[00:00:10] Ray Latif: Hey, folks, 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 show co-hosts, John Craven, Jacqui Brugliera, and Mike Schneider. 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. All right, people listening will not know that that was the fifth time I attempted to do the intro for this episode. I'm in a new setup here at the office. He could not say co-hosts, he said show hosts. Showboats. No, because I'm in this new setup. I'm all out of sorts. Not only am I in the studio, but we have this brand new setup where I'm looking into a reflection of an iPad so that I can see you guys not be looking directly into a lens when I'm recording these things. So I'm a little thrown off. That being said, I am known to screw up those intros, so it's nothing new. Anyway, Jackie, how you doing?
[00:01:20] John Craven: Good. Well, your studio looks great, so I think it's worth it.
[00:01:24] Ray Latif: It better be. No, Jackie, I'm specifically asking you how you're doing, because you have something really, really big coming up. And it's actually gonna happen in the next half hour. I'm terrified for you. I'm imploring you not to do it. But I guess we talked about it in a previous episode. So it kind of has to happen.
[00:01:47] John Craven: I know, I know. So I've been trying to, I don't know, psych myself up or psych myself out, but I'm watching a bunch of videos for the Hockey One Chip Challenge. I was just watching Tony Hawk do it. He barely survived. So I'm pretty nervous, but I'm prepared. I have some almond milk and cottage cheese ready to go for when I die.
[00:02:11] Ray Latif: For when you die, please don't die. You know what would happen to BevNET if you die, Jackie? Literally, it would collapse onto itself. It would be like an instant thing. It's almost like, what are those things called? It's called the wormhole.
[00:02:26] Jacqui Brugliera: It's called detonation.
[00:02:28] Ray Latif: Control detonation, something like that. An implosion. Yes, self-implode. We would self-implode.
[00:02:33] Jacqui Brugliera: I think the fabric of time will rip and the space-time continuum will be shattered. But Jackie, we're going to be holding up the BevNET logo next to your face To See how close you can get to it. I'm pretty confident that you're going to... Also, are we really degrading to like, I mean, this is like Howard Stern level here. Stay tuned, someone's going to eat fire. The way this went down was at the recent Super Coffee Meetup, Ariana from Somi, the matcha energy beverage, came up to us and said, hey, you guys have been talking about this so much that I actually bought you a Pocky one-chip challenge. And since Jackie was talking so much about it, I slipped it into her bag.
[00:03:15] John Craven: I know I made the mistake of talking a big game with my spice level. So I brought that on to myself. I found it when I got home in my backpack.
[00:03:26] Jacqui Brugliera: So I pretty much got iced, but the opposite, you know, and I think we need you to sign like a waiver before you do this.
[00:03:34] John Craven: And it's like 830 here on the West Coast.
[00:03:37] Ray Latif: So good luck to me for the rest of the day. I'm really my my palms are actually sweating thinking about this.
[00:03:42] Jacqui Brugliera: The challenge is, can you eat the whole chip, right? So Jackie, if you take a bite, you can always tap out. I can tap out. There's no shame in the tap out.
[00:03:50] John Craven: All right. We'll see how it goes. See how it goes.
[00:03:52] Jacqui Brugliera: Oh, no. I wish I'd not put that in your bag. I wish I'd put it in the trash can.
[00:03:56] John Craven: Yeah, I blame you, Mike. This is all your fault.
[00:03:58] Ray Latif: It's my fault. Well, as Mike mentioned, we have returned from our meetups in San Diego and Austin. Our meetup in San Diego was held at the BevNET WCB. That stands for West Coast Branch. And our Austin event was held at the headquarters of Super Coffee. where we sat down with the founders of Super Coffee, the DeCicco brothers, and also an investor in the company that's Touch Capital founder and CEO Anna Lena Kamenetsky for two interviews that will be featured in future episodes of Taste Radio. Both conversations were chock full So Great advice for early stage and emerging entrepreneurs. I feel like my conversation with the DeSeco brothers was So Great because they were so candid and open about their struggles and what it takes to get to where they are right now. And, you know, with Annalena, it's fantastic because she's an investor in early stage brands at that seed and series A level and talked about what she's looking for and what investors in her kind of field are generally looking for when it comes to new concepts.
[00:05:04] Jacqui Brugliera: Ray, you definitely got the best out of both interviews. I mean, there's a point where you basically got the brothers this close to fighting Wegmans style, the way they used to fight in the aisles, where Jimmy says that one of their flavors is stupid. You'll have to listen to the episode to find out which flavor it is. And then when you put Annalena on the Support With the word association, she was not prepared for that, but she did. She did great.
[00:05:27] Ray Latif: Well, I think, I mean, I think she wasn't prepared, but she was prepared because, you know, she had the answers that people weren't probably prepared to hear. Just as a hint, they were related to trends, ingredients, formulations, and hot categories.
[00:05:44] Jacqui Brugliera: One example was that you asked her if gut health was a myth. And you have to hear her answer to that.
[00:05:50] Ray Latif: Well, no, I didn't. Well, okay. Yeah, I won't spill anymore. But, but yeah, it'So Great stuff. It's coming to taste. It's coming to Taste Radio soon. So look for that episode. Look for those episodes, excuse me, in the coming weeks. Um, once again, thank you so much to the entire San Diego team, uh, for an incredible events, uh, at our West coast branch. I thought everyone seemed to have really, really good feedback. Uh, and of course, to the, uh, Super Coffee team in Austin, uh, they were total professionals and. We could not have pulled off the event without them, you know, between the two events, I think 300 plus people, their founders, investors, retailers, Jackie, you were counting, counting numbers. I mean, it was. I was impressed and really, really happy To See so many people.
[00:06:36] John Craven: Yeah, it was around 300 total. And it So Great To See a lot of people in both spaces, in both cities. Prior to COVID, we had opened up our San Diego office for a open house when we first moved into this office. And I remember people saying, when we were coming back to events, oh, the last time I saw you was at your open house. And it was really good To See some of those faces again back in the office. saying let's do this more, let's get together more, bringing the community together. So it was really nice. It was really nice to have you guys over here too for the first time for Mike and Ray To See the office and connect with the San Diego community.
[00:07:15] Mike Schneider: Guessing your margins? That's risky. Belay Financial gives CPG brands the clarity to scale smarter, faster, stronger. Get your free inventory ebook by texting TASTE to 55123 and start making data work for you. Vibrant Ingredients is the natural ingredient partner powering food and beverage innovation, delivering flavor, function, and protection through a science-backed portfolio. Vibrant delivers purpose-driven solutions that help brands create extraordinary experiences. Discover what's possible with Vibrant today. Visit VibrantIngredients.com.
[00:08:02] Ray Latif: Yeah, it was So Great to meet with so many founders. We did something a little different on social media where I recorded some quick content with a bunch of folks that I called 10 Seconds with Taste Radio, sat down with or stood up with folks from Marquee Energy, from Good Sunday, from Recoup Wellness, from Pocket Latte, Seoul Juice, Courtside Beverages. And then at the Austin event with Somi, as Mike mentioned, Somi Energy, and also Kimbala. Really, really fun to speak with all those folks. If you want to check out some of that content, head to Taste Radio's Instagram account and you can find the reels there. That's at BevNetTasteRadio.
[00:08:44] Jacqui Brugliera: I actually did something a little bit the same on my Instagram, Ray. I got, uh... This isn't a competition, Mike.
[00:08:51] Ray Latif: It's okay.
[00:08:52] Jacqui Brugliera: I know. Well, Ray, it was about... I mean, I got CP... I got CP Jesus on my, uh... On my Instagram reels, you gotta check that out. Yeah, I wish you hadn't done that. That blew up, Ray. I mean, everyone loves that.
[00:09:09] Ray Latif: Yeah, it went viral. I'm going to hell. But yeah, I know, I think, you know, having these conversations with so many people, it was this opportunity to have, you know, in person conversations for two to 10 minutes with everyone. And, you know, I think they're asking for our feedback on their products, their business plans. And, you know, I think one thing I heard often from talking to founders was, Um, about, you know, what does it take to scale? And this is one of those things where I get emails, you know, I do phone calls to do in-person conversations and everyone these days seems to be looking for, well, not just capital, but do they have someone, or do I know someone that can help them scale? Do I know someone in operations? And, you know, I do, but it's a tough question because it's, it's all about. you know, what you're prepared for and what's your business plan is calling for and how much money you have. So it's not, I think it's, it's more getting up To See with the resources you need. Um, John Craven, I mean, what advice do you have for early stage founders about, you know, the things you're going to need, uh, to scale and that, and that first and second year. Jeez, well, that's a tough question. How much time do we have here? Well, I mean, it is a tough question, but I think that's the kind of question we're getting.
[00:10:33] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, no, I mean, I think right now the sort of big theme that you see a lot of people talking about is just not trying to go too fast and that there's a high cost to trying to really disrupt some existing category or whatnot, just in terms of capital and time. Ultimately, I think, you know, making choices that, you know, set you up for long term success so when you know your company does actually scale and hopefully, you know, create some maybe profit someday that you're not. diluted down that it doesn't matter. And, you know, I think that's something that right now where we've been through a stretch of lots of companies raising and raising and raising, like, again, there's like a new breed of companies that are just, you know, trying to do it in a more organic way. So long-winded answer to your question, but... Well, it's a good answer.
[00:11:34] Ray Latif: And I think you alluded to something that is becoming more important for founders and of course investors these days, and that's an eye on profitability. And I actually sat down with the founder who's been talking about this for a long time, that's Max Puvro, who is the founder of Petitpas, which makes these fantastic premium and very high quality puddings in these small glass jars. You've probably seen them at Whole Foods. They typically come two to a pack. I sat down with him for an interview to be featured in an upcoming episode of Taste Radio. And I asked him, it's kind of a strange question, right? Like, why are you so focused on profitability? It's like, you should be from the outset, right? But I think that's something that's been lost in recent years. And yes, it does take a lot of capital to scale. And yes, it takes a long time to be profitable. But it is something that he's been stressing to other founders that This is something you can't forget and you've got to watch every cost. You've got to consider your gross margin from the outset and at least have a path to profitability. It's not just him who's saying that. If you've watched recent episodes of our Elevator Talk series and with many of our co-hosts being investors, that's That is priority number one and or two and three for investors that path to profitability. So if you again, going back to the original question about scaling strategies, make sure you're keeping an eye on costs. Make sure you do have a gross margin that's reasonable and an industry standard at least. someone on your team who is experienced and knows, uh, knows how to get to a place where. Uh, you are making good decisions about the future. So, and your operations in particular, I have to put a little plug in there.
[00:13:18] John Craven: Cause we just announced for Nosh live that we will have a speaker, Craig, she slave CEO of Yasso speaking about this topic. So he'll actually be talking about tools for sustainable growth. So how do you not grow too fast and not too slow? And how do you hit, hit the sweet spot?
[00:13:34] Jacqui Brugliera: And Ray, if you want your questions answered, I mean, that's the place to be. Nosh Live, BevNET Live. Everybody has a strategy for next year. They're already thinking about what their roadmap is for 2023. You know, our events are in late November, early December, and you have a chance to ask your hardest questions and vet your entire strategy with experts in the business. I mean, you can vet your strategy with product experts, marketing experts, you know, experts on scale. Everyone is there to help you, and that's what the show's all about. come to DevNetLive, come to NoshLive, get your questions answered and just make better decisions.
[00:14:21] Taste Radio: Do you want more repeat buyers on Amazon? Well, this free resource in collaboration with Straight Up Growth will help your brand turn first-time buyers into long-term subscribers. Download Winning the Repeat Purchase Game on Amazon now at Taste Radio slash SUG. That's Taste Radio slash S-U-G to start building retention-driven growth for your brand on Amazon. Scaling a beverage brand into major retail comes down to operational readiness. From packaging lead times to co-manufacturing strategy, the details can make or break a launch. In a new ebook in collaboration with Octopi and Asahi Beer USA, industry leaders share what they've learned in helping brands scale. Download it now at Taste Radio slash octopi.
[00:15:10] John Craven: It So Great to bring together, you know, the smaller regional communities, and I think it just shows how tight knit and connected we all are, but it really also is just like a microcosm of what happens at our events. in Santa Monica. That is entire United States. That is brands from Canada, from the UK. It's bringing everyone together, which So Great. It'So Great to have these regional events, but we're able to get everyone at the same place for two days, two plus days with BevNET Live and have these conversations and have a lot So Great presentations from leaders in the industry. and then bring questions, comments, concerns from those presentations to the networking to have one-on-one conversations.
[00:15:58] Ray Latif: Absolutely. I am really looking forward to the events and we're looking forward To See some of the folks that we saw in Austin and San Diego in Santa Monica. If you want to sign up and you should sign up, head to BevNET.com slash events and you'll find All Hell information on how to do so. If you have questions about the events and maybe you're on the fence about heading out to California, you can also email us at askatasteradio.com. We'll get right back to you. Another big event is happening next week. That's Expo East 2022 in Philadelphia. Pretty much, well, it's not our entire team, but I think we're sending about 16 folks out there to Philly. It's going to be exciting. I'm hoping To See a lot of folks, a lot of new products. as is our editorial team. If you are exhibiting and you do have new products, rebrands, line extensions, new distribution or retail that you want to highlight, please let us know. Send us an email to news at BevNET.com for drinks or news at Nosh.com for food. It's that simple. OK, according to my handy dandy Casio calculator watch, which is coming back in style, folks, by the way, apparently that well, my my friends have told me that's coming back. They got me one of these. Yeah. Actually, they were going to give me the gold one, the gold one with the gold dupe, right? I didn't pay for this, which I'm, you know, but Lee, I mean, I can like multiply things, which is cool. So nine times eight C is 72. So I, that's, that's helpful for me. They don't teach math over there at the BU, right? The BU, they don't, they don't teach anything really. Oh my goodness. They're never letting me back. Um, well, I'm, I'm mentioning that because it's, uh, we have a few minutes left before Jackie has to eat her chip. And, uh, in the meantime, I do want to talk about a couple interesting products that have crossed our desks that have come into the office. One being this, uh, new flavored whiskey, flavored bourbon whiskey called shmallow. Now, Schmallow, you might guess, is a toasted marshmallow bourbon. It's in a large flask-like 750ml bottle. Cute branding. It feels very campy, campfiery, if that makes any sense. The only thing that is throwing me off is that it's noted, it notes that this is a bourbon whiskey made with a natural and artificial flavor. Schmallow I mean, you know, we're, we're, we're beyond artificial, aren't we? And especially for spirits, I don't think it's really the best. But cool packaging just lose the artificial flavors and you might have a fan in me, which I know is the most important thing to your brand. So also. want to highlight a brand called Spicewell. We featured Spicewell in a recent episode of Elevator Talk. This is a premium spice brand in which they market a salt and a pepper that they call New Salt and New Pepper. And each spice contains 21 plant-based vitamins and minerals. So interesting stuff. I'm gonna take these home. I haven't had a chance to try them. I just saw them in the office. Has anyone tried them? Mike, John, tried these yet? Have not tried them, but if you're willing to share. Happy to have 2 more bags, but I'm probably going to take all 4 homes, so.
[00:19:20] Jacqui Brugliera: I got this bottle of Kentucky 74. Distilled nonalcoholic spirit for bourbon cocktails, so I guess. non-alcoholic bourbon excited to try this one not going to do it live on uh on the show here but it's not elk you're not you're not going to like fall off your chair or anything well i don't have a glass it's more of the issue but and then uh the other thing that came in recently that is uh pretty interesting on these new vibes uh mood products so they're uh You know, these are the products that they recently announced and they don't have CBD in them or any sort of hemp ingredients. And they're just like adaptogens and such and pretty tasty.
[00:20:09] Ray Latif: Vibes being V-Y-B-E-S. Yeah, interesting. I saw that in the cooler. I was surprised To See that they have those cans. What are those? 10 ounces? Eight ounces. Eight ounces.
[00:20:22] Jacqui Brugliera: Interesting stuff. I'm surprised that John was able to get any of them because those things go so fast and they came in while we were gone. So thanks, Jonathan Eppert, founder of Vibes, for sending those. Those are those are super tasty.
[00:20:37] Ray Latif: All right. Have we come to it? Have we come to the moment where Jackie is going to eat her Pocky?
[00:20:43] Jacqui Brugliera: Well, while Jackie's preparing, Ray, I just want to add one more shout out to a product and it's a dark day or a spicy dark day, or it's never going to be a spicy dark day again, because Honey Mama's is discontinuing their Mayan spice, AKA spicy dark. So I'm feeling a little down over here. Hoping to get my hands on some at Expo East, maybe some of the last bits. I thought you were going to say they were discontinuing you.
[00:21:12] San Diego: Ooh, complete.
[00:21:14] Jacqui Brugliera: They've already got a restraining order against me. I mean, they might just be discontinuing your favorite product to keep you away. Possible, yeah. Like it's just a ruse. We'll see. We'll find out next week. Well, my favorite's carrot cake, so please don't. Don't nuke the carrot cake. All right, are we gonna let Jackie do this? I think so. I think it's time for the one chip challenge. Jackie's hyperventilating. I hope this isn't like one of those things where you let your friend like, you know, ride their BMX bike and launch over some cars and they don't make it. Or you let your friend have too many gummies.
[00:21:49] John Craven: So many warnings in this box. Jackie, don't do it.
[00:21:53] Ray Latif: Can we see the box again? Oh, there it is. The one chip challenge.
[00:21:57] John Craven: Jackie, do you have gloves? I have a paper towel.
[00:22:00] San Diego: Yeah, don't touch anything.
[00:22:03] Jacqui Brugliera: And you're going to need some vegetable oil on your hands after that too, because that's the only thing that's working. Don't touch it.
[00:22:10] John Craven: I don't know if I can wash it. It smells strong. Jackie, no. Okay, here we go. I'm using this paper towel. Oh no, I can't wash. Oh no, it's stuck. Oh, it's green. OK.
[00:22:22] Jacqui Brugliera: It's supposed to turn your tongue blue.
[00:22:24] San Diego: Oh, my gosh.
[00:22:26] Jacqui Brugliera: Look at that thing. OK. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, no, Jackie. It's in her. Oh, she's got it in her mouth. She's biting it.
[00:22:36] Ray Latif: She's chewing. It's going to take a second.
[00:22:41] John Craven: I think I just got to do it right. Oh, you're going for the whole thing. Oh, she. It's going up my nose.
[00:22:52] Jacqui Brugliera: Stick out your tongue.
[00:22:59] John Craven: That made it worse in the air.
[00:23:03] Ray Latif: Get, get that, get that milk going. All right.
[00:23:06] John Craven: Now on a scale of one to 10, how long do you have to wait?
[00:23:11] Ray Latif: Like a minute?
[00:23:12] John Craven: Oh, my God, it's building.
[00:23:13] Jacqui Brugliera: Oh, Jesus.
[00:23:15] John Craven: Oh, milk time.
[00:23:17] Jacqui Brugliera: We better we better sign off the podcast before she needs to run to the garbage can.
[00:23:22] John Craven: Oh, God, it's getting worse.
[00:23:24] Ray Latif: Oh, no. OK, let's sign up for Jackie. OK, well, thanks for everyone. Next week, Jackie. She's Jackie, just just. Okay, if the office implodes, we know Jackie is no longer with us. So let's, uh, let's see if we can wrap up this episode before that happens. Jackie's drinking the milk. I think she made it a minute. I think she made it one minute. Congratulations. You're going to find out if all milk actually is well done as milk. You did. You took one for the team, took a lot for the team as you usually do. Okay. Jackie's going to hurl. All right, let's get going. Okay. Thank you for everyone who joined us for this episode of Taste Radio. I really appreciate it. As always, for questions, comments, ideas for future podcasts, please send us an email to ask at Taste Radio. On behalf of the entire Taste Radio team and a special thanks to, of course, our Director of Marketing, Jacqui Brugliera.
[00:24:18] Jacqui Brugliera: I think we're going to be a lot more careful about ideas for future podcasts because this was one of those ideas for future podcasts.
[00:24:25] Ray Latif: Yes, it was. All right, everyone. This is probably the weirdest ending we've ever had for an episode. We'll talk to you next time.
[00:24:31] Jacqui Brugliera: All right, bye. He's crying.
