[00:00:10] Ray Latif: Hello, dear 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 I'm with my co-host for this episode, Jacqui Brugliera, Mike Schneider, and Melissa Traverse. You know, John Craven, who's typically in the seat that Melissa is occupying, is in Europe. He's in Ireland, reconnecting with his roots. He's not Irish, is he? I don't know. Yeah, he's so Irish.
[00:00:39] Jacqui Brugliera: He does like Guinness.
[00:00:41] Mike Schneider: Yeah. A mix of European, like a lot of us.
[00:00:44] Ray Latif: He's a European mutt. I got it. I got it. Well, anyway, I, uh, I saw that his parking space was open today. And so, you know, I did take it with my beat up 2009 Honda core that has more dense than it has miles. It is a pretty impressive thing to park right there.
[00:01:03] Jacqui Brugliera: Did the parking space reject you?
[00:01:05] Ray Latif: No, it didn't actually. But what's great is that I am now the CEO of BevNET because by parking there, by virtue of parking in that spot, I become the leader.
[00:01:15] Jacqui Brugliera: It's like severance. When you walk in, you're transformed.
[00:01:18] Melissa Traverse: I'm pretty surprised that you sold someone's parking space after I- Stole? Well, took someone's parking space. I think that's how you summed it up to me the first time I ever met you. When I parked in a raised spot- Oh, that's true. I remember that. And you come storming into the office and you see like, who's in my spot? And I was like, That's probably me. I do remember that. And he's got his United hat on and I was like, who's this guy?
[00:01:41] Ray Latif: Yeah. I do remember that actually. That was like in 2016 when Mike was a consultant before you became CMO.
[00:01:45] Melissa Traverse: That was the day I met Ray.
[00:01:47] Ray Latif: Yeah. And I come charging in there and my arms are like, just chugging.
[00:01:50] Melissa Traverse: I'm like...
[00:01:52] Ray Latif: Before I was actually consultant to okay.
[00:01:56] Melissa Traverse: Yeah, we had a really small parking lot back in the Watertown It was everybody was really stressed out about it in this parking spaces were marked and you have to go Yeah, you have to like ask for somebody else's spot.
[00:02:06] Ray Latif: Yep, and it was very much. I didn't know any of this Yeah It was very much seniority. If you had seniority at the company, you got a parking spot. If you didn't, you had to park like down the street and risk getting it to me.
[00:02:20] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, like a train station or something.
[00:02:22] Ray Latif: Yeah, exactly. At the local pool. Wasn't it? I'm not even kidding.
[00:02:25] Melissa Traverse: It's pretty true. I parked and raised five. And then, you know what I did the next time? I did it again.
[00:02:33] Jacqui Brugliera: The beginning of a beautiful rivalry.
[00:02:36] Ray Latif: Anyway, I'm glad everyone's peppy because I am a little tired, to be honest with you, coming back from New York City, because it was an amazing, amazing event that we were at called the Summer Fancy Food Show. And I walked and walked and walked. And, you know, typically when you traverse these amazing, yeah, Melissa Traverse. Traverse these amazing shows you come back a little tired, but I think everyone seemed to really enjoy this edition of the Summer Fancy Food Show
[00:03:07] Jacqui Brugliera: It was so great. There are so many great products. Our favorite founders, their river. I feel like, you know, half of us barely made it out of the river pavilion, which was the very top floor, but it was such a great show.
[00:03:20] Ray Latif: Yeah. The river pavilion was pretty amazing because it hosted about 300 plus early stage brands that were some of the more impressive brands that I've seen this year. Actually, I'm not even, it's, that's not hyperbole. I think. The innovation, the excitement, the passion that we always talk about on this show was all represented at the River Pavilion. Typically it's that whole area is like downstairs in a corner of the show. And I think Specialty Food Association did a really good job putting them in a brighter area, in a much better light, so to speak.
[00:04:00] Melissa Traverse: That's so key because in the past we've complained about the Javits Center feels like a dungeon and it feels like a basement and not only does the Javits Center continue to, you know, up its game with just adding a little bit of light makes a huge difference. And as Melissa said, the way that they have been organizing the event, it just keeps getting better and better and better. And it's, it's difficult to get just out of certain areas because it's really set up for great conversations, great sampling and just checking out new innovation. Yeah.
[00:04:35] Ray Latif: I did spend some time. downstairs in the, they call it the basement, but it's just really the first floor. On the first day and the second day, I just tried to hit as many booze in the River Pavilion as possible. And just to be clear, the River Pavilion was made up of a bunch of groups that were highlighting brands or work with different early stage brands.
[00:04:54] Melissa Traverse: Shout out to Startup CPG.
[00:04:55] Ray Latif: From Startup CPG. Great job. To a lot of the incubators like the Hatchery in Chicago, Commonwealth Kitchen in Massachusetts. There were a few others. I'm blanking. I think Emerge CPG, but Emerge CPG might actually might have been downstairs. Anyway, it's so great to see those organizations supporting founders because it's kind of expensive to go to these shows and to have booth space and to help bring awareness to and visibility to your brand. It's a great thing these organizations are doing.
[00:05:21] Melissa Traverse: I didn't have a hell of a lot of time because I was just there for the day and my trains were late, but the Startup CPG team is a really kind team and they, they know what we like and they'll say, Oh, you should try this. You try and kind of give us a rundown of all the stuff when we get there too, which is really, I don't know. I love that.
[00:05:38] Ray Latif: Yeah. Well, I know we have a lot of brands and products we want to talk about, but Jackie, uh, you were scrolling through Instagram in your office in San Diego.
[00:05:50] Food Show: You gotta, you gotta come next year. Who told you not to come? She didn't want to. It's a long trip.
[00:05:59] Mike Schneider: It's a long trip. It's a six hour flight.
[00:06:02] Ray Latif: You know, it's OK. Well, it was damn well worth it.
[00:06:05] Mike Schneider: I know it sounds like it. I mean, yeah, I was stalking you all, following all your Instagrams. But yeah, I found a couple things I thought was really interesting. I saw on Adrianne DeLuca's Instagram, she posted the Milkadamia oat milk sheets, which I thought were really interesting. So you take like these sheets of like dehydrated oats and you put it in a blender and you get a quart of oat milk.
[00:06:31] SPEAKER_??: That's awesome.
[00:06:33] Ray Latif: Are they just like three by three inch sheets, I'm imagining something that's pretty easy and portable Yeah, it's just like in a standard like it almost looks like a pasta box size. Okay.
[00:06:56] Mike Schneider: Yeah, it's not like bed sheets.
[00:06:58] SPEAKER_??: Oh
[00:06:58] Ray Latif: I mean it's more like bounce It's a real great sustainability play right you're not shipping heavy liquid It sounds like it's easy to make all you have to do is put the sheet in some water shake it up And you got some is it oat milk or is it milk with amia nut milk. I would assume. It's the latter
[00:07:23] Mike Schneider: They make oat milk, I believe.
[00:07:24] Ray Latif: Do they? Okay. Well, again, I think that's a, that's a great way to ship sustainably. And probably for a lot of folks, you know, it's a great way to be able to bring oat milk with you on trips and not have to worry about where you're going to find it or Coral DoorDash or Uber Eats. You can just do it in your hotel or wherever. So I like that a lot.
[00:07:44] Mike Schneider: Yeah, yeah, I thought that was interesting. I also saw a product called Juicy Bites. So the packaging was really, really cool. And it was just fully cooked chicken breasts. And it's like six packs of chicken breasts, and you throw it in the microwave for like a minute, and you just have, you know, chicken, which is so simple. And it's not something for me. But I was, you know, if I was a meat eater, I would definitely try that product. And they just launched. So that's something new.
[00:08:14] Jacqui Brugliera: You just throw in the microwave and you got chicken But everyone's so obsessed with protein, and I think a lot of people don't necessarily want protein powder protein bars It's real protein.
[00:08:27] Ray Latif: That's portable, so I think that is a cool thing so I tried it I think you probably saw it on my Instagram feed Jackie, so it's these two Korean guys It wasn't originally called Juicy Bites. They just rebranded and they have I believe it's somewhat cooked chicken. I don't think it's, I don't think it's completely raw in this vacuum sealed plastic pouch. And you put it in the microwave for 30 seconds and out comes a really moist, juicy chicken breast. And I tried it and it was really good. Now, normally I'd be a little afraid to try something, you know, plastic in the microwave.
[00:08:59] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, that doesn't sound like you.
[00:09:01] Ray Latif: It doesn't sound like me, but it was fantastic. And I invited those guys to join us for an upcoming episode of our Elevator Talk series. And for folks listening who are early stage or represent early stage or emerging brands, I highly encourage you to participate in Elevator Talk. It's a bi-monthly video and audio series where we sit down with entrepreneurs who are building really disruptive, innovative brands, talk to them for about 10 minutes each. And in each episode we have a co-host who is an expert in the industry who can give some feedback and advice. That expert is usually an investor, a retailer, a distributor. So we record new shows every two weeks and we'll be recording them through the rest of the year. So if you want some more information, just shoot me an email or go to BevNET or Nosh.com slash elevator.
[00:09:44] Melissa Traverse: Not BevNET or Nosh.com, BevNET.com slash Elevator Talk or Nosh.com slash Elevator Talk. We should get BevNET or Nosh.com for the number of times this guy says that.
[00:09:55] Ray Latif: We can work on that. I don't, okay. For the one person in the world that was going to go to BevNetOrNosh.com. I apologize.
[00:10:12] Melissa Traverse: I sincerely apologize. And they're going to put some weird site up of probably AI Mike or AM Melissa.
[00:10:19] Ray Latif: Jackie, did you see my post about this new brand? It's called Nikigo. N-I-K-I-G-O. And they make soy-free soy sauce. Did anyone see this at the show? It was really interesting. The founder reached out to me on LinkedIn. I put a post about attending the show and wanted to see some new things. And yeah, she has soy-free soy sauce, soy-free teriyaki sauce. It was really impressive. She uses a mushroom base.
[00:10:43] Jacqui Brugliera: I was thinking, is it tamari? Because tamari is like a soy, that's miso, right? Tamari?
[00:10:50] Ray Latif: Yeah, this describes it so there's no coconut, no gluten, no peas, no soy. But yeah, what she said is that she uses mushrooms as a base.
[00:10:57] Melissa Traverse: This is really difficult because... describing something as what it's not, but also is, that's one of the strangest stories that we continue to see. I have one, too, for after this.
[00:11:10] Ray Latif: Yeah, well, this is described as a soy sauce replacement, not a soy-free soy sauce replacement.
[00:11:15] Melissa Traverse: Soy sauce replacement. So that's an interesting model. But what actually is it again? Like, what are you eating?
[00:11:21] Mike Schneider: Is it like fermented mushrooms?
[00:11:23] Ray Latif: I believe so. It's OK. Very similar, I think, in terms of how it's produced, just the ingredients are a little different.
[00:11:30] Jacqui Brugliera: And so like an alternative to coconut aminos as well.
[00:11:33] Ray Latif: Exactly. And that's what the founder told me. She's like, you know, our primary competitor, even though they're brand new, would be that brand that you referenced.
[00:11:40] Melissa Traverse: So they're a fermented mushroom sauce that is a soy replacement. Yeah. I mean, that's pretty easy to explain. So what do you have in your hand there? Well, what is this? What does this look like? Chocolate bar. It looks like a chocolate bar, but this is kapua siu, which is sort of like a cow.
[00:11:56] Ray Latif: So Kapoosu, the brand name is Figa. F-I-G-A. These are standard 2.1 ounce bars. I think if you, if you look at a chocolate bar or premium chocolate bar, you know what I'm talking about. Yeah.
[00:12:07] Melissa Traverse: And these are, they're marketed similarly to premium chocolate bars. And I'd say that it's basically a fruitier chocolate. So this one is salty. I also have fruity in my hand. What's the one you have most of? So they're like the Cadbury fruit and nut bars. Yeah, but natural. Just kidding. But they're not unlike that. Oh, really?
[00:12:27] Ray Latif: Okay.
[00:12:27] Melissa Traverse: Here's the question. You should try.
[00:12:29] Jacqui Brugliera: I have the 63%. It's branded as chocolate's Brazilian cousin.
[00:12:35] Ray Latif: Try the salty. I'm going to wait because I may have a problem eating during the show. I know.
[00:12:40] Melissa Traverse: Well, I'll do it.
[00:12:41] Mike Schneider: So is it using a different part of the cacao plant or is it just a different variety of cacao?
[00:12:47] Melissa Traverse: It's not cacao at all. In fact, it's capuçu, which is a commodity like cacao.
[00:12:52] Mike Schneider: Gotcha.
[00:12:53] Ray Latif: And so on the back, it says Brazil's national fruit, capuçu, and described as the cousin of cacao. We upcycle the seeds of this superfood from regenerative farms to make our uniquely curious bars. What do you think, Melissa?
[00:13:07] Jacqui Brugliera: It's chocolatey, but I would say that if I really wanted chocolate, I think I would still want chocolate. There's a little bit of a dryness in there.
[00:13:20] Melissa Traverse: Really? I find it very buttery smooth, like cocoa buttery smooth.
[00:13:25] Ray Latif: What's really interesting though, and what I love about this is that this fruity variety only has three ingredients. And a lot of chocolate bars are packed with ingredients, you know, a lot more than you would think. This one has kapua siu, dates, cocoa butter, and demerara sugar. So I guess that's four ingredients.
[00:13:44] Melissa Traverse: This one you add, this one is kapua siu, dates, cocoa butter, and sea salt. So Melissa, not, You were expecting chocolate, though. That's probably it.
[00:13:52] Jacqui Brugliera: Right. Yeah. I mean, I think if I open something shaped like a chocolate bar and it's branded like a chocolate bar, I want the chocolate.
[00:14:00] Melissa Traverse: And I think that's the exact issue that they're going to have, because you see 63 percent Kapusu bar. You see smaller on here, Chocolates Brazilian Cousin. And then you get a flavor. And I think it's good. It's like, yeah, for me, it's a fruitier. The way that this one is presented is a fruitier chocolate.
[00:14:19] Mike Schneider: Yeah. Even when you said kapoosu, I still thought you were talking about chocolate. I was like, so like pretty much chocolate, right? Yeah.
[00:14:26] Jacqui Brugliera: I'd be curious to know too, chocolate has been found to increase dopamine levels. And I don't know if that's because of the sugar or because of the antioxidants in the chocolate or what, but I'm curious to know if it's still, if it has similar properties to chocolate in that way.
[00:14:39] Melissa Traverse: See, there's so much education that you need to put into selling a kapoosu bar, which is why I, I hope first that more kapoosu bars come out because these, I think these are delicious and Figa could use a few market makers with them.
[00:14:52] Jacqui Brugliera: And not to mention so important is the prices of cacao increase exponentially. And that's not a situation that's going away. So alternatives like this will become more and more important.
[00:15:04] Melissa Traverse: Well, these are also premium too. You can see just by the packaging that I opened up here, these are around nine bucks.
[00:15:12] Ray Latif: Well, let's stay on the alternative ingredient front. I was introduced to a brand yesterday called Jack's Dad's Hummus. Did you guys get to see this brand? I did. They make their hummus, not with tahini, but with miso. Really? Yeah. So Jack's dad was making hummus at home. And he realized he didn't have any tahini. He's like, well, what do I have? He has miso. So he made it. It's really delicious. It was a really, really creamy hummus. The miso is definitely evident. Like when you're eating it, you definitely get that umami flavor. It was really fantastic. I feel like at a time when it's so hard to differentiate, you know, one hummus from another, this one really stands out.
[00:15:52] Mike Schneider: Good stuff. Tasty. The name's interesting. I don't think I would have gotten miso from Jack's dad's hummus, but I really want to try it.
[00:16:01] Ray Latif: So it's hard to see from my phone because I don't have the package in front of me. I don't have the actual package in front of me. But yeah, the top of the tub says Jack's dad's hummus and the bottom it says family recipe made with miso and it's it's pretty prominent on the on the top.
[00:16:16] Jacqui Brugliera: That sounds amazing. Did you guys try the Zaha of hummus?
[00:16:19] Ray Latif: The Zaha?
[00:16:21] Jacqui Brugliera: Zahav, so Michael Solomon.
[00:16:23] Ray Latif: Oh, Zahav, yeah, they sent us a product here, yeah.
[00:16:25] Jacqui Brugliera: So that was the first time that I had tried that, and it really lived up to the name, it was delicious.
[00:16:31] Ray Latif: After I saw Jack's Dad's Hummus, I saw a brand that we know and love called Doostra.
[00:16:38] Jacqui Brugliera: Oh, our dick, we love you.
[00:16:39] Ray Latif: Everyone's smiling, everyone's enjoying themselves.
[00:16:43] Jacqui Brugliera: Just the best.
[00:16:44] Ray Latif: Doostra underwent a rebrand that looks fantastic. The brand is now described as an Indian snack mix first and foremost. So the largest font on the front of pack is Indian snack mix. And then it describes the ingredients and it has a picture of the ingredients as well. It looks really, really good. But what was most impressive to me was the new product that they have, the walnut and dark chocolate flavor, which really, it put me on the floor. It was so good.
[00:17:11] Jacqui Brugliera: And Mike and I were talking about this but Kartik found the walnut supplier at our event and we were talking specifically about how the walnuts have been, the skins have been removed from the walnuts so you don't get that kind of like bitter, flaky, mouth-drying feeling from the walnuts. And the walnuts and the dark chocolate and those crisps are so amazing together.
[00:17:36] Melissa Traverse: It's the difference between like formulating a food in your kitchen and then like using food scientists to actually make something that can scale. You know, you can't just throw a bunch of walnuts in a blender and pop them out and make Dusra. It's, it's a pretty well-crafted snack. And Karthik's new packaging is it just oozes glass and it kind of I told him this and I kind of spread it around a bit, but it We also workshop this when we had lunch with Karthik the other day Karthik's new deucer It feels like some like Yax Snacks your granddad would give you like in the best way It'd be it's like special something he he would cover for himself and would share with you because he loves you You know sort of thing and I feel like that's Karthik. He's got like I That granddad style energy. He tells great stories. He gives people presents. He just wants to see the cool looks on your face He wants you to experience great stuff, and he never really asks for anything in return He's like the kindest person you could be where is his belt really?
[00:18:33] Jacqui Brugliera: He's like, he's smoking a pipe in his soul.
[00:18:40] Melissa Traverse: He's an old soul. And I feel like he went to granddad university and got his degree already. Like he's got his master's.
[00:18:45] Ray Latif: He's awesome. And he knows everything about BevNET and Nosh. So he mentioned, you know, meeting the Walnut suppliers at Nosh Live. he was talking up Elevator Talk to people I was sitting next to. He ran over at some point and introduced me to a new brand called Wild Manners, which is a brand of bottled cocktail brand, which is fantastic. So yeah, obviously Karthik, great stuff. It's the kind of person we want to hang out with all the time. So all the time, all the time.
[00:19:14] Melissa Traverse: He gave me this brand called Kraka, which is a, Peanut Bites, sweet and zesty, rooted in four simple ingredients, 28 calories per bite. What is it called? It's called Kroka.
[00:19:25] Summer Fancy: K-R-O-K-K-A-O-N-S. And it has a Maza sticker on the back.
[00:19:30] Melissa Traverse: Oh yeah, I made a Maza shirt to wear at the event yesterday. But yeah, there's one bite left, Melissa. Here you go. Those are a great train snack. And I thought they were just going to be like, you know, kind of the old school sweet peanut bites. It's a square peanut bite kind of held together by, is it caramel? Caramel. Super tasty, I think.
[00:19:52] Jacqui Brugliera: These are delicious. And the ginger and the cardamom in there give it a special twist that really makes it seem different than just a peanut brittle.
[00:20:00] Melissa Traverse: Again, Karthik curating the experience. Fancy foods for us.
[00:20:04] Jacqui Brugliera: So delicious.
[00:20:05] Ray Latif: Yeah, they're really good. I know we could go on and on and on. I want to mention just, just let's do a quick fire. Quick fire. Brooklyn Delhi, a maker of premium plant-based Indian sauces. And now they have pouches of ready to make meals. You put them in the microwave for 30 seconds. Fantastic stuff. They have a new sweet potato, coconut dhal, black bean butter masala, chickpea tikka masala, red bean rajma masala.
[00:20:33] Jacqui Brugliera: I died when I tasted I died.
[00:20:39] Melissa Traverse: Yeah, there was also tamarind a Sorcery has tamarind and they have it in a jar so you can just you can just add stuff with a bunch of other great spices Also shoutouts to podi for being another great South Indian Desi brand. How do you spell that podi? Jenny's did you try Jenny's? Jenny's great beverage brand Jenny's pizza. Yeah, Jenny's pizza a great piece. How do you spell Jenny's GI and and why I thought yeah Lucas and I had a had a quick Sample there, and it was just really really nice stuff and looking forward to hearing more from them. Did you try new rear I?
[00:21:13] Jacqui Brugliera: N-o-u-r-r-i-r. Those flavors were exquisite.
[00:21:17] Melissa Traverse: Weren't they?
[00:21:18] Jacqui Brugliera: Exquisite.
[00:21:19] Melissa Traverse: It's a beverage brand. It's a beverage brand.
[00:21:20] Jacqui Brugliera: There was a cranberry skew that I thought was so fantastic.
[00:21:24] Melissa Traverse: Pineapple.
[00:21:25] Jacqui Brugliera: The pineapple ginger.
[00:21:26] Melissa Traverse: Pineapple ginger was my favorite. So good. That was so good.
[00:21:28] Ray Latif: N-o-u-r-i-r. N-o-u-r-i-r. Yes. Nourir. Yeah. Nourir.
[00:21:35] Mike Schneider: What type of beverage is it?
[00:21:36] Ray Latif: It might have two Rs. Good question, Jackie. What type of beverage is it? Fruit.
[00:21:39] Jacqui Brugliera: And so you use fruit juice to sweeten the beverage.
[00:21:43] Melissa Traverse: Right. We've got to have them on Elevator Talk because I don't know enough about them. I invited them to join us.
[00:21:47] Ray Latif: I invited them too.
[00:21:47] Melissa Traverse: Yeah. Okay. So I think most of these brands we've invited. And then in what I would call the sincerest form of flattery that I've seen in quite a while, shout out to Kefir Cult, who has a new coconut kefir, which When you open it, the jar, it can explode. It's like got so many active probiotics in there. Is that a Good Things? Yeah.
[00:22:10] Jacqui Brugliera: No, it's the same thing that might happen. It's like another color. Coconut color.
[00:22:15] Melissa Traverse: I said it. Yes. And then when I just want to maybe unpack for a second is. This is supposed to be Rapid Fire. This is not going to be Rapid Fire. It's going to be a story time just for a second though.
[00:22:25] Food Show: Okay.
[00:22:26] Melissa Traverse: It's worth it. I'm telling you, this is worth it. Did you try the new formulations of NARA? No, I have not. Oh my gosh. So I got to catch up with Victoria and Miguel Reyes, co-founders, brother and sister. Of Nara, which is a milk tea or canned milk tea brand. Filipino canned milk tea brand, which was extraordinary before. And I think they, you know, they've just been working on the balance over time. And the strawberry matcha now is to die for. It's got the perfect, it was a little leaning a little on the bitter side, and now they've kind of dialed it back in. so that the balance is perfect. And they had their younger sister with them too, Monica, who they were just millennialing away. And the looks on Monica's face were just precious. It was so great. She made the cringe face, the cringe emoji face. And I think she might have been the inspiration for it. But if you have a chance to meet Victoria and Miguel and Monica, you have to, they're just two, they're three of the best people that I know. I mean, just extraordinary. And their drinks. Oh my God. All right, Melissa, Rapid Fire. What do you got?
[00:23:39] Jacqui Brugliera: Rapid Fire. OK, so first of all, Theo Perez is the founder of a coffee company called Theo's Big Longhouse Coffee. I don't know if you guys had a chance to check it out, but it's indigenous owned. So he's a children's book author and he lives and works on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation in Central Oregon. And so he created this coffee company specifically to bring funding to schools, and repairs on the reservation, that kind of thing. So 85% of the proceeds of what he does goes back to the reservation. And he was just the loveliest man ever. And I don't know, I feel like these days, knowing that people are doing things like that and trying to improve The world around us, I think, is especially nice to know now. I also have to give a shout out to Barry's. Those are the frozen raspberries.
[00:24:30] Ray Latif: Oh my gosh. Those are incredible.
[00:24:32] Jacqui Brugliera: Those were my to die for food. They had one that was coated in white chocolate and it had pistachio. It was just out of this world.
[00:24:41] Ray Latif: Amazing. B-A-R-I apostrophe S. It's worth it, folks.
[00:24:44] Jacqui Brugliera: It's really, really fantastic and amazing. I also thought that Slaka was interesting. So yeah, that was a it's a new beverage on the market. They're marketing themselves as a supplement, and they have parazanthine, 5-HTP, l-theanine, and it's supposed to curb your food cravings. And they're sort of positioning themselves as a GLP-1 alternative. It's also supposed to help your mood. I also thought the sweetener that they used wasn't, it wasn't something that I've heard of before. It was OnoSweet. So that's a fermented glycoside, which is in stevia. So it's supposed to be better for you than erythritol, but also more affordable than stevia. And I was dying to like, I don't have Donald Wilkes of Blue Pacific on text, but I was dying to text him and ask him what he thought about OnoSweet. So that I think was really interesting.
[00:25:38] Ray Latif: OnoSweet. O-N-O.
[00:25:39] Jacqui Brugliera: O-N-O-S-W-E-E-T. We'll have to give Don a call. Yeah, we'll have to give Don a call. And, you know, you should check out the NonBase podcast on nonbase.com slash podcast because we just interviewed him and he was talking about some of the up and coming ingredients that he sees as, you know, being positioned to blow up in the future.
[00:26:01] Melissa Traverse: Don Wilks of Blue Pacific Foods we're talking about, who is one of the smartest people we know in terms of formulators.
[00:26:07] Jacqui Brugliera: So smart, because the gems fall out of his mouth. And then also the founders of Sour Milk. Just some of my favorite people ever. They're delivering everything direct. And when I say direct, I don't mean they're dropping shipments off at retailers. They're meeting their consumers at like yoga studios and like out in the community farmers markets. And they're just buying the product directly from these two women.
[00:26:34] Melissa Traverse: I feel like between Sour Milk and Lucky Ox, they're just competing to be the hardest working team, the hardest working new brand in the industry right now. They're great. It was fun to catch up with them. And yeah, as Melissa said, like they're riding their bikes, like they're always moving. They're always on the go. They're like, go, go, go, go, go. And they Meet Us many people and they're trying to get their Sour Milk out there. And I mean, that's what you have to do as a new founder.
[00:26:55] Jacqui Brugliera: And I have one more. I got to meet one of my sort of like industry legend people. So I'm such a huge fan of Ines Rosales. They're those olive oil tortas from Seville. And I'm just so impressed with the way that they've been able to distribute the product all across the country and to me lose very little quality. They're just that like perfectly sweet, light, airy, crispy product. So I got to meet Lucia, who's their VP of national sales, and she's still in the family, but they've been doing it for over a hundred years. And I just love that product so much.
[00:27:33] Melissa Traverse: I got to catch up with Umayma from Paro. She's got some new innovation that's coming out that you guys kind of love. I don't know if I'm allowed to talk about it yet, but probably not, but yeah. But we saw Adnan Durrani and we got to hang out with him for a bit, which he's the founder of Saffron Road. The founder of Saffron Road and just one of the kindest coolest person. And by the way, a Paro customer, of course.
[00:27:54] Jacqui Brugliera: Of course. And a Dusra customer.
[00:27:56] Melissa Traverse: And a Dusra customer. And he was just, he was just dropping all kinds of gems on people. Anyone who walks up to Adnan, he's just, he's just so generous with his time. I love that guy.
[00:28:08] Ray Latif: All right, quick shout outs. Moments, which is a sparkling botanical drink made for chill moments, relaxation moments. They have a new grapefruit lemonade that put me on the floor so darn good. Slap, S-L-A-P-P, which is a Canada based brand of juice shots, specifically ginger and turmeric shots. These were amazing. Great job, Slap. I came across a brand called Hoxy, H-O-X-Y. They make Korean ramen seasonings and Korean ramen toppings. The toppings were incredible. It's like these little, it seems like freeze dried seafood toppings that can just drizzle right over your ramen. Really, really good stuff. One of the best brands that I tasted, one of the best products I tasted at the show was a pizza, a frozen pizza by a brand called LaRossi. L-A-R-O-S-S-I. It's a woman-owned brand that is based in Brooklyn, if I'm not mistaken. They have a margarita pizza that might've been the best frozen pizza I've ever had in my life.
[00:29:09] Melissa Traverse: But with apologies to Piola. Piola? I must've missed Piola. P-I-O-O-L-A.
[00:29:15] Jacqui Brugliera: Oh, see, another rivalry.
[00:29:17] Melissa Traverse: Yeah. Okay. Let's get them together. It's a bake-me-healthy jablo rivalry, the boxing gloves. Did you see those two boxing each other?
[00:29:24] Summer Fancy: Yeah, that was pretty funny.
[00:29:26] Ray Latif: Yeah. And last but not least, I want to mention a new brand called Yax Snacks. They make Chaya tortilla chips, C-H-A-Y-A. I don't know. It's a different kind of fruit, I believe, that you can use for a lot of different foods. But one of their flavors was a sour orange, habanero, and sea salt variety. That's a combination that I haven't seen before, and I loved it. So great job, Yax Snacks. Yeah. So much more to talk about though so much more to talk about and you know for folks that we encounter the show or may not have encountered the show That can send us samples. We would love for you to please do just that There are two ways you can serve two places. You can send them you can send them to the one and only WC, but why would you?
[00:30:14] Jacqui Brugliera: I'm just kidding
[00:30:16] Ray Latif: Yeah. And then you can also send it here to our Newton office. You can find both addresses on BevNET and Nosh. If you can't just send us an email to askatasteradio.com. We'll send you in the right direction. Also, I know I said it was going to be done. Hallelujah. Did you guys see this brand? J-A-L-A-L-U-J-A-H. They make spicy condiments, including a jalapeno chili crisp. This is the first jalapeno chili crisp I've ever seen. This was a story that I posted on Instagram that got the most comments. More people commented on this particular product than any other at Fancy Food Show. And it lived up to its billing. It was amazing. I also got a quickly, quickly shout out. And well, not quickly, because he's amazing. I'm going to shout out some more brands.
[00:31:00] Melissa Traverse: I'm going to shout out Tantai. T-A-N-T-H-I. They made this tom kha, the coconut soup, and that stuff's amazing. T-A-N-T-H-I. He's got to get them all down so he can go on the website.
[00:31:19] Ray Latif: The founder of a Greek yogurt brand called Maya, M-A-I-A, big fan of Taste Radio, and he's a very nice guy. We chatted for a few minutes about his Greek yogurt, which is made with grass-fed cow'Sour Milk. They have a vanilla bean variety that I absolutely love. It's less sweet than some of the other Greek yogurts that you might find on the market because why? They use less sugar. So love that.
[00:31:41] Melissa Traverse: I'm going to blame you for not talking about Caulifoods and Kia. Stop. I got to write all this stuff down.
[00:31:46] Jacqui Brugliera: It's like a challenge now. I also have to give a shout out to Tari. This to me is like the Belgian boy's pink bag. I was carrying this around and every single person said, where do I get that bag?
[00:31:58] Ray Latif: So Tari is a maker of Peruvian hot sauces. They make incredible products. Oh, you got the, you got the llama. It's not a llama. It's an alpaca.
[00:32:06] Jacqui Brugliera: I mean, I think it's a llama.
[00:32:08] Ray Latif: Okay.
[00:32:08] Jacqui Brugliera: Is an alpaca a kind of llama?
[00:32:10] Ray Latif: They're close. They're close.
[00:32:12] Melissa Traverse: But they're not the same.
[00:32:13] Jacqui Brugliera: Wait, how'd you get the bag? She just gave it to me.
[00:32:15] Melissa Traverse: Wow. That's a cool bag. Yeah.
[00:32:17] Jacqui Brugliera: Thanks, Pamela.
[00:32:18] Ray Latif: This is beautiful.
[00:32:19] Jacqui Brugliera: It's beautiful. Yeah. And if folks out there holding it, Melissa was like, give it back to me right now. Wow.
[00:32:29] Melissa Traverse: Ray Ray's about to hoard that back. Like he was about to like a laser disc player. He was about to hoard that.
[00:32:34] Ray Latif: I was about to put that on the third shelf in my closet with all the other things that I was about to.
[00:32:40] Melissa Traverse: Hey, do you try this? No made out of Samba, which is like she said basically it's like the rice of Tibet. It's early It's a truffle. Yeah, these are amazing. You guys have to try them.
[00:32:49] Ray Latif: I have these two lacquered I'm good for right now licorice candy-coated liquor.
[00:33:02] SPEAKER_??: Oh
[00:33:02] Ray Latif: Candy coated. I want to try it.
[00:33:04] Jacqui Brugliera: Keep appearing.
[00:33:05] Ray Latif: Oh boy. Okay. Let's just talk about this.
[00:33:08] Jacqui Brugliera: Danish brand. This isn't black licorice, but they have candy coated black licorice, other kinds of licorice. Those are to die for. And you know what I love about those so much besides of course, the black licorice, the quality of the chocolate. I think they get that candy shell. So perfect. It's so thin the way it is like on an M and M.
[00:33:27] Melissa Traverse: It really... Why did you have to introduce these to me?
[00:33:29] Jacqui Brugliera: I know. I know. I've had those in my Amazon cart for so long and now I'm definitely going to buy them.
[00:33:36] Ray Latif: Mike just yelled at you by the way. He says, why'd you have to do this to me? What's the matter with you? Damn you. Damn you, Melissa. Why'd you do this to me? Yes. Stop.
[00:33:43] Melissa Traverse: Show me good foods.
[00:33:44] Ray Latif: Okay. Well, we have a lot more we can talk about, but yes, thank you to everyone who we met at the fancy Food Show, who shared your products and stories with us. It really was a fantastic show. I'm going to kill you.
[00:33:57] Jacqui Brugliera: I brought home some of their tomato Lanza.
[00:34:00] Ray Latif: I ate it when I got home with cottage cheese.
[00:34:03] Jacqui Brugliera: Really? Yeah. It's so good.
[00:34:06] Ray Latif: The segue that's never going to happen.
[00:34:09] Jacqui Brugliera: No.
[00:34:10] Ray Latif: No. Okay. Well, anyway, I'm sure we'll be talking about some of the brands and some of the folks that we encountered at the show. I highly encourage folks to please join us for future episodes of Elevator Talk. It's a really great way to highlight what you're doing. You know, we're, we're doing surface level kind of shout outs and call outs and talking about things, but.
[00:34:28] Jacqui Brugliera: Like to Packly.
[00:34:30] Ray Latif: Yes, we can. We can definitely share more air time and give your story the credit it deserves on Elevator Talk. We can. One of the reasons I wasn't able to stay at the Fancy Food Show the entire time is because I had to head south to Piscataway, New Jersey, where I visited the Clio Snacks manufacturing facility, which was pretty amazing. They have 80,000 square feet. where they have a vertically integrated process. They even make their own chocolate, actually, that they use. So just for context, Clio Snacks is a maker of Greek yogurt snack bars. Typically they're chocolate covered, but they also have yogurt coated snack bars as well. And I feel like It is the kind of place that everyone wants to visit because it is very, it's a very interesting process how they make these bars. It's not what you might expect in a good way. Anyway, I sat down with their CEO for an interview that we'll be featuring in a future episode of Taste Radio. Stay tuned for that. We're pretty much out of time here, but this episode is coming out the day before July 4th, and we're coming up on the second half of 2025. And it's been a really interesting year in terms of how the CPG industry has unfolded in food and beverage. I think there were so many questions at the outset between tariffs and fundraising and the impact of GLP-A1 drugs, food additives, sugar, colorings, the cost of certain ingredients. Melissa, you mentioned cacao. But I think for the most part, despite all the social, economic, and political unrest that we're seeing throughout the world, which is overwhelming sometimes, you know, I I'm pretty excited about the second half of 2025 from what, based on what we've seen with the amount of financial investments, all the great excitement and passion that we saw at BevNET Live, that we saw at the Fancy Food Show. I feel like Good Things are coming.
[00:36:14] Mike Schneider: Yeah.
[00:36:15] Ray Latif: Jackie, how are you feeling about the second half of the year?
[00:36:17] Mike Schneider: I'm feeling good, too. There's so much chaos surrounding everyone and so much going on, and it makes the industry feel like everyone's bonding together even more. Everyone's sharing more information to navigate all the different changes that are going on. More people are sharing their secrets on LinkedIn or attending these events to talk about, you know, the challenges. And I think it's just going to open doors to some really cool opportunities and really support a lot of brands moving forward as they grow.
[00:36:50] Jacqui Brugliera: And no matter what, no matter what happens to the economy, no matter what happens next, people always need to eat food. And I feel like it's one of those indulgences that no matter what's happening to the economy, people want a little bit of pleasure in their lives. So it really is something that no matter what happens, you know, people just always need to eat food and everybody always wants to eat delicious Food Show.
[00:37:14] Ray Latif: And I think the demand, interest, and willingness for people to try ethnic foods is, I don't want to call it peak level, because it seems it's going way beyond that. I mean, just the brands that we talked about and then we saw at the fancy Food Show, I mean, just what we're seeing on the table, we have a brand from Brazil, we have a brand from Where is this Mike? Tibet. From Tibet, from Peru, from Mexico. I mean, it's amazing to see all these ethnic foods and flavors coming into the American market and the thirst and demand for them is at an all time high. So that's something to be really positive about too.
[00:37:50] Melissa Traverse: I think the brand that's positioned best for right now, just this sort of chaotic state is Ashley Nicholson's brand, BTR Nation, because right now everybody wants a better nation. By the way, did you try her Blue Bottle BTR collab, the crispy rice treat, matcha treat?
[00:38:07] Jacqui Brugliera: Oh, but I really wish I had.
[00:38:08] Melissa Traverse: Oh my God. That's really good.
[00:38:10] Jacqui Brugliera: Why don't you have one of those for us?
[00:38:12] Ray Latif: Because I ate it, of course.
[00:38:13] Jacqui Brugliera: Of course.
[00:38:16] 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.
[00:39:06] Summer Fancy: you
