[00:00:00] Ad Read: This episode is sponsored by PacTec, delivering beverage multi-packing you can trust. PacTec's handles are made from 100% recycled plastic and are fully recyclable, helping beverage brands reduce waste and support a circular economy. With a minimalist design, durable performance that prevents product loss, waterproof functionality, and custom color options, PacTec keeps products secure while letting your brand shine on shelf. Trusted by leading beverage brands globally. Learn more at Taste Radio.com forward slash PACKTECH.
[00:00:52] Ray Latif: Hello, dear friends, and thanks for tuning in to 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-host for this episode, John Craven, Jacqui Brugliera, and Mike Schneider. Mike, is that a five o'clock shout or are you trying to grow a beard for the events? Yeah, that's it, Ray. Which is it? Both. Wait, what? It's five o'clock shadows. That's how it starts. A beard starts with five o'clock. Okay. So you're trying to grow a beard for the events. No, I just haven't shaved in a couple of days.
[00:01:27] John Craven: Isn't there like a no shave November or something? Isn't that a thing?
[00:01:30] Ray Latif: That's Movember. Yeah.
[00:01:31] John Craven: Movember.
[00:01:32] Ray Latif: These are like Playoff Beards. You know, you grow a Playoff Beards until your playoffs are done. And I think you should go for it.
[00:01:38] John Craven: Okay.
[00:01:38] Ray Latif: When you started at BevNET, you had a beard. I did. I had, yeah, I definitely had more facial hair then. Yeah, John you had a little goatee going for a while and then never had a goatee For like a week, yeah, it's about as long as it can go why are we talking about snowing? Anytime you talk about facial hair on men either you have it or you don't if you don't you get uncomfortable talking yeah, it's in point No, I'm just doing the listeners a favor and just do some weird segue to talk about BevNET Live.
[00:02:20] John Craven: Or we can just talk about my facial hair.
[00:02:24] Ray Latif: We're not going there. Okay. Jackie, I don't know if you'd look good with a beard. No offense. With the power of AI, we can see.
[00:02:32] John Craven: Yeah, I want to see it. Stop, stop. No AI. Let's see.
[00:02:35] Ray Latif: Consider it done, Jackie. AI has jumped a Shark Tank then some. Although Jeff Bezos apparently, he's the CEO of a new AI company. That's not for this podcast. Anyway. Definitely why people are listening. Yeah. So great news for BevNET Live. The co-founders of Poppy, the brand that earlier this year was sold to PepsiCo for $1.95 billion. are going to be on stage at BevNET Live. in, what is it now? We're three weeks away?
[00:03:02] John Craven: Yeah.
[00:03:03] Ray Latif: Very, very cool stuff. Allison and Stephen Ellsworth, who were first on stage at BevNET Live in 2016, as the co-founders of Mother Beverage, which evolved into Poppy, will be speaking about advice on how they grew the business, brought in talent, and helped define the modern soda category. Also, how they took over TikTok and what they'd do differently if they had a chance. Amazing stuff. Less than 10 years going from onstage at BevNET Live, winning the New Beverage Showdown, selling your company for $1.95 billion. And now Allison was most recently a guest shark on Shark Tank. So pretty amazing stuff. Speaking of Shark Tank, she was the guest judge When Nikki Seaman, who was the founder and CEO of Freestyle Snacks, which makes pouch packaged pickles and olives, she was recently on the show and Allison was the one shark who bought into her deal. She decided to invest $300,000 in Freestyle Snacks for an 11% equity stake in the company. So I hope she talks about that when she's on stage. This talk is going to be awesome. Allison is one of those people who you, you walk up to her and she's like, copy my playbook and tells you how they've done it all. And. This is the talk everybody's been waiting for, Ray. Yes, it is. It's on day one of the event. It's going to happen at 10.10 a.m. Remember 10.10? 10.10 when? You were a New York guy. You remember when we were growing up. Sure, Ray. 10.10 a.m. So right after the New Bedford Showdown, right after the semifinal round of the New Bedford Showdown, is where we're going to hear from Allison and Stephen. Can I stay up on stage? You can't stay up on stage, no. Just joking. Mike is alluding to the fact that he is a judge for the new beverage showdown with his pen of judgment Do you already have it now? I'll anoint it on the day of and it's like we've got the super friends of content of bev net CPG media contest here because John Craven will be in the finals judging your hosting of course and we got Jackie a judge for the Nosh Live pitch slam, which is really really exciting This is your first time as a judge for the Nosh pitch slam, right? Oh
[00:05:07] John Craven: Yeah, first time for Nosh. I've done the showdown in the past, so I'm excited. I love food brands, so it'll be cool.
[00:05:13] Ray Latif: Yeah, I am really excited as well. I'm also really, really excited to hear from a speaker that is from a company that I think is kind of under the radar in a weird way for emerging food and beverage brands, that's CVS. Remember, you could go to CVS and go buy a carton of Marlboro Reds. You used to be able to. That was huge when CVS shut down their cigarettes. I was very proud of them. It was really, it was the right thing for them to do. But you go in there, you're going to go in there for a toothbrush, some Pepto Bismol, a carton of Marlboro Reds, and now you're going in there. It must have been an upsetting day for you, Ray. You know, after some Pepto, you got to brush those teeth, John. You know, you don't want all that pink film on your front I mean, CVS has definitely evolved. They went from that sort of convenience drugstore kind of vibe, and now they're very much focused on wellness, health, et cetera. In fact, the parent company is called CVS Health now. And so Lauren Castro who is the Lead Director and Category Manager for Healthy Consumables and Grocery, will be speaking at Nosh Live. Very exciting stuff. I'm assuming she's going to reveal the playbook for CVS on how they select emerging and new better for you brands, because they have dozens of new products on the food and beverage side, which are intended to help people's health via functional ingredients or just lower calorie, lower sugar optionality.
[00:06:45] John Craven: Yeah, I feel like they're just increasing the footprint for better for you brands within the store. I know that they started with just, you know, like the checkout line and a little area there and it's expanding into their grocery aisle. So it's really cool to see that they're investing in these brands and that they believe in better for you.
[00:07:03] Ray Latif: Yeah, I mean, they have these brands in their traditional aisles, in their traditional snack and beverage aisles. And then they also have carved out parts of the store, which are specific to better for you snacks, not necessarily beverages. I haven't really seen them carve out that kind of space, but definitely every single time I go into CVS, I see brands that I didn't expect to see there or actually haven't seen at all, which is awesome. I think they've also done a pretty good job of trying to reduce the six yards of paper receipt you used to get when you checked out. Dude, I don't understand. What is wrong with people? Why do they do that? It's called an app. It's called an app. You don't need that long sheet of paper anymore. Just to get the one coupon that you actually want. You know, the one that's like five bucks off next time. Folks, if you want to frustrate me, if you come to Nosh Live and you really want to stick a needle in my back, just be like, hey, Ray, look at all the coupons I got from CVS and hold up your six foot long receipt. I've got a blue raspberry coupon from CVS. I'll need like a six day cool off period. I can't stand it. Stop people. Stop with the CVS receipts, please. Actually, I'm going to ask Lauren when I see her at Nosh Live and be like, look, For the love of all the trees in the Pacific Northwest, please, can you just get rid of receipts, please? How are you going to mummify your pets without your CVS receipts? No, it's really, it's just for our elderly population. They can't, it is what it is. I don't know what to tell you. Like, I live in a town where there's a relatively large elderly population. And just the amount of coins and paper coupons that I see at CVS. I'm losing it. I'm losing it, folks. Mike, you're gonna have to take over the show. They eliminated the penny, Ray. Good news for you. They eliminated the penny. Anyway, very exciting stuff. Also very exciting at Nosh Live. There's gonna be a really special, probably, I would say, very well-known speaker who's going to be at Nosh Live. Special guest, Ray. Special speaker, guest. A special guest. Special guest, okay. I don't know, let's just leave it at that. Okay, you wanna leave it at that? Yes. Okay. Don't even say where it's going. Don't even say where it's going. You know, you should do- Go check out Nosh Live, look at the agenda. Yes.
[00:09:06] John Craven: Yeah. And ponder it for a little while. Maybe you can figure it out. It's almost like a little treasure hunt.
[00:09:11] Ray Latif: Yes, yes. DM BevNetMike if you can figure it out. I was gonna say, it's not Mike.
[00:09:17] John Craven: No one on our team.
[00:09:18] Ray Latif: Someone actually legit. I'm not allowed near the Nosh Live. It is someone very legit.
[00:09:22] John Craven: Like someone mainstream.
[00:09:24] Ray Latif: Go to the Nosh.com website. Or just go to Nosh.com. You don't have to say website.
[00:09:28] John Craven: Go to yahoo.
[00:09:29] Ray Latif: There's no reason to involve the word website in this. Go to Nosh.com. Go to the Nosh Live page. Look at the agenda. You will probably figure out who this person is. And it's, although we're excited about Melissa Traverse hosting Elevator Talk at Nosh Live, that's not who we're talking about. No, that's not we're talking about. But there are a million other people that you'd want to see, talk to, and hear from at Nosh Live. Investors, retailers, like-minded founders. Well, not a million. A couple hundred. 650,000 people. to be at Nosh Live. There still are opportunities to sign up for Elevator Talk. Exactly. You can get on the main stage and give us a pitch. Yeah, if you're not familiar with what Mike is talking about, we're taking Elevator Talk from the studio to the stage at Nosh Live. It is an opportunity for brands of all shapes and sizes and stages of development to be on stage, talk about what you do in 90 seconds, introduce yourself to the community, which again includes investors, retailers, distributors, the people that you want to meet, talk to and work with. It's a phenomenal spot to practice your pitch in a safe place and get some feedback. Exactly. Not a contest. Just you up on stage doing your thing. Not me. Not you, Ray. Not me. You, the listener.
[00:10:45] John Craven: Yes, yes.
[00:10:46] Ray Latif: That's what I'm always talking to, the listener, you.
[00:10:48] John Craven: Yes. And we only have a few slots left. So if you're thinking about coming, you want to get up on stage, you want to take one-to-one meetings, those slots are filling up.
[00:10:58] Ray Latif: They are indeed. Notchlive.com is the way to register. If you're not there, you're going to have so much FOMO after the fact.
[00:11:08] John Craven: So much.
[00:11:09] Ray Latif: You'll be like, I should have been there. I should have been there. Ray, there is another Pitch Slam that you're hosting. I am indeed hosting another Pitch Slam. That is the Brewbound Live Pitch Slam, which is endless amounts of fun. I really love hosting that Pitch Slam because it's beer. I mean, beer and adjacent beverages like cider and cannabis. Well, there's Hemp at Bevan Live and Brewbound Live, which is really doubling up on hemp, which I suppose the timing seems like the hemp beverage industries could use all that awareness they can get. Awareness and advice, investment. There are still investors that are looking hard at that space and making great funding bets. I'm going to call it a bet at this point because there's still a lot unknown. There's always been that.
[00:11:55] John Craven: Every investment is. That is true.
[00:11:56] Ray Latif: It's a fair. Word. That is true. But the agenda that Justin, Jess, and Zoe, our editorial team for Brewbound Live put together is just second to none. I'm just always incredibly impressed with the level of thought and intentionality that they bring to the table when they put this agenda together. It's people from Whole Foods. It's people from, you know, big time distributors like Breakthrough Beverage. It's people who are analysts in the industry, RoboBank. It's the people that know everything about the industry inside and out, like a Bump Williams. If you're ever considering attending a beer event, and there's a lot of them out there, and I know I'm going to sound biased here, Brewbound Live is the place to be. And it's right after BevNET Live. Exactly. December 10th and 11th. Exactly. Don't even have to go anywhere if you're going to BevNET Live. Why would you want to go anywhere else during Marina Del Rey? I mean, I love being trapped in the Marriott for, I think, 11 nights.
[00:12:58] John Craven: Trapped? It's a vacation.
[00:13:00] Ray Latif: Yeah, exactly. Because you have the company helicopter. You can come and go as you please. Yeah. I mean, I wish... No, I don't wish we had a company chopper. All right, can we talk about some stocking stuffers for a hot sec? So, Grillo's, they're just doing everything and collaborating with everyone lately. And it's a good thing, because Grillo's is a legit brand. Pickles in a stocking? Grillo's Pickles. Grillo's in Zippo, Zippo the lighter. They have launched a limited edition windproof lighter collab, and it is exactly what you might expect. Two things that just don't go together.
[00:13:37] John Craven: What?
[00:13:37] Ray Latif: You don't think so? Pickles and lighters? What's even happening? You flip your Zippo and it smells like pickle bread or what? Does it have a green flame? No, it's a green Zippo with that green shade that Grillo's is known for. On the front, what looks like the front of the lighter, is Honey Grillo's Pickles logo on the top. And underneath is their famous pickle guy who's chilling out on a beach chair. On the back, it says, chill out, eat a pickle, and it's a picture of their pickle jars. And why does he need a lighter? To smoke a blunt?
[00:14:07] John Craven: Yeah, I'm thinking he's smoking a blunt, not a cigarette.
[00:14:12] Ray Latif: Did we even say blunt on this show? I don't know if we're supposed to be saying that.
[00:14:15] John Craven: I just did. We just said it three times. It's legal in California. Yeah.
[00:14:19] Ray Latif: Can you smoke a pickle, right? You can't smoke a pickle.
[00:14:22] John Craven: Ooh, pickle-flavored blunt.
[00:14:26] Ray Latif: Anywho, Grillo's has done a lot of brand licensing and collaborations over the past few years. If you think about their work with Hippies, where they have a pickle-flavored Hippies product or an Ithaca pickle-flavored hummus. Even Sonic, you know, Sonic, the fast food restaurant, they did, I think it was a pickle beverage, right? Like a pickle-flavored soda.
[00:14:47] John Craven: They've done beer.
[00:14:49] Ray Latif: Yep, v8 remember the VA Bloody Mary collaboration. They did Boulder Canyon. They also just released some new pickle products Yes called thickles, which are kind of tasty pickles pickles.
[00:15:00] John Craven: What's the name?
[00:15:00] Ray Latif: I mean, yeah, it's kind of a funny name, right? It makes you chuckle a little yeah, which I think is on brand for them, but it's like a dill pickle chip, but it's like wicked thicker, okay You know, it's like if you ever go to like some gastropub and they give you some pickles or it's an app sort of thing and the pickles are usually cut a little thicker. It's like that. Wicked thick pickles. Those are some wicked thick pickles. You can chop up pickles any which way you want apparently. Just seems more useful than a, no offense, Grillo's Zippo lighter. But anyway. All I'm trying to point out is that their name is getting out there way more than it did in the past. I mean, in this area, in the Northeast, Grillo's has been one of the most beloved brands. And the founder of Grillo's, we had him on the podcast. Amazing story, but it was very much a Northeastern based brand and regional centric brand. Now it is very much national. I think if you ask most people who are somewhat in the know when it comes to food and beverage, they'll be like, Oh, of course, grillos. I know grillos.
[00:15:53] John Craven: Oh yeah.
[00:15:54] Ray Latif: Next thing you know, they're going to be on like Aston Martin, Formula One. I love how you described that. Like you're having casual conversation, like with your buds. You're like, Hey, I want to, I want to ask you guys, what, what do you think about pickle brands right now? Like what? Sure. What are your thoughts on Clausen's? How do you feel about Clausen's? You're like a bad Seinfeld episode. Every three, four hours, I'm like having this conversation about pickles. No, if I'm shopping or if I'm in the grocery store, I bet you people are going to recognize me. You start questioning other shoppers? Yes, exactly. It's part of my job. It's what I do. Never going to Brooklyn. Grillos has done a really good job, I think, building awareness through these collaborations, through these licensing deals. Mike's Hot Honey, another really good example of that. You know, do they have a Zippo? They probably do. I can't think. It's probably at least a hundred at this point. Collaborations or licensing deals that Mike's Hot Honey has done. And then most recently, Graza. Graza does a ton of these deals. Littlespoon, most recently. Firehook. Ithaca. Alex Ice Cream. You could just list off like literally every brand. Yeah, Rind. Everybody's doing it, yeah. Yeah, Rind. And then Ouroboros, they had the martini with Graza. And so it's clear like these three brands in particular, and, you know, you could probably throw Fly Budging in there, although they're doing less than they had in the past. They've really embraced licensing deals and collaborations as part of their marketing and innovation strategies. And so as we head into 2026 and brands are considering partnerships and co-branded products, I'm gonna ask you guys, what should they consider? What makes for a good collab? Well, first of all, don't do the collab too early. Like when you're too small, that is. Okay. So I think we've seen some brands, which I'm not going to call anyone out, but they kind of started doing brand collabs when their brand itself wasn't really on solid footing. And that seems sort of risky and maybe a distraction. I think for brands that have even a little bit of traction, like It seems okay if it's done in a way that somehow there's synergies between the two brands, you know? I think that's the ideal collab is like, you both maybe share some similar traits of a consumer base, you know? And you're just maybe getting some extra trial out of it. There's also the opposite of that, which is like the shocking collaborations, like the Gorillaz and Zippo, which I don't know.
[00:18:13] John Craven: Is that shocking?
[00:18:14] Ray Latif: It's pretty shocking. Would you have thought of that? You know, would you have come to the table if we said, Hey, let's, let's put two brands together. And you'd be like, Oh, I don't want to pick Zippo and pickles. I wouldn't call it shocking. It's probably less expected than other collabs, perhaps. OK, well, it's not antifreeze in Gorillaz Pickens. I would hope not. That would be a bad, that would be a shock. Don't tempt Mike with a good time. I think out of the ordinary or unexpected sometimes works and then sometimes it's kind of weird. Just today I saw a new collaboration between a wine brand that's called 19 Crimes. which has- Snoop Dogg. Yes, it's Snoop Dogg's brand, which has released a new product called Severed Red. And this wine is made with Liquid Death.
[00:19:02] John Craven: The blood of his enemies? Oh. Liquid Death.
[00:19:05] Ray Latif: So 19 Crimes and Liquid Death have collaborated. And so it's a, I believe a co-branded product. And I would certainly not have expected that. Look, Liquid Death is probably the exception of this in that their whole brand is basically wacky offbeat. So they could basically do a brand collaboration with anything at this point.
[00:19:26] John Craven: Fair enough.
[00:19:27] Ray Latif: Fair enough. So I think that's a little different than maybe a pickle brand. Sure. Or someone like a Graza, which has done more like I don't know, things that I would say kind of have a culinary sort of experiential type slant to them. But don't you want to do one that's going to have some legs and some longevity? Like, for instance, I think the Fly By Jing Daily Crunch is one of my favorite collabs. Sure. Where you just really add some nice flavor to those sprouted almonds.
[00:19:55] John Craven: Yeah, even I have right here the Fly-by-Jing and Lundberg rice. It's just like a great collaboration. It tastes good. It's not something that you really think of as like, oh, this is a collab product unless you look at like, oh, it has Fly-by-Jing. Awesome. It's going to taste delicious. So I think it's like aligning on just a really tasty product.
[00:20:17] Ray Latif: That's more powered by Fly-by-Jing, right? Yeah.
[00:20:20] John Craven: Yeah. It's not a huge deal. It's just kind of like a footnote. Like, yes, it has Fly-by-Jing in it. It's going to be delicious.
[00:20:27] Ray Latif: What's awesome about that too is that I think you started out as a limited edition product, but now I think it's part of Lundberg's permanent lineup. You can get that anywhere, which is awesome.
[00:20:37] John Craven: Yeah. Which is just like with Fishwife too. I mean, Fishwife and Fly-by-Jing have this amazing product. I think I eat it like once a week.
[00:20:45] Ray Latif: Well, I mean, Flyby Jing and Graza again are two, I mean, they're just components, right? So you can put them in a lot of things and use it to make a product. I would say heavenly components. Heavenly components. Yeah.
[00:20:58] John Craven: I think also just like aligning on your brand and who your target audience is, like Fishwife, they collab with Keystone, which I think at first you're like, huh, interesting. But they did like a tackle box. The beer brand? Yeah, the beer brand. Oh. Fishwife is trying to be like approachable, fun, lighthearted, and putting that in a tackle box for, you know, going fishing and eating tin fish. It's kind of funny.
[00:21:25] Ray Latif: That's pretty weird. And then ruin it with a nice keystone light.
[00:21:28] John Craven: But anyway.
[00:21:29] Ray Latif: Oh, hello. Do you want to get a sense of how I think Jing thinks about you know, her brand and where she would put her brand. You could ask her, by the way. She's going to be at Nosh Live. You can ask her at Nosh Live. That would be a great way to have that conversation. But ahead of that, I would go to her Jing Theory Instagram page and watch this reel that she did that gives you four pieces of advice on how Korean companies build brands. And I think a lot of what she talks about in that is stuff that she believes already. And the way that she's built the Fly By Jing brand to be this experiential brand that has a life, you know, beyond just the condiments itself. Yeah. Going back to Jackie's point about not really being a footnote, but the flavor of that Lundberg Rice is being powered by Fly By Jing. I wonder how you negotiate that or how you talk to your co-branding partner about packaging and label design so that it really enhances both brands in the best possible way. So I mentioned Boulder Canyon as one of the brands that Grillo's Pickles has partnered with, and it's almost like one logo stacked on top of the other. So Mike, you can see it here. You have Boulder Canyon, obviously it's a potato chip brand on top. Right underneath it, it says Grillo's Pickles. And I think that's a fair, cause you're really highlighting the fact that it's a pickle flavor and that it's a well-known brand. Yeah. And not just some pickles in the chips versus chips in the pickles. So Boulder Canyon coming first. So, you know, it's a potato chip, not a bag full of pickles. Yeah. But I think how that's negotiated is, is certainly really important again, because you want to highlight both brands as much as possible. Now, on the other hand, I just saw this other collaboration between two companies. I believe it's called Huer, H-U-E-R, I don't know how you pronounce it. But they have partnered with Frank's Red Hot to introduce some new spicy gummy bears. And it almost looks like it's not a Huer product. It almost looks like it's a Frank's Red Hot product. I got some spicy gummies.
[00:23:30] John Craven: Do you see this?
[00:23:30] Ray Latif: I mean, look, it's kind of weird. That is very strange. It looks like the bottle of Frank's Red Hot turned into a package of gummy bears. This is one of those that I think is, you know, let's anti-freeze them pickles. Oh boy. I'm going to go further. I started the year, actually it was last year, I think we were talking about things that we want to see in 2025. And one of the things I was hoping to see would be a lot more of these collaborations between emerging brands and established brands as well. And I think certainly we've seen quite a bit of it in 2025, and I hope it continues to be that way for next year as well.
[00:24:11] Jacqui Brugliera: Do you want more repeat buyers on Amazon? Well, this free resource in collaboration with Straight Up Growth will help your brand turn first-time buyers into long-term subscribers. Download Winning the Repeat Purchase Game on Amazon now at Taste Radio.com slash SUG. That's Taste Radio.com slash S-U-G to start building retention-driven growth for your brand on Amazon. Scaling a beverage brand into major retail comes down to operational readiness. From packaging lead times to co-manufacturing strategy, the details can make or break a launch. In a new ebook in collaboration with Octopi and Asahi Beer USA, industry leaders share what they've learned in helping brands scale. Download it now at Taste Radio.com slash octopi. If you're developing a cannabis beverage, formulation choices matter, especially early on. Source Technology's free guide shares practical insights on stability, dosing, and scale-ready development. Download the ins and outs of creating a cannabis beverage today at Taste Radio.com slash cannabis.
[00:25:20] Ray Latif: All right, you guys are chomping wildly at the bit.
[00:25:23] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, I'm ready over here, Ray.
[00:25:24] Ray Latif: To talk about your products. All right, John's got an emerging brand about two years in that's a beloved brand, I believe, at this point. Yes, and it's a collaboration with Thanksgiving Feast. Okay. It's the new Lentiful Instant Lentils Thanksgiving Feast. Which, if you haven't had lentiful, I mean, we've certainly talked about it a lot, but a couple of instant lentils that, you know, they've got a bunch of different varieties, different flavorings. Winner of the Nosh Pitch Slam two years ago, founder Ben Bacon, chill dude. With the maybe most fortunate last name for a person making vegan products. But anyway, yeah, this sort of blends Thanksgiving Feast, got some vegetables and stuff in here. It's really good. I mean, this thing is 200 calories, 12 grams of protein, six grams of fiber. It's a potent little cup. Yeah. I like the branding there and, you know, the Thanksgiving Feast is a good idea, but that just tastes like something I'd eat every day.
[00:26:23] John Craven: Yeah.
[00:26:24] Ray Latif: I don't know about every day, but it's a good fall winter sort of flavor.
[00:26:28] John Craven: It's very hearty. It does feel like you're eating like a hearty stew. He doesn't skimp on the herbs either. Yeah. The thyme, the sage, the rosemary, it's there. It's delicious. And it does taste kind of like meaty for a plant-based snack.
[00:26:44] Ray Latif: I love this because it's got so much going on in here. Just the nutrients, the macronutrients are fantastic. 12 grams of protein, 6 grams of fiber, 200 calories. It's definitely going to fill you up. But carrots, peas, green beans, lentils, these are all good things. Good for you. Needs a little turkey. Anyway, I love lentil. Needs some turkey. All right. That's the feedback to Ben. Ben, just put a turkey leg in. Put a turkey neck. Put a turkey neck in there. I'll say you were just talking about Frank's Red Hot and the gummies. Yeah. Well, this Blobs collaborated with Fire Ray. What is Blobs, Mike? Blobs is a brand of better for you gummies. And this one is Fire Blobs Spicy Mango Guava and only four grams of sugar. It's pretty spicy. I think if you're not into spice, this is going to surprise you. They warn you. It says fire. Is that a warning label? Fire? Anytime you see fire, it's bad? Coming in Hot Honey the back, Ray. Coming in hot. I mean, they're trying to warn you. Clever stuff. These are good. Okay. Good. Good. All right. John has some energy in his hand. Yeah, just a quick shout out to Huxley who just rebranded. It really feels like a totally different product line here. And Huxley is the maker of Better For You Energy made with electrolytes. Yes. I guess they call it Refreshingly Real Energy now. It used to be about, I think, plant powered energy, but it looks like the same formulation. This thing is only 40 calories. It does not have any like stevia or monk fruit or anything. It's just. sugar and juice flavored, sweetened, really good stuff. 90 milligrams of caffeine. But yeah, I really liked the updated look of it. Really did a nice job on that. Yeah. It comes in a 12 ounce slim can. Yep. They got a button on the front that says 100% real ingredients. It actually feels kind of Tropicana-ish or you know. Yeah, it does. It's like really, the other SKUs are kind of like that too. Big fruit imagery. And then can I go one more while I'm I don't want to be the guy ranting for 20 minutes like other people. But anyway, last but not least the new rind granola squares, which right now comes in a single raspberry almond flavor. But these things, I'm not really sure like what you're supposed to do with this. I mean, obviously, aside from just eat it, it's kind of like a chunk of a granola bar. Mm-hmm really really tasty stuff just snack on it. It's a big pouch yeah, I mean I kind of wondered if they're just going for like make it the size of like a Rice cereal basically or bag of cereal depending on what brand you're eating, but what's the size of the pouch? 1 pound 16 ounces yes 5 grams protein gluten-free I like also shout out to Matt Weiss here for the founder and CEO oh Yes, thank you. It's got a little like hand applied small batch sticker, which I don't know if that's just a nod to, uh, the company they acquired this being the, you know, initial run here. Is there something under there that was a mistake? Rind acquired, right? Snacks acquired small batch. I was kind of like, what are they going for here? Like, is it, is it a collaborate? That's not definitely, it's not a collab if it's your own company. They collab with themselves. I don't know. Like if Pepsi made a Doritos flavor, we'd call it a collab. What if Pepsi puts like a little Pepsi sticker on poppy cans with that? We call it a Collab Work. Pepsi by poppy. I'm just saying, so maybe they're collabing. Maybe they're trying to say it's a small batch. Maybe it's both. Who knows? But these are super tasty. So one of the things I love about this packaging is that it's very clear to read. Everything you could read from like 20 feet away from the logo, the granola squares to the flavor name, raspberry almond, five grams of protein, gluten-free small batch made with real fruit and yogurt. It's very easy to see on shelf. My only beef with that would be that it's kind of purple for a raspberry. It kind of looks more like a yogurt brand in terms of the color. It does look a little pastel-ish. Yeah, I might pinkify that a little more, but other than that, I really like the packaging. I agree with you 100%, like it's really easy to see. And then the collates are easy to see too, and it pulls you right into either the picture of the raspberry almond, which is extraordinarily, granola square, which is extraordinarily appetizing. And then, you know, obviously you see it's rye and granola squares too.
[00:31:14] John Craven: I also have a energy drink over here called Skinnergy, which I actually really love the name. It's pretty obvious what it is. It's an energy drink that's also great for your skincare. It says right on front of pack, drink your skincare. It also says it has caffeine, collagen, vitamin C, and niacinamide. which is interesting. I haven't seen a beverage with niacinamide in it. I've seen it in skin care. And in the back of the pack, it says everything is like 100% of your daily value for all of the vitamins that you need for your skin care. So edible beauty is definitely trending.
[00:31:48] Ray Latif: All right. Modified niacinamide. We keep seeing edible and drinkable beauty products come to market. My question is, how and where do you merchandise them? In Sephora? In Sephora? Okay, obviously in Sephora, but like, when you're at the grocery store, you're not gonna be looking for a product. Next to the oil of Olay. But is it next to kombucha?
[00:32:11] John Craven: I think it is an energy drink. So I think it would be in the energy drink set. And then a woman or a man could go and be like, Oh, that's nice. I could also have better skincare if I'm drinking this energy drink because it does have 105 milligrams of natural caffeine from green tea. So I feel like that's like priority number one.
[00:32:34] Ray Latif: It's got to be a dual function product. It can't just be about the beauty aspect, I think.
[00:32:40] John Craven: Yeah, I feel like that would be more in like a drugstore or the beauty section. And that would be a little bit harder.
[00:32:46] Ray Latif: You know who you should ask? Lauren Castro from CVS.
[00:32:49] John Craven: Yeah. She's going to be awesome. Come full circle.
[00:32:52] Ray Latif: There you go. All right, Mike, wrap us up here. What do you got? Well, Ray, there's a company called Clarity, C-L-R exclamation point, T-Y, seekclrty.com that did what we've all been waiting for, Ray. Soda Pot. Soda Pot.
[00:33:11] Jacqui Brugliera: Why did it take so long to get here?
[00:33:13] Ray Latif: It's got weed in it. 10 milligrams of THC. 10 milligrams of THC. It says it's two servings per can. I've got straw nana smash and probably your favorite, blue ginger. I'm going to give this a quick try. F is blue ginger. It's what you think.
[00:33:28] John Craven: I don't know what I think. Blue raspberry and ginger.
[00:33:32] Ray Latif: It tastes pretty good. So shout out to Clarity and their Soda Pot, which I think is pretty funny. And yeah, it's pretty tasty stuff. Full sugar, in case you're wondering. And then also here I have a line of non-alcoholic libations from New Orleans called Mockley. Okay. Not to be confused with broccoli. I've got Citron Café Noir, Herbal Tangerine Elixir, Pomegranate Ginger Tonic, and I'm going to try the Blueberry Floral Spritz for the win. Mockley's, uh, it's new branding is, um, it's good. I mean, it definitely stands out. It feels like a little wicked, you know, the wicked movie feels a little wicked-ish. Yeah, it does feel like that. 8.4 fluid. That'd be a good collab, right? 8.4 fluid ounces here. And it's got a nice adult flavor, but it's also certainly on the sweeter side for this one here. Let's just give one more try while we're here. Non-alcoholic libations from New Orleans. That's what the description is on the top of the can there. Oh, this one's great. It's got a coffee and orange flavor. It's really good. Nice. Nice. All right. Last call up as we head into the week of Thanksgiving. You want to be sure that all your ducks are in a row before Thanksgiving Feast everyone knows it's chaotic that second half of the week. So make sure to register for Nosh Live, Bevanite Live, Brewbound Live, one, two, or all three, because we want to see you there. 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. you
