[00:00:00] John Craven: BevNET Live, the premier event for beverage industry executives, is coming up fast on June 10th and 11th in New York City. Hundreds of beverage founders, investors, and retailers are already confirmed. Don't miss your chance to build momentum mid-year and set yourself up for a strong finish. Early registration pricing ends Friday, April 24th. Register now and save $100 at bevnetlive.com.
[00:00:39] Ray Latif: Hello, friends, and thanks for tuning in to Taste Radio, the number one podcast for the food and beverage industry. I'm Ray Latif, the editor and producer of Taste Radio, and with my co-host for this episode, John Craven, Jacqui Brugliera, and Mike Schneider. You know, I've been getting some pitches for this show, and people are shortening the name of Taste Radio just to taste. Taste. Like, oh, I'd love to have this person on Taste. I'd love to be on Taste. You know, Taste is awesome. That's another podcast. I know. Well, there is another confusing us. No, I don't think that's what it is, but they're like, Oh no. Is that a good thing? Is it sort of like, you know, you don't call Michael Jordan, you just call him Mike.
[00:01:14] Jacqui Brugliera: It's like a nickname, you know, a nickname of honor.
[00:01:16] Mike Schneider: I think so. I would agree.
[00:01:18] Jacqui Brugliera: They're like, we know what taste is. It's about food. It's about beverage. It's the most important part.
[00:01:24] Ray Latif: Yeah. As long as they don't call it bad taste. Poor taste. What if they just called BevNET just Bev? Oh, can't wait to go to Bev. That's a Bev. That's fun. There is a brand, actually. Still applies. That we like. The wine brand, yes. Yeah. I'm excited for, of course, BevNET Live, Winter 2023, which is... It's going to happen very, very soon by very, very soon. I mean, in just over three weeks, we're going to kick off our winter events with Nosh Live Winter 2023, which begins on November 30th and continues on December 1Host And of course we have Brewbound Live, which is taking place on December 6th and 7th. Of course, BevNET Live would be in the middle of those, December 3rd, 4th and 5th.
[00:02:08] Jacqui Brugliera: It's a nice event sandwich, you know, you can go with food and beverage, then beer, you know, sprinkle in some RTD spirits in there. It covers it all.
[00:02:18] Ray Latif: Yes. RTD and full-size spirits or non-RTD spirits as well. There's going to be a sort of spirit Sunday atmosphere on December 3rd, when we're going to be talking about investment in the spirits industry, followed by the fourth edition of BevNET's Cocktail Showdown. Once again, I'm going to be the host of the Cocktail Showdown. I'm very excited for that. Very excited to sip some of the samples that are going to be presented at the competition. Not before. Look at the smile on your face. He loves the Cocktail Showdown. Not before, but definitely after. And during. I still kind of maybe want to be a judge for one of these things at some point. I don't know if that's ever going to happen. Do we have a Scotch Showdown? We do not have a Scotch Showdown. Oh, we should have A.I.
[00:03:02] Mike Schneider: Ray do that. We have A.I. Ray do the Host And Three you can judge.
[00:03:06] Ray Latif: But well, I'm kind of jealous because all three of you are going to be judges as part of our events. John and Mike as part of BevNET Live's New Beverage Showdown. Jackie, this will be your first appearance on the judging panel for the Nacho Pitch Slam. You did the New Beverage Showdown last summer in 2022, which was awesome. But this time it's food.
[00:03:26] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, I'm excited to get back up on stage with you, Ray, since you're going to be doing the hosting of all four competitions throughout all those days, which I don't know how you do it.
[00:03:38] Ray Latif: I don't know how I do it either. I think you have to have a lot of fun on stage and it's just amazing being up there with these entrepreneurs who are doing just some incredible things to advance our industry, change the way people think about food and beverage and doing it in a way that's fun and hopefully really rewarding for them. So that's my motivation to be up on stage. Yeah. Now for folks who have not signed up, or even if you are registered for Nosh, BevNET or Brewbound, got to let you know that the Agendas And out. So you can check out exactly what is happening and when on all three websites, Nosh, BevNET and Brewbound. Also. The attendee lists are out now. These are incomplete, obviously, because a lot more people are going to be coming to the events. A lot more people are going to be registering for the events. But if you want to see who is already signed up, you can head to our websites and check it out. Now, it's just the names of the companies right now. It's not specific people. Now, if you see someone on that list that you want to connect with, obviously we're going to have plenty of networking opportunities for you to meet that person, meet those companies at these events. Of course, we're going to have breaks in the morning, our lunch hour breaks, our after event parties, so on and so forth. And just let us know if you're attending and you want to meet someone at the events and you can't find them for some reason, just let us know. We'll do our best to make that connection.
[00:04:55] Mike Schneider: Let's say you're shy. Let's say you're not, you know, like the best networker there is. Just come up to us because guess what? We are too. But we'll help you get around. You can tell us who you want to meet. You can tell us what your problems are. You can ask me where Ray is and I'll probably tell you.
[00:05:12] Ray Latif: Are we shy is that what you know?
[00:05:15] Mike Schneider: I am a little bit. You're a little shy. I died. Yeah, I think a little shy, but I think also it's easier that we're a little all little introverted and it's hard to get past race. You're ego. We can infiltrate, you know. No, but we know where his trailer is. Seriously, though, if if you are shy and you do have trouble networking, we can help you just, you know, you look at that attendee list. Tell us who you want to meet. Come to the show. Meet us. We'll help you find people.
[00:05:41] Jacqui Brugliera: And it's also sometimes easier to walk around a show with a buddy. So even if you don't know who you need to meet yet or who you want to meet, just, you know, snag one of us and we'll walk around with you and introduce you.
[00:05:52] Ray Latif: But I got to tell you the number one question that we get at these shows. Where's Ray? No. What's the wifi password? That's number two. It stays Ray. The number one question we get is, can you introduce me to any investors? And this is obviously an important question, but I would encourage folks to look at the attendee list. look at the companies that are there, try to identify some of the investment firms that are going to be attending, And Three let us know, oh, can you please introduce me to X person from this company or this firm? That's a lot more helpful because it means that, you know, you've done a little bit of homework, you know, you want to meet this person in particular, that they might be the right fit for you and your brand. Because sometimes I don't know if we know who the best fit is. And yeah, certainly we can introduce it to general investors, but if you can identify someone that you think, would align well with your company? Just let us know.
[00:06:41] Mike Schneider: Well, you can talk to any investor at the event, but you can also set your expectations in advance by doing a little bit of research on what level, you know, what level of investments they make, what, you know, what stage of the company they invest in, or, or if there's a brand in there that looks like you, you know, like a brand that you want to aspire to be like, or that is maybe somewhat similar to your product for whatever reason. You know, there's good reasons to have different kinds of conversations ready for investors. Like, I'm early stage, what do I need to do now to, you know, to be a good investment for you? And Three there are people there that are looking for early stage companies to invest in as well. But having those questions ready and just being, you know, quick on your feet and knowing, you know, who to ask what kind of question is, it's part of the game. It's part of the game. It definitely is.
[00:07:27] Jacqui Brugliera: And another big question people have are, where are the retailers? And we have structured opportunities for that. So at Nosh Live and at BevNET Live, we have one-to-one meetings where you sign up for the retailers that you want to meet. At BevNET Live, we have Albertsons companies. And at Nosh Live, we have Whole Foods, Thrive Market, Fresh Market, and Kroger. So lots of retailers that will be in the room for the entire event, but also if you'd like to have, you know, a structured 10 minute meeting with these buyers, you can do that. You just have to register And Three we'll send you the link to sign up.
[00:08:03] Mike Schneider: Can we unpack Albertsons a little bit here too? Because it's Albertsons companies. I mean, it's, it's stock market here. You've got Shaw's, you've got Safeway, you've got Pavilion, you've got Vons. The whole umbrella is represented along with partners that can help you scale. There will be people that can help you with legal, with IP. I mean, just all the problems that you have, the things that are keeping you up at night, someone is either there that can solve it or they know who can solve it for you. As long as you're not too shy to ask. Don't be too shy.
[00:08:37] Ray Latif: I'm going to make sure that they play that song when we introduce you on stage. Bonus points if you can name the name of the band. Kajagoogoo. Oh my goodness. Wow. That was really good. Thanks. Okay. There's also plenty of opportunities to highlight what you're doing specifically with our community. So folks know about our on the spot series in which we highlight early stage emerging brands on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube via short interviews, where we ask them two to three questions about what they're doing with their brand, how they're differentiated from the competition and how they're trying to build their businesses. So if you're interested in joining us for this On the Spot series, please let us know. We'd love to highlight your brand. Ask at Taste Radio.com. Obviously, people are familiar with the live Taste Radio Studio, which is going to be taking place at Nosh and BevNET as well. 10-minute interviews with folks about new products, brand updates, new investors, new retailers, things like that. That's going to be once again at BevNET and Nosh. And Three Jackie. We're reprising our Elevator Talk series, live Elevator Talk series at Nosh Live.
[00:09:44] Jacqui Brugliera: Yes, we are. So we have slots for six brands to go on Elevator Talk, get on the live stream, get some feedback from an expert as well as Ray. Ray chimes in as well. And yeah, and get some exposure on the live stream. So you'll be pitching, you'll be getting feedback. It's not like our pitch competitions. It's more like an opportunity for you to pitch an idea, maybe talk about your rebranding and get some instant feedback.
[00:10:15] Mike Schneider: Yeah, we crafted that just because we heard so many people saying, I want to, I want to pitch. I want to improve my pitch. I want to, you know, I want to learn how to pitch. And so whatever pitch you're working on, we'll take it.
[00:10:26] Ray Latif: And this content will be available after the show is as well. So it's something that you can highlight and link to your brand, your brand website. You'll look kind of cool on our stage. I would say so.
[00:10:35] And Three: Yeah.
[00:10:37] Ray Latif: Once again, if you're interested in participating in on the spot Elevator Talk or on the Taste Radio studio, just send us an email, ask at Taste Radio.com.
[00:10:45] John Craven: Vibrant Ingredients is the natural ingredient partner powering food and beverage innovation, delivering flavor, function, and protection through a science-backed portfolio. Vibrant delivers purpose-driven solutions that help brands create extraordinary experiences. Discover what's possible with Vibrant today. Visit VibrantIngredients.com
[00:11:12] Ray Latif: Now I can feel, I can feel John Craven just like burning with desire to bite into some food that I brought. I prepared, obviously I washed my hands thoroughly and I put them in this nice little Tupperware container. Oh boy. It is.
[00:11:30] Jacqui Brugliera: I'm so jealous.
[00:11:32] Ray Latif: Oh, you left the box over here. These are Pizza Cupcakes Of is The Pizza Cupcakes Of The Pizza Cupcakes is what it sounds like. It's this, it's a pizza, but it's shaped like Pizza Cupcakes and it's really flaky. The crust is really flaky and buttery and doughy. And on the inside, there's two different varieties. There's a, I think it's just like a margarita, yeah, margarita variety. And Three there's a pepperoni one. The margarita variety is just mozzarella in the middle and some tomato. The pepperoni one is the same, except it has pepperoni.
[00:12:06] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, I remember seeing them at Expo, and I made multiple trips to the booth, and I remember just a flock of people trying to get at them. They're really tasty, And Three're kind of like a more sophisticated adult Hot Pocket.
[00:12:19] Ray Latif: Oh, I like the way you put that. Totally.
[00:12:21] Mike Schneider: Yes. They're tastier than Hot Pockets.
[00:12:23] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, more sophisticated, you know?
[00:12:25] Mike Schneider: Definitely. They taste more like pizza, but like you said, that brioche dough for sure.
[00:12:30] Ray Latif: They got on Shark Tank in 2021 and got a deal with Lori Greiner. And now they are in over 7,000 retail stores or will be by the end of 2023. They're in Kroger, Whole Foods, Target, Wegmans, Walmart, Albertsons, and Safeway. Really cool stuff. I mean, I've had these before And Three are really delicious. Even for someone who's not a big cheese fan, these are a fantastic afternoon pick-me-up or just a snack. in between meals.
[00:12:59] Mike Schneider: I really like it when the founders put their faces on the package too. Here's Andre and Michelle. They look cool. Awesome.
[00:13:05] Ray Latif: Making pizza. You guys wolfed those down.
[00:13:07] Mike Schneider: Yeah, they were good.
[00:13:09] Ray Latif: Pretty tasty. Yeah. Here you go. Before we started recording, actually before I got to the office, John had sent me a Slack and me, are you really bringing The Pizza Cupcakes Of'm like, yes, I'm really bringing them. That's your track record, right? No, no, no, no. And I prepared them. You did. I prepared them while I bathed. That's kind of shocking. Well, that makes sense. That's a line from Seinfeld. The secret dough you'll love. Secret dough you'll love. Pretty interesting. I like the box too. Yeah, really stands out. Yeah, this is a pretty good product. Six pack for $9.99 is what they're selling for.
[00:13:48] Mike Schneider: Also, one cupcake, 160 calories. Not bad. Not horrible. Not bad. It's a nice little snack. Five grams of protein, just a little sugar.
[00:13:56] Jacqui Brugliera: One of those products that you never knew you needed. Six cupcakes, $9.99.
[00:14:00] Mike Schneider: Well, six Pizza Cupcakes, $9.99. I mean, that's like I could get a dollar slice though.
[00:14:06] Ray Latif: Yeah, that is blasphemy. A dollar slice in comparison to these.
[00:14:10] Mike Schneider: I mean, it's a little more indulgent than your dollar slice. A little?
[00:14:14] Jacqui Brugliera: That's the Long Island in you, right? You just want to go for a dollar slice.
[00:14:18] Ray Latif: I never got dollar slice. If these went for the The Pizza. I'd guess if these were sold at a pizzeria or like a high-end cafe, these would be like $3.50 a pop, each one. But the slice is probably $3.50 a pop, so.
[00:14:33] Jacqui Brugliera: It's like The Pizza shops when you buy garlic knots, you know, this could be something that you buy in addition to your slice. You just want more pizza.
[00:14:40] Mike Schneider: Good shout. Have you ever been at a pizza place when it's closing And Three give you like a box of garlic knots at the end? The best.
[00:14:47] Jacqui Brugliera: Or they'll even just give you some extra slices too. Like you got a time when you go to a pizza shop to get all the odds and ends. Even like with donuts. Oh, there's so many options for leftovers.
[00:14:56] Mike Schneider: It's late night. You're really hungry. You just had pizza And Three give you more and you're like, thank you.
[00:15:01] Ray Latif: It's funny you bring that up because I saw this on Instagram where, you know, when you get pizza to go or take out pizza And Three put that little plastic. like thing in the middle so that the top of The Pizza box doesn't land on The Pizza itself. So some genius pizzeria owner instead puts a garlic knot, like a single garlic knot where that piece of plastic would be. And it's the same function, except you don't get plastic in your pizza and you get to eat that extra garlic knot. I'm going to shout out Dragon Pizza in Somerville.
[00:15:34] Mike Schneider: That was the last place that gave me free knots and pizza at the end of the night. You know, that place was rated like the worst. No, it was rated worse. Oh, let's not get into this. By the Barstool Sports founder. And Three are so wrong. That place rules. Yeah. It's tasty.
[00:15:49] Ray Latif: You know what else rules? What? Tetra Pak.
[00:15:51] And Three: It does.
[00:15:52] Ray Latif: Tetra Pak friggin rules. Tetra Pak is our presenting sponsor for this episode of Taste Radio. They are the pioneering packaging solutions company that provides safe, innovative and environmentally sound products that each day meet the needs of hundreds of millions of people around the world. Learn more at Tetra Pak. with a K T E T R A dash P A K dot com.
[00:16:13] Mike Schneider: Ever had a pizza inside of a Tetra Pak?
[00:16:17] Ray Latif: I haven't, but you know, I mean, it could be, it could be something that it, uh, that could be cool. Well, me neither. Just trying to make some new material. Yeah. By the way, there's no dash in between Tetra and Pack. Even if you put one in though, it takes you directly to tetrapack.com because I just did that. And I was like, oh no, I just gave everyone the wrong URL. But no, they solved that for me.
[00:16:38] Mike Schneider: They definitely did. Yeah.
[00:16:39] Ray Latif: Yeah. John Craven, John Craven, CEO, John Craven, co-founder of BevNET. Guess what? November 14th, your favorite day of the year, National Pickle Day. That's already come and gone. National Pickle Day. Jackie's already dressed up for it. She's got her green sweater on.
[00:16:59] Jacqui Brugliera: I just knew somehow that the pickles were going to be in the conversation.
[00:17:04] Ray Latif: Yeah, you read my suggested topics for this episode.
[00:17:07] Jacqui Brugliera: I was like, I have to change my outfit.
[00:17:09] Ray Latif: Even subliminally, you just knew. You're like, oh, I'm going to wear green today for some reason. I mean, why do we have no pickles here? Well, we don't have any pickles because they haven't come in yet for some reason. I asked for a couple of companies that have launched or are launching limited edition pickle products, And Three still have not come in. The weirdest one I've seen so far is My Mochi pickle flavored mochi.
[00:17:29] Mike Schneider: Pickle flavored mochi? That wouldn't be bad.
[00:17:32] Ray Latif: You think so? I think it's pretty good. I think it's called rancid. Oh, geez. It's from the company MyMochi, which I think everyone here is familiar with. But they're claiming that this is the first and only pickle mochi ice cream, and it's in celebration of, of course, these days. And you asked for samples? I did, and I haven't heard back yet. Come on, MyMochi. Bring the thunder. I think sweet and sour typically works. I don't know if it'll work in this case, which is why I wanted to try them. Do you remember pickle ice cream from last year?
[00:18:05] Mike Schneider: Was that the Van Leeuwen's one? No, it was a local. It was a J.P. Licks ice cream and Grillo's maybe? Yeah, J.P. Licks and Grillo's. It was it was super weird.
[00:18:16] Ray Latif: Oh, that's right. You brought some to the office. I do remember that. I would not eat again.
[00:18:20] Mike Schneider: I was one of the few fans of that. I liked it. Well, I wouldn't go and like order it. I wouldn't make it my regular. It's not like going to overcome like mint chip or something like that. No, I mean, or chocolate peanut butter.
[00:18:33] Ray Latif: It would be fun, though, to perhaps drizzle on your mymochi pickle flavored mochi. with some Heinz ketchup, the pickle-flavored Heinz ketchup, which is also coming out. Then you can get a double dose of pickle and you get a little bit of savory, sweet and sour. I know what I'd rather put on the ice cream is chung do crisp. Did you try it? Yes, I did. And it was delicious. It was less like salsa matcha than I expected, but it was really delicious. Yes. But anyway, yeah, Heinz is getting into the mix as well. I mean, these are just two companies that I saw. I'm sure there are plenty of other companies that are doing pickle flavor limited edition products. But what happens when the day has come and gone? I mean, like people aren't going to be all about and crazy about these products afterwards, are they? The pickles? Yeah, no, the pickle flavored varieties. Oh, no, of course not. I mean, you can't eat that stuff every day. It kind of ruins the novelty of it.
[00:19:25] Mike Schneider: But every day is pickle day.
[00:19:27] Ray Latif: So again, going back to this question, is this just shock value or is this like, okay, yes, there you go. What's the natural pickle day? No, but like people doing pickle flavored stuff that you wouldn't necessarily expect, like My Mochi. Yeah, I think so. I think it's just shock value.
[00:19:41] Jacqui Brugliera: Pickle flavor is a little bit polarizing. Some people hate pickles. So if you're going to make a skew that's just pickles all year round, it's got to be, you know, really good and maybe not something that's also sweet.
[00:19:54] Mike Schneider: I don't know. Yeah, I think that's like part of the problem is with a lot of these pickle flavor products. There are just many kind of, I don't know, there's a wide discrepancy of like quality and flavor. Like some of them just taste like fake, you know. And other ones actually taste like, you know, they used a high quality pickle in it.
[00:20:12] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah. And if you want a pickle, you can just go get pickles.
[00:20:17] Mike Schneider: Just make it an interview question, Ray, for your next 20 interviews. Do you like pickles?
[00:20:24] Ray Latif: Well, you know, it's interesting. I was just Googling this. So that brand Spritz Society, which is the maker of RTD wine-based spritzers. They did an April Fool's joke where they had a pickle-flavored wine cocktail, And Three I guess they got a good response for it. And Three made it this past summer in collaboration with Clausen's. They had a pickle-flavored wine cooler, apparently, or I guess wine spritzer, which is not... Not my cup of tea, but it just goes to show that maybe sometimes shock value does work and gets the tea. Well, I mean, but the virality, am I saying that correctly? The virality from this not only got more people to know the name of the brand, but got them interested in trying their products to the point where they were going to try the weirdest one first And Three hopefully get them into their core line later.
[00:21:13] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah. And I think with cocktails, there's a little bit more opportunity to do some funky things. And I know I've had a really good like pickle martini before.
[00:21:21] Marina Del: Sure.
[00:21:21] Jacqui Brugliera: So people might be a little bit more willing to try that and maybe go back to it.
[00:21:27] Ray Latif: Maybe. Well, have you tried a good RTD pickle martini? Because that... That doesn't exist. Well, it might be eligible for BevNET's Best of 2023 Spirits Awards. I think, I mean, if I tried a good one, I'd be interested in that.
[00:21:42] Jacqui Brugliera: I would too.
[00:21:43] Ray Latif: The nominations for those awards are still open. Jackie, when do we stop taking nominations for our Best of 2023 Spirits Awards?
[00:21:52] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, you have a little bit of time, but not too much time. Make sure you get your nominations in before November 24th. So, you know, right before Thanksgiving. So don't delay.
[00:22:02] Mike Schneider: You have time to formulate and package that pickle Martini that Ray promised.
[00:22:06] Jacqui Brugliera: Right.
[00:22:07] Ray Latif: I was thinking about another RTD Martini. I'm not going to say the name of the brand just because I feel like that's going to be a. I just don't want to say the name of the brand yet, but I do absolutely love this, this martini. If you go back and listen to past episodes of Taste Radio, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about, which I'm sure a lot of people are going to go to.
[00:22:25] Mike Schneider: It mentions all brands possible every episode, but now it doesn't want to mention the brand. So ominous.
[00:22:32] Ray Latif: Anyway, I'm very, very excited to see what comes in and what continues to come in for our nominations for Best of 2023 Spirits Awards. Exciting stuff.
[00:22:39] Marina Del: 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 e-book 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.
[00:23:29] Ray Latif: Jackie, I got to go back because I know we talked about this in the past. You said room. Room. You don't say room. As in R-O-O-M, you say rum. It's a Massachusetts thing.
[00:23:41] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, people can get a little bit confused because they'll be like, you know, I have to head to my room or, you know, it doesn't sound, doesn't sound right.
[00:23:51] Ray Latif: But I was, uh, I was looking through the cooler earlier this morning and I saw a can of R-O-O-T beer. How do you pronounce R-O-O-T beer?
[00:24:01] Jacqui Brugliera: Root?
[00:24:01] Ray Latif: You say, okay, so you say root beer. I shouldn't say rut beer. No, but I know a lot of people say rut beer.
[00:24:06] Jacqui Brugliera: Rut.
[00:24:06] Ray Latif: Yeah. Or rut. Rut or rut. Rut or rut. Rut beer. Rut. Rut beer. Rut beer. Yeah.
[00:24:13] Jacqui Brugliera: I guess with like the two O's when you have like the, what is that called above the O's?
[00:24:17] Ray Latif: Yeah.
[00:24:18] Jacqui Brugliera: That makes me like really emphasize it, you know? Like the vroom doesn't have an umlaut.
[00:24:27] Ray Latif: Jackie can do whatever she wants, right? She can do whatever she wants.
[00:24:29] Jacqui Brugliera: In order for my brain to trick my brain into pronouncing things correctly, I have to write it differently. Yes.
[00:24:34] Ray Latif: Oh boy. Now, I think for the first time ever. Are we going to talk about these bars that we all have? John, Mike and I all have samples of these amazing products that are marketed by a company called South 40 Snack Company. John, you want to talk about the ones in front of you?
[00:24:56] Mike Schneider: Sure, Ray. Yes, Ray. Yes, Ray. Do it, do it now. Yeah, the South 40 bars, they have nut bars as well as fruit bars, both of which are quite tasty, like real ingredients here. They've got a macadamia one, a mixed nut, a peanut, a hazelnut, a pecan, Marcona almond even, I think. Macadamia, you said macadamia?
[00:25:20] John Craven: Yeah, I don't know. I mean, they have Pickle Everything. I've got pistachio.
[00:25:22] Mike Schneider: They've got peanut. Yeah, they've got them all. Yeah, this is what happens when companies, I mean, they must have sent how many cases of these things. Like we're just swimming in nut bars over here. We're swimming in nut bars. People are crushing them now. And if you wanted to send more, we'd... No, I'm serious though. I mean, people have been taking a box And Three like make a little buffet and take it home. These are like a throwback to the early, early days of like a kind bar for me. They're really good. You can just see the actual ingredients through the clear wrapper. Yeah. Yeah. Very tasty. And Three ones that are fruit bars, they're not really bars. They're just like smashed fruit. They're awesome. They're just like a thin fruit snack. There's mango, there's mango pineapple. And I think there's one that has passion fruit in it too.
[00:26:08] Ray Latif: Yeah, there's a pineapple, mango, pineapple, passion fruit, and a mango. And I think the thing that got me, however, is the packaging. These labels are beautiful. They are. They feel very artisanal, but they're easy to read. Again, as John pointed out, they're very easy. It's very easy to see the ingredients And Three quality of the ingredients through the packaging. So really well done, really beautiful packaging. And, you know. Lots of nice colors too. Color palette's really stunning. Yes. Pistachios green, of course. Yes. Jackie, uh, you didn't get any of these, did you? Sorry about that.
[00:26:44] Jacqui Brugliera: I did actually. I just don't have them with me. Yes, they are really tasty. I do agree. It's kind of like the OG kind bar. It's kind of nice to bring something back to the basics, something simple because everything these days seems a little bit complicated as far as, you know, ingredients or adaptogens or, you know, all the different things that they say go into it. So it's nice to have something that's just tasty and full of whole foods.
[00:27:09] Mike Schneider: Absolutely. A bar that's devoid of a chocolate skew.
[00:27:13] Ray Latif: Yeah, actually, that is interesting. They're not like dipped in chocolate.
[00:27:17] Mike Schneider: Classic snack playbook, add chocolate and sell more. Let's see what happens. I mean, you know, free advice.
[00:27:27] Jacqui Brugliera: And over here on the West Coast, I've been trying to drink less coffee. So I've been limiting my caffeine intake and I have a variety of products that I'm trying this week.
[00:27:38] Mike Schneider: But not no coffee, right? Not no coffee, just less?
[00:27:41] Jacqui Brugliera: Less coffee. Like maybe I'll treat myself to one or two coffees a week. But the other days of the week, I've been trying to do matcha, but that's kind of getting boring for me. So I have some products here that I'm going to try. So this is Sip Herbals. It's like a faux Joe. So it's supposed to taste like coffee, but it is caffeine free and it's plant based. So the ingredients are like chicory root, dandelion root and carob. So it's supposed to give you that same experience of drinking your coffee, but doesn't have the caffeine. So when I'm craving it, I'm going to try this.
[00:28:16] Ray Latif: Caffeine free energy. I like it. Sounds a little similar to mud.
[00:28:20] Jacqui Brugliera: Yeah, it's kind of similar to that. I would say this is a little less functional. This is more so just to like give you a coffee experience. And Three I do have a couple other items that are a little bit more functional. So this is Rasa and this is adaptogen packed herbal coffee alternative.
[00:28:37] Ray Latif: How do you spell that?
[00:28:39] Jacqui Brugliera: R-A-S-A.
[00:28:40] Ray Latif: Is there a numla? Stop.
[00:28:42] Jacqui Brugliera: There's no numla. And Three have a variety of different skews with different functions and different flavors. They have like a chai and a cacao one. This one also has chicory and dandelion root in it. It also has some maca, ashwagandha, rhodiola, chaga, reishi, all the hot, hot ingredients.
[00:29:05] Mike Schneider: All your favorites.
[00:29:06] Jacqui Brugliera: And this is, again, similar to the sip. It's just one-to-one as far as boiling water. And Three you just steep it. And Three I also have a couple other things, which are the Om Mushroom Superfood Matcha Latte. So this, again, has some functional mushrooms in it, which are my favorite. So instead of taking my supplement, I could take this. And Three I also have the Four Sigmatic Think Organic Coffee. So if I'm drinking coffee, I feel a little bit better about it.
[00:29:33] Ray Latif: Can you overdose Om Mushroom? I haven't done it yet. You've got quite a bit in front of you.
[00:29:40] Jacqui Brugliera: I've been trying. Not yet.
[00:29:42] Ray Latif: Just going for it. 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.
