Big Wins, Big Names & Big Inspiration. The L.A. Events Delivered.

0:10Hello, dear friends, and thanks for tuning in to Taste Radio, the number one podcast for anyone building a business in food or beverage. I'm Ray Lateef, the editor and producer of Taste Radio. And with my co-host for this episode, the admittable John Craven, Jackie Brugliera, and Mike Schneider. Immittable. How about that, yeah? You like that word? You know who called me that once was Ken Sadowski, our dear Ken Sadowski. Immittable? No. Immittable. Isn't that what it is? Yeah. Yeah, you're right. He did call you also fickle, I think. He did. Yes, John. He called Fred fickle, too. Yes, Ken Sadowski, the beverage whisperer, on stage as one of the judges for the new beverage showdown.

0:53Final round, as he always is. I don't know. He's got a permanent seat there, does he? Almost at this point for the L.A. events, or at least for the L.A. BevNet show. Yeah, so he did call Mike and the semifinal judges a bit fickle. To be fair, I asked for it. That was his secret word. We're not going to do behind the scenes on the game that you and Ken play every event. It's kind of weird, actually. Mine was miscreant. Well, this is day eight for me in Marina Del Rey. I think it's day nine for a couple of you. And we are in the midst of Brewbound Live 2025. It's pretty buzzing upstairs. We're downstairs in the Taste Radio studio.

1:28I'm feeling good. I'm feeling good. Like, I thought I would have crashed at this point. This is usually the time when I'm just like, ugh, I left it all upstairs, Nosh and BevNet. But I think, you know, both events just brought so much inspiration, so much energy. I just, I'm still feeling it. I hate to inflate your head more, Ray, but we just hear over and over again how professionally the contests are run and just how great you are. Yeah, and you have one more this afternoon. We have little throw-up-in-our-mouth moments, but seriously, though, you were fantastic again, as always. Thanks. I appreciate that.

2:00Someone, by the way, legit yesterday, asked me where we hire Ray from for the competition. Not even joking. It's amazing. Well, you know, I think that's a good thing. I also wonder if that impacts my editorial credibility, perhaps a little bit. But no, it's always nice to hear that. I mean, I did tell them that it was because Pat Sajak was unavailable. Now you're really dating yourself because half the room here doesn't know who Pat Sajak is. Yeah, so no, the events are so well run. And honestly, I feel like I have to be at the top of my game to meet the level at which everyone is performing. And, you know, shout out to our team.

2:44Of course, our AV crew. We've got Joe Cratchy and Joshua Pratt in the room with us. They really are. I say at the end of every episode of Elevator Talk, I say, you know, the best in the business. They really are. Anything we ever ask for, anything we need, it's just yes, yes, yes, and done at the highest level. So thanks so much, guys. Really appreciate it. Our events team, our editorial team, our operations team, Everyone was just so on point. And they're still on point because we're still in the midst of event three. That is Brewbound Live. We're still in the marathon. Yeah. But we heard some really good feedback from the attendees.

3:15And, I mean, we could be biased and pat ourselves in the back and just, you know, try to BS everyone on the podcast, which we do occasionally. But a little bit. A little bit. No, but really, I heard consistently great feedback. And it felt like the events delivered on that inspiration, that high energy that we always talk about that people want. Really the best in the industry when it comes to these wide-eyed, ambitious entrepreneurs. The insights on stage and in the networking sessions from seasoned, experienced founders, you know, whether it's Bill Creelman or an Allison and Stephen Ellsworth.

3:54It was just really impressive that they were willing to take the time and sit down with people. I mean, Allison was just, you know, when she was outside the ballroom, Allison from Papium. And Steven as well. And Steven. For a good half hour, at least, maybe more. No, it was 90 minutes. It was 90 minutes. You know, and Allison's a judge on Shark Tank now. And so, but I think they're just such humble people. They're like, we were here once. We were on stage once on the New Beverage Showdown. And, you know, even though they are, you know, mega successful at this point, they're like, you know what, we're going to pay it for it.

4:23So I was like, you have to go back up to the stage now after she won her person of the year award. And she's like, wear it off again. Yeah. Yeah. Really, really. And yeah, just to point out, we did announce Nosh's best of 2025 and BevNet's best of 2025 awards at each event. If you want to find out who won, head to nosh.com or BevNet.com. Also, you know, all the tactical guidance that you got from retailers, from distributors, from service providers, all the amazing best in class service providers that we had here at the shows. and then the meaningful connections that people made in the one-to-ones, especially with the investors.

4:58We had early-stage investors. We had growth-stage investors. We had strategic investors here. We had industry legends doing peer one-to-ones. Yeah, and they were champs. You had Rebecca Milstein and Jingao, and then we had Nicole Dawes. Jamari Pinkard and also Aaron Hint from LifeAid. Yeah, yeah. So I'm going to try to fishwife, flybyjing. I'm forgetting. Nixie. Nixie. Oh, yeah, Nixie's Park and Water. And Late July. Nicole Dawes, the founder of both. And Cave Cod Potato Chips. Yeah, amazing stuff. Not a legend or anything. Circling back to the competitions, we had such a great group in both Nosh and BevNet.

5:38BevNet, I think, in particular was just, that was a really tough one. I mean, the semifinal judges always have a really difficult time because they've got to whittle it down from 12 to 6. And then the finals this year, I think Ken pointed out, And he's been doing, he's been a judge for 14 years, 14 times. He said this was the best finals group he's ever seen. Yeah. And the winner of the New Bayward Showdown finals or the entire competition was Projo. Projo, a maker of protein coffee. They call it power coffee. Each 12 ounce can, excuse me, 11 ounce can of their coffees contain 25 grams of protein and 225 milligrams of caffeine.

6:16And I think Shabelle Mouad, who is the co-founder, did a great job with his presentation. But what's really interesting is when you come across protein drinks, and especially protein coffee drinks, they can sometimes taste not so great. This one tastes phenomenal. I mean, it's really, it's collagen protein. There isn't really any residue at the end. It just, it's a great tasting product. Yeah, yeah. And again, a really tough competition with some really great brands. His co-founder was also spectacular. Yes, he had a cutout that he brought with him. His co-founder and fiance, Lisa, was with him at every turn.

6:51She was very soft-spoken, but very effective. Not much to say, but her presence was felt for sure. That was pretty funny. I sat down with Charbel after he won the showdown. We sat down here at the Taste Radio studio for, I can't say that, with cardboard Lisa, who again is his co-founder and fiance, and he shared a really touching tribute to her and said this would never be possible without her. She's my inspiration, so on and so forth. So it was really great. If you want to watch that interview, head to bevnet.com. I just want to shout out the other finalists we had, Rhinestone, which is the maker of non-alcoholic brew.

7:26Oh, my gosh. Fantastic brand. Yes, Dustin Johnson had a really great presentation. I think everyone was really enjoying hearing them on stage. Of course, No Cap, the Gen Z, Gen Alpha, Soda Brand, Tiz, the Orangina, I guess Orangina for a modern generation. I think we can call it that. Motion and Sturcy. Really great stuff. Sturcy being a brand of non-alcoholic cocktails. And Motion, a brand of clean energy drinks. So, great stuff. On the Nosh Live side of things, Rotten Candy. Rotten Candy was the winner of the Pitch Slam. Congratulations to Michael Fisher and his team. Rotten Candy, maker of Better For You.

8:04Gummy worms and gummies in general. Their crunchy gummy worms were a really big hit at this show. and I think what really impressed the judges and Jackie you can speak on this because you were a judge for the Pitch Slam just the fun nature of what they're doing the fact that Better For You Candy doesn't necessarily need to be old like for an older audience it needs to be catered to a younger audience I think building a brand that feels like the liquid death of Candy really came through I feel like he's trying to be ironic and have that shock factor and be fun And he was like saying he wants to bring back like the day of the slime for, you know, adults that want to eat candy.

8:46Garbage bell kids. And he was saying he's not even really going after children. He's going after adults that just want to have candy and have fun. And I think he's doing a really great job with the branding. But all the pitches were amazing. Like the presence that these founders brought to the stage and the ideas and the concepts. Like there was some really, really tasty products and some really cool brands and personalities and some really, you know, great global flavors that are coming through. Yeah, we had two brands from, you know, Philippines. We had Jablo the hot sauce, which I have. Or inspired by Philippine cuisine.

9:21Or inspired by Philippine cuisine. Yeah. And then also Oso Easy. Yeah. And both of those presentations I thought were spectacular. We had, you know, we had Natasha from Shuka, who was a last minute alternate who gave this incredible presentation that I was like, oh, this this this might be able to find its way into the winner's circle. And and then Cynthia from Shinka did a phenomenal job. And she told me after she's like, you know, I enjoy this experience. I was really happy to meet the founders, but I'm not really here for you. I was like, oh, who are you here for? The hotel staff all from El Salvador.

9:56and they were in the back like rooting for her. She's famous in the community. She got more customers and they came out to take selfies with her. It was really great. Yeah, those pupusas were delicious. Yeah, Zinca Foods is the maker of Salvadorian pupusas and they were delicious. She has a great backstory too. She was Gary Vaynerchuk's intern and she's just got like a really great business that she's building there. And then Kea Snacks. Oh, of course, Kea. I love when she trolled you. That was amazing. Ray, you had one job. Well, yeah. So she came on to the stage with a lot of fire and enthusiasm.

10:33And so as I was trying to exit the stage, I'm handing her a microphone. And the clicker was still on the stand. And she's like, where's my clicker? And she looked at me. I'm like, I think it's in the studio. She's like, USOB, you had one job. No, she didn't say that. She didn't say that. She thought it, though. Yeah, she thought it. But that brand's also gaining a bunch of traction, too. We're starting to see that one on shelves. And she's traveling a lot more than she isn't to do demos and to hustle that brand. And it's phenomenal to see that happening. So, again, that's another one I thought could have found their way into the winner's circle.

11:06It was just a... That branding is like really pops off shelf. The flavors are very complex for a potato chip. Yeah, overall, like she's done a great job. Entrance with flavored potato chips. Yeah. She seems to have hit the right vibe there. Yeah, I think all the brands really have a runway for success. It's really just about executing at this point, executing on their vision. And that's why they came to BevNet Live, to Nosh Live, is to meet people that can help them take their brand to the next level, to get those insights. And, you know, we've been talking about this for months on end, but that's really what you get from these events.

11:40And so I'm looking forward to working with them and writing about them and doing podcasts about these brands in the months and hopefully years to come. A couple of fun surprises here at the show. Actor and investor Ryan Phillippe, star of one of my favorite movies of all time called The Way of the Gun with Benicio Del Toro. If you haven't seen it, watch it. He came to BevNet Live. I didn't realize he was a beverage enthusiast, investor, advisor. He sampled some products. He chatted with attendees. He was here till the very end. He stayed and watched the announcement of the new Beverly Showdown winner as well.

12:09I think if it wasn't for the Eagles game, he's a big Eagles fan, he would have been here for the party too. Like he was really enjoying himself. He just came as a regular attendee and hung out and talked about beverage. He was just doing the rounds like any other attendee. It was pretty cool. Yeah, shout out to Scarlett Long, who is the co-founder of Pretty Tasty, a new beverage showdown winner last year, a brand of collagen teas. And she and Ryan are friends, and she's like, hey, you should come to this event. It's called BevNet Live. He's like, what? BevNet Live? Beverage event? That sounds amazing.

12:41And so he came. And so I sat down with Ryan for an interview as part of the Taste Radio studio lineup that we had during the show. And it was a really fun conversation. So we're going to feature that conversation in an upcoming episode. Did you get to meet Ryan, John? I did. You did? Did you take a selfie with him? No, I'm not really a selfie kind of guy. I like to ask for an autograph on my DVD. Okay. You can relate, right? Come on. Is that the I Know What You Did Last Summer DVD that you always have with you? God, I never had that on DVD. No? No. VHS? LaserDisc Definitely LaserDisc You're not really a selfie guy But a lot of people want to take selfies with you You're like okay fine It's only five bucks Joe was just cackling once again in the back Anytime he hears a good one We hear the Joe cackle It wasn't really a cackle It was more of a giggle It was a lame joke It was a lame joke Because you don't actually ask for five dollars No you Venmo Stop All right.

13:42You know, in the last episode, we were talking about how Khloe Kardashian was going to be at Nosh Live. And even that feels like it was eons ago. It feels like it was just like ages ago that she was on stage as the founder of a brand called Cloud Foods, a maker of protein infused popcorn, which was great. I heard a lot of really good feedback about her presentation and that of the CEO of the company, Jeff Rubenstein. but probably one of the funniest moments or the most on-brand moments for nosh live is when we heard the story about someone from sweetie and that's that someone is sarah kassengrade who's their head of sales sweetie mochi she happened to be in the bathroom when chloe was in there and sarah's like okay this is my moment i'm gonna take my moment because she had a little cooler bag full of the sweetie mochi in there and chloe's washing her hands and she's like chloe i'm sarah I'm with sweetie.

14:33Can I give you some mochi? And Chloe's like, yeah, of course. And she ate it. She gobbled it right up in the bathroom. Wow, in the bathroom. Yeah. I feel like he would never do that. Impressive snack. Yeah. Not in the bathroom. He would never do that. Well, maybe they just wash their hands. Yeah. Maybe. But there's germs in the hair. Well, to be fair, I would be like, can we leave the bathroom? You know? I mean, if we could do this outside of the filth, you know, then. But you're not going to get tackled like Khloe Kardashian if you go into a public space. She gets tackled? I could see it. Did she have security with her?

15:08She must have had some. Yeah, she definitely did. She had layers of security. Layers? Yeah. Khloe and then Jeff next to him and then the Glam Squad. Dr. Rubenstein, yes. Then the Hulu crew. Okay. Then the security crew. Then us. Because Hulu does Keeping Up with the Kardashians, that whole thing? You might see Nosh in an episode in a few months. I don't watch that show, unfortunately, so I won't see it. I'm a female listener, not to you. Oh, listeners, right. Yes, listeners. Listeners are here. Okay, yes. It's like when many years ago we ended up on Teen Mom or something like that, too. That's right.

15:37We did. Yes, the Teen Mom show about a teen mom, which is just very strange. Did she have a beverage or something? I forget. Sauce. Tomato sauce. She had a tomato sauce. Of course. This is like, I think, seven years ago or something. At least. A long time ago. I think more than that. Yeah. When I think of tomato sauce, I think of teen moms. That's not what it's called. Just saying. Anyway, let's move on. Okay, let's move on. 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.

16:08Visit tasteradio.com slash insider to learn more. So I also want to shout out a brand that we've seen at BevNet Live and that's also here at BrewBound Live. It's called Dirty Saint. So there's a lot of skepticism around hangover recovery beverages. And, you know, when I came to BevNet 14 years ago, hangover shots were just like everywhere. You know, you go into the office on top of the coolers. It was just like, I don't know, legit 20 different brands. And so it's kind of waned. I think people are really skeptical about hangover remedies. And, you know, the, I guess the success rate for brands like this aren't very high.

16:45But this brand, Dirty Saint, which comes in a two ounce shot bottle. It's a wrap of white and red. The red is the closure here. I honestly feel like this has helped out. Yeah? Yeah. You take it the morning after you drink. Oh. And not only is it supposed to reduce the impact of the alcohol that you consumed, it's supposed to enhance cognitive ability. This has been great for me. So shout out to the founders of Dirty Saint. I feel like this is an actually efficacious product. It actually does what it says it's going to do. There are some that have gained some popularity like morning recovery and the plug, but it's a different use occasion too.

17:23You're supposed to take those either right after you're done drinking or before you even start drinking to kind of counteract the effects. And this is like blasting you with B12. Yes, it's like 20 ,000 milligrams of B12 in here. And they actually said maybe don't take it before you go to bed because it might keep you awake. Yeah, they said specifically don't take this before bed. So great to see them at BevNet Live. And then when they heard that BrewBound Live was happening today and tomorrow, they're like, oh, we got to be here for that, obviously. So, yeah. I do also want to shout out Cy Kane, who is the founder and CEO of Straightaway Cocktails.

17:59Everyone knows we're big fans of the brand, but Straightaway provided us with a whole bunch of their products that attendees loved during our parties and happy hours and whatnot. And one of their products that's relatively new to me is their Last Word. and a last word cocktail is made with gin, typically with chartreuse, maraschino liqueur, and lime juice. And so obviously they're not sourcing chartreuse. It's very expensive, but they make their own and it's a damn good cocktail. So if you have a chance to try their straightaway's last word, go for it. So I saw a couple of brands here that I've never seen before, which is always actually way more than a couple.

18:36I saw quite a few. Got to read our website, bro. Yeah, there you go. It doesn't have to do with anything. I'm kidding, I'm kidding. All right, these are brands that have launched within the last week, I think, and they're here at BevNet Live. They haven't made it to BevNet.com. Even more reason to read BevNet.com. There you go. This brand is called True Cinnamon, and it comes in this 8-ounce clear glass bottle. It looks very apothecary in style. It's a brand of cinnamon water. As described on the front, it says, We infuse saline cinnamon for an honestly simple drink. I assume there's some sort of functionality to this, functionality to this, but I don't know.

19:08I'm going to have to learn more about it. But I was very excited to see this and see a whole bunch of other brands that are new to me in the coolers because I would love to invite the founders to join us for an upcoming episode of Elevator Talk. Elevator Talk, great idea. Elevator Talk is our bi-monthly show that features early stage and emerging brands from across the food and beverage industry. So if you are interested in joining us and highlighting your brand on the show, head to bevnet.com or tasteradio.com slash elevator talk. I think nosh.com slash elevator talk. They all work. By the way, this True Cinnamon, I tried it.

19:43It's a product that I never knew I needed, but after I drank it, I was like, oh, wow. Don't steal it. That's mine. You see that? He's got his hands on it. I'm not stealing it. He's going to sip on that during the Arsenal game today. I was going to talk about maybe some package ideas that I have, but maybe I'll just reach out to them. Okay. We can talk about it. Maybe you can be a guest co-host for an upcoming episode. I love that. There you go. You can do that. There you go. We have BevNet CRMO. We need to figure out a better title, by the way, because it's just a mouthful to say CRMO. BevNet Mike.

20:07Can that just be my title? Regular employee? I go with numpty. Numpty. Mike Schneider. Chief numpty. CNO. Chief numpty. Chief numpty officer. I'll take that. Okay. Or regular employee. Joe likes it. I like that too. Yeah. I got to say one more thing. This is one more quick story. Very, very quick story from BevNet Live. So I sat down with the CEO, and I guess we can call our co-founder, of a brand called BioLite. You may have seen BioLite. They're very well known for calling themselves Ivy in a bottle. and they're adjusting the communication and how they talk about the product. But listen to the episode.

20:45Jessalyn Rollins is that founder and CEO or co-founder and CEO. She's amazing. She's just a wonderful person to talk to. See those earrings? Yes, she has BioLite earrings. They're shaped like the bottle. And so our technical director, who I mentioned earlier in the show, Joshua Pratt, really struck up a good rapport with Jessalyn. And by the end of the conversation, she was serenading him with a Dolly Parton song called Joshua. Wow. Yes. Oh, my goodness. Yes. I'm going to have to – I don't know if we have any footage of that, but it was pretty – and she was doing a little dance while she was, like, singing along.

21:20Oh, we're going to splice into this episode. We get at least 10 views on that. Let's get it in. We've also got a selfie. Uh-oh. Josh is looking at me. He's like – she's like, my wife listens to this podcast. Anyway, it was a really – it was a really fun moment, and shout-out to Jessalyn for being awesome, And stay tuned with that great episode that features that interview. 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 Cratchy. Our technical director is Joshua Pratt.

21:53And our video editor is Ryan Galang. Our social marketing manager is Amanda Smirlinski. 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 podcast app or your listening platform of choice check us out on instagram our handle is bevnet taste radio 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

22:36Thank you.