[00:00:03] Ray Latif: Hello, I'm Ray Latif. I'm here with John Craven and Jon Landis. We're here for another edition of the Batman podcast. If you're wondering why I sound like I had my thorax ripped out, it's probably because this is after three conferences that we produced and the fancy Food Show. in New York City, of which we're reporting from. My voice is taking a little bit of a beating. That said, it's really great to be back here in New York City to cover the Fancy Food Show, the Summer Fancy Food Show that is, which is an annual conference that covers the world of specialty foods, and a really fun, interesting, and lively conference once again. John Craven, what do you think of the show?
[00:00:39] John Craven: Well, first of all, you should have a car wash donut. Yeah, we have fresh donuts up in a car wash. They're awesome. Highly recommend. I'm in. Go for it. So, you know, as far as the show, I mean, I think it definitely kind of what we said in our roundup, I mean, lots of energy and excitement, which I think summer in New York City, it's one of those times of the year where I think a lot of people are kind of really energetic and have high hopes for whatever they're planned for the summer. So definitely seem like a really positive vibe, really like busy foot traffic. So good stuff.
[00:01:08] Ray Latif: Yeah. You know, a lot of beverages at this show, a lot of different beverage brands. It's interesting because the show has really become this energizing event, I think, for some of these new entrepreneurial beverage companies that aren't just going to try to sell their wares at Dean & DeLuca, which is, you know, a well-known specialty Food Show here based in New York City. But they're finding traction, they're finding retailers from all over the country that are coming to visit this event.
[00:01:32] Jon Landis: All over the country, maybe, definitely New York. It's not necessarily a specialty show, is kind of what it comes down to. It's the only CPG food and beverage expo that takes place in New York City. I mean, I was hearing from people that they're talking to a lot of buyers and conventional, you know, Wegmans and Publix and Natural as well. People come to strengthen those Northeastern relationships. That seems to be, from what I'm hearing, the main goal of why you're here. New York is not, it's not anything like anywhere else in this country. It's a very, very different market to play in. And this is the show that you need to be at if you want to be in New York.
[00:02:10] John Craven: Well, it's also one where I think a lot of people come in with expectations of this being a specialty Food Show and it being New York centric. And, you know, yeah, there are definitely, especially on Sunday, you know, you just see tons of little mom and pop New York area retailers walking around. But then, like you said, I mean, people are walking away with national things or stuff that they didn't really feel like was kind of the reason they came. But of course, makes it worth coming back.
[00:02:34] Ray Latif: So we should note that the fancy Food Show is not an Expo West kind of show. It's not going to be that big show that's going to vault your beverage brand and really gave that kind of exposure to your beverage brand that an Expo West would. At the same time, it was funny talking to the folks from Drink Maple yesterday, and they said they attended the show last year, they exhibited at the show last year, the fancy Food Show that is, and that's how they met a buyer from HEB, which is based in Texas, and that's how they got their product in stores. Again, you know, Landis, to your point, it's very much a New York-centric show, but there's opportunity beyond New York. There's opportunity to find retail placement and find distribution relationships beyond New York.
[00:03:10] Jon Landis: Yeah, there is. And I would also say that it's not like Expo West because it's more all-inclusive. You have to have a fully natural product by New Hope standards to be at Expo West or Expo East. Where this show, it's not necessarily the case. I mean, a lot of the brands are because that's what's trending and that's what entrepreneurs want to make and that's what millennial consumers want to drink and eat. Products do fall in that category, but it's not exclusive to that. To that end, with Expo East being in Baltimore, I think that that's really helped give this show a real opportunity. The Fancy Food Show. Yeah, make the fancy Food Show a little bit of what it is. You know, it's the New York show, so I think that that created a dynamic for this show to really give it an opportunity to be much bigger than specialty.
[00:03:55] Ray Latif: And we did hear a lot of that, and we've consistently heard a lot of that, which is that New York, John Craven, you said this before, New York is an exciting place to be. It's an opportunity for people to meet these up-and-down-the-street retailers and find that kind of distribution that they might not have had otherwise if they hadn't come to this show.
[00:04:10] John Craven: Yeah, and I mean, I think it's, again, somewhere that if you don't have some benefit that you can create for your business by coming here, then you probably have bigger problems.
[00:04:21] Ray Latif: So let's turn the conversation to some of the interesting brands and products that we saw at the show. One of my favorite things at the Fancy Food Show is to kind of cover and talk about the different cocktail mixers that are very specific to a specialty Food Show like this. Again, for as much as it is a broad spectrum of products and brands that are at Fancy Food, there are a lot of them that are very focused on this particular channel. The category of cocktail mixers is a good example of that. From Owl's Brew to Paolo Mahoney to...
[00:04:50] John Craven: The whole Brooklyn aisle has lots of cocktail mixers.
[00:04:53] Ray Latif: Exactly. And some of the interesting things that we saw were mixer brands kind of moving into an RTD. We saw that with Owl's Brew and their new Rattler, which is a blend of their mixers and beer, which was really tasty stuff. At least what we tried at the booth was really tasty. Hey, you were the one drinking the alcohol, not me, but... Yeah, well, you know, sometimes in our profession, you got to sample the goods as it were.
[00:05:15] John Craven: No, but I think it's something where the flavors of the mixers themselves hasn't really kind of evolved that much in the past year or two. It seems like just thinking back to last year where, you know, you did that piece on cocktail mixers. You know, it largely was like the same sort of flavor set. You know, we saw some new different package sizes. Some of them had bundles. But everyone last year was talking about making some sort of ready to drink. And this year, at least, some of them are actually doing it.
[00:05:42] Ray Latif: Yeah, some of them are actually doing it. And I would say I would agree with you that the flavor set hasn't necessarily changed dramatically, but From everything I'm hearing, they're saying that they're getting broader distribution and they're getting more interest. I saw something that was really a great quote or a great tagline about mixers from Fevertree. Fevertree has on their package, your cocktail is three quarters mixer or something to that effect. And I was like, that's a really striking but true statement. The alcohol is clearly an important part, a very important part, but mostly what you're drinking is the mix.
[00:06:15] John Craven: It is, although I think, you know, I don't remember which company said it, but it's always been kind of the case that no one's leading with the mixer, right? You're leading with whatever the spirit is. So these brands are all trying to figure out how to establish some sort of value in what they're selling. So it's not just the, I don't know, Bloody Mary mix that you happen to be using at whatever bar.
[00:06:34] Ray Latif: I mean, the selling point for a long time has been the quality of spirits has really, really improved over the last few years. Craft spirits has become like this really, really Interesting category and one that people are paying a lot of attention to and so mixers are this good complement especially the quality craft mixers are becoming a really good complement and it's like a lot of these Brands and a lot of the brand owners are saying, you know, why mix your craft spirit? Why mix your high quality spirit with something that doesn't taste good. That's something that isn't of the same quality the same level of well, the same level of quality that your spirit is.
[00:07:06] Jon Landis: I think you're hitting something there. Definitely. It's all about taste. I mean, I think what we're seeing with the Radler from Owls Brew, the new RTD cocktail from Joya, these are really tasty products. And this is the millennial effect, I think. Right. This is, you know, up and coming 21 year olds who don't want to drink that fizzy yellow beer that their dad drink. And they have increasing options across the board in food and beverage. So why shouldn't they? in spirits and cocktails and ready-to-drink products like those.
[00:07:36] Ray Latif: And there's opportunity to go beyond mixers, too. I mean, one of them, personally, and I guess I'm saying this on a very, very personal level, one of the most amazing things that I saw at the show was coming from a brand called Alice and the Magician. Alice and the Magician, they make what's called cocktail aromatics. And it's really interesting. They have these mists that are in these perfume bottles. that really elevate the sensory experience that you have with cocktails just with a little bit of spray. John Craven has some right here. And I missed our podcast? You can miss the microphone. And I don't know what flavor you've got there. Be careful. Missed a donut? Autumn bonfire, whatever that might mean.
[00:08:14] Jon Landis: Missed my donut. For whiskey.
[00:08:16] Ray Latif: Ah, delightful. Very cool. So John Craven and I stopped by the booth yesterday, and it was just like, it's interesting. They had, it was like this weird Breaking Bad kind of lab set up in the background. It was really interesting. But the thing that really blew our minds was they blended a tonic water with lime juice. And it didn't have alcohol. It was just tonic water and lime juice. And they had this spray that was primarily juniper berry based. And they sprayed the cocktail, or they sprayed the tonic water and lime juice with this juniper berry. And it tasted like an incredible gin and tonic. It was really impressive.
[00:08:47] John Craven: Yeah, it was pretty neat. I mean, what's interesting to that whole thing to me is that their pitch is basically what many flavor companies will pitch to you when you, you know, go to their labs or whatever, which is how much aroma is actually impacting the flavor of things. And these guys have basically figured out how to make it hip and cool. And the message is something that's new and unique when it's really, I mean, the actual concept is not. The execution of it and the flavors or scents, pretty cool stuff.
[00:09:15] Ray Latif: Yeah, all intended to elevate the experience, elevate the drinking experience, elevate the, I guess, aroma experience. And I feel like that's something where, you know, you're really seeing true innovation happening on that kind of level.
[00:09:27] John Craven: It's definitely different. On the other hand, you know, we look at this little bottle that we have here, which is probably, I don't know, like a half an ounce or something like that. You know, how often do I need to buy one of these, right? I mean, it's probably something that I've no idea how much this costs, but it seems like in terms of viability of it, you probably need to sell a crazy amount of these, which Might be tough, I don't know. I don't know if anyone's going to be getting into the cocktail aromatic business anytime soon. Yeah, you know, exactly. But it is definitely something that was pretty fun and innovative to see at the show.
[00:09:56] Ray Latif: So, yeah. And again, you know, one of these things that you're probably going to see at this show and not at many other shows, well, at least the shows that we go to, you might see it at the National Restaurant Association show and things like that.
[00:10:05] John Craven: Maybe we should talk about the four-letter word that kept being brought up at the show, that's soda.
[00:10:10] Ray Latif: The segue is that craft soda brands are finding some room and finding some business marketing their products as mixers. What they don't want to market their product as is that four-letter word that you're talking about, which is soda. They don't want to call themselves a soda anymore, at least a lot of them.
[00:10:26] John Craven: Yeah, it seemed like pretty much everyone that we talked to that was selling a soda brand, craft soda was really something that wasn't coming up at all anymore. It's all sparkling. And I felt like one of the more interesting conversations I had about that was with Steve Hirsch of Gus, who he's sticking with the whole soda thing. And it's interesting. I mean, he's one of the few people that's also successfully selling actual soda flavors. you have cola and ginger ale and stuff like that and I think it's interesting something like that that you can't like recast as sparkling you know there's no sparkling cola I don't think that's soda by definition so on the other hand like I think you know again pretty much everyone else is sort of making that shift and as a result there are some pretty neat things coming out you know the sparkling bitters brand for example is one that stands out to me so
[00:11:14] Ray Latif: The thing that we saw or we heard from Steve when we talked to him is so many people just turning that bottle around, looking at the label, looking at the Nutrition Facts panel and saying, sugar? It's way too much sugar. Even like, I mean, if you're talking about, you know, a mainstream RTD soda, a mainstream soda, I'll just call it, you're seeing sugar levels that are going through the roof, 40, 50 grams of sugar. Even though the craft sodas are maybe half that, it's still a high number. And they're constantly trying to bring it down. The way some of them are doing that is really introducing esoteric flavors that heighten that flavor experience while kind of keeping the sugar content down. We saw that with dry. We've talked about this on other podcasts, just sort of palate tingling flavors that you wouldn't find in mainstream soda.
[00:11:55] John Craven: Yeah, and I mean, I think, you know, the last thing I would say on that, not that all is bad with soda. Again, talking with Steve Hirsch, I think he was still expressing that there is an opportunity for a premium soda where on premise food service, stuff like that, which is another component of the show. There's still a shift away from Coke and Pepsi where they're trying to basically backfill with different products. So definitely an opportunity for it out there. It's just kind of evolving.
[00:12:17] Ray Latif: Yeah, I mean, we talked about this in the video roundup yesterday, that the food service component of Kraft Soda, the ability to sell a better or a more premium option at food service is right. It's a ripe opportunity to really sell those premium options at food service. Again, we keep going back to Steve. Thanks so much, Steve, for talking to us for so long, if you're listening. He had mentioned the opportunity overseas. He had said in Asia, he's doing a really great business, actually, particularly in China, where they're looking for options that they can't find in China.
[00:12:47] John Craven: Well, I think it was also stuff that wasn't produced in China. Exactly.
[00:12:50] Ray Latif: He had mentioned that.
[00:12:51] Jon Landis: Well, hold on a second. Let's not dance around this. His brand is Grown Up Soda. He has to embrace soda. Oh, right. No, he can't. Maybe he's doing it because that's what he believes, and that's awesome. That's the only way for you to move forward with a brand called Grown Up Soda, I think. You have to embrace that. You have to embrace soda and not try to do something called it and what it isn't.
[00:13:12] John Craven: You're right. I mean, he has obviously a different scenario. I guess the point is more that with everyone else sort of shifting away, it's probably good for his brand to be
[00:13:20] Jon Landis: Well, absolutely. I'm not saying he's doing anything wrong. I'm just saying with a brand called Grown Up Soda, let's go full soda. Let's not just like... Well, I don't know about full soda. That's... Well, no, I'm saying let's not... I think that he's doing the exact right thing for his brand. And there's definitely... Also, we get ourselves in a bubble sometimes. And we're at Gotham Market here. I think I should know if you heard any music or sounds from the kitchen behind us on 11th Avenue. And before I walked in here, I went to 7-Eleven right down the street because I wanted to get something to drink. Honest Tea was there, but besides that, it's coolers full of soda, energy drinks, Gatorade, that's all that's in there. So it's important for us to take a couple steps back because honestly, outside of people in the beverage industry who are listening to this podcast, Stop anybody on 11th Avenue here and ask them where you could buy grown-up soda. I think what he's doing is good, but I think if you really want to build soda, bring it mainstream more. Bring that craft soda mainstream, which is what I think Steve is trying to do and what he's trying to embrace. But let's call it what it is.
[00:14:23] Ray Latif: Interesting point. As far as, you know, other categories in the show that sort of interested at least us, as it were, Jon Landis, clearly we're writing about the beverage industry from a perspective that is sort of different than what mainstream consumers are commonly consuming. You know, things like the nitro coffee from Calafia was definitely a standout product at the show.
[00:14:44] John Craven: Yeah, I mean, I think that was really the product introduction of the show, which is neat that, you know, the show is becoming important enough that people are actually launching products at it.
[00:14:54] Ray Latif: And there are always new products and line extensions, but that one in particular was something they could have saved for Expo East, but they didn't.
[00:15:01] John Craven: Right. And I think some of that was just in talking to Greg, timing and stuff like that, that they wanted to get it out as quickly as possible, realizing it's kind of off cycle for buyers and stuff like that. It's really, again, I mean, it's really a neat product. It's non-dairy. It's made with almond and macadamia milk. And I think it is something that really showcases the whole potential for nitro cold brew a lot better than the few that are using dairy right now, just in that it really is pretty transformative of the overall experience. Like you really don't even know that it's non-dairy.
[00:15:33] Ray Latif: Yeah. And you know, I think that's the first nitro that we've seen in a bottle shape. I mean, it's still an aluminum bottle, but the package itself is pretty interesting in that it's going to stand out on shelf versus some of the other cold brews and nitros that we've seen.
[00:15:47] John Craven: I mean, I think that's also a package that just has a long history of failure. outside of beer. So many brands have tried that in the non-alcoholic space. I mean, big brands like Snapple even at one point in time. So it's something that is a great package. It's a recyclable bottle, basically, a recyclable aluminum bottle. Looks really cool. You can paint it up nice, which they've done, but it just hasn't worked. And it seems like something that for this execution, which is a product that you're essentially meant to really like pour out of the bottle, I think, seems like something that has a chance. So curious to see how that works out for them.
[00:16:20] Ray Latif: Yeah, definitely. Other coffees that we saw, or at least that I ran into, were sort of these MCT oils. And again, this is something we discussed a little bit in the video, but these sort of bulletproof style coffees blended with butter, blended with MCT oil, coconut oil, what have you. There were some good options. John Craven, your point was that they're not the highest quality coffee that you're going to drink. But so much of what they're selling is not about the quality of coffee. It's really about the function. It's really about the elevated experience that you're going to have beyond just drinking a regular cup of coffee.
[00:16:52] Jon Landis: And convenience. Sure. You know, a lot of people are digging this whole bulletproof butter coffee thing, but it's kind of a pain in the ass to make. So having a ready to drink version of it, that's going to be big for those people who don't want to get the butter out of the fridge in the morning.
[00:17:07] Ray Latif: Yeah, and just the way they blend it. I mean, it's tough to blend it the way that Bulletproof blends it, you know, in their stores. And, you know, unless you're really good at it, you're going to have a nasty tasting cup of coffee. I really liked what I saw from MetaBrew, which is a local brand based in Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Innovation Center. Brooklyn Foodworks. Brooklyn Foodworks, yeah, which is part of this collective of brands that they're getting support and they're sharing space. And they're all trying to, like, raise the profile of Brooklyn through food and beverage brands. And so MetaBrew is part of that. The packaging, the formulation is really good. They're still very, very tiny, but I think they've got some runway. I really do.
[00:17:44] John Craven: Yeah, I think that was far and away the best of those sort of MCT enhanced coffees that I've tried. And I think they still trying to work the kinks out, changing the packaging, which seemed like a pretty complete looking product. That seems much more like I would rather drink that where it doesn't taste like a crappy cup of coffee with some MCT in it.
[00:18:02] Jon Landis: It was pretty tasty. It was also vegan, and they were pushing that they use cashew milk, and now we have a vegan Bulletproof coffee. I mean, talk about narrowing yourself down into a niche. You know, I want my butter coffee, but I'm a vegan, and so now I need an option for that, too.
[00:18:18] John Craven: Well, I mean, the whole thing with that is pushing, you know, Bulletproof created this butter thing, MCT, coconut oil, you know.
[00:18:24] Jon Landis: I'm all aboard on that, but I just thought it was funny that that's what they, when I walked up to their booth, that's what they led with.
[00:18:29] John Craven: Right, the message is really complicated. Totally agree.
[00:18:31] Ray Latif: Yeah, they could do some different things with that for sure. At the same time, vegan is a growing trend. Gluten-free is a growing trend. Dairy-free is a growing trend. So they've got that going for them. It's interesting to talk about them in terms of Brooklyn. Brooklyn was just the heart of, was it the downstairs? I don't want to call it the North Hall because that's not the North Hall.
[00:18:48] John Craven: Yeah, I don't know which hall it's in.
[00:18:50] Ray Latif: We'll just call it the downstairs hall. But the Brooklyn aisle was the heart and soul, the thriving part of the downstairs. It was just hard to get through the aisles at one point. It was just crushed with people. And I talked to a few different brands, or at least I talked to a couple brands about Brooklyn as the brand, Brooklyn as the selling point. And they're all like, yeah, people, when they see that on the package, when they hear about where it's made and the folks that are behind the brand as being Brooklynites, it's an important selling point.
[00:19:17] Jon Landis: Well, I want to pose a question to you guys that I was asking all day. Do you guys think we've reached peak Brooklyn?
[00:19:23] Ray Latif: You know, I don't think so, especially because there's opportunity outside of the Northeast that we haven't really, I think, looked at well enough. I mean, maybe in the Northeast, Brooklyn has gotten It's a little bit of a saturated tag, but at the same time, the opportunities throughout the country and even internationally, like I heard this about Brooklyn Brewery overseas. People love the idea of Brooklyn. They hear about it. They associate it with hipsters and they associate it with just sort of like interesting music, art, the scene itself, the culture. From what I understand and from talking to people leading with that, or at least making a big point of that on your label or in your branding has an impact, makes a difference.
[00:20:01] John Craven: Well, I think it also for a lot of these brands is being used to say that it's like handmade or small batch. It's kind of another word that's like synonymous with artisanal that perhaps maybe has more legitimacy because it's actually a place as opposed to, you know, some anonymously made product that's just claiming to be artisanal. And I think that was something that when we were, we were talking to a company that makes flavored honeys. And I mean, it was definitely all about handmade and I mean, geez, the guy kind of covered in samples of the honey from the booth. You know, I think that's a whole part of it for these brands that they're trying to basically say that their products made better than, you know, these bigger brands.
[00:20:40] Jon Landis: It's interesting to hear you guys say that because when I was talking to a lot of people on the show floor, it was a resounding, yes, I hope we've reached peak Brooklyn. Brooklyn as an abstract, as an idea, as a concept of originality and uniqueness that just is kind of gone too far off to the wayside. Closing of the mayo shop, I think was, you know. What I would consider the artisanal mayo shop. Here's the problem that I've been seeing. You know, I talked to a few brands that had Brooklyn in their actual brand name. There was one that had pigs in a blanket. They started in Brooklyn five or six years ago, I think, but they're manufacturing in California now. You can't scale in Brooklyn. You can't
[00:21:22] John Craven: Well, you could, it's just a different...
[00:21:25] Jon Landis: Very different from anywhere else in the country.
[00:21:27] Ray Latif: I think it really does depend on your resources. The gentleman that we spoke with, who was making honey in Brooklyn, I asked him that question. I was like, you know, are you hitting a ceiling in terms of production? Are you able to scale the way you want to scale? And he's like, at this point, we are. Right, at this point. If we need to build our own facility, he's like, that's something we're looking at and willing to do. And they want to stay local. They want to stay in Brooklyn.
[00:21:48] John Craven: Well, it's also easier for a product like honey that's lower volume, velocity, presumably, than if you're making granola bars in Brooklyn. Good luck. I guess you'd have to build your own bakery or something. I don't know. To your point from before, Landis, about the Peak Brooklyn thing. I mean, I think, you know, with any of these things, there's always this... People have obviously been using Brooklyn for like a long time and then it's sort of... gets this snowball effect where it just gets kind of overused, right? And almost for anyone, I mean, even the people who are authentically using it, they're going to want other people to stop using it. I mean, it's just going to be overload. Something similar, it's been emulated in other places. I mean, you go to, when we're out in the Santa Monica area, there's all the Venice stuff now, you know, trying to create that as sort of a, another stamp that you can put on things. obviously pros and cons to it all, but I think for right now, I mean, to what Ray originally said, it was really interesting that you have this whole like New York aisle and like, you know, half of it at least was Brooklyn and it was the busiest sort of aisle in the whole area down there.
[00:22:46] Jon Landis: I think there's a lot of, you have a lot of credence to that point. Like I said earlier, the abstract idea of Brooklyn, it gets to a point where it's almost eccentric for eccentricity's sake. You know, it's not even something that is being unique because it's creative or a really good idea. It's just something that you're doing because you need to be off the wall to be Brooklyn.
[00:23:10] John Craven: Or because no one's ever done it before.
[00:23:12] Jon Landis: Yeah, but that doesn't mean that it's a good idea or a good product. So when we start seeing things like that happening, that's where I think we're talking about peak Brooklyn. Maybe we should slow down a little bit and maybe we should just do things that are good instead of doing things that are weird.
[00:23:28] John Craven: But you're a little sad about the mayo shop closing down.
[00:23:31] Jon Landis: That was a prime example. I think that that's, you know, what do you need in a whole shop just for artisanal mayonnaise? Seems like that's doing something to make the neighborhood, to get press for the neighborhood. You know, we have a mayo shop now. I don't think that it was really adding anything to, you know, I wouldn't want to say, hey, you know, I live next to the mayo shop, like I get to go down there and get the best mayo in the world any morning that I want. It doesn't add anything to the actual culture or desire to be part of it.
[00:24:01] Ray Latif: This is where we're looking at you to say something to reel us back in here. I'll reel you back in by saying, you know, let's be honest and let's be above board on all this. Just to be clear, Jon Landis was an investor in the mayo shop. He lost a ton of money. And he's a little salty about it right now. But, you know, you'll get over it. It's OK. But in all seriousness, it's very sad to see that business go under. It's sad to see any business go under. But there wasn't a lot of hope there in the first place. Now, let's sort of end this podcast, as we always do, talking about our favorite beverages of the week. And there was a lot to choose from in this show. We talked about a few, but John Craven, we'll start with you.
[00:24:35] John Craven: Again, my favorite was probably that Calafia, the New Orleans-style nitro latte. That was something that I wanted to go back and have another bottle of, but unfortunately, I think they were out by sometime on the second day. So that was my favorite. Nice. Jon Landis?
[00:24:50] Jon Landis: bring this into the question that we always all hear when we're there. What are you seeing that's new? What are you seeing that's great? First of all, those are two completely separate questions. A lot of the things that are new are not the great things that I'm seeing. So I want to just call out still the Drink Maple, the Side Road, the Motto, these guys that have been pounding away for a couple years now. They have really great products. They have beyond amazing founders and owners, which I think is more important than anything. So I was drinking those three products in abundance on the show floor. It's not new, we've seen them before, but I do think those are probably the three most exciting brands that I have on my mind.
[00:25:29] John Craven: Well, and I'll just say one thing, even though I'm talking out of turn here, I guess, but you know, it is great. Ray and I were talking about this at one point while we're walking the floor, just seeing these brands that kind of started out a couple of years ago, where they really like just had no idea if there was any viability to what they were doing at all. And very few things are like overnight successes, but you see these brands that are just back at it and kind of grinding it out, realizing that the idea that they have has potential. It's just taking their hard work to make it happen and time a little bit too.
[00:25:59] Jon Landis: So many shows we go to, like Expo West, we're trying to find what's new and exciting, but I'm most excited about the guys that are really sticking it out and grinding their way forward and moving these companies up. Likewise.
[00:26:11] Ray Latif: Yeah, for sure. It's hard to choose one beverage. Well, you made us choose. I'm not going to cop out and say one or two things. I'm looking at my Instagram feed here, and there are two that really stood out for me. I've always been a big fan of Sound Sparkling Team, what they're doing. That sparkling zero-calorie tea product is just something that's really refreshing, good tasting, you can have it anytime, anywhere. I sound like I'm doing an ad, but I'm a big fan, I really am. Good guys too. Yeah, good guys too. And here, okay, I'm going to cop out, I'm going to do one more. I really liked Cam, Cam MLT, it's the cold-brewed HPP tea. They came out with two different line extensions. It's a new branding. It's a great tasting product run by great people. So I think we're going to sign off from here at the Gotham Market. And I didn't talk about that at first. We're recording this podcast.
[00:26:57] John Craven: I don't know if it's legal or not. In a public setting. Hey, we haven't gotten thrown out.
[00:27:00] Ray Latif: We haven't gotten thrown out, you know, in front of a ramen bar here. But it's pretty early in the morning. So I think we lucked out. But signing off from the Gotham Market, I'm Ray Latif, John Craven, Jon Landis. Thanks so much for watching another edition of the BevNET podcast. We'll see you soon.
[00:27:12] Jon Landis: Adios, amigos.
