How A 'Better' Brand Did A Deal With Disney. Plus, Pro Hugs & Pizza Wine.

0:10Hello, dear 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. This episode features an interview with Bella Hughes and Samira Niku, the co-founders of Better For You gummy brand, Better Sour, which recently announced a collaboration with Disney to celebrate the release of the studio's Moana 2 movie. Moana 2. I haven't seen Moana 1 yet. You haven't? No, not yet. Best movie ever is it really you should Right, we talk all about it in the interview with Bella and Samira.

0:53So stay tuned for that Blue sky so I just became familiar with this social platform parents been out for five years is right. Yep. Okay So it's been waiting. It was I think pretty rough in the beginning. I don't know like every social media platform Okay, but it was created by the founder of Twitter. Yes Apparently he created it when he was still with the company. I mean, really? I guess so. Because he knew Twitter was a dumpster fire. No, I mean, it was, I mean, it was founded five years ago. And I'm pretty sure that Jack Dorsey was still with Twitter at the time, right? I've got an idea. I'm going to make other Twitter.

1:31That's exactly what he did. Just in case, backup Twitter, you know? Yeah. Backup Twitter. Some people want backup Twitter now. According to Forbes, Blue Sky was developed in 2019 by then Twitter CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey. It was originally conceived as a research project to decentralize Twitter. In 2021, it was launched as a separate independent company. So what I'm trying to make clear here is that we're testing this out here at BevNet. We're on the blue sky. We're just trying to be wherever people want to read stuff. Okay. And yeah, I mean, I don't know. Say what you want about Twitter.

2:03I guess I'm still posting on there. Just side tip real quick if you don't want to be outraged by what you see on Twitter. Just look at the following tab. It's a lot better than whatever the algorithm wants to show you. You mean X? Whatever it's called. I don't know. You say X, I say Twitter. I'm like, does anyone actually call it X? I know. Some places have started referring to it that way. It is its legal name. So it depends if you're trying to go buy the book or just be lazy and don't care like myself. Is anybody still on Plurk? Just me? Still plurking? Is that the nerd social media platform?

2:36Yeah, I have no idea what Plurk is. What are you talking about? You're still checking in on Foursquare too, Mike? Yeah. Still checking on Foursquare and swarming. No, but BevNet, Rebound, Noshron, Blue Sky, and I think Taste Radio will be on there at some point. So if you are on Blue Sky, follow us. We are posting links to our stories, other content on there as well. So I haven't messed around with this yet, but as soon as I hop off this recording, that's exactly what I'm going to do. Exciting. Yeah, isn't it fun? Sure. Raise on the Blue Sky. Taste Radio is on the Blue Sky. Do you think you'll be back?

3:08I didn't think we had an account there. We do? Okay, well, that wasn't on Slack. This is your opportunity to not be BevTrade. I like BevTrade with a Y. So I'm sure we'll be posting notes and highlights and updates on Blue Sky about and from the show floor at Nosh Live, BevNet Live, and BrewBound Live. Show floor? It's not a trade show, Ray. All right. Come on. Don't call the show floor. From the ballroom. Come on. What's your boot job? The event room. Presentations. The events. The presentations. Whatever you want to call it. All right. from the events known as Nosh Live, Bivnet Live, and Brewbound Live.

3:43It's a conference. You could also call it a little bit of a three-ring circus. We can't call it a conference. Last time I called it a conference, Mike went ballistic. Conference event? Oh, let's call it an event. I don't know. Because it's an event. Just use a lot of words. Okay. Don't say show floor. Fine. Are we cutting that? No, no, we're keeping it in there. Just to show Ray getting, you know, corrected on something here. Getting humble. For once. For once. I mean, I saw a guy yesterday on LinkedIn who said the best part about going to our events was to be able to meet was it ben bacon who said this oh yeah ray latif yeah i think he said ray latif literally walks on water so i'm just trying to you know bring you back down to earth bring it back yeah yeah i'm gonna get struck by lightning pretty soon just make sure the elevator is there when you you walk in the you know on your floor to go down i mean my floor to go up because i'm no when you're going my office is that when you're going to your when you're going to your oh well fine when you're going from the helipad don't go We're obviously we're messing around here, but we are not messing around about the fact that you need to be at these events.

4:44If you're in the food business, you got to be at Nosh. If you're in the beverage biz, you got to be at BevNet. If you're in the beer or adjacent beverages business, got to be at BrewBound. And you might, in some cases, want to be at all three or two of the events as well. We've talked about this ad nauseum, the level of speakers that we have coming, the talent that we have as it relates to suppliers and service providers. the networking that goes on there is just top-notch and you're not going to find it anywhere else. And that's not hyperbole. That's the truth. I mean, if you're thinking about, oh, well, I can get it from this conference or that event or so on and so forth, you really can't.

5:19And so that's why I'm urging folks to not have FOMO, to get your tickets now, to register. If you have any questions about the event, you're like, oh, you know, am I going to be able to meet this person or meet that person? Is it going to be worth my time or money? And you If you still have questions, just ask. We're here to answer those questions for you. And there's also plenty of information online, but time is running out. You gotta make your plans. You gotta get on that flight in some cases, you gotta get on that train, car, what have you, but you gotta get your tickets for NOSH Live, BevNet Live, and Aburuban Live.

5:50I was talking to Stu from Minor Figures who's coming over from London. Can't wait to see him. Now, this is the UK London, or is this the one in Ohio? Hilarious. And he was just asking me about what's camp miss at BevNet Live. And so I was trying to help him curate the experience. And if you're thinking about innovation, like that conversation should come to you. We have it set up so that we're always talking about innovation. There are investors everywhere. There are people who can talk to you about your growth plans and help you, you know, solve messaging issues that you have. I bet there's a lot of people like Stu that's trying to plan their experience, figure out, what content they want to sit in on, who they want to meet.

6:33Everything is on the event website. So I suggest everyone go check out the agenda, pin which agenda items they want to go see, and then also take a look at the attendee list. There's over a thousand people that will be there across all three events from the CPG space. And all of the companies that will be there are on our website. So there is an attendee list and that's getting updated every day. So go there, plan who you want to talk to and be, you know, strategic about it. And yeah, plan for your 2025 with the resources that these events will provide. Over a thousand people already registered across the three events.

7:10I am excited to see that number continue to grow. That number should grow with anyone who's listening and hasn't already registered for the events. I have a feeling we're going to hear about the opportunities for beverage alcohol. brands, because that is part of the agenda at BevNet and then obviously at BrewBound as well. It's funny how we follow the agenda, isn't it? Isn't it? And what's going to be interesting is to hear people's perspective on the opportunity created by declining wine consumption. Now, it's been reported pretty often out there about how people are drinking less wine. According to Google, global wine consumption is down about 12 % from its peak in 2007.

7:56That's quite a bit of wine. I saw something I never thought I would see, which was John Craven consuming a Proxies and enjoying it. Well, Proxies are delicious. I know. They make amazing products. I'm not saying Proxies isn't delicious, but John Craven is a known wine drinker. Yes. Also, to be fair, I mean, the sparkling ones have been solid. Charlie Friedman from Proxies sent me their latest white, which is not sparkling. It's still phenomenal stuff. It is phenomenal stuff. And it's a great substitute for a wine drinker or, you know, someone who just is like me, sober curious, and wants that kind of adult, you know, that adult experience.

8:34For sure. Wine's a good example of like the ebbs and flows of beverage taste too. I mean, if you look back to when it was peak wine, like what else was out there? I mean, beer and RTDs and cocktails can make up all these new things but like wine's kind of just wine like they can't just like make up new grapes or like throw some hops in or something so well i don't know i i guess all i'm trying to say is anyone who's calling doomsday on it you know it's a beverage that's been around for forever yeah so i don't think people are calling doomsday and i think there is people are well i think there is a lot of wine that is being thrown out there are grapes that are going unused because people are drinking less wine.

9:15But I'd read back in the day that in the seventies, wine, particularly in the United States was presented as a very sophisticated beverage. And a lot of people who might've been into the beverage kind of tuned out because they thought, oh, it's not for me. And so I got an email a couple of days ago about, this is kind of interesting, Pizza Hut. Stay with me, folks. Pizza Hut. Immediately piqued for his interest. How did we get here? No, there's step. Okay. The first line is Pizza Hut is stepping into the wine business by launching a pizza wine, a unique limited edition tomato wine that captures the essence of your favorite slice in every sip.

9:55So, okay. Pizza and wine. Good combo. I'm throwing up in my mind. Yeah. I don't know if we need that. But I was so ready to hate on this. But then I was thinking to myself, okay, what's an easy way? What's like an entry-level training wheels way to get people who may not have consumed wine in the past possibly to get into the beverage via this route? That ain't it. Okay. Maybe it's not. I mean, it's like when faux craft beer came out and people thought it would maybe make people into craft beer. And it just made a lot of consumers go, I don't like craft beer because I had X and it sucked. Is it purely like created from tomatoes or is there any actual wine with a hint of tomato?

10:38Like, what is it? So it says that the wine was made in partnership with Kansas-based Irvine's Just Beyond Paradise Winery, which is a family-owned winery, our vineyard. The wine offers an aromatic blend of fresh herbs and spices with rich sun-riven tomato notes and a subtle hint of toasted oak, reminiscent of a perfectly baked pizza crust. This sounds like it should be positioned as a Bloody Mary, not a wine, but hey, whatever. The last line is, while crafted from tomatoes, the wine delivers a tasting similar to a white wine when enjoyed chilled. So it's a limited edition gift set. It includes a bottle of the Pizza Hut's new wine, two Pizza Hut branded glasses, a wine opener.

11:19No pizza? No, you can buy the pizza separately. I don't think you need the pizza if you're drinking liquid pizza. It's like, where's the nearest Pizza Hut? Do we even have one? Yeah, there's one in Dorchester. Dorchester. Dorchester. There's one at Everett. Yeah. Okay. So I can understand where everyone's coming from because this is originally where I was coming from. But once again, I think maybe people just need a starting point. And maybe tomato wine isn't the best starting point. But at least it opens the door to a new way of consuming wine. We have to try this, but here's the question. Do we actually have to eat at Pizza Hut?

11:50I think we can have delivered. The wine? Both. The wine and the pizza. Okay. I want to put this in like a little Venn diagram exercise. Sure, go ahead. Like over here is the circle of people who like to try new things and might be into this. And the circle of people go to Pizza Hut and I see no overlap. What about what about Pizza Hut has new products that come out like a cheese and cheese stuffed crust and stuff like that? I mean, that's just more of the same, though. That's like, we know that you put cheese in the crust or you make a dessert pizza or you add even like a 15th kind of meat to one of their pizzas.

12:26People buy that. Back to the Venn diagram. The people who like to try new stuff tried that in 1989 when it came out first time or whenever it was. For StuffCrest. Okay. Pizza Hut doesn't have like a major innovation. Yeah, I'm not, by the way, to be clear, I'm not advocating for Pizza Hut. But I am saying. You're just stuffing your face with Pizza Hut. I am saying. Pizza Hut to me is like a nice red blend. That it's fine. That it's fine. Jackie, help me here. Help me here. I'd have a Sinfandel. With a pizza? It's a little heavy. A little bit. I understand your point, Ray, but I feel like there's other ways that people can consume wine in a more approachable manner.

13:06Like there's canned wine now. There's like wine-based cocktails. There's like urban wineries that are like way more approachable than some like snootier wineries and, you know, Napa. I think there's just like way better ways to go about it than maybe tomato-based wine. This is going to be an interesting topic or this is an interesting topic. and I wish this news had come out before I interviewed Trey Kennedy. Trey Kennedy, the comedian, the content creator, the influencer, who is also the founder of a new brand called Basic Cellars. So I interviewed Trey last week. His interview is coming to a future episode of Taste Radio.

13:43Is it funny? He's funny. Basic Cellars though is intended to be a very approachable, easy way for people to consume wine. Their bottles are 187 milliliters. So it's essentially a single glass of wine. Smart on that. Yeah, that's nice. They have a Pinot Noir variety. They have an Italian white variety. Just make it easy. You don't have to throw out wine. If you just want a bottle on a Tuesday night, you have that one glass and that's it. Not a wicked big Barolo kid. So I think that is a much better way to introduce people to wine and get people interested in wine. But I'm not going to completely hate on pizza wine.

14:18That's my point there. Can you maybe bring some basic cellar samples over from your house? I think they were sent to us. There, there, they've got to be some here around the office. I'd like to try them. We would have seen that. Their, their team told me there were seven examples. Maybe sample, sample captain, uh, Colin put them right in his, uh, in his gullet. Trunk along with the, uh, Outback Steakhouse press kit we got yesterday. Well, related to wine consumption and declining wine consumption is the rise of alcohol analogs, non-alcoholic spirits, cocktails, what have you. we've tried plenty on this show.

14:53We're going to be talking about a lot of those brands and that trend and category at BevNet Live and BrewBound Live as well. And I came across a new campaign launched by a brand called the Free Spirits Company, which is a brand of non-alcoholic spirits. Sounds appropriate. And I interviewed their founder, Mylon Martin, in April of this year. That episode actually came out, I believe it was in May. So the Free Spirits Company just launched a new professional Hugs brand campaign. And they have partnered with a burlesque dancer and a self-identified sex worker named Steph Sugar, as well as a comedian writer, Carla Lee, to create the campaign, which is, as they describe it, an emphatic, comedic, and tongue-in-cheek clapback to the non-alk naysayers.

15:45Is a non-alk naysayer just someone who happens to like alcohol? I am not sure. That's, yeah, I guess so. Myelin created the campaign as a response to the sentiment articulated succinctly by one Instagram user who wrote, drinking non-alcoholic spirits, here's to your point, John, drinking non-alcoholic spirits is like hiring a hooker for a hug. That's me melting into my microphone. No point is what they said there. So this is a pretty risque campaign, I would say. You know, they do have sex workers who will just cuddle with you. I'm just saying. We're going to not. This is just the mic in his own world over there.

16:25You just turned yourself into a meme. You just turned yourself. Please don't edit out the pause. There's no editing whatsoever. God. Anyway. Yeah, I mean, I was reading about this too. And another, I think, quote was, it's like taking a shower but in a rain jacket. It's like you just like don't get the benefit of whatever you're looking for, I guess, with non-elk. But I don't know. I thought it was really funny. And it really got a lot of people's attention, just what they're doing. And it's cool. It's like their own internal creative agency, too. And they brought in these people to create these videos.

17:05Yeah, it's really interesting. I saw the YouTube video. It's actually really well produced. It's a pretty sophisticated campaign, actually. And as they note here, you know, historically not drinking alcohol was seen as strange or as a weakness. In the case of Steph, one of their co-creators here, being a burlesque dancer, she's subject to the same negative reception. She defines her job as sex work and is proud of what she does. She sees it as an art form. So we see a comment as persistent as the one I just said about hiring a hooker for a hug. We felt compelled to address it head on and explore the topics of sex work and non-alcohol cocktails with humor and compassion for all.

17:38So I get it. It makes sense. I like it. It's very eye opening. it's risque but you know what sometimes to stand out you gotta you gotta do something different are you sure you get it i don't want to repeat what you said earlier because i mean what it's true okay stop stop please oh my gosh i have not seen this youtube video but i hope it still explains the product and the merits of said product they do drink the cocktails in the uh in the YouTube video. There's plenty of references and bottles and cans that you can see in the YouTube video. So check it out, folks. You can go to the Drink Free Spirits page on YouTube for yourself.

18:20We'll include a link in the show notes. All right. I can't believe I got through that. That was... Yeah, you look a little uncomfortable, right? I was touching go there for a minute. Watch the video. I'm bright red. Okay. So let's move on to some new products. Safe space. Yeah, safe space. I came across this brand that shockingly I hadn't seen before. And it was in my family's business in West Hartford, Connecticut called Tangiers International. It's actually now in Hartford, Connecticut. I don't know. I should know that. But it's called Lemon Day. Ray's family moved the business without telling him.

18:55No, they did. It's literally right down the street, but it went from West Hartford to Hartford. It's like literally right down the street. Your 14 brothers are renting a bus right now and getting their clubs and bats ready to come after you. They wouldn't do that. They're good guys. This is a brand called Lemon Day, and it is an HPP, a high-pressure processed lemonade. It's made with lemon water, electrolytes, probiotics, and this is their strawberry lemonade variety that I have in my hand. Comes in a 16-ounce plastic bottle with a red cap. Some sweetener in there? I see 30 calories, or is it just really light?

19:27There are 30 calories. There are five grams of sugar. It is made with strawberry juice concentrates, fruits and vegetables for color. I don't see any added sugar. There's coconut water powder. So maybe that's where. Well, no zero calorie sweeteners. No non-nutritive or artificial sweeteners. No. So I figured we can all have some, Jackie. Once again, I apologize because I can't give you any, but let's go here. I love lemonade. I always have this conversation with people. Is lemonade a year round beverage? I think so. I feel like it's something that is nostalgic and homely and makes it feel good.

20:04Is low sugar lemonade kind of like hiring a, I mean, nevermind. Oh boy. I feel like I'm cuddling right now. It's more of like a lemon water. Yeah, I think it's more like a lemon water than lemon. The flavor is described as a strawberry lemonade, but. Probably would go great with a falafel down at Tangiers. Yeah, yeah, I think so. I can see how some people might be listening and say, oh, is it like lemon perfect? No, it doesn't taste like lemon perfect. It's not like Lemon Perfect at all. It definitely has more of a lemonade vibe than Lemon Perfect for sure. Yeah, Lemon Perfect hits you with a lot of lemon.

20:36This is... A little more reserved. Yeah. Yeah. Prebiotics too, hey? It does. It has inulin fiber as well. Good stuff. And it is distributed by the folks at Rainforest. My brothers work with the team at Rainforest. And I'm shocked that I haven't seen this brand yet. Until now. Only five grams of sugar, 30 calories. Not bad. Indeed. A little pink salt too. Another beverage flavor that I love. in addition to lemonade, Fruit Punch. Everybody knows I love Fruit Punch. And Plesi, the Better For You Kids Drink brand, seemingly just launched these new juice boxes. And the two varieties that I saw upstairs were a grape juice variety.

21:13Was that grape juice? Blueberry Blast. I'm sorry, blueberry, blueberry Blast, sorry. And a tropical Fruit Punch. As noted at the top of the box, it has 75 % less sugar than your average leading fruit juices. I do see why you got confused though, because I'm not sure. if it was meant to look purple or if it's a printing issue, but these are great flavor cues. You're talking about the blueberry blast. I am. I'm talking, well, I'm certainly not talking about fruit punch. I like that. Fruit punch is like your favorite, Ray. Like what is fruit punch? I feel like it's like one of those things that it's just like a name, but it's not actually like specified.

21:48Right. The flavor of fruit punch is very specific. You know, you're drinking fruit punch. The problem is you also know that you drink fruit punch when it's really sticky and gross and And everyone has the brand I'm talking about. Hawaiian Punch, yeah. Yeah. Now no one from Hawaiian Punch is going to come to BevNet Live, Mike. I hope you're happy. But Plessey did a really good job with this. It definitely doesn't taste as sweet as a Hawaiian Punch. But it definitely, the flavor is very reminiscent of that brand. They did a really good job with this. Well done. Nice. While you're drinking your deuce box, I'm planning my meals for the day.

22:21I have Hodo Soy's new, pretty much just ready to heat meals. so this one's their red curry tofu and then i also have the japanese teriyaki tofu so i believe they just launched these yeah i mean i'm excited to try these i don't know why but tofu intimidates me like you gotta like you know get the water out of it like dry it out a little bit make sure you like coat it in something so it has some texture i'm just like never know what to do with it and just sits in my fridge so eat it out of the package yeah i guess you could do that too But sometimes the texture is just like not for me. So I'm really excited about these.

22:57Anything they make is delicious. So I bet these are going to be tasty too. And you just got to make some rice and throw some tofu on it. Hardy has the sauce and you're good to go. The sauce is key for tofu, Jackie. Like that's what will make you like tofu or not like tofu. Because yeah, the texture is weird. Hodo, H-O-D-O. I've never, I haven't seen those. Are they in Whole Foods or where are they? I don't know. I think they just launched them. So I think it's just rolling out in retail now. Nice. Nice looking package. Yeah. Yeah. It's pretty clear what you're getting. And then what I ate for breakfast the other day, randomly, is Scott and John's.

23:32They have their frozen meals and really love the packaging, the updated rebranding. You had shrimp Alfredo for breakfast? I was desperate. I forgot breakfast. I looked in the freezer and I was like, oh, my goodness. And actually, I don't really like breakfast. So this is perfect for me. Send you some oatmeal. I'm a little confused. Why were you desperate? What happened? I just forgot breakfast. I think it was maybe like a Tuesday morning when I'm trying to get on this like 8 a.m. It's definitely my fault. I blame all of you for eating shrimp in the morning. I felt the garlic coming through actually last week.

24:11And now I know why. Yeah. Delicious. So something that I definitely would drink for breakfast or have for breakfast are Brodo Broths. And the amazing team behind Brodo sent us a ton. Is that what I think it is? It is, yes. Can I have one at least, Frank? They sent us a ton of their bone broths. That is a great idea. Brodo started out as a chain of restaurants. They're more like little cafes where they sell bone broth. It was a big craze in New York City some time ago. It's still pretty big in the city. And they have gotten into packaged varieties And they used to sell frozen cups of their broth at Whole Foods stores and other chains as well.

24:54And they have since gone into shelf staple varieties that come in pouches, 8.3 ounce pouches. They are still USC organic and they come in amazing varieties. And Marco Canora, who is the founder and Andrew Garner, who's the CEO of the company, sent us a ton of broth. And I am so grateful. The one I'm holding my hand right now is their Tom Yum. Yes. coconut curry and lime chicken bone broth variety. They even sent us cups, the Brodo cups that are ubiquitous throughout New York City that, you know, if you see people sipping out of these one of these Brodo cups, you know they're drinking something healthy and delicious.