[00:00:10] Ray Latif: Hello and thanks for tuning in to Taste Radio, the number one podcast for anyone building a business in food or beverage. I'm Ray Latif, the editor and producer of Taste Radio, and I'm with my co-hosts for this episode, Melissa Traverse and Mike Schneider. In this episode, we discuss the latest dispute between Ben & Jerry's and parent company, the Magnum Ice Cream Company, and what the battle over the brand's philanthropic foundation says about the role of social impact in modern consumer brands. We also explore how entrepreneurs should approach purpose-driven strategies and sample the latest wave of better-for-you snacks, from refrigerated bars to protein muffins, and healthier takes on classic treats. Welcome back, Mike. Welcome back, Melissa. You guys took a week off from the show. More Zoe. More Zoe. More Zoe Licata.
[00:01:04] Melissa Traverse: Always a good thing.
[00:01:06] Ray Latif: Zoe Licata, one of our reporters for Brew Brown, one of the most amazing beer and adjacent beverages journalists in the country and beyond, joined us last week for a fantastic episode. Now, John is not here. John's here in spirit, but not here in the studio. That's creepy. Yeah, he's watching us.
[00:01:29] Melissa Traverse: I feel like we need someone to sit in there and shake his head at things Someone don't like put a hand on his head and yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:01:36] Ray Latif: Okay move his head back and forth Okay, now that would be creepy creepy Well, I'm really excited, as I always am, for our Taste Radio meetups. And our next one is coming up in about two weeks. Make it three weeks. We'll call it three weeks, actually. Our Taste Radio meetup in Chicago is happening on August 13th from 5 to 7.30 p.m. It's at Pilot Project Brewing in Logan Square. If you are based in Chicago, visiting the area or anywhere near the Chicagoland area, you want to be there, head to Taste Radio.com slash meetups to register for the event. And we want to know that you're coming so we can figure out exactly how many meat sandwiches and cannolis to bring.
[00:02:18] Mike Schneider: What a great place for an event too. Pilot Project is a really cool place. Some great brands have gotten their start there. Like our dear friends at Funky Town started at the Pilot Project. What a great spot for an event.
[00:02:32] Ray Latif: I'm psyched. It really is. And Chicago, what a great place for a late summer event. Ah, Chicago in August is fantastic. Yeah, yeah. I mean, when we were there last year, it wasn't too hot. I think people typically associate big cities like Chicago with sweltering summers and freezing cold winters. But I felt like it was a nice temperate climate when we were there.
[00:02:56] Melissa Traverse: You can always just go jump in the lake.
[00:02:58] Ray Latif: You could jump in the lake. Yes. Yes. People have told me that before. I'm also very excited for Melissa's upcoming webinar, which features two of the most high profile and fastest growing brands in our space. Melissa, what is this webinar all about?
[00:03:15] Melissa Traverse: Yes, we have an incredibly exciting non-base webinar coming up on July 28th. It is about how winning brands turn businesses based around better for you ingredients into successful businesses. We have Goodles and Culture Pop. I mean, you know, you couldn't ask for two brands who are so focused on the mission of using better for you ingredients and have done so well. Cause it's, it's really hard better for you. Ingredients are expensive. They can be hard to source. They can be hard to work with. You're not using a bunch of preservatives or, you know, artificial ingredients. So it's really a challenging premise, but obviously so many of the brands in our audience are doing just that. So July 28th, 4 p.m. Eastern, go to nonbase.com. And when you go to the podcast tab, it'll be right at the top and you can register there. So don't miss it. And also bring your questions. So if you have any questions for Goodles or Tom from Culture Pop, bring those. We would love to have you speak up and, you know, talk about what you're trying to figure out.
[00:04:22] Mike Schneider: Bring your team.
[00:04:23] Melissa Traverse: Yeah. Bring your team.
[00:04:25] Mike Schneider: Register for this thing. You know, this is going to be fantastic. What a great lineup you got.
[00:04:29] Melissa Traverse: Yeah. Bring your mom.
[00:04:31] Ray Latif: Mom can learn something too.
[00:04:32] Melissa Traverse: Bring your mom. She's got a side hustle. Yeah.
[00:04:35] Ray Latif: Definitely tune in. You know, Tom Furst, we've mentioned on this podcast a number of times, is also one of the co-founders of Nantucket Nectars. He knows what it takes to scale a business and scaling a beverage brand, as we all know, is not the easiest thing to do, especially when volume is the name of the game and you're selling Juice, and you're selling soda now, two of the most competitive categories you could possibly be in, so you must be doing something right. And Goodles, you know, I gotta tell you, even with all the celebrity attachments to Goodles and all the money that they raised, I didn't really think that they would make it to where they are today. Really? How come? Because I don't know if the idea of a better for you mac and cheese, especially when you already had a better for you mac and cheese brand in Annie's, was really something that the market needed. And Goodall's has definitely proved me wrong in that not only did the market need it, they wanted it in spades. And that brand is growing very fast. I wouldn't be surprised if that is a very big acquisition announcement happening in the next, you know, 18 months.
[00:05:45] Mike Schneider: I mean, part of that thesis had to be that we got sold Annie's as the original Annie's and everybody got into Annie's. And then when Annie's was bought, They made material changes to the ingredients in that brand. And it's not the Annie's that we knew. So Goodles comes along and is like, ah, they build this beautiful brand. They hit on that nostalgia trend. What's old is new kind of thing, or the nostalgic flavors that you had when you were a kid, the Kraft Mac and cheese. And then they bring new flavors into the mix. The brand is beautiful. I mean, I see why you might say that, but also now in hindsight, it looks like genius.
[00:06:24] Melissa Traverse: For me, Goodall's really stands apart, obviously, in their branding. I mean, you see it not just in their packaging, but when they show up to Expo West at trade shows, they really do have such a strong creative voice. And then also their offerings for people with special diets, gluten-free, you know, a variety of special diets. They do really cater to those people with an excellent tasting product.
[00:06:48] Mike Schneider: And they also keep pushing the bounds of the size of Squishmallows. They have that extra booth that was full of them.
[00:06:54] Melissa Traverse: That's usually the tipping point for a brand.
[00:06:56] Mike Schneider: I want to see a convention center-sized Squishmallow. Just take up the whole thing.
[00:07:01] Ray Latif: I mean, just to put a bow on this, I think it's really about evolving with the consumer and understanding the consumer has evolving needs and that there are people that are coming into the economy, coming into the market, younger consumers that want things that are different than what their parents bought. And maybe Annie's doesn't fit And maybe Kraft Mac and Cheese doesn't fit into their pantries in the same way that Goodle's does. It'll be really interesting to hear from their team in that webinar, as well as, of course, Tom first.
[00:07:28] Mike Schneider: You might have also said the same of Culture Pop. Sure. Which also looked like a brand that, you know, is coming into a space that already has a poppy and an lollipop. And is there enough space for another one of those? And the answer is usually yes. They come in, they're doing things a little bit differently. They've obviously got the hot ticket in Noah Khan, and that black cherry flavor is phenomenal. They're doing a lot of things right at Culture Pop, and I'm excited to hear how they're the same, but I'm also excited to hear how they're different.
[00:07:59] Melissa Traverse: Their decision to cut out Allulose, I think specifically for Whole Foods Market years ago was such an interesting one. And, you know, Allulose is something that also fits within the guidelines of a better for you brand. But that was also, you know, a really interesting choice that they made.
[00:08:16] Mike Schneider: I'm just thinking about how good you are at your job too, Melissa. I mean, we came to you with this idea of putting together a webinar. and do this.
[00:08:24] Melissa Traverse: Thanks, Mike. I mean, go big or go home.
[00:08:26] Mike Schneider: Yeah, seriously, this is this is gonna be awesome. Thanks.
[00:08:31] Ray Latif: Go big or go home. I think that's probably the mindset of the founders of Ben & Jerry's as well. You know, when that brand came out, that was a real challenger concept as well. Small batch, high quality, super premium ice cream that came with a really funky and fun approach to branding. But it wasn't just the ice cream that the founders were committed to. They were committed to a broader social mission where their money and their revenue went to supporting causes that they felt like could actually make a difference in this world. And so everyone has always associated Ben & Jerry's with that social mission, with that social focus. And that social focus may be winding down.
[00:09:18] Melissa Traverse: When I think of Ben and Jerry's, I think of them as a business that was almost founded because of their social mission, similar to Dr. Bronner's. They created a product to further their ideas and dreams about social justice. In 2000, Unilever bought Ben and Jerry's, and since then, obviously, there have been changes made to the Ben and Jerry's Foundation, the board structure. And just this July, the Ben and Jerry's Foundation said that they will suspend operations unless TMICC, the Magnum Ice Cream Corporation, which split off from Unilever and now owns Ben and Jerry's,
[00:10:00] Ray Latif: And just for context, Unilever bought Ben & Jerry's a number of years ago, and now the Magnum ice cream company is the one that represents or owns essentially Ben & Jerry's.
[00:10:10] Melissa Traverse: Yes, the Magnum ice cream company in December of 2025 split off from Unilever and now oversees Ben & Jerry's. So just recently, TMICC made funding cuts to the grassroots social organizations that Ben and Jerry supports. And so that's sort of where all of this conflict is coming from.
[00:10:33] Mike Schneider: Ben and Jerry's is a brand that was built on social consciousness and they built up the business with social consciousness in mind every step of the way. And it's a pretty unique brand. You see a lot of brands that come in and they talk a lot about social consciousness. And I think it's, it's something that if you can build it into the brand and still have a business is a fantastic thing to have as part of your mission. But I think first you have to focus on building a great business. Ben and Jerry certainly have a great business and social consciousness weaved into their brands, their flavors. You can tell which way the wind is blowing with that brand at any given moment. This is just what's going to happen next. I mean, what happens to the brand? Does it lose its soul?
[00:11:14] Melissa Traverse: I do also want to point out that TMICC says the dispute is about governance and compliance. So there's a dispute about what the dispute is about as well.
[00:11:24] Mike Schneider: And I was disappointed when they stopped making Bovenity Divinity, and this is much bigger than that.
[00:11:30] Melissa Traverse: Yeah, and it raises a lot of questions. Can a brand that really is founded on a social mission maintain the social mission after they're acquired? You know, when you think about brands like Burt's Bees that was acquired by Clorox, From where I sit, they remained fairly the same. Same thing with Stonyfield. When they were sold to Danone, there were very specific requirements that Gary Hirshberg put into place when that acquisition was happening. But this is a different story.
[00:12:01] Ray Latif: From a consumer perspective, I wonder how much this might impact their decision-making, their purchasing decisions when it comes to Ben & Jerry's. There are a No More competitors in that super premium ice cream space than when Ben & Jerry's launched. And now I feel like they're sort of in danger of just becoming an also-ran, just something that's always on shelf, but has really lost its soul. There's just so many people that associate Ben & Jerry's with that social mission, with that focus on doing better for the world, that if that is not part of their business anymore, they might look at some of the other brands, like a Van Lewin's, like a Jenny's, like a Tillamook, like a Salt & Straw, because as far as I know, they don't have a real purpose like that, a social purpose.
[00:12:49] Mike Schneider: I mean, what's fish food without fish? It's just going to be Ben & Jerry's food or the Tonight Dough. It's going to be just Ben & Jerry's dough.
[00:12:55] Ray Latif: Right. If you're buying ice cream just based on quality, I think at this point some of the other brands that I mentioned have surpassed Ben & Jerry's in terms of quality.
[00:13:03] Melissa Traverse: I don't know about that. For me, Cherry Garcia is still the GOAT of all ice cream.
[00:13:07] Mike Schneider: But it's just going to be cherry.
[00:13:08] Melissa Traverse: Right. But what I'm wondering, too, is how many customers now care enough about Ben & Jerry's original social mission to stop buying it? And how many people just buy it because they like the ice cream?
[00:13:21] Mike Schneider: Well, you would think that its place in the store, its flavors, the fact that people have eaten it, you know, have made it a habit. is what is being discussed in a boardroom where they're talking about, you know, can we get into new markets? Can we get new audiences while keeping the core customers? They must be seeing drop off in the core or they wouldn't do this.
[00:13:41] Ray Latif: I mean, I don't know. Household awareness of Ben and Jerry's is probably pretty darn high at this point.
[00:13:47] Mike Schneider: Awareness for sure, but purchase.
[00:13:50] Ray Latif: I would say that the aura, once people No More about this, I think once people have realized that the company has disassociated itself from a better for you world's vision, I think that's going to impact how people perceive and buy Ben and Jerry's.
[00:14:07] Mike Schneider: Okay, but I've sat in enough corporate boardrooms to know that if it isn't broken, you don't fix it. So if the money was still flowing in the way they wanted it to, they wouldn't be making this change.
[00:14:17] Ray Latif: I don't know. There might be some underlying issues that we haven't fleshed out fully yet.
[00:14:22] Melissa Traverse: Okay. And Ray, to your point, there are so many other premium options out there, but I don't know, when I think of premium options, I think about places like Whole Foods Market, Sprouts, those sorts of retailers. But when you go to CVS or you go to a gas station, Ben and Jerry's is oftentimes one of the only premium options. just by the nature of their distribution, I think that also dictates why and how customers buy their product.
[00:14:48] Ray Latif: From an entrepreneurial perspective, we always see new brands come to market, every single year we see this, where the brand has such a strong tie to a charitable cause, to a social mission, that we're wondering, well, is this a business or is this an NGO or what is this? Is this a charity? And it's difficult because you want to support these founders and their causes, but it's about the business first and foremost, as you pointed out, Mike.
[00:15:23] Mike Schneider: We've seen a lot of brands put together ideas that aren't as close to what they're actually trying to do, which can also unfortunately be a distraction. So it's just, it's not that you shouldn't do this. It's that you should make sure that it's part of not only your DNA, but part of your day to day. And that it's not a distraction from building the business because if you don't have any business, you can't give to the Social Scoops.
[00:15:47] Ray Latif: I'll give you a great example of exactly what you're talking about, Mike. There's a brand out there called Atomico. And Atomico is a brand of Sparkling Water that are made with electrolytes, real juice, essential vitamins. I like them already. Yeah. The founder of the brand was featured, and the brand itself was featured, in a recent episode of Elevator Talk that we published this week. His name is Kevin Brodwick. He describes himself as the head of mission control for Atomico, which has a very space and astronomy-oriented tilt, hence the name. And so Atomico has a really great charitable focus where they contribute 1% of their revenue to STEM-based education. And they also have a scholarship fund in partnership with NASA to send underprivileged kids to NASA Space Camp. So this is what I'm talking about, where Obviously it fits with their brand, it's in line with what their sort of Brandt Gehrs is all about. It's not their primary focus, but it is something to celebrate and to cheer for and definitely a reason that I would buy the brand. I should note that their products taste amazing. They have great branding, but just to know that they are contributing part of their revenue and part of their profits to this amazing opportunity to send kids to Space Camp and to fund STEM education, I'm like, okay, no brainer. I'm buying that brand anytime I see it.
[00:17:18] Melissa Traverse: I just tried Atomico and the first thing I noticed is that it's a great tasting product. It's low calorie, low sugar, no non-nutritive sweeteners. It has electrolytes. It's delicious. And then I read the side of the can and thought, oh, that's so cool. I don't think I've seen that before.
[00:17:36] Ray Latif: In terms of the social cause.
[00:17:38] Melissa Traverse: Yeah. I saw the NASA of the call out and I thought, what is going on here? And it's super cool.
[00:17:44] Ray Latif: Yeah. Kevin sort of referred to Spindrift as a brand that he has always admired and Atomico has a lot of the elements that a Spindrift has in addition to the essential vitamins and electrolytes that they add in there as well. So if you have an opportunity to try that product, I highly recommend you do. It's, it's a fantastic brand. Yeah. A lot of other fantastic brands that we have here on the tables as it were. Melissa, I want to start with you because I see what looks like, is it olive oil spray?
[00:18:17] Melissa Traverse: Oh no, Ray, it is not olive oil spray. This is Wagyu Beef Tallow Spray.
[00:18:24] Ray Latif: I wish I hadn't asked.
[00:18:26] Melissa Traverse: And this is where I'm really missing Craven because I feel like he'd be shaking his head.
[00:18:30] Mike Schneider: No, it's me the one. I'm always the one who's missing. I feel like Craven would be opening his mouth and not.
[00:18:35] Melissa Traverse: Ray, not too long ago, you had a Wagyu Beef jerky that you were sampling. So I saw this at Whole Foods and I spent $14.99 of my own hard-earned money on this Wagyu Beef Tallow Spray.
[00:18:50] Ray Latif: What's the brand?
[00:18:51] Melissa Traverse: It's South Chicago Packing. So this is a Chicago brand. Maybe they'll show up to the Taste Radio meetup in Chicago.
[00:18:58] Mike Schneider: Let's reach out and make sure they do.
[00:18:59] Melissa Traverse: Yeah, we should. So this is a company that's been around for over a hundred years. They started as a meatpacking facility and now they are making this beef Tallow Spray in addition to some other products.
[00:19:11] Mike Schneider: Is it for cooking? You spray it on like a salad? What do you do?
[00:19:14] Melissa Traverse: You use this for cooking the way that you would use any sort of
[00:19:19] Ray Latif: You don't spray it on a salad, Mike.
[00:19:21] Melissa Traverse: Yeah, you don't spray it on a salad. In Chicago, you do.
[00:19:24] Mike Schneider: Probably Buffalo, too.
[00:19:26] Melissa Traverse: You could spray it on your donuts.
[00:19:27] Mike Schneider: I've seen my grandparents do that now.
[00:19:29] Melissa Traverse: But yeah, like the way that you would use a spray olive oil spray or a spray avocado oil, I actually used it. We were cooking some sausages that needed some more fat. And it actually smells really good and it tastes really good. My only question is, so the idea behind beef tallow, one of them is that it has a high smoke point, but I looked up the smoke point of olive oil and olive oil smoke point is actually higher than beef tallow. So I'm wondering. who's going to spend the $15 on this. I also want to say on my trip to Maine that I was on last week, I saw this on the shelves of Hannaford for a bit less, but they're really covering ground here with distribution. I was really surprised to see this in Northern Maine as well.
[00:20:15] Ray Latif: I mean, this is definitely going to appeal to the, I don't want to lump everyone into the MAGA sphere, but definitely people who are choosing beef tallow as a, what they perceive to be a healthier option than seed-based oils or olive oil. The packaging is really interesting. It definitely stands out. It's a black mat. color here and the biggest font is Wagyu Beef tallow. So it doesn't say Wagyu Beef tallow oil or I'm sure it's marketed next to other oils though, right? Or merchandise next to other oils.
[00:20:47] Melissa Traverse: It is. And when you look at that nozzle, I mean, what else?
[00:20:50] Ray Latif: Yeah. Yeah. Hairspray.
[00:20:53] Melissa Traverse: Only in Chicago.
[00:20:56] Ray Latif: I gotta feed you guys one of the best tasting snack bars that I've had in a very, very long time. Yes, please. This is from a brand called Cozy. Oh, darn it. There's only a handful. Okay. So Cozy, I'm going to read from their Elevator Talk application, and we're going to have these folks in Elevator Talk soon. Cozy makes the first refrigerated snack bar with grass-fed butter. Only eight ingredients, no seed oils, no preservatives, sweetened with dates. Real comfort food. The refrigerated format is our moat, if you're trying to create a moat around a snack bar. and our velocity is running at two to three times category average across 50 plus Southern California doors. They were once known as RJ Naturals, and that was a year ago, but now they're known as Cozy, and I think the branding and the package design looks great.
[00:21:44] Mike Schneider: R and J are the founders?
[00:21:46] Ray Latif: Russell, I believe, is the co-founder.
[00:21:47] Mike Schneider: Russell and Jane?
[00:21:49] Ray Latif: I'm not sure.
[00:21:50] Mike Schneider: No, it's on the package.
[00:21:51] Ray Latif: Yes, that looks like Jane. It's written in cursive and my eyesight is really going. Gotcha.
[00:21:56] Mike Schneider: Russell and Jane, I think they founded the brand when he was battling cancer and they were looking for some snacks that he could eat and they couldn't find what they wanted and so they made their own.
[00:22:06] Ray Latif: So they have two varieties. There's a salted matcha and there's a warm cinnamon. Both of them are made with organic ingredients, according to the package, and five grams of fiber. there's four grams of protein per bar as well. So I tried both of these over the past week and I am obsessed. I'd like to try one. Which one do you guys want to try? Salted matcha or warm cinnamon?
[00:22:27] Melissa Traverse: I'll go salted matcha.
[00:22:29] Ray Latif: Salted matcha, which leaves Michael with the warm cinnamon.
[00:22:32] Melissa Traverse: They're nice and cold.
[00:22:33] Ray Latif: Yes.
[00:22:34] Melissa Traverse: You know, as soon as you said grass-fed butter, I thought about shelf life, so it makes perfect sense that these need to be refrigerated.
[00:22:40] Ray Latif: So when you bite into this, you are going to get that butter. That butter is so present. It's like butter.
[00:22:48] Melissa Traverse: Oh my goodness.
[00:22:49] Ray Latif: Isn't it good?
[00:22:50] Melissa Traverse: It's like a cookie.
[00:22:52] Ray Latif: It's like a cookie that's just loaded with butter, like a shortbread cookie almost, but No More of a soft, gooey form. It's not that gooey, but you know what I'm saying.
[00:23:02] Melissa Traverse: It also almost tastes like oatmeal cookie dough, but much firmer, obviously.
[00:23:08] Mike Schneider: Also, apologies to Julie. It's Russell and Julie.
[00:23:12] Ray Latif: Oh, Julie. I'm sorry, Julie. I can't see, but... Well, you can't remember. These are so good. I couldn't remember.
[00:23:17] Melissa Traverse: This is legitimately, unbelievably fantastic. It tastes great.
[00:23:24] Ray Latif: I don't lead you guys down the wrong path. I don't feed you any food that isn't top-notch.
[00:23:29] Mike Schneider: At Real Cozy Foods on Instagram, check them out. Organic oats, organic dates, grass-fed butter, organic coconut, organic raw honey, organic cinnamon, organic vanilla bean. Salty sea salt.
[00:23:39] Ray Latif: We have No More salted matcha bars.
[00:23:41] Melissa Traverse: You have to hide them from me, that's for sure. To me, this sits between a bar and a cookie.
[00:23:46] Mike Schneider: It's a great snack. Yeah. I thought it was a protein bar when I first saw it. There is a little bit of protein in it and it's a pretty good snack. 220 calories, 11 grams of fat, 4 grams of protein. Delicious.
[00:23:57] Melissa Traverse: Really, really tasty.
[00:23:59] Ray Latif: Yes. Time and place for protein bars or snack bars. I mean, sometimes you want some muffins or donuts or brownies. And recently we featured a brand called Bakeful in an episode of Elevator Talk, and they make Think Better For You Hostess products. So mini donuts, mini brownies, mini muffins made for the modern consumer. I haven't tried these yet and I wanted to share them with you here on the podcast.
[00:24:29] Melissa Traverse: I like this kind of party.
[00:24:30] Ray Latif: Hostess guy. I know, I don't out hoard things anymore. What was interesting about this brand is that the umbrella brand is called Bakefull, but then they have all these individual brands, again, Muffinfull, Browniefull, and Donutfull. And so that was actually a point, I don't want to call it a point of contention, but a point of discussion. during our episode of Elevator Talk, which featured Tom Spear, who is the founder and managing partner at BFG Partners, formerly known as Boulder Food Group. They've invested in some of the most iconic entrepreneurial brands in recent memory, including Olipop, Graza. If I went down the list, you'd be like, okay, have they invested in everyone? So, okay, so we've got brownie full and muffin full. We'll start, Mike, with the muffin full and we'll give Oh, there's a little brownie pool. There's four of each, so I think we can both try.
[00:25:21] Melissa Traverse: Yeah. Salted caramel four mini brownies.
[00:25:25] Ray Latif: Yes, and then I have the Donutful. Oh, wow. So the key with all these products is that they're made with no artificial colors or flavors. They're described as having, oh, oh, oh. Man down, man down.
[00:25:36] Melissa Traverse: Melissa, no. I dropped one, crying over spilled brownies.
[00:25:40] Mike Schneider: Oh, Melissa.
[00:25:41] Ray Latif: And so Bakeful is marketing these products as having 25% less sugar than the leading brands out there, so.
[00:25:51] Mike Schneider: I'm gonna eat this one off the floor.
[00:25:52] Ray Latif: Don't eat it off the floor. I'm gonna save the donut full for myself for a little bit later on so we'll talk about the Brand right the name of the brand is bakeful aka e Ful I would say bakeful on the package. This is what Tom Spear was talking about.
[00:26:11] Mike Schneider: It's a tasty product, but Brownie full muffin full donut full I think they should be called bakeful on the front of the package.
[00:26:19] Ray Latif: Yes.
[00:26:19] Mike Schneider: Well did I taste good Melissa I?
[00:26:21] Melissa Traverse: They taste really good and I'm looking at the nutritional panel. I'm really surprised that you get the amount of food that you get for the amount of sugar, the number of calories, the amount of fat. It's a really substantial snack and it comes in at 200 calories, 11 grams of fat and 10 grams of sugar. That to me is nothing short of a miracle.
[00:26:43] Ray Latif: And you're specifically talking about the cookies.
[00:26:45] Melissa Traverse: And I'm specifically talking about the chocolate mini muffins.
[00:26:49] Ray Latif: They look like cookies on the front of the package.
[00:26:51] Mike Schneider: The brownies are close. And I think that's a good thing in that they're pretty similar in terms of the contents.
[00:26:56] Ray Latif: The packaging is fantastic. And you can definitely see those fitting into any Target store in America. I mean, they look like a Target product, honestly. And I believe they're going into Walmart, if I'm not mistaken. Did you just see that off the floor, Mike? You know what? I can't. I can't. That's magic, right? I can't. I can't. And how about that? I should have recalled from our conversation that the brand is going nationwide in Target. So, or has gone nationwide in Target. So congratulations to Bakeful. Yeah. Interesting to see if they revamped the packaging to reflect the umbrella brand name, or if they stick with the individual. I would recommend they do that, but yeah.
[00:27:35] Mike Schneider: What do I know?
[00:27:36] Ray Latif: Yes, indeed. Mike, you've got, you've been shaking some stuff over there. What is that? Shake and Bake?
[00:27:42] Mike Schneider: When I was out on Tuesday, I was at IFT.
[00:27:45] Ray Latif: Yes. Institute of Food Technologists. Is that right?
[00:27:48] Mike Schneider: Yeah, it's a science show. Lots of science at that show.
[00:27:52] Ray Latif: It's in Chicago.
[00:27:54] Mike Schneider: Get a lot South Chicago time in. And I ran into Matt Sabo.
[00:27:59] Ray Latif: Very, very chill dude.
[00:28:00] Mike Schneider: Who is, among other things, the founder of MixMix.
[00:28:02] Ray Latif: Yes.
[00:28:03] Mike Schneider: And he handed me some MixMix, which is a drink mix stick, stick pack, which I love stick packs. So I immediately was about to put it right in my water, but he's like, Mike, slow down a bit there, guy. two milligrams of THC, one of CBD. And this one I have in my hand is pink sea salt, and the other one in my other hand is spicy ginger, and I can't wait to try this. But I bet you might like to try one too, Melissa.
[00:28:26] Melissa Traverse: I feel like I'd probably love to try one.
[00:28:28] Mike Schneider: Sea salt?
[00:28:29] Melissa Traverse: Sure.
[00:28:30] Mike Schneider: All right. So there's one for you, one for me. Yeah, great show. Got to catch up with a bunch of our customers there. Yeah. Fantastic show.
[00:28:40] Ray Latif: There you go.
[00:28:40] Mike Schneider: Got to hang out with Brian Zapp for a bit.
[00:28:42] Ray Latif: From Applied Food Sciences.
[00:28:43] Mike Schneider: From Applied Food Sciences. They are going to have a killer workshop at BevNET Live. It's going to be so much fun. I don't want to spoil it, but we can talk a little more later when they send us some of the, I think they're going to send us some of their ideas in advance.
[00:28:56] Ray Latif: Yes. The Zapps are good folks. The Zapps are good folks. Yeah.
[00:28:59] Mike Schneider: Yeah. Ray, what do you, what do you have in your hand there?
[00:29:01] Ray Latif: So following up on our discussion about better for you treats, food treats, that is. Muffets is a new brand that came into the office recently. M-U-F-F-I-T-S. They come in this packaging that's very reminiscent of Better For You Donuts. You know, you see that sort of long vertical packaging that sits in the refrigerated section of stores. Muffet's is a brand of protein mini muffins. They have 13 grams of protein and collagen, 6 grams of fiber, and 4 grams of fruit sugar per package. It looks like there's three muffins per package. They're gluten-free, seed oil-free, and dairy-free. Two varieties, at least that I can see. Double Chocolate and Wild Blueberry. I didn't know I needed protein muffins. Oh, you do.
[00:29:53] Mike Schneider: I met Debbie Shemansky. You did, too. Little Miss Muffet. That's right. Who did not bring her tuffet or curds and whey, but she did bring the muffins. And damn, are they good.
[00:30:06] Melissa Traverse: I wonder if the protein is whey based.
[00:30:09] Ray Latif: Okay, so I just opened up the rays going for the blueberry wild blueberry, okay This is rare ray is opening.
[00:30:20] Melissa Traverse: I know and and and I have a napkin to eat with he's gonna sample uh-huh I can't believe I don't know if I've ever seen this It's happening don't film me eating oh
[00:30:37] Ray Latif: That's all we needed. That's all we needed. It's very good. I think like a lot of these products, it's a good sort of meal replacement option. If they don't have time for lunch or, you know, I'm running around with coffee and I just need something else to have for breakfast, this could fit right into that. That's a filling 200 calories too.
[00:30:55] Melissa Traverse: Yeah, totally. And I feel like I would personally be more likely to eat something like this versus a nutrition bar if I was trying to find a meal replacement. Because, again, sometimes those just sit in your stomach and they're a lot of work to eat and it's not as enjoyable as eating something like a mushroom.
[00:31:09] Mike Schneider: I actually haven't had the blueberry, I don't think.
[00:31:10] Melissa Traverse: I don't either. Do you want to try it? Let's go for it.
[00:31:12] Ray Latif: Should I film you while you're chewing on a blueberry muffin?
[00:31:15] Mike Schneider: Right. Spoiler alert. I'm going to take one before I give it to you. Oh, whoops.
[00:31:19] Melissa Traverse: We're filming you.
[00:31:21] Ray Latif: Yes. Well, just my two cents on Muffet's because I know you guys have already tried this product before.
[00:31:26] Melissa Traverse: I actually don't think I tried this one. Oh, really? Okay.
[00:31:29] Ray Latif: I think that there's still a tiny bit of work to be done in terms of the lingering taste on your, there's something stevia-ish or monk fruit-ish about that. But otherwise it's great. And I do think with coffee or a beverage, it would probably be less so because I haven't had anything to drink with it.
[00:31:49] Melissa Traverse: They're nice and moist.
[00:31:50] Ray Latif: Yeah, they're very moist. They're super M-word. Yeah.
[00:31:53] Mike Schneider: The protein, I think it's collagen peptides.
[00:31:57] Melissa Traverse: I could also do with maybe a little bit more blueberry material in here.
[00:32:03] Ray Latif: That brings us to the end of this episode of Taste Radio. Thank you so much for listening. Taste Radio is a production of BevNET.com, Incorporated. Our audio engineer for Taste Radio is Joe 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.
[00:32:52] Speaker 1: you
