[00:00:10] Ray Latif: Hey friends, thanks for tuning in to Taste Radio, the number one podcast for the food and beverage industry. I'm Ray Latif, the editor and producer of Taste Radio, and I'm with my co-host for this episode, John Craven, Jacqui Brugliera, and Mike Schneider. Get access to limited swag and exclusive content by becoming a Taste Radio VIP. It's easy for you to join that group of very important people. Just head to Taste Radio.com slash VIP and take one minute to sign up. As a reminder, it's free to sign up. It's free to get exclusive access. If you are a VIP, it's free to get great swag.
[00:00:46] John Craven: I just ordered some cool new swag. I'm not going to say what it is though. Is it the dopest flyest swag? Are we going to have a drop? It is dope. Flash fly.
[00:00:56] Jacqui Brugliera: Wow, are drones going to drop it from the sky?
[00:00:59] Mike Schneider: Whoa.
[00:01:01] John Craven: We're making up raps now.
[00:01:04] Mike Schneider: Mike ordered the finest denim long sleeve shirts with the Taste Radio logo embroidered in white above the nice little pocket that Mike has included for you. I like that. It's actually a snacking pocket.
[00:01:19] Ray Latif: Yes. Yeah. It feels very Brooklyn hipster. That's what it feels like.
[00:01:24] Mike Schneider: It's 100% polyester. Totally kidding.
[00:01:27] John Craven: Sorry. That's your greatest snacking innovation since snacking butter. What? Snacking pocket. Oh, snacking pocket. Yeah.
[00:01:33] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, we should do a utility belt, you know? Lots of pockets.
[00:01:39] Ray Latif: You know what I actually really like that idea because especially for trade shows So that like you can hold certain snacks that you actually want that because all that stuff ends up in my backpack And then I'm like weighed down by 30 pounds of like beverages and snacks, but don't forget the USB drives you always USB drive at least a thousand before the end of a trade show I have to collect it's like business cards Collect business cards. I collect thumb drives.
[00:02:02] Mike Schneider: You definitely have the largest thumb drive collection of Anyone I've ever met I will safely say that
[00:02:09] Ray Latif: I mean, you know, these are collector's items. They're branded and sometimes, you know, they're very valuable. You know, those key chain openers, they have like, uh, why I think utility knives, there's all kinds of USB drives. Two thumb drives. That's enough for me. Two thumb drives. Nate Brescia, our director and minister of photographic arts once reached out. He's like, Hey, can I borrow one of those thumb drives? I'm like, which one, you know? So anyway, I might've rifled through there a couple of times. You take everything from my office John Craven, you've taken a coffee machine. That's right. Yeah, you've taken thumb drives. Just gonna take your chair. Remember you took one of my Barbies from my Barbie collection. Oh, you haven't found that yet. Okay, good. We're gonna edit that out. They're valuable. They're antiques. Anywho, Memorial Day weekend is here. Anyone have any fun plans for grilling outside? Any travel in the forecast?
[00:02:59] John Craven: Ray started in his kitchen yesterday. He was practicing.
[00:03:03] Mike Schneider: I was gonna do something fun, but then my wife blew all our funds on a Taylor Swift concert.
[00:03:08] John Craven: She got tickets.
[00:03:11] Mike Schneider: Yeah, she well yeah, we one of our kids Had a ticket that she got you know through the ticket master thing he was a ticket master. Yes, go But it was for MetLife in New Jersey So I think she sold that one for a thousand bucks, and then bought another ticket Gillette here in Massachusetts for like It was twelve hundred bucks, so I don't know we're just out more money, but But then our other daughter wanted to go and then of course my wife wants to go to you know I don't even wonder how much I was like I was like just don't tell me she was giving me pointers I was saying oh yeah, I I was telling her she said she might go to the show and
[00:03:52] John Craven: You know, we all, we all work together. So we're, Carol and I were talking about this and, and, uh, she knows, like, I'm kind of a Swifty in that my daughter didn't want to go. She's telling me she's working on getting tickets. She's trying to get me some of her pro tips. And she's got like three different ticket agencies open and she's got incognito windows open to see who has better prices. There was, there was a whole system behind it. She was trying to save money, but I don't know if it worked out in the end.
[00:04:16] Mike Schneider: Yeah, I don't think they ever they were never what one would call cheap.
[00:04:20] John Craven: Let's put it that way But she got to see Taylor Swift Dip the rain, which is a thing like the Taylor Swift rain concert.
[00:04:26] Mike Schneider: It was legendary No, no, they went Sunday night. No rain Yeah, okay. I knew people who went to that.
[00:04:35] Ray Latif: That's crazy. Oh I'm just blown away by this the insanity that surrounds these concerts that I saw a Picture or a video of one of her concerts. I don't know what city was it was in I think it was in, Texas and There were 10,000 fans who couldn't get tickets outside of the arena like singing like singer songs like what? I mean they love Taylor Swift You know, there is a parallel to this, and it is related to BevNET Live. If you don't have your ticket to BevNET Live, you will be standing outside the Metropolitan Pavilion. I've seen people do this. And then people, I swear to God, I've seen people do this where they're like, you know, hey, I couldn't get here in time. I know the show is sold out. Anyway, I can get a ticket. And I'm like, unfortunately, my friend, there's no way. And tickets are non-transferable, too. So it's not like you can, like, get your ticket from someone else. We check IDs at the door, don't we? And then Ray finishes. $1,000 cash in my pocket right now my snacking pot not in my pocket, but if you put it Oh In Your blazer in my blazer You know somehow slip it in there. I thought you were gonna segue to a AFS oh well, I'm getting there. Oh, yeah, sorry oh All I'm trying to say is that everyone in the beverage industry, and likely some folks in the food industry, are going to be at BevNET Live on June 14th and 15th in New York City at the Metropolitan Pavilion. The agenda keeps expanding, keeps getting bigger. I'm really excited about this meet the retailer component to what we're doing. Jackie, can you explain a bit more about what this is?
[00:06:04] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, so if you are a brand and a registered attendee of BevNET Live, you will have the opportunity to sign up for a one-to-one meeting with Sprouts. So all you have to do is register, you'll get the link In Your inbox, and then you just click one button and you sign up. But it is up to the discretion of Sprouts for that meeting, but you have the opportunity and they will be in the room and also on stage.
[00:06:25] John Craven: There's a rumor there might be another retailer too.
[00:06:28] Ray Latif: I heard there's going to be a pretty, pretty, pretty big one. Yeah, that's going to be.
[00:06:34] Jacqui Brugliera: Let's wait a little bit. Okay. Okay a little bit. We'll hold that secret.
[00:06:37] Ray Latif: You know we should do What's that? We should just give the first initial of that retailer? It's probably W I'm thinking of at least three is it x-ray. No. It's good. There's at least three big ones out there all ones you'd want to meet Exactly exactly anyway is it Walla Walla Walla?
[00:07:02] John Craven: Yeah, again, we're really excited to do these one-to-one meetings powered by SIP and high touch distribution.
[00:07:08] Ray Latif: There you go. You know, just another reason that Bevernet Live is the unparalleled event in the beverage industry. And yet again, if you're a food brand that's in the New York City area, in the Northeast, you might want to attend the event as well to get that meeting with Sprouts. These are meetings you cannot get elsewhere. I mean, it's just, everyone knows how tough it is to be able to sit down with a buyer and, you know, share your story, make that first pitch. This is the place to do it. This In Your chance to do it. I'm also really excited because I'm going to get to see Jackson and Brian Zapp from AFS Applied Food Sciences. Some of the nicest guys, some of the most fun dudes in the world. AFS Applied Food Sciences is the leader in innovation for functional organic ingredients in the natural products industry. And it's built on the belief that quality is transparent from seed to label through organic farming, ethical sourcing, and sustainability. Learn more at AppliedFoods.com. Is there any consumer out there that isn't looking for organic farming, ethical sourcing, and sustainability? I mean, is there anyone in the United States at this point who isn't looking for all three of those things in their products? There's probably a gamer or two or just chugging Mountain Dews, but is there someone like I want more GMOs I want you know like poor labor practices. I want things that are gonna ruin the earth I Try to spend a little bit of time on Twitter part of the dark web now it feels like it I Don't know you're on it more than anyone so backbone of the dark web yeah, I But I mean, again, you know, applied food sciences, they know, I'm going to say it again, organic farming, ethical sourcing, sustainability, and how to source ingredients that meet all three concepts, requirements, whatever you want to call it. They are as good as it gets. And if you have an opportunity to meet Jackson and Brian in person, you should definitely do so. AFS, see those guys at BevNET live. Do you guys see the, uh, the new partnership between Ryan Seacrest and HealthAid?
[00:09:05] Jacqui Brugliera: I did. I did. Yeah. It's interesting.
[00:09:08] Ray Latif: Exciting stuff. I mean, okay. Quick tangent here. This is kind of tied to bed night live. I'm a little embarrassed to say this. Someone actually once reached out and said, Hey Ray, you're like the Ryan Seacrest slash Jimmy Fallon of pitch slams.
[00:09:25] Jacqui Brugliera: Love that. That's nice. I would say it's accurate.
[00:09:27] Ray Latif: Took that as a compliment. I liked it and true story I actually watched so much American Idol back in the day in the odds that I think I pretty much modeled my style After Ryan Seacrest, it's very much that You know let's give targeted questions to the judges. Let's try to make the guest feel or the the competitor feel comfortable on stage let's try to keep things moving in a sort of fun and lively way and and
[00:09:53] Jacqui Brugliera: Always dress well, yeah, yeah mastered that and um you used to watch American Idol. I still watch guilty pleasure Recorded format Jackie come on. I know I had to I admit it. I'm a Swifty so I think she can do you watch it live Jackie I Watch it on Hulu, and I watched it last night the finale so it comes out a day after it's live gotcha good
[00:10:20] Ray Latif: I was very much of the Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson. Oh, yeah. And you're going to Hollywood. Those are the days, dog. Yeah. You're going to Hollywood kind of thing.
[00:10:29] Mike Schneider: So what's the HealthAid Ryan Seacrest partnership for our listeners? Jackie?
[00:10:36] Jacqui Brugliera: What's the partnership? I mean, I think it's interesting and I think If you think about Ryan Seacrest, he's multi-channel. He is on the radio in the morning. He's on American Idol at night. He used to be on a morning talk show. Not anymore, but he probably will be again. And I think you're just... No doubt. Yeah, I mean, he's like New Year's Eve. He's on TV. HealthAid's probably thinking about how can we just saturate the market? How can we get into every fridge? How can we educate consumers about kombucha that might not even know about kombucha? That's not going to Whole Foods. And Ryan Seacrest, I think, makes sense as a partner to try and hit all channels, all media across the US.
[00:11:19] Mike Schneider: So is he a spokesperson or are they like putting his face in the bottle or what's going on?
[00:11:23] Jacqui Brugliera: He's a brand partner, so I think he's promoting health aid.
[00:11:27] Ray Latif: They called it just a multi-year partnership with host, producer, and media personality Ryan Seacrest. And they also called him a media mogul in the next sentence. Yeah. Are they calling it Healthcrest or anything? Jackie, you're 100% right. It's better than C-8. Here's someone who's very, very busy, does a lot, and always is looking after his own health to be able to do all the things that he does. So I think, you know, the partnership does make sense. I never really thought of Ryan Seacrest as sort of a beacon of health, but you know, when you think about it, he probably does have to maintain a really healthy lifestyle just to keep up with everything he's doing.
[00:12:01] John Craven: Just to keep his voice in shape. You know what that's like, right? You do a lot more talking than the rest of us do, so.
[00:12:06] Ray Latif: Yeah. I usually start my days with A-E-I-O-U, A-E-I-O-U, and sometimes Y. You do your scales.
[00:12:11] John Craven: Well, may me, mamu.
[00:12:13] Ray Latif: Yeah, I do. Yes, I do my scales. I was thinking about this partnership and I was thinking about, you know, how healthy kind of came out of the gate as this soda alternative, this better for you beverage that could replace the not so great drinks In Your lives. And with rice. It still gives you the bubbles and the sweet. Yeah, and when I think about Ryan Seacrest, I mean, I like the partnership, but it almost feels a little benign in that he's not a very controversial figure. He's not necessarily someone you'd be like, oh, wow, I'm going to start drinking healthy because Ryan Seacrest is, or I'm going to consider drinking healthy because Ryan Seacrest is.
[00:12:47] Mike Schneider: Yeah, but I think that seems like the point that now you're positioning it with like a mainstream person. Much the same way, I don't know, weren't there always like little, was it Coke cups on the judges table at American Idol? I mean, it's like trying to put health aid in that sort of league.
[00:13:04] Ray Latif: So you're comparing Coke to health aid?
[00:13:06] Mike Schneider: I'm saying that the aspiration of it is to be a ubiquitous product that isn't like, Ooh, wow, here's a hack that Ryan Seacrest has, you know, he drinks kombucha. It's like, this is just a normal drink that, you know, someone who's a pretty high profile person consumes on a regular basis.
[00:13:25] Jacqui Brugliera: And I think you have to look at your celebrity partnerships. differently? Like are you looking at them as a brand of their own and you want to tie into their brand? Are you looking at them as what do they have access to? What channels do they have access to and are using them as like a vehicle to spread your message?
[00:13:43] John Craven: It seems to be the kind of person who's ubiquitously loved and isn't going to be somebody that you find, I don't know, find out has a secret heroin addiction or something like that. Jesus. You never know. Mike's just really going deep there. I mean, those are the kinds of things you think about when you have a partnership with somebody who's that, who's that big.
[00:14:01] Mike Schneider: Is that what you think? You sit around thinking, man, I just, God, I really hope this guy does not have a heroin problem.
[00:14:07] Ray Latif: But that's why I called it a benign kind of partnership. It's nothing that's going to... It's nothing that's gonna cause a stir cause any problems for health aid at the end of the day You know I think Ryan Seacrest is a little bit older He's 48 years old no offense anyone who's 48 years old, but like he's I think he also the days, but yeah He's speaking to that. I don't know that Slightly older Gen Z slash millennial consumer who hasn't necessarily tried or heard of health aid But maybe this gives them more of a reason to do so maybe this gives them gives it some brand exposure some brand exposure got eight seconds and
[00:14:43] John Craven: to get their attention.
[00:14:44] Ray Latif: So yeah, he might be able to do it. Yeah. I mean, this is also one of just, you know, dozens of new celebrity slash athlete partnerships that are announced every year. I mean, just yesterday, Propel announced that Michael B. Jordan would be starring in a new TV spot for the brand. And then I, you know, I think about these big, big names, and yet a lot of the folks that we speak with and meet with at trade shows and at BevNET Live, are relatively early stage or emerging brands. And while they'd love to have that kind of partnership, there's no way they could fund it. So when you are thinking about aligning with maybe a lesser known celebrity or, you know, an athlete who isn't a household name at this point.
[00:15:28] John Craven: I'm still waiting for Yesly to give me a call. Don't you think they'd want the striker for Lexington Football Club?
[00:15:33] Ray Latif: No, I don't. No? No. It's almost like you're scouting these folks for their potential more than you are for, you know, what they're offering right now. And Jack, you mentioned that movie Air, which was kind of interesting.
[00:15:45] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, so if you haven't seen it, I recommend going and seeing air. It's about the whole story you saw. It's really good. It's about the partnership between Nike and Michael Jordan. And it's honestly like a love letter to branding in the 80s and how we attached ourselves to advertising and personas. And it was cool to see the process of, you know, evaluating players as they're coming up. He was a rookie and you have to look at What is their potential? And you're kind of taking a risk, but you're also getting in early. So you have to evaluate a person and maybe like not a super high profile celebrity based on their potential and if they align with your brand and what they could do for you in the future. And for example, Michael Jordan could have gone and like blown out his knee. And that was a risk they were willing to take, but they were betting on his potential.
[00:16:38] Mike Schneider: And by the way, it's streaming for free on Amazon Prime now, so you have no reason not to see it. Do you have stock in Amazon? Is this what's going on?
[00:16:45] John Craven: No, we're just trying to help our community.
[00:16:47] Mike Schneider: I think I do, actually. So please, yeah, just only shop at Amazon. Just give them all your money. Anyway, what I was going to say, though, is the other thing that was really interesting in that movie was that they were building the shoe and the brand for Michael Jordan, not just trying to gem Nike down his throat, like, you know, endorse Nike. Um, and I think that's something I'm not sure I've seen too much of in the, uh, CPG space.
[00:17:15] John Craven: The product development was absolutely fascinating in that movie. And the way that they, you know, we're, we're doing the product development was basically between, it looked like it was between three people, although I'm sure more people were involved. I liked the risk they took. I'm sure you did too, Jackie, where they drew just like, eh, we'll just make the, we'll just make them red and pay the fines and the CEO. Heart just like you could just see it fall right at the bottom. It was it was amazing He's like wait wait what I didn't hear that part.
[00:17:43] Ray Latif: Yeah, it's interesting. We're talking about this because There is a brand called barcode. I think we've talked about barcode on the podcast It's an all-natural premium hydration beverage. I think it's primarily targeted to athletes Mubarak Malik a former NBA executive is behind it and And they nailed one of the biggest partnerships in recent memory, or at least could be, with Victor Wembenyama, who was described as the best NBA prospect in a generation. I asked Adam Loris, who is an investor in the brand and the founder of Mercenary, which is a CPG consulting firm. how they landed Victor. He said it was just months and months of work between Victor's camp or Wemby's camp and the team at Barcode and just a lot of sleepless nights, but they got it done. So pretty amazing stuff. It'll be interesting to see if they document that process and perhaps there'll be sort of a, an air movie for Wemby and his partnership with Barcode at some point down the line. We need a good beverage story movie.
[00:18:47] John Craven: Yeah.
[00:18:48] Ray Latif: Oh yeah, that's good. What is the best beverage movie of all time?
[00:18:52] Mike Schneider: What's that one that's about those dudes in, is it Strange Brew? The Canadians who drink all that beer and they get stuck in like a tank or something?
[00:19:01] John Craven: Is that how it goes? Yeah, that movie's Hamlet, by the way.
[00:19:04] Mike Schneider: That's the beverage industry's Hamlet. I like that. Strange Brew, yeah. Strange Brew is it. I like Beer Fest. Remember Beer Fest?
[00:19:10] Jacqui Brugliera: Beer Fest is good.
[00:19:11] Ray Latif: The guys from Broken Lizard.
[00:19:12] Mike Schneider: Yeah, that kind of felt like a modern day version of Strange Brew.
[00:19:15] Ray Latif: Okay. I would love a movie about Utz, U-T-Z, the snack brand best known for its potato chips. I mean, this is a legacy brand that everyone loves Utz, don't they? Okay, hold on.
[00:19:28] Mike Schneider: I would not say I love Utz, but I was very intrigued by this Utz, Mike's Hot Honey,
[00:19:37] Ray Latif: I guess we'll call it a collab because that's like the word you put on it right sure yeah These chips, which you should try these the Mike's Hot Honey bottle is pictured on the front of the bag to yeah Chips and Mike's Hot Honey.
[00:19:53] Mike Schneider: These are really really spicy. This is Mike with Mike's here Jackie grab grab some oh Do you get the sweetness from the honey like yeah a little bit play-by-play It's naturally and artificially flavored with other natural flavors. It's one of those I got the lawyers involved Okay, not a big fan of that statement, but whatever. I don't want the artificial flavors This is truly like the worst Legal copy that's on so many CPG products Yeah, like people joke about this all the time on Twitter like what the hell does this mean right?
[00:20:29] John Craven: Just lawyers naturally and artificially flavored with other natural flavors.
[00:20:34] Mike Schneider: I have like these are 2.6 to 5 ounce bags And I don't know anytime. I see like here's a limited random collab product. I try to buy it and I didn't really read closely. I have like a shitload of these bags No we bought them Yeah, I also failed at getting the Nike Ritos Bummer yeah, I wasn't picked They have one of these You know you go In Your place your order and then to like Stop the scammer bot sort of stuff mm-hmm They basically take all the orders After you know whatever is a half-hour, and then they pick who actually gets the order ah it's kind of like a sneaker release Yeah, it was sneaker release. They go for like $600 now Aren't you like a significant influencer like don't you have that kind of like? I mean they all the they sent a bunch of the Ritos Nike like the beverage okay, so I can get all that sure but I'm like here's my size for the sneaker, and they just sent back some laughing emojis that you know probably who probably got the sneakers Danny stepper stepper probably got the sneakers Why would he wear he wouldn't wear heritos on a sneaker? I don't know, I think he might.
[00:21:55] Ray Latif: Someone take these away from me. By the way, I gotta mention Danny. Those are so crushable. We mentioned a couple episodes back, we talked about Michelle Obama's partnership as a co-founder and advisor for Plezi, which is the kids brand that is really focused on delivering better ingredients and healthier formulations for children's beverages and beyond. And forgot to mention that L.A. Libations had a strong hand in that deal and has worked really hard to make that happen. Danny. Are you going to say Danny? Did he DM you? Well, he. We talked is all I can say. Did you get a call from Danny? No, but I mean, he's right. He's right. I mean, because the LA Libations, they, that's a pretty amazing partnership and great to see that happen. Great, great work by the team for sure. And amazing that they kept that under wraps for a while. Incredible. I know. Yeah. All right. We got these Muddy Bites. Didn't you guys say you really wanted to get some Muddy Bites here in the office?
[00:22:54] John Craven: Yes, we did. That was a, that was definitely one of our goals for the year.
[00:23:00] Ray Latif: Muddy Bites are snackable mini cones. They're described as waffle cone snacks. There's three varieties, at least on this table. There's milk chocolate, there's chocolate cone, white chocolate, and dark chocolate. And they just look like little mini ice cream cones, except they don't have the scoop on top.
[00:23:19] John Craven: Yeah, they basically took the best part of the ice cream, which is that little chocolatey bite at the end, and made it into, they scaled it.
[00:23:26] Ray Latif: Yeah.
[00:23:27] John Craven: They scaled it, look at them.
[00:23:28] Ray Latif: I love the ingredient panel back here because the ingredients say ingredients colon cone. And then it's just in the cone.
[00:23:38] Jacqui Brugliera: Nicely done.
[00:23:39] Ray Latif: So simple. Yeah. And then the next ingredient is milk chocolate and scraps of milk chocolates are the ingredients in milk chocolate and that's it. Cone and milk chocolate.
[00:23:48] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah. I just want to hear the story behind it. Like someone was eating an ice cream cone one day.
[00:23:54] Mike Schneider: That is the story. That's amazing.
[00:23:56] Jacqui Brugliera: That is the story. It was like, this is a genius idea.
[00:23:58] Mike Schneider: And still to this day, they have, you know, workers who just eat the ice cream cone and put each one in a little bag for you.
[00:24:06] Jacqui Brugliera: That's how they make it. It's a real job.
[00:24:08] Ray Latif: That's how they make it Jackie The story is literally on the back of the bag here by founder is Jared and Tyler and it was exactly that you know What's better than eating a Sunday cone enjoying the last bite over and over again? Shortage Crazy that reminds me of the Seinfeld episode with the muffin tops remember Yeah, that's the best part of the muffin, and they couldn't get rid of the muffin bottom So they Newman like come in as like the yeah the secret agent or whatever he was and he ate all the muffin bottoms There must be a way to make just a muffin top without a muffin bottom.
[00:24:42] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, they make those they sell pans for that now, okay?
[00:24:45] John Craven: Yeah, really?
[00:24:47] Mike Schneider: It's kind of like to have those pans you can buy for making brownies that only makes the crust. The crust. It's like a big like a pan that just sort of has a line in it, so there's no centerpieces. That's awesome.
[00:24:57] Jacqui Brugliera: Oh, that's the best.
[00:24:58] Mike Schneider: It's amazing what sort of innovation people come up with to sell on QVC.
[00:25:03] Ray Latif: I can't tell if that's progress or just people are just too... Placating the stupidity of society?
[00:25:10] Mike Schneider: Okay, you said it better than I could have. Some call it that don't don't quote me for that. Um you just said it, so we're talking about interesting ingredients. Yeah, and I got this vena Dr.. Spice which first of all I don't know why why is it not dr. Vena shouldn't be dr. Anyway, but dr. Vena is I'm sorry yeah, Vena is this soda with smarts I guess they call it now
[00:25:34] John Craven: Does this still have apple cider vinegar in it? Same company that makes Vina makes De La calle.
[00:25:40] Ray Latif: Yeah as an ACV based beverage.
[00:25:42] Mike Schneider: Yes, you know the old dr. Pepper flavor What I wanted to point out that I think is pretty interesting is up on the top here it says organic and stevia free mmm, so I
[00:25:57] John Craven: I don't know if I've seen someone calling out the fact that they don't have stevia I guess that tells you where we're at right old-fashioned pull tab or a zipper on the front I can't Weird design Yeah, I don't know what that is exactly. I mean it definitely does the job because it looks like dr. Pepper Which is what they're going for well two things
[00:26:21] Ray Latif: I didn't make the immediate connection between Dr. Pepper and Dr. Spice, this variety.
[00:26:25] Mike Schneider: They'll quote you for that with their legal department. Sorry about that. Not confused at all for the record.
[00:26:32] Ray Latif: Nobody's confused. And number two, the Stevia-free thing sounds like just market research that the brand did in that people who wanted to drink better-for-you sodas, I'm assuming this, I'm assuming all this, people who want to drink better-for-you sodas were turned off by Stevia as a potential ingredient also had to be right.
[00:26:51] Mike Schneider: I mean, it's it's point of differentiation This is like a 50 calorie like definitely has stevia free twice. There's a little button on the front, too I mean just in case you missed it up there.
[00:27:00] John Craven: Yeah, yeah, it's a long way to go for a bologna sandwich, but Vena stevia You know you see that you might go. It's a stevia. There's no mortadella on that either It's got lightning in it
[00:27:14] Mike Schneider: I can't read that types a little small, but yeah, it's got a little lightning icon so I Think one of their more enjoyable flavors for me. I like the nostalgia of the Dr.. Pepper style flavor and the other one they sent Pete.
[00:27:32] John Craven: I think it's called peach pop don't know only it's good, too Yeah
[00:27:36] Ray Latif: All right, so John's sipping on some Vina. Jackie, what are you sipping on?
[00:27:40] Jacqui Brugliera: I'm not necessarily sipping on this.
[00:27:41] Ray Latif: Oh boy, what's this going to be?
[00:27:44] Jacqui Brugliera: Not yet. I don't know. This is a enhanced intimacy beverage. It's called Love Life, which I think is a clever name.
[00:27:54] Ray Latif: What was that reaction, Mike? You said like an 80s audience member.
[00:27:57] Jacqui Brugliera: I don't know what I just went for.
[00:27:59] Ray Latif: What's in this stuff?
[00:28:02] Jacqui Brugliera: That's a good question. So when you look at the back, it actually is kind of hard to figure out what's in this and what does the trick.
[00:28:09] SPEAKER_??: What does the trick?
[00:28:10] Jacqui Brugliera: But it has amino acids and doing more research into it and going on their website, I guess amino acids help support your creation of nitric oxide, which expands your blood vessels and relaxes your blood vessels.
[00:28:26] John Craven: Okay, I see where they're heading with that. I thought it might have oyster juice or something.
[00:28:32] Jacqui Brugliera: But I have to read like the back because it's just it's funny. It says like you pretty much you drink this 30 minutes before go time to get the sparks flying in all the right places. So this is the Cosmo flavor. They definitely have like cocktail inspired flavors. How many flavors are there? There's two. So you would drink this maybe at night.
[00:28:55] Mike Schneider: What's the other flavor?
[00:28:56] Jacqui Brugliera: I believe it's Peach Bellini.
[00:28:59] Ray Latif: Interesting didn't we talk about a product like this a couple episodes back when it was a neuro It was a neuro variety called neurogasm.
[00:29:08] John Craven: Oh, we did we did yeah, yeah, I mean Cosmorgasm would be a better.
[00:29:13] Ray Latif: Oh my goodness.
[00:29:14] John Craven: What's the other one peach Bellini? What about peach passion? Oh?
[00:29:19] Ray Latif: Mike, you should be a marketing executive.
[00:29:22] Mike Schneider: Well, I mean, in all seriousness, though, that seems like I would suggest maybe expanding the area of focus for that brand.
[00:29:31] Jacqui Brugliera: Use case.
[00:29:33] Mike Schneider: Yeah. That's like a little limited.
[00:29:36] Jacqui Brugliera: I think this is something someone would probably buy once just because they thought it was interesting and they'd give it a go and then maybe not buy it again.
[00:29:44] Mike Schneider: Anyway, to make it a little more practical advice, I think it's challenging to have a product that, you know, if you're going to go into retail, like has a somewhat limited use occasion, right? You're not going to buy that every day. I mean, probably not.
[00:29:59] John Craven: It's a really fun product though. Most people are not.
[00:30:02] Ray Latif: You're not going to buy it every day, but is it like 20 bucks a can? So, I mean, like maybe it's for those Friday nights, you know. You know the thing is this is all speculation somebody needs to try I Yeah Moving on something dramatically less controversial.
[00:30:19] John Craven: I mean if you want to just if you want someone to try it send a 65 Jeff Someone will pick it up.
[00:30:25] Ray Latif: Looks like you have an old bottle of, what was the name of that brand that was in that bottle? Dirty Lemon. Dirty Lemon. Looks like an old bottle of Dirty Lemon.
[00:30:34] Jacqui Brugliera: It is a very similar bottle. So this is a line of beverages. It's called Dune and it's all focused on glowing from like the inside out. So it's about beauty. This one has collagen in it and the others have other functional ingredients that are focused on beauty, skin health, hair health.
[00:30:53] John Craven: I know that we've seen because it sounds like it's just picking up where dirty lemon left off.
[00:30:59] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah. This one is aloe and collagen. I don't know. It doesn't have any lemon in it, but similar bottle.
[00:31:07] John Craven: And does it like $15 a bottle or I think I bought it for around six.
[00:31:12] Jacqui Brugliera: Okay. So not 15. And I will actually try it right now. I'll be glowing in a couple of minutes.
[00:31:19] Ray Latif: Well, I always found these types of ingestible beauty products kind of interesting because there was not a lot of hype, but there was some significant hype around this idea of more food and beverages in stores like Sephora. Clearly that hasn't taken off. Well, it could have. I'm not a regular shopper of Sephora, but... They have a huge beverage section, Ray. I am going to call...
[00:31:45] Mike Schneider: Also great charcuterie But do you remember that it seemed like there was this whole new like set of beverages that There were definitely some like you know beauty beverages that were out there, and and yeah I mean that is the challenge with something like that is like where do you sell it right right? And sure you know you can sell it in Sephora where someone would go to get you know beauty products, right? but they're not looking for beverages there. So that's kind of like the challenge, the risk, maybe the opportunity.
[00:32:17] Ray Latif: And if they were looking for beverages, you'd probably just be looking for a bottle of water.
[00:32:21] Mike Schneider: I mean, who knows? But again, I guess I get it from the perspective of, like, In Your alternative is, like, just be the, I don't know, whatever, 500th beverage hopping into, like, the air wand cooler. Yeah, I mean, you're kind of, your choices are challenged on both sides, I think, so.
[00:32:37] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, it was interesting where this was placed, too, because there was a refrigerated cooler in Lazy Acres that was more of, like, functional, alternative alcohols, but also was near the cosmetics. So it's like you might be shopping for cosmetics and then stumble upon this cooler and then find this beverage. So I guess it's like, where are you placed in retail? They also have D to C for this product. And I think they also do sell cosmetics. So it's like, isn't it an extension of what you're already doing? And how are you like building off of that?
[00:33:10] John Craven: This might just be the Love Life talking, but I think this brand should talk to somebody that we previously talked about on the show, Mr. Adam Loris, who has a little bit of experience in this category, having built Dirty Lemon.
[00:33:25] Ray Latif: Yeah, and the last thing I'll say about it is it feels like that benefit, that functional benefit should be one of several versus the focus of their product and brand, like a la Vital Proteins, right? I mean, Vital Proteins definitely, I guess talks about the benefit of using their products, and I guess part of that benefit is sort of looking like Jennifer Aniston, so maybe it's not said, but it's implied, and I think that's just going to give you a bigger opportunity, a bigger audience than, you know, just saying we're about this one thing.
[00:33:59] John Craven: I've had more than my fair share of Vital Proteins. I'm still waiting for the Aniston part.
[00:34:03] Ray Latif: You look a little bit like Jennifer Aniston. Oh, thanks. I'll take that. Yeah, from the legs down.
[00:34:08] John Craven: Collagen can only take you so far. Your knee looks just like Jennifer Aniston's knee.
[00:34:12] Ray Latif: Yeah. Very uncontroversial beverage, but one that's gotten a lot of interest is that last one you got In Your table there, John Craven. This? Yeah.
[00:34:24] Mike Schneider: Do you know what it is? I do. Yes. Great collaboration. So this is a collaboration between the Netflix show The Watcher and Athletic Brewing. It's a Hoppy Hells called Geralt's Gold. I haven't tried it yet. I guess I could try it. It's warm, but hey, you know, it's non-alcoholic beer. You can drink it warm.
[00:34:46] John Craven: Yeah.
[00:34:47] Ray Latif: And cold's the enemy of flavor. So warm beer is good. I mean, I love that they have the Netflix logo right on the can. I mean, that's pretty, that's pretty bold. Pretty cool.
[00:34:56] Mike Schneider: I love that it's a Hells. Hells Logger. Yes. Hells Logger. I have a couple more of these.
[00:35:01] John Craven: How does it compare to Camden Town?
[00:35:05] Mike Schneider: My top health no one drinks that anymore It was just like an AB in Bev joke I was gonna throw on there You know for the old days of like when the craft beer gets acquired and you're like man that stuff right no we drink same liquid yesterday as Today, but now it's owned by No, but in all seriousness. This is a hop here. It's a hoppy vlogger. Oh
[00:35:31] Ray Latif: Oh, cool. Nice. And to be clear, we're not saying that ABI makes crap beverages.
[00:35:35] Mike Schneider: Yeah, we're going to have lots of disclaimers at the end. Yes. Yes.
[00:35:39] Ray Latif: Yes. People say that whenever a brand is acquired or whenever a beer brand had been acquired by ABI or some other larger beer conglomerate, large beer conglomerate, that is. It's not trendy anymore. It's not craft anymore.
[00:35:51] Mike Schneider: I mean, I know you're a huge Bud Light fan and single-handedly trying to make up for their lost volume.
[00:35:58] Ray Latif: I don't mind the bud light. I'm maybe that's controversial to say nowadays.
[00:36:01] Mike Schneider: I don't know No, I'm never talking to you again Well on that note Only only because I don't personally drink Bud Light or if I ever I'm just jealous that you can enjoy a Bud Light ever because it's everywhere Yeah, you never did in college never a Bud Light
[00:36:18] John Craven: No, what was the beer for me was natural I think when I was oh my god. I know yeah, we had like Keystone I Decided early on I'd rather just drink water than crappy beer Joe Bell was one Oh Milwaukee's Beast oh The Beast it's Milwaukee's best, but we called it Milwaukee's always nickel of ultra oh
[00:36:41] Jacqui Brugliera: Day one, 90 calories. It was like the first 90 calorie beer, you know, low carbs.
[00:36:46] John Craven: That's not bad. You were a Zima guy, definitely. Oh, definitely had a Zima or three. I can see you actually saying that. Who's up for a Zima? Who's up for a Zima?
[00:36:55] Mike Schneider: No, it was more like, hey guys, I brought the Zima.
[00:36:57] John Craven: It was like, hey, who wants this Zima?
[00:37:00] Mike Schneider: And then they're like, who invited Mike? Get him out of here.
[00:37:03] Ray Latif: Somebody's got to drink the Zima? That was Mike's Love Life beverage of choice in college, actually.
[00:37:09] Mike Schneider: He did go to the only college that needs to clarify what state it's in.
[00:37:14] John Craven: That's true.
[00:37:15] Mike Schneider: Oh, I did.
[00:37:16] John Craven: Miami's in Ohio.
[00:37:17] Swift Dip: Damn it. It's in Ohio. Miami was a university before Florida was a state.
[00:37:26] Ray Latif: Anyway, whether you're drinking Zima, Bud Light, Athletic Brewing, hope everyone has a safe and peaceful Memorial Day weekend. I'm having Bartles and James, baby. There you go. Of course you are. 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.
[00:38:27] John Craven: you
