[00:00:10] Ray Latif: Hello, and thanks for tuning in to Taste Radio, the number one podcast for the Food and Beverage industry. I'm Ray Latif, the editor and producer of Taste Radio, and with my co-host for this episode, John Craven, Jacqui Brugliera, and Mike Schneider. In this episode, we feature an interview with Adam Crocini, the vice president and Global Head for Food and Beverage Brands at Hilton. I don't think you guys knew I recorded that interview. That's a darn good one. Did you get to stay at a Hilton? I didn't. My hope is that I eventually get to stay at a Hilton and have a drink with Adam. He seems like a very nice guy. Yeah. He recommended some very nice places to go to. He's been all over the world, obviously, as a top executive at Hilton, and you should stay tuned and listen because he's Get Some good advice. I don't think we're staying at a Hilton in Philadelphia at Expo East. We probably should be, given that we are interviewing a top executive from the chain. Can they hook us up? Uh, that's a good question. I think it's too late though. That would be sweet. You gotta work on that. I won't say what hotel we're staying at because I know the screaming fans will, you know, flood the lobby. Yeah. I don't even know what it's called. The paparazzi will come. Exactly.
[00:01:21] John Craven: You don't know what hotel you're staying at? I mean, I think we're staying at the same hotel.
[00:01:24] Ray Latif: Oh, we are?
[00:01:24] John Craven: I just don't know what it's called.
[00:01:26] Ray Latif: You're not staying Get Some ritzy hotel?
[00:01:27] John Craven: No.
[00:01:30] Ray Latif: It's so dejected now Walking distance the Convention Center though. Yes, I don't know. Yeah, it's walkable.
[00:01:38] John Craven: I think it's half a mile Okay, which is very very helpful. Yeah, anyway, no big deal We walk like a mile in Anaheim to the Convention Center.
[00:01:44] Ray Latif: We can handle I don't know I don't I don't love doing that that's especially with a backpack full of gear and a belly full of shakshuka
[00:01:51] Jacqui Brugliera: And at the end of the day, walking back, not funnest.
[00:01:54] Ray Latif: I mentioned Expo East, obviously, because Expo East 2023 kicks off next week in Philadelphia. It's going on from September 20th to the 23rd. We are sending a crew to cover the event from top to bottom. Just a reminder, if you're exhibiting at the show and featuring a new product line, package revamp, brand extension, or anything else news-wise, make sure to let us know. For beverage companies, go to BevNET.com and click on the submit news button at the top of the homepage. For food companies, please do the same via Nosh.com. Top to bottom.
[00:02:24] John Craven: I mean, it's more of like a, from.
[00:02:26] Ray Latif: The Philadelphia Convention Center is a pretty big play cavernous I would say right, but I think it's just one floor of Exhibits the Harvest Festival is like somewhere else It doesn't count Cuz I don't think you get to go to that. I'm not going to that.
[00:02:48] John Craven: You don't have tickets for that I'm also not a VIP. He's not a bit not going there on Wednesday. I'm going there on Thursday Thursday Okay, I think the Harvest Festival's on Wednesday.
[00:02:57] Ray Latif: That's where I'm going That's where you get all the cool stuff ahead of time and everyone's checking me out on Instagram and being like, oh man FOMO Jackie will sound exactly like that.
[00:03:09] Jacqui Brugliera: Oh, man FOMO I'll record my voice and send it to you while you're there
[00:03:14] John Craven: And then when you're standing in the street eating that like massive cheesesteak that you always have, just drooping with cheese because we know you love cheese a lot.
[00:03:22] Ray Latif: Oh, yeah. Well, why did I just sound like the EA Sports guy, by the way, when I said that EA Sports?
[00:03:28] John Craven: It's in the game. All right, and that's you know you're old if you know what that means What? No one plays that crap anymore I mean you're kind of old.
[00:03:43] Jacqui Brugliera: I don't know creeping just called you kind of old That's it you're just you're just kind of old.
[00:03:52] Ray Latif: It's okay. I think you're I think you're darn
[00:03:56] Mike Schneider: Young I mean that makes us ancient if she's kind of old. Yeah, that's the point.
[00:04:05] John Craven: Yeah. Well you are at least You're at the five. Oh, yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah, just put that out there. Mm-hmm Speaking of my good here. That's like tell us about the Great War Mike age-shaming Wow
[00:04:20] Ray Latif: Just putting your business out there, Mike. I love it. Anyway. Everyone knew. You know, I do have to mention though, I, we had kind of an incident here with Mike last week at BevNET headquarters and, uh. You know, given that you have little happiness in life at this age, at this advanced age of yours, I felt really, really bad because someone had stolen your Honey Mama. I brought a bunch Hot Honey Mama snacks to the office. And I did because Christy Goldsby was a recent interviewee on Taste Radio, a fantastic interview. Tune in if you haven't already. Christy Goldsby obviously being the founder Hot Honey Mama. She Get Some fantastic product, including a bunch of their Honey Mama's new truffle treats.
[00:05:05] Mike Schneider: Ray, I just tried the cinnamon roll.
[00:05:08] Ray Latif: Yes.
[00:05:09] Mike Schneider: And I put them in the freezer and I was, you know, obviously happy to share with others, but there was like a whole box of them. And I was looking forward to trying a couple of the other new SKUs. And then the next thing you know, they're gone. So I went full Conor McGregor. I mean, you've never seen it before. I'm pretty mild mannered dude, but I tore apart the whole kitchen looking for them. I was,
[00:05:26] Ray Latif: Yeah, I mean no these are delicious there are three varieties I wouldn't know there's a Cinnamon roll mocha crunch and a chocolate cake. So I gave my Mike a pretty significantly sized box and He was robbed straight up straight up thief.
[00:05:48] Jacqui Brugliera: I saw the slack post from over here and I was like, oh no, what's going down?
[00:05:56] Mike Schneider: Like 20 crying emojis on that post.
[00:05:59] Ray Latif: Yeah, and I do recall this wail, it was w-a-i-l, this wail Get Some point in the afternoon. I didn't know where it was coming from. I know because you were back at home. Yes, I heard it all the way from Brookline, Massachusetts. Called the cops and they're like, oh, it's something happening Newton. Don't worry about it. No big deal Yeah, so but here I am. I brought some more of these samples for you Mike Wow, John Craven took one Jackie.
[00:06:25] Mike Schneider: I wish I could throw some to you It's going down it's going down.
[00:06:30] Ray Latif: Yeah, they are pretty tasty. They are delicious chocolate cake. It's amazing. They were singles I call them single serve, but there's two bites in each bar.
[00:06:39] John Craven: And yeah, these are good crunch That's happening right now If I were picking nits here, I think calling this a two-serving bar treat is It should just be one which really only matters because if you flip this around you're like wow this only has 80 calories It's actually 160 so but it's delicious. Yeah, I guess that's true
[00:07:01] Jacqui Brugliera: Even for like a full serving, 160 calories isn't bad.
[00:07:05] John Craven: So I would just think of, well, I mean, there's just no way you're going to open this and just eat half of the thing. Nope.
[00:07:11] Ray Latif: I've already, I mean, who does that serving, you know? And I'm going for two. This is their effort to be a little bit more convenient, kind of meeting consumers where they are a little bit more on the go kind of offering for them than those larger bars that they have, which are definitely multisource.
[00:07:27] Mike Schneider: Locotrunch is just a repackaging of cacao nibs. I already recognize this as one of my favorite flavors, but I thought it was something different. Well, you're happy now, yes?
[00:07:36] John Craven: Oh, yeah. I mean, if you're going to label a single serve product as two servings, you should be forced to make your product sucky enough that no one wants to actually eat the whole thing.
[00:07:48] Ray Latif: I don't think anyone should make their products sucky. No, that's terrible advice. Just kidding, kidding. A little bit of advice. That's what we do here on Taste Radio. We make, we give out really good advice.
[00:07:56] John Craven: Don't make your products suck. Just add a crap load of stevia to this and then I'm cool with the two servings.
[00:08:01] Jacqui Brugliera: Then you won't even want to eat one serving if it's a crap full of stevia.
[00:08:06] John Craven: Everyone's kind of salty this morning. I don't know what's going on here. And I'm totally gonna give this one back to you, right? Don't worry. No, I could just put it in his pocket Yeah, if you're not watching the video, which I might have another two servings
[00:08:23] Mike Schneider: If I put these in the freezer, they'll be gone. Yes.
[00:08:26] Ray Latif: Well, Honey Mama will be at Expo East. They'll be exhibiting these bars there. So if you happen to stop by their booth, or you should stop by the booth, if you can check it out. These are really delicious.
[00:08:35] Mike Schneider: They let me do flights.
[00:08:40] Ray Latif: I am certain that brands that use Tetra Pak cartons will also be at Expo East. I'm going to hunt down every one of those booze because as we know, Products that come in Tetra Pak are pretty darn tasty. And I want to thank our presenting sponsor for this episode. Hey, that is Tetra Pak. Tetra Pak is the pioneering packaging solutions company that provides safe, innovative, and environmentally sound products that each day meet the needs of hundreds of millions of people around the world. Learn more at tetrapak.com.
[00:09:13] Mike Schneider: Oh man, cinnamon rolls, so good.
[00:09:16] Ray Latif: I should never have mentioned Honey Mama in the first place.
[00:09:18] Jacqui Brugliera: The whole episode is going to be Honey Mama.
[00:09:19] Ray Latif: The whole episode is going to be Honey Mike Mamas. They should just rename the thing Hot Honey Mikes, right? At this point, whatever it takes.
[00:09:29] John Craven: Too close to Likes Hot Honey.
[00:09:30] Jacqui Brugliera: Oh yeah. Yeah, that's a good point. Ooh, a collab maybe?
[00:09:34] John Craven: Can't say honey and Mike in the same brand. Yeah, don't don't mess with perfection. Did you hear what Jackie said?
[00:09:39] Jacqui Brugliera: Perhaps the collab should be a collab honey, Mike Honey, Mike's Honey Mama.
[00:09:45] Mike Schneider: No Jackie.
[00:09:46] Ray Latif: What you mean is I should collab with Honey you want Mike's Hot Honey Mama.
[00:09:55] Mike Schneider: Mm-hmm. Is that right?
[00:09:56] Ray Latif: Okay.
[00:09:56] Mike Schneider: We got it. I've met Mike covered in cinnamon roll All right, we're gonna stop this
[00:10:01] John Craven: Pretty sure product collaboration with a Taste Radio host would be a little sketch a little bit. Yeah Someone might look down upon that yeah, yeah the chairman of our board Jack Craven How about some other product yes, we do have some more product here I'll unveil this nice
[00:10:22] Ray Latif: That I made for you over the past week our dear friend Adam hurdle from Rudy's Sent us some of Rudy's new price now Rudy's is the maker are you DI? Yes, who's the maker of gluten-free and organic bread?
[00:10:39] Mike Schneider: Craven is choking over here Down is ma.
[00:10:42] Ray Latif: Yes Rudy's recently launched some new breakfast sandwiches where they have a bacon, egg and English muffin variety and they have a bacon, egg and sausage variety. They also have some Texas toast. which looks amazing. That's what we're trying. And they also have some peanut butter and jelly sandos, S-A-N-D-O's. Not trying those right now. A.K.A. Uncrustables. Don't have those yet, but a slew of on-the-go innovation from Rudy's. So John Craven heated up some of their products, this Texas toast and these breakfast sandwiches. Also used part of the air fryer in this as well, right? He can't talk right now. He's got a mouthful of breakfast sandwich.
[00:11:24] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, I have the gluten free breakfast sandwich. I had bacon on it. So I just, you know, push that to the side, but okay.
[00:11:31] Ray Latif: You actually threw it on the floor.
[00:11:32] Jacqui Brugliera: We saw you your, your sandwich. I have bacon hands right now.
[00:11:35] Ray Latif: Again, that's what an image bacon hands. Um, your sandwich, however, Jackie, Jackie bacon hands. Oh God.
[00:11:45] Jacqui Brugliera: Here we go.
[00:11:46] Ray Latif: Your sandwich, Jackie, looks like a bit of a bulky roll more than it does an English muffin, though. Is that right?
[00:11:52] Jacqui Brugliera: Yes. It's the gluten-free roll.
[00:11:55] Ray Latif: Gluten-free roll. OK. Does it taste as good as the quote-unquote real thing?
[00:12:00] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, I can't tell. It's deglutinated.
[00:12:02] Ray Latif: That's a good thing. Do you hear how much chewing is going on? I apologize listeners if you hear all this.
[00:12:10] John Craven: I feel like I'm next with this little tray that we made here. You made that. I did? I wanted to feel like I was next.
[00:12:18] Mike Schneider: How come you're not trying these, Ray?
[00:12:20] John Craven: I'm because I'm the one talking. He needs to sanitize everything.
[00:12:23] Ray Latif: Well, and I also have to talk while you guys are eating. Someone has to keep the show going. We can talk with food in our mouths. I'm not in favor of that. What about all the kids listening, you know?
[00:12:32] Jacqui Brugliera: These are their first on the go products, correct? Because they've only been doing like bread.
[00:12:37] Ray Latif: Yes. These are their first on the go products. And I'm surprised it's, you know, they're launching quite a bit all at once. They're all great. I like the bread, a lot of the sourdough.
[00:12:48] Mike Schneider: Been eating more than my fair share of that.
[00:12:51] Ray Latif: Yes, their bread in general is great. I think though, you know, we don't have the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches here, but I think though... It's a seed butter, right? Isn't it? It's possible it's a seed butter and I got that wrong, but their butter... And jelly sandwiches, I think might be, however, their biggest hit. I think that is the easiest thing to eat on the go, given that all you have to do is defrost it for an hour or just leave it in the fridge overnight. And you've got this great nutritious-ish sandwich that you can eat in your car or pack for your kids. And there you go.
[00:13:27] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, it's interesting that they chose to create a frozen version. I mean, Uncrustables are shelf-stable, but I think there's an association with that that it's not healthy.
[00:13:38] John Craven: They're also sold frozen though.
[00:13:39] Jacqui Brugliera: They're sold frozen?
[00:13:40] Ray Latif: They are. Yeah. Chubby Snacks as well. Chubby Snacks, the other Better For You, well, I guess the original Better For You Uncrustables, It's also sold frozen, and you've defrost those, but it doesn't I think in both cases.
[00:13:53] John Craven: They're defrosting times It's like 45 minutes to an hour all my kids like to eat them frozen really That would hurt my teeth, and they don't really freeze that solid because it's kind of processed stuff you know and I guess that's true, but whatever. I mean you know that's like a billion-dollar brand at this point so Uncrustables you're talking yes, okay? Yeah, not Rudy's just launched. No. I'm impressed. I thought you meant Chubby Snacks No, not Chubby Snacks either your kids eat uncrustables I mean one of them does the other ones at college.
[00:14:29] Ray Latif: I have no idea what the hell she eats I Guess you wouldn't unless you're paying for the meal plan and can find out like what you can check the receipts as itemized Creeper level yeah, but don't you know where she is via her iPhone?
[00:14:46] John Craven: I mean, I guess I could I don't tend to do that well You don't tend to but you could yeah, I mean my kids tend to do that to me more than the reverse Why would they do that? Mainly cuz they're like oh you're home do this for me.
[00:15:00] Ray Latif: Oh Moving right along how about this for a segue big news in hop flavored beverages as reported by brew bound Brooklyn Brewery has acquired a minority stake in hoplark the Boulder, Colorado based brand of non-alcoholic hop teas and former winner of the new beverage showdown The deal was announced as part of Hoplark's Series A funding round and is described as, quote, a comprehensive long-term strategic partnership. Fantastic news. That's cool. Congratulations to Dean Eberhardt and the team at Hoplark. You know, this news comes amid growing demand for hop-flavored elk alternative Beverage Brands a widening pool of brands and investors in the space, including Sierra Nevada's hop splash line, Hopwater, that's H-O-P-W-T-R, which is aligned with Constellation Brands. Lagunitas' Hoppy Refresher, Lagunitas being owned by Heineken, and Athletic Brewing's Daypack. Okay. Seems like there's a lot of people getting involved in this category, a lot of people interested in it, a lot of money going into this space, but still pretty early. So, John Craven, are you bullish? Would you say you're calling BS on hop drinks becoming say a billion-dollar category?
[00:16:11] John Craven: Well, I mean, I like hop seltzers about as much as Mike likes Honey Mama. So I'm probably a little biased I do too.
[00:16:17] Ray Latif: Yeah, they're awesome. Yeah Okay. Well, I mean I do too. I mean family party.
[00:16:26] SPEAKER_??: Oh
[00:16:26] John Craven: I very much like it positioned as a beer alternative as opposed to a, you know, seltzer that happens to be flavored with hops. Yeah, I replaced beer with those. They're so good. Yeah, I think, you know, it has two things going for it. I mean, one is that it is truly zero alcohol. You know, some consumers out there, there's been a little bit of a backlash of consumers who just cannot or do not want to have any alcohol whatsoever. And these are, you know, less than 0.5% non-alcoholic beers, that is. And the other thing that I think is probably more broadly compelling is just that they're generally zero calorie too. So Not a knock on non-alcoholic beer, but I think zero is something that certainly in beverage is widely understood, right? So it's pretty interesting to just think about the potential for these. You know and for me. I don't know I like to have them as sort of a I don't know if I'm gonna have a bunch of drinks Maybe have a you know a hoplark after you know as every second drink sort of thing your flex sober approach to I mean especially You know it hydrates you it still kind of tastes like you know beer if you're drinking beer sure oh
[00:17:40] Mike Schneider: And you've, you've got people who know how to brew beer who are making these now. And it's not just, you know, I just threw hops in some water. It's, it's really thoughtfully done. And you're seeing like all kinds of cool hop varietals being used, experimented with. I mean, getting, you know, Columbus and Mosaic and whatever hops you like are out there right now. Cause there's a lot of experimentation happening and they're all super tasty.
[00:18:09] Jacqui Brugliera: I think non-alcohol is still such a small percentage of beer sales. So just that category in general has a lot of growth opportunity. And I think a lot of people are drinking hot water because they're looking again for like zero calories. They're looking for something lighter. You can see all of even just beer going more towards lighter, lower ABV. So if you can have something that's, you know, zero calories, that is just like drinking water and you have zero guilt. Do you find it light when you drink it?
[00:18:42] Mike Schneider: I don't like I I feel like I get the same Satisfaction is when I have a beer without the impact like I depends on the product sure I think the hoplark stuff in particular day pack stuff as well both super well done and just for me can totally replace beer and
[00:19:02] Jacqui Brugliera: I think the mouthfeel and like the experience is not light, but I think like how you feel is lighter.
[00:19:10] Mike Schneider: I agree with that a hundred percent.
[00:19:12] Ray Latif: I also feel like it's more of an adult type of sparkling water seltzer, right? I mean, a lot of these sparkling water products out there are geared Get Some sort of fruit flavored drinking profile. The hop flavored drinks all have a sort of spicier or more savory Taste Radio I think can be paired with a lot more options for dinner and lunch. I think sometimes when I drink, I don't know, a grapefruit flavored seltzer, it really clashes with whatever I'm eating.
[00:19:47] John Craven: Yeah. I mean, I think at this point you've got a lot of variety. Like if you like fruit flavors, there's hop water. If you like, you know, Hoplux still got tea varieties and stuff that's, you know, more again, positioned straight, like beer. It'll be interesting to see where the category goes. I mean, obviously, the deal with Brooklyn Brewery is a bit of a nod that, you know, this is legit, right? Yeah.
[00:20:11] Ray Latif: So, I mean, you know, the validation, I think, was already there with Constellation Brands getting involved or investing in hot water. Sure. You know, Lagunitas getting into the space. And interestingly enough, it's all beverage alcohol companies that seem to be investing in the space. So.
[00:20:28] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah. And I think also there's the opportunity for like D2C and e-commerce with these brands that alcohol there isn't or it's more regulated. So I think that also creates opportunity for growth.
[00:20:42] Ray Latif: Definitely. At least, uh, you know, we've seen Athletic Brewing quite well with D2C. So interesting to see how much of that business is D2C. Do you see it becoming a billion dollar category, John Craven?
[00:20:52] John Craven: That's a tough question all right Well, we'll put a pin in that I mean I mean look I think you know I'm not I'm not Super Bullish Or the D to C side of it, but more I think the on-premise side of it that seems like a really untapped Market for this little pun intended Yeah, there you go at a time where I think you know On-premise is also trying to figure out like what to do with beer in general right you know there's sort of this shift more towards package away from draft, which might, just given that there's that uncertainty, make room for new NA brands to make their way in there, be it hop waters, NA beers, NA cocktails, I don't know, maybe even like premium CSD type things. So should be interesting.
[00:21:39] Ray Latif: Brooklyn Brewery acquiring a minority stake in Hoplark, a pretty big deal. A significantly bigger deal was also announced this week. And that is that Smuckers has acquired Hostess Brands, which is the maker of, among other brands, Twinkies. Your favorite snack, Ray? 5.6 billion dollars is the value of the deal. I, uh, no, Twinkies are not my favorite snack.
[00:22:05] Jacqui Brugliera: He's like, come on, you're just gonna let that go?
[00:22:06] Ray Latif: No, no, not gonna let that go. He's like, hey, you got me. Don't look at my trunk.
[00:22:10] Jacqui Brugliera: He just knows no one would believe that.
[00:22:12] Ray Latif: Look, you know what? I got a hand at the hostess folks. Twinkies are a very tasty snack. Not the best thing in the world for you, probably the worst thing in the world for you, if I'm being honest.
[00:22:23] John Craven: Not if you want to preserve your insides forever. I just had this random picture of you sitting on a couch with a menu kit, right? That's what you call it? Yes. Just shoving Twinkies in your mouth.
[00:22:36] Mike Schneider: That was right after the Arsenal match, I bet.
[00:22:39] John Craven: He's just like, screw it. I get it.
[00:22:41] Mike Schneider: Stress eating.
[00:22:42] John Craven: Twinkies.
[00:22:43] Brooklyn Brewery: Stress eating Twinkies.
[00:22:45] John Craven: Hooray. But in all seriousness, I think, you know, what's what's interesting with this particular deal, I mean, outside of, you know, just to reiterate, like billion dollar or multibillion dollar deals are, you know, rising tide floats the boat Get Some extent. You know, this is a brand in Hostess that was like dead a decade ago. I think there was literally a point where it was like that Choco Taco thing. It was like, go out and buy your last one. And I remember a friend of mine went out and like, you know, bought a couple of boxes of them. Like, it was like a contraband thing that you weren't going to be able to get, you know, jokes on, uh, jokes on them, I guess.
[00:23:23] Mike Schneider: The thing is, is if you bought those Twinkies 10 years ago, they'd still be fresh.
[00:23:27] Ray Latif: Uh, probably true. I think that's very true, Mike, actually.
[00:23:31] Mike Schneider: They're like 22 years.
[00:23:32] Ray Latif: You could leave those things out in the hot sun or in like frigid weather and they would still taste exactly the same. Yeah. Just one big cake of preservative, preservative cake, whatever you want to call it.
[00:23:46] Jacqui Brugliera: Yummy.
[00:23:47] Ray Latif: Yummy indeed. Now I believe that there is a better for you version of Twinkies out there, right? Of Hostess Cupcakes and Twinkies out there. I know of Hostess Cupcakes, there's a better for you version. I can't recall if there's one for Twinkies.
[00:24:02] John Craven: I don't know if it's possible. I mean, I've seen them like at one of the sort of bakeries in Boston definitely has done like a fake Twinkie. I don't know if it was flour or which one, but somebody definitely did that. But no package varieties.
[00:24:17] Mike Schneider: Are you confusing that with Pop-Tarts?
[00:24:19] John Craven: No, no, no. No. Well, I mean flower has done they have a what do they call their pop-tart? They have a Morioh. That's a fancy Oreo Somebody has definitely done this and yes, they have a pop-tart.
[00:24:30] Jacqui Brugliera: I'm trying to recreate old Favorites.
[00:24:33] Ray Latif: Yeah. Yeah with real ingredients. I laughed but I think Mike you might be right. I think it's impossible. I
[00:24:38] John Craven: Whereas I think making better for you pasta and making better for you pizza crust and better for you macaroni and cheese Okay, you guys let me blow your mind here a Twinkies just an upside-down sponge cake with some cream piped into it. This is not Not rocket surgery you could do this if you were you know washing your car And you just put some cream on your sponge and ate it.
[00:25:02] Mike Schneider: It's probably better for you.
[00:25:03] SPEAKER_??: Oh
[00:25:03] John Craven: This is the point in the show.
[00:25:05] Ray Latif: That's just take a nerf soccer ball kill off the outer inner mind anyway Oh, this is a point in the show called ruin Ray Segway Brought to you by John Craven Supported by Mike Schneider It's a new sponsor role segment by the way alright, so it's very difficult to make Twinkies taste like Twinkies right, okay, maybe we'll suspend disbelief Tetra pack The point I was trying to make is that a brand like Bonza has successfully recreated classic versions of some of the products and the foods that I mentioned, including pasta and pizza crust or frozen pizza, et cetera. They recently got into the frozen waffle business, more specifically the protein or the frozen protein waffle business. Jackie has some in her hand right now.
[00:26:00] Jacqui Brugliera: I heard my cue, so I have the perfect product placement.
[00:26:04] Ray Latif: It just took a while to get to that cue, but yes, go ahead.
[00:26:08] Jacqui Brugliera: Yes, but I picked up Bonza's new frozen protein waffles in my local Whole Foods. They're just rolling out in Whole Foods right now. So it's their latest product and they're entering into a new category. So they've never really touched breakfast. They have been in frozen with their frozen pizzas and that seems to be doing pretty well. So they went into another category and it's interesting because you're seeing a lot of other frozen waffles pop up now too.
[00:26:36] Mike Schneider: Sure.
[00:26:36] Jacqui Brugliera: But I think they're just trying to capitalize on their branding, introduce another protein, high protein, high fiber product. And the one thing amongst all their products is that it is chickpea based. So that's pretty simple.
[00:26:51] Mike Schneider: Are those toaster like Lego my Eggo style or are they more like the leash waffles from Belgian Boys?
[00:26:57] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, they're very similar to an Eggo. So you just pop it in the toaster. It's very simple.
[00:27:03] Ray Latif: I gotta tell ya, these look good, but I'm on their website, and they are pricey, to say the least. So three boxes, if you buy it directly from Bonza, is, drumroll please, $50. $35.99. $35.99.
[00:27:19] Mike Schneider: How much was it in Whole Foods?
[00:27:21] Ray Latif: $35.99. Could've been that much. She used the company credit card. It's fine. We'll find out later. Check the receipts on that one too.
[00:27:29] John Craven: You're shipping a frozen product, so I don't know if we should knock them for that.
[00:27:34] Ray Latif: Well, it's $12 a box. Yeah, but you probably need dry ice.
[00:27:37] John Craven: It's probably trying to tell you you should just go to Whole Foods and buy it. Don't do it. No, I mean, I you know, I like I have not tried this product, but I like the idea of brands that are looking at what's selling well in frozen goods and what's kind of ripe for disruption and Yeah, I mean, I don't know. Sure, we need better for you stuff like that. I mean, obviously there's other brands out there, but I mean, I think that's a pretty sick looking box. Have you tried it yet, Jackie?
[00:28:09] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, I did try it. They are very tasty. They taste like an Eggo, but like a better tasting Eggo.
[00:28:15] Mike Schneider: I'd eat it frozen. We have any?
[00:28:19] Jacqui Brugliera: No. Oh, darn it. Yeah. I think also just people look at Bonza and they know they make quality products, at least their pasta, their mac and cheese, their frozen pizzas are quality. So I think they associate that with the name. And then also their packaging just stands out anywhere, but especially in frozen, just, you know, a block of orange in the frozen aisle. And that honestly is what caught my eye.
[00:28:43] John Craven: Yeah, I mean, I think this is very similar to what Rudy's who we sampled earlier is trying to do to, you know, create a beautiful looking box, put it in a set that's, you know, needs a little, a little nudge for some cool new stuff.
[00:28:56] Ray Latif: Yeah. I mean, yeah, you bring up a good point because that box that you just did hold up, you could see from 20 feet away. Now that should be 20 feet away from opening a freezer aisle door. But it is a good looking package. And I'm sure people will pick it up and want to know more. We actually recorded an interview, I recorded an interview with Brian Rudolph, who is the co-founder and CEO of Bonza about five years ago. And it's one of the best quotes I think that we've ever had on Taste Radio. And I'll get to the quote in a sec, but basically he was talking about how he developed a lot of Bonza's early retail relationships and they came from cold outreach. And what he said was, you'd be surprised that you can call the headquarters of a retailer and say, who's the buyer for XYZ? And you'll find out and you'll just leave them a voicemail. But the key part of that discussion was when he said, of course, be polite, but be polite and be relentless. So make sure that you get a hold of that person. Make sure that, you know, that person knows about your brand and hears your pitch one way or the other, but just be polite when you're doing it. Always good advice.
[00:30:08] Jacqui Brugliera: And I think also just retail relationships are super important when you're launching into another category, because they're launching just in Whole Foods right now, and they have their products in other categories within their stores. Another frozen waffle that is launching is Brazi Bites, and they're launching in Sprouts. So it's just interesting to see where products roll out, and their frozen waffles are based on TikTok trends, so they actually have a cheesy frozen waffle.
[00:30:35] Mike Schneider: I was gonna say, are they pizza waffles? They have to be pizza waffles, right?
[00:30:39] Ray Latif: Well the the Brazi Bites is known for their Brazilian cheese bites. They do have their piece of I forget how they describe it, but a cheesy waffle that Obviously, that's for me. They made that specifically for me. You know so yeah, it's called the ray waffle. Hey waffle What do you sit down in junk?
[00:30:57] John Craven: I'm gonna call one over here. No I This is cha cha, which is from the fine folks at Better Booch I have to step in here right because this is my time when I say CHA is how yes the brand name is spelled yes the letter C as in car is the Chinese word for TH is in helicopter and I don't know. Yeah, something or other but anyway, um These are their new line of sparkling pretty bad at keys. They've got a couple flavors. This one's a yerba mate I think they're so hibiscus. I think there's a green tea and a white tea Variety you've got the green tea the tropical green tea there. Oh, geez. I don't even know what I'm drinking But anyway, yeah, this is pretty tasty stuff. Hmm. I think it's only 10 calories organic Apparently, yeah So yeah, Better Booch branching out. I like it. Cool looking package.
[00:31:51] Mike Schneider: My only piece of feedback for the can, because it does stand out, and I like the, I think the flavor callouts are pretty cool. I just wanted to know how much caffeine's in each of the flavors, because I was like, hibiscus, ginger, lime, maybe no caffeine, and green tea probably has a bunch, and white tea sometimes has caffeine, sometimes doesn't. It's a little confusing.
[00:32:07] John Craven: Well, hibiscus, ginger, lime, first ingredient is brewed white tea, so... Right. Possibly some caffeine in there gonna go with yes.
[00:32:14] Ray Latif: Yeah, so unknown right don't know haven't read the fine print I Just like to call it of two grams of sugar on the front of I would even make that a little bit bigger because that's what people Are also looking for on these on these products. Yeah, I It's not a lot. Not a lot. Yeah. So pretty tasty. What are you sipping with your truffle treats? Honey Mama's truffle treats.
[00:32:34] Mike Schneider: I haven't really sipped anything yet, but I've Get Some all day super fruit soda over here, lightly caffeinated with cascara super fruit and 11 grams of
[00:32:43] John Craven: Sugar so soda and give it a shot very nice all days a Rebrand by the way yeah from well. I'm sorry it was all day It's still all day, but it had more of like a cold brew coffee kind of vibe It was very much focused.
[00:32:59] Mike Schneider: Yeah, and it was like in a regular 12 ounce can yeah, right they laid off the cascara, which I think is a super smart move and
[00:33:07] Ray Latif: Stacey yeah, super good looking soda. I think that's a better description positioning than Kaskara Seltzer or whatever it had well.
[00:33:17] Mike Schneider: Yeah, what do you guys Garrett once you lead with that?
[00:33:19] Ray Latif: It just confuses everybody yeah, make sure you try the ginger one, too. Oh Great to have Ryan McDonald come to the office to drop these off. He's the co-founder and CEO of Allday. As a reminder, we always welcome founders and entrepreneurs to the office. If you're going to be in the Boston area, going to be in the San Diego area, let us know. Send us a note to askatasteradio.com. What is that?
[00:33:42] Mike Schneider: This is from RSRV Collective. This is a non-alcoholic cocktail. RSRV Kensho cocktail. This one's called Botanica. 50 calories, 13 grams of sugar. It is a non-alcoholic cocktail. Going to give it a shot. Fire it up. You were saying before that the hot flavored seltzers have like that adult flavor about them. And this definitely has that too. You start off with, um, I mean, the lime just takes over from the get go. So, you know, that's going to be challenging. And then, uh, yeah, it, it, uh, it's just carbonated water, cane sugar, lime juice, concentrate and natural flavors, but it has a lot of complex flavors, like you'd expect in a cocktail. So I like it.
[00:34:31] Ray Latif: Huh. Complexity is key to a good cocktail, I would say.
[00:34:35] Mike Schneider: Yeah. Botanica is a good name for this too. It's very floral.
[00:34:39] John Craven: I like it.
[00:34:40] Ray Latif: Unless you're having a mimosa.
[00:34:41] John Craven: I was gonna say, unless you were drinking your weekly mudslide, Ray, but, you know. I was just thinking about a mudslide, actually. It goes great with Twinkies.
[00:34:50] Mike Schneider: Anybody speak French? Because I don't know how to pronounce this next brand.
[00:34:53] Ray Latif: Let me see this. Boost. Boost. Boosté. Boost.
[00:34:59] John Craven: I don't know if it's boosté. Boosté. Anyway, it's energy. I mean, it is a Canadian product, in fairness.
[00:35:04] Mike Schneider: In Chinese, it would be boosté. Sparkling energy water.
[00:35:08] Ray Latif: Which would mean boost drink. Uh, good packaging. I feel like this, if I saw this in a grocery store or convenience store, I would want to know more for sure.
[00:35:17] Mike Schneider: It's 100 milligrams of caffeine, 75 milligrams of L-theanine. It's zero cal. I mean, I'm assuming it's supposed to be an energy drink. Let's have a taste. Sparkling energy water. Yeah. It's tasty. I have the passion mango. Yeah. It's, it tastes like a seltzer. It's a caffeinated water sort of product.
[00:35:37] Jacqui Brugliera: I feel like we're seeing more caffeine combined with L-theanine, just so people don't crash and they have a more mellow caffeine experience. And also that's just what's in tea.
[00:35:50] Mike Schneider: Yes.
[00:35:51] Ray Latif: I just love the color at the top of the can, which in French is caffeine naturelle. So natural caffeine, but it sounds better in French. Caffeine naturelle. I'm butchering all this.
[00:36:04] John Craven: I apologize to everyone who actually speaks French. We'd like to apologize to the entire French-speaking population and all Canadians for the previous segment.
[00:36:12] Mike Schneider: I want you to say sparkling energy water in French. Say it. Come on, Ray.
[00:36:17] Ray Latif: Do you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to post an apology on Twitter. How about that? Oh boy. I'm sorry. X. X. X-pology. X-pology. All right, it's time to get to our featured interview for this episode. As I mentioned at the top of the show, Adam Crocini is a senior vice president and the Global Head of Food and Beverage Brands for Hilton. A five-year veteran of the hotel chain, Adam has been at the forefront of enhancing Hilton's Food and Beverage offerings across its 7,000 properties, which span 122 countries and territories. His strategy guides everything from partnerships with Michelin-starred chefs to grab-and-go pantries. In the following interview, I spoke with Adam about how Hilton has navigated a post-COVID shift in guest expectations for Food and Beverage, how local and artisanal brands factor into its strategy, and how interest for low and no-alcohol beverages impact its bar menus and in-room drink options. Hey, folks, it's Ray with Taste Radio. Right now, I'm honored to be sitting down with Adam Crocini, who is the Senior Vice President and Global Head of Food and Beverage Brands at Hilton. Adam, great to see you. Nice to see you as well. Thanks for having me. Yeah, I will fully admit to having looked at your Hilton bio on the website to read your entire title, because it's a long one. There's a lot that goes on in your life, I'm sure, as it relates to your work at Hilton.
[00:37:49] Hostess Brands: Yeah, I think that's pretty fair to say. 22 brands across the globe, everything from focused and all sweet brands to our luxury and lifestyle brands. So it's a full time job to say the least.
[00:38:02] Ray Latif: Yeah. Talk about your role, because again, you have a lot to cover. You have a lot on your plate. There's so many different properties. You know, what is your primary responsibility?
[00:38:12] Hostess Brands: Yeah, so my primary responsibility in the team that works with me is to really lead the strategic development of all Food and Beverage products, programs and experiences across those 22 brands. And so that ranges everything from our prototypical Food and Beverage experiences that you would find in a Hampton or true or home with sweets for breakfast is included and consistent across all of Hostess Brands all the way to bespoke work that we do in creating concepts and narratives and experiences on property and our full service luxury and lifestyle brands.
[00:38:52] Ray Latif: I think across the board, customers and hotel guests are looking for premium options, but premium options that are accessible and affordable in most cases. And that convergence of premiumization and accessibility seems to be a challenging one, or it seems like it could be a challenging one for operators to navigate. How does that convergence impact global Food and Beverage strategy for Hilton?
[00:39:21] Hostess Brands: Yeah, I think it's a good point. What we've seen from our research, Ray, post-pandemic, where for two and a half plus years, people were home, you know, knee-deep watching Masterclass, taking in Food Network shows, having to cook for themselves, that premiumization of product has come off of that because now people are much more knowledgeable about the food products that they're purchasing or they're cooking for themselves at home. knowledgeable about cuisines, types, and styles. And so what we've taken from that research and understanding that that's where our customers are, we've worked hard to try to kind of set things up, if you will, across the brands from Hampton all the way to Waldorf Astoria. By finding higher quality products, less is more done better was an approach we took coming out of the pandemic. Streamlining our offerings, finding ways to improve on quality over quantity. And because we're finding as a result that people are really appreciating the fact that this has been our strategy. They're noticing the fact that we're using a higher quality product in the offering for breakfast. or in our retail, we find an incredible impact by changing out a lot of those products in our retail or what we call grab and go markets and adding premium products, things that are really relevant to the consumer and the today's modern day, lower in calorie, better for you, freshly prepared products. that are moving the needle from a sales perspective, but also from customer satisfaction, because people are looking for that premium product now. And so we're finding ways to weave it in across the board, from breakfast programming to our retail marketplace.
[00:41:08] Ray Latif: As someone who is sort of a Food and Beverage Brands and been in this industry a long time, one of my favorite things to do is to go to a grab-and-go pantry at a hotel and see what they have. I often look for offerings that I'm not familiar with, typically small local artisanal brands that are just really interesting, but just don't have a lot of distribution. How do those local artisanal brands fit into your strategy for grabbing going for kitchen pantries?
[00:41:38] Hostess Brands: Yeah, and they fit in in a big way, actually, because we are now rolling out with the success that we had after doing a large-scale beta test on some of these new products. We tested over 100 new SKUs and Homewood Suites that were going into our retail. We saw incredible success. We rolled that out and brand standardized that for every single Homewood Suites in the United States. We're following that principle and we're going to continue to standardize grab and go products at all of our brands. But we leave about 20% of the available merchandising space for localization. We think it's important that we still, even though you're in a grab and go market, you want those things that are comfort foods or things that you snack on or introduce maybe things that are new interests and some things that you're unfamiliar with maybe before. But also from a local point of view, our guests are, this is the travel business and this is hospitality. And when you land in a certain market, you want to maybe taste the flavors of that particular community. That could be from going down to Savannah and having local peach jams that are showcased inside of the Grab and Go, or maybe it's a local craft beer. that's produced within that community as well. We think that's an important aspect of travel as people learn to discover the community in the area in which they're traveling to. So we make sure that we're allowing that 20% of the retail product offering to be up to the general manager or the management company of that marketplace to program as they see fit and to their knowledge base about what's great in that community.
[00:43:17] Ray Latif: How often are those review cycles happening where you are looking at that 20% that you currently have in a particular grab-and-go area and saying, okay, now's the time to bring in some new products or brands?
[00:43:30] Hostess Brands: This past two years we've been really working diligently on the retail component and the grab and go. We really wanted to give it a lot of focus, obviously it was an area that was highly utilized by guests during the pandemic that were staying in our hotels because so many places were closed. And then when we started digging into it, we just didn't feel really good about the kind of products that we were offering our guests. We didn't think it was responsible of us to offer products that were typically maybe enjoyed by many, but maybe not the best for you. And so we really kind of took that lens of being better for you and healthier as well as current. We now have a full team stood up here at Hilton that just focuses on retail. And so every single year, we will go back and review each brands. We review them quarterly to see what products are moving, what products aren't moving. Are there opportunities to try new products in certain markets? We're constantly receiving samples from vendors to look at and examine to see whether or not it's the right fit. And so we always look to continue to reinvent ourselves. We do it on a quarterly basis. On a yearly basis, we think about what the plans are for next year, you know, look at the data and say, OK, we need to go back and revisit this this year and make sure we're upgrading these products or giving our guests new experiences.
[00:44:57] Ray Latif: Within that team, are they forging, to use that word, are they looking for products to bring in? Or do the vendors that you mentioned, are they the ones that, is that inbound kind of inquiry into how to get into your hotels? Is that where more of the traction is coming from in placement of these products and brands?
[00:45:17] Hostess Brands: I would say it's a little bit of both. However, our team is comprised of, you know, real foodies. And when they're out in their personal life or at the grocery store, or they're traveling to a different market, they're finding items, they're buying them, they're tasting them, they're bringing them back here and be like, hey, we should look at this. And we try it, we eat it, we all eat a lot here. And, you know, we say, you know what, this is maybe, this is something we should definitely try and put it. I mean, there might be certain markets where it works well at, in certain markets it doesn't. So we know our customers, we know where our hotels are, we know it moves the needle in certain markets. So we're constantly kind of taking it from both sides. People send in their products and we're out there foraging and kind of trying to look for all the next best item to introduce to our guests.
[00:46:09] Ray Latif: One more question about those inbound inquiries. Is there a formal process? Is there something on the Hilton website where, say, someone says, hey, I think my brand would be a great fit for your grab and go areas or for the in-room snack offerings? I mean, how does that process work?
[00:46:27] Hostess Brands: Yeah, I don't think that there's any, to be quite clear, I don't think that there's any formal process. It usually just ends up with big boxes at my front door, full of snacks and water, bagels, or I mean, you name it. We see everything come across our front door here. I think that's probably the path that people have chosen because, you know, probably going through more of a process would be probably more time consuming, I think.
[00:46:53] Ray Latif: Yeah, well, sometimes opening up those boxes is fun. It's like Christmas, you know, you don't know what you're going to get. And then sometimes those products and those beverages or there's food and those beverages are really, really delicious. And then I guess you can make that call as to whether or not they belong in those areas. I know you have emphasized and you've prioritized breakfast as an important part of Hilton's offerings. And I wonder how branded items fit into your breakfast areas, whether it's self-service or otherwise.
[00:47:23] Hostess Brands: Yeah, it's a good point. We've looked at this quite strategically over the last few years coming out of COVID. We kind of reinvented and reimagined, I would say, all of our breakfast programs for our focus and all sweet brands where breakfast is included. And we looked at opportunities to say, should we be bringing in a branded partner to help elevate the breakfast experience? You know, I think that the results were kind of flat in the customer surveys that we did as to whether or not that would really drive them to stay per se, rather than the more concerned with quality of items and variety of items on the buffet that we serve in the morning. We have some areas where we are doing this, you know, in our new brand Spark that's going to be opening its first hotel here in Mystic, Connecticut in just a few weeks. We have Just Bagels, which is a bagel company out of New York. They make a really high q that is fabulous and indi controlled and wrapped in New York bagel. It's got quality and it is a brand emerging in different mark using them and we're usin And Folgers has kind of reinvented their brand and kind of speaking to a new younger audience. And so given the positioning of Spark, we have a beautiful bagel bar with just bagels, Philadelphia cream cheese, and Smucker's jellies. And so there's areas sometimes where we have some placement of brands that kind of help to leverage the quality. But I would say generally, we focus on just the product itself and if that should coincide with a brand, fantastic. If it doesn't, we're doing that, white labeling it ourselves, then as long as it's a good quality product, I think that that's the most important aspect to us.
[00:49:17] Ray Latif: Again, we mentioned and we talked about premium and quality offerings being very desirable to consumers. Often I hear from entrepreneurs that sustainability is really important to consumers as well. But I feel like that might be more on the grocery store front than it would be, say, in a hotel or in the hotel industry. Is that the case or are your customers, your guests, asking for and demanding more sustainable products out of their Food and Beverage offerings?
[00:49:48] Hostess Brands: You know, to be honest, we don't see a lot of our guests asking that specific question. I think people are more focused on from what we've seen from our on kind of in the same vein, I guess, to a certain extent, not necessarily sustainable, but maybe more organic, better for you in the quality of the products, cage-free eggs that we use here at Hilton, appropriately sourced. fish, meat, and vegetables. We promote that when and where we have those products in play. So it's more about that aspect of, I guess, kind of under that umbrella of sustainable, properly sourced, farmed, rather than sustainable products in the, maybe the disposable things, things like that. So more towards the growth the farming, the agriculture, the fishing, we see maybe people more leaning into that and appreciative of it, not necessarily demanding of it.
[00:50:54] Ray Latif: One category where we've seen significant change in evolution is in beverage alcohol. And it seems like there are people who are looking to reduce their consumption, but also drink better quality products. How has this evolution in beverage alcohol affected Food and Beverage strategy for Hilton? And maybe I'm off track here, but I guess what have you seen in terms of that shift?
[00:51:22] Hostess Brands: Yeah, I mean, listen, and again, kind of coming off of COVID, where I think people had some self-reflection about how they live their life, how they take care of themselves. We saw an immediate impact in them, as I mentioned before, by putting better, higher quality products for you that were better for you in our retail marketplace, the interest in better quality products that are better for you in our buffet areas. But then that pattern has carried on to the drinking space. We are seeing people looking for those low ABV products, both in the retail space, like your canned seltzers, the big movement in seltzers, lower alcohol than most beers and many of those canned seltzers. And, you know, what started off I think was White Claw and Truly, now there's probably 200 different types of seltzers if you go to a liquor store. And those are just lower in alcohol for you, lower in calorie consumption. And so that was part of, I think, that that has stabilized a little bit of the movement there. But as you go into the spirited world and you're looking at the cocktail programs, we saw a real interest in this and from our consumers to the point where when we launched our newest brand, Tempo, which is really a brand that was catered around young professionals that are really in tune with the rhythm of their life and they wanted to make sure that they were able to carry that rhythm of their life from their workouts in their morning to what they had in their breakfast experience and why we partnered with Blue Stone Lane because they wanted that fresh healthy product offering. But then in the evening when they returned back to the hotel they may want to alternate their cocktail with a what we call free spirited cocktail. So Tempo as a brand actually their entire strategy for the beverage program is spirited and free spirited. So where we offer you know a selection of handcrafted cocktails you can have the identical cocktail with no alcohol. It tastes the same, it looks the same, and it's garnished the same. And it's in the same presentation that the guest would have. And so you can mix as a guest at a bar and feel very comfortably doing that in a social setting and move from one cocktail to the next without anybody really noticing the difference, but you're actually enjoying it in the flavor profile, but without the alcohol.
[00:53:47] Ray Latif: Are these cocktails that are well known or are they traditional cocktails like say a Manhattan or Negroni or are they created by Hilton mixologists?
[00:53:56] Hostess Brands: They're created by Hilton mixologists, but they're riffs, if you will, on things that are maybe more familiar with people like margaritas and Palomas. And so there are drinks that will be familiar in their tastes. And we use that as a selling tool when we're talking to our guests. Yeah, these are handcrafted. They're unique to the Tempo brand done by Hilton mixologists. And they might be similar to a margarita, might be similar to you for a Paloma. And so when we're speaking with the guests, we will sometimes use that as we're describing the cocktails. But when people enjoy them, I think they'll find that level of familiarity with our own unique twists.
[00:54:35] Ray Latif: How has this shift and demand for lower ABV and quote unquote better for you alcohol options impacted the selection inside your hotel mini bars?
[00:54:50] Hostess Brands: So, you know, Hotel Mini Bars is an interesting space and we really see Hotel Mini Bars in the luxury and lifestyle space more than anything else. Most of our full-service brands have really kind of done away with mini bars, I would say, and most of the mini bar offering that was in your room is now being represented inside of those retail markets. Like I said, we're really kind of double-clicking on the retail grab-and-go space, offering a larger variety and quality of products. But, you know, in the mini bars, we were doing in our luxury hotels, we're doing handcrafted cocktails in a bottle. We're offering Liars as an example in some of our mini bars, which has a phenomenal selection of handcrafted cocktails that are spirit free or free spirit, as we like to say here at Hilton. And so when and where possible, we do try to incorporate that same approach, usually left up to the regional management teams of those hotels, understanding their market, understanding their consumer. But we do try to represent it in all of our retail markets for certain.
[00:56:01] Ray Latif: And when it comes to traditional non-alcoholic beverages, is it the same sort of approach where, you know, it's sort of a nuanced kind of take on what's already available on the market? I mean, I guess what I'm asking is, if folks are looking for a different, better-for-you option than, say, a full-calorie, full-sugared soda, are those increasingly appearing in those hotel mini bars, in those snack areas inside the rooms?
[00:56:31] Hostess Brands: 100%. I mean that strategy, the product, we know where the consumer is moving, we know that they don't want just a selection of Kit Kats and Snickers and things like that, that you used to find. Where now we're offering, you know, Boom Chica Pop or Smart Pop and again, where you're literally cutting the calories in half. There are organic products, they're responsibly sourced. And so we are seeing that as part of the supplements too, or the replacement of some of those products. So that strategy is kind of carrying through and you'll find that in most of our brands across the board.
[00:57:08] Ray Latif: To be fair, and just to be clear, I do love a Snickers bar. And when I get into a hotel room and see that Snickers bar after a long day, I'll definitely reach for that. And occasionally the old Toblerone is just a mainstay for hotels. I mean, you got to have a Toblerone in your room at all times.
[00:57:25] Hostess Brands: I think that that's fair and why we've also we've left those kind of those key items that we know people are looking for we're not saying that we've taken away all the snickers or all the Doritos but we didn't need to have eight types of Doritos we only need maybe two. And then the rest, you know, we're supplementing again with different options that fit into those same categories. And honestly, what we're seeing is the sale of what were those classic snack items like your Snickers or your Doritos have honestly fallen to the bottom of our sales mix, where majority of our sales are actually all of these newer products that we put on the shelf that are better for you, higher quality and more unique in their offering.
[00:58:11] Ray Latif: When you do have Hostess Brands available in those grab and go areas inside the room, is it helpful for the brands or do you work with brands to promote the fact that they are available in Hilton properties? Is there a social strategy? Is it more on the brand side of things? Is there a collaboration about, you know, how that relationship works or the fact that these products are at least available in your properties?
[00:58:38] Hostess Brands: We've not really taken a large scale marketing approach to this yet other than just speaking about the fact that our retail offering has been upgraded to really not only have what you forgot at home potentially as essentials, but also that the retail market, when people walk into it, the way we merchandise it at the property level, is with these new packages and these new products, the look and the feel, if you will, it's fresh, it's bright, the way that the packages are being labeled and colored, and then all what we've done too is provided our hotels with what we call new merchandising solutions. So when the guest walks in, they can see all of the products, they can visually see them, all of the facings of the products as we say, and by brand, have some association and representation that these are definitely an upgrade from where they were before. They were in one of those hotels before and they walked in today. I think that there would be surprise and delight. The look of it, the merchandising of it, the way it's been packaged. I think as we continue to build out the retail strategy across all of our brands, We'll start looking at how we maybe market them or communicate about them more broadly. But for now, it's being done at the brand level. And for the guests, when they walk into the lobby of the hotel and they see that beautifully new merchandise retail shop with products of the real interest to them or how they shop and live their life at home, then that's where we're seeing the connection.
[01:00:16] Ray Latif: Yeah, and I mentioned this because typically when I'm flying a particular airline, and you open up that, you know, Food and Beverage menu, and you see some of those branded items, you're like, Oh, great, I'm really happy I'm flying this airline. Now, I'm not going to choose my airline solely based on their Food and Beverage options. But it definitely might move the needle in one direction or the other, if they are essentially the same option.
[01:00:39] Hostess Brands: It's the customer satisfaction scores that we're seeing where people are taking time to openly comment in our surveys about the products that they found, about how happy that they were, what surprise and delight it was for them to walk into our sweet shop at Homewood Sweets, as an example, and find these products that are organic, that are better for you. And as a parent, that's being able to Chubby Snacks for their kids that are in this space as well. To us, that means more than anything, that our guests are satisfied with the strategy that we're implementing and that it's really moving the needle on their customer satisfaction. Because if our guests are happy, then the probability of them returning back to our hotel or telling a friend is worth more than anything to us.
[01:01:30] Ray Latif: Adam, this has been such a great conversation. Before I let you go, I gotta ask for our listeners who are wondering, hey, you know, Adam's probably been all over the world. I'm sure he has some favorite places in the world to stay, obviously at a Hilton property, but if you could recommend a city that, say, the average person maybe not have visited, what would it be?
[01:01:53] Hostess Brands: Well, let's see, my favorite city destination, I would say internationally, would be Tokyo. We have some incredible hotels there, and the Food and Beverage scene and culture in Japan is, I think to me, one of the best in the world. It's a totally accessible place to visit. I think most Americans are somewhat fine, maybe going to Japan, somewhat daunting. But to be honest with you, it's an incredible place to visit. Our teams and all of our hotels, there'll be Hilton's or Conrad's, make it very comfortable and warm and inviting for you to visit. And we have great Food and Beverage experiences at those properties. So that would probably be my go-to, I would say, from a city location. And from a resort location, there's nothing better than the Waldorf Astoria Maldives. It's one of the best hotels in the world, globally, and I think it's got one of the best Food and Beverage programs that we offer internationally. And then domestically, I would say, stay tuned for the new Conrad Orlando. We are going to have two bars represented each by two world's 50 best bartenders. Giancarlo Mancino from Mancino Vermouth is going to be doing our spritz bar in our Italian concept. And then we have Paul McGee, one of the world's most preeminent mixologists in the Polynesian cocktail culture, that's going to be doing our Papaya Club, which is a Polynesian tiki-inspired cocktail bar that we're kind of hearkening back to Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic and going to be doing Poo Poo Platters and such. So two world's 50 best bars, bartenders championing two different bar experiences at the Conrad Orlando. So that will be kind of one to watch in the next couple of months.
[01:03:39] Ray Latif: Outstanding. Well, I have been to your Conrad property in Las Vegas and I'm forgetting what floor it was on. The bar, I think it's on the 54th floor. That's right. It's pretty remarkable. So kudos on that bar and that property in general is just spectacular. So if the Orlando property is going to be anything like that, then I'm looking forward to visiting that one as well.
[01:04:02] Hostess Brands: Well, we look forward to having you and thanks for having me.
[01:04:05] Ray Latif: Yeah. Adam, once again, thanks so much for taking the time. Really appreciate it. And let's stay in touch.
[01:04:10] Hostess Brands: Will do. Appreciate it. Thanks so much.
[01:04:12] Ray Latif: Thank you. 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.
[01:05:05] Brooklyn Brewery: you
