[00:00:00] John Craven: More SKUs, more data, more complexity. The beverage industry is changing fast. VIP helps suppliers, distributors, and retailers stay ahead, turning purpose-built beverage data and technology into smarter decisions and better results. For more than 50 years, VIP has helped power the beverage industry. Now, they're building what's next. VIP, empowering smart decisions. Visit VIPinsights.com for more information.
[00:00:37] Ray Latif: Hello, dear friends, and thanks for tuning in to Taste Radio, the number one podcast for anyone building a business in food or beverage. I'm Ray Latif, the editor and producer of Taste Radio, and with my co-hosts, John Craven, Jacqui Brugliera, and Mike Schneider. In this episode, we revisit interviews with three visionary founders recorded at Taste Radio's London Meetup held last month, including one with Olivia Ferdi. co-founder of Trip, the fast-growing relaxation beverage brand, which recently announced a $40 million funding round at a valuation of $300 million. They're going to do great things with that money.
[00:01:21] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah.
[00:01:21] Ray Latif: Yeah. Amazing stuff. According to a press release announcing the raise, Trip is on track to hit $100 million in annual revenue this year and is on pace to reach $200 million in 2026. I knew them when they were an upstart CVD brand in UK. Yeah. Their beverages are already available at Target, Sprouts, Whole Foods, H-E-B, Wegmans, and many more stores. 10,000 doors nationwide, 50,000 globally. Amazing stuff. A lot more about Tripp's positioning and growth strategy in our interview with Olivia. Stay tuned for that. Uh, what are we now? Three weeks away? Yeah. Less than three weeks away. 26 days from Nosh Live. From Nosh Live. That's about less than. Well, yeah, it is. Because this is a Tuesday that we're recording.
[00:02:09] John Craven: Oh, you're not going to talk about the timeline. Come on.
[00:02:14] Ray Latif: Anyway, we're less than three weeks away from Nosh Live LA 2025. I'm very excited for this event. It's shaving up to be our, I would say our best event ever for Nosh. We've got investors, we've got retailers, we've got amazing founders. We've got everyone that you want to meet and network with in the industry and everyone that I would say has a real vested interest in emerging brands and working with emerging brands is going to be at this event. So, if you're not already registered, I don't know what to tell you. I do know what to tell you.
[00:02:51] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, register. That's what you should tell them, right?
[00:02:53] Ray Latif: Tell them to register. Yeah. So, you know, I mean, everyone's raising money, right? Everyone's trying to figure out how they're going to fund scale their businesses. Always be raising. Always be raising. We've got a fantastic panel at Nosh Live titled What's on the Mind of Food Investors. It features four leading investors in the emerging beverage and food space, including... In a stone circle death match? No. Including the folks from Springdale Ventures, Santaterra Capital, Relentless Consumer Partners, and Prelude Growth Partners. You want to meet these folks in person, IRL, you got to come to Nosh Live. The mic dropped.
[00:03:42] Jacqui Brugliera: We had everything the same except for the mic drop. Just end the show.
[00:03:47] Ray Latif: That's a great panel. All right. That's the good news. That's the good news. The, I don't know, confusing news is consistently around cannabis CPG, right? Okay. So let's just put this information out there and then we can talk. So a week ago, BevNET published a story about a CoBank report, which projected that cannabis beverages are poised to overtake consumption and sales of alcoholic beverages. Now, for folks in the know and in the industry, I don't think this came as too much too much of a surprise, at least this report, you know, cannabis beverages have been on a roll and a lot of people are shifting away from alcohol and to cannabis, at least in their beverage consumption habits. Six days later, the U.S. Senate struck a deal to reopen the government. If you didn't know, the government had been shut down for 41 days, affected air traffic. Then you haven't been flying. Yeah, haven't been flying. Just not a lot of good things happening when the government's closed. But the U.S. Senate did strike that deal. Baked into that agreement was a provision to ban sales of intoxicating hemp products. Unsurprisingly, the cannabis CPG community is up in arms. wondering to themselves, why, why is this happening? Why do we take one step forward and then three steps back? Why is it that we have politicians that can't understand that this is a growth industry and that a lot of people benefit from the use of cannabis? My take is that there's still a pretty big mainstream stigma surrounding cannabis. It's strong. And for me, I just feel like it's going to take at least a decade, if not longer, before we see broad consensus and widespread adoption of cannabis products. I mean, obviously they're available in a few select cities and regions and states, but clearly those are the exception, not the rule.
[00:05:58] Jacqui Brugliera: I have a slightly different take. I think it's sneaky. They're just trying to sneak this in when they think no one's looking. I don't know necessarily if this is about mainstream adoption or looking out for consumers and their health. I think there might be some competition. There's a lot of lobbyists in DC that are looking out for the interests of alcohol and pharmaceuticals. And THC is challenging that. Hemp is challenging that. I went to a psychedelic mushroom expo over the weekend. And I saw lots of functional beverages, products there that had Kana, Kava, psychedelic mushrooms. And obviously, you know, some of these things aren't legal, or they're not mainstream yet. But there is an upswell in these natural products that are replacing these, you know, steadfast industries that have been making a lot of money off of consumers.
[00:06:53] Ray Latif: Well, certainly could be the alcohol lobby or I suppose any number of different reasons behind all of this. But I think the other thing to note is we're recording on Tuesday. By the time this comes out on Friday, it's going to be a different story since probably the house will vote on this and we'll see. if this whole thing survives or not and just sort of what the outcome is. And, you know, it seemed like this industry was heading further towards the mainstream and maybe further towards getting at least regulation of it. So if it ends up where it's a ban, that's extremely unfortunate. Yeah, I mean, everyone's talking about prohibition at this point. Prohibition in the same way that prohibition existed for the alcohol industry a hundred years ago. It's kind of a strange time to be talking about something like this, especially again, when I think there was so much momentum for cannabis. It certainly, you know, happened without any sort of discourse over it. It was just, you know, here, vote. Yeah, and the other thing is that even though some senators have lobbied against that provision, it still passed with a pretty significant majority of the bill that is in its current form. And the White House has indicated that they're not going to fight that provision as well. Yeah, very challenging times for this category, for this segment of the industry. This is blatant hypocrisy, Ray. I mean, the same people that are telling you that you don't need to get vaccinations are now telling you that you can't put cannabis in your body without being a criminal. I mean, that's essentially what they're trying to do. Criminalize Delta 9, criminalize Delta 8. Sure, they're not touching the dispensaries yet, but is that next? Who knows? Well, for more edification on a very complicated topic, Stay tuned for our coverage on BevNET and Brewbound. This is obviously a fast evolving story and one that's affecting a lot of folks in the industry. And if you want to talk to us about how you're navigating this space, if you are a founder or operator, please reach out. Reach out to our editorial team. You can even reach out to us at Taste Radio. And yeah, we want to talk to you. Ask at Taste Radio.com is the way to do it. Yeah, we definitely want to talk to you and figure out what your next move is because I imagine it's a, it's a difficult time. It also remains to be seen how the investment community reacts to all the news that's happening in this space. But the investment community seems to be rallying around a brand that we all know. It's called Lucky Energy, formerly known as Lucky F-U-C-K. Do you mean fuck, right? No, you're not supposed to say that. Now our Apple podcast is getting it all. Lucky Energy. The brand of energy drinks, Upstart brand of energy drinks has raised another $25 million in a series B round. The company has raised $63 million to date. It's planning to add even more in 2026. That $25 million came from Payne Schwartz partners, former leaders from Suja Juice, I feel like there's so much interest in this brand because they are targeting those DSD distributors that have in the past carried very fast growing energy brands like Ghost and C4. And those brands have now moved on to distribution with strategic companies like KDP and beyond. Now, obviously the energy drink space is a very tough business. $63 million is a lot of money that can help you break into that space. There's that old adage that it takes money to make money. But I don't know, have we seen this kind of story before? I mean, like, I know, again, I mentioned Ghost and C4, but this is a lot of money that Lucky has raised to date. And I feel like they're still kind of trying to make their way into retail. And the founder of the company, Richard Laver, said so much. In a story on bevnat.com about this raise, he said, from day one, almost everything about this business was engineered. The only thing that was not engineered was, I thought that retailers would come on quicker than they did. You know, it goes to show, even if you raise a ton of money, it's not necessarily a guarantee that you're going to be in every retailer that you want to be in. I wonder if the name slowed him down a bit there. It could have had to rebrand that a bit, but I think it is one of the. I mean, it has been remains one of the hardest beverage categories for an upstart to really establish strong footing in and one that scales and continues to scale. Because, you know, we've seen, I feel like, I don't know, it's probably got to be hundreds of brands at this point that have. Gotten a little bit of traction, tried to accelerate and then just are unable to scale. So I think what Lucky's doing is definitely intriguing and certainly will, will show the industry that they're serious about trying. And I like the thesis of. trying to fill the void left behind by brands that have kind of left that, you know, independent DST network. And adding $25 million is certainly a significant way to make a mark, at least regionally. Yeah. I think the question for me is who is Lucky for, right? And I've spoken with Richard about this brand and I think, you know, he sees broad opportunity for Lucky. It feels like you definitely start to see or at least you have seen in the energy drink category, a lot of really targeted marketing and targeted innovation to say gamers, female consumers, just being really focused on a particular segment of consumers via candy flavors. You know, we've seen that with C4 certainly and Ghost. I just wonder who is Lucky targeting specifically?
[00:13:06] Jacqui Brugliera: That's a good question. Cause like to your point, I see like a lot of energy drinks in gyms and they're looking at athletes. They have other ingredients in it too, that add to the value props for why you'd pick this energy drink over another. Yeah. I'm not sure actually. Like I, I know that it's like a quality energy drink and they're going kind of for mainstream consumers. So maybe they're testing the waters too, to see, you know, where they fit in the set.
[00:13:33] Ray Latif: Yeah, you brought up such a good point that I didn't mention was that the inroads that brands have made into that fitness and gym community Celsius. I mean, a lot of new it's, you know, these are markets that were ripe for innovation and right for that category. But I'm excited for Lucky. I really am. I'm excited to see what they do. I mean, they have a ton of backing. They have a lot of people who believe in them. A lot of it's going to come down to execution and getting into those retail stores where energy drink brands are commonly sold and where the velocities are really, really high. I think they're trying to go for the underdog athlete right now and their messaging is all very athletic. They've got, you know, basketball players and tennis players and stuff. Their main message is you defy all odds. Lucky Energy is a story of perseverance, blind faith, and never giving up on yourself. And that's going to speak to a lot of people. They also mark themselves as a simpler energy drink that is better for you. So I think those two things, there's a lot of people that will identify with that. They want the energy, they're drinking stuff that's probably not as good for them before they play.
[00:14:42] John Craven: You see it everywhere. More than 70% of new CPG products fail, often over margins founders never fully understood. Outsourced accounting can close that gap for good. Visit belaisolutions.com slash BevNET for a free small business accounting guide from Belay.
[00:15:01] Ray Latif: Artificial intelligence is reshaping every corner of the beverage industry. But where is it creating real value today? Stay tuned till the end of this episode for a bonus interview when I sit down with Andrew Krizis and Lucinda Aquat of VIP to explore how AI is moving beyond analytics to automate decisions, improve efficiency, and transform the three-tier system. Circling back to a brand that we talked about last week, which is called Cobb. Cobb. Cobb, a maker of sorghum-based popcorn, corn-free popcorn. Right, ancient green popcorn. You learned something pretty interesting about this $5 million they raised and announced a week ago. Yeah, so Jessica Davidoff, who is the founder, was on Instagram yesterday. Let's not do the timeline. She was talking about how she DM'd Novak Djokovic's manager because she knows he's a fan of Ancient Grains. and told him about the product. And the next thing you know, she's flying to Europe with samples and he loves the product. And now he's the co-founder and their new tagline is snack like Novak. And the marketing's amazing. And I'm so happy for her. She just like took a chance on this. I mean, she's, she's a serial entrepreneur and she has a great background in, in building businesses, but it's still like a shot in the dark. It is, but you miss 100% of the shots you don't take. There you go. All right. And like, he's, you know, he's perfect for this. And also. Did you know that Chrissy Teigen joined the cap table of Sanzo? I did see that. Very exciting. That's really exciting news as well. Yeah. Cool stuff happening out there in the world. I was just like really struck by this feel good story. It's a good news. It's a good news movement that we're trying to, trying to build upon here at Taste Radio. Meanwhile, John Craven is chomping at the bit. He's got, uh, what appears to be Beer Jerky. I do, Ray. And let me ask you, Ray. Yes. Do you like Guinness? I am a big fan of Guinness. Hey, Diageo, I love Guinness. Do you like steak? Of course I like steak. Do you like chocolate? Occasionally well, then this product is for you, right? It's a Guinness. I guess it's chocolate flavored steak cuts, okay So I do not partake in Flavored steak bag dried meat, so I brought these for you guys. I'm gonna try you there's also an original flavor for the unadventurous I'm still not adventurous enough for that but This is a hard one to understand. It's like coated in coffee. So it's essentially thick cuts of Beer Jerky that are flavored with Guinness and either chocolate, coffee, or just plain old Guinness. This is awesome. I would think that this is a licensed product. This is not Guinness coming out with Beer Jerky. You know, I didn't actually check that, but... Sidari Artisan Brands in Cleveland. Yeah, no, I'm sure it's... Definitely not Guinness then. It's made at the St. James Gate Meat Factory or whatever, but I guess what's the hot take on the chocolate variety? Mike is munching on it.
[00:18:31] John Craven: Is it chocolate? No.
[00:18:32] Ray Latif: No, it's not chocolate. The chocolate doesn't have enough chocolate. But the coffee's amazing. Does it taste like Guinness? Mm-hmm. Okay, well, there you go. It tastes exactly like what you think, pouring... Well, you've had the Irish Car Bomb, right? It tastes like a car bomb? Oh, that's the dumb name of a drink that you pour coffee into a Guinness. Travel tip, you definitely, when you go to Dublin, Mike, you order those for the whole bar. Don't do that.
[00:19:01] Jacqui Brugliera: That's a bad name.
[00:19:02] Ray Latif: We'll never see you again. Anyway. Okay. Well, I'm going to hold off on this, uh, but I definitely want to try the original. This, this looks actually looks pretty damn good.
[00:19:10] Jacqui Brugliera: All right.
[00:19:10] Ray Latif: Well, you guys enjoy yourselves. Okay. All right. Cause Jackie is such a huge fan of steak. I feel like we should, uh, transition to, uh, I have my own type of snack.
[00:19:21] Jacqui Brugliera: This is more of my speed over here. I have cactus chips. So these are cactus tortilla chips. They're called Nepali. They have jalapeno, lime, and then Chile and lemon.
[00:19:33] Ray Latif: The name of the brand is N-O-P-A-L-L-I, Nopali.
[00:19:36] Jacqui Brugliera: Yep, Nopali from Casa Arte Sano. And it's fun. They have like a little cartoon on the back explaining like some history of Nopali and like cactus. Also on the front of the pack, I know we've talked a lot about fiber recently. So these provide 25% of your daily dietary fiber.
[00:19:56] Ray Latif: Nice.
[00:19:56] Jacqui Brugliera: Where's Melissa when we need her? I know, right? I'm gonna have to give her some of these. But yeah, these look really good. So these pair well with some more THC beverages for when you get the munchies. Hold on to those. You might not have any more.
[00:20:11] Ray Latif: No, stop, Ray. Don't say that.
[00:20:13] Jacqui Brugliera: Uh, this is from Rhythm THC Beverages. It's interesting because they have an energizing one with like the sativa strain and then they also have a relaxing THC beverage called Kush.
[00:20:26] Ray Latif: Wait, is that a dispensary grade?
[00:20:29] Jacqui Brugliera: These are hemp-derived. Yeah. Hemp-derived THC. K-U-S-H. K-U-S-H. All right. Yeah. And this one, the Kush is five milligrams of THC, five milligrams of CBD, and then the Sativa is just 10 milligrams of THC.
[00:20:47] Ray Latif: Nice. Just 10 milligrams.
[00:20:50] Jacqui Brugliera: Mike would melt.
[00:20:53] Ray Latif: Speaking of Mike, what do you got over there? I've got a lot over here.
[00:20:57] Jacqui Brugliera: I've got some candies.
[00:20:58] Ray Latif: The small table next to my left here is just absolutely hovered in products. It's been like food and beverage Christmas over here. We've been getting quite a few samples. Thanks to everyone who sent us nominations for the BevNET Best ofs and the Nosh Best ofs and for sending us samples. One of them that really stood out for me was Mez Candy Co., which is chocolate made with mesquite. Yeah, like the barbecue thing. So here's the, um, just straight cow milk chocolate. Let's say mesquite, like the wood you mean? Like the mesquite wood. Yes. And they've got these nut butter cups that are pretty awesome. Pistachio crunch. Try that one. Geez. Peanut butter cups and s'mores cups. S'mores. S'mores. S'mores is the name of a, uh, comedian. S'mores. Sure. So, what's different about these? No cacao, no dairy. The mesquite. Yeah, and no caffeine. Oh, very interesting. Okay. They're good. Not Brad Avery chocolatey. Yeah, the s'more one looks really good. I'll have one in there, right? Yeah. Oh my gosh, you open up the package and the aroma is so good. It's big. Oh, it smells so good. I haven't had the s'mores yet, but I bet you they taste like they were roasted. Mez, M-E-Z, the Mesquite Candy Company. Beautiful branding too, love this. Okay, to folks that are considering a rebrand or at least a package design for their new brand, this is how to do it. You've got, the hierarchy is perfect, right? You got the name of the brand right on top. Even if you don't know what Mesquite means, it's the Mez, the Mesquite Candy Company, right in the center of the package. as big as it can be, is the product itself. And it's a beautiful product, too. If you have a delicious product, make it even more mouth-watering by putting that product on the front of the pack. This shows in detail the S'more Peanut Butter Cup, and it just instantly makes you want to buy it. Look at the texture of the peanut butter on this one. Yeah, the chocolate peanut butter, oh my gosh. That looks great. It's so good and the stylization around it there the stylizing or whatever around it is really good, too And the way that that just draws your eye in is perfect, right? They're not too enamored of their brand. It's huge, but it's in white So it's not the first color your eyes sees the first thing you see is definitely that the nut butter cup, right? It's awesome. And that's really really well named varieties at the bottom And it just has a fun, nostalgic, but also sophisticated feel to it. That I might move up just because it could get cut off on the shelf, but you're going to get drawn in by the picture. What do you think of the pistachio, John? That's really good. It's different, but familiar. Yeah. But yeah, I don't know. I'm a little hesitant about the prominence of the mesquite part because it is one of those things that you know if you're just purely shopping an aisle it's kind of a little hard to process what the like impact of that is or what's meant and is this going to be a good tasting product or something that Maybe it tastes unique, weird, whatever you want to call it. And I mean, this is a phenomenal tasting product. It does have a unique flavor to it, unless you love barbecue. And then you're going to... Yeah, but it's light though. I don't know. I guess my context for it is I feel like I've tried a million things that are like promising oaky flavor and like that can just go completely overboard. Try the... It's a little more subtle. The s'mores is a lot less subtle. Try this one. Well, I mean, it's a s'mores flavor. Yeah, exactly. So you want this. I mean, I don't know if I want it yet. I haven't tried it, but yeah, you do. It's pretty good.
[00:24:36] Jacqui Brugliera: Another brand that does really good job on their packaging. Similarly, Allura, they have their soft baked bites and you know, front of pack, you see the product. It looks like a soft baked bite. You see like the filling inside. They have a bunch of different flavors that are very prominent. Apple cinnamon, pumpkin spice. You have dates and honey.
[00:24:59] Ray Latif: So this is a brand we've seen evolve. Have you tried this? Because I think they've reformulated. They've always been good. There's more filling in them and they're better now. They're incredibly good.
[00:25:11] Jacqui Brugliera: They're delicious. They are super soft. The filling's really, really good. I love the different flavors that they have and I love the evolution of the packaging. they're powered by ancient Greek grains, which is kind of secondary. And it started as like a Greek, you know, breakfast biscuit company. And there's like nods to it with like Greek gods illustrations. And on the back, it's explaining like the name, but front of back, you know what you're getting and you know what the product is. And it's kind of familiar with like other breakfast or other kind of biscuits that people have experienced, but these look better for you.
[00:25:45] Ray Latif: Yeah, it's similar hierarchy to Mez except the flavor is up top. Mm-hmm, which I think is a little stronger Yeah, the rebrand is as outstanding the old one half the front of the pack had call-outs to It looks like Greek mythology or or some sort of I don't know connections to it's history and now it's much more focused on the food and the benefits and the flavor. It's really, really good. I spoke with Giannis Ostenopoulos, who's the founder of the company. We had a conversation that we published on Taste Radio in June. It's a fantastic look inside a founder that is trying to redefine a category. Now, people may not call breakfast a category, but I'll call it that. And the name of the episode is the overlooked $4 billion category that Olira is redefining. Yannis has really good vibes too. Every time we see him at trade show, he's just a really nice person to talk to. He's always got good ideas. He's a really great listener too. He's the kind of person you just want to be friends with. Yes, indeed.
[00:26:56] Jacqui Brugliera: Taste Radio meetups are continuing in Chicago, San Diego, San Francisco, and London. Come hang out with the food, beverage, and beer community for live podcast recordings, CPG networking, and sample sharing. Want to attend or partner with us? Head to Taste Radio.com slash meetups.
[00:27:14] Ray Latif: Quick pause to let you know that the leading event for the beverage industry is headed back to Los Angeles this December 6th through 8th. BevNET Live brings founders, investors, retailers, suppliers, and operators together for product discovery, high-value conversations, and partnerships that can shape what comes next. Early registration pricing is available now.
[00:27:32] Jacqui Brugliera: Head to bevnetlive.com to register. Mark your calendar. Nosh Live is back December 3rd and 4th in Los Angeles. Join packaged food founders, buyers, investors, and operators for two days of product discovery and conversations focused on what's next. Early registration pricing is available now. Head Nosh Live.com to register.
[00:27:51] Ray Latif: All right, it's time for our featured interviews for this episode. At our Taste Radio London Meetup, I sat down with three visionary founders, Olivia Ferdi of Trip, Catherine Brickin of Delicious, and Olly Dixon of Something & Nothing, who each share the inside story of building their standout, fast-growing consumer brands, including the highs, the challenges, and everything in between. Once again, Liv Ferdy, the co-founder and CEO of Tripp. I'm just so amazed and blown away with what you guys have done. Just for context, in particular when it comes to the United States, where are you and what retailers are you selling the products?
[00:28:35] Mike Schneider: So we had this conversation, was it a year ago? It was just about a year ago, yeah. Can't believe how much time has flied. Since then, we were launching in Target. Since then, we have expanded to about 5,000 doors. So Whole Foods is live as of this week. We're in HEB, Hargan, Wegmans. nationwide, it's pretty exciting in terms of this inflection point for TRIP. This year we'll head out at about $100 million of revenue, and the U.S., all of those doors have really been since our conversation, I think.
[00:29:06] Ray Latif: Well, you know, our conversation was the lucky rabbit's foot for, I guess, TRIP, because $100 million, that just doesn't happen.
[00:29:14] Mike Schneider: Yeah.
[00:29:15] Ray Latif: And a majority of that's coming from the United States, I would assume, yes?
[00:29:17] Mike Schneider: It will be. It's not quite there on the majority yet, but by next year, it will be tipping in the balance. Yeah.
[00:29:22] Ray Latif: Incredible. You know, when it comes to Target and Sprouts, those are two very specific types of retailers. Sprouts being a natural retailer, Target being a mass retailer. When you're talking to those buyers in different retail channels, what are those conversations like? Is it a similar approach? Are you trying to communicate a different type of brand for both or for each channel?
[00:29:43] Mike Schneider: We want to be a global brand, but you obviously have to be sensitive to kind of local nuances. And I think an important thing about Trip is we stand for creating moments of calm and everyday chaos, but we've never preached what that chaos looks like. You know, for me, it might be running around after my two kids trying to find something that fits and get here on time. For others, it might be a busy commute, a canceled train, a difficult meeting or personal situation. I think having sensitivity and how we approach these conversations has always worked, I think, importantly, really well. And being sensitive to the fact that everybody's chaos looks a bit different is really key. Those two retailers are incredible retailers. You know, to be able to meet your customer in a nationwide footprint is incredible. And I think just recognizing the sensitivity with which we're talking about this topic, a lot of buyers have been incredibly excited. They've sort of seen the brand, particularly on social. That's the incredible thing for anyone in the room looking to build a brand and use social and leverage their community flywheel. It means we've been able to speak to so many of our consumers who will be shopping there. The other thing I think I'd say is recognizing that you can shift towards that consumer. I think a lot of people think, oh, it's just a Gen Z brand or whatever. But when you're thinking about the trends, we talk a lot about Better For You and obviously the incredible work of the kind of gut health and probiotics space. We see calming beverage as the next wave of macro trend. Can you guys in the room think of anyone in your lives who doesn't experience just a moment of overwhelm in the everyday? And I think that's landed really well on both sides of the pond. It's that personal storytelling element that people can connect with and see the bigger picture.
[00:31:21] Ray Latif: Yeah, you and I had talked about the difference between what has previously been known as relaxation, relaxation beverages, something that's going to give you some sense of patience and calmness. But you really hone in on that word calm. And I think it's a really good idea. I think it's a really good approach because sometimes relaxation might be sleepy or tired. And calm just means grounded and focused. Is that the message you're able to communicate to consumers? Are they understanding that calm
[00:31:48] Mike Schneider: Definitely. I think when it comes to Trip, you've got the product and everything about the product from the distance on shelf that you see it. Hopefully you will have seen it around your time in London and in the US, it's got that very calming pastel packaging, really clean typography. We were obsessed with it. You could read it really quickly in a minute. It kind of goes against traditional marketing best practice. You know, it's not shouting. It doesn't tell you what it does on the can from a visible distance, but it's that recessive pastel kind of calm exhale feeling when you see the product that translates all of that. So importantly I think relaxation is a very powerful word and there's so many moments in the day you're looking to relax and unwind and a lot of people that might be when you shut the laptop five o'clock evening alcohol alternative. The beauty of trip and obviously that 100 million dollar number it doesn't come from just being an alcohol alternative. I think so many of you in the room might have discovered trip. at your favorite bar or restaurant or being recommended as an alternative to a glass of wine. But actually, if you walk down the street out here, you'll find it in the Leon fast casual grab and go, you'll find it in a coffee shop, you'll find it in workplaces, hospitals, gyms. Making sure that people have access to something all day, every day, I think compounds this emotional connection we have with our customers and the brand. And so for us, when we talk about calm, it's not a sleepy state. We often talk about calm in relation to chaos. Chaos is all around. It can be small. It can be big. It's the uncontrollables that are inevitable in everyday life. But recognizing that you can feel your best self, whether that is more present, more confident, better performing in a work meeting or a personal conversation, calmer in a social setting where you might be feeling nerves for whatever reason. For us, it's really the unlock of finding that calm in a chaotic situation, which I think has more breadth, personally, than just an evening moment, which can be more solitary. For us, calm is about feeling your best mind and body, but it can be in a group situation, in a social setting. It's much more complex, and that actually, I think, has been very clear in the velocities of our U.S. retailers. People aren't just grabbing it at 5 o'clock, 7 p.m. for dinner. They're getting it on the way to work. They're having it with their lunch instead of maybe a Diet Coke. And they're having it throughout the day.
[00:34:00] Ray Latif: The U.S. is an incredible market to be in. It's a very challenging market to be in. And I think a lot of the folks here in the audience would love to hear from you about how you've been able to roll out successfully and where you're planning to go from here. So if you could just talk about your strategy, your U.S. strategy, and then where you're planning to go in the next 6 to 12 months.
[00:34:20] Mike Schneider: So we have big ambitions and I was just joking with someone in our team just before coming on that the US ambition, a lot of people, you know, might look at it and think you have to be a bit delusional to take on something where the odds are stacked against you. I can't think of any other British brands that have actually cut through on a beverage or soft drink space, crossing the pond and talking to a feeling or an emotion, which it's very personal, but it is universal. And for us, the US strategy is When you come from a place of personal experience, which is how we launched the brand, being passionate about bringing this to, we want to say, that a billion people should be able to find calm with Trip, we truly believe we're changing the world and we're going to change the world. And I know that sounds delusional, but I think a lot of entrepreneurs in the room will agree you've got to be a little bit delusional as well to take on those kind of odds. For us, it's meeting that end consumer and seeing, particularly in the US, the delight they have with the brand and the product. I think we've spoken before about being completely obsessed with product. I'm sure a lot of people in the room are obsessed with that product and those small details that really set you apart. And for us, when we are talking to people in those moments of stress or people looking for calm, the US strategy is kind of mirroring what we've done here, but scaling up through those different touch points. A lot of people might assume you can't be a best-selling brand in Target and Whole Foods and Sprouts, but the fact that we're in CVS, Vitamin Shoppe, you know, we're delivering that to each kind of segment of the demographic in a bespoke way and not being too prescriptive about this is for focus and only focus. And I think that's quite unusual in the space.
[00:35:53] Ray Latif: And you mentioned some really big retailers. Any new retailers that you're planning to be in in the upcoming months?
[00:35:59] Mike Schneider: Well, Whole Foods this week. I thought that's a big one. That's a very big one. Nationwide. I'm looking at Ryan. H-E-B, Hargan, Wegmans, Spex, Total Wine. Harris Teeter.
[00:36:16] Ray Latif: Well, you just named five really big brands.
[00:36:19] Mike Schneider: And for those in the room that haven't been to these stores in the US, we're not talking 200 stores. These are huge places, you know, hundreds, thousands of doors. It's astounding. It's incredible.
[00:36:29] Ray Latif: It really is. I keep using the word incredible because it's really appropriate when talking about Trip. You also have undertaken a pretty significant raise. What's pretty amazing about it is, and this has been talked about throughout the industry for I don't know how long, but funding for female-led companies is ridiculous. Venture capital only goes to less than 2% of female-led brands. Can you share your perspective on how investors perceive your brand, perceive the fact that you're leading the company, and just your experience throughout that whole process?
[00:37:08] Mike Schneider: Yeah, it's an interesting landscape and there's definitely have a whole conversation on kind of access to capital. But I think leading by example and showing that you can have a female-founded brand that's come from a personal experience that is also on paper incredibly backable, you know, these kind of numbers are very exciting. And I think what I'm proud of as a female founder of, you know, a high-value beverage company is understanding that if you can show an example to people of what that can look like, I think unfortunately access to capital has been restricted for tons of reasons, but when people hear more stories, so many female founders, I'm sure you guys have heard also, typically designed for a problem they were facing, And a personal experience like ours can start a whole journey of solving the problem, creating the perfect product. And my perspective is there are brilliant female founder brands, many of whom have had greater success than all male teams. But because of that diversity of kind of perspective, What we're seeing is these female-founded brands that are solving problems that they may have faced are catering to a huge part of the demographic that are often underlooked, even though female-headed households are often the ones doing the weekly shop, organizing the home, choosing what the family drinks and eats. The first ones to make recommendations to friends. They're very vocal about what they like. We've seen that on social. And I think being able to kind of evidence the consumer need, which Sometimes in many categories outside of beverage and particularly whether it's women's health or beauty can be diminished somewhat. But by recognizing the strength commercially of that customer base that sometimes has not been designed for, they've been excluded from certain beverage design or snack design. I think it's a real moment to reflect on how powerful that can be in conversations when you're fundraising.
[00:38:57] Ray Latif: Do you realize that you're probably the CEO of the most valuable beverage company or female-led beverage company in the world at this point, maybe? I think that's probably an accurate statement.
[00:39:09] Mike Schneider: Yeah, it's a bit of a crazy one, isn't it?
[00:39:11] Ray Latif: It's kind of mind-blowing.
[00:39:12] Mike Schneider: I'm sweating again. With everyone looking at me, it's hard to believe. I mean, you'll meet so many of the team tonight who are incredible, and they are the power behind everything that happens here at DRIP. And I think that kind of stat is something that does take a little while for me to digest personally, especially when it's a family-run business. We started things just around the dining room table with no idea. And I think if I can give anyone any advice, having no idea is part of the fun and 100% our superpower. We won't take no for an answer because we just don't believe it's not rocket science. Let's give it a go. We'll keep trying. They say, no, but try again, try again. And you build from there.
[00:39:50] Ray Latif: Well, thank you for not saying no to us when we asked if we could come back here today. When you talk about potential and you talk about ambition and you talk about the desire to build a successful brand, it's really, really difficult, but it can be done. Trip is a really good example of a brand that had an idea, that had people who were focused, obsessed with the details, obsessed with the details. and made a lot of really good choices when it came to team and rollout and expansion into different countries. So Liv, thank you so much again for taking the time to be with me. And thanks so much for inviting us here in your house.
[00:40:26] Olivia Ferdi: Thank you for having us. Really appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you.
[00:40:29] Ray Latif: All right. You can leave your microphone right down there. And we'll bring up Catherine Brickin, who is the founder and CEO of an incredible brand that I already mentioned called Delicious. Catherine, round of applause for Catherine Brickin. So for people who aren't familiar, what is Delicious?
[00:40:48] Jeffrey Klineman: So Delicious is a cookie dough platform, and we're revolutionizing the way that cookie dough is thought of, right? We lived it, ate it out of the bowl when our parents made it or our grandparents made it. We've made it better for you with the ingredients, so we don't use any white sugar, any refined white flours, and made it really snackable. So we've started with our ready-to-bake dough. Now, then we became obsessed with an ice cream sandwich and decided to not do a normal ice cream sandwich, wrapped cookie dough around gelato. And now we also sell our baked cookies on airlines, train lines. So one of your colleagues is on the train tomorrow on LNER train lines. I was like, get a cookie. And just constantly trying to innovate and modernize something that's been around for a long time to make it fun, indulgent, permissible, and just the perfect snack anytime of day.
[00:41:37] Ray Latif: It is the perfect snack. I had quite a few of them yesterday when I visited your facility and I was just in heaven. You also just introduced a new line of baked skillet cookies.
[00:41:47] Jeffrey Klineman: Yes.
[00:41:48] Ray Latif: Which I think folks have tried some of those in the back as well. When are they rolling out? Where are they rolling out?
[00:41:52] Jeffrey Klineman: So the new skillets are a sharing, right? So spoon, spoon away. And those are launching out globally in Whole Foods. So UK and US this month.
[00:42:03] Ray Latif: These people at Whole Foods seem to be pretty intelligent folks to bring in Trip and Delicious globally. So well done on that front, Whole Foods. And I do want to talk about how you got into the retailer. Just for context, where are you sold right now?
[00:42:16] Jeffrey Klineman: So right now we're sold in, well, the end of this year will be in $6,000 in the US. and also throughout the UK and all the major multiples. And now we've launched in different countries. So through Costco, we're in Switzerland, Iceland, Sweden, Australia, Lebanon. constantly just growing the brand.
[00:42:39] Ray Latif: Yeah. Although the U.S. is a big focus for you.
[00:42:41] Jeffrey Klineman: Yes.
[00:42:42] Ray Latif: I think you told me 65% of your business now is in the United States and you're still a UK-based brand. Yeah. When you're assessing the opportunity to break into the U.S. market, I've been having these conversations with lots of folks here. When you're thinking about making that leap, what's the spark? What gets you started?
[00:42:58] Jeffrey Klineman: So, I mean, it was a natural movement for me, right? Being American, coming abroad.
[00:43:02] Ray Latif: You're American?
[00:43:05] Jeffrey Klineman: I mean, people always say to me, oh, my gosh, you don't have an accent, British accent. I'm like, yeah, that would be like Madonna, right? So moved here 18 years ago, and a friend said to me, can you just make an American-style cookie? I was like, yeah, hello, that's so easy. So launched the dough, and never thought the dough would grow to be what it is today. So it was just like a natural transition to move into the U.S. Always a plan, just the timing to be right. And the timing happened when we were lucky the CEO of Whole Foods came to our factory and we took the gelato bites, we showed him how just to snack on them throughout his whole visit, but then get creative with dough hacks, dip it in meringue, torch it, because I told Ray every woman needs a blowtorch.
[00:43:47] Ray Latif: I didn't see any of the blowtorch yesterday.
[00:43:49] Jeffrey Klineman: Yeah, we got stuck in the factory.
[00:43:51] Ray Latif: I needed to keep my eyebrows for tonight, so that's why.
[00:43:54] Jeffrey Klineman: And so we were lucky, he traced us the product and he was like, oh my god, why don't we have this in the US? So two weeks later we were approached by one of his foragers and four months later in four regions and then nationwide.
[00:44:09] Ray Latif: So there was a little bit of luck in getting into Whole Foods and having the CEO come. That doesn't happen to everyone for sure. But cultivating that relationship, making sure that you're building on that relationship is really, really important. Talk about how you did so with Whole Foods and then also with Target, where there is a really cool new product launching in Target or already out in stores there now.
[00:44:27] Jeffrey Klineman: Yeah, so we again, we were lucky with Whole Foods launched and we gave them exclusivity just because they were so good to us and believed in us as a brand and gave us a full brand blocking. And as you know, in freezers, that's hard, right? You got to get the customer's attention. We can't do massive end caps in Whole Foods. I mean, like in the aisle, like you could with an ambient product. So we were Lucky Bet be able to get their attention and grow. And then Target came to us. And Target, we are now nationwide in Target. And we are launching the first ever frozen countdown to Christmas calendar. So it's 12 different flavors. And now Americans have bigger freezers than the Brits. So let's hope everybody can have it. But it will fit in a British freezer too, because it's not that big.
[00:45:16] Ray Latif: Or you could just eat all of them all at once and just don't put anything in the freezer.
[00:45:20] Jeffrey Klineman: Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. This summer I did a test and I ate three a day. So like four days it was done.
[00:45:26] Ray Latif: Yeah. I like that. So instead of 12 days of Christmas, you do four.
[00:45:29] Jeffrey Klineman: Yeah. Yeah. I like that.
[00:45:30] Ray Latif: But you got an end cap at Target for this particular product. Again, it doesn't just necessarily happen without having a good relationship with their buyer. Right. What is it about your relationship with Target's buyer that has been so good such that you get an end cap, a space like that?
[00:45:45] Jeffrey Klineman: Yeah, I think one thing is she just believes in the product, and she knows that what we're going to do is we're going to light up her freezer space like it hasn't been done before. So we're bringing innovation, we're bringing a modern concept, amazing flavors. Like Olivia said, they're calm. Like we go with bright colors and we, because again, we're behind a freezer door, which is more difficult. And she knows that we're going to bring joy to her customers. So we're giving them something that they've never seen before and something that she's passionate about. She is a massive fan. She invited me to go to Minnesota and we walked to the aisles and she's like, look at this. How can you fix this? And I'm like, I've got an idea. And I think because we have our own factory, it gives us the capability to innovate and respond to her needs if it works with us. So it's always a marketing-led innovation that we look at and we say, OK, we can do this. So then we present her with options which excite her. And yeah, it's been just an amazing match.
[00:46:46] Ray Latif: And what's really clear from what you talked about is that it's not just, you know, she's going to put your product on shelf because she likes you. She really does like you in respect to your brand for sure. But it's because you're going to bring incremental value to those stores. You're bringing sales to those stores where other brands may not have been able to do so. And you do so through differentiation. You mentioned how you're a manufacturing facility. It's here in the UK. Do you know about this thing it's called tariffs, like this thing in the United States? Yeah, it's something new. Not a lot of people like what's going on.
[00:47:16] Jeffrey Klineman: Yeah, sadly.
[00:47:17] Ray Latif: Yeah, it kind of forces some companies to have operations in the United States and you're assessing options right now.
[00:47:24] Jeffrey Klineman: Yes, so we've launched the cookie. In the U.S., we've only launched the cookie dough and gelato bites, just to focus. Until this next week, we'll have the skillets in the doors with Whole Foods nationwide. And we always give them exclusivity when they launch our product first. I think it's fair. So we are starting our first manufacturing in the U.S. Q1. So we'll be able to produce high speed cookie dough and gelato bites because I think that's been our biggest challenge just the logistics and the tariffs. Just doing that alone will be releasing 21 points of margins.
[00:48:01] Ray Latif: And you have a team. You're not doing this remotely. I mean, obviously, you won't be producing remotely, but it's really important to have a team. How do you find these folks that you believe in, especially when you're based here? How do you find a U.S.-based team?
[00:48:14] Jeffrey Klineman: Yeah, again, I think it's a lot of hard work and it's luck. We met, which some of the team here knows, Michael Parisi. He comes from Popchips, Smartwater. He's fantastic, and he found us, so he's our president. And then we've hired Whitney Spiefogel, and she's our head of PR and activations out of New York. So we have Denver, New York. our new head of marketing out of California. And he, again, it's a big pop chip crowd. So let's hope they like the dough. Well, they do like the dough. And then we are now hiring for East Coast and West Coast sales. But we've been really lucky. We, thank goodness, haven't had to use a recruiter. They've come to us. And people reach out to us because they've seen the brand and love it. And they've tried it and believe in what we're doing.
[00:49:00] Ray Latif: Believe in what we're doing. I love it. Catherine, earlier today we were chatting and you mentioned today was kind of tough. It was a tough day for you and every founder here goes through tough days. Dealing with those tough days and being able to recognize that there is a tomorrow, you know, that's one way to get over it, but it's not easy. How do you deal with adversity? How do you deal with adversity on a personal level?
[00:49:22] Jeffrey Klineman: Eat a lot of cookie dough?
[00:49:24] Ray Latif: That's a good answer, actually.
[00:49:25] Jeffrey Klineman: I think the factory is the hardest thing. Growing the brand is so much fun and exciting, and I love what I do. Every day is like, oh my gosh, this is fantastic. And I think bringing culture and excitement, some of the teams here, and I hope they always see me as excited, because I do. I honestly love it, and I believe in what we do. But having a factory is really difficult. We've been trying to, I mean, this is like why it was a hard day. We've been trying to get a pallet of samples to the US and every day the EHC doesn't come in, which is a, if you have any dairy or animal byproducts on the pallet, which trip in something and nothing wouldn't have, but we do because it has milk. So if that doesn't come in, then the whole pallet sits. So we've had a pallet sitting there, which are samples that need to get to some new buyers. that are not getting there on time. So it's just, it's just very stressful because there's things you can control and there's things that you can't control. And this is the one that I can't control. You know, you just wait, you wait in hope.
[00:50:26] Ray Latif: And you realize why you started the company in the first place, which is to make people happy.
[00:50:30] Jeffrey Klineman: Yeah, bringing joy, which is, it's fun because we, you know, I was listening to Olivia and how like they bring joy, like they bring calm, like we bring joy and I was telling Ray yesterday, there's people that will send us pictures of them in the bathtub at night with their gelato bite and being like, what I looked forward to every day. So it's just, I think it's like whatever makes somebody happy and hopefully they'll have a trip with or something and nothing with their delicious.
[00:50:58] Ray Latif: Watch for this professional segue here. Well, you've made me very happy. So, Catherine, thank you so much for taking the time to be with me right now. Thanks so much for your support of this event, and thanks so much for bringing joy to so many people in the UK, US, and beyond. Appreciate it. Thank you. Definitely try some delicious. All right. Thank you all so much for paying attention and keeping the conversation sound. We have one more speaker or one more guest. That's a man with a beautiful beard. His name is Olly Dixon. He's the co-founder of Something and Nothing. How are you? Come on up. Round of applause for Ollie. Thank you. So Oli, you and I had an opportunity to sit down yesterday. So Liv talked about bringing calm to consumers. Yeah. Catherine talked about bringing joy to consumers. And you bring something and also nothing to consumers as well.
[00:51:52] Olivia Ferdi: That's pretty much.
[00:51:52] Ray Latif: Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. I think most people are familiar with something and nothing.
[00:51:56] Olivia Ferdi: But what do you do? We make premium soda. So no sugar, no sweetness, all natural ingredients. Very focused on, I guess, a premium consumer, an elevated space in terms of the brand and the product. I guess I'm kind of here because we're very US focused. So the US is 65% of our business and growing, probably be closer to 70 by this time next year. And that was not through design. That's just pure luck to a degree.
[00:52:32] Ray Latif: When you and I chatted yesterday, you talked about how you made this product for you. This is a product that you specifically were looking for. Turns out there's a lot of other people looking for a brand and a product like yours. When you're thinking about that US market though, there's just so many brands and there's a lot of interest in better for you soda in particular. You talk about a brand like Poppy or Olipop. I mean, everyone here knows Poppy, nearly $2 billion sale to PepsiCo. So there is real opportunity, but you've got to stand out. You've got to be differentiated. And we talked about the importance of being intuitive. Letting the customer know what you are and what you're about almost from the jump. People do not take time to learn about products. You either know it or you don't and do it within two seconds. Why is your product so intuitive? How did you work on it to make it seem like it was an easy sell for consumers?
[00:53:20] Olivia Ferdi: It's pretty much the design of the can and the weird name, I think. I come from a design and branding background. As Ray said, there wasn't a lot of thought in this. There was a lot of thought in terms of, I want a better for you. I didn't even call it then. I just wanted a grown up soft drink without sugar, kind of made in a artisanal way to a certain degree. I owned a pub and basically got really drunk and then was like, I need to, probably stop drinking for a bit. And what do you drink in a space like this? And that was the sort of zenith of it. And then I looked at soda, soft drinks in this country and was like, well, everything's full of sugar and everything's sort of, you know, tastes the same it did decades ago. Why can't there be something grown up, more interesting, more inspired by food and travel, which I was doing a lot of then. I've got two kids, I do none of it now, but I've got the memories. And that sort of beginning point is sort of what followed through. So then creating the brand. I very much avoid looking at the space that you want to be in. So we were creating a soft drink. So the last thing you want to do is look at soft drinks. So we looked at fashion and beauty and design. And that was the kind of starting point. And I've read a lot of marketing and branding books over the years. And Tipping Point, Purple Cow, Malcolm Gladwell, all that stuff of creating something unusual is usually what sticks in people's heads. So that was the kind of, you know, creating this very minimal looking can, not a big brand name, not saying a great deal apart from the flavor and having a kind of abstract unusual image with long shadows that kind of portrays this sort of evening travel moment was way more smart than we realized. Because when you suddenly launch in the US and you've got no team and no marketing budget, and you're sat on the fridge in Erewhon and there's 100 other soft drinks. And I should say, when we launched in Erewhon, I'd never heard of it. I had no idea. In fact, I didn't even know we'd launched there. And four months later, the guy who took us in there was like, you know, you're doing really well in Erewhon. You're the best-selling new brand of any product, not just drinks. I was like, oh, cool. What's Erewhon? Now I know. Obviously. So that can, that look of like when you don't have all that budget and all the team, that's what people are curious about. So they pick it up and you see it every time, turn it and they go, okay, well, okay, the ingredients look pretty good and the calorie count's okay. And then they buy it and they try it. And in our case, the liquid's really good. So then they buy it again and they buy it again and they buy it again. And then retailers like you. And then if retailers like you, distributors like you. And then the kind of thing begins to gain more momentum.
[00:56:11] Ray Latif: You make it sound so easy, you know?
[00:56:15] Olivia Ferdi: It sort of is. I mean, it's obviously not easy and I'm not doing justice to the team because everyone works incredibly hard to do that. But if you spend the time at the beginning getting the product and the brand right, it sounds like a cliche, but it does essentially sell itself.
[00:56:30] Ray Latif: Well, that's what I want to talk about. And that's what I was hoping you would say, which is the intentionality. the research, the work you did before launching led to a lot of the success that you're seeing right now. How long was the brand in planning? And I remember you told me that you had more sleepless nights preparing to build and launch the brand than you do now.
[00:56:51] Olivia Ferdi: Yeah, I mean, there's been some. Touch and go moments on the financial side, there's definitely some sleepless nights and there's obviously stress as everyone knows starting a brand. But yeah, the beginning bit was the bit that I was most stressed about because I wanted to put something in the world that meant something to me and I knew would connect with people. And, you know, Tripp talked earlier about the emotive connection with consumers. That's the bit for me of like brands that use creativity to connect with a consumer are usually the brands that really resonate with you. And, you know, it isn't a commodity. It becomes part of your lifestyle and you feel good about drinking it and you want to tell your friends and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And that like word of mouth is a thousand percent what our marketing is. Yeah. Do you have people on the ground in the U.S.? Yeah, we now have three, but only two salespeople. One person's just sort of holding it all together. But yeah, I mean, obviously, the plan is to hire more. But our head office, we don't actually have an office, but it's, I was going to say London, but it's the UK. But we've got someone in Australia, a couple of people in the Midlands, three people in London, three people in the US, someone in somewhere else. I can't remember. It's a bit of a mix. There's a lot of like, yeah, virtual conversations.
[00:58:11] Ray Latif: Yeah, I mean, it's also working there because in addition to Erewhon, you're in Whole Foods and you're in nearly 300 Whole Foods locations.
[00:58:17] Olivia Ferdi: Yeah, soon some more.
[00:58:19] Ray Latif: Yeah, you're doing really well. And I was actually kind of surprised to hear your revenue number. I'm not going to share that. If you want to share that, you're welcome to. Yeah, well, like five and a half million dollars. Yeah, I mean, that's great. And I think, you know, projection-wise, you just seem to be on a roll. I mean, if you're growing at, I think, 60 to 70 percent year over year, you can just, you know... Yeah, the other thing is that's a blended number.
[00:58:42] Olivia Ferdi: So the U.S. is actually growing faster and particularly on e-commerce, weirdly, is doing really well for us. And I say weirdly because that again, like everything kind of feeds itself. So we created this thing called the neighborhood strategy. So I think unusually for us, our sort of retail side is slightly larger now, particularly with Whole Foods, but the sort of on trade you know, cafes, bodegas, restaurants, those sort of neighborhoods where our consumer is working, hanging out. Like, that's a really strong part of our business. And that is actually then what drives the e-commerce. So the filling of the top of the funnel is really people trying it in a boutique hotel or in their favorite cafe where they get their salad and then they're like actually quite like some of these at home and next to my giant freezer full of delicious, I've got a giant fridge and now I want it full of sodas. Well done. I think that's a good idea.
[00:59:38] Ray Latif: Just before we wrap, you know, ambition is just built into an entrepreneur's DNA. And when you start to see some success, when you start to see some traction, you think about the potential of your brand. How do you balance ambition, potential and growth strategy?
[00:59:57] Olivia Ferdi: Well, that is the magic equation. You got 15 seconds. I think ambition from a brand perspective was always built in, like I always built what I believe was a global potential brand, like people in LA tend to think it's from LA, people from New York think it's from New York. But I just want to touch on that for a sec.
[01:00:16] Ray Latif: This is really important. You built this brand from the get-go as having global potential, as having huge potential. And I think that's a really, really important point. Know that you can and potentially could be a global brand. And so believe that and build toward that just from the beginning is really an important consideration, I think.
[01:00:35] Olivia Ferdi: I mean, I guess that's my background, but that was the bit I was excited about and put a lot of thought into and knew that if you got that right, it then works really hard for you. And then in terms of growth and that ambition, like the U.S. came about, it wasn't on our, we didn't even have a business plan, but it wasn't on our plan. It sort of came into our laps to a certain degree. There was a no risk thing. Someone bought a container and as I said, sold very well, sold very well in Erewhon. And then we're like, oh, OK. Those folk drink a lot of soda over there. For some reason, our brand's really resonating. And yeah, that was chance to a certain degree. I really remember having the phone call on the way to my local coffee shop. My business partner and I were saying, I mean, do we do this? Do we do the US? Like, it kind of seems crazy. And I was like, wow. Come on, let's just do it and see what happens. And of course, that moment was a big sliding doors moment, because of course, now the US is a massive part of the company, or the business, and then weirdly, Holland, and then somewhere down there is the UK. I don't know what's wrong with this lot, but they're not that into us.
[01:01:42] Ray Latif: Well, I hope more people will drink something and nothing after this conversation. It is a really amazing brand and the liquid that you make, to use an industry term, is top-notch. It really is.
[01:01:53] Olivia Ferdi: Top-notch is the industry term. No, liquid is the industry term.
[01:01:56] Ray Latif: Top-notch is just my way of describing your...
[01:01:59] Olivia Ferdi: Speaking in English.
[01:02:00] Ray Latif: Yes, speaking in English. Ollie, thank you so much for taking the time. Thanks, mate. 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.com. On behalf of the entire Taste Radio team, thank you for listening. And we'll talk to you next time. you VIP has quietly powered the beverage industry for more than 50 years, trusted by more than 2,800 distributors and 1,400 suppliers. They've defined this industry time and again. And in this era of AI, they're leading the way. Today, we're joined by VIP CEO, Andrew Krizis, and Head of Sales, Lucinda Aquat, to discuss where the industry is headed and what customers can expect next. Andrew, it's great to see you. How are you? Good. Thanks for having me, Ray. Lucinda, how are you?
[01:03:41] Jacqui Brugliera: So great. Excited to be here.
[01:03:43] Ray Latif: Yes. And our audience is excited to hear about VIP's capabilities with AI because it is a topic that is top of mind for so many founders at this point. Andrew, as I mentioned, VIP has been around for over 50 years. Your background is pretty interesting because you bring so much to the table as CEO. How did you come to VIP? Yeah, great question, Ray. And I think it does go back to the legacy of VIP. So I'm incredibly passionate about the beverage and alcohol industry, the broader CPG industry as a whole. So I spent the last 12 years plus working at Nielsen IQ, working with many of the suppliers that could be listening to this, distributors and retailers.
[01:04:21] John Craven: It was about five years ago that I first interacted with VIP and it's actually a partner to Nielsen IQ. And so complimentary partnership was created and I got to know the company a little bit.
[01:04:31] Ray Latif: I got to see the value of what VIP creates in the industry and how it helps support the three-tier system. And I was just blown away also by the people. by just the caliber of the talent, how respected they were in the industry, how much knowledge they had across the three-tier system. And so once I started to get to know the company a bit more, I saw just the opportunity for the technology to do so much more across the industry. And with AI, as we were talking about becoming really important and accelerating every day, every week, I started to realize it's a huge moment for AI and technology and more investment to come into VIP, really help our clients, help the suppliers, help the distributors and retailers, and transform how operations and the day-to-day work is getting done.
[01:05:11] John Craven: So I just saw that as a great opportunity, both in the technology and AI side, leveraging all of my data background and knowledge in the industry, but then joining a group that has an amazing culture, an amazing team, and a ton of passion behind it.
[01:05:23] Ray Latif: Lucinda, when you came to VIP, you also came with a ton of experience. Just talk a bit about your background in this industry. Yeah, thanks, Ray. So I like to say I was born and raised in the beer business, but I got here as soon as I could. Started when I was 21 with Boston Beer Company. I've worked in all three tiers of the three-tier supply chain over the last 20 years. And I showed up to the first day to the VIP office here in Burlington, and I felt like I should be asking for autographs because VIP is the only set of data and the only set of tools that I've ever used on any of the three tiers. So it was really remarkable to see the team of people that has built such an incredible organization and really built from the ground up over the past 50 plus years that VIPs existed.
[01:06:07] Jacqui Brugliera: So I'm honored to be here, a part of the team now to help carry the sales team into the future with all this new, authentic work that we're going to talk about.
[01:06:16] Ray Latif: Andrew, let's just start off by talking about where the beverage industry is headed right now in broad terms and why AI is such a critical strategic investment for founders and businesses. You know, I think about whether you're a small supplier or distributor or a large supplier, you know, the beverage alcohol space. You could be only have a few people at your company or hundreds. At the end of the day, everyone's looking for efficiency. Whether you're three people within your company and you're stretching yourself to try to do five jobs. Or again, you're a larger company with maybe 10 people in the finance department. You're all trying to find better ways to do what you're doing so you can drive more product to consumers. So AI is just coming at this perfect moment over the last six to 12 months where everyone needs it. Everyone needs it for similar reasons, for inefficiencies, whether it's helping you run some reporting, it's helping you with pricing, it's helping you optimize something. At the end of the day, there's never enough hands and arms within a company when you're building a brand. And I've experienced that, you know, working with hundreds and hundreds of founders over the last 12 years. in my past role with Nielsen IQ, and I see that with VIP. So I think all of the industry, both suppliers, distributors, retailers, they're looking at AI to try to understand how can I drive more efficiency? How can I drive a better delivery of my service or product to the end customer?
[01:07:30] John Craven: And how can I do it in a way that's gonna set me up for success? But now many people are taking it in different ways. AI isn't something that's just intuitive and you throw on a chat bot and all of a sudden you're up and running. So it's really interesting to see how suppliers are leveraging AI, how distributors are leveraging AI, retailers, et cetera. And there's some fun nuances between those three.
[01:07:49] Ray Latif: When it comes to spending money on AI or otherwise, founders want to see a return on investment. And I'm curious about how you measure return on investment when it comes to AI. And also, there's so much hype about AI at this point. Where does hype meet reality? Lucinda, can you tackle both questions for me? Yeah, great questions. So I think I'll tackle the ROI question first, because I think it will address the buzzword as well.
[01:08:15] Jacqui Brugliera: But I think when you think about AI, I was thinking back to all these different technological advances and how they've impacted the industry all the way back to when we used to have rolls of quarters to get on the payphone.
[01:08:27] Ray Latif: And then all of a sudden, cell phones helped make us more efficient.
[01:08:30] Jacqui Brugliera: Same thing with printers, and then the internet, I think of AI in the same way. It will give us the ability to enable all of our teams to be that much faster, that much smarter, smarter by way of better insights from the data.
[01:08:43] Ray Latif: So if we're able to take a sales report, a sales ranker, and extract out the insights that much faster and distill down to the actual accounts we should be spending our time in, that to me is an instant ROI. There's also back of house applications. We think we talked with our distributors about some of the features that are most important to them as we're building out our new agentic platform. And it's things like avoiding the fat finger on the order. We don't want 10, we want one. We don't want 100, we want 10. And so giving the teams the ability to capture those things in advance, I think is where we see the ROI.
[01:09:18] Jacqui Brugliera: It also empowers our retailers to make better orders. So think of predictive ordering in an e-commerce platform like Connect. There is so many great things that we can do to empower across all three of the tiers using all of our gigantic features that we have in place now.
[01:09:33] Ray Latif: So if I'm a retailer, if I'm a distributor, if I'm a supplier, that's how I think about the ROI.
[01:09:39] Jacqui Brugliera: And it really enables the humans to be better at their jobs. So that in itself, I think is the buzz. I encourage people to think about AI as more of a tool and a way to do their business, a way to go about seeking the outcomes they're looking for versus this buzzword of a tool.
[01:09:57] Ray Latif: And I think when we all begin to embrace it much more, we'll see that firsthand as well. Obviously, technology is moving faster than it ever has before. And it's incumbent upon VIP to provide technology that is keeping up with the times or in this case, keeping up by the day. Yeah, I think you're spot on with it's evolving every day, every week, new models come out, Babel 5 came out for the second time. So it's a constant. It's been great. I've had a few conversations just recently with some distributors and suppliers. And when we talk about the investments, one of the things that came out clearly from our clients was they are interested, they are getting pressure to use AI. And so initially, you know, whether you're a founder on this call, a supplier or distributor, the thought process was, let's just take Jett, GPT, let's take Claude, let's just turn it on for everyone.
[01:10:41] John Craven: And like, let's go get some insights. And you can get some gains and insights there.
[01:10:45] Ray Latif: But ultimately, those clients came to us and said, hey, for us really to take advantage of this new technology and capability, we need VIP. We need VIP to do this within all the business processes, because VIP is so foundational to the core operations, whether you're a distributor, whether you're on the supplier side, looking at your inventory and depletions. And so that's where we took it upon ourselves to say, let's look at the marketplace. Let's look at all the different providers out there and take a hard look at ourselves.
[01:11:10] John Craven: And we made the decision to make a really sizable, significant investment into a new architecture with AI and an agentic first decision. And what that allows us to do is actually create not just agents and AI on top of legacy products, which again, that still adds some value, but it doesn't change the game.
[01:11:28] Ray Latif: And so we said, let's go down the path of actually building for the next several years, not for the next two months or three months, because a new model is to proceed something, but we need to have a new foundation. So VIPs made the biggest investment or one of the biggest investments we've ever made as a company. And that's gonna allow us to have an agentic first platform, bring in many different types of data and create agents on top that again, aren't just giving you some insights, but I like to say are doing work. They're doing work for you as a supplier. They're actually making decisions on your behalf within certain guardrails. And then they're able to communicate for you. If you're a supplier, actually having these agents do work for you, communicate to your distributors, to your trading partners on your behalf. Again, I go back to my first point. Everyone needs more arms and hands, right? You never have enough people when you're a small player or a large player. And so actually being able to do some of that work, communicate digitally to distributors, whether it's pricing, whether it's something related to inventory, whether it's shipments. And likewise, distributors having agents that can interpret and engage and make decisions on their behalf and then communicate to their trading partners. That's where we're going as VIP with AI. We think we play a really central role into that core operational element of how the three tier system works.
[01:12:43] John Craven: But we were also cognizant that that takes real investment. It's not just lipstick on an existing product and putting in a chat bot and saying, oh, everything's AI. It's really looking at the foundation of what's needed
[01:12:53] Ray Latif: So much has changed just in the last six months, where whether you're a software or data company, what you had built maybe two years ago, even 12 months ago, almost becomes irrelevant from an architectural standpoint, just because the last six months. So that level of investment is something we're fully driving towards and working with a lot of clients on both the distributor and supplier side of how we bring this new platform to life. And at the same time, though, we're still investing in our existing products. That is not stopping. So I think of it from a VIP standpoint, as we're going down both paths, we're investing in existing products, putting AI on top, kind of what I was mentioning with many others in the industry. But we're also going after this whole new architecture and whole new platform. And that's what's really required long term of the three tier system. Whenever I talk to founders, operators about who they choose their partners, it really comes down to trust. And I think when you're talking about AI and the evolution of this technology, it's really important to trust your partner. And it seems like the level of expertise that you guys can provide to companies is just unmatched at this point. So I highly encourage folks to get in touch with the team at VIP. Lucinda, what's the best way to do so? Yeah, thanks, Ray. We are so excited to hear from all our customers.
[01:14:07] Jacqui Brugliera: We're getting questions every day, and I do think the best way to reach out to us is vapinsights.com. And go and submit a form, request a demo, send in a question, and we will be able to get back to you. But our sales team is talking with all of our customers all day every day about this, and we're really excited to bring everyone more.
[01:14:25] Ray Latif: Outstanding. Well, Andrew, Lucinda, thank you so much for taking the time. I'm really excited for the future of AI and VIP's ability to help companies address this technology in a really effective way. So thanks again, and let's definitely stay in touch. Great. Thanks for having us, Ray.
[01:14:40] Jeffrey Klineman: Thank you, Ray.
