[00:00:10] Ray Latif: Hello, 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-host for this episode, John Craven, Jacqui Brugliera, and Mike Schneider. In this episode, we sit down with Alan Scholnick, the founder and CEO of innovative and convenient date snack brand, the aptly named Datefix. What is going on over here? Can I even do my intro without interruption?
[00:00:38] John Craven: I'm getting bored, Ray.
[00:00:39] Ray Latif: I'm getting bored. I guess so. Everyone's all hopped up post lunch because this is an odd time for us to be recording. You got lunch? I didn't get lunch. I didn't eat lunch yet.
[00:00:50] Jacqui Brugliera: Odd for you, Not Your me. I'm just warming up. I haven't eaten lunch yet.
[00:00:53] John Craven: Well, it's also April Fool's Day here. Okay.
[00:00:57] Jacqui Brugliera: Oh.
[00:00:57] John Craven: Been chuckling at all the chat GPT, April Fool's, gags, jokes, whatever you want to call them.
[00:01:04] Mike Schneider: Okay. All right.
[00:01:04] Jacqui Brugliera: Okay.
[00:01:05] Mike Schneider: Share. Ollie Pop just caught up to our ranch trend and now they've got ranch flavor.
[00:01:12] John Craven: I mean, the new Chat GPT, it's really easy to make super realistic looking stuff.
[00:01:17] Ray Latif: Well, anyway, I'm not necessarily a fan of this April Fool's stuff anymore. I feel like it kind of jumped the shark about two years ago. There was some clever stuff. Two years ago? Yeah, there was some clever stuff.
[00:01:26] When Walmart: Only two?
[00:01:26] Ray Latif: Two, maybe three years ago. There was some clever stuff out there. Now it feels like people have to do it out of necessity, because everybody else is doing it. But yeah, I mean, it always ends up being the same thing. It's just like, oh, you know, dog food flavored Coke, or whatever it is. It's like, okay, you know?
[00:01:43] John Craven: You've just seen Ray, the way he's like, dog food flavored Coke. Yes, I was doing my old... You gotta watch the video. Here we go, team. I mean, the first one that was in my inbox this morning was Groupon renaming to G-Spot. Oh yeah, I saw that. I'm sorry to anyone out there that used Groupons, but I think the phrase, like when you say in a retail establishment, I have a Groupon, you're just like universally, immediately hated by whoever's on the receiving end of that.
[00:02:14] Ray Latif: I think that's probably true. Yeah. Unfortunately for Groupon, I think they had an offer out there for Google to buy him for a billion. It was like, yeah, it was a crazy number. It was $6 billion. And they turned it down. He turned it down. Not wise. Not wise at all. Anyway. Yes. And Groupon has jumped the shark. Do you guys know where that term came from? 10 points if you get it. Jumped the shark? From Happy Days. From Happy Days is correct. Fonzie jumped a shark on his motorcycle. No, it wasn't on his motorcycle. He was jet skiing, of all things. Fonzie, a jet skier. So they were like, Fonzie, look out, there's a shark. And so he had to jump the shark.
[00:02:47] Mike Schneider: No, they promoted that he was going to jump over a shark. Are you sure? Yeah. They go back and watch the episode.
[00:02:53] Jacqui Brugliera: How did that translate to like what it means now, though?
[00:02:56] Mike Schneider: Because it was the worst episode in the history of Happy Days.
[00:03:00] Ray Latif: It was like there was no reason to watch Happy Days anymore.
[00:03:03] Mike Schneider: They just jumped the shark. Any show that has a jump the shark moment in it is dead. Yeah.
[00:03:09] Jacqui Brugliera: OK.
[00:03:09] Mike Schneider: So there used to be jumptheshark.com where you could go and see all the moments that TV started to suck. I don't know if there still is. I'm going to check it out. Yeah, probably. Wow. Maybe we could ask ChatGPT. When Taste Radio jump the shark?
[00:03:26] Ray Latif: I'm going to ask you. I'm going to ask you. I'm going to ask you. Don't do it. Don't do it. Stop. Stop. You guys are out of control with this stuff. I'm going to ban chat GPT and all this AI nonsense at our meetup in, no, no, in New York.
[00:03:36] Mike Schneider: I'm just going to say, you're saying such nice things about you. Oh, all right. I'm going to tell it that none of those are true.
[00:03:41] Ray Latif: Yes. Please tell it none of that's true. Confuse the algorithm or whatever it is so they don't know anything about me. Please do.
[00:03:47] John Craven: So you don't want to see the image I made of you and Mike on stage at the, It's a variation of the New Beverage Showdown, but it's cigarettes.
[00:03:56] Jacqui Brugliera: It's like Ray's worst nightmare, having all his information put into JetTPD by both of you.
[00:04:02] Mike Schneider: Yes, we're going to have cigs on seats.
[00:04:04] Ray Latif: It's going to be great. Anywho, Taste Radio's NYC Meetup is happening in less than two weeks, April 15th. We're very excited to be at the Rethink Community Kitchen in Greenwich Village. 6 to 8 p.m. is when it's happening. Join us and our amazing partners for the event. Obviously, Rethink Food, Matriarch Wealth Management, Beyond Brands, Ginger Labs, The Good, Smart & Sweet 9C. Very excited to have all those wonderful folks at our event, as well as the hundred plus folks that have signed up to attend. We've got founders, we've got manufacturers, we've got retailers, we've got investors. We get all kinds of people that are coming to this event and we want you to come as well. If you are based in the New York City area or planning to be in the area around the 15th, please join us. Head to Taste Radio slash NYC to register.
[00:04:56] John Craven: Should we mention that there's limited room?
[00:04:58] Ray Latif: There is limited room, but, you know, typically there are folks who don't show up. And I just want to make sure that... Those people are dead to us. Yes. Just kidding. If you want to come to sign up ASAP, because, you know, I sincerely doubt we're going to be turning people away. We might be. Maybe there'll be people hanging out outside on the sidewalk. We'll see. But I doubt that'll happen. All I'm trying to say is if you're not registered and you want to attend, you got to do so ASAP. I also think you gotta sign up and register for BevNET Live Summer 2025 ASAP because you can save money doing it. Our early registration ends on April 25th. Jackie, how much money can you save if you sign up now?
[00:05:38] Jacqui Brugliera: you can save a hundred dollars a ticket. And then if you bring multiple people, you can save hundreds of dollars.
[00:05:44] Ray Latif: And I'm telling you, if you want to get that nice restaurant, you know, you want to splurge a little bit in New York City, that hundred bucks is going to go a long way. A hundred bucks will get you what? Cheap steak and a taco. No, no, Not Your're not helping the cause here. You're going to get a whole taco in New York City for a hundred dollars.
[00:06:02] Jacqui Brugliera: You can get a hundred slices of pizza. How about this? How about this?
[00:06:08] Ray Latif: How about this? Let's come up with a Cheap Eats cheat sheet for New York City, and we'll share with everyone. Anyone who signs up early, that's what we'll do.
[00:06:17] John Craven: I'll give them... Is this gonna be one of these, like, I do a place with a dumpster that gets, like, loaded with expensive food at, like, 7 o'clock every night?
[00:06:24] Ray Latif: What? Yes, and it's actually a dumpster fire where you're grilling meat over the dumpster, yeah. It's 50 cents a skewer, skewer.
[00:06:31] Mike Schneider: Yeah, we're just gonna identify all the places that she can do a taco pizza bang bang that's what I like it I like it gross.
[00:06:38] Ray Latif: Yeah, that is gross speaking of gross pizza taco Okay, what should we start with if we're speaking of gross should we start with? Ice Cream that, um, it's not the most pleasant thing to consider this type of Ice Cream, or, you know, I'm gonna start with this.
[00:06:52] Jacqui Brugliera: I thought it was pleasant.
[00:06:52] Ray Latif: I'm gonna start with this. Yeah, what do you got? Yeah, Jackie, Jackie's gonna introduce the Ice Cream. Do we need sample cups? Yeah, we have sample cups. Oh, good. Okay, so I, I Instagrammed this the other day. Yeah. And I found it at a Russian grocery store in Brookline, Massachusetts, where I live. It is a Mentos flavored, non-sparkling drink. It comes in this 240 milliliter slim can, which I believe is 10 ounces or 8.4 ounces, excuse me. Describes itself as a lemon and mint flavor. I believe this is a South, it's a South Korean brand or it says authorized exporter, Carina Trade, South Korea. So let's try this.
[00:07:28] Mike Schneider: Let's have the grocery store next on us. That place is delightful.
[00:07:32] John Craven: Yeah, it is. Does this have like a widget that dispenses Diet Coke on the inside so it explodes? Oh, it didn't explode.
[00:07:37] Ray Latif: No, oh, by the way, and yeah, it didn't explode, no. Oh, still? Yeah, it says, I said non-sparkling. I didn't believe it though. With jelly bites, it says shake it. I didn't shake it, yeah.
[00:07:47] Jacqui Brugliera: I feel like overseas like candy flavored beverages are definitely a lot more popular.
[00:07:53] Mike Schneider: But are Mentos candy flavored? I got some jelly bites. I feel like Mentos is a candy, right? It's a candy. It's also a mint. There's an argument about this that happens a lot. I just I think the way they solved it was to Somebody's got mad and put it in coca-cola two liter and then clarity ensued and they stopped arguing.
[00:08:11] John Craven: It's not terrible. It's weird It's not I mean it does it tastes like Mentos.
[00:08:15] Ray Latif: Yeah, but I wanted it to like minty To me it tastes like don't You're Mike. I don't like Mentos.
[00:08:22] Jacqui Brugliera: You might have some more.
[00:08:22] Ray Latif: No, what's the point of it? It's kind of like a flat Sprite with jelly bursts.
[00:08:28] Jacqui Brugliera: That sounds kind of gross.
[00:08:30] Ray Latif: Good comparison.
[00:08:32] Jacqui Brugliera: Jelly bites and Sprite.
[00:08:34] Ray Latif: Yeah. I think you've nailed it, Jackie, as to what this comes across as, which is kind of gross.
[00:08:42] Mike Schneider: It looks like a congee with the rice in it.
[00:08:47] Jacqui Brugliera: We went for another round.
[00:08:48] Ray Latif: It's weird. Speaking of our official everything, I can't imagine that there's anything natural in this thing, but... No. Yeah, there's a... No, that's illegal. Ace cane, sucralose are two of the sweeteners, and there's about a million other ingredients in here that I cannot pronounce. I think that's as illegal as cocaine at this point. All right, well, you can finish yours if you want. Oh, yeah. Let's pray to what'll happen. All right, now I thought that was not so pleasant, but this, Jackie, what you're about to talk about, I think is, so Jackie, just for context here, Jackie DMs Mike, John, and I this weekend. She couldn't wait until Monday.
[00:09:23] Jacqui Brugliera: I couldn't.
[00:09:23] Ray Latif: And she DMed us this weekend and she said, I've got this really cool idea you guys need to see, and we need to talk about this on Taste Radio. She just said, we have to try this, is what she said.
[00:09:31] Jacqui Brugliera: Yes, that's what I said.
[00:09:32] Ray Latif: All right, so what do we have to try? What do we have to try?
[00:09:35] Jacqui Brugliera: You say that it's disgusting, but I think to certain consumers, like an infant or a bodybuilder, this might actually be something delicious. And it's a breast milk Ice Cream from Frida. And Frida Ice actually a maker of maternity and fertility products. And they announced that they are launching a breast milk Ice Cream, which is launching in nine months. A lot of people are going to hear that and be like, is it made out of breast milk? What's in it?
[00:10:03] Mike Schneider: So good.
[00:10:04] Jacqui Brugliera: No breast milk was involved in creating this Ice Cream, but it does have the flavor notes of breast milk and has nutrient density and things in it that I guess would be found in breast milk.
[00:10:17] Mike Schneider: Okay. So does this mean that you're not going to be a future like Taster for this company, right? Like how did who's the taster?
[00:10:26] Ray Latif: I would taste it I mean, I've heard of Frida, baby which is the umbrella brand here and I almost feel like this is Not an April Fool's joke, but a total gag to get people to know more about Frida, baby. I
[00:10:41] Mike Schneider: It's described on the front of the pint as freed up breast milk Ice Cream You can you could feel like in the Not Your chat John Craven's head explode And to be clear
[00:10:58] Ray Latif: I suspect that there aren't going to be many retailers at all that are carrying this thing. So if they're going to ship it direct to consumer, it's going to cost them an arm and a leg in shipping costs. So this is why I think this whole thing is kind of a gag. I don't know, I think you're just being prude. A prude because I don't want to eat breast milk Ice Cream? I'm not so sure about that.
[00:11:15] Jacqui Brugliera: I don't think it's for you.
[00:11:16] Ray Latif: No, it's not.
[00:11:17] Jacqui Brugliera: You said you tried breast milk before, though.
[00:11:19] Ray Latif: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, Jackie. Back up the truck there. Boop, boop, boop. Okay, hold on now. Before we hopped on the mics, Jackie asked me if I'd tried this and I said yes. Many, many years ago. Exactly 27 years ago is when I last tried breast milk and when I was clearly an infant. The look on Mike's face was priceless. I was like, 27? I mean, you know you're...
[00:11:48] John Craven: You're in high school at that point.
[00:11:49] Mike Schneider: What anniversary of 27?
[00:11:56] Ray Latif: You're adding all this stuff to chat GPT and Not Your're throwing the good, actually confused chat GPT as my true age. Please do that. I was in high school back then.
[00:12:05] Jacqui Brugliera: I'm getting samples and we're all gonna try it. I can't wait.
[00:12:07] Ray Latif: I'm excited. Okay. I'm excited to try this Fancy Pants the fun and fantastic folks behind Fancy Pants baking company just came out with a couple new limited edition cookie flavors They have a strawberry shortcake and a Mike lemon tart lemon tart outstanding. Okay, Sean's already ripped into his bag I'm not gonna dig right. Don't worry I have my own bag. It's fine. Okay. All right, Jackie, did you get any in San Diego?
[00:12:32] Jacqui Brugliera: I'm sorry, living through you.
[00:12:35] Ray Latif: It smells like a strawberry flavored breakfast cereal. Oh, cool.
[00:12:39] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah.
[00:12:40] Ray Latif: Oh my god. I mean, Mike just said, Oh my god.
[00:12:45] Mike Schneider: Fancy Pants is one of my favorite cookie brands.
[00:12:48] John Craven: It is, but I feel like it should be a one-skew brand of chocolate chip cookies. That's how good they are.
[00:12:53] Mike Schneider: That's all they need?
[00:12:54] John Craven: They don't need anything else. Everything else is in the shadow of that.
[00:12:58] Ray Latif: Really? I'm just curious as to the timing. I guess it's a springy kind of thing, right? You know, strawberry shortcake and lemon tart. I like it. I also love the idea of doing these one-offs as a way to generate interest and awareness for a brand.
[00:13:14] Mike Schneider: Well, I think for me, the chocolate chip is amazing, but the other SKUs are like not that far, except for one that I don't love as much, but I think they just do a phenomenal job with all their, all their stuff here. And the lemon tart's great. And let's, I'm going for strawberry shortcake.
[00:13:33] Ray Latif: Gotta get the microphones away from our chewing, we're gonna drive people crazy here. Jump, jump. Can I have the lemon tart?
[00:13:40] Jacqui Brugliera: Are they delicious?
[00:13:42] Ray Latif: Well, we're chewing Jackie. What do you got over there?
[00:13:44] Jacqui Brugliera: Louisa launched at Expo West, their new line of rice and beans.
[00:13:49] Ray Latif: Didn't you interview Louisa or was that? Yeah, you interviewed them at.
[00:13:53] Jacqui Brugliera: So we did an on the spot interview on Instagram. Check it out. And yeah, at the show, they were launching their new rice and beans as well as a rebrand. So you can see that the branding is a lot more retro now. It feels like kind of like a Goya. A better for you Goya branding and their thing with these new rice and beans is they don't want to be instant rice So they're trying to combat, you know, mr Ben's Rice and be something that only takes 20 minutes, but has all the flavor of making rice at home Yeah, it's very clear that it's rice and black beans.
[00:14:26] Ray Latif: That is the largest It is the largest font on the package and
[00:14:33] John Craven: It just needs an exclamation point at the end of rice and beans. Just to hammer it home.
[00:14:39] Ray Latif: What's that last one you got there?
[00:14:41] Jacqui Brugliera: So there's rice and black beans, rice and red beans, and then just yellow rice. But yeah, all natural, gluten-free, focused on ease and authenticity, and really honing in on this is a Latin flavor company. And these are staples in Latin homes.
[00:14:56] Ray Latif: I will say this, though. I was at Whole Foods the other day and I bought some, a Dozen Cousins, black beans. They're Cuban black beans. And some of their, I believe is their yellow rice. And I love that it's in a pouch and it's easy to take out. And it's like almost instant. I don't microwave that stuff. I put it into a pot. And so that extra step of adding water or what have you with the Louisa, I would urge them to consider pouches because that convenience factor goes a long way for folks like me.
[00:15:25] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah. Yeah. I think that's going to be a challenge. I think they're trying to like almost fight against the convenience and get people to take an extra step. And maybe, you know, like in a Latin household, they're making rice already rice and beans. So this makes it a little bit easier, but yeah, I agree. I think that like some people see 20 minutes and that's just too long for them.
[00:15:46] Ray Latif: Yeah, it's 90 seconds with, if you want to put it in the microwave for a Dozen Cousins and some of those brands in that, I guess, new kind of grouping, you know what I'm talking about. All right. You're laughing at this new product.
[00:16:03] John Craven: That looks amazing. It's the Little Sesame and Vista Hermos Mexican street corn hummus. Yum. Two brands I love. This stuff's incredible. Yeah, I'll say it's like, you know, Mexican, like a Lotte in a hummus.
[00:16:20] Ray Latif: Yeah. I invited Dario Wolos, who is the founder and CEO of Vista Hermos to join us at our event in New York City. I know someone from his team signed up. Hopefully you can make it as well. But Dario, if you're listening, we want to see you in New York because Vista Hermos, you guys make some phenomenal products and we are big fans.
[00:16:38] Mike Schneider: Huge.
[00:16:38] Ray Latif: Yeah. Mike's got like a thousand boxes next to him on the right side of his chair here. What do you got there?
[00:16:46] Mike Schneider: Got some Cornish Tea. Cornish Tea. Yeah. Made in the UK. I mean. Obviously. Yeah, obviously Cornish Cornwall, right? So there's a lemon ginger, there's a vanilla chai, there's a rooibos, which is my favorite tea, mint tea. And then you've also Not Your Smuggler's Brew Kit, 100% plastic free. I mean, I just thought these packages were phenomenal. I haven't even tasted the tea yet, but I can't wait to. I'm going to do that.
[00:17:13] John Craven: met them at the Winter Fancy Food Show.
[00:17:16] Ray Latif: We did, and I remember them talking about this notion of 100% plastic-free teabag. Yes. And how there has been a lot of talk on social media about how much plastic is Not Your everyday teabag. And I wonder if this is going to get legs. I wonder if this is going to get momentum. Because it's not really mainstream at this point. I haven't heard a ton of people talking about it. But I mean, at this point, people are becoming a little bit more aware of microplastics and they are trying to avoid microplastics.
[00:17:49] Mike Schneider: This is one of those things where, you know, you you see, OK, this is a tea that I like. And then, oh, great. It's also plastic free. I think they do a good job of. bringing you into the product without, you don't need this 100% plastic free to be, to have this be appealing to you, but then you just learn more of the story. Plus they have, you know, great SKUs. There are stories on the side so you can learn more about the crew. And I don't know, I think this is just a pretty cool brand. Sure.
[00:18:19] Ray Latif: And you've got some, some hot pot stuff over here from the one and only Hot Hotpot Queen.
[00:18:25] Mike Schneider: Jia Liao, also known as the hot Hotpot Queen, or actually her mother's technically the hot Hotpot Queen, but I think she's, I think she's the hot Hotpot Queen too. So we've got some of her tried and trues here, like the, oh my God, if you haven't had this Sichuan hot pot soup base, this is insane. So good. With that, you should definitely have their thick cut noodles. And then she's also now added to the mix here, mushroom hot pot soup base and sesame dan dan noodles. I got to try the dan dan noodles at Expo West.
[00:18:59] Ray Latif: It's just really good. You want to talk about phenomenal dan dan noodles. You know who just came out with some as well? Who's that? Mila. M-I-L-A. Oh good. Which is a maker of dumplings, goiza, and now dan dan noodles. They come in frozen pouches. You boil the noodles and then you add the dan dan sauce, and it is fantastic. What is goiza?
[00:19:19] John Craven: It's kind of like za'atar.
[00:19:21] Ray Latif: Goiza? Goiza? Do you mean gyoza? Gyoza. I pronounce it gyoza.
[00:19:25] Mike Schneider: I pronounce it jowza, but that's because that's Chinese. Well done. Well done. Yeah. But that's Japanese for dumplings. Oh, okay. I think. I'm pretty sure that's true. But anyway, those mila dumplings, regardless of how you pronounce them, phenomenal.
[00:19:39] Ray Latif: I need to make an admission here. Yes, sir. I never had hot pot until Friday of last week. Did you go to Shabby's? No, I went to this place in Brighton. I forget what it's called, but. Oh, did you go to Tasty Pot? Maybe. I'm not sure. There are a lot of hot pot restaurants in the Boston area.
[00:19:59] Mike Schneider: I can't believe you haven't gone to, never had hot pot. Well, it was a late night thing.
[00:20:03] Ray Latif: Our dear friend and colleague Adam Stern and I went to a concert. We went to go see Lane 8, which is an electronic musician, uh, electronic DJ. You want to call him that? And you went to the Chove? No, after that we went to this hotpot place to have some late-night grub. Wait, so you must have gone to Brighton Music Hall. No, we went to the Roadrunner.
[00:20:23] Mike Schneider: Oh, okay.
[00:20:24] Ray Latif: Roadrunner, great place. Yeah, which is near WGBH over there. And I was like, this is incredible! How have I never been exposed to such things? And it was truly amazing. Changed my life. I don't know what you're talking about.
[00:20:37] Mike Schneider: I mean, you have to have the actual pot. You do, but you're in striking distance of so many great places because of where you live. I mean, you can walk to Hot Pot every night. You could walk to a different Hot Pot restaurant every night for a week. Yeah. You could. I'm a lucky man. Yeah, but you haven't. Just think of all the great meals ahead of you.
[00:20:57] Ray Latif: Now he can't, his eyes are open. I'm at the early stages of my hot pot journey as a 27 year old man. I mean, I feel like this is... Wait, you're Not Your hot pot... Raising his hot pot era, everyone. He's in his hot pot era. It's hot pot season. My hot pot blast. That's what the kids call it too, right? Is that what they call it? Yeah.
[00:21:13] Mike Schneider: Okay. I should know. All right. Well, I'm excited to hear more about your hot pot journey and I can help you with that one too. So many good things to eat. I appreciate that.
[00:21:24] Ray Latif: Alright, it's time to get to our featured interview for this episode. As I mentioned at the top of the show, Alan Scholnick is the founder and CEO of Datefix, a brand of pureed dates packaged in convenient single-serve squeeze pouches. In an interview recorded at Expo West 2025, Alan talks about the brand's rapid two-year development from a fledgling concept to a finished brand that is sold at thousands of Walmart stores. He also discusses Datefix's recent rebrand, which was designed to appeal to a broader audience while staying true to its focus on simplicity and healthy ingredients. Alan also discusses how the convenience of Datefix's form factor makes it an ideal snack for both busy lifestyles and fitness enthusiasts. Hey folks, it's Ray with Taste Radio. Right now, I am honored to be sitting down with Alan Scholnick, who is the founder and CEO of Datefix. Alan, great to see you.
[00:22:23] When Walmart: Ray, this is a pleasure. This is kind of a dream come true to be able to sit down with you.
[00:22:27] Ray Latif: Well, it's a dream come true for me because I have wanted to talk to you for a long time, at least on the record, on the mics, as it were, because you and I met exactly two years ago here at this very show. And the show I'm talking about is Natural Products Expo West. And the 2023 edition is where we met. It's the 2025 edition. And back then, you didn't even have a product. You had an idea. I think you had a label. You certainly had a name, but you didn't have product yet.
[00:22:54] When Walmart: No, no, that's exactly true. And we were just getting very, very close. And it was soon after that event when I saw you that we finally got into the marketplace. We launched actually at the fancy food show that summer in June, and that was an auspicious occasion for us. So.
[00:23:10] Ray Latif: Yeah, I remember that fancy food show as well because when you walked into that hall that you guys were exhibiting Not Your were the first thing people saw Not Your booth was crushed. People were like, Datefix, Datefix, what is this? What is this? And people love the concept, the idea of what you're doing. And for folks who are not familiar with Datefix, tell us all about what you do and where the idea came from.
[00:23:29] When Walmart: Sure, no, appreciate the opportunity to do so. So, Datefix was really kind of, I think it's my life in a squeeze pack. I'm married to loves fitness and eating, and I basically, like a lot of people I know, run to eat. I have a sweet tooth a mile long. The idea for Datefix came when I met my wife. Her mother made a pastry for me when I first met her, and it was filled with dates and orange blossom water, and actually rose water. And I took one bite and I fell in love and eventually I fell in love with my wife too, but the pastry was a hit. And so I basically took the fig out of the Newton. And as I didn't really know at that time much about dates growing up in Detroit, hadn't really been exposed, certainly orange blossom water. and as I learned about dates, I realized, wow, this is what a superfood, and it satisfied my sweet tooth, and there was no regret, and so that was the impetus for it, and as I learned more, I realized that dates have more potassium by weight than a banana, they're low-glycemic, so you don't get a sugar crash, great source of fiber, and so that was sort of the impetus of trying to fuel my runs with something that was natural.
[00:24:37] Ray Latif: As you and I have talked about in the past, dates have long been consumed overseas. They're commonly known as an ethnic food or an ethnic treat, kind of getting and making their way into the United States, into American consumers' households. But I think they're still a relatively unknown superfood. How are you introducing the brand? How are you talking to people about dates and in the form factor that you have them, which is in that squeeze pack?
[00:25:06] When Walmart: You know, you're right. I mean, if I hadn't, for the fact that I had a Lebanese-French wife and mother-in-law, I probably wouldn't have been exposed quite the same way I was. And I thought there was an incredible opportunity to mainstream. I thought, what an irony. This is the oldest fruit, literally, in the book. There's five fruits mentioned in the Bible. Dates are one of them. And they're kind of the original MRE, if you follow history, and King David sent his mighty warriors into battles with dates. And so I thought, what an amazing opportunity. This fruit has been around forever, and yet it still has relative obscurity in many parts of the United States, certainly. I mean, it's well known in other parts of the world, as you mentioned. It's a great fasting food, of course. And what a gift, what an opportunity to try to do so. And there hadn't really been no innovation with dates other than removing the pit. And so I thought, wow, if I could put something, I was turned on to the form factor as a runner, but I never really liked what was inside. Maltodextrin is usually the lead ingredient, far from food, artificial. And I thought, what if I could put something that was genuinely natural, delicious, you know, homemade effectively in that form factor, maybe I could, you know, make a contribution to health and wellness and healthy snacking.
[00:26:21] Ray Latif: Alan, I think you were spot on when you talked about dates as being the original MRE, and you mentioned that this is a food that really resonated with you on a fitness level, but I also feel like this could be positioned in a lot of different ways, date fix that is, in that, yes, it could be for runners, it could be used for post, pre-workout, but also just as a snack and a treat for any time occasions to feel like you are being sated without eating too, too much. So with those different ways of, you know, introducing the brand and use cases, how do you know, and how do you get comfortable, I guess, with the focus of fitness?
[00:27:01] When Walmart: It's a really good question. The form factor, as you said, just reads fitness. So we really tried to take a pivot here. You know, in my first iteration, we had natural energy snack on the pack and I kind of sort of felt the word energy had been hijacked by caffeine. If you didn't have caffeine, you almost weren't energy, you know, you weren't an energy product. But of course, that's ridiculous because food is energy. It's measured in K-cals, and good food is the best energy. And so, we tried in the new iteration of the packaging, which we're launching at the show here, we leaned into fresh fruit nutrition, and we wanted to come up with the idea of a fresh fruit nutrition pack. There's IV packs and hydration packs, and we thought, well, fresh fruit nutrition pack, that would be the mother of all really healthy, it's the top of the food chain in terms of health and wellness. Since the form factor reads fitness, we really leaned in from a design, from a fresh fruit nutrition, from a minimalism to try to make it kind of like the ultimate snack as the comfort of good food. So our message today is it's the comfort of good food, which is really hard to get on the go or anytime, anywhere. And that's kind of what the impetus is for us now to reach a much larger audience.
[00:28:07] Ray Latif: Does that make it easier or slightly more challenging to be merchandised in-store, to get into retailers, when you don't necessarily have a very specific use case, you have one that could be used, you have a product that could be used in many different parts of the day?
[00:28:24] When Walmart: You know, it's a blessing and a curse, I think, as you rightly say. I mean, you know, we sell When Walmart, we're in the sports nutrition section. We're not in the grocery section, but we're at Whole Foods, we're in functional snacks. We're in kind of a sleepy part of When Walmart store. I mean, by their admission, that's not my statement, because of where it is. And then Whole Foods, we're, you know, prime and functional snacks, and we're selling out left and right. I think that's why we wanted to hit on fresh fruit nutrition, because I think it transcended, you know, you eat a banana when you, I think people would eat fruit more if it just wasn't so perishable. And one of the amazing superpowers of dates, forgetting the things we mentioned earlier, is it's just, it lasts. It's nature's survival food. It lasts a long time.
[00:29:06] Ray Latif: If you can get into Walmart, no matter where you're positioned, it's probably a good thing. But how do you start that conversation when you're talking to that retail buyer for the first time and saying, hey, I'm a relatively early stage founder. I have a pretty innovative brand. I feel like my product, my brand could do well Not Your stores. Where do you start?
[00:29:27] When Walmart: Well, Datefix has been a long journey in the making here. It's the easiest product to make. There's no magic to it. That's the beauty of it. It's a food processor. You put dates into it, you blend them up and you have it. The problem is how do you get something that viscous in that form factor? So I spent a long time, it was an engineering challenge trying to be able to do that. So I had a really good inkling, had passed through a lot of mouths, had done a lot of sort of, you know, taste tests outside of the packet. I knew from a flavor profile, it was something special. And so I spent a long time trying to scale up. And so at the fancy food show that I mentioned in the summer of 2023, you know, a spotter for, a trend spotter for Walmart came by and they said, I think this might be an amazing product. I'm going to connect you with the buyer. Three days later, the buyer called me and he said, I'd love you to come to Bentonville. And so literally it was love at first bite. I had prepared this elaborate, detailed PowerPoint presentation. I was as nervous as can be. And he was like, Nope, we can put pencils down. I don't need to see your presentation. I love the product. He said, you can deliver to, I'm gonna put you in every store that I have a nutrition section in, which is 2,700 stores. And so that was When Walmart experience, which was really unbelievable. And they've been a pleasure to deal with. And everything they said they would do, they've done.
[00:30:47] Ray Latif: So that is a crazy story. But you know what? It's interesting because it's almost one day. It's strange to say this. I have heard a similar story from a brand called Harken Sweets. And Katie Lefkowitz and I sat down for an episode of Taste Radio a few months back and It wasn't as straightforward as, I sell your product at a trade show, I want it, you're in all 2,700 of the stores that I manage. But it was very much, I love what you're doing. And I feel like your products resonate with me personally and will resonate with our consumers. And I think a lot of buyers are essentially that advocate for their own consumers. They feel like they want to not just sell their product, they want to make sure that their customers love their products. And I think that's one of the interesting things about Datefix is there's always, to me, been a lot of love in this product and in the brand. When you go from selling direct to consumer to being in 3,000 or so Walmart stores, how do you transfer that passion, that love that I felt when I first met you and that I felt when I see your product to every other customer who walks into that store?
[00:31:58] When Walmart: Yes. I mean, I think that's something that we just, we try to do a better job with the repackaging. We took away clutter. I think we tried to make it more minimal, I should say. I don't know if it was cluttered, but we tried to make it cleaner to reflect the ingredients. We wanted people to lean into the ingredients. I think the ingredients, you know, people eat the product and it harkens back to a childhood memory. It's basically the filling in so many homemade pastries of different cultures and ethnicities. And so I think that always it kind of, you know, you open it up, you can almost still smell the, you know, the orange blossom water. So it has that, that warmth to it. You know, we make it in the, in the plant, you know, everybody's salivating in the plant and everyone just enjoys it regardless of, you know, where, or even if they hadn't even had a date before. And so it does have something about that. It does evoke in the idea of orange blossom water, which is really such a culinary ingredient. I mean, you only really read about it in sort of, recipe books or Mediterranean recipe books. And that's one of the things that I thought was, this is a food story, and one of the neat things about it is, I mean, one of the things that we're trying to do, I think an upcoming reel we're gonna make, is a chef going to a vending machine, buying a date fix, and squeezing it on a charcuterie board. I mean, not many products can sort of have that journey from vending machine to brie. And I think that that's because it's food at the end of the day and it's the comfort of good food and it's the pleasure.
[00:33:23] Ray Latif: I think that versatility is also, again, going back to day part use and usage occasion. I think that's one of the most interesting things about Datefix. But when it comes to merchandising and in When Walmart stores, just going back to that retailer for a sec. How do you support the brand? How do you get people to see it for once, to try it, to buy it as often as they can? You know, that velocity story is so important.
[00:33:48] When Walmart: It's a challenge for sure. The ecosystem of Walmart is sort of designed for, you know, really big budgets to sort of drive velocity. and they have kind of a whole ecosystem of supporters and, you know, that is the world. So we've tried to work on creativity. I mean, we've, so what we did as one of our activation events is we held the first ever marathon around a Walmart store. And so we had a fan, a loyal Datefix fan. He's been running for 5,000 straight days. He's been running every day for 12 years. He is a really amazing individual. He's from—lives outside of Springfield.
[00:34:26] Ray Latif: Wait, I've got to back up for a second. He's not constantly running.
[00:34:30] When Walmart: No, but he runs every day for a period of time, every single day consistently, just crossed in February his 5,000th consecutive day. So he discovered Datefix in his journey, and as a long-distance runner, he is really particular about what he's eating. He's gotta have natural products, naturally. All the ultra runners say the same. And we invited him to do around store number 100, which is literally across the street from When Walmart headquarters in Bentonville. The press came out. That was the Saturday. So those are some of the things that we're doing and we're trying to actually create a repetitive event around doing running events around a Walmart store. And so it was amazing. His wife and kids drove in to surprise him. And I mean, we found out, you know, the head of Sam's club is an ultra marathon. I mean, all of a sudden it just opened up and the news, the local news covered it and it was a really fun day. We're doing that. And then we're doing some support events. with the employees of Walmart. And so there's an event that we are doing as an activation event where we can come educate them on the product and kind of be advocates. And I think there's some, you know, an opportunity for some tech talk about dates, because it's old, but it's new. And that's sort of fun.
[00:35:45] Ray Latif: So because of where your merchandise is in store, you have to almost create a marketing strategy that fits to the consumers that shop in that part of the store. Is that what I'm hearing?
[00:35:56] When Walmart: Yeah, and the buyer there really wanted a natural product in his set. You know, that was really the breakthrough. And I think he had been early adopters of the waffles that are there, you know, people come there, that product can live in other parts of the store. But, you know, he was an early adopter, I think, of new things. And, you know, and I When Walmart in general has just been making that thrust. And, you know, we have a product that no doubt can live in lots of parts of the store. We're in a lot of running stores besides supermarkets and there's definitely an education around, you know, that this is the clean, you know, clean carbohydrates, but the public is clamoring for it. They're on, you know, I think the gel isn't a word that is food and so it already sort of has a synthetic-like name and I think people see it and they're just relieved to have something that's that's easy on their stomach. They don't have to think twice about it. It's only 80 calories, you know, so sometimes not enough. So you can have two of them if you're, you know, but I think it's just meeting this sort of quest for all the things that you sort of do about Taste Radio, and, uh, Taste Radio and, uh, clean your ingredients and clean products. And this sort of is, I think the poster child for that in some respects.
[00:37:06] Ray Latif: Yeah, obviously you're a regular listener of the show and I talk all the time about the importance of Taste Radio if you're not happy with the taste of a product, you're probably not going to buy it a second time, even if the creator of that product improves on its flavor, sometimes you only have that one chance. Packaging, I think, is sort of in a similar kind of bucket. When someone sees a package that just doesn't really get them excited, doesn't really want them or motivate them to pick that product off the shelf, you've got no chance of getting them to that taste part of what you're trying to do. But Datefix, it's interesting because you've already gone through one pretty major, and you've talked about this, one pretty major rebrand or refresh. And this new look, and I've told you, we talked about this, this new look feels really feminine. Your first take on Datefix felt actually a little bit more masculine. That's kind of a big jump for a brand, especially in early stage one. Why did you feel like you needed to go in this direction?
[00:38:12] When Walmart: Well, I think we're skewing a more feminine male to female, a female to male, excuse me. Um, that's one thing. Two is if we want to help a family establish good, you know, nutrition habits, I think in most households, mothers are kind of the family nutritionist in many respects, not to typecast, but I think, you know, that certainly is true. Was it always true? No, but that is true. And I think we wanted this to feel like this lifestyle product that somebody was, you know, carried a bag or, you know, is walking around with athleisure. This was sort of like the food that you'd walk around Not Your particular, you know, athleisure brand company, this sort of like fit part and parcel to. That was a big thought that we wanted to do when we did that. And I think we skewed that way, but certainly not trying to keep it out of the lives of the men Not Your world, too.
[00:39:00] Ray Latif: But when you make a decision like this, does it impact how you pitch to different retailers, how you introduce the brand to different buyers, because again, this is a different look, feel. I mean, it definitely, I think, would speak to, if you put the two packages side by side, I think they would speak to two different retail buyers. So how does that affect, how does the refresh affect your retail strategy?
[00:39:29] When Walmart: Yeah, what we really wanted to do more than thinking about it through the lens of female and male was to make it more elevated feeling, more special. We wanna make Day Fix synonymous with excellence. We wanted to leverage the healthy halo. The package was designed for, we did more call-outs actually on it, on the back of the pack. They're much easier to read. The nutrition fact panel's just easier by being in a darker font than it was before, which is white. you know, as white before. So we really wanted to make this kind of, you know, if somebody was thinking about the pinnacle of, you know, in a snack product, we want sort of date fix to, you know, fill in the blank for that. And so that's mostly what we had in mind. And so we tried to bring artistry into it, and it may have had it with a female twist to it, but that was kind of where we were really going with it.
[00:40:20] Ray Latif: Yeah, you know, now that you mention it, I think that totally makes sense. I call this a more feminine-looking brand or label, but it definitely feels like a premium label that speaks to the excellence of its ingredients. And it would resonate with a lot of folks, I think, in that context. And just for context for listeners, the one I'm holding in my hand right now is It has a pinkish hue to it. This is the cinnamon variety. Now, the ginger variety is green, and this definitely doesn't necessarily skew as feminine. So I think that's probably impacting the way I'm looking at it as well. But you have to think about these things because even though you started about a year and a half ago, it's almost like you're brand new. And even though you're learning as you go, you got to think about, well, what am I going to do next year? At least that's the way I might think about it. How do you plan for and how do you strategize around the future of date fix even when you're, say, 18, 20 months in?
[00:41:25] When Walmart: Our mission here is to sort of advance health and wellness by making fresh food convenient. And so we wanted to make this look as, if you would, elevated and premium in the hopes that other people would wanna jump on that food mission. Because look, there's some food crisis that you often talk about Not Your show. And we hope that this can make a meaningful contribution that people can get their sweet satisfaction without regret. and that somebody would be pulling to put their name on it, maybe alongside it. And so we designed it that way. So we're actually doing our first co-branded, not private label, but co-branded that they'll have 60 outlets this year and their customer base is identical. So that's something that we're sort of building for the future. You're talking about a retail brand? It's a restaurant with a cafe. Okay. Grab and go. And it's a match made in heaven. But we think we could do partnerships with running and athleisure companies who may wanna just sell something really healthy at point of sale, and this is it. And it's hard to have a repeat. It's hard to create something with only two or three ingredients that has the kind of food integrity that this product does. I mean, this is the stuff of cookbook level taste. and homemade and it maintains that, you know, a year after you rip it open and squeeze it on a run or squeeze it on a running. And that's where our point about, you know, our mantra is whether running errands or running marathons. And so we really wanted this, you know, the running errand market is much bigger than the running marathon market, as big as that market is.
[00:42:56] Ray Latif: Yeah. And, you know, I think we're kind of coming full circle here in that, again, your first instinct was this would be a great fitness centric brand and people eat dates all the time for different reasons. And this is a much more convenient way of consuming them. How much of the convenience aspect of what you do do you lean into? How much of that plays Not Your marketing?
[00:43:21] When Walmart: Completely. The convenience is, I think, really that form factor that we tried to repurpose and kind of give it a life beyond fitness world and running. the convenience I think is crucial. Because you can eat out of that form factor, you can dispense from it, and our idea is that we're essentially giving you the comfort of good food no matter where you are. And it's all those in-between spaces when you're running through airports and here and there and travel, or the afternoon pick-me-up and you grab the thing that's in the office but you wish you didn't because your sugar spikes and then you get the crash and you feel the regret. So this is, that form factor, and you don't have to, I mean, it doesn't require refrigeration, it's ambient, it's delicious cold, you can freeze it, but it won't freeze. So that form factor convenience, that pocket nature, literally putting fruit in the palm Not Your hand, so to speak, is absolutely critical, I think, to mainstreaming and making the date more relevant to a healthier lifestyle. And that's, you know, we have plans. We want to do it in tubs and other form factors. But Not Your point, this is exactly why we lean in with this form factor is the convenience. And I think that's where it's game changing.
[00:44:33] Ray Latif: I think a through line to our conversation, Alan, has been picking your spots.
[00:44:38] When Walmart: Yep.
[00:44:38] Ray Latif: Again, a brand and a product that can speak to a lot of consumers at a lot of different parts of the day, a brand that can fit into different sets at different retailers across the country, a way of marketing and communicating the benefits and the convenience of the brand. It's all a lot, and it's all a lot to try to figure out, well, what should I do? Where should I go? What leads you? What motivates you? What drives you to make the decisions that you make for this brand?
[00:45:11] When Walmart: Because it is as versatile as it's challenging, I think trying to figure out the right lane to stay in. One of the things we're doing Not Your marketing is we do a lot with running groups and there's just been running club explosion has just happened to coincide. And so that's a big part of what we're doing. It's why we kind of came up with Fresh Fruit Nutrition. We just thought that cut across, it transcended the fitness, it transcended food. You were happy to, if you saw it in a specialty market, you saw it in a running shop, you saw it in an alternative retail, that's why we went in. That was sort of the idea. And we have a big running community. You know, the other thing that we have a lot of loyalty to is, which we didn't appreciate, Ray, when we started, was that this product, because it was being low glycemic, very valuable to type 1 diabetics, and those who are doing fitness just find this product to be a godsend, so we stumbled on that.
[00:46:08] Ray Latif: You stumbled upon that.
[00:46:10] When Walmart: Thank you. I joke, but, you know, Alan, I'm just so impressed with what you've done, because again, going back to Expo West 2023 and
[00:46:27] Ray Latif: You're like, hey, Ray, I've got this great idea. I've got this great brand. It's coming out. It's called Datefix. And you showed me some specs and some images. And I'm like, wow, this looks really, really cool. Definitely, you know, hit me up when you're when you're live. And then I saw you live at the at the Fancy Food Show. And here you are, you know, in about 3000 Walmart stores and, you know, with seemingly the white space of an entire industry in front of you. And it's really, really cool. Thank you so much for taking the time. Thanks so much for introducing this product to America, because there is a real need for this. And I hope that folks who are listening have an opportunity to try Datefix and to see it in their local stores, whether it's Walmart or what have you. But yeah, I think we should probably do this again in about a year and see where you're at then.
[00:47:10] When Walmart: I would be grateful for that opportunity. And Ray, listen, thank you very much. I have learned so much, and I've told you this off mic, I have learned so much from you. I listen to you generally when I'm running, which means that I'm usually stopping along the way to take notes. And I have written down, I have a whole section of Ray, Taste Radio, BevNET section of just like something that I got from someone that you were interviewing. Plus, I like running to the sound Not Your voice, too. It's a good voice, so thank you. No, no, really, I've learned a lot, and I've tried to apply it, and I'd hope to one day maybe earn the right or the privilege to be able to sit next to you and tell you a little bit about it, and so this is a dream kind of come true for me, so thank you.
[00:47:55] Ray Latif: Well, thank you again for saying that, and thank you again for joining me. I feel like There's a lot of folks that are going to get some good insights, some good advice to help them grow their brands. And that's what we aim for. That's what we strive for is paying it forward, is making sure that those who are building brands can teach those who are coming up behind them. And you're doing some great things with Datefix and please continue to do them.
[00:48:19] When Walmart: Thank you. A pleasure.
[00:48:20] Ray Latif: Thank you. That brings us to the end of this episode of Taste Radio. Thank you so much for listening. Taste Radio is a production of BevNET.com, Incorporated. Our audio engineer for Taste Radio is Joe Cracci. Our technical director is Joshua Pratt, and our video editor is Ryan Galang. Our social marketing manager is Amanda Smerlinski, and our designer is Amanda Huang. Just a reminder, if you like what you hear on Taste Radio, please share the podcast with friends and colleagues. And of course, we would love it if you could review us on the Apple Podcasts app Not Your listening platform of choice. Check us out on Instagram. Our handle is bevnettasteradio. As always, for questions, comments, ideas for future podcasts, please send us an email to ask at Taste Radio. On behalf of the entire Taste Radio team, thank you for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.
[00:49:13] Alan Scholnick: you
