[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 I'm with my co-host for this episode, John Craven, Jacqui Brugliera, and Mike Schneider. This is a first for Taste Radio in that we have three folks in the San Diego office, The Worst Coast branch, as it were, and just one In our new headquarters. Yes, just one flop didn't we do this before?
[00:00:41] John Craven: No, I think all four of us were here though.
[00:00:43] Ray Latif: Yeah, that was great I love that. I love that when Jackie was in hugging distance Mike and I in the studio and then you and as in John and Jackie here in the San Diego office But we've never done the three-in-one
[00:00:58] John Craven: Yeah.
[00:00:59] Ray Latif: Well, here you go.
[00:01:00] John Craven: How do you feel over there, Mike?
[00:01:01] Ray Latif: Lonely. He's clearly trying to channel Ray, as in me. I refer to myself in the third person if you didn't know, because he's wearing a hat. I know.
[00:01:11] John Craven: I feel like that's also a first. It's a first.
[00:01:14] Ray Latif: I've never worn a hat before. He has also worn a hat once before and he was trying to mock me because he was wearing like a button down blue shirt and a hat. And he's like, I'm Ray. Look at me. And so I was like, look at me. I'm Ray Latif. But I was that day trying to mock you but not today. I'm wearing my live laugh labneh hat, which I love which I got from the founder of Bessie nice And I'm not that lonely because my my DMS are exploding with people who are like, where are you? Where are you? He's got photos of you guys so I feel like I was I got a little taste of what it must have been like to be at the Fancy Food Show and
[00:01:54] Jacqui Brugliera: For the record, I just told everyone that you were over at the Circus Circus Casino smoking a cigarette and wasn't in any shape to go to the show today. I was too loaded. I was in the gutter. Just at the slots, like, you know.
[00:02:06] Ray Latif: At the slots, just barely hanging on. 3 a.m. to 3 p.m. That's what was happening.
[00:02:10] Jacqui Brugliera: Oh, he was at the place that had the sign for the $3, what was it, $3 shots? Beers. $3 beers and $3 table games.
[00:02:18] Ray Latif: Yes. Disgusting. Wow, what a bargain. We won't mention the name of that casino. But yes, what John and Mike are referring to is the Winter Fancy Food Show 2025 held in Las Vegas the last couple of days. Today's the last day of the show, but here are John and I in San Diego because tonight is naturally San Diego's pre-party, exclusive pre-party for the UNFI show out here, of which we will all be attending. And I'm very excited for that. But yeah, Winter Fancy Food Show also never fails. Tremendous show, I thought. But this is the last edition of the Winter Fancy Food Show. It is evolving. It's becoming Winter Fancy Fair. Oh, I'm excited.
[00:03:00] John Craven: Yeah.
[00:03:01] Ray Latif: Yeah, because it's in one of our favorite cities, too, right? Exactly. Exactly. Yes. Coming here. Well, what's interesting is that they're sunsetting, or according to the Specialty Food Association, Which puts on this show it's evolving into Winter Fancy fair now the details aren't exactly clear It's not exactly clear what's going to change about the show other than its location next year the Winter Fancy fair will debut in San Diego and at the San Diego Convention Center very excited for that and I guess everyone in the office should be able to attend without much trouble.
[00:03:35] John Craven: Oh, yeah. I will definitely be there. Very cool. There's no reason not to.
[00:03:38] Ray Latif: Exactly. And then the following year, going to return to its roots, the show's roots in San Francisco, which I'm very excited. San Francisco! Yes. Yes. 2027. I love the San Francisco Fancy Food Show. I mean, that was a great show. It had such a good vibe and Just it was a great way to kick off the year. I'm looking forward to the Summer Fancy Fair, though, too. I mean, we love San Diego. Well, it'll still be the Summer Fancy Food Show. It'll just be Winter Fancy Fair. So I guess the nomenclature is changing, even if the shows may not be changing that much. Got it. TBD. So, yes, San Diego and San Francisco. We are excited to be there, but we're also very, very excited for next month, because next month, Taste Radio and BevNET will be hosting an industry networking meetup in the sunny city of Miami. We've talked about this. It's happening February 11th at Ampersand Studios, 6 to 8 p.m. We will be there for two hours. interviewing folks at the events, but also mingling, networking, talking to local food and beverage entrepreneurs, investors, distributors, retailers, all of whom will be there. We want to see you there as well. If you are based in South Florida or thinking about being there, In early February, we want to see us. So we're going to have a sign up on our website. Yes.
[00:04:59] John Craven: Yes. You just go to Taste Radio.com slash Miami. It is a free RSVP, but we do ask that you do RSVP so we know who's coming.
[00:05:07] Ray Latif: Space is limited or something like that. Is that a very cool venue? So yes, space is actually limited.
[00:05:12] John Craven: Yeah, and we also request that you BYOS, bring your own samples.
[00:05:17] Ray Latif: Absolutely. Many thanks to our partners for the Meetup, NewWater, NEAU, Water, and Matriarch Capital. Very excited to see those folks as well. Yes, thanks. Yes, very excited for another trip.
[00:05:30] John Craven: I don't even know where I am right now.
[00:05:37] Ray Latif: Yeah, New Jersey. I don't know. Yeah, we got it pretty early this morning left Las Vegas We were in the cab around 6 a.m. I actually made myself a cup of coffee here in the office to wake myself up a bit But you know you remember that movie Elf when Will Ferrell he goes to that cafe and Sam familiar with that He goes, oh, it's the world's best cup. I made myself the world's worst cup of coffee. It's terrible.
[00:06:03] John Craven: Well, we also don't have the same level of coffee. Yeah.
[00:06:07] Ray Latif: No, it's like it's been sitting out for three days. Someone put it, not even a microwave. Somebody put it like outside so that it would be heated up by the sun. And this is what I have in front of me right now.
[00:06:16] John Craven: Did you just do The Cumin? Is that why?
[00:06:18] Ray Latif: No, I made, I didn't even grind new grounds. It was the grounds that have been ground already in there since like night. Another reason to bring Mike along. Yeah. Ryan our audio studio director for this episode is looking at me like I'm absolutely out of my mind All right. I want to talk about some stuff. We saw at Winter Fancy Food Show because we saw quite a bit so much stuff Yeah, we saw Laurel's coffee a maker of a to milk infused or maker of lattes made with a to milk they have a couple different varieties and Very delicious stuff. They come in, is it 10 ounce slim cans or 12 ounce slim cans?
[00:06:53] John Craven: I think it's 10 ounce.
[00:06:54] Ray Latif: I think it's 10 ounce. Yeah, 10 ounce slim cans, based in Los Angeles. They are in a handful of retailers right now, but making a big push into new ones pretty soon as well. I think they're getting into, if I recall, the founder telling us that they're going to be making their way into Whole Foods regions coming in March as well. That would be an 8 ounce for a I'm like there's no such thing as a 10 ounce can there's no such thing as a 10 ounce can that's 8 ounce right here to 8.4 Millimeter it's the energy drink can you know the Red Bull can yes, and actually I misspoke there They're gonna be launching in some regions of Whole Foods in September not this spring so yeah They're also doing a label refresh which we saw look nice. Yes. It did look good Hale M cocktails Now, everyone has probably seen these cocktail mixer type brands that have the ingredients in a teabag, right? Yeah, so Helm M is not too dissimilar from that. Although what they were exhibiting at the show looked pretty darn amazing. I have a plastic bag, so it's gonna make a lot of noise. Okay, but they have this old-fashioned. They're cute. Would they have a Moscow Mule as well? I think they had a Moscow Mule variety as well. And it comes in a little teabag, just like this. And I know we've seen ones, let's just call it Say-So. Say-So, which has a, it's a much bigger teabag, but look at this.
[00:08:13] John Craven: I mean, if you were watching on the- Yeah, you can see all the goodies inside. Dried fruits, I think that's brown sugar.
[00:08:19] Ray Latif: Yep, so you just put this in your cup, you put a little bit of bourbon on top of it, and you got yourself an old-fashioned. Save it for the flight home right I might just do that. Yeah, look at this you get a sugar cube Looks like a little raisin, or maybe it's a cranberry and some dried orange, so yeah, maybe I'll try this like right now cuz we got some Some good coffee I couldn't find any so that's why there might be bourbon in that coffee Yeah, I mean, maybe try coffee beans next time instead of macadamia nuts. Yeah, I could do that oh John and I also tried a brand called Mate Party. I mean, this was a really great looking brand and had delicious products that we got to try. What's interesting about this is, you know, when we see new mate, yerba mate brands come to market, and sometimes they seem to be grounded in the whole ethnic aspect of yerba mate a la Aguayaquil. I felt like Mate Party really brought a fresh approach, a differentiated fun approach to that category.
[00:09:19] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, definitely has like a, I don't know, kind of like a retro vibe to it of sorts. And it's not trying to scream caffeine or energy at you. It's just kind of cool and fun.
[00:09:29] Ray Latif: Yeah, absolutely. They have three varieties. They have an unsweetened, a lightly sweet and a mint grapefruit, which was my personal favorite. It's funny. I was talking to the founder and I said, I remember seeing your brand at a local small independent bookstore in Brooklyn where I live called the Brooklyn Booksmith. Shout out Brooklyn Booksmith. And they actually have a pretty amazing beverage selection there. And she said, yeah, we do really well. We ship product direct to that store. And she's like, yeah, we're always sending cases and stuff to that store. So, yeah. I've had a mint mate before, if only I could remember where. I'm not sure. It's a mint mojito, sir. And that is Jazz, J-A-S, which is a maker of non-alcoholic cocktails that Mike is holding in his hand. This is their new product, which is their mint mojito, which we tried. Mojito fresco.
[00:10:17] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, this was also the product that Ray said to them, like, can you send a sample? And then they were like, we already sent some to the office. Mike has them.
[00:10:28] SPEAKER_??: So.
[00:10:28] Jacqui Brugliera: And also you have them I do I Was like I have these in my fridge at home.
[00:10:34] Ray Latif: Yeah, we have them. Yeah, well that was the thing I was like yeah, whenever you can could you send us some sample and look somehow they got on the show oh No, and they're like yeah, we already sent samples Ray and John was like yeah, we already we already got samples I'm like all those no We could have had more chess I Look, Mike, I'm looking out for you because I asked a brand that we saw exhibited at Fancy Food Show to send us some samples of their products. And that brand is Edenesq, E-E-D-E-N-E-S-Q-U-E. And they are a maker of plant-based milk. They have an oat milk. They also have a pistachio milk, a barista blend that was phenomenal. It was so good. Was it good? And it's a barista blend? Yes, it's extra creamy yes, they also in my cafe They did say that they had seen your latte videos Influencer yeah, I'll even ask thank you so much for the kind words, and I would love to make Thank you for any words, thanks for talking about us pretty tasty stuff Yeah, and I'm just gonna read from their card that they sent me here, or they sent with me from the show. A BIPOC LGBTQ women-owned company on a mission to advance social justice through nourishment. I love that. I'm already bought in.
[00:12:07] John Craven: I love the little tagline too.
[00:12:09] Ray Latif: What is the tagline?
[00:12:10] John Craven: Be the love.
[00:12:11] Ray Latif: Be the love. Love it. Love it. Nice. Nice. Look it, I'm the love. John's got like 8,000 products in front of him.
[00:12:19] John Craven: I know, he's just like chomping at the bit, ready to go.
[00:12:22] Ray Latif: What's cool about this is not every one of these brands we saw exhibited at the show. So for example, one brand you met the founder on the plane, on the way over here. Another one you just met on the floor. Another one you met at the startup CPG party. And then the other two,
[00:12:37] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, but I was all I was networking all the way down to our flight from Vegas to San Diego we're Flying on Southwest. That's such a weird airline, but yeah the boarding process No more of that since South San Diego we just have to go from San Diego to San Diego So I'm like easy sitting in the window seat and eventually someone sits in the middle seat next to me cuz you know Southwest like people get on in the window and the aisle so we have a weird elbow sort of you know middle seat and anyway start talking it was a Christine who's the co-founder of Nuff's so I got a nice box of samples and enough to spelled NUFS Yeah, was that after you battled her for the armrest? I didn't win that battle no No battle, but yeah, we had a lovely conversation good way to pass a What's a 42-minute flight we're nice seemed like the captain couldn't fly the plane either was Anyway yeah, but these are the hot honey flavor this is Gluten-free dairy-free seed oil free. Did you say what it is nuffs? I said enough. It's crispy crackers is what it is. Yes, excuse me, but these are the hot honey flavors I don't know, kind of a fan of anything with hot honey, but the base, like, Nuff's flavor is really good. Hot honey is, like, next level, so super excited for that.
[00:14:07] John Craven: And she was heading down here for the UNFI show?
[00:14:09] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah.
[00:14:11] John Craven: And for NSD?
[00:14:11] Ray Latif: Nice.
[00:14:11] Jacqui Brugliera: Can I talk about the label hierarchy real quick?
[00:14:13] John Craven: Oh yeah, talk about the label. I know, I get to try it.
[00:14:15] Ray Latif: I think the label's great. Label hierarchy on this is phenomenal. Okay. So they're not like loading you up with the gluten-free, dairy-free, seed oil-free. Like it's at the top. That's great. It's part of the brand. Nuff's, the logo is huge. Crispy crackers underneath Nuff's, you know what it is. You have a picture of the product right in front. And then you have the hot honey variety on the bottom. It's like, this to me is perfect label hierarchy. And picture of the product that looks actually appetizing, right?
[00:14:41] John Craven: Like I want to eat that. You can see the hot honey. Yeah.
[00:14:43] Ray Latif: Right. Made with simple ingredients, made with olive oil, made with almond flour. All that's like at the bottom of the box. But what's clear is the name of the brand. You see the product. It looks delicious. You want to pick it up. You want to know more. Great stuff.
[00:14:57] Jacqui Brugliera: Also got some Dixie Grace's Boiled Peanuts. This is like one of these. I mean, man, I'm going to say something here that I'm going to regret, but a PR person was like, you should go visit this.
[00:15:08] Ray Latif: Shout out Susan Fecko.
[00:15:09] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah. I mean. She does a nice job of telling you what you need and not being like, you know, crazy pushy. So yes, thank you for that. But anyway, I'm really glad we stopped and tried these. These are, you know, flavored and I guess unflavored Boiled Peanuts. You can basically eat them right from the bag or microwave them for 45 seconds. A little bit of like nostalgia for me from like going down South Carolina, Georgia area as a kid. Really tasty, really nice founder, you know, great story.
[00:15:41] Ray Latif: Yeah, I had no idea this type of product, Boiled Peanuts, that is, had its roots in South Carolina. Apparently, if you go to a convenience store in Southern South, I keep Southern Cal, or Carolina, in South Carolina. Or the side of the road.
[00:15:54] John Craven: Yeah, the side of the road. They're everywhere. Really? Okay. Yeah.
[00:15:57] Jacqui Brugliera: Those are the good ones.
[00:15:58] John Craven: Yeah, that's the best. It's like a, you know, like a little taco stand. Like that's their taco stand.
[00:16:02] Jacqui Brugliera: Boiled Peanuts. Maybe some peaches too, but not boiled.
[00:16:05] Ray Latif: John and I were eating Everything so the shell and everything and you do apparently Susan was like oh you guys are eating with a shell You don't break it open like no And then the founder of the company was like oh, yeah, you get all that good fiber And all the flavors on the shell exactly yeah that hot and spicy one fantastic. Yeah, really really good Why are you guys allowed to get street Boiled Peanuts in South Carolina, but I'm not allowed to get street fish in Hawaii. I don't understand Yeah, exactly
[00:16:34] Jacqui Brugliera: Street ceviche another another brand that we met which is a pretty cool concept It's called The Cumin Club, and these are basically You know on the outside looks like just a standard kind of flexible package You know Indian kind of meal kit, but this is actually like freeze-dried So there's no liquid in here you basically like rehydrate it and cook it, but the flavor on it is You know, we were trying them at the show. It's like kind of insane. I mean, it tastes like something that's like really intense and freshly made.
[00:17:06] Ray Latif: So once again, what is it though? So the Cuban club is a maker of individual servings of meals, Indian meals. And so they have a number of varieties, but as John pointed out, all you need to do is rip open the pouch, pour it into a pot, add some water, have it simmer. It's ready in five minutes. So you have a delicious Indian meal in five minutes. Yes, freeze-dried ingredients. According to the Pollock Paneer variety, there's 14 grams of protein per pack. It tells you the spice level. Also really good label hierarchy on this one. I feel like you get a picture of the food, you get the logo right in the center and you get the flavor name right underneath that. And are they super cumin heavy? Is it like a cumin blast? That's actually a good question. I think so. I mean, we, because now we've got a human coincidence here. We've got the talk back where I thought that was pretty human heavy. Now you've got a human company. I mean, maybe humans are trying to hear. I'm not sure.
[00:18:01] Jacqui Brugliera: We were trying these at a trade show where we had been sampling, but I mean, I feel like they were really like well balanced, you know?
[00:18:07] John Craven: Yeah. I think it's interesting too, that they're explaining that like paneer is like Indian cottage cheese, which cottage cheese is kind of trending again, you know?
[00:18:15] Ray Latif: Actually, that's a really good point Jackie. Yeah, it described on the front of back here Pollock paneer Indian cottage cheese cubes. Yeah, which is definitely attractive to Mainstream it does and then their variety that we tried that I really loved was their doll Todd car Which is creamy Indian yellow lentils with tomatoes and onions. This is fantastic. Get that in my belly.
[00:18:39] John Craven: Yeah, that sounds good. The freeze drying is like really interesting because I'm seeing more and more of that. I think it's just like from a shelf stable play and you know, I've been eating a lot of stuff on the trail and this looks way tastier than what I'm used to.
[00:18:55] Jacqui Brugliera: Also weighs a lot less yeah, I don't know can I open this and it's like spaceman ice cream it could be I would get so yeah Don't don't waste that
[00:19:06] Ray Latif: No, we're not gonna bring this home. Don't worry.
[00:19:09] John Craven: Mike's like don't eat that yet.
[00:19:12] Ray Latif: These are my samples You can put this in your carry-on. I mean just distribution costs, you know putting this on a truck You could probably put a million of these on there. It sounds like they'd be pretty easy to ship if it's space-packed.
[00:19:25] SPEAKER_??: Oh
[00:19:25] Ray Latif: Yeah, you can also get one other brand ripped open there.
[00:19:29] Jacqui Brugliera: Oh, yeah, you got two really The snacks that didn't make it so to speak because I ate them One is a Pulpito which this is the masala mango flavor we've talked about these before The maker of fruit jerky is where they source fruits from Pakistan. I believe yeah, and apparently they really loved the comment We made about the mango guy looking He's gonna eat the whole pack of himself
[00:20:16] Ray Latif: We were we shared a taxi to the startup CPG party with Kristen Charbo from glow nuts We had some good conversations there, and she's like I remember the very first time you guys mentioned glow nuts on Taste Radio and how Jackie was the one who introduced it to us and everyone was just like does it have THC in it. It looks like it's a It looks like it has THC in it. And she's just like, I just love the fact that they, you know, mentioned Glow Nuts because no one knew who we were. And yes, you know, they were just kind of joking around about it being like a weed product. But in the end, it got me to know the BevNET folks a little bit better. And I mean, since then, we've, we, we love, we love those guys. I mean, they're great. They make great, great, great products.
[00:20:59] John Craven: And I feel like also the packaging shows how playful the founders are a lot of times too.
[00:21:03] Ray Latif: Totally. If you haven't seen it, go to their Instagram right now and watch their highs and glows series. It's a, it's a really great take on what it's like to be a founder, the highs and lows, and they call it highs and glows of, of, of being a founder. And it's, it's, you know, they really go into the ups and downs of it. And it's, it's, it's funny, but it's not funny too.
[00:21:24] Jacqui Brugliera: Last one, which I mentioned before, these are Breakin' Granola Bites. Breakin' Snacks is the name of the brand. Those are their granola bites. Yep. Are you going to tell me if they're like a LLC or a C-corporation next spring? What state are they? They're going to join us for an upcoming episode of Elevator Talk. So, um, anyway, these are super tasty. I don't know. I kind of like the granola cluster thing, like compared to like the purely Elizabeth Bionelli that we tried. These are a little like softer in texture. These are super tasty. Nice job. Absolutely.
[00:21:54] Ray Latif: Absolutely. Will you guys indulge us? Because we have even more to talk about from the Fancy Food Show.
[00:22:01] John Craven: Keep it going. It feels like I was there.
[00:22:02] Ray Latif: Yeah, it really does, doesn't it?
[00:22:05] John Craven: You brought the show to me.
[00:22:06] Ray Latif: John and I also tried a new, it's kind of like a salsa matcha type product called Tierra Negra. And it's made in Chicago. They work with a hatchery out there, which is a great incubator in Chicago. And it's described as premium Mexican dark salsa. This, my mouth is watering because it was so damn good. That was really good. It was definitely different tasting, different texture, different kind of product than what we've already seen from salsa matches out there. The founders were talking to us and they were like, yeah, you can, it's pretty versatile. You can use it as sort of a condiment. You can, you know, just use it with tortillas. You can smother a steak in it. And we were like, oh man, that sounds so incredible right now.
[00:22:44] Jacqui Brugliera: Almost made me, like I was thinking about that product this morning as I was looking through my photos and it,
[00:22:50] Ray Latif: Almost kind of made me feel like it was a like if a mole and a salsa matcha had a baby Yeah, really good like depth of flavor Yeah, I'm hoping we can get samples I asked I gave them my business card, so we'll see Yeah, and then my cards were all over the floor and then my shoes convention center When I say steak in Winter Fancy Food Show, what are you thinking that John?
[00:23:19] Jacqui Brugliera: Oh yeah, I mean, it was sort of like an odd talk of the show. And if you've been to a Winter Fancy Food Show ever, you know the place to eat is the, you know, they have these international sort of, I don't know, aisles from different trade associations. And the Japan one is like no joke. They have, um... I mean geez at least two or three options for sushi and really really really really And then they had another one that just had like ridiculous looking Wagyu steaks that they're just like cooking and like cutting little you know hunks off for you could have been literally Thousands and thousands of dollars worth of steak that they were cooking up and frying up, but I mean I feel like everyone I talked to was like oh yeah, I had that like three times
[00:23:58] Ray Latif: I literally I ran into Justin proc now who the famed attorney on the Casino floor where we were staying and he goes did you walk the floor today? I'm like, yeah, he's like, did you try the steak? I've seen Ray try to wheel out a whole wheel of brief Tractor tire of Brie.
[00:24:23] Jacqui Brugliera: No, I mean if you compare to other shows though, it's like it Expo West like You're just eating like packaged snacks and and such the whole time you know like it's it's a little rough on the stomach after a while or there's like Knacks, you know, I know give you crap for your Krispy Kreme and fried chicken meal that you always eat, but like seeing like a Hebrew National hot dog, you're like, oh my God, health food, you know? So yeah, this was, I don't know, just kind of nuts to have that on a trade show floor. Yeah.
[00:24:52] Ray Latif: And back when I was, when I was still imbibing, if you hit France at the right time, they'd have like the best cheese and the wine that goes with it, of course. So you hit that area at the right time, you were, you were having some nice wine. Yeah, well, you know what, Wagyu beef, Wagyu steak, it's a good departure from everything else that you're eating at the show, even though everything we had to show for The Worst part was amazing. Yeah, definitely a lot of great stuff. Yeah. Another plant-based milk brand that I wanted to talk about was Milkish, M-I-L-K-I-S-H. They make a watermelon seed based milk and watermelon seed actually produces a pretty damn good Alternative milk we had their original and their vanilla variety both incredibly John Contained no sugar which was amazing like the watermelon and there provides a sweetness and a flavor that requires no added sugar and And there's no added sugar. No added sugar. Not no sugar.
[00:25:47] Jacqui Brugliera: There's no sugar either. I mean, it could be less than whatever the amount is that you round down to zero. That's true, FDA. But anyway, yeah, it wasn't really like sweet. It just kind of almost like took the edge off a little bit. Gave it a little bit more like depth. But yeah, that was... That was a product I was, I don't know, kind of really wondering what it would taste like if it would be like, you know, drinkable, but it's good. Very good, yeah. We definitely need some watermelon seed milk lattes back at the office.
[00:26:15] John Craven: Can do.
[00:26:15] Jacqui Brugliera: Yes, we do.
[00:26:16] John Craven: We never knew that was going to be a thing.
[00:26:18] Ray Latif: No, we need it now. I think we're going to get some of that. I think we're also going to because Mike would be very, very mad if we didn't. We're going to get some of the new Peepal People products. Peepal People, Peepal People. Those look delicious, Ray. They came out with a new line of seasoning mixes and they have a golden doll mix that we tried and it was fantastic. So they were also showcasing their Nosh Best of Awards for their hot sauce, which we saw at the show as well. Staying on the Indian front for one more thing. Mike was kind enough to tell John and I, he's like, you get your asses to that UK booth, the Euro booth right now, because like, they're just like eight, nine, 12 brands. Yes. No, there was a broker. I think it's called Euro X. Is that right? Euro something. I don't remember. I think it was called Euro X. And they represented, I don't know, the brands that they had at their booth. There was probably 50 or so brands there. And one of the brands that we got to see was a brand called Proper Doms or Prop-a-Doms. It's a maker of Papa Dom's, but they call them the brand is called proper Dom's and Man, we tried some really really good stuff there my favorite variety was their duck in plum flavor Which has no duck which has no duck, but it was delicious, and we were really sad. I was looking for the duck chunks Propadoms and another brand that we actually saw when we were out in London hip-hop hip-hop a maker of gut-friendly or gut-healthy sodas They were also represented there shout out to the founders who are united fans by the way. Yeah very much and Take it easy.
[00:28:00] Jacqui Brugliera: Yes, they were from they were from Manchester, and I was just before we walked up suggesting that Ray was gonna
[00:28:07] Ray Latif: Yeah, well I gotta tell you they answered correctly and even if they didn't then they had a little love fest so they have a label refresh coming out if you remember hip-hop when we were there The label looked pretty good. Did you mourn the Brighton game together? We did actually They had a pretty good-looking label this new label that's coming out in a couple months looks really really good, and it's really in line with What American consumers have come to expect from these types of products? And they are making a push into the United States actually a bunch of the brands that we saw at that Eurex booth are are already in or making their way into central market in Texas. I believe this broker has a good relationship with HEB and central market. And so it's really interesting to see these UK and Europe based brands in Texas of all places. It's not New York. It's not in LA. It's not in, I don't know, Seattle. It's in Texas where a lot of these brands are making their US debut.
[00:29:07] John Craven: Interesting. Yeah, I wonder what that market's going to be like compared to the UK market and what learnings they're going to get.
[00:29:13] Ray Latif: Exactly the same, I'm sure. Couldn't not mention this last one, which is Mazah. Mazah. Everyone knows we love Mazah. Maza debuted a new line of lentil dips. So these act like a hummus or, you know, I mentioned it's kind of like a bitchin' sauce, but made with lentils instead of almonds. Oh, wow. So the consistency is actually a little bit more like bitchin' sauce. but you can dip it and use it like a hummus.
[00:29:44] John Craven: That sounds awesome. That sounds delicious.
[00:29:46] Ray Latif: John and I were using mazah sauce on empanadas the other day. And I mean, that stuff is so good. Yeah, it goes on anything. Yeah, you can put that on anything. They have a lemon tahini, a turmeric ginger, a basil jalapeno, and a roasted red pepper. We tried the turmeric ginger and it was, my goodness, so good. All right, Mike's been chomping at the bit to talk about his products, the ones that he didn't see at, uh, I'm just, I've been enjoying hearing from you guys. I, uh, I'm here enjoying hearing what I missed and looking forward to trying some of those amazing new innovations. Everything's been addressed to me. Attention, Ray, Latisha, don't open the box. Not for Mike.
[00:30:29] Jacqui Brugliera: If I have to wait till Expo West, I have to wait till Expo West. For literally anyone but Mike.
[00:30:32] Ray Latif: I want that on our package. Anyone but Mike. You were talking about the UK earlier and it made me think about one of my favorite new sodas, Feisty, which is a brand of protein soda out of the UK. And so now I've been just looking for all kinds of beverages that have protein in them and we got the new Protein 2.0 refresh in today, which you can read about. at BevNET.com. So they've just done a new brand refresh. It's, this is pretty nice looking bottle. It definitely, you know, shows that it's a sports drink with protein and the flavor cues are really good. And I had the lemon lime before the show. Not, not too bad. I mean, you, you expect like it's, it's way protein. You expect like it's going to be heavier or something along those lines, but it tastes like a sports drink should. Yup. What should a sports drink taste like? Gatorade. That's what people want it to taste like. No, it's a good point. I mean, like he grew up on that stuff and everyone's point of reference is Gatorade. Everyone's point of reference is Gatorade. So if you taste a little bit like Gatorade, you might have a shot. That's what it tastes like. I don't know. I mean, I think these days now when I think about really good tasting sports drinks, I think of body armor in a weird way. I mean, maybe that's not a weird way. That's another good one. Body armor's fruit punch doesn't taste like it's chemicals. I don't know. Maybe they just do a good job of making it. And because they use natural ingredients as opposed to, well, non-natural ingredients. But every time I drink a body armor, I'm like, OK, good. I'm glad. But it is an evolving category, too. I mean, we've got like all kinds of great new sticks and, you know, pellets like you've got Plink, you've got Element, you've got Instant, you've got Cure Hydration. So sports drinks obviously are evolving. That said, they all do kind of sort of come back to, you know, taste a little bit like the OG.
[00:32:24] John Craven: Yeah, I feel like you expect a certain taste for like electrolytes, like a little bit of salt, a little bit of sugar, like that always kind of goes with the taste profile.
[00:32:32] Ray Latif: Yeah, for sure. But I like the, most of these have a lot less sugar and a lot more, you know, a lot better for you ingredients too, so. As we know, everything has protein these days. You can get protein in your sports drinks. You can get protein in your crackers. You can get protein in, I don't know, meat nowadays. We were joking around about this. No, at some point there's going to be a protein infused meat, like some extra protein. Yeah.
[00:33:03] Jacqui Brugliera: Like it was fed like an excessive protein diet?
[00:33:06] John Craven: No, like a forage slaughter. Yeah, the cows are extra muscular.
[00:33:08] Ray Latif: Ray, have you ever heard of GMOs? You take like a steak and you dust it with protein powder. That sounds horrible. Anyhoo, protein has been... Put those new protein sprinkles on top of a Kobe beef. Protein has been a trend on the rise for some time. And I say that because everyone's wondering what the next trends are going to be for 2025 and beyond. What's important? What's important to keep an eye on? And how do you know? How do you find out about such things? Well, you read BevNET and Nashi's 2025 Trend Forecast. And it's a series of articles that we released last week. The editorial team did an incredible job, editorial and design team that is, did an incredible job putting this together, talking to experts, talking to folks in our industry who know Well, at least have a good perspective on what's coming, what to keep an eye on. So you can read all about it on BevNET and Nosh, as long as you are, Jackie, an... Insider. As long as you're an insider, yes. And you definitely want to be an insider to get access to this report because there's some very, very valuable information in there. You want to become an insider? Go to... Have you guys noticed when Ray wants to say insider, for some reason he needs you to like break the seal or something, Jackie? In case of emergency what's up? Right insider, and then it's out and then rake in my blanks or something yeah Pretty damn good role until you interrupted Become an insider okay to become an insider go to bed net.com slash insider Or Nosh.com slash insider. All right. 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.
[00:35:51] Mike Schneider: you
