Episode 647

Is Another Massive M&A Deal Right Around The Corner?

August 16, 2024

Prior to the announcement of Mars’ $36 billion acquisition of Kellanova, the hosts discussed the possibility of a major M&A deal, one that could create a domino effect for some CPG brands. They also opined on the future of NA bottle shops, munch on ramen-flavored snacks and sip on banana cream soda.

In this Episode

0:35: Hoodie Jinx. Junk Food, Part Deux. Fung Wah. An Ambient Future. NA & THC. – It’s clear that Mike and Ray dressed from the same closet, but neither is into granny thrifting. Ray shares limited-edition flavor of Jacqui’s favorite childhood snack and promises to bring her a bag when the team meets up in San Diego next month, and the hosts chat about birthday cake flavor and reminisce about a defunct bus company. They also discuss Olipop’s new line of shelf-stable sodas and Poppi’s eye-popping marketing spend during the first four months of 2024, before chatting about the first two speakers announced for NOSH Live Winter 2024 and why the beverage industry is cheering for Sechey, but no so much for Boisson. Mike and John crack open a banana beverage and non-alcoholic tequila, respectively, before the former gives an update on his experience with THC gummies.

Also Mentioned

Funyuns, Twinkies, Maruchan, Pop-Tarts, Sprinkles, Spudsy, Bang Energy, Olipop, Poppi, Red Bull, Bai, Vita Coco, Zico, Justin’s, De Soi, Kin Euphorics, Ghia, Wildwonder,Rudi’s, Phil & Goode, Gorilla

Note: Transcripts are automatically generated and may contain inaccuracies and spelling errors.

[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 with my co-host for this episode, John Craven, Jacqui Brugliera, and Mike Schneider. I want to tease some of the products that we're going to be talking about in this episode, and not necessarily products that we're going to be eating or snacking on or drinking, just products that we'll be talking about, brands that we'll be talking about, including Funyuns. Weird right yeah, I thought you were gonna say a product that rhymes with bunion No Ollie pop Poppy hmm big surprise right mm-hmm sachet, which is not a product. It's a brand's a bottle shop. Yeah, so also a bottle shop also wild wonder key and Anybody else? Let's just say I have a plant-based beverage. Okay, plant-based beverage. I've got a surprise. Okay, Mike's got a surprise, too.

[00:01:05] John Craven: I think you're also talking about Pop-Tarts, too.

[00:01:07] Ray Latif: We are talking about Pop-Tarts, yes. So tune in for all those. Mike and Ray decided to wear the exact, well, not the exact same outfit, but a very similar outfit today. It is 85 degrees outside in Boston. It's quite cooler here in the office. It's like 52. About 52. But even I'm not wearing a collared shirt underneath my bed net hoodie. What is going on with that? I wanted us to wear the same uniform for a change. Yeah, but that's that's you got a chance. Are you not?

[00:01:37] Jacqui Brugliera: Like you're gonna you're gonna start sir, it's a Polo feel like you guys are gonna start talking about being made with real Egyptian cotton and 500 right now That would be a fat American bio. That's right while supplies last. Oh

[00:01:49] John Craven: Is that just like your sweatshirt that you have stashed in your office for when you get cold? I feel like I have one of those.

[00:01:54] Ray Latif: It's basically my blanket. Yeah. Yeah. Actually, I saw John McKenna, who is our head of sales, wearing Adam Stern's fleece yesterday. Oh yeah, he stole Stern's fleece. Yes, he said he wears it all the time. And you know it's Stern's fleece because he's had it for like 20 years. It's this hideous green fleece that has a patch of like a fried egg on it. It's very strange. Well, that is weird, yeah. It's like grandma's curtain's green. It's the kind of thing you would find in a thrift store. And even the kids who like loves thrifting today, they are not buying that. No, not even for a dollar.

[00:02:30] John Craven: This must not leave the office then. It must be like granny sweater for the office.

[00:02:35] Jacqui Brugliera: Look, it's a little cold in here, you guys. I don't know what to tell you. The whole building AC does what it does. So we have jackets, fleeces, blankets, whatever you need. We do, yeah.

[00:02:45] Ray Latif: Snowmobile suits. I want to let people know, listeners know, that if you're kind enough to leave a review for us on the Apple Podcast app, we'd be happy to send you some clothing as well.

[00:02:56] Jacqui Brugliera: If you get 10 people to review, we'll give you a sweatshirt. Is it like a, you got to earn different levels?

[00:03:00] Ray Latif: Kind of, kind of. Well, just request, just request what you, we got t-shirts, we got hats. We got, well, we don't have Taste Radio hats and we don't have Taste Radio sweatshirts, but we have Bevanette hats and Brewbound hats. We got hats, we got t-shirts, we got Taste Radio hats, we got hoodies. We digress. But anyway, send your requests, review us on Apple Podcasts. I know some of you listeners have already done that this past week. Thank you so much for doing so. We really appreciate it. and five-star reviews on Topfit. I was expecting like a three and a half, but five stars across the board, which means they like us. They really, really like us.

[00:03:31] Mike Schneider: For their bots.

[00:03:32] Ray Latif: For their bots. Thanks for bursting my bubble.

[00:03:36] Mike Schneider: No, I think they're, I think that's just, we've got great listeners out there. Willing to give us good feedback. Thank you so much.

[00:03:42] Ray Latif: They're so willing. And we really appreciate it. Thank you so much. If you haven't, it's very easy. Just go to Apple Podcasts on your phone. I don't think you can do it on your laptop. So that's kind of the weird part about leaving reviews. Anywho, I digress. Funyuns. I definitely mentioned Funyuns at the top of the show. People are going to be like, why the hell are you talking about Funyuns after a week in which you talked about Twinkies? Folks, this is not going to be a reoccurring theme that we're talking about Junction.

[00:04:06] Jacqui Brugliera: GMOs, yes.

[00:04:06] Ray Latif: Yeah, but Loyal listeners of the show know that Jackie is Funyun fan number one.

[00:04:14] John Craven: Yes, I know it's like very polarizing and some people hate them, but I feel like Funyuns were my childhood. It was like I was eating a vegetable. It was like my healthy snack.

[00:04:24] Ray Latif: Breakfast, lunch and dinner.

[00:04:27] Jacqui Brugliera: It's amazing you're alive, Jackie.

[00:04:30] Ray Latif: Yeah, I look at the ingredients and I see onion mentioned once.

[00:04:33] Jacqui Brugliera: Do they have MSG in that thing? I'm not judging. I'm just curious. I hope so.

[00:04:37] Ray Latif: I don't think so. But the reason I'm mentioning Funyuns this time around is because... How many bags of this do we have?

[00:04:41] Jacqui Brugliera: Do we each get a bag? Oh, OK. You get a bag. I don't want a bag.

[00:04:44] Ray Latif: This isn't the Oprah show. So they, Funyuns as in they, have collaborated with a ramen brand, probably the most famous ramen brand, Maruchan. Is that how you pronounce it? Or Maruchan? Anyway, M-A-R-U-C-H-A-N, to create a hot and spicy chicken ramen flavored Funyuns. And it was so interesting because Jackie, a couple of weeks ago, brought to the table a ramen flavored popcorn that I believe is a much healthier ramen flavored snack food than this is. But I felt like we had to try this. It is naturally and artificially flavored, for those who are wondering. Not surprised. Not surprised. This is a Pepsi product. More specifically, it's a Frito-Lay product that everyone knows. It does have MSG, so we're good. It does have MSG. Monosodium Glutamate. I hope so. Yes. It wouldn't be authentic if it didn't. It also has Yellow 6 Lake, Red 40 Lake, Blue 1 Lake. Why does it have blue?

[00:05:46] Jacqui Brugliera: I never understood this. You know, Ray, when you mix a little two colors, you get a different color. I think you skipped that part in school, bud.

[00:05:53] Ray Latif: I skipped a lot of school, and I'm still here.

[00:05:57] John Craven: What color are they? I can't see from here.

[00:05:59] Ray Latif: They are very... They're like a burnt orange.

[00:06:03] John Craven: Okay, okay.

[00:06:04] Mike Schneider: This tastes like Jackie's childhood.

[00:06:06] John Craven: Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. I used to, when I thought I was like a top chef back in the day when I was a kid, I would take the ramen packets, like the sauce, the spices, and just put it on anything. Like noodles, just dry noodles. Wow. You know, bread, toast.

[00:06:21] SPEAKER_??: you

[00:06:22] Ray Latif: David Chang would be proud of you. I feel like that's a David Chang move. He's actually been very outspoken about the fact that MSG is something that he uses. And I don't want to be 100% quoting him on this, but I do recall him getting mad at the fact that MSG has been so vilified over the years when it does add quite a bit of flavor. But back in the 80s, everyone said MSG, at least too much of it, would give you the C word. If you use MSG, you're an MS genius. Ms. Genius, all right, I'm gonna have a little bit of this. That'd be a great sponsor for us.

[00:06:58] John Craven: I mean How are they at Ginomoto?

[00:07:02] Mike Schneider: Or however you pronounce it. They're just like they're Funyuns with a little bit of a little kick.

[00:07:07] Ray Latif: Yeah, they're just kind of spicy. He would love them Yeah, I will save one bag and I'll bring it directly to you Jackie

[00:07:14] John Craven: Yes, because you're going to be here.

[00:07:15] Ray Latif: I'm going to be in San Diego along with Mike and John.

[00:07:18] John Craven: Me too.

[00:07:19] Ray Latif: We're heading to Southern California on September 25th for another edition of the BevNET and Naturally San Diego Meetup. Naturally San Diego, one of the chapters of the Naturally Network, which supports entrepreneurs in CPG. And as we have in the past, we're going to get the community together. San Diego, LA, anywhere in Southern California, anywhere really in California. I think if you can make the trip, we'd be happy to see you.

[00:07:48] Jacqui Brugliera: I mean, you could always just get on a plane like us.

[00:07:50] Ray Latif: We could do that too. Yeah. Hop a ride on a jet.

[00:07:52] John Craven: I think you're making the furthest trip, but.

[00:07:54] Ray Latif: We can make it a challenge easier than LA traffic. Yeah, saying yeah, September 25th 5 to 7 p.m They will be food. They'll be drink. They'll be networking and maybe some content.

[00:08:06] Jacqui Brugliera: Maybe some content What do we call that Taste Radio on the road or something Taste Radio live? I don't know. No, it's not really Taste Radio live radio live recording a live episode.

[00:08:17] Mike Schneider: It's like a radio on location Taste Radio on the go on the go Just, uh, for the two people who believed, we do not have a BevNET jet. BevJet. Nope. Yeah. Not yet.

[00:08:28] Jacqui Brugliera: How about Taste Radio near Costco? We have a BevChopper, but not a jet yet. We bought a broken down Greyhound bus. You will never make it here if it was a 5% chance we make it 95% chance we drive off a cliff

[00:08:54] Ray Latif: Five dollars though. So Fung Wah was a low-cost bus that was based in Boston. They would go back and forth between Boston and New York and always always four hours on the dot and they would make a stop midway at like the local McDonald's or the McDonald's on 90 and They would always make it on exactly on four hours because they would drive like 90 miles an hour. You definitely would get passed by one of those. There was a cost of trauma to other drivers, but yes, they'd make it in four hours. They did. They did crash at the exit of the town where I grew up, Auburn, Massachusetts. I remember seeing in the news. It was terrible, actually. No one got killed, thank God. No one got killed, but anyway. It got dark. It did get dark, yes. So, uh, by the way, more in the Junk Food realm, I promise we won't spend too, too much time on this, but I have to mention Pop-Tarts. You know, it was like six or seven years ago that I went to a Pop-Tart pop-up in New York City and they made all these different desserts and I think even like a frappe out of Pop-Tarts. And so recently in the news, Pop-Tarts has created a party-sized Pop-Tart. It's like, imagine, I don't know, like a huge sheet cake.

[00:10:05] John Craven: Yeah.

[00:10:06] Ray Latif: A humongous sheet cake, though, that you have to lift with your legs to get off the ground. And it's humongous. And so I saw this on Instagram, figured I should mention it because our dear colleague, Shauna Golden, is our local Pop-Tart aficionado or a resident Pop-Tart aficionado. And she was very happy that I mentioned this. And I'm going to try to get a sample, folks from Pop-Tart, if you're listening. Isn't it Kellogg's brand? Yep. Kellogg's brand. Have we have we hated on Kellogg's? Maybe I have. Not today. I don't mean to hate on Kellogg's. If you're big food, Ray's hated on you. Not true. I said these Funions were not bad.

[00:10:47] Mike Schneider: That's true. Yeah.

[00:10:49] Ray Latif: Did you see how that worked? So anyway, Shauna replied that, well, actually I asked her, is this everything to you or is this evil incarnate? So she replied, it's everything in caps with three Gs. That's how the Gen Z kids used to say it.

[00:11:05] John Craven: Yeah, I would definitely want a Pop-Tart cake for my birthday. I feel like that's a great, great option now. The only thing though is toasting. How do you toast a sheet cake of a Pop-Tart?

[00:11:16] Ray Latif: Oh my goodness. What an incredible question. No, that's such a good question. I didn't realize. John's Pizza Oven. Pizza Oven? I think maybe it's because they deliver it and it's already warmed up.

[00:11:30] John Craven: I don't think you get... Oh, my goodness. That would be next level.

[00:11:32] Ray Latif: So confused. Yeah. Well, anyway, I'll include the link as to what this looks like and where you can perhaps purchase it. But yeah, that's a good question.

[00:11:40] Mike Schneider: Since Pop-Tarts have sprinkles, can we talk about a snack with a better-for-you ingredient panel?

[00:11:45] Ray Latif: Did you see that? Hold on for a second. I'm going to be out of the office the next couple of weeks. And did you see Mike's segway? That was a race segway right there.

[00:11:55] Mike Schneider: Thanks. Thank you. Oh boy. We talked about Jackie's birthday and sprinkles. So I'm like, oh, we've got sprinkles cupcake cups here. We've got three different flavors. You've got birthday cake, red velvet and double chocolate, 80 calories, 70 to 80 calories each. Really nice ingredient panel on these and super tasty. John, double chocolate.

[00:12:21] Ray Latif: So I saw these at Expo West, Sprinkles teased these at the show, and I was like, I need to try this. I don't think they had samples at the time, but I posted it on Instagram. And this was one of the most liked posts that I put out there. People were like, oh, I need to try those. What do they taste like? I'm like, I'm sorry, they weren't tasting yet. And now we have them here in August. I got to tell you, these are fantastic. I had the red velvet and I had a birthday cake. I mean... Do you know who's leading the charge on these?

[00:12:49] Mike Schneider: I do. You tell the audience though. The former, now Spudsy CEO, actually founder, founder and CEO, right? Yeah. Spudsy. Ashley Rogers has taken on the Sprinkles Cupcake Cup role and she's created these.

[00:13:05] Ray Latif: Yeah, because sprinkles, this is their first, well, they have bars now too, but they're just now getting into CPG or at least packaged products like these. So it's exciting for Ashley. I'm wondering if she is still doing anything with Spudsy? I think we should catch up with her, right?

[00:13:21] Mike Schneider: We probably should. We should catch up with her. She's always a great guest.

[00:13:24] Ray Latif: Yes. Pretty tasty. These are delicious though. I feel bad. Jackie does not have any Funyuns. She has no sprinkles, no Pop-Tarts.

[00:13:32] John Craven: I'm living through you all. More things that you need to bring to San Diego. Okay.

[00:13:36] Mike Schneider: Good call. Even the birthday cake ones are good. I hate birthday cake everything. Really?

[00:13:41] John Craven: What?

[00:13:41] Mike Schneider: Usually, yeah.

[00:13:42] John Craven: Oh my goodness. Birthday cake is like the best flavor. Except for birthday cake.

[00:13:46] Mike Schneider: I like birthday cakes, but not birthday cake flavored stuff generally.

[00:13:50] John Craven: Okay.

[00:13:50] Jacqui Brugliera: I don't like any of that stuff.

[00:13:51] Ray Latif: I don't I don't really like birthday cake flavor birthday cake That's kind of surprising honestly because birthday cake is such a delicious flavor I mean it's vanilla with a little bit of extra sugar in it That makes any sense and a weird Tang the birthday cake flavor that always threw me off though was the bang birthday cake flavor You know Bang Energy. They had a birthday cake flavor that people raved about Can't say I have that it was very saccharine. I

[00:14:18] John Craven: actually raving about it.

[00:14:20] Ray Latif: It was like their number one flavor.

[00:14:22] Mike Schneider: Oathouse birthday cake's really good. Nice. Their birthday cake. Granola butter.

[00:14:26] Ray Latif: Yes. Well done, Sprinkles. Well done, Ashley Rogers. We got to catch up with you soon. So in the news this week on BevNET, if you're an insider, you would probably know this already, but Olipop. Olipop, the leading brand of gut healthy sodas, or just call them better for you sodas, recently announced a new shelf stable line. So they're selling shelf stable multi-packs in four can varieties. They have Cherry Cola, Classic Root Beer, Cream Soda, Lemon Lime, Strawberry Vanilla, and Classic Grape. They're gonna launch in select retailers, which is Walmart, Meijer, and HEB. This is big news because forever, Olipop was a refrigerated brand or has been a refrigerated brand. And they did so because their key ingredients needed to be refrigerated to be efficacious. And so they figured out a way to create a product that is just as efficacious, but shelf stable. And it's going to, I would assume, open up the door to many new distribution opportunities outside of the cold chain. And it'll probably close the door on the refrigerated product eventually. One would think so, yes. Yes.

[00:15:43] Jacqui Brugliera: I mean, no benefit to continuing with that if you don't need to.

[00:15:46] Ray Latif: Well, I got to tell you, Ben Goodwin and David Lester, whom I spoke with recently and who we're going to feature in a upcoming episode of Taste Radio, stay tuned for that, didn't mention anything about a potential discontinuation of the refrigerated line. But one would expect that. Well, why would they? They have a lot of inventory out there. Nah, this is true. This is true. But this is a fantastic conversation, if I don't mind saying myself. Ben and David have built a company that is expected to generate $500 million in sales this year. No, not a billion, Mike. 500 million.

[00:16:21] Mike Schneider: 500 million.

[00:16:22] Ray Latif: As he raises his right pinky to his mouth. And they're profitable. Which is incredible for a brand that is six years old and a beverage brand at that. That just doesn't happen very often. So very exciting stuff. We cover quite a bit from top to bottom. Tune in soon. Meanwhile, Olipop's chief rival, it was revealed this week, has spent, you can believe this, $43 million on advertising from January to April of this year. $43 million in four months. Of course, now Jackie pointed out earlier that, well, before we jumped on the mics, that a lot of that was spent on the Super Bowl.

[00:17:06] Mike Schneider: Yeah.

[00:17:07] Ray Latif: But that's still nuts. $43 million? They don't have a strategic partner. Where's this money coming from?

[00:17:13] Mike Schneider: 42 million was the Super Bowl ad.

[00:17:14] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, I was going to say, a pretty small percentage of that was the Super Bowl ad in reality. Yeah, this is true.

[00:17:20] Ray Latif: Yeah. So this information came from a source called Media Radar. And Coca-Cola led the way in terms of non-alcoholic beverages from January to April. They spent, it looks like, about $78 million. Red Bull spent $60 million. And then Poppy was next. Poppy was next with $43 million. After that, it was Gatorade and Dr. Pepper. But, I mean, talk about unheard of. I mean, imagine Olipop being unheard of with their sales at this stage of their development. But Poppy spending that much money is... Got to spend money to make money, Ray. Welcome to the game of beverage. I mean, that's one of the oldest lines out there, but you would know more than I do because you run a business. Well, you own a business.

[00:18:08] Jacqui Brugliera: Uh, well, we don't spend 43 million on advertising. Tell me about it, right, Jackie? Yep.

[00:18:13] Hoodie Jinx: Nope.

[00:18:15] Jacqui Brugliera: No, I mean, I think it is hard not to look at that and, you know, again, look at the team that is running that and where the money's come from and how much money they're spending. Let's offer some context. What is, who is the team that you're referring to? Or what is the team you're referring to? Again, you could just look at this. I don't want to name names, but, you know, I think. Poppy is backed by a private equity firm known as Kavu. Right. And also I think, you know, some of the people that are involved in it, who have been at other beverage companies, you know, there's kind of only one playbook that they're running, and this upping the spending is typically the later stage part of the playbook before the exit. So. Not in this case, though.

[00:19:00] Ray Latif: Well, we'll find out. I mean, are you expecting... I think we talked about this like the first episode of the year.

[00:19:05] Jacqui Brugliera: I mean, I've talked about this constantly. I sound like a broken record. But yeah, I mean, I would assume that there's probably, you know, at least the goal would be some sort of exit in the not-so-distant future. Not-so-distant future obviously being left up to, uh...

[00:19:21] Ray Latif: each person to decide what that means, but... Now, for someone who is often quoted in mainstream media publications, such as the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, if, say, a journalist was to call you up and say, hey, or were to call you up and say, hey, John Craven, do you expect Poppy will be sold this year? What would you say?

[00:19:39] Jacqui Brugliera: I feel like I've done that interview twice, most recently with Ad Age. There you go. Yeah, I think I would say yes. You would say yes? I would say yes.

[00:19:47] Ray Latif: Okay.

[00:19:47] Jacqui Brugliera: I mean, you know, if you just think about this sort of logically, if your goal is profitable company, $43 million of advertising is probably, for a beverage company, Not sure that's going to get you there. That, that seems like that erases any chance of profit. So what does that do? I mean, that's going to hopefully move the needle on the top line sales and moving the needle on the top line sales is, you know, and having a nice path that's accelerating. you know, is kind of a good story. And, you know, I think also already being fully shelf-stable, which certainly that will help Ollipop out as well, makes that something that slides into certain beverage systems pretty nicely.

[00:20:32] Ray Latif: Well, you heard it here third, folks, because John has already said it twice. I said this like a hundred times. Poppy will be sold this year. Okay.

[00:20:40] Mike Schneider: Wait, no, that was a hypothetical, wasn't it? You... It was hypothetical. I said for the record, I said... If only we had a world-class interviewer who could ask him the question instead of... I said... I think I posted this... Suppose that I asked you this question.

[00:20:51] Jacqui Brugliera: I think I posted this on Twitter, now the dumpster fire known as X, but I said 2024 or 2025. That seems like the fastest.

[00:21:02] Mike Schneider: Okay. They should rebrand X to dumpster fire. That would be awesome.

[00:21:06] Ray Latif: I think everyone calls it dumpster fire nowadays. I don't know. I just, oh man, talk about.

[00:21:14] Jacqui Brugliera: And look, I mean... A fallen star there. Anyway, I'm sorry. No, I mean, look, I'm not in any way, you know, hating on either of these brands and all of this is just based on what I see in here. But, you know, I think it's it really is incredible what both of those brands have built. And, you know, I've said this before, too, but I think, you know, the CSD category has for a long time been a place that kind of hasn't had a lot of, like, excitement and innovation that's actually managed to gain traction. And these are like brands that have effectively changed the game. So, you know, they fully deserve to get rewarded for their efforts. So if these companies continue on independently and Ollipop's profitable and follows that path, great. If they choose to exit, you know, great. I mean, I think both are, you know, good things for the overall CPG industry to show that Money invested in brands can build something of real massive value, and I think they're on the path to doing that.

[00:22:14] Ray Latif: Yeah, I mean, it's amazing to me. I recorded an interview with Allison and Steven when they changed from, or when they changed the brand essentially from Mother Beverage to Poppy, and that was in 2020. And I spoke with Ben and David from Olipop early in 2020, I think it was like a week before the pandemic hit. And just to see the growth that those brands have experienced in the past four years, they're outliers for sure, but they've built whole new subset that just didn't exist before 2020, really.

[00:22:45] Jacqui Brugliera: I think the last thing I would just add on that is that as much as they sometimes hate on one another, subtly or less subtly sometimes, they kind of do need each other. I mean, I don't think either one of them could have built this category up to what it is right now if it were just one of them going at it alone. you know, take that for what it's worth, but it is really hard to build a category and build something that people take seriously when you're like the only one doing it. Right. No one's trying to do it. That generally means it's not a good idea. Yeah. It's not exactly Coke, Pepsi, but it's somewhat like that.

[00:23:20] Ray Latif: I think the more recent example might Vita Coco and Zico. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Well, Mother Beverage won the New Beverage Showdown before it was Poppy, won the New Beverage Showdown, I think it was in 2017, 18, I want to say. Yes, that was the same year that a lot of brands that participated in that competition showed out. I thought that was a great show. And I bring up BevNET Live because Just before BevNET Live, we're going to be hosting our Nosh Live show. Nosh Live Winter 2024 has just announced its first two speakers of the show, and they are some powerhouses in our industry. They are Justin Gold and Jane Miller. Justin Gold, the founder of Justins, talk about a great brand of peanut butter cups and peanut butter products. Oh my God.

[00:24:09] Mike Schneider: One of my favorites.

[00:24:09] Ray Latif: Yes. He is the chief innovation and strategy officer of Rudy's and Jane Miller is the CEO of Rudy's. Rudy's is a maker of organic and gluten-free breads and bakery products. Most recently, they introduced a line of sandos, peanut butter and jelly sandos, and some breakfast sandwiches, and some Texas toast, all of which are amazing. Yeah, very excited. They're going to be speaking at Nosh Live. I've interviewed both of them for Taste Radio. They are just fantastic speakers and inspirational, in particular, Justin, who has been working with early stage entrepreneurs for a long time. I believe he was an instructor or a mentor at the University of Colorado Boulder, or maybe I'm forgetting which university, but Where they're based, I think.

[00:25:03] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah.

[00:25:04] Ray Latif: He's worked with a lot of folks and been a huge help to so many people in this industry. So if you're thinking about attending Nosh Live, you should, because you have an opportunity to meet Justin and meet Jane and meet so many other people that are attending this incredible show.

[00:25:19] Mike Schneider: Meet some retailers. We've got all kinds of great stuff planned. Wait till you see. Get your ticket. Fun times on the roof. Oh yeah. No context.

[00:25:27] Jacqui Brugliera: Sunsets.

[00:25:28] Ray Latif: And the Bevcopter.

[00:25:31] Mike Schneider: Over to the Nosh chopper. We'll skin at the Nosh chopper for that day. Yeah.

[00:25:36] Ray Latif: Nosh-per. No, I can't do it. Anyway. Bottle shops back in the news, more specifically, non-alcoholic bottle shops back in the news. One bottle shop, there's good news. One bottle shop, not so good news. Seche, S-E-C-H-E-Y, a non-alcoholic bottle shop that has curated a pretty amazing selection of products and brands, announced that they have picked up funding from private equity firm InvestBev. InvestBev funds adult beverages. And so it's interesting to see that company get into, or that firm get into the NA space. Ches Che was founded by Emily Heitz in 2021 as a brick and mortar boutique for NA alcohol alternative drinks. In January, Sachet partnered with Target to curate the retailers and a alternative set in their stores, which includes Dessoix, Kenya Forks, and Ikea. So very exciting news on that front. And not the first time we've seen an investment group fund a bottle shop, a non-alcoholic bottle shop. Of course, we saw Pernod's investment arm invest in Boisson. But Boisson has been having lots of problems. Our very own Ferron Salniker wrote an article last week about Boisson's problems. As we know, and as we've talked about, in early April, the company filed for bankruptcy. They've had a really hard time paying back the people that they owe, in particular, small businesses, brands that they carried in their stores, who are just waiting for a check and have not received it. So Farron's article details quite a bit about the brands and the founders that are owed money and that are quite upset about this, even though Boisson is seemingly trying to rewrite the ship.

[00:27:36] John Craven: Yeah, I think it makes a little bit of sense. I think Sashay took a more targeted approach and only had, I think, one on premise, like one retailer, and then went more of like the curation route, as well as also introduced their own line of wine. N.A. Wine. So they have a product. They have these retail partnerships where they're doing curation. They know the space. They know how to get into retail. Whereas Boisson was more of they had a chain of retailers that they were trying to support with multiple brands. And they might have been a little bit early to to have multiple retailers already. So I don't know. I think it makes a little bit of sense just with more targeted approach. But I guess we'll see how it shakes out.

[00:28:21] Ray Latif: Yeah, I remember we did a buyer sell way back. Well, I guess it wasn't way back. And I just wondered about whether NA shops would really have a path forward. And I think we had sort of differing opinions on this. And I am excited that, you know, an investment firm is betting on the future of this business. because there are a ton of new players and early stage entrepreneurs that are really interested in consumer demand or at least meeting consumer demand for N.A. cocktails and spirits. But it seems like a tougher business or at least a tougher road than was originally expected.

[00:29:00] Jacqui Brugliera: Certainly there's stores that will be able to successfully do this one-off, you know, right location, right execution. Cookie-cuttering that into something that can go far and wide, I think, is sort of the questionable part. As opposed to What we're seeing, it's sort of, I guess, a more macro level where NA options are being, you know, more accepted into places where they sell alcohol. That's probably where it goes or, you know, into places that perhaps would sell alcohol because they're the place that people buy it. for example, like grocery stores in certain states, and any products can sell there where alcohol can't. But we'll see. I think it's, and to your comment of our fridge here, I mean, a lot of times, you know, what we see here and just, you know, what you see as an industry person, does give you a sense that something's really blowing up. But, you know, a lot of times like supply will outpace demand on certain nascent categories. And this does seem like one that it's hard to not see that happening a little bit. But, you know, I think long term, this is for sure something that has a lot of potential. It's just how do we How do we get there? You know, TBD.

[00:30:16] Ray Latif: Yeah. And to be clear, Boisson has tried to pivot or they're in the process of pivoting from a brick and mortar retailer to one that's exclusively e-commerce and about wholesale and distribution. In any case, you know, hoping for a positive outcome across the board, hoping that Boisson can resurrect what they had created in a different kind of way and hope that they can pay the folks who are in their stores or in at least being sold on their website. But remains to be seen indeed. I don't think I've had many banana infused cocktails of the NA or alcoholic variety, but we do have a banana flavored What would you call Wild Wonder? It's Prebiotic and Probiotic Sparkling Drink.

[00:30:58] Mike Schneider: There you go. Okay. So the Prebiotic Probiotic Sparkling Drink Queen paired up with the Banana Queen, Nymphia Wind, who is the first East Asian winner of America's Top Drag Show Fashion Icon. And now, Beverage Inventor invented this banana flavored sparkling Bev and It's really tasty.

[00:31:21] Ray Latif: It is incredibly tasty. It's strange how tasty this is. Very strong banana flavor.

[00:31:26] Mike Schneider: It's super strong banana flavor. The first ingredient is fresh brewed marigold. The ingredient panel is really good. It's mostly organic. It's not fully organic. There's like stars next to what's organic, but it's things you know, filtered water, banana puree, agave nectar. Jerusalem artichoke, lime juice, mango puree, banana cream, some chicory, vanilla extract, things like that. There's a couple more ingredients, but it's a really nice ingredient panel and it tastes amazing. If you like banana, if you don't like banana, steer clear.

[00:31:57] Jacqui Brugliera: If you don't like a banana. There also are more and more banana cocktails popping up with good old creme de banana. So you should maybe- Expand my horizons. Try some new spots instead of chain restaurants for your cocktails, right? What are you talking about?

[00:32:12] Ray Latif: Come on, TGI Friday's is a legit restaurant.

[00:32:15] Mike Schneider: I mean the the ad campaign for this is is just as fabulous as Nymphia Wynn too. I mean, there's just people in banana speedos. It's like, it's amazing. It's uh, it's a very striking ad campaign. It's really fun.

[00:32:30] Ray Latif: Yeah, I mean the aroma of bananas like it's just very powerful as soon as you open that can. It smells so good and It's not, like, I almost expect this to be almost smoothie-like because there's a banana cream flavor. It's more like banana cream soda. I think anytime you have banana, you just expect a more viscous kind of, I don't know, mouthfeel. But no, this is fantastic. Wild Wonder always makes great products.

[00:32:54] Mike Schneider: I mean, Rosa, for a long time, has been making this amazing, founder and CEO of Wild Wonder, this amazing sparkling drink. You know, she's figured out what to call it, where to put it. The branding is stunning as always. The super yellow can will really pop on the shelf. Cheers to Rosalie and Nymphia Wind on this new Wild Wonder.

[00:33:19] Ray Latif: It's fantastic. Stunning. Absolutely stunning.

[00:33:22] Mike Schneider: It's wicked delicious, kid.

[00:33:24] Ray Latif: All right. From banana queens to plant-based agave spirits, but this is not... No, it's N.A. It's an N.A. It's a non-alcoholic.

[00:33:32] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, so we've talked a lot about tequila. This is a non-alcoholic agave spirit called La Planta.

[00:33:40] Mike Schneider: That is not bad. Burn just like a tiny bit. What's what's the burn? Don't know great question, but yeah, it's got a weird sort of burn to it. Yeah, it definitely tastes like a spirit It's got I don't know. It's not a flavor that it okay. It's a cousin of tequila.

[00:34:00] Jacqui Brugliera: I'll say that yeah It's closer to tequila than the mezcal from a comedy called Phil and good. I yeah i mean i think this is well done this is definitely one of the better like na tequila wannabes i think the look of it too kind of Maybe we just blend in with a bunch of tequila bottles for better or worse. They just need a celebrity attached to it, obviously.

[00:34:20] Ray Latif: La planta. Well, they make it clear they're using agave. There's an agave plant above the logo. They're showing an agave field underneath the logo. I don't know where the burden comes from either. There's a bitterness to this that's not common to tequila or mezcal, but I think this is definitely something you could mix into a tequila-like cocktail and be pretty happy with.

[00:34:43] Jacqui Brugliera: It's got mushroom fiber extract in it. And an ingredient that just says oak.

[00:34:48] Mike Schneider: Should I make a banana queen?

[00:34:50] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, this is pretty solid. Definitely would not throw this back.

[00:34:56] Hoodie Jinx: Yeah, it's good with banana too.

[00:34:58] Mike Schneider: This is good. It definitely has the sipping quality that you're looking for in any spirit. You're not going to guzzle this. No chance. You know, like the higher sugar mocktails you might chug. No way.

[00:35:11] Ray Latif: You wouldn't sriracha this like you did the sriracha.

[00:35:14] Mike Schneider: No, I wouldn't sriracha that. I wouldn't sriracha this either.

[00:35:19] Ray Latif: Is this more Gorilla?

[00:35:20] Mike Schneider: It's more Gorilla. So, as you know by now, Gorilla is a maker of packaged hemp-derived cannabis products, and in my hand I have the hemp-derived HHC gummies. We're always interested in talking about new cannabinoids. HHC is semi-synthetic THC. It's supposed to give you less of a high, but that said, I got plenty high. I had a quarter of one of these and I started pretty much laughing uncontrollably, but the onset was quick. I don't know. These are good products. I wonder if five years ago you thought you would ever admit in public that you were high probably not I mean Not only would I have not admitted in public I would not have been high there there you go fair I wouldn't have tried it and now that it's legal. I'm you know. I'm kind of curious That was that was the reason you were you were holding on because he was that one guy in the data

[00:36:16] Ray Latif: Have a toke, Mike. No, it's illegal.

[00:36:18] Mike Schneider: Well, I don't smoke anyway. I don't really like smoking. As he's blowing a stop sign and texting. It wasn't like, I wasn't really set up to like cannabis. Yeah. But in edible form, it's, it's, you know, it's not bad. This, this gummy had quick onset and also they have, um, some shots too that are pretty great. Yeah. Gorilla. Yeah. HHC. They don't know the long-term effects of it, so I'm taking one for the team here.

[00:36:44] John Craven: You're the guinea pig. You're the gorilla guinea pig.

[00:36:48] Jacqui Brugliera: Next week when Mike's not on the podcast, people will be left wondering what happened.

[00:36:53] Ray Latif: All I can say now is thank you for your service to Bev Norton Taste Radio, Mike.

[00:36:58] Mike Schneider: It did have one weird effect, though. I mean, I got, Jackie, you ever get the dry mouth? I got dry mouth and then everything I ate tasted a little bit like grass. Interesting. I ate some cherries and they were, that was weird.

[00:37:11] Jacqui Brugliera: I was going to say, is the weird effect what we're just looking at right now? Probably. Makes sense.

[00:37:16] Mike Schneider: I only ate a quarter of the gummy.

[00:37:18] Ray Latif: 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.