[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 with my co host for this episode, John Craven, Jacqui Brugliera, and Mike Schneider. Lifesize Jackie. For the first time ever, we're all here in the WCB, the West Coast branch.
[00:00:31] Jacqui Brugliera: I'm surprised we all fit in this room. Usually it's Just Ice.
[00:00:34] Ray Latif: This is not the biggest room that I've ever been in but we do have four cameras. We do have four mics We have the soundboard we have computers. We have all kinds of things here. Where are the other mics making it work? No, Mike, you know one dad joke one Fired up before the episode telling great dad jokes. Well, I said one dad joke and it was about levels and Avicii there were two anyway, I Frankly, not many dads know who Avicii is.
[00:01:03] Jacqui Brugliera: I got it.
[00:01:04] Ray Latif: John was like, I know who Avicii is. Avicii's been around for a while, right? Yeah, that doesn't make you cool. You're not cool because you know Avicii. All right. Anyway, yeah, we're all here in the San Diego office. And we're here because tomorrow we're hosting one of our annual meetups. That is it to invite all folks. I think it's semi-annual, Ray. Semi-annual this one? Yeah, this is our second time. That's right, we did. I just wasn't here for that. Yeah, it's okay. Time's fine.
[00:01:30] Mike Schneider: It's the first annual with you here.
[00:01:33] Ray Latif: It's good.
[00:01:33] Mike Schneider: Welcome. There you go. Well, no, I was here for the one in September last year, too. Right, so it's the annual Ray shows up Eat The semi-annual meetup.
[00:01:40] Ray Latif: It's the only sippy Jesus meetup. Oh, for crying out loud. I'm excited though, because we're expecting a throng of food and beverage entrepreneurs, operators, service industry folks, all here to meet, network, drink some nice libations, alcohol or otherwise, alcoholic or otherwise, and snack on some fun. What's wrong with that?
[00:02:03] Mike Schneider: No, I Just Ice'm drinking a cold brew coffee from an elegant glass. It looks like beer.
[00:02:09] John Craven: It looks like a porter.
[00:02:11] Jacqui Brugliera: He's on East Coast time. He's drinking early.
[00:02:13] Mike Schneider: No, I actually have a Taste Radio drinking game. Every time you, you know, say a certain word, I'm just... Every time Mike's a nerdy, I drink.
[00:02:19] Jacqui Brugliera: I'm not going to tell you. I'm going to try saying it.
[00:02:22] Ray Latif: I think Mike did that actually. Mike does it all the time on stage when he's a judge for the New Beverage Showdown. We have secret words. Secret words. So look out for that, folks. The next time Mike says alligator on stage, everyone has to... I don't know. What does everyone have to do when you say the secret word? Just laugh.
[00:02:37] Jacqui Brugliera: Oh, he just wants laughs. He wants laughter.
[00:02:40] Ray Latif: We just know. That's how you generate laughter on stage is you tell people to do something beforehand.
[00:02:45] Jacqui Brugliera: That's exactly it.
[00:02:46] Ray Latif: I have an applause meter. I was wondering because when you get back into the room, you point at people and be like, you're supposed to laugh. I'm so angry. I'm such an angry person. Mike doesn't have a temper. Jackie, director of marketing for BevNetNosh Taste Radio in Brewbound. Does Mike have a temper?
[00:03:08] Jacqui Brugliera: No. No, he's good.
[00:03:09] Ray Latif: That's good.
[00:03:10] Jacqui Brugliera: Calm, cool, and collected. The turn! The turn! You should have seen the turn he just gave me!
[00:03:14] Ray Latif: He's like, what is she gonna say? The look! He's putting me on the spot. The swivel Just Ice around to me right now. And Mike looked like he wanted to stab me in the throat. Yeah, well I don't think Mike has a temper anyway You know crushing what was it the hard seltzer? Oh, that's right. Yeah temper Hard tea or hard tea. Yes, Arizona's hard tea.
[00:03:45] Jacqui Brugliera: Yes, except it was crushing.
[00:03:46] Ray Latif: Oh, literally crushing. Yeah, like with a hammer. Supergirl uniform, you know.
[00:03:50] Jacqui Brugliera: So your alter ego is angry.
[00:03:51] Ray Latif: Alter ego is super angry. We put that on Instagram. Did we put that up on TikTok?
[00:03:55] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, we did.
[00:03:55] Mike Schneider: I put my own smashing video on there.
[00:03:58] Ray Latif: Oh, you did one too?
[00:03:58] Mike Schneider: Yeah, in slo-mo. But I smashed the can too.
[00:04:02] Ray Latif: Oh, okay. That's not good. You're not supposed to smash the can. It's about take. It looked cool. All right. For folks who don't know what we're talking about, go on to BevNat's Instagram page. Find the post where Mike is smashing a concrete block, and inside that concrete block is a can of Arizona hard tea.
[00:04:21] John Craven: I'm wearing a cape and a hard hat on the cover photo.
[00:04:23] Ray Latif: You might not recognize him, but it's him. Once again, my professional segue was sidelined by people who are trying to sideline my segues. Anyway, I want to talk about TikTok because TikTok has been in the news. It's always in the news, but this is very applicable to our audience in that TikTok shop, which had- FYI, this was your other dad joke.
[00:04:43] John Craven: Jesus.
[00:04:43] Ray Latif: Because you said you only use the tick and not the tock. I did say that. People are asking, do you use TikTok? No, I only use the tick. I don't use the tock.
[00:04:53] John Craven: social media.
[00:04:55] Ray Latif: How many people switched off Taste Radio? All right. No, I mentioned TikTok because the TikTok shop had been in beta testing for the past year and enabled some users of the social media platform to buy products directly via the app is now accessible to all of TikTok's 150 million US based users. This is big news, obviously, even in beta. The shop generated over $350 million in in-app revenue last year, as reported by Forbes. And our very own Shauna Golden reported on all this news for BevNET and Nosh. I don't think it's a stretch for me to say I am not a regular user of TikTok. I probably will never buy TikTok. Clearly this is an important platform and Potentially an important especially to you. Yeah revenue channel.
[00:06:03] Jacqui Brugliera: I don't think they're looking for you to buy anything.
[00:06:04] Ray Latif: No, but like, you know, I I This has been a question for a lot of folks is, OK, great, you have 100,000 followers on TikTok. Great. You have all these dance videos on TikTok. Great. Is it actually generating revenue? And now it feels like this is just literally a click away from generating revenue. And how much, though? So I wonder, I mean, for Jackie and John, who are regular users, I mean, I buy everything on there. Well, I know you wouldn't. Obviously, he's being facetious. Another word that I haven't used in a long time.
[00:06:31] Mike Schneider: I did just have a TikTok shop business idea, though, for BevNET. We're gonna go we're gonna go on the Alibaba I got it I got a real quick and figure out where they make those but we're gonna Eat The blue shirt We're gonna sell the blue shirt It's just the Eat The relative the It's it's swill proof and Waterproof looks perfect at a Morton steakhouse.
[00:07:04] John Craven: Oh You never have to iron it you can get a whole closet full for the price of one hour
[00:07:12] Ray Latif: Anyway, Jackie, I mean, how much do you, how much do you think this is going to change your shirt? How much do you think it's going to change your, I guess, social media experience, particularly on TikTok?
[00:07:21] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah. I don't know if I'll be buying anything anytime soon. I know like Instagram does this too. And I don't know how like frequently people buy things through Instagram. I think like through ads and such when it's very targeted and people click on those to buy, but I don't know if just scrolling through your feed and you're not like in a position to buy or thinking about buying that you do it. I've done it. You've done it?
[00:07:44] John Craven: Yeah.
[00:07:46] Jacqui Brugliera: So, you know, Mike might be buying stuff. I think also like they have the whole shopping part of the app now too. So you can go there specifically if you're looking to shop. So I think the more that's curated to what exactly you're looking for, For example, you're going to Amazon and it's showing you what you might be interested in. Like that might be a useful tool.
[00:08:07] John Craven: I think Instagram's retargeting is phenomenal. You don't get like, if you go searching for something on the internet on your phone, the next thing you know, you've got like 10, 15, 20 of those kind of companies coming at you on Instagram. And some of them just end up being interesting. You learn about new ones. So I think there's definitely At least good awareness building that's happening there if not great transacting as well.
[00:08:32] Mike Schneider: I I know that I've bought from yeah So I think it's Just Ice don't know like it's gonna be weird if all you see are ads Content that's basically an ad right. I mean, I think it Just Ice getting worse though.
[00:08:46] SPEAKER_??: I
[00:08:46] Mike Schneider: Yeah, I mean some of it like I don't know I see tons of like creators that have like hex clad pans and their stuff and it's fun They're cooking people, you know cooking like creators But some of it's just getting kind of silly, you know speaking of silly they change the interface.
[00:09:03] John Craven: So when you swipe To see someone's profile, you see more videos from them, it goes to an ad. Now you have to actually click the tiny name to see the rest of their videos. So they're definitely trying to figure out ways to get you to do, like they're changing the behavior to get you into ads now, which I think is a bad strategy.
[00:09:20] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah. And I think to your point, Instagram has it on lock as far as the retargeting and knowing exactly what you want. Whereas I think TikTok still is trying to figure everything out. So when I go to my feed, I'm not really seeing anything I'd want to buy yet, but I think they're probably going to get there eventually.
[00:09:36] Mike Schneider: I like the stereotyping of the, uh, the ads though. I keep seeing, um, car wash towels, uh, this. Like And Sham-Wows? Yeah, it's like if you wash your car, which admittedly don't really do very often. It's some towel It also shows me wall mount TV brackets and then a real lot of I think it's Snake River meets I did use the power washer that John got on tick-tock I
[00:10:16] Ray Latif: Now, John, don't con me.
[00:10:20] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah. I mean, I'm getting targeted with beard trimming tools, so I think it's a little bit off right now. On TikTok? Yes.
[00:10:27] Ray Latif: Yeah. I'm just shaking my head. I'm getting those on Instagram.
[00:10:32] Jacqui Brugliera: They really have us flip flopped on TikTok.
[00:10:34] Ray Latif: Yeah, I think so. Something's going on. You know what? That'd be kind of fun, actually, is to show interest in just random things that have nothing to do or no interest, no real value in your life and see what comes back. See if they're actually retargeting you mess up The Algorithm Yeah, but The Algorithm is also kind of in my opinion BS because I'm sure these apps are listening man All skewing it because we're looking at all these brands for like work, right?
[00:11:03] Mike Schneider: So we're probably looking at some brands that skew really young or old or whatever or male-oriented. I don't know. Maybe you look up some energy drinks and now it's like, oh yeah, Jackie needs beard trimmer.
[00:11:14] John Craven: When you were looking for your bass, you know that Instagram was all over you about buying a bass. Yes. All different brands of basses were coming at you, etc. Same with me and guitars or any kind of guitar equipment. They're super dialed in. So it's super relevant there. TikTok will figure it out.
[00:11:29] Ray Latif: Did we talk about this? You slap the bass?
[00:11:31] Jacqui Brugliera: I am learning to slap the bass.
[00:11:33] John Craven: Wow.
[00:11:33] Ray Latif: Very cool. Electric bass. Yep. Yeah. Not the double bass. Got herself a P bass. Very cool. Is this like, so you can be in a band or just for fun?
[00:11:42] Jacqui Brugliera: Uh, for now for fun. We'll see if I get that good, but that would be cool. Plenty of bands in San Diego I could, you know, jump on.
[00:11:48] Ray Latif: Who was your favorite bass player?
[00:11:49] Jacqui Brugliera: Uh, Esperanza Spalding.
[00:11:51] Ray Latif: Esperanza Spalding. Don't, not familiar with that artist, but, uh, I will look her up. Just going back to TikTok for a second. You know, I feel like this is accurate and this is reported by Insider and included in the article that Shana wrote. The social media giant TikTok currently takes a 5% commission fee from merchants. Which feels pretty affordable. I mean, it feels like Amazon probably takes a lot more than that per sale. So if that holds, we'll probably change. But if that holds, it feels like, I mean, if you can sell a good amount of stuff, you're doing pretty well. And it doesn't feel like TikTok is ripping you off.
[00:12:29] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah. And I know like some brands have completely transitioned their D to C to just Amazon. So if they could start selling on TikTok and save some money, I mean, it could be a really great channel for a brand that has a great audience there.
[00:12:42] John Craven: Now we just got to get ready to set up a TikTok account. It also sounds like it's early days there too, because if they're showing you beard trimming ads, then that probably means there are fewer advertisers and their targeting isn't that great yet. So maybe there's a deal to be had there.
[00:12:57] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah. Get in early.
[00:12:58] Shaving Tools: Yeah.
[00:13:00] Ray Latif: Now, Jackie, you weren't able to attend Expo East, but I know you've been following along on BevNET and Nosh, all the news and coverage from the events. I'm sure you saw that Just Iced Tea The brand that was born out of Eat The Change, a company founded by Seth Goldman. Barry Nailboff and your friend, Spike Mendelson, John Craven, he's your friend, right? Sure. He's a chill dude. He is a chill dude. Has introduced new cans. And it's interesting because Just Iced Tea, which is essentially the, I don't know, the new Honest Tea, I don't recall ever seeing Honest Tea in cans, but I like this. I like this sort of going after Lipton in so many ways.
[00:13:45] Mike Schneider: I mean, Iced Tea in a can, horribly unsuccessful. I mean, as evidenced by Arizona Iced Tea. No. Yeah, no, I mean it's like seems sort of like an obvious Place for an upstart tea company to play right now, so excited to see how that does for them Yeah, I want to see the looks on our faces when he said that canned Iced Tea was horribly unsuccessful I Joke at that cuz someone said to me like ooh Tina can like that's a new thing and I'm like Never seen a can of Arizona pretty sure that's been around since basically the beginning of RTD Iced Tea, you know
[00:14:30] Ray Latif: But I do feel like it speaks to the opportunity they see in convenience and also in mass. But in convenience in particular, forever, people have been saying that consumers are trading up in convenience and looking for better-for-you options. And this canned option just gives them, I think, a real runway in C-stores.
[00:14:49] Mike Schneider: Yeah, I mean, I think it gives them some runway and in many places where, you know, just glass isn't a good fit. And, you know, there's a couple of upstart like RTD tea brands out there like Hay Day, you know, that are going into cans that will certainly benefit from having Just Iced Tea in a can. And it also, I think, to me, just sends a message that Clearly, they're trying to go far and wide with Just Iced Tea and not go on the sort of honest tea trajectory in terms of time. So pretty exciting to see that. But I think those cans are launching in early 2024, they said. So it'll be a little while before we see the finished product. But yeah, they look really cool. I mean, I like how they, you know, I don't know if they'll stick with this for the final, but like the cans were painted black, like on the top and everything, which had a really slick standout look.
[00:15:42] Ray Latif: Now along with the announcement that Just Iced Tea will be available in cans, Eat The Change is announcing, or sort of, I guess they didn't announce, but they are letting go of their mushroom jerky line. The mushroom jerky was their inaugural product and it's interesting because they were using mushrooms as an ingredient that they could point to as being a sustainable ingredient for CPG. And now it's interesting. I wonder if the entire sort of focus or positioning of Eat The Change is evolving to something else. Seth Goldman did say that they are keeping the carrot juice, which are essentially just Chewy gummies made out of carrots, and I think they're particularly focused on kids for that line. Yeah, they've redone the branding too.
[00:16:30] John Craven: They're upping the whole Cosmic Chews angle on it.
[00:16:33] Ray Latif: Yeah. In the article on BevNET, it says that he remains confident in his Cosmic Carrot Chews brand, which as you mentioned, Mike, did introduce new packaging. You know kids products. You know they've had their tough tough entrepreneurial kids products Yeah, we talk about a kid's product.
[00:16:55] Mike Schneider: It's definitely tough. I mean obviously Seth and Barry built one of the most successful kids brands and Honest Kids, but the only
[00:17:06] Ray Latif: product line that Coca-Cola is keeping from the Honest brand.
[00:17:10] Mike Schneider: I mean, look, you know, they also started Eat The Change before Coke decided to end Honest Tea. So I assume the plan and vision from when they started versus, you know, the vision plan today is just wildly different. I mean, I would imagine that there's a pretty good chance that they'll Just Ice a beverage company. I mean, simply because the opportunity for RTDT is pretty massive and proven. And, you know, what they're doing with fruit chews is a totally different animal, which at some point, you know, if they go to raise money, it's like they have this one thing that's got a massive opportunity and growing fast. And another thing that is just on its own, you know, trajectory that I could see that just kind of not making the cut, you know. or just being something that's on the back burner for later, you know?
[00:18:03] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, I mean, there's a bunch of mushroom jerky now. There's a bunch of kids snack brands out there. There's a lot of competition. And it's a little bit harder to differentiate in that space, specifically for kids.
[00:18:15] Mike Schneider: Well, and those are categories like mushroom jerky. I mean, it's obviously something that's on trend and has potential, but it's not like we kind of don't really know Eat The market potential is for that, right? Is that a billion dollar category? I mean, maybe someday, but... Probably not anytime super soon.
[00:18:32] John Craven: I know mushrooms are trendy. Why not spin that off? Why not spin off the fruit snacks? I mean, they're different production lines. Yes, you've got the branding. You'd have to sort of lose the Eat The change piece, but.
[00:18:45] Mike Schneider: Well, they kind of did though they did or did the reverse like they basically spun off the tea, you know Right, like it's not Eat The change tea. Well, right, that'd be weird, right?
[00:18:53] Ray Latif: But Jackie you mentioned that there's a lot of entrepreneurial kids snack brands out there and just again I'm trying to think of ones that have been wildly successful. And by wildly successful, I mean, you know, turned into $50, $100 million brands. And I just can't think of many. Some people might say, Oh, what about, you know, Once Upon a Farm? And as John pointed out, Once Upon a Farm seems like more of a baby food brand or a toddler brand more than it does a kid's brand.
[00:19:20] Mike Schneider: I mean, or, you know, things like we talked about on Crustables last time. I mean, that's kind of quasi, you know, snack-ish, I guess. I don't know.
[00:19:30] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, I feel like brands have found success in, like, line extensions or additional SKUs for kids rather than launching a whole platform for kids, like Annie's. launched, you know, they have mac and cheese, they have fruit chews, they have the little bunny cheese crackers. Also, perfect bar has their bars for kids. So it seems to be a lot easier to go into that category when you already have an established product that like parents are already eating, and then they can then pass on to their kids because they trust the brand.
[00:20:00] Mike Schneider: Yeah, I totally agree. I mean, I think it's like, you know, you need almost like a graduation strategy from these. And if you have an existing brand or, I don't know, the Annie's, it's like mac and cheese, fine, just don't Eat The farm shapes anymore, you know?
[00:20:14] Ray Latif: It's really interesting we're talking about.
[00:20:16] Mike Schneider: I mean, they taste the same way. Shocked, right?
[00:20:19] Ray Latif: It's really interesting that we're talking about that because today, Once Upon a Farm announced that it is moving beyond just baby food to introduce a new line of refrigerated oat bars. And they are trying, as you guys mentioned, to stay relevant among the consumers that had been eating its baby food products. The bars are 4.5 ounces each and they're priced at $2.79 each or about $9.50 for a five-pack box. They're going to be launching in Target and Wegmans this month, about 40% fruits and vegetables per bar. Who's the CEO or former CEO of Annie's that brought it to its acquisition? John Foraker. Who's the CEO of Once Upon a Farm? John Foraker. How about that?
[00:20:58] Mike Schneider: Well, how about the... I don't know if you've seen the new... They got the same name?
[00:21:03] Ray Latif: You just sounded like Forrest Gump when you said that.
[00:21:05] Mike Schneider: They got the same name? I don't know if you've seen the new Capital One Venture Card commercials, which Jennifer Garner is in, but they're now promoting her use of the Capital One Venture Card at Once Upon a Farm. Also kind of made me wonder like who's paying for that commercial? Is she getting paid to be a spokesperson?
[00:21:28] Ray Latif: To be honest with you though, that's awesome publicity. I did see, so John Foraker and I'm forgetting, is it Cassandra from Once Upon a Farm, the co-founder, they were both in the ad as well, kind of sitting at a round table like this and Just Ice nodding as Jennifer Garner is talking and I'm like,
[00:21:46] Mike Schneider: But I mean, look, you know, that's a better use of her as, you know, celebrity and business owner than some of the others that it's Just Ice, you know, she's like talking head, you know?
[00:21:58] Ray Latif: Maybe it's just more in beverages that you don't see a lot of kids brands work. I just saw Suja. Suja launched a new kids line and Suja obviously being the brand of cold pressed juices. I don't know. You know, how many parents are going to buy, say, a $3, $4 bottle of juice for their kids? You know, it's at Whole Foods, so maybe a few folks, but it just seems like kind of an uphill battle. And then, frankly, I mean, we've seen a lot of better-for-you soda or water plays directed to or positioned for kids, and the price points are just, frankly, outrageous. You're not going to find many, if any, parents to pay $3, $4 for a 10-ounce can of liquid for their kid.
[00:22:39] Jacqui Brugliera: And what stops an adult from, you know, sharing their adult beverage, that's like a juice, like what's a huge difference?
[00:22:46] Ray Latif: I'm glad you clarified, a juice.
[00:22:47] Jacqui Brugliera: Yes, a juice, a non-alcoholic juice. What stops a parent from sharing that with their kid? You know, if you get like a larger bottle and you pour a little out for your child, you know, you could do that too, instead of buying a whole nother bottle that they're probably not going to finish or possibly not like. Why didn't I ever do that?
[00:23:03] Ray Latif: This still sounds like alcohol. Let me pour you some, kid. Here you go, a little scotch.
[00:23:08] Mike Schneider: It'll help you sleep. Have a sip off Uncle Ray's Manhattan here.
[00:23:13] Ray Latif: Speaking of which, I had a great Manhattan Eat The Chase Sapphire Lounge in Boston. Check it out, folks. They just paid me $10,000 for that. Ray Latif was not paid. I was not paid for that. I don't expect we'll see Saint James introducing a kids product anytime soon. Saint James, a brand of organic green tea launched by one of the co-founders of Arizona Tea. I really like this Brad Avery time I see it in our cooler, I pick it up and it is packaged in this 16.9 ounce Tetra Pak. And you know, I love holding a Tetra Pak in my hand. Tetra Pak choir. Love, love holding a Tetra Pak in my hand. I do want to thank our presenting sponsor for this episode. How about it? It's Tetra Pak, the pioneering packaging solutions company that provides safe, innovative, and environmentally sound products that each day Eat The needs of hundreds of millions of people around the world. Learn more at tetrapak.com. Okay. That's not a Tetra Pak. That is in a 16 Fluid ounce glass bottle a Boston Round ray a Boston Round. I never worked in a beverage company Apparently John did nope Just knows I've seen a lot of packages how many people have asked to hire you as a consultant for their beverage company I
[00:24:34] Mike Schneider: I don't know if they've, to consult on what? Don't pretend you don't know what we're talking about.
[00:24:39] John Craven: You're the expert.
[00:24:40] Mike Schneider: You just ask him and he answers the question for free.
[00:24:44] John Craven: That's what happens.
[00:24:45] Mike Schneider: I get more of a, hey, we're making an advisory board sort of thing. Ah, I see. Okay. Which, no, I cannot do that. And you're like, no, I'll just advise you. Yeah, I like free advice all you want. There you go.
[00:24:57] Jacqui Brugliera: All right, there you go. Hit him up.
[00:24:58] Mike Schneider: Okay, all I can do back to the Boston Round.
[00:25:00] Jacqui Brugliera: Yes. Yeah. And my hands I have Pick Me up beauty water. And I think this Boston Round is definitely becoming a trend for these elixir type beverages that are trying to come off as something that's very functional, beautiful craft.
[00:25:16] Ray Latif: Yes, clear bottle.
[00:25:17] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, clear bottles, so you can see the liquid. It's obviously orange, which is the mango turmeric. And this is potion number two. And the whole idea of this beauty water is it has CBD in it. And it also has hyaluronic acid, which is in a lot of beauty products as far as topical beauty products. And you're seeing it pop up more and more in edible products and beverages. So they have this one they also have a edible products.
[00:25:45] Ray Latif: Do you mean like CBD bites or like food food?
[00:25:49] Jacqui Brugliera: So some food products are including that in the food product as well as in beverages getting big dirty lemon vibes Yeah, dirty lemon.
[00:25:56] Ray Latif: It does it does have that dirt lemon was packaged in plastic plastic.
[00:26:01] John Craven: Yeah How many more times can we say Boston Round before this episode I don't know but I'm gonna need a steak soon if we keep talking about cheese
[00:26:12] Jacqui Brugliera: But yeah, I mean, another trend is just edible beauty. And I think this is picking up on that. The other SKUs have the same ingredients except different flavors. So I think that's something that they're doing well. The only thing that I think maybe is a little confusing is that they number their potions. So they have a flavor as well as a potion number. So it makes you think that there might be different like functional ingredients in it, but it actually is all the same.
[00:26:37] John Craven: Cause it's a potion. So you think it's a potion formula, but the only difference. I totally thought that was the case. Yeah. The only potion difference is that that's, that's a really strong point there, Jackie. They've done the right thing though, which is that they've used the same function and they're just changing the flavor, but they should save that potion stuff for when they actually have different functionality. Yeah, but how's it taste?
[00:27:03] Jacqui Brugliera: Let me do it.
[00:27:04] John Craven: She's going for it.
[00:27:06] Jacqui Brugliera: So it definitely kind of tastes like an elixir. It's not quite a juice. It's kind of like a watered down juice.
[00:27:12] John Craven: Mad Dirty Lemon vibes?
[00:27:14] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah.
[00:27:14] John Craven: Okay.
[00:27:15] Ray Latif: Mad Dirty Lemon. I was so happy to see Fresh Fizz Soda in the WCB coolers over here. Love this brand. A low calorie, better for you soda brand. I'm holding in my hand their Hibiscus Ginger Ale variety. It's made with ginger juice, hibiscus, honey, and lemon. It's only 60 calories per 12 ounce can. USD organic certified. and 15 grams of sugar per can. No artificial sweeteners, obviously, because it's organic. No non-nutritive sweeteners either.
[00:27:46] John Craven: That's a brand that has evolved a lot over time. The package has changed.
[00:27:52] Mike Schneider: You got to try their new Date Cola. Especially since I know you're a fan of the Jack and Coke.
[00:27:58] Ray Latif: I do love a cola once in a while and if a cola at 60 calories and 15 grams of sugar, I can definitely. Yeah, it's like a little less, a little less sweet.
[00:28:07] Mike Schneider: I mean, it's, it's nice.
[00:28:08] John Craven: This one feels super grassroots, super cool. I really liked the can and the flavors are great too. And like you said, Ray, that's 60 calories for a soda. I mean, of course you're going to go in for that.
[00:28:22] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, I love the new packaging. I love that they went into the 12 ounce cans instead of like the tall skinny cans they used to have. I think it makes a lot of sense and it just looks like a soda now.
[00:28:32] Ray Latif: And the one you have, Jackie, is their sparkling jalapeno limeade, which, you know, I think the pepper flavor, that sort of burn that we've seen a lot in the cocktail category, at least in cocktails, has slowly been trickling down to non-alcoholic beverages. But a lot of times it's just the flavor Is Off. It's too peppery, it's too hot. Too peppery?
[00:28:56] John Craven: It's not too peppery, is it, Jackie? No, I love it. Whenever you need to have something spicy.
[00:29:01] Jacqui Brugliera: I do love my spicy food. This is just a nice little mellow hit of jalapeno.
[00:29:05] John Craven: Nice. Exactly. When we were talking earlier about Expo East, it reminded me that we didn't mention on the last show, on our Expo East wrap up, but there was a product there that just blew our minds and it's called Aji. Did you get to try Aji? A-A-J-I?
[00:29:20] Ray Latif: It was Eat The Harvest Festival, and I saw them, and yes, and I actually reached out to their founder about participating in a future episode of Elevator Talk.
[00:29:28] John Craven: Oh, they should definitely do Elevator Talk. We had the same conversation with them, but they didn't have a booth, and we missed the Harvest Festival. We caught them on the floor, and people were sort of raving about this stuff. It's a line of, I guess you'd call them dips or starters, similar to what we've seen from near Maya. And we got to try them and I, they're so tasty. There's some great pepper flavors, just kind of a little bit of smoky flavor. You could see Just Ice poaching an egg on top and it's, you've got your shakshuka right there. So it was, that was a great surprise.
[00:30:06] Ray Latif: Yeah John Craven you got some taboo.
[00:30:10] Mike Schneider: Yeah, Jackie just brought this little box of Snacks, and I was like what's this and just started eating it Sorry, Jackie.
[00:30:17] Jacqui Brugliera: No go for it.
[00:30:19] Mike Schneider: I assume.
[00:30:19] John Craven: This is called taboo Be you I see what you there, which why would you call a product that unless that's weed in it?
[00:30:26] SPEAKER_??: Oh?
[00:30:26] John Craven: Like you put mushrooms in something and you're trying to tease out that maybe it's dangerous, right?
[00:30:40] Mike Schneider: Yeah, this is I don't think dangerous. It's a Peruvian cacao and crispy quinoa
[00:30:47] Jacqui Brugliera: It's pretty good.
[00:30:48] Mike Schneider: I like it. I dig it.
[00:30:50] Jacqui Brugliera: It has that texture, which is nice. I feel like, I mean, I'm holding one too, but there's a lot of like snacking chocolates coming out and they're trying to, you know, really ramp up the fact that it has super foods in there and functional mushrooms.
[00:31:04] Mike Schneider: And it still tastes good. So that definitely is kind of helpful.
[00:31:08] Jacqui Brugliera: And honestly, it popped out on shelf for me because in Tabu Chocolate set, there's a lot of like similar packaging and this looked craft and the color of it also popped off shelf.
[00:31:19] John Craven: The packaging. Yeah. The after taste of this just kind of sits with you in the nicest way. It's got like a little bit of that mushroom that kind of hits you and it's really tasty.
[00:31:29] Jacqui Brugliera: Mm hmm. And that's a local brand. So say come to the local brands.
[00:31:34] Ray Latif: That's a good question. Let's get into their DMs. Let's get a spam go. Let's get some spam going.
[00:31:41] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah. And I mean, snacking chocolate. We also have this product in the office right now. It's called breaks and it's by Scharffen Berger, which is the like
[00:31:53] Mike Schneider: a legit chocolate company.
[00:31:54] Jacqui Brugliera: Yes. Scharffen Berger is Tabu Chocolate company. And they launched this, like sub brand product called breaks. And this one is oat milk chocolate with coconut sugar, coconut and quinoa bark. So they're all like milk chocolate, Tabu Chocolate. They're all plant based vegan, which I think is key for especially milk chocolate. And they have interesting things that they're combining Tabu Chocolate. Like they have sunflower seeds, they have gluten-free pretzels, and then they have quinoa bark.
[00:32:25] Mike Schneider: Yeah, I liked these. We had these back in the Newton office too. And, you know, first of all, I think cool to see, you know, an established name in chocolate getting into this sort of snack product, but they're really, you know, unique, but well-executed kind of savory pairings. You know, I don't know. I was kind of like, what's a salted sunflower seed bark going to taste like? But it's good.
[00:32:49] Ray Latif: I feel like this goes back to the conversation we were having about large and legacy companies getting into new product lines or introducing brand extensions and it feeling very entrepreneurial in the way it looks.
[00:33:03] Mike Schneider: Yeah, I mean, it does, although it's one of these like, I don't know, I kind of tried this and I'm like, where's this product been for the past, you know, decade? Because obviously, there have been a lot of companies that have done this sort of broken pieces of chocolate in a flexible pouch. Like why now you know kind of the same way? Yeah This this week as a tangent. There's the Lee and Perrins Bloody Mary mix. Oh, I saw that yeah, and it's like for real Now like you should have done this 25 years ago.
[00:33:36] Ray Latif: You know yeah, maybe bloody Mary's having a comeback. You know just just check the old tip-top oh
[00:33:41] Mike Schneider: Yeah, but Lee and Perrins is like a brand that, I don't know, I feel like you kind of got to be old to know what it is, right? Yeah. Because they used to advertise way... Yeah, I don't know what it is. There you go. Jackie, you're not old.
[00:33:55] Ray Latif: You don't keep bottles of Worcestershire sauce at home? See, this is how you know you're old, when you're, the side of your doors, your refrigerator doors are just packed with crap. Yeah. Like, Just Ice, Leigh & Perrins. I don't have Leigh & Perrins. It's a great brand, not calling it crap, but just, you know, relish, like eight different kinds of relish, nine different kinds of mustard, eight different kinds of barbecue sauce.
[00:34:20] John Craven: I need to clean out my fridge. What if you have every variety of Chili Crisp?
[00:34:26] Ray Latif: I mean, you're on trend, right? That's Eat The kids are eating these days.
[00:34:29] Jacqui Brugliera: That should be a reel that we make. What's in everyone's fridge?
[00:34:32] Mike Schneider: Condiments. I think the answer to that is you're either broke or work in the industry, too, because those things ain't cheap. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Fridge, we should do that.
[00:34:41] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah.
[00:34:41] Mike Schneider: Mine is mustard.
[00:34:42] Jacqui Brugliera: All different types of mustard.
[00:34:43] Mike Schneider: I'm not gonna go first on that.
[00:34:44] Jacqui Brugliera: You got all the mustards? All the mustards.
[00:34:45] Ray Latif: Nice.
[00:34:46] Jacqui Brugliera: Boston Round, honey, spicy, you name it.
[00:34:49] Ray Latif: I have about 18 different kinds of espresso martinis that I have not cracked open.
[00:34:52] Mike Schneider: Yeah, I was gonna say I wouldn't go first because I have definitely have some like RTDs that I brought home and just kind of haven't gotten around to consuming. All right.
[00:35:01] Ray Latif: Coming up on Taste Radio, future episode, what's in everyone's fridge? How about fridge shaming? Fridge shaming. Fridge shaming.
[00:35:09] Jacqui Brugliera: Or glory, depending on what's in it.
[00:35:11] Ray Latif: I don't know, we could fridge shame each other, it'd be okay. 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.
[00:36:04] Shaving Tools: you
