[00:00:10] Ray Latif: Hello, friends, and thanks for tuning in to Taste Radio, the number one podcast for anyone building a business in food and 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 Mike Schneider. John Craven, the founder and CEO of BevNET, is on one of his several trips to San Diego throughout the year. I believe this is your first. Yes.
[00:00:38] John Craven: Thanks for keeping track, Ray.
[00:00:39] Ray Latif: I mean, I have a spreadsheet. It's when we have parties in the office is when you're not here. Don't tell. Nice work, Ray. Sorry. Anywho, I hope they're treating you well.
[00:00:50] John Craven: I hope they're taking good care of you out there. Yeah, generally, generally sunny and rainy and all that stuff out here. Yeah.
[00:00:56] Jacqui Brugliera: We had like a tornado warning yesterday morning as soon as Craven was landing.
[00:01:01] Mike Schneider: So you've got full wrath of God stuff happening out there right now. I saw, uh, did you see the reel of the person just straight hydro? It's not raining that hard, but someone just hydro planes on the highway and the SUV just was that in LA or was that in San Diego? I think it was in, it might've been LA.
[00:01:18] Ray Latif: Yeah, LA's having some serious problems. But yeah, hopefully you guys will be out of this weather cycle pretty soon. But John, you were at the Naturally San Diego event last night. I believe it was a community gathering. I think Jacqui was there too. Jacqui, you were there too.
[00:01:33] Jacqui Brugliera: Yes, I was.
[00:01:34] Ray Latif: Jon Landis too, don't forget that. Oh, okay. I didn't, I'm sorry. I was only, I only follow John on Instagram. So that's, that's probably why. I don't think I Instagrammed anything from it. I forgot to.
[00:01:43] Jacqui Brugliera: No, I'm the one that Instagrammed.
[00:01:44] Ray Latif: Yeah, you did. I forgot. Jacqui Instagramming, okay. Yes. Well, anyway, how was the event? It was delightful
[00:01:57] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, it was great. It was at, um, anime, which is a restaurant owned by Brian Malarkey, who is the founder of chef's life. He's very animated.
[00:02:09] John Craven: He was there standing on the counter.
[00:02:10] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah. And then cooking up some scallops with his chef's life oils, but it was really cool. It was, um, great community gathering and preparation for the unified show today. It's awesome to see the San Diego community growing. The place was packed.
[00:02:25] Ray Latif: And Lots Of people from LA too.
[00:02:27] Jacqui Brugliera: Yes.
[00:02:28] Ray Latif: I assume they were bouncing ideas off each other, trying to figure out what to say to the UNFI reps and in hopes of getting a deeper relationship, a better relationship with those folks.
[00:02:37] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah. Lots Of conversations about, you know, what they're doing, what they're preparing to do. I mean, also these shows are a little bit more intimate. They have a focused goal rather than say like Expo West where there could be anyone stopping by the booth. So definitely focus more on just their retail pitch.
[00:02:54] Ray Latif: The Naturally San Diego branch is pretty fantastic. The Naturally network is an amazing way for folks in the food and beverage community to meet, network, again, bounce ideas off each other. But the San Diego branch in particular, I mean, it was just amazing. how well they put on their events and stay in touch with each other and just make sure that, you know, they're helping people as much as they possibly can at the community at large. But if you're not involved in that chapter and you're part of the San Diego community, San Diego area, you should definitely check it out. You're missing out. You're missing out.
[00:03:27] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah. And tonight we're heading to Startup CPG meetup as well. So a Lots Of activity in the San Diego market this week.
[00:03:35] Ray Latif: Nice. Nice. Where is Irwindale, California in relation to San Diego? Does anyone know?
[00:03:41] Jacqui Brugliera: Never heard of it, actually.
[00:03:43] Ray Latif: Because Irwindale, California is where Hoi Fong Foods is headquartered.
[00:03:51] Mike Schneider: Did I pronounce that correctly, Mike Is don't know. Hoi Fong Foods makes one of the greatest products in the history of products.
[00:03:57] Ray Latif: Yes. So Hoi Fong Foods is the OG sriracha sauce. I mean, anyone who has had sriracha in their life has probably had Hoi Fong Foods. There's other varieties out there, but Hoi Fong is the best known one. It has that rooster on a front of pack. It's got a whole bunch of copy in white letters. I mean, it's a clear bottle with a green cap, but yeah, I mean, if you saw this, you would know what it is. However, Hoi Fong Foods was part of some controversy or has been part of some controversy in recent years because people think that the formulation has changed. So in an article, On thetakeout.com, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite websites, thetakeout.com is owned by Geo Media, which also owns Deadspin and AV Club and sites like that. Ooh, AV Club, one of my favorites. AV Club is fantastic. So as the story explains, back in July of 2020, Huy Fong sent shockwaves through the market by warning the public that in the midst of COVID-related supply issues, a Sriracha shortage was looming. So then they got into, I guess, a bit of a tiff with their chili pepper supplier, which is Underwood Ranches. There's a whole lawsuit and so on and so forth. Yeah, they're famous for it. That's the only place that they source their peppers from. Well, not anymore. So through this lawsuit or after this lawsuit, they decided to break up this relationship and Hoi Fong had to find a new supplier for peppers.
[00:05:25] Mike Schneider: Well, there is your change in formulation right there.
[00:05:27] Ray Latif: But is it so people are claiming that it tastes different now. I haven't had sriracha in a bit But the rumor I guess or the what's out there is that it doesn't taste as spicy as it used to so I have some spoons here I'm sorry John. I waited until you were not here. You're just gonna do a shot of sriracha.
[00:05:45] John Craven: Yeah, but I'm gonna I'm not sorry that I'm not there you don't like sriracha I don't know just having it straight from the bottles kind of I
[00:05:54] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, if it's not spicy, I don't want it.
[00:05:57] Ray Latif: I don't know, I feel like it's spicier, honestly. Really? And again, I haven't had sriracha in a while, but that was really spicy. Darren lies the problem with the taste test. Why is that?
[00:06:05] Jacqui Brugliera: You gotta get a bottle, like an OG bottle, and compare side by side.
[00:06:09] Mike Schneider: I totally disagree with Ray. It's a little less spicy. Like, you can't just garbage mouth that stuff, and I feel like I could just go, ugh, here I will.
[00:06:15] John Craven: Okay, go ahead. You owe me $5. Also, side note. Oh, Jesus. That is kind of gross. Yeah, I could do that all day. If you haven't seen the now decade old Sriracha documentary, highly recommend watching it. It's I think only like 40 minutes or something, but really interesting backstory that will help this. Give some context to this conversation here.
[00:06:44] Mike Schneider: If you're a product person, that is the documentary to watch and everyone who listens is a product person. If you haven't seen that documentary, John's absolutely right. They talk about the simplicity of making the product. They talk about the stages of products that they're making and how it's basically one, you know, it's one batch that they start with and then they, and then everything is additive to get to the different, I think it's four different products that they make.
[00:07:08] Ray Latif: Well, they're gonna have to make some adjustments to that documentary because it's just not gonna adjust the documentary. All right. Yeah, they're gonna go back in time No, but I mean, the reason we couldn't do a side-by-side test is because this has an expiration date. And so, you know, if we had one from 2020, it wouldn't taste like it should in the first place. So, and this is what we have. It's still spicy, but it's slightly less spicy. Yeah. This article from the takeout recommends Roland, you know, Roland, that like multinational condiment supplier, R-O-L-A-N-D. I think they also make like sardines and stuff. Yeah, they pointed out that Roland's was much spicier than this.
[00:07:43] Mike Schneider: That's gonna take more than a pepper change to get me to stop eating sriracha. That stuff's amazing.
[00:07:48] Ray Latif: Well, hopefully the Millennials approve because the Millennials are the ones that are crazy crazy about sriracha, right Jackie?
[00:07:56] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, I love sriracha. I mean, I think someone compared it to like the Heinz of ketchup, which yes, it completely is like you expect it to be on tables ready to go wherever you go.
[00:08:08] Ray Latif: Exactly. Now, John has been chomping at the bit. He's got his bird rock coffee. That's bird rock coffee, isn't it? Uh, no, Ray.
[00:08:15] John Craven: What is that someplace that I will not name because it's not very good. Okay. No, I was kind of like I walked in the place I got the coffee I was like, this is not good and then I was like Mike back there Wow I thought about going a bird rock and I did if you saw my Instagram on for my flight out here I brought in a bird rock Cometeer that I had at home and and I was like the weirdo I was like can I just have a cup of hot water and What are you doing?
[00:08:55] Mike Schneider: John's heading to San Diego. He's like heading to the Bon Jovi concert wearing the Bon Jovi t-shirt He's taking the San Diego coffee
[00:09:07] Ray Latif: All right, well, to go with your coffee, your subpar coffee, John, you have a very delightful snack that is unlike many snacks that we've ever seen. Unlike any snack I've ever seen. Yeah, fair enough, fair enough.
[00:09:18] John Craven: Yeah, this is a, I guess a now half eaten bag of Cho's Choco Nachos, which is a limited edition chocolate product. I guess technically it's made with cocoa butter, not kind of standard chocolate. that you would think of, but it basically tastes like you're biting into some nacho cheese. So I think we need to have a sample.
[00:09:41] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, let's do it.
[00:09:42] Ray Latif: I don't know if I love this. But anyway, you got to try this show is TCHO. It's a plant based chocolate company based in Berkeley, California. Plant based nacho chocolate.
[00:09:51] Mike Schneider: See Jackie's going back for another one. Yes. The hype here, Ray, is you won't know if it's the best thing you've ever had or the worst. Okay.
[00:09:58] Jacqui Brugliera: But, Ray, you don't like cheese, though, right?
[00:09:59] Mike Schneider: I'm not a huge cheese person.
[00:10:01] Ray Latif: Let's see here.
[00:10:02] Jacqui Brugliera: This might not be for you.
[00:10:03] Ray Latif: It's vegan, though. It's not real cheese. Okay, fine. Yeah, just the aroma's not for me. Did you taste it? It's just, it's not for me. It's just, it's too weird. I don't particularly love when there are just colliding flavors and smells and things that you don't expect them to be.
[00:10:26] Mike Schneider: Jackie, did you ever taste Play-Doh as a kid? Because I did.
[00:10:29] Jacqui Brugliera: I did, yeah. It does a little bit, except it has like the crumbs in it because it has, what is it, like the tacos or the tortilla chips in there?
[00:10:39] John Craven: My table was always pretty dirty, so my Play-Doh had crumbs in it too. This is kind of like Spaceman ice cream, but they did it with nachos.
[00:10:47] Ray Latif: Yeah, it's so weird. According to the press release, this is a result of years of dedication and experimentation, led by chief chocolate maker Brad Kinzer, who we interviewed on Taste Radio a couple of years back, I want to say. And these are available through Cho's online store. All supplies last. I mean, I have a ton of respect for Cho. I mean, they made that huge move that I guess it would say earth-shattering within the chocolate community move to go 100% plant-based. I believe that was also two years ago. And it talks about why it is the right thing to do from a sustainability standpoint. And also just to prove that they can produce a delicious chocolate without using animal products in it. So kudos to Cho. And even though this is not my necessarily favorite product of theirs, it's really interesting.
[00:11:40] John Craven: Yeah. I mean, it definitely shows, you know, it's a nice sort of flex in terms of their skill and creativity. And I think it's really like outside the box, but also really well done. I mean, I think it's very smart that this is only, I think, bag, what does it say, 495 of 500 that they made. They're not rolling this out in Walmart or something. Oh wow, okay. It's definitely a conversation piece.
[00:12:06] Mike Schneider: It is. It's something you put on your coffee table. Is that what you're saying? Yeah, yeah, on your coffee table. It might stay there for a while, depending on who comes over. But speaking of plant-based flexes, the founders of Jolly Moss, somehow we found each other on Instagram, and Jolly Moss makes a sea moss chocolate pudding dietary supplement. We had the fortune of them finding us, us finding them, they've been listening to Taste Radio, and they asked if we'd give their sea moss pudding a try.
[00:12:36] Ray Latif: Jolly Moss sea moss pudding, okay. You ready? Yeah, it's interesting, because it's on the front of pack, It's described as a dietary supplement. It is.
[00:12:45] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, that is interesting. How does it taste? Is it good?
[00:12:48] John Craven: It's so tasty.
[00:12:50] Ray Latif: Yeah, it's great. Can you hold a spoonful up so we can see the consistency? Yep. It's lighter and airier than a thick and sort of more indulgent chocolate pudding.
[00:13:00] Mike Schneider: It's lighter, airier, but it leaves you with the essence of indulgence too. It says you should have two to three tablespoons daily. They warned me that it's highly perishable. You have to, you can refrigerate it for up to three weeks. Avoid double dipping to prolong shelf life, which we did not do. No double dipping. She is. Yeah.
[00:13:17] Jacqui Brugliera: Someone that, um, eats CMOS gel pretty regularly. It's cool to see that there's like some innovation and flavor and creating something that's tasty. Cause so far what I've seen is just the gel with maybe a little bit of flavoring and then it's just like kind of goop. But it's nice that this is something that you could actually eat regularly and enjoy the experience.
[00:13:37] Mike Schneider: 18 calories for two tablespoons. It's sea moss, wild harvested sea moss, purified water, cacao, agave nectar, vanilla, dehydrated oat milk, MCT oil, and that's it. And some of the ingredients are organic. Do we have a price?
[00:13:53] Ray Latif: Mike Is looking for a label that had the price on it.
[00:13:57] Jacqui Brugliera: CMOS gel has been expensive since it's hard to source and yeah, we'll report back later.
[00:14:04] Ray Latif: It's interesting. Yeah, it has a supplement. Does it come from sea monkeys? It has a supplement facts panel on it. They're the harvesters. Sea monkeys harvest sea moss. So as much as this is described as a pudding, I almost feel like the pudding, the chocolate pudding, is a flavor of the sea moss or for the sea moss product, which again is described as a supplement and not necessarily a food.
[00:14:27] Mike Schneider: I mean, I knew what to do with it when they said it was pudding. I knew that we were just going to have tablespoons of it. So that was good. It definitely has the consistency.
[00:14:35] John Craven: On the internet here. I can't find this product quickly, but it looks like a jar. A jar of CMOS gel is about $40.
[00:14:44] Jacqui Brugliera: Well, thank you so much.
[00:14:45] Ray Latif: Thank you, Jolly Moss. To the folks from Jolly Moss. Now, to wash all this down, which we need something to wash all this down, I have a can of Nitro Hot Cinnamon Spice Black Tea. which is a product from Harney & Sons. Harney & Sons is a New York-based maker of loose leaf bag tea and RTD, ready to drink teas. And I got this at my family's shop in Connecticut. If you want to know more, email me. And I remember they did a nitro tea a few years back. But I hadn't seen it on the market in a while. And so when I saw this in the cooler, I grabbed it as quickly as I could. Nitro, hot cinnamon spice black tea. Would you like some, Mike? Yes. Okay. There you go. It comes in this black can, this matte black can, 11 ounces.
[00:15:38] Mike Schneider: Smells like Red Hots.
[00:15:39] Ray Latif: Yeah.
[00:15:40] Mike Schneider: And it's got this, it's really, it's really good.
[00:15:43] Ray Latif: I like the nose. Dragon and almost English royalty kind of imagery on the front of the pack. And it has the essence of Red Hots too. The candy. Yeah, it's much lighter than I would expect. Super light. It's zero calories, which is fantastic, and zero grams of sugar. The ingredients are a brood infusion of water, black tea, orange peel, natural cinnamon flavor, Cinnamon, cloves, absorbic acid, citric acid, sodium citrate.
[00:16:11] Mike Schneider: It's like a jawbreaker, which by the nature of the name, I know is not your favorite candy. No, I don't like to break my jaw. But like after you eat a jawbreaker, this is the flavor that's left. Nice. It's really good. It is tasty.
[00:16:25] Ray Latif: All right, before we go any further, I want to thank our presenting sponsor for this episode of Taste Radio. That sponsor is Cognizant. Cognizant is a clinically tested nootropic ingredient that delivers a patented form of citric choline to supply your brain and those of your consumers with the energy it needs to stay sharp. Learn more at cognizant.com. That's C-O-G-N-I-Z-I-N.com. All right, while we're digesting, I got to talk about another story that's been out there in the news. And I'm curious as to your thoughts on it, your being the host of Taste Radio. And I want to frame this as our new segment, relatively new, 2024 segment called Buy or Sell. Now, I'm sure you all heard Has Starbucks has introduced olive oil into their coffees. They have a new line of products called Oliato. And the origin story, according Has Starbucks, began in Sicily, Has Starbucks founder Howard Schultz was introduced to the Mediterranean custom of having a spoonful of olive oil. As he sipped his morning coffee, he was inspired to try the two together. There he unlocked the unexpected, coffee enhanced with a lush, velvety flavor that lingers beautifully on the palate. I don't know if I've seen a single person buy this product Has Starbucks, I'm sorry to say, but I don't know. I like olive oil, I like coffee. Do the two make any sense together? I'm not sure. Buy or sell, Jackie?
[00:17:56] Jacqui Brugliera: I'm selling, I don't know, again, I don't think there's a need for this. I think people are going to be confused by it. Also, even when you're making it, like there's probably going to be separation. What does that look like at the store? I don't know. It doesn't make sense. Like just why?
[00:18:12] John Craven: So this came out. I think a year ago and it did come out a year ago. This is the like rollout to Has Starbucks, right? So I just want to read you this headline here from the BBC who's covering this that Has Starbucks new olive oil infused coffee has customers complaining of laxative side effects. Oh, geez.
[00:18:33] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah.
[00:18:33] John Craven: No, so apparently it's an explosive release.
[00:18:37] Ray Latif: Well, on, on that information alone, I think it's a sell, but I just, and I want to, you know, give some context here. I mean, I think I appreciate Has Starbucks does innovative things. They're trying to push the envelope. They're trying to be the leader when it comes to coffee innovation. I think this is a bit of a stretch for customers. I think this is something that a few customers would appreciate, but it should be more of a limited time offering than sort of a nationwide or global rollout. It's again, I mean, if you look at the Cho nachos, right, and that's not something they're going to roll out to every Cho retailer in the country.
[00:19:19] John Craven: I think it has an interesting education challenge. You know, Starbucks has obviously introduced other products that like, I still don't know what the hell cold foam is, right? But that obviously is something that people buy. So it's cold foam. Yeah, well, where's it come from? Like, I don't understand. Anyway, the stuff. Yeah, I mean, but In any event, this seems kind of like it has a different challenge of explaining it to consumers why you need that ingredient in your coffee.
[00:19:52] Jacqui Brugliera: And I was kind of curious if there's a functional benefit, you know, like bulletproof coffee.
[00:19:57] Mike Schneider: We just heard the functional benefit.
[00:19:59] John Craven: Extra laxative.
[00:20:01] Mike Schneider: Oh boy.
[00:20:02] Jacqui Brugliera: You know, but like the reason why people do take a tablespoon of olive oil in the morning is for functionality, you know, it's the healthy fats. So if you're combining the two, like, are you trying to have that functional benefit?
[00:20:15] Mike Schneider: Well, I don't know yet, but Amanda Huang and I tried this right before the show, so we made oleattos or whatever they're called, oleattes, olive oil lattes. We made them upstairs. And it's weird. I mean, first of all, we made them with Oatly Super Basic, which is a new, yeah, which is a new oat milk that I think is a game changer. It's four ingredients. It's insanely good. It tastes as milky as anything we've had yet. And it holds up really well in a latte. There is separation, but initially it looks beautiful when you pour it in froths and all that stuff. So we, we were told that you're supposed to use oat milk. So we used oat milk. We put the olive oil in and we, we frothed the milk, made the latte, tasted it. It's weird. It's not bad. First of all, it doesn't taste bad at all. It's pretty good. But I, again, I just don't understand why with the warning label that's on it, you'd want that. Because coffee in the first place already does that.
[00:21:18] Ray Latif: Well, Starbucks also has a reputation of being a pretty expensive coffee retailer. Yeah. So what are they going to charge for olive oil? So a 16 ounce grande is about six bucks, according to a story I'm seeing on Business Insider. So, yeah, I mean, it just seems a little more limited edition, limited interest, limited demand than I would think. I mean they had the had the initial rollout last year and now they're rolling it out to all Has Starbucks stores and some international stores as well, so You know I'm gonna want to try it. They're gonna want to know what it tastes like and then we'll see if it's Try and then there's yeah, right exactly.
[00:21:55] Mike Schneider: I don't see it holding on I think it's just thing to get people to come into the store. You're selling a Marketing stunt
[00:22:03] Ray Latif: Well, I don't know if I'd call it a marketing stunt. Fireball flavored lipstick is a marketing stunt.
[00:22:12] Mike Schneider: I'll give it to you. It's an expensive marketing stunt.
[00:22:14] Ray Latif: Okay.
[00:22:14] Mike Schneider: If they're rolling it out nationally. Yeah. Okay. But at the end of the day, all it is is, okay, we've got to ship some olive oil to all of our Starbucks. teach somebody how to put it into, you know, into the milk. Because that's where they, that's where we frothed it and that's what we were told to do, so.
[00:22:29] Ray Latif: The real question is, will Jeff Hansberry, who is the CEO of Partana, which is the supplier of the olive oil Has Starbucks stores, and the former CEO of Evolution Fresh, which was owned Has Starbucks a couple of years ago until they offloaded the company, and we've had Jeff Hansberry on stage at BevNET Live, will he still speak to me after this conversation? Because I'm in conversations with the Partana team to sit down with Jeff and he's going to hear this and be like, hey, Ray, go blank yourself. So who knows?
[00:23:01] Mike Schneider: We're not the first. We're not the first ones to question whether this is a good idea. Also, any PR is good PR.
[00:23:10] Ray Latif: I'm sure he's like, I don't think he's happy hearing that this is going to cause explosive issues.
[00:23:16] Jacqui Brugliera: We didn't say that. We didn't say that.
[00:23:19] John Craven: I mean, what do you, what do you think cold foam does to your insides?
[00:23:22] Jacqui Brugliera: I don't know, but you know what they say.
[00:23:24] Ray Latif: Have you ever heard the phrase kill the messenger? We were the messenger in this case. Just blame me. Okay. i will blame you thank you I mentioned Fireball. Fireball came out, this is definitely a marketing stunt, Sazerac, which is the maker of Fireball whiskey. We've talked about Fireball in the past. It's cinnamon flavored whiskey. They released earlier this week, their first ever custom lipstick called Cinnamon Delight. It's a game day accessory. They call it a game day accessory. Game day, they're talking about the Super Bowl, inspired by the world's hottest couple, AKA Trailer, Travis Kelsey, and Taylor Swift. You ever heard trailer before? I don't like it. No, okay. It's on sale now for $13.87. I believe our colleague, Nosh Managing Editor, Monica Watrous bought some of this, so we'll have to ask her about her experience with some Fireball. So she's got Ranch and Fireball now. Yes, she's all about the Ranch and the Fireball. All right. Speaking of the Super Bowl, buy or sell, $2.5 million will get you a suite at the Super Bowl, and all the kinds of things and all kinds of food you could eat. You get a souvenir popcorn waiting by the door. You can get a bacon-wrapped hot dog, a barbecue burnt-and-burrito glazed donut Super Bowl sundae, carne asada fries, seafood-stuffed potato. I'm watching this on Instagram. It looks terrible. Surf and turf nachos. Wagyu beef hot dog, okay, that's the first decent thing I see there, and a frozen cheesecake. You know, this is insane, and there's a full service bar, John. This is insane. I would think, okay, you can probably invite into this suite 25, 30, maybe even 50 people. But as a souvenir popcorn, is popcorn served in a souvenir Super Bowl container? The kind of thing that you would expect in terms of food, you gotta have like, Caviar and like champagne, two bottles per person, you know, two containers or two tins of caviar per person. This is crazy.
[00:25:26] Mike Schneider: I'm definitely selling it for two reasons. One is it's not at the Emirates with a team of red and white. Is that I get 2.5 million bucks somebody who really wants this can have it. I don't know It's just like this is bowling alley food. That's crazy.
[00:25:41] Jacqui Brugliera: I don't think it's a question.
[00:25:42] John Craven: I mean Looks like trash I mean This is one of those like you know they don't need to put the price out there because whoever is buying this does not care about the price
[00:25:54] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, they're probably doing it for the sweet over than the food like just to bring all their friends or or just to get morons Like us to talk about it.
[00:26:01] Ray Latif: Yeah You get a hundred percent you get you get the sweet you get the experience watching this your role. It's all fun and games Talk about it. You gotta have you gotta have better food than this. This is ridiculous. I mean, it's a Wagyu hot dog Like what do you want? It was no sushi the biggest thing the first thing they thing they led with was the souvenir popcorn and I'm getting angry now.
[00:26:22] Mike Schneider: I'm the devil's advocate here. Where is the Super Bowl again? Las Vegas. Vegas, bro. SoFi Stadium's stadium food is, it's a cut above a Lots Of stadium food that I've had.
[00:26:32] Ray Latif: Does seafood stuffed potato looks like vomit? Sorry, I'm losing it, I'm losing it. All right, on to more important things.
[00:26:42] John Craven: Looks like food created by some AI. Don't do it, don't do it. Don't tempt me. All right.
[00:26:48] Ray Latif: The ceviche master's coming back.
[00:26:50] Has Starbucks: Oh yeah, yes.
[00:26:52] Ray Latif: So, a couple years ago, onto our next buyer sale. A couple years ago, Coca-Cola introduced- Okay, we're just getting warmed up here, I love it. It's Sean's greatest invention, Ceviche Master. Coca-Cola introduced- Ask him about it. A new limited edition flavor called Starlight, and it was described as a space-inspired Coca-Cola product that is supposed to recreate the taste and feel of space. However, a Lots Of people didn't figure out Well, that's the beauty you're not gonna know so yeah, they can give you anything This is what space is like that coca-cola starlight when they were telling tastes like that's that's what we're talking about So apparently some people called it. It tastes a little mint like minty cotton candy sprinkled with vanilla and it has a red tint to it and Anyway, I think Brad, our colleague Brad Avery, our senior reporter for BevNET, bought a bottle and he said it was okay. I tried it. It was weird. It was weird. He was only on the market for like a few months.
[00:27:48] Mike Schneider: It wasn't that shocking. It was kind of like a little bit of cotton candy in a Coke.
[00:27:53] Ray Latif: Yeah. Well, apparently people still love space-inspired foods or are still interested in space-inspired foods because Oreo Oreo Cookies launched a new product called Space Dunks. This is a limited edition product that, according to the press release, is a galaxy-inspired limited edition cookie and a chance for a fan to join the brand on an expedition where no Oreo cookie lover has gone before to the edge of space. Each cookie is stuffed with layers of blue and pink quote unquote cosmic cream with marshmallowy flavor and popping candies that create a supernova bursting sensation with each bite. Man, that is some good marketing copy right there. They try to read it like this though. The edge of space! That was pretty good. I think that's how they wrote it. Okay. I'm gonna open this up. I'm sorry. Once again, John, you can't have Would you even eat this? This is like you won't touch cheese.
[00:28:52] John Craven: I'm not touching Artificial everything's with like five million ingredients and like pop rocks in the middle.
[00:28:57] Ray Latif: Okay, but can I ask you about this whole space thing? Is this a millennial thing? I mean, are you buying that like people are interested in space dunk junk starlight stuff? Yeah, Jackie
[00:29:07] Jacqui Brugliera: I don't know, I think there's like this weird buzz with space right now and like the commercialization of space and people are, you know, super wealthy people are just trying to go and like take a little tour. So it's like glorifying this. I don't know if it's going to be like a flash in the pan or something to stay. I'm selling on this.
[00:29:27] Mike Schneider: I'm also not going to drink Mountain Dew after I eat the space dust here, the pop rocks or whatever. Do you explode then?
[00:29:35] Ray Latif: Well, I mean, Lesser Evil, the maker of Better For You and organic snacks, they have a line of cheese balls that they call Space Balls. These are the alternative to, I don't know, well, cheese balls. And I had some the other day and they're made with plant-based cheese. They're really tasty. They're lighter and fluffier. I don't know. I'm just trying to figure out what the, what the draw is, like what the interest is among consumers or at least younger consumers for space inspired foods. I have thoughts. You have thoughts on the, on the cookie itself? On the cookie.
[00:30:09] Mike Schneider: Okay. Okay. First of all, it's half stuff. I mean, or three quarter stuff. There needs to be more stuff. Kids want stuff.
[00:30:16] Ray Latif: You're talking about the cream. Yeah. The cream.
[00:30:17] Mike Schneider: It's called stuff. And then I think kids would like this. The, the Pop Rocks are fun.
[00:30:23] Ray Latif: Just needs to taste like more like an Oreo needs to have more stuff or the pop rocks like still yeah, they're still popping They're still popping that would drive me crazy. I'm gonna eat this after we hop off. I'd rather have to be go You want?
[00:30:37] Mike Schneider: That's my favorite pop how about you Jackie
[00:30:43] Jacqui Brugliera: The pop of Tobiko? I'll take that over Pop Rocks. Yeah.
[00:30:46] Has Starbucks: Okay.
[00:30:48] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah. I think there's always been an obsession with space. I mean, I grew up watching Space Jam, you know, that was like my favorite movie.
[00:30:56] Ray Latif: Okay, fair enough. That's Star Wars. Space Jam. I don't know. Jackie Grillbot. Space Jam.
[00:31:01] Jacqui Brugliera: Basketball means space.
[00:31:02] Mike Schneider: Right, right. Basketball and space.
[00:31:04] Ray Latif: What's clear here is that there has to be some level of commitment, like Lesser Evil has done by naming their products Spaceballs. And they also have Cosmic Rings, which I guess are like Funyuns, but a better few Funyun. You go the limited-edition route with like oreo and coke did and just test the waters here But I wouldn't call this the marketing stunt as much as definitely something that is interesting but Yeah, the pop rocks. I'm not really sure you and not wanting to call something a marketing stunt when it is okay. Yeah, you're right You're right all right. I do want to end on on a positive positive note after the oreo space don't think sorry They're fine. They're fine. They're fine But a couple of weeks ago, I sat down with the founder of a company called Harken. Harken is the maker of better for you Candy Bar. I guess the comparison to the Candy Bar that they make would be, these are not the better for you ones, but like a Snickers or Mars Bar, so on and so forth. And so they have two varieties right now. They have the nutty one and the gooey one. So again, I met Katie Lefkowitz, who is the founder of Harken Suites in an episode of Elevator Talk that we published a couple of weeks back. And she sent me some samples and I had the nutty one yesterday. This is really good news. Yes. Before I get into what I thought of it, I want to note what the ingredients are here. This is made with prebiotic tapioca fiber, dates, Jerusalem artichoke fiber, peanuts, palm oil, pea protein, oats, and a few other things. It's also sweetened with monk fruit. This is phenomenal.
[00:32:41] Mike Schneider: This is the first we've seen come into the studio since Gigantic.
[00:32:44] Ray Latif: Yes. This is good for the market. Exactly. This is a phenomenal product. I ate one yesterday. It doesn't stick to your teeth. I ate the nutty one yesterday. It doesn't stick to your teeth. It's really delicious. It's a perfect amount of sweetness. This is a snack that I will be eating over and over and over again. I am excited to try the gooey one. I haven't tried the gooey one yet, but the nutty one is just top notch. Well done. 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.
[00:33:57] Has Starbucks: you
