Lessons From Caulipower's Exit, With Padma & 'Popcorn' in Focus

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. Mike Schneider back from Sin City. Do they still call Las Vegas Sin City? Probably. Probably. There's lots of sinning happening. Yes. Lots of craps happening as well. Mike won$1.3 million over the past week. Won a little bit of money. He's going to be doing some investments. in emerging brands. Is this true? No, he parlayed it into a bet on Crystal Palace.

0:53I thought you were going to say Crystal Meth. No. You don't want to invest in Crystal Meth. That's a bad thing. Wow. The show's already off the rails, and we're like, I made it in. I did play craps. That was true. I did win a little bit, but not enough to invest in any brands. Sorry, brands. Okay, well, you were there for Supply Side Global. I was there for Supply Side Global. What a show. Yeah. It's an ingredient-focused show, yeah? Yeah. We got to meet all the top ingredients providers in the industry and had some great conversations. And yeah, it was a great show. Cool. Cool. Yeah. Adrian DeLuca covered that show for the Nosh and the BevNets and talked about protein stacking.

1:30Kind of an interesting thing. What is this all about? Protein stacking? Just put protein on your protein? I guess so. Yeah. Yeah. They're just trying to figure out all the optimal proteins to put together. It's very strange. It's cool, though. I mean, because the thing is about this show, Ray, versus like, say, Expo West is it is a science show. So you're seeing just like organic chemistry on people's boots right as you walk over. No, sir. I don't want any piece of that. No. Orgo was, I know a couple of guys that couldn't get into medical school because they failed Orgo so many times. Yeah. Are we talking about you, Ray?

2:03No, it's not me. I never wanted to be a doctor. No. I know a guy. Poor guy. Poor Ray. He was pre-med until he wasn't. Maybe you should get into ingredients. Maybe that could be a good path for him. Yes, yes. Well, if you want to know what happened at Supply Side, as I mentioned, Adrian DeLuca penned a very good summary of the show, highlighting protein stacking, creatine revival, and clean label innovation. Read all about it on Nosh or BevNet.com. But in order to do so, you've got to be an insider. To be an insider is very simple. Nosh.com slash insider, BevNet.com slash insider. It's pretty simple.

2:39I mentioned protein because you got some protein right next to you. Koya Elite. I do. I'm drinking the Koya Elite 32 grams of protein, 4 grams of sugar. This is the coffee variety, which also has 135 milligrams of caffeine. I rather like it. And 6 grams of fiber. Oh, how about that? So it's pretty complete. Did you even have breakfast this morning? Was that your breakfast? It actually wasn't my breakfast. There you go. I mean, hey, that's fine. 210 calories, 32 grams of protein, 6 grams of fiber, do you say? I did say that. And there's some caffeine there, too. Okay, well, there you go. So I got a chance to sit down with Gail Becker, who is the founder of a brand, as y 'all know, called Cauliflower.

3:16Cauliflower, maker of vegetable-based or at least vegetable-centric foods, including... Just call it plants, Ray. Plants. But their best known product are their cauliflower crust pizzas. The pizzas, for sure. Yes. So some big news. Anyway, I got to sat down with Gail at Expo West and she and I had a great conversation. Check that episode out that we published it in, I believe, early April. Just a brilliant entrepreneur. She's great. Yeah. And the hard work has paid off because Kali Power was acquired. Urban Farmer, which is a manufacturer of branded and private label specialty dough products, announced its acquisition of gluten-free frozen foods brand Kali Power.

4:00I'm just reading from the Nosh story that our dear colleague Monica Watrous wrote. Financial terms were not disclosed, but what's interesting about the story is that Gail talked about how Urban Farmer was the first co-packer for Caulipower at a time when everyone else passed on the company. So I think, you know, when she launched the company many years ago, seemed like cauliflower crust went from this really ridiculous idea, or at least some people perceiving it as a ridiculous idea. It's now being a ubiquitous thing that we see in the marketplace. So she was way ahead of her time. And clearly this coat packer is way ahead of its time as well.

4:39It's still ridiculous, Ray, because that stuff tastes so damn good. Oh, okay. That was a close one there. I was going all Sanford and Son here. I was like, oh. Trying to get out of here. I'm coming to join you. I was a little worried there. No, it's really, no, Kali Power, the pioneer, the forerunner, the creator of the category in so many ways. I mean, at the time that she launched the brand, there were a lot of home-based recipes, people sharing recipes on the Gram, on the Reddits, on the TikTok didn't exist at the time. But you know what I'm talking about. You were still on Friendster. I was still on Friendster, yeah.

5:17The company was founded in 2016, and now its products are sold in 17 ,000 stores nationwide. Walmart, Whole Foods, Wegmans, Publix, you name it, they're probably in it. Kali Power was one of those brands that was, I don't know, in hindsight, maybe part of the transformation of plant-based going from this quirky natural thing to more mainstream. And Gail is someone who's always, like at every trade show they're at, they're with a smile on her face, like great representative for that movement and the brand too. So props to her and her team. And I misspoke about the date that we published that episode.

5:57It was actually on March 25th. So if you're looking for the episode, just search for Gail Becker or Kali Power. But it was published on March 25th. And a little ironic, right? Because at the time, we had talked a bit about a potential acquisition, a potential exit. And she said that's not what motivates her. I'm going to read from the very first line of the copy here. Gail Becker has a bold message for CPG entrepreneurs. If your brand isn't built to truly improve the lives of your consumers, quote, you should stay the hell out. So she wasn't doing this for the money. I'm sure she's happy that she was able to sell the brand and sell the brand successfully and at a time when the brand is profitable.

6:36But clearly what motivates her more than anything else, and she talks about this in the interview, is getting the letters from people to say, I can eat pizza again, getting letters from people saying, I can feed my family and feel good about doing so. So love that. And love that she's been such a great influence on so many entrepreneurs. Yeah. I feel like the authenticity of the brand coming from her, that's felt within the industry. And it's also felt from consumers. Like she is the face of the brand as well. And she believes in what she's doing. And it's also just so impressive what she's done going into different products.

7:13Like beyond pizza, she had like these amazing chicken tenders that she also launched and a bunch of other frozen products when also frozen wasn't seeing a ton of innovation. So I think there's a lot of things that she was doing really well that got her to this point. Yeah, that's a great point, Jackie. It's a great story, right? It's a great story that entrepreneurs can take lessons from, again, in that it was a kind of a crazy idea. She believed in herself. She bet on herself. And she bet on the fact that customers would buy into this idea. And they did. And again, it spawned a lot of other entrants to that space in a really, really positive way.

7:57So once again, congratulations to Gail Becker and team. And team includes Tyler Ricks, who came in as CEO last year. Also worth mentioning is that in the early days, the product was different and they continued to iterate on the product too. So they did build a great brand and a product that people believed in that they continued to make better and better and better, which is the dream. Yeah. It's also notable because this is the second time, I think this year, at least the second time that we've seen a co-man acquire a brand. If you recall, Verde Valley Foods bought a dozen cousins in May, a dozen cousins, a maker of pouch packaged, ready to eat, or at least ready to heat beans, rice products, seasonings, things like that.

8:40And Ibrahim Bashir, who's the founder of that company, just love the fact, and we talked about this, love the fact that we're going to start to see a dozen cousins, or at least the acquisition will enable a dozen cousins to be in a lot more places, which is great. Talking about Gail and Ibrahim, it's like we're talking about the Avengers or something. Seriously. Yeah, they're both amazing. Yeah, both just two of the warmest people you can meet and very charismatic founders. Yeah, absolutely. Also in the news this week, a brand of corn-free popcorn got a pretty big investment. Corn-free popcorn, eh?

9:17Yeah. How about that, right? Yeah. The investment was led by a well-known athlete. So Cobb is the name of the brand, C-O-B. It's a pop sorghum brand. And they recently closed on a$5 million seed round. No pun intended. Is popcorn a seed? No. Anyway. It goes in a$5 million seed round led by tennis legend Novak Djokovic. And it's, yeah, pretty big, pretty big move. Cobb positions itself as a healthier alternative to popcorn. I sat down with the founder Jessica Davidoff for an episode of Elevator Talk that we published earlier this year. And guess what? The reason that Novak led this round is because he watched that episode of Elevator Talk.

10:01I can't be sure anything I just said was true. Definitely true. I'm just assuming that happened because everyone watches the show. In all seriousness, a lot of people do watch that show. Especially Djokovic. Yeah, especially he did while he was, you know, on his way to some tournaments. Between games. Between sets. Yeah. I'm not sad. I actually questioned and I asked Jessica and our co-host for that episode, asked him, we were like, huh, how do you say corn-free popcorn? Or how do you sell this without saying popcorn, right? And it's kind of an interesting thing because you're trying to say it's better for you because it doesn't contain corn, but it's popcorn essentially.

10:36And you call it Cobb too. Those are some interesting challenges there. Very bold move to call yourself popcorn in the first place. But I think also it is one of those things. That's what it is. It's a popcorn list popcorn. Yeah. So you should call it what it is. And that's what we usually recommend to brands who are trying to do something new. It's like you don't always want to be the first of your kind. Although we have seen some sorghum products come out that are popcorn related. But being the first of your kind is very difficult. So finding somebody on the shelf that you can sit next to and when you tell your buyer, hey, this is a popcorn that's made without corn, they'll understand.

11:17So I think that part is pretty smart. Also popcorn, a kernel, not a seed. Also really cool to see in the news that a company called Diaspora Spice Co, or just Diaspora Co, a maker of single origin spices and masalas, has aligned with the very well-known food celebrity, can we call it? Padma Lakshmi, the food celebrity. We can. I would say. Former Top Chef host. Yeah. So Diaspora Spice Co. has aligned with Padma Lakshmi to launch a new product that they're describing as a gunpowder pody. And it actually is described as Padma Lakshmi's gunpowder pody. And so when I sat down with Padma for an interview for Taste Radio a couple of years ago, maybe three years ago at the time, and we were talking about a different brand that she aligned with.

12:09It was interesting because she has so much name brand recognition. She has so much, I guess, celebrity attached to who she is, especially within the food community, but she rarely gets involved with CPG brands. And so it was interesting to see her align with the Aspera for this type of product. But what happened was, was that she was already a customer. And so the founder of the company, whose name is, I'm going to try my best here, Sana Javri Kadri found out that Padma was a regular consumer and a regular buyer of the products. And so they got in touch and started talking. They'd had a relationship for a number of years and then kind of came to this point where it made sense that they would work on a club together.

12:54Full story on Nosh.com, also penned by Adrian DeLuca. Okay, so the day of this recording is November 4th, which means we are exactly one month away from the start of Nosh live la 2025 oh yeah the first of three events and i'm uh i got a big smile on my face but i'm also like i'm getting the uh the tuesday scaries here because i know how much because i know how much how much work is there's a lot to do in the last month to do lots of do but it's because it's Because we put so much effort and so much care and so much love into these events because you deserve it. Attendees deserve to come to these best-in-class events and get everything out of it.

13:42And, you know, in the case of Anosh Live, for example, we've added a new component to the show where you have an opportunity to be on the main stage at Anosh Live. We're taking elevator talk out of the studio and putting it on the stage at Anosh Live. So founders who are attending can sign up in advance to join us on stage at Anosh Live. They'll have a minute and a half, 90 seconds, but that could be a lot of time. It could be a little bit of time to get up on stage and speak to some of those influential people in our industry. That includes retail buyers, investors, distributors, and folks that can help you scale your business.

14:26And it's a really outstanding opportunity to pitch and have people meet you during the networking sessions or just out if you're getting a cup of coffee, You know, that kind of visibility, that kind of awareness, it's really hard to get elsewhere. Just to be able to stand up and say, this is who I am, this is what my brand is all about. And if you want to see me, if you want to try this product, you know, come see me when we're out there having lunch. Any brand is eligible. It's not a competition. It's just a chance to get up on stage in front of a bunch of friendly faces, practice your pitch and get some feedback.

15:02You know, always be pitching. Jackie, once people sign up, They'll get the details of how to register for Elevator Talk in that email, correct? Yep. So you just have to register for Nosh Live. Then you'll get a link to sign up and apply. And then we'll take it from there. But yeah, we want everyone to participate. It's a great opportunity to just start your conversations a little bit further down the road because you're getting up on stage. You're giving everyone your spiel. You're saving your breath and you're, you know, just natural networking. and you're able to get to business because they already know what you're doing and they know what they can help you with.

15:41Yes. Similarly, the one-to-ones offer you an opportunity to sit down with the people that you want to meet at the event, i.e. the retail buyers and the investors. Investors and peers. And peers, people who have been there and done that. That'll also be in the email once you register for NOSH Live or BevNet Live. We're not doing elevator talk at BevNet Live, but the one-to-ones will exist also. at BevNet Live and BrewBound Live as well. Yes. Correct. Yep. And with all those opportunities, we do have limited spots. So if you're thinking about coming, definitely recommend you register now because we're already filling those slots.

16:21Exactamundo. Does anyone say who's who? You do. Who coined Exactamundo? You did. Did I? Did I? Yeah, just today. Okay. First time I've ever heard it. Something new. I love it. Yes. All right. Well, a month away from Nosh Live, a little over a month away from BevNet and BrewBound Live. So we want to see you there. You have any questions about the event? Wondering, hey, you know, what should I expect to see there? Who can I expect to meet there? What should you wear? What should I wear? We have gotten that question. Just contact Ray. Just reach out and let us know. He's going to be like, wear a blazer and a baseball cap.

16:53We're like at least six fake Mike Sora videos away from BevNet Live. My minions have been busy. I mean, yeah, but, you know, everyone says their event is a can't miss event and everyone presents, you know, this particular show is, you know, something. There's no hyperbole in anything I just said. Everything is exactly the way I described it. And it is a show that you should attend. All right. On to samples of new products. I received in the mail the other day a whole bunch of products from a brand called Shameless Snacks. i love the way those came out of the box that was cool shameless snacks is a maker of better for you gummy products it looks like each bag 1.8 ounce bag omg peach contains three grams of sugar 70 to 90 calories and three look what ray will be sampling three to eight grams of net carbs per variety our blue raspberry so they have red raspberries sour scouts omg peach what's up watermelon watermelon green apple blast let me look at the uh sweetener profile here they all say eat me i taste awesome yes so the first ingredient is polydextrose and we have soluble corn fiber erythritol pectin glycerin sucralose ah okay all your favorites sucralose is a is an artificial sweetener am i wrong in saying that that is correct right i mean are you wrong in saying that no you are not incorrect i'm trying to use as many double negatives as possible okay okay so wicked high in fiber yeah i'm gonna try yeah the fiber count is is what oh my god 29 grams or 26 grams depending on the clip wow but the serving size is a whole bag it's not one gummy so for the green apple one dietary fiber is 26 grams which is 93 percent of your daily recommended value of fiber.

18:53So that's pretty serious. Can I try the peach? I'm going to try the peach. Is that for real? Yeah. It says good dietary fiber source in a very small button on the front. I'm like, how is that possible? That seems like it's a great... I'm just wondering why they're not promoting it as much as they are on the front. It's like almost your 100 % daily value. Yeah, exactly. Mike is about to explode over here. Yeah, and also like, if you're eating multiple of those, watch out. From the makers of Cullen Blum, Ray. Oh, no, no, no, no. It would take 17 bowls of total. Sorry, look it up if you don't know what that means.

19:26All right. Well, okay, so John's got what looks like a very expensive cereal in front of us. Very expensive. Honestly, I have no idea how much this costs, but it's just a box of man cereal. I feel like I have to say that with a fake voice. Okay. It comes in, of course, a maple bacon flavor. it's advertising itself as creatine high protein keto and zero sugar so it definitely looks like it's cut from the mold of the magic spoons of the world where this is not an inexpensive product although the front of the pack is as minimalist as it comes it's a white box with black font on the top that says man cereal, very sort of staid.

20:15I was going to call it bland font, which I guess it is. And then it has one piece of cereal. It's a cereal ball on the front. Oh, yeah. Feeling super manly. Creatine, high protein, keto, and zero sugar. This is definitely not for your everyday consumer. It's definitely not for women, right? Oh, no. It doesn't work on women. yeah because women like things that taste better i mean it's like it's even on the box it's like serious nutrition on serious name so i'm on the website right now and i need to chase it with a shameless one-time purchase that is not part of their subscription model yeah will cost you drumroll please 58 so that i'm sorry that's for a three-pack a three-pack which is still about 20 bucks a box right yeah yeah i mean some of the stuff that's in this i mean even like creatine supplements are not cheap but i mean i don't know the taste is kind of rough it kind of tastes super rough like those kicks cereal like a yeah it looks like that it's like styrofoam you can really taste the stevia the creatine you can taste it's just it's tough yeah it's like their paint coated kick no i mean they have that definite that keto aftertaste that is the thing that's pretty difficult to mask so you you get that but i mean they're trying the the the maple bacon part comes first and so if you can eat it fast enough you can probably avoid yeah i mean i i think after this just seems like more than anything and obviously i i understand why they don't want to just put a bunch of like junk in it to hide right the ingredients i totally I feel like they're kind of in this weird area where the person who might be into this concept and okay with this flavor would rather just buy a bunch of powders and mix up something else that also doesn't taste great.

22:16Except that those powders get boring. And you do, once you start to take the powders, think about, okay, how else can I get this besides just taking powder after powder after powder? So I could see like people who like cereal or miss cereal in particular thinking about this because there's that, you know, nostalgia for eating a box of kicks that was pretty great. I get that. I think it's more just you got to be able to stick with this, though. And I think this right now, the flavor needs work. I mean, the branding is obviously unforgettable. No mistaking this. So I think that part of it's pretty cool.

22:55No mistaking who it's for. yeah yeah i don't know if i would ever spend i'm just putting my cards on the table here the equivalent of 20 a box for cereal it seems like you're paying for convenience more than you're paying for anything else you can buy half a tub of powder for that yeah right you're not buying this for flavor i assume they price this for you know there's the novelty buyer the let's try this out buyer and give these guys maybe a little more margin while they're just starting out. But that, obviously, you're right. I mean, wouldn't skip. I should also say, though, it's only the protein powder that you're buying for 20 bucks.

23:32So it's adding the creatine, the keto. If you cost it all out, it's probably on point in terms of the price. Quick break. If this episode has you thinking about what's next in food and beverage, explore BevNet and Nosh Insider, our subscription platform with deeper insights from the BevNet team. Visit tasteradio.com slash insider to learn more. John has got What is that? No! It's Dirty Mountain Dew that right now comes in two varieties a cream soda dew and then there's a zero sugar version So, which one would you like to try? The full flavored one Okay, good choice. How about you, Mike? Yeah, I'll try them both, but I'll start with whatever you give me Send one down to Mike here It's what makes it dirty?

24:23It's cream soda dew. It's like dirty soda. Okay. Okay. I mean, it tastes like someone cut Mountain Dew with a little bit of cream soda. It doesn't suck, actually. I've had a lot worse than this. Yeah, it's pretty. Yeah. It's mostly sugar. Yeah. Yeah. How much sugar is in there? So much sugar. I can't read the fine print on here. Okay. So sugar count. I mean, what's an average Mountain Dew sugar content? I don't know. 46 grams. So. No, it's not that much, but it's close. The full sugar version contains 44 grams per 12-ounce can, which is 88 % of your daily recommended value of sugar. Can I try the zero sugar?

25:01You want to try the zero? The zero? Yeah, bring it down. I'm good on the zero. Here, sir. Just pass it down then. Well, we can say we've tried it and move on from that. Listen, Ray, on this show, we've had worse. Is that true? Mm-hmm. Okay. Yes. Remember when you brought the big red? That stuff tastes great, but that was a lot of sugar. Big Red. Yeah. I haven't had Big Red in forever. That was probably the last time it was on our show. Well, I got something from the fine folks from Wild. Ah, thank goodness. From Wild Wonder. So Wild Wonder, a maker of... I was just talking about them. You were just talking about them all the time.

25:40Really? Yeah. Good deal. Because they're just such a great beverage and a great founder, great story, great path. I mean, Rosalie is the founder, also sat down with her at Expo West for a great interview, also published in a episode in the spring. It's a wild wonder, a maker of prebiotic and probiotic sparkling drinks. They have a blackberry violet variety that is part of their holiday gift box. Their holiday gift box contains four cans of the blackberry violet. It's got some gummies that contain prebiotic fiber. Think Sugarfina style is how they describe it. They've got a couple cocktail glasses and two cocktail picks.

26:26Here's the glassware. So you garnish your drink with the gummy? I'm already drinking mine. I have no time for that. What's going on here? Yeah, I think you do. Oh, those are nice. Yeah, so you've got these little things. It looks like there's a blackberry at the bottom of these cocktail glasses. and these, uh, these cocktail picks that look like, looks like the evil eye at the top of them. See that? Quick quiz. What was the original name of Wild Wonder? Not you, Ray. You know the answer. John, Jackie. Don't remember. Ray? I forget. Tea Crush. Tea Crush. So apparently you can, yeah. So you can, uh, make an aviation style drink out of these, I guess this blackberry violet variety.

27:08an aviation usually is made with gin, but you can make your own products or you make your own beverage without gin. I'm pretty happy with it just the way it is. And it's not even cold. I mean, this is, that's how you know that a beverage is just amazing. I'm going to give you these gummies. I'll try this. They do so well with their flavors. Like I think last year they had the Banana Queen, which they played with like RuPaul's Drag Race, Nymphia Wind. It was so good. That was a taste of an award-winning beverage, I believe. Yes, yes. jackie uh what's going on over there at the wcb you have a very interesting coffee mug by the way oh thank you i got this in colorado it's handmade yeah we should describe it for our audience the sun and the moon okay front and back sun moon but it looks like it's a square base it does it does and it has like handwriting of whoever made it bub blue i don't know okay oh the famous bublu shout out to bublu thanks bublu for this work for the bug of course it's a bublu we should have known it was a bublu what are we what are we doing over here oh my gosh i could sell that on ebay for like a hundred dollars a hundred thousand oh boy uh over here i have a couple products from the cumin club so these are i believe they're like freeze-dried or dehydrated i think they're dehydrated.

28:26They are meals and all you have to do is just add water and it's ready in five minutes. We have paneer tikka masala, a dal marhani, and a dal tadka. Lots of really great call-outs on the pack as far as being gluten-free, no seed oils. This one uses coconut oil. This one uses ghee. They're all either vegetarian or vegan and they look very simple and clean as far as their ingredient panels as well. So I'll be eating one of these for lunch. She found the right team for that. Is there a QR code on the back? I want to join the club. There is. We first encountered that brand at the Winter Fancy Food Show earlier this year.

29:09And I loved it. We tried some of the products, John, if you recall. I mean, it was really, really tasty stuff. Yeah. Yeah. It looks so good. Yeah. The ingredients are just crazy clean. Like just peas, tomato, onion, coconut oil and spices. like can't beat it that sounds like a great lunch for you yeah i'm gonna have multiple actually i agree i agree that's a good idea i also have a beverage over here called plaid circus so the can is a bunch of plaid and they are non-alcoholic cocktails this is their vespa rosa which is a bitter red aperitif with club soda they also have a kimono dragon this one is juniper and spice yuzu and then they have a bubblegum fantasy which is interesting bubblegum with a burst of bubblegum euphoria with orange lemon and white tea and then one last one their orange lush which is a liquid dreamsicle they say so lots of really interesting flavors some seem a little bit more complex and like refined and some are like nostalgic flavors.

30:18Love the packaging, plaid circus and love the flavor differentiation from what we typically see in those types of products. So yeah, I think there's maybe a slight disconnect between that sort of, I don't know if I would, how would you describe that branding? It's not minimalist. It seems pretty straightforward. It doesn't really, it doesn't scream fun, but I still, I love it. But it doesn't scream fun. It doesn't really align with bubble gum as much as I wanted to. It's interesting, like plaid, you think of plaid, you think of maybe traditional or cozy, comfy. And then they have like a kimono dragon flavor, but then they also have a bubble gum flavor.