Hey Pepsi, We Remain Perplexed. But These Brands Straight Slapp.

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0:39Hello, friends, and thanks for tuning into Taste Radio, the number one podcast for anyone building a business in food or beverage. I'm Ray Latif, the editor and producer of Taste Radio, and with my co-host for this episode, John Craven, Jackie Brugliera, and Mike Schneider. All right. Just a quick behind the scenes. We actually had to restart the show because of a little bit of a mishap with some powdered drinks. Because you finally spilled all over your computer and nuked all our equipment. Yeah, we're going to have an end of the year outtakes episode where you guys can see what just happened.

1:10We had a big fight about Ray's impression of me two episodes ago. Oh, goodness. He missed some good stuff. And Ray apparently does not know how to mix a powder beverage. The number one podcast for the food and beverage industry is on the cutting room floor. Yes. I don't understand why Mike is holding this contraption right now. It's a frother that he's got in his hand. A broken frother. A broken frother from another brand. Well, anyway, John, welcome back to the East Coast. you've been in San Diego. It's great to be here. Love the humidity. Yes. I'm sure you do. I'm sure you do. That's why I'm wearing a hoodie.

1:41Anyway, you missed all the big news from last week. Yeah. Yeah. They don't have the internet in San Diego, so fill me in. You're off the grid. I mean, you missed your opportunity to talk about the big news from last week, which is that... Unfortunately, people still want to hear. PepsiCo has announced that it's introducing a new subline of prebiotic colas. They have a two-skew line. It's their flagship cola and their cherry vanilla cola. It's going to have three grams of prebiotic fiber per 12 ounce can they're going to be selling it or launching it on a black friday of this year so uh does that mean we're going to go sleep outside to get it on black friday no no we're not going to do that i'm not going to do that they're selling it online so that's what it's going to be available it's got five grams of sugar this is something we posted a clip from last sleep outside and be pushing the button now we put we posted clips from last week's episode on Instagram and LinkedIn and got a lot of engagement on both posts.

2:35And a lot of people asked about the sugar content. The sugar in these cans or in these products is five grams, five grams per 12 ounce can, 30 calories and no artificial sweeteners. Some varied opinions on this in this room and beyond. What's your opinion, John? Where do I start? How much time do we have? Two minutes. Two minutes. Yes. And just to be clear, I mean, I think everybody knows this, But PepsiCo bought Poppy, which is a brand of prebiotic sodas, in March for$1.65 billion. So kind of interesting timing for this. Yeah, I mean, I've said this many times, including on this podcast, and we'll say it again.

3:12But I don't think the prebiotics that are in these sodas are ultimately the reason that people buy them. It's the brand. It's the flavors. The whole, you know, aesthetic combined. And I don't know, maybe they don't understand that, but I don't think that this is a product line that all of a sudden makes consumers who aren't drinking Pepsi say, hey, I want to drink Pepsi because it's got these prebiotics and those are like the missing thing that I've been waiting for. So yeah, I guess that's kind of it in a nutshell. I owe you 20 bucks, Jackie. She said you'd say that word for word. We didn't even need you.

3:56So basically what he's trying to say here. Yeah. Would you have a crystal baller? Well, I mean, just to quickly follow up on that. What's strange is that PepsiCo is, I believe, anticipating that they're going to increase the number of people who are drinking Pepsi colas by having this subline. But why wouldn't you just drink Poppy or Olipop? That's a really great question. Because you like Pepsi. Yeah. But you didn't leave because of the lack of prebiotics. Just saying. Yeah. I think they are tapping into like their loyal audience. Like I went on Instagram and saw their announcement and everyone was stoked, but they're like, I love Pepsi, you know?

4:35So they're like, they're not necessarily stoked that they have fiber in it, but they're stoked that Pepsi has something that's cool and maybe like hip now. Something different that they can try. That's what they want. Yeah. Yeah. We also talked last week about Ginger, G-N-G-R. You had the great interview and, and, um, Namak Sultan. What a great interview that was. Thank you very much. Thank you. Nice work as usual. And it was really good to hear the story, even though I've heard it before and it never gets old. It never does. Was that a low key? No, it was. No, it's one of those things where you can hear it again.

5:09Even though I've heard it before. I've heard it before. It's a pretty good interview. You took a different angle, Ray. You took a different angle. There's some new stuff in it, but like, it's one of those stories. Like, you know, it's, it's a classic. We had an idea. we really worked hard and they leaned into the idea too. And you see a lot of companies that are way ahead of their headlights and their roadmap and they weren't. And it's really nice to see that. Well, I just want to do that. And then it works. Yeah. Just to follow up on that. I mean, I think one of the genius things that Namik and his team did is that they knew that people wanted functionality and they just did it as simple as possible.

5:46And so, you know, a quote from this interview is people want simple functional products that do what they say they do. That's what ginger is. And I think going back to Pepsi prebiotic is how do you know it's going to do what it's supposed to do? I mean, is there enough functional benefit? Are there enough prebiotics in this? I mean, is it just something where you feel like you're doing something better for your body because you're ingesting this stuff? Or are you going to be healthier as a result of drinking this? I mean, that's kind of it. The answer is no. And I think it's sort of like, if that were really your priority would you be making this product choice to begin with?

6:21For me, the prebiotic pieces become marketing anyway, that is synonymous with better for you. In my mind, people don't even think about what prebiotic means and they just think, oh, that's a better free soda. Yeah. They're reaching for a soda in the first place, you know? So if they're craving a soda and there's like a little bit of like better free ingredient in there, you're going to feel a little bit better about your purchase. Well, you always feel better when you drink ginger and turmeric shots. And we talked last week, Melissa actually said that she felt like ginger is one of those kind of burn your face off ginger products.

6:53And I said, I don't, I don't quite think so. I think it's pretty thoughtful and tasty. And yes, if it's too much for you, you can do other great stuff with it. You know, you could make your own sparkling soda or whatnot. The reason I said that is because we had already received slap which is slap is a canada-based brand of ginger and turmeric shots or functional functional shots we met these folks at the fancy food show the summer fancy food show right and they sent us product and this says extra strength and then it says extra ginger and it's warning you in all the ways that it needs to warn you this is bevnet level plus it slaps you in the face this is beyond bevnet level ginger this slaps with an extra p it slaps as an l-a-p-p is the is how you spell the brand it is fantastic does it slap more than germ warfare from air yes no it doesn't not more but no there's so much ginger okay i think germ warfare from air one has like oregano oil yeah yeah it's just like it's like a different different kind of slap it's not a burn but it's a flavor you cannot get rid of yeah this is a this is a shot that is hard to do the whole shot.

8:01Well, I love these kinds of shots because if you actually get this on your hands, it stains your hands. That's how you know how much turmeric is in it. I like that. I like that a lot. Yeah. So thank you so much to the folks from Slap for sending these over. Consider us big fans because I can't wait for them to come to the U.S. They've been in the Canadian market, I believe, for a handful of years. And this is the first time I saw them. I've seen them at a trade show, and I think they're trying to make their big push into the U.S. Clearly, they're coming to the U.S. as a U.S. label and a USDA organic certified.

8:33Yeah. Yes. Cold pressed lemon juice, cold pressed ginger juice, cold pressed turmeric, black pepper, organic. There you go. There you go. That's it. Congrats to Slap on making their U.S. debut. And congrats to Neil Premkumar, who is the founder of a brand called Dyla Brands. Dyla Brands is a marketer of drink mixes, a brand called Stur. S-T-U-R is their flagship brand. Neil has been in the business for about a decade, I want to say, maybe a little over a decade. A little longer, I think. Yeah. And so I remember meeting him and being introduced to Dollar Brands through a coffee shot called Forto, F-O-R-T-O.

9:14And what really differentiated Forto was its packaging. It looked like a mini coffee cup that you would get from like a Starbucks or something like that. And really standout packaging, pretty good liquid. It was a little on the bitter side, I want to say, but it was basically an energy shot that used coffee as its key ingredient. They got investment from KDP, Dial-A-Brands that is. Forto actually expanded into larger format RTDs, but it didn't take off the way I think a lot of people thought it would, myself included. I really thought Forto was going to be a big hit. The brand has since been discontinued, as far as I know, and Stir became this sort of standout brand for Dyla.

9:55And last week, KDP, Kirk Dr. Pepper, announced that they were buying Dyla brands outright. So really great stuff. Really happy to see that Neil, through persistence, perseverance, trial and error, figured out a way to make Stir or turn Stir into a brand that people really, really wanted. And it seems like this is all been part of this TikTok trend of, what do they call it? Water talk. Water talk, exactly. People just don't want bland tap water, what have you. They want to mix things up and add a lot of flavor or functional benefit. And Stir does just that. What was the name of the brand? The first liquid drink enhancer.

10:36What was it called? The first one ever? No, not the first one. The really popular one in the tens. Not Mio? Mio. That was the one. Mio was the one. And it feels like Stirr is doing a lot of what Mio is doing. And Mio kind of fell off the face of the earth. Yeah, Kraft, what are you going to do? Yeah, well, geez. Tell us how you're really feeling about the company. Anyway, once again, congrats to Neil and KDP because they have a great brand on their hands with Stirr. Ahead of major trade shows, food and beverage professionals across the industry are turning to BevNet and Nosh to stay informed. If you have a brand update, Share it with us at submit.bevnet.com forward slash news.

11:21In about two weeks, folks, two weeks. We've been talking about this for a while. We're going to be in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, not Chicago, Alaska. Chicago, Illinois. Is there another Chicago? Yeah, exactly. For the Taste Radio Chicago meetup Thursday, August 14th from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Host Cocktails event space in the Pilsen neighborhood. I've never been to the Pilsen neighborhood. You will soon. Seems like a pretty cool place. I know Host Cocktails event space is going to be pretty darn awesome. And we are going to be meeting up with local entrepreneurs, innovators, investors, retailers, consultants, all in the industry.

11:53We've got over 100 people registered to date. That means we're probably going to have over 150 people registered, at least for the event. You want to be there to meet with your cohorts in the Chicagoland area. And, of course, to meet with us because it's fun to meet with us from time to time. The brands. There's going to be cocktails, obviously. alcoholic beverages, non-alcoholic beverages, a little bit of food, and there's going to be live podcast interviews with some amazing people, including one of my favorite entrepreneurs on earth, Rashid Ali, who is the co-founder and CEO of Chomps. What an incredible, spectacular brand that is.

12:32So we're going to be talking about how he turned that into an incredible, spectacular brand and yeah, something you don't want to miss if you're based in the area or coming to Chicago. John Cravey, you're going to be bringing some of your tortilla chips to the meetup as well. How do you pronounce the name of that brand? What do you think, Ray? There's an X-O-C-H-I-T-L. I believe that's pronounced Sochiel. Yes. I mean, they give you a little hint right below the logo. So way to go, Ray. Yeah. You passed your reading or eye exam. You know who told me how to pronounce it? Jimmy Fallon? You know Jimmy Fallon from The Tonight Show?

13:05Not familiar, Ray. No. He's an investor in the brand. Yeah. So this is a new collaboration product, I suppose, with Cholula hot sauce. So they've flavored up some tortilla chips with Cholula. Pretty darn tasty. Nice. Seems like a perfect pairing. Yeah. Yeah. Pretty good pairing. I mean, interesting when tortilla chip brands are trying to make products that like you eat right out of the bag without a, you know, dips, also whatever. And are they wet? No, no, no. But I'm saying they have flavor. Come on. It's almost like a Dorito. It's like a Dorito. Yeah. Yeah. So you are a connoisseur of tortilla chips.

13:37Is this your favorite brand? They're a little too thin, if I'm being honest. Okay. Well, it says extra crisp. So I would assume extra crisp means a little bit thicker, but I guess not. Yeah, this one I think is a little thicker than their normal chip, but they're still, I mean, their whole thing is like thin. So I think they're really tasty chips. They just, if you want to eat some guacamole, their flagship product kind of doesn't hold up that well. So that's all. Wow. That was high praise and then some scathing criticism. them. No, that's skating. I mean, it's not like a defect. It's just what they're going for.

14:11I've got the opposite over here. I know. I'm just trying to, I'm just trying to throw John off his game, but I just can't do it. I can't, I'm not able to do such things. We've got some other meetups coming up, don't we? Of course we do. San Diego, San Francisco, London. Yes. Some amazing cities. I'm really excited to be at all those places. I wonder if John's going to bring it so chill tortilla chips to San Diego. It doesn't sound like that. It doesn't think so. There's plenty over here. There's plenty of salsa and tortilla chips. Yeah, no, all in just, we love Sotchiola. But San Diego, our meetup is happening on September 16th at the WCB.

14:48The WCB stands for West Coast Branch of BevNet HQ next to the OG Costco. So the OG Costco, Harley Davidson dealership, they're all just a couple blocks away from BevNet West Coast Branch. So we definitely want to see you there expecting to have also many amazing interviews at the event and of course if you've been to one of our meetups in san diego you know it is a party it's a lot of fun yeah yes san francisco is on september 18th a couple days later jackie you're coming with us to san francisco right yeah yeah i'm coming to san francisco are you driving you're flying uh definitely flying driving it takes like seven hours and you can get traffic like i don't want any yeah but PCH.

15:33I've always wanted to do that. Did you know that actually part of the PCH is closed? Oh, shoot. Yeah. Because of the fires from the Malibu fires? Ah, bummer. It was from a landslide a couple of years ago, actually. Oh, my God. Yeah. Makes it a little bit more difficult, but I would have done that. That's Pacific Coast Highway, folks. Yeah. You got to go through the mountains. Yes. Okay. Well, on that note, San Francisco, September 18th. We're going to be in the Dogpatch neighborhood. All the details for both events, tasteradio.com slash the city we're going to be in. And of course, London. Oh, can't wait to be back in England on October 2nd at the offices of Trip in Notting Hill.

16:12Our dear UK listeners and fans, we want to see you there. I love the London Entrepreneurs and Founders. I know we have a ton of love for folks based here in the US. There's something really unique and refined and wonderful and fun about folks from the UK. Is this just like us being Americans loving their accent or something? I don't know. I might have things to do with it. So I think there's a little more to it than that. There's a certain like different kind of camaraderie and certainly they're interested in what we know about the U.S. and how to make it into the U.S. But there's definitely a continuity in their relationships too, which is really, really nice.

16:51Yeah. It's really interesting when you talk to UK based entrepreneurs, I think they love the idea of getting their brands in the United States, but they're also, and I don't mean this in a kind of negative way, like terrified of the opportunity. I mean, who wouldn't be? Yeah, because on the one hand, they're like, well, England and Europe, it's, it's, they're great markets, but the US is such a humongous market. It's a consumer driven market. And if you can do well there. you can, you know, write your own ticket. If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. I guess that's true for any entrepreneur, right?

17:29But it feels that way when I'm talking to UK based entrepreneurs. And I mean, speaking of an incredible brand that I definitely want to meet up with and perhaps highlight at the meetup, something and nothing, which is expanded its distribution here in the US, a soda brand that isn't anything more than what it needs to be, which is incredibly delicious, incredibly delicious, unique flavors, low calorie, just the right amount of carbonation and low sugar. Isn't that everything we've always wanted? It's everything you'd want in a soda. I mean, and it's great here and it's great there too. I don't know if they have different formulas because a lot of beverages reformulate for the U.S., but it seems to be the same beverage or they've done a really good job of maintaining what they have in the U.K.

18:12in the U.S. when you have it in the New York bodega. So yeah, just a really great product there. And in spite of questionable football club support, really love that brand and the founder. There are a few times when this happens, but every single time I introduce someone to something and nothing, they're blown away. They're floored. They're like, where can I buy this? Where is this? Where'd you get this from? There's only a handful of brands that are absolutely 10 out of 10 for everyone I introduce them to. I think that's also true with a brand like Tip Top, Tip Top Cocktails, which we featured in an episode of Taste Radio this week.

18:47I sat down with founders Neil Cohen and Yoni Reisman for a really amazing conversation about how they've turned that brand into the leading brand in this emerging segment of premium ready-to-drink cocktails. If you haven't tried either one, Something or Nothing or Tip Top, highly recommend you do both. And if you get a chance to meet Oliver Dixon, definitely do. He's a cool Something or Nothing Ollie. Yeah. Chill dude. All right. I think we've said all we can say about the meetups and brands we absolutely are stunned by, but I haven't tried either of the brands that you have on your desk here.

19:25I don't think we can stop talking about brands ever. I mean, you haven't had Colitos. I have not. So John was talking about SoChill. This is, I don't know. It's kind of an interesting chip in terms of it's maybe part tortilla chip, part bugle, part combos maybe. But these are really, really tasty chips. They're made with lentil rice and cauliflower. And the SKUs that we have here are nacho cheese and sea salt. And this is a dairy-free nacho, by the way. Yeah, dairy-free nacho cheese. Made with avocado oil, baked, not fried. They are USDA certified organic, certified vegan, certified GMO, certified gluten-free.

20:05They're certified a lot. You have to try these. Made in a nut-free facility. I like that too. Well done. I would open the bag now. Go for it, Ray. But I'm afraid I'll eat the whole thing because they're really tasty. Colito. How old is this brand? I've never seen these before. They're newer. You've had their puffs, the Kali Puffs. It's the same brand. Oh, it's the same brand. Oh, same brand. Yeah, I saw that name and I thought of puffs. And I was like, Chip? Bugle? Yeah, the company is Fam Bam Foods, and they have a few different products. But you got to try these, Ray. Okay. I'm interested to hear your thoughts on them.

20:37Oh, he's going to do it. He's going for the sanitizer. I guess they're a play on Doritos. I'm going to mention Doritos the second time on the show. That's why they're called Calitos. Doritos, Calitos. I mean, I'd say so. But they're also a play on Bugles and a play on tortilla chips and a play on a play. They're pretty unique. Someone must have had like a bunch of favorite snacks and just wanted to bring it all together. Yeah. Is it good? They're good. They've got like this soft crunch. They're not tortilla chips for sure. It's kind of a cross between like a Ritz cracker texture, maybe a tortilla chip.

21:11See, there's another one. Interesting, yeah. There's like a little Triscuit action too with the ridges. I mean, it does combine a lot of snacks into one, and it makes it hard to explain. But once you taste it, you're like, it's a Calito. It's really good. We've mentioned more legacy brands on this show than we have emerging brands at this point. That's okay. Want to talk about cannabis for a second? Yes, please. Do you ever not want to talk about cannabis? Yeah, you become the weed guy. I'm the weed guy. One that I have in front of me here is Tempters, which I think was started by some people who left Roar at one point, if I'm not mistaken.

21:50And there's a tie to Al Harrington, on this brand, the NBA player. Okay. And there's also a partnership with Violaterpenes. And this is Tempters, cannabis infused. It's 10-10. It's 10 milligrams of THC, 10 milligrams of CBD. I've got blueberry spritz and strawberry spritz. Which one should I try, Jackie? Let's do blueberry. I knew it. Okay. So this has a supplements facts label. Oh, boy. 17 calories per serving. A serving is a half a can. A can is 12 ounces. is this has a matte black wrap on the can with a lot of red and white font. It looks dangerous. Definitely got a nice cannabis skunky-ish smell.

22:35I mean, not in a bad way, like in a good way. And when you taste it, you can taste the terpenes. This is definitely a sipper and one that I would enjoy. First of all, just because it's 10 milligrams, then that would melt me. Aren't all cannabis beverages sippers? You wouldn't crush one, would you? Oh, there's some crushers out there. Yeah. If they're low dose, like 2.5 or 5 milligram THC. You can crush a plift and you'd be like, uh-oh, I just crushed a plift. Okay. I also wonder about the dosage. Like I feel like most people these days aren't consuming 10 milligrams unless you have a high tolerance.

23:10And also as a brand, wouldn't you want people to drink more of your product? So maybe do a lower dose. That's my take. Let's move on. You got one more product in there. I got one more beverage here, which is Valley Isle Kombucha, which is crafted with passion fruit juice, lilikoi, and turmeric. And yeah, this comes from Maui and they sent it to us and it's a kombucha. And I'm afraid it's still bottle fermenting because look at that capre. It's a little, it's coming up a bit, so I'm not sure what's going to happen here. Be careful, not on the keyboard. What is a lilikoi? I'm guessing it's something from Hawaii.

23:46Something from Hawaii. I'm going to look this up because I've heard lilikoi. I don't know. Yeah. All the people from Hawaii are listening are like, that ain't no weird. Numpties. Okay. Can I have that sample cup? Likoi is the Hawaiian word for passion. Fashion fruit. Right. Yeah. It can refer to the fruit itself as well as various products made with it, such as jams, ice cream, and even beer. Look at that. That looks beautiful. That is gorgeous. Yeah. There's a little like, almost like a beer head on top. This is. There you go. Smells really good. You are mixing all kinds of things. It's so floral.

24:17I love this. Well, hopefully it didn't ferment to the point where there's booze in there now. No, it's perfect. It's perfect. It made it from Hawaii. All the bottles made it safely. We put them in the fridge. All good. Thanks for sending. This is extraordinary. I really like it. That brings us to the end of this episode of Taste Radio. Thank you so much for listening. Taste Radio is a production of BevNet.com Incorporated. Our audio engineer for Taste Radio is Joe Cratchy. Our technical director is Joshua Pratt, and our video editor is Ryan Galang. Our social marketing manager is Amanda Smirlinski, and our designer is Amanda Huang.

24:53Just a reminder, if you like what you hear on Taste Radio, please share the podcast with friends and colleagues. And of course, we would love it if you could review us on the Apple Podcasts app or your listening platform of choice. Check us out on Instagram. Our handle is BevNetTasteRadio. as always for questions comments ideas for future podcasts please send us an email to ask at taste radio.com on behalf of the entire taste radio team thank you for listening and we'll talk to you next time