[00:00:00] Scott Florentino: Hey folks, it's Ray with Taste Radio. Right now I'm honored to be sitting down with Scott Florentino, who is the chief commercial officer of Biobotanica. Scott, it's great to see you.
[00:00:11] Speaker 1: Nice to see you too.
[00:00:12] Scott Florentino: Before we hopped in the mics, you mentioned you were just at Expo West, which is the mother of all trade shows. Anything interesting you see there?
[00:00:19] Speaker 1: Yeah, it was, as always, fantastic. Tons of new brands. It's so, like, I come out of there, like, jazzed to see all these people that are starting their new brands that, you know, they're really pushing the envelope. You saw a ton of energy drinks. And happily for us, of course, botanical extract still remaining really strong in the beverage sector. We continue to go around. I'm still sometimes frustrated that I have to introduce our company to people in the beverage industry, but we focus in different industries for many, many years. But I'm also pleased that sometimes, oh yeah, sure, of course, I know Biobotanica.
[00:00:56] Scott Florentino: Well, botanical extracts are your wheelhouse, and I feel like it's in line with, or at least your services are in line with what brands need today. Just for context, tell us a little bit about the history of Biobotanica and how you work with beverage brands.
[00:01:13] Speaker 1: Sure. So we are the nation's oldest family-run botanical extract manufacturer. Frank D'Amelio Sr., everyone lovingly called him Sr., started this company in 1972. When he starts, the natural products industry is really at the beginning. And him and what he's built here is just something fantastic. We've been in business for over 50 years. You can't not only survive but also thrive over those 50 years if you're not putting out a really strong product. And so what we've done over the years is Frank is starting this company because he's a naturalist. He wants to get quality extracts and he can't find anything. So he says, all right, I'm going to create my own extracts. I'm going to do it my own process. And so quality is the most important thing that we do here. And we've helped so many different companies. The other thing that we always act is integrity. So quite often, you know, if we're not a fit, we do make recommendations and put them to someone that might be a better fit. But our goal is to get in the beverage sector. If you're looking for a high quality extract, if you're looking for something that you can't find at somewhere else, because a lot of their competitors are, you know, filling up warehouses and then selling off stock. we're happy to give you one of our made-to-order extracts. Anywhere between 100 and 150 different botanicals are extracted. So, we've got a wide selection and hopefully you can... Something that we have, like we have a formula that's made that's perfect for you but if you're looking for a blend or something that we don't have, we'd love to talk to you and see how we can make the thing that you're looking for so that your vision can become a reality.
[00:02:50] Scott Florentino: Well, I really am glad that you talked about quality and integrity. I think sometimes both things are lacking, you know, shockingly in our industry, especially when end consumers want the best products. They're educated about products. I mean, perhaps not as much as we are, but, you know, they read ingredient labels like they haven't in the past and they want better flavor. They want better functionality. And I think Biobotanica, and what you're doing in terms of the products that you offer is a benefit, a big benefit to our industry, and specifically a category that you touched on, which is energy.
[00:03:28] Speaker 1: Currently our three big SKUs that people will use in their drinks for energy are green tea, which is a standard, yerba mate, and ginseng. So we see a lot of customers going for those. Our customers, when they're interested in that, we're offering them something that you're guaranteed to get a high-quality ingredient. We use a cold extraction process to ensure that you have more of the plant's constituents in the extract, as you would find in nature. I mean, that's the goal, and that's what Senior created many, many years ago. And we call it the holistic balance. Senior's theory was, you know, don't focus on any one individual constituent because nature knows best and try to get the most the way nature has those constituents in your finished extract.
[00:04:13] Scott Florentino: And people know these ingredients, too. I think that's a really important point as well. You know, you talk about green tea and yerba mate and ginseng. Of course, they're not necessarily household names, but people looking for those ingredients in energy drinks know what they're all about, can pronounce them, and certainly have a better way of understanding them than they might synthetic ingredients.
[00:04:36] Speaker 1: We're a diverse company. We also have a brand called Nature's Answer, which is a dietary supplement brand, and that is sold around the globe. I always bring that up to customers because it's really, it helps us understand the industry and what the trends are. So you see trends start in Asia, and they start in the dietary supplement space, and then they make their way to Europe, and then they make their way to the US. Quite often, that's the way these things go. Mushrooms were heavy, of course, in China for years. but they start in the supplement business and then they move to other industries that we supply ingredients to. So usually the next step is they go to the beverage sector. And then even after that, you'll see they'll end up in personal care. So from a marketing, we are always trying to share with our customers, you know, different trends that we're seeing to see that maybe they want to jump in and hit that wave as it starts to hit. My recommendation is quite often, you know, the marketplace, especially since COVID is really becoming much more educated on the different plants. So you may not need to make all these claims that you're thinking you need to make. You can just talk about, you know, you see some of these big brands, you talk about that you have your Mamate in it, or you talk about that you're using Reishi or Cordyceps. And a lot of these customers know that, and they know why you have that in there. So just give them a high quality product, you know, and then they'll be very pleased with the offering.
[00:05:58] Scott Florentino: I think that's a really good point. Sometimes it's really difficult to educate about benefits. But if the education's already out there, maybe you don't need to do it as much as you think. Certainly, you mentioned reishi, and lion's mane is another one where I'm like, huh, I talk to friends nowadays and they know what those are. And 10 years ago, you would've said, oh, lion's mane, you're telling me, oh, the hair of a lion, what does that have to do with functional ingredients? But now, there is a lot more awareness about mushrooms and the benefit they deliver to consumers especially when it comes to cognitive health. And you have a whole line of cognitive products and let's zero in on Lion's Mane. Talk about why Biobotanica's Lion's Mane extract is efficacious and how it differentiates from other ones on the market.
[00:06:49] Speaker 1: Yeah, so our lines mean, first off, we did a global search to find high-quality mushrooms, and we found a farmer that we're very pleased with. So we have high-quality mushrooms, we're using our extraction process that, again, using less heat, we're able to come out with a high-quality extract. Additionally, the big benefit compared to a lot of other suppliers is that we offer an alcohol-free version. And that's not to say that we don't extract it using alcohol and water. It's just the way we finish it, there's no alcohol in the extract. It's a glycerin-based extract. So it blends really nicely in a lot of beverages. And we found it's been selling really, really well. So we found a lot of customers very happy with it.
[00:07:38] Scott Florentino: I'm not surprised. The number of mushroom coffee brands that I've seen come to market in the last year or two has been really surprising. I mean, it feels like that segment of coffee in particular has really blown up. Where else are you seeing and what other beverage categories are you seeing opportunity in cognitive health?
[00:07:56] Speaker 1: People are using these cognitive mushrooms in so many different formulations, whether it be a soda, whether it be a milk, whether it be a coffee, we're getting requests from all over. So I don't think the way that you ingest it matters. People are just putting different spins on it, but it's all over the place right now.
[00:08:14] Scott Florentino: Certainly, Scott, if I were an entrepreneur listening, I would want to get in touch with you and your team. It seems like, again, quality and integrity are two attributes that any founder would value in a partner. What is the best way to get in touch with the team at Biobotanica?
[00:08:32] Speaker 1: Best way, you can get on a website and submit a contact form. We're heavy in LinkedIn, but yeah, if you submit a contact form, we'll schedule a meeting. We want to learn about your company. We want to share with you how we do business, because we do business a little bit differently than a lot of other players. Like I said, when you place an order with us, they're made to order, so you're getting the longest shelf life possible. So we tell you a little bit about how we do business, and we want to learn about you, because we have so many different ingredients, so many different botanicals, and we want to see what you're looking for, and we'll make recommendations, and hopefully find a good fit for you.
[00:09:09] Scott Florentino: Outstanding. Well, the website is biobotanica.com, B-I-O dash B-O-T-A-N-I-C-A dot com. And as you pointed out, there are a couple of ways to contact your company, at least via a form. There's a request an ingredient sample button, and there's also an inquire about manufacturing button, as I know you also do some contract manufacturing as well. Yes. Fantastic. Well, Scott, thank you so much for taking the time to speak. Really excited about the opportunity for founders to work with you guys. Let's definitely stay in touch.
[00:09:43] Speaker 1: Thank you very much. Nice speaking to you.
