[00:00:05] Smaugry Asmundsson: Landis, we've been hosting BevNET Live at the Lowe's Santa Monica Beach Hotel for almost a decade now.
[00:00:10] Smári Organics: Yeah, Mike, I think I know where you're going with this.
[00:00:11] Smaugry Asmundsson: Oh, I am. For the first time ever, we have a full buyout of the entire hotel.
[00:00:15] Smári Organics: And this is a complete game changer. It's going to be like the Lowe's is closed for a private event and BevNET Live is going to be everywhere, inside and out.
[00:00:22] Smaugry Asmundsson: And with all this flexibility, we're looking at some exciting new sponsorship opportunities, private meeting rooms, brand activations.
[00:00:28] Smári Organics: Mark your calendars, December 9th and 10th.
[00:00:30] Smaugry Asmundsson: This winter will be epic. If you wanna be part of the biggest BevNET Live ever, email sponsor at BevNET.com and someone will be in touch immediately to discuss options.
[00:00:40] Smári Organics: And now, Taste Radio Insider.
[00:00:48] Ray Latif: Hello, and thanks for tuning in The Taste Radio Insider. I'm Ray Latif, and you're listening to episode 40 of the podcast. I'm with my BevNET colleagues, John Craven, Mike Schneider, and Jon Landis, recording from The Taste Radio studio at BevNET headquarters in Watertown, Mass. And in this episode, we're joined by Smaugry Asmundsson, the founder and CEO of Icelandic yogurt company, Smári Organics, who discusses his foray from food into beverage. If you like what you hear on Taste Radio Insider, please share the podcast with friends and colleagues. And of course, we'd love it if you could rate us on the Apple Podcasts app or your listening platform of choice. Folks, we're making a change. Going forward, we'll be posting new episodes of our Taste Radio Insider podcast, that's this show, on the same feed as our flagship Taste Radio podcast. Those episodes are published every Tuesday. The Taste Radio Insider feed will be phased out next month. So if you're not already a subscriber of the flagship show on your listening platform, whether it be Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify, make sure you get on that.
[00:01:48] Smári Organics: Get on that. See, Paul Beaupre, you were right. And if you have any questions. It happened. And you want to flame us, get on Instagram, DM at BevNetMike.
[00:01:58] Smaugry Asmundsson: Yeah, I'll take questions, comments, and ridicule, as usual. Mostly ridicule.
[00:02:05] Ray Latif: If you can read between the lines.
[00:02:07] Smaugry Asmundsson: For my latte and garnish games.
[00:02:09] Ray Latif: Yes. Welcome back to everyone who was at the Fancy Food Show. So I guess I'm saying welcome back to myself. Yeah. Yes. Yeah.
[00:02:18] Smári Organics: So much awesome feedback on this podcast at that trade show.
[00:02:21] Ray Latif: Really? All I got was disgust and disdain.
[00:02:25] Smári Organics: Well, I guess it pays to be the pretty one.
[00:02:32] Summer Fancy: Are you talking about yourself, Landis? He is. I know, right? It's the hair. I was standing in the aisles at the Fancy Food Show, and you kind of just blew by. I was talking to someone, and they said to me, doesn't that surfer guy work for you?
[00:02:49] Smaugry Asmundsson: See, I had a different experience where you also blew by, and someone was like, is that Fabio? I'll take them both.
[00:02:56] Ray Latif: Surfing Fabio, there you go. Sir Fabio. Yeah, once again, one of my favorite parts of the show is the Incubator Villages that they have at the Fancy Food Show. Mine too. Yeah, where they get incubators from across the country, including The Hatchery, the Chobani Incubator, Hot Bread Kitchen, the Rutgers Innovation Center, all these places where they're supporting new and emerging brands, teaching them the business, teaching them how to formulate their products, how to market their products, about package design. And so not only do we get to meet the people behind these incubators, We got to meet so many of the entrepreneurs that work with them. I loved meeting the folks behind Mudlark. That's M-U-D-L-R-K. They make a line of mushroom chips. Now these are not chips made out of mushrooms. These are actual mushrooms.
[00:03:40] Smaugry Asmundsson: They're actual mushrooms. It's almost not even a chip, but it's super delicious. I like the hierarchy of the label here. Shiitake mushroom chips is definitely the hero here, but, and there's some pretty interesting call-outs. I mean, there's room for improvement on this thing. We talked about maybe, um, putting real, uh, the real product on here versus, uh, illustrations of the mushrooms. Cause this, this looks like you're going to get some giant mushroom out of the package, doesn't it? It's kind of what's in there, though. It's not really a chip. It's not that big, though.
[00:04:07] SPEAKER_??: It's not that big.
[00:04:08] Smaugry Asmundsson: You are definitely getting real mushrooms, but I do like the call-outs here. The call-outs are really impressive. Five grams of protein, 10 grams of fiber, no gluten, no GMO. Ken Sadowski was there giving some advice to Trace, too. The Beverage Whisperer? The Beverage Whisperer himself. This brand attracted a lot of interest and attention in that incubator.
[00:04:26] Ray Latif: Yeah, Marlark was part of The Hatchery Incubator along with a brand called Lil Bucks, which makes an interesting brand of sprouted buckwheat cereal. Fantastic to talk to the folks behind that brand as well. I missed that one.
[00:04:38] Smaugry Asmundsson: Buckwheat cereal. There's a lot of sprouted, a lot of seeds up in the Incubator Villages. Blake's was there with their parrot on their Seed Based. Those are tasty. Great to see the folks there.
[00:04:50] Ray Latif: Seedly fantastic stuff. It was great to see the folks behind Simply Soupreme, a New Beverage Showdown winner.
[00:04:55] Smári Organics: My homie Mike Schwartz with the Organic Food Incubator was representing Bloomfield, New Jersey in the Incubator Villages. And Jersey, Jersey Barnfire Fire Hot Sauce is another awesome product that he's making there and got to meet those guys. And, but Simply Soupreme, I mean that mushroom. I'm not sure what we're allowed to talk about there, but she had some pretty good news for Simply Soupreme. That mushroom thyme soup is like seriously one of the best things ever. Did you chug one? Yeah, I did.
[00:05:20] Summer Fancy: You guys saw some good stuff. I was drinking Negronis from Straight Away Cocktails up there. Oh God. That was blacked out Well, I mean, you know when you start in the groaning sampling it. I don't know. What time was that? It was like 9 a.m Man, no, it was like 1130 It was almost lunchtime. We'll call it brunch. It was Sunday. Sure. You didn't black out No, really tasty drinks.
[00:05:45] Smaugry Asmundsson: Imagine you walk into an Incubator Villages and John Craven's Negroni radar goes off.
[00:05:49] Summer Fancy: It's hashtag Negroni week, so it was extra bad.
[00:05:53] Smaugry Asmundsson: And the 100th anniversary of the Negroni.
[00:05:55] Summer Fancy: I was pretty psyched. I've never left a food trade show with an actual bottle of pre-made Negroni, like a full-size 750. Wow. Who gave you that? A Straightaway Cocktails.
[00:06:07] Smaugry Asmundsson: They had a couple other cocktails as well. Another innovation out of Oregon. Another good reason to go to Oregon. one of these days caught up with the mind your mana team. They make Fire Brew and they've got a couple other innovations that they're working on as well, but they were, they were there to talk about the Fire Brew, which I always find to be a very good pick me up. Totally. Yeah. Great to see Melissa from super frow. They're making, they're making a lot of headway since we saw them in a secret vial and in the, in the bed net kitchen last year.
[00:06:37] Ray Latif: Make your own whey-based beverages. Part of the Commonwealth Kitchen Incubator, which is based in the Boston area. Yeah, it was great to see Melissa. She actually, I interviewed her as part of an Instagram live thing that we were doing. And I asked her about the label and she's like, yeah, I got some great advice on how to design this label from a few folks in the beverage industry. And well, that was nice for her to say because she came over, I think that was, what was that about a year ago? And we're like, hey, you might want to do this or do this. And it almost looks like what we were talking about, so.
[00:07:08] Smaugry Asmundsson: What do you think about this as a brand, A Boring Life? Did you catch up with A Boring Life? Serafina? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I saw them. I didn't stop by the booth. CBD nuts, they were really tasty. I think she should get Dr. Dre to say CBD's nuts. Yep.
[00:07:27] Summer Fancy: You are just dating yourself with a statement like that. Dr. Dre.
[00:07:31] Smári Organics: I know.
[00:07:32] Summer Fancy: People will be like, who the hell is that? Dr. Dre. The guy that makes the headphones? 2000, man. What's wrong with you? That is a chill dude. This is what happens when we go to New York for like two weeks in a row.
[00:07:43] Smári Organics: It's like you forgot about Dre. How could you forget about Dre?
[00:07:47] Smaugry Asmundsson: That's like forgetting about Jerry Garcia.
[00:07:52] Ray Latif: Ah, boy. Mike, based on John Craven's Instagram profile or post from the Fancy Food Show, it seemed like you spent a lot of time at the Rind booth. I'm always known for that, I guess This guy now and to be clear Ryan just so people have context Ryan is the dried fruit company with the peel on I might like their snacks a little bit.
[00:08:17] Summer Fancy: It's like he sees certain booths.
[00:08:20] SPEAKER_??: Mm-hmm
[00:08:20] Summer Fancy: You go right up. It's almost like you're shoving people out of the way. And you're just two handed eating the samples. And it's like the guy's never seen food before or something. It's the weirdest thing.
[00:08:34] Smaugry Asmundsson: It's hard to find Rind Snacks, you know. But I do think that this new strawberry plant. Strawberry. I did have a little bit more than my fair share, admittedly, and I kept asking if it was OK. And Matt, I mean, he seemed a little uncomfortable, but he said it was fine. Matt Weiss, the founder and CEO of Ryan's said it was fine.
[00:08:53] Ray Latif: Didn't you go behind the booth once and like call yourself an employee of the company?
[00:08:58] Smaugry Asmundsson: Yeah. Well, hey, there was that. That's why they have the restraining order now. That's how that also happened with Honey Mama too. So I think I should. I thought it was a coincidence, but it's not. It's a trend now. Yeah.
[00:09:08] Summer Fancy: Yeah. It gets a little weird, but, you know. Yeah. I'm kind of glad all this New York stuff is behind us. For now. For now.
[00:09:15] Ray Latif: Yeah. We can move on to summer barbecues. Yes. You're you're looking forward to putting the Northeast behind you, Jon Landis, aren't you?
[00:09:23] Smári Organics: Yeah. Yeah. Mike, I'm moving to San Diego.
[00:09:26] Summer Fancy: You're moving? Yeah, we got a small little... You heard it first here on Taste Radio Insider. Nice fake reaction, by the way.
[00:09:33] Smaugry Asmundsson: He's told the whole industry. I was like, are you ever going to tell me, Landis?
[00:09:37] Smári Organics: We got a small little office out there. It's going to be fun. Got a lot of growth happening with the business overall. And, you know, it's time to start adding some more resources out west.
[00:09:50] Smaugry Asmundsson: And a quick trip up to L.A. A lot of great stuff happening out there. A lot of great stuff happening in San Diego. You'll be on the ground to talk to brands one-on-one. That'll be awesome.
[00:09:58] Summer Fancy: be a real surfer, dude.
[00:09:59] Smári Organics: I guess that's kind of a thing. Like you better learn how to surf. I guess it's kind of a thing in California to just like pop by an office unannounced because that seems to be happening quite frequently out in San Diego. So, um, which is fine. There's absolutely nothing wrong with it here on The Taste coast. People tend to say, Hey, are you there? Can we start, you know, but I guess in California just, it's like, Hey, let's do it.
[00:10:22] Smaugry Asmundsson: When you pop in with beverages Rind Snacks, I think everybody's going to feel pretty welcome. No one's going to be like, oh, don't come in here with that. Of course.
[00:10:29] Ray Latif: So you'll be able to go up to Santa Monica and go see the folks from Ubu, which makes a hemp tonic that Mike is just annihilating right now.
[00:10:37] Smaugry Asmundsson: This is the theme. I drink a little on the quick side, but no, I'm taking down some Ubu. We had a good chance to talk at the Cannabis Forum about their new products. They have an energy tonic. and they have that they call focus. And then there's one called balance, which it says hemp tonic, and it's a CBD beverage. The interesting thing about Ubu for me, isn't even the functionality, it's the way that they do the flavoring. With the yuzu and lotus flower. Yeah, and essences. And it's more of a activation of your smell than your taste buds.
[00:11:09] Ray Latif: Now I'm gonna be dating myself because whenever I think of Ubu, I think of the production company. Sit Ubu, sit. Exactly. Good dog. At the end of many an 80s sitcom. It would be a call it's the production company shocking sit ubu say yeah, right after family ties oh So damn old Old guy show yeah now We're right on the cusp of the 4th of July Independence Day, and usually that means folks are going on a vacay peace and that includes In this office, that includes me, Ray Latif, and John Craven. Wait, we were allowed to go on vacation?
[00:11:41] Summer Fancy: No, no, no, you don't get that mic. What? I mean, you made yourself the office barista, and I mean, people need Cortado, so. That's true, I'll be here for that.
[00:11:49] Ray Latif: That said, we'll still be pumping out some great content for Taste Radio and Taste Radio Insider. Next week, look forward to highlights and insights from the first half of the year for both shows. And the following week, uh, you know, John and I will still be outside of the office, but, uh, Jon Landis and Mike Schneider, we'll be here to, uh, fill you in on all the cool things that are happening.
[00:12:10] Smári Organics: I mean, I'm going to be on fish tour. I'm going to pop in here in between shows just for a quick day.
[00:12:17] Summer Fancy: He's going to be coming in hot. Well, that's a, Well, I'm doing what every American dreams of for Fourth of July and going to Amsterdam, so.
[00:12:28] Smári Organics: Wow, nice.
[00:12:28] Summer Fancy: I'm also doing Brussels and Paris and London. I'll be looking for kombucha and cold Row Coffee along the way. I have some advice for you before you eat any of those brownies. Oh, yeah.
[00:12:41] Smári Organics: How do you say kombucha in Dutch?
[00:12:44] Ray Latif: Kombucha? I bet it's kombucha. I think the accent's on a different syllable. It's probably like, kombucha.
[00:12:52] Summer Fancy: course, I'm going to find all the local, local Bev. So if anyone has tips out there, let me know.
[00:12:58] Smári Organics: I'll be on fish store. So if you're in the food and beverage industry, going to some fish concerts, hit me up.
[00:13:02] Smaugry Asmundsson: And if you're going to Nosh Live and BevNET Live, room blocks open. That's right around the corner. Santa Monica is right around the corner.
[00:13:09] Smári Organics: I know it doesn't seem like it. We've got to be responsible here and do the right thing, right? Talk about the conference. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you're right, Mike. There are a lot of people buying tickets and booking rooms. There's no joke. These rooms are going to sell out pretty quickly.
[00:13:23] Summer Fancy: The good rooms, especially.
[00:13:24] Ray Latif: Yeah, absolutely. Maybe. I don't know. Jon Landis, you mentioned that no one visits us. you know, they visit our San Diego office more often than they do our water town.
[00:13:32] Smári Organics: I think it's just different. They just show up unannounced out there and then they, and then they hang out for three hours. It's a little more of a grassroots.
[00:13:40] Smaugry Asmundsson: It's a little more of a grassroots operation out there. Landis is going to, he's going to, he's going to whip them into shape. He's like, you've been here for 30 minutes.
[00:13:48] Ray Latif: Well, I might be doing some of that. Well, all that being said, it was great to see Sam Sackbee come into the office here in Watertown. He's the CEO of Kings Row Coffee, the maker of Kings Brew Cold Brew. He brought a ton Row Coffee for us to drink, including one I'm holding in my hand. It's made with maple water as The Taste. Pretty great stuff.
[00:14:07] Smári Organics: And this one here, which I think is specifically for me, a decaf cappuccino.
[00:14:12] Ray Latif: There you go. Wow.
[00:14:14] Smári Organics: I haven't had a cappuccino in a long time.
[00:14:16] Ray Latif: So here's your opportunity. Also this morning we saw Stephen Kessler from Wild Tonic. He made a June kombucha. That's a kombucha that uses honey as a base. Honey. Yeah.
[00:14:25] Summer Fancy: Not the same Stephen Kessler that co-founded Steeze. I don't think that's him.
[00:14:30] Smári Organics: No. Didn't look like him. Different Stephen Kessler, which confused me at first too, I will admit. I looked him up on LinkedIn just to make sure. No, this guy actually came from the beer world. He was a beer distribution and he's selling a lot of kombucha and sparkling water and seltzer and stuff with some of these distributors here in New England. And now he's working with Wild Tonic and they got some interesting stuff, you know, high, mid and non-alcoholic. So they have 7.6%, 5.6% and both their alcohol kombucha products are shelf stable and very high end premium bottles and premium price point. It's pretty interesting stuff. I mean, it's definitely a nascent category overall. And I don't want to speculate too much, but with all of the hard kombucha and cans and all the hard seltzer out there that they're competing with it, you know, it's kind of nice to see a premium offering. That's like not immediately racing to the bottom on pricing and trying to just, you know, play the entirely the volume game. They got some decent margins that they're offering to that beautiful blue bottle package. It is really a striking package.
[00:15:34] Smaugry Asmundsson: Hey, speaking of interesting products, is anyone still dreaming about lava cakes? Cause I can't stop thinking about lava cakes. Did you have those lava cakes at, uh, going back to fancy foods, Belgian Boys, they've got this lava cake. It comes in like a little glass container. And I think that's an interesting play right there. But that thing you just microwave it for a couple of seconds and it's like someone just made a cake out of the oven.
[00:15:56] Smári Organics: It's amazing. Yeah. I didn't have it at this show, but I've had it before. Cheesecakes are crazy. Cheesecakes are amazing. Don't forget that key line, bro.
[00:16:04] Smaugry Asmundsson: Can't forget the key lime the key lime.
[00:16:06] Summer Fancy: Yeah.
[00:16:06] Smaugry Asmundsson: Thanks a nuke for hooking us up again I can't stop thinking about lava cake.
[00:16:11] Summer Fancy: I kind of felt a little sick after we left that I mean not because the food it was the stuff was bad because of their generosity. We kind of ate a lot Sorry to say no.
[00:16:20] Smári Organics: I still have fancy food stomach right now. I'm just a little off.
[00:16:23] Summer Fancy: You know so much cheese permanently off, bro Come on now
[00:16:28] Ray Latif: Well, I heard from a lot of folks at the show that fancy food was a pretty good opportunity for them to meet with folks. retailers, distributors, investors, et cetera. I thought the education platform also at Fancy Food was pretty fantastic. And one of the things that they did was they did this great panel discussion with one of the buyers from Walmart. And we did a pretty good panel discussion with the folks from Walmart at Bebinet Live Winter 2018.
[00:16:53] Smári Organics: And Nosh Live Summer 2019.
[00:16:58] Ray Latif: There you go. Thanks Walmart. Yes. But what's interesting is, Mike, you alluded to this, that Simply Soupreme, after that presentation, they got, the Walmart folks raced to Simply Soupreme, like, hey, we want you to be part of our new set of innovative brands. That also happened with our guests for today's episode. That's Maori S. Munson and his Caffee, coffee and yogurt drink.
[00:17:20] Smaugry Asmundsson: Pro segue, Ray, that's why you're doing what you do.
[00:17:22] Ray Latif: Smaugry is the founder of Smári Organics, which as I mentioned at the top of the show, is a maker of Icelandic style yogurts that was founded in 2011. Earlier this year, the company introduced Caffe, a new line of high protein coffees that are made with Smaugry's signature yogurt and positioned as better for you energy drinks. In the following interview recorded at BevNET Live Summer 2019, Samari spoke about why he decided to get into the beverage business, those challenging aspects in managing food and drink lines, and the intriguing path to profitability for its coffee products. Hey folks, it's Ray The Taste Radio. I am here in New York City at BevNET Live Summer 2019, and with me is Smari S. Munson, the founder and CEO of Smári Organics. Thank you so much for being with me.
[00:18:11] Food Show: Hey, thanks so much for having me. Great to be here.
[00:18:13] Ray Latif: This is your second BevNET Live, right? Correct, yes. Tell us why you're here, because most people know Smari for its spoonable yogurts.
[00:18:22] Food Show: Correct. We've done yogurt since 2013, organic Icelandic yogurt. And Icelandic yogurt is higher protein than any other yogurt in the market. So I think of ours as a high protein company. And we just, in March of this year, we launched a high protein Icelandic coffee. High protein, high caffeine, very, very low sugar. And it's another foray into a different form of high protein consumable.
[00:18:48] Ray Latif: And you have a bottle in front of you, it's called Caffi?
[00:18:51] Food Show: Caffi, yeah. Caffi is coffee in Icelandic, and so we are re-utilizing that name, and Icelanders will often mix their coffee and the yogurt for breakfast, and they just call it Caffi.
[00:19:04] Ray Latif: It's interesting because going from the food industry into the beverage industry seems like a really big jump. What's been your process? How did you evaluate the opportunity in beverage? And overall, what's it like being in this industry?
[00:19:20] Food Show: In a lot of ways, it's exactly the same. And in other ways, it is completely different. It's more exciting in a way. There's a lot more innovation in drinkables than in yogurt, perhaps. There is more growth, I believe. There's more white space, and especially in what we are doing. Functional coffee is a new category, and there seems to be a lot of growth trajectory for it. So that's exciting. Challenges are quite a bit more in how Our business is set up, the yogurt is made in Wisconsin, the coffee is made in Southern California, and so we kind of have to set up everything from scratch, and things have been going for a while with yogurt, logistics are pretty nailed down, but having to set that up all again is a challenge, and the refrigerated trucking is not easy to figure out.
[00:20:20] Ray Latif: So when you were thinking about the idea of entering the beverage industry, how long was that process? I mean, did you have to create an entire new business plan, a new strategy? I mean, what did you take into consideration when making this move or making this extension, brand extension?
[00:20:38] Food Show: Initially, I knew I wanted to do drinkables of some sort. I knew I wanted to do a healthy product, something that was unique, something that was amazingly tasty. And so I played around with a lot of different forms of that. At the same time I was drinking my coffee, you know, blended with yogurt as I'm driving my 10-year-old boy to school. And then one morning I was red-lighted and I was taking a sip and it hit me like, this is what I should be doing. It makes total sense. And so from there, once I nailed down the idea, this is what I'm doing. It took me two years to develop the product, develop something that's doing label. Tastes amazing. It tastes like what you would get at your local coffee shop. Sugar is lower than almost any of the competitors. And something that I could be, you know, the bottle has my name on it. So I want it to be something that I could be proud of.
[00:21:37] Ray Latif: So as Mario, as you mentioned, you know, there are some significant differences between the food and beverage industries. Having not had any experience in beverages, you know, how did you learn about this industry?
[00:21:48] Food Show: A big one for me was I went to Bearnet in Santa Monica in last December. And there are some things that are exactly the same and there are others that are totally different. You know, distribution is one of them. And kind of the placement in the stores is another one. So for me, going to conferences is very good. Venice has been fantastic, listening to your podcast. You know, I do that regularly and I always learn something and then, you know, talking to as many people as you can, going out to people and asking questions.
[00:22:18] Ray Latif: Does it help that you already have an established brand when talking to retail buyers and distributors, in that you know how at least business in general works?
[00:22:28] Food Show: I think it does. And it also helps that we have relationships, even if it's not the same departments, we have relationships with the companies. And usually they like working with us and we try to make life as easy for everybody as we can. And that always is helpful, I think.
[00:22:45] Ray Latif: Yeah, I mean, you mentioned that you met one of the buyers from Walmart at BebNet Live in winter of 2018.
[00:22:51] Food Show: So Sarah Alderson, she spoke at BebNet in Santa Monica in December of last year. And at the end of her talk, she posted her email address. And so I sent her an email. I introduced myself and the product. And as a result of that, we should be on sales in Walmart very soon.
[00:23:10] Ray Latif: Well, that's amazing. Congratulations on that.
[00:23:11] Food Show: Thank you.
[00:23:12] Ray Latif: As I mentioned at the top of our conversation, the name of the company is Smári Organics, and organics are a big part of what differentiates you from your competitors and other folks in the yogurt category. Is your coffee organic? And if not, how does that work within the sort of brand identity of Samari?
[00:23:34] Food Show: The coffee is not organic and that is purely an accessibility question. The coffee consumer is a younger person generally, less parents than with yogurt and people that are not as willing to pay the price point for organic certification. For dairy especially, being organically certified adds quite a bit to the price, and that can be a challenge when it comes to growth. So we really focused on, we decided we would take the organic certification out of the mixture for this, so we'd have a bigger opportunity, but still focused on clean ingredients, low sugar, and getting it healthy in every other aspect, and something that's more accessible.
[00:24:17] Ray Latif: Do you sell both as part of an entire sort of portfolio? Do you try to sell the entire portfolio to a retailer or is it you're looking for specific retailers for each for your yogurts and then for your beverages?
[00:24:31] Food Show: It's generally a different buyer. So two different sales calls. And there are with an organic yogurt, it's a natural channel. It's the smaller independent natural grocers. With the coffee, it opens up more to convenience stores, more of a grab-and-go. It's an easier product to consume on the go. You don't need a spoon as well. So I think the market for the coffee is significantly bigger, especially as we go down the road and we grow the brand.
[00:25:01] Ray Latif: How do you talk to your investors about this move going from food to beverage, especially when the brand itself, the primary products are still growing, they're still in growth mode?
[00:25:13] Food Show: Fortunately, I have fantastic investors that really believe in what I'm doing. They kind of jokingly say that my classes always three quarters full. I'm always an optimist, which you have to be as an entrepreneur. If you don't believe the unbelievable as far as what you can do, you'll never succeed. So they are fully on board. They understand the risk involved, but they believe in what I'm doing and what we're doing, and they believe in the opportunity.
[00:25:46] Ray Latif: How do you evaluate that runway for growth in beverages, especially early on?
[00:25:50] Food Show: It's tricky early on because it takes a while to understand what the numbers mean, meaning that the numbers kind of go all over the place in the beginning, that you get different distributors and you kind of need to get a lot of different numbers and from there you paint a picture. It's twofold, it's in the number of doors you're in, it's the number of distributors you're in, but then also turns are even more important. Seeing the product on social is a powerful tool as well. And then you have the overall revenue, your gross margins, which might be the most important factor. I think margins is a big indicator also, and it's a very important indicator for sustainability in the business.
[00:26:40] Ray Latif: Does it make it easier to achieve the gross margin you want for the beverages because you are already in the yogurt business?
[00:26:47] Food Show: No, those are two, the challenge with yogurt is that we strain out a lot of the water and we have, you know, the water in the way from the milk and the milk is organic. So we start with a very expensive ingredient and then we dilute it. With the coffee, you know, the water all stays in there and water is a free or cheap ingredient. So drinkables is a different game from a marketing perspective.
[00:27:16] Ray Latif: What is the margin you're trying to achieve with coffee?
[00:27:20] Food Show: I think we have a fairly good shot at being north of 50 once we make some adjustments in manufacturing and sourcing and once we get a little bit up on scale.
[00:27:32] Ray Latif: That's a pretty great margin. What is it for yogurt or what is it for your yogurt more specifically? Much, much lower than that. Yeah. You mentioned entrepreneurship is very difficult, but you have to really believe in yourself. What got you into this business? I heard that you once were a photographer when you came to the US.
[00:27:51] Food Show: Yeah, so I came to the States when I was 20. I went to have a BA in photography from a school called Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara and I was an advertising photographer for about 15 years. I'm very successful. My pictures were on wall, growing stones, I did billboards, all kinds of kind of high-end advertising jobs. In 08 I moved to Petaluma from Boston and became a dad in 2010 and by 2012 or so becoming a single dad and realizing that There's no way I can travel two, three, four weeks at a time. And I was also realizing I was more passionate about food than advertising. And I really missed the yogurt from Iceland. So I kind of decided, you know, let's see if I can make a go at creating a company Smári Organics Icelandic yogurt.
[00:28:40] Ray Latif: Do you find that you're the best salesman, though, because you're so intimately involved in the brand and the creation of the brand? I mean, it is your namesake, for one thing.
[00:28:47] Food Show: It is, yeah, absolutely. So I am, you know, sales is a big part of my job. I kind of, you know, nobody's going to be as passionate as the founder about it. Nobody cares as much. And then the fact that it has my name on it, you know, helps quite a bit.
[00:29:03] Ray Latif: I can imagine why a buyer might be like, oh, you're the smarty behind the brand, and you've got the good beard, and you've got the Icelandic story. And it's something, as you mentioned, that people drink in other countries, or drink in Iceland more specifically. In general, Nordic culture has made its way into American cuisine. Do you see more of that happening right now, where Americans are becoming a little bit more aware of and demanding things that are present and have been present in Nordic culture for some time.
[00:29:36] Food Show: I think, yeah, I think that's the trend that started probably five, six, seven years ago. And it has been growing. And I certainly see, you know, more and more interest in Iceland. Tourism in Iceland is growing exponentially. And the same for other Nordic countries. Denmark, you know, has the best restaurant in the world for The Taste several years. So there definitely has been a lot of interest in Danish or Nordic culture, in Nordic food and kind of what, you know, we're doing up there.
[00:30:05] Ray Latif: Do you ever think about going back into photography?
[00:30:10] Food Show: Not really. I'm having fun. This is awesome. People are great. I love to eat good food. It's challenging in a completely different way than photography. It's fascinating. I thought I would die with a camera in my hand. I was 14 when I decided I was going to come to the States and become a photographer. That was what I was going to do for the rest of my life. Here I am now. So I don't really know. Not that I could be maybe something else after this, but I'm having a lot of fun right now.
[00:30:36] Ray Latif: Well, I had a lot of fun speaking with you, Samari, and this has been great. Congratulations on all the success with your yogurt line. And I wish you the best of luck with the coffee line. It is quite delicious.
[00:30:46] Food Show: Thank you. I really appreciate it. Thanks so much.
[00:30:49] Ray Latif: I appreciate you being with me. Thank you. Awesome. That brings us to the end of episode 40 of Taste Radio Insider. Thank you so much for listening, and thanks for our guest, Smari S. Munson. Please subscribe The Taste Radio Insider on the Apple Podcasts app, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, or Google Play. As always, for questions, comments, ideas for future podcasts, please send us an email to ask The Taste Radio. On behalf of the entire Taste Radio team, thank you for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.
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