[00:00:09] Ray Latif: Hello, and thanks for tuning into Taste Radio, the number one podcast for anyone building a business in food or beverage. I'm Ray Latif, the editor and producer of Taste Radio, and with my co-hosts, Melissa Traverse and Mike Schneider. In this episode, we compare two contrasting growth stories. Breeze, the cannabis-centric beverage brand navigating regulatory uncertainty and growth beyond THC. And Stars and Honey, the protein bar brand that earned a nationwide target launch after years of refining its D2C business. We also discussed GT Kombucha's playful take on a Shirley Temples flavor, the rise of better-for-you Rice Krispie treats, and an ice cream brand's pickleball-inspired care package. So most of us, actually all of us in this room are off to the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York City this weekend, which begins on Sunday, June 28th and goes till Tuesday, June 30th. If you're attending the show, if you're exhibiting at the show, please let us know. Send us a note on LinkedIn, IG, or you can email us at askatasteradio.com. We would love to see you. We're going to be recruiting for Elevator Talk. Lots of early stage brands exhibiting at the Summer Fancy Food Show. And we would love to have you join us for an episode of Taste Radio via our Elevator Talk series. If you're not familiar, it is a series that profiles early stage and disruptive brands from across the food and beverage industry. It's an hour long show. We feature five brands per episode, 10 minutes for each brand. And we feature a co-host who is an expert in finance, retailing, distribution, what have you, who can offer some feedback, advice, and insights about your brand and business strategy. So once again, if you're attending the Summer Fancy Food Show, please let us know. We want to see you. We want to recruit you. Of course, we want to also see you at our upcoming events, BevNET Live, Nosh Live, and our Taste Radio Meetups, which are happening across the country. We should make the Elevator Talk Army like Tartan Army. Oh, I like that.
[00:02:14] Melissa Traverse: I like that.
[00:02:15] Ray Latif: Make some kits.
[00:02:16] Melissa Traverse: We need kilts. Can we have kilts?
[00:02:18] Ray Latif: We have to do something different though.
[00:02:23] Mike Schneider: Is that what they say? No. Well, they will. They're going to sing about you.
[00:02:29] Melissa Traverse: Yeah. You know, seeing the Scottish folks and their reaction to Boston made me love Boston a little more. I feel like I was a little down on Boston, but.
[00:02:37] Ray Latif: Well, they definitely seem to praise the city in a way that was a little unexpected. Typically, you don't hear that Boston is the most welcoming city.
[00:02:44] Melissa Traverse: No.
[00:02:45] Ray Latif: It's the most friendly city. No. And that's all the Scots seem to talk about. At least that's what we saw in the news. Now, maybe there's some tweet out there that's like, this is the worst experience I could have ever imagined. Boston is S-H-I-T. But, you know, that's one out of 10,000 probably.
[00:03:00] Melissa Traverse: Yeah, and I never think of Boston as being a place where people go to party, but I'm glad that- Wait, wait, wait, what? No, I don't know, I feel like everything closes early, people here are grumpy. I mean, that doesn't stop people. No, I know, but I just, I feel like we were infused with the spirit of partying.
[00:03:17] Mike Schneider: You're missing something, though. There's a kindred spirit between Boston and Scotland because they both beat England.
[00:03:23] Melissa Traverse: Right, that helps.
[00:03:26] Mike Schneider: The Scotland-England banter is fantastic.
[00:03:29] Ray Latif: Coming from a guy who loves a London-based team.
[00:03:33] Mike Schneider: Yeah, I love it. I mean, I'm still with England, man.
[00:03:36] Ray Latif: Okay, fair enough.
[00:03:37] Mike Schneider: I want England to win the World Cup.
[00:03:39] Ray Latif: Do you?
[00:03:40] Mike Schneider: Yeah.
[00:03:40] Ray Latif: Okay.
[00:03:40] Mike Schneider: But you know who Scotland wants to win? They want Abe to win. Anybody but England. Oh, I never heard that before. Yeah.
[00:03:47] Ray Latif: Just talk to a few of them. So I'm sipping on this drink at the beginning of our episode here. It's called Nutonic, N-E-U-T-O-N-I-C. It's described as a productivity drink. And the tagline is fuel your focus. It's got a bunch of ingredients that are designed to, I assume, enhance brain health. Is that a thing? Brain health? Cognitive ability. Cognitive ability. So it's got cognizant. It's got rhodiola rosea, panax ginseng, l-theanine, and 120 milligrams of natural caffeine. This is their strawberry lemonade variety. It's got zero grams of sugar. It comes in a 12 ounce slim can. I mentioned this drink because A, I wanted to test it out and listeners can let me know if I sound somewhat more coherent and smarter by the end of the show or if it didn't work at all. But you know what? Please send your responses to askattasteradio.com. Yes, I can only imagine the emails we're going to get. But I also want to mention this because this brand was recently reviewed as part of BevNET's weekly product reviews. These are the official product reviews that are featured on BevNET.com on a weekly basis. And I encourage folks in the beverage industry to send products to our office. And you can find our address on our website, BevNET.com, and you can find out exactly how to address the package so that it reaches our product review team. Same with Nosh. We do product reviews on Nosh.com as well. So if you want to find the address, if you want to find all the information about how to submit your brand for an official review, Head to BevNET.com or Nosh.com for more details. I mean, you know, we offer some semblance of a review on Taste Radio.com, excuse me, on Taste Radio on a weekly basis. But these are, these are starred reviews. These are officially starred reviews.
[00:05:39] Melissa Traverse: Finite review.
[00:05:40] Ray Latif: Yes.
[00:05:41] Mike Schneider: I just say DNS or something like that.
[00:05:45] Ray Latif: DNS meaning? Does not suck. Which is the highest rating you can have on Taste Radio?
[00:05:50] Melissa Traverse: For a person, it's a CFD, right?
[00:05:52] Ray Latif: Yes. The CFD is the highest... Chill dude. It's the highest word or name you can offer someone in the industry. It means chill effing dude. Right. Yes. Now, what's the gender equivalent for a chill fucking dude?
[00:06:08] Melissa Traverse: I would say in that respect that that's an all gender.
[00:06:12] Ray Latif: Okay. You know, gender neutral.
[00:06:13] Melissa Traverse: Yeah, I think so. Yeah.
[00:06:14] Ray Latif: Fair enough. I like that. My daughter calls her friends bro. So I think, yeah, I think it's fine. Bro? Yeah. What happened to bra? I thought bra was the new term.
[00:06:23] Mike Schneider: Bro, bra, whatever.
[00:06:24] Ray Latif: Yeah. They use them both. When you were toking back in the day, Mike, did you call your toke buddies bra or bro? Mike never yes, right both Mike never touched cannabis until 2019 and then he had a real serious reaction to it. Everyone knows This has been mentioned 115 times on Taste Radio.
[00:06:47] Mike Schneider: Tripped balls at the Rose Cafe.
[00:06:49] Ray Latif: Well, you know look It's pretty ubiquitous. You can get THC anywhere these days you can get THC via the traditional rolled up smoke version of THC, aka a joint, where you can get topical THC lotions and whatnot. You can even get THC in olive oil. Get it in Target right now until November. You can get THC in beverages at Target, certain Targets that is. Go Minnesota.
[00:07:18] Melissa Traverse: And Florida and Texas.
[00:07:19] Ray Latif: You touched on something there, Mike. You can get THC at Target until November.
[00:07:24] Mike Schneider: Yeah, Ray, until November when the ban goes into effect or presumably goes into effect. Presumably goes into effect.
[00:07:32] Melissa Traverse: There's a looming regulatory change. Hopefully we won't see that completely turn over. I'm hoping that it won't. And I'm sure so many other people in our industry are hoping that it won't.
[00:07:42] Ray Latif: Yeah, as we've mentioned on the podcast in the past, there is a federal ban on THC beverages and consumable products looming and it is slated to hit in November of this year. It is a very controversial topic amongst folks in the industry, especially those who market cannabis products. And that includes a brand called Breeze, B-R-E-E-Z.
[00:08:08] Melissa Traverse: It really is a serious change. Right now, under the Farm Bill, hemp is regulated by weight. But starting in November, if the change goes through, the regulation will be that 0.4 milligrams of THC total per any unit or container will be what's allowed. And that's absolutely nothing. That's like the head of a pin compared to what you experienced at the Rose Cafe, Mike.
[00:08:36] Mike Schneider: Well, that was dispensary grade stuff. I mean, the ridiculous thing about this is you don't hear anything but stories of people finding joy after discovering five milligrams of cannabis or two and a half milligrams of cannabis in a beverage.
[00:08:50] Melissa Traverse: And this is 0.4 milligrams, which I can't imagine anyone would feel anything from that.
[00:08:55] Mike Schneider: Also, when you talk to our editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Klineman, who I would consider my cannabis Sherpa, along with Jon Landis, he says basically, you know, this cannabis, the hemp-derived cannabis, is made from cannabis that was grown to make rope, not to get you high. So it's like basically the Bud Light of cannabis anyway. It has very little impact, and it's pretty great in general for people who need an alternative to alcohol, You know, people use cannabis for a lot of different reasons. Medical grade cannabis helps a lot of people. It's just good to take the edge off a little bit, you know, have two or three of them. You might end up in the couch, but still, I don't know. I just think it's pretty ridiculous when you've got alcohol running free, which again, I'm also for alcohol running free with regulation, you know, 18 and over sort of thing, but I don't know. This is just going to hurt farmers. It's going to hurt the beverage industry. It's going to hurt so many people.
[00:09:51] Melissa Traverse: And obviously THC beverages allow you to feel something almost immediately, just like alcohol. There are so many non-alcohol alternatives. But the trick is, do you actually feel anything immediately from the L-theanine or ashwagandha or, you know, magnesium, whatever it is?
[00:10:08] Mike Schneider: Yeah, not like those mints you gave me and then I felt them later.
[00:10:13] Melissa Traverse: But with beverage though, you do feel it immediately.
[00:10:16] Mike Schneider: I think it's pretty immediate onset, like 10-15 minutes stops.
[00:10:20] Melissa Traverse: So it is a good trade-in for an alcoholic beverage.
[00:10:23] Ray Latif: Just circling back to Breeze for a sec, you know, Breeze was one of the fastest growing brands in the industry a couple of years ago. We gave it an award, BevNET that is, for a, what's the term that we use? Rising star?
[00:10:34] Mike Schneider: The award for outstanding achievement in the field of excellence?
[00:10:37] Ray Latif: Exactly. No, a rising star award. And it seemed to be a rocket ship. According to an article written by our colleague Lukas Southard about Breeze, they had a challenging year in 2025. They described themselves as growing a little too fast, too far. Despite that, they still pulled in $90 million in revenue and they're in 10,000 retail stores. But of course, They're facing a potential reckoning as well in November, and they're trying to determine the right course forward because they not only market THC drinks.
[00:11:08] Mike Schneider: They've diversified.
[00:11:09] Ray Latif: They have non-infused THC drinks, which are infused with adaptogens and nootropics. And Brees has described these drinks as a, quote unquote, Trojan horse into mainstream retail, introducing consumers to the brand without the baggage and regulatory uncertainty of intoxicating hemp. Now note that Breeze is not the first THC brand to attempt this strategy. Can, C-A-N-N, which is one of the pioneers of this space, introduced a line extension or brand extension called Unspiked. These products did not contain any THC, but they were able to get the Can brand out there and on shelves in major retailers because, like Breeze is attempting to do, they wanted to get that name out there. They wanted to get the word out there about can itself. Unspiked, however, hasn't been on the market since according to, well, our little research here, 2023. I tried to buy some just now. The website's still up, but when you get to the checkout, it ends. Yeah, and they haven't posted anything on Instagram about this unspiked line since 2023. So I suspect it's not something they are pursuing anymore. It'll be interesting to see if Breeze, now look, Breeze launched their Unspiked or Uninfused line a couple of years ago as well. And I don't know how well it's doing in comparison to their THC line. But if come November, they can't sell THC anymore, how many people are actually going to buy their Uninfused products? I don't know.
[00:12:38] Mike Schneider: I don't know. It's a good strategy, though. I mean, you saw Trip, who was struggling with CBD regulations in the U.S., and they pivoted into adaptogens and Calm. And, well, you could certainly see Breeze's adaptogen products sitting next to Trip and making a pretty strong category. They're both, you know, fantastic beverages.
[00:12:55] Melissa Traverse: I think, as always, it depends on how good the product is. So the non-THC line, if it tastes good, if the functionality actually resonates with consumers and, you know, all the checkboxes get checked. I think the trick is, though, is that consumers who are familiar with Breeze's THC line, If they're expecting to feel something while they're drinking the product, I think that's tricky. But at the same time, if it tastes great and it offers something that other modern sodas, other functional beverages don't, then they have a great chance.
[00:13:29] Mike Schneider: They did go similar route to Trip too. The packaging isn't that much different than the original packaging. It's just differentiated in whether it has THC or whether it has adaptogens. I think it's a good path for Breeze because they've built up some brand equity. They are a brand that's supposed to give you that chill out impact. And so the uninfused versions are supposed to do the same thing. I think they do. I mean, in my experience, it's a good product. So I think they have a chance. They have a good team.
[00:14:01] Melissa Traverse: Speaking of the team, right now as they're pursuing this non-THC line, they're also doing a lot of restructuring within the company. So Aaron Nosbitch, their CEO has stepped down from that role. I think they're slimming the team down a little bit. Right now they have 10 products. So, you know, I don't know if they're going to slim those down as well, but it'll be really interesting to see how all of this reorganization will coincide with them promoting the non-THC line.
[00:14:29] Ray Latif: I think it really will come down to positioning. How do people see and perceive Breeze as a brand? And it was interesting toward the end of the article, their new CEO talked about how he would like to see the brand move out of the non-alcohol alternative set and closer to modern soda and functional beverages. This kind of threw me for a loop. He said, quote, putting us between Celsius and Olipop is really framing us in the correct placement. Which you're talking about a fitness centric energy drink and prebiotic sodas. And I'm not sure how Breeze fits right into the middle of those two. What just happened there? I just got some, I got some lumen in my eye. Got in the wrong place. So you weren't laughing at the idea of putting Breeze in between those two brands? No, no. I think it's a great idea. There you go. All right. So, well, anyway, for the full story on Breeze, head to BevNET.com. Much more information about the brand and where it's headed in this story by Lukas Southard. Also, big news. I was thrown for a loop on this one because I had never heard of this brand before. It is a brand called Stars and Honey that is launching at Target nationwide. But as part of this announcement that they're launching nationwide in Target, they also picked up a $24 million investment.
[00:15:53] Melissa Traverse: From VMG.
[00:15:54] Ray Latif: From VMG, which is a very well-known and very successful private equity fund. I mean, they've had many funds, but it's a firm that has had a lot of success over the years. And $24 million is nothing to sniff at. I mean, that is a big number, especially for, once again, a brand that I'm not familiar with. And look, I'm not the B.L. Endall of CPG, but it's kind of strange.
[00:16:17] Mike Schneider: That's only because stars and honey are not on Wayne Wu's pants yet.
[00:16:21] Ray Latif: Oh, that's perhaps correct. Wayne Wu being one of the founders of EMGS.
[00:16:24] Melissa Traverse: I was introduced to Stars and Honey by a friend of mine who said that he had found the best tasting protein. And this isn't someone that necessarily gives me food recommendations, but he was talking about how much he loved this protein bar and how it tasted really good. And so I looked them up and went to order, but you had to order a full case. And I don't really eat protein bars that often. But I think the way that they are going about this business, they've grown the business on D2C for three years. They know who their consumer is. They've iterated through D2C and through those channels. And now they're launching nationwide with Target, having all of that research and information underneath their belt.
[00:17:04] Ray Latif: I mean, it is really interesting. If you are able to identify your customer, why Why Buy your product, why they're loyal, who that person is and the fact that they are buying, not only on a regular basis, but being a loyal ambassador for your brand, talking to other people about Stars and Honey, the impact that can have on a retail rollout, on raising money. I mean, I can't claim that it's a case study for how to build a brand online and eventually go into retail, but this is a pretty powerful look at one brand that has done it seemingly very well.
[00:17:41] Melissa Traverse: And you know, their value proposition is that it's a product that tastes great. Their flavors are dessert forward. Like there's one that's cherry chocolate waffle cone. They have 15 grams of Protein Pops it's not like a David bar. It's not a wild amount of protein. They're clean label, but what they lead with is the flavor. And I think that there's so much competition in this category. If you can get a bar that tastes really good and has the nutritionals that you're looking for, then that's a really great start.
[00:18:09] Mike Schneider: The letter blocking in the logo is horrifying, and I love it. It's so confusing. It looks like something I doodled in high school. And I hate it, but I love it so much. And the ads are really cool, too. It's a really clean package. The geometry is beautiful in it, but the ads, like, have the flavors kind of exploding out of the... out of the bar, so you have to see the mint cookies and cream one in particular. It looks really cool. But I think they're just going with a little bit of confusion here. Like, the first look at this, if you can read that it says stars and honey, you're doing a great job.
[00:18:41] Ray Latif: Which will be interesting, as they introduce the brand to new consumers at Target, they've identified that retailer as, what's going on right now? That's the cookies exploding out of the orange in the ad. It's cool, right?
[00:18:54] Mike Schneider: It looks good.
[00:18:55] Ray Latif: But yeah, they've identified the Target shopper as aligned with their current shoppers, their current consumers, and feel like there's a lot of synergy between the two. And in addition to this rollout at Target, they are in the process of expanding into a new 60,000 square foot manufacturing facility. So I assume that's where a lot of that $24 million is going to go to as well, is building this manufacturing plant.
[00:19:21] Melissa Traverse: I also read that they are doing a lot of out-of-home advertising to support the Target launch, which I think is interesting as they're expanding into their first retail locations. I always hear about out-of-home as being a really tricky thing because it's really hard to track ROI, but I'm wondering if that approach was informed by their D2C consumers. And of course, with all of the Target locations, they're trying to draw traffic to those retail stores.
[00:19:50] Ray Latif: Yeah, very interesting. We'll continue to follow this story. You can read about Stars and Honey's expansion and investment on Nosh.com in a story pen by our very own Monica Watrous. In the meantime, I want to talk about another protein bar brand that I recently saw upstairs. It's called Samsara, S-A-M-S-A-R-A. It appears to be a protein bar brand that is influenced by Indian flavors and cuisine. They have two varieties that I'm holding in my hand. They have a masala peanut and a spiced chai. Beautiful packaging. They're kind of on the smaller side for protein bars, which I like because, you know, I don't eat a huge amount. But they're dense. But they are dense. They each contain 15 grams of protein and 2 grams of sugar. But it got me thinking, got me wondering. Why do you guys eat protein bars? Why would you? Is it because- Protein bars, why would I eat them? No, is it because, why would you be interested in buying a new- What makes me choose a protein bar? What would make you interested in picking up a new protein bar if you saw one, say, at Target? Would it be the fact that a brand like this, Sunsara, has pretty unique flavors? I've never seen a masala peanut or a spice, maybe a spice chai, but I've never seen a masala peanut protein bar. Is it the actual protein count? This is 15 grams. Is it the low sugar count? Is it the packaging? You can't say everything, but if there's one thing to... And I will, no. No, but if there's one thing that you as, you know, a focus group of one or two or three here, what would motivate you to be interested and pick this up?
[00:21:25] Melissa Traverse: So for me, I eat protein bars when I want a candy bar, but I don't want to eat a candy bar. Really the only ones that I buy are the mezcla bars. And I specifically buy the green tea.
[00:21:36] Mike Schneider: Those are good.
[00:21:37] Melissa Traverse: They're so good. They taste delicious. They're low sugar. I don't really even care that much about how much protein. And I also really care about whether it's going to ruin my stomach because sometimes you get a gut bomb and who wants that?
[00:21:49] Ray Latif: I just want to point out the mezcla bars. That's a really good call, Melissa, because I think there's a lot of people who want a candy bar, but want a protein bar, want something in between. And Mezcla is a really good sort of in between there. It's not very heavy at all. You could crunch on that thing and be done with it without much effort. A protein bar, sometimes you got to chew on that thing for a while before you finish it. Mosh bars also come to mind for that.
[00:22:14] Mike Schneider: You like those too?
[00:22:15] Melissa Traverse: I do, but I think the mezcla bars are closer to a candy bar.
[00:22:21] Mike Schneider: For me, if the packaging is interesting, I want to at least check it out. Certainly I'm looking for 15 to 20 grams of Protein Pops a protein bar because you asked about protein bars. I don't really use them as a candy replacement. Like if I want candy, I just go for it, which is a problem for me. But if I pick it up and it has interesting flavor, interesting packaging, the right amount of protein, and as you said, Ray, it can't have too much sugar, but I just don't want a lot of crazy alternative sweeteners either. So I'm looking for clean ingredients.
[00:22:53] Ray Latif: Well, I mentioned all this. If you look at the Sunsara packaging, the first thing you see is the flavor, right? That's the most important thing, the flavor. At the very bottom, almost under the base of the wrapper, are the macros, the 15 grams of protein and the 2 grams of sugar. So in this case, it's clear that they're going for a consumer that's looking for different kinds of flavors that are out there.
[00:23:17] Mike Schneider: The flavor's the hero there, and then protein bars next.
[00:23:19] Ray Latif: Yeah, but is this the right approach?
[00:23:21] Mike Schneider: I think those are nice, matte, premium-looking packaging. So you see that and you ask yourself first if it's a chocolate bar.
[00:23:28] Melissa Traverse: Right, exactly.
[00:23:29] Mike Schneider: It looks like a chocolate bar.
[00:23:30] Ray Latif: But this will be positioned in market age. Of course.
[00:23:32] Mike Schneider: Of course, but still it looks like a premium piece of chocolate.
[00:23:36] Melissa Traverse: OK. And, you know, I also think nowadays it's really easy to find convenient, delicious, fun foods, you know, wherever you are. So if you're going to choose something like a protein bar that you can keep with you, it should look good and taste good if you're choosing that over food.
[00:23:53] Ray Latif: It is food, though.
[00:23:54] Melissa Traverse: It is, but I mean, it's like, but it's like compacted, you know what I mean? It's compacted food.
[00:23:59] Mike Schneider: Bars are food, Melissa.
[00:24:01] Melissa Traverse: I know, I know, I know, I know.
[00:24:03] Mike Schneider: Barsarefood.com.
[00:24:06] Ray Latif: Yeah, yeah. Go to the way back machine. Yeah, Samsara, I keep calling it Samsara, I'm so sorry. I think it's Samsara. Samsara, S-A-M-S-A-R-A.
[00:24:14] Mike Schneider: But isn't there a long A too? Samsara? It could be.
[00:24:18] Melissa Traverse: Mike, you said you tried these?
[00:24:19] Mike Schneider: I tried them, they're fantastic. Like, they're nice and dense. They definitely hit the spot. I think it's 210 calories. And after you eat one, you feel pretty satiated.
[00:24:30] Melissa Traverse: What's the consistency like?
[00:24:31] Mike Schneider: There you go.
[00:24:32] Melissa Traverse: Oh, thank you.
[00:24:33] Mike Schneider: Give it a try. The density of it pays off. It's chewy. Here we go. It's got peanuts.
[00:24:40] Melissa Traverse: Very tasty, not as chewy or dense as, say, an RX bar. But it definitely has some density to it. I actually think these aren't dissimilar to a mosh bar.
[00:24:51] Mike Schneider: They're not that dissimilar. I would say that's kind of like power bar version five, like what you wanted them to be in the beginning.
[00:25:00] Melissa Traverse: And I love the fact that there's only two grams of sugar and it has really great flavor. I don't miss it at all.
[00:25:06] Mike Schneider: Yeah. What do you think of the call-outs on the back? Do those speak to you?
[00:25:10] Melissa Traverse: Gluten-free, no artificial sweeteners, vegetarian, South Asian, female-founded. The vegetarian, that's not something that I would typically worry about in a nutritional bar.
[00:25:21] Mike Schneider: Does that mean it's pea Protein Pops what's the protein? Well, as opposed to egg whites or...
[00:25:26] Melissa Traverse: It's whey Protein Pops it's vegetarian but not vegan.
[00:25:29] Ray Latif: But not vegan, okay.
[00:25:30] Melissa Traverse: Yeah, I think they could probably change out the vegetarian for something else.
[00:25:34] Ray Latif: Well, at the end of the day, I want to know more about this brand. I want to meet its founder. So if you're listening.
[00:25:39] Speaker 1: Elevator Talk!
[00:25:40] Ray Latif: Samsara's founders, who I once again apologize for calling it Samsara. Yeah, reach out to us. We'd love to feature you in a future episode of Elevator Talk. Let's do it. Now, Melissa, you've got by your side here a beverage that I've wanted to try for a while. And by a while, I mean a week because it only launched a week ago. This is GT's newest product, which is?
[00:26:02] Melissa Traverse: This is Synergy. It's the Unity Artist Series. And this is the Shirley Temples SKU. You actually can try this because I grabbed it out of the sample fridge. I think there were like nine of these in our cooler and they disappeared.
[00:26:17] Mike Schneider: Gee, I wonder where they went.
[00:26:19] Melissa Traverse: They disappeared immediately. I did actually get to try one when they were in the cooler. I think it's so tasty. They did a collab with Cherubundi. So it's enhanced with Cherubundi's natural tart cherry juice. And it really does. It tastes like a Shirley Temples, like you'd want a Shirley Temples kombucha to taste. I think it's delicious.
[00:26:39] Mike Schneider: Yeah, that's fantastic. I mean, the previous iterations of Unity were also really good, but I think the Cherubundi collaboration is excellent. And of course, they're just capitalizing on the Shirley Temples trend.
[00:26:51] Melissa Traverse: Isn't it amazing to see how these trends roll out? I mean, how many Shirley Temples SKUs did you see out in market two years ago? And now you see it everywhere.
[00:27:02] Mike Schneider: Yeah. And how many flavor companies could have told us it was coming?
[00:27:06] Melissa Traverse: Yeah, right.
[00:27:07] Ray Latif: Exactly. Look, I think it's in line with other trends that we've been seeing, which is the reduction of alcohol consumption. The Shirley Temples is, you know, the ultimate non-alcoholic cocktail. Nostalgic flavors. Nostalgic flavors. Just differentiated flavors. If you don't want a lemon lime soda or... If you want Shirley Temples or Bomb Pop, you know. But if you're of legal drinking age, or I would say anywhere between 15 and 25, I feel like the Shirley Temples flavor is right up your alley for that generation, for that age group. And how long it lasts, you know, we'll see. But really cool to see GTs get together with Cherubundi. I don't know if this is their first brand collab like that. I can't recall seeing them or hearing about them do one like this before.
[00:27:47] Mike Schneider: I can't remember a collaboration either. I would say this is...
[00:27:52] Melissa Traverse: One of the first, at least.
[00:27:54] Mike Schneider: Yeah, good job. Thanks to GT and the Synergy Kombucha team for sending those over.
[00:27:59] Melissa Traverse: Yeah.
[00:27:59] Mike Schneider: And we're out of them.
[00:28:01] Ray Latif: So if you'd want to... Well, there is one more left.
[00:28:03] Mike Schneider: There's one left and Ray and Melissa Traverse going to have a stone circle death match.
[00:28:07] Ray Latif: No, no, no, no. The sample team needs to taste this product first. The sample team has tasted it. I don't know about that.
[00:28:14] Mike Schneider: I do because I put some of them in the sample team.
[00:28:17] Ray Latif: Okay, anyway, all right Mike's got some bucks more specifically Emily Griffith founder of the company is also a genius Just give our audience a little bit of information about little bucks little bucks is a brand of sprouted buckwheat snacks snacks regeneratively farmed buckwheat
[00:28:38] Mike Schneider: Thank you, Melissa. Emily Griffith has been the poster person for Buckwheat for, how long has this brand been out now? Has it been like five years?
[00:28:49] Ray Latif: I want to say it's been five or six years. I remember meeting Emily. I want to say this was 2020 or 2019.
[00:28:57] Melissa Traverse: You know, I remember Emily and Lil Bucks on, I think when we were doing virtual Lmos Live, we did a brand refresh live with Lil Bucks.
[00:29:08] Mike Schneider: We did. That's right. Last Expo West marched over to her booth and found out that she'd come up with the idea to make little bucks into a Rice Krispie Treat style product. And oh my God, are they fantastic.
[00:29:24] Melissa Traverse: They are so good.
[00:29:26] Mike Schneider: They're really, really good. And the packaging is dynamite. The packaging is dynamite. Everything about this hits 90 calories. Which one you got there, Melissa?
[00:29:33] Melissa Traverse: I have this strawberry shortcake.
[00:29:35] Mike Schneider: I'm going for chocolate.
[00:29:36] Melissa Traverse: It's so good. It's got some, I think freeze dried strawberries in here. It really does taste like everything good about a Rice Krispie treat, but you feel like you might be getting a little nutrition in there too, but not at the expense of the flavor.
[00:29:49] Mike Schneider: Emily's one of the nicest people you can meet. She's like so humble. You just walk up and you're like, you're a genius. Thanks.
[00:29:54] Ray Latif: I am really loving this, it's not really a trend, but the number of brands, snack brands, that are getting into the Rice Krispie business. PTR Nation. PTR Nation's another one. They make these, what they describe as superfood Krispie Treats. They are delicious. They're awesome too, yeah. And it's high time that we had a better option for the Rice Krispie Treats, which are still pretty amazing to eat. But if you want a much healthier option, Lil Buck's BTR Nation.
[00:30:21] Speaker 1: Three grams of protein, two grams of fiber, gluten-free, non-GMO and vegan.
[00:30:27] Melissa Traverse: Amazing.
[00:30:28] Speaker 1: Nice. Well done, Emily and team.
[00:30:30] Melissa Traverse: Their blueberry Lil Buck squares are one of my absolute favorite snacks of all time.
[00:30:34] Speaker 1: USD organic too.
[00:30:36] Ray Latif: Very cool. All right, well, I got to apologize to the fine folks from Protein Pops. So Protein Pops, which is a maker of ice cream that is infused with extra protein, introduced a new brand extension called Protein Pops. These are, as you might expect, protein ice cream on a stick. And they sent, along with some samples, a pretty incredible... What? Oh, God.
[00:31:04] Melissa Traverse: Oh, my.
[00:31:04] Ray Latif: Pickleball everywhere. A pretty cool set of pickle ball paddles and balls. And yeah, I can't wait to use these. Let's play. No, we're not gonna play in the studio, no. Melissa and I can play. These are really nice, they're really high quality. I am really excited to use these. I was probably more excited to eat the Protein Pops, but once again, I already referenced this. Apologies to the team, our freezer broke down and we lost the samples. Unfortunately, we had to put them down. We did have to put them down. We had to put the samples down. But every time that I play pickleball with these paddles, I assume because they are branded paddles, I'll be thinking of the brand and try to find...
[00:31:45] Mike Schneider: It looks just like the pop, too.
[00:31:47] Ray Latif: Well, that's the whole point. Try to find an opportunity.
[00:31:49] Mike Schneider: I understand the point, but... Ray, you might bite into one of those when you're serving.
[00:31:54] Ray Latif: Oh, because they do have some. Oh, look at that. Yeah, they do have. This looks very appealing.
[00:31:58] Melissa Traverse: It does. It looks tasty.
[00:31:59] Ray Latif: Do you play pickleball, Ray? No, I don't. But it looks like a very textured Protein Pops. You, Melissa? A little pickleball? No.
[00:32:06] Melissa Traverse: But I would. Okay. If I had paddles.
[00:32:10] Ray Latif: What Mike is trying to say is that he wants these paddles. Right. But Melissa is probably more worthy of these paddles.
[00:32:16] Mike Schneider: I'm not saying I need, I don't need those paddles.
[00:32:17] Ray Latif: I have pickleball paddles. You can have this towel that they sent with us to dry your Yes, one two and three we got it.
[00:32:24] Melissa Traverse: I can picture myself trying to play pickleball with the actual ice cream bars Okay, Mike just covered his entire head This is what you all wanted anyway, all right Much better. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding.
[00:32:35] Ray Latif: Improvement. Before we wrap up, I want to give a shout out to one of our teammates. His name is Colin Sughrue. We know him as Sample Captain Colin. He's moving from Boston to Hoboken, aka Metro New York. And we're going to miss him. And I just want to say that Colin's been one of the best and most consistent and reliable teammates here at BevNET for a very long time. Clearly, he's not leaving the company. He's not leaving the company.
[00:33:04] Melissa Traverse: But... We'll miss his presence in the office.
[00:33:06] Ray Latif: Absolutely. We're going to miss his presence in the office and I really hope he continues.
[00:33:10] Mike Schneider: I'm going to miss his presence as P-R-E-S-E-N-T-S because he brings samples in my office like every day.
[00:33:15] Ray Latif: Yeah, that's right. And also he has great Instagram content at Sample Captain. That's right. I hope he's able to continue doing that. How is he going to get the samples in Hoboken? I guess I'll just have to go into bodegas and pick stuff out. Barry's office?
[00:33:27] Melissa Traverse: He'll find, where there's a will, there's a way. He should go into Barry's office and try all the samples in there. That's a good idea.
[00:33:34] Mike Schneider: For those of you who don't know, Barry's office is like an archive of old beverages. It's basically a museum of old beverages.
[00:33:40] Melissa Traverse: Colin is the epitome of a CFP.
[00:33:42] Mike Schneider: If you think Ray has a museum, you should see Barry's office.
[00:33:46] Ray Latif: Well, you said it well, Melissa. If there's a will, there's a way. And you know what? If there's a sample, there's Sample Captain. 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.
[00:34:45] Speaker 2: you
