Elevator Talk: All Día, Grisly's Cosmic, Sipli, Olia, Birdie

29:32Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up because I was thinking about it almost in terms of, well, what retailer should I be in? And you brought up Total Wine. I'm almost thinking this is a shoe-in for Trader Joe's, right? I mean, it has that kind of quirky appeal in the same way that retailer does as well. How much product are you going to move in a Total Wine versus a Trader Joe's? I think that's a big question right there. And certainly their purchasing strategy is very different as well. But finding the place where you can actually personify. Yeah, I think anywhere you could, that you have the freedom to merchandise well there's a great opportunity to tell the brand story and have that jump out at you you know so Trader Joe's is I would say a very unique set of ways that they especially bring alcoholic beverages to people um and that you kind of play by their rules in terms of like the handwritten cards and how you can kind of do things but um I mean find like a really great you know regional chain or independent liquor store and you kind of have the gamut to do whatever you want as long as it makes sense and it speaks to their core consumers.

30:36Yeah, that's a really good point. How the hell are we out of time? Eric, I feel like we just started talking. I blame myself. I don't blame you one bit. I blame our producers who only give us 10 minutes. Well, can I plug something very quickly? I would love for you to plug something really quickly. We're starting our fundraising campaign. You can find us on loupt.co. That's except for look for us in California Total Wines. Well, I'll say this. I've always been a big fan of yours and Samantha's, and I think that this is a brand that is needed. I think a hard cola is different. I think your approach to the spirits category is different, and I'd love to taste you of Grizzly's comic, Cosmic, excuse me, I got to get that right.

31:23You don't have to. There's no reason on earth, you know, after you had a few, you might just get it wrong all the time. I'm sure I'm not the only person to say it that way. But in any case, please stay in touch. Let us know how we can help in any way, because I really think you guys got something. Thank you, Ray. And we're big fans of you, too. Thank you. So great to see you again. Let's keep things going. With Akshay Jagdali, who is the co-founder of a brand called Siply. Akshay, it's great to see you again. Yep. Great to see you. Thanks for having me. Yeah. You and I had a chance to catch up at BevNet Live in New York City.

31:58earlier this year and I got to try some of your product in, I think it was pre-production form. This is the actual form right now. This is live and in person. You were very kind to send us some samples ahead of time. So while you're talking about this brand and the origins of the brand, Andrew and I are going to crack this open and have a sip. Wonderful. Thank you. So yeah, So simply, we're juice done right. We've spent the last five years developing a technology that allows us to take the sugar, natural sugars, out of juice while still maintaining the taste and nutritional profile. So as you guys probably know, juice is a massive category,$12 billion category.

32:4465 % of all consumers drink juice regularly. but juice consumption on a per capita basis has been coming down for two decades, down about 35 % because there's just too much sugar in juice. The rest of the beverage category overall, 55 % of it is low or no sugar, but in the juice category, it's only 5%. So people haven't cracked the code. What have they been doing? They've been diluting the juice with water and that just doesn't work. So we don't do that. We do what's similar to water purification. It's our secret sauce, but the best way to put it is a process that's similar to water purification is what we do just to target the sugars and take them out.

33:34So what we're doing with that technology, we think it's a platform technology. The first line that we're starting with is a 30 % reduced sugar shelf stable juice line. And we'll have three core flavors to start off. We'll have an apple juice, we'll have a cranberry blend, and we'll have a grape juice. Those are the three largest SKUs in the$12 billion category. So that's us. I mean, we intend to create a better for you functional category within juice, like we've seen happen in soda, like we've seen happen in milk. So we say we're the fair life of juice, you know, because our technology is similar and we're bringing better for you functionality.

34:22So down the road, you know, you should see us do a 50 % reduced sugar line, 80 % reduced sugar line, we'll add fiber, you know, do all kinds of stuff that you've seen happen in other liquids and other categories, but for some reason hasn't happened in juice. So that's us, you know, both me and my co-founder Federico Tripodi have been in the industry for a long time. We've combined raised about$500 million, done IPOs and so on and so forth. So we left all of that and started from scratch. We start our fundraising, our seed round today. will be in market in the first quarter of next year. We're working with several retailers to figure out who will choose to do our test market run in one queue.

35:14But we're getting tremendous interest because our hypothesis going in was there hasn't been much innovation in the category. Well, we're seeing that in our conversations with retailers. I mean, they see this as a real innovation and they're thirsty for it, pun intended. Yeah, I'll tell you something. I stopped drinking apple juice because of all the sugar. I used to be in love with apple juice and I really, I avoid it because the sugar count is just too high. So I really appreciate a product that just has less sugar. Andrew, for someone who has been in the juice business, has sold apple juice, how do you evaluate a brand like this?

35:55um one of the the beauties of juice and unadulterated juice let's call it is you don't really have to do a lot of explaining you know you walk into meet with a retailer a potential customer at a demo you put your drink on the table and you say it's delicious apple juice you know that there's no and it's this and this and trust me on this kind of thing like it it It does a great job of selling itself because it's such an understood beverage, and that goes for all juice. There hasn't been innovation in it because of its simplicity, right? I think there's been ways to kind of use juice as a platform to deliver sweetness and other drinks and all this stuff.

36:39But juice in its truest form, it's been center grocery store kind of in the same probably like multi-serve centric packaging for 20 years. most likely, if not longer. So I get it that there's probably a real appetite to find some innovation in that space, in that retail kind of configuration. You know, it's a big business to jump right into and you're going up and competing against with some really serious, you know, like ingrained players in the traditional juice space. So there's challenges to being a newcomer there and trying to go toe to toe, right? What's interesting is, you know, this is a 30 % less juice product, less sugar, sorry.

37:27But there's also optionality for a 50 or an 80. I think, you know, is that like a step change over time? Or is that going to be like a choose your, you know, sugar reduction threshold? And then how does that play in terms of like taste profile and nuance around the process or like the secret sauce as it goes away from just apple juice and into kind of blended juices and things that are a little bit more dynamic in flavor. That's a great question that I would expect investors are going to ask, which is what is that plan? I mean, I think most people would say, hey, I want 80 % less sugar as long as it still tastes as good as it does.

38:08And by the way, tastes great. You guys did a really, really good job with this product because it tastes like a full sugar apple juice. It tastes even better than that, I would say, in some ways. But how would you address that, Akshay? I mean, is 80 % the goal or is it just going to be a tiered model for the brand? I come from a food background, food industry background. I was Southside analyst for a number of years and my co-founder is from a seed tech or ag tech background. but when we started I was most excited about something that's five grams or less so the 80 percent reduced sugar prototype when we tried it against honest kids you know we're getting 90 percent of people who are choosing ours so I was most excited about that we brought on so we don't have juice experience so we brought on Ken Romanzi who's our lead director he used to run Ocean Spray and he brought on his number one guy, Eric Fritz as well.

39:08So we have great advisors who know everything about juice. So they asked us to concept test. So we concept tested eight different concepts and this one got a 90 % top two box score. Interestingly, the five grams or less was 89%. But I think that appeals to a different demographic, right? So we're first right now just going after the juice drinker. I think the five gram or less is probably drinking flavored waters and carbonated beverages and things like that. And so we'll go after that down the road. It's a little bit more of a technical challenge. And from a marketing standpoint, the 100 % juice label is number one for a juice drinker in basically saying, does it taste good?

40:00So the 30 % reduced sugar product that we have, we feel confident we can label it that way. And so we're starting off with that. It's a big market in itself. But over time, we'll definitely, I envision having a 20-foot set within the juice category, which is just better for you. and you'll have 30%, 50 % like skim milk, 1%, 2 % skim. That's 60 % of the milk category. I don't see why everyone's not just drinking lower sugar juices because they taste amazing. I mean, it just tastes great. I think that assumes that the price is going to be similar to what is currently on the shelf. I mean, if you're talking about milk, whether it's skim, 1%, 2 % or whole, it's all pretty much the same price.

40:49What's the price point going to be like for this versus a Juicy Juice, an Ocean Spray, what have you? Very close. So we think we've done the math. We think we can compete at scale at 7 cents an ounce, which is where Ocean Spray is. But we're not starting there. We're going to start at$4.99 in a 48 ounce as opposed to a 64 ounce for the rest of the category. And so it's a premium price point. It's about a 10 % premium to the competitive set in that pack size. but over time, I mean, once we scale up, we have the ability to be even more competitive if we wanted to. It's our belief that we're bringing something to the table that doesn't exist for which we should demand a premium.

41:34And so we intend to sell at a premium for until we can, we can't. So that's, but it's still an affordable space, right? I mean, like there's apple juices that are 20 and 25 cents an ounce today. so we're mainstream slightly premium you know that's kind of how i position it andrew we're out of time if we're talking about channel strategy is this something that you think they should consider mainstream right from the get-go or is it a whole food sprouts natural channel type of play coming in at it you know mainstream slightly you know premium plus pricing I would do some blocking and tackling with accounts that the buyers are more price agnostic there.

42:23You still can be in 10 ,000 accounts in doing that, right? But really understand how do you deliver this brand, not just the value proposition to people so it becomes part of their household. and then once you kind of establish that dialogue on package and you know how you talk to consumers in grocery then you take that to like you know the middle of the country and other areas where you're kind of going to be much more competing on price going to be in flyers going to be on deals going to be you know having to do a lot of like the beverage industry stuff um i'd i'd cut my teeth on my premium price point and figuring out the kind of brand messaging and how we make this a household item and then bring it totally mainstream.

43:06Yeah. Well, I want to see this everywhere because this is exactly what the industry needs is a better for you juice. And what does a better for you juice mean? It doesn't mean adding probiotics, in my opinion. It means reducing sugar, reducing calorie count while maintaining the flavor that everyone expects and wants. So actually, I think you're doing something awesome. Thank you so much for taking the time to be with us on Elevator Talk today. Please keep us in the loop when you do go to market and where you're going to market and let us know if we can help in any way. Absolutely. Thanks so much for your time.

43:37All right. Another really interesting brand from a really great founder. His name is Chris Cook. He's the founder of Olia. Chris, it's great to see you again. Hey, guys. Good to meet you. Good to see you. Yeah. So this is a brand that's gone through a bit of a journey. Olia, tell us all about what you do. Yeah. So we did the New Beverage Showdown in 2020. I was in my truck, no AC during the first parts of COVID with a brand called Special Leaf. And I come from a food and beverage background, worked my way up to the executive chef level after working in hotels, kitchens. And I actually had the opportunity to work at an olive orchard in South Texas in 2013, 2014.

44:23and they were making this tea with the leaves of the olive tree and just serving it in the glass in the little cafe that we had there and I was I saw this and I was just completely blown away tasted it immediately went home and learned everything that I could about it come to find out it has you know a three to four thousand year old history numerous health benefits associated with it. So, you know, for the better part of seven years, I've been working on getting to the point of where it is right now. 2013, 2014, I didn't know how to do what I'm doing now. So it took me about four years to say, start saying no to a lot of things.

45:07And, you know, living differently and having a different budget and lifestyle to, to make sure that we're putting everything back into this to make sure that it can survive. So yeah, that's it. It has been a journey and, um, we've never looked better than, than we do now. We've, um, changed the name, uh, the packaging and everything, the formulation included to really, really resonate, you know, with our fans and our community more so than we did before. For folks like Andrew and I who love innovation and love trying new products and seeing different ideas, I think this is a product that would be like fantastic.

45:46You know, let's try this, hopefully drink it more than once. Again, a hundred times. Is that lifetime consumption? No, minimum. I'm just kidding. It's minimum consumption. That's a good point. Olive leaf tea doesn't seem like truly the most intuitive thing for a mainstream consumer, really any consumer. But, you know, what's been the reaction from using that term olive leaf tea? Is it something you have to really explain, Chris, or is that something that people kind of get and just say, OK, I get it. It's a type of leaf that you're using for tea. Sometimes both, Ray. You know, we started doing farmer's markets so we could really, really gauge, you know, customers' feedback.

46:25They would give us real time critiques, talk to us about different flavors they'd like to see. But I think the fact that we are a tea or we're a Tissane, right? It resonates with people already because it's the second most consumed beverage behind bottled water. So you have that going for you in the very beginning. And, you know, education is always going to be a part of what we're doing. We don't shy away from that. So I think that we have a leg up on some brands and some categories, being that we have been considered a tea for thousands of years. So really what we're trying to do is provide a daily wellness level of our olive leaf single source extract coming from Spain to speak to those health benefits.

47:11But really, it's to provide not just the health benefits and talk about those, but, you know, you want to have great flavor. I'm a chef. No. And that was always the most important thing is, you know, the taste and the the efficiency of getting it to to the table. and we've worked very, very hard to make sure that we're doing everything that we can to make sure that the flavor profiles in whatever, how many SKUs that we have is very, very impressionable and impactful. So we've taken our time with it and yeah, it's education all day and we will always do that and continue to do that. But flavor and function is really at the heart of what we're doing.

47:58I've asked this question a number of times to different founders today, which is, how would you recommend leading this brand? What would be the message you would recommend in terms of communication and consumer education when it comes to olea? Again, it's described as an olive leaf tea. It's described as the antioxidant tea. Chris just described it as a to Sane, what do you think is going to resonate most with consumers? It's delicious and refreshing. In the package format and where consumers are looking to buy canned or bottled iced teas, refreshment and satisfaction and flavor are the number one and number two.

48:40I think everything else in terms of functionality is all nice to have, but if it's sweetened appropriately, if the flavors work well together and not compete against what you're typically enjoying an iced tea with, which is usually with food, it's usually a highly paired item, that's what you lead a hundred times out of a hundred on is the quality of refreshment and what you're expecting from a taste, flavor, impact standpoint. Of course, you have to get to taste. You have to get the liquid to lips cliche that we've heard a thousand times and then some in this industry. So from what I'm hearing is demo strategy is really important.

49:27Yeah. Well, I think there's some competing elements on the package here. Having to introduce the concept of an olive leaf steeped product. I know it's an extract, but the idea is that it's a brewed olive leaf tea. I would say the average consumer is going to be questioning of that flavor profile because there isn't like a pinpoint. so having to deliver that education while also communicate that this is refreshing and delicious and it's priced appropriately sweetened appropriately whatever all the other components of you know packaged rtd iced teas is a lot there's a lot to have to kind of convey there there's a lot of subtlety in in linking the brand to olive leaf extract being kind of the differentiator and maybe it can be a secondary discovery thing for consumers and allow them to approach the product rather holistically you know as a typical iced tea consumer and then understand the component structure and the benefits that come along with that and then fully digest the differentiation that way would you move olive leaf tea to the back of the can and really focus on refreshment like you talked about in flavor i would yeah yeah i mean is that something is that of consideration, Chris?

50:51I know you just went through a rebrand, but when you're doing this kind of testing, consumer testing and hearing feedback from folks in the industry, is that something you would consider is sort of taking that, I guess, product description and moving it to a different part of the can or moving it to a different part of your messaging? It's an idea, but we're not running away from that, Ray. We've been in central market for 14 months, um, as of eight months ago or nine months ago, as we're going through this rebrand, you know, we've run out of inventory, but, you know, during those 14 months, you know, we were demoing and promoing and talking and educating.

51:29And, uh, the numbers will show that, you know, we've had success quarter over quarter and have seen, um, people's response. And, uh, you know, we, we want to be a part of that movement and we're pioneering the narrative, you know, make America healthy again and better for you and natural function and lower amounts of sugar added to products. So I understand where you're coming from. And we've gotten that feedback from the very beginning, even changing our name and moving things around. Actually, the new beverage showdown that we did in 2020, we were told from the panel that we should not run away from what we have in package and clearly define what this is front and center.

52:13So we've been doing this long and steady and hard. And, you know, we want to be that voice and we don't want to run away or hide the fact that this is coming from a certain hero ingredient of ours. You know, we really want to have that front and center and continue to be educators on how this can be something that people can consume, you know, on a daily that maybe they start to think about other foods that they're eating that aren't great for them, that they've always been told that they should eat or a beverage that they grew up drinking that they were always told that this is okay. You know, maybe with something like this, you know, in education, they start to think like, maybe I don't have to do what I always did, or maybe I don't have to take those pharmaceuticals that I have in the past.

52:58If I can look at this and, you know, it gives me the same kind of relief to some of the ailments that I have. Our antioxidant level is just off the charts. This is a single source extract that has an auric value of 16 ,105. So it beats out all those other natural high antioxidant ingredients in nature, including green tea, including chocolate, including acai and pomegranate and those kinds of things. So yeah, I don't, if you were to say, hey, let's move Olive Leaf to somewhere else on package, you're kind of losing a main component of the narrative. And that's not what we're trying to do right now.

53:44I mean, I think it also offers you an opportunity to charge a premium price point for what you're doing as well, because it is differentiated. What is the price point for Ken? So we started in central market at$3.99. And through scalability, we've gotten it down to a$2.99. So for the amount of function that we deliver, that's a very, very approachable price point. We've always wanted to help people. That's our mission is to help people through the clinically documented data that's derived from this extract. And a super appeasable and approachable price point is always something that we've tried to get to.

54:25And I think that$2.99 is right there. yeah well i'm on your instagram page and i'm looking at the this is the old packaging for special leaf and certainly i love i love the new name and i think what you've got in front of pack is really beautiful and so chris i think you're definitely on the right track and i'm so happy to see that you're you're still at it it's it's a tough tough business and a lot of the brands that you competed with five years ago are not on the market anymore and you still are so you're doing something right and i'm excited to see where the brand goes from here thank you so much for being on Elevator Talk with us.

54:58And please stay in touch. And when you have an opportunity, send us samples because I'm sure folks in the office would love to have a can in their hand. Definitely. Can I plug our fundraiser info real fast? Yes, absolutely. So we've just embarked a couple of weeks ago on a WeFunder campaign. So wefunder.com backslash Olea is our link there. And then we're also raising additional funds through a seed round that's headed by our board share as well. So we're raising some money to, you know, to put towards our growth and make sure we're sustainable. Working with a great broker in North Carolina Alliance to make sure that we're doing things the right way.

55:36But once we get product, it'll be around the end of this year. We'll get back into building Texas more so and then kind of go into the different sides of the United States and filling in the gaps. I appreciate y 'all's time and good to see y 'all again and hopefully get to see y 'all in person sometime soon. Yeah, perhaps at BevNet Live LA in 2025, which happens in about, I want to say, oh my gosh, like two months. Too soon. Yeah, too soon. But it's going to be exciting. BevNetLive.com if you're interested and anyone listening interested. It is going to be a party for sure. All right, Chris, thanks so much again for being with us.

56:13Thanks, guys. Thank you. 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. Visit tasteradio.com slash insider to learn more.

56:30All right, wrapping up the show, we have Gene Kim, who is the founder and CEO of Birdie Sparkling Tea. Gene, it's great to see you again. Hey, Ray, it's good to see you again. Yes, Gene and I met up at our Taste Radio San Diego meetup, which was pulsating. I want to say we had well over 100 people, probably closer to 120, 125 people at the event. And I was so excited to meet Gene and team because Bertie, talk about great branding. This is one that stands out. Tell us all about what you do. Just as you said, we debuted just about three weeks ago in the greater Los Angeles area. But I would say we debuted more during the BevNet Taste Radio meetup.

57:13And thanks to BevNet, we got a lot of good traction after that. And I just wanted to talk briefly about how we got to Birdie Sparkling Tea. So my co-founders and I started Birdie Sparkling Tea because we wanted to create a drink that gives you more clarity of the tea and refreshment of the soda without too much sugar, caffeine, and fake ingredients. And also growing up equally around two cultures, one that celebrated tea as a ritual and another that really celebrates refreshment like sparkling water and lots of beers. We aim to bridge both worlds, like blending the Eastern balance and the Western energy.

57:56And to get into the product itself, Birdie is a sparkling tea brewed for balance and clarity. It's 35 calories, lightly caffeinated from the tea, six milligrams of caffeine. And it's designed to refresh your body without overstimulation. And we launched with two flavors. I'm sure you're seeing it on your screen right now, Ray. We have the apple jasmine and the peach oolong sparkling teas. And we have a great manufacturer in Southeast Asia who source its fruits and ingredients from local farms, which had some of the tastiest and the sweetest fruits I've ever had. And me and my three other co-founders.

58:42We're starting out in Los Angeles. We are really trying to grow organically, conducting a lot of demos and samplings in fitness studios, such as Orange Theory at 45 Equinox, golf clubs, and restaurant franchises, and also lots of college campus social events, as not a lot of students are consuming as much alcohol as before. But ultimately, we want to really refresh the way we connect just, you know, one drink at a time. And our product also has vitamin B, electrolytes, and two grams of sugar. So we try to make it as clean, crisp as possible. Again, another brand, another product line with fantastic package design.

59:35You just want to pick it up. It's something you see and you're like, hey, I got to know what this is. It's really, really striking. And it can go very broad. Yes. Apply it to a lot of things. Yeah, absolutely. We had this conversation on Taste Radio, my colleagues and I, a couple weeks back. Actually, we had it multiple times. And that's about sparkling tea itself, which is, I don't know. It seems like something that's tough. It's been done, but never really. There's no, I think. No one's owned it. No one's owned it. Right. Why is that? And do you think Bertie has an opportunity to do so? So it's a, in my personal, you know, interactions with sparkling tea, you know, some of the carbonic acid of the CO2 doesn't jive well with kind of the earthier nature of a lot of teas.

1:00:23So they kind of automatically conflict with one another. A million factors can then go into leaning into that, you know, helping that. It seems like with Birdie's products, there's a lot of functionality that's both, you know, naturally derived and then also you know fortified as well too so i think playing more in the angle of seltzer soft drinks as opposed to a sparkling tea um takes me my taste buds to a different place in a way that i think is much more approachable and less defined by the tea that happens to be sparkling versus like the tea is direct like driving flavor in a sparkling beverage that makes sense it's funny you say that because gene i think when we spoke you heaped praise on a brand that we all know called spindrift um and if correct me if i'm wrong and it feels like spindrift doesn't necessarily have to describe what it is because it's pretty intuitive it's sparkling water in real fruit juice is was that the conversation we had or am i making this up you're spot on right there um our co-founders and i are obsessed with sparkling water we've been drinking it for as long as I can remember.

1:01:36And also, we drank a lot of tea as we were growing up. And we wanted to be a big player in a new category because there is a functional beverage wave, which began, I believe, not too long ago. And I see it as similar to how kombucha started at the same point about in the 2010s. And I believe we can make a big impact in the beverage space. You mentioned some of the added benefits, Andrew, the vitamin B boost, the L-theanine, the electrolytes. How much of that is going to move the needle for most consumers? If it's an option between choice A and choice B, it's certainly kind of looking at value for your dollar, leaning probably towards products that are much more fortified or have something more to offer.

1:02:26um in terms of like brand allegiance i think it's you know they're just nice boxes to check you know whereas someone gravitates towards the visual nature of the product then then becomes loyal customers through you know carefully delivering a great quality taste experience over and over again um the functionality i think i'm imagining in kind of the context of this drink is not medicinal in any sense or in any real way. That's a supplement. So it's a nice to have, certainly more so than if there was a true sparkling tea that had nothing of the sort. I think it certainly is a differentiator. One of the other things that's really interesting about this brand is that it doesn't necessarily need to say one thing or the other.

1:03:17I think, again, the branding is so interesting that you just want to pick it up. And then the word birdie feels fun. Where'd the name come from, Gene? Yeah, so I grew up playing a lot of golf. And regardless of your skill level, even if you're an amateur, pro golfer, or just starting out, a birdie on a golf course is probably the best feeling you'll have during that day. And I wanted to replicate that onto your everyday experience. And in a customer, you know, day spectrum, I wanted to make sure we don't have too much caffeine content so that you can enjoy this beverage even after 4 p.m. Like myself, I can't afford to drink coffee after 2 p.m.

1:04:04I'm very caffeine intolerant and I can't even touch energy drinks. so um i just wanted to make it accessible um on the golf course whether after your hot yoga or even after a long day of work um birdie will be there for you andrew gene touched on the fact that people are drinking less alcohol and this could be a good alternative you know versatility can sometimes be a gift and a curse right um is there a way to is there a way to sort of walk that line of saying we can be drunk on this occasion or we can be consumed at this at this part of your day I mean or should they just focus on you know what you've been saying over and over and over which is refreshment and delicious taste it's a very challenging tight rope to walk you know wanting to dabble and kind of day life and night life let's call it because you're not really all in on one.

1:05:03I think for a product like this, why I wouldn't really think about bringing up as an alcohol alternative. There's so much space. The category is driven by RTD iced teas and soft drinks. There's no obligation for bigger players in those categories to say, oh, we also can be consumed when you're consuming alcohol or in lieu of, right? In some ways, it's assumed or expected. It certainly can be a valuable channel to be available on premise as an alternative to something for someone who's looking for something new and unique. But I don't think it has to be positioned that way because you're kind of doing a disservice to the quality of the beverage as it stands on its own merit in its true home category.

1:05:59Gene, Innovation Pipeline, I know it's early to say, but you have an apple flavor, you have a peach flavor. I assume you have some other stuff in the works. Absolutely. We have two other flavors that are actually ready to go. I did not want to overcrowd our SKUs from the get-go. And as you know, we launched three weeks ago just now. And we have a lemon tea and shine muscat green tea also ready to go as well. Very cool. Very cool. Well, I mean, you're off to a great start. Getting the branding right, that's really, really difficult. Getting the positioning right is an evolution. It takes time. And you will have a different iteration and a different way that you communicate and market your brand as you learn more about how consumers drink it.

1:06:47But I think you're off to a fantastic start. And I'm so excited to see where you guys go from here. Please let us know if we can help in any way. We would love to do so. And consider, I think probably someone mentioned this to you already, participating in our New Beverage Showdown, or at least applying for our New Beverage Showdown, which is happening in LA in December in about two months. Andrew has judged one of our New Beverage Showdowns. And it's fun. It's awesome. Yeah. Really good way to bring exposure and awareness to what you're doing to a large audience that is full of investors, retailers, distributors, and everyone else who works in the beverage industry.

1:07:24So yeah, I would apply. Yeah, right. I mean, the great news is we will be there. We've signed up for the BevNet Live happening in Marina Del Rey December and also the Beverage Showdown. And super excited to see you guys there again. Well, there you go. I didn't even know you were applied yet, but that's such great news. For anyone listening, if you're like birdie in any kind of way, you should also apply as well. Gene, thanks so much again for taking the time and we'll see you in December. Thank you, Ray. Can I also plug our fundraising really quickly? Yes, absolutely. So, you know, after our BevNet Taste Radio meetup in San Diego, thanks to you guys, we've actually gotten a lot of inbounds from, you know, potential investors and distributors in the West and East Coast.

1:08:08And we are really looking to, you know, partner up with some strategic investors or distributors who could also help us scale in a great fashion. And for the limited consumers we've had since launch, I guess our biggest wins have been that we've gotten extremely positive feedbacks on how unique our product is, but also on how great it tastes compared to its uniqueness. So just wanted to bring that up there. And thank you, BevNet team. Well, thank you again. And I'm glad you're getting a lot of inbound interest in the brand that just shows that people should be coming to our meetups, which we're going to continue in 2026.

1:08:45But thanks again, Gene. Thank you, Ray. Thank you, Andrew. Indeed. Thank you, Andrew. Just a wealth of information, good advice, straightforward advice. I mean, honestly, it's hard to come by sometimes in this industry. There's a lot of people who say they can help, but maybe don't have the kind of experience that they probably should when they're making those kinds of suggestions when it comes to your brand. And so I really appreciate you taking the time to be with us and just offering real world, thoughtful feedback to entrepreneurs who are going to benefit from it. Yeah, I mean, I think you mentioned it just briefly a second ago.

1:09:23All of this is an evolution. You're constantly learning about your business and your brand and your products, who your consumers are, your consumers change, your brand changes, you change as a person, and what you want to devote your time and energy in and what you want to be able to kind of go a million miles deep on and bring to the world and share what you're spending your energy and what you're creating. It's a process always. There isn't one way to get it right. If you think that you've nailed it and gotten it right and you don't have to do anything, you're definitely off base. Just in my own learnings too, it's always an evolution of what you want to do and how you want to continue to bring your products to market.

1:10:04Yeah. Well, I think this is your fourth time on the show. That's a good question. I don't know. I'm going to go with four. Okay. Which means we have to have a five. Yeah, of course. Yeah. We got to have you back. We'll have you back soon. But if anyone wants to get in touch with you and your team, what's the best way to do so? You could just reach out to me via email or all of our contact infos on our website, which is just rightcoast.co. I'm there all day, every day for the most part. So always happy to help. Always happy to lend my two cents on things. partner or point in the right direction, whatever we can do to be a good resource.

1:10:40Outstanding. Well, thank you so much again for being with us on the show. And thanks so much for all the entrepreneurs who joined us and for everyone watching or listening at home. Really appreciate it. And of course, thank you so much to our amazing team at BevNet, Nosh, and Taste Radio, the best in the business. Signing off for everyone, I'm Ray Lateef, and we'll talk to you next time.

1:11:04you