[00:00:10] Ray Latif: Hello and 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 BevNET and Nosh colleagues, Jacqui Brugliera, Mike Schneider, and Brad Avery. 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. Now, we record these episodes over Zoom. And when I was doing my intro, Mike was trying his hardest to throw me off. He was either trying his hardest to throw me off, or he was just very, very excited about the way I introduced this episode. I was celebrating because B-Rad is in the house. Hello.
[00:01:03] Brad Avery: Glad to be back. I feel like I should be hitting a cowbell right now. Can we get that pumped in? Can we get the cowbell effects? Joe, more cowbell, please. More cowbell. Cowbell. I got a fever.
[00:01:16] Ray Latif: And the old prescription is more Brad. More B-rad. Brad, it's so great to see you. It's been a bit.
[00:01:23] Taste Radio: Absolutely, but it's good to be back and there's a lot to talk about. Just been plugging away, covering the beverage space, and it's been a pretty crazy couple of months, really.
[00:01:34] Ray Latif: Yeah, a lot going on in beverages. We're going to get to a few pieces of news in a moment, but we can't continue this episode without noting the incredible day that today is. Now we're recording on February 22nd, 2022. So if you write that out, it's 2-2-2-2-2. On a Tuesday, no less. So I didn't plan anything in terms of celebrating such a remarkable, momentous day. Maybe you guys did.
[00:02:07] Expo West: I'm going to go buy a Lottery Ticket.
[00:02:09] Taste Radio: There you go. I'm organizing a petition to increase March to 33 days before 2033 so that we can do it all over again in 11 years.
[00:02:22] Ray Latif: I like that idea a lot. Maybe we can talk to President Biden about that. I don't think he has a lot going on on his plate right now. So I'm sure he'd be down for that. How are you going to get through the Senate? Very good question, Brad. That's a very good question. 33 days in March would be great for us, I think, because it would give us a little bit more time to recover from Expo West. Anyone who's been to Expo West, anyone who's walked the show floor knows that you need at least a week, two, maybe two or three months even to recover from that show. It is a tough one to navigate, but we're trying to make things a little bit easier for folks to navigate Expo West. and it's very helpful for us if you let us know what you'll be planning for the show. That means in terms of brand updates, new products, etc., stuff that you'll be exhibiting at the show, even if you don't have a booth. We're compiling all this information for our reporters to use and for the community at large. Jackie, can you elaborate on how we're using that info?
[00:03:29] Expo West: Yeah, so if you go to BevNET.com backslash Expo West, you'll see that we have a submission form, taking submissions for booth numbers to make sure we have your number correct, and also taking news submissions. So we're curating all that content. Our editorial team is going to use that to kind of find all of the news before we get there and curate their booth list so that they know where they need to stop. So if you have anything newsworthy, help Brad out and submit your news in advance. so we can best prepare for the event.
[00:04:01] Did Anyone: We've got oodles of submissions so far. People are doing their homework. We appreciate you getting out ahead of it. Don't wait till the last minute, because Brad is making plans now.
[00:04:10] Ray Latif: Brad needs help, and I'm not saying that because you really need help, but I think it would be very helpful to you if you knew in advance what beverage companies are going to be there and what beverage companies are going to be exhibiting.
[00:04:25] Taste Radio: Am I right? Yeah, you know, it's funny, just right before this, we were literally just discussing our game plan and beginning to sort of map out how we're tackling the show. So please, you know, reach out, give us your news, you know, being able to know going in, we're going to try to hit every booth that we can, but you know, knowing that if you have a new product, knowing if you're going to have some news to share is super helpful. And it's such a big undertaking for our team to go to this show, but it's really exciting too. So I really look forward to seeing everything you guys have to announce.
[00:04:57] Expo West: And we're also trying to help the community navigate the show as well. So we will be releasing a booth guide listing all of the insiders across BevNET and Nosh, food and beverage brands that are exhibiting at Expo West. We will be publishing that prior to the show. So Did Anyone's interested in learning what insiders are at the show, you can download that.
[00:05:19] Did Anyone: And Jackie, where do they go to submit their booths?
[00:05:21] Expo West: You go to BevNET.com backslash Expo West.
[00:05:26] Ray Latif: You know, not to harp on this, but it really is helpful for the community at large as well. People going to the show are always like, what booth should I go to? They're always asking us, you know, what do you see and what booth should we check out? And, you know, we only know that information if you folks send it to us. It's a really good way to build enthusiasm, build awareness for your booth and what you'll be showing at the event. So definitely check it out. Last time we're going to say it, BevNET.com slash Expo West. Now, among the hundreds of companies that we'll be exhibiting at the show, likely will be a number of brands that pulled in a ton of money over the past couple of weeks. There are five brands that BevNET reported on that raised funds, including Sanzo, Barcode, Can, Koss, and Bizzy Coffee, who combined, pulled in or announced that they pulled in nearly $60 million in new funding. Now, Brad, you covered some of these funding rounds for BevNET. I'd love to get a couple of talking points on each one. Let's start with Sanzo, which is an Asian-inspired sparkling water brand. They closed a $10 million Series A funding round led by Circle Up Growth Partners. Now, we've talked about Sanzo on the podcast in the past, but this is a pretty big raise for a company that's less than two and a half years old.
[00:06:51] Taste Radio: Yeah, and that's the most recent announcement just from the week that we're recording this. And it's a very interesting brand. I think Sanzo is sparkling water with Asian fruit inspired flavors, flavors like lychee, and I believe yuzu ginger is our latest. And that brand, I think one of the things that set them apart very quickly was they got a deal with Disney to create cans for the Marvel film Shang-Chi that came out last summer. And that was a huge, huge attention getter for them. It really seeded brand awareness far and wide. And there's also this adoption of a lot of Asian flavors in mainstream products now. We're seeing Yuzu becoming more popular among innovation. And I think the brand is sort of hitting on all these unique notes at the same time. They are small, they are young. As Martín Caballero wrote in his lead, they've been punching above their weight class for a while. Now they're really backing that up with some muscle with this funding round. And I think that they have really hit on a point of differentiation for the sparkling water category that no one else has really been doing, at least at this level.
[00:08:06] Ray Latif: Then we also have Barcode, which is a functional hydration beverage that was founded by former NBA trainer Mubarak Malik. Barcode closed a $2.2 million funding round, probably the smallest, well, it is the smallest or earliest stage brand out of the five that I mentioned.
[00:08:26] Taste Radio: Yeah, and I don't think they called it a seed round, but they are the youngest company here. And this is the earliest stage investment for them. What I thought was interesting was Erawan is invested in this round. And that's been one of their primary retail partners, to my knowledge. And so it's interesting to see Erawan getting more deeply involved in the brands in this way. I'm not too sure their investment history beyond that. So I don't want to speak to if this is the first or not. It's definitely a significant point for Barcode, and I think it shows a strong relationship there with a very influential specialty retailer. Barcode itself is interesting. It's a premium hydration drink, a sports drink sort of, but it goes beyond that as well with functional benefits. So I think that they are coming into the category, you know, shortly after the body armor acquisition and at a time where, you know, there really is a opportunity to actually gain some market share for a startup brand. So I think it's interesting timing for that investment.
[00:09:30] Ray Latif: Now, the biggest deal or at least the biggest funding raise over the last couple of weeks in the beverage industry, at least that we reported on, was that of Cannes, which pulled in $27 million, also in a Series A funding round. That's quite a bit of money, even for a fast-growing brand. What are they planning on using it for? Canada. Canada.
[00:09:49] Taste Radio: Cans going to Canada and elsewhere across the country as well. You know, I think they put it well that right now for THC infused product, anytime they want to open up a new state, it already is like having to go to a new country anyway. The way that the regulations are set up for THC infused products, you know, they have to set up manufacturing locally. They have to, you know, meet new labeling requirements, you know, state by state. It's a burden. It's a burden for brands who want to expand. And there's a very large legal market in Canada, you know, because the country has legalized cannabis nationwide. So there's not the same restrictions. Once you're in the market, you know, you're established, you're established in the market. They have a strong partner with with trust. and they are getting established very quickly there. The problem they have in Canada, and not so much of a problem because it's also a benefit, is that the sparkling THC beverage category is a bit more established. So whereas they built their brand in California and were basically creating this category of social tonics, you know, micro-dose, low-dose products, and had that first-to-market benefit, here they have more competition. But That also means they have to do less education and they just need to establish their brand. And they've got this funding to do it. They've got the strategic partners to do it. And they've got the knowledge and the brand equity in the US that they can do that there, at least that's their plan. So that was definitely one of the most exciting stories I've seen here where that's a brand really aiming to tackle a very large geography very quickly.
[00:11:34] Did Anyone: I'm guessing they'd have a lot to learn on the distribution path. It's gotta be a lot different. I mean, obviously, as you said, Brad, they can be a lot more efficient with their production because you don't have to have locally grown cannabis in each market, which seems a little ridiculous, but best of luck to Can.
[00:11:51] Taste Radio: Yeah, and just real quick, that's not to say that they're not still expanding in the U.S. They actually, again, part of this round, they want to hit New York, New Jersey, the tri-state area, since those markets are going to be opening up. They want to be first come, first serve there as well. So they're also expanding in the U.S., even if it is a challenge with every state, they're doing it.
[00:12:14] Ray Latif: Then there's a brand I'm not too familiar with called KOS, K-O-S. It's a plant-based powder brand. They pulled in $12 million in a Series A financing round. It was led by food and beverage industry veterans Clayton Christopher and Brian Goldberg. Clayton, one of the most high profile investors in the space, someone who has a ton of experience at the entrepreneurial level, having built Sweet Leaf Tea and also a key partner in Waterloo as well. Why was costs so interesting to him or why was he so interested in investing in costs?
[00:12:53] Taste Radio: Well, I only spoke to the co-founder, Alan Stevens, so I don't know why Clayton and Brian were, you know, from their perspective beyond what they said in the press release. But I do think those guys obviously have, you know, very sharp eye for brands. And what Kost has kind of done is It's one of those five-year overnight successes where it's been a grind for them, but they suddenly have hit on a high growth curve. They came to the company from not a food and beverage background, sort of a struggle to really get into the market, but a few strong retail partnerships and really a focus on direct consumer has very quickly built this brand to a point where it's starting to gain adoption. and it's in a category that is crowded. Protein powders is a very difficult space, but they have the plant-based credentials, and they have strong branding, and they've gained very strong placements in stores and have really focused on the fundamentals of the business. Beyond protein powders, they also have some food products. They're coming out with gummies as well that I believe are keto-friendly. And I think that the relationship with Clayton and Brian is going to be very important. You know, they're coming on as individuals, but they obviously have very strong industry connections. I believe Clayton has CEO on the board now, but Brian is also very much involved there. And it's going to be opening up a lot of doors for the company. This is in addition to their institutional investment partners as well.
[00:14:28] Ray Latif: Now, last but not least, a brand that I have a lot of respect for, that's Bizzy Coffee, which is founded by Alex French. They brought in $7.1 million in new funding round. It was led by a venture capital firm called Sidekick Partners. It's actually pretty interesting because this one is very much about manufacturing as it is anything else.
[00:14:52] Taste Radio: Bizzy is absolutely taking a slow and steady wins the race approach to their strategy here. They're based in the Midwest. They've got a sizable retail presence. And they've really focused in, dialed in the product portfolio in recent years, which Alex and I talked about the other day when they announced this round. It's primarily debt-based. There's only a few equity partners involved, including Sidekick. And in particular, Sidekick, I don't know how well known they are, but they are very involved in food and beverage. And one thing Alex said to me is that he really loved that they have a real founder focus and experience with food and beverage entrepreneurs that made them an attractive partner. In terms of what they're going to be doing now, yes, building out manufacturing and expanding the footprint. They've focused on multi-serve cold brew coffee in the refrigerated aisle. They're not going for single serve at this point. They sell beans online direct to consumer. It's a very focused business, I think. And the round really is just to support growth and they're not trying to go too high too fast. And I think it's one of the more interesting conversations I had was with Alex and some of that's in the article that I wrote. He had a very considered view of the space and of Cold Brew in particular. He noted that Cold Brew has had challenges in single serve. Coffee is one of the fastest growing categories for RTD, but it's largely multi-serve, and that's where they're playing.
[00:16:25] Ray Latif: Very cool stuff. Well, for the full story on all five deals, head to BevNET.com. Plenty of information about how these entrepreneurs are navigating their financial needs and wooing, so to speak, investors to the table. So great stuff, as always, Brad, on your reporting. Now, on the Nosh side of things, there was a story on the site that really piqued my interest, and that was the story of a new brand called Incredible. Now, Incredible was brought to the market by Post Holdings. Yes, that Post that is known for their cereals, including Fruity Pebbles. But Post has tried to downplay any specific ties to this new brand, Incredible, according to the Nosh story. Incredible is a low-sugar, grain-free, and high-protein cereal. The thing that really interested me was its branding, its package design, and its positioning, all of which seems to be taking cues from entrepreneurial brands. Now, if you've ever seen a brand called Off Limits one called Magic Spoon, you might see the similarities that I'm talking about. And it made me think, It's this continuation that I feel like we've been seeing at least over the past year or two, where strategic companies and larger conglomerates are internally developing more of these trendy brands, as opposed to acquiring them.
[00:18:04] Expo West: There's just so many brands that are out there, which results in so much more consumer data and trend analysis. And I feel like they're just kind of sitting back and watching everything kind of play out, analyzing the trends, analyzing how these brands are performing, and then kind of cherry picking. What makes sense for their company? What do they need as far as their portfolio? And what makes sense for their own consumer? I mean, obviously, health and wellness, huge trend. They're keto friendly, which some other cereals are as well. So they're trying to hit on that. I think it's interesting to see what other larger companies are going to be coming out with and if there will be more similarities with smaller entrepreneurial brands.
[00:18:45] Did Anyone: The interesting thing to me here is, I mean, yes, it's on trend with the other keto-friendly cereal brands, but something Post doesn't normally do is premium price a product. So it'll be interesting to see how that plays into it.
[00:19:03] Ray Latif: Yeah, it's really expensive. According to the Nosh story, Incredibles is priced at roughly $40 for four boxes. So we're talking about 10 bucks a box. That's a lot for cereal.
[00:19:15] Did Anyone: It's a lot for cereal. It's a lot for a post cereal for sure. I mean, they're not exactly known for being better for you. They're full of all kinds of filler and probably cheap to produce, low margin, high volume products. So this is not that.
[00:19:32] Expo West: Yeah. And it's interesting because they, they probably have a little bit more flexibility with pricing than are able to take more risk to try and see if they can have success with a higher price products. Whereas like an entrepreneurial brand, they need that high price in order to cover their costs.
[00:19:48] Ray Latif: Yeah, that's a great point, Jackie. You know, in the Nosh story, a senior brand manager representing Incredible mentioned that they're going after younger, digitally savvy consumers who are willing to spend more on their products. I consider myself a younger, digitally savvy consumer, but I don't know if I'd spend $10 a box. Two out of three ain't bad, right? Yeah, okay. All right.
[00:20:13] Taste Radio: You're also seeing that on the beverage side as well, though. Like you said, you know, kind of the strategic approach to turn to in-house innovation rather than M&A. And, you know, it's kind of like with Coca-Cola, we saw for a long time the focus through like VEB was, you know, find the next billion dollar brand, acquire a small, you know, earlier stage company. I don't want to say early stage, but like younger company and build them up and Now what they've done is instead they're looking for the brands that have proven themselves, so body armor, and they're willing to pay a higher price tag to get a brand that they know is a sure thing, rather than acquire a early stage entrepreneurial brand and then, you know, spend the resources to build it up internally, they would rather now turn towards innovation in-house and take some of those cues. And we've seen that with PepsiCo too. I think you saw that last year, they launched a brand, Soulboost. They actually launched a number of new brands last year that they announced. that don't bear the PepsiCo marking, at least not initially. So there's Soulboost. There is that... Oh, I'm blanking on the name. There's a mixer brand that they launched. And there's a number that are taking the design cues, taking the premium positioning cues from entrepreneurial startups.
[00:21:36] Did Anyone: My last thought on Incredible for now is I think they did something pretty smart here, which is they really changed one thing here. Well, maybe two things. A lot of this is really familiar looking. It's Frosted Flakes. They're not going for some crazy new flavor. They upped the protein. They made a cereal that people already like, and they made it keto-friendly. So maybe it has a chance.
[00:22:03] Ray Latif: I mentioned edibles, and Jackie, you have some edibles in front of you, don't you?
[00:22:08] Expo West: I do. No, Jackie! They might be open.
[00:22:14] Taste Radio: Jackie, what time is it in California?
[00:22:17] Expo West: The good thing is the entire bag is 10 milligrams, so if I just have one chip, maybe that's a fraction of a milligram. But yeah, I actually visited my local dispensary on Sunday and saw a whole range of new products that I haven't seen before in the edible space. One of which, which you don't see a lot of salty snacks in the edible space. You see gummies, you see chocolate, and there's this new line of Sumo Snacks, spelled T-S-U-M-O. And they have the Zesty Ranch Cannabis Infused Mini Tortilla Rounds. And they also have a version that's like hot Cheetos.
[00:22:52] Did Anyone: Oh no.
[00:22:53] Expo West: Thankfully one bag is, you know, dose for 10 milligrams because they're easily, you know, snackable. So you gotta be a little careful with them, but it's really interesting to see, you know, salty and like these brands that you would see in whole foods or in any other retailer now utilizing cannabis and coming into the dispensaries.
[00:23:14] Ray Latif: It's cool branding. What's the name of the brand again, Jackie?
[00:23:16] Expo West: Sumo Snacks with a T-S-U-M-O. And they have I think five products and they're all either tortilla rounds or the crunchy like hot Cheetos.
[00:23:26] Did Anyone: Now we know how Jackie gets through a whole show with a smile on her face.
[00:23:30] Expo West: Eating tortilla rounds.
[00:23:32] Ray Latif: That's probably how our listeners get through this as well. They've got topical creams they got going on. They're drinking cannabis beverages, taking hits off bongs.
[00:23:45] Did Anyone: There's like live microdosing happening on Taste Radio right now.
[00:23:49] Expo West: And once I'm done with the bag, I have some glow nuts to wash it down.
[00:23:55] Taste Radio: What are glow nuts? We've got a fishbowl in the Taste Radio studio.
[00:24:00] Expo West: So glow nuts are these little keto friendly doughnuts. They remind me of like the hostess, you know, tiny mini doughnuts, but they're better for you. Only one net carb. I found it in a little local market around here and these are snickerdoodles. So they kind of remind me of, you know, the hostess coffee cake flavor and there's three in a box and they're really tasty.
[00:24:22] Did Anyone: I can see a sumo glow nuts collab coming up, Jackie. So, you know, you eat your sumo, you get the munchies, glow nuts are right there for you. Exactly. Ready for you.
[00:24:31] Ray Latif: Got them ready. The glow nuts, I could have sworn when you pull those out, Jackie, on the video, I thought you got those from the dispensary as well, because the brand new looks very weed-ish.
[00:24:41] Expo West: I thought you were going to
[00:24:42] Did Anyone: Keep going.
[00:24:43] Expo West: Just all edibles. No, these are not cannabis edibles.
[00:24:47] Did Anyone: I thought you were going to be like, well, 10 milligrams just isn't enough for me.
[00:24:50] Ray Latif: So I got another 50 right here in my glow nuts. I kind of thought that's where I was going. Anyway, we're off to THC for a sec. I want to talk about a brand called Clean Energy. Now, Clean Energy is a smoothie that comes in these little pouches with the twist-off caps. Each pouch is 3.5 ounces. And it is made with all organic ingredients, including banana, strawberry, blueberry, spinach, and flaxseed. These things are incredible. Again, it's positioned as a smoothie, but you see a lot of these squeeze packs in the kids' or the children's aisle and whatnot. But we met the founder, Ted Volz, in a recent episode of Elevator Talk. Again, Elevator Talk being the series that profiles early stage and disruptive brands from across the food and beverage industry. And he talked about how this product and brand is intended to be sort of a replacement for your morning or afternoon caffeine. Even though this does not contain any caffeine, it's supposed to give you a boost, you know, in the morning and throughout your day as well. He actually owns the trademark as well for Clean Energy for beverages, which is mind-blowing. The fact that he owns that is the co-host for that episode and I were talking about that. I'm like, man, you've got a winner on your hands, even if you don't have a product. Anyway, lucky for him, he does have a great product. Congratulations, Ted. Folks, if you can get your hands on some of this stuff, please do. It's really, really good.
[00:26:17] Taste Radio: That's crazy owning that trademark. That's astounding.
[00:26:20] Ray Latif: Yeah, isn't it? I mean, like literally, if he did nothing, if he didn't even create a product, he could sell that trademark for I don't know how much. Yeah. I also want to talk about a brand called District Snacks. District Snacks is a maker of almond butters with these amazing flavors. There's two SKUs. One is cookie dough or chocolate chip cookie dough. The other one is a brownie batter. I love that indulgence comes to almond butters. We need more of this stuff. The founder is Luke Rozanski, who reached out to me about a couple weeks ago. He is an insider, and it's so great to hear that, but it's even more great to hear that he wanted to send some samples my way. And these are amazing. They each come in these 10-ounce plastic containers. And this really speaks to, or his products really speak to the fact that people want this balance between better for you and indulgence. There's zero added sugar in these products, five grams of protein per serving, and only three grams of net carbs. There's nothing artificial, yet they are so smooth and so tasty. You could put these on anything. I know I'm going wild about these last two brands that I'm talking about, but This is like the future of the food and beverage industry for me. It's like really great tasting, better for you products where there's zero compromise. So really well done, Luke, on your brand. Can't wait to meet you in person as well.
[00:27:44] Did Anyone: Do you know what's surprising me, Jackie and Brad? What? What? Ray's really excited about a brand that we probably haven't tried yet because he's sorting it all underneath his bed or something. I don't keep it under my bed. Sharing is caring, right?
[00:27:59] Ray Latif: I keep it in the bottom drawer locked up of my little office here at home. Locked up. Yeah, of course locked up. There's ocular scan required. Another brand that I want to talk about is a brand called Brainiac. Now, Brainiac makes these snack bars and single-serve butters that are infused with brain-boosting ingredients, hence the name. So they have a brain bar, which is exactly what it's called, and that is trademarked. How about that, Brad? They also have a brain butter, which is also trademarked. The Brain Butters come in two flavors. We have a chocolate peanut and a honey peanut, and the bars come in a chocolate chip and an apple cinnamon variety as well. Oh, get in my belly. They all contain what Brainiac refers to as the Brain Pack, which is a combination of omega-3s, choline, I think I'm pronouncing it correctly, and lutein, all of which supports brain health. The best part about these products are that they taste great. Now, we don't talk about olive oil very often on the podcast, but I got to bring this one up. This is a brand called COLIVE, C-O-L-I-V-E. It's a Cypriot. olive oil brand. That's an olive oil brand from Cyprus. It's the only one according to the company at US that sells in the United States or retail in the United States. The front of the bottle, which is 500 milliliters, says taste without limits. And this is a really amazing tasting olive oil. Now, you know, I think some people will say, well, extra virgin olive oil is extra virgin olive oil, but this has a very specific flavor to it that really differentiates Kalev from other brands out there. The other really cool thing about this brand is that 10% of the profits from each bottle sold go to positive change in Cyprus. Cyprus has a history of some conflict, civil conflict within the country. And so as the country continues to heal from that civil conflict, it's great to see a brand like this. contributing to causes of peace and well-being for its residents, for the citizens of Cyprus. So really well done, Kalev. Love the branding, love the brand, and especially love the olive oil itself. All right, on that note, thank you so much to all who are listening and continue to listen to Taste Radio on a regular basis. Really, really appreciate it. Excited to see all of you at Expo West. In the meantime, if you have questions, comments, ideas for future podcasts, please send an email to ask at Taste Radio. On behalf of the entire Taste Radio team, thank you for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.
