It's Time To Get Beyond Plant-Based Battles. Bala To The Rescue.

0:10Hello 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 a conversation with Dr. Farnoosh Fadavi, the co-founder of Bala Enzyme, an innovative brand of plant-based drink mixes developed to speed recovery and reduce inflammation. I sat down with Dr. Furnoosh, Fadavi, just before I sat down with Lance Collins, the creator of several iconic beverage brands, including Body Armor, Fuse, NOS, Core Hydration.

0:57I've been to that guy's house. We've all been to that guy. Actually, Jackie, you haven't been to his house. I haven't, but I've heard stories. It's a very nice house. He has very nice cars, as one would think for someone who's created multiple billion dollar brands. Landis also saved our lives on the way. He did. How so? I mean, there's a guy just blew through the stop sign. On a random intersection in Beverly Hills. Also, when you get like T-boned in Beverly Hills, the guy who hit you probably sues you. I've heard that happen. Yeah, I learned to save this that day. But yeah, so we just published that interview with Lance Collins earlier this week on Tuesday.

1:33It's an eye-opening episode, is what I can tell you. Or maybe an ear-opening episode in this case. But you can actually watch the video as well, which is on the YouTube. So tune in to the audio or video and hear all about what Lance is up to these days. Jackie, which you're up to these days, is attending summits, particularly one summit. It's called the Vegan Women's Summit, which you attended last week. Yeah, I was right next door to Beverly Hills. I was in West Hollywood. And it was great. It was a great event. I mean, it was inclusive to all genders, all people that had, you know, different dietary restrictions.

2:11But the main core of it was to support people that are trying to eat plant forward. And there was a great mix of both brand founders, consumers, just people that I met that just wanted to meet their next best friend. It was kind of funny and cute. But a lot of great brands that were there. Beyond Meat was there and spoke. The CEO of Beyond Meat. they're launching a fourth iteration of their their meats focused on both health and flavors so i know they've gotten kind of some some crap for some of the ingredients that go into their products so they're really focused on removing some of that crap and using some avocado oil but it was it was cool to hear because i think a big theme across all of it was that there's some infighting amongst like vegans and people that are all about plant forward eating about whether you want to be very simple in your eating or whether you can rely on, you know, more technology to build some of these vegan meats.

3:11And they were all like, why are we fighting? This doesn't help our common cause as far as helping the world and having a more compassionate world towards animals. So I thought that was a nice, a nice little through line. And I saw A good amount of, you know, tech-backed meats and vegan products that are just entering the marketplace. Did you try the new Beyond Meat stuff? Were they sampling it? Yeah, they were using it to create like these little croquettes and they had empanadas. And it was really good. I noticed a different in taste. Well, see how that fares for them, I guess. The impact of just grazing cows on the environment is certainly something that I've heard a lot of vegans talk about.

3:55And also just general cruelty to animals is a huge theme. So somebody who wants to make meat from other means, there's definitely still some argument about that, though, Jackie, whether lab-based meat, because it's still technically meat, is something that vegans want to eat anyway. So there's definitely not agreement about that. Yeah. I think the key thing I took away was that there's definitely a spectrum of people that are, you know, like, for example, I'm pescatarian, but I primarily eat plant-based. So they kept saying plant forward and trying to, you know, just incorporate more plant-based eating, even if you're not like hardcore vegan, because no matter what, that's going to make an impact on the environment.

4:41And it's probably going to benefit your health. You might not be eating, you know, clean, fully plant-based foods all the time, but if you're doing it at least part of the time, then I think that is just a step in the right direction. They made Jackie go through the fish detector and they took all the fish wipe out of her backpack on the way in. I know, I felt kind of like a fraud. I mean, I think the consumer is going to determine where this category or this segment of, I Right now, it doesn't look great, honestly. I mean, Beyond Meat, their recent earnings report was not so great. Hey, if you invested in Beyond Meat five years ago, you've lost 85 % of your money.

5:27That's not a good thing. That's not a good thing. No, I mean, I think, you know... Sounds like crypto. It sounds like you should have put your money in crypto or GameStop or something. But it sort of felt like a step backwards in terms of the long-term commercial viability of this stuff. and a lot of questions about that. And, you know, it is, I think, a good sign if companies like Beyond Meat are trying to pivot or, you know, there was a meaty that just raised a bunch of money. You know, I think it's just one of those, like the ups and downs of anything that's new and trying to implement significant change.

6:05I would rather see people eat less meat. I'd rather see, you know, myself, people in my family. Just more steak for you. Well, I mean, as someone who eats steak and appreciates premium beef. Yes, please. I just would prefer that the nutrition, the nutritional benefits are at the forefront of this conversation. Because I think the environmental impact is a little bit more nuanced. And yes, people are going to scream at me and say, have you seen the slaughterhouses? Yes, I've seen the videos and so on and so forth. But I think for people to resonate or have a point of reference when it comes to alternative meats and plant-based meats, I think the nutrition is that way to start that conversation and continue it and have it be an easier conversation to have if you're trying to convince others to eat less meat or eat more plant-based foods.

6:55I don't know. I disagree because I'm not sure what it's going to take for people to really be focused on climate impact and everything that they do, aside from just maybe sitting next to a glacier and having it just melt on top of you. I'm not sure. I think also we're still at the beginning stages of plant-based meat. And I think just watching Beyond Meat pivot is showing that consumers are telling them that they want better for you options. So I think this is just kind of the beginning and all these things are going to continue to evolve as we move forward. Now, on the flip side of things, there's a brand called Actual Veggies, which is a maker of plant-based burgers and fries that are made with vegetables and whole vegetables, whole foods.

7:42And you can see it in the products that they sell. And they seem to be doing quite well. One of the co-founders of Actual Veggies, Jason Rosenbaum, recently announced on LinkedIn that the company secured investment from relentless consumer partners. They are doubling, actual veggies that is. It's retail presence from 3 ,000 to 6 ,000 doors in the coming months. Their super fries, which are made with sweet potatoes, are launching in nearly a thousand stores, including a nationwide rollout at Sprouts. So I'm excited for this brand. This is a brand that I continue to root for. I'm really excited about, love eating, and don't really have any questions about the nutritional value or the environmental impact of what I'm eating.

8:32So I think this is just an easy sell, an easy education for me and one that I can share easily with my friends and colleagues. The packaging for actual veggies just pops right out of you too. You got green burger, orange burger, purple burger. I mean, I'm not sure exactly what a purple burger is like and a black burger, which is, you know, beans. So you get a sense of what you're getting from the packaging itself. and then they have a clear window through to show you what you're getting to. And it looks really appetizing. So I just remember meeting Haley Swartz at one of the expos when they first come out.

9:07We geeked out on their packaging. They've just made some seriously great strides on that product. Yeah. They should get some actual veggies. It's a McDonald's and they can call it the Grimace Burger. The purple one's going to be the Grimace Burger. What? Like you're just eating Grimace? I love the Grimace. It's kind of messed up. We just ground up Grimace How awesome would that video be? Grimace with his short arms Making the burger

9:33I love talking about Grimace on this show Hamburglar steals one and runs away No, he would never eat one of those He's a carnivore through and through Maybe he's turned over a new leaf He went to the Vegan Women's Summit And now he's interested in actual veggies He's changed I mentioned Lance Collins at the beginning of the show Lance Collins, one of the co-founders of Body Armor, one of the most key employees at Body Armor. It's a man named Michael Fidelli, who ran marketing for the brand. Michael Fidelli is back in the beverage business with a new brand. That brand is called Throne Sport Coffee.

10:14As the name suggests, this is a coffee for fitness-centric consumers. It has 150 milligrams of natural caffeine. As I mentioned, it comes in, or maybe I didn't mention, it comes in four varieties made with natural caffeine, natural flavors, natural sweeteners, and B vitamins. This brand was launched in partnership with the one, the only NFL three-time Super Bowl MVP, Patrick Mahomes, who is the lead investor in Throne Sport Coffee. We're all sampling this, at least Mike, John, and I are sampling their Mocha Java variety. So sporty. Yeah, which contains 50 calories per 11-ounce can. I guess I'm just a little confused.

10:59Is this just coffee with a couple of vitamins? Yeah, the way they're positioning this product is Coffee Plus, and it says it right here on the side of the can. They list exactly what the benefits are in terms of its ingredients. Again, 150 milligrams of natural caffeine made with Arabica coffee, electrolytes, potassium and sodium is added. And they also have BCAAs, which are included in some energy drinks as well. Right. And it's got that energy vibe about it too. It's certainly coffee. You can tell it's coffee. Every single one of the SKUs looks like coffee. Yeah. What Michael told me is that this is a brand of premium coffee, a better for you option for folks who drink coffee on the go and, you know, intended to be a very mainstream offering.

11:44I think some of the products and brands that you mentioned, Mike, had a much more natural or specialty kind of focus, whereas Throne is actually launching in the C-Store channel. So very exciting stuff. We have an interview with Michael and Patrick Mahomes coming to Taste Radio next week. I'm not going to reveal too many more details about Throne's Super Coffee because I want you all to tune in to that episode. It is a fantastic conversation. The only thing I didn't see in terms of ingredients in thrown sport coffee that I think would benefit this brand. I think I know where you're going with it.

12:19I think I do too. I think Jack knows. John doesn't know. Immunity, perhaps? Perhaps an immunity benefit. Yeah, I think immunity boost would be great. I would love to see amuse as a key ingredient in thrown sport coffee. And you know what? More now than ever, consumers are looking for ways to boost their immune systems. and Amuse gives them that edge. Amuse is a dietary and food ingredient clinically shown to stimulate immune function at the cellular level. Incorporate Amuse into your innovation strategy and help your consumers optimize their health throughout the year. Learn more at amusehealth.com.

12:58That's I-M-M-U-S-E health.com. Boom. Now I'm hoping, and I think we may, Mike's got his fingers crossed. I do. We may see a couple of the founders, or at least the founder and a key investor of Throne Sport Coffee, at the upcoming BevNet Live Summer 2024 event, which is happening in New York City on June 12th and 13th. We've got so much going on, including a big announcement about the agenda. The agenda is out. It's available. You can go to the site and check it out and see exactly all of the amazing stuff that's going to be happening on stage at BevNet Live, including a conversation with the founder of one of the fastest growing brands in the beverage industry that's Lemon Perfect.

13:50The founder is Yanni Huffnagle. Yanni Huffnagle. He is the founder and CEO of this amazing brand. And also going to be hearing from top executives at retailers, including Whole Foods, Diageo Ventures, GoPuff, and many, many more. Now is the time to sign up. Register for BevNet Live. Very easy to do so. Go to BevNetLive.com and you will join us in New York City. Yeah. We also release the full list of companies that are registered. So you can go to the website, check that out, start planning your event, planning who you want to meet with. You can see that at bednetlive.com. Outstanding. We've got some great speakers, Ray.

14:33We've got Quentin Venny from Equity is going to be on stage. We've got Sarah Nguyen from Fast Growing Nguyen Coffee Supply. Our dear friend, Paul Vogt from Ouroborra. There's going to be some great talks happening at Bednet Live. Paul's great. We've had Paul on the show a couple of times. Ashley Summon and Britt Doherty from Haywell. Oh, yeah? Yeah, Haywell. Well, that's a brand that we saw grow from a tiny little brand, and they're making waves. I'm also seeing on the list of attendees quite a few investors, which now is the time to talk to these investors, right? I mean, when isn't it the time?

15:11But I'm telling you, the best time is when you don't need money. Money, investors are writing tons of checks. You still want to talk to investors. Times are a little tighter. You still want to talk to investors. This is true. And I'm sure folks are going to be like, yes, I would love to come to BevNet Live. I would love to talk to investors. They get to the show and they're like, I'm not really seeing the people. I don't know the people that I should be talking to. Guess what? We do. So come and talk to us. Find me. Find Jackie. Find Mike. Find John. Find anyone on the BevNet team. We'll do our best to make those connections, introduce you to folks, make sure you have those meetings, those introductions.

15:48Come hang out and have a Negroni with us. There you go. Or a Delta 9 hemp-infused beverage, if that's your thought. Let's say you're shy. You're not a great networker. Just turn to the person next to you and ask them a question. Like everybody there is there to do the exact same thing that you are, which is advance their business. So it's a really safe space. There are no stupid questions. Everybody there is like varying degrees of experience in the beverage industry. There are tons of experts there too. I mean, people know the answers to your questions. And if they don't, they know who can answer them.

16:20That's the awesome thing about Bed and LF. This is true. Business gets done. And it's in New York City. Yeah, that's fun too. It's in the heart of New York City too. I mean, I feel like this is the place where you hop in a cab, you hop on the subway, you can be anywhere pretty quickly. Like a legit cocktail bar or a retailer check-in, you know. I love... Maybe both. John keeps leading with the cocktails. It is a key... Well, you guys are all... That's where his mind's at. I'm trying to promote the fun stuff, you know, the sampling. The networking. Very important to sampling. Yeah. Yeah. Now, BevNet and NOSH insiders and attendants at BevNet Live will have a bit more information, perhaps a lot more information than they had in previous weeks and months.

17:04That sounds very cryptic, but Jackie, what am I talking about? Yes, let me decipher. So we are rolling out a new partnership with leading data providers where we're going to be publishing frequent reports that cover the industry, that give, you know, recent trends, data-driven analysis and insights, information on category size. We're going to be working closely with them to come up with reports that are relevant to our insiders that we know that you need. And these are data points that usually you have to pay for. You have to unlock through other services. This is something that is exclusive to our insiders.

17:44And we're rolling out first with Rightfield Group. So you'll be seeing the first report launching on Tuesday, May 28th. I love this. I really do. Because getting data is often expensive. It's often difficult to determine what data you need, how it's going to benefit your business. And we are creating this opportunity for folks to have very specific information that is going to help them drive their businesses forward at no extra cost. The only fee is being an insider, and that is itself a very limited cost. So I would highly encourage folks, if you're not already, to become an insider to get access to this information because it is extremely valuable information.

18:35And if you do want to get in on this, I recommend subscribing now because we do have a special discount for soon-to-be insiders. Just head to nosh.com, find the press release about our new reports, and you'll find that discount. Hoorah. I was never in the Marines. That's why I can't do that correctly. That was weird. Is that a Man U thing? No, that's a Marines thing. And I'm not even... My apologies to anyone who was actually a Marine and listening to this episode. Is that what you say when Man U gets a whooping? You know, you guys keep getting on my case about Man U. I am totally done with this season, so it doesn't matter to me.

19:13It's a pretty bad season. You just took a knee. That's cool. He did. He just took a knee. It happened. We're mixing sports. You know, I'm just trolling you. I just reminded Ray that the year I was born was last time that Man United were relegated. 1967? Mike, geez. Ray was 73. Oh, 73. Okay. Oh, geez. I added six years to your age. Don't give out important personal information on the podcast. Probably shouldn't be doing that. We were all sipping on some coffee. Yeah, what are we sipping now? Can we sip on some wine? Is it non-alcoholic wine? It is de-alkalized wine. Yes, please. Yeah, so I... Pass the bottle around first week.

19:51Oh, right. Jeez. Every time I bring up a product, the first thing that happens is John shoots his arm out and it's just like his left arm... No, you're just here to me. Okay, what you're doing, you ever... The type of, you've probably been to a restaurant like this, but they put your plate down and then they're like pointing at it and describing it for like five hours. When really you just want to say five hours. That's like basically like you introing products on here. I'm trying to tell you how great it's going to be and you know how special it is and how privileged you are to have it in front of you.

20:17And then you just want to drink it. All right. Or eat it. Okay. Drink it or eat it. Okay. So I recently got shipped a bottle of dealkalized wine called St. Viviana and it was since. Oh, isn't she on the marketing team? She is a saint. That's perfect. Nicely done. Nicely done. It was sent to me by a retailer called The Zero Proof. This has no alcohol, obviously, or it has less than 0.5 % alcohol by volume. We talked about... We got to get Viv some St. Viviana merch. Yeah. We do. We've talked about non-alcoholic wines in the past episodes. That's why you poured it over your laptop. You're not too far enough.

21:01It ain't my laptop. All right. Every single time. I mean, you learn nothing from having this company laptop. There's a big puddle on his shift key. He's got a puddle on his shift key over there. Oh, my goodness. All right. Anyway. Oh, my goodness. Did you decant this? I just decant this. So this contains 10 calories per serving. A serving is eight ounces. As I was trying to say, we've talked about non-alcoholic wines in the podcast in past episodes and unfortunately you know not a lot of them have been great at least the still varieties so i'm excited to try this and and find out whether or not it's uh okay but once right over the laptop there it goes again it's like we need to turn this into a social uh reel with some smoke coming out of his laptop you know what sparks you know what he's got don't worry don't worry we're not trying to talk about this right now yes i'm using a packing peanut to dry out my laptop That's a good use of it.

21:56Okay. Now that's going to decompose and then get into the keys and just make things worse. All right. So this is tasty. I actually, I like this quite a bit. This is a Cabernet Sauvignon from Paso Robles, California. It tastes more like a Chianti though. It's like a lot lighter without the alk. It still tastes like wine to me and it tastes like a good wine, but it just lacks the oomph of a Cabernet Sauvignon. Well, it lacks the like, I don't know. The body. The body, the sweetness almost. This is very tart. I like it. I think it's, I would drink this. I just, I would have a hard time drinking it as a Cabernet Sauvignon.

22:32Yeah. I mean, my thought on this is that if it just said that it was red wine. Yes. I would probably mentally be like, this is great. Yes. 100%. It's fantastic, really. I mean, it's like, just, especially for someone who misses wine. Well, it's really good. Mike goes in for a second. I'm going in for more. He goes in for a second. Did you want to? I'm good. All right, we'll get some of this to you. The smell is phenomenal too. The San Diego office, Jack. The nose on it is really spectacular. I think there's a lot of good things going on. Thank you, St. Viviana. Exactly. Hey, you want to talk about Levo?

23:10Levo? What's Levo? Levo is a soda that is, it's a prebiotic soda. There's orange creamsicle. There's voodoo cola. There's a lemon lime. It's backed by super chef Timothy Hollingsworth, formerly of French Laundry. I believe it's called The French Laundry. The French Laundry. Sorry. You uncouth swan. Sorry, Ray. Uncultured swan. I know. I'm so uncultured. And my fellow Newton masshole, BJ Novak. BJ Novak of? Of The Office. The Office. Yes, indeed. And other things. So it's a better for you soda that contains probiotics? This is a prebiotic soda. I'm sorry, prebiotic. This one's about the fiber and the flavor.

23:57Fiber and flavor, zero caffeine, zero aspartame, zero sucralose. Easy for me to say. 80 % less sugar. It's five grams of sugar. The flavor is awesome. You know what I really enjoyed? And unfortunately, there was only one in the office, but the cola is excellent. and we don't say that a lot about colas that we you know like prebiotic soda colas that we just really like the cola i thought it was stellar and i'd be curious to hear what you guys can i see the front of the can so i i i like this i i like the idea of a prebiotic soda with a really uncommon flavor like orange creamsicle the problem i have with this and maybe it's not that much of a problem is that it's the the brand name is kind of hard to read it is vertical it blends in with the color of the can.

24:45If I saw this from far away, I would think the name of the brand is Lee or Le Vo. I'm not sure. I just don't think that's very important. I think the most important thing is that you know it's an orange soda. Whatever you just said is just irrelevant. What are you talking about? I mean, it does look like if you just look at the top of this can, it looks like an orange slice in a creamsicle. And then what is this part? What is that supposed to be? But you turn it on the side. Oh yeah, there you go. Okay. But the orange Creamsicle is easy to read. So is prebiotic soda. You've never been a fan of vertical logos.

25:18No, I'm not a fan. Definitely not. No. All right. All right. Mike's getting all heated there. FYI, our dear friends at Olipop make an orange creamsicle too. Do they? Yeah. I was not aware of this. It's also very tasty. Okay. We also got some new protein cookies from a brand called Good Word. These are individually wrapped cookies that contain 11 grams of protein per cookie. Well, there's two sizes of those cookies, so watch yourself there. Oh, okay. Oh, good call. Okay, so yeah, one of them contains 6 grams and one contains 11 grams. The three varieties or three flavor varieties that I saw upstairs were chocolate chip, double chocolate, and peanut butter chip.

26:01I have not had these yet, but I'm excited to try them. I'm hesitant to try this right now because we're about to have lunch. I wouldn't. They're a little on the heavy side to eat right before lunch. Yeah. They're super tasty. Yeah. 210 calories for the 11 grams of protein variety and 110 for the 6 grams of protein variety. I really like the double chocolate. The peanut butter. The peanut butter is good, too. Peanut butter is good. Those are solid. No gluten, grains, dairy, refined sugar, or whey. Very good. I like the packaging on those, too. It's, like, clean, you know? Like it's not filled with a lot of like technical stuff, like a lot of protein products are.

26:38Yeah. You know how I always say there's good words on the package. Hey, there you go. They ran with that whole idea. I don't, I'm not saying it was my idea, but they only want good words on their packaging. Now that said, it said there is no this, no that, no the other thing. So that's the, there are some bad words on the packaging, but they're negated. Like no way. I see. Yeah. I was like bad words. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Right. No, well, the F word is not on the package that I've seen yet. Jack and I were both like, what words are you talking about, Mike? Now, yeah, very straightforward in terms of the label design.

27:15Okay, yes. You have the flavor name, label hierarchy is flavor name. And on either side of the flavor name is gluten free and grain free. The brand name is very bold and eye-catching. And then protein cookie at the bottom of the package has dairy free and the number of grams of protein on either side of the protein cookie. call out good cookie but it's better for you yeah i mean i kind of wish the uh like the flavor name and the protein cookie were flipped i think so i think that's a great great call because then it's sort of hierarchically correct but the hero is supposed to be protein yeah but actually the hero is good word yeah no i i mean don't don't change that i love the good word right in the middle you know we call you in central massachusetts a nitpicka nitpicka yeah pick a nits pick a nits kid yeah yeah see jack he knows what i'm talking about so your toll booth willie impersonation i feel like i um have this like reserve of boston knowledge and like a dictionary for all of the references that still lives there even though i live in california and i say the five but boston's still ingrained in me throwback throwback yeah uh i want to make one final call out this is just me the fine folks from cn chile's founders, Maria and Felipe, I saw Felipe at the Natural San Diego Pitch Land, but they sent over some more Cien Chilis.