[00:00:10] Ray Latif: Hello, and thanks for tuning in to the number one podcast for the food and beverage industry, Taste Radio. I'm Ray Latif, the editor and producer of Taste Radio, and here with my show co-hosts, John Craven, Jacqui Brugliera, and Mike Schneider. 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. The day of today's recording is known as Valentine's Day, February 14th. Now, I don't know if you guys celebrate Valentine's Day Is think there's some divisiveness among folks about the holiday because it's kind of a made up one, right? It's like it was a holiday invented for commerce. And there's a lot of holidays like this invented, you know for one reason or another and I was wondering on the way over here Why we don't have a holiday known as BevNET day John Craven. Can we create a BevNET day? Can you create like February?
[00:01:10] John Craven: I don't know seventh February 31st As you know, I am a massive fan of those sort of National Day of That's sarcasm there So yeah, I mean, I guess we could just buy a bit of net day you can just buy those things Yeah, I mean you buy a constellation same thing.
[00:01:33] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, remember when Jade leaf International matcha day they made international matcha day now.
[00:01:38] John Craven: That's the thing so yeah, you can buy it But it's got to be generic like we I think we could have like international CPG podcast beverage day But we can't have international Taste Radio Day Is mean there are like 50 well 50 cheese. That's probably underestimating There's certainly more than 50 365. Thank you.
[00:01:55] Ray Latif: There are more than 50 national days related to beverages at this point But to Jackie's point, you know, it should it be sir, you know about beverages should be beverage day And I know there's already a national beverage day. So I don't think it can be about like beverages I think it's like sort of an amalgamation of everything that we do around here. So like numpties like I lattes, uh, I don't know, griping about the weather.
[00:02:21] John Craven: That's the end of the list.
[00:02:22] Ray Latif: That's all we ever do around here. Those three things. I misspoke. You can't buy a constellation. You can buy a star.
[00:02:30] Mike Schneider: You can buy a star.
[00:02:31] Ray Latif: You got me.
[00:02:32] Mike Schneider: Yeah.
[00:02:32] Ray Latif: Before we go any further, just want to shout out to our sponsor for this episode. That's Cognizant. Cognizant is a clinically tested nootropic ingredient that delivers a patented form of citric choline to supply your brain and those of your consumers with the energy it needs to stay sharp. Learn more at cognizant.com. That's C-O-G-N-I-Z-I-N.com. Clearly something the cast of Taste Radio could use yeah, I was just gonna say desperately Desperately need some of that help us. Yes. I think we just need to dunk our heads in a big bucket like a five-gallon bucket that is Mixed yes pure cognizant cognizant and water cognizant IV every morning Yeah Yeah, so we have a new program that's part of our regular cycle of programs. Cycle is the wrong word, or regular circuit. Maybe circuit's the wrong word. It's a C word anyway. Calamity. And appropriately, The New program is called Community Call. Now, readers of BevNET and Nosh have probably seen our posts, our social posts and our articles on the sites about the return of our colleague, Melissa Traverse, who was a former co-host of Taste Radio, part of our sales team, and she is now the director of community for BevNET. And in her current role, she has a lot of responsibilities. John Craven, what is the director of community? What does that person do for BevNET? What does that do for the food and beverage community?
[00:04:01] John Craven: Jeez, Ray, I feel like am I talking to like a recruiter here? Uh, well. For right now, Melissa's role is to basically be the captain of all of our community outreach and, you know, some of our new initiatives. And as you mentioned, Ray, the first one of those is in the form of Community Call, which is something that We're doing basically as an interactive series, you know, we're going to be doing these weekly, if not more frequently. We're going to be covering, you know, a lot of topics that are kind of current things in the industry, not news oriented, but more talking about things like fundraising, you know. Expo West-ers, just to give a couple examples. Going to be talking to some retailers as well. And, you know, these are designed for those of you in the community who are entrepreneurs at CPG companies, you know, just to come join us. They're based in Zoom and there'll be live streamed and there'll be some interactive components as well. So you'll have the chance to interact with the experts that join the program. And maybe that's all I'll say for right now, but we have a lot of stuff in the works on this.
[00:05:12] Ray Latif: As John mentioned, these are live streams and you can join in. It's very interactive. Check out the schedule at BevNET or Nosh.com. Community Call. Be there or be square. There you go. Isn't that what the kids say these days? Be there or be square? I doubt it, but yeah, just go with it, Ray.
[00:05:29] Jacqui Brugliera: Okay. Go with it. Maybe they'll start.
[00:05:32] Ray Latif: Yeah. Yeah. By the way, I was born in 1954 and a lot of people don't know that about me. But yeah, my favorite show growing up was Leave It to Beaver.
[00:05:41] Jacqui Brugliera: And your favorite artist is apparently Huey Lewis, hip to be square.
[00:05:45] Ray Latif: No, I would have been way too... Oh, I see what you're doing. You missed a bad pun.
[00:05:51] Mike Schneider: I missed the... You're aging well.
[00:05:53] Ray Latif: The Jad Doke, the Jad Doke. Went for it. Yes. You know, talking to entrepreneurs recently, the question of fundraising always comes up. It's just something where I think people are just wondering where their next dollar is really going to come from, at least in terms of investment.
[00:06:08] Jacqui Brugliera: But really fundraising starts with fun.
[00:06:10] Ray Latif: Yeah.
[00:06:11] Jacqui Brugliera: Come on.
[00:06:11] Ray Latif: But I think you can be heartened by the fact that we saw a couple significant fundraisers in The New this past week, including that of Rishi. Rishi is a maker of botanical teas, RTDs and dry tea products. They raised money from The Californian venture group called SPJ Capital. In addition to Rishi, we saw another R-based brand, or at least what brand that begins with the letter R. I'm really trying here, folks.
[00:06:42] Mike Schneider: R-based brand. R-based brand.
[00:06:43] Ray Latif: The city of R. The city of R. A statistical package-based brand. The city of R. Called R. All right. All right. The hydration brand known as Roar Organic raised $6 million last month to help expand their sales and marketing efforts as they launch into more than 1,300 public stores, prepares to introduce new innovation at the end of Q1. You can read all about Rishi and Roar Organic's raises at BevNET.com. You kind of need to be an insider to do so though. So Jackie, just as a reminder to folks, what is the process for becoming an insider?
[00:07:22] Mike Schneider: Yeah, I mean, it's really easy. You head to babnet.com slash insider, you'll have all the information as far as what features and resources and insights you unlock as an insider. And it's pretty easy, you just click a button, sign up, and it's as low as $49 a month.
[00:07:41] Ray Latif: That is correct. Or $375 a year. I would choose the latter. If you just do the math.
[00:07:47] Mike Schneider: Mm-hmm. You can save some money.
[00:07:49] Ray Latif: You can definitely save some money and people are always trying to save some money. Up that gross margin, you know, reduce costs, et cetera, et cetera. No, in all seriousness, I mean, I think when people are looking for how a company raised money or, you know, sort of the reasons behind the investor decision to fund a particular round, it's all spelled out in these articles. And it's something where, you know, if, again, if you are in that process of raising capital, you know, learn about how the brands that just did it, did it.
[00:08:17] Mike Schneider: I think it's also interesting to see just the decision process with founders and when they decide to raise money and the decision making process. Like with Rishi, he was thinking about the longevity of the business and what he was passing on to his employees. Whereas before it was more of a passion project and he's really just passionate about creating these botanical beverages. So that's also another interesting side of the story.
[00:08:41] Ray Latif: And I think that the good thing about that sort of process is you started with something that you loved and that you really felt like there was a need for in the market and were able to scale from there. And this goes back to that sort of topic of don't start a business because you think you're going to make a hundred million dollars doing it. You know, start a business because you feel like you are really filling a hole in the market, that you are passionate about something. And that's a good foundation for scaling a business. And this actually came up in the most recent episode of Taste Radio, where we featured Jason Burke, who's the founder and CEO of The New Primal, which is a maker of clean ingredient, low sugar beef sticks and jerkies, also marinade, seasonings and salts. And, you know, he's really talked a lot about and encouraged entrepreneurs to really focus on the why. And the why is so important because at this point, if you're just looking for a big exit, you're going to be sorely disappointed. You know, he and other entrepreneurs I've spoken with recently have talked about how the goalposts have really shifted in terms of these massive CPG exits. And, you know, there's been a, this sort of really inflated sense of what you can get from an exit. Be realistic about, you know, what it takes to create a great business first and foremost. And then after that, you will have that opportunity. You may have that opportunity to get that acquisition, to get that exit that, you know, you hear about in The New or that you have heard about in The New.
[00:10:05] Jacqui Brugliera: And part of creating a great business is creating great relationships. And there are a lot of people right now that are scared of the economic climate. But this is a great time to have those conversations with people, even if you don't need to raise funds. If you see a future where you're going to raise money as a, you know, as a CEO or co-founder of a business, it's always important to have those conversations when you don't need. the funds and to create those relationships so that when you do, it just makes the whole thing easier. And I, you know, I was joking about putting the fun in fundraising, but it isn't, it isn't a lot of fun. And it is a big job for, you know, the founder of a company to make sure that the lights are on.
[00:10:48] Ray Latif: You know where you could have some of those conversations Mike? Where's that right? In San Diego.
[00:10:51] Jacqui Brugliera: Oh, yeah.
[00:10:52] Ray Latif: Yeah, we have our big community meetup coming up next week. Jackie you're gonna be there. Mike are you gonna be there? I will be not there. You will not be there. I think that's the way to say it. I'll be there. John Kramer will be there. Somebody's gotta take on for the team. February 20th.
[00:11:10] Mike Schneider: Yes, February 20th from 5 to 7 p.m. in San Diego. It's in our office. The information is also in that upcoming drop down menu, but we are partnering with Naturally San Diego on this and we're really excited to kick off that partnership with this this first meetup of the year and to really build up some momentum and conversations going into Expo West-ers.
[00:11:33] Ray Latif: People are always like we're in San Diego Day Is your San Diego office, and I think I may have no idea I really don't know the neighborhoods in San Diego. I've been there. I know OB.
[00:11:46] John Craven: I know Ocean Beach and PB I usually oh yeah, I don't know what neighborhood that technically is myself.
[00:11:53] Mike Schneider: Yeah, Jackie can probably clarify a little lowdown for people I Yeah, for people that know the layout of San Diego, it's right near the Costco off of Marina Boulevard, which most brands should know of. And it's right next to the Five.
[00:12:08] John Craven: That's what I always use as like the point of reference.
[00:12:11] Ray Latif: Well, my point of reference was also the Costco until I learned that there's like eight Costco's in San Diego. So people were like, well, which one Ray?
[00:12:18] Mike Schneider: I'm like, I don't know.
[00:12:19] John Craven: I didn't realize there was a giant Harley dealership. I don't know. You could, uh, what's that? Is it the five and the 52 kind of meet there, the La Jolla Parkway.
[00:12:28] Mike Schneider: Yeah. And it's right near where PB is. So when you're coming out of Pacific beach and you're like about to go on to the five, you want to keep going and then you're going to hit Costco and BevNET.
[00:12:39] Jacqui Brugliera: So founders, right after you check in on your, on your, on your products at Costco and you test drive a hog, come on over to BevNET.
[00:12:46] Ray Latif: Right. True story, Jackie. Exactly. You just reminded me of that SNL skit, The Californian, when you're like, you come up to five to get left at the Costco and then you end up in PB.
[00:12:58] Mike Schneider: I never thought this would be me. I always said, you know, five North, five South. When I lived on the East coast. Now I have to say the five. Like it's just ingrained.
[00:13:13] Ray Latif: In that voice, dude, the five, you know? So there you go. One of your co-workers kind of sounds like that too. Although he's not, he's not from California.
[00:13:23] John Craven: One of our former co-hosts Jon Landis It is kind of like funny when Bostonians make fun of that though considering that like our highways called the Mass Pike And we have a very unique thing here called being star road with If you don't know what I'm talking about
[00:13:41] Jacqui Brugliera: And then email ask a Taste Radio.com and let us know you think Michael sing you some some swag yeah, definitely there's all there's all kinds of Interesting descriptions of how people drive around here.
[00:14:01] Ray Latif: We could fast. We're just one big dung and doughnuts.
[00:14:03] Mike Schneider: Yeah Yeah, ah love that commercial
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[00:14:55] Ray Latif: Hopefully we'll see, or hopefully Jackie and John and the team in San Diego will see a lot of folks at our meetup on February 20th. Of course, we're going to see tons and tons of people, tens of thousands of people in Anaheim for Expo West-ers, the 7th to the 11th. of March, and of course, we are asking and have been asking folks who are attending exhibiting to send us The New. Send us The New about what they're exhibiting, what they're showcasing, what they're highlighting at Expo West-ers. Again, a very easy URL, Jackie.
[00:15:34] Mike Schneider: BevNET.com slash Expo West-ers. That's where all the coverage will be. That's also where you'll find a link to submit your booth number and your news. And we will also be publishing our insider booth guide prior to the show. So if you're not an insider, another, you know, plug, you should become an insider and get into that booth guide.
[00:15:55] Jacqui Brugliera: And food companies can go there too?
[00:15:57] Mike Schneider: Food companies can go there and they can also go to Nosh.com slash Expo West-ers. Similar deal, we have the booth guide, we have news submission, and we will also have coverage.
[00:16:09] Ray Latif: Yeah, and believe me, folks, when people are texting me or emailing me or LinkedIning me about where they're going to be, their booth number at Expo West-ers and you know, talking about the products that they have, it's really helpful for me and for the team. If you just upload that information to the site, that'll give us a full listing of all the booths we need to visit. And it'll help us and our AV team, especially know what to take pictures of, what video we should capture. So please, please, please upload your information, BevNET.com slash expowest, Nosh.com slash expowest. All right, I know John has been chomping at the bit to talk about some of the products that are to his left here, and they look like some pretty interesting products that you have. I hope so. Can you start with the Ithaca? That looks tasty.
[00:16:59] John Craven: Oh, sure. This here is The New Ithaca fire roasted salsa. Those are good words. So apparently they're doing salsa, not just... Hummus anymore, and yeah, I'm I have not tried this yet Are they going for fire and ice action there because remember it was Ithaca cold-crafted initially for the hummus and now they're fire roasting look at that I'm kind of hoping for the same fresh Flavor that that I've come to know and love from their hummus in this salsa here also side note I stole this from the Pile of waiting to get photos, and I'm actually thinking about Eating this just like an opaque package, and there's a lot just refill it with like Tostitos Let's go first of all I don't think you can steal anything because it's all kind of yours right I mean like I mean, that's that's kind of an interesting don't get me on a side note tangent about that But you know that would that would be kind of a bad way to operate.
[00:18:01] Ray Latif: I'm just saying oh, okay Well, I guess that's true I mean I I guess maybe I own like a small Sliver Of that to via like the shares that I own in the company There you go So I own like maybe a smell. I own more than a smell. I own like at least an onion or two. Yeah, there's no chips. No, but this, in all honesty, this is all seriousness. This looks pretty awesome. It's probably HPP like their hummus is, yes? I would guess so.
[00:18:30] John Craven: That's kind of weird to not. You got to guzzle that. Come on. Yeah. I mean. Go for it. Salsa shots anyone? No. I'm in. I mean, we didn't, we don't have any tortilla chips in the office, which is kind of weird. So. I drank Mountain Dew hot sauce on the last show, let's go. No, no, no, we're saving it for later.
[00:18:47] Ray Latif: Do you want me to talk about something else, Ray? No, I don't want you to talk about something else, I want you to project about something else. Okay, here is some, how would you say this, plan nut?
[00:18:57] John Craven: Planet? Yeah, planet milk. P-L-A-N-U-T. Thank you. Planute. So this is a new, uh, new-ish plant-based milk line. They do almond, cashew, oat milk. They've got a regular sort of variety and a barista base, but these are shelf-stable pouches that you blend with water and kind of make your own plant-based milk at home. So each one of these, uh, nine ounce pouches makes four quarts. So much cleaner sort of eco footprint is what they're going for. And also just clean ingredients. There's just nothing in this aside from nuts.
[00:19:39] Jacqui Brugliera: You just Vitamix the heck out of that, right? I saw the, uh, I saw the real, uh, I, I wasn't here when founder visited, but, uh, and you also had the opportunity to have a real barista, Amanda, make you a latte. How was it?
[00:19:51] John Craven: Yeah, it's good. I mean it we sampled all these just straight, and they're super clean tasting You know none of those those bad ingredients that we know ray hates so I have Not Even this on the back of a package before But it says need me like as in you know need like bread because they want you to like mix up the house But yeah, even when open this thing shelf-stable apparently. It's kind of kind of really and then I've got some Thirst Burster here the founder Derek Visited the office last week this kind of has like that uh 80s vibe to it looks like the logo for a zac attack band on the state by the bill right yeah But this one is a good thing folks.
[00:20:41] Ray Latif: Which is a good thing.
[00:20:41] John Craven: I like yeah, these guys are really new They've got a carbonated skew and a non-carbonated, but this one's a hydration immunity brain
[00:20:50] Jacqui Brugliera: Booster yeah, I saw this in the fridge, and I was um I was confused about whether it wants to be a an energy drink or a or hydration beverage or both and even when I read the side it it has more of like the Energy drink vibe because it has all the vitamins and stuff, but it's 10 calories, and I don't did you did you try it? Yeah, it's pretty good. Yeah, pretty good. Yeah, it's just you know lightly flavored so lightly carbonated filtered water
[00:21:17] John Craven: I'm just gonna keep going here. Another one we got in is Machu Picchu Zero Sugar Yerba Mate. This is the company from Daniel Scharf, who's the founder of Startup CPG as well. Daniel's the CEO of Machu Picchu. And he's the CEO of Machu Picchu, and this is a non-carbonated offering to complement their energy drink. It's pretty solid. You know tasty can of yerba mate and last, but not least. I mean we're all just Crushing this prime energy drink right so this stuff's pretty interesting. I mean it's um This is this is the same brand as the sports drink right right brand, but now in carbonated 12-ounce can energy drink form and You know I'd say it tastes really familiar, which I think is kind of what they're going for definitely doesn't suck Yeah, I mean, it's a 10 calorie energy drink not my thing. I mean, but yeah, I definitely feel like this ticks the right boxes and maybe carries that momentum into a category that is Got a couple of brands in upheaval at the moment, so.
[00:22:31] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, yeah. Energy drinks, again, not my thing, but if you made me choose, I would, I'd probably choose this one. And not just because of their Arsenal sponsorship, just to be clear.
[00:22:41] Ray Latif: Now, can you, can these, these things are limited, right? Or can you sell these on eBay?
[00:22:45] Jacqui Brugliera: Probably. Yeah.
[00:22:47] Ray Latif: They're not hard to come by. No. I saw Prime did a Super Bowl ad too, right? It was right before the Super Bowl? Yeah, they had a Super Bowl ad. Yeah, I mean no way.
[00:22:58] John Craven: I mean it's pretty interesting that they were able to pull that off Sure, I mean I was commenting more on the ad itself which has you know yeah, Logan Paul doing WWE and stuff like that, but It definitely is pretty interesting to see an emerging brand and a creator led brand Doing a Super Bowl ad so you know that definitely was was pretty cool.
[00:23:23] SPEAKER_??: I
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[00:24:15] Ray Latif: Jackie what do you have over there in the great city of San Diego?
[00:24:19] Mike Schneider: I hope it's just guacamole I have I have two Mexican inspired brands so I have Yeah, Tomalitos. They came out originally with a Mexican hard candy. And so the center of the candy was like chili lime and salt and it was really tasty. Yeah, they just came out with a new line and it's all popcorn. So it's kind of like different flavored kettle corns. But this one's lip smacking mango. So it's mango flavored candy popcorn sprinkled with chili lime and sea salt. So you get that like sweet, salty. They're based out of Austin, Texas, and they have a couple SKUs. They had another SKU that was watermelon. That was intriguing to me, but something a little bit different. I feel like we haven't seen a whole lot of innovation in kettle corn. So it's cool to have that like Mexican inspired flavors in this brand.
[00:25:14] Ray Latif: What is that food again, Jackie? What is the food? Yeah, it's kettle corn.
[00:25:20] Mike Schneider: Yeah, it's kettle corn. It's it's popcorn indeed popcorn.
[00:25:25] Ray Latif: Okay, so I was trying to get you to say popcorn because this is how you know Jackie's from Massachusetts People say popcorn instead of popcorn popcorn popcorn. Yeah, you didn't like Popcorn popcorn. Yeah, never know. Yeah popcorn.
[00:25:38] Mike Schneider: I also say, you know, how do you say room?
[00:25:41] Ray Latif: The other big one room I don't say wrong now.
[00:25:45] Jacqui Brugliera: I don't say that drives me crazy actually when people say wrong popcorn is not for dogs though What is wrong with you popcorn?
[00:25:51] Ray Latif: I know yes popcorn okay? With the dad jokes we got a side of the dad jokes come on.
[00:25:56] Jacqui Brugliera: No.
[00:25:56] Ray Latif: I'm never stopping with the dad joke I think
[00:25:59] Mike Schneider: I think my next, The New product I have won't have any East Coast word. So this one is. Oh, yeah, this one's Chuza. Chuza has dried fruits, but this one is actually The New spicy Nepal. And it's cactus. So like for plant based eaters, or just people that eat a lot of Mexican food, you usually eat like Nepalese and tacos and burritos and cactus is a big, you know, ingredient. So it was interesting to see a spicy dried Nepal, which is really tasty and something that if you don't want like something that's super sweet, like a dried fruit, this is a nice alternative. And this is a San Diego brand, local San Diego brand.
[00:26:42] Ray Latif: Nice, nice. Now people ask me, well, Ray, how do you stay healthy at Expo West-ers when you're running all over the place, shaking hands, kissing babies, doing all those things that might end up making you sick. And I always say that my secret is green juice. I drink at least eight ounces of green juice every single day. And I believe that has helped me to stay healthy. And I was really happy to see that we had some fantastic juice from The New folks from Pressed sent to our office. They have a bunch of new products, including a simple cleanse juice, which is made with lemon, ginger, and cayenne. I think that's the traditional way to create a cleanse juice. Yes. Yeah. I was particularly excited about their daily green six pack. I have one of those green juices in my hand here. It's the lime power greens. This is made with cucumber, apple, celery, spinach, lime, mint, bok choy. You don't see bok choy in too many green juices. Collard greens and green chard. This is the kind of stuff. you know, that sort of forest green color is not for everyone. It tells me that this is a very healthy juice, and I'm excited down that. I can't bring it on the plane, so I'll probably just drink the entire thing before I get on the plane to Expo West-ers. And here is the Simple Cleanse. The other interesting thing about the Simple Cleanse, this is one, the sweetener in here is allulose, which is not typically something you see in juices, but obviously used to keep the sugar count down. There's only two grams of sugar in this 15.2 ounce bottle. But great stuff from Press. I'm very happy that there's a Press store in the Fenway area, not too far from where I live. You patronize the Press store, right? In the city of Boston. Interesting. Yeah. Yes. Also excited to receive a package from a company called Revol Greens. That's Revol Greens, which describes itself as the largest greenhouse lettuce grower in North America, tackling the notorious food waste of the lettuce industry. So they harvest their lettuce within 24 hours and get it into grocery stores within three to six days, according to the company. They make salad blends, salad kits, lettuce, head lettuce, and what they call Southern blends. I don't know what their Southern blends are. I'm going to look this up real quick. I guess it's just organic lettuce. Polygreens? Yeah. Yeah. So the green leaf crunch, they have a sweet butter blend, they have a romaine crunch and they have a spring mix. All really tasty stuff. I actually really am happy with the variety that we're seeing from greenhouse grown lettuce in grocery stores because I think number one, it just makes it easy to buy for a particular like evening, right? You don't have to buy a big head of lettuce and chop it up and wash it 10 times. I mean, this is all kind of done for you at an appropriate size, in my opinion. And it's all really fresh too. Like it's not, you know, romaine lettuce that took like eight weeks to get here, which I think some some that's not that not eight weeks, but I might think it goes on a plane usually right yeah No, I mean some of that stuff goes does go on a plane But like if you're from the East Coast you know That the produce that actually that you're shopping for in the grocery store is usually pretty old Because it took a long time to get from wherever it came from what it is Ray come on When was the last time you had a good cucumber that you bought in a store?
[00:30:05] John Craven: Well, I would buy a seedless one wrapped in plastic which is better than you know but uh No, but I'm like good stuff.
[00:30:12] Ray Latif: I mean, it's like, you know, Jackie could probably walk down the street and get oysters from Cape Cod We can get you know You're saying there's a give and a take The plane has to go back, you know, yeah So it's true whenever I see Maine lobster on a menu The Californian. I'm like, come on. Oh Mike, you have a bunch of products.
[00:30:35] Jacqui Brugliera: I've got some products. Get us back to reality show. Let's talk about some products I've got. So speaking of reeling it in, I'm reeling it in. This is a classic Mexican cocktail by a brand called JAS, J-A-S, or perhaps Haas. JAS, it's alcohol free cocktail. This is a Paloma Libre. Oh, I want to try that. Yeah, you can try this one. 70 calories, 17 grams of sugar. But, you know, if you're going for the Paloma experience, you probably don't care so much about that, right? You know the sugar you're getting it when you drink.
[00:31:07] John Craven: Oh, I was like is this a trick question No, I mean do I not care about again?
[00:31:11] Jacqui Brugliera: I think it's a really nice package. It's pink. It's stunning and then speaking of packages Here's one of that has pictures of me and my high school friends on it weird It's called Drink Weird, but it doesn't say Drink Weird on the front Drink Weird on the side. It's company out of Austin and they make teas this one's weird Yerba and And it's blue palm acai yerba mate. And this one's weird tea, Moroccan mint green tea. It's kind of fun packaging. It is definitely paying off the weird, because there's a lot of inconsistencies in terms of like, one of them's 150 milligrams of caffeine, one of them's 100. And they've got some kind of fun sayings on the back.
[00:31:55] John Craven: Let's get weird.
[00:31:56] Jacqui Brugliera: Do you yerb? We're talking about that fine caffeine charge and the amazing funky flavors that can only come from a brewed yerba mate. You know, so stuff like that. It's tasty stuff. Check it out.
[00:32:08] Ray Latif: There you go. On that note, thank you all for joining us for this episode of Taste Radio. Really appreciate you listening, as always. And thanks so much to our team behind the scenes. That includes our audio engineer, Joe Cracci, our technical director, Joshua Pratt, and our video editor, Ryan Galang. On behalf of the entire Taste Radio team, thank you so much for listening and watching. And we'll talk and see you later.
