[00:00:10] Ray Latif: Hello, and thanks for tuning in to Taste Radio, the number one podcast for the food and beverage industry. I'm Ray Latif, the editor and producer of Taste Radio, and I'm with my BevNET and Nosh colleagues, John Craven, Jacqui Brugliera, and Mike Schneider. 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. Can I bring something up? I have a problem with the word editor, because whenever I say it, it comes out of the da-da-da-da. You know, when I say I'm the editor and producer. Do you guys pick that up? Because I feel really self-conscious when I say the word.
[00:00:52] Taste Radio: I've never noticed it.
[00:00:53] Ray Latif: Now that you mention it, yeah. I only hear Arteta. I only hear Arteta. Arteta has been top of mind for Mike for several days now. Mikel Arteta being the manager of the Arsenal Football Club, which is on the verge of not making. We should not talk about it right now. All right, let's not talk about that. Let's talk about something fun.
[00:01:13] Live Summer: I want an electronic gong for whenever you guys start talking about this crap.
[00:01:17] Taste Radio: Or an eject button, you know?
[00:01:19] Live Summer: I like that. Check me right out of the podcast. Start your own like Rand Mike's hot takes on like nobody wants to hear that, whatever. Yeah, there you go. Rand Mike's hot takes that no one wants to hear.
[00:01:35] Ray Latif: Jackie, did you mean eject in terms of like cassette tapes or like VHS tapes?
[00:01:39] Taste Radio: I was thinking, you know, when you see action movies and they have the eject button in the car and then they just pop out the roof.
[00:01:45] Ray Latif: Well, it's funny you mentioned that, right? Because James Bond, right? cassette tapes. It wouldn't have made sense actually if Jackie was talking about cassette tapes because like she's way beyond that.
[00:01:56] Live Summer: You know why Ray's thinking that? Because he's got like 10 cassette players like in his back room along with his Laserdisc player and the things he's found on the street.
[00:02:06] Ray Latif: No, I have several reel-to-reel players and 8-track players, true story. Well, let's not get into that. Folks who don't know anything about what I'm talking about, they're like, 8-track, what does that even mean? Just look it up on the internet, just Google it, and you'll see, you'll realize how much of a weirdo I am. Anyway, going back to this word eject, you know, there's a very famous scene, as soon as you said that, there's a very famous scene in that movie Top Gun, right? Where Goose has to eject, or Maverick and Goose have to eject, and there's a terrible accident. Anyway, it's a very key point in the movie, and I was just thinking about Top Gun Maverick, the sequel that's coming out next week. I'm psyched for it. I'm actually thinking about going into the theater to watch it. And it's set, right, in your neck of the woods? It's set in your city, Jackie, right?
[00:02:47] Taste Radio: Yeah, in San Diego. They were actually having the red carpet going on in San Diego on the USS Midway, so we had a lot of celebrities in town.
[00:02:56] Ray Latif: Tom Cruise was in town?
[00:02:58] Taste Radio: Yeah, he flew in on a helicopter, actually. I don't know if he flew the actual helicopter, but he landed on the USS Midway in style.
[00:03:05] Live Summer: I think Ray just legit spoiled the original Top Gun for, uh, the OG Top Gun for so many Gen Z followers of Taste Radio.
[00:03:16] Ray Latif: Okay.
[00:03:16] New York: It is true.
[00:03:20] Ray Latif: Okay, that movie came out 36 years ago. I forgot that for a second. Okay. Yep. So if you haven't seen Top Gun yet, I don't know what to tell you. You had 36 years to watch it. Airfall. Yeah, exactly. I didn't even see what happened at the end. The end is even better. So but I heard this movie Top Gun Maverick is like spectacular. Like critics are raving going nuts about how good it is. And it's not just the action. It's like the plot and the drama that surrounds the characters, and it's interesting stuff. So I'm excited for it, obviously, clearly. Clearly. Yeah. Didn't tell. I'm also very excited for May 26th, because May 26th, and I'm sure John Craven is excited about this too, is the world's first World Apertivo Day. Now, I had no idea we needed An Aperitivo Day. That was every day. Yeah, right? Yeah. But May 26th is the official first World Aperitivo Day.
[00:04:18] Taste Radio: Who submits these? That's my question.
[00:04:21] Live Summer: You can just Google this, go down the rabbit hole. You can you can buy a day. Yeah, you can do it, Jackie. You have money, you can have a world whatever you want day.
[00:04:31] Taste Radio: It's amazing.
[00:04:32] Live Summer: Yes, I'm so enthusiastic about these these made up days, as you can probably tell. I think it was just World Cocktail Day last week. Who knows, but I'm sure there's, you know, a pile of other food and beverage related world fill-in-the-blank days this week too. So remember when there was a world matcha day, Jackie, that was the J leaf team. Oh, really?
[00:04:55] Ray Latif: Yeah.
[00:04:55] Taste Radio: All right. There we go. We needed BevNET.
[00:04:58] Ray Latif: World BevNET day. Oh, I like that. Why not? Yeah. But you know, John, you're, you're a An Aperitivo guy. So I thought you'd be a little pumped for this, even though it's, you know, a made up holiday and stuff like that. Yeah. Well, I mean let's put it this way right, you know, all these days.
[00:05:16] Live Summer: They're just amateur hour right i mean do you go drinking on St. Patrick's Day, get real excited about that, because you're Irish I mean not you but you know, if you're Irish. It just seems, I don't know, sort of unnecessary.
[00:05:30] Ray Latif: That's all. Fair enough, fair enough. However, you know, given that we live in trying times and you're looking for anything or people are looking for anything to celebrate, I think it's fun. It's going to be, you know, exciting maybe to see some of the things that are surrounding that day. I mean, I personally am a big Apertivo fan. Brands like Etilica, Select, Amaro Montenegro, of course, Campari. These are all terrific brands to try. If listeners haven't tried these or are familiar with them, look for them. I An Aperitivo also should be defined a little bit. So I looked this up. It comes from the Latin term to open. and it's a pre-dinner drink and a drinking ritual native to Italy. Not specific to Italy, native to Italy, because clearly we enjoy our aperitivos here in the States as well. So anyway, if you're looking for something to do on May 26th, now you have something to do.
[00:06:21] Live Summer: I would highly recommend maybe having one of the countless cocktails that fit into that genre. Big fan of the Division Bell right now. Is that a riff on a Negroni? It's a riff on a Last Word, which is, in this case, mezcal, Aperol, maraschino, liqueur, and lime juice. Last Word. It's quite crushable. Before I stopped accidentally drinking cocktails, that was one of my favorites. Well, that was a division bell that I just said, but you're two steps behind, Mike. Yeah, the last one.
[00:06:56] Ray Latif: Whatever, John, I'll catch up someday. You'll catch up. You accidentally stopped drinking cocktails? What the heck does that mean?
[00:07:02] Live Summer: Yeah, I don't know. I'm on an accidental dry march now. He's drinking just straight turpentine now. It's better. I didn't make it through dry February. I had one beer.
[00:07:13] Ray Latif: What's the sober term for a dry March? We have to have like some alliterative term here, like not messy March or something.
[00:07:21] Live Summer: They're just talking sober curious now, you know? I mean, basically that's how it goes.
[00:07:25] Ray Latif: Okay. Well, I've seen you, uh, you're, you're not giving up on your caffeine habit based on what I've seen on Instagram. Lots of lattes. You're going extra hard on the lattes. I like coffee. Yeah. Would you do like a behind-the-back pour over the other day? That was something to see.
[00:07:40] Live Summer: Sometimes when John says funny things and he's totally joking, I do them anyway. It's called mockery, but yeah. I know. He's trying to mock me. I do it anyway. He's like, you should pour over your shoulder. Well, he said behind the back, or I thought he said behind the back, so I tried that. Then he was mocking that. So then I poured over my shoulder, which is what he said he actually said. So I did that. And then he tried to come up with something that we wouldn't do. He's like, Oh, you should be like, you know, have two jugs and be like Ghostbusters and cross the stream. So we did that and longboard. Yeah. And there was skateboard lots. They are, you know, combining things. Next thing you know, I'll try to, I'll try to combine it with soccer somehow. Ooh, there's going to be one where there's a bunch of smashing and then Mike is being hauled away in like a, in an ambulance.
[00:08:27] Taste Radio: Oh no.
[00:08:28] Live Summer: Tragic turn. Yes. That almost happened on the, uh, in the skateboard lot there because Amanda, our designer and, uh, another one of barista in the office, her skateboard is set up for her and she's a lot smaller than I am. And so when I stepped on it, almost wiped out.
[00:08:46] Ray Latif: Jeez, okay, well, I guess I'm missing a lot by not being in the office every day of the week, so. There's some good editing in that video.
[00:08:53] Live Summer: Lots of action.
[00:08:54] Ray Latif: Things get kind of weird over here, what can we say?
[00:08:56] Live Summer: From time to time.
[00:08:57] Ray Latif: Well, you know, Mike, that people are gonna be hitting you up for lattes at BevNET Live and Nosh Live, right? I mean, that's gonna happen.
[00:09:04] Taste Radio: We need a little station for you.
[00:09:06] Live Summer: Ah, that'd be fun. Corey keeps threatening me, our events head keeps threatening to put a latte machine at the events.
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[00:10:02] Ray Latif: Well, as of the recording today, Nosh Live is exactly four weeks away. BevNET Live is a month away. And we are absolutely excited and pumped for both shows. Lots of planning, lots of preparation going on. Attendees signing up by the numbers every single day. you should register to attend because it's going to be a can't-miss event in New York City. Nosh Live, June 13th and 14th. BevNET Live, June 15th and 16th. We are adding new speakers by the day as well. I am personally pumped for Nosh Live because I'll be sitting on stage with the founders Mid-Day Squares, Leslie Carl Saltarelli, Nick Saltarelli, and Jake Carls. I call it one of the hottest brands in food and beverage because it Mid-Day Squares, these guys are experts at leveraging social media to drive sales. They're really big on LinkedIn. I'm sure if you're on LinkedIn, you've seen them. Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, they're all over the place, and it's worked. Their strategy has worked and we're going to talk all about it on stage at Nosh Live. It's a can't miss panel, so if you don't want to miss it, you gotta register for the show. Big energy from those three there.
[00:11:16] Live Summer: They're like a walking flash mob. You know everywhere they go, something crazy could happen between the three of them.
[00:11:24] Taste Radio: In addition Mid-Day Squares is a number of other founders that will be taking the stage to talk about their experiences, lessons learned, strategies for e-commerce and from a number of companies. So including Partake Foods, Vital Farms, Everything Legendary, Sweet Loren, Saffron Road, Ithaca Hummus, Magic Spoon. The list is growing, like Ray said, day by day. So we have a number of founders ready to take the stage. We also have some experts as well that have been there, that have worked with top brands, and they're ready for you.
[00:12:01] Live Summer: Do you think Magic Spoon will bring that unicorn thing?
[00:12:04] Taste Radio: Oh my goodness. We had a great photo op expo on that.
[00:12:07] Ray Latif: That was fun. Now, that's all at Nosh Live, which is happening on June 13th and 14th. Action-packed and exciting. Just as action-packed and exciting is the stuff that's happening at BevNET Live on June 15th and 16th. An amazing lineup of speakers, including Dan Murphy, who is the Senior Vice President of Marketing for Liquid Death. Goodness, this is going to be a fun one. John, you're leading that discussion.
[00:12:33] Live Summer: Yeah, we're talking about their recent NFT launch, the Murderhead Death Club. Which, yeah, it's kind of hard to say that without a little chuckle. But yeah, a topic we're trying to touch since it's something that more and more food and beverage companies are getting into. And Liquid Death certainly is a brand that has leveraged their existing marketing savviness and pushed into the Web3 space. So really excited about that.
[00:13:02] Ray Latif: Yeah, and I think this is one of those topics, which again, you know, we've talked about this in previous episodes of Taste Radio. You know, some people might feel like this is a topic that's sort of disconnected from their everyday, their day to day, but it's so important, John, right? And you've talked about this as well. Can you reiterate why it's an important topic for founders to understand and embrace if possible?
[00:13:23] Live Summer: Yeah, I mean, I guess I just want to put a disclaimer on that, that I'm not necessarily saying that it's important in terms of its overall value at the moment, but I think it is something that is, if nothing else, kind of a current bleeding edge kind of cultural thing. And I do think that much the same way, you know, if we went back a decade ago or maybe a little more, social media was kind of like that bleeding edge, like, why do I need this? And, you know, no one questions that now for, why they need social media to operate their food or beverage company. And this is something that right now is at that early stage level. So people who are savvy and ready to dive in, there's certainly some potential for early opportunity there. I guess I don't totally know what it is just yet, aside from aligning your brand with up leading edge cultural movement, but I think that's why we're seeing more people get into it. So hopefully that answers your question. But yeah, it should be fun to talk about that at BevNET Live for sure. And if you look at what some of the platforms, the Web2 platforms have now that we never would have thought that they would have, I mean, it goes beyond the ability to just generate awareness. The concept of the influencer came out and, you know, we knew that there were influential people in the world that we needed to connect with, but we didn't know just how far that would go. And we didn't understand all the commerce possibilities. So keeping ahead of all this stuff will help you just understand where, where the world is heading in terms of influence, commerce, awareness, all of those things.
[00:15:00] Ray Latif: Absolutely. And you know for more traditional business fundamentals and scaling strategies you know we have plenty of discussions around those subjects as well led by executives from Orgain, Ocean Spray, Harmless Harvest, Uncle Matt's, Culture Pop, Poppy and so many more. You know Bevanite Live in New York City The pulse, the pulse that you get from that show and the excitement of being in the Big Apple is like no other event out there. I highly recommend you attend. If you have an opportunity to do so today, you should. Head to bevnetlive.com and get your tickets today. And for Nosh Live, head to noshlive.com to register as well.
[00:15:39] Live Summer: Do you know what this is, Ray, that I'm holding right now in my hand? A pen? This is the pen of judgment, because we have... I'm getting ready. We're getting ready to judge the New Beverage Showdown, and we've got some contest deadlines coming up, don't we, Jackie?
[00:15:53] Taste Radio: We do. So this Friday, May 20th, is the deadline for New Beverage Showdown and for the Nosh Pitch Slam. Definitely recommend if you are an early stage brand just getting started or you know of an early stage brand, it's a great opportunity to get some industry exposure, spark some conversations, get up on stage, tell your story, and get some instant feedback. So definitely recommend you apply if you can. It's going to be a great event. We have a number of great experts and established brands that will be in the room and that want to meet you.
[00:16:26] Ray Latif: Definitely. You know, from hosting these competitions over the last several years, it's clear that being on stage is just as valuable as winning the competition itself in some ways, given that there are, as Jackie mentioned, so many people in the room that can help you, whether it be an investor, a retailer, a distributor, a mentor. It gives you a spot in the limelight, so to speak. to present your brand, your ideas, and your strategy to the food and beverage community. It's really, really valuable. So I highly recommend that any early-stage entrepreneur or any early-stage brand owner look into applying for the New Beverage Showdown or Nosh Pitch Slam. If you have any questions, just reach out to ask at tasteready.com or send a note to ask at BevNET.com or ask at Nosh.com for more information.
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[00:18:05] Taste Radio: Speaking of early stage brands, landed in the West Coast office last week, Popadelics. So it's a new line of crunchy mushroom chips, some cool flavors. This one's rosemary and salt. There's also a truffle flavor. There's a spicy flavor. It's really tasty. I've had mushroom chips in the past, but they haven't been, you know, this branded. They've kind of been just at a local, you know, Asian market.
[00:18:32] Live Summer: Jackie, we gotta talk about these, though. I mean, they're delicious.
[00:18:34] Taste Radio: I know, I know, we have to talk about the branding.
[00:18:36] Live Summer: And we gotta talk about the branding because Popadelics, once again, a mushroom company, has come along and made people think, oh, are these, you know, you look at those and you ask, are they magic? And even with the flavors. Trippin truffle.
[00:18:48] Taste Radio: Yeah, they're really like going for it too because you're looking at their copy. So obviously the name Papadelics psychedelics and then you look at the back and it says trippin flavor. So it's definitely playing on the whole magic mushroom. I think it's fun.
[00:19:06] Live Summer: I'm afraid I'm afraid.
[00:19:08] Taste Radio: I think it's fun. I think like for now, like they can definitely get away with that because, you know, psilocybin isn't something that's a normal or an ingredient that's legal right now. Something like, you know, how cannabis has evolved depending on the municipality that you reside in. Yeah. So I think for now, consumers can safely say, okay, this isn't going to make me trip. But I think maybe down the road, it could be an issue. But I think for now, this is fun. The packaging's really fun. It catches people's eye.
[00:19:41] Live Summer: When they go psychedelic, I think they should get Nicole Kidman and do like Little Nine Perfect Strangers. They should get her to rep their brands.
[00:19:49] Taste Radio: Oh, nice.
[00:19:51] Ray Latif: Yeah. I have something to wash that down with. Well, it's more for kids than it is for adults, actually. So, yeah, kids don't mix papadelics with this product, but this is star water.
[00:20:01] Live Summer: You can totally mix papadelics with star water.
[00:20:04] Ray Latif: OK. Papadelics are super tasty. They are definitely kid friendly. OK, fair enough. They're really crunchy. It's the crunchiest mushroom you've ever eaten.
[00:20:11] Taste Radio: Very crunchy.
[00:20:12] Ray Latif: All right. It's an official pairing now. Star water and papadelics. Starwater, a brand of immunity-boosting beverages for kids with flavors that are really approachable, including root beer, peachy strawberry, and mango pineapple. All products in the line are fortified with vitamin C, D, and zinc to support immunity. This brand was co-founded by Erin Fasano, who's big in the Startup CPG community. She joined us recently for an episode of Elevator Talk. I really like this brand a lot. I mean, it's zero grams of sugar, zero calories, zero juice. It's made with Rocky Mountain Stillwater and organic flavors. I've been holding this can to wait so I could try. This is their root beer variety that I have in my hand. Let's open it up. Do it, Ray. I just got it all over my desk. No big deal. Wow, it's really good. Not that I should be surprised, but it really tastes like root beer, but in a really non-saccharine way, which is, I guess, the holy grail for root beer in so many ways.
[00:21:11] Live Summer: Those came through the office, Ray, and of course, I'm a big kid, so I don't know. I think I crushed them all.
[00:21:19] Ray Latif: Those were so good. When you said, I'm a big kid, the jingle for Huggy's pull-ups came to mind. I'm a big kid now.
[00:21:31] Live Summer: Mommy, wow. I'm a big kid now. Oh, well, I'll, I'll throw one on the pile here since we're all talking about psychedelics and whatnot. I got this, uh, Mr. Raspi, I don't know if you can see this here, but this is a, um, kind of looks like a little, uh, cigarette carton here, but, um, it's actually just chocolate. kind of like chocolate shavings made into little sticks. But this little guy on the front here is someone's invisible friend's NFT that they basically have used the IP for to create a food product called Mr. Raspi, because the NFT guy's smoking. This is made by someone named Dave Plowden, who actually works at a company called Fit Crunch, but this is sort of a side project. But first time I've seen an actual food product. made out of someone's individual NFT. And what is the actual food again? It's kind of like if you imagine melted chocolate, and then you scraped it into like little, you know, I feel like they kind of put those types of things on like certain desserts or like maybe in a coffee, like an old school, like Italian coffee bar, but they're a little like chocolate sticks. Chalky bits. Gotcha. No, well, I mean, they're tightly rolled little sticks. No, I see. No, I see where I'm going. Yeah, they actually had a, uh, they had a branded ashtray that it came with. It also has on the side of here, a nice disclaimer of, uh, smoking is bad. So I don't, I don't know.
[00:23:03] Taste Radio: It reminds me of when I was a kid, the little candy cigarettes.
[00:23:07] Live Summer: Oh, that's definitely, definitely what they're going for with that. Yeah. But I don't know.
[00:23:11] Ray Latif: It's interesting, you know, and tasty. If nothing else, you've motivated me to learn more about the brand. You kind of lost me when you said invisible friend, but it is interesting. It seems interesting.
[00:23:23] Live Summer: Also, another brand that's in the NFT space, this Chatty Matcha. I don't think we've shown this on here before. It's a Nitro Matcha based out of LA that's just getting started in the LA market with a bunch of retailers. It's Right now, just a single skew, but I don't know, really, really smooth. Wasn't really sure how kind of the nitro thing would work in their case, but really, really tasty. Only 35 calories too. Do you drink it right out of the can or do you have to hard pour it? Oh, you can just drink it right out of the can. It's got 71 milligrams of caffeine, too. So no shortage of punch there. Not bad. And I don't think they have an NFT yet, but Quan Yang stopped by the office and showed off the new Prickly Re brand. So I've been drinking that. I've got the tropical mango ginger in my hand here. And yeah, nice new logo. Got a little bit of a vibe of another brand that we love, Ray. Yeah. Bora Bora.
[00:24:25] Ray Latif: Oh yeah, a little bit. Yeah, well, prickly is a brand of cactus water. I think the new rebrand which features a cactus on the front and has this whole sort of Southwest vibe looks really good. Yeah, a lot of yellow and light blue colors on there. Quan joined us. Quan Yang, one of the founders, co-founders of prickly, joined us at our open house at Bebinet headquarters in Newton back in April. Such a great event. We had 100 and 120 people at the event.
[00:24:52] Live Summer: He also stopped by again after that, Ray, and we had a chance to chat more. And it's good to see brands just coming back to the office too.
[00:25:01] Ray Latif: And he took us through the process of the rebrand and dropped off a bunch of products. And congratulations to Quan and his team for landing a deal on Shark Tank recently. A big win for the company for sure. I'm sure you can find it on YouTube or Google Highlights at least. But yeah, big things happening for that brand. Great stuff. Also at the open house, we saw Melissa Martinelli, who's the founder Super Frau. Super Frau brand, as they describe it on the can, of upcycled fizzy whey drinks. Superfrau describes whey on their website as the super nutrient-packed liquid strained during yogurt and cheese fermentation. It usually gets tossed, hence they call it upcycled, an upcycled fizzy whey drink. promoted as having electro acid for your gut. B six This is their pineapple g is a really delicious pro come a long way. We first was that three years ago, to the office with their p And her great slogans like walk this way. Yes, W-H-E-Y. And now she's in these bright hot pink cans, super proud being in bright, bold yellow letters on the front of the can, more than anything. And this is, you know, this could very much and probably is very much positioned as a functional beverage. But for me, this is a really great tasting beverage. And, you know, we've talked about this a lot on the podcast and episodes of Elevator Talk Taste. You got to start with great Taste Radio mostly nailed it. So great job, Melissa. And so great to see you at the headquarters.
[00:26:40] Live Summer: Great taste. Interesting product. The rebrand is stunning. I mean, obviously a few hills to climb the category creator in the U.S. And so there's a lot of education that comes with a way drink. But if she can get people to drink it certainly is tasty.
[00:26:55] Ray Latif: Also, shout out to the folks from Onyx Coffee Lab, which is a super premium brand Onyx Coffee and tea. They recently sent me some of their tea. The one I'm holding in my hand is their rose variety. It's insane. It's an herbal tea. If you're watching the video, it comes in these spectacularly designed boxes. There's 20 grams of whole flour tea in each one. You know, I'm almost embarrassed to say that I haven't opened this yet, but I haven't opened it because it's like a work of art. This is packaging that reflects what is inside this box. And I've had some of the other teas as well, but I just wanted to show everyone what it looks like. I don't know how to describe it. It just, it's this small cardboard box, but it almost looks like a box for like keepsakes and things like that.
[00:27:39] Taste Radio: It looks like a gift box.
[00:27:41] Ray Latif: Yeah, totally. And on the front, the copy gives a really good description of what the tea is all about, tells you the notes that you should be expecting when you're drinking it. You know, I think obviously packaging is so important in how you present your product and your brand. And this is just the pinnacle, in my opinion, of what Onyx Tea is trying to get at when they are marketing their product to consumers. So well done.
[00:28:05] Live Summer: I know Onyx as a coffee brand and their coffee is fantastic and also very well packaged. We got some of their coffee from the Specially Coffee Association show and brought it back to the office and tried that out. Rumor is they're going to send us some more, so keeping our fingers crossed there, but equally well packaged. Maybe they also have a little bit of a confusion thing going on there, because if you're looking for coffee and you see tea, you're like, oh, do I have the right Onyx? But the packaging is pretty similar. So if you know one, you can find the others.
[00:28:39] Ray Latif: And just so there's no confusion, this is not a brand that was founded by the hip hop group Onyx. This is a completely different company. No, this is a brand out of Arkansas.
[00:28:49] Live Summer: I think that's, you know you're old if you know what the band Onyx is. Shoal band. Or group, excuse me, I guess. Can you guys talk into my Goodyear, please?
[00:29:00] Ray Latif: Well, all kidding aside, what Onyx Coffee Lab has created is quite striking and beautiful, as are the products from a really interesting brand called Stella Falone, which produces high-quality ebony kitchenware. This is a brand that was launched by Taylor Guitars, which is the largest acoustic guitar brand in the world. Stella Falone makes these cutting boards and kitchen utensils out of ebony that can't be used in Taylor Guitars. I recently acquired one of the cutting boards and I can tell you from firsthand experience, they are remarkable in terms of quality and craftsmanship. Also, there's this really beautiful story about the origin of the ebony, which is processed in a small sawmill in Cameroon. Stella Falone's actually named after two women that work in the mill. Also, the brand's emphasis on sustainability is amazing. So I recently spoke with Taylor Guitars VP of Marketing, Tim O'Brien, and he told me that the company never cuts down a tree to make a cutting board. He also teased a new line of products that will be made from other sustainably sourced wood and released in the near future. I am very excited for this. Bottom line, if you're interested, definitely check out Stella Falone. All right, that brings us to the end of this episode of Taste Radio. Thank you so much for listening. As always, for questions, comments, ideas for future podcasts, please send us an email to askattasteradio.com. On behalf of the entire Taste Radio team, thank you for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.
