[00:00:10] Mike Schneider: Hello, and thanks for tuning into Taste Radio, the number one podcast for anyone building a business in food and beverage. I'm Mike Schneider, and I'm With Ray co-hosts for this episode, John Craven and Jacqui Brugliera. Ray's not here because apparently he is in Europe and he's been arrested at a football match.
[00:00:28] John Craven: Yep. He wanted to one-up you.
[00:00:34] Mike Schneider: Yeah, those rumors are... Untrue.
[00:00:37] Jacqui Brugliera: He is in Europe. I don't remember where.
[00:00:40] John Craven: I don't remember either.
[00:00:41] Jacqui Brugliera: Somewhere better than here.
[00:00:42] John Craven: I like the idea of spending Thanksgiving in Europe, you know? It's not a holiday over there, so you're probably just eating every day rather than just one day.
[00:00:51] Mike Schneider: I mean, when you're relative, every day is Thanksgiving, isn't it? The man has a great life. It's true. Speaking of great things, we're less than two weeks away from BevNET Live. How's everybody feeling?
[00:01:04] John Craven: I'm feeling it over here because The Box are just piling up around me full of product and things for the events. So I'm feeling it over here. It's like, we're ready to go.
[00:01:14] Jacqui Brugliera: And I guess less than one week till Nosh live when this comes out. So yeah, kind of crazy how time flies, but yeah, very exciting. Personally, really looking forward to seeing everyone who's joining us in Marina Del Rey and I'm sure it's going to be an excellent time.
[00:01:31] Mike Schneider: Always a phenomenal time at Nosh Live. Jackie, we've added three more partners for one-to-ones.
[00:01:37] John Craven: There'll be opportunities to sit down with Kahee, very well known distributor all across the United States. We have the Giant Company, which is a regional supermarket chain that wants to meet with all of the brands there. And then we also have Nielsen IQ, NIQ, who wants to sit down for some data consultations to see, you know, what data points can you use in your pitch? What information is relevant to you? What are benchmarks that you can use? So we have a lot. A lot of one-to-ones going on and they're joining a lineup that's already pretty stacked, I would say, with Whole Foods, Houlihan Loki, Springdale Ventures, and Wellness Growth Ventures. So variety of investors, investment banker, and retailer also taking meetings at Nosh Live.
[00:02:23] Mike Schneider: I've got a wellness growth investment right in front of me here. We'll talk about that in a little bit. We also have a new one-to-one partner for BevNetLive as well, Jackie.
[00:02:36] John Craven: We brought on Albertsons. So we do have two beverage category buyers coming to BevNET Live and they want to meet with every beverage brand that they can. They will be taking meetings on day two and day three of BevNET Live. So make sure you're registered. And then as soon as you register, you'll get a link to sign up and take a meeting with Albertsons.
[00:02:58] Jacqui Brugliera: Good job, you guys.
[00:03:04] Mike Schneider: And we're so psyched. If you're still sitting on the fence for Nosh Live or BevNET Live, you're a decision maker. You're out there. You've got two or three things that are keeping you up at night, especially in the holiday season. You're planning for next year. You're thinking about capital for your company. You're thinking about your messaging, your package design. There's all kinds of things that we can help you with. We've got insanely good technical content, particularly at BevNetLive with our workshops. Come to the events, jumpstart your network, ask the hard questions of everyone there. They either know the answer or they know who does, and you're going to move your company a milestone or two just by coming to the event.
[00:03:46] John Craven: Yeah. And there'll be over a thousand CPG professionals across all three events attending. And we do have all of the attendee lists online. So take a look, see who's going to be there, plan your trip, like Mike said, get off the fence and take advantage, you know, like it's important to plan and strategize and make sure you have a great event.
[00:04:07] Jacqui Brugliera: Operators are standing by. I mean, at the end of the day, I think just showing up and getting in a room with all of these people, as Jackie mentioned, it's something that, you know, when you're kind of sitting there thinking about it, it's kind of like, is it going to be worth it? Is something good going to come out of this? And, you know, we've been doing these a long time and I can't tell you So Many times I've heard like, just things that have happened from our events, just from the most simple interactions. And this is true of our events. It's true of certain other events out there, but you know, it is hard sometimes to actually like travel somewhere, get out from the comfort of your desk and you know, your computer where you kind of control everything and go into this like chaos. But I mean, there's just always good stuff that comes out of this. And I think it's always also one of those things where A lot of times when you go to these types of events, it's not just the things like, as you were saying, the burning questions, the things keeping you up at night, but I always feel like it just kind of helps create conversation and connections around things that you weren't quite thinking about yet, you know? And that's always like the hard thing to convince someone of, but it's pretty awesome when you talk to someone after the event and they've experienced that.
[00:05:25] Mike Schneider: Yeah, serendipity is real. You're coming to this event With Ray agenda and there are things that you can control and there are things that you can't. One of the glorious things about our events is whatever conversation you're in is the right conversation to be in and you can just continuously have those for the entire two days of the event and the content on stage will help inspire those conversations as well. I think it's just, it's a very different experience. It's kind of, um, it's a bit of self-care for decision makers too, where you're, you're taking a step back from the daily operations of your business to put, you know, planning, problem solving, innovation, and those things front of mind while, you know, you're just taking a, just a little break from, you know, selling, selling, selling, selling, producing, producing, producing, producing. We've got this, it's kind of an oasis for you to come to BevNetLive or to NoshLive to come meet the industry and, you know, just be able to think this way for, for a little bit.
[00:06:27] John Craven: Sounds like a nice little retreat. Well, I don't know about oasis.
[00:06:31] Jacqui Brugliera: I mean, I'm just being honest. I think it is for a lot of people taking them out of their comfort zone. I've been to a million events and you know, it's always interesting. I was thinking about this when I went to Founderland out in LA in October, it's sort of like. You know, you go With Ray certain agenda, and I was almost wondering, like, well, what's really gonna happen? What sort of people are you gonna actually talk to at the thing, you know? And I think that's, again, the discomfort of doing these sort of things, but I feel like at any well-curated event, and I put ours, for sure, in that bucket. Founderland, too, yeah. You know, Founderland was great, too. You know, you do always come away with stuff, and I think that's, again, you know, for entrepreneurs of, whatever stage, it's, it is good to just take a break and go do something else, get different perspectives. And especially at the end of the year, I think it is sort of like a freeing sort of feeling.
[00:07:25] John Craven: Yeah. And to make it a little bit more comfy, cause I know Craven, you said it can be a little uncomfortable, like find us, find our team, talk to us. We can point you in the right direction. If you're looking for a connection or you don't know where to find someone, think of it almost like a pinball machine. You know, people are just like bouncing around, but we're like a little safe Haven. So come find us.
[00:07:45] Mike Schneider: There you go. You can get your tickets at bevnetlive.com, noshlive.com, brewboundlive.com. We had to see this coming, right?
[00:07:54] John Craven: Yeah.
[00:07:55] Mike Schneider: I mean, John just looked into his crystal ball and it didn't really take much to figure out that Prime and Mas were going to go at it. What's going on there, John?
[00:08:05] Jacqui Brugliera: Well, it seems as though Prime has now, I suppose, countersued Mark Anthony Brands, who makes Moss Plus. I think originally Mark Anthony Brands was trying to get basically something from a court saying that they weren't infringing on the trademark trade dress of Prime, and now it's kind of turned into a lawsuit. I don't know. These are two products that I guess to some extent are similar looking, but they're also similar looking in a stock bottle With Ray fairly simple text heavy trade dress. So anyone's guess on how that plays out or who settles or whatever, but it does to me feel a little bit like You know, an incumbent beverage company and Prime poking a more established beverage company and Marc Anthony brands who certainly from their brands like White Claw and Mike's Heart Lemonade probably have a bigger war chest than Prime, but... You know, we'll see. I mean, I do think it's, you know, in any of these situations, it's a distraction. Although maybe any press is good press, so to speak, since it's putting these brands, you know, certainly on the front of our website, right?
[00:09:27] Mike Schneider: Yeah, and the Jack Awak philosophy, founder of Bang, is that you're not doing it right if you're not getting sued.
[00:09:35] Jacqui Brugliera: We've talked about that with class action lawsuits too. I can't disagree with Jack on that. But yeah, it's pretty interesting that this has happened. I almost feel like Moss Plus probably benefits Since, you know, Prime certainly is like at the tip of everyone's tongue in the beverage industry, at least, and it's probably more of a household name than Moss Plus at this point. So I guess covering this lawsuit for sure puts Moss Plus out there at a time where I think, you know, Prime has had some challenges on the sales front. So we'll see what happens.
[00:10:09] John Craven: Yeah, I think also how it's positioned, like they kind of poked the bear and then Prime came after them. And I think like sometimes people view one company suing another company as like, they're the bad guy that's suing the good guy. So I don't know. It's, we'll be, I'll be curious to see how it plays out. But yeah, I agree. I think it's like a bit of a distraction, but it's like these two larger companies just, I guess, protecting what they believe is theirs.
[00:10:36] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, I mean, I can't fault either of them for, you know, just wanting to protect that. But yeah, I guess we'll see what happens.
[00:10:44] Mike Schneider: Insiders can read more on that story at BevNET.com.
[00:11:04] Jacqui Brugliera: I saw about like five minutes of that match. It was on USA and then I changed the channel.
[00:11:08] Mike Schneider: Yeah, Ipswich Town. This year's Luton Town. Everyone's pretty excited about them. They're playing some great football and they're playing against their bitter rivals, Manchester United. 1-1 draw. Ray had to leave the country in shame. Seems like the appropriate thing to do. It does seem like the appropriate thing to do. You know what the other appropriate thing to do is? Let's talk about some products.
[00:11:27] Jacqui Brugliera: We're going to just Ignore The script that Ray left us. That seems very appropriate.
[00:11:31] Mike Schneider: Jackie, what you got over there?
[00:11:33] John Craven: I have a couple of products. This one, I just love the name. It's hilarious. It's called Jewels Under The Kilt. And it's a nut brand. And Crave and I were talking a little bit about some nut brands that are just like in your face, like kind of inappropriate. But this is like you got to think a little bit, you know, it's a Canadian brand. They have pecan chipotle. And then they also have moonshine pecans. And yeah, I just was a big fan of the name.
[00:12:05] Mike Schneider: That brand even jarred Nate, who's our videographer, and he... It takes a lot to jar him. It takes a lot to jar him. He's like, what?
[00:12:14] Jacqui Brugliera: We were talking about another nut brand that I've recently seen. We have not had samples of it here, but it's actually just called Nutsack. I've seen it up in Vermont and New Hampshire a couple of times.
[00:12:25] John Craven: Ray's going to be like, I left you guys alone and this is what you're talking about.
[00:12:27] Jacqui Brugliera: We just nuked the whole podcast's reputation.
[00:12:30] Mike Schneider: But yeah, that's a little more subtle. I mean, that just takes the Dee's Nuts joke to the next level, for sure.
[00:12:36] John Craven: Yeah.
[00:12:37] Mike Schneider: What else you got over there, Jackie?
[00:12:39] John Craven: I also have some cannabis beverages. All right. And it's called River, R-I-V-E-R.
[00:12:46] Mike Schneider: That one is so frightening to me. Looking at the logo, it just tells you what's going to happen.
[00:12:53] Jacqui Brugliera: I thought it was like, because you're going to be living in a van down by the river.
[00:12:56] John Craven: Down by the river. Come on. We're old.
[00:12:57] Jacqui Brugliera: We can make that joke anyway. We can.
[00:13:00] John Craven: I find it interesting. So they are a cannabis brand. They're saying that you're microdosing THC in this because it's five milligrams of THC, but they also add a bunch of other ingredients. A lot of caffeine. Yeah. Like there's herbal tea, there's reishi mushrooms, ashwagandha, agave. So this one's caffeine free, but I believe the other one isn't. And it's just interesting. It's like THC already is like, I don't know, some people think it's a little dangerous and then you're adding other things onto it. So. I don't know. For someone that's a THC consumer, it might be for them though.
[00:13:31] Mike Schneider: You know who that might be for? Someone who really enjoys multiple indulgences at once. Our director of community, Melissa Traverse.
[00:13:40] John Craven: We have to get her to try that. Yes, we do. Oh my God, I'm going to drive some up to LA. No, no, we've got some in the fridge. We've got some in the fridge. Okay, we've got to record her reaction.
[00:13:51] Mike Schneider: Definitely need to do that.
[00:13:54] Jacqui Brugliera: John's got something. I've got some new amazing. Yeah, some new flavors from Lexington Bakes. There's a pumpkin one, but there's also a snickerdoodle. I got a maple pecan chip and a peanut butter chip cookie variety. You know, I got to say these new mini size Lexington Bakes, I simultaneously kind of love and hate Lex Evans for doing this. I mean, first of all, genius. But I hate you because I just want to eat multiple of these. So true. But I mean, these are again, I think he's done a phenomenal job of just progressing with the flavors and the packaging and the quality. I mean, this.
[00:14:41] John Craven: Yeah.
[00:14:41] Jacqui Brugliera: I feel like each batch is like his best work.
[00:14:43] Mike Schneider: It's dense luxury. Like every bite is one of the best bites you've had in terms of like a snack. Those are amazing. And I can either just take it down in two bites and be like, Oh my God, what have I done to myself? Or eat it over, eat it over a couple of days and be happy.
[00:14:58] John Craven: Yeah. I also love how he's doing a bunch of collaborations. I believe every single, like one of those SKUs includes another CPG product and he puts that front of pack too. So it's like lifting up other founders as well.
[00:15:11] Jacqui Brugliera: I think it's cool. And it also like, you know, it does add another level of freemium to the product that, okay, cool. This has got some Rocca chocolate in it. Like, yeah, I think that's smart. He's got a cup of coffee.
[00:15:24] Mike Schneider: He's got Is that Secret Squirrel there? He's got some really great partner brands that he's working with and Cho Chocolate he works With Ray well. And his idea is that everyone should be doing that, should be saying exactly what's in their product.
[00:15:37] John Craven: Yeah. And like a brand, like those brands are trusted, you know, that their quality. I mean, sometimes if you're talking technically about where the chocolate's sourced and all that stuff, like it's a lot easier for a consumer to just digest, this is the brand.
[00:15:50] Jacqui Brugliera: Looking forward to catching up with Lex at Nosh Live in a couple days.
[00:15:54] Mike Schneider: Lexington Bakes, a difficult act to follow for any cookie, but I think one that could do a good job that's trying to play in a very different space is Bake Me Healthy. So we got these Bake Me Healthy dark chocolate chip soft-baked cookies that zero grams of added sugar, eight grams of plant protein, four grams of fiber. So these are, you know, a healthier indulgence in the way that they're packaged. and a very different tasting, but they hit the spot. Yeah, it's pretty solid. It's maybe a little less sweet than a standard chocolate chip cookie, but pretty solid. They're also ooey gooey too. They're so soft and they stick together. Like if you put them in your pocket, they're definitely going to get smushed.
[00:16:37] Jacqui Brugliera: I like cookies in like an M&M bag.
[00:16:41] Mike Schneider: Most we have, John.
[00:16:43] Jacqui Brugliera: You know, I'm always a sucker for anything that's a Negroni. So this is the Aplos Mandora Negroni. It's kind of like a citrusy, easy-drinking, and it's an N.A. cocktail, of course. So, real big fan of what Aplos has created. Ditto. You've got a couple more other flavors, but this might be my new favorite.
[00:17:06] Mike Schneider: That one is extraordinary. I mean, if you're looking to scratch the Negroni itch as a, you know, sober, curious person like me, that definitely does it. I'd put it right up there with Phony Negroni and Lapos and other great non-oak Negronis that we've tried. They also have, I haven't tried these, but they've got a Cola fashioned. Ume Spritz and Chili Margarita SKUs as well. And I think there's, I think there's some more even beyond these, but these are the ones that we have. Going to give the Ume Spritz a try here.
[00:17:38] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, really polished looking package too.
[00:17:42] Mike Schneider: That's really good. You can just tell that it's for an adult drinking occasion just by the nose of it. And, uh, it's got really nice complex flavors. It also has some, uh, some mushrooms, magnesium. It hits a lot. It checks a lot of boxes. 30 calories. It's really good. It's, um, the 30 calories makes it pretty crushable too. If you wanted to have multiple of these, you can feel good about it.
[00:18:05] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, I think keeping the calories in check is pretty important for products like this. That feels like once you take the alcohol away, the sugar and caloric content of these products is kind of like the other concern for consumers. So they've got to be like certainly under a hundred calories, in my opinion.
[00:18:23] Mike Schneider: Man, this is really good. It's got organic dandelion root, calamansi lime, sweet basil, coriander, rosemary, and mint. There's some really good words on this pack. Nicely done.
[00:18:33] Jacqui Brugliera: You know what else I've got for you here? Oh man. This is some, a new product from Cedars, you know, Cedars Hummus. And this is their Tomb Mediterranean Garlic Dip. We're going to give this a try because the PR folks for Cedars have literally like Blow Up my inbox this week. which is I'm kind of saying Blow Up my inbox and we'll talk about your product. I don't know.
[00:18:59] Mike Schneider: DM me or Jackie.
[00:19:01] Jacqui Brugliera: I don't know. I'm not going to lie. Like Cedar's hummus is kind of like, I would say a solid, widely available mainstream hummus brand. Not the best, far from the worst, good and solid. So I was kind of intrigued about this product. I don't know if you want to give it a little try. I've already... Yeah, I'll give it a try.
[00:19:20] Mike Schneider: We also have... Very garlicky. The great pretzelized crackers.
[00:19:24] Jacqui Brugliera: Seems like the proper vessel for giving this a try.
[00:19:28] John Craven: So just a garlic dip?
[00:19:29] Jacqui Brugliera: Just garlic dip, yep.
[00:19:31] John Craven: So if you've had... My favorite.
[00:19:32] Jacqui Brugliera: There are a couple other like Tomb brands.
[00:19:36] Mike Schneider: Pretty good, right? Yeah, it's pretty good. It's going to help the other Tomb brands that are out there too, just to have, because Cedars obviously has pretty wide distribution. It's like that solid B area.
[00:19:46] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, and that was exactly my thought about what you said of it helping other brands. I mean, I think the biggest sort of challenge for a Tomb brand is just awareness right now. So, you know, if they are going to make a push to get this out there, that should for sure help other dip companies that are doing something similar. And this is, you know, compared to their hummus products, like, I would say a very assertive flavor, right? I mean, it's, it's hardcore garlic. It's garlic forward for sure. But, uh, yeah, I mean, nice, nice work.
[00:20:17] Mike Schneider: It's pretty good work. It's not quite as forward as some of the other tombs, but it's, it's tasty. I mean, thinking of Tal's tomb, I think about that a lot, actually. That stuff's so good. Yes. Uh, I mentioned it before, we've got a new De Soi. This is the spritz Italiano, bittersweet Mediterranean citrus. Have you tried this one? John's busy eating. I caught him. I was like a waitress who walked up and said, is everything okay here?
[00:20:43] Jacqui Brugliera: Eating this Lex and Bakes. This is where I'm in the, I hate you Lex Evans face, but also thank you.
[00:20:49] John Craven: I feel like this is our version of like Friendsgiving, you know, like cocktails, appetizers, desserts.
[00:20:59] Jacqui Brugliera: Yes, I have had this and it's an interesting thing to wash down a Lexington Bakes with. I was going to say, how does it pair with maple pecan chip? You know, I mean, you guys know I'm a big fan of Negroni and bitter cocktails. I still just feel like the bitter flavor when, you know, N.A. cocktails, like, use that. It just creates the best product. I mean, it is, I feel like, so close to the flavor experience of an actual, like, Aperol spritz, you know? And this stuff is really solid.
[00:21:30] Mike Schneider: I think the ume spritz is, it follows that philosophy. It's not quite as bitter as, say, a Negroni, but it starts off and finishes with bitter. And it's, it's really nice. I mean, again, just a couple of really good products in front of us here in the NA space. It just, I'm excited to be alive right now, Jackie. Last but not least, we've got Fruga, which is a, a new soda brand that contains 9% juice. I've got the Well, apparently it's naturally delicious pink guava, real fruit meat soda. It's 35 calories, seven grams of sugar, including three added. And the label is really, really nice. Just sparkling water, pink guava puree, chicory root inulin, cane sugar, lemon juice, natural pink guava flavor. Red juice, stevia, acerola juice, lemon peel extract concentrate. So it's, I mean, for a soda, a 35 calorie soda, the label's pretty great and it tastes good too. I'm going in. is frigga cheap. See what I did there?
[00:22:39] Marina Del: Come on, bad joke. Wow. That brings us to the end of this episode of Taste Radio. Thank you so much for listening. Taste Radio is a production of BevNET.com, Incorporated. Our audio engineer for Taste Radio is Joe Cracci. Our technical director is Joshua Pratt, and our video editor is Ryan Galang. Our social marketing manager is Amanda Smerlinski, and our designer is Amanda Huang. Just a reminder, if you like what you hear on Taste Radio, please share the podcast with friends and colleagues. And, of course, we would love it if you could review us on the Apple Podcasts app or your listening platform of choice. Check us out on Instagram. Our handle is bevnettasteradio. As always, for questions, comments, ideas for future podcasts, please send us an email to ask at Taste Radio.com. On behalf of the entire Taste Radio team, thank you for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.
[00:23:35] Jacqui Brugliera: you
