Taste Radio Insider

Rick’s Picks founder/CEO Rick Field discussed the origins of his premium pickle brand and how he identified white space in a legacy category. He also explained why he describes his company’s journey as “champagne on a beer budget,” the dangers of hitting an entrepreneurial plateau and how innovation has spurred a renewed interest in his brand.

This edition of Taste Radio Insider features highlights from interviews with six founders, creators and industry experts who joined us on the show during the first half of 2019, including Hint founder/CEO Kara Goldin, venture capitalist Chris Hollod, Recess founder/CEO Benjamin Witte, attorney & investor Ryan Lewendon, MALK founder/CEO August Vega and nutpods founder/CEO Madeline Haydon. This episode is presented by BevSource.

On the heels of the 2019 Summer Fancy Food Show, this week’s episode explores new and innovative concepts in the food and beverage industries as viewed through the lens of the annual trade show. We’re also joined by Smári Organics founder/CEO Smári Ásmundsson for a conversation about the yogurt brand’s foray into beverages and how he’s navigated production and distribution challenges along the way.

In this week’s episode, Sebastian Dreher, the managing director of Dohler Ventures U.S., discussed the firm’s funding philosophy and why he believes that investing in emerging brands is more “art than science.” He also spoke about how he evaluates scalable innovation, why category dynamics are crucial to Dohler’s investment strategy, and why great founders are also great fundraisers.

In this episode, we feature an interview with Sisun Lee, the co-founder and CEO of More Labs, a next-generation maker of biohacking beverages known for hangover supplement Morning Recovery. As part of our conversation, Lee discussed the factors and strategic decisions that led to Morning Recovery’s rapid development, and how More Labs is attempting to create a platform for functional products.

Before teaRIOT established a multi-channel retail footprint that stretches across the U.S., and before its acceptance into the Chobani Incubator program, and before its recent $3 million Series A funding round, co-founders Laura and Steve Jakobsen were simply focused on building a brand. “What does [teaRIOT] look like?,” Laura asked in an interview included in [...]

This week’s episode features an interview with Josh Zloof, the co-founder and CEO of Sudden Coffee, an innovative brand of specialty instant coffee. Founded in 2015, Sudden is attempting to revolutionize the $40 billion market for instant coffee by emphasizing its proprietary production process and by focusing on “scalable hospitality.”

In the latest installment of Taste Radio Insider, the hosts discussed the fallout from a controversial profile of GT’s Kombucha creator GT Dave in Forbes magazine. Later in the show, we feature an interview with Suzie Yorke, the founder/CEO of Love Good Fats, a fast-growing maker of keto-friendly snack bars and shakes that is attempting to become the “beacon brand” for healthy fats.

In this episode, we sit down with Darren Marshall and Ravi Kroesen, the CEO and Head Teamaker, respectively, of specialty tea company Smith Teamaker for a discussion exploring how a small company can influence an entire industry.

In this episode, Patagonia Provisions managing director Birgit Cameron spoke about the origins and development of the brand, a food and beverage offshoot of outdoor apparel giant Patagonia. She also discussed the opportunities and challenges of being aligned with its parent company and why its uncommon innovation strategy is critical to its overarching mission.