[00:00:10] Melissa Traverse: Do your best Ray voice. Oh God, I can't do it.
[00:00:13] Mike Schneider: Hello, dear listeners. Hello. Hello, dear listeners and welcome to Taste Radio, the number one podcast for anyone building a business in food or beverage. I'm Mike Schneider. Ray Latif is out, but I'm here today with my co-hosts, Melissa Traverse and John Craven. Is that really our intro? I think so.
[00:00:33] Melissa Traverse: That was pretty good Ray inflection. I felt the power behind every word.
[00:00:38] Mike Schneider: My voice is a little shot today. I did an awful lot of laughing over the weekend. There's a reason Ray's not here today. He just can't show his face because his beat team, Manchester United, lost to promoted Hull City.
[00:00:49] John Craven: Hey, yo.
[00:00:50] Mike Schneider: I know. That's why he's not at the pod today. Or he's on vacation. Or he's not.
[00:00:55] Melissa Traverse: Or that. Or that. Or both.
[00:00:59] Mike Schneider: Fortuitously on vacation. It's good to be back from vacation myself. Before I left, we had a fantastic meetup in Chicago. Thanks very much to Pilot Project and all of our sponsors for supporting us in that endeavor. That was a great event. Sorry we missed you, Melissa.
[00:01:17] Melissa Traverse: I also was on vacation when that happened, but it looked like so much fun. It looked like a great time. Lots of good samples, too.
[00:01:23] Mike Schneider: There's great news, though. We have two more events coming up. Actually, three more events coming up.
[00:01:28] Melissa Traverse: I know.
[00:01:28] Mike Schneider: Three more events coming up. Two very, very shortly. One in San Diego, one in San Francisco, and then we've got London as well. You can get all the details at Taste Radio.com. Sign up for free, and we'll see you there.
[00:01:40] Melissa Traverse: So excited. It's going to be great.
[00:01:42] Mike Schneider: I'm excited about it, too.
[00:01:44] Speaker 1: I can tell. As you're just casually crushing a pile of Honey Mama too. You're back to your old form.
[00:01:53] Mike Schneider: Oh my god, dude. You gotta see this. So, you have a Honey Mama in your hand there. Well, you had it in your hand now.
[00:02:00] Speaker 1: I put it down for a little bit.
[00:02:01] Mike Schneider: You put it down for a second. I have one in my hand. It has two of your favorite brands collaborating together, Honey Mama and also Stumptown Coffee. And we got a care package here that has a ridiculous amount of Honey Mama.
[00:02:13] Melissa Traverse: I would like to just point out, Mike, that you have a big Honey Mama tote, like you are CPG Santa Claus and you're pulling item after item, bar after bar out of it. I feel like this is even better than Christmas.
[00:02:26] Mike Schneider: This is better than Christmas. I got a DM from Christy Wonka, I mean, Christy Goldsby, to tell me that they released this Stumptown collab and Could we send you something?
[00:02:37] Melissa Traverse: I was like, I'm gonna try it right now.
[00:02:39] Mike Schneider: Try that one. We've got the protein bars in front of us, the chocolate cake. There's a Girl Scouts Thin Mints collab.
[00:02:47] Melissa Traverse: Have you ever tried this one? No, I want to.
[00:02:49] Mike Schneider: We're just going to be like, you know, Honey Mama's coma after this episode.
[00:02:52] Melissa Traverse: The cold brew crunch, it's so, so tasty. It has these crispies in it as well. And I'd also like to point out it has caffeine in it, but only like 19 grams in a serving, which I think is amazing because I don't know, you can only handle so much caffeine.
[00:03:07] Mike Schneider: Look how much we got, Melissa. This is one of two. I mean, very generous care package sent. It's so good. By the Honey Mama team. Thank you so much. As you know, I'm like one of the Honey Mama biggest fans. Do you remember the way that we discovered them? Christy came to Nosh Live, and their stuff was like in a plastic bag in a cooler, and we put it out at BebNet Live as sample. I don't remember even tasting it. I was like, what is this? Pulled it out of the fridge, ate it, saw unicorns, rainbows, told anybody who was anyone about it, and we were all eating and going, what is this? Why didn't we discover this sooner? So good.
[00:03:46] Melissa Traverse: They came out, you know, when there weren't as many brands in the refrigerated case with Perfect Bar and, you know, the Clio, other brands that are in that section. And they have such a superior product. It's so good.
[00:03:59] Mike Schneider: And the innovation has been mostly about taking this insanely good coconut cacao nib chocolate product and putting it into different packaging and flavors. And now they've got a protein skew. I just think, like, The way that they've built this brand is really impressive.
[00:04:16] Melissa Traverse: Can I try one of those protein bars? Which one do you want? The peanut butter one.
[00:04:20] Mike Schneider: OK.
[00:04:21] Melissa Traverse: I can't believe I got it.
[00:04:24] Mike Schneider: Good job. The peanut butter one or the peanut butter brownie one.
[00:04:28] Melissa Traverse: Oh, that's a tough choice. I have peanut butter chocolate chip here. There's a nice drizzle of chocolate on top.
[00:04:35] Speaker 1: What do you think?
[00:04:36] Melissa Traverse: More crunchies. I always want crunchies in pretty much everything. Really, really tasty.
[00:04:43] Mike Schneider: And peanut butter was like generation two, I'd say, of Honey Mama. Generation 2.5. Like that one came along and there's like the birthday cakes and the blondies and just so much good innovation from Honey Mama.
[00:04:54] Speaker 1: It is an interesting like evolution too, just to see where they've where they are versus where they started. And it's like one of those things that a lot of times people forget that friends they admire have been through so many iterations. But yeah, these guys just don't stop.
[00:05:10] Mike Schneider: They used to be in a very epicurean sort of paper package back in the original iteration Honey Mama. You'd find it in Erewhon. They've really kind of just glowed up a bit without losing their identity.
[00:05:24] Melissa Traverse: I love the way they've constructed these protein bars. So it looks like the protein source is the pea protein crisps in here. So you get the really like melty, delicious bar surrounding these crispies. Oftentimes protein bars can feel, I always say this, but they feel like a brick in your stomach. But I like the fact that the protein is coming from these crisps. It's so tasty.
[00:05:47] Mike Schneider: And pea protein, you often taste pea? No pea in there.
[00:05:51] Speaker 1: That got weird.
[00:05:53] John Craven: I mean P-E-A, John.
[00:05:58] Speaker 1: Yeah, sure you did. Anyway, maybe we should move on to something useful. How's that for an un-Ray-like segue?
[00:06:07] Melissa Traverse: I think we could move on to something useful. You have something? I have something useful. Yeah, I mean, I feel like it's time for an update on- Everyone's about to find out what a good host Ray is. I know, I know. We're just like, uh. Well, we're so used to him leading the charge. We need to kind of like reconstruct what's happening here. You know, before we started this recording, we were talking a little bit about Private Label and the really like resurgence of Private Label as inflation continues to build. And we talked before about the K-shaped economy, how there are some consumers who are really cash strapped and looking to save money anywhere they can. And then there are consumers that have more cash on hand, but they're also looking to save wherever they can on discretionary items. So Private Label is having a huge moment and I thought this would, now that Ray isn't here, I'm just going to use this time to talk about Nonbase. We just published what I think is an incredibly useful podcast on the Nonbase channel about Private Label. I had Derek Brawley, he runs Private Label for a brand called Prana, which is based out of Canada. I actually was in Canada last week, which is a whole nother story and I brought some samples from there. But anyways, Prana, if you haven't been to Canada,
[00:07:24] Mike Schneider: What are you- Ray's not here, so Melissa's brain is just like, just go, go, go. Melissa's brain's unleashed.
[00:07:30] Melissa Traverse: Anyway, so like, so I did spend a good amount of time in Canadian grocery stores and Prana is everywhere. They have nuts and seeds and dried fruits and everything. So he runs Private Label for Prana. And whether you're already in Private Label or you're looking to get into it, he lays out everything you could possibly need to know. And it's a business that kind of feels like the Wizard of Oz where it's hard to get clear and concise information on how to approach it and how to make it successful for your business. He thinks that whether you're just starting out as a brand or you're well-established, you should always be thinking about Private Label because it's so good for cashflow. And he talks about how to avoid brand dilution, how to approach international markets. So go to nonbase.com slash podcast, listen to it, take notes, and you'll have everything you need to know.
[00:08:20] Speaker 1: So easy.
[00:08:21] Melissa Traverse: Mic drop.
[00:08:24] Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, Private Label is obviously outside of that. I mean, increased competition, you know, that emerging brands are worrying about and Private Label in general has just gotten so much better than it was 10, 15 years ago. So I think it is certainly something not to forget about when you're creating your product. It's like you need to just have some sort of pointed differentiation that hopefully protects you from that and makes the consumer want to spend on your brand.
[00:08:52] Melissa Traverse: The packaging is better, the products are better. I think that most consumers now kind of understand that if you see a Private Label version of something that's branded, that the Private Label version may be made by that brand sitting right next to it.
[00:09:07] Speaker 1: Or one of their competitors.
[00:09:07] Melissa Traverse: You're one of their competitors. And Derek made this point, which I thought was so funny. You know, if you're a brand and a retailer approaches you and asks, like, if you're interested in doing a Private Label version and you say no, it's not like they're going to be like, Oh, okay. I guess, I guess we won't be able to do that. They're just going to go to a manufacturer and be like, Hey, yo, can you make this for me? And that by working with retailers in this capacity, you really strengthen your relationship with the retailers.
[00:09:34] Mike Schneider: You can tell that Melissa is a CPG insider because she speaks exactly. Hey, yo.
[00:09:39] Melissa Traverse: Yeah, that's like that. I know that the lingo is hard to get around in this industry, but you know, just hang tight with me and you'll, you'll figure it out.
[00:09:49] Mike Schneider: So many acronyms.
[00:09:51] Melissa Traverse: Hey, yo.
[00:09:52] Mike Schneider: Once you're talking about figuring things out, there's a great place to go to figure out what's next for your brand. Raising capital, retail, you know, just wanting to figure out what's next in the industry. Talk to your peers, find partners to help you produce. Where should you go?
[00:10:09] Melissa Traverse: You should go to noshlive.com and you should go to bevnetlive.com to sign up for our events in Marina Del Rey in December because, I mean, we've got retailers, we've got brands, we've got investors. We have everything you could possibly need in order to grow your CPG brand.
[00:10:28] Mike Schneider: We'll have conversations about what's next in the industry, innovations that are happening. There'll be lots of data shared. The conversations that happen on stage, you know, you just take those into the audience and you, you ask questions about how do I get this done? And there's someone there who knows the answer. Someone there who can help you. You're going to find your next partner. You're going to move your business two or three milestones. I mean. Our event is pretty unique in that sense that you can go with multiple purposes and you can get a lot done. If you go with one purpose, if you just want to raise money, you're going to find a lot of opportunities to do that and you're going to find a lot of different methods. But if you go with like, I need production, I need distribution, I need capital, you're going to have a lot of solutions for that after the event.
[00:11:10] Melissa Traverse: And the feedback that I get from people who come to our events over and over and over again is that while there are a lot of people who attend and plenty of people to talk to, it's not so many people that you can't have all of the conversations that you want to there. Kind of like the opposite of Expo West, where you're stuck behind a table and waiting for people to come talk to you. It's completely the opposite. You are roaming around the entire event space, looking for the people that you want to talk to, having all the conversations that will help get you those answers that Mike was talking to. It's nothing but freedom to get everything you want done, done.
[00:11:49] Mike Schneider: And you also have the opportunity to meet our reporters. So you can pitch them on what you've been working on. You can talk to them about what they've been seeing. There's a great opportunity to create a relationship there. People ask us all the time, how do we, you know, how do we get coverage? And the best way to get coverage is just to continuously be posting your news. You know, you can just submit news for free at BevNET.com and Nosh.com and also at Brewbound.com and then meet our reporters in person and have a conversation with them. Ask them what they're looking for.
[00:12:19] Speaker 1: It's also the people that you're not specifically looking to meet that a lot of times prove useful. I mean, there's always a lot of pressure on CBG founders to just get out there and meet retailers, sell product. But I think also a lot of founders need to learn that it's also about like selling yourself and building up that network. And that's often something that some founders really get it and they're out there and like any chance they can to get in a room full of industry people, like they're doing it. And then there's other folks who are like, ah, why do I need that? And they're the ones that I always feel bad for. And they're like, Hey, how do I build a network of X? And they need it like now. Right. It just doesn't work that way.
[00:13:01] Melissa Traverse: I have a good example of that at our last Notch Live. I know somebody from a brand who met Khloe Kardashian in a bathroom. So, you know, who knows, anything can happen.
[00:13:12] Speaker 1: Yeah, we're not going to promote bathroom meetups.
[00:13:16] John Craven: We just did. They can happen to you.
[00:13:18] Speaker 1: Not guaranteed. But no, I mean, I think we've seen founders who've, you know, as we've talked about, met their first investor or met a great partner, a future hire, you know, just someone who maybe dropped some knowledge or thoughts on how they should evolve their brand, you know, and there's a lot of that stuff that proves to be really valuable to any entrepreneur. And, you know, for me, that's the fun part of our events.
[00:13:44] Mike Schneider: I mean, also you can own the bathroom at our event. John Fischer standing by to tell you how to do it.
[00:13:48] Melissa Traverse: And also the elevators, you can own the elevators, the bathrooms, and they look really cool.
[00:13:53] Mike Schneider: There's a helipad on the roof.
[00:13:55] Melissa Traverse: Yeah. Do you have a branded chopper?
[00:13:56] Mike Schneider: Yeah. We do want to see the branded chopper coming.
[00:13:59] Melissa Traverse: I still want to see JT fly in on a branded chopper.
[00:14:02] Mike Schneider: Do you think he has a chopper? I'm sure he's got a chopper somewhere.
[00:14:05] Melissa Traverse: He's got to, right?
[00:14:07] Speaker: Maybe.
[00:14:10] Speaker 1: Speaking of people who love to get in a room and network, and I think he's skipping school to do it, is Sean Rosenberg from now Goldie Lemonade, which we just got the fresh samples in. Very tasty stuff. Drinking their classic half and half. It's like 70 calories per can. Not too sweet. Very tasty summery drink.
[00:14:33] Mike Schneider: I had a classic lemonade and a pink lemonade yesterday. And those are, they're just fantastic drinks.
[00:14:38] Melissa Traverse: Those cans look fantastic. The amount of evolution that Sean has done. I mean, I still can't get over the fact that Sean is the age that he is and has gotten so far and more shameless non-based podcast promotion because Ray isn't here. We just published a podcast with Sean Rosenberg of Goldie and Nimit Sultan of Ginger Labs talking about how to own New York City as a beverage brand.
[00:15:05] Mike Schneider: He pitched at the beverage forum. He pitched a new beverage showdown. I saw him in the sour milk. in the sour milk video over the weekend. I mean, this guy's everywhere.
[00:15:13] Melissa Traverse: Yeah. Yeah. He has such great energy and he is relentless.
[00:15:18] Mike Schneider: Yeah. He is relentless. It's good to be a teenager.
[00:15:20] Melissa Traverse: It really is. It really is. Yeah.
[00:15:23] Mike Schneider: Yeah. No, I mean, but he's doing things that we just talked about that every founder should be doing, showing up at industry events, talking to everybody. He gets into other people's brands, finds out what they're doing. He tells them what he's doing and he shares a lot of information that way too. You can learn a lot from just talking to a guy like that who does that sort of Networking Pays he has probably the freshest perspective you could get on CPG.
[00:15:47] Melissa Traverse: Yeah, absolutely. You know, when I think of people who are relentless.
[00:15:52] Mike Schneider: Kartik?
[00:15:52] Melissa Traverse: I mean, Kartik, of course. Kartik is the person who comes up when I think of anything, basically. But, you know, when I think of people who are really great at Networking Pays, of course, think of Sara Brooks. I actually have an empty packet of Sara Brooks Strength Water here. She just launched a brand called Plainspeak Sara Brooks is the founder of Goldilocks, which is a PR firm that she started with two other colleagues. And they just launched this brand called Plainspeak Water have a product called Strength Water. It's a daily strength system. I actually drank this after my workout this morning. It has 15 grams of protein, 5 grams of collagen. The flavor I have is strawberry lemonade. I mean this in the best possible way. It tastes a little bit like Pez. Like in the best possible way, it has this kind of fruity, tart flavor that goes down really easy. And it's formulated for women, for the female body. And I think there's so much more information now out there for women, especially in like early 40s, like in their 40s, approaching 40s. And this is who that product is designed for. And it's incredibly tasty and just want to give her a shout out.
[00:17:06] Mike Schneider: I want to give a shout out as well. I mean, you know, we talk about a lot of good things that are happening in CPG all the time. And I was watching a reel the other day, Kimberly Lau from Bake Me Healthy. Seems like she's making her last batch of cookies. Yeah. So sad. I mean, this is a really, really hard job. She's built a fantastic brand. She loves everyone. Everyone loves her. And she says the cogs just aren't working out. She's got opportunity and the cogs just aren't working out.
[00:17:30] Melissa Traverse: Yeah. I mean, it's sad on the one hand, but she is such a strong person and also completely relentless. And I have no doubt that all of the work that she put into Bake Me Healthy will lead her to the next great thing. And I can't wait to see what that is.
[00:17:46] Mike Schneider: Who wouldn't want to work with her? I mean, like she's got Great storytelling ability. Like you said, she's relentless. She knows how to build a brand. She knows how to build a great product. I mean, there's a lot of great things going on there and it just goes to show that just because all of the variables are there, it doesn't mean that, you know, the business is going to succeed in it. It's what makes this business so ridiculously difficult. So big hug to Kimberly Lau you know, if you guys get a chance, send her some love.
[00:18:15] Melissa Traverse: I think one of my favorite Taste Radio episodes, I will give a promotion of Taste Radio since we're on Taste Radio. Oh great, that's the best thing you can do. Listen to more Taste Radio. One of my favorite Taste Radio episodes is when Ray talked to Joel from Kodiak Cakes and he talked about how he left the business twice I think in the 15 years leading up to when they really started to explode. And it's just another lesson in how difficult this business is. But if you stick with it in one way or another, something great's going to happen.
[00:18:47] Speaker 1: There you go.
[00:18:48] Melissa Traverse: Okay, so we've talked about Canada a little bit. I was in Canada last week. Were you in Canada? I was in Canada. Love Canada. And so, like I said, I visited a number of grocery stores and I picked up these Long Chips. Have you guys ever had Long Chips?
[00:19:05] Speaker: No.
[00:19:05] Melissa Traverse: I saw these I saw these on a display, and I was like I didn't I haven't even tried them yet, so I have Chips that are long such a Canadian. Yeah, it's it's a rectangle like maybe about like 10 inches long and I call it cracker I would say that it's a cracker. They're calling them Long Chips a crostini. They're mashed potato snacks I have bacon and original they're flash-fried for 10 seconds. Do you guys want to try one sure?
[00:19:32] Speaker 1: How Long Chips the Long Chips? I think it's like literally got pictures of raw bacon on the front of the pack. I don't know how you feel about that.
[00:19:39] Melissa Traverse: I know. You know what though?
[00:19:40] Speaker 1: It's a little too like, wow, what the heck?
[00:19:42] Melissa Traverse: These are basically Pringles. They're like long Pringles.
[00:19:47] Speaker 1: I feel like I'm eating a fruit roll up that's a potato. This is like, this is the most Canadian thing.
[00:19:52] Mike Schneider: I'm way too bacon-y. This is the most Canadian thing I've ever seen. Like in the U.S. it's like- I tried the regular. Great ideas are happening or weird ideas are happening. It's like, just because we can't doesn't mean we should. But in Canada, it's like, we can, we should, and we will.
[00:20:08] Melissa Traverse: Here we go. This is amazing. It's kind of like fruit by the foot, but like the Pringles edition. They're flash fried mashed potatoes that are rolled out really thin.
[00:20:20] Speaker 1: No, but there's an irony in you saying that just because you can doesn't mean you should. What's the irony, bro? That we live in the land of like pickup trucks with like eight wheels.
[00:20:30] Mike Schneider: That's fair. Anyway. Okay. I'm going to give it to Long Chips. This is a fantastic idea.
[00:20:36] John Craven: These are really tasty. They're really tasty.
[00:20:38] Mike Schneider: The mashed potato one.
[00:20:39] John Craven: You're having mashed potato?
[00:20:41] Mike Schneider: Give me mashed potato.
[00:20:44] Speaker 1: Give me that. I'm just picturing a machine that just makes like an infant. This is better than the bacon one. The bacon one just has a little too much like, it's like bacon flavor.
[00:20:53] Melissa Traverse: Bacon?
[00:20:54] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[00:20:55] John Craven: Bacon bacon. I don't know. I like the bacon. Are you sure it's fake bacon? It's a Canadian product. They wouldn't put fake bacon in it.
[00:21:02] Mike Schneider: The aroma on it. But I'll bet you it's actual beef tallow.
[00:21:07] Melissa Traverse: Let's see here. The ingredients are pretty clean. Hold on, I don't see bacon in here. Flavoring blend.
[00:21:15] Mike Schneider: I'm gonna lose the bet.
[00:21:19] Melissa Traverse: I don't see any bacon. I do see paprika though, which is like a bacon imposter.
[00:21:24] Speaker 1: Oh, whatever it is, it's very strong. It's really good.
[00:21:27] Melissa Traverse: I do see how Pringles might be easier to ship.
[00:21:31] Mike Schneider: Also, if you call it mashed potato and it comes mashed, It's not false advertising.
[00:21:36] Melissa Traverse: The bacon is very intense.
[00:21:40] Speaker 2: 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.
[00:22:29] Speaker 3: you
