[00:00:10] Ray Latif: Hello, friends, and thanks for tuning in to 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 and Jacqui Brugliera, and Mike Schneider, who is sweating buckets over here to my left because there's a big game, big soccer game on this afternoon involving his favorite team, that of the Arsenal Gunners. And the German giants of Bayern Munich. Look at you just hydrating as much as you can right now. Look at me sweating buckets right now. What is that?
[00:00:47] John Craven: What are you drinking? I'm having a Local Weather. I really like this stuff. Local Weather. The Russell Wilson co-founded brand. Aluminum bottle can thing here.
[00:00:55] Ray Latif: Look at that. There's a Soccer Talk.
[00:00:57] John Craven: There's a Soccer Talk in the front. The only problem is it's blue.
[00:01:00] Jacqui Brugliera: I just I need a red can I'm gonna use a wild berry flavor you I'm gonna choose this word carefully clowns go direct to a random football man random when there was like It's like an NCAA women's championship men's championship a goddamn solar eclipse. We've been talking By the time this airs no one's gonna they're gonna be like what was that About the percentages of like what people care about you know like what percentage is like really focused on the Eclipse right now versus women's basketball football will be just hard stop no more soccer football, whatever I did sit in like four and a half hours of traffic getting home from to see a dot just to go stare at the sky for so we know what you were focused on 90 seconds yeah I mean I was at a brewery drinking beer too but I won't talk about
[00:02:01] John Craven: I mean, we talked about the NCAA women's tournament for a couple of weeks and it's a little disappointing. Jacqui and I are sad.
[00:02:07] Mike Schneider: I know I want to get in Clark to win South Carolina undefeated season.
[00:02:12] John Craven: Yeah, that was pretty rushed it.
[00:02:13] Mike Schneider: And Don Stacey is like the most amazing coach, so I'm happy either. I was happy she couldn't even speak.
[00:02:20] John Craven: I know she could say nothing. She was so just overtaken by emotions.
[00:02:24] Mike Schneider: Yeah, their redemption year after losing last year, so.
[00:02:29] Ray Latif: So very, very impressive sporting events as in the Women's National Championship or Women's Basketball National 3rd Final. But who's starting for Arsenal?
[00:02:38] John Craven: That's a good question.
[00:02:40] Ray Latif: The NCAA Women's Basketball National Championship won by South Carolina. The men on the men's side, Connecticut went back to back with a really impressive tournament run. Who? Yes, the Eclipse was yesterday. We're recording here on Tuesday, the 9th of April. The equally impressive I guess but I do want to know my retinas are still burning He put magnifying glasses on very quickly, that's what I thought you're supposed to do John told me that I did very quickly I do want to know that this afternoon's game between Arsenal and Bayern Munich is part one of two matches Yes, so this so this first match is at Arsenal's home stadium It's a very important match for them to win And if they don't have a great result, Byron's going to have a significant advantage. Got it.
[00:03:30] Mike Schneider: So why is it two matches? Like, is it a series?
[00:03:32] John Craven: Because it's knockout. Yeah. It's knockout round in the Champions League. So you play two matches and it's, it's an aggregate, so.
[00:03:41] Ray Latif: They aggregate the number of goals.
[00:03:42] John Craven: That's pretty cool.
[00:03:43] Ray Latif: If you let's say they they each win a game and They have the same number of goals in the aggregate, then they will go to extra time. It is still tied. This only happens leading up to the final game. The final game is only one game.
[00:03:56] Mike Schneider: OK, so they could suck today and still, you know, figure it out.
[00:03:59] Ray Latif: It's possible, but the home field advantage really does mean a lot. It doesn't mean as much as it used to because of away goals. We won't get into that, but anyway.
[00:04:06] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, we've got to talk about CBG stuff or we're going to have to change that intro to the podcast for no one with anything useful to do in the CBG industry. For people who are twiddling their thumbs with nothing better to do.
[00:04:20] John Craven: I didn't even get to say we are top of the league. We are top of the league. Come on.
[00:04:23] Ray Latif: But anyone who is a Taste Radio VIP will know that we do love soccer. We love to talk about the sport from time to time. And if you are a Taste Radio VIP, you will get benefits that few other listeners get. Well, actually, there's a lot of people who listen. We have a good percentage of our folks who listen on a regular basis that are part of the VIP group. But for those of you who are not yet part of VIP, it's very easy to sign up. Go to Taste Radio slash VIP. You'll find benefits, including discounts to trade shows, other events that happen throughout the year, including one that's coming up in San Diego. We'll have fun and exciting ways to incorporate your brand into the show and highlight your products at conventions and trade shows like we just did at Expo West. A lot of the folks that we did highlight on Instagram and LinkedIn, Taste Radio VIPs. Once again, sign up Taste Radio slash VIP.
[00:05:18] John Craven: And as we like to say, Ray, just for listening, you're already a VIP. We just want to make it official. We want to be able to give you some special, you know, special attention for being a VIP.
[00:05:26] Arsenal Gunners: Absolutely. Vibrant Ingredients is the natural ingredient partner powering food and beverage innovation, delivering flavor, function, and protection through a science-backed portfolio. Vibrant delivers purpose-driven solutions that help brands create extraordinary experiences. Discover what's possible with Vibrant today. Visit VibrantIngredients.com
[00:05:56] Ray Latif: Now, I heard from a lot of Taste Radio VIPs about a recent controversy that's been all over the news. That's involving Momofuku. Momofuku, the well-known chain of restaurants and consumer brand founded by David Chang and helmed by Marguerite Zeber Mariscal, who we featured last week in an episode of Taste Radio. Now, this controversy hits home for a lot of folks because essentially Momofuku trademarked the term chili crunch. And in doing so, they alienated a lot of smaller brands that use chili crunch to describe their products. Momofuku is being called a bully by some folks, and whether it's fair or not to be called that, the representation of the brand right now and how people are viewing their business practices doesn't really seem to be in the best place.
[00:07:03] John Craven: Marguerite Mariscal and the CEO of Momofuku on this very podcast said days before the cease and desist was issued that the rising tide lifts all boats. I mean, right there, that's, that's confusing, Ray. It's confusing.
[00:07:20] Ray Latif: It is confusing, but I will say, you look, I mean, Momofuku trademarked chili crunch. You know, they, I mean, they, they trademarked that term. If other people are going to use it, they have to defend it, right? Otherwise you're going to lose that trademark. They spent- No. No? Well, you don't think so?
[00:07:33] Jacqui Brugliera: Well, I mean, look, we have trademarks on common things here, like Nosh, which is impossible to just trademark the word Nosh, right? So I guess my own kind of insight on this is like, Yes, you have to defend your trademarks, but you can also kind of work with other companies. So in the case of Nosh, like we have agreements with other companies that are using the word Nosh in totally different fields because it is a trademark that on its own is sort of loose. And at some point you risk, you know, someone fighting your actual trademark. Now I would say in the case of this, like my, you know, from my experience and just seeing this, I mean, there's probably whoever handles their trademarks that decided to file for it when it was a thing that was pretty, you know, unique and new and. You know, I think if this were a This Little startup company that had managed to trademark Chili Crunch like we might see it differently, but David Chang and Mamafuku are who they are. They are sort of culinary icons that I think the optics of this regardless of whatever, you know, the actual trademark law is, it's kind of time for them to just, I don't know, take a loss on this and accept that this is probably something that they should let go and, you know, either have agreements with these companies or just let the trademark lapse. because I don't think that this is doing them any good to be perceived as this kind of anti-small business, anti-entrepreneur company, when in reality, like, Momofuku's CPG company, like, is a small entrepreneurial, like, upstart in itself.
[00:09:14] John Craven: Like, they're just gonna hurt themselves here, so... Yeah, I don't see the point of defending a trademark and becoming a litigation company when they have all kinds of great food to make, and so do these competitors. It's also chili crunch. It feels pretty generic, just like, I don't know, aspirin, yo-yo, cellophane, other products that were previously trademarked but then became common use because they're generic.
[00:09:36] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah. The last thing I'll say on this is I think, you know, there are scenarios where you would just let whoever's handling your trademarks, like, file for things that they feel are relevant or that you should be protected on. But stuff like sending out, you know, cease and desist and pursuing, you know, the defense of the trademark, there's no way you just have your, you know, law firm like on autopilot doing that. Like that costs you money. Like those are decisions that it would be impossible to believe that those weren't made at like the executive level. So, I mean, again, they're sort of, I think, getting the backlash they deserve for this. And at some point, like they should probably either just you know, apologize and move on or I don't know. If it was a mistake, we would have heard something by now, but we haven't.
[00:10:25] Mike Schneider: And to Mike's point, like where it's kind of generic, I mean, obviously the cultural element of it, like they're trying to trademark something that is almost like a food group for certain cultures. So there's like this feels like This Little cultural insensitivity, like trying to create barriers for like founders to create foods that they grew up with, you know, and to use the name Chili Crunch, whereas they're trying to trademark that and then, you know, enforce it. And my other question is like, I guess you want to protect yourself as a brand and you want to submit all these trademarks, but what was even the idea behind trademarking Chili Crunch?
[00:11:04] Ray Latif: I mean, I think part of it was to differentiate themselves from chili crisp, which is a pretty commonly used term as it relates to oil and pepper sauce or oil and pepper, marinade, seasoning, whatever you want to call it. And to be clear, I mean, I think, you know, I believe that the brands affected, including Homia, including a brand that I hear, Mila, including, you know, This Little goat, a lot of these brands that are women and minority owned, I feel for them and I feel like they should come to an agreement with Momofuku. I will say, however, that, you know, to your point earlier, John, yes, they could choose not to defend the trademark and yes, they could work with other companies, you know, to allow them to use that term. But had those other companies come to Momofuku knowing that the trademark was out there ahead of time, maybe this wouldn't have been an issue.
[00:11:57] Jacqui Brugliera: Well, I mean, some of that just in terms of the timing of all this stuff. Sometimes it's not super easy to fully understand every possible trademark risk that's out there. I think, you know, typically you'd be focused more on like the brand name as opposed to like a product that's just a combination of two words. And I think, you know, having thought about this and looking at the Mamafuku product, I have to guess that they're part of, you know, just as a kind of innocuous explanation for like why they trademarked this is that it kind of felt like they maybe were considering making the actual brand Chili Crunch and downplaying Mamafuku, which is still pretty small on there, which is Probably not the best, you know, path for them to take, but you know, it's interesting.
[00:12:51] Ray Latif: I mean... I mean, I have the jar in my hand of Momofuku.
[00:12:53] Jacqui Brugliera: I mean, it's interesting for a company that's really, like, you know, hell-bent on this trademark. There's no, like, TM or anything on here, which you would typically do when you're trying to tell people that you're at least in the process of trademarking something. I don't know if it's fully... if that trademark is pending or actually registered, but, you know, they have nothing on here.
[00:13:14] Mike Schneider: Yeah, I think a lot of these younger brands are just kind of surprised. It just seemed like it came out of nowhere and they weren't expecting this to be trademarked because again, it seems kind of generic. So I think there's just like a level of surprise and kind of just all these brands asking why.
[00:13:28] John Craven: It's not just Caleb and Jen from Mila and Michelle from Homia who are upset. You've got Jing Gao from Fly By Jing and Vanessa Pham and Kim Pham and Kevin Lee and other Asian founders jumping in here to say, you know, why are we fighting each other?
[00:13:44] Ray Latif: Yeah, Jing Gao, who is an investor in Homia, posted something on LinkedIn four days ago when she said that the chili crunch trademark should never have been granted, like chili crisp, but is a generic and descriptive term for a culturally specific condiment, one that has existed in Chinese culinary culture for hundreds of years. I'm disheartened to hear that Momofuku is using a trademark with a validity that is tenuous at best to go after numerous brands, including small minority and women founded businesses. Get all that get all that I do want to bring up so I had a few different jars of chili crunch that I hoarded at home You know there's another there's another brand out there I mentioned this brand This Little goat which is was founded by Stephanie Izard who is the well-known chef appeared and won the Competition top chef uses chili crunch as a descriptor for her products interestingly though Now hold on now John has in his hand a jar of Heinz.
[00:14:41] Jacqui Brugliera: A jar of Heinz.
[00:14:42] Ray Latif: Culinary crunch. Chili, crisp, crunch, whatever you want to call it. But they don't call it chili crisp. Culinary crunch. They don't call it chili crisp. They don't call it chili crunch. They call it culinary crunch.
[00:14:52] Jacqui Brugliera: That is interesting. That is just, that's like a word, a mini word salad of nothingness. I have to. Isn't every product culinary by definition?
[00:15:05] Ray Latif: Topical crunch to that you put on your skin because Mike would like that snacking crunch just as a point I have to think that the folks from Hines and their attorneys Saw that chili crunch their season attorneys, right?
[00:15:20] Jacqui Brugliera: Okay, okay probably trade on let's let's go to the first step which is the focus groups We're probably they had some people who were like Chili crunch what the hell is that? What if we call it culinary crunch?
[00:15:32] Ray Latif: There's a statement of identity to that is chili pepper crunch on here And then they also have crunch sauce on the side now what's interesting is the look This Little goat parted with Hidden Valley Ranch a year ago to create a ranch flavored chili crunch I would think that the lawyers from Hidden Valley would also have seen that chili crunch was trademarked and advised them not to use that term.
[00:15:56] John Craven: This stuff looks really good, by the way, This Little goat. The other thing about the hominya that's interesting is it's sambal, which is, you know, traditional Singapore chili crunch that you can't typically get. It's kind of hard to get. It's so tasty. And, and she's trying to figure out, you know, okay, where does this fit? What is it? Okay. It's a chili crunch. So I'm going to put it in that category. The point that we always make on the show. And I think the point that Marguerite was also making in your interview with her was that, yeah, the rising tide lifts all boats. So more than one chili crunch means you're taking, you know, these small founders who are building these products, come up with this word that makes a lot of sense to consumers and take share from other places versus from each other. There's one piece of the story we're missing here though, right? Which is what? That Simulio jumped in because he's an investor in Mila and wanted to do blind taste tests with people and said, hey, the winner keeps the word Chili Crush. I don't think that's going to happen.
[00:16:54] Jacqui Brugliera: How can you do a... It's a joke.
[00:16:55] John Craven: He made it. He's making a joke.
[00:16:57] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, I know. You also can't really do a taste test with Chili Crisp, right? You do one and your palate's like nuked. Exactly. I could do it. Jacqui could do it.
[00:17:07] Ray Latif: I am very sympathetic to everything that's going on and how brands are impacted by, you know, what's going on. I think, frankly, I have to look at this from Momofuku's perspective as well and kind of share my thoughts and what they're trying to do. I would advise them if I were an advisor to Marguerite and David, I would say, look, I mean, maybe it is a good idea to drop this and, you know, kind of. Create some kumbaya among those makers of chili crunch and chili crisp and call it a day. That would be what I would advise, but it's probably not nearly as simple as that. Anyway, continue to follow this story on Nosh.com. If you're an insider, you will hear the full story as it continues to unfold. To become an insider is very easy to go to Nosh.com slash insider. The one thing that's missing from all Chili Crisp and Chili Crunch products, I think we know what this is, is an immune function, the functional benefit of immunity. That's right. This is just something I never get in my Chili Crunch, in my Chili Crisp. It just should be in a lot more things. And the way to do so, folks, brand owners and operators, is to incorporate Immuse, I-M-M-U-S-E, into your products. Amuse is the presenting sponsor of this episode of Taste Radio. Amuse is a dietary and food ingredient clinically shown to stimulate immune function at the cellular level. Incorporate Amuse into your innovation strategy and help your consumers optimize their health throughout the year. Learn more at amusehealth.com. That's I-M-M-U-S-E health.com. All right, folks, you probably didn't hear the five minute pause that we just took because Mike couldn't stop laughing about the product that I want to talk about, which is called GutNuts. Somehow that phrase is triggering. It's very triggering. He's going into conniptions over here. GutNuts is a brand of fermented, or a product of fermented almonds and cashews from Philosopher Foods. Philosopher Foods is a maker of nut butters and whole fermented nuts. And they recently revamped the branding and package for GutNuts. It used to be in a jar, and now it's in this pouch that just looks beautiful. It's in this three ounce pouch. The label itself looks mad pro and looks like it would definitely appeal to younger consumers and those that are looking for just kind of a modern take on whole almonds and cashews. I just love this package design. Gutnuts is like top of the package, fermented almonds right in the middle, and then you have pictures of the almonds at the bottom. It is just fantastic. Have you had to try this, John? Don't recall. Okay, you can rip that open.
[00:19:56] Mike Schneider: I mean, I like anything that's like a little like funky. I feel like they taste like a little funky because the fermentation and the packaging definitely pops compared to I think they were in just like little glass jars before. They definitely have more real estate to work with on the pouch.
[00:20:10] John Craven: Yeah. Nuts in glass jars was kind of weird. This is a lot more mainstream, I suppose.
[00:20:16] Ray Latif: This offers them a lot more mainstream merchandising opportunities as well as those in natural. Just, it gives you a better option in different aisles.
[00:20:24] Mike Schneider: Yeah, it looks like they're growing up from something that's a little bit more craft or farmer's market to something that can hit shelves.
[00:20:30] Jacqui Brugliera: Excellent way of putting it. Yeah, these are definitely pretty tasty. A little tang from the fermentation, but I kind of like it.
[00:20:37] Ray Latif: Yeah, we featured founder Tim Richards on an episode of Elevator Talk earlier this year in which he talked about the evolution of this product line And it was a great episode. If you are listening and you are an early stage founder and would like to join us for a future episode of Elevator Talk, head to BevNET or Nosh.com, search for Elevator Talk and apply for the show. We will get you into a future episode. We'll also put the link on how to apply in the show notes. All right, Mike finally stops crying. What do you have there? It looks like you have some eggs. I've got some Mochi Love. Have you had Mochi Love? No. Look at that sample. Look at that there.
[00:21:23] John Craven: Yeah, obviously this is a sample pack of Mochi Love here, but I've got the mango and passion fruit mochi treats here. And this is, um, you know, you've had mochi before, but the difference between this and what you might've had is that this is refrigerated instead of frozen. So it's got the squish, squish, squish. It's got the squish. All about the squish.
[00:21:42] Ray Latif: So these are not These are not market ready products. These are this is not market ready packaging. These are samples.
[00:21:54] John Craven: That's a sample Okay, but I mean have you ever watched um like Japanese tik-tok
[00:22:00] Ray Latif: I don't spend a lot of time on Japanese.
[00:22:02] John Craven: I mean, just watch, watch Japanese food reviews, watch Japanese people review food. They talk about different stuff than you talk about. They talk about like oil. They talk about snap. They talk about pop and, and squish. Oh snap.
[00:22:14] Mike Schneider: I feel like mukbang is a big thing. Cause it's all about like the ASMR of eating, you know, all the sounds.
[00:22:23] John Craven: There's so many different ways to describe the mouth feel that we don't use.
[00:22:27] Ray Latif: And I love it. I'm in for it. I don't think I would like to hear people chewing. I don't think that would be that. Is that a thing on TikTok? Definitely. Oh yeah.
[00:22:35] Mike Schneider: People love it. Like someone crunching into like a crispy chicken wing. You know, that is satisfying. I don't eat meat, but that is satisfying.
[00:22:43] John Craven: And some people you can watch the meat and it's like, that person is a beautiful eater. And then you see someone else eat and you're like...
[00:22:50] Mike Schneider: You know I dare I say that it's better Jacqui Or even people think the long fingernails, and they're like oh for Christ Okay, I'm moving on to the next product here.
[00:23:02] Jacqui Brugliera: Everyone's gone everyone's gone out of their mind Thank you you got to try the tequila so what kind of secure this is not your father's tequila This is chica cheetah, which is I hope I'm saying that right Chica Chida cheetah. Yeah, right I don't know kind of rolled off the tongue a little weird, but it's kind of same concept as maybe Skrewball Whiskey, but peanut butter tequila It's got like a madre mezcal vibe to it It does.
[00:23:32] Ray Latif: I, from what I understand. Oh, the peanut butter note on that is. Oh, it's very strong. I got a press release about this a couple of weeks back, and this is a spirit that was created in partnership with Sam Hirsch, who is the president and CEO of Piermont Brands. That smells great. And barstool sports personality, Caleb Presley. This is definitely akin to a screwball type of product. Skrewball Whiskey is that famous peanut butter whiskey, as John pointed out. It's quite sweet.
[00:24:00] John Craven: It is quite sweet. Definite peanut butter and a little bit of, um, it's got sweeter notes than peanut butter on the nose and some floral notes. Really, it's really good smelling.
[00:24:09] Ray Latif: Yeah. The one thing that I'm a little disappointed in, and of course, you know, you'll probably figure out why. is that it is described on the back as an agave spirit with artificial peanut butter flavor. Now, you know, I'm not sure if any other peanut butter flavored spirit brands use artificial flavors or not, but... Does that mean that people who are allergic to peanuts can drink it?
[00:24:33] John Craven: Possible okay, there's a reason.
[00:24:35] Jacqui Brugliera: I mean it doesn't have any sort of nut allergen warning although typically people who are allergic to peanut butter Better safe than sorry yeah, yeah folks, which I don't blame them for I wouldn't try it.
[00:24:49] Mike Schneider: It's interesting.
[00:24:50] Jacqui Brugliera: It's interesting
[00:24:51] Ray Latif: Yes, now Caleb Presley who I don't know from partial sports parent. This is a pretty well-known personality Said that is quoted in the press releases saying it's peanut butter, but better, but being spelled B UTT yeah, I say but B UTT because she could cheetah makes my tonsils twerk and my brain bounce that ass and Clever marketing copy. Do you like the way I read that, Jacqui? Yeah, you're so matter of fact. With a serious tone. I love it.
[00:25:22] Mike Schneider: I don't think half of those words I ever thought were going to come out of your mouth, so.
[00:25:27] Ray Latif: No, definitely not. Bounce that ad.
[00:25:33] John Craven: Tonsils twerking. No, no tonsils twerking.
[00:25:37] Jacqui Brugliera: How about one more? We'll have this lapos.
[00:25:42] Ray Latif: L A P O apostrophe S. Uh, non-alcoholic Negroni.
[00:25:46] Jacqui Brugliera: Oh yeah.
[00:25:47] Ray Latif: Gotta give this a swig. Andre Hernandez. I saw that on her. None for us.
[00:25:51] John Craven: None for us. None for us.
[00:25:53] Ray Latif: Screw you guys. Put that on Twitter. Delicious. Is it? Yeah. Is it carbonated?
[00:26:01] Jacqui Brugliera: Uh, I think so.
[00:26:03] Ray Latif: Beautiful looking can it's so it's got a little tingle to it. It is so 1920s Into the peanut butter yeah, just a check carbonation. Yeah, what do they call that 1920s kind of? Aesthetic vintage old-school retro. I don't know no. There's a specific term associated with it. It's like Rolling I don't know what it is sure
[00:26:33] John Craven: Prohibition era? It's really something like that. It's a really good looking can and definitely something I've been intrigued by until John drank it straight out of the can.
[00:26:42] Ray Latif: Eight fluid ounces.
[00:26:44] John Craven: I have an extra can, don't worry.
[00:26:45] Ray Latif: I'm still intrigued. Yeah. Eight fluid ounces in a white can with red and gold lettering and imagery. Yeah. Nice looking product. Delicious too. Yeah.
[00:26:54] Mike Schneider: Well, you have non-ALC products over there. I have a lot of products over here that tickle the brain. They are. Premium cocktails and also THC beverages. So I have Wink, which I love their products. Super tasty. I love that they have two different formats. So you can either have two and a half milligrams of THC, or you can have five milligrams. And it does include CBD too, which I personally have a better experience when you have both THC and CBD in the product.
[00:27:26] Ray Latif: Wink being spelled W Y N K. Yes, and it has a little wink on the on the pack and I wink yes, and I wink If you didn't see Jacqui in the video not to be confused blinking blinking her eye with her finger My I needed an assist Does it look a little bit like the bubbly wink the bubbly wink?
[00:27:49] Mike Schneider: What's the bubbly?
[00:27:50] John Craven: You know bubbly?
[00:27:51] Ray Latif: Bubbly. John, let Jacqui finish what she's talking about without crunching into your crackers over here. Just snacking, Ray. Oh, for crying out loud.
[00:28:00] Mike Schneider: And then I also have two canned cocktails, RTD cocktails. One is a premium like margarita called Sola, S-O-U-L-A. And then one is a premium sake soda. called Soke, which is kind of a fun name, Soke Sake. So cool to see some premium cocktails. And they're out of San Diego, both of those those products. And with all this, this makes me just think of BevNET Live because we're gonna have a ton of RTD cocktail content, hemp beverage content, also hemp and RTD cocktail sampling as well as non-alcohol stuff. for non-alcoholic cocktails.
[00:28:59] John Craven: It's kind of like a switchel. It's got ACV natural flavors, some raspberry juice, lemon juice, black tea extract, apple juice concentrate, and a little bit of monk fruit. It's pretty tasty. They've got a few different varieties. I like the blackberry the best. Widow's Tea Cider. It's by Original Sin. This one's a Widow's Tea Cider. The company's called Original Sin. What was the Original Sin in the Bible? What was that? Was that eating the apple?
[00:29:24] Ray Latif: Eating the apple.
[00:29:25] Mike Schneider: I think it was eating the apple, yeah.
[00:29:26] Ray Latif: Yeah. There it is. I got deep. John's like, I spent 18 years in Catholic school. You don't want to go down that road. But you do want to go down the road of Pretzelized Snacks. The crunching.
[00:29:40] Jacqui Brugliera: Sorry, I can't hear you over the crunching. Pretzelized. Pretzelized Snacks a new brand of I guess there's crackers and sort of chips that are basically described as the marriage of like a pita chip and a pretzel. It's from Jason Cohen who in the classic sell your former company that made crackers and chips from the ground up is now back with a Another one and this stuff. Uh, yeah, it's really really delicious. I mean, he's got another take on pretzels.
[00:30:12] John Craven: So Uh, he's really good at pretzels obviously from the ground up was and is phenomenal So why not try something else? This is a definitely a different spin Yeah, certainly room for it. And it's funny because he's got he keeps talking about pretzelizing everything. So I made a bunch of ai You know press alizing buildings press alizing I even formula P formula pretzel racing pretzel race cars
[00:30:39] Ray Latif: Formula P didn't sound very nice when you first said it. But anyway, yeah. Yeah, well, it sounds like you guys are proselytizing Pretzelized Snacks.
[00:30:49] Jacqui Brugliera: I want to call it pretzel-itized.
[00:30:51] Ray Latif: Pretzel-itized.
[00:30:52] Jacqui Brugliera: But yeah, these are the cheddar crackers. They have a very delicious everything flavor chip, too.
[00:31:00] John Craven: I feel like this is just going to go big in the Midwest where they're trying to pretzelize everything anyway, so.
[00:31:06] Ray Latif: Perhaps. Last thing I want to talk about is a brand that we have highlighted a couple of times on this show over the past few weeks, and that is Kolkata, which recently sent us their new Dunks products. These are a much better for you version of the classic Dunkaroos products. There are two varieties. One is made with brownie flavored coconut spread and pretzels. And the other one is made with their original coconut spread and pretzels as well. So plenty for everyone to have. I already dipped into these and they are amazing.
[00:31:39] John Craven: I love Bree and Jared so much. They're just super great people to talk to. And it's just been fun to get to know them from, you know, wide eyed founders with a great idea to now they're just talking business all the time.
[00:31:52] Mike Schneider: Yeah, it's been fun to watch them on Instagram, too, tell the story of, like, launching this new product and how, like, the momentum of it has just been insane, and that they had to launch it, like, earlier than they expected. I just love watching, like, the founder's story and all the chaos that goes on behind the scenes.
[00:32:08] John Craven: Yeah, it sort of leaked after Expo West, and people got really interested in it, and they said they released it, like, three weeks sooner than they intended to, and they've just been like, ah!
[00:32:21] Ray Latif: That brings us to the end of this episode of Taste Radio. Thank you so much for listening. Taste Radio is a production of BevNET.com, Incorporated. Our audio engineer for Taste Radio is Joe Cracci. Our technical director is Joshua Pratt, and our video editor is Ryan Galang. Our social marketing manager is Amanda Smerlinski, and our designer is Amanda Huang. Just a reminder, if you like what you hear on Taste Radio, please share the podcast with friends and colleagues. And of course, we would love it if you could review us on the Apple Podcasts app or your listening platform of choice. Check us out on Instagram. Our handle is bevnettasteradio. As always, for questions, comments, ideas for future podcasts, please send us an email to ask at Taste Radio. On behalf of the entire Taste Radio team, thank you for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.
[00:33:11] David Chang: you
