Expo West Is Pricey. Here's How To Make It Pay Off.

0:00This episode is sponsored by Packtech, delivering beverage multi-packing you can trust. Packtech's handles are made from 100 % recycled recycled plastic and are fully recycled recycled. helping beverage brands reduce waste and support a circular economy. With a minimalist design, durable performance that prevents product loss, waterproof functionality, and custom color options, PacTech keeps products secure while letting your brand shine on shelf. Trusted by leading beverage brands globally. Learn more at Tastereadio.com forward slash PacTech.

0:51Hello, friends, and thanks for tuning in to Taste Radio, the number one podcast for anyone building a business in food or beverage. I'm Ray Lateef, the editor and producer of Taste Radio, and with my co-host for this episode, John Craven, Jackie Brugliera, and Mike Schneider. Well, thank you to everyone who joined us in Miami for Taste Radio's first meetup of 2026. We are recording this episode a couple of days before the event, so we'll have more to share, along with brands to highlight and people to shout out next week. Man, you're just killing me. I was going to just quickly get in there and say, Ray, thanks a ton for picking up the bar tab and buying everyone dinner.

1:34I mean, it's possible. It's possible. We'll see. Not on the company card, by the way. Oh, okay. I don't have a company card. Exactly. Would never trust you with one. It's for the best. A big thanks to our event partners, of course, Casa La Rubia, Vibrant Ingredients, Matriarch Wealth Management, and Atomos Strategic Marketing. Thank you. Yes. Of course, we have many more meetups planned for later this year. Upcoming stops in New York City, Austin, Chicago, San Diego, San Francisco, and London. You can register for any or all of these events at tasteradio.com slash meetups. And of course, we've mentioned this before, if you're interested in sponsoring any of the meetups that we're holding in 2026, just email us at askattasteradio.com to learn more.

2:20We would love to have you as a partner. So as Mike pointed out, I am wearing a new hoodie today. I'm very hoodie during these banter episodes. I like to be comfortable in this seat. and the fine folks from Dirty Saint. We've mentioned Dirty Saint on this podcast a number of times. They make rapid hangover recovery shots. Guys, why not put a QR code on this sweatshirt so when people have to stare at Ray in these social media clips, they can just click the order. Yeah. I feel like also you specifically like black hoodies. So I feel like if a brand gives you a black hoodie, you're going to definitely wear it.

2:59Yes, correct. The pockets need to be lined with like$100 bills. I mean, that would be against the rules. Lucky Saint also failing on me. That would be against the rules. Not for you, for me. Oh, for you. You just get the hoodie. Also against the rules. If they were lined with a$100 bill, I'm sure we would donate it to one of our favorite charities. But no, in all seriousness, thanks so much to the guys at Dirty Saint. This is very comfortable. And yes, if you send hoodies to our BevNet headquarters here in Newt, Massachusetts, in most cases, I will wear it. If it has some sort of offensive language on it.

3:30Wow, that is a challenge. then I might have to say no. Like Tottenham Hotspur. Exactly. Arsenal, maybe? I will not wear an Arsenal hoodie. I probably won't need to wear this when we're heading out to LA, which is happening in a couple weeks because, of course, it's the dreaded, I mean, the annual Natural Products Expo West trade show. Your time warping is really bad. How's that? Because we're already in Miami. Yeah. And it can't also be a couple weeks. All right, three weeks. to Expo West. Three weeks. We're nitpicking here. No, because you always want to talk about the timeline. I know, I know.

4:06And then every time we spend half an hour talking about the timeline. I hate talking about the timeline. Why don't we just... We're just saying it's coming up soon. We were at Expo West and it was great. How about that? There are listeners who like to listen to these like, you know, months later. This is true. Now, of course, Expo West is happening beginning on March 2nd. Just say soon. Soon. Starting on March 2nd. Of course, an annual event. We get about 80 ,000 people who pile into the aisles with us, thousands of CPG exhibitors. And it is the preeminent natural products trade show in America, dare I say the world.

4:44I, of course, got in some hot water last year because I questioned the value of Expo West. More specifically, I question the value of early stage founders having a booth at that show because I felt like it gets swallowed up. And a lot of times brands do get swallowed up because there's just too much going on. There's not enough time to see everything. And brands just don't have a big enough presence with some of their tiny boos in the arena. No one has a booth in the arena, right? Come on, there's the North Hall. People should listen to your words from last year. I would highly recommend, I don't know what episode number or date that was, but...

5:20I'm speaking truth here. I think I've actually talked to a number of founders who went to Expo West last year, had a booth, and they said, Ray, you know, you're probably right about this. All that being said. This is also why you're going to have a fake name on your badge this year. It's also why they're going to stop me at the door and be like, yeah, you're not going to. That's what I'm saying. They're also a bunch of founders who said Ray's head is full of Nutella. No, I mean, I saw a lot of people. I ran into a bunch of people. They were like, oh, Ray, you're here. Like, what's that all about?

5:52And they let you in. Let's accentuate the positive here. I mean, Expo West is a great show for introducing new products, especially if you're a more established company. You know, we are always on the hunt to try to find the most innovative, the most unique, the most exciting new products at that show. That's pretty much why we go. And so I think the question is, how do you drive awareness? How do you get the most excitement? How do you get the biggest bang for your buck if you're an exhibitor? And you are spending more than a few bucks if you have a booth at that show. And Mike, you recently shared some great insights on this very topic on the NOMBASE podcast.

6:35You are managing editor, Martin Capallero, and of course, NOMBASE director of community, Melissa Travers. Let's dive into a few takeaways from that episode. If you were to advise someone on how best to stand out at Expo West, particularly if you have a booth, what would it be? Chicken costume. No hesitation. Okay. The way to stand out is to not wait until Expo West to try to stand out. I mean, the standard strategy for Expo West is have a great booth, be on brand, have a great experience, and then hope everybody walks around and talks about you. That's the zigging. The zagging is to put your innovation out beforehand, make sure people know about what you're going to be doing at Expo West beforehand.

7:22So when they walk up to your booth, they're asking you to try your innovation versus you having to explain all of your innovation and spend all your time doing that, lose your voice. Yeah. I mean, all of our teams I know are already planning what booths they're going to be hitting, you know, weeks leading up to the event. if you want to be on a shot list or, you know, be considered for a story or an interview, that's all happening now. So I feel like a lot of brands that do stand out, they're getting the ball rolling. They're trying to make noise. They're trying to reach specific people with pitches that they know would resonate based on, you know, where the market's heading.

8:00I think that's like another big thing is to understand where you fit and why you're relevant and why what you're doing is new and fresh because everyone has limited time. So they have to like really think about it. They're going to be moving on to the next thing. There's always worry that, oh, we're going to miss our opportunity to have that big splash on day one of Expo West if we tell everybody what we're doing in advance. And you want to be part of the news cycle during the event and that sort of thing. And, you know, everyone can't be the main story during the event. I feel like there's so much news that comes out of that show that if your brand is covered after Expo West, it almost gets swallowed up in the same way you might get swallowed up as an exhibitor at the show.

8:44I mean, if you can get people excited about what you're doing before Expo West starts, that's the place and that's the time to generate excitement. That's the place to get people to want to share some information about your brand, to talk about what booth to visit ahead of time. I find oftentimes at the show, you run into someone and what's the first thing they ask? What are you seeing? What are you seeing? How's the show going? Exactly. Please don't ask us that. I mean, the question's always, you know, what booth should I visit? You know, what have you seen? That's awesome. And I try to be like, you know, you can check out my Instagram page because I can't remember.

9:19Maybe there's one or two things that I really remember and would say, okay, this stands out so much that you should go to that booth. There's always just too much stuff too. I mean, I feel like I kind of get stuck saying any single company because there's just always a lot of stuff that's worth seeing, you know. It's interesting when people really are like, what's the booth? Like the one thing. Jackie, do you think it's going to break you if you're not like the superstar of Expo West? No, I don't think so. Not at all. There's like a bunch of superstars of Expo West. There's how many booths? Thousands of booths.

9:54It's impossible to be the one shining star. There's a lot going on. There's a lot of different, you know, categories people are looking at. Everyone's going there with different interests too. So maybe for, you know, an investor, they're specifically looking for someone and they have their own superstar. So you never know like who's going to be looking for what and you want to be ready for that opportunity. This episode is brought to you by BioBotanica, a U.S.-based manufacturer of functional botanical ingredients and alcohol-free liquid extracts. BioBotanica has been family-owned since 1972 using a proprietary cold extraction process.

10:33Learn more at bio-botanica.com forward slash BevNet. A crowded trade show floor is the hardest place to tell your story for the first time. Give the industry a head start by sharing your news early. Download the guide from BevNet CPG media to learn how to reach buyers before the big show. Visit bevnet.com forward slash trade show. So one of the brands that really stood out to me at Expo West last year and to a lot of other folks as well was True Dates. Now they are the dates that have a, they don't really have a candy coating or shell per se, but they have candy flavoring that are sprinkled onto their dates.

11:18So they have like a sour watermelon. That stuff's so good. Yeah, those are really good. Amazing stuff. It just, it tastes like a gummy, but it's dates. And so I think the reason a lot of people loved that booth and love that brand in particular, it was because it was easy to talk about. The three things you could say were, have you heard of this brand? I have not. It seems like it's brand new, even though it's been around for a little bit overseas. There are candy flavor dates, which I know that's not the most intuitive thing to say, but it's easy to understand. It's a date that has some sort of flavoring added to it.

11:54And then there was nothing really, I don't know, functional about it. There wasn't anything that had to be described in terms of a particular new ingredient or vitamin or what have you. It was just a very easy thing to share and talk about. And so for me, if you're an exhibitor, that point of reference has to be very quick and easy. If you're going to want people to talk about what you're doing, make it easy for them to talk about it. I know that's pretty simple to say, but that point of reference is a huge part of that word of mouth marketing. Focus on where you are, do the thing that you're doing.

12:28Don't worry about all the other things that are going on around you, because guess what? We're going to cover it for you. Yeah. And I think also another thing is the booths that I often visit, they're like in my DMs, You know, they're reaching out, they're telling me what's new. They're making it really easy for me to find them. So if you have specific targets that, you know, you want to stop by the booth, hound them a little bit. You know, we're busy. We might miss you on day one, but that doesn't mean we don't want to stop by on day two. There's multiple days. There's lots of opportunities. It's really easy to miss things at the show.

13:03So be persistent during the show. Be persistent with your follow-up. that's how you're going to stand out. Yeah, that's a really good point, Jackie. And even with your pre-show planning, if you're putting a LinkedIn post out there or an Instagram post out there, tag the people that you want to visit your booth. Oftentimes, yes, we do get a lot of people tagging us or DMing us, but those people at least have a better shot of us remembering to go there versus just kind of stumbling upon your brand on the show floor. For every hundred booths I want to visit at Expo West, is probably 25 that I can't just because of the time constraints.

13:38So the ones that really make the effort to reach out ahead of time, I almost feel like I'm obliged to go and visit them as opposed to again, to one I might just stumble upon. I agree with that. I think that's how you get people to come to your booth. And then, you know, the conversations happen and there's a disease that everybody has called the trade show happy. And I think the most important thing about Expo West is the follow-up. Sure. And you're going to be doing a lot of follow-up just like you always do. So you might have to double down on that follow-up. And if somebody said they, you know, they love your brand and that follow-up is so key.

14:15So be careful, you know, take notes on your interactions and, and make sure that you're, you're doing a lot of follow-up after the event. The last thing I would say about it is, you know, for folks like us who are in the media business, we're always asking what's new, what's different, what's happening with your brand. Please have an answer ready. If you can, if there's anything new or there's anything happening with your brand that is helping you scale your business, just let us know. If you don't have a new product, a new line extension, new packaging, what have you. Okay, that's fine. Maybe talk about new distribution, new retail, a new hire, new investment.

14:55And just, you know, at these shows, again, we go to booths looking for new stuff, looking for new information. So please, if one of us approaches you and asks what's near, what's happening, even if you don't have a new product, just give us, you know, something that's going on with your brand that, again, is helping your business scale. And if you do have a new product, have a little sticker that says new. I feel like that's the thing that just catches my eye walking down the booth aisle. Like, I want to see new somewhere. You know what? That's such a good point. And it's such a simple thing that can really make a difference for someone who's perusing down an aisle and hoping that they see something new.

15:35Just having some signage that says new. It sounds simple again, but it works clearly. If you are attending Expo West and you want to alert our Nosh and BevNet teams about what you're doing, you can head to either website, BevNet.com or Nosh.com, and let our team know exactly what's going on. And they will hopefully visit you and write about you during the show and then post-show as well, and perhaps even before the show starts. Do you want more repeat buyers on Amazon? Well, this free resource in collaboration with Straight Up Growth will help your brand turn first-time buyers into long-term subscribers.

16:14Download Winning the Repeat Purchase Game on Amazon now at Tasteradio.com slash SUG. That's Tasteradio.com slash S-U-G to start building retention-driven growth for your brand on Amazon. Vibrant Ingredients is the natural ingredient partner powering food and beverage innovation, delivering flavor, function, and protection through a science-backed portfolio. Vibrant delivers purpose-driven solutions that help brands create extraordinary experiences. Discover what's possible with Vibrant today. Visit vibrantingredients.com. Now, of course, we're going to be seeing a deluge of protein-enhanced products at Expo West.

17:03protein is a word that I don't think we're going to go through the entire year without mentioning protein at least once every episode of Taste Radio. And fiber. Protein and fiber. Super Pretzel. You guys know Super Pretzel is the age-old, old-school pretzel brand. Well, of course, they, like everyone else, had to introduce a new protein SKU. And so they sent some of these products over. Super Pretzel, New York City, pretty ubiquitous. You go to one of those. No? You don't think? No? I thought all those hot dog stands that used Super Pretzel, no? That'd be news to me. I equate Super Pretzel. Super Pretzel seems more like when you're, if you want to go for a New York thing, like you're in the bowling alley and they've got a sad little glass case of pretzels that have been sitting there all day.

17:54Yeah, that's like at the hot dog stands. It's not the hot dog stands. No, these aren't the hot dog stands ones? No, they're cooking them on chestnuts. That's the classic New York pretzel bread. Oh. I always thought they sourced them from Super Pretzel I mean, I don't Yeah, that would be news to me I have no idea where those come from Well, they're Bavarian style, just so you know And I'll tell you, I definitely stopped eating these Because they didn't have protein Kidding, kidding Okay, all kidding aside I mean, does protein belong in pretzels? Not necessarily, but if you're going to eat pretzels We talked about this last week, you know Or a couple episodes back It's a nice thing to have, it's a nice addition If you're already going to be eating the pretzels I don't know if anyone's going to be like, oh my gosh, this is what I've been waiting for my whole life is protein-enhanced pretzels.

18:35But 10 grams of protein per serving, fully baked soft pretzels. You know, if you happen to eat these, I'd be much happier eating that, the protein-enhanced pretzels, than I would just a regular pretzel. So I feel like Super Pretzel is the bar for pretzels. Like, this is the pretzel bar. Like from Jersey Shore, that guy, the bar? But then find something better if you can. And it's the average pretzel. For mainstream. I like them, yeah. What happened to those Eastern Standard pretzels? Do they still sell those? Those are good, but those aren't soft, are they? Those are hard pretzels. Oh. They are?

19:06Yeah. I thought they were always... They're like the things they sold in their restaurant. You get those super pretzels at like the Bruins game or something, you're pretty happy. Has Auntie Annie's made a CPG product yet? I think they have, yes. I'm pretty sure they've licensed their brand out to someone. Don't get me started on those pretzels. I mean, I don't know. Those are more like cinnamon buns. Why not include like a bottle of mustard, too? They're salt. Yeah, no, I mean, it's just, no. No? I want a mustard-filled super pretzel. Then super pretzel has me back. I'm still, I think I'm still waiting for.

19:41I just went on their vision board. Get John Craven back. Yes. I'm still trying to figure out what the weirdest CPG category would be where you would see an added protein product. You know we have AI for that, Ray. Well, originally I thought it was soda, and then all of a sudden now we're seeing, you know, protein-enhanced soda. Water? Protein infused soda all over the place. Nah, that's been there, done that. Toothpaste? Shaving cream? You can't eat that stuff. Shampoo? Toothpaste. If I had to... Like protein infused meat, right? Like we talked... Like this is the running joke last year. At some point, we're going to see like protein infused or protein enhanced turkey.

20:16Protein enhanced bacon. How about sugar? Just straight sugar. Protein... That's possible. That'd be dumb. How about protein whiskey? There's already protein beer. Protein Negroni. We're full of dumb ideas over here at Taste Radio. Okay, so you got some Ben Stiller soda. I wonder how long it's going to take for them to... Nice segue from dumb to not dumb. Yeah, this is their new Shirley Cola. Shirley Cola. Yeah, I think it's kind of... Is it a cherry cola? One would normally call it cherry cola with maybe like a little sort of citrusy finish to it. Let's see. It's got grenadine flavor, black cherry flavor.

20:57So yeah, it's not that different than a cherry cola. It's pretty darn tasty. I, you know, these low calorie, not zero calorie sodas, like they're getting better and better. We've talked about Stillers before and I don't know, this seems like a nicely buttoned up product. Yeah. Again, we've talked about this. It reminds me of the Dr. Brown sodas. There's definitely some slice vibes to this product as well. does it matter that ben stiller is behind the brand is anyone going to care are they going to be like oh yeah that's that ben stiller product that's the uh what's the name of that movie he did where he was the model two lander come on that's the that's the two lander brand to stop mike just did the blue it was called the blue steel yeah this would probably go pretty nice with a uh super pretzel covered in uh in mustard that actually probably would be good i should have made some.

21:51I know. Falling down on the job. I never cook for you guys. It's just something I won't do. I'm really impressed that you recognize Blue Steel. Well done. Well, you know, when you pull it off as well as you pulled it off, Mike. Ray is a movie buff, though. I mean, usually I go Le Tigre. I pulled out Blue Steel and it worked. I saw some Accelerator in the cooler. Now, Accelerator is a brand of energy drinks launched by the very famous Lance Collins, very famous as a serial entrepreneur in the beverage industry known for Fuse, F-U-Z-E, body armor, core water, a bunch of other things. And Accelerator was his brand where...

22:31You forgot it's Tequila Company. Tequila Company. The Lance Collins Tequila Company. No, I think it is Casa Azul? Something like that. Wait, no, no. There's a Casa, there's an Azul, but it's not Casa Azul. Yeah, that might be the Mark Wahlberg one. Yes, it's definitely not Casamigos either. Well, it's good tequila. I've had it. Sorry, Lance. So Accelerator, which was originally known as A-Shock, apparently they're back to being an independent company now. They had been partnered with Keurig Dr. Pepper, but according to an article written by our very own Brad Avery, Accelerator is back up as an independent brand.

23:11According to the story, with a refreshed product design and pro athlete led marketing campaign underway, Lance Collins said that he believes that Accelerator is poised to surpass$30 million in sales this year. And he says there's a growing footprint that could reach 50 ,000 doors with the business running cash flow positive. So it seems like it's going pretty well for Accelerator. More information is in the story written once again by Brad Avery. You can find it on BevNet.com. I like to call him B-Rad. I like the move to Accelerator. You mean from A-Shock? Yeah. Oh, yeah, it's a much better name.

23:45Yeah, that's a good name. It's a better name. And, you know, to some extent, I don't know. You got to give Lance Collins credit for always taking a swing. The energy drink category is notoriously tough, but I kind of feel like maybe timing isn't so bad on this. But we'll see. Yeah, I mean, as noted in the story, you know, KDP is also invested in Nutriple's C4, which is a ubiquitous brand in the energy drink cooler cases and aisles and they're the majority owner of Ghost. So feel like maybe Lance felt like Accelerator wasn't getting the attention it needed. Sales dropped according to the story as well and so it's foray as its foray once again as an independent brand is something that we will continue to follow.

24:33It is Casa Azul by the way. Oh, I got it right. Well done. Casa Azul. Jackie's got a can in her hand too. I do. Raise a wrapper. I have Hoplark's limited edition, the energized one, which is their Yerba Mate SKU. So it's just hops, ginger root, lemon balm, and Yerba Mate. And it's very clean, really tasty. It's only five calories and 80 milligrams of caffeine. Cool to see another Yerba Mate product. I feel like that's just a trend. We're definitely seeing clean energy, no crash. It's kind of like the matcha trend. I feel like this is like the next thing for tea, which is cool to see. I'm drinking right now a Tama tea.

25:15They're a yerba mate, mint. And then another thing, I feel like just hops is everywhere now too. I have hazards here, which is hop water. So their whole pitch is that you can drink these on the golf course and be a better golfer because you're not going to be drinking beers. You're going to be drinking hops and you're going to be less stressed because it has magnesium, L-theanine, B vitamins. And they have a bunch of different varieties. This is their lime and mint. They have grapefruit, passion fruit, watermelon, and then they have a tea and lemonade version. So hazards as in like golf hazards?

25:51Is that why it's named that? Okay, so that's interesting. I always wondered about hitching your wagon to a particular sport. If you recall from 10 years ago, there was a brand or at least a product called Golfer Aid. Remember that? That's, of course, now part of the Life Aid portfolio. I think they still sell Golfer Aid. But at the time, it was like, this is not going to work. So when they actually went to a product that seemed like it fit more lifestyles than just those who play golf, I was like, okay, good move, Life Aid. I suddenly need to drive 20 yards further. Golfer Aid. Golf. You guys remember that.