Hello, friends, and thanks for tuning into Taste Radio, the number one podcast for anyone building a business in food or beverage. I'm Ray Latif, the editor and producer of Taste Radio, and I'm with my co-hosts, John Craven, Melissa Traverse, and Mike Schneider. In this episode, we recap Taste Radio's raucous Austin meetup, explore how beverage founders can get their products into the hands of the industry's most influential tastemakers, and examine how a fast-growing french fry brand differentiated itself as a premium player in a commodity category and landed a $10 million Series A round.
We also feature an interview with Better Sour co-founders Bella Hughes and Samira Nikou, who discuss the company's latest brand extension and how it's designed to strengthen its presence at major retailers, including Whole Foods. I don't wanna let the cat too far out of the bag, because we have this wonderful interview with Bella and Semira.
But I've got some samples of their new products here with me in the studio, and I figure Mike and I have tried these. Yeah. But John and Melissa... melissa you had a bag. You gave me a bag, and I actually housed it while I was packing up to leave from the Taste Radio event in Austin, Texas. Now, we have it in every flavor, right?
We've had- Nobody shares anything with me. So let me set the stage here. So we met up with Semira Nikou, who's one of the co-founders of Better Sour, in Austin while we were down there for the Taste Radio Austin meetup. At a coffee shop. At a coffee shop that was closed. Yeah. So we met with her in the parking lot.
Genius planning again. And she shared with us the... It's a long story, but anyway. It was close for Cinco de Mayo. Exactly. We didn't know. No one knew. But she shared with us samples of their new line, which is made with real cane sugar, and so they have three varieties, mango, lychee, and watermelon yuzu.
And this is a big step for the brand, because in the past, their sweetener deck was primarily focused on allulose. And allulose is a non-nutritive sweetener that allows you to have that wonderful sweet flavor, yet with a low caloric content and a lower sugar count. The real sugar line allows them to get into places like Whole Foods.
Which one do you want, John? I'm gonna go mango. Mango. Mango is my favorite. There's a reason that you didn't get any, John, because the tradition, and it was an accidental tradition, is that once Samira hands me a bag and tells me about the new product, it's gone before she's done describing it. Yeah.
Sorry. Sorry about that, bro. Yes. Stay tuned for the interview with Bella and Samira. It's a great one. And of course, thank you to everyone that we saw in Austin, Texas for the meetup. I had just a fantastic time. Nutrabolt headquarters was the venue. And man, what an office they have. It's just- Amazing
the first floor- Is a wonderland for CPG and a wonderland for people who want to just live better. They have a gym that resembles a Goals gym. It's a state-of-the-art type Goals gym. They have a pro- A boxing ring. They have a pretty nice level, man. I beat the ever-living crap out of Mike in that ring.
There you go. He's "I can throw down." I'm surprised I'm even here. I can't even see. My eyes are still swollen shut. They have a, seems like a pro practice basketball court. They have- Then I was draining threes over you. You were raining threes over me. Could not stop me. Yes, could not stop you.
That's a, that's like almost a Premier League level training facility. You could fit your entire first squad, second squad, and academy in that and train at the same time. That is insane. You could. And they have athletes in there all the time training in their offices. It was a good time.
Yes. They have a Pilates studio. I don't know what those Pilates machines called. They had a whole room full of these Pilates machines. The Transformer? No. The, no, Reformer. Reformer. Reformer. Yeah, the Transformer. They're more than meets the eye. It is a Transformer. Yeah. Sure is. It's also- It was right next to the Face Off machine.
It's also a torture chamber. Face Off. And there was, I don't know what you would call it, like a healing center where they had IV drips, they had- Of C4 ... UV light. Yeah. Yeah, of C4. Of C4. Geez, that's funny. But anyway, they had an amphitheater that we didn't use because we didn't need it, but it was just fantastic being there and I think all the attendees had a nice time kinda checking the place out.
Shout out to Ryan, Sarah, and the entire team at Nutrabolt for having us. Rory, Melissa. The hosts were fantastic there, too. They were giving us a little history of the building and a tour, and they just encouraged us to use the space as much as we wanted to. They even had a La Marzocco machine there. I think they might've let me- They wouldn't let you
step behind. They had a b- Oh ... they had a barista. I think they might've let me if I asked. No, they have a barista there every morning. Yeah. I think it was from 7:00 to 11:00, so- But it was closed 'cause, the coffee time was over, but I'm pretty confident they would've let me step back there.
Yes. Of course, huge thanks to Nutrabolt, and huge thanks to our national partners for the Taste Radio meetups, Vibrant Ingredients, Belay Solutions, and The Angel Group. Thank you so much. And of course, thank you so much to our partners for the New York City meetup and the Austin meetup, NextFoods, the maker of Good Belly and Cheribundi, and Corner Market Communications, Megan Kelleher and the team, the nicest people in the world, and working with some of the best brands in the food and beverage industry.
So really appreciate their support. Stay tuned for interviews with Jason Cantelli, who is the chief commercial officer of Nutrabolt, Meghan Kelleher, the founder and CEO of Corner Market Communications, Mark Seguin, who's the CEO of NextFoods, and Erica Tam, the SVP of brand for Bloom. She had a great story.
All coming. She did. All those interviews coming to you in an upcoming episode of Taste Radio. And I know that's a lot of information that we just threw at you, and you're thinking should I reach out to some of those sponsors to, maybe have a question that they could answer?" The answer is yes Tell 'em we sent you Absolutely.
Vibrant Ingredients, Belay Solutions. and The Angel Group, you got ingredient suppliers, you got investors. And Belay Solutions, Melissa, is? They are an outsourced accounting firm. There you go. So if you need help in any one of those areas, and I know most people need help in investment , reach out to any one of our partners.
If you don't know how to reach out to them just send us an email at ask@tasteradio.com. We will point you in the right direction. And we'll leave the light on for you. Absolutely. And thanks to Celzo, which is a beverage brand ... whose jersey Mike is sporting right now. This is the first time he hasn't worn Arsenal- I know
in the studio. Thank you, Celzo. Yeah. Giving us a freaking break for once. Yeah. Are those pelicans on your shirt? I think so. Oh, nice. These are... these are phenomenal football kits. They're getting ready for the World Cup and- Yeah ... making some amazing agua frescas. Yeah, among the many brands that we're sampling at the event was Celzo, which is described as the world's first functional agua fresca.
Hope to see those guys at BevNET Live, which is coming up. That was super tasty stuff. It was, and I wanna see more of it at BevNET Live, which is happening- On June 10th and 11th, on June 10th and 11th in- In New York City ... in New York City, the hub of the universe. Is that Brooklyn? It's all New York City.
Hub of the universe. Yeah. The hub is actually considered Boston. Boston's the hub, dude. Yeah. Yet no one calls it the hub. It's the Big Apple. Yeah, Big Apple, bro. Come on. The Big Apple. It's all happening. Empire State. Less than a month away. And this is what I want us to talk about, right?
We have so many folks join us for episodes of Elevator Talk, which is our bimonthly series that highlights early-stage and disruptive brands from across food and beverage. In every episode, I talk about the importance of building awareness for your brand. There are so many new brands that launch every single year in the food and beverage industry, and one of the biggest problems is getting people to know you exist, getting the kind of awareness, getting the eyeballs that you need to have just to get your brand off the ground, to let retailers, investors, distributors, and just the industry as a whole know that you're out there, and know that you're trying to make a difference via your products.
And so one of the best ways to do so is to be at BevNET Live sampling your products, and we have an outstanding opportunity for early-stage brands to do just that via our cooler. So if you attend BevNET Live, you have an opportunity to sample your products in those coolers. And I don't know how many times I've talked to attendees, whether they're investors, a retail buyer, or a distributor, and say "Hey Ray, have you seen this product?"
I'm like, "Yeah, they're new here." And they're like, "This is fantastic. I want, I w- I wanna invest in this brand. I wanna carry this brand. I wanna sell this brand." And so just being in the cooler gives you an opportunity to be exposed to so many of the gatekeepers in our business, because they're all at BevNET Live.
It's 19,426 times. That's how many times you've told brands that they can do that. I don't know- Well done, Ray ... how you know that number, but I trust you. I keep track. Okay. Click. Yes, absolutely. So yeah, be at BevNET Live. You'll have an opportunity to bring products, have them in our coolers, and again, showcase them to the most important people in the beverage industry.
And, if you're a food brand, don't worry, because you can send samples to our offices, and we'll try them, and we'll talk about them on Taste Radio. 100%. More samples means more opportunities for us- ... and the BevNET, Nosh, and Taste Radio team as a whole, and Nombase team, to talk about what you're doing.
We put your products on our feed. We put them on our individual feeds. We talk about them on the podcast. We'll highlight them in roundups on Nosh and BevNET. So please send samples to our office. You can find our addresses for Newton and San Diego on bevnet.com and nosh.com. If you still can't find them, DM John Craven-
'cause he is the person- That's fine. Me too ... that will give you the address. Me too. No, nobody else. I have it on auto-complete on my phone. Yeah, same. So if you want it, just- It's ready to go ... ready to go. Bug John specifically. BevNET Craven, @BevNETCraven on the X. That's your number one, really. It's not his number one.
No. It's no one's number one. Come on. Number one social media platform for making me cry. Remember when you guys used to dabble on the X and- I still dabble on the X. God, you used to be a Twitter fiend. But didn't you do a .eth thing next to your name? Oh, we were messing around with stuff.
Yeah. When you were, like, Ethereum guys. Yeah. Yeah, we sold, we had a Bevcoin. Yeah. Kidding, we didn't. Bevcoin. We had Bevcoin. Nice. Sold for negative. As I was saying, the Ethereum craze happened before the advent of Nombase. Oh, boy. And I'm so happy that we do have Nombase, because I am extremely excited about a new episode that is dropping soon that features the one and only Chris Robb, who, if you don't know, is one of the partners of an incredible new venture capital firm called...
Drum roll please, Melissa. Supernatural Ventures. Supernatural Ventures. And you may have heard of Supernatural Ventures in past episodes of Taste Radio, because one of the other partners is Adam Spriggs. Adam Spriggs is one of the co-founding members of the Angel group. And now Supernatural Ventures is out there to s- to make even bigger investments.
So what's Chris gonna be talking about? Yeah, so Chris Robb is going to be on this week's Nombase podcast. And Chris Robb is a really interesting guest because he has such a rich history in CPG. His dad, is Walter Robb, who was co-CEO of Whole Foods Market. He grew up in grocery retail. He was also the founder of New Barn Organics, for folks out there who might remember that product.
And, he certainly gave information on what Supernatural Ventures is looking for, but he gave so much information on how brands can win at retail, and really information that you would only know if you've done it and you l- you've lived it. And just for context, both Adam and Chris have invested in some of the fastest growing CPG brands in recent memory, including, I'll mention one, Siete, which sold for a billion dollars.
Now you can do it, Mike, to PepsiCo. He's got the pinky. He's officially retired, but- He's got the pinky ... just for you, Ray. I'll bring it back. Okay, one billion dollars. Of course, one of the biggest beverage deals in recent memory, Poppi, which sold to PepsiCo again for $1.95 billion. And then the incredible brand known as Batchan's.
So these guys know what they're doing. They know how to identify great early stage brands, and they're funding really fast-growing brands today, one of which was featured in a recent article on Nosh. That brand is, another drum roll, Melissa? Jesse & Ben's- Jesse & Ben's ... which we spoke a lot about on the podcast as well.
Jesse & Ben's, a maker of frozen french fries that are cooked either in beef tallow or avocado oil. I was talking to Adam Spriggs in our interview for Taste Radio about Jesse & Ben's, and I was a little skeptical about the opportunity for a brand like this because I feel like it's kinda hard to differentiate in a commodity category period.
In a commodity category like frozen french fries where you have tons of private label brands, you have a lot of legacy brands out there. I was like, "What's the opportunity here?" And- Joolies. Excuse me. Sorry ... adam talked a lot about- ... what he saw and how just overall health and wellness trends are pushing folks in that direction and giving folks an opportunity to experience a different type of french fry, a more premium one, and they're paying for it.
They're paying that premium. And so Jesse & Ben's recently raised $10 million. Do not do it, Mike. I'm not gonna do it. I didn't say, I didn't say- I'm not gonna do it, but I- There's no fee in there. $10 million in a Series A round led by venture capital firm Greycroft. This is really interesting to me and- I'm kinda surprised though, Ray, that you're talking about a french fry as a commodity because there's so many different kinds, varieties, and it's the kinda thing that, everybody from a two-year-old to, 102-year-old knows what they like in a french fry.
And so there's so many different ways that you can prepare them and This is a little different than they'll say a date, for instance. It's a commodity. Like Joolies dates, things like that. But that's what the products are, though. I think there's just a lot of value priced, commoditized offerings.
Outside of maybe the Alexia brand, which is owned by Conagra, I don't know what really is speaking to the consumer in a premium way. And I like it a lot. The products are- They're great ... they're great. They're pricey. It's like a seven or eight dollar small bag of fries. But, I think it's one of those things where they're just looking at a market where obviously people buy a crap load of these products, and the premium brands like Ore-Ida, no offense, is not really premium, so- It's all right, huh?
There you go. I was actually introduced to Jesse and Ben's by my mom. This is a woman who never goes into the frozen aisle to buy anything new, never buys anything that's even remotely prepared, and she said she was in Whole Foods. It was in a satellite freezer, and the packaging grabbed her, so she picked it up.
She flipped it over. There were three ingredients. This is not a woman who would normally spend seven dollars on a bag of frozen fries. Between the merchandising and the packaging and the ingredients, they really have something special. It looks like a restaurant-quality product. Even just the packaging and all that, you know you're getting good stuff.
And the product delivers. I think that's probably the best french fry I can remember having in a long time. I find it's interesting that they were able to differentiate via their packaging, via the fact that they were using avocado oil. I thought the introduction of a beef tallow french fry was something that I didn't think would work, and clearly I was wrong.
And I've been poo-poohing on beef tallow for a while, and maybe I shouldn't anymore. But this is an actual place where fries are cooked in beef tallow. The McDonald's french fry is originally... Isn't it beef tallow? A lot of in New England, all the fried fish places, a lot of them use beef tallow and stuff, but most people don't know that. And in the UK, beef tallow is the traditional way to fry fish. Yeah. Sure. So when they have fish fries, it's co- ... it's traditionally cooked in beef tallow. I don't think many people know that, though. And when you see beef tallow on the package, it's not necessarily something that I think is attractive at this point to most consumers.
Then get the avocado oil one, bro. Yeah. They made two SKUs f- just for you. I'm not saying this is a bad brand. I'm not saying these are bad products. I'm not saying that this isn't going to do really well. Clearly they're doing well. Yeah. Clearly they're able to raise a lot of money. I'm just saying it's a little surprising to me and Jesse and Ben's is certainly not the first entrepreneurial frozen french fry brand.
No. Why is this working in particular? I'm not exactly sure I think RFK Jr. and the Maha movement do have something to do with people being more familiar with beef tallow, his carnivore diet and- Sure ... ferments or whatever. So I think more people are aware of it. I'm just wondering what Ben's gonna do without Jerry.
Oh, I see, because Ben left Ben & Jerry's to join Jesse and Ben's. That's the joke Mike was trying to make there. Yeah, that's good. Okay. In- Listener got it ... instead of going any- they're groaning out loud ... instead of going any further with this, I'm going to advocate that our listeners go and read the article penned by our very own Adrian DeLuca on nosh.com.
It was an exclusive when it dropped. It's just titled Jesse and Ben's Locks In $10 Million. So look for that on Nosh. Also just go try the fries. They're pretty damn good. You won't be sad. Look at you. Look at, you are a big fan. I don't get a cut or anything, but- You're a big fan of this brand Also what I like about it is that it feels like another place where, y- we haven't really seen a well-funded kind of emerging brand go after that space in a while.
As we've talked about this before, there's a lot of dollars tied up in I don't know, sad bags of french fries. I really hope Jesse and Ben's is one of those brands that DMs you for the address. If not I'll buy the stuff. I like it. It's good. All right. I'll find it.
And fries are something you don't wanna make at home. Who's frying french fries in their kitchen? I fry them occasionally. What? But you know what I fry them in? Wesson? Crisco. I traditionally fry them in olive oil. Now, here I am, I'm just gonna, I'm gonna eat my own- How much olive oil does that take?
It takes a lot. It's a- I can't get, I can't get Ray Latif standing next to Florence Henderson out of my head right now. You're dating yourself, Mike. There's just so many. There's so good. So many problems. You're dating yourself. Wesson. You're dating yourself. Yeah. It doesn't matter. I- You wanna go- Everyone knows I'm old and nice But no one knows what Wesson is, and no one knows what Flo- who Florence Henderson is.
Not a Google image. I picture you with a giant handle jug smoking a cigarette too. You're wishing you'd said Florence Henderson, aren't you? No. I'm saying that I do have handle jugs of olive oil at home, and yes, you can fry... You don't need to, you don't need to deep fry it. Smoke point's too low, bro.
Yeah. Yeah. But I fry them in olive oil 'cause I like the flavor it gives to the french fries. And here I'm gonna eat my- Fry in olive oil, though. The smoke point's a lot higher ... I'm gonna eat my own words about commodity brands and commodity categories, because what has been one of the most remarkable CPG brands launched over the past five years?
Graza, right? Oh, so you make your french fries in Graza? Sometimes I'll use Graza. I want an array of those. Wow. Wow. Geez. What? Geez. The Graza people are going, "Ah, we're rich." No, look- He uses the most expensive, the drizzling oil only. Just he needs 14 bottles to make one batch of french fries.
If you go to- Not meant for cooking ... I'll just say this. If you go to any Mediterranean or Middle Eastern home, they will use olive oil to fry potatoes. Sure. And so it just, it's a much more delicious flavor than soybean or seed oil or what have you. And Graza has really stood out among the brands that launch in spaces that you've seen no innovation, you've seen no excitement, you've seen no real mainstream consumer brand stand out in those spaces, particularly in olive oil, with the exception of Graza.
Now, other brands are coming into the space as well. Brightland has done a fantastic job of separating it- itself from the pack and really- they've been around. I wouldn't say they're- They're not new, but they've been around for what? Six years Yeah, I mean they're like- Yeah ... same time as Graza more or less.
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And Graza right now, I'm looking this up on the internet, and the internet's always right. So- ... Graza's valuation at this point is $240 million, which is pretty amazing for a brand that's only five years old. And Graza has also done a really good job of partnering with other brands to launch limited time offerings.
They've done stuff with Rhine, they've done stuff with Ora Bora. I could name a million other collaborations that they've done. Most recently, they've doubled down on potato chips. And so recently I got sent, oh, here you go, you guys are gonna eat your words here. Four new varieties, or four varieties of the potato chips that are cooked in what?
100% extra virgin olive oil. Woo-hoo. How about that? Potatoes cooked in olive oil. Hey first of all, Ray- This is craziness ... first of all, I will- This is wild. Stop the show. I will just send myself, you'll, you can fry a potato chip way faster- Okay ... than a french fry. I was gonna hand you one of these bags- get me some
but you're, it's you're, you're- I have a sense that Ray's gonna cut a bunch of this. Okay. No, I'm not. The packaging is beautiful. Isn't it? Okay, so they have a Zesty Caesar. I feel like you're a Zesty Caesar kind. Oh, for sure. Okay, that's Melissa's. Give me the red one. Thank you. Okay. We have a classic- Give me the BevNet red one.
We have a classic sea salt. And we have a hot and sweet. Yes. And then the final one here is a sea salt and vinegar. Sea salt and vinegar, John? No, hot and sweet. Come on. Ugh. You're sour, John. Er wah. And Mike, would you like the sea salt? Sure. Okay, here you go. One, two, across the studio.
Jeez. Fudge. Sweet, nice, and salty. Surprised the bag wasn't already open. Okay. So- Zero days without casualties. Yeah, so Graza, it was, I think it was two years ago when they launched a potato chip for the first time, and people were excited about them. They were limited time offerings. They were good. And they did them one year, and they did them the next year, but they were only around for, I think, three or four months.
And so it's really exciting that Graza has launched this new line, which I believe is a permanent addition to their portfolio. They're going to debut in Target as a Target exclusive in checkout lanes- yeah ... at Target, which is really cool. Impulse. Yeah. Very exciting stuff. This chip was so big that I missed.
Yeah they're big chips, and they, the Zesty Caesar is so tasty. Yeah. As Graza describes it, the chips are cooked in 100% extra virgin olive oil with specially sourced yellow skin, yellow flesh potatoes, resulting in a richer flavor and distinct melt-in-your-mouth crunch. Wow, we have so much ASMR going on right now.
As you can tell. These are so crunchy. These are really good. They're really good, yeah. But not crunchy like a kettle chip. They're not greasy. They're thinner. By the way, I might be in the minority here. I don't like kettle chips. I'm sorry. I'm just gonna put that out there. You don't? I like them.
No, really. They're too crunchy. No, I like them a lot. And there's too much oil in them. You strike me- They're a little greasier ... you strike me as a- Earmuffs, Nicholas. Earmuffs. You strike me as a Funyuns kind of guy. No, that's our dear colleague Jackie Bergler was a big Funyuns- Potatoes sticks ... is a big- Aw.
No. I saw Jackie, I don't know, two weeks ago maybe. Yep. When we were in San Diego. She did say she would consider coming back for a very special episode. Why aren't we doing that? I don't know. That's your job, not mine. Okay. We'll plan for September, because we're gonna be back in San Diego in September for a Taste Radio San Diego meetup.
That's happening September 15th. The four of us will be there, and maybe we can drag Jackie back on the mics as well. Kicking and screaming, I'm sure. Your takes on the latest mushroom products? Just to wrap a bow on Graza, I don't know, I don't have the price point on these, but it is interesting that these will be in the checkout lanes at Target, especially for a full-size bag.
These are... what are the size, what are the size of the bag? 5.5 ounces. Yeah. I would've imagined a single serve bag, but I don't know. I'm excited to see these. I wonder, to our discussion about Jesse and Ben's, how much of a premium people are willing to pay for a commodity potato chip.
This is not a commodity potato chip, but for- Yeah, don't call everything a commodity ... excuse me, for a brand that is participating in a commodity category. I think the packaging will be a big draw. It really is unlike, I don't know, any other potato chip bag I think I've seen recently. Yeah, it's shiny.
These are- Zesty Caesar, wow. That's really good. Really good. Wow, okay. That's a ringing endorsement. I like that. I didn't- Yeah ... I wasn't expecting to like it like that. Yeah. Yeah. The bags have this nice sheen to them. They're mostly white, and then the color there represents the flavor. So for example, Hot and Sweet is a mix of bright ruby red and white with the Graza logo large in the middle of the bag.
The Zesty Caesar is that forest green. The Sea Salt and Vinegar is blue, and the Natural or the Original is yellow, graza, a brand- Good stuff ... that's known for great taste and quality, and they've done it again. Yes. Graza has done it again, and I'm, I'm pretty, pretty amazed by what they've done.
And I always go back to the Elevator Talk episode that we did with Andrew Benin, who is one of the co-founders and the CEO of Graza, and he was just in his closet on day one of Graza. The day it launched, he's in his closet with his laptop and being like, "I'm kinda nervous. This is really exciting," and so on and so forth.
And here he is helming a $240 million brand- Killing it ... five years later. Congrats, Andrew. All right. We've got more products to talk about, including one that's in Mike's hand that he seems very excited about. Yeah, I've got New Tonic productivity drink. New Tonic. How do you spell that? New Tonic. N-E-U T-O-N-I-C.
It's the unmistakable one with the- Eyeball ... third eye, the eyeball of focus, yeah, this one's the Orange Sunrise. It's got, stuff to help you focus like ginseng and L-theanine and- Caffeine. They sent us a bunch of other cool products too. They sent us some focus pouches. Pouches are big now, think of Skoal Bandits. You mean like a Zyn? Yeah, like a pouch that you- Yeah ... you dig it. Is it nicotine? It's not nicotine. Mike, you're- Mike, you're dating yourself again by saying Skoal. Zyns are what the kids use these days. Sure, Zyns, Skoal. Oh, shit. Oh. Oh, my. Wow. Geez. Wow, guys. Oh, no.
Okay. I forgot that was, Oh ... picking them. Okay, wow That's good. Yeah. All right. So anyway, it- Folks- Blood ... folks, we had an explosion in the studio. You've stained our rug. And Mike, you stained the rug. It's all over- Fortunately, it's not on the mic. It's on my pants. Fortunately- On my trousers.
Fortunately... technically, it is on the mic, but, Is it? Oh, yeah ... no, it's on you. On me, the mic, yeah. And luckily it didn't get on the Celso jersey, but we're gonna get a cleaning crew in here ASAP. All I have to say is that was worth it. It tastes good. It's really good tasting stuff. Nice. Oh, he did- They sent us toothpicks.
That was literally... He dropped that- Pouches ... it was rolling on the floor about, like- ... three minutes ago. That is true enough. That's right. Wait, what? Toothpicks, pouches, and they also sent us some creatine sticks that I'm enjoying too. Interesting, so they got a whole platform for their nootropic benefits.
Okay, nice. Yeah. Nice. All right we got some more, more- Get focused, get swole ... more beverages. This one is in the hand of Melissa. Yeah. Hey, Melissa, tr- shake that up. Yeah. Then hand it to Mike. Why not, right? It's a celebration. This is a celebration. It's called Disco Fizz. I thought this was very interesting.
The flavor I have here is lemon hibiscus chill. There's hydration, so it has electrolytes, energy from green tea caffeine, and then there are three SKUs of Disco Fizz. This one is the cooling one, so there's eucalyptus and mint. I checked out the other SKUs that this company has. There's a warming SKU that has ginger, and then the one that I thought was the most interesting was the tingling SKU.
And the tingling SKU has two ingredients that I don't think... I don't know that I've ever seen them before in general, never mind in a beverage, buzz button flower and jambu. Are those real? Yeah. I'm just making a bunch of stuff up here. I'm, We wouldn't put it past you. I'm just making up words. Or maybe they made stuff up.
You are the inventor of the Jam Club, so- ... wouldn't put it past you. I make up stuff all the time. No, and so I looked it up. Buzz button flower they're often called electric daisies. They produce a unique, intense buzzing, tingling, and numbing sensation in the mouth known for its pop rock effect.
And then jambu I looked up, and also has numbing properties. I saw an article from the BBC about it. It's a Brazilian ingredient. It was described as interesting to kiss with. There's a cachaca that's made with jambu that in that article they described as interesting to kiss with. So ab- you can try it out on Nate later.
Sounds like a par- Sounds like a party I am on a very thin knife's edge about this product, because on the one hand, I'm like, "This sounds really cool." On the other, I'm like, "I'm totally terrified by this product." So- yeah. The tingling one, it- it's like a Szechuan effect in your mouth, numbling, nu- numbing, tingling.
And if for a non- I like numbling. Numbling. Yeah. It's numbling. The numbling effect. Yeah, it makes that up all the time. Yeah. But it's... There... It's positioned as a non-alc product, and when people drink non-alc products, oftentimes you wanna feel something. So whether it's l-theanine or magnesium, with this- Or-
you definitely- What's that flower called again? Buzz buttonflower- Or buzz buttonflower ... and jambu. Yeah, so you def- I almost said belly buttonflower, but- ... buzz buttonflower. I don't know. It could be belly buttonflower, but you definitely feel something. Folks, if you have a person to make out with later today, Disco Fizz
consider- Disco Fizz ... Disco Fizz. Does each person have to have a swig of Disco Fizz or just one person? I think everybody's gotta be, Disco Fizz ... gonna be... Yeah. Everyone's gotta have a little- Everyone's gotta be fizzed ... little fizz going on. Yeah. Okay, cool. Interesting. All right. John Craven what's going on over there?
Ray, I have some bars. I have Caddy Snacks. Caddy Snacks. All right. Which I assume is a play on Caddyshack. Oh. Of course. I don't know. Maybe- But there's a guy on the front of each bar. Yeah, I don't know. He's got a- He's got a cool-looking mustache. Yeah, totally. Yeah. He looks like a bullfighter. It also looks like the pickle...
What's the pickle brand with the guy with the mustache? Ooh, I don't know. Brelles? No. Anyway, these are- Moving on. Moving on. These are superfood bars. They have a chewy peanut butter and a chewy cherry almond, seven grams of protein, real wholesome ingredients, very tasty. Took some of these on the road to Austin with me.
Highly recommend. Wow. You are not always a bar guy, so that's a high endorsement. I li- I like a- High praise ... I like a bar when it's, I don't know, just clean ingredients and tasty. This is probably before your time, Mike- ... but did you know that- Yes, I did. ... there was a vertical that BevNET launched way back in the day called Bars are Food dot com?
Yeah, Bars are Food. Yes. It was a site that reviewed bars, protein bars and otherwise, and- We got so many bars ... talked about innovation trends in the space. Yeah. Yeah.
Hey, folks. It's Ray with Taste Radio. Right now I am thrilled to be sitting down with Bella Hughes and Semira Nikou, the co-founders of Better Sour. Bella, it's great to see you. Always a pleasure to chat. Yeah. Semira, great to see you as well. Likewise. Great to be on, Ray. Thank you. This is the first time I've done an introduction like this where I've used the word thrilled.
Typically, I say honored which I am clearly honored to be sitting down with both of you, but I'm truly excited about this one. I'm truly thrilled, as it were. Better Sour has been one of the anchors in this space, and the brand is sold at some of the top retailers in the country, including Sprouts, Albertsons, Costco.
But what we're talking about today is one of the most influential retailers in the country, or at least this is gonna be part of our conversation, that has been one of my dreams for Better Sour, and that retailer is Whole Foods. And the products that they'll be selling is a whole new line of products that I am just really excited to talk about.
Bella, introduce us to this new line, and tell us all about the origins of these products. Thank you for the very warm intro, Ray. We really have to say we are all so thrilled to be speaking about this 'cause for Semira and I as founders, this is something that's lived in our head for probably a year and a half.
A lot of product, back and forth of creating this, branding, design, so many bench samples. And here we are a month before we launch for a limited time this summer in Whole Foods nationally. And, our brand this year in May is three years old in retail. We launched in 2023, so a really good time for us to, develop this line extension.
And what's unique about it is that it's made with pure vegan fair trade cane sugar and leaning heavy into our tropical roots. As you may recall, we were lucky enough to be born and raised in Hawaii. So we're launching in three flavors, a mango, a watermelon yuzu, and a lychee. And just so excited to bring this product to share with an even wider audience.
Yeah. And real sugar's a big step for Better Sour because since its inception, your sugar base or your sweetener base has been lacking sugar. Semira, tell us about this step to introduce real sugar to the brand. First of all, we've seen a big move in general in, with consumers moving toward, the real ingredients like sugar or tallow or milk.
And so we really wanted to make sure we are addressing that part of the market. But stepping back, the whole reason for being of Better Sour is about flavor. We are really targeting a customer base that has been massively underserved when it comes to candy, and these are people we call, for lack of a better term, foodies.
People who get excited by the new restaurant opening in their neighborhood, who are passionate about flavor just as much as they are about quality ingredients, and, are looking for new flavor profiles. So first and foremost, it's about that. And then secondary, great ingredients. But we don't define ourselves by any particular ingredient profile, although we have all the good stuff in our candy.
So we wanted to make sure we increase our TAM and make sure that we are having something for all foodies out there. Everyone can indulge in Better Sour. It's not just those who want a low sugar, intensely sour option like our current original line, but something for the customer base that shops at Whole Foods or who wants something that has a more mild tang to it that's sweetened with real cane sugar.
Some folks just love the taste of cane sugar. And what's really exciting about this line extension is that it will be at a more accessible price point as well. So our current product line lands in the $3 range, which is consistent with others in the better-for-you set, but this one will be a- about a dollar cheaper.
Bella, as you lay on a background of your new line extension, I see the watermelon yuzu and lychee behind you. I wonder about Whole Foods, and this is a chicken and the egg question. Did they approach you first? Because allulose, as our listeners know, is not an approved ingredient for products that are sold at Whole Foods, and I imagine they would want a brand like Better Sour on their shelves, but because of their rules, couldn't have your products on their shelves.
So were they really interested in helping you create this new line extension, or was it, your interest in being on their shelves? And I imagine, you'd obviously wanna be in Whole Foods, but how did that situation work out? Yeah, really wonderful question. And I, will have to be super transparent and say for us, we always had the vision of being the best sour gummy candy brand, candy with sophisticated sours.
And I think from inception, this was in the back end, and what we wanted to do eventually. Whole Foods didn't come to us. We are two gritty founders. We have been pitching this product. This was not the first try, happy to say. I think a lot of founders probably have the story that it takes a couple tries.
So the innovation's been rolling in the background really excited. They accepted it, and they're our first retailer we're launching with. But that's a little bit on, how this came to be for the upcoming launch. Semira, I'm really excited about these products, and I think I'll probably be eating the original Better Sour gummies and these new real sugar gummies perhaps at the same time.
Maybe I'll just mix everything into a big bowl and just start chowing down on everything. However, you wonder sometimes about new brand extensions or line extensions and the, potential challenges of cannibalization and whether or not, your existing customer base is going to move to a purchase of the new products.
Frankly, not at the moment. We'll, I'm sure, learn a lot in the coming months, but these two product lines are so distinct, and they're different flavor profiles. So the new line really leans into the tropical. So I think people are gonna find the flavors that they like between all our various offerings and probably lean toward those.
And it, it has a lot of the same ingredient qualities, like high fiber or no artificial flavors or dyes and all the good stuff. But some people like the taste more of cane sugar or more of a mild tang. There are folks who are really passionate about an intensely sour candy. So those folks will probably lean toward our original line.
So I, I don't think so. And, retailers have different preferences. We hope one day these may live in the same place, but it's possible they'll live at different retailers, different SKUs. So not at the moment, but I'm sure we'll have a lot of lessons to learn in the coming months. Bella, I'm curious to hear your take.
No, I have to say just early tasting with, additional buyers across the country, it's been really interesting that folks that found our current product, maybe a bit too tart. We have the sour heads, I'd call them. We're definitely sour enthusiasts here. They're like, "Oh, I like this.
I can do this one. It's a little more mild, pleasantly tang." And then other people are like, "Oh, I know. I need that really sour hit," so they want to go to the other, the original product that we've got right now. I think the beautiful thing about the line extension is that, a lot of the base ethos are still there.
Our commitment is always to be vegan, colors from plants, and by virtue of being a vegan product, both have a really nice amount of fiber. So excited to just see how they harmonize together as one big family, but really wanting to become the sour candy brand of the 21st century, and just, playing in a different lane by not only going after the low sugar version of candy.
'Cause right now where we tend to be placed with and some of the other wonderful brands in the field, we all are selling one thing. Although we're distinct by being sour and candy for foodies and global flavors, it still is a much, much smaller market with a heavy focus on that super low sugar content.
You both have described Better Sour as a modern take on the legacy brand that, I'll just say it, it's Sour Patch Kids. And, I travel a lot, and whenever I go into an airport's convenience store, I'll see just endless amounts of Sour Patch Kids, and it's hard even for me, who tries to eat healthy, to turn away from those products because they taste so good.
And they're so sour, and they're frankly delicious. But I think Better Sour has this great opportunity to take share and to take interest and demand from products and brands like those because of this new line. It's at a more accessible price point and a taste profile that is in line with what a lot of mainstream consumers might want to see.
Does the vision of, being a modern-day Sour Patch Kids, is it fulfilled by this new line? Do you see it as being the key to unlocking that mainstream audience that you desperately want to reach? In some ways, yeah. What's exciting is that there is a mainstream audience for us to reach, but there's also a hugely underserved market that we have been reaching, and with this we'll continue to reach.
So there are folks like you, Ray, or like my husband, who do still love Sour Patch Kids and occasionally indulge, but there's others like- I hate myself for it, by the way. Every single time I bite into one, I'm just very disappointed in what I'm doing. I'm eating- But miserable while I'm doing it then we w- we gotta make sure to get you some of these bags of our sour shells very soon.
We gotta put a stop to that. Yes. But there are others, too, like Bella and myself, who found that the candy of their childhood didn't grow up with the way their palate changed, and moved on from candy. We're bringing them back to candy because we have, the options that we have, they're gonna something of, be it the flavor or the nutritionals of our various offerings.
They're gonna like something in there. So this just allows us to reach a better market, being the mainstream consumer or the who's been turned away from candy, just increasing our TAM and making sure more people can indulge. It does seem to have an easier sort of leap if you're the first time trading up from Sour Patch Kids to something better.
Just with maybe more recognizable sweetener, being pure vegan cane sugar, that just, that might just be a little bit easier for someone to just step up. But, I think the other thing, too, about this line that is really interesting for us is, as we've built Better Sour holistically, we're always looking, whether we're going to a Mulo retailer or a natural one, at the chocolate aisle.
It's so obvious and apparent that there is chocolate in sophisticated flavors for grown-ups wherever retailer you're in across the country. But, going back to Semira's point of this foodie customer, gummies just tends to be remaking a healthy version of something what's already in the market.
So I think that relentless commitment to people that have more sophisticated global palates, that love to eat, adventurous eaters, that, continues to be reflected with these tropical-inspired flavor offerings. I think the affordability component's a big part of it, too. Nowadays, you go into a grocery store, any grocery store, you buy a couple oranges and a head of lettuce, and it's $100.
And so people are definitely feeling that, and they really have to be cautious and thoughtful about what they're spending their money on. How much does the affordability piece of this new line play into the larger and long-term vision for Better Sour? Huge. We're very cognizant. We see the prices.
We know a lot of people are hurting or have had to tighten budgets, and we wanna make sure indulgence is still accessible and quality ingredients are still accessible. So this is our take on that, and making sure our customer base can continue to enjoy and have different options in doing so. Bella, I've known you for some time and it seems every time I speak with you and Semira, you're really enjoying yourselves.
You're having a lot of fun, and- I think innovation can be the most exciting part of being an entrepreneur. It can also be some of the most nerve-wracking and challenging because you, as you've pointed out, have wanted to address the larger addressable market for candy, and this new line allows you to do but for our audience who ... and folks who are struggling with the type of innovation that is going to make a mark for their brand and going to advance their brand or take that brand to the next level, talk about the focus that you've had for this, the intentionality and the strategy behind launching a new line like this.
I think the most strategic thing Semira and I have to do all the time is say, "No, not yet," because the brand is, only three years old. We are still very young, and one of the joys of working together and being lifelong best friends is, we just have a bountiful amount of ideas and creativity, and I'm sure all founders do.
F- being a founder is a highly creative process, so really having the diligence to wait on launching the innovation, make sure you've got something, rolling and working. We've seen incredible growth with our current line. By the end of the year, we'll have done five different Costco regional rotations, which, is just such a great brand confidence builder and also a really great marketing of just holistic Better Sour brand awareness.
When it comes to this line, we look always at a lot of data that we see coming out of the National Confectionery Association. We're members of the NCA, so they do an annual report. We've continued to see, our ethos, flavor, global flavors only rise in interest and in value particularly to our core consumer audience, Millennials and Gen Z, which also are the top consumers of non-chocolate chewy candy, where gummies fall into.
But the other thing we began to notice, and I think Semira touched upon it earlier, is holistically across CBG, this return to just premium whole ... I want to call them good old-fashioned ingredients, before the world started putting high-fructose corn syrup in, and that's where cane sugar falls. But then when you look at just the sugar market, there is a lot of data in confectionery that, it is growing and expected to grow.
So I think leaning into our instinct, the values of the brand, but also always looking for those data points that an organization like NCA may be putting out. Yeah, it seems like the analytical and the anecdotal go hand-in-hand, and really were both critical in the case of the new line. Being in those five Costco regions, being in Sprouts, being in Albertsons, being in the air with United, and hearing consumers' feedback and reactions to your products and what they're asking for.
And also just seeing the trends out there and what's really lining up for consumers in terms of ingredients, formulation, and flavors, and- I want to end on flavors because that's really what it's all about. If you don't have taste, you don't have anything. When you talk about introducing new flavors, like a watermelon yuzu or a lychee or a mango, Semira, it's critical to get that flavor right and make sure that it actually tastes like how it's described, how it's packaged, how it's labeled.
How do you get flavors so right? And you really do. Thank you, Ray. I appreciate that, 'cause that's the part that we spend the most time, resources, and our R&D on, because, that's our core, the flavor. And I lose count of how many times we go work with our flavor houses, sending them samples, different fruits, products, to make sure that we hit those right notes.
Something like mango, there's so many different types of mango out there, all different flavor profiles. So which flavor profile are we trying to capture? So making sure that they have the right examples to really capture the flavors that we love, we grew up with. So appreciate you for pointing that out because when it comes to flavor, that is the core of our brand and where we spend everything on.
Yeah. If there's a through line to anything, it's that Better Sour always has incredible flavor in addition to sour, in addition to some fiber, and there's some fiber in these bags as well. Seven grams of fiber. Your original line has 15, but I think seven's good with me. I assume seven's good with a lot of consumers.
This way you could have two packs for the same amount of fiber. There you go. Oh, see, this... A true entrepreneur. Yeah. Don't just have one, have two. There you go. I love it. Bella, Semira, thank you so, so much for taking the time. I'm just, as I mentioned, thrilled for both of you and thrilled for this launch.
I'm just really excited to be able to go to my local Whole Foods, pick up a couple bags of Better Sour, and just eat both of them in my car on the way home. I'm serious about that. It's really exciting, and I know it's been a long time coming. It's taken a lot of work. But I'm just... I'm really happy for you guys, and I think this is really gonna do a great thing for your brand and for the industry as a whole.
People are looking for products like these at accessible price points with real sugar, and you're delivering on all of them. Thanks, Ray.
