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Taste Radio Episode Summary
Episode Title
Elevator Talk: E3 Energy Cubes, The Flavorsmith, Terranean, Sphere Snacks, Masala Gossip
Episode Overview In this episode of Taste Radio, the focus is on early-stage food and beverage brands with founder interviews from E3 Energy Cubes, The Flavorsmith, Terranean, Sphere Snacks, and Masala Gossip. Co-hosted by Elisa Croft, the episode highlights the unique stories, innovations, and challenges faced by these entrepreneurs as they navigate the competitive landscape of the food and beverage industry.
Key Themes and Discussions
- Introduction and Co-Host Insights
- Elisa Croft: Co-founder of First Friday CPG, brings expertise in marketing for consumer packaged goods (CPG).
- Discusses the importance of building authentic relationships between brands and consumers, emphasizing storytelling and personal connections.
- E3 Energy Cubes
- Jacqueline Smith: President of E3 Energy Cubes discusses:
- Origin: The challenge of finding healthy snacks that taste good led to the creation of energy cubes.
- Product Description: Healthy, macro-balanced snacks with energy derived from real food sources (protein, carbs, healthy fats).
- Unique Selling Proposition: Focus on taste and gut health without dairy and sugar alcohols.
- Marketing Strategies: Effective demos and partnerships with retailers like Circle K and Walmart to enhance visibility.
- The Flavorsmith
- Vashisht Rama Subaranian: Founder shares:
- Background: Culinary expertise led to creating flavorful condiments with clean ingredients.
- Product Variety: Includes sauces that blend various cultural influences.
- Marketing Approach: Focus on food service channels and creative partnerships to drive trial.
- Terranean
- Tina Shimon: Founder discusses:
- Mission: Fill a void for authentic Zaatar products, bringing traditional Lebanese flavors to a broader audience.
- Unique Product Offerings: Zaatar-based pita chips and cold-pressed olive oil spread.
- Retail Strategy: Successful partnerships with independent grocery stores and non-traditional retailers like TJ Maxx.
- Sphere Snacks
- Max Sanders: Founder of Sphere Snacks elaborates on:
- Product Concept: Clean label protein balls designed for convenience and portability.
- Branding: Unique packaging to enhance consumer experience.
- Target Market: Health-conscious individuals balancing busy lifestyles and seeking nutritious snacks.
- Masala Gossip
- Dara Gaudi: Founder highlights:
- Product Offering: Indian simmer sauces and chili crisp, focusing on clean ingredients and ease of use.
- Cultural Roots: Shares personal background and how it inspires product development.
- Educational Marketing: Engaging demos and recipe ideas to showcase versatility and encourage trial.
Key Takeaways
- Authenticity Matters: Consumers are increasingly drawn to brands that share their stories and build genuine connections.
- Product Versatility: There is a growing demand for products that are not only healthy but also versatile and easy to use, appealing to busy lifestyles.
- Packaging Innovation: Unique packaging can enhance consumer engagement and set products apart in a crowded market.
- Market Education: Effective marketing strategies involve educating consumers about product uses and benefits through demos, partnerships, and storytelling.
Conclusion This episode of Taste Radio showcases the entrepreneurial spirit within the food and beverage industry, highlighting how innovative founders are addressing consumer needs, leveraging their unique backgrounds, and pushing the boundaries of traditional food categories.
For any inquiries or sponsorship opportunities, listeners are encouraged to email ask@tasteradio.com.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:06Hey folks, I'm Ray Lateef, the editor and producer of BevNet's Taste Radio podcast and you're tuning to the latest episode of Elevator Talk, the series that profiles early stage and disruptive brands from across the food and beverage industry. Today's episode will focus on five food brands whose entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to hear feedback and advice from our co-host for this episode. That's Elisa Croft, who is the co-founder of First Friday CPG. Elisa, great to see you. So good to see you, Ray. How are you doing? I'm doing well. I love the fact that I get these intros right on the first try every single time.
0:42Never screwed up in my life. All right. Inside joke. Perfect A+. Perfect A +, for sure. It was great seeing you at the Snackshot event in LA just before Expo West opened up last month. And you and I had a good conversation. And I was so excited when you were receptive to my invitation to co-host an episode of Elevator Talk with us. For folks who are not familiar with you or First Friday CPG, tell us all about what you guys do. Yeah, I'm the co-founder of First Friday CPG. We help CPG brands go from good to everywhere. And that's through creating the kind of marketing buzz that puts them in front of their dream customers and retailers, whether that's launching a new SKU, breaking into national retails, scaling e-commerce, or crafting strategic partnerships, we really help brands break through, not just break out.
1:32And we've been part of some serious growth stories, helping brands hit huge milestones with scrappy budgets and small but matey teams, which I think everyone on this call can appreciate. We know how to grow brands organically, make every dollar count and build systems that turn those wins into successes. So, you know, we've had brands go viral within weeks of working with each other, but it's not just about the hype. It's really about building that momentum, developing those strategies and making sure that brands are just seen but sought after. So super excited to be here today and to hear from these incredible founders, dig into what's working, what's next and how we can help these brands make big moves.
2:10I know it's cliche to say that brands should try to create authentic relationships with their consumers and it's hard to do so. It's hard for someone to be in love with your brand or at least feel like they have some sort of deep connection to your brand. Just in your opinion, in your experience, what are ways that brand owners can deepen those relationships and make them such that they do feel authentic? That is such a great question. There's so many different ways to kind of approach this. And I think what we're seeing now that's really, really refreshing is just kind of like founder-led brands, I think people are more and more like opting into brands where they feel like they have that like one to one connection with the founder, whether that's like through really authentic storytelling, if that's like showing behind the scenes content on social, if that's getting really personal with like emails from the founders through like text only newsletters and those kinds of things.
3:09I also think my favorite thing right now is when brands really focus on like those brand loyalists and do really fun, like surprise and delight campaigns to support them. So it feels super authentic because they're like picking like one to two people, you know, maybe that's a month, maybe that's a quarter who they're kind of like giving back and doing something like extra special for them. And I feel like I've had that happen with a few brands when they do that. It's like, I am a customer for life. Like I'm going to become your greatest, uh, like I'm going to preach to the choirs. So, um, that's a really great way to kind of make that deeper, deeper connection as well.
3:47Yeah. I also love when brands offer their subscribers or their email subscribers, some sort of opportunity to try a limited edition product ahead of a release or something that's specific to that audience. And it makes it feel like you're in the know, you're part of a group that is very much, I guess, separate and special from everything else that's out there. Yeah. Yeah. You want to be in the club. You want to be in the cool club. That's like the easiest way to do it. Yeah, absolutely. But is it effective? I mean, is it worth the investment, the time, the resources that it takes to create these one-off products?
4:31You know, what kind of impact does it really have? that's i think it really depends on like what your production you know setup looks like some brands it's not going to be as easy to kind of put together like a you know a 10 unit run of something or do something that's special but i think there are ways beyond just like limited edition products to do maybe it's like giving early access to something and getting feedback that's like a really fun thing to do so if you have like a new skew launching maybe like a month before it's ready to go out, you send it to your brand loyalists and get their feedback on it and kind of make iterations based on on that feedback.
5:09And that's a really great way to make a really deep connection because you feel like more invested in the brand because not only are you a huge fan, but you're also kind of giving feedback and seeing that feedback taken in real time and being heard. And I think, you know, if you're if you're a super fan of any brand to kind of like have that moment to give your feedback, try something new, be on the cutting edge of something. It always feels very, very special. Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, as I mentioned before we hopped on the mics, I am big fans of all the brands that we're going to be talking to today, or at least the founders of those brands.
5:42Are you ready to meet our first, Elisa? So excited. Absolutely. All right. That person is Jacqueline Smith. She's the president of E3 Energy Cubes. Jacqueline, great to see you again how are you hi thank you thanks for having me yeah you and i met at the winter fancy food show in las vegas earlier this year and i gotta tell you when it comes to protein bars energy bars what have you what's the number one problem they don't taste good they don't taste good your products taste amazing they're so delicious uh tell us all about the origins of your brand and what you guys sell? So it began because I am a regular person who wanted to eat healthy and I would go out and I would grab something that was supposed to be good for me.
6:33And I was like, oh, that tastes pretty good. I'm kind of excited. And then I turn it over. I start reading the ingredients and I'm like, that's not good. That's not good. And I had a list of products that weren't really good for me. And then when I did find the occasional one that actually was good for me. I could barely gag it down. So I thought there's got to be a way to marry healthy and taste good into one thing. And we decided to go with real food ingredients and amazing flavors. And it just seems to be exactly what works for my clientele. Yeah. Why are they called energy bars or energy bites if they are, I'm sorry, energy cubes?
7:14Yeah. So the reason is because when we first started, we were actually going to make it look like an ice cube but we learned early on that that bite is a little tall for people and so we kind of smooshed them down into squares um we wanted something to be a little bit more um user-friendly as far as like you could take one and eat it and not worry about the other two or give one to your kids and eat the other two and it just made them really easy to portion uh it's great for runners that want to just throw one in their mouth or hikers that don't want something to sit heavy in their stomach but they want something um that's that's where the cubes came from the energy is not from caffeine and a lot of people think oh it's a caffeinated protein bar no energy comes from real food and it comes from three sources that's what the e3 means energy from three sources um healthy protein healthy carbs and healthy fat that is where energy really comes from.
8:14And when you get all three of those into one product, it's called macro balanced. So this is a macro balanced bar that gives you real energy from real food. Lisa, I haven't come across a product like this in that I don't recall brands that break up their bar into three parts. And I don't recall one that specifically describes itself as an energy product. What are your general thoughts on this brand and what questions might you have for Jacqueline? I think it's really interesting, the format, playing with the cubes and just hearing more. That was like my first question. So I'm glad you asked it, Ray, because I just wanted to kind of double click into more of that format.
8:57Immediately, my mind goes to the cubes are the perfect format for demos. And I would love to spend a little bit of time talking about demos and like, what demo strategies have worked for you in the past? How have you approached that and utilize this very unique format to educate consumers while driving trial? That's a great question. So we have two different things we do. When we do formal demos where we're actually cutting up product, we take that cube and we break it down to six pieces more. And the reason for that is then they'll try all five flavors and they can pick the one they like the best.
9:32But when we're at a situation where we can't actually physically demo, we have a product called minis and it is that single cube wrapped. And we send those to races and to school events and to nursing events and you name it. It goes to an event as a single product, just the cube by itself. And that's a great way to get our product into people's mouths without giving them a whole bar. That's amazing. I saw too, that you've launched with major retailers like Walmart. And I would love to hear like, what helped you win and stand out? I think, you know, when we think about protein bars and energy, you know, category, it's just such a crowded, crowded space.
10:14And so we'd love to hear kind of like what helped you win and stand out in such a crowded space. So we are WBENC certified, and that does always help because it gives you an in. It's not necessarily going to keep you there. It's not necessarily going to get you the wind, but it kind of gives you a foot in the door. And then when people try the product, it really kind of sells itself. So it's, you know, we're not in a lot of Walmarts. We're only in about 150 stores. I'm kind of doing a little bit of a trial there right now. Our biggest retailer right now is Circle K. We are in so many Circle K locations, which is interesting because more and more people are looking for a grab and go quickly so they can get something healthy while they're at the gas station.
11:02And that seems to be a great thing. People are getting a coffee and a protein bar and they're going to work or they're just grabbing a protein bar at lunch because they need something to kind of carry them through. And it's interesting that that's been one of our biggest places we've actually done the best. We're also in Central Market, which is for us a really big win. Because Central Market in Texas happens to be a market where a lot of brands kind of make their start. And we're excited to see it there and excited to get, you know, the word out about this brand new protein bar. I think the biggest thing about protein bars, it's hard, is because they don't taste good.
11:41People don't want to try a new one. And so when we're in trials, we always have to say, come try a protein bar that actually tastes good. Because they don't, they don't usually. and even if they do a lot of them cause gut problems and some of that comes from the dairy and some of that's coming from the sugar alcohols and we've made sure we don't have any dairy in our product it's egg white protein and grass-fed collagen so we kind of have a little joke in our our world it's called stop farting it's kind of all over our our displays or it shows because it really is true there's so much problems with gas and bloat with whey protein and we don't use way.
12:22So it's a much better product for your gut. And with half your daily fiber, it keeps your body going the right way and gives your gut microbiome a good healthy chance at being healthy. Half your daily fiber. That's amazing because I feel like nobody's getting enough fiber. So that's great to hear in terms of like, you know, I totally hear you on the challenge of driving trial with, you know, protein bars, everyone's sick of them at this point. But I think one of the things that's really, uh, could be a fun thing to test is just like sponsoring fitness classes, local hikes, 5Ks, 10Ks. And that way, like when people are finished with a, with a workout class or they've just hiked a mountain, like they're hungry, they're starving.
13:07And that's a great way to kind of like get product in hands. And, you know, like you said, once people try it, they love it. So finding those like really unique kind of ways to get that product in hand when people are really, really wanting something. Right. And we, and we do sponsor a lot of races here around the, around Utah. Um, and we've even sponsored some outside of Utah as well, but because we're a Utah based company, most of our sponsorship ends up happening more local. Oh, totally. Um, but we, but we do enjoy that. In fact, we're sponsoring a marathon here this year here locally. And then we sponsor five and 10K and half marathons all throughout the year in lots of different locations.
13:47That's amazing. I mean, I think with the central market launch that you have, focusing on maybe trying to find a couple in Texas would also be a really great opportunity. Yes, that sounds that does sound good. I have one more question for you. It's it looks like you went through a packaging refresh last year. Would love to hear what informed making that decision. Was that feedback from some retail partners? Was that customer feedback? And kind of what was that process like? We actually love the black packaging. It's so, it looks so great. It's just, it's fantastic. But when on in a refrigerator, because we're refrigerated, in a refrigerated shelf, the back is black.
14:27So we disappeared on the shelf and we had to switch to colored product because so everything online is still black, but everything going to retailers is now colored. And eventually the block will go away. But that was the packaging change we had to make because in retail locations, we disappeared on the shelf. And that was very negative to push through for sell through on the shelf. absolutely yeah i always recommend to any brand going through a packaging refresh is to print out the flat lays actually go to the grocery store where you would be you know merchandised and put it on shelf and you'll feel a little funny and i think everyone at my local whole food says see me do this like 10 times now and they just kind of know that like i want to be there for a few minutes putting everything up and looking at everything yeah yeah that was a big thing that we just didn't see going in that really hurt us when we first launched.
15:24Yeah. Jacqueline, we have a few seconds left. I'd love to hear from you about getting into Circle K because convenience stores aren't necessarily the most intuitive channel for a refrigerated protein bar. But what were your initial discussions like? Well, we just had fans. We had fans in the Circle K world that really wanted to push us into, and we're actually on the national planogram. So even though we're on the national planogram, every single buying unit has its own ability to pick you. And a few of them have. So know someone in Circle K and convert them into fans. Exactly. Okay, well done.
16:03We're out of time and I've been really enjoying this conversation and clearly I'm a fan. Thank you so much for joining us, Jacqueline. Good luck with everything going forward and please stay in touch. Any new retailers that you enter, any new distribution, any funding that you receive, please let us know. We'd love to hear about it and we'd love to stay connected. Awesome. Thank you so much, Ray. Thanks, Lisa. Thank you. Up next on Elevator Talk, we have Vashisht Rama Subaranian, who is the founder of The Flavorsmith. Vashisht, hopefully I got part of your name right. How are you? Good. Have you experienced true magic?
16:42The exhilaration of being in love, the euphoria of that perfect melody, the comfort from warm embrace? We've all experienced these enchanting moments at some point in our lives. Now imagine experiencing the same magic every single day. It's as simple as adding a touch of our flavorful sauces to your favorite meal. experience magic in your favorite flavor with the flavorsmith ladies and gentlemen my name is chef was such drama sir manian but if you want to make it easy uh you can call me we that's how you'll get my attention uh and originally from india i came to the states uh to attend the hogwarts of cooking schools that's the culinary institute of america and after working with some michelin star chefs and food network chefs and opening restaurants in more than 40 cities, five countries, I decided to take a sabbatical from the restaurant world and start a business in the CPG world.
17:41And that's how I started this business in making flavorful condiments using all clean natural ingredients like honey, agave, maple, sorghum, very regional American sweeteners and flavors. Using my expertise and experience of working with spices and flavors, that's how I started this brand. This brand looks incredible. It looks extremely upscale. It looks like it's for a consumer that wants a premium product inside and out. I'm curious as to where you're sold, what the price point is for your products, because you have a variety here. It looks like it's almost like sold in a gift box and a big gift box of five.
18:37It does. So I started at farmer's markets. I started this last year and been getting a lot of traction through that. So we started from one farmer's market. We did five farmer's markets a week last year, and that helped us get into regional small mom and pop grocery stores and gift stores. And now we've reached a point where we can scale the product. So I have co-manufacturers who are willing to help take the business to the next level. And I want to get meetings with buyers of grocery stores. and that's what my goal is for the next few months. We are in around 25 small mom-and-pop stores in and around Nashville area and on fair is where we see a lot of success.
19:30And I think there are a few customers who are in New York area and Michigan area and California too, but that's through fair. And in the next few months, we have taken part in some conventions and trade shows, which should hopefully open up more doors in the retail space. alisa uh the flavorsmith to me feels like it has a lot of sort of michelin restaurant qualities to it but also very on trend uh is very on trend in that people are looking for and embracing hot honey hot mustard hot half whatever and um you know merging those two things at once seems to be difficult but i think they're pulling it off what are you what are your thoughts Yeah, I will say I loved the pack out that I received.
20:24It's really clear that you value the customer experience when someone receives a package. And so really, really appreciate that. Also very obsessed with the hot honey. I've been putting it on everything. So good. In terms of marrying the two, you know, I think when I was trying the Flavorsmith, I immediately thought of all of the food service potential with these products. It seems like there's just so many use cases across all of the different SKUs that you have. And it looks like you already have really great placement at Nissan Stadium, which I think I saw on your website. And so would love to hear like how you've approached food service as a sales channel, because I think there's such an opportunity with food service that you really get to drive trial.
21:08People get to try the product without investing in, you know, the entire gift box or getting, you know, a bottle, which is like many, many servings. And so there's kind of a way to like tie that together with your direct to consumer strategy, which we can get into. But would love to hear just from the food service perspective. How have you approached that sales channel? So we do food source packaging in half-gallon containers. And yes, that's right. The chefs at the Nissan Stadium, they were trying and using the recipes. But then the new stadium is being built now. So there's new operations happening.
21:44So that's where it's like, okay, hopefully the next season when the construction is done and they resume operations and everything is back to normal, it'll still be part of that. and got into a specialty distributor who service only restaurants. So that's a good thing. We're working on that channel too. Pizza restaurants and fried chicken restaurants are my target. That's where these flavors, they will go really well. And also the sriracha, that goes well with Asian foods like pho and sandwiches. and things like that. My slight challenge with restaurants has been most chefs, they are, they want to create everything themselves.
22:35So they want to make things in-house. So when you approach restaurants, that's where my challenge has been is they say we make this in-house. And so it's, that's where I'm finding it slightly challenging. And how do I approach it in a way that, hey, this, yeah, you can make amazing food, but this is going to take away your, or help you with your labor costs or something. I have to entice them in some way that will make it. Absolutely. I think there's a great opportunity because Hot Honey is having such a moment is to find a few like ice cream shops to partner with is having that as like a flavor topping for ice cream and then kind of using that as a case study to go to these other food service accounts and showcase like this is, you know, whether that's been a lift in sales or you're seeing traction on social or, you know, finding really exciting ways, whether that's testimonials as well from the shop owners to kind of take that to the pizza shops, the fried chicken places, and to showcase just kind of like what you've brought to the table as a partner and as a brand.
23:48And I think people get really excited about that, that approach. Yes, I have been in talks with a local ice cream company, which they have on five locations. So we do tastings. We love the products. Now it's the getting the order and then fulfilling it and then making everyone happy. Exactly. Yeah. And I think with your availability on fair, another great thing to do is to just find some of those like ice cream shops on fair who are ordering through fair and send them maybe even it's like a little discount code or offering to do like a free fill for the first order just ways to kind of put yourself out there um has been really successful for the brands that i've worked with in the past okay well yeah definitely that's uh they'll definitely consider not consider i'll make it happen that's a good tip so i'll definitely work on that.
24:43I love that. One question I have for you is, you know, you have everything from Salsa Verde to Sri Racha. You have just so many different flavor profiles in your SKU mix and would love to hear just kind of what inspired you to offer such a diverse lineup of products. All inspired by my travels. I've been to five countries, four continents. So it's, every time I travel, they have their specific or their regional specialties. And usually it's spices. And as a chef, when I meet clients, they say they don't like spicy food. And I'm like, I just shake my head and say, your ancestors literally crossed the world, fought wars, and conquered nations just to get some hands on the spices.
25:34and you're saying you don't like spicy food. That's when I realized it's not the spice they don't like. It's the amount, the quantity, getting the perfect ratio. It's the flavor is what was missing. Most ingredients, most spices or sauces and condiments you find, they are just very monotonous. It'll just be heat and vinegar. There won't be a nuance. There won't be a balance of flavors. And that's where my experience working in Michelin star restaurants where the Saucier station is the most important station in the kitchen. Balancing flavor is what I learned. And all the skews, especially maple, it's organic maple from Vermont.
26:19Americans and Canadians make the best maple syrup in the world. And then combining that with Chipotle and Whisper of Carolina Reaper, it reminds people of barbecue sauce, but there is no ketchup in it. You can put that on burgers, bacon wrapped scallops, or even ribs. And then the honey, like you said, it's a big craze and trend for hot honey happening everywhere. But this has more Italian Calabrian peppers. So it's not just heat. It has more fruity, floral notes to it. And ice cream is definitely one of those things I tell people to put it on, especially with passion fruit purees and some white chocolate chips.
27:00make a sundae out of it. It's just amazing. And the honey mustard, that's my personal favorite. One of the first big cities that I worked in is New Orleans. And Creole food, Cajun food, has a special place in my heart. So use the Creole style mustard, honey, and then some Indian spices there, which gives a Creole honey mustard, which honestly, you know, people say they haven't had anything like this before and that and the salsa verde it's fresh cilantro organic lime juice and honey as a sweetener with spices like turmeric and cumin people come back for these skews again and again and if as a chef i would keep coming up with more and more flavors uh that's where that's where i shine but in business especially the cpg will have to show how to track velocity i have to show So many things.
27:56There's so many data that I need to collect. It just gets a little challenging that way. But yeah, if you let me be creative, I can keep coming up with SKUs, working on peach and habanero, mango and chewies and kayaks. So there are a lot of other things that are on words, but each SKU costs a lot of money to get it tested, get it approved, get the labels out, get the bottling. It gets a little bit pricey, but if things work out, it'll all be great. And Chef V, I would say if you want any help on testing, you know, you could always send products our way. We'll be happy to try them because they all sound mouthwatering.
28:38I thought I already sent it to you guys. Oh, I mean future products, actually. So anything that's in the lab, per se. Yeah. No, and in all seriousness, thank you so much for being on the show. So I really appreciate your story and everything that you're doing with this company. It feels very differentiated. And that's really what you're going for in CPG. You don't want to be the same kind of product as everybody else. And when I see so many of these hot honey products come to market, I'm like, are they really that different? The Flavorsmith feels different. So thank you once again. And please stay in touch.
29:11Thank you so much. Up next on this episode of Elevator Talk, we have Tina Shimon, who is the owner of Terranian. Tina, how are you? Good, how are you? Thank you for having me. Thanks so much for being with us. I received some of your products here in the office, and man, they are fantastic. Tell us all about what you guys do. Thank you. So I actually started my business back in 2019 when I came back from Lebanon. I noticed there was a void in the marketplace for authentic Zatar. So that's the first product I started with, the Zatar Seasoning Blend, which you're both familiar with Zatar? Yes, it's an earthy, herbal, savory herb that's native to the Levant region, including Lebanon where my family's from.
29:51So I brought that here and started the business with the spices. And then I moved on to the pita chips as a way for consumers to try the za 'atar, get acquainted with the flavor of it. So we have the za 'atar pita chips. We have a za 'atar cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil spread, as well as the seasonings. And we've expanded to have three other za 'atar pita chip flavors, including the sea salt, spicy za 'atar, and the cinnamon sugar. I am hungry and I don't have any pita chips with me. Otherwise, I'd be crunching through this microphone, which might actually be a bad thing for listeners and viewers.
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30:22So it's probably a good thing that I don't have them with me. But I got to ask about your retail because it seems really interesting. You have retailers that are, I would say, slightly nontraditional for your product. Talk about that footprint. Sure. So the pita chips are my main product. I started opting the seasonings, had a whole brand refocus because seasonings are something that consumers buy once in a while, but pita chips are something they purchase frequently. And a lot of consumers noticed that mine were not only offering a variety of unique global ethnic flavors, it's a diverse variety of products, but they're also made with authentic Lebanese Syrian pita bread.
31:00So it's thin, double-layered, super unique texture, as you noticed. So a lot of the stores I started working out with were actually the Arabic stores and the Middle Eastern stores. a lot of stores through fare, you know, consumers who are looking for more authentic style pita chips. And then just a very random variety. I'm glad you mentioned that because, I mean, we're in really random places. I have Jewel Osco carrying my Zata shaker. And then I have a partnership with TJ Maxx and Home Goods and coming up Burlington here with all the products, which that actually came about because I have this whole like zero waste policy and we had these old labels before the rebrand.
31:34And so when I talked to J Maxx and HomeGoods, they were able to pick up the products in the previous packaging, but the same amazing product. So we're all over very random, random places. Yeah. Well, if you sell, you sell. And it's a good thing. I mean, you know, sometimes I find I actually find myself in those checkout lines or the checkout aisles at TJ Maxx and HomeGoods. I'm like, look at all this incredible food. And there you go. Alisa, man, you know, the za 'atar should really be on everything. Like if it could be literally on any kind of food out there and on pita chips, it happens to work really, really well.
32:11Are you a regular consumer of Zotar? I am. I would say that like I am now hooked on the spicy ones that you sent through. Those are so good. I went through the whole bag in one sitting. They're delicious. And I think what I really love is how your cultural roots and sustainability practices are really at the forefront of your mission and what you do. And I think hearing about that, how the sustainability kind of played into that sales channel with the, you know, unconventional TJ Maxx and that kind of stuff. But I would love to hear, like, what has been some successful tactics for sharing that storytelling on the consumer side?
32:48What has been kind of that journey for you? So, you know what? All of that, that whole consumer side journey and telling it, I had never done that. I started using the imperfect pita bread at the bakery. That's why I launched the pita chip line. It was a way for me to not waste pita bread at our co-manufacturer. And so I had the sustainability effort from start one, but I never talked about it. I never knew to talk about it. I just did it because it was a good thing to do. It was good to not waste food. Same for the packaging and the labels. You know, I didn't want to waste them. So we found a, you know, a large national retailer that would accept the product with the other labels.
33:22And I also have for the pita chip crumbs, you know, when you do a patch, you know, a batch of pita chips, they're more delicate. So I have more crumbs. I have a food service segment where I have retailers and I know restaurants that I work with that I sell the pita chips to for the salads. So this is actually the first time that I'm really incorporating the same sustainability efforts in my marketing. I just updated the website recently. I'm now talking about it here with you guys. But it's something that I just did naturally as something that like you should do so you don't waste. But it wasn't something that I really had a brand marketing effort around.
33:55But now I'm doing it because consumers care about it. Absolutely. I also feel like the pita chip category is really ripe for disruption. I think we've seen some legacy brands on shelf for as long as I can remember and nothing new, no new players to the game. So I think you're really poised to shake up the category. I'd love to hear just how you tackle that and teaching consumers about like what sets you apart from. I think when I was trying the product, it's very clear the like difference in your products versus what's available. So how do you go about educating consumers on what sets you apart?
34:29Sure. So I love pita chips. I eat all kinds of pita chips. But what differentiates mine is, again, the Lebanese Syrian authentic pita bread I mentioned. So a lot of the pita chips in the market today are a firmer, like a firmer, thicker pita chip, which is very good for chips and all that. But they're different because mine are double layered, they're crisp. And I also offer that unique line of seasonings. There's not really many out there that also offer zaatar, which, by the way, is something that's not easy to source, especially the real zaatar. So a lot of brands out there that say they have zaatar, you know, just read the ingredients, because sometimes it's savory or oregano or other regular ingredients.
35:03So not only do I have the Zatar, but I have the sea salt, which is hand harvested, mineral rich, premium sea salt from Lebanon. And consumers like that. They like the authenticity of it. I mean, I got, you know, the villagers out there hand harvesting it from Silas back to 1500 BC. So it's the ingredients. It's the type of the product. It's the packaging itself. I offer my Pia Chips in a convenient resealable pouch. And that way consumers are able to eat them on the go, wherever. I mean, it's resealable, but you know, how many people actually have any left after they start eating them? I don't know.
35:35So they're convenient, the ingredients. And then a lot of the things that you talked about, my brand story and what I share with consumers, but, and you talked about earlier on the podcast, how people like to see the consumer, you know, the, the team and what they're doing, the background story. And so I share a lot of that on social media. We have an all women immigrant team here in Cleveland. They come to Cleveland. They don't speak the language barely. And I'm like, Hey, you guys want to do Zatar with me? You want to make Zatar pia chips? And they're like, for who? I'm like, for the American consumers.
36:01And they're like, really? And they feel like a sense of community and pride. So we also have that mission-based story behind our brand that people like to support as well. I love that. I think one of the things too that I was thinking about as I was trying your product is just that I think it's for the eighth year in a row, the Mediterranean diet was named the healthiest diet by the US News World Health Report. And so I really think that's like a fun opportunity to kind of leverage this for some PR. I think reaching out to any media who's like running these kinds of stories, especially with your team and just everything you've got going behind the scenes.
36:36I think there's such a really fun angle and something very interesting for the media to kind of run with. So reaching out to people who've run the stories on the Mediterranean diet, offer samples, speak to the benefits of your products and your background and your story and how really your products can make adopting this diet even easier and convenient for consumers. I think that's a really fun angle that I would recommend playing with. I love that. Thank you. Yeah. And you mentioned your packaging, and I would love to talk about format for a second. I think you kind of offer something that's in between like a single serve and a more traditional family sized, you know, share size that you would see on shelf.
37:15And I would love to hear kind of what influenced that decision and if there's any plans to explore kind of a single serve in the future. Good question. Good leading question, actually. So this is like a reasonable size for the bag. If it went too big, again, I don't want to have too many in there and have them like get crunched up too much. And, you know, because they're a little fragile, I'm sure Ray and, you know, Alyssa, you saw that in the bag, there were some crumbs, but I recommend on here, put them on salads because this is like the queen of the fatu salad. If you're familiar with it, you can always have the crumbs in your salad and a bigger bag means more crumbs.
37:45So since my five ounces worked, I am exploring and already have the design ready for a one ounce and a two ounce single serve bag. So I am really excited about that because it'll be great also for food shows instead of like, Hey, here's an entire bag of my food to ship the sample. Instead, I can be like, here are the one ounce and two ounce bags that they can, I can utilize there as well as for continuing to explore food service opportunities as well as in the deli, because peanut chips go with hummus. And a lot of times people are on the go. I know Jacqueline talked about her products. People are eating like a midday snack or something that's sustainable for them throughout the day.
38:16This will be great with that. If I have a two ounce bag next to homeless container, people can grab them and go. Love that. Yeah. If I'm taking a to-go salad, I would definitely buy a bag as well to go with it. Yes. I had a Fattouche salad yesterday. It was glorious. And I think with Turinian, I would, my mouth, oh shoot, my mouth is really watering right now. This is bad. Tina, just one last question. You know, staying on the packaging front, I'm looking at the front of your bags and the largest font is the Zaatari callout. and is there a reason why? I mean, or talk about the reason why because typically, you know, I guess traditional marketing would say you want your brand name to be the largest font on the package.
38:58Yes. So I love my brand. I want people to recognize my brand and be familiar with it. But for me, the focus was the product. I mean, people aren't buying this item because it's Terranian. They're buying the item because it's a Zat.pita chips. And a lot of times consumers in the beginning might not be familiar with what Zat.pita is. So the packaging was important to me. So when they're walking down by the shelves, they can stop and say, wait a minute, I've never seen this before. I'm familiar with regular pita chips. Stacy did us all a favor. Everyone knows what pita chips are now. But I want the flavor to stand out so consumers know that's different and go up to the shelf and grab the product and continue eating.
39:31So that's why. And I think that makes a ton of sense. Tina, thank you so much for being on Elevator Talk. This has been such a great conversation. um man i i love that your products are in home goods and jewel osco if you can get them into whole foods target wegmans what have you i would be elated so uh and if we can help in any way getting you into those retailers please let us know we want to see terranian in so many more stores thank you we're on the show here with three young kids so i'm like all over the place so i appreciate you offering that yeah well i'm telling you you know again if uh if there's a question you have about connecting with a retail buyer or maybe the best approach to talk to someone in one of those retail stores that I mentioned.
40:14A lot of times people look at BevNet, Nosh, Taste Radio as sort of a media or media platforms, but we're also community platforms. We're here to, you know, make those connections, introduce you to people, offer advice as much as we can as well. Thank you. Will you be at SFA in June in New York? Absolutely. It's my favorite show of the year. My first show, my first trade show, you guys. This is my first podcast, my first trade show. So I hope I can see you there. Yeah. Anyone listening, watching, definitely head to Tina's booth because you will not be disappointed. Thank you. Thank you so much.
40:47Thank 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. on to our next guest for this episode of elevator talk we have max sanders who is the founder of sphere snacks max great to see you again hey thanks for having me right yeah we met at expo west 2025 and i have a mission to make uh or more of a confession i guess i stopped by your booth because i thought you guys were beverages uh sphere was a beverage and it's not you actually make incredible protein balls.
41:27And I kind of got the cat out of the bag here. But I was going to ask you what you guys make. And now people know what you make. But tell us all about the origins of Sphere. Yeah. So Sphere was really created out of the insight that everybody goes on their health crunch where they make homemade protein energy balls. You buy the nut butter, the oats, the honey. It's really a painstaking process. So we thought, why isn't there a national brand that provides a clean label protein ball on the go? So we got working on developing clean label protein balls and wound up developing this packaging where it's in the tube with the resealable lid and it holds three protein balls in there.
42:10We use the best quality ingredients with grass-fed whey and collagen. The best absorbing protein with the functional benefits of collagen. So we nailed it with the protein. And then we also use organic real fruit and honey for our sweetener. So the best quality ingredients and really providing a great on-the-go snack. You pop one out between breakfast and lunch. You still have two more servings in your purse or backpack. I love it. We started out with cubes. Now we have spheres or balls, whatever you want to call them. We're going to get every shape we can in the refrigerated set. For sure. And you are refrigerated.
42:51Sphere Snacks, you're relatively new, almost brand new. Where are you sold at this point? What's your price point per pack? Yeah, so we're sold in Northwest Arkansas, where we're based out of, in independent retailers. We're looking to expand. And we also do direct-to-consumer shipping across the country where we ship it in coal pack and insulation. And then from a pricing standpoint, we retail and recommend at$6.99. $6.99 for a three-ball container? Yep. I mean, I think that's appropriate given what you sell. And I've tried your products and they are delicious. And I think they really pack a punch.
43:26Just one more quick question before we get to Elisa. when it says 22 grams or 21 grams or 27 grams on the front of pack, is that for the entire pack or I would assume so? Yeah, for the entire pack. And we actually just updated our packaging graphics to account for that, where we are shifting to total pack versus per serving. Elisa, we've seen protein balls in the market before. I don't think I've seen as disruptive packaging as I've seen what we're looking at with Sphere. And I mean, if you're on the website, it just, there's something about it that feels like totally intuitive and you want to grab it off the shelf and you could, you know, it feels like a much easier way to consume and travel with this type of product.
44:15Absolutely. I, it almost like when I received it, I, it almost felt like opening a new pack of tennis balls, which I thought was like such a fun experience. So I am really dying to know, Max, like what made you choose something so new, so unique and what feedback have you received so far from, you know, whether that's consumers or retailers on this like really unique format? Yeah, I love that you have that insight. I play pickleball and tennis, but also golf. So a lot of people bring that up. And I really just saw this packaging format across the CPG landscape and saw the tubes and figured, why can't we do this for Sphere?
44:51So that was really the inspiration of just seeing it in the marketplace and how do we adopt this. And really the benefit, too, is bringing a beverage format. Drinks are the most portable, best use for on the go. Why don't food brands take advantage of that packaging format? So it's really taking that and applying it. And that's really been the inspiration. And then from a retailer standpoint, we're new. So we launched about two months ago. We're quickly learning and adjusting our graphics, communicating protein ball right on the primary display panel. That's amazing. You launched two months ago and you've already exhibited at Expo West.
45:37That's incredible. Clearly, growing retail must be a huge goal for you. So what has your journey been like so far? I mean, you hit the ground running. Yeah. So we had a really successful Expo West. We met the people we wanted to meet and are in discussions with a few key retailers for us. So we're very excited about the future of Sphere and where we can go. That's amazing. I think, you know, being a cold chain product, as you know, has its difficulties. How has refrigeration really informed, you know, your direct-to-consumer strategy? I mean, it's a whole can of worms on the retail side, but they're a little bit more equipped to handle that versus consumers.
46:16So we'd just love to hear what your journey has been with the cold chain. Yeah. So developing the shipping with the insulation, the cold pack, figuring out how do we get it to consumers has been something we've had to figure out. But I think other brands have done a really good job building that awareness of refrigerated bars, balls in that format. So I think there is more of a consumer understanding than there were before. So I think it hasn't been too much and just communicating to consumers up front. Hey, this is refrigerated and in the packaging reminding folks, hey, this is refrigerated. If it shows up ambient, that's OK, but just throw it in the fridge.
46:59So just communicating where we can on the box or in the packaging is really key for us. yeah and in terms of like in that education would love to hear who your target demographic is and you know i think you do a great job on pack doing that education but you know off of pack how are you doing that educating and and how are you speaking to that specific consumer to ensure that they like immediately get what sphere snacks is all about yeah so we're all about a well balanced, well-rounded approach to snacking. So we're not the most protein. We're not the most nutritionally optimized. We're not the best tasting, but we're really good tasting.
47:40We're really a quality snack. We bring all these components together and what we think is the best snack. And so when we look at our target demographic, it's not the ultra athlete. It's the person working nine to five. They play pickleball in the afternoon and they look for a snack to fuel them through that. And so we're looking for people who are high performers in their corporate or nine to five, and they're also athletic and active in their daily, um, in their days and look for a healthy snack. And so for us, we're trying to communicate to those folks, Hey, we're the all day snack. We'll meet you at, uh, between breakfast and lunch.
48:22And we'll also meet you at five to 6 PM when you're working out. So that's really what spheres trying to communicate to those folks. Yeah, I think that, you know, I also see there being a tremendous use case for like busy parents. I think the banana skew specifically is like very kid friendly and kind of that perfect like after school pickup snack. And so one of the things that I would suggest is like exploring some single serving offerings. Maybe, you know, there's the opportunity to do something where the protein spheres themselves are more bite-sized and more of like a kid-friendly packaging.
49:01And then that way you're kind of like expanding across the grocery store, owning a couple different places and a couple, like you're merchandised in different aisles in the store. And it's also just something parents can feel good about giving their kids. And, you know, like you said, it's a, it's a perfect well-rounded treat that will tie them over until dinner. Yeah, exactly. And, you know, my nephew, he loves these things. He actually branded them as chocolate meatballs. Oh my God, you got to run with it. Yeah, we might come out with a subline, chocolate meatballs by sphere. Max, I noticed on your website, you'd said that you've worked in big food for years.
49:39How has your experience in big food translated to entrepreneurship? Yeah, I worked in traditional brand management and new product innovation and big food. And it's been really beneficial just understanding all the different things that come in with running a business, right? You're dealing with product, you're dealing with marketing, you're dealing with supply, procurement, logistics. There's so many things. And I've had the experience on the food side, understanding those things and asking the right questions to get the right answers. So it's been really helpful just being able to see what's coming and being able to get ahead of things.
50:19There's still a ton I'm learning, but it's been really helpful. And really, the motivation to start Sphere was about seeing what big food was innovating against, bringing in ingredients I didn't really agree with and didn't really think benefited consumers' health when you look at the health in the country and where things are going. So, wanted to take a step aside and do something I felt good about and really want to benefit consumers with. And being able to stay scrappy while you're doing it. Yeah. Yeah. A little bit different of a budget. I would assume so. But, you know, sometimes the best ideas come from the most scrappy founders and the ones who don't have those humongous budgets, marketing or otherwise.
51:03It's using creative ways to create a product, to sell it, to market it. And I think you're doing all those things with Sphere. Thank you so much for being on Elevator Talk today. It's a really exciting brand that you've launched and definitely want to stay in touch. Let us know how things are going. If you get into new retailers, please let us know. We definitely want to highlight it on Nosh and beyond. Thank you so much for having me. All right. On to our final guest for this episode of Elevator Talk. We have Dara Gaudi, who is the founder and CEO of Masala Gossip. Dara, great to see you. Hi, Ray.
51:41Hi, Lisa. Nice to meet you both. Thanks for having me. Thanks so much for joining us today. I am so excited to talk about your brand because it looks amazing. It's got a great name. The products or the meals you have on your website make me want to like run out as soon as we're done and go get some Masala Gossip and make them because they look incredible. Tell us all about the brand, your origins, and what you sell. Yeah, sure. So Masala Gossip is a line of bold and flavor packed Indian simmer sauces and chili crisp that's crafted for the modern pantry. We make it easy to enjoy the rich and vibrant flavors of Indian home cooking in a way that's simple, clean and delicious.
52:21So we have launched two product lines. First is the simmer sauces. We have five flavors. These are ready to use. All you have to do is add your favorite veggies or protein simmer for about 15 minutes and you will have your complete meal ready. in less than like 15 minutes. And the recipes for all these sauces are inspired by the dishes that I grew up eating in Punjab, India. But we have made them to be more flexible and weekday friendly. The second line of products is a chili crisp, which is an Indian take on the viral condiment. It's made with avocado oil, lots of warming spices, and it has a flavor that builds without being too overpowering.
53:02So what sets us apart is that we are made with all clean ingredients, no seed oils, no artificial anything. I sell what I feed my own family. Here I would like to share a quick backstory of how I started Masala Gossip. So I grew up in Punjab, India, where I cooked with my mother and grandmother in our family kitchen. And that's how we connected. We connected a lot through food. But here being in US, you know, later I was a single mom working in tech and I wanted to recreate those flavors, but without spending hours in the kitchen. So that's where the idea of Masala Gossip was born to simplify Indian cooking so we can spend more time connecting with, you know, connecting with the ones we are cooking for.
53:49So we launched in September last year. We are a very new brand. currently you can find us in select independent grocery stores in Northern California. We are also available online on MasalaGossip.com. We are on fair and we're also launching on pop-up grocers in summer. Alisa, I should just hand it to you because I don't even know what to say. I mean, Masala Gossip, it feels so fun. It's as fun as it is delicious. I mean, the packaging is so beautiful and exciting. And again, the food that I'm seeing on the website just looks amazing. Elisa, did you get a chance to try any of these products? I did.
54:31I'm so lucky to. And I agree with you, Ray. I'm like, I'm obsessed with the branding and the packaging. I think you've just done an incredible job, Dara. And I really, really love the sprouted pouches that you have. And I think that those really jump out on shelf. And I think that's such a smart move. And they're really eye-catching. They like immediately catch my attention and would just love to hear like what inspired that format, because I think we're so used to seeing things in like tubs. And so this is like a really fun new take and love to hear what what inspired that. Yeah, thank you. Thanks, Aliza.
55:06So I basically come from a part of India where I come from Punjab, where everything is like really vibrant, bold. We are fun loving people. We love to party and and eat. you know that's how we connect so i wanted to bring the same energy to our brand and if you can see you know there are a lot of spices a lot of ingredients so every package has we are showing the ingredients the spices and aromatics that are in that specific sauce so i wanted to highlight that as well and for the packaging i wanted like you said we wanted to stand out on the shelf. I wanted to do something different, but also for convenience.
55:47If you see, you know, because you don't just make, you can't just make like sauces, like sorry, curries with it. You can use it for pizzas, pastas, sandwiches. So if you just open the spout and then pour it, it's very easy to use. It's very convenient. And as compared to the glass jars that already exist in the market. Yeah, I think you just spoke to this. There's so many use cases for your product and there's just so many interesting and fun ways to use it. How are you thinking about retail placement and, you know, specifically positioning masala gossip? Is that like more as a pantry staple meal solution, something else entirely?
56:24Would love to hear how you're thinking about that. Yeah. So actually we would be in the ethnic aisle, but it's definitely is a meal solution because it's not like I mentioned, it's not just for curries and the way we are marketing the product is that it's very versatile. It has like you can use it for multiple, I would say we say a million ways to cook the sauce, right? So you can use it for pizzas, pastas, even marinades. So it is, you know, it's a pantry staple definitely. And our vision is to make Indian food as a part of everyday American pantry. So especially not just for sauces, but for the chili crisp as well, even if you're making noodles or pasta, you can just add some chili crisp on top of it just to spruce up your meal, you know, just elevate it.
57:13So that's adding an Indian flavor. So definitely we want to be, you know, in every kitchen, in every modern kitchen in America. Oh, absolutely. And I think, you know, we're seeing more and more consumers connect with brands that have those deep cultural roots. I mean, we've seen it with like Fly By Jing, A Dozen Cousins, Amsum, and they really thrive by blending that authenticity with accessibility. And how have you approached that customer education and getting people excited to try your flavors, especially those who may not be as familiar with Indian cuisine? Yes, so we have been doing a lot of demos.
57:55We do a lot of sampling in the retail stores almost every week where we ask our you know the customers to try our products we also at the same time we also educate them on how they can use it you know how what are the different ways so if they have kids they don't just have to you know make a curry they can also use it again like make a sandwich with it or just use it as a pizza topping so that has been helping a lot we also do a lot of events and pop-ups where I actually cook the food with the I just don't take the sauces I cook the food with it with these sauces and that kind of excites people they want to try we take naan bread we take tacos like sorry tortillas with it so people really want to you know try these different flavors and once they try it they are just hooked we just exhibited the Expo West and I cooked the chana.
58:48So this is our chana masala sauce. So I made the chana masala actual curry with it. And everyone just loved it. And when they find out that it's so easy to cook, it just takes 15 minutes to cook chana masala. And if you have to cook it from scratch and gather all those spices, it's just, it takes like more than an hour, I would say hour and a have. So when they find out, they taste it, they try the product, they just love it. And then they want to come back for more. I love that. One thing that I think could be a really fun opportunity is to explore putting together like meal kit bundles on your website for like direct to consumer.
59:27And so find another brand to partner with. And maybe you could do, you know, the pizza kit, the taco kit, the lentil kit, the chickpea kit, and find some other brands to collaborate with and just kind of put together the bundle of products. And you're driving home the story of how you're really selling convenience without giving up on taste or like a really exquisite meal. And you're also kind of tapping into the audiences of these other brands that you're working with to really kind of spread your reach and showcase how Masala Gossip should be like a must-have pantry staple. Yeah, that's a great suggestion.
1:00:06Thank you, Lisa. So yeah, you're welcome. And then I also want to talk about the Chili Crisp because I love it. I think it's so unique and so incredible. As we know, like Chili Crisp has been having such a huge moment for the last couple of years. And, you know, has that trend sort of influenced you to do your own Chili Crisp? How have you leveraged that to grow your brand? um i feel uh more than the trend i'm a big fan of chili crisp i i have a big collection of chili crisps myself and when i go out there i felt like you know there's something missing and we don't have any indian inspired chili crisps so i want to do one and then i started with one with you know it's a the first one is a masala chili crisp which is a fusion of asian and indian um and these are made with avocado oil so there is no seed oils in it so definitely these are you know much better more nutritious and the second one which is a green chili Chris I don't know if you got a chance to try that it's made with fresh green chilies and this is inspired by the Indian achar or more of an Indian condiment so now I feel like I'm really proud that we have an Indian one also out there and I would love people to try it.
1:01:22Dara, I want to try it. I'm not saying to send us samples. We should be buying product from you guys because I know how tough it is out there, but I'm excited to try your products and I feel like I missed you at Expo West somehow, but I will make up for it because everything that you sell looks incredible. um thank you so much for taking the time to be with us today i'm just so excited for you uh it seems like you're kind of living a dream here going from tech into cpg entrepreneurship and i know it's a tough ride but as a lot of founders can tell you um the journey is exciting and at the end of the day you're feeding people good food and that is something to be valued uh and it's an honorable profession more than anything else i mean what what what better job could you have than to, you know, make someone happy when they're eating your food?
1:02:17I can't think of something better. Thanks, Ray. Thank you so much. And actually, Mike tried the chili crisp and he said it's divine. So I would love for you to try as well. I'll definitely send some samples for you. I really appreciate that. Thank you. And Mike has a discerning palate, Mike, our CRMO. So if he said it's really good, it's probably outstanding. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Thanks, Ray. Thanks, Alisa. Thank you. Alisa, it's just, you know, this is my favorite part of the week. My favorite part of the month is because, you know, we get to meet these amazing people who are creating next generation brands for our industry and doing so in really interesting ways.
1:02:56I think the through line is that, you know, innovation is truly about making better for you, better tasting food with better ingredients. It doesn't need to be too, too complicated. It's just, you know, that's what consumers want. And I see all the brands today giving consumers what they want. absolutely yeah and i think like you said you don't need to over complicate it it can be very simple and i think that's also just like from a from a marketing lens that's how i like to approach marketing for cpg brands as well i think there's so much chatter out there where it's like you got to do this and you got to do that and it's like just getting really simple and uh listening to your customers and connecting with them in really authentic ways is what's going to help you succeed And so very, very great conversations with everyone today.
1:03:43And I have a very stocked pantry, which I'm thrilled about. I'm sure you're going to gram and TikTok or whatever the heck people do these days. But I mean, if I had these things in my pantry all the time, and I typically do have a bunch of stuff in my pantry, I think I'd spend days on end just showing myself eating the amazing food that creators and founders are making today. Elisa, this has been incredible. Thank you so much for joining us on Elevator Talk today. Can we have you back soon? Yes, absolutely. Thank you for having me. I mean, any excuse to get on the mic and rap with you, Ray. Love it.
1:04:21I appreciate that. And for folks who want to get in touch with you, what's the best way to do so? You can follow me on LinkedIn at Elisa Croft. You can also find your CPG marketing besties at firstfridaycpg.com. And you can also read my sub stack, The Spaghetti Test. The Spaghetti Test? Yes. I am going to go right to that as soon as we're done here. I love it. Thank you so much once again, Alisa. Thanks so much to our amazing entrepreneurs who joined us today. Thanks for everyone watching, listening. And thanks to our amazing team at BevNetNosh and Taste Radio, the best in the business. Signing off for everyone, I'm Ray Lateef, and we'll talk to you next time.
From the publisher
The latest episode of Elevator Talk features leaders from E3 Energy Cubes, The Flavorsmith, Terranean, Sphere Snacks and Masala Gossip.
Watch founders and CEOs introduce their brands and provide a recap of recent news and updates. This week's special co-host is Elisa Croft, the co-founder of First Friday CPG, who shared her thoughts, questions and feedback with the participants. She is joined by Ray Latif, the editor and producer of the Taste Radio podcast.
Founders and CEOs of early stage food or beverage brands are invited to join future shows to pitch their products, discuss recent news and get feedback from industry experts. It is free to participate and interviews are conducted remotely. Apply to participate in a future episode of Elevator Talk.
