Is Protein Driving – Or Diluting – Brand Value For CPG Brands?

0:00Taste Radio and BevNet CPG Media are heading to Winter Fancy Fair June 11-13. Stop by our booth number 4249 to connect with our team and participate in elevator talk recordings. And we hope you'll join us at the Naturally San Diego event at Puesto on Sunday night, June 11th. Find the full details at TASERadio.com slash fancy.

0:32Hello, 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 and Jackie Brucliera. Gliera, happy new year. John, happy new year. Jackie, happy new year. Schneider Mike, who's not here. Wherever you are. I think he's in the slopes, isn't he? Oh, Mexico. Mexico. Good for him. Wow. Okay. I wish I could be in Mexico right now because it's actually, it's not too bad. It's temperate weather here in Boston, but I'm really looking forward to heading to San Diego.

1:10I'm going to be on the road tomorrow, which is Saturday the 10th, because we're out there for a couple mega events to kick off the year. I call them mega events because for us... Seems like maybe no offense to those events. Hyperbole? A little hyperbole, but I think Super Bowl is mega. They're going to be great events. If we're there, it's mega, right? Sure. I'm referring, of course, to the upcoming Winter Fancy Fair show, which used to be called the Winter Fancy Food Show. and it has since moved to San Diego, at least for this year. It's gonna be moving back to its roots in San Francisco next year, but really excited because BevNet WCB is located in San Diego, which means Jackie and the team are gonna be able to attend the events.

2:00And I think some folks for the very first time, right? Yeah, yeah. A lot of our team will be there, which will be great. It's in our hood. It's down the street. We don't have to fly cross country, which is nice for us. Fly down the five. And of course, I recall the Winter Fancy Food Show was Jackie's first big event of her BevNet career. And it has a special place in your heart. Good memories. Good memories. Yes, for sure. And for the very first time, I think at any trade show, at least on the food and beverage side, we're going to have a booth. Yeah. This is crazy. We're going to have a booth at the Winter Fancy Fair, which is at the San Diego Convention Center downtown.

2:38Our booth is going to be number 4249. I like that. 42-49. Yeah, it's easy to remember. It feels like a very memorable number for us. And so the BevNet CPG Media team, the Taste Radio team, we're going to be at the booth, conversations, content, connections on the show floor and beyond. They pay me to say these things, but it's going to be a really fun event. We have a lot going on in BevNet CPG Media. So if you want to know how to partner with us, I think that's a good place to stop by. That's an excellent point, Jackie. I think sometimes people know who we are, but they just haven't had that opportunity to connect with us IRL face-to-face, and this is a really good way to do so.

3:18I was looking at the attendee list, the exhibit list for the Fancy Fair, and there's a lot of brands that I'm not familiar with, and I'm really excited to meet. Certainly, we're going to come to your booths, but we'd love for you to come to our booths as well. So the Fancy Fair is happening January 11th to the 13th, that's Sunday through Tuesday. Sunday night is the other mega event that I was referring to. Naturally, San Diego is partnering with Puesto. Now we all know what Naturally San Diego is. It is a industry organization that helps food and beverage and CPG brands in their community build, scale, and do things in a way that's going to help them be successful.

4:01And Puesto, Jackie, is? It's a regional Mexican restaurant that is very well-loved in the San Diego community, and they have some amazing tacos and margaritas. And I know that those will be served for the two hours of the event, 6.30 to 8.30, where we will be there to also chat with everyone that will be there. It's at the Puesto headquarters location. So for anyone that's familiar with San Diego, that's right next to the convention center. It's right next to Seaport Village. It's walking distance if you're staying downtown. So we'd love to see you there the Sunday night of Fancy Fair. So correct me if I'm wrong.

4:41Unlimited tacos, unlimited margaritas. Is this right? There's got to be a limit. Everyone has a limit. I have this in my notes. It says all that your heart desires. Wow. What are you going to go for? Maybe 20, 30 tacos, right? I thought you were going to say margaritas, but no, I'm working. I'm working that day. Yeah, you forgot to mention the most important part of this event here. I was about to get to that, right? Talking about margaritas and tacos. We went straight to tacos and margaritas. That was my fault. I led with that. No, it's great. To be clear, there are, I think, are three amazing things that are happening at this event.

5:16One, unlimited tacos and margaritas. Two, you get to engage with the Naturally San Diego community Wait, hold on, let me tee up the third part Which is after you have a crap load of margaritas Or tequila shots, as Ray is going to Then you can take part in the third part Well, you skipped part two Which is to interact with the Naturally San Diego community Well, whatever, we're just getting to the third part Okay, the third part is You can join us for an interview on Taste Radio So we're going to have a Taste Radio studio set up At the events And we're going to be interviewing folks for very short interviews, about five minutes at a time, just trying to get as many people in as possible.

5:52And we're going to highlight and feature those interviews in a future episode of the podcast. So three margarita minimum to participate. We want good engaging content here. There will be a signup sheet at the event. But when you get there, sign up immediately, because the last time we did this last year, we had a lot of interest and not a lot of space. So unfortunately, if you don't get there early, if you don't sign up early at the event itself, you might miss your shot. Yeah. And you do have to register for the Naturally San Diego event. And that link can be found at tasteradio.com slash fancy.

6:29Absolutely. Yes. So once again, we want to see you at the Fancy Fair. We definitely want to see you at the Puesto and Naturally San Diego event on Sunday night from 6.30 to 8.30 p.m. if we haven't made it clear it's gonna be pretty awesome oh yeah are you a margarita guy john not once in a while right spicy maybe spicy mezcal one you don't do sweet uh i mean i don't know there's probably a time and a place that i would okay yeah i don't like the the really saccharine margaritas it's not and not too spicy either because that's just gonna mess with your whole day the spicier the better throw in all the jalapenos for me yeah all right all right It's fine, fine.

7:12We're all going to feel it on Monday morning. It may not be the alcohol. Oh, boy. So, as I mentioned, I was scrolling through the list of exhibitors for the Winter Fancy Fair. And as expected, protein pops up in a lot of cases. It seems like the protein train will keep a running in 2026. And I think for some folks, it might be surprising that we're going to see protein in beverage categories that we haven't seen before. Also, Gorgie. So this is Gorgie, as we know, is a female-centric energy drink brand. They today introduced a first ever, or at least they call its first ever, protein energy drink.

8:00So they are launching in Target stores nationwide. I didn't see this in Target, otherwise I would have bought it. They have a strawberry pop and a power punch. And so as their founder, Michelle Cordero Grant, said in their press release, people want protein in formats that feel fun, energizing, and easy to incorporate into their everyday routines. Now energy meets wellness and flavors that are nostalgic, celebratory, and uniquely gorgy. Here's my question. It makes sense, right? Like we've seen protein in smoothies, right? Like this naked double berry protein drink. We've seen protein in coffee.

8:36Super Coffee, as an example, 25 grams of protein. Or Pro Joe. Pro Joe, the winner of the New Beverage Showdown at BevNet Live. Yeah, there you go. Their Power Coffee, 25 grams of protein, 225 grams of caffeine. But I don't know. I mean, are you going to be reaching for a protein soda, a protein sparkling water, a protein shot? This was interesting. I saw that our very own Shauna Golden wrote about a new protein shot brand that's called Pure Genius, which contains 23 grams of protein in a 3.3 ounce shot. I mean, I'm just trying to think about the occasion, the use case for these products. And just in my own personal life, I don't see it.

9:25I would go for it if it tasted good. I mean, I think there's so much like negative connotation around protein sometimes of like, oh, it's going to taste like crap or it's going to taste like protein mix. And unless you're like the bodybuilder and you just like eating chalk, you're not going to want to like drink that on the daily. I think that if you can like really make it taste good and it just tastes like a good soda, but it happens to have protein and you can have that incremental protein gain throughout your day because everyone's trying to like count how much protein these days they can get to and you're just never hitting what you're supposed to be hitting like I think it could be a value proposition but I just don't think that people would be grabbing those drinks if they don't taste good yeah I mean I think what probably will be challenging to figure out as brands kind of navigate this is also what stuff maybe appears as though it has momentum and staying power as consumers kind of try all these different things and which things actually do have staying power i think that to me is sort of like still the question that's out there you know are these things that consumers will try for a little while while they're super conscious of protein or like again does this become a thing at a certain level for some beverage categories it kind of changes maybe consumption habits too and that i think there are certain types of products like let's take you know flavored sparkling water is like an obvious one that you know the entire sort of business model is predicated on consumers being willing to drink like you know a pile of them in a day and like you know clearly some people can consume a lot of protein but i think that's where like your average consumer just they might be in a situation where it's i'm gonna have one of these instead of like i'm gonna have three of these on the other hand you know i think what's awesome about this regardless is that it does turn any product that does this into like, you know, at least sort of like a subtle kind of low-key functional product without really trying to try too hard to be a functional product.

11:35And I think that matters in a lot of categories where the risk otherwise is that consumers look at them as just empty calories, you know, or lacking in sustenance. So I don't know, I still just feel like we're kind of early in the arc of where this all goes. Yeah, it's interesting to also look at the amount of protein that's being stated, like 25, 10, 5, like at what point does it even matter? And I mean, if you're drinking a soda and it has some protein in it, like great, it's better for me because I'm getting a little bit of protein, but that might not be front and center, but it might be a nice to have as it evolves.

12:17And like Craven was saying, it's based on the category and what you're looking for within that category. Like coffee, there's always kind of been this opportunity to have protein and coffee with like Bulletproof and things like that, or you're trying to eat your breakfast and your protein in the morning, whereas like a soda you might be having towards the end of the day as like a treat. So you might not be looking for as much protein. Yeah, I mean, I think that's a great point. It's how much and what kind and all these other variables that when you consider all of those things, despite the fact that there's just endless products that are marketing protein, again, I still feel like this is early.

12:55I think for me, it's a question of does the consumer want incremental value or convenience in their use case? If you think about the breakfast example that Jackie brought up, I think if you're running late, if you've only got a limited amount of time, a thrown sport coffee, which has 150 milligrams of caffeine and 10 grams of protein makes sense. 140 calories. So it's got some sustenance to it. A Pro Joe power coffee, a super coffee protein. These all make sense. And naked, even though I don't drink these types of smoothies, naked double berry protein smoothies, 20 grams of protein, all these I feel like are convenient options that deliver on a specific use case for consumers.

13:36The incremental value that you're getting from, say, drinking 20 grams of protein with your soda, I'm just trying to figure out if there are enough people out there that are counting their grams of protein throughout the day that they're going to be like, okay, this is just an easy way for me to add 20 more or add even 60 more. I'm trying to figure out if there are enough consumers out there right now. And you're right, John. It is still in the early stages. There's other trends, too, like with GLP-1s. I know people are really counting their protein because they're eating less and they're focused on having those macros.

14:11So there's like a lot of other trends that are also impacting this category that can influence consumer behavior. Right. For early stage brands and for emerging entrepreneurs, I think the question is, how do you differentiate in a way that's going to be interesting or be exciting for a consumer. I think it's really gonna come back to Jackie, your first point, which is taste. So if it doesn't taste good, if there's some of that chalkiness, if you have to mask the protein flavor with just tons of sweeteners or other flavors, I think you're just gonna have a hard time and you're not gonna be able to convince someone that they should be drinking something that they don't like just for the added benefit of a little bit of protein.

14:57Yeah. Yeah. And I think the convincing someone part, or maybe the lack of the need to convince consumers or educate them about protein is another reason that I think we see a lot of brands getting behind this. It's just kind of an efficient marketing approach as opposed to sometimes having some other hero ingredient that the consumer isn't aware of. So, you know, again, totally get why brands are doing it. But as we've pointed out here, a lot of variables to consider. Yeah. As protein is more and more widespread in all these products, I think people are going to be looking closer at how clean it is and what it is.

15:37Is it plant-based? Is it whey? Like, where is this protein coming from? Just to sort of cap this conversation, I think when we see the strategics or some of the bigger players that are not strategically aligned get into the protein space, and I'm talking about brands that are in the soda category or sparkling water category, we've already seen it in energy and coffee, but sparkling water and soda in particular, I think that's when we'll really start to see a lot more attention being paid to these sublines. Like, are we going to see an Olipop protein? Are we going to see a Sprite protein? Are we going to be seeing like a Spindrift protein?

16:15I sincerely doubt we'll see a sprint of protein anytime soon. But a multifunction beverage is certainly something that I think a lot of consumers understand at this point. They're getting more than just one benefit. But do they care enough to buy these products? I'm not sure the consumer wants the kitchen sink beverage. No. No. I mean, again, there's a fine line that makes what seems like a really obvious thing of just chucking protein in something actually kind of complicated. Fair enough. Well, to be clear, we're rooting for everyone and we want everyone to do well. We're going to continue to follow all the protein madness that happens in 2026 and beyond.

16:57If you have a product that contains protein, a new soda, a new sparkling water, frankly, any kind of beverage or food that has - Fancy steaks, maybe? Fancy steaks, protein infused gold coins. We would take those as well. Ah, yes. Jeez. No, in all seriousness, we would love to try your products. We'd love to highlight them on Taste Radio, on BevNet, on NOSH. Just send us samples, and you can find the addresses to send us samples to our headquarters here in Newton or our office in San Diego on BevNet.com or NOSH.com, or as John always points out. You can Google. Just Google BevNet's address in Boston or San Diego.

17:34It's not that hard. Anyway. It's not hard, kids. All right. Moving right along. I was excited when I was in Target to see Coconut Cult. We haven't seen Coconut Cult, the Coconut Cult in Target. This is their nationwide launch. It actually happened the day of this recording, January 6th. Coconut Cult, if you're not familiar, is a brand of probiotic coconut yogurts or USDA organic. In fact, I think we met the founders of the Coconut Cult at a winter fancy food show in 2017. It was a while ago. It was, I guess, what's that? Nine years ago? Oh my gosh. Mike interviewed them for Taste Radio. And so they have forever been in glass jars.

18:16It's like these glass, are they mason jars? Yeah, kind of like mason jars. It looks like something you'd get at like a farmer's market. Exactly. They have multiple sizes. Well, for the first time, they're in single serve sizes. These are new four ounce cups of coconut cult. They come in three flavors. There's an organic berry basket, a banana cream pie, and a lemon meringue. Yum. Yeah, I already had the banana cream pie one. It's so freaking good. Each contains 100 to 120 calories, depending on variety. Only two grams of protein. Sorry, folks. The ingredient list is pretty limited. Coconut cream, coconut water, and then just added ingredients, depending on the particular flavor.

19:01So for example, this banana cream pie contains freeze-dried bananas, beetroot nectar, and custom probiotic cultures. All right, John, which one do you want? You already ate the banana cream? I already tried the banana cream. Well, I didn't, not the one this one. Let me try some banana cream. It's a little over here. Okay, here's the spoon. Yeah, Coconut Cult, their products are just delicious. They're really good. I feel like that's always just been, their claim to fame is just super delicious yogurt. Okay, John's going to try all, oh, he's going to take a picture for the grams. You're gonna get all fancy here.

19:32Look at this. You want to be in the background, right? No, I don't. By the way, you owe me$9. Come on. Just for that, you are going to be in the back of the - Don't, don't, don't. I'm just going to block. My elbow is going to be in the shot. Perfect. Okay. Okay. Good. Thank you. Actually, they're priced at$3.99 per cup. I got these on sale. I think they were$2.99 on promotion just for the launch. John's trying the banana cream pie one. You didn't rip the cover off as well as you should have. Whatever. Good stuff. Yeah, it's really good. Like a Tremol? Yeah. I just feel like it's a really good alternative.

20:06Well, no, you're gonna eat all those, right? After? Okay. Coconut Cult has been this just tremendous alternative to dairy-based yogurts. It tastes pretty similar to it. It has a little bit of a tartness to it because of the fermentation, but they just make such delicious flavors. Super good. So good. One thing, I'm going to sound a little controversial here, and I love the folks from the Coconut Cult. They're great. These cups are plastic, and they have plastic lids. The Coconut Cult has forever been known to be a brand in glass jars. Do you think this is going to impact how they're perceived by their consumers?

20:42I mean, maybe to that core OG consumer, but I don't know. this seems like one of those moves where going for broader commercial availability is a lot of times going to require some changes. And I'm okay with this one. This seems really smart. Yeah. I don't think the target consumer is going to care as much. I would be curious though, just about the price point. You said it was like$3.99 a cup? Yeah. Every day is$4 per cup. Okay. Each cup I think is four ounces. Yes. Yeah, it seems a little high for like yogurt if like the target consumer is looking for a cup of yogurt, but also it's premium. You're getting plant based.

21:29It has the gut health. So I think with that, like people would be spending a little bit more on it. I mean, I feel like the taste of the product and just the consistency of it, I mean, it does not feel like they compromised in any way to make this. And if you're a brand that's trying to sell to people who want to live their life only consuming products from glass, I mean, good luck. Go operate at a farmer's market. That's just not viable. So I think this is a pretty exciting move for this brand. Yeah, I think it's just going to open so many doors. Yeah, good stuff. Hey, folks, stay tuned till the end of this episode for a bonus interview with Liana Salama of the Specialty Food Association, who shares a sneak peek at the reimagined 2026 Winter Fancy Fair in San Diego, where new trends, immersive tastings, major awards, and a must-hear keynote set the stage for the industry's year ahead.

22:25All right. Speaking of Olipop, where I mentioned Olipop, John's got a can in his hand. I do. I've got their new Shirley Temple flavor. Shirley Temple. I know you are fond of a Shirley Temple and I brought you your own can. Thank you very much. Did you wash the top? No? I just sneezed all over it like 50 times. I'm going to wash it with his Kleenex here. There we go. Oh, I love a good Shirley Temple. I haven't had a Shirley Temple in a while. I remember, what is it, the Stiller Soda. Don't they have a Shirley Temple? There's a bunch of brands like Boylan's has one. it's definitely one of those soda flavors that has it's still around and kicking so but yeah this stuff's stuff's really good i think um oh yeah olipop's always kind of had these i don't know what seemed like limited time offerings that they put out but just another one of these brands that with each year you know the the quality of them and the flavor of them just gets better and better this stuff's really good it is really good and what color is that liquid it's pinkish yeah so not like the total bright stain your mouth oh yeah okay i see where you're going with that okay syrupy cool so more stuff that i got from target and an interesting new product get that hoodie at target ray i didn't get this hoodie at target i got it at uniqlo so if i'm pronouncing it right did i pronounce that right jackie i don't know okay i don't know if i get uniqlo uniqlo oh boy you should go to boomer clow anyway so good so you is a fabulous brand of wellness shots.

23:53I love their brand. Yeah, those are good. They're differentiated by their large caps. They have these large white caps as opposed to the large and wide white caps. I really got to chug those things. Yeah, I'm pretty sure, I probably shouldn't say this, but I'm pretty sure they co-pack for the shots that you see at Trader Joe's. They come in the exact same bottle. So if you see the ones at Trader Joe's, they are probably made by So Good So You. So when I was at Target, I saw a So Good So You sparkling energy drink. I think this is their first foray into a beverage category that is not wellness shots.

24:26They have four varieties. I got two of them. They're raspberry lemonade and they're tangerine berry. Now, everyone knows that people have been trying to come up with better for you natural energy drinks forever. So I'm excited to see how these play out. The entire line is USDA organic. Zero grams of added sugar and they come in the classic 8.4 ounce slim cans. 50 calories between 9 and 10 grams of sugar and how much caffeine? 120 milligrams of natural caffeine from green tea. John, you want to try one of these? The tangerine berry is the one that I really want to try. There's so many beverages today, right?

25:03Yeah, lots of liquid over there. Is this yours? Sure, pour me a scoche. It's very viscous? Chunky? It looks more viscous than I thought it would. Chunky. Well, the way he poured it, I don't think there's any chunks in that. Well, it's made with real fruit juice. So I think maybe that. Okay. That makes sense. You can see the juice in here. That's good. Tasty. That is just absolutely delicious. Yeah. This is really good. I mean, it's got like a little grapefruit, little bite of caffeine to it. But you barely taste it. Yeah. It tastes like a real fruit drink. It tastes like a slightly more involved, for lack of a better word, spindrift.

25:43It's just more fruit juice in there for sure. But man, that flavor is amazing. let's try the raspberry lemon oh we're going for more okay this one also looks it's slightly less viscous it looks a bit more spindrifty equally excellent really really good stuff well done so good so you i've yeah i've been a big fan of this brand for a long time love that they're getting into the space and it seems like it's a target exclusive too because they haven't been advertising this product i haven't seen it promoted it was just on the shelf at target there's a bunch of new brands that launch a target. In fact, Midday Squares, do you guys see this?

26:19Midday Squares has a new breadless PB &J bar. Yeah, we need some of that. We're gonna get some of that too. Yeah. Nice. I have a couple of beverages over here. Well, I have one beverage and they have a variety of flavors. It's called Snow Monkey and it's line of sake RTD cocktails. On the bottom it says Sake Remix. And this is their dragon fruit key lime. They have a yuzu hibiscus, mandarin grapefruit and then also mango and guava 4.5 % elk so pretty low for uh rtd cocktail and it's cool because on the label they're mentioning you know gluten-free vegan sulfite free so loving the trend of sake based beverages i'm definitely seeing just in my group of friends people drinking more sake.

27:08There's like a health angle for sake. So yeah, it's cool to see this brand. They got a monkey on the front because it's no monkey. Yeah. It's funny you mentioned that Jackie, because I was looking at some Nielsen numbers recently, specifically for the alcoholic beverage industry and where revenue is increasing, where sales are increasing. And these are relatively small categories, but it was in non-elk and in sake. So it seemed like most other categories were in decline, but those are the two that popped out for me. And again, relatively small in relation to say whiskey or bourbon or wine or what have you.

27:45But yeah, interesting that sake seems to be a beverage of choice for a lot of consumers or a lot more consumers these days. Yeah. I feel like before it was like, you're just drinking sake when you're, you know, at a Japanese restaurant or eating sushi, but there was actually a lot of bars also that use sake as a base to mix cocktails when they don't have like a liquor license. So it's kind of like a cool couple of things coming together to make our TDs now. Yes. Because to be clear, sake is rice wine. Rice-based wine. Yes. Yes. All right. People are going to think I'm being paid by Target here, but I'm not.

28:18One last beverage brand that I saw at Target that I haven't seen before is called Raw. R-A. It's Nam Hom coconut water, 100 % organic. I believe the R-A brand name stands for raw. Like this is raw coconut water. It's raw, brah. It comes in a 16-ounce plastic bottle. The label is just all black and white. And, yeah, I want to give this a whirl. It's very clear. Typically, with coconut water, you see this hint of pink, especially with coconut water from Thailand. Those are supposed to be the good ones. Well, this bottle cost me$19. Thank you, Bebba. Wow. So, what? I was just kidding. Didn't cost me.