[00:00:10] Ray Latif: Hey, folks, thanks for tuning in to another episode of Taste Radio, the number one podcast for the food and beverage industry. I'm Ray Latif, the editor and producer of Taste Radio, and I'm with my BevNET and Nosh colleagues, Jacqui Brugliera and Mike Schneider. As always, we would love it if you could review us on the Apple Podcasts app or your listening platform of choice. That, of course, means that you would enjoy listening to the show, which is why you would review us on the Apple Podcasts app. I'm just making that assumption. I think that's a fair assumption, Mike. Jackie, you think so?
[00:00:40] Mike Schneider: I would say so, yeah. Just, you know, hit the five stars.
[00:00:45] Ray Latif: Hit the five stars. I like that. We should trademark that. Hit the five stars, if that's not already trademarked. Just hit the five stars. Hit the five stars. That in January. Last episode, or a couple episodes back, we talked about trademarking in January. Jackie, did you do that yet? Not yet.
[00:01:00] Jacqui Brugliera: I'm working on it. Okay.
[00:01:02] Ray Latif: Fair enough. I was looking into it. I wasn't sure whether to use two Ns or one. C-A-N-N-U-A-R-Y, or just with one N?
[00:01:10] Mike Schneider: I mean, it's an English conundrum, Ray, because if it's C-A-N-U, then it's canuary, technically, because that vowel makes the A long.
[00:01:20] Ray Latif: Got you.
[00:01:21] Mike Schneider: But we violate the rules of English all the time. I mean, January is not January, so canuary, C-A-N-U-A-R-Y. There you go. Violation accepted. Perfect. This is why Jackie goes insane on a daily basis working with me.
[00:01:39] Ray Latif: Also in the last episode, we chatted about the Coca-Cola Co's collaboration with Constellation Brands to launch a new ready-to-drink cocktail product called Fresca Mixed, obviously based on Coca-Cola's soda brand known as Fresca. This one threw a few people for a loop, not necessarily in our office, but we chatted about the why. of Coca-Cola getting into the cocktail business, so to speak. They already had a seltzer product in Topo Chico, or a hard seltzer product in Topo Chico. Why they decided to extend themselves into the alcoholic beverage business with Fresca And I think we have a little bit more of an answer as to why. It's because it's becoming a priority for the Coca-Cola Co. Today, the Coca-Cola Co announced another new alcoholic beverage product in collaboration, this time with Molson Coors. The product is called Simply Spiked. It's based on the Coca-Cola Co's Simply Juice brand. They already have been working together with Molson Coors on their Topo Chico hard seltzer. The story is on BevNET and Brewbound. And just looking at the picture and reading the article, this is another big step for the company.
[00:02:54] Jacqui Brugliera: I think they're really looking at their portfolio and seeing what their most successful brands are and seeing where they can bring those brands. You know, where can they take their consumers and enter into a new category? And they're looking at their partners to do so. Molson Coors obviously has all the experience in brewing and has the distribution and wholesaler connections that they need because with this product, they're allowed to go through their beer wholesalers, which, you know, opens up a whole other opportunity for them.
[00:03:28] Mike Schneider: And Molson Coors also has a fabulous innovation team in LA Libations, which has worked with Coca-Cola Co the past too. So it seems like could be, you know, something gluing those things together. The key here for me is just that, you know, when you take your brand, a well-known brand that's known for one thing, and then you go into something that's just so different, it's the packaging, of course. How do you introduce that? How do you package? How do you message without confusing people?
[00:04:00] Ray Latif: I think one of the other advantages that Coke has with this type of product is that simply, I think, is looked at as a better-for-you brand, a brand that is a juice brand. And they note that on the package, it's made with real fruit juice, which might be compelling to some consumers who are looking for a better-for-you seltzer-type product. Moreover, hard lemonade continues to be a big business. We talked about this with Carlton Fowler in a previous episode of Taste Radio in that Hard Lemonade, in particular, a brand like Mike's, is doing crazy business. And I think Coke is probably looking to that opportunity and saying, hey, if we can just get a piece of that, or a piece of a growing category like Hard Lemonade, might as well throw our hat into the ring and see how it goes. As far as I can tell, it hasn't been revealed the calorie or sugar count in a can of Simply Spiked. I assume there's a fair amount of both. In the case of sugar, I think it's probably prohibitive to join a new trade group called ACEs, which was formed specifically to reduce the amount of sugar that Americans consume on a regular basis. This trade group ACES, which stands for Alliance to Control Excessive Sugar, was conceived by Super Coffee CEO Jimmy DeCicco, who has aligned a number of brands that already have a low sugar count, including Hi-Key, Olipop, Lemon Perfect, Koya, Enlightened, and Three Wishes. The goal of the group is to alert consumers as to how much sugar is in products that they consume on a regular basis, and obviously to promote the brands that are part of the trade group as well. You know, when I read this story on BevNET and Nosh, I have to be honest, I was a little skeptical about the aim of this group and what they're trying to achieve, specifically because It feels like it's a much more internal industry kind of focused group rather than one that could be consumer facing.
[00:06:04] Mike Schneider: I think that's just it, Ray. I mean, the logo, they want people to begin to recognize that as the symbol of low sugar or no sugar on a package. And when you see that, you check it out. So a mark like that across many packages, Ray, if consumers trust it, in theory, they start to look for that mark everywhere. So that's probably the goal.
[00:06:27] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, I think a big challenge is, to your point, Ray, reaching a community outside of CPG, reaching a community outside of their current audiences. Right now, it looks like a big part of their strategy is providing discounts to other brands in that coalition. So say you drink Super Coffee, but you don't know about Enlightened, you can try it out with a discount. You're also hitting that same consumer that is sugar conscious. So the challenge if you're truly trying to control excessive sugar, how do you go outside of that community and bring awareness to that issue to those not already consuming those products?
[00:07:06] Ray Latif: Yeah, that's a really good point. I mean, again, I think, you know, the aim seems honorable and I think, you know, I know their intentions. The question of whether or not, you know, these discounts and, you know, they'll offer, if you go to their website, suiteaces.org, you can sign up and get a passport style coupon book, which gives $30 in manufacturer discounts for the brands that are included in this trade group. Again, I think the question is whether or not it's actually going to move the needle in terms of American's awareness of how much sugar they're consuming and more to the point, whether they're replacing some of their traditional legacy brands with these new brands that are lower sugar and that are so-called better for you.
[00:07:48] Mike Schneider: Another good question is, is this a campaign or is this an alliance? Because it is, you know, it's getting PR hits. It's a landing page. We're talking about it. We're talking about it. There's direct to consumer right on the site. You know, most of the companies that are involved right now aren't really treading on each other's use occasions. Although you could argue that the beverages do and maybe the, the enlightened and the High Key might have similar use occasions, but you could also eat those together. So Ray puts Ice Cream on his cereal too. He puts Ice Cream On Everything because the Ice Cream brands all send the Ice Cream to him. So he's just swimming in it. So I mean, we, we don't, we don't see any of that here.
[00:08:27] Ray Latif: Yeah. Ice Cream for breakfast, lunch and dinner Ice Cream with pasta. You know, I mean on pasta, you know, I don't use tomato sauce. I use Ice Cream sauce.
[00:08:35] SPEAKER_??: Yeah.
[00:08:36] Ray Latif: How else am I gonna use all the Ice Cream that's sent to me, you know? I know. Ray doesn't waste anything, people. He will use it or hoard it. That is a fact. I definitely don't waste food. That is 100% true. Facts, no printer. Yeah. Oh, geez. All right, you know, Mike threw in that dadism, so I'm going to throw in an old school dad brand as well. That's Slim Jim. Now, Slim Jim is a brand that everyone knows. Everyone also knows that it's terrible. It's a bad food brand. Even the makers of Slim Jim know it's not good for you. There's no hiding from this, okay? And if I get a nasty email, I'm expecting it, and there's gonna be a P.S. at the bottom. Ray, you're actually right. So I'm not concerned.
[00:09:26] Mike Schneider: Slim Jim evokes one person for me, and I miss that guy. What a unique individual Randy Macho Man Savage was. Yes, an amazing guy. The world needs another one. He was awesome.
[00:09:40] Ray Latif: Well, I wonder if the makers of Chomps will hire a spokesperson similar to, or in the vein of, Macho Man Randy Savage. They certainly got the funding to sponsor someone like that. Chomps, which is a meat stick brand, if you've ever been to a Trader Joe's or a Whole Foods, you'll see these right by the cash register or in certain parts of these stores. Well, Chomps, recently announced a raise of $80 million that was funded by Stride Consumer Partners. What an incredible deal. Congratulations to CEO and co-founder Pete Maldonado, who we featured on Taste Radio in a past episode. I mean, I mentioned Slim Jim and I think people will say, oh, is this a better for you Slim Jim? This is like miles beyond that. I think, you know, this is a real protein source. Real meat. Yeah, significantly better for you protein source that I think people have been looking for in that type of convenient form. And really, I guess speaks to the reason that Stride was so bullish on the future of this brand. I mean, $80 million, I think it was based on a $100 million run rate for the last quarter of 2021, according to the Nosh story, an evaluation of between two and $300 million. What an incredible success story for that brand.
[00:11:09] Jacqui Brugliera: I see so much opportunity for this brand. I've seen them in my local Trader Joe's and it's always just flying out of the basket near the register. I think they're going to do great in convenience with impulse buys, people wanting just a clean, healthy, convenient protein source, which is really hard to find still in your local 7-Eleven or gas station, especially when you're driving cross country or you're in the middle of the states. I think there's a lot of opportunity for their product.
[00:11:45] Ray Latif: Well, you hit the nail on the head, Jackie. It's like, you know, you go into a convenience store and you don't see those better for you options, those better for you meat snack options. And that is a real focus for Chomps going forward. As discussed in the Nosh article, Pete and his team are really focused on that opportunity in C-Stores and believe that they can take this brand to another level via that channel. I agree. I see great things for Chomps going forward. So, wow, is all I can say. Wow. Another big raise announced this week, also written about on BevNET and Brewbound, is that of Flying Embers, which picked up $20 million in funding, led by Beam Suntory, the spirits giant. Flying Embers was founded by Bill Moses, who's also one of the co-founders and the former CEO of Covita. Flying Embers is known for making hard kombucha. They also make hard seltzers, beer, wine spritzers, but again, they're best known for their hard kombucha. This round follows $35 million in funding. That was a series B round and really speaks to the growth that Flying Embers has seen over the past year. According to the article on BevNET in 2021, their total business grew 93%, and their hard seltzer line, which launched just in 2020, grew by 284%. So they're definitely making some moves. I gotta say, as far as hard seltzers go, and I'm a fan of hard kombucha for sure, but as far as hard seltzers go, I'm not surprised that that line is growing as fast as it is. very subjectively, I would say, and I'm not a hard seltzer drinker, but very subjectively, I would say they make the best wine on the market.
[00:13:33] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, I think the company is very focused on quality and just reading the article, it seems like they have a lot in the pipeline as far as product innovation. I'm really excited to see their line of beyond beer offerings that they're working on. We've been talking a lot about hops lately on the podcast and in general, and I think creating an experience for a craft beer drinker is going to be smart for them. And I'm curious to try it.
[00:13:58] Ray Latif: Congratulations to Bill and his team at Flying Embers. I still have to get out to the taproom in Boston. It's in a different part of town than I live. So it's a little bit of a hike. I just need to get off my butt and head out there. Getting off my butt hasn't been too, too difficult of late. I am trying to run more often. That's my big January, what's the resolution? I don't even know what the word for it. So maybe I don't run out. New Year's resolution. It's my big January resolution. But I have been introducing more and more non-alcoholic options into my life, into my evening life, that is. Because there's so many good ones out there. There's so many new great non-alcoholic cocktails, aperitifs, etc. coming to market. How can you not? incorporate these into your drinking routine. One brand that crossed my desk this past week is one called DeSoy. I spelled D-E-S-O-Y. This is the Katy Perry-backed non-alcoholic cocktail brand. They call it a sparkling non-alcoholic aperitif. It comes in three varieties. I have their Golden Hour, which is made with maca, lemon balm, L-theanine, and dried from green tea. their Purple Loon, which is made with ashwagandha, tart cherry, and again, L-theanine, and their Champagnole Dreams, which is made with reishi mushroom, passion flower, and again, L-theanine as well. All these contain juices as well, ranging from pear juice to peach and black peri, black peri, peach and Katy Perry, right?
[00:15:35] SPEAKER_??: Wow.
[00:15:35] Ray Latif: Exactly, as well as apricot, strawberry, blackcurrant and grapefruit juice. So I've been imbibing on these and they're all really, really good. They really fit perfectly into that evening routine without the booze. I will say though that the L-theanine in these drinks is a little bit more potent than I realized and that relaxing feeling that you get might knock you out quicker than you intended to be knocked out. Not that you're drinking this to get knocked out, it's just you're relaxed and then might go right to bed.
[00:16:12] Mike Schneider: Every time I have L-theanine, there seems to be caffeine paired with it, so I have no idea what the function of L-theanine is supposed to be. I guess it's supposed to take the edge off of the buzz that you get from caffeine. but I haven't tried it by itself except with this. I didn't notice a lot of impact when I drank the soy, but I got to say, Ray, that the taste of that is phenomenal. They've learned a lot from their predecessors in non-alc and they formulated some very interesting beverages there.
[00:16:44] Ray Latif: Another beverage that I've really been enjoying of late is Soda Bossa. That's soda and then B-O-S-S-A. This is a brand that is known as the Brazilian Spark. It's a lower calorie soda. It only contains 35 calories for a 12-ounce slim can, and it is made with eight total grams of sugar. It's a really tasty product. This one I have in my hand is their dragon fruit or pitaya flavored variety. They make two others as well. We featured SodaBoost on a recent episode of Elevator Talk, sitting down with founder, Deni DeTobel, who talked about the new packaging revamp for the brand, as well as a new tagline, and the really interesting backstory behind this and why he created the brand and product. Definitely take a listen. Go watch that episode of Elevator Talk if you have an opportunity.
[00:17:34] Jacqui Brugliera: Another brand that we should get on Elevator Talk, which I just saw on Bevna Instagram is Planted. So I haven't had it in the office yet. I have. Curious, have you tried it?
[00:17:46] Mike Schneider: Yeah. Is it good? It's really tasty. Okay. You should definitely try to get some in the West Coast office.
[00:17:52] Jacqui Brugliera: I mean, it's definitely caught my eye. The packaging is really pretty. Also, just focusing on the ingredient of chlorophyll, as I think is unique and interesting. I know that chlorophyll has been, you know, something that's been in beverages or, you know, it's in wheatgrass shots and things like that, but it's never really been front and center. So I'm curious to see just about how much education they have to do for consumers, because I had to Google what the benefits of chlorophyll were.
[00:18:19] Mike Schneider: I think the benefits of chlorophyll are like that planty taste. If you think of like, oh, that tastes like a plant, it's probably chlorophyll. What are the benefits, Jackie? What did you Google? What did you learn?
[00:18:32] Jacqui Brugliera: There was a lot of different items that were mentioned, including weight loss, inflammation. There was a lot of just general wellness benefits, which I think anything that's plant-based and green can help you with some of those things. So I'm curious to learn more about the ingredient.
[00:18:50] Mike Schneider: In the East Coast office, we got some interesting, speaking of plants, we got Plant Snacks and all of your favorite flavors. Okay. So we've got nacho and what's next? What's next? Ranch. course is next and then also the highly addictive lime flavor right here. I don't even know what to try first. Probably Ranch, right? They're all gonna be good. You know who the founder of that company is? Who is the founder of that company, Ray?
[00:19:17] Ray Latif: The founder of that company is Pete Lesko. Pete Lesko is also the founder of Food Should Taste Good. Everyone knows that brand. Plant Snacks is a really interesting brand. And as far as I know, one of the first brands that had any kind of significant distribution that was using cassava root as the base of their chips. Really tasty stuff. I know he's taken a little bit of a step back from Plant Snacks, but we sat down with him a couple years ago for the podcast. A really interesting entrepreneur and someone who I feel like was a pioneer in this space of salty snacks and getting people to realize that there's more than just, I'm gonna knock Doritos and I don't wanna knock Doritos, but more than just Doritos and Fritos out there. It's good.
[00:20:05] Mike Schneider: It's a slightly thicker, just slightly thicker than siete, another great cassava chip.
[00:20:12] Ray Latif: It's good. Yeah. The Plant Snacks chips are also different. They took a different form than they originally had. I think they were more like strips when they first came out. Now they're actually more like tortilla chips. Now, one more brand that I want to mention is Follini. Now, some people might be familiar with this brand if you're seeing it on the video or just hearing the name of it. They make creative pasta shapes made with North American grains. They've been around since 2012, but last year they received a ton of acclaim and fame for their cascatelli variety. It was named one of Time's best inventions of 2021, actually. I haven't really gotten into the product, and I didn't know too much about the brand, but as far as pasta goes, how do you disrupt the pasta category? Well, making different shapes of pasta might be one way, and it really has caught on with Fellini. The box I'm holding in my hand is their Trumpets. They're a Trumpets variety. And it's interesting because it definitely holds more sauce, like there's more surface area to hold sauce on some of these pastas than there are on traditional shapes. So I think that's, I mean, it's talked about a lot. That's one of their secrets to success. It's also just, I think, a brand for modern times, for modern consumers. People want something a little bit different than just a regular spaghetti or a ziti, and this really fits the bill. So I'm pretty happy I have this in my cabinets these days.
[00:21:33] Jacqui Brugliera: I need to try those. I've always been a big fan of shells for that reason. Get the little packet of cheese and sauce inside.
[00:21:42] Mike Schneider: You get it inside. Yeah, that is the best.
[00:21:46] Ray Latif: Yeah. And you know what else is great about pasta, and this particular type of pasta, is that the amount of Ice Cream that it'll hold inside the little trumpets is really remarkable.
[00:21:59] Jacqui Brugliera: You gotta do that tonight.
[00:22:01] Ray Latif: Morning, noon, and night. See, that's how you know we're pros at Taste Radio. We come full circle, folks. All the way around. Now it's time to leave. Let's get out of here. All right. Just before we sign off, I want to wish everyone a happy Lunar New Year. What better way to celebrate the occasion, which lands on February 1st, than with a fine bottle of spirits? What better way to end a dry January and begin the rest of the year than with a bottle of spirits, of course? The bottle I'm thinking of is Remy Martin XO, which in celebration of the holiday, is available in an exquisite limited edition bottle and box. Remy Martin XO is a cognac that's crafted from grapes sourced exclusively from the Grand Champagne and Petit Champagne growing areas, both of which are regarded as the highest quality of the six growing areas that are permitted by French law. The limited edition cognac comes in an intricately designed decanter that is decorated with gold foil and detailed motifs that celebrate Chinese culture and is packaged in a luxurious, and I mean luxurious, festive red and gold gift box. This is one of the most beautifully designed bottles that I have ever seen. The fact that it holds Remy Martin XO, which is widely considered to be one of the finest cognacs available, well, you'd do yourself well to get your hands on a bottle. All right, on that note, thank you all so much for listening. As always, we really appreciate it. If you have any questions, comments, ideas for future podcasts, please send us an email to ask at Taste Radio. And just as a reminder, if you would like your very own Taste Radio t-shirt, the softest t-shirt in the history of t-shirts, Just leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or your listening platform of choice. Send us a screenshot of that review. Your mailing address and the T-shirt size that you would like, we'll send that right out to you. And you would obviously send all that information to ask at Taste Radio. Until then, and on behalf of our amazing team at Taste Radio, I'm Ray Latif, and we'll talk to you next time.
