Hello, and thanks for tuning into Taste Radio, The number one podcast for anyone building a business in food and beverage. I’m Ray Latif, the editor and producer of Taste Radio, and I’m with my co-hosts, John Craven, Melissa Traverse and Mike Schneider.
In this episode, we break down two of the latest CPG acquisitions making headlines, explore how brands are building awareness from stadium concessions to grocery store shelves, and share our product picks of the week—including indulgent twists on coconut water, granola, globally inspired dips, and non-alcoholic cocktails.
The city is New York. The date is April 16th. The event is can't miss taste. Radio's NYC Meetup is coming up fast, and I mean less than two weeks away from 5 to 7:30 PM at the offices of Anchin in Times Square, networking, Live podcast interviews, libations and light bites. It's your opportunity to meet with your colleagues, your peers, from across the food and beverage industry founders.
Investors, experienced operators, consultants, and of course some of the best service and supplier partners in the industry will be at the event. A huge thanks to our partners for the meetup. Vibrant Ingredients, Belay Solutions, Anchin, NextFoods, which is the maker of Cheribundi and GoodBelly and of course, Corner Market Communications.
We are thrilled to be partnering with these companies. They are the best in the business. Now we want the best of you. Register for the event at taste radio.com/meetups. Only registered attendees of the event will be allowed to join, so sign up today. It's free. It's gonna be a blast. It's free. Did I mention that?
How many times have we mentioned this? It's like nothing that's free anymore. Nothing that's free. I mean, it's also have, have you seen Wolf of Wall Street? Yes. I mean, April 16th at like a CPA office. It kind of has to be like, it's gotta be party time. It's gotta be like that. I mean, no offense. S. But I mean, they gotta blow off some steam.
Right? That's some energy extensions aside. Yes. It's gonna be a big day for them the day after text. Yeah. Get your taxes done. Yeah. And get your butts to New York City to hang with us. Time to party. I would not be surprised if bottles are popping, like the kids say, right? They say that. I think they do.
Yeah. They, they do. Where's Jacqui? Oh, Jacqui. Jacqui would be like, they don't say that Ray. She's in Thailand. We could, we can just call her now. You let's phone a friend. Yeah. Somehow. I don't think she's gonna pick up, I don't know. She's Jacqui. We're gonna have to try it. One of these times she'll think you're in jail and, and you need her to get her out.
Yeah, that's true. Yeah. Maybe we wanna save that call. Get you out. I wonder who would be my first call if I were to go to jail. Jacqui wouldn't be. Jacqui would be a good one. She wouldn't be a battle. I'm go with Adam Stern. Adam Stern. I'm gonna go with Mr. Stern. Yeah. Adam Stern might be because you and jail, I'm picturing you did some real, real shady stuff at some like, I don't know, some bar.
Like bought everyone a steak dinner and then just ditched out the back door kind of thing. It's possible. And Adam would, I truly believe this, he would put up his Volvo, his treasured Volvo for sale or auction to pay for my bail. Like guy, you know I love you. Yes. That's Stern and that's, that's what would happen.
Guy. Guy. It's in the shop though. Guy. Yeah. My Volvo was in the shop. I told Adam to come to the NYC meetup, but I think he's, he's, uh, he's booked Prior engagement. Yeah, prior engagement. He's, uh, planning to be sick that day. Oh geez. Well, we do already have a lot of people signed up in limited space. Yes. So don't delay.
Do not delay. Can it be sold out? If it's free? It can be at capacity. Yes, capacity. So once people get there, show up on time. Show up on time, get there, hang out with us. We're looking forward to seeing you. Absolutely. Yeah, definitely register taste radio.com/meetups. I want to reiterate that you do need to be a registered attendee to join us.
Certainly this is not the first time we've talked about the meetups on the podcast. It probably won't be the last time we talk about the NYC meetup on this podcast, and it won't be the last time. I'm almost positive about this. We talk about acquisitions in CPG in 2026 would be weird if it were the last time, it would really be weird.
It'd be bad for the industry probably. Uh, yes. Yes. Where would be going on? Yeah. Well, last week he was hue. Monaco Cocktails and Dirty Shirley. They were all acquired in the past few days. Two more companies were bought, so good, so you, which is a maker of organic wellness shots and energy drinks and hop water.
The brand of Hop infused sparkling drinks, which was purchased by Constellation Brands, the beer and spirits giant that like many others, is exploring opportunities to reach new consumers. Via non-alcoholic beverages. Let's start with hot water. That's spelled H-O-P-W-T-R, and the O is actually a drop of a water with a hop inside.
I don't think anyone wants to use vowels anymore. They just wanna avoid vowels in any form. You know? I don't know. I think brands that have no vowels and try to do that. It doesn't usually work out that great, but when you have one vow at least, yeah, it's okay. Like hot water, mud water, like yeah, it's cool for sure.
You just gotta have one. Yeah, they were probably playing Wheel of Fortune in the beginning. They didn't have a lot of money, so they could only buy one vowel. Well, a lot of people are buying hot water. A lot of people are buying Hop infuse drinks. This is six years. This acquisition was announced six years after the launch of Hot Water founded in 2020 by Jordan Bass and Nick Toronto.
Both LA based entrepreneurs, zero calorie, non-alcoholic sparkling waters, infused with hops, adaptogens, and nootropics. Constellation made their initial investment in hot water in 2021 through its venture division, and I think it's paid off for both companies. I'm not surprised by this deal and I'm really excited for the category, or at least the segment of hop infused drinks.
And you know, they may be drinking it along side alcoholic beverages, zebra striping as it were. You know, the bottom of their can. The bottom of hot waters can actually kind of looks like zebra stripes. Oh, good. I almost drop my laptop if only better than you dropping a hot water on your thumb. Good Lord.
Yeah. To some suggestion. Yeah. Well, John, you drink a lot of hot water, don't you? I mean, I've, I mean, I, I've gone through stretches. Yeah. And you know, I, again, I think this is, I feel like a broken record here, but it's another one of those product types that when it came out, it was like, man, this is kind of a dumb idea.
This is gonna go nowhere. And you know, here we are. It seems like a pretty damn genius idea. Some of that again, is just the timing of when you start out and when these ideas come out. And obviously there were a few other brands that uh, got into this category. Hop Lar Obvious. Hot Clark obviously started one of new Ever show Down.
Yeah. Started before Hop Water did, but. Really to some extent what no one maybe knew at the time was just the trajectory, the negative trajectory for beer and alcohol. So, I don't know, you know, it seems like at this point, almost hard to believe that it's only been six years. I mean, probably feels like an eternity to, uh, the guys working on it, but man, that's, you know, that's pretty impossible.
That's fast. Yeah. And, and it. Does seem like a product that to some extent, I would say is really just getting started. It's just a product that continuously improved over time, too. The first iterations were good and then it just got so close to being a beer replacement, the way that, you know, it's flavored the way that it's hopped.
You know, you could close your eyes and swear you were drinking a beer and for a lot of these products now, particularly hot water. And I think that's what makes it just so attractive. Like, oh, I can have a zero calorie, full flavor beer. Yeah, I'm in. Yeah, the bitterness of the hops really does make you feel like you're having a substitute for alcohol versus a spin drift or something like that.
And that's something I always look for in an alcohol alternative. Something that makes you feel like you're having something adult. Definitely. And I, I don't necessarily know if this is a one-to-one replacement. I don't think consumers look at this as a one-to-one replacement for beer in general terms.
I think Mike and Melissa, you've had that experience, but what's great about hot water is that it feels like an adult beverage, right? An adult non-alcoholic beverage that you can have at any time of the day. If you don't want something sweet, if you don't want a soft drink, this is a real good viable option.
And I think one that has been incorporated into people's drinking occasions throughout the day, a product like this and, and hot waters in general, hadn't. Been on the map, you know, until what, seven, eight years ago. And so now if somebody wants a carbonated drink, that's not a sparkling water. Not a soda.
They have this other option. And I think more and more people, especially for lunch or you know, that afternoon occasion, they say, well, I don't want something sweet and I don't really want like this flavored sparkling water. This is another option, but also, you know, there's a lot of great non elk products out there right now in, in the beer space.
So you've got, you know, everything from Lucky Saint to athletic of course, and anything in between. And you know, we've tried so many of those. And this is, it's interesting because before the hot waters came out, there wasn't like a super low calorie. Beer replacement, and then these come out and it punches like a beer.
And so like it fills this new opportunity space that now we have it and we can have all the options. And it's great. Like you want full flavor, you want, you know, you want those calories, you have it, but if you. Just something crushable that tastes like a beer. You can have that too. That's an excellent point, Mike.
'cause hot water is zero calorie. It's zero sugar, it's zero carbs. And some non-alcoholic beers obviously have calories, have a few carbs as well. So this is definitely an option for folks who are looking to avoid looking to go to zero or across the boards. Right. So yeah, it remains to be seen if we're going to.
Have additional interest among strategics when it comes to hot waters and hot beverages? Who knows? I mean, this might be the exception to the rule in this case. I think maybe it's just really working well for this particular brand. And Constellation just got on board really early on. But I do think it is a little bit of a proof point for what people want out of their.
Everyday drinks, and again, avoiding the sugar and the calories that you see in so many other beverages. Innovation again, it's just one simple thing. The idea of hot water was pretty easy to understand, and the biggest innovation is, all right, full flavor, no calories. Yeah. Now so good. So you, which I mentioned once again, is a maker of wellness shots and most recently organic energy drinks.
It's a Minnesota based company founded by Rita Katona and Eric Hall. They founded the company in 2014 and a private investment group called Banks. The banks group. B-A-N-S-K, am I pronouncing that right? Bank banks? Sure. Banks, I don't know how don't pronounce it. I don't think it's banks, but banks. Banks band.
I'm sorry. Ban band group. Better if it's called banks. Yeah, it make more sense. Yes. The banks group. Uh, banks. I'm never gonna get that right. No, they acquired so good. So you last week, or at least announced the acquisition last week. So good. So you has been a quiet. Category lead, or at least the category anchor in this set of, of wellness shots.
Obviously you have brands like VI Organic Suji with their wellness shots Core. I mean, there's a bunch of brands. Salty. Salty, of course, salty. How could I forget? Salty? You couldn't. Yes, and I was actually really surprised. I mean, I knew they were doing well. But according to the article written by Martine Caballero, the managing editor of Bev Net, the brand, so good.
So you, that is showed sales in excess of $90 million for the trailing 52 week period ending on March 13th. That's according to data compiled by siRNA. I knew they were doing well. I just didn't know they were doing that well. And it just goes to show the power of sort of head down, really focusing on what you do and doing it well.
And congratulations to Rita and Eric. They've done just an amazing job with that company. I've always been a huge fan. I put this on LinkedIn. I've always loved their shots. What's also interesting and differentiated about these products is their package, the wellness shots in particular, they almost look like that little medicine bottle where they have that wide Yeah, closure.
And a plastic bottle. I think it's two ounces, but it's very, it's very clear that this is a different product and a different brand than the other ones out there. This is pretty high praise because I feel like your product depth is unmatched, but, oh, I don't know about that. But your, uh, your juice love is like, your, your love of juice is ridiculously well in.
Well, look, I mean, I, I think. It was interesting times in that cold pressed juice craze of, I don't know, the 2014 timeframe where you had a bunch of brands that tried to be real flashy, tried to do brick and mortar, tried to raise boatloads of money. And these guys kind of took a different path, right? I mean, cold pressed juice from Minnesota.
It's not like all the other brands that were mostly like SoCal or New York City based, and they obviously, just as you pointed out, were kind of heads down doing their thing. It probably was a brand that, you know, when that news posted about it being. Acquired, like I bet there's plenty of people out there who looked at it and they're like, I kind of know that brand.
But it's not, again, it's not like this flashy thing that was ever like out there chest pounding or whatever. So it's kind of cool when you see brands like that that have just managed to find like. This white space or a niche that they obviously have done pretty well with. I always think of them as being really intentional and strategic in a few different ways.
Certainly with distribution strategy, you know, it doesn't always have to be about eron and Sprouts and Whole Foods, and I remember talking to their team about. Skew rationalization, which is something that they focused on really heavily, and they were really careful to make sure that they were going with the SKUs that were selling and doing well, innovating, and then, you know, maintaining the SKUs that were doing well from there, and so on and so on.
And that's really how you build a business. Oh, I love killing products so much. Like when they don't work, it's great to just be like, okay, see you later. Focus on the products that are good. Continue to double down on that, and then figure out what, what you can do next. But you can't make. All the products.
So that's just, that's really good business. And it can be hard to do as a founder and an entrepreneur, but when you, when you, especially if it's your favorite. Yeah, I know. I know, I know. But if it's not everybody else's favorite, then it's gotta go. Mm-hmm. Also, I mean, so good. So you makes all their own products.
They have a manufacturing facility that, according to the article, written by Martine, is powered by a hundred percent renewable energy. I think that certainly has been an advantage for them. In being able to innovate quickly and get product to their retail partners in a really efficient way. I don't know this for sure, so don't quote me on this and I am not saying this as a fact whatsoever, but it would seem that so good.
So you also supplies Trader Joe's with the wellness shots that they sell in their stores because they use the exact same. Package type for those wellness shots. And if that is true, if that is the case, that money's not included, that revenue's not included in the $90 million that I referenced. So that is another huge chunk of money that they're generating every year.
So once again, just really, really tons of praise and admiration for So good. So you, congrats again to Rita and Eric. Now, today is the day that we published. One of my favorite interviews that came at Expo West. I mean, I really loved all of them. This one kind of threw me for a loop, which is why it was one of my favorites.
It was an interview with Paul Reese and Michael Meadows. They are the 20 something founders of a brand called Protein Pints. Protein Pints, as you might guess, as a maker of high protein ice cream, and that brand has done incredibly well just over the past year. They went from 14 stores last year, 14 to over 10,000 stores right now, and they're predicting that by the end of the year they'll be in 12,000 stores.
You know what the initial investment in this company was? $7,000. $7,000. What? Not too Chevy. $7,000 And. One of the most poignant moments or parts of the interview was when Paul and Michael talked about the amount of time that went into preparing for this brand and preparing for the launch. They did all the legwork, all the homework that they could possibly do to make sure that they were as buttoned up as possible when they went to market, and I think it's helped them quite a bit.
Michael in particular, learned about the dairy business. He learned about the ice cream business. It was clear throughout the interview that that has been a strategic advantage for them, that that has given them a leg up on being able to. Create new flavors to understand texture, to understand costs in a way that I think most founders may not.
And again, these guys are in their mid twenties. They're really ambitious, but they're really focused on. Being as deeply involved in the business in all aspects as possible. Of course. And as they reiterated this point, many times it's the people and they've been able to recruit, really experienced, intelligent people to help them grow.
So I hope I haven't given away the entire interview because it's a really good one. Please listen to it today or when you can this week. And Protein Pines was in the news again this week. Uh, they didn't tell me this, so I'm a little, little miffed about this. But, uh, yeah, they're partnering with, uh, these San Diego Padres.
In our own backyard. That's right. Our West coast, uh, the WCB or West Coast branch. Yeah, so they're partnering with, this was an article in Noosh. They're partnering with the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. They are gonna be selling their protein pines in the concession program over there. And you know, I thought this made so much sense for them, especially because they are in so many retailers, they're in Target, Kroger, Ralph's, sprouts, Albertsons, and I think a partnership like this especially makes sense when consumers can then.
Leave the game and then go into their favorite retailer and see it right on the shelf. I think it's a marketing play, obviously, as much as it is, uh, selling product play. But it's a great venue to reach consumers, you know, everyone's there together sharing the. Experience eating together in the stands and things like that aren't as common as they used to be.
People are a little bit more isolated than they used to be, and being together in a shared experience and having sort of an emotional attachment to the food, I think is a really great way to build brand loyalty. Of course, it's difficult as well because there's limited space, so it's, you know, really hard to get in.
It has to be about driving velocity elsewhere. But yeah, I think it's a, a great play for them. I have questions about the brand though. You should listen to the interview before I, I, I can't wait to hear the interview. It's all on the interview. Yes. Protein pints though. Yes. Could it have been a beer? Could you mistake it for a beer?
If someone's talking about protein pints and then also at at concession, if you order protein pints, are you expecting to get a pint? Is it a cup protein pint cup? What if you get a cone of protein pints? Is there a whole pint in your cone? Can I get a helmet sundae? That's what I really want. Yeah. A helmet sundae.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Anyway, I mean this, all I is important for brands to get the awareness is, is clearly what we're trying to point out here. It's just where are they gonna get the biggest bang for their buck? Where is it gonna make most sense to really stand out and make sure that people see your brand?
Know your name. Because we've talked about this a million times, and you recently talked about this on the non base podcast, how difficult it is to stand out in that frozen aisle where every single time you have to open a door to actually get to the brands and the products. So I was talking to Shireen Cara from Hay Hunger.
She makes those amazing veggie patties. I'm not a vegetarian, but I would eat them all day long. Good. So good. And Asha Acia from Mason Dixie, I did a on-base podcast with them called Frozen Warriors. 'cause you really do have to be a warrior to live in that category and succeed in that category. I mean, they were talking about all of the challenges.
Things that I wouldn't have even thought of. Like Asha was talking about how now there are these energy saving lights in the frozen aisle that turn off when the customer leaves. Like just little things. They turn the lights off in the frozen aisle, nevermind things melting on the loading dock and all that stuff.
Keep 'em in the dark. Keep 'em in the dark. But yeah, Asha was giving Shireen some really amazing tips and information. Things like how to build a distribution strategy that minimizes your risk. Figuring out how to take your niche audience, figure out where else they're shopping, and use that to map out where you're going next, polling consumers so you know exactly what to call out on your packaging.
Because I mean, this is obviously true for everywhere in grocery, but in frozen. You probably have half a second to college if they can even see through the frosted glass because it's getting a frost bite. Yeah, exactly. So you know, there's some really, really fantastic information that Asha shared and certainly helpful for frozen brands.
But no matter what your brand is, there's some really great learnings there. I will say this, I would listen to or watch any piece of content with Asha and Shereen is also incredible, but Asha in particular with her experience in the industry, the directness. The transparency, the knowledge, the insights that she always shares.
She just The breakfast burritos. The breakfast burritos, yeah. She just always brings it and she is always trying to pay it forward. Always. And Melissa's such a great storyteller too. So you just painted it as, as those going into the freezer, I was like an ant. Arctic Expeditions. Get me outta here. My biggest, uh, challenge with Asha is trying to pull clips.
'cause there are so many good ones. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Like everything she says it's a three hour clip. Is a great clip. Yeah. It's a three hour soundbite. It's true. When I've done podcast interviews with her, her before and I'm like, okay, great quote, great quote. And I end up with like 25 great quotes. I'm like, okay, what do I do for social media here?
Right. But yeah, I would definitely listen to that podcast. The answer is like two weeks of social media. There you go. Yeah. Duh. Yeah, absolutely. Well, you know, I was very lucky to visit Connecticut over the weekend, and I was very lucky because I got to see my family, but I also got to visit my family store, which is called Tangiers International.
It's a grocery store that markets Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food. They also sell falafel and euros. You gotta bring some back. I do. I should have brought some back. But they have a counter where they sell delicious foods and actually the falafel sandwich is written up in the New York Times. So that's, that's, uh, that's how it was.
Good. You should give the, uh, like the exit off of, uh. 84 or whatever. It's 46 Sisson Avenue. There you go. Come on down. Tell him Ray ain't Jackson. You know what, if you do, I mean, true story. I did that once and they took good care of you. That was a, that was a long time ago. I need to go back, get kicked out. Or they were like, if you see that, you tell him he's not welcome here.
That guy was made money. No, it's, uh, yeah. You'll, his bro, his brothers are chill. Yes. You'll, you'll enjoy the food, I promise. Interestingly enough, Tangiers is known as a store that breaks, breaks in new brands. A lot of new brands are introduced at Tangiers and a lot other, you know, small other grocery stores and, and shops.
But when people go in there, they want. To see and they wanna discover new beverage brands in particular. Then they work with Rainforest distribution, which is, you know, a fantastic distribution company based outta New York and they, they've really expanded their territory. I think they're all the way down to the Mid-Atlantic now in terms of where they operate.
But I saw a few new brands and Harney and Sons. Harney and Sons is a maker of loose leaf and ready to drink teas. They also make it coconut water, and I saw this coconut water that's made with chocolate. It's been a while since I had a coconut water with chocolate. I mean, they used to be all over the place.
Zico. Zico made a hundred. Coconuts has one. Caramel harvest had one. Yeah. Yeah. But I wanted to try this now. It very much looks like a cross between a yuhoo and it looks like yu, it looks like yuhu and a chocolate milk. Mm-hmm. But it is really, as I expected, it's really delicious. It is the indulgent flavor that you're expecting.
It has that hint of saltiness from the coconut water, but it is fabulous. Hm. Tastes like CI feel like it's not as watery as you. It's been a while since I've had a yuhoo. I will admit I was like three this morning. No kidding.
Okay. Wilfred. Wow. Yes. Just pounding yuhoo. Strangely, that's protein. Strangely don't. It tastes like chocolate milk without milk. It's really good. It's really good. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I, I think. Chocolate, coconut water is one of those things that like the liquid's really solid. I think there's like a consumer education hurdle there that no one has truly been able to overcome.
Looking at the can, the can doesn't look like a traditional can can. Sure doesn't of coconut water, because it looks kinda like a cocktail. It's this 12 ounce slim can, or actually it may be 8.4 ounce or a sleepy time drink. Yeah, it does say coconut water. Smack in the middle though. Yeah. The can is basically black and purple.
Mm-hmm. Those are the main primary colors on it. It has some coconut beachy vibes as well, but for the most part, I think it feels like it should. It's, it feels like an indulgent type of product as, as opposed to one that you know, you're gonna pound in one sitting. 'cause I know a lot of people drink coconut water, say after a run or exercise.
Mm-hmm. And you know, they'll crush a can or they'll crush a bottle pretty quickly. This is definitely more of a sip type of product. Definitely. UK vibes here with the crest, the lions. That's by far the best chocolate, coconut water I have ever had. Wow. Yes. I would say if we're picking. Our favorites of the week.
That would definitely be my favorite new beverage, at least that I've tried this week. I mean, that's, that's a bold statement because I have some other beverages here, including Good Mood, which is a New York City Kombucha. That's exactly how it's described. When I first saw this in the story, I, I wondered if this was the cannabis drink.
It has this sort of cannabis vibes to it, especially with the logo font. It's pretty minimal on the front of Pack. On the top, it just says kombucha. That tastes really good. It has the logo, good mood, and then underneath it, New York City Kombucha. And then it has the flavor name, which in this case is grapefruit.
Rosemary looks like a premium soda to me. Like a Like a something and nothing. Or something like that. Yeah. Could sit in a nice bodega and really just kind of pull you in. I'm glad you mentioned that, Mike. 'cause this is an can. That's right. Because no, there's so many better for you. So it is coming to market.
And I think there is an opportunity for brands that are actually kombucha drinks or otherwise to say that's what we are and not pretend to be something else. And people are still drinking kombucha for sure. But, uh, I have not seen or heard about this one or anything about good mood until I saw it in the store.
Did you have you guys heard it before? I've had it, yeah. Yeah. No, I haven't. Oh, strangely. And I think we're outta, you're outta cups. We're outta cups here. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna sit by yourself. You might have a little chocolate. A little chocolate flavor, chocolate kombucha. Nothing wrong with that. Yeah, I don't think so.
This is fantastic. This is really, really delicious. Is it gonna challenge, uh, the coconut water for best beverage of the week? I think the coconut water still has a slight edge, but I mean, that reminds me, it reminds me of culture pop. It has that same kind of essence and vibe and sweetness to it. In fact, it has less sugar than I think culture pop does.
But both brands come with a ton of flavor. This has one of my favorite ingredients in it that isn't often seen in a beverage, which is rust. Yeah. Ooh, that is really tasty. It's a grape fruit and rosemary together give you. Just a little bit of like beer quality in your kombucha and the, wow, Melissa's struggling.
Why isn't anyone recording this re happened? Melissa, are you, should we help you? Well, stuck there. I don't how I got caught underneath. Melissa just had a, uh. Headphone malfunction there. That was, uh, that, that was unexpected something. I feel like your headphones attacked here. I think that may have happened.
Yeah. Yeah. You know what the best part about that was? Space booby trapped. Sorry. It, it, it looked like Melissa was in, in a real heap of trouble and we all just were looking at her, staring at her and laughing. That's what I would've. I would do the same if it happened to any of you. I was like hoping she would get out of it because I was about to spring, but I felt like, I felt like you had another five seconds in you.
Yeah. Yeah. A fight. Yeah. At before. Before you were like, I'm dying. I won that fight. It wasn't pretty. The kombucha was definitely in a precarious position right there too. So that was something that, that was a drama. Melissa, a draw at best. Yeah. Well, I, I brought the Harney and Sons that's going on social.
Oh God. I brought the Harney and Sons coconut water with chocolate. I brought the good mood and I expected that one of them was going to be a clear winner and I think that, like I said, I think the Harney and Son has a, has a slight advantage, but they're both outstanding beverages. Think Love Melissa. Oh, Mike is just still going at it over here.
Okay, well Mike is still going at it over there. John, what do you got, by you? Um, I got some Yaza. Oh, nice. Yaza. Yaza. Yaza known for. Its labne. It's uh, Lebanese style. labne? Yeah. Well now they have Tzatziki and Muhammara. Very cool. We got a sneak peek. And Bob, you got a sneak peek Mo, Bob. I know. Well, I mean this is what we got.
We got these two. True. And for folks who don't know what Muhammara is, what is Muhammara? It is described as a Mediterranean red pepper dip ray. It's got breadcrumbs in it, walnuts, pomegranate. It's a pretty darn tasty condiment. I like to call it dip. Excuse me. I put that on my lunch last week. I put a little scoop on the lunch that I brought into work.
It's so good. The Muhammara. Yeah, it's really good. And then also this, uh, Tzatziki. You can tell us what that is. Ray Tzatziki is a cucumber yogurt dip. It's quite delicious. They also market it as having 42 grams of protein if you manage to eat like this entire thing. Yeah, that's a lot. That's funny. It seems aggressive, but it's like two tablespoons for 3.5 grams of protein, so that, not that.
Yeah. No, it's like that. I mean, you know, I'm, I'm just poking fun. It No, no, I know. It's, it's a really, I know why you're doing what you're doing. 'cause I did the same thing. Yeah. That stuff is so good. I had some RAO sauce left over the other night and I poached some eggs in it and I was like, oh, how do I kick this up a notch?
'cause Jill want, my daughter, Jill wanted some too. And I just threw a couple of drops of, uh, Tzatziki in it. 'cause I was looking for labate, but it, I was out, so I put the cki in it and it was spot on. So Good. I mean, typically you'd see Teki on a Euro sandwich or gyros is you call it, but uh, yeah, I would probably put extra.
Ya Tzatziki on my gyro if I had one. Yeah, you would. That's a really good ation for it. And I gotta say Ya's brand revamp is fantastic. Yeah. Christian Karim Khalil, who's the founder of the company, he, uh, introduced it actually at Noosh live LA 2025. And. They've since gone big and wide with it, and it's really great to see what they've done with the brand.
And that new branding and label design really stands out on shelf. Fantastic. Agree. It does. It's fantastic. You're starting to see it out in the wild now. They just, uh, launched into JUCO in Illinois, in Chicagoland, and just a lot of cool things happening with the Yaza brand right now. Also, when we got it, another good thing to eat it with was the Terranean, zaatar chips.
Oh. Which by the way. It has a refresh coming out that is pretty great too. Nice. I've seen plenty of Tzatziki sold in grocery stores package. I think Cedars had one and a bunch of other brands, but I'm so excited to see the Hamara. That's not something that you see every day and they do such a good job with it.
Oh my God, it is so, it's so good. What would they go to next? After the Cki, would they go into the laminate or would they go into Muhammara or Baba ganoush? I think, you know, everyone's getting into RTD cocktails, whether they're NA or a, maybe that's the next thing for them. Mm-hmm. Is that a little bit outta their league?
I think it's probably, I think so. LA cocktails. That was my poor segue to John's next product over here. I mean, I was gonna make a segue of, I brought this beverage for you, Ray. 'cause I know you love a skinny margarita. Skinny Margarita and Ray, who should never be said in the same sentence. Ray's just like, I'm gonna freaking kill you.
Anyway, again, this is the Skinny Spritz from Spritz Society. You've had them on the podcast. I have had the founder of Spritz Society on the podcast. So they're, I think, kinda wisely creating this product for the calorie conscious consumer. A hundred calories. You know, I, I think it's pretty solid for what it is.
And I feel like making the conversation about the calories in some of these RTD cocktail type products is pretty smart too, so Absolutely. Seems like a pretty solid line extension for those guys. So you might wanna try one. Lunch is, uh, is almost served. So, uh, ke I'll keep that in mind. Okay. Alright. All right.
Melissa, what do you got over here? So I have a couple of packages of Stellar granola. I have the OG original granola, it's Oats coconut. Some other delicious flavors, uh, pumpkin seeds, maple syrup, and then I also have their golden milk SKU. So it's kind of like a turmeric latte turned into a crunchy bite, is how they call it on the package.
I accidentally ate more than half a bag of the. S'mores granola last week. It was, yeah, it was. It was all of a sudden it was like, wait, Melissa, what are you doing? But I think it's just such a tasty product. It tastes like there's a lot more sugar in it than there is. There's six grams of total sugar in the og and there are also six in the um.
In the Golden Milk, and I notice that the OG has a good food award. That's one of the awards that when I see it, it always, to me indicates that it's a really tasty product. You know, I've heard people call this the Oscars of food Awards, and the folks who decide on these awards are chefs and food writers and stuff like that.
But I feel like as far as awards go, when I see this one, I think, huh, that's probably gonna taste pretty good. So, really tasty. Yeah, and I would say that I think the og, I like that black and white color scheme here. It really stands out. Definitely stands out on shelf. You don't see a lot of that within the granola category.
And I, I also feel like I love seeing windows into the package as well. So there's a couple. Clear stars, like I would get clear windows where you can see the actual ingredients here too. I think that's really important to know. 'cause when you buy granola, you wanna actually see the granola. Mm-hmm. And the window lets you see that they, there are these huge chunks of granola, those big clusters which go down pretty fast as I found out last week.
All of a sudden chew. Melissa, don't forget to chew. I do forget to chew. Oh, I'm just gonna walk by your office and be Melissa, chew. I'm just dumping the bag into the mouth. Oh. And Mike has a product called Medase. It's called Medase, right? Medase also a brand of, uh, low calorie, non alc cocktails that these are almost the purest play for cocktail for me, for non out cocktail that I've had so far.
I mean, she's got, uh, Moscow Mule. There's the old fashioned, of course there's Lemon Drop. You got your margarita. And I think these are just like, in terms of no impact, but full flavor and you know, the spirit is there of the cocktail. These are, these are my favorite. The packaging is fantastic. I will say I didn't necessarily know that it was a cocktail or a non elk cocktail.
I think the packaging needs work, but the liquid is just phenomenal. So you here, try this Old Fashioned. The can is really simple and elegant and nice to hold. Once you're drinking it, you'll, you'll see what I'm talking about.
