[00:00:10] Ray Latif: Hello, friends, and thanks for tuning into Taste Radio, the number one podcast for anyone building a business in food or beverage. I'm Ray Latif, the editor and producer of Taste Radio, and with my co-host for this episode, John Craven, Jacqui Brugliera, and Melissa Traverse. In this episode, we sit down with Ria Soler, the director of Global Advocacy for luxury spirit brand Tequila Komos. Tequila. Tequila's on a roll. John Craven, you don't, I don't see you drink much tequila. You're not, you're more of a gin and bourbon kind of guy. Yeah.
[00:00:43] John Craven: Uh, sure.
[00:00:44] Ray Latif: Okay. Yeah.
[00:00:45] John Craven: I like a margarita. I don't know. Really? I don't think I've ever seen you drink a margarita.
[00:00:50] Ray Latif: I mean spicy margarita only when you're in paradise spicy margarita yeah there you go okay something like that yeah Jackie I know you drink tequila we we uh yeah we had some experiences with tequila at the old Chez Jay
[00:01:03] Jacqui Brugliera: Yes, we've had lots of tequilas.
[00:01:05] Ray Latif: I don't really recall those experiences.
[00:01:07] Jacqui Brugliera: I wouldn't say that was a pleasant experience. Regrettable experiences. Yeah. In San Diego, I drank a bunch of tequila, though. You know, there's tequila everywhere. There's little bodegas with very nice Tequila Komos Mexico. You can have margaritas all the time. So here it's a big deal, but I know it's a big deal everywhere now.
[00:01:26] Ray Latif: Yeah. Yeah. Tequila Komos indeed on a roll. Melissa, do your Friday and Saturday cocktails include tequila?
[00:01:32] Melissa Traverse: Oh, absolutely. Tequila Komos certainly one of my favorites. And I'm going to go out on a limb here and say, I feel like Tequila Komos seen as one of the healthier alcohols. There's that lore that Tequila Komos the only alcohol that's a stimulant, which I know isn't true, but I feel like the athletes and, I don't know, people who are more concerned with their health maybe gravitate towards tequila.
[00:01:57] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, my friend actually got me on this whole kick of drinking tequila with a splash of olive juice and olives because Tequila Komos better for you and you get like some of the sodium and electrolytes of the olive juice.
[00:02:12] SPEAKER_??: Yeah.
[00:02:13] Melissa Traverse: I do these workout videos with Sean T, the insanity guy. And he has this woman, Kristen, who's his trainer. And he always asks her for a tequila, Kristen, where she like does a little booty dance. Cause she also drinks tequila.
[00:02:26] Ray Latif: Oh, okay. Well, I haven't heard about this better for you than other spirits, tequila being that, but I do recall when David Wells of the New York Yankees, he was a pitcher back then. This is about, oh, geez, this is 27 years ago. He pitched a perfect game for the New York Yankees and admitted after the game that he had a hangover throughout. And I imagine maybe the tequila was involved, but it was better for you. It gave him that kick, that stimulant he needed, perhaps.
[00:02:58] Melissa Traverse: Right. I mean, there are a number of athletes who own tequila brands, right? There's LeBron. Sure, he does.
[00:03:05] Ray Latif: Michael Jordan. Who doesn't own one? The Rock. I wouldn't necessarily call The Rock an athlete, per se. Sports entertainment, you know.
[00:03:13] Melissa Traverse: Erin from The Real Housewives of New York, who always looks amazing.
[00:03:19] Ray Latif: Okay, okay. I think what we've proven But Where is that tequila should be the spirit of choice if you're thinking about doing anything related to fitness or athletics.
[00:03:28] John Craven: The official spirit of regret.
[00:03:31] Ray Latif: Now, Tequila Komos, you should definitely try that product, that brand. Their Tequila Komos all aged in wine barrels. It's delicious stuff. And as I mentioned, Tequila Komos on a roll, but don't take my word for it. Our dear colleague and esteemed journalist Farin Salnikar, who is BevNET's spirits editor, wrote a piece about Tequila's gains on premise and how it's taking away share from other spirits. So definitely check that out. It's on BevNET.com. Also definitely check out Taste Radio Austin. If you're based in The Real, if you're traveling to Austin, and apparently there are a lot of folks traveling to Austin the week of May 5th, our event's on May 6th, The week of May 5th, there's a whole bunch of consumer brand events happening in Austin that week. But again, our event is on May 6th from 5 to 7 p.m. at Torchy's Tacos at their Escarpment location. It's going to be lots of fun. We already have a ton of people who RSVP'd. There's going to be networking. There's going to be live podcast interviews. There's going to be food, obviously tacos. There's going to be beer. There may be perhaps some margaritas. So definitely make it if you can, rsvptasteradio.com slash Austin. And by the way, they are, Torchies that is, I heard, expanding to Boston. And their new locations are going to be called Tochies. So.
[00:05:02] Ria Soler: You're spreading rumors.
[00:05:09] John Craven: I had to, I'm sorry. Had to laugh track in for that joke. All right. A sad laugh track.
[00:05:16] Ray Latif: Let's, no, seriously, come to Austin. If you're there, come see us May 6th at Torchy's Tacos Escarpment location. All right, Melissa, we're so blessed that you're here. Thank you so much. You're not just here because Mike is in Amsterdam. I don't know, what is he doing in Amsterdam, by the way?
[00:05:31] Melissa Traverse: I mean, what do people do in Amsterdam? There's lots of things to do there. Ride their bikes.
[00:05:36] Ray Latif: He's in The Real light district?
[00:05:39] John Craven: Geez. A coffee shop? It's a family show and he's on a family vacation, so.
[00:05:45] SPEAKER_??: Okay.
[00:05:45] Ray Latif: No, I asked Mike what he was doing. He asked for some advice on places to visit. The only places I know to visit in Amsterdam, don't say it, are the wine bars and some nice eateries. I don't know anything else.
[00:05:56] John Craven: And Mike, he... Just forget about the Anne Frank House or something. The actual historical significance.
[00:06:01] Ray Latif: Exactly. Just saying. Mike Tempers is drinking nowadays, and so I didn't really have some great advice for him. But I am truly happy that you're here, Melissa, and I want to hear all about what you're doing with Nombase, which is the amazing platform that's changing the game for CPG.
[00:06:18] Melissa Traverse: Well, I'm so happy to be here. I'm going to start locking people up in closets so I can show up on the regular.
[00:06:24] Ray Latif: That's another one of these statements that you've made on this podcast that kind of scare me about your background. And you see me leaning this way, Melissa? I remember you once told us that you saw graffiti on a bathroom wall once.
[00:06:38] Melissa Traverse: And I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah. There's a lot I don't share, but then I guess, well, we can just cut that out.
[00:06:45] Ray Latif: No, we don't have to cut anything out, actually.
[00:06:48] Melissa Traverse: Well, it is, it's so great to be here and non-base is certainly changing the game. We've got a lot of great stuff coming up for everybody. So of course, again, if you haven't been to look at your listing in our supplier directory, make sure that you head over there, nonbase.com and got some really great content coming up for everybody. We just released the Sweet 9C and Dappy podcast. And I know that you actually sat down with Yanni and Paula.
[00:07:18] Ray Latif: Yeah, Yanni, the founder of Lemon Perfect and Paula Grant, who's the founder of Sweet9C. Yeah, we talked about what went into the rebrand for Lemon Perfect and how Paula and Yanni collaborated, sometimes buttheads, and eventually got to this place where they came out with a really great looking brand refresh.
[00:07:36] Melissa Traverse: So we're taking folks behind the scenes to show exactly how a design firm like Sweet 9C works with a brand. So Dappy is the subject of the podcast.
[00:07:48] Ray Latif: Dappy is a?
[00:07:49] Melissa Traverse: Dappy is a non-alcoholic functional beverage. It's super delicious. They were, of course, the finalist in our new beverage showdown. And so we're really kind of going behind the scenes to see exactly how a firm like that works towards rebranding packaging.
[00:08:06] Ray Latif: Yeah, and what's amazing about this feature on Nombase is that Dappy, as you mentioned, Melissa, was a finalist in our most recent New Beverage Showdown and positioned as a non-alcoholic cocktail, almost, is what I recall. This collaboration between Nambase, Suite9C, and Dappy is really a great opportunity for people to see what's making current modern brands move off the shelf, especially when it comes to that front of the label and making sure that people not only understand what they're getting, but are enticed by what they're getting. And so I love, love, love this feature.
[00:08:44] Melissa Traverse: So we have the video and the podcast up there. This is definitely one that you'd want to check the video out for because we have some great visuals that go along with that. So nonbase.com, check out the podcast tab. We also have coming up Thrive Market. So Natalie Wider is the new, new-ish VP of category management. She just joined. in September, and they're actually making a lot of changes to the way that they do business. So they're changing the category review cycle. They are standardizing vendor terms. And so Natalie will kind of go through everything that they're changing and how brands can stay up to date on all of that. Natalie has a really amazing background in e-com with Amazon, and she's actually a Dedham, Massachusetts native. So she grew up right down the street.
[00:09:32] Ray Latif: Dedham, Mass. All right. Our dear colleague, former colleague, Matt Kennedy lives in Dedham.
[00:09:39] Melissa Traverse: My dad grew up in Dedham. Really?
[00:09:40] Ray Latif: Everyone we know is in Dedham these days.
[00:09:42] Melissa Traverse: And then last, I'll give everyone a sneak peek to something we're working on for next month. We have Scout Brisson, who's going to be at BevNET Live. on with Sows and Homecourt, which is an HBC brand. And they're going to be talking about the trade shows that you should go to, what you can expect to get out of a trade show. Should you even go? So we're going to be diving into that.
[00:10:08] Ray Latif: Yeah. Scout is the CEO of Dessoir. a non-alcoholic cocktail brand that was co-founded by Katy Perry. And I remember when Scout posted on LinkedIn about her experience at Expo West and talked about whether it was worth More Investment, what they actually spent, what they expect to get out of it, and was detailing the whole process on LinkedIn. And I reached out to her and I was like, hey, do you want to do something for Tasterator? She's like, actually, I'm doing something cool with Melissa Anambas. I'm like, oh, missed out on that. She got scooped. So I love this idea and I'm so happy you're sitting down with her because transparency about these events is, you know, near and dear to my heart. Absolutely. So very exciting stuff. Scout is also going to be speaking at BevNET Live in New York City, June 11th and 12th. She is one of many incredible speakers that we have lined up for the event. We've mentioned Ralph Crowley Jr. who is the president and CEO of Polar Beverages. He's going to be at the event talking about how brands, especially small brands can scale with large distributors like Polar. Ben Mand, who's the CEO of Guayaquil. What an interesting sort of rebrand, repositioning that that company has taken. John Frost, who's the chief customer officer for Chobani. Jill Seitz, the EVP of sales for the Pathfinder. We have Megan Klein, who's the founder of Little Saints. Chris Hunter. How could I, how could I skip over Chris Hunter? Chris Hunter, the CEO of Koya. Kyle Fitzpatrick, who's the founder of Paperboy Ventures. It's just a stacked, stacked lineup of speakers. In addition to all these speakers, we're once again bringing back our one-to-ones. That means you'll have the opportunity to sit down with buyers from Whole Foods Market and the Goodsmart chat with them about how you can get into their stores, have them review your packaging, your nutrition facts label, your flavor, the flavor of your products, obviously, what's working, what doesn't, and perhaps, hopefully, getting into their stores one day. So very exciting stuff. And of course, the New Bedward Showdown, if you haven't applied and you're thinking about applying, you've got to do it now. Our applications are filling up fast and we're going to be making decisions about who the semifinalists are very, very soon.
[00:12:20] Melissa Traverse: I know people say this all the time, but I'm gonna say it one more time. Just getting up on stage is winning. It's such a big deal.
[00:12:28] Ray Latif: Yes, absolutely. And what's really cool is that when you see people up on stage and you see the confidence that they have and how proud they are and passionate they are about their brands, it says so much more than what you see on the shelf, on a website, in their social media. And the entire community sees that too. The entire beverage community sees so much more than what they may have thought or heard about your brand.
[00:12:56] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah. And when they get on stage too, the entire industry gets to know them and then they come off stage and they're like a mini celebrity at the event. Everyone wants to talk to them, pick their brain. They want to learn more about their story. It's just, you know, your first introduction and launch pad into the industry.
[00:13:13] Ray Latif: Absolutely. And you get great feedback, you know, John gives good feedback, very, very, very straightforward. If he doesn't like your product, he's not going to exactly say he doesn't like your product. He's just going to say, I think you should probably do this or that, but you don't never, I mean, that's a double negative, but you don't not never, you don't not never you, you like most brands. I don't think I've ever heard you really say this is never going to work.
[00:13:38] John Craven: I mean, I think there, geez, I mean, it'd be hard to think of some brand- I think I can think of one. That just has, well, no, I mean, look, every brand that's starting out has hopes and dreams and a desire to be successful. This is sounding very diplomatic, by the way. But it is, and it's true also at the same time, which is, I think if you look at brands that, you know, we've seen that have gone on to be successful, not just in the New Beverage Showdown, but in general, A lot of times where they started out and where they end up have a really wide gap between them. Not every brand is like that, but most have a pretty decent sort of path where they evolve. And again, I think when someone gets up there, I mean, obviously like they're getting up on a stage, you know, I want them to be successful. I am trying to be straight with them, but I think there are very few concepts that have absolutely zero path forward. So that really is kind of what separates founders who are really successful from maybe those who are not, is just their willingness and how relentless they are to do that. Because sometimes it's hard. So that's my answer to you accusing me of being diplomatic.
[00:14:52] Melissa Traverse: And their willingness to accept good advice.
[00:14:54] Ray Latif: Yes, absolutely. It wasn't an accusation. It was just an observation. Okay. Jackie was once a judge in the New Beverage Showdown as well. I thought you did an incredible job. I keep wanting to tell Mike, I keep putting it on the calendar being like Mike slash Ray meeting about the New Beverage Showdown. And I just want to be like, look, maybe you want to step away from the judging this time and let Jackie take a crack at it.
[00:15:18] Jacqui Brugliera: He will never leave his pen of judgment. He loves his pen of judgment.
[00:15:20] Ray Latif: But that's the thing, like Mike's favorite thing to do in life is judge the New Beverage Showdown. So I don't know how to. It is really fun. Yeah. I mean, yours is to host it, so.
[00:15:29] Melissa Traverse: Yeah. Uh, yeah.
[00:15:32] Ray Latif: Oh, wait a second.
[00:15:33] Melissa Traverse: Wait a second. Is it not your favorite thing to do?
[00:15:36] Ray Latif: I'd say duck hunting is my favorite thing to do, actually. Close second is hosting New Beverage Show.
[00:15:43] John Craven: Guy from Brookline's definition of duck hunting is like finding a good Chinese restaurant or something, right?
[00:15:49] Ray Latif: No, it's just, I like to wear the jacket and the nice cravat.
[00:15:54] Melissa Traverse: The hat with the flaps over the ears.
[00:15:55] Ray Latif: Oh, I don't do that. I don't do that, no. The lit pipe. The lit pipe, you know, the flask of scotch.
[00:16:01] Melissa Traverse: Your family plaid.
[00:16:02] Ray Latif: Yes, actually, we do have a family plaid. How did you know that? All right. I am really excited about this as well. I keep saying I'm excited about all those things, truly I am. FABID, FABID has released a new report that is on BevNET and Nosh. FABID stands for Food and Beverage Investor Database. They release a whole bunch of information about what's shaking in MNA, who's getting money and why. They have released a report and the title of this caught my attention, or at least the first line, is the food and beverage funding freeze finally thawing? FABIT's Q1 2025 report reveals a surprising rebound in deal size and investor appetite, just not where you might expect it. So, you can get access to the full report which breaks down the biggest deals, trends by stage and size, and what they signal for emerging brands via this link. Taste Radio.com slash data. And I think it's like a free sample.
[00:17:07] John Craven: It's free.
[00:17:08] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah.
[00:17:09] Ray Latif: There's no strings attached.
[00:17:10] Jacqui Brugliera: No strings attached. And we have been partnering with Fabin and other data providers quarterly to release these reports. And they're usually an insider exclusive, But Where want to make sure you have access to this because this is really valuable information. So go to the Taste Radio.com slash data URL, fill up a short form, and then you'll get access to the free report.
[00:17:30] Melissa Traverse: This is information you can use in your pitch decks and your innovation plan. It's good stuff.
[00:17:35] Ray Latif: That's a really good point, Melissa. This is why, so Mike would just be like, yeah, we're giving it out for free. You should be proud and happy to be associated with us. But you gave like real good information that, you know, people who are listening can use. I appreciate that. Like Mike would say, just use a lot of clip art in your pitch deck.
[00:17:51] Jacqui Brugliera: Some AI-generated images.
[00:17:54] Ray Latif: Yes, exactly. We talked about AI. This is not fair. And Arsenal quotes. Yeah, I can't knock on the guy when he's not here. That's not fair. Yeah, you can. Yeah, I guess I can. Kick him while he's down. Did you notice that I said, when I said Taste Radio.com slash data, I said data? I don't usually do that, but that's a Star Trek The Next Generation thing.
[00:18:12] Melissa Traverse: I wasn't gonna say it cuz I thought it would make me seem like a nerd. No, but yeah data Remember when data became human?
[00:18:18] John Craven: Yes Yes, you guys do a little Star Trek hand sign as each other now That's not TNG though. That's the original Forgive my my ignorance
[00:18:33] Ray Latif: No, so Jean-Luc Picard, who was played by Patrick Stewart, Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Hold on, hold on, hold on. People who are listening are gonna know what I'm talking about.
[00:18:41] Melissa Traverse: I would vote for him for president.
[00:18:43] Ray Latif: I have no idea what you're talking about. Wow, our numbers are just falling off the cliff. Every word you say. As part of his team, he had an android who was their science officer, and Jean-Luc Picard, Patrick Stewart, is British. And so he never said data, he said data. He put the accent, on the second syllable, right? Data. Data. Data. Yeah. So anyway, that's the way I said it. Okay. Let's move on from data to National Pretzel Day. That's an easy segue. Yeah. Okay.
[00:19:13] Jacqui Brugliera: Oh, yeah.
[00:19:14] Ray Latif: I have a secret, secret vial here. Not really a vial, but anyway. National Pretzel Day apparently is on Saturday, April 26th. Everyone here loves pretzels. I know you love pretzels, John Craven. Sure. Pretzelize. That's your, that's your brand now, right? I like Pretzelize, but I don't know if Unique Pretzels by themselves? A New Yorker like yourself, you don't Unique Pretzels?
[00:19:35] John Craven: They're kind of like bagels, right? What's that?
[00:19:38] Jacqui Brugliera: They're kind of like bagels.
[00:19:39] John Craven: Well, no, I mean the hot pretzels sold on the street, cooked over some... Sure, that's like... Cooked over some what? Chestnuts. Oh, chestnuts. That's like a nostalgia thing here. Package press kind of boring.
[00:19:50] Ray Latif: Okay, so you're Team Soft pretzel guy more than you are a hard pretzel guy. Yes. Sure. Okay. Yeah, whatever Don't settle whatever it's that's an important question to ask if you're going out on a date if you're on the tenders or the stuff that no one is of the world and stuff like that I would think that's an important. That's a good question.
[00:20:06] Melissa Traverse: Good icebreaker. What kind of pretzels?
[00:20:08] Ray Latif: Do you like what what kind of pretzel person? Are you?
[00:20:09] Melissa Traverse: I like all pretzels, although I will say I don't love the doughy pretzels, but I do really like packaged pretzels. Have you guys had Unique Pretzels? No. They, I know Whole Foods Market sells them. They have a sourdough, they have these sourdough rings, which are so good and they're salty enough. My biggest problem with almost all packaged snacks is that they're not salty enough. So I oftentimes dip them in salt.
[00:20:32] Ray Latif: Ooh, this was going to be another question I would ask. They need to be extra salty for you.
[00:20:36] John Craven: I mean, my favorite hard pretzel brand would have to be Uncle Jerry's. Have you ever had those? Yes. They're like those burned sourdough, insane amount of salt. I'm with you on the salt.
[00:20:47] Melissa Traverse: You should try the Unique Pretzels. They have an extra dark version that are very delicious.
[00:20:52] Ray Latif: Okay. I think I know where Jackie's going on this. And I think we're on the same wavelength because we've talked about crunchy, crunchy snacks and how we don't necessarily love the crunchiest of snacks. Bad for your teeth.
[00:21:02] Melissa Traverse: Yeah. Like you can't even like, it hurts your jaw.
[00:21:05] Ray Latif: Yeah.
[00:21:05] Melissa Traverse: No, it's good for your teeth. We need to like exercise the teeth. We need to give them some resistance training for your teeth.
[00:21:12] Ray Latif: We need to exercise the teeth. That's a, that's a new one. Same with eating candy. But if you are eating pretzels, Jackie.
[00:21:20] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah.
[00:21:21] Ray Latif: Is it soft exclusively or are you, yeah?
[00:21:24] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, I'm a pretty exclusive soft pretzel person. Like Auntie Annie's is what I think of. And like, I love sweet pretzels. Like cinnamon sugar. I'm really going off The Real, but that's like my favorite pretzel.
[00:21:39] Melissa Traverse: Jackie, was that something you used to get at the mall? Is that like a mall thing?
[00:21:43] Jacqui Brugliera: And then when I walk into a mall and I smell it, like it just slowly gravitates.
[00:21:47] John Craven: Since we're off The Real here, you know, you mentioned it's National Pretzel Day. Yeah. which I loathe all these stupid like National Day that people paid for. So I went and looked like what else is around there. And the next day is National Pretzel rib day, which seems like it would be a much bigger day for you. Oh, I can't eat prime rib. You went stern. It's too much.
[00:22:09] Ray Latif: You got to go out for a nice takeout dinner, get some prime rib. No, I've never been a prime rib guy. It's it's too fatty. It's too bullshit here. It's too, no. Did you just curse on the Taste Radio? You can believe it out or something. Oh my gosh. Now it's just, it's too fatty, it's too mushy. I don't, I don't really love prime rib. I need a more firm cut of meat.
[00:22:28] Melissa Traverse: You like a T-bone porterhead? Jesus.
[00:22:31] Ray Latif: Oh boy, this is really going off The Real tonight. Do you want me to tell you the other days that are in this week?
[00:22:37] John Craven: Well, today to 22nd? Well, yeah, today's the 22nd, but the day this is going to be published is on the 25th.
[00:22:42] Ray Latif: All right, here you go.
[00:22:43] John Craven: National Jelly Bean Day is today. Tomorrow, these get so... Like, who paid for this? National Cherry Cheesecake Day tomorrow. And then National Picnic Day. That sounds kind of wholesome. Oh, National Pigs in a Blanket Day. I kind of would want to mix that with the picnic part. Yeah, any bread day what you could bring a picnic and then pretzel day and prime rib day I mean you pick like maybe the second most pedestrian National Day.
[00:23:14] Ray Latif: No, I have a good reason for bringing this up and I'm gonna get to that Okay, sorry to ruin that by the way, I'm focused on national.
[00:23:19] John Craven: No, he's in a blanket day. What's your go-to with that? Should we talk about mustard preferences now?
[00:23:24] Ray Latif: Anyway for those national pigs in the blankets. Okay, if you really want to go there they have to you have to make them yourself So anyway, okay.
[00:23:31] SPEAKER_??: Yeah.
[00:23:32] Ray Latif: Mm-hmm Tangent here, how did this work out? Easter, which was on April 20th, right? Landed on the same day as marijuana day or whatever you want to call it. Oh, right.
[00:23:40] Melissa Traverse: And National Jelly Bean Day is after Easter. Oh, my gosh, that makes no sense.
[00:23:46] Ray Latif: Yeah, it should be on Easter.
[00:23:48] SPEAKER_??: Yeah.
[00:23:49] Ray Latif: Oh, jeez.
[00:23:50] John Craven: OK, so can you turn a chocolate Easter bunny into a bong ray? It is hollow, right? is the utmost authority on this.
[00:23:59] Ray Latif: You know this is going on Instagram and the YouTube shorts and all that, so you're famous now. I want your answer. I don't have an answer for you, my friend.
[00:24:06] Jacqui Brugliera: Wipe the air off of it. It's possible.
[00:24:12] Ray Latif: Okay, I think we've worked out the pretzel thing. What's the punchline here? I just want to say on the pretzel front, There's a wide variation when it comes to pretzels and there's also a wide Aviation Gin quality in particular when it comes to soft pretzels. Some soft pretzels might be the worst thing you've ever eaten. If you go to Fenway Park, no knock on Fenway Park, but if you go there and get a pretzel, it is horrid. Okay. It is so bad. It's lacking in the salt for sure. It tastes like rubber. Yeah. Like it tastes like chemicals actually. And then you go to some, some places where they have, you know, more upscale.
[00:24:49] Melissa Traverse: Auntie Annie's for example. So upscale. Auntie Annie's.
[00:24:54] Ray Latif: No, there is a place in Boston. There's a place more specifically in Cambridge that I love to go to. And the pretzel there is amazing. If you want to know where it is, send me a note or Latif at pebnet.com. All right, pretzels. Okay, so do you remember Trader Joe's was the only place where you could get peanut butter filled pretzels. That for the longest time, that was the only place you could get them. And nowadays, obviously there's a lot of brands that make amazing peanut butter. And they also make one that's peanut butter and jelly. Do combos not make a peanut butter flavor array? No, peanut butter filled pretzels, like completely wrapped, not like the combos kind of thing.
[00:25:29] John Craven: I'm so confused what the difference is here.
[00:25:31] Ray Latif: All right. Anyway, splitting hairs, depths of processed food, Reese's, which you would think would have had one of these long time ago. They finally came out with a filled pretzel with peanut butter filling. And what's the ingredient list on this comes in this plastic tub, 18 ounce plastic tub, 130 calories per seven pieces of this. So we can open this up. Why no chocolate? Maybe they'll come out with a chocolate eventually.
[00:26:01] John Craven: No, like chocolate and peanut butter in one pretzel.
[00:26:03] Ray Latif: You know what? They're just starting.
[00:26:04] John Craven: Like just freaking do it. Don't send me this peanut butter.
[00:26:07] Ray Latif: I bet it's in their innovation paper. Give them time.
[00:26:09] John Craven: Or even bake a Reese's Pieces in the middle of that.
[00:26:12] Ray Latif: Right. It's weird that they don't have any chocolate.
[00:26:14] John Craven: Probably nasty, but this, I mean.
[00:26:16] Ray Latif: Would you like one? I don't have any hand sanitizer with me. We can try it after too. No. Okay. I would think that these are going to be creamier than what you typically expect, because Reese's peanut butter is usually very, very creamy. Yes, go ahead. John is still chewing, that's why.
[00:26:32] John Craven: The problem is Reese's peanut butter is like too flavored. It's too flavored? Oh, I am smelling it. It actually smells very peanut buttery.
[00:26:41] Ray Latif: Yeah. That's not peanut butter.
[00:26:42] Melissa Traverse: It's that same peanut butter-like material that's on the inside of a Reese's, so.
[00:26:49] Ray Latif: There you go. It doesn't. So you asked about the ingredient list. It doesn't look overwhelming. It looks like mostly ingredients for the pretzel. And then in terms of the peanut butter itself, it's peanut sugar, powdered sugar, salt, canola oil. So yeah, the ingredient panel isn't too crazy. But anyway, I'm excited to house these late night, like 1, 2, 3 a.m. Right after National Pretzel Rib Day.
[00:27:12] Melissa Traverse: Right after you smoke out of the chocolate bunny vine.
[00:27:15] Ray Latif: And drink a ton of tequila. Yes. I am in very poor health, folks. Yes. He smokes tobacco out of the chocolate bunny bum. All right. It's time now for everyone's favorite part of an episode of Taste Radio. What's new and notable? The end.
[00:27:32] Jacqui Brugliera: I feel like we're on a game show right now.
[00:27:35] SPEAKER_??: Sorry.
[00:27:36] Ray Latif: Okay, John, what do you got? But alas, we have more. Yes.
[00:27:40] John Craven: What do you got there? These are some El Nacho premium tortilla chips. I don't want to, you know, get anyone offended here. Local brand here. Yeah. Local brand. They might have appeared in our office. Yes. They have new snack size bags. I think the bags, snack size bags are new, but they have a... What, six ounces? Five ounces? 2.7 ounces. I was way off. Chips don't weigh a lot, right? No, they don't.
[00:28:03] Melissa Traverse: Yeah, nice and light.
[00:28:04] John Craven: They have a new flavor, Miss Mango.
[00:28:06] Melissa Traverse: I love that one.
[00:28:08] John Craven: Interesting. Really good. I don't think I've ever had like a kind of tropical flavor. It's like hot honey, mango, and lime.
[00:28:15] Melissa Traverse: And I feel like the mango isn't, it's not so fruity.
[00:28:19] John Craven: It's subtle. I think the hot honey and the lime kind of are the stars of the show. And then this one called El Diablo, just chili and lime. Only feedback on this, when you call it Diablo, I feel like it's supposed to burn your face off, but it's a pleasant spice. Not a painful spice.
[00:28:36] Ray Latif: I like that one, because it matches my hat. The Real Devils of Manchester United. Oh, there you go. I'm seeing an expensive brand collaboration there. Oh, they're not going to do anything less than six, seven million dollars, so. Yeah, it'll not show. I mean, they're going to sell a lot of tortilla chips. So I think they could. They're delicious. Really good. Yeah. Jackie, what do you got over there? Aside from your killer? Is that a T-shirt? Is that a sweatshirt?
[00:28:59] Jacqui Brugliera: It's a sweatshirt.
[00:29:00] Ray Latif: That's really cool. Cafe Du Monde. You bought a lot of swag there.
[00:29:04] John Craven: I feel like that's not the first piece of swag we've seen.
[00:29:06] Jacqui Brugliera: I think I did. I just love the beignets, and I love New Orleans. You're like, I'll take one of everything. I wear this all the time.
[00:29:13] Ray Latif: Yeah, you know Jackie's a basketball player, because the way she pulled it up was from the shoulders, and like a jersey. Like a number, right? Yeah, exactly. Nicely done.
[00:29:22] Jacqui Brugliera: Throwback, throwback. Yeah, I have something that's not related to beignets, but Dude Wow. This is the name of a... Oh, yeah. the Bloody Mary mix that I have in my hands. And I just love the name. I just have been saying it all morning to Ryan, our production manager. I'm like, Dude Wow. But yeah, it looks pretty good. They also suggest that you could use it with Tequila Komos gin. So on the tequila train, I've never tried a Bloody Mary with tequila, but I'm going to have to try it now. It's healthier, so. Yeah, exactly. Or I might use it for micheladas, too.
[00:30:00] John Craven: Is that like a Bloody Maria or something? I think you're right, Jackie. I don't really like either of them.
[00:30:06] Ray Latif: Bloody Mary, you know what it is. Bloody Maria sounds.
[00:30:09] Melissa Traverse: Like Maria had a tough day.
[00:30:12] Ray Latif: Anything else there, Jackie?
[00:30:17] Jacqui Brugliera: Yes. Something to bring us zen and stress relief. I have Zen Joy. And I have, I believe they have multiple SKUs, but I have two of them in my hands. They have the Passion Fruit Green Tea and Honey Green Tea. They say right on the front of pack, stress relief drink. So they're really trying to... give you these adaptogens to make you relax, which includes L-theanine, ashwagandha, and lemon balm. Pretty simple ingredients. And it's just a nice sweetened green tea.
[00:30:49] Ray Latif: Yeah. We were so lucky to have Dan Osborne, who's the co-founder and chief operating officer of Zenjoy, join us at last week's Taste Radio NYC meetup. A lot of people got to try his product. We're really enjoying it. Dan is also going to join us in a future episode of Elevator Talk. Folks, if you recall, Elevator Talk is a bimonthly video series that profiles early stage and disruptive brands from across the food and beverage industry. If you're interested in signing up, head to Taste Radio.com slash Elevator Talk. We'd love to have you on the show. We'd love to highlight what you're doing and feature you to the food and beverage community that we talk to you on a regular basis. I also want to point out Last week's recording of Elevator Talk was a really special one because we recorded on Wednesday the 17th, is that right? No, Wednesday the 16th, excuse me. Do you know what happens in San Diego on Wednesday, the 16th of 2025? Earthquake. An earthquake. Earthquake. And the earthquake happened during the episode of Elevator Talk. And one of our guests, who was in LA, felt it. He was a little shaken. You know who I didn't hear from though? Ryan, Ryan Galang, who is our co-producer, video editor for BevNets and co-producer for Elevator Talk. No slack, no nothing. This guy was such a pro. Everything is shaking around him. He's just like completely focused on this episode.
[00:32:15] John Craven: I mean, what other shelf full of Mountain Dew that's at the San Diego office could have fallen on him?
[00:32:19] Ray Latif: It could have, But Where doesn't drink Mountain Dew. But yeah, no. Shout out, Ryan Galang.
[00:32:24] Melissa Traverse: Amazing.
[00:32:24] Ray Latif: True pro. Absolutely. What do you got by your side, Melissa?
[00:32:28] Melissa Traverse: I brought a couple of treats. The first of which is White Whiteleaf Provisions mango and coconut applesauce. It's unsweetened. I actually got this at Expo West. And my younger son, who's 10, had a soccer game. And so he wanted to eat something, but nothing too heavy. So I gave him one of these. He was so into it. He said, these are so good. Can you please order more of these? And they're not used to like eating things out of pouches. I tried some. It's incredibly tasty. A White Whiteleaf Provisions is such a cool brand. It was started by two parents when they had their first kid who had allergic reactions to all of the baby food that they found in the market. So it's glyphosate free, non-GMO, organic. It's just a really tasty product and I will be ordering a bunch.
[00:33:14] Ray Latif: Yeah, they're local, I believe. And they joined us for an episode of Elevator Talk, I want to say like two or three years ago.
[00:33:20] Melissa Traverse: Oh, cool.
[00:33:20] Ray Latif: Yeah.
[00:33:21] Melissa Traverse: Yeah. I think they make such a great product. And then this, which I assume is new, is the Super Coffee Protein Plus. I found this in our beverage fridge, of course. And I'm not usually a huge fan of these. And I actually didn't love Super Coffee's original Super Coffee. But Where's something about this that I think is really tasty. It kind of hits that like if you're having a sweet tooth moment, you want something a little bit sweet. It has the same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee. And they use monk fruit, which, I mean, you can tell it's not sugar, but it also only has three grams of net carbs or whatever and one gram of sugar. But I thought they did a really good job with this.
[00:34:01] Ray Latif: The thing that really stands out for me more than the Protein Plus is the 25 grams of protein, which is center, smack center in the middle of the bottle. But the one gram of sugar too. If I miss lunch or if I'm just looking for a pick-me-up, I don't wanna be drinking 12, 16 ounces of sugar. And that seems like a really good alternative to, I don't know, whatever you might have otherwise, half a sandwich or some soup or what have you. Just on the go, that seems like a really good option.
[00:34:28] Melissa Traverse: Yeah, before you do a workout, I like to drink some of it and then shake it and it gets all foamy.
[00:34:32] Ray Latif: Nice, you make your own little latte. It's a mocha latte flavor, but you actually Melissa-ize it.
[00:34:38] Melissa Traverse: Right, like La Colombe has their...
[00:34:40] Ray Latif: Draft lattes.
[00:34:41] Melissa Traverse: Yeah, it's like you can make your own draft latte. Yeah, nice.
[00:34:44] Ray Latif: Very cool. All right, it's time for our featured interview for this episode. As I mentioned earlier, we're joined by Ria Soler, who is the Director of Education and Global Advocacy at Tequila Komos, an ultra premium tequila brand that's redefining expectations with its unique aging process in wine barrels. I caught up with Ria at the Nassau Paradise Island Wine and Food Festival last month in The Bahamas. Our conversation dove into how Comos brings a winemaker's finesse to the world of agave spirits, blending traditional tequila craftsmanship with a sophisticated global outlook. Rhea talks about how the brand has cultivated a loyal following through organic growth, word-of-mouth buzz, and smart strategic partnerships without leaning on celebrity endorsements or splashy marketing campaigns, and how Comos has focused on thoughtful distribution and authenticity to stand out in an increasingly crowded market. Hey folks, it's Ray with Taste Radio. Right now, I am honored to be sitting down with Rhea Solaire, who is the Director of Education and Global Advocacy for Tequila Komos. Rhea, great to see you.
[00:35:56] Tequila Komos: I am thrilled to be here with you in the beautiful Bahamas.
[00:35:59] Ray Latif: Yeah, you look so relaxed. I don't know if that's for me or just being here at the Atlantis.
[00:36:03] Tequila Komos: To be fair, I got in on Monday, so I've been here for a couple of days, so it's definitely sunk in. Yeah, The Bahamas.
[00:36:10] Ray Latif: Very nice. I wish I could have been here on Monday. I got here yesterday.
[00:36:12] Tequila Komos: Are you going to stay through the whole week?
[00:36:14] Ray Latif: Well, up until the weekend, yeah. So I'll be here for most of the events. I think I'm missing the brunch on Sunday, which I heard is really cool.
[00:36:21] Tequila Komos: Yeah, it looks amazing. Well, if you don't get on the water slide, you're doing yourself a disservice.
[00:36:25] Ray Latif: I have to get on the water slide.
[00:36:26] Tequila Komos: You have to get on the water slide.
[00:36:28] Ray Latif: I'm not really a water slide kind of guy, but is it big?
[00:36:31] Tequila Komos: It's huge and it goes through a shark tank and yeah, it's completely exposed to the elements on a Mayan temple. It's like insanity. I'm saying that but I haven't done it. But you should.
[00:36:42] Ray Latif: I'm considering it now. I'm worried about lines. I'm not really a line guy.
[00:36:46] Tequila Komos: I totally agree with you, which is why I think I'm going to go at 9 a.m. tomorrow.
[00:36:50] Ray Latif: OK, as soon as it opens.
[00:36:51] Tequila Komos: Good call. I'll meet you there.
[00:36:53] Ray Latif: You may see me there, actually. I don't have any interviews tomorrow morning, but I was just saying we're here in our little media and influencer space that they've given us. And it's quite empty, even though there's some background noise. That's just the music playing here at the Atlantis. And it is a gorgeous day outside. And I'm sure everyone's enjoying the pool, water slide and beach right now.
[00:37:13] Tequila Komos: Yeah, everybody but you is outside.
[00:37:15] Ray Latif: And you as well.
[00:37:16] Tequila Komos: But that's because I wanted to speak with you. So as soon as we're done talking, I'm going to go back outside.
[00:37:21] Ray Latif: Well done.
[00:37:21] Tequila Komos: Well done.
[00:37:22] Ray Latif: That's why I said I was honored because you could be doing something else with your time right now. But you did bring me some tequila, which I am also extremely grateful for. And we have a couple glasses here.
[00:37:31] Tequila Komos: That's right. Wine glasses.
[00:37:33] Ray Latif: Some serious pourers, by the way. What do we have here?
[00:37:34] Tequila Komos: They are friendly. Yes, friendly pours at 11 a.m. So this is two expressions of Tequila Komos that are here at the Atlantis, which is great. They are our Reposado Rosa and our first SKU, our first baby, the Añejo Cristalino. So these are both aged in wine barrels, which is why I love to serve them in wine glasses. We aerate the tequilas before they go into bottle, which actually blows off a lot of the ethanol and heat. So you're able to nose these. like a wine and not get that kind of blowback of, you know...
[00:38:06] Ray Latif: Typically you don't want to do that.
[00:38:07] Tequila Komos: No, typically you do not. You do not. But aged in wine barrels and with that aeration, they're really nice and soft. They're meant exactly for where we're at right now. They're meant to be drunk in beautiful places with sunshine. Consumed. Consumed. Consumed. Yes, absolutely. I consumed responsibly even, sipped responsibly.
[00:38:28] Ray Latif: I would like to sip mine right now. It is beautiful. I have the Rosa. You do. And it almost looks like an orange wine. That's the color. It's very light and there are hints of pink and orange. Maybe purple, maybe a little bit of violet.
[00:38:43] Tequila Komos: Yeah, it's that beautiful kind of salmon color that you'd find in like a Provencal Rosé or an orange wine, as you say. And it's completely natural. It comes from red wine grape skins. We don't do any artificial coloring agents. So from batch to batch on the Rosa, the color actually changes. Oh, wow. Yeah. Just like a vintage of wine would. Cheers, by the way.
[00:39:01] Ray Latif: Cheers. That is beautiful.
[00:39:05] Tequila Komos: Yeah. It's still good. That's what I say when I sip it. Don't worry. It's still good. Yeah. Two months in red wine barrels, the Rosa that you're having. So Cabernet, Merlot, but you know, things as far flung as more Vedra, Cab Franc. We're really trying to blend in a lot of complexity, a little bit of tannin from those red wine barrels, but some of that dark fruit, dark chocolate characteristic that you're going to get with fresh, fresh, fresh. Hopefully you taste that fresh agave as well, because only two months in those barrels.
[00:39:33] Ray Latif: I got to make a confession. I just got into tequila. So yeah, I was never a big tequila drinker.
[00:39:40] Tequila Komos: Okay.
[00:39:41] Ray Latif: And I have a good friend who has been on my case and saying, Ray, Ray, you got to try tequila. You got to educate yourself about tequila and really make sure that you're tasting as much as you can because there's a lot of tequila out there. And over the past, I'd say five years, There's been an explosion of tequila brands that have come to market. And I have come to really appreciate tequila in a way that I never thought I would. The more I drink tequila neat, and the more varieties I try, and the more I immerse myself in the backgrounds of how they were made, it's just such a beautiful story. And it's a beautiful expression of a plant. And as the Director of Education and advocacy for Tequila Komos, I imagine that's what you talk about often, pretty much all the time. But let's back up for a second, because when I see the name of the brand, I immediately think, is it Greek?
[00:40:36] Tequila Komos: Sure.
[00:40:36] Ray Latif: Yeah. So talk about the origins of Tequila Komos and how it came to market.
[00:40:40] Tequila Komos: Yeah. So first of all, welcome to the party.
[00:40:44] Ray Latif: I am thoroughly enjoying this party.
[00:40:47] Tequila Komos: Tequila Komos such a special category. And I think for so many people, there was a moment, be it, you know, early days in college or, you know, mid twenties or what have you, where maybe you went out and had a party night and you drink bad tequila and you had, you had shots, you did limes and salts and you were turned off of Tequila Komos a category because you had not very good tequila, right? And Tequila Komos, in the way of wine, a really incredible agricultural product that expresses terroir in a specific way that a lot of other spirits do not. And when it's handled with care, when the base product, the agaves, are grown correctly, and then put into beautiful barrels as we do, you get something really, really special. And I think it takes a minute to convince people to come back to tequila, But Where you're in here, you don't leave. Komos. How did we get here? Komos is a Greek name. As a matter of fact, Komos was the cup bearer to the god Dionysus. Dionysus being the god of wine and revelry. And Komos, we age in wine barrels. So we have that kind of Mediterranean winemaking influence, hence the name Komos. It actually means in ancient Greek, to throw a party, to revel.
[00:42:02] Ria Soler: OK, well, it all makes sense now.
[00:42:04] Tequila Komos: Yeah, we don't take ourselves too seriously. I'm sure you can tell I don't take myself too seriously. It's tequila. We should be having fun.
[00:42:10] Ria Soler: Sure.
[00:42:10] Tequila Komos: And so that's how the name came about. And then, of course, that the brand itself is the brain baby of Richard Betts, who is a master sommelier, winemaker. He made a straw tequila, Sombra Mezcal before this, you know, and speaking to the audience that we are, when you have that proven track record of brands that are successful enough that they sell, right, and you continue to kind of innovate, you have the market behind you to support something new. So I don't think just anybody could have come out and said, hey, let's age tequila Island Wine barrels and see what happens. But Where you have somebody who's got a proven track record of creating innovative brands and selling them, right? And says, I want to do this special product and project. You know, investors say yes, distilleries say yes, winemakers that he has relationships with say yes, you can have these beautiful barrels. And so that's how we got here.
[00:43:05] Ray Latif: Now, correct me if I'm wrong. How much of your portfolio is the Asian wine barrels? Is it all the tequilas? All of them. So I have seen so many tequilas over the past three, four years that are marketed as being Asian wine barrels. But it feels like you guys were the originator, at least the first brand to really put that out there.
[00:43:26] Tequila Komos: You know, imitation is the sincerest form of fluttery.
[00:43:29] Ray Latif: The way, Rhea, it was a very sly but slightly frustrated look on your face.
[00:43:35] Tequila Komos: Here's something I say about tequila a lot, and in particular celebrity tequila. I truly believe that a rising tide lifts all ships. Sure. And the more visibility on the world of tequila and well-made tequila, right? People, consumers just even considering tequila. Thank you, The Rock. Thank you, Clooney, whatever. Then they come into the category. And I think the way most consumers do, they start to explore and they start to find that they want to trade up. They want something that is very well-made. So I love the fact that You know, let's, let's say, can I say Diageo? I worked for them before. Am I allowed to say Diageo? Sure.
[00:44:09] Ria Soler: You can say anything you want.
[00:44:10] Tequila Komos: Okay. Like the, the Diageo, you know, the Don Julio Rosato, that was a direct response to our Reposada Rosa. We were the first to market ultra luxury rosé tequila, full stop. So when we see the big players like Diageo taking notice of what we do in creating innovation, as a direct competition to our tiny little brand, we love it because it means they're paying attention and it means that we're doing something right.
[00:44:37] Ray Latif: You had to do a lot of the heavy lifting though, getting people to understand why this is something they should be paying for, why this is something you should be interested in. How does that happen? Because again, for someone in your position, this is your position, this is your job is to educate people as to the nuances of your tequila versus those that are currently on the market.
[00:44:57] Tequila Komos: You know, it does require a good amount of communication and education, but people love that. If you give it to them in a way that is open and not pedantic and, you know, give them touch points that they can understand, I think people are always excited about what's new and what's next and what's good. Because if these were just innovative, but they weren't delicious, we wouldn't be sitting here. They are delicious. And that is really a testament to Richard and his palate. You know, he was the ninth person in the world to pass the Master of Sommelier certification in one go. Wow. More people have walked on the moon.
[00:45:34] Ray Latif: I'm going to use a phrase here that I'm going to get pinged for internally. It's an internal joke, inside joke here. When you said, talk to people about your brand and spend a lot of time talking about Como's. Who are those people?
[00:45:51] Tequila Komos: Yeah, great question. I mean, we've got to look at segmentation here. And in prior roles that I've had, I would say it was about 80% trade comms, 20% consumer. I would say I'm pretty evenly split between consumer and trade now. And of course, when I'm talking trade, I'm also talking about our distributor network because They are our number one customer. So in the trade, it's not just, you know, to bartenders. A lot of my communication to consumers is going to take place where Comos lives. And so that is beautiful resorts, high-end hotels. I do a lot of fine dining collaborations with chefs. That's why I'm here tonight. I'm hosting a dinner with Bobby Flay, which is really fun. A lot of country clubs, members clubs, where they're curious about, you know, the beautiful bottles that are on their bar. That's where I do a lot of my communication to consumer.
[00:46:41] Ray Latif: The bartenders are on the front lines. They're the ones who are going to recommend a particular tequila. Certainly consumers, guests, they'll look at Backbar and say, hey, what's that? I think that's how aviation really became the brand that it is today because people saw it on the Backbar and they're like, what is that? That looks interesting.
[00:46:57] Tequila Komos: Also Brooke Arthur, shout out to Brooke Arthur. She crushed it on aviation.
[00:47:00] Ray Latif: Yeah, I mean, it is. Talk about a remarkable brand. Yeah. What's resonating with bartenders? What's getting them excited about your brand? I think this is an important question for anyone that's listening, because whether you're selling tequila, you're selling soda, you're selling snacks, the people that are going to help amplify what you're doing, the people that are going to advocate for you, are those... They're the front line. They're the bartenders, the merchandisers, the buyers, the cashiers in some cases.
[00:47:26] Tequila Komos: Yeah.
[00:47:26] Ray Latif: So how are you getting them excited about the brand?
[00:47:29] Tequila Komos: That's a great question. Authenticity. I think bartenders can, they're just, they're really good at reading people because they have to, that's their job. They need to see if somebody needs to be cut off or is being a jerk or, you know, they're four deep at the bar and they see a regular that they know treats them well. They are good. Bullcrap meters. I don't know if we curse on this.
[00:47:49] Ray Latif: I said you can say whatever you want.
[00:47:51] Tequila Komos: They're good bullshit meters, right?
[00:47:52] Ray Latif: Oh my goodness, Ria. Now I have to spend a half a day cutting that out of the podcast.
[00:47:57] Tequila Komos: I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I've got a potty mouth. But they are. And so if you come to them with your brand story and it doesn't resonate for you, it's not going to resonate for them. So you need to come with authenticity and openness. You've got to listen to what their needs are. You've got to hear what the end users, you know, experiences, how their consumers are responding. Take that feedback in. And then you've got to come at them with the truth, I think. And so, you know, the truth of this brand is that we are a very sustainable brand. We give back to the community that we come from. We just won the Waste Reduction of the Year Award for the entire Global Spirits Network for what we do with our brick project and tequila. And so I think when you arm the bartenders with that kind of knowledge where they feel good about what they're selling, In addition to the fact that, yes, it's beautiful, it's delicious, it's high end, it's going to increase their check average. Who doesn't want to hear that, right? They're going to make more money. It gives them an anchor to kind of feel good about selling what they're selling. In addition, I will say we all know that people are drinking less. It's just a fact. So if somebody is going to have one instead of two, why not make that one be at an elevated price point at a perhaps elevated luxury cocktail level, right? Where it's very experiential. It's very special for that customer. And it is the price of two drinks that might've come out of the well.
[00:49:25] Ray Latif: Yeah, I think that's an excellent point. If you're going to drink less, drink better, is what I've been hearing quite a bit from folks in the industry. I think a challenge might be looking at the legacy brands that have been there and then the ones that are coming up. And people love trying new things and people love experimenting with their spirits and cocktails. But loyalty has got to be such an important part of what you do. How do you encourage? How do you get people to look at Comos as my brand?
[00:49:57] Tequila Komos: Yeah, I would say it is a strategy of organic adoption. I tell people, we're Quiet Luxury. I have these conversations one-on-one. I say, now you know me, right? Now you know Comos. Like, we know one another. And it is inevitable. I spent the past two days, Monday and Tuesday, with my distributor here, Bristol. Great people. I've never been to The Bahamas before. And I said, listen, we're going to take these bottles out at our meetings and we're going to have people come up to us that we don't know. And they're going to say how much they love this brand. Like, it's a shock. Like, oh my God, you have Como's? Sure enough. Sure enough. Two first accounts. We were at the Ocean Club Four Seasons and then we were at this gorgeous restaurant called Oya. People said, I'm so sorry. I don't mean to interrupt you, but you have Como's. That's my favorite tequila. Why is that here? How do you, how do you know it? And then I get to give back to them. Oh my gosh, you know, you're part of this. I hesitate to say family because family is such a fraught and laden word. You know, community, you're part of this, you know, special group that knows the brand. And that organic adoption is so hard to do. You know, we don't have marketing budget. We don't have celebrities. I like to joke that Kevin Hart isn't hiding behind her bottle. I'm sorry, Kevin Hart. It's such a terrible joke.
[00:51:12] Ray Latif: Well, he is involved with a rival tequila brand.
[00:51:14] Tequila Komos: I know, that's why I see it.
[00:51:15] Ray Latif: Yes, that has pretty good distribution. And I think Tequila Komos has pretty good distribution too, but I don't want to call it preciousness of its distribution, but maybe that's part of it. Maybe the fact that people can't necessarily find it everywhere. Maybe the fact that it is something that you're surprised to see in a good way has helped the brand. I can think of another brand that it's the, I don't want to mention it, but maybe I should mention it. Fortaleza.
[00:51:39] Tequila Komos: Of course, when I see Fortaleza, I'm like, you have Fortaleza? Exactly. Hell yeah. That means you guys know your stuff. That means you care about how this is produced. That means that you've got a relationship because not everybody can get that allocation. Do you want to hear the craziest flicks?
[00:51:52] Ray Latif: I would love to.
[00:51:53] Tequila Komos: And you guys can cut this out if it's not to remain to the conversation.
[00:51:56] Ray Latif: When you lead with something like that, we can't cut it.
[00:51:58] Tequila Komos: Okay. All right. So Hawaii is a great market for us. And I was on the big island, Hawaii, and I went to the Rosewood there and just the barefoot bar on the beach. I said, you know, they didn't have comas yet. We're selling it. I said, oh, okay, well, I'll have a margarita. I've had enough Mai Tais. I said, what's in your well? And he said, Fortaleza.
[00:52:16] Ray Latif: Oh my goodness.
[00:52:17] Tequila Komos: I said, what are you even saying to me? And the guy's name, I shit you not, his name was Brody. Brody was like, I don't know, man. They just give us a Fortaleza.
[00:52:27] Ray Latif: Wow.
[00:52:28] Tequila Komos: What a flex. What a flex, Rosewood.
[00:52:30] Ray Latif: Big Island Wine'm speechless. I don't even know what to say. I know. Maybe you just gave out the secret, the secret of all secrets right now.
[00:52:39] Tequila Komos: We all need to get to the Big Island and steal their allocations.
[00:52:43] Ray Latif: But now getting back to Comos, because I think that your story about how people have come up to your table and said, hey, oh my gosh, you have this, this is my favorite tequila. You know, making something a bit more of a story, a sort of a mystery is kind of important as well.
[00:52:58] Tequila Komos: Just think about what Orin Swift did. I mean, let's talk, since it's sideways, it's related. Orin Swift made themselves into a cult if you can find it, right? They turned their sour grapes and made great wine out of it by the problems that they had, you know, with ownership and, you know, not being able to release their wine for a while. I think, what is it, seven years in the desert or whatever? Then that became a cult of, oh, if you can find it, oh my gosh, you know? I think if you can take that story of, you know, we're small and make it a positive instead of a negative. I worked for Chartreuse for four years. Oh, wow.
[00:53:33] Ray Latif: So, you know... Talk about precious.
[00:53:36] Tequila Komos: I'm pretty good at telling people, I'm glad you love it, but I only have this many, you know. So I do think that there is something, you do have to be precious a little bit about it. And that's not like precious, like precocious, you know, or like you don't want to share it with people. Of course, everybody should drink Homo. It literally means to party. We do not take ourselves seriously, right? But letting people know that we think it's special, I think makes The Real and feel like it's special too when they drink it.
[00:54:06] Ray Latif: We're here at the Atlantis NASA Wine and Food Festival, and I'm in a room. There's a big sign over there. I think it says media and influencer room. I'm a person of the media. I might be somewhat influential. I have a few followers on the grams and whatnot, but I'm not an influencer in the typical sense of the word. I gotta say, it can be a tough time for brands and how they interact with that community. It's important, but I think there's a lot of unknowns and you can spend money and resources in a lot of different ways that doesn't help you in any kind of way. But getting people to talk about Comos and maybe where it's distributed and where it's seen and the precious nature of it, or maybe help educate people about the fact that it is aged in wine barrels. All that's really important and disseminating that information. When it comes to that group of folks, what's your strategy?
[00:55:03] Tequila Komos: It's a double-edged sword, right? You kind of have to at this point. It's a necessary, I don't want to say necessary evil because there are some influencers who do phenomenal jobs and really, really care about what they do. And then I've seen, you know, some influencer content where an influencer will have Don Julio one day and then they'll have Avio on the next day and then they've got a face cream and it's like, how is this germane to what we do?
[00:55:26] Ray Latif: Whatever pops up in the mail, they'll post on there.
[00:55:28] Tequila Komos: Exactly, whatever's going to pay the bills. And I get it, we all got to get paid. But like, is that really the person that you want to be advocating for your brand? We have done influencer content. I think sometimes it really works. Like we were, okay, so the most viral thing that happened is Taylor Swift was drinking a Rosa cocktail at Spago and the press saw it. And you know that, you can't pay money for that. Sure. Taylor Swift. So, if things happen organically within that space, it's amazing. And when they're paid for, they sometimes work and sometimes don't. I think it's a challenging sphere to be in. I'm certainly not an influencer. I like to think that I'm influencing the people that I talk to when I'm in front of them, but it's, you know, me and my 3,000 followers on Instagram aren't influencing.
[00:56:14] Ray Latif: Yeah, but you have an important role as the Director of Education.
[00:56:16] Tequila Komos: Yeah.
[00:56:17] Ray Latif: Can you educate? Can you influence the influencer? What's your strategy for doing so?
[00:56:21] Tequila Komos: Yeah, I mean, I think that that really comes back to making sure that if we are working with influencers, that they are approaching the brand from a very authentic way, that they understand our brand DNA and that their DNA of whomever they are in that influencer space works within what we do. We've had some crazy placements as far as into TVs and movies. We were, this past season, The White Lotus, which is great. I think that really resonates with kind of who we are. We were also in The Real Housewives. which is the other side of that coin. I don't know. I guess what I do really so much is focus on trade, how they see the brand, and The Real making sure that consumers have a personal touch point. So within that social media space, I leave that mostly to the social media team and they do a great job.
[00:57:15] Ray Latif: When you see something that may not necessarily align with your role and your focus on education, you're saying, this is just totally, and this may not have ever happened, but you might see something that says, this is not in line with what we want to do and how we educate people about comos. What kind of conversations happen then?
[00:57:39] Tequila Komos: I think we're still at the point as a brand where all press is good press.
[00:57:44] Ria Soler: Okay.
[00:57:45] Tequila Komos: You know what I mean? Like we aren't to a space yet where I've wanted to walk back and say, Hey, I don't want to be associated with this person or that person, or, you know, that video, um, on YouTube where they rated us and, and maybe they were, you know, cursing and being kind of kooky or whatever. Let's ask them to take that down. You know, we kind of welcome the chatter because again, we're, we're still new. enough that that all is, it's also relevant to us to move things forward. I could talk to you about my distribution network for like the next five days, but then when you get into that influencer world, it's really, it's challenging for me personally from on a professional level to really reconcile all of those moving parts together. I really want my digital director here, Diana, I'm sure she's got a much better hand.
[00:58:34] Ray Latif: No, look, I think the two are so closely related.
[00:58:38] Tequila Komos: Yeah.
[00:58:39] Ray Latif: And I think you answered the question quite well, actually, about press as being all good press. It's so difficult to generate awareness. Yeah. It's so difficult to generate excitement about a brand, especially one in the tequila category. Now, Comos is in the luxury on the luxury end of things. But even then, you know, I mean, the new luxury brand coming out every single day and all of them seemingly deep pocketed brands. So I think you're right. As long as no one's, I don't know, I probably shouldn't say this, but holding a Glock and, you know, dumping a bottle.
[00:59:15] Tequila Komos: I hate kittens while holding guns and saying, but I love combos. You know, like we don't want that.
[00:59:20] Ray Latif: As long as people aren't doing that. But yeah, going back to your, you know, your job in talking to distributors. They are, again, a very, very important part of that sales chain. It's actually, and people may not know this, correct me if I'm wrong, it's very, very difficult to get out of a distributor relationship in this business. And that means it's really incumbent upon you and your team to find the right people to align with. And I was talking with Tony Abughanim just before you and I hopped on the mics, and the last thing he said was relationships. Relationships, relationships, relationships. How do you vet a potential partner such that you have faith that the relationship will be a good one going forward?
[01:00:07] Tequila Komos: Yeah, that's a great question. I will say that we are very fortunate in our partnership with Gallo. So we still own the brand, but Gallo owns the right star distribution in the U.S. This happened, gosh, about two years ago. So really early on for our brand. I mean, The amount of focus that was on Comos just early days to get that kind More Investment from Gallo was really impressive. And that, actually, you said it's hard to get out of distributor relationships. It is, but part and parcel of that agreement was that we swapped over to Gallo's distribution network nationwide. So that meant sometimes we didn't have to change distributors. That meant sometimes we were leaving distributors we absolutely loved and had done such a phenomenal job of building the brand up over the past two years and to make new partnerships. So there's definitely been some challenges right in the past two years getting to know a new distribution network. and also being part of a portfolio approach versus a single brand approach. There's also huge benefits to it. A better, you know, sales force, so much more focused when we are on focus with the distributor because we're such a large chunk of their portfolio now being part of Gallo. But those relationships, as Tony was talking about, are absolutely vital. And we are in the business of people. I had a boss who used to say to me, like, this is a people business. Otherwise, it's just booze in a bottle. Anybody can have booze in a bottle, Rhea. Like, how do you, how do you as a person personify that brand and bring it to life in a way for your partners that they feel good about selling and they feel motivated to do? So developing those relationships Also with Gallo, right? And the Gallo team and our distributor team over the past two years has been a large part of my job. And, you know, we are such an interesting industry because yes, we're B2B within our distributor network, but that's also a B2C relationship. And so you've got to manage the business aspect of it of saying, hey, you got to hit your goals. You know, you need what incentive do you need? You don't have enough inventory on the floor. all of these things where they are our fulfillment agency, but on the other hand, they're also our customers. So how do you make them feel good about the brand? And when they could look at their entire book, say, you know what, today I'm going to go out, I'm going to talk about Como's. Right. You know, and that has to be done on a personal level. It does. Yeah, I still I love one of my favorite things to do in this job is to go and ride along with somebody, you know, a rep I might never see again, because I get to see what their challenges are on the ground, spend a day in their shoes, see what their customers are, are honestly talking about. And that kind of insight from my distributor partner, you maybe it's a junior rep that started six months ago, they never been in this role before, to be able to connect with them and their customers. over a day, it gives me insight into my business and then it hopefully develops a relationship where they remember that we spent a day together and hopefully we had a good time and I bought them a nice lunch.
[01:03:04] Ray Latif: They'll remember that.
[01:03:07] Tequila Komos: Yeah, hopefully their car was clean.
[01:03:08] Ray Latif: That's not always the case. That's embarrassing. I don't know why you would ever invite someone into your car if it wasn't clean.
[01:03:15] Tequila Komos: Are you kidding me? Have you never done a ride-along?
[01:03:17] Ray Latif: I mean, I've done, but like, again, I'm just... Oh my gosh.
[01:03:21] Tequila Komos: I have been in some filthy cars in my day.
[01:03:24] Ray Latif: No, that's not okay. Ria, I think in your job, one thing you do really, really well, and this is quite obvious to anyone who's listening, is communicating. You have developed a way of speaking to people and a way of talking about your brand that is very clear, that is very convincing. Talk about how you've developed your ability to communicate and your method of communicating and connecting with folks that you need to talk to.
[01:03:50] Tequila Komos: Thank you, first of all. That's very nice of you to say. I think first and foremost, I really like people.
[01:03:55] Ray Latif: Okay, that's important.
[01:03:57] Tequila Komos: I do. I like to talk to people. I like to meet new people and hear where they come from. So I think the best part of talking is listening. Because if you really listen, then you can really speak. If you're just saying, and we've all been there and I feel bad for these people. We've seen brand reps that are hosting dinners or, you know, doing their spiel and they have their script and they stick to it. And sometimes that is not what your audience wants and they feel disconnected and you feel very branded and it throws everything off. So you have to listen. You kind of have to feel the energy of the people that are around you in order to get what you need to get across, across.
[01:04:33] Ray Latif: Ria, thank you so much for taking the time. This has been so great. Such a fun, insightful conversation. I know our audience is going to love it.
[01:04:39] Tequila Komos: Absolute pleasure speaking with you. Thank you so much. Thank you.
[01:04:45] 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 Kratchy. 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.
[01:05:35] Ria Soler: you
