Funding Favors the Few. Chefs Favor the Simple.

0:10Hello friends and thanks for tuning into Taste Radio, the number one podcast for anyone building a business in food or beverage. I'm Ray Lateef, the editor and producer of Taste Radio, and I'm with my co-host for this episode, John Craven, Jackie Brugliera, and Mike Schneider. In this episode, we sit down with acclaimed Boston-based chefs, Jamie Bissonette and Kenta Katagi, as they take us behind the scenes of an unforgettable culinary collaboration where Basque flavors meet refined Japanese techniques. My mouth is watering just thinking about this interview. All those words are like a you and Adam Stern wet dream.

0:46Jesus. Can you say that on the podcast? No.

0:53Anywho, we're back in Boston a day after returning from New York City where we held the Taste Radio New York City meetup was on April 15th. Tax day. Did you pay your taxes, John Craven? I don't believe in that. Just straight up. Leave a long pause. I'm obviously kidding. Okay. I don't believe in that. Taxes have been done for a while. I think that's the day they either give you the money or take the money out of your bank, though. Yeah. Well, no one was talking about taxes that day. Everyone was talking about CPG, food, beverage, all the great things that are happening in this amazing industry of ours.

1:28We had over 100 folks attend. And my goodness, my expectations were met and then some. I just was so happy that we had so many folks come out to this thing. And it was investors. We had founders. We had service suppliers. We had consultants. We had attorneys. We had all kinds of people come out. And it seemed like, I don't know, maybe this is just me, it seemed like everyone was having a really, really good time. Yeah. I mean, I think from start to finish, it was pretty packed and noisy and lots of great energy. and you know it's just always so good to reconnect and you know people you haven't seen in a while as well as meet new founders who in some cases this is like the first time they're out there with their brand new product i mean there was at least one beverage where it was like they'd just done their first run a couple days ago and they were you know there this is like yeah the first time i'm sure a little nerves of like with the food product i think um we had uh oh so easy was there with their brownies that, wow.

2:34Did you try those brownies? I didn't get to try them. You took so many samples that nobody else could have tried them. Well, I did share them with other people, but I did eat more than my fair share. I had probably three ube and three miso caramel brownies. They were so good. Yeah. Well, you're a great advocate for brands, Mike, and you were advocating very much on their behalf at the event, on social. Jackie, did you see Mike's call out of the brownies and how they were the greatest thing he's eaten in i thought i saw god when i ate the caramel oh my gosh geez guy i did i was like whoa she also was like when she came in she set herself up in the corner like you know trying to share the space with everybody and what's the name of the brand again oh so easy oh so easy and so like she was kind of behind some other brands too so i kept going over and grabbing and she was doing a really good job of networking with people and telling her story.

3:29And so I was trying to get the product out of the corner and make sure people got a chance to taste it because it was really good. Yeah. Ava, the founder and CEO of Oh So Easy was very visible. And I think that's what you got to be when you're trying to introduce a new product to a lot of folks. I was following along on Instagram. I saw some people were trying to crash. I believe it was like, bake me healthy. That was Kimberly Lau. No, no. Look, to be fair, I told Kim that she could come because we had to close registration. We had to shut it down because we were at capacity. And so I got a few people emailing me, sending me notes on Instagram and whatnot.

4:04And I may have told a few folks that they can come and I didn't necessarily relay that information to our wonderful COO, Carolyn Craven. And she would have to come over to me at some point. She said, Ray, did you let this person in? And a few minutes later, Ray, did you say this person could come in? A few minutes later, Ray, did you say this person could have come in? I loved it. And then she was just like, Ray, stop saying. She was ready to crash, though. She was like psyching herself up on Instagram. I know. I was watching, and I was like, is she going to get in? Of course she was going to.

4:36She just acted like she was supposed to be there. I mean, crashing a free event, you could have just registered in advance. I'm just saying. Well, we did tell a lot of people to register in advance, and I just want to remind folks that our next meetup is going to be in Austin, Austin, Texas, on May 6th. It's Tuesday at the Torchy's Tacos. their escarpment location. So good. If you want to be there, you need to register because we're probably going to face the same kind of capacity issue that we had in New York. So register now, tasteradio.com slash Austin. Be there because we want to see you there.

5:13I got to give a few more shout outs. Me too, yeah. To folks that, well, first of all, I want to give a shout out to our partners for this event who are so gracious in helping us put it all together, beginning with Rethink Food, I sat down with Cole Riley of Rethink, and he talked about their vision of turning food waste from restaurants, from food brands, from beverage brands into food that feeds underserved communities. And it's just such a brilliant company and organization in what they're doing. And they were so gracious in opening up their community kitchen to us, not just the front of the kitchen, but the kitchen itself in the back.

5:54and people got to see how the food was being made. They got to see and talk to the chefs that were there. And it was all just this really welcoming and great experience. Thank you so much to Rethink. Thanks so much to Rachel Krupa, who is the founder of the Goods Mart and Krupa Consulting, who was so instrumental in putting this event together. Matriarch Wealth Management, Steven Santangelo and team, thank you. Beyond Brands, Ginger Labs, Sweet 9C, High Beam, and Ocean's Talent. Thank you all for your amazing contribution to the event. Hey, Sweet 9C, you can catch on our Non-Base podcast right now.

6:33Yeah, we talked a lot about that. Paula Grant, who is the founder of Sweet 9C and a veteran designer in the food and beverage industry, specifically known for brands like - Core. Core. Zen Water. Body Armor. Yeah. She and I actually sat down with Yanni Huffnagel because Sweet 9C just did a re-sign, rebrand, whatever you want to call it. It was more of like a brand refresh of Lemon Perfect. And we kind of went behind the scenes on what it took to get it to where it is today. And it was very eyeopening. Was he wearing his lemon jacket? He was wearing a Lemon Perfect something, but it wasn't a lemon jacket.

7:09But interestingly enough that you bring that up, Mike, because the refresh was all about owning the color yellow. They really wanted to own that color on shelf. And yeah, it's a fun, it's exciting conversation. there was one moment where I asked Yanni a question and he goes, Ray, I am admittedly insane. Sounds about right. Last time he was on stage at Femme Live, he's like, man, time goes really fast up here. Yeah. He's awesome. But it was great. He brings the energy. He really does. He really does. But yeah, just a couple, a few other shout outs to folks that attended. It was great to see Dan Dan Osborne, who's one of the co-founders of Zenjoy.

7:49Dan was there with handfuls of his Zenjoy product. He got there early. It was so great to see him and talk to him there. Anjali Bhargava from Anjali's Cup. She's been in the news quite a bit lately talking about tariffs and the impact of tariffs on her business. She was on CNN recently and a bunch of other news stations talking exactly about that. I wish she was just talking about Chai. Yeah, well. She does too. Yeah. Russell Cohn from Pale Blue Dot was there. Great to see him. We also got to see Dan Leveson from Vible Energy Tea, who gave me a bottle of his reformulated Tropical Punch, which is absolutely delicious.

8:26Thanks so much, Dan. Gerard McMullen from The Next Great American Lager, thank you so much for your contributions. Also got to give a big shout out to Tip Top Cocktails and Archer Roos, who provided canned cocktails and canned wine, respectively, that people were guzzling. Maybe it was just me, actually. But I was guzzling there. What was going on with you? No, I wasn't guzzling there. Wim Reinders, who is with Culinary Argan Oil. He was there early. Great to see him as well. Nina Roberts. Nina Roberts was all over the place taking photos for everyone. So thank you so much, Nina. Did you meet Keisha from Live Loud Foods?

9:02Yes, briefly. Yeah. Keisha was fantastic. C-Watt from Recoup was there. Thank you so much for coming out. Founders of Awesome and also Lucky Ox were there too. Yep. Matt Weiss from Ryan was there. Oh, that was so good to see. And you know who else we saw? Who's that? The famous legendary Alex from Zesty Z. Yes, indeed. He was there as well. It was really good to see him. Yeah. Apologies if I'm missing anyone, but thank you all for coming out. Fun times. If you want to be involved in future meetups, including our Austin meetup, just let us know. Send me a note directly, rlatif at bevnet.com. Love to talk to you about being a partner for the event.

9:40There's quite a bit of awareness and excitement generated for our partners at these meetups. So it's a good way to, you know, do something that's really cool for the community and also build awareness for your brand. One more shout out to the unknown gooner on the street who walked up to you when you were wearing your United hat. So this happened. This happened yesterday. I was coming back from Paula's Sweet 9C suite and walking down the street, mind my own business with my Man U hat on, looking down at my phone, trying to find a bagel place that I could grab something quick before my train. And I hear someone go, broski.

10:20I was like, yeah. I look up and it's this dude, probably looks like he was like 23. He lifts up his black hoodie. And underneath it, he's got a red home arsenal jersey. and he's pointing repeatedly at the logo. And I'm like, okay. Wow. And Ray was very... I was, no, I laughed. I laughed because he goes, Bro-Ski, and he's just pointing at this logo. And I said, good luck today because yesterday was the day that Arsenal and Real Madrid played the second leg of their Champions League quarterfinal. We're always thinking of United fans and we just want you guys to get good again so that we can beat you.

10:59And it means something. I feel like which side is like more obsessed with the other? Arsenal is more obsessed with that. Let me give you a quick pro tip on how to not have altercations with random people who are crazy on the street. No, he was a cool dude. Don't wear sports like logo merchandise. You look like a numpty as you guys. He was a harmless person. I mean, it's kind of like wearing Red Sox gear in New York City, right? I guess. Yeah, which you also shouldn't do. Do I want to wear that anywhere? Do I want to talk about, well, I don't like the Red Sox, but do you wear Red Sox stuff because you want to talk to other Red Sox fans?

11:31I don't know. It's kind of weird, man. It's just weird. Anyway. And a rant. We get it. Okay. Fair enough. I get it. We get it. I get it. No, I mean, we get why you'd wear it. I offered him good luck on the game. Did you get a discount on tickets? No. No, you get nothing. Arsenal did indeed win the game. They are in the Champions League semifinals. Congratulations, Mike. Look at how Mike is beaming. Are you going to be okay? He's trying to hold it in. He's losing it over here. Aiming for someone else's accomplishments. Yes, well done. You sound like my dad. Why are you rooting for this person? What did they do for you?

12:09Anyway, got to troll you guys. Sorry. For sure, for sure. In other news, it was amazing this past week to see, maybe not amazing is the wrong word, but it was great to see that there was more investment happening in the beverage industry. Culture Pop, a maker of better for you, gut-friendly sodas and real tea. I think you can guess what they make. Each picked up$15 million in new funding. We reported on both raises on BevNet.com. If you want to read all about them, you got to be an insider, head to BevNet.com slash insider to do so. But I'm really impressed with the fact that M &A and investment in food and beverage just four and a half months into the year seems to be going really, really strong.

12:54And it's, I'm certainly not complaining, but it's a little strange given all the economic uncertainty that's happening. Well, sometimes, I mean, not for these particular deals, but economic uncertainty also kind of drives M &A because there are deals to be had. So not totally surprising that there's a lot of deals, but I think these two, you know, Realty and CulturePop growth capital for, you know, two brands that I think certainly seem like they've got a, I guess we'll call it a spark at least, you know, and I think feel like there's a lot of upside and obviously investors do too. Yeah, I would say so.

13:30I mean, Culture Pop raised$21 million last February and Howard Schultz is on their cap table as well, which says a lot about that brand and its potential. And I would say that in terms of Better For You Sodas, it seems like a lot of people want to be part of that business, especially when you think about poppy and its exit at 1.6 you're ready for this billion dollars mike there you go with the pinky but how much more room is there i think for better for you soda brands come to market how much more investment money is there out there do you have to have a presence a pretty big presence in the market right now to get that investment i wonder john well i mean i think for culture pop you know it's similar to other things we've talked about before i think you know they have a really well-crafted brand the liquid solid and they're in a category where certainly right now there seems to be opportunity and i don't think that this is sort of a race that can only have two horses of poppy and ollie pop i mean to some degree i think i've always admired what uh tom first and team have done with culture pop in that you know there's two other brands that have taken on like a lot of money and spent a lot of money and you know CulturePop has, I think, been doing sort of a maybe more tried and true approach to how they've gotten the product out there.

14:53And now it's maybe time to step on the gas more. So I think that's pretty darn smart. And with Realty, I guess I think they're kind of under the radar in terms of what they're doing. Fifteen million dollars to accelerate into, quote, hyper growth and increase its retail footprint 4x this year for a company that was founded in 2022. It just seems like the opportunity for brands that are doing simple yet differentiated things like the Real Tea Company, which is described as an iced tea with benefits, seems like there's a ton of runway for it. And I mean, it's like brands we saw at the meetup, the NYC meetup, where you're like, you know, how far can this brand go?

15:36And it seems like consumers are really interested and willing to spend money on products that they understand, but do a little bit more for them. Yeah, I mean, I don't even know if they necessarily have to do more for them. I mean, you could also look at a brand like Just Iced Tea or St. James, you know, that are kind of just modern brands, right? And yes, to what you just said, I think they're going after categories where there is proven demand, like consumers are always going to drink iced tea, they're probably always going to drink soda in some sort of way. So it's neat to see that brands that are going after that are getting the recognition for that and are able to raise money without maybe having something that on paper is like game changing innovation.

16:19You know, one thing that's a common thread among both companies is you mentioned Tom first, who's had a ton of success in the beverage industry and the CEO and founder of Realty is a former Owen executive. His name is Blodin Ukela. Having that kind of experience with brands that have scaled and built very successful businesses seems to go a long way when it comes to raising money. I would imagine so. Yeah, there you go. Well, speaking of really interesting tea brands, John, you just took a swig of Half Day's new half and half product, Half Day, a maker of tea. Better for you tea, that is. Yeah, really impressed with what these guys have done and how the product has matured.

17:08They've got this tagline now of new era iced tea, which I guess you could take that to mean whatever you want. But it is just a clean, nice looking product. and this is a can of their half and half. Super tasty. Well, to be clear, it's an iced tea that's made to benefit your gut health as well. Good for your gut is at the top of the can. It's described as a prebiotic iced tea. You don't see too many of those on the market, do you? There's a couple. Yeah, Half Day recently underwent a brand refresh. That call out of a new era iced tea, I like it. Jackie, as a marketer yourself, does that resonate with you?

17:46Yeah, I think like a lot of people think of iced tea as like sweetened iced tea or, you know, just very basic. And I think it's cool that they're doing something a little bit fresh, new, better for you. And the branding is definitely, you know, speaks to younger consumer. As long as they don't call it new age. Remember new age was the term everyone used. It was a catch all term for. Kind of still is, unfortunately. Is it really? Why do I want to put New Era Ice-T on a hat? Because there's a company that makes caps called New Era? It's not funny if you explain it. Oh. Because you want to get sued?

18:24Is that the answer? So don't put it on a hat. Yeah, I mean, you know, look, I'm not really sure the New Era Ice-T tagline's all that important in the grand scheme of this, like, hierarchy either. And also I would say that in the longer term, I'd give the same feedback that I've given to other prebiotic products, which is I don't really think that the consumer cares that much about that. It's like this low sugar. Five grams of sugar, yeah. 40 calories. Tastes cool. I like the branding. Like, I don't know. Half day, half and half. That's all you need. I mean, those are the things that will keep you drinking it.

19:02Not the promise of gut health, in my opinion. The imagery is kind of cool too. This is definitely a refresh of their brand. The last one was a little more, I don't know, psychedelic kind of, and this one is a little more straightforward, I'd say, but it's super inviting and they still have a very heroic brand on there. The half day is huge, but so is the flavor call out. So there you go. Good on them. And also that five grams is pretty easy to see. Well, this was something interesting. When I talked to Yanni and Paula yesterday, they were talking about how important it was for certain information to be above the fold.

19:36So zero sugar and being above the fold means that you can see it when it's on shelf at a C store, you know, they have those sliders. And so being able to, was that? Glide racks. Glide racks, exactly. And so he felt it was really important with that brand refresh to have zero sugar above the fold, so to speak. And in the case of half day, they have that five grams of sugar, very easy to see on that top half of the can. So yeah, totally makes sense. I have a brand that was represented. I got some too, Ray. Represented. Maraca. Oh, Jackie's got one. How do you have one? You know, there's a thing called UPS, Ray.

20:12Oh, I see. Just wanted you to know. Things go on planes and land in San Diego. Yeah, well, I got to tell you, Salad Sprinkles is the name of the brand, and they come in these little jars. They're basically toppings for anything that you want. You could put them on salads. You could put them on pasta. You could put them on anything really. And the one I have in my hand is their chili crisp variety. And the call out, the tagline is put crunch in every bite. We talked about this last week with Melissa actually when she was here because she had a small sample of this. But we have full jars, which is really great.

20:45Yeah, it's like anything you kind of want a little, you need a little crunch in. Salads. I was drawn to the chili crisp flavor. But personally, for the way I prefer to eat salad, the classic herbs, probably the way to go. What do you have, Jackie? I have the chili crust and then I also have the maple sea salt. And honestly, I've just been like eating it like a snack because you would think like a crouton or something and be a little bit more muted for the flavor, but these are actually very flavorful. Yeah, and it was so great to talk to Jordan at the event and her PR partner, Delaney Vetter. And I was really happy that they were there and got to learn a little bit more about the company and what they're doing.

21:22And as I mentioned last week, I really feel like there's a growing market for added flavor via crunch or what have you. Again, chutney punch, good example of that. So yeah, great stuff, salad sprinkles. What do you got, Mike? Oh no, he doesn't. I got him. He does have them. I got him, Ray. Yes. Candies. Those are so good. Might've gotten into them, but I've got the Harken, the Harken little ones. So yeah, it says love candy again. This is the coconutty ones. I think this is, I think this might be a new flavor. So Harken, a maker of Better For You candy bars, Snickers, or Mounds is the wrong one.

22:03I always forget what they reference. An Almond Joy. This one is like their Almond Joy take. And as you can see, there's only one left. So it's pretty awesome. Yeah. So they've taken their bars and they've made smaller versions of them. And they're sold in these three ounce bags. And there's probably, it says there's five servings per container. So there's five bars in each bag. yeah this this one's not gonna have five servings for a lot no perfect for like trick-or-treating party bags yeah yeah monica watris uh posted this on instagram during expo west and i did everything i could to get to the harkin booth and i couldn't get down there so i'm so happy to have these here help yourself harkin just love what they're doing got another uh i mean jackie i'd say you know this is among our favorites right yeah this is another mike and jackie favorite yes Good eating.

22:52Good eating. Before we get there, I got to, you know, we saw another Better For You candy bar represented at the meetup yesterday and that was Gigantic. Gigantic. Stu Davidoff is the founder. He was way ahead of the game back in the day with Gigantic coming out with a Better For You candy bar. And he's got some new stuff coming. Yeah. Stay tuned. I saw him, but he was so busy talking to people. He kind of popped in and popped out and I never got to even say hi to him. I was bummed. I love that dude. You call yourself a fan. I kept talking about him to people. I was like, Hey, you see it's stew from Gigantix here.

23:23All right, good eating. Good eating Chris Paul's brand. These are Chris Paul, the NBA superstar. Chris Paul, NBA superstar. These are the hot, hot puffs. We've got a few different skews, but I only brought two. And this is probably my favorite, the dill ranch. That's so good. So what, it's just like corn balls or something? He's vegan and he was trying to eat like Doritos. So this is like his version of like a Cool Ranch Dorito. So he wanted to recreate like better for you snack foods. And they are quite tasty. Like you can actually see the dill in those. Yes. It's a great branding. I'll get one in a sec.

24:02And it says, surprisingly plant-based is the call it on the back of the package. I haven't seen these in stores yet. I feel like I've seen them on Instagram and places. I think they launched, well, originally exclusively with GoPuff. Ah, okay. They've been around for a while. Yeah, good stuff. Well, glad. Very bold graphics. I did not know that I needed pickle in my ranch Doritos. And there you go. I did. Yes. I've got. I'm good eating. I've got in my hand a bottle of a brand called Jozo. They're a maker of soy sauces. And this one is their tamari soy sauce. It's described as naturally gluten free.

24:43It comes in a squeezable nine ounce plastic bottle. It's barrel aged and the flavor is described as bold, balanced umami. I think that's their only skew. Is it their only skew? Yeah. Really good stuff. Yeah. We got to meet with the founders, Oliver Martin and Julia Morrison at the Taste Radio meetup in New York City. And they describe it as being a brand for the next generation of flavor seeking home chefs. Yep. so yeah i mean you could try it on your gas station uh sushi that i know you like too i don't i don't eat gas station i eat penn station penn station sushi what's the difference that's like grocery store sushi right it's like the same but that that stuff is really you know i think i sampled that at the uh startup cbg alley rally yeah at expo west and you know someone pitches you a soy sauce kind of like how good can it be but i mean the flavor the just umami in that is like, I mean, it's pretty intense.

25:44It's pretty intense. Really, really good. It's got soul. I mean, it sticks with you and you can't forget the flavor of it. Yeah, I feel like a lot of the soy sauces we traditionally have are like, you know, mass produced and... Watered down stuff. Yeah, exactly. You can taste the difference. Yeah, I'm really excited to try this. I haven't had a chance to yet. I should have put it on the sushi I had yesterday, actually. That would have been smart. Yeah, instead I just had the nasty packets that they give you. Jackie, what do you got over there? I have some premium products as well. Oh, I saw that.

26:17Yeah, Match Tonic Water. I have four different varieties. So this is a UK brand and the founder and CEO, Alexander Couriger, he reached out and they launched in the UK, but they just entered into the Texas market. So they have a different varieties. This is spicy. They have floral. They also have Mediterranean and Indian. And I'm drinking the spicy right now. And it's just very, like, I don't know. They're really delicious. Like, very, like, nuanced flavors. And it tastes premium. I think we were talking about how, like, the stout little bottles almost look like it would be, like, a little, like, whiskey bottle or RTD cocktail.