Ray Latif [00:03] Hey folks, it's Ray with Taste Radio. Right now I'm honored to be sitting down with Nicole Staniec, who's the VP of beverage products for Virginia Dare. Nicole, it's great to see you again.
Nicole Staniec [00:13] Ray, great to see you and thanks for having me today. Yeah,
Ray Latif [00:16] you and I have sat down in the past, and for folks who may have missed our interview prior to this one, tell us a bit about yourself and your work with Virginia Dare.
Nicole Staniec [00:26] Uh, great, thank you. I am the, um, as you said, VP of beverage products at Virginia Dare. I manage the beverage, uh, category. Looking at setting the strategy and looking forward to growth for Virginia Dare. Virginia Dare is a 103-year-old flavor company with roots in Brooklyn, now located in Carteret, New Jersey. We work across a variety of products. We're very well known for vanilla extracts and other extract products, but we're very heavily involved in functional beverages, which is the topic we're here to talk about today.
Ray Latif [01:00] Absolutely, and it is top of mind. For a lot of folks, whether they are beverage founders, retailers, or consumers, everyone seems to want functional beverages in their life these days. And you can find them in retail stores, you can find them in quicker, restaurants and cafes. From your perspective, are you noticing any flavor trends that are happening within functional beverages?
Nicole Staniec [01:23] Yeah, it's a great question. Thank you, uh, for asking that. We do see a variety of taste trends, inspiring flavor concepts for functional beverages. Some examples of these trends are category mashups like frozen desserts crossing over into beverages, or incorporating nostalgic flavors that tap into happy childhood memories and engage consumers with an emotional connection to a product. Flavors like rainbow sherbet or firework ice pop may resonate across multiple taste trends. Additionally, cocktail inspired flavors continue to see rapid growth as consumers seek sophisticated, elevated beverages with functional benefits for mindful drinking and social occasions. Discovering new tastes is an important driver for Gen Z and millennial consumers, and exotic flavor combinations influence their food and beverage choices. As consumers are exposed to more diverse cuisines, we see authentic global citrus flavors like yuzu, calamansi, and kumquat becoming much more prevalent. A few other taste trends influencing new launches are candy inspired flavors, incorporation of botanicals to elevate a premium feel of a product, floral pairings, and indulgent creamy notes such as those found in dirty sodas.
Ray Latif [02:36] I love that. It feels like there's such a wide variety of options for founders to get creative and get differentiated within the functional beverage set. But before they even think about flavors, they have to have a roadmap to creating these products. What should founders think about and what do they need to know before they start that process?
Nicole Staniec [02:58] Yeah, important, important considerations. That's a, it's a great thought. And before starting development of a functional beverage, You should align your idea with a consumer problem, determine what unmet consumer need the beverages aim to resolve, or what emotional state the beverage should bring to the consumer. Don't start with the ingredients. Ask why first, because the consumer need and demographic you're designing for will influence the selection of functional ingredients and other elements of the beverage formulation. One pitfall we see brands encounter later in the process is compliance with specific retailer requirements. Consider what retailers you want to target and make sure your formulations adhere to their guidelines and lists of allowed ingredients. It's really time-consuming and costly to reformulate after a product has already been developed and may be challenging to retain the overall taste profile of the original formula. And it's important to remember that taste rules. After prototyping and multiple rounds of iterations, sensory tests with the target demographic. Don't decide on a formulation based solely on the feedback from one or two golden tongues from your internal team. From the consumer panel results and uh adjust refined the formulation as needed before locking in that final formula.
Ray Latif [04:17] It's funny how many times I encounter an entrepreneur who realizes that they can't use a particular ingredient or that their consumers may not like the taste of that ingredient before the product actually goes to market. And it's really important to understand how a functional ingredient. May affect the flavor of a beverage. And we've come a long way in terms of masking and modulation solutions for functional beverages, but I wonder, has the demand for such solutions increased with the demand for functional ingredients?
Nicole Staniec [04:50] Uh, Ray, what you said is true. We have come a long way, and technology continues to improve. And while consumers are looking for a variety of benefits across functional ingredients, they haven't lowered their expectations for taste. They expect both, changing the way brands should approach flavor and formulation. Combining functional ingredients complicates the flavor profile in ways that weren't a factor a couple of years ago. This means masking and modulation can no longer be an afterthought or a supporting role. And should be a central part of early product formulation. The NPD process is less about throwing a masking agent or modulator into a finished formula and more about building a flavor profile and sensory experience around the functional ingredient from the start. The overall taste experience must be great to conceive, keep consumers coming back.
Ray Latif [05:38] We're talking about today, but the future is just as important, and I imagine that Virginia Dare is thinking about the future on a pretty regular basis. How are you helping beverage entrepreneurs think about what's next and what's developing in terms of functional beverage innovation?
Nicole Staniec [05:56] Currently, much of our efforts are focused on multi-functional formulations because that's where we believe the next wave of complexity will come from. When you stack benefits and combine ingredients, you're not just masking one off note, but managing how several functional ingredients interact with each other. We're investing in understanding those combinations at a deeper level so we can anticipate problems before they show up in a finished product, rather than trying to react to them. Our new facility in Carteret, New Jersey has been a big part of making that possible. The state of the art labs and dedicated pilot facilities allow us to formulate prototypes and test new flavors, as well as our masking and modulation strategies. Pairing that with our expanded sensory testing capabilities means we can get faster, more reliable feedback on how flavor systems and masking and modulation solutions perform and how they impact the full sensory experience of the functional beverage, including aroma, flavor, taste, and mouthfeel. Our focus is to deliver preferred taste and functional beverages for our customers and for the end consumer.
Ray Latif [07:01] What's the best way to connect with you and the folks at Virginia Dare?
Nicole Staniec [07:04] Yeah, thanks, Ray. That's a great, uh, great and important point. Please reach out to us at www.virginiadare.com and visit our, uh, our website, and there's a flavor information page that you can fill out, and that will put us, uh, put you in touch with us, and, uh, the right team members will give you a call back or contact you via email.
Ray Latif [07:23] Outstanding. Well, clearly, experts in what they're doing and experts in the functional beverage space, talk to the folks at Virginia Dare and reach out to Nicole when you have the opportunity. Nicole, thank you so much for taking the time. I really appreciate it.
Nicole Staniec [07:38] Thank you, Ray. It was great to see you again and I appreciate the opportunity to speak to your audience about functional beverages and uh Virginia Dare flavors.
