactly. Exactly. Jackie, did you wear your Taste Radio t-shirt to New Orleans?
[00:01:40] Mike Schneider: I should have been because it was extremely hot and I needed something airy, but I did not, unfortunately.
[00:01:46] Jacqui Brugliera: You know, Jackie has enough problems with paparazzi without wearing a Taste Radio t-shirt. Everyone loves Jackie.
[00:01:53] Mike Schneider: I try to fly under the radar.
[00:01:56] Ray Latif: Gotcha, gotcha. Yeah, I heard New Orleans is pretty warm in July.
[00:02:01] Mike Schneider: Yeah, it was pretty steamy. We had to coordinate how long we were out in the heat and then how long we were in the AC. So we were doing a lot of exploring in the morning usually, which was great because we were hitting up all the places that usually have long lines first thing. So one of those places was Cafe Du Monde. So made sure I grabbed some beignets, which were worth the heat and the waiting in the heat limited lines though. But big tip is if you do get the beignets, make sure you shake the bag, made a mistake of not doing that. And you pull out the beignet with just like a mountain of powdered sugar and it just gets everywhere. So make sure you shake the bag.
[00:02:42] Jacqui Brugliera: Oh, rookie move. Yeah.
[00:02:46] Ray Latif: They should be putting that on the side of the bag, right? Like, shake the bag in big letters, I feel like.
[00:02:50] Jacqui Brugliera: When you have lines out the door, Ray, you don't need to write stuff on the bag. I mean, just give them the bag.
[00:02:55] Mike Schneider: I think they also like seeing the rookies, so they like to see you making a mess and just blowing up in your face.
[00:03:00] Jacqui Brugliera: And you gotta get back in line and get another one. Exactly. I'm gonna do it right the next time.
[00:03:05] Ray Latif: What other sights and sounds and places do you get to see and hear in New Orleans? What's the famous restaurant out there? It's Commander's Palace? Is that the one?
[00:03:14] Mike Schneider: Yeah, that's one of the famous restaurants. I was actually wandering around and seeing a lot of vegan restaurants, which was a little bit surprising. I'd been to New Orleans four years ago and definitely saw an uptick in vegan restaurants, one of which was called Carmo. It was Latin American vegan food and it was delicious. Another place was Dat Dog, which had vegan sausages, but there was a wide range of healthy food to kind of balance out all of the beignets that I was eating.
[00:03:43] Jacqui Brugliera: So did you have vegan gumbo or?
[00:03:45] Mike Schneider: There was a place that had vegan gumbo and some of like the New Orleans staples veganized, but yeah, it was, it was delicious. And I also got to try out some New Orleans style coffee, which has chicory in it. It went to French truck coffee, which is a local chain and had some really good coffee and then also picked up a Big Easy bucha.
[00:04:06] Jacqui Brugliera: Oh man, speaking of chicory coffee, Nitro Beverage, if you're listening and you want to send us some more, that'd be incredible.
[00:04:14] Ray Latif: lay on any less sick, Mike. I don't know if that's possible.
[00:04:18] Jacqui Brugliera: So many people in the office ask about that chicory coffee. When's it coming out? When are they going to send us some more? That's it. They have a really great chicory coffee. So people of New Orleans would blush.
[00:04:28] Ray Latif: Yeah. Yeah. Well, two things there. Number one, Mike seems to have been waiting his entire life to say the word V gumbo and two Big Easy butcher. I think we've talked about that. Carol is originally from Carol Ortenburg or if not, she's originally from New Orleans and she's talked about that brand a few times. Is it good? I mean, is it, is it stand up? Carol likes it. I know she likes it. Yeah. Yeah. But you know, she's a hometown. It's a hometown thing for her. So, but Jackie, you know, we want the objective of opinion here. How was it?
[00:04:57] Mike Schneider: No, it was really good. I enjoyed it. I think they have three different flavors. I went with their original, but it was really tasty. Definitely needed some extra probiotics after a couple too many tiki drinks.
[00:05:09] Jacqui Brugliera: Incredible. Just so you know, I am holding back on an impossible foods crayfish joke. Okay, okay.
[00:05:17] Ray Latif: Well, keep holding on to that, please.
[00:05:18] Jacqui Brugliera: Kind of gone there, but I didn't do it.
[00:05:21] Ray Latif: And I'll fix what I just said about an objective opinion. That's an oxymoron. There's no such thing as an objective opinion. So, yeah, we're not going to edit that out. I'm just going to correct my mistake. We'll just let you be a moron?
[00:05:34] Jacqui Brugliera: Exactly. Yeah.
[00:05:35] Ray Latif: No, we're going to cut that part out, Mike. Oh, oxymoron.
[00:05:39] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, oxymoron. Got it, got it. Sorry, Ray. Exactly.
[00:05:43] Ray Latif: All right. All right. Ray bashing has hit his peak for this episode. So let's, uh, let's move on.
[00:05:50] Jacqui Brugliera: Ray, it just makes us feel better about ourselves. You know, you're, you're such a, such an inspiration to all of us. So thank you very much for saying that. What are you drinking? Is that Kaylee's culture? I've got some Kaley's Culture here, speaking of probiotics. I know it's a kid's drink, but I am a kid at heart. And I actually, anytime we have some of this in the office, I grab it. I like it a lot.
[00:06:10] Ray Latif: Sparkling water for kids that includes probiotics, Kaley's Culture, very interesting brand. Featured in our New Beverage Showdown a couple events back. and really excited to see their progress. Speaking of competitions, our inaugural Cocktail Showdown is taking place in just a few days. This competition will showcase 10 of the most innovative and disruptive brands in the rapidly emerging space of ready-to-drink and ready-to-pour cocktails. We'll be streaming the event on August 12th, beginning at 3.30 p.m., we'll be announcing the winner. I have an interview with the winner at 5.30 p.m. Eastern Time, also on August 12th. Very, very, very excited for this competition, and we've talked about it a little bit on this podcast. Even more excited for our judging panel, which is stacked with heavy hitters, including Heidi Dillon Otto, who's the managing director of Distilled Ventures North America, which is aligned with Diageo, Three Spirit conglomerate, Molly Horn, who is the manager of cocktail strategy for Total Wine & More, and the illustrious Tony Abughanam, who is the owner of the Modern Mixologist, Really excited to hear them offer feedback, advice, and just general information about this amazing category that is, as I mentioned, rapidly growing. Can't wait to see all 10 brands take the stage, a virtual stage at that, once again on August 12th, 3.30 p.m. Eastern Time. Tune in, it'll be streaming on BevNET.com and Brewbound.com, along with our social media channels as well. It's a can't-miss event. It's going to be a lot of fun.
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[00:08:34] Ray Latif: You know what else is always a lot of fun, and we've mentioned speed dating a few times on this podcast, but speed dating, people love speed dating. I actually just spoke with an entrepreneur recently who said, and I quote, speed dating has changed our lives, that of her and her colleagues in her business. In particular, they have aligned with a very prominent investor whose name you've definitely heard on this podcast, who has become a very key advisor to their brand and company. That was just one of the speed dating events that she attended and said that that was a direct result of speed dating, the PR, the marketing, the investor, etc. And we have even more events in the pipeline. Jackie, what are our next speed dating events coming up and how do folks apply?
[00:09:18] Mike Schneider: Yeah, so we actually have all of our speed dating dates outlined for the remainder of the year. You can check them all out at BevNET.com backslash calendar and a variety of speed dating. So we do have investor speed dating slotted for each month, three times a month. Coming up in August, we have Angel in early stage as well as mid stage. And then we also have for the RTD cocktail brands that are either participating in the competition or maybe didn't make it into the competition, we have Speed Dating For You on August 17th. We also have public relations speed dating on August 10th. So if you're looking to strategize about your communication strategy, talk about your messaging, that's definitely a great opportunity for you to just sit down one-on-one with some top PR agencies in the CPG world, and then spark a conversation for the future. Going forward, we also have retail speed dating, which is in October, which is always a fan favorite, talking to retail buyers in the industry. So a lot to pick from, a lot to digest, but check it out at our calendar and you'll be able to see all the dates. And as long as you're an insider, you can participate in any event that you'd like.
[00:10:29] Jacqui Brugliera: And if you're an expert sitting out there saying, Hey, how do I get involved in speeding? Like you're an investor or a retailer, just reach out to us. It's pretty Easy Tee get involved and we'd love to, we'd love to have you.
[00:10:39] Ray Latif: Absolutely. The best way to connect with us is Mike.
[00:10:44] Jacqui Brugliera: Ask at Taste Radio.
[00:10:46] Ray Latif: Always baby, always.
[00:10:49] Jacqui Brugliera: That's the easiest way to just get in touch with us. Tell us what you want. You might, you know, send you a t-shirt too. Why not?
[00:10:55] Ray Latif: There you go. There you go. You know, Jackie, you mentioned our PR focus, Speed Dating. And it's really interesting because I was just thinking of a brand which has, I think, really benefited from PR and communication advice in that it's kind of a hard brand to describe. And that is a brand called Three Spirit, which promotes itself as the world's first plant-powered social elixir. Now, that's kind of a hard thing, I think, for some people to, I guess, wrap their head around. Like, what is a plant-powered social elixir? Like, what is it for? Is it a non-alcoholic cocktail? Like, how would you describe this? But, you know, in communicating with their team, with their PR team, I'm getting a much better sense of who they are and what they're about, the kind of occasions that you would be drinking this type of product, and why it's relevant in our industry today.
[00:11:50] Jacqui Brugliera: It's a remarkable brand who is trying to do a lot and lead on so many, you know, lead down so many different paths. I don't know. I think that's a really big challenge for any brand, especially a small brand, but I give them, you know, I give them credit for trying and the things that I've tasted from them have been really great pushing the bounds of what we think of as the non-alcoholic spirit. And I hope they keep going and send some to me.
[00:12:17] Ray Latif: They, they are indeed keeping going. Uh, this is their, they, uh, launched it's a UK based brand or they launched in the U S in January of 2021. And now they are expanding further into the U S. So, uh, maybe we'll see it at your local liquor store, Mike, you know, perhaps you'll see it there.
[00:12:32] Jacqui Brugliera: If I do, I'll pick some up for sure. Yeah. There you go.
[00:12:35] Ray Latif: There you go. Another brand we've talked about quite a bit on this podcast is a brand called Ryan now rind. Uh, recently you've got the horn.
[00:12:43] Mike Schneider: Nice.
[00:12:46] Ray Latif: Brian, which makes these amazing dried fruit products with the peel lawn, their tagline is keep it real, eat the peel, have recently unveiled these new chips, these new fruit-based chips. This is the orange chip variety that I have in my hand. They also make a kiwi. I can't remember the other variety they make, but I haven't tried these yet, Mike. So I'll give you, I'm going to do this right now. Yeah, I'm curious what they look like.
[00:13:12] Mike Schneider: They look like an orange slice or they look like a chip?
[00:13:15] Ray Latif: That's a good question. Uh, let me see if I can't open this. Oh, there we go.
[00:13:20] Jacqui Brugliera: Matt, Matt, founder of Ryan Snacks. Matt, he can't even open them. Okay. And you trust him with them.
[00:13:29] Ray Latif: Smell orangey? They smell amazing. It smells like... Of course they do. It smells like an orange Stroopwafel, if that makes sense. Oh my gosh, it smells so good. Okay, this is what it looks like. It looks like a crispy orange chip. So the difference between these and their flagship products are the flagship products are chewy. These are crispy.
[00:13:50] Easy Tee: So... I hear the crisp. Nice crunch.
[00:13:55] Ray Latif: They paid that off for sure. ASMR. They're great. And the only ingredient is dried oranges. So... Wow, fantastic stuff. Great job, Matt Weiss, founder and CEO of RIND. And yeah, Mike, there's some coming your way to the office. I'll drop some off on my way to the office today. How about that? Amazing. Well, I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one with New Products, and I'm sure you guys have New Products that I haven't tried yet. Jackie, Mike,
[00:14:24] Mike Schneider: Yeah. So like I said, I'm just surrounded by cocktails these days. They're all coming into the office. So I have one more to share. It's called Sesh. So it's cocktail meets seltzer. And this one's Moscow Mule. I haven't tried it yet. I'm going to try it later today. I'm curious what, you know, cocktail meat seltzer. It's probably just a seltzer brand that has some different cocktail flavors. I think they have vodka soda, um, a couple other varieties. So interested to try this. And then as far as other products, we're kind of slacking in the San Diego office. So I've been coming through our product galleries, just, you know, daydreaming about all the samples that we could be having. Notably, just in the last roundup that we did in Nosh, I've been really about the sauce. It just makes anything that I cook extra delicious. So I've been wanting to try, there's a new Japanese barbecue sauce that I saw in Nosh. I think it's pronounced bachan or bachan. And it's made of fermented red jalapeno peppers. And it looks delicious. And I'm all about Japanese fusion and Japanese flavors. So definitely want to try that if you guys are listening. And then Aya Foods came out with new West African-inspired hot sauces, pepper sauce and shito sauce.
[00:15:40] Jacqui Brugliera: Yummy.
[00:15:41] Mike Schneider: And I saw their pepper sauce is already sold out on their site, so love to try it.
[00:15:45] Jacqui Brugliera: You know what, Jackie, we also need to get our hands on new Fly-by-Jing has a zhong sauce now, and to add to their Sichuan chili crisp. I haven't had that one yet, and I think you and I both need to have a fight over who gets to try that first.
[00:16:01] Mike Schneider: Yeah, this is going to be awesome.
[00:16:02] Ray Latif: Well, if you guys need some hot sauce, Jackie, I'll send you some hot sauce because I have some New Products from the makers of Erdez, I believe that's how you pronounce their brand name, E-H-E-R-D-E-Z. They have a new line of street sauces. These street sauces include a cilantro lime variety and an avocado cilantro variety. Oh, yeah. Erdez is the maker of the number one salsa brand in Mexico, and these products are intended to supplement your pantry. I have not tried these yet, but I'm really, really excited to do so. I think I'm almost a little bit more excited to try this though. This is their new avocado hot sauce product, which, uh, yeah, I can see Jackie ready to jump through the screen.
[00:16:44] Mike Schneider: I need hot sauce. I'm your girl. I remember when I was in the Watertown office, we would have hot pepper eating contests and see who cried first. So that was, that was a thing. Yeah.
[00:16:55] Ray Latif: I was not part of that. No.
[00:16:57] Mike Schneider: Yeah, it was me, Josh, and then Kennedy.
[00:17:01] Ray Latif: Matt Kennedy, our former creative designer, and Joshua Pratt, our technical director. Yeah.
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[00:17:56] Jacqui Brugliera: Got some new packaging from HealthAid. This is the Pink Lady Apple, and I'm kind of torn. I love HealthAid kombucha, obviously, but the gradients here, as Jackie knows, I'm kind of really a gradient? I'm always talking about, do we have to use a gradient? Can we just use a single color?
[00:18:15] Ray Latif: You mean the color gradients on the label? So there's three different colors. Yeah.
[00:18:21] Jacqui Brugliera: Some of their flavors have, you know, pomegranate and blood orange and other things in them. And they've tried to put all the colors on the label, which for me is a tad confusing. It pops in the kombucha case, But it doesn't immediately tell me what the primary flavor is. So that's where I'm kind of like, I don't know about that. So Pink Lady Apple, certainly red, and the inside of the apple is kind of this yellowy color. So maybe it'll work. And I do love this little apple now. You know, just walking down there so happy with probiotics.
[00:18:55] Ray Latif: Nice, nice. Mike, you mentioned HealthAid, a former winner of the New Beverage Showdown. I have in my hand two New Products from another winner of the New Beverage Showdown, New Beverage Showdown 18. That's Corsa. Corsa are a maker of craft sodas. They have two New Products called Hydration Tonics, the ones I'm holding in my hand. are an orange spritz vari variety. The orange sprit bitters. The heritage co nut, citrus and spices, h coconuts. That's where the
[00:19:32] Jacqui Brugliera: I was just going to ask if you tried, Ray. I think it's time for you to try one.
[00:19:35] Ray Latif: Which one should I start with, the cola or the orange spritz? I think Three Spirit.
[00:19:41] Jacqui Brugliera: Okay, let's do that here. The orange strain. Yeah, I'll go for the orange. Orange for hydration, I think.
[00:19:49] Ray Latif: Uh, it's good. It's a little bit sweeter than I thought it was going to be. Um, it might be because it's a little bit warmer. That's why it tastes sweeter. There's 13 grams of sugar in this eight ounce can, which is kind of a lot. I feel like I can definitely taste the coconut. The coconut influence is pretty strong, but all in all, I think it's pretty well crafted. Let me take another sip.
[00:20:07] Jacqui Brugliera: I think it's tasty and it's definitely a sipper because it is powerfully flavorful. It just, wow. It really hits you with a lot of flavor.
[00:20:18] Ray Latif: Yeah. Another brand that I think hits me with a lot of flavor is one called Wet Hydration. This is a relatively Wet Hydration beverage brand. Comes in these 12-ounce plastic bottles. The founder is Spencer Altschul, who joined us for a recent episode of our Elevator Talk series. They have some really fantastic flavors. The one I'm holding in my hand is their Watermelon, Lemon Lime, and Electrolyte variety. Kudos to Spencer and his team for creating a really great tasting product, especially for one that's zero calories. Last thing I want to talk about is the continued deluge of everything bagel-type seasonings in everyday foods, and I love it. Let me just put that out there. It's a deluge that I love. Darren Revell, the well-known sports business reporter and food and beverage aficionado, is a big fan of everything, everything bagels. Cedar is the well-known Mediterranean food brand, best known for their hummuses, has a new everything hummus variety. They didn't call it everything bagel variety, but this is a limited time flavor. It contains everything that you might expect in an everything bagel, sesame seeds, dehydrated onion, poppy seeds, garlic, red pepper, et cetera, et cetera. This stuff is so addictive. One more Everything Bagel flavor product I have in my hand now. This is from Safe and Fair, which is an allergen-friendly snack brand. They have a new Everything Bagel popcorn variety. This flavor is much like the other Safe and Fair flavors that I've tried, including their Dill Pickle variety. Amazing. Kettle Pops, just the right amount of seasoning for this type of popcorn. You know, sometimes you can get like an overload of flavoring and overload of seasoning on popcorn. Sometimes this is perfect. So well done, Safe and Fair.
[00:22:04] Mike Schneider: Yeah, I also saw that they recently launched a line of kids protein powder, which I think is interesting and probably smart play considering they're allergen free.
[00:22:13] Ray Latif: Yeah, great to see how that brand is evolving and can't wait to see what they're coming out with next. They always seem to have a pretty strong innovation pipeline and New Products coming out on a pretty regular basis. All right, that brings us to the end of this episode. Thank you so much for listening. And be sure to tune in to our episode on August 10th, when we feature an interview with Benjamin Chesler, the co-founder of Imperfect Foods, a pioneering company in the business of sustainable grocery delivery. 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.
[00:22:53] Easy Tee: you
