A Tiny Bit Better Doesn't Cut It… We See You Lunchly

0:10hello friends and thanks for tuning into taste radio the number one podcast for anyone building a business in food or beverage. I'm Ray Latif, the editor and producer of Taste Radio, and I'm with my co-host for this episode, John Craven, Jackie Brugliera, and Mike Schneider. I should say titles, because I say my title, right? No, just don't waste more time. You don't want to know what's in the titles? They can Google us. Too many titles. Google, look at some of the links. So many titles. So many titles, because titles don't matter here at BevNet. By the way, I'm the CMO of BevNet. Oh, you are?

0:41Yes. Oh, cool. Mike's like, what the hell's going on? here. You're my boss? Jackie, we can run away. Jeez. It was good to be... Well, I don't want to say it's good to be out of town, but it was nice to be in a different state last week. I was in Louisville for a couple days. Okay, so I got this yesterday. I've been saying Louisville all this time. It's Louisville. And I was talking to someone yesterday, and they were ready to smack me across the face because they were like, it's Louisville. It's not Louisville. It's more like Louisville. Louisville. Louisville? But Louisville is more like it. She looked at me like I was crazy.

1:18And I broke into a cold sweat. I was like, oh, my gosh. Because I was saying Louisville to everyone when I was down there. Yeah, they know you're from out of town. Okay, fine. I feel like there's a lot of cities like that, like Baltimore or Baltimore or New Orleans versus New Orleans. New Orleans? New Orleans. New Orleans was the one that I referenced. It's not New Orleans. It's not New Orleans. It's New Orleans. Yeah, or Nolens. Or Nolens. Yeah, but you still, I mean, I think New. You can still say New, just don't say Orleans. I think you just have to be from the area to know how to say it correctly.

1:47How do you say San Diego? San Diego. I don't say it. San Diego. San Diego. Come on. San Diego. I have a friend who is from Puerto Rico. He says, San Diego or something like that effect. Heaven. How's that? How'd I do? So you're excited to go to heaven next week. I am excited. I call it home. Mike's going to get a halo above his head, become an angel and head to heaven. Now, of course, we've been talking about this for a while. The Taste Radio Meetup in San Diego is next week on September 25th. Exciting news. We're going to be interviewing the one and only Jeff Church, who is a co-founder and former CEO of Suja, for a live interview.

2:28We're going to be having him there for a live interview at the events. I'm going to be sitting down with him for about 20, 25 minutes. It's going to be chatting it up, talking shop, talking about industry trends, news, how he's supporting early stage brands, what he's seeing on the ground in the trenches, so to speak. It's going to be very exciting. And you're going to have a chance to meet Jeff, talk to him, bend his ear if you are attending. It's a very easy way to attend. Just go to BevNet.com or Nosh.com. Look up Taste Radio Meetup. Fill out the registration form and we'll see you there. Now, you don't need necessarily to fill out the form.

3:00We just would prefer if you do that way we can order the right amount of pizzas and beer and wine and whatnot. So we have enough snacks for you. Enough snacks. It's a pizza truck, Ray. We're not ordering pizzas. They just make the pizzas. It's like a pizza conveyor belt. It just keeps coming out. Oh, OK. I didn't know that. All this time I thought we were ordering pizza. And the truck with the fire was just for show. They were just defrosting the pizzas in the back. They're just Red Baron pizzas. Ray is pretty busy during the event. This is true. he's almost never seen with a piece of pizza in his hand in fairness i'm not sure i've ever had a piece of pizza from that pizza truck either oh i have i'm gonna fix that it's really good yeah i can't believe you haven't had any i had the meatballs the meatballs were good yeah i don't know john's not eating the pizza he's drinking the uh tigronis the tigronis guys i just go behind the bar and put them all in my bag and then we're like sorry we're out john's on a tigronis side are you that guy that actually brings alcohol in a plane even they tell you don't drink the alcohol on the plane if you bring it on with you?

3:57Okay, well, first of all, have I ever brought alcohol onto a plane? Well, yes. Of course. Of course, in my bag. I have brought some canned cocktails, probably including Tigroni's, in my carry-on, but I do not consume my own alcohol on the plane. All right. Smoke my own cigarettes, but no, I'm kidding. That almost felt like a congressional hearing where you're like, I categorically deny these charges that have ever sips my own alcohol on a plane. no do you well it was not my meth ray do not smoke cigarettes or anything but anyway no i you know you're not supposed to do that i don't the flight attendants have a tough job i'm one of those people that just tries to be chill not make their job any harder wait a minute what does that what does that have to do with their job what are you worried that you're gonna get all banged up i don't know i've been on a plan where somebody's like vaping in the bathroom it's a whole thing why would you do that just calm down why would you make someone enforce the rules i mean they it's difficult on a flight attendant.

4:53They're trying to keep everybody happy and you start to break the rules just a little bit. It makes things awkward for them. Also, I fly JetBlue, mostly JetBlue, excuse me. No more True Blue status for you. I get free alcohol. I don't know. Why would I bring my own on? Fair enough. Because they don't have Negronis on the flight. That's true, but I can survive a couple hours without a Negroni. Side note, it's Negroni week this week. So make sure you have a Negroni. I'm going to have a lap post. Or a funny Negroni. Anyway. Jackie, what airline you fly into London? Oh, I don't know yet. What? Uh-oh.

5:30Jackie. I kind of feel like the Bev Financial Department, not the Financial Department, what would you call those people? Financial Department. Finance Department. It's going to have a word with you, Jackie, because those prices get higher and higher as you get closer to the date of your flight. She's fine. She's fine. We found a cargo flight for her. Yeah, LAX has flights every day, you know, nonstop to London. It's just as expensive from, you know, Boston, honestly. But then you have to drive to LAX. Yeah, I got places I can stay. I go to LAX all the time. I'm going to try to get Jackie to surf with me in San Diego, but that's another thing.

6:09But Jackie is an awesome couch surfer. Okay, good to know. I am. I got places. She's quality. She can hang 10 on the couch. Yeah, well, I mention it because the week of October 14th, of course, we're going to be in London. The four of us will be in London attending a Bread and Jam Festival known as Cheers. And we will also be hosting our own thing or possibly things in the city. I'm so excited. Bread and Jam Festival is so good. We get to meet the whole UK community, find out about all the new products, trends. Can't wait to meet you. just hit us up on instagram ahead of time so we can find some time to you know because there's going to be so much for us to do so much for us to see which uh like football club would be most likely to kill both of you because i'm gonna find a pub that's in both of those teams and or clubs or whatever you call them milwall would be most likely to kill anyone but um chelsea uh a tottenham fan for me oh for both of us chelsea yeah Chelsea, you get the Chelsea smile.

7:14Yeah. Look it up. Google it. Oh, no. I don't want the Chelsea smile, right? No. I feel like I have to do deep research before I get to London about all the football clubs and the dynamics. So I'm informed. Yeah. I definitely would not wear an Arsenal kit in West London. I'll tell you that. Fair enough. Fair enough. Well, once again, if you are in London, planning to be in London or anywhere in the UK or actually, you know, within driving distance of London, let us know. You know, Eastern Europe, it's not that far. Eastern Europe, yes. We would love to see you. Would potentially love to interview you.

7:48We do have some interviews on the docket. More will be revealed in the days to come. Ray is bringing extra tape. I'm bringing extra tape, yes. Audio tape is what we use. People don't know that. But we're like, we're just fitting in with the trends of nostalgia and throwbacks, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. John slacked this to the company yesterday, and this is, it kind of blew some minds. I'm not too, too surprised that influencer worlds are colliding. Now, some of the biggest influencers in the world are involved in what we're about to talk about, namely Logan Paul, Mr. Beast, and KSI. Mr. Beast, obviously known for his Feastables chocolate and his, what, 100 million subscribers on YouTube, KSI and Logan Paul, also very popular on the socials and the founders of Prime.

8:39They have collaborated on a Lunchables-type brand called Lunchly. And as Austin Reif tweeted, each box will contain Prime and Feastables. Austin also noted, this is going to crush it. Okay. Oh. All right. That's a good take on this new product. I don't know. I mean, do we need a new Lunchables? We might. Do we need a new Lunchables? Oh, man. We definitely need one that's better for you. I don't know if we do. This is like a weird sort of concept, these lunch kit things that feels very, I don't know, American, I guess. But, you know, hey, pay extra money for the convenience of having a lot of processed food in a little box kit, whatever.

9:28I don't know. The reactions to this were pretty interesting. I mean, definitely a lot of people who just want to dunk on Prime and Logan Paul right now. You know, I think certainly the timing of this, if they did this, you know, a year ago, it probably would have had, you know, much more this is going to crush kind of responses than it did. But, you know, the reactions, again, were kind of surprising. It's like we've seen plenty of celebrity products that are truly without, you know, merit or reason for being. And this one seems like, all right, you can kind of get it. But I don't know. I would say the art on those boxes isn't the most appetizing.

10:03I want to go to Jackie on this because I feel like Jackie may have at one point in her life consumed some lunchables. And I don't say that. I say that only because you say you had Funyuns back in the day and stuff like that. You look a little messed up. Okay. Oh, geez. I'll take it. I'll take it. He was just beating around the bush. I'm like, we don't have time for this. It's that third eye in the back of your head, Jackie. Yeah, I'm like growing an extra limb. I don't know. I mean, you're right. You're right. I did consume a lot of Lunchables growing up. It definitely wasn't the best for me. It was super convenient and it tasted good.

10:36I think it, like Craven was saying, this makes sense, the collaboration. But I don't know. I think they're targeting kids and they're not really giving them a better option. That's the thing that I am hung up on. It's like just rebranding and making Lunchables cool again with some influencers. But they're not better products. So that's kind of the struggle. Was that you talking or was that me? That might have been you. I could have sworn it was my voice coming out of Jackie's mouth. Yeah. I mean, I'll just talk about the three varieties here and then, John, you can follow up. There's a Fiesta Nachos.

11:11Nachos with queso, blanco, and salsa. There is a The Pizza. The Pizza being in quotes because clearly it's not pizza. Uncured pepperoni and cheese pizza. Apparently you just have a cracker, put some pepperoni, and put some, I don't know, shredded cheese on it. I'm gonna vomit you have some turkey stackums turkey cheddar cheese and crackers and these are the three varieties you're coming out with I think the one thing that seems very different about this than like what Lunchables brought to the table back in the day is that this kind of is including two packaged products feastables and prime that are like super widely available so in essence there's no real value in putting those inside of a box right and And, you know, I guess you kind of have to not be tired of either of those products, which have been really in our face for the past year or so to pay money for them to get whatever the actual food item is, which we haven't tried it.

12:07So, you know, I don't know. I'll reserve judgment. Maybe those nachos are like the most mind blowing nachos ever or something. But I feel like that's probably an afterthought, though, you know, and just like a vehicle for these two brands. What does this do for companies like Sunny who are trying to bring a better for you snacking option in that similar sort of format? I mean, I think it's probably irrelevant to Sunny. It's more like, you know, I think the biggest risk probably is to someone like the Lunchables brand, where it's just a brand that's been around for forever. And it probably will siphon some consumers off of that, at least for a little while to try it.

12:45But it's hard to look at this and think it's necessarily going to be some lasting, like, seismic shift that you're going to see there. I think the consumers who are on to a Sunny were in a better for you and maybe things that are a little more, I don't know, carefully curated flavor. Allergen friendly. Yeah, allergen friendly. Like, you know, again, I feel like it's a different consumer base. Although they make two big call outs on the upper right hand part of the front label. They call out the protein in the case of the pizza, the quote unquote pizza. It's 12 grams of protein per package. And they also know it's made with real cheese.

13:27Real cheese. Yes. As opposed to, I don't know. Cheez Whiz? I guess. Or Velveeta? Yeah. I am pretty sure that the Lunchables products also now call out protein on the front of the box. Okay. I don't know what their other claims are, but the Lunchables of, you know, Jackie's era, I think, have been evolved. Yeah, I wasn't looking for claims or function eating this. Yeah, you are correct. I think it doesn't it come with like a little Halloween sized candy bar too? Like, do we get a full size feastable and a lunchly and a full size prime? That would be a big box for a full size prime and a full size feastable.

14:03Yeah. Yeah. I mean, this is the thing. Like, this is a convenient thing for parents who don't have a lot of time. I just, I feel bad because this is just, as you mentioned, John, the most American lunch that you could possibly give a kid. You have an artificially sweetened sports drink. You have a chocolate bar. And then you have just processed food on top of processed food. So this is not solving a problem, in my opinion. This is just adding to the problem. That's my hot take. You sounded just like Jackie. I told you, me and Jackie are on the same wavelength, you know? We have the same sort of sick humor.

14:41Do you have a third eye to it? I still wonder, you know, the grand scheme of things is if this is, you know, I mean, a lot of social media influencers, YouTubers have been slinging overpriced, you know, merch, you know, buy a$50 t-shirt with someone's logo on it. Like, I don't know, you know, I mean, we're like, we're splitting hairs, but curious to see if this thing rolls out into retail and how it does. Okay. Fair enough. Fair enough. I'd also wouldn't mind trying the products, but hey, just for fun. i don't doubt that people are going to be wearing lunchly t-shirts and hats and things like that it's so ironic because like you're buying their product and you're also at you know you're a walking advertisement for them as well and we're starting to see that with haute couture as they call it and we talked about this with heinz heinz and kate spade aligned joined forces back in the day and now they have heinz t-shirts and bags and whatnot and then today just saw this on the on the wire it's just unbelievable it is yes so jimmy dean you know the brand of jimmy dean breakfast sandwiches and sausages you mean those things that you eat three of every morning i don't eat three of those every morning i wouldn't be on the screen i'd be the entire you do like the breakfast sandwich i do yeah but i like mason dixie yeah okay i love that stuff i mean i love uh amazing that stuff is really really good i love rudy's rudy's rudy's makes excellent breakfast sandwiches as well.

16:08So why not a Jimmy Dean once in a while? Just mix it up. For crying out loud. We talked about this. Now I need a Mason Dixie. Okay, so Jimmy Dean has partnered with rising designer and content creator Joe Ando and they have just released a limited edition tote bag. It's designed to tote the new Jimmy Dean griddle cake breakfast sandwiches and they can be pre-ordered on JimmyDeanGriddleBag.com while supplies last. So, yeah. Jimmy Dean griddlebag.com. Wait, so it's designed just to carry the Jimmy Dean product. Yes. Just the griddle cake breakfast sandwiches. Yes. Just strange. Yes. So we've mentioned this way too many times.

16:48I just find it kind of strange. And then I also find this kind of strange. This is also followed up on the wire. There's a brand called King Ice, which according to this press release is the premier name in streetwear jewelry. Didn't know this, but they have partnered with three beloved ice cream brands, Klondike, Good Humor, and Popsicle to release intricately designed iced out necklaces, each representing a different brand. I don't know what the heck is going on here. Side note, Popsicle is a trademarked name. So you can't go ahead and say, I'm going to write down Popsicle without that little TM, just so you know.

17:25It's like Dumpster. Dumpster is also a trademark name. I mean, are those all Unilever brands? Yes, they are all Unilever brands. So it's kind of like you partner with Unilever. I'm just trying to figure out. Rather than three separate companies just to, you know. Who would want to wear an iced out? The Klondike one looks kind of cool. Yeah, I could see that more than a Jimmy Dean tote. Like, you know, rappers, like sports stars. They're always having new jewelry. I think they would rock that. Those are kind of cool. I mean, you know what? I mean, it's not terrible. But to answer your question, probably no one.

17:59And this is just to make you think about Unilever ice cream brands for a little while. It's fine. But here's the thing. And they'll just rinse and repeat with something else. But I will say Klondike and popsicles are pretty iconic. So I feel like someone might wear that. I just think that this is one of the weirdest things about, again, not crapping on American culture, but it's like you aren't getting paid to wear this. Like you are intentionally wearing a brand logo on your neck. It's almost like putting a tattoo of Klondike on your arm or something like that. It's like wrapping your car. If they said, we're going to reward 10 lucky fans with$10 ,000 each to wear this for years straight, I'd be like, okay, cool.

18:38Infinite years supply Klondike bars? Yeah, exactly. Exactly. But to hang this around your neck and say, I'm advertising Klondike. It's a good Halloween costume. Halloween's coming up. What would be the Halloween character? You're the Klondike ice wearing mine? Yeah. Okay. I don't know. You're just a crazy individual. You're just a polar bear. Klondike rapper. You just dress up as a polar bear and just start housing everyone. Okay, fair enough. I don't. Just eat everyone in your path. What? That's what polar bears do. Is that true? They're pretty aggressive. Those are apparently the most aggressive of all bears.

19:08Even though they look nice and cute. They look cute, don't they? I thought it was grizzly bears, but they're polar bears. I think polar bears are more aggressive. Yeah, probably because we're boiling the earth and they have nowhere to live. They're angry at us. There you go. There you go. Anytime you boil the earth, bad things happen. True story. Polar bears get pissed. Yes. Have you seen the size of polar bears? Yeah. Quick break. If this episode has you thinking about what's next in food and beverage, explore BevNet and Nosh Insider, our subscription platform with deeper insights from the BevNet team.

19:35Visit tasteradio.com slash insider to learn more. I just want to go back and touch on my little visit to Louisville. Something useful for our listener. Yes, exactly. Yeah, Louisville. I met up with the Maker's Mark Innovation team and part of the experience was to taste the 2024 edition of their seller aged product. They released one last year as well. And this is, I believe, the most or the longest aged product that they've ever released. So it was pretty interesting to talk to their team about how they perceive innovation because Maker's Mark is a very well-known old brand that has a very specific flavor, I guess in a very specific kind of approach to what they call their flavor vision.

20:25So they have very specific flavor notes and a mouthfeel that they want people, their consumers to experience typically with every expression that they sell. And so they don't do things like RTDs, obviously. They don't do things like rye whiskey. There's no orange flavored maker's mark. There's none of that stuff. stuff, they're gung-ho and very stick to their guns about this is who we are, this is what we represent, and we're not going to deviate from that. And what was interesting is that Maker's Mark, the brand, is owned by Suntory, Suntory Global. And I'm sure that Suntory is probably talking to their team, and I'm sure their marketing team is talking to their innovation team and saying, hey, you know, have you looked at the trends?

21:11You know, how are we going to be able to attract younger consumers? How are we going to be able to attract newcomers to bourbon? and so on and so forth. And it's an interesting dynamic. I mean, they're feeling the pressure on all sides, but what they said is that the innovation team and the distillers really, it comes down to them. They have the final say on what they're going to release in terms of new products. But also don't F it up? Pretty much, pretty much, yeah. So I was able to taste the seller aged. This was the only product of theirs, however, that actually tasted a little different than Maker's Mark.

21:41It didn't have the classic maker's mark taste and mouthfeel. It actually felt like a different whiskey entirely. Some people in our group like that. Some people didn't. I think there's just the traditionalists and there's those that are appreciative of something new. And I was on the latter side of things. But very exciting stuff. Excited to follow up on this conversation or follow up on the trip with a conversation with the innovation team. Stay tuned for that. Maybe a tasting on a future podcast because I'm sure you brought some back. I brought back something else, but it wasn't a Cellarage.

22:13The Cellarage, they only made like 1 ,500 bottles of it. I mean, you should get at least three. Don't they know who you are? Yeah, you could have snuck some out. Yeah, you had to wait in line. Oh, yeah. Okay, yeah. Then I'm just going to hand that over. I wouldn't wait in line. I thought they were going to coat you in the Maker's Mark wax. No. I did dip. I dipped a bottle in the Maker's Mark wax. Oh, you guys didn't do dick your finger in? Because I wanted a fully dipped Ray. That's what I told Finance we were approving for that. We're going to talk about that later. I think the reason they didn't give me a bottle is because I called it Maker's Mock.

22:39Maker's Mock. Maker's Mock. Maker's Mock kid. Sella aged. They were like, get the hell out of here. Sella aged kid. I went to Louisville and I had some Maker's Mock. I love it. Who's this loser? Who's this loser? The wicked big loser. Okay. I'm going to throw this up in the air. The first guy to grab it, as in Mike or Craven, gets it. This is a new collaboration between Milk Bar and Momofuku. It's their Momofuku Chili Crunch Super Crunchy Cookies. Wow. I mean, the most obvious collaboration ever, right? It is indeed. Since David Chang and Christina Tosi were basically working together as the starting point for Milk Bar, right?

23:18Exactly. Christina Tosi is working as a pastry chef in the back of David Chang's Momofuku Siam Bar, or Sambar. I'm not pronouncing it correctly. They became two independent companies, that of Momofuku and Milk Bar, in 2012. Now they're back together again with this limited edition product. Mike, I'll let you go at it. We taste them this or what? I have not tasted these. And a milk bar cookie. Let's do this. Yes, they are available starting today, the date of this recording, September 17th, retailing for$7 at the respective company's websites. Yeah. Send it on over. I'm not crazy about trying these just yet because they're super crunchy.

23:57This happens all the time. Just wait one second. Damn it. I have no patience to this. Are they like super crunchy? Like they'll break your teeth? Like Mike, how's it going over there? Mike, are they going to break your teeth? No. We've talked about this too. Jack and I are against crunchy stuff that's going to break your teeth. Yeah. They're not that crunchy. They're really crunchy, but they're not break your teeth. It says super crunchy. They are super crunchy, but they're in a way that is kind to your teeth. Okay. Does the chili come through? It's got a little like zing to it that I feel like honestly could almost be mistaken for ginger.

24:29Okay, so ginger. The umami comes late, like really late. Yeah, really late. It is a little bit of chili action, but I don't know. I want more chili if you're going to go for a chili crunch collaboration. I'm not a massive fan of Milk Bar's packaged products, but this one's actually pretty good. I kind of like the salty, savory thing. I like the salty, savory thing. Sweet, salty, savory thing. and I think they calling it a super crunchy cookie is going to scare the Raisin Jackies of the world away from it but it's definitely not that crunchy I think this is for fans who say they want chili crunch on everything like you guys you guys I don't want chili crunch on everything I do okay so then you know he drinks chili crisp so okay I would want more of the flavor I feel like whenever I see a cookie that's trying to do like a little bit of savory I'm skeptical I'm like is it actually going to be good?

25:24This tastes like a riff on a ginger snap to me. Okay. It's a riff on a ginger snap. I thought it was going to be like a Nilla wafer with Chili Crisp. Chili Crisp cream, like in the middle of a sandwich cookie. That could be good. This is not going to hurt your teeth. Go for it. Okay. I'm going to have one momentarily while I'm not talking. Okay. Yeah. But thank you so much to the team at Milk Bar and Momofuku for sending this over. I may share with the rest of the company. I'm not sure yet. Go for it. this is definitely not going to hurt my taste i have heyday's new soups and this one specifically is their mole chili which looks really really delicious i know they had a whole end cap at whole foods my local whole foods i wanted to buy one of every single one i know that they launched them officially like a month or two ago but i'm starting to see just like a big footprint in whole foods can you eat that is it vegan is vegetarian or is it vegetarian yeah it's veggie chili with rich warming flavors of mole.

26:22They have a bunch of different varieties of soups. They also have a grilled cheese tomato soup, a creamy coconut corn chowder, which is all plant based and a golden butternut lentil stew. And also what's cool is that they partnered with a bunch of brands on their soups and stews. So they use like Tillamook cheddar in their grilled cheese tomato soup. They use diasporicose turmeric for their lentil stew. So really cool to see them incorporating other brands too in this new product launch oh man i feel like the grinch's small heart grew three sizes that day i i i didn't think i could love haydick canning anymore but they're they've got mole now have you tried you got to try this and i know i haven't tried it yet you have to pop it open and just drink it i probably could go for it all right it's the it's the battle of samples over here john's got a whole bunch mike's got one in his hand who's gonna start all right so i've got a whole pile of beverages over here cold press juices from so fresco i found these i think in a store in maybe vermont and then they were nice enough to send a whole selection of these kind of little i wouldn't call this a shot would you what would you call this i think that's a shot it's like a yeah how many ounces of that bottle there's three point seven there you go but But the mouth is wide, so it's more of a sipping top here.

27:39Those remind me of the Moju shots that we like in the UK in terms of the shape. Yeah, I like that a lot. They've got a ginger, a collagen one, an energy with coffee berry. What else do I have here? I tried the collagen. Mango banana. Super dope. This one's kind of my favorite. I've actually bought this a couple times. Oh, yeah? It's just ginger pineapple. That sounds good. How gingery? I would say not as gingery as this immunity ginger. shot, but yeah, really tasty stuff. So I've also got some beverages. I've got a four pack of 16 ounce cans from a new brand called Ability. It's described on the front of pack as a clean, natural energy drink made with guayusa.