[00:00:10] Ray Latif: Hello, and thanks for tuning into Taste Radio, the number one podcast for anyone building a business in food or beverage. I'm Ray Latif, the editor and producer of Taste Radio, and I'm with my co-host for this episode, John Craven, Jacqui Brugliera, and Mike Schneider here at the WCB, the West Coast branch of BevNET.com Incorporated. Jackie, thanks for having us.
[00:00:34] John Craven: Welcome to my hood. It's lunchtime here. Is it? It's 1121.
[00:00:41] Ray Latif: For you it's lunchtime because you're in here like what 6 a.m. Every morning.
[00:00:44] John Craven: Yeah, so by this time I'm getting a little munchy Yeah, yeah, I don't know how you do it.
[00:00:49] Ray Latif: I say this I've said it before Eight o'clock for me. I was just like brushing my teeth with coffee Going and Jackie every time we record one of these she's bright. She's excited. She's engaged and I'd be like You should see me five minutes before
[00:01:08] John Craven: Me in the mirror giving myself a pep talk.
[00:01:11] Jacqui Brugliera: I really have to talk to Ray and Mike and John.
[00:01:14] John Craven: Oh, here I go again.
[00:01:15] Jacqui Brugliera: Oh, geez.
[00:01:16] John Craven: You got this, Jackie. You got this, Jackie. You got this, Jackie. I posted notes on the mirror, You Know, with like positive affirmations.
[00:01:22] Ray Latif: I'm good enough. Smart enough. What's your favorite positive affirmation?
[00:01:27] John Craven: Oh, my favorite one is, I would say... I can put my elbow through the teeth of that striker. I know it's usually something like, you're a great athlete.
[00:01:39] Ray Latif: No, I think that's fair. I think just sometimes the simple is the most effective, right?
[00:01:43] John Craven: Yeah. For this though, I would say, You Know, like, You Know things sometimes.
[00:01:47] Ray Latif: There you go. Sometimes. I can just see the posted notes. You Know some things sometimes. It's almost like a haiku.
[00:01:57] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, right? The reality is that everyone talks about Jackie in BevNET as a superhero, and that's why Ray's so impressed. You're really good at doing so many different things, and we just love you so much.
[00:02:13] Ray Latif: Cut me in a moment. I'm just impressed that we have all these bowls on a table of instant matzo ball soup and noodles. And somehow Mike has a stain on his hoodie before we even had anything to eat. How'd that happen? You Know, I was in the kitchen, Ray. Like I said, we wear a lot of hats around here.
[00:02:35] Jacqui Brugliera: Jackie and I were in the kitchen preparing the noodles.
[00:02:37] Ray Latif: Noodles were flying. Do you want a Tide pen? This is unprofessional.
[00:02:41] Jacqui Brugliera: There's video John well, You Know, I got so excited by These noodles because we're talking about Fly By Jing chili crisps noodles and Fly By Jing noodles with Jong sauce So we have them in front of us to try we're like among the first ever people to try these noodles I I got a little excited I was just And chili crisp was flying everywhere.
[00:03:09] Ray Latif: These are brand-new fly-by-jing Yes introduced some new instant noodles They launched on Wednesday September 25th According to the company the brand took Jing's favorite sun-dried small batch bouncy Szechuan noodles mixed it with fly-by-jing spicy tingly tangy spicy sauces and finished them with a fragrant shallot jam and chives to to create an electric flavor combination, unlike anything you've ever tasted.
[00:03:39] John Craven: I'm getting the tingles right now on the tongue. Are you electrified?
[00:03:43] Ray Latif: Yeah. We're having the, what are the ones with the junk sauce called? The ones with the junk sauce are called junk sauce noodles.
[00:03:50] Jacqui Brugliera: We're having the junk sauce noodles, which are supposed to be the less spicy of the two. And they've got some kick. And they're phenomenal. They've got, I don't know, they've got texture, they've got taste, and you can make them in six minutes. Although, as You Know, there might be a sweatshirt casualty.
[00:04:12] Ray Latif: Yeah, I guess I misspoke because they're not really instant noodles. It takes about six minutes. You got to boil some water, cook them for six minutes, then drain, then you add the seasoning in packets. But that is sort of like instant, right? I mean, the word instant, you can use for things that are going to take under 10 minutes.
[00:04:25] John Craven: I would say also it like comes down to quality. If you're making a quality product in six minutes, I would say that's pretty instant.
[00:04:31] Ray Latif: Yes. OK, John, while he's chewing, he's going to look at these packets here.
[00:04:34] Jacqui Brugliera: If you're making a product that your grandmother would be proud of in six minutes. You Know, good on you.
[00:04:40] Ray Latif: Full disclosure, we cheated a little bit, at least Mike and Jackie did, in that we didn't have the proper equipment or cookware to make this. So these were made using a microwave.
[00:04:51] Jacqui Brugliera: They came out pretty solid. They came out the same way that, so we did make them in the microwave with the steaming method where you put a little paper towel over the bowl. And try to steam it in the bowl and we started with hot water so that that works really well It's not the recommended preparation, but I did use the recommended preparation with the chili crisp noodles Over the weekend and spot-on it tastes, You Know, just as good that way.
[00:05:14] Ray Latif: So I'm not accusing you I mean, you gotta go BTS Ray People want to hear stain and he had to explain exactly Jackie with all the puns and is that usually gets a high-five Jackie on the show.
[00:05:32] Mike Schneider: Yes, well done Try to bring it back to something useful here. Yeah I mean instant or not. What's nice about these? They've got everything you need like minus the water microwave, whatever you're cooking these in so not everything Okay keep going yeah, but no I think this is like a super clever line extension for them not that They seem to have any problem moving their chili crisp or, You Know, sauces, but this kind of takes the brand into being a food company. I know they have frozen stuff, but like, You Know, with the shelf stable product, which I think is really cool. This seems like something that people will buy a lot of, like, it's just super convenient. I mean, geez, I'd much rather eat this than. Not a huge ramen fan, so I'm going to say ramen, but I mean, this is like, this is pretty awesome stuff. Like super well done.
[00:06:27] John Craven: Yeah. You also eat one of them and it's pretty filling and hearty for, You Know, just noodles. I feel like sometimes I eat just instant noodles and I'm like, oh, I could eat another one.
[00:06:35] Jacqui Brugliera: Ingredients are good too. There's also, these are pretty high protein content for noodles too. I mean, they're, they're pretty close to the protein content in Emi, which are my favorite ramen noodles right now.
[00:06:46] Ray Latif: Yeah, well, I think people are going to be reaching for these as well as an M.E., as well as the AumSum noodles. And it sounds like or feels like there's a growing segment for better for you, yet traditional noodles out there and ones that have even a functional component like M.E. with high protein. So, yeah, this is exciting. You Know, I just feel like the, You Know, the category of Modern yet traditional Asian cuisine is just on fire right now, and this just continues this Fly By Jing Chili crisp noodle and its counterpart are just keeping that train going in case you have any questions There's a cool picture of Jing on the back explaining to you
[00:07:29] Jacqui Brugliera: Like, these are my favorites. Sundried, small batch, bouncy Sichuan noodles mixed with sweet, tangy sauce and finished with dried chives. Like, there's a really, You Know, nice little message on the back that in case there was a question about what's in it, which there isn't because if you look at the front, you can, there's a really great picture of of the sauce, of the noodles, and you get exactly what's on the package, which you don't always get that.
[00:07:50] Ray Latif: Yeah, according to the companies, they're going to be available direct to consumer from flybyjing.com. Interested to see if these actually end up in retailers.
[00:07:59] Jacqui Brugliera: Well, these aren't packaged for individual sale. If you look really close, you can see the fine print. It's pretty clear just because, like, The the cooking instructions aren't aren't yeah, well, there's no UPC, right?
[00:08:10] Ray Latif: There's no UPC the cooking instructors aren't on here things to fix come on Yeah, I guess my only critique would be that the brand name is pretty high up on a package It'd be kind of like if you shrunk it watching the video right now You wouldn't know perhaps that it was fly-butting even though it does have a picture of the jar of chili crispies
[00:08:30] Jacqui Brugliera: Now, these are clearly Rev1, they're testing to see what people think and they're gonna make, You Know, they're fast when they make changes.
[00:08:36] Mike Schneider: Minor things to fix. I mean, you're also holding that up and I'm like, damn, I want to eat that. You Know? So, I mean, that's a harder thing to fix than just with the logo.
[00:08:44] John Craven: Yeah, and FlyByJing has such, like, quality fans and a super fan base that they're gonna see this launch and they're gonna buy so much of it online.
[00:08:52] Ray Latif: Totally. Totally. Totally. Build up your tribe. That's how they started. Yeah, yeah, create craveable food. It's a win-win strategy for sure. All right, we've got some more instant things on the table. This next one being an instant matzo ball soup. This is the first of its kind. Here we go. The founder is Sarah Nathan. who is probably familiar to a lot of folks on the podcast. She's joined us as a host or a co-host for a few episodes of our Elevator Talk series. She is a former executive with the Chobani Incubator, the now defunct Chobani Incubator. And she's out on her own as an entrepreneur with Newish, N-O-O-I-S-H, which as I mentioned, is an instant matzo ball soup. The packaging is great. It comes in this wide cup with a cover. I believe there's three matzo balls per cup. It's presented and positioned as an instant classic. Is it an instant classic, Jackie?
[00:09:51] John Craven: It's delicious. I mean, I think for something that's made in two and a half minutes, I believe, in the microwave, you open it and it's like very fragrant, smells like fresh herbs. And the matzo ball is actually very like tender. What's the word for it?
[00:10:06] Ray Latif: Moist?
[00:10:07] John Craven: Tender?
[00:10:07] Ray Latif: Moist? M-word. Hold on, hold on, hold on.
[00:10:10] Jacqui Brugliera: We say M-word on this show?
[00:10:12] Ray Latif: Hold on, hold on. Tender and moist are two different things. Wow. Yes. It's both. It's both. Okay. Both is fine. Yes. I don't know, John, what do you think about this? I mean, for someone who is a native New Yorker, you must have had your fair share of matzo ball soup. Does this hold water?
[00:10:27] Mike Schneider: Yeah, I definitely had my share of matzo ball soup. Yeah, it's pretty solid. I mean, I think it has a like kind of homemade taste to it, which is great. I mean, I think similar to what Jackie was saying before around noodles, You Know, sometimes there's just like I don't know. It's kind of like all salt, no substance. This is, this is solid.
[00:10:47] Ray Latif: Awesome. Yeah. I know Sarah has been working on this for a long time and she's been very excited. There's been a lot of hype about this brand as well. So kudos and congratulations to Sarah for putting this together. Mike, any last words on the. The flavor, the moistness, the tenderness.
[00:11:01] Jacqui Brugliera: I was going to talk about the broth, which, You Know, seems to be an afterthought and things like this. Clearly not here. I mean, as John uses the word homemade and that's the word I would use for this too. It tastes really good. And, and, uh, yeah, congrats, Sarah. And thanks for sending it along.
[00:11:15] Ray Latif: Yeah, and You Know what? I love the branding. I don't know who put this together, but there's a lot on here. There's a lot around this instant bowl, but I call it a cup. It's actually a bowl. But it seems like everything that is on here in terms of copy has a use and is useful, including the fill to this line in terms of the amount of water. The fact that there are two other brands that have partnered with Newish on this, including Real Salt, which is called out on the bottom and back of the bowl, and Burlap and Barrel, a spice maker that Sarah's partnered with for this brand. Yeah, really, really good job. Really great job. Sarah, You Know we love you and congratulations once again on this fantastic brand.
[00:12:04] Mike Schneider: I heard that yeah, what was that need something to wash it down here.
[00:12:07] West Coast: Oh, what's that over there?
[00:12:09] Ray Latif: That is so this is the new ollie pop Ridge rush right rush This is their take on anybody Mountain Dew Mountain Dew Ridge rush Mountain Dew where's Josh?
[00:12:22] John Craven: Yeah, I know. I know Josh needs to taste that I get a shot of that better than the real deal.
[00:12:29] Mike Schneider: I mean it definitely nothing To be honest, if it tasted like Mountain Dew, I would really question what Olipop's doing, but this is pretty solid. I mean, You Know, again... They've done a really good job just with their flavors over time and I feel like each one gets a little better than the last and this is a good solid like Citrus, You Know with a little bit of bite punch to it, right?
[00:12:56] Ray Latif: Yeah, there's something in here that I can't put my finger on. I'm not sure. It's almost like a sage in here, which is kind of surprising It's sweeter than I expected, but I think that's probably what drinkers of Mountain Dew want.
[00:13:11] Mike Schneider: 50 calories per can?
[00:13:13] Jacqui Brugliera: That's certainly less than Mountain Dew people want.
[00:13:15] Ray Latif: Yeah.
[00:13:16] Mike Schneider: Just a little bit. Yeah.
[00:13:17] Ray Latif: Much lighter body than Mountain Dew. So this is brand new from Olipop. If you haven't had an opportunity, it seems like a lot of people have had this opportunity to listen to our interview with Ben Goodwin and David Lester, the co-founders of Olipop. Do yourself a favor. go to BevNET.com or Taste Radio.com. You will find a link to that podcast interview. I'm going to pat myself on the back on this one. I really, really liked it. It was one of my favorite conversations of the year. And once again, we've gotten a ton of great feedback on it. The title of the podcast episode is From 1 Million to 500 million in five years. Olipop's explosive growth is no accident. They just tell You Know to do it, how to repeat it, right? Yes, they actually give you, and if you listen to it, they will mail you the blueprint. And a check? And a check. for $25. That's how they get started. 25 bucks. No, they didn't get started with 25 bucks. But yeah, it was such a remarkable company. I mean, like everything that they've done, pioneering this low calorie, better for you soda space, this throwback branding, which wasn't as ubiquitous as it is today. The fact that they've taken something that is easy for people to understand and just made it easier for people to enjoy, pretty cut and dry. I mean, this is something that John Craven talks about a lot, which is like, What's the big opportunity? What does it take to make a big success and do it without a ton of education? And in fact, in this conversation, Ben said in the interview, if the foundation of your ability to sell your product is tied to educating the consumer, You're pushing a rock uphill. Yep. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's the thing. You Know, education is tough. It's expensive. It's hard to change people's perspective on why they should be drinking something or why they shouldn't be drinking something.
[00:15:10] Jacqui Brugliera: It's funny how it seems like it should be easy based on how you just explained, oh, better freeze soda. Everyone should want that. But, You Know, in the Holy Pop interview, they talk about why it's not so easy.
[00:15:19] Mike Schneider: No, I mean, it's a super fine line between, You Know, education that's just going to go right over somebody's head and telling a story that makes a product seem appealing. And I think sometimes those things get confused or conflated. And that's where, You Know, a lot of brands get into that tough sort of spot where, You Know, they need to literally get everyone's like focused attention for a couple minutes to explain, I don't know, some ingredient or whatever it might be. And just, yeah.
[00:15:50] Jacqui Brugliera: And where do they sit between the really great tasting 30, 40 grams of sugar and everyone's used to zero sugar diet, whatever?
[00:16:00] Ray Latif: And I think, You Know, Ben and David talked a lot about the importance of the functional benefit, that of their prebiotic fiber, and why they won't walk away from that, even though there's been a lot of criticism about it's efficacious nature or the efficacious nature of the brand and whether or not, You Know, it's something that people are going to associate with the brand going forward, if they're going to reach for the brand because of that fiber benefit or not. But as they mentioned in the interview, their company's mission and economic outcome will forever be entwined.
[00:16:38] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, it feels like that's always been a cornerstone of Olipop, just something that they've always leaned forward into and been behind since the beginning.
[00:16:45] Ray Latif: True, true. Is OnlyPop available in London yet? Are they international?
[00:16:51] West Coast: Let's find out. How do we find out? We could go to a store in London.
[00:16:55] Ray Latif: We'll have to figure it out. We could go to a store. We could do our own research. I feel like this should be a theme song that pops in right now. It's just like, raindrops, roses, You Know, while we go shopping at a Tesco. We have to do a reel. Exactly.
[00:17:09] Jacqui Brugliera: All right. Raindrops, roses, Tesco. It's happening.
[00:17:11] Ray Latif: There you go. We've talked about this and we're still doing it. We're heading to London next month, October 14th to the 18th. The crew will be there. On the 15th, we will be attending Brighton Jams Cheers Festival, which focuses on the business of beverage, particularly in the UK. Everything from trends, innovation to new products. There's going to be talks at the event. There's going to be sampling. There's going to be a competition. There's going to be all kinds of things. And we're going to be there mixing it up, rubbing elbows. drinking some stuff, so it's gonna be fun.
[00:17:43] John Craven: What?
[00:17:44] Ray Latif: I can't wait. I'm excited.
[00:17:45] John Craven: I can't wait to rub elbows.
[00:17:46] Ray Latif: I can't wait to rub elbows.
[00:17:47] Mike Schneider: Is that what we're doing there?
[00:17:48] John Craven: I think we're doing more than just that.
[00:17:51] Mike Schneider: I'm gonna wear a tuxedo to that. That's what people wear in London.
[00:17:54] Jacqui Brugliera: I hope it means the same thing over there. I hope it's not like fanny pack where there's a definite different meaning. No. Or numpty.
[00:18:01] John Craven: Can I rub elbows and just see what happens?
[00:18:02] Ray Latif: No, numpty has the same meaning here as there. So that's the 15th on the 16th and 17th of October stay tuned The Taste Radio crew will be hosting some content in London The details of which will be announced very shortly We're just dotting our eyes and crossing our t's before we make big announcements about all this but for case We're gonna be out in Piccadilly Circus.
[00:18:26] Mike Schneider: Just You Know out with the man and
[00:18:29] Ray Latif: Eating trying to do some interviews eating watermelon drinking beer chip buddies slug and dash and Piccadilly Square No, we're telling you all this because if you are in the London area, we'll be visiting the London area Please keep those dates open the 16th and 17th Don't even go to work They'll pick up your kids.
[00:18:53] Jacqui Brugliera: Have you hung out with Jackie before?
[00:18:54] Ray Latif: She climbs mountains. Exactly, exactly. No, in all seriousness, from about 5 p.m. on, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on both days, the 16th and 17th, we'll be hosting some content, interviews, networking meetups, drinking some Bev's, etc. Eating some snacks. Yeah, so once again, keep those dates open if you can, and we'd love to see you in the U.K. We'd also love to see you at Nosh Live Winter 2024 in the wonderful city of Marina del Rey. That is happening on what day? December 5th and 6th. I was about to ask Jackie. I saw the cold sweat.
[00:19:36] San Diego: I was like, ah!
[00:19:37] Ray Latif: I saw the radiating heat. I know the dates. I know the dates. Yes. No. The 5th and 6th. And we just announced a new speaker. at Nosh Live Winter 2024. That's Brad Sharon, who is the CEO of Aloha. Aloha. Yes. Aloha, a maker of better for you plant-based nutrition. They make bars, they make protein powders, they make smoothies or at least protein drinks. It's a fantastic company. Aloha was founded many years ago. It was a distressed company. When Brad came in, he turned it into a machine, a well-oiled one at that. And he's going to be talking about being a re-founder of the company of Aloha. It's going to be really exciting. But we've had Brad on the podcast before. Really, really smart guy. Went to Harvard Business School. Hockey player. Chill dude. Chill dude. Yeah. If you want to get tickets to Nosh Live Winter 2024, now's the time to do so. Why, Jackie?
[00:20:33] John Craven: Because it's early registration.
[00:20:34] Ray Latif: And you can.
[00:20:36] John Craven: And you can save and you can sign up also for some additional opportunities at the event, including sampling. We have the discounted room block and we are about to open signups for our one-to-one retailer meetings.
[00:20:50] Ray Latif: Look at that. You can save three digits of money. Does people say three digits? I don't know. Three figures. I don't say that either. No. Okay. Well, you can save money. Definitely save money. Money. That's what matters. It's at least two reasonably priced dinners that you will save. Yes. Or low price in your case. Yes. You can get early access, as Jackie mentioned, to a lot of stuff that you may not be able to access if you register later down the line. So do it now. Don't wait, especially if you are planning on commenting. Just do it now, save the money, get early access to all these wonderful benefits, and you will be happy you did.
[00:21:33] Mike Schneider: And Ray, You Know what happens after you have a lot of food. What do you need after that?
[00:21:38] Ray Latif: Negroni?
[00:21:39] Mike Schneider: Come on, man, a beverage. What? I said that's a beverage, a greenery beverage. Trying to make a crappy segue for you.
[00:21:45] John Craven: I guess that's Spirit Sunday, right?
[00:21:48] Ray Latif: Wait, what's BevNET Live? Yes, John is correct. BevNET Live will be happening after Nosh Live on December. Who wants to take a crack at this one? Who remembers? 8th through 10th. Yes, Jackie, 8th through the 10th at Marina Del Rey. It is going to be the event that you can't miss if you're in the beverage industry and perhaps even beyond. I mean, you can learn a lot about how to do good business in consumer brands by attending BevNET Live. There's going to be so many folks there. There's going to be investors, distributors, retailers, consultants. Everyone that you want to meet in this business is going to be at BevNET Live Winter 2024. We'll also have the New Beverage Showdown as always. I'm very excited to get back on stage. I don't know why I was doing that. I would kind of like running around. I was kind of you walking up. That's me getting on stage. Every anyone ever speed walk race pumping his fist as he's on going on stage. You can get it. You Know what he's doing. We should not do that anymore. By the way, you can also pitch your brand if you have an RTD Spirits brand as they can't cocktail brand for our cocktail showdown, which is also happening at that live on Sunday, December 8th. Very excited for that as well. And of course, We have one on one-to-ones and Irish Live will have one-to-ones at BevNET Live. You can meet with the leading retail buyers at the leading retailers in the United States, including one of the biggest ones that we know, Whole Foods. Yes. I mean, come on.
[00:23:22] Jacqui Brugliera: Really stepped it up in terms of technical content over the past few years. We're gonna have great workshops I mean if you have a question that needs to be answered something that's keeping you up at night Bring three bring four bring five you're gonna be able to get all those questions answered come to the event ask You Know just ask people if they don't know the answer they're gonna know who does you're gonna get a lot of different solutions to your problems and Take your company to the next level guaranteed and
[00:23:48] Ray Latif: You heard it here first, folks. We will have DevNet Live branded Tide pens. So if you do happen to spill anything on yourself, don't you worry a damn thing about it, because you can get that right.
[00:23:58] John Craven: We're ordering them from Mike, but we're making them available for everyone.
[00:24:02] Ray Latif: Yes. Our events team is going to be like, what did Ray say on the podcast? That son of a... No.
[00:24:06] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, I could use one now. I detest.
[00:24:11] Mike Schneider: We've got one more event, too. Wait, wait, is it for the beer space? I was going to say, maybe after you've been hanging out with Ray for like five days already and you're kind of like, man.
[00:24:22] John Craven: I love these segues.
[00:24:23] Mike Schneider: So intense. I really could go for a cold beer. And pour it all over my head. Or some beyond beer, non-alcoholic beer, whatever your fancy is.
[00:24:32] San Diego: Only they're replaced for that, Ray.
[00:24:34] Ray Latif: There is a place for that. It's called Brewbound Live. Brewbound Live is happening after BevDent Live on December 11th and 12th. Of course it is. Brewbound Live is the number one industry event for the beer and adjacent beverages industry. Beer and beyond, baby. Yeah, beer and beyond. I said adjacent beverages. You're talking about cider, hard seltzer, FMBs, things like that. So I was really lucky to Live and Brewbound Live last year at Winter 2023. I was hosting. the Brewbound pitch slam. And even though I'm not as keyed into the beer industry as our amazing editorial team Live and Brewbound, man, they just do an incredible job of putting really compelling, useful, current content on that stage. And you can see from this, from the stage, People are just, their eyes are glued to the stage. Attendees are paying attention because it's really relevant information to them. And then the networking. The networking is just calm. It's easy. It's very useful, again, meeting with people that you need to meet to be successful in the industry. So Brewbound Live, December 11th and 12th. If you're in the beer industry, tied to the beer industry in any kind of way, can't miss the event. One congratulations of notes, that is to Iwon Organic founder and CEO, Mark Samuel. You probably know that name if you are on LinkedIn. He is one of the most followed founders on the platform. Mark has taken on a new full-time role at food and beverage growth equity firm, Citi Capital. He announced it on LinkedIn last week. He is going to be looking at new opportunities That doesn't mean that Iwan is going anywhere. He is going to hand off control of the brand. Later this year, it's going to be licensed to, as described in the Snosh article, a to-be-named company, which will take over all day-to-day operations. However, Mark will still own the assets of the brand and business. Exciting stuff for Mark. He is a great resource on LinkedIn. He's always putting out good content, always getting people engaged. I remember, You Know, early in the, uh, into the pandemic in 2020, he was one of those guys that was really generating a lot of positive, enthusiastic content, uh, for people who were frustrated and just concerned about where their businesses were going. He was really keeping that. Pat on the back. Go talk to Mark. Yeah.
[00:27:00] Jacqui Brugliera: He was really... Pat on the back and pick me up. He's one of those guys.
[00:27:04] Ray Latif: Yeah, so kudos to him on all the great stuff that he's done on LinkedIn and certainly for the next stage of his career at City Capital. We got one more beverage that's on this table that we haven't tasted yet. This is called Avica, I believe that's how you pronounce it. A-V-V-I-K-A. It's a caffeine-free alternative energy drink. And they have two varieties that I found in the fridge. One is a frozen berry zesty citrus and one is an exotic citrus juicy cherry. But you didn't say the names. That's not how they name the flavors. They name the flavors as two different cities. The frozen berry one is a Los Angeles variety. The exotic citrus is their Tokyo variety. So which one you guys?
[00:27:56] Jacqui Brugliera: Never been but I mean I already know what Los Angeles tastes like I'm not loving it I'm like, I've never thought of a berry in Los Angeles It's like sidewalk Not bad. Yeah DNS.
[00:28:12] Ray Latif: It is good. Yeah What is the sweetener here? I guess that's always the first question nowadays. When you taste something new, You Know it's not sugar. You taste the non-nutritive sweetener and turn it around. This one has stevia leaf extract. I don't see another sweetener on here. But yeah, good stuff. Pretty clean flavor.
[00:28:37] John Craven: What's the energy source? Let's try the LA.
[00:28:39] Jacqui Brugliera: I want You Know what smog tastes like.
[00:28:41] Ray Latif: Oh, my God. So harsh. I don't know, Jackie. It's got ashwagandha, it's got bakopa, panix, oh, it's got ginseng. It's got ginseng extract in here. It's got a few other things that I'm not familiar with in terms of ingredients, but caffeine-free energy, like it a lot. I like the idea of... Ooh, I like LA. Yeah. I see what they did there. It's kind of citrusy. That makes sense. Okay. I'm kind of an idiot too, because on the side of the can, it has it all here. I was trying to read the nutrition facts. Trying to make it harder for yourself. It's got D-ribose, it's got ashwagandha, and it's got Panax ginseng. That's got a B vitamin blend as well.
[00:29:22] Mike Schneider: Pretty, pretty tame. Yeah. Yeah, this is tasty. They're both tasty. Not bad. I mean, I like the packaging. Yeah, it's fun. I don't know about the strategy of naming it after cities. Yeah, I don't either. Because, You Know, at some point, you're going to have some odd pairings or pick some weird cities. But anyway.
[00:29:38] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, and one of the things is, You Know, if someone sees a new beverage, they're going to pick it up based partially on flavor. I mean, the can is striking, but you need You Know what the flavor is going to be.
[00:29:48] John Craven: Yeah, I also already forgot which one was Los Angeles.
[00:29:52] Ray Latif: I mean, that's always the hard thing about naming flavor varieties after something that is not the flavor itself.
[00:30:00] Mike Schneider: Well, I mean, I think there's also something to be said similar to a point we made before about education of like, you can't just say, oh, this is the Los Angeles flavor. Then the consumer or anyone will be like, well, what's it taste like? Well, it's berry. It's like, okay, well, You Know. Or you'll make snarky remarks like it tastes like smog. Yeah.
[00:30:20] Jacqui Brugliera: Right, You Know it's a good conversation piece to get get some interest yeah The other interesting thing on here that gives me pauses that they said it's frozen berry It's not a frozen drink so the frozen berries taste different than fresh berries they taste like snozzberries
[00:30:42] Mike Schneider: I mean, the frozen berry thing for me kind of conjures up like those, I don't know, like kind of Gatorade frost, You Know, that whole sort of berry weird flavor profile. Gotcha.
[00:30:55] Jacqui Brugliera: It does taste a little bit like Ray's least favorite flavor, blue raspberry. No.
[00:31:00] Ray Latif: A little bit. Come on, taste it again. You Know what blue raspberry tastes like. Yeah, I do. When I hear frosty, I think of the movie Aliens, when the Marines were like, stay frosty. We can't allow one of those bastards to get in here. What does that even mean, stay frosty? I don't know. Yeah. Anyone who's an Aliens fan, you're instantly my friend, by the way. Email me more so we can- I'm going to find the other one of you out there. So we can banter about Aliens. 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.
[00:32:17] San Diego: you
