[00:00:00] John Craven: More SKUs, more data, more complexity. The beverage industry is changing fast. VIP helps suppliers, distributors, and retailers stay ahead, turning purpose-built beverage data and technology into smarter decisions and better results. For more than 50 years, VIP has helped power the beverage industry. Now, they're building what's next. VIP, empowering smart decisions. Visit VIPinsights.com for more information.
[00:00:37] Ray Latif: Hello, dear friends, 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. Mike Schneider back from Sin City. Do they still call Las Vegas Sin City? Probably. Probably. There's lots of sinning happening. Yes, lots of craps happening as well. Mike won $1.3 million over the past week. Won a little bit of money. He's going to be doing some investments in emerging brands.
[00:01:15] Jacqui Brugliera: Is this true?
[00:01:16] Ray Latif: No, he parlayed it into a bet on Crystal Palace. I thought you were going to say Crystal Meth. You don't want to invest in Crystal Meth. That's a bad thing. I did play craps. That was true. I did win a little bit, but not enough to invest in any brands. Sorry, brands. Okay. Well, you were there for Supply Side Global. I was there for Supply Side Global. What a show. Yeah. It's an ingredient focused show. Yeah. Yeah. We got to meet all the top ingredients providers in the industry and had some great conversations and yeah, it's a great show. Cool, cool. Yeah, Adrianne DeLuca covered that show for the Nosh and the BevNets and talked about protein stacking. Kind of an interesting thing. What is this all about? Protein stacking? Just put protein on your protein? I guess so. Yeah, they're just trying to figure out all the optimal proteins to put together. Very strange. It's cool though. I mean, because The thing is about this show Ray versus like say Expo West is it is a science show so you're seeing just like organic chemistry on people's boots No, sir. I don't want any piece of that no I know a couple guys that couldn't couldn't get into medical school because they feel to Orgo so many times Yeah, are we talking about you right? No. It's not me. I never wanted to be a doctor. No. I know a guy he poor guy He was pre-med until he wasn't
[00:02:38] Mike Schneider: Maybe he should get into ingredients. Maybe that could be a good path for him. Yes. Yes.
[00:02:43] Ray Latif: Well, if you want to know what happened at Supply Side, as I mentioned, Adrianne DeLuca penned a very good summary of the show, highlighting protein stacking, creatine revival, and clean label innovation. Read all about it on Nosh or BevNET.com. But in order to do so, you've got to be an insider. To be an insider, it's very simple. Nosh.com slash insider, BevNET.com slash insider. It's pretty simple. I mentioned protein because you got some protein right next to you. Koya Elite. I do. I'm drinking the Koya Elite. 32 grams of protein, 4 grams of sugar. This is the coffee variety, which also has 135 milligrams of caffeine. I rather like it. And 6 grams of fiber. So it's pretty complete. Did you even have breakfast this morning? Was that your breakfast? This actually was my breakfast. There you go. I mean, hey, that's fine. 210 calories, 32 grams of protein, six grams of fiber, do you say? I did say that. And there's some caffeine in there too. OK, well, there you go. So I got a chance to sit down with Gail Becker, who is the founder of a brand that you all know called Caulipower. Caulipower, maker of vegetable based or at least vegetable centric foods, including... Just call it plants, right? Plants. But their best known product are their cauliflower crust pizzas. The pizzas for sure. Yes. So some big news. I got to, anyway, I got to sat down with Gail at Expo West and she and I had a great conversation. Check that episode out that we published it in, I believe early April. Just a brilliant entrepreneur. She's great. Yeah. And the hard work has paid off because Caulipower was acquired. Urban Farmer, which is a manufacturer of branded and private label specialty dough products, announced its acquisition of gluten-free frozen foods brand Caulipower. I'm just reading from the NIOSH story that our dear colleague Monica Watrous wrote. Financial terms were not disclosed, but what was interesting about the story is that Gail talked about how Urban Farmer was the first co-packer for Kolly Power at a time when everyone else passed on the company. So I think, you know, when she launched the company many years ago, seem like cauliflower crust went from this really ridiculous idea, or at least some people perceiving it as a ridiculous idea, it's now being a ubiquitous thing that we see in the marketplace. So she was way ahead of her time, and clearly this cold packer was way ahead of its time as well. It's still ridiculous, Ray, because that stuff tastes so damn good. I was a close one there. I was uh, I was going all Sanford and son here. I was like, oh, I was a little worried there. No, it's really, no, Kali Power, the pioneer, the forerunner, the creator of the category in so many ways. I mean, at the time that she launched the brand, there were a lot of home-based recipes, people sharing recipes on the gram, on the Reddits, on the, TikTok didn't exist at the time, but you know what I'm talking about. You were still on Friendster. I was still on Friendster, yeah. The company was founded in 2016 and now its products are sold in 17,000 stores nationwide. Walmart, Whole Foods, Wegmans, Publix, you name it, they're probably in it. Kali Power was one of those brands that was I don't know, in hindsight, maybe part of the transformation of plant-based going from this quirky natural thing to more mainstream. And Gayle is someone who's always, like at every trade show they're at, they're with a smile on her face, like great representative for that movement and the brand too. So props to her and her team. And I misspoke about the date that we published that episode. It was actually on March 25th. So if you're looking for the episode, just search for Gail Becker at Kali Power, but it was published on March 25th. And a little ironic, right? Because at the time we had talked a bit about a potential acquisition, a potential exit. And she said, that's not what motivates her. I'm going to read from the very first line of the copy here. Gail Becker has a bold message for CPG entrepreneurs. If your brand isn't built, to truly improve the lives of your consumers, quote, you should stay the hell out. So she wasn't doing this for the money. I'm sure she's happy that she was able to sell the brand and sell the brand successfully and at a time when the brand is profitable. But clearly what motivates her more than anything else, and she talks about this in the interview, is getting the letters from people that say, I can eat pizza again. Getting letters from people saying, I can feed my family and feel good about doing so. Love that and love that she's been such a great influence on so many entrepreneurs.
[00:07:22] Mike Schneider: Yeah, I feel like the authenticity of the brand coming from her, that's felt within the industry. And it's also felt from consumers, like she is the face of the brand as well. And she believes in what she's doing. And it's also just so impressive what she's done going into different products, like beyond pizza, she had like these amazing chicken tenders that she also launched and a bunch of other frozen products when Also, Frozen wasn't seeing a ton of innovation. So I think there's a lot of things that she was doing really well that got her to this point.
[00:07:57] Ray Latif: Yeah, that's a great point, Jackie. It's a great story, right? It's a great story that entrepreneurs can take lessons from. Again, in that it was a kind of a crazy idea. She believed in herself. She bet on herself. And she bet on the fact that customers would buy into this this idea, and they did. And again, it spawned a lot of other entrants to that space in a really, really positive way. So once again, congratulations to Gail Becker and team, and team includes Tyler Ricks, who came in as CEO last year. Also worth mentioning is that in the early days, the product was different and it continued to, they continued to iterate on the product too. So they did build a great brand and a product that people believed in that they continued to make better and better and better, which is, you know, the dream. Yeah. It's also notable because this is the second time, I think this year, at least the second time that we've seen a co-man acquire a brand. If you recall Verde Valley Foods bought a Dozen Cousins in May, a Dozen Cousins, a maker of pouch packaged ready to eat, or at least ready to heat beans, rice products, seasonings, things like that. And Ibrahim Bashir, who's the founder of that company, just love the fact, and we talked about this, love the fact that we're going to start to see a Dozen Cousins, or at least the acquisition will enable a Dozen Cousins to be in a lot more places, which is great. We're talking about Gale and Ibrahim. It's like we're talking about the Avengers or something.
[00:09:25] Mike Schneider: Seriously, seriously. Yeah, they're both amazing.
[00:09:26] Ray Latif: Yeah, well, just two of the warmest people you can meet and very charismatic founders.
[00:09:32] John Craven: Yeah, absolutely. More than 70% of new CPG products fail, often over margins founders never fully understood. Outsourced accounting can close that gap for good. Visit belasolutions.com slash BevNET for a free small business accounting guide from Belay.
[00:09:51] Ray Latif: Artificial intelligence is reshaping every corner of the beverage industry. But where is it creating real value today? Stay tuned till the end of this episode for a bonus interview when I sit down with Andrew Krizis and Lucinda Awkwad of VIP to explore how AI is moving beyond analytics to automate decisions, improve efficiency, and transform the three-tier system. Also in the news this week, a brand of corn-free popcorn got a pretty big investment. Corn-free popcorn, eh? Yeah. How about that, right? Yeah. The investment was led by a well-known athlete. So Cobb is the name of the brand, C-O-B. It's a popped sorghum brand. And they recently closed on a $5 million seed round. No pun intended. Is popcorn a seed? No. Anyway. Goes to a $5 million seed round led by tennis legend, Novak Djokovic. And it's yeah, pretty big, pretty big move. Cobb positions itself as a healthier alternative to popcorn. I sat down with the founder, Jessica Davidoff. for an episode of Elevator Talk that we published earlier this year. And guess what? The reason that Novak led this round is because he watched that episode of Elevator Talk. I can't be sure anything I just said was true. I'm just assuming that happened because everyone watches the show. In all seriousness, a lot of people do watch that show, and who knows what they do.
[00:11:22] Mike Schneider: Especially Djokovic, yeah.
[00:11:23] Ray Latif: Yeah, especially while he was, you know. On his way to some tournament. Between games. Between sets.
[00:11:28] Mike Schneider: Yeah.
[00:11:29] Ray Latif: Catches up on Elevator Talk. But I actually questioned, and I asked Jessica and our co-host for that episode, asked him, we were like, huh, so how do you say corn-free popcorn? Or how do you sell this without saying popcorn, right? And it's kind of an interesting thing because you're trying to say it's better for you because it doesn't contain corn, but it's popcorn essentially. And you call it Cobb too. Those are some interesting challenges there. Bold moves. Very bold move to call yourself popcorn in the first place. But I think also it is one of those things. That's what it is. It's a popcorn-less popcorn. Yeah. So you should call it what it is. And that's what we usually recommend to brands who are trying to do something new. It's like, you don't always want to be the first of your kind. Although we have seen some sorghum products come out that are popcorn related. But being the first of your kind is very difficult, so finding somebody on the shelf that you can sit next to, and when you tell your buyer, hey, this is a popcorn that's made without corn, they'll understand. So I think that part is pretty smart. Also, popcorn, a kernel, not a seed. Also really cool to see in the news that a company called Diaspora Co Co., or just Diaspora Co., a maker of single origin spices and masalas, has aligned with the very well-known food celebrity. Can we call Padma Lakshmi a food celebrity?
[00:12:51] Mike Schneider: We can.
[00:12:52] Ray Latif: I would say. former Top Chef host. Yeah, so Diaspora Co Co has aligned with Padma Lakshmi to launch a new product that they're describing as a gunpowder podi. And it actually is described as Padma Lakshmi's gunpowder podi. And so when I sat down with Padma for an interview for Taste Radio a couple of years ago, maybe three years ago at the time, and we were talking about a different brand that she aligned with. It was interesting because she has so much name brand recognition. She has so much, I guess, celebrity attached to who she is, especially within the food community, but she rarely gets involved with CPG brands. And so it was interesting to see her align with Diaspora Co this type of product. But what happened was. It was that she was already a customer. And so the founder of the company, whose name is, I'm going to try my best here, Sana Javari Kadri, found out that Podmo was a regular consumer and a regular buyer of the products. And so they got in touch and started talking. They'd had a relationship for a number of years and then kind of came to this point where it made sense that they would work on a collab together. Full story on Nosh.com, also penned by Adrianne DeLuca. Okay, so the day of this recording is November 4th, which means we are exactly one month away from the start of Nosh Live LA 2025. Ah, yeah. The first of three events, and I got a big smile on my face, but I'm also like, I'm getting the, the Tuesday scaries here, because I know how much work is going.
[00:14:32] Mike Schneider: There's a lot to do in the last month.
[00:14:35] Ray Latif: Lots to do, lots to do. But it's because we put so much effort and so much care and so much love into these events because you deserve it. Attendees deserve to come to these best in class events and get everything out of it. And, you know, in the case of Anosh Live, for example, we've added a new component to the show where you have an opportunity to be on the main stage at Anosh Live. We're taking Elevator Talk out of the studio and putting it on the stage at Nosh Live. So founders who are attending can sign up in advance to join us on stage at Nosh Live. They'll have a minute and a half, 90 seconds, but you know, that could be a lot of time. It could be a little bit of time to get up on stage and speak to some of those influential people in our industry. That includes retail buyers, investors, distributors, and folks that can help you scale your business. And it's a really outstanding opportunity to pitch. and have people meet you during the networking sessions or just out if you're getting a cup of coffee, you know, that kind of visibility, that kind of awareness is really hard to get elsewhere. Just to be able to stand up and say, this is who I am, this is what my brand is all about. And if you want to see me, if you want to try this, this product, you know, come see me when we're out there having lunch. And any brand is eligible. It's not a competition. It's just a chance to get up on stage in front of a bunch of friendly faces. practice your pitch and get some feedback. You know, always be pitching. Jackie, once people sign up, they'll get the details of how to register for Elevator Talk in that email, correct?
[00:16:22] Mike Schneider: Yep. So you just have to register for Nosh live, then you'll get a link to sign up and apply, and then we'll take it from there. But yeah, we want everyone to participate. It's a great opportunity to just start your conversations a little bit further down the road because you're getting up on stage, you're giving everyone your spiel, you're saving your breath and you're, you know, just natural. Networking and you're able to get to business because they already know what you're doing and they know what they can help you with.
[00:16:51] Ray Latif: Yes. Similarly, the one-to-ones offer you an opportunity to sit down with the people that you want to meet at the event, i.e. the retail buyers and the investors. Investors and peers. And peers, people who have been there, done that. That'll also be in the email once you register for Nosh Live or BevNET Live. We're not doing Elevator Talk at BevNET Live, but the one-to-ones will exist also at BevNET Live and Brewbound Live as well. Yes. Correct.
[00:17:20] Mike Schneider: Yep, and with all those opportunities, we do have limited spots. So if you're thinking about coming, definitely recommend you register now because we're already filling those slots.
[00:17:30] Ray Latif: Exactamundo. Does anyone say exactamundo? Who coined exactamundo?
[00:17:35] John Craven: You did.
[00:17:36] Mike Schneider: Did I? Just today.
[00:17:38] Ray Latif: First time I've ever heard it. Something new. I love it. Yes. All right. Well, a month away from Nosh Live, a little over a month away from BevNET and Brewbound Live. So we want to see you there. You have any questions about the event? Wondering, hey, you know, what should I expect to see there? Who can I expect to meet there? What should you wear? What should I wear?
[00:17:56] Mike Schneider: We have gotten that question. Just contact Ray.
[00:17:59] Ray Latif: Just reach out and let us know.
[00:18:01] Mike Schneider: He's going to be like, we're a blazer and a baseball cap.
[00:18:04] Ray Latif: We're like at least six fake Mike Sora videos away from BevNetLife. My minions have been busy. I mean, yeah, but you know, everyone says their event is a can't miss event and everyone presents, you know, this particular show is, you know, something, there's no hyperbole in anything I just said. Everything is exactly the way I described it. And it is a show that you should attend. All right, on to samples of new products. I received in the mail the other day a whole bunch of products from a brand called Shameless Snacks. I love the way those came out of the box. That was cool. Shameless Snacks is a maker of better for you gummy products. It looks like each bag, 1.8 ounce bag. OMG peach. Contains three grams of sugar, 70 to 90 calories. And three to eight grams of net carbs per variety. Super sour blue raspberries. So they have red raspberries, Sour Scouts, OMG, peach, wassup, watermelon, green apple, blast. Let me look at the sweetener profile here. They all say eat me, I taste awesome. Yes. So the first ingredient is polydextrose. And we have soluble corn fiber, erythritol, pectin, glycerin, Sucralose. Ah, okay. Are your favorites? Sucralose is an artificial sweetener. Am I wrong in saying that? That is correct, Ray. I mean, are you wrong in saying that? No, you are not incorrect. I'm trying to use as many double negatives as possible. Okay, okay. He's a wicked high in fiber. Yeah, I'm going to try. Yeah, the fiber count is what? 29 grams or 26 grams.
[00:19:49] Mike Schneider: Oh boy.
[00:19:49] Ray Latif: Wow. But the serving size is a whole bag.
[00:19:52] Mike Schneider: It's not one gummy.
[00:19:53] Ray Latif: So for the green apple one, dietary fiber is 26 grams, which is 93%. of your recommended value of fiber. So that's pretty serious. Except for real. Yeah. It says good dietary fiber source in a very small button on the front.
[00:20:12] Mike Schneider: I'm like, how is that possible? That seems like it's great.
[00:20:16] Ray Latif: I'm just wondering why they're not promoting it as much as they are on the front.
[00:20:18] Mike Schneider: It's like almost your 100% daily value.
[00:20:20] Ray Latif: Yeah, exactly. Mike is about to explode over here.
[00:20:24] Mike Schneider: Yeah. And also, like, if you're eating multiple of those, watch out.
[00:20:27] Ray Latif: From the makers of Cullen Blow, right? Yeah. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, Advertising itself as creatine high-protein Keto and zero sugar so it definitely looks like it's cut from the mold of The magic spoons of the world where this is not an inexpensive product although the front of the pack is as minimalist as it comes it's a white box and with black font on the top that says Man Cereal, very sort of staid, I was going to call it bland font, which I guess it is, and then it has one piece of cereal. Yeah. Cereal ball on the front. Oh yeah. Feeling super manly. Creatine, high protein, keto and zero sugar. This is definitely not for your everyday consumer.
[00:21:44] Mike Schneider: Definitely not for women, right?
[00:21:45] Ray Latif: Oh no, it just it doesn't work on women. Yeah. Because women like things that taste so I mean it's like it's even on the box. It's like serious nutrition unserious name so I'm on the website right now and I Need to chase it with a shameless one-time purchase that is not part of their subscription model. Yeah will cost you mm-hmm drumroll, please $58 So that I'm sorry that's for a three-pack A three pack, which is still about 20 bucks a box, right? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, some of the stuff that's in this, I mean, even like creatine supplements are not cheap, but I mean, I don't know. The taste is kind of rough. It kind of tastes like those Kix cereal.
[00:22:32] Mike Schneider: Yeah.
[00:22:33] Ray Latif: It looks like that.
[00:22:34] Mike Schneider: It's like styrofoam.
[00:22:35] Ray Latif: You can really taste the stevia, the creatine you can taste, it's just, it's tough. Yeah, it's like their paint-coated kick. No, I mean they have that definite, that keto aftertaste that is the thing that's pretty difficult to mask. So you get that. But I mean, they're trying. The maple bacon part comes first. And so if you can eat it fast enough, you can probably avoid. Yeah, I mean, I think aftertaste. This just seems like more than anything. And obviously, I understand why they don't want to just put a bunch of junk in it to hide the ingredients. I totally get that part. I feel like they're kind of in this weird area where the person who might be into this concept and OK with this flavor would rather just buy a bunch of powders and mix up something else that also doesn't taste great. Except that those powders get boring. And you do, once you start to take the powders, think about how else can I get this besides just taking powder after powder after powder. So I could see like people who like cereal or Miss Cereal in particular, thinking about this because there's that, you know, nostalgia for eating a box of Kix that was pretty great. I get that. I think it's more just, you got to be able to stick with this though. And I think this right now, the flavor needs work. I mean, the branding is obviously unforgettable. No mistaking this. So I think that part of it's pretty cool. No mistaking who it's for. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know if I would ever spend, I'm just putting my cards on the table here, the equivalent of $20 a box for cereal. It seems like you're paying for convenience more than you're paying for anything else. You can buy half a tub of powder for that. Yeah. Right. You're not buying this for flavor. I assume they price this for, you know, there's the novelty buyer, the let's try this out buyer. and give these guys maybe a little more margin while they're just starting out. But that, obviously, you're right. I mean, wouldn't skip. I should also say, though, it's only the protein powder that you're buying for 20 bucks. So it's adding the creatine, the keto. If you cost it all out, it's probably on point in terms of the price.
[00:24:51] Jeffrey Klineman: Taste Radio meetups are continuing in Chicago, San Diego, San Francisco, and London. Come hang out with the food, beverage, and beer community for live podcast recordings, CPG networking, and sample sharing. Want to attend or partner with us? Head to Taste Radio.com slash meetups. Quick pause to let you know that the leading event for the beverage industry is headed back to Los Angeles this December 6th through 8th. BevNET Live brings founders, investors, retailers, suppliers, and operators together for product discovery, high-value conversations, and partnerships that can shape what comes next. Early registration pricing is available now. Head to bevnetlive.com to register. Mark your calendar. Nosh Live is back December 3rd and 4th in Los Angeles. Join packaged food founders, buyers, investors, and operators for two days of product discovery and conversations focused on what's next. Early registration pricing is available now. Head to noshlive.com to register.
[00:25:46] Ray Latif: John has got... What is that? No! Come on. Dirty Mountain Dew that right now comes in two varieties, a Cream Soda Dew, and then there's a Zero Sugar version. So... Okay. Which one would you like to try? I'll have the full flavored one. Okay, good choice. How about you, Mike? Yeah, I'll try them both, but I'll start with whatever you give me. Start with the full flavor. Whatever you give me. Send one down to Mike here.
[00:26:12] Mike Schneider: So what makes it dirty?
[00:26:14] Ray Latif: It's cream soda dew. It's like dirty soda.
[00:26:16] Mike Schneider: Okay.
[00:26:18] Ray Latif: Okay, I mean it tastes like someone cut Mountain Dew with a little bit of cream. It doesn't suck actually Yeah, it's mostly sugar yeah, yeah, how much sugar is in there so much sugar? I can't read the fine print on you, okay, so What's an average Mountain Dew sugar content? I don't know 46 grams, so no it's not that much, but the full sugar version contains 44 grams per 12 ounce can Which is 88% of your daily recommended value of sugar. Can I try the zero sugar? You wanna try the zero? I'm good on the zero. Here sir, just pass it down then. Well, we can say we've tried it and move on from that. Listen, Ray, on this show we've had worse. Is that true? Mm-hmm. Okay. Yes. Remember when you brought the big red? That stuff tastes great, but that was a lot of sugar. Big Red. I haven't had Big Red in forever. That was probably the last time. It was on our show. Well, I got something from the fine folks from Wild. Thank goodness. From Wild Wonder. So Wild Wonder, a maker of. I was just talking about them. You were just talking about them? I talk about them all the time. Really? Yeah. Because they're just such a great beverage and a great founder, great story, great path. I mean, Rosa Lee is the founder, also sat down with her at Expo West for a great interview, also published in a episode in the spring. It's a wild wonder, a maker of prebiotic and probiotic sparkling drinks. They have a blackberry violet variety that is part of their holiday gift box. Their holiday gift box contains four cans of the blackberry violet. It's got some gummies that contain prebiotic fiber. Think sugarfina style is how they describe it. They've got a couple of cocktail glasses. And two cocktail picks here's the glass where you garnish your drink.
[00:28:19] Mike Schneider: I'm already drinking.
[00:28:19] Ray Latif: I have no time for that Yeah, I think you do nice. Yes, so you got these little things it looks like there's a blackberry at the bottom of these cocktail glasses and these these cocktail picks that look like Looks like the evil eye at the top of them see that quick quiz What was the original name of Wild Wonder not you right? You know the answer? I don't remember. Ray? I forget. Tea crush. Tea crush. So apparently you can, yeah, so you can make an aviation style drink out of these, I guess this blackberry violet variety. And aviation usually is made with gin, but you can make your own products or you make your own beverage without gin. I'm pretty happy with it just the way it is. And it's not even cold. I mean, this is, that's how you know that a beverage is just amazing. I'm gonna give you these gummies. I'll try this.
[00:29:13] Mike Schneider: They do so well with their flavors. Like I think last year they had the Banana Queen, which they played with like RuPaul's Drag Race, Nymphia Wind. It was so good.
[00:29:22] Ray Latif: That was a tasting of an award-winning beverage, I believe.
[00:29:24] Mike Schneider: Yes, yes.
[00:29:26] Ray Latif: Jackie, what's going on over there at the WCB? You have a very interesting coffee mug, by the way.
[00:29:32] Mike Schneider: Oh, thank you. I got this in Colorado. It's handmade.
[00:29:35] Ray Latif: Yeah, we should describe it for our audience.
[00:29:37] Mike Schneider: We got the sun and the moon.
[00:29:39] Ray Latif: Okay, front and back sun, moon, but it looks like it has a square base.
[00:29:42] Mike Schneider: It does. It does. And it has like handwriting of whoever made it. Bubloo. I don't know.
[00:29:48] Ray Latif: Okay. Oh, the famous Bubloo. Shout out to Bubloo. Shout out to Bubloo for this work. For the bug. Of course it's a Bubloo. We should have known it was a Bubloo.
[00:29:58] Mike Schneider: What are we doing over here? Oh my God. I could sell that on eBay for like $100. $100,000. Oh boy. Over here, I have a couple of products from the Cumin Club. So these are, I believe they're like freeze-dried or dehydrated. I think they're dehydrated. They are meals and all you have to do is just add water and it's ready in five minutes. I'll get in. We have a paneer tikka masala, a dal markhani, and a dal tadka. Lots of really great call-outs on the pack as far as being gluten-free, no seed oils. This one uses coconut oil. This one uses ghee. They're all either vegetarian or vegan, and they look very simple and clean as far as their ingredient panels as well. So I'll be eating one of these for lunch.
[00:30:48] Ray Latif: She found the right team for that. Is there a, is there a QR code on the back? I want to join the club.
[00:30:53] Mike Schneider: There is.
[00:30:55] Ray Latif: No, we first encountered that brand at the Winter Fancy Food Show earlier this year, and I loved it. We tried some of the products, John, if you recall. I mean, it was really, really tasty stuff.
[00:31:06] Mike Schneider: Yeah, yeah, it looks so good. Yeah, the ingredients are just crazy clean, like just peas, tomato, onion, coconut oil, and spices. Like, can't beat it.
[00:31:15] John Craven: That sounds like a great lunch for you, Jackie.
[00:31:17] Mike Schneider: Yeah, I'm going to have multiple, actually. Yeah, I agree. I agree, that's a good idea. I also have a beverage over here called Plaid Circus. So the can is a bunch of plaid and they are non-alcoholic cocktails. This is their Vespa Rosa, which is a bitter red aperitif. with club soda. They also have a kimono dragon. This one is juniper and spice yuzu. And then they have a bubblegum fantasy, which is interesting bubblegum with a burst of bubblegum euphoria with orange, lemon and white tea. And then one last one, their orange lush, which is a liquid dreamsicle, they say. So lots of really interesting flavors. Some seem a little bit more complex and refined, and some are like nostalgic flavors.
[00:32:09] Ray Latif: Love the packaging, Plaid Circus, and love the flavor differentiation from what we typically see in those types of products. So yeah, I think there's maybe a slight disconnect between that sort of, I don't know if I would call, how would you describe that branding? It's not minimalist. It seems pretty straightforward.
[00:32:28] Mike Schneider: Yeah.
[00:32:29] Ray Latif: It doesn't really, it doesn't scream fun, but I still, I love it, but it doesn't scream fun. It doesn't really align with bubble gum.
[00:32:36] Mike Schneider: Yeah, I wanted to it's interesting like plaid you think of plaid you think of maybe traditional or Cozy comfy and then they have like a kimono dragon flavor, but then they also have a bubblegum flavor So I feel like there's a couple different messages going on. I'm really curious about the flavors and they are very unique But I just yeah, I don't know if plaid says kimono dragon. I
[00:33:01] Ray Latif: Well, maybe that's the point. You know, Plaid Circus seems like a bit of an oxymoron, right?
[00:33:07] Mike Schneider: That's a band name.
[00:33:08] Ray Latif: So maybe that's the whole point. Plaid says Komodo Dragon. That's a good band name. One last thing. When I was at Supply Side Global, I went to the Startup CPGT time party, which was a fun time. You know, it was at Topgolf. We got to smash some golf balls. And got to catch up with our dear friend Victoria Reyes, Victoria Reyes Jin from NARA, who asked me to help her learn how to speak Chinese, among other things. But we also got to meet and catch up with Isabel Washington from Laurel's Coffee. It's just called Laurel's, but they're a maker of classic latte and dirty chai lattes using A2 dairy with the cool cow on the front. of their label, and it's weird, but for some reason, Isabelle showed me her deck, and her deck is the best deck I've ever seen. I mean, I've seen a lot of decks in this industry, and I just have to say, investors, you want to see the, you at least want to see the Laurels deck. It's amazing. I had no notes. What a deck. 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. you VIP has quietly powered the beverage industry for more than 50 years, trusted by more than 2,800 distributors and 1,400 suppliers. They've defined this industry time and again. And in this era of AI, they're leading the way. Today, we're joined by VIP CEO, Andrew Krizis, and Head of Sales, Lucinda Awkwot, to discuss where the industry is headed and what customers can expect next. Andrew, it's great to see you. How are you? Good. Thanks for having me, Ray. Lucinda, how are you?
[00:35:41] Jacqui Brugliera: So great. Excited to be here.
[00:35:44] Ray Latif: Yes. And our audience is excited to hear about VIP's capabilities with AI because it is a topic that is top of mind for so many founders at this point. Andrew, as I mentioned, VIP has been around for over 50 years. Your background is pretty interesting because you bring so much to the table as CEO. How did you come to VIP?
[00:36:05] John McKenna: Yeah, great question, Ray. And I think it does go back to the legacy of VIP. So I'm incredibly passionate about the beverage and alcohol industry, the broader CPG industry as a whole. So I spent the last 12 years plus working at Nielsen IQ, working with many of the suppliers that could be listening to this distributors and retailers. It was about five years ago that I first interacted with VIP and it's actually a partner to Nielsen IQ. And so complimentary partnership was created and I got to know the company a little bit. I got to see the value of what VIP creates in the industry and how it helps support the three-tier system. And I was just blown away also by the people. by just the caliber of the talent, how respected they were in the industry, how much knowledge they had across the three-tier system. And so once I started to get to know the company a bit more, I saw just the opportunity for the technology to do so much more across the industry. And with AI, as we were talking about becoming really important and accelerating every day, every week, I started to realize it's a huge moment for AI and technology and more investment to come into VIP, really help our clients, help the suppliers, help the distributors and retailers, and transform how operations and the day-to-day work is getting done. So I just saw that as a great opportunity, both in the technology and AI side, leveraging all of my data background and knowledge in the industry, but then joining a group that has an amazing culture, an amazing team, and a ton of passion behind it.
[00:37:23] Ray Latif: Lucinda, when you came to VIP, you also came with a ton of experience. Just talk a bit about your background in this industry.
[00:37:31] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, thanks, Ray. So I like to say I was born and raised in the beer business, but I got here as soon as I could. Started when I was 21 with Boston Beer Company. I've worked in all three tiers of the three-tier supply chain over the last 20 years. And I showed up to the first day to the VIP office here in Burlington, and I felt like I should be asking for autographs because VIP is the only set of data and the only set of tools that I've ever used on any of the three tiers. So it was really remarkable to see the team of people that has built such an incredible organization and really built from the ground up over the past 50 plus years that VIPs existed. So I'm honored to be here, a part of the team now to help carry the sales team into the future with all this new, authentic work that we're going to talk about.
[00:38:17] Ray Latif: Andrew, let's just start off by talking about where the beverage industry is headed right now in broad terms and why AI is such a critical strategic investment for founders and businesses.
[00:38:27] John McKenna: You know, I think about whether you're a small supplier or distributor or a large supplier, you know, the beverage alcohol space. You could be only have a few people at your company or hundreds at the end of the day. Everyone's looking for efficiency, whether you're three people within your company, you're stretching yourself to try to do five jobs. Or again, you're a larger company with maybe 10 people in the finance department. You're all trying to find better ways to do what you're doing so you can drive more product to consumers. So AI is just coming at this perfect moment over the last six to 12 months where everyone needs it. Everyone needs it for similar reasons, for inefficiencies, whether it's helping you run some reporting, it's helping you with pricing, it's helping you optimize something. At the end of the day, there's never enough hands and arms within a company when you're building a brand. And I've experienced that, you know, working with hundreds and hundreds of founders over the last 12 years. in my past role with Nielsen IQ, and I see that with VIP. So I think all of the industry, both suppliers, distributors, retailers, they're looking at AI to try to understand how can I drive more efficiency? How can I drive a better delivery of my service or product to the end customer? And how can I do it in a way that's gonna set me up for success? But now many people are taking it in different ways. AI isn't something that's just intuitive and you throw on a chat bot and all of a sudden you're up and running. So it's really interesting to see how suppliers are leveraging AI, how distributors are leveraging AI, retailers, et cetera. And there's some fun nuances between those three.
[00:39:49] Ray Latif: When it comes to spending money on AI or otherwise, founders want to see a return on investment. And I'm curious about how you measure return on investment when it comes to AI. And also, there's so much hype about AI at this point. Where does hype meet reality? Lucinda, can you tackle both questions for me?
[00:40:08] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, great questions. So I think I'll tackle the ROI question first, because I think it will address the buzzword as well. But I think when you think about AI, I was thinking back to all these different technological advances and how they've impacted the industry all the way back to when we used to have rolls of quarters to get on the payphone. And then all of a sudden, cell phones helped to make us more efficient. Same thing with printers and then the internet. I think of AI in the same way. It will give us the ability to enable all of our teams to be that much faster, that much smarter, smarter by way of better insights from the data. So if we're able to take a sales report, a sales ranker, and extract out the insights that much faster and distill down to the actual accounts we should be spending our time in, that to me is an instant ROI. There's also back of house applications. We think we talked with our distributors about some of the features that are most important to them as we're building out our new agentic platform. And it's things like avoiding the fat finger on the order. We don't want 10, we want one. We don't want 100, we want 10. And so giving the teams the ability to capture those things in advance, I think is where we see the ROI. It also empowers our retailers to make better orders. So think of predictive ordering in an e-commerce platform like Connect. There is so many great things that we can do to empower across all three of the tiers using all of our agentic features that we have in place now. So if I'm a retailer, if I'm a distributor, if I'm a supplier, that's how I think about the ROI. And it really enables the humans to be better at their jobs. So that in itself, I think is the buzz. I encourage people to think about AI as more of a tool and a way to do their business, a way to go about seeking the outcomes they're looking for versus this buzzword of a tool. And I think when we all begin to embrace it much more, we'll see that firsthand as well.
[00:42:02] Ray Latif: Obviously, technology is moving faster than it ever has before, and it's incumbent upon VIP to provide technology that is keeping up with the times, or in this case, keeping up by the day.
[00:42:13] John McKenna: Yeah, I think you're spot on with it's evolving every day, every week new models come out, Fable 5 came out for the second time. So it's a constant. It's been great. I've had a few conversations just recently with some distributors and suppliers. And when we talk about the investments, one of the things that came out clearly from our clients was, they are interested, they are getting pressure to use AI. And so initially, you know, whether you're a founder on this call, a supplier or distributor, the thought process was, let's just take Jett, GPT, let's take Claude, let's just turn it on for everyone. And like, let's go get some insights. And you can get some gains and insights there. But ultimately, those clients came to us and said, Hey, for us really to take advantage of this new technology and this capability, we need VIP. We need VIP to do this within all the business processes because VIP is so foundational to the core operations, whether you're a distributor, whether you're on the Supply Side, looking at your inventory and depletions. And so that's where we took it upon ourselves to say, let's look at the marketplace. Let's look at all the different providers out there and take a hard look at ourselves. And we made the decision to make a really sizable, significant investment into a new architecture with AI and an agentic first decision. And what that allows us to do is actually create not just agents and AI on top of legacy products, which again, that still adds some value, but it doesn't change the game. And so we said, let's go down the path of actually building for the next several years, not for the next two months or three months, because a new model is to proceed something, but we need to have a new foundation. So VIPs made the biggest investment or one of the biggest investments we've ever made as a company. And that's gonna allow us to have magentic first platform, bring in many different types of data and create agents on top that again, aren't just giving you some insights, but I like to say are doing work. They're doing work for you as a supplier. They're actually making decisions on your behalf within certain guardrails. And then they're able to communicate for you if you're a supplier, Actually having these agents do work for you, communicate to your distributors, to your trading partners on your behalf. Again, I go back to my first point, everyone needs more arms and hands, right? You never have enough people when you're a small player or a large player. And so actually being able to do some of that work, communicate digitally to distributors, whether it's pricing, whether it's something related to inventory, whether it's shipments. And likewise, distributors having agents that can interpret and engage and make decisions on their behalf and then communicate to their trading partners. That's where we're going as VIP with AI. We think we play a really central role into that core operational element of how the three tier system works. But we were also cognizant that that takes real investment. It's not just lipstick on an existing product and putting in a chat bot and saying, oh, everything's AI. It's really looking at the foundation of what's needed So much has changed just in the last six months, where whether you're a software or data company, what you had built maybe two years ago, even 12 months ago, almost becomes irrelevant from an architectural standpoint, just because the last six months. So that level of investment is something we're fully driving towards and working with a lot of clients on both the distributor and Supply Side of how we bring this new platform to life. And at the same time, though, we're still investing in our existing products. That is not stopping. So I think of it from a VIP standpoint, as we're going down both paths, we're investing in existing products, putting AI on top, kind of what I was mentioning with many others in the industry. But we're also going after this whole new architecture and whole new platform. And that's what's really required long term of the three tier system.
[00:45:37] Ray Latif: Whenever I talk to founders, operators about who are they choose their partners, it really comes down to trust. And I think when you're talking about AI and the evolution of this technology, it's really important to trust your partner. And it seems like the level of expertise that you guys can provide to companies is just unmatched at this point. So I highly encourage folks to get in touch with the team at VIP. Lucinda, what's the best way to do so?
[00:46:05] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, thanks, Ray. We are so excited to hear from all our customers. We're getting questions every day, and I do think the best way to reach out to us is vapinsights.com, and go and submit a form, request a demo, send in a question, and we will be able to get back to you. Our sales team is talking with all of our customers all day, every day about this, and we're really excited to bring everyone more.
[00:46:26] Ray Latif: Outstanding. Well, Andrew, Lucinda, thank you so much for taking the time. I'm really excited for the future of AI and VIP's ability to help companies address this technology in a really effective way. So thanks again, and let's definitely stay in touch. Great. Thanks for having us, Ray.
[00:46:41] Jacqui Brugliera: Thank you, Ray.
