Let's Play 'Is It Innovative?' And, Why Are Celebrities Flocking To Coffee?

0:10Hello and thanks for tuning in to taste radio the number one podcast for the food and beverage industry I'm Ray Latif, the editor and producer of Taste Radio, and with my co-host for this episode, John Craven, Jackie Brugliera, and Mike Schneider. Mike Schneider, who I just woke up with my spirited intro. That was very spirited. I was just picturing everyone in a podcast. You know, if you're driving late at night, Ray Latif can keep you awake. Oh, that's a good idea. Late night Taste Radio. Late night Taste Radio. I remember growing up actually and listening to some of those late night broadcasts because I couldn't go to sleep for some reason, like those nights where you stay up because you're worried about a, I don't know, high school assignment or something like that.

0:49You end up staying up till two in the morning, watching, listening to all these like weird radio talk shows. That was me. That explains a lot. Did you ever listen to Sleepy Magic? It was this man that was just, you know, his voice was just so soothing. And then he would have like very slow jams playing. I'd have that playing as I slept. Let's listen to some slow jams. No, this is straight up talk radio where people would call in to this guy. It was actually called TalkNet. You can look it up on YouTube because I looked this up. And it's this guy who was apparently this just, I don't know, everyday genius or expert when it came to everything.

1:23So he was like, if you had a financial question, he could answer a financial question. He had a question about, I don't know, raising your kids. He could answer these questions. It was just such a weird situation. You weren't staying up because of high school stress. You were staying up because this was your hero. Because I wanted to be an adult. Exactly. This is what you wanted to do with your life. I feel like you were probably watching some WWF in there too. it's possible but you know i actually talk about throwback this morning for some reason you wake up sometimes and there's like a song stuck in your head and the right stuff from new kids on my head you ever think about that and i just you know oh oh oh what's in the middle the white stuff what the hell are you talking about oh okay bring it back to food always always trying to keep it you know, on brand.

2:13What I wasn't thinking about this morning was whether or not I wanted an RTD Sprite and vodka in my life. And I was pretty surprised to see this. In the news came out yesterday that Coca-Cola is aligning with absolute vodka to create a new RTD product. I didn't even know Sprite and vodka was a thing. Is it? Yeah, it's definitely a thing. I feel like it's kind of like Jack and Coke, especially in college or people that are looking for a simple mixer. It's really easy for people. So I think it's very common. Is this like a millennial thing? Because I've never had that in my life. You can put anything in Sprite.

2:51So they do. Yeah. People do Mountain Dew, Fanta, you know, anything that's a soda product could go with vodka. Just the most simple mixer they can find like Sprite, Mountain Dew. Okay. I get it. You could also mix the Mountain Dew and the Sprite, it would probably still taste good. Okay, maybe it's a European thing. I mean, you're more of a Vodka Rocks guy, right? I'm not a... No. Well, I mean, it is a product that, I don't know, I hate when they do announcements like this. It's like next year in Europe. Yeah. So, I mean, maybe it's a big thing in Europe. Maybe this combo is a bigger thing in Europe than it is in the U.S.

3:25because it is going to launch next year in Europe, including the U.K., the Netherlands, Spain, and Germany. the global benchmark for ABV is 5 % will vary depending on the market. And this follows, obviously, Coke's continued foray into our alcoholic beverages. They've launched a Jack and Coke where they've aligned with the Jack Daniels brand to create a Jack and Coke variety. They also have a Topo Chico hard seltzer, a Simply Spiked lemonade, and a Fresca mixed. And it's interesting because they're partnering with all different kinds of beverage alcohol companies on all these things. So the one with Absolute Vodka, Absolute Vodka is owned by Pernod Ricard.

4:06The one with Simply Spiked is part as a partnership with Molson Coors. And the Fresca product is a collaboration with Constellation Brands. So interesting that they're not putting all their eggs in one basket as it relates to their partnerships with beverage alcohol companies. I am marking my calendar. I cannot wait to enjoy a Sprite and Absolute during the Arsenal Champions League final. I think that's a Heineken thing. I think Champions League is Heineken or a bust. I'm going to be in Europe, so I'm going to have my absolute and sprite. What are you talking about? Did you already book a ticket to the Champions League final?

4:41Where is the Champions League final being held? Don't even know. I'm not looking that far. Okay. Yeah, you guys already have a loss. I was trying to be sarcastic. Okay. Ugh.

4:53I also saw this in the news. This was a little surprising. Actually, maybe not because, you know, no stain on Coke, but they really try a lot of stuff as it relates to extending the Coke brand. And oftentimes it is out there and it's not there in a year. At the NAC show, the National Association of Convenience Stores show, Coke introduced a new spiced product, which apparently is a new permanent sub line that will rotate flavors in and out, starting with raspberry. So I guess apparently it's a flavor that has more bite to it. So it's a raspberry Coke with a bit more bite derived from spice, which is, I don't know who's asking for that.

5:32Did they go big at the Knack show? Did they have Baby Sporty, Scary, and Ginger? Oh, for crying out loud. I mean, in case you weren't aware, Mike, the show was in Atlanta. Coke is based in Atlanta. So all signs point to yes. Pretty sure the tap water in the convention center is replaced with Coca-Cola. I was going to say Dasani, but yes, Coca-Cola. Again, I mean, I get that they're doubling down or tripling down on their big time brands, obviously Coke being one of them. But I wonder if this innovation is just innovation for innovation's sake or if it's actually going to move the needle if people are going to start reaching for a Coke spiced.

6:11I think it's more the former. And I guess it just makes me wonder what defines innovation anymore and what kind of innovation is going to make an impact on the market. it. Yeah, I don't know. I feel like it's another PR hit. Do you really see true innovation coming from strategics? It's just something that goes into the market. They test it out. If it works, it sticks. If it doesn't, they go back to the drawing board. I also saw in that article that they have Sprite chill. Like, what is that? They have something where it's just makes the back your throat a little bit colder, which I don't think that's innovation.

6:48Is anyone asking for So in the story that Jack is referencing, written by our managing editor, Martin Caballero, it promises to be the, quote, coldest Sprite ever thanks to a cooling agent, i.e. a chemical, that leaves a lingering cold sensation in the back of your throat. What if it makes you permanently cold in the back of your throat? I don't know. I mean, it is like who wants more chemicals? Maybe it's like liquid nitrogen chilled or something like that. I can almost guarantee that it is not a natural cooling agent. But, you know, back to what you were saying before about this sort of strategy for this.

7:28You know, I don't know. Like, they've been doing these new flavor things for like a long time. And I feel like if you try one of them and you don't like it, your sort of mind is like, I actually kind of just like regular Coke better. So it makes you think about regular Coke or Pepsi or whatever. And I don't know, maybe have a few of those. and it's like the house always wins. It drives you home every time. You try to leave home and then you come right back. Well, I don't know. I mean, maybe just beverage innovation in general has kind of slowed a bit. I was in Wegmans a couple of days ago and I remember when I went into that, so it was at Wegmans in Brookline, Mass, not too far from where I live.

8:06And I remember going in there about five years ago and their beverage section was pretty robust with entrepreneurial brands, interesting products, with novel ingredients and formulations. And I saw a lot less of that this time around. We have a whole beverage cooler. We have two or three actually full of brands that beg to differ with you. I'm aware of that, but - Eutropics, adaptogens, mushrooms, CBD. Are retailers buying into that as much as they had been in the past? Yeah, I mean, look, this is all, it's part of the cycle. For sure. It's what happens, you know? Like we can't just have crazy new stuff all the time.

8:41Sometimes we just got to prove the stuff that's on the market, that it works. and yes, that seems to be to some extent like what kind of part of the cycle we're in right now, which is not to say, yes, the part of the proof cycle, which is not to say that there's not new innovative stuff out there. It just is kind of okay to improve upon and, you know, win with good execution and something that's familiar, but who knows, you know, that can and has in the past changed very quickly in the beverage world. So. Yeah. And to what you were saying, I feel like there's been a huge swell of innovation and functionality.

9:17And there's just a lot of different messaging and ingredients that are out there. And to your point, consumers need to be educated and almost need to catch up on all of this. So it might be like micro innovation or small tweaks to packaging or additional like small functional features, but there's not huge product categories that are, you know, being introduced right now. I feel like a lot of it is just like you said, Jackie, the amount of it coming into the industry decides if it's innovation or not. Like it's happening, but it's all about, you know, how many new brands are coming into play and how much are we talking about the new ingredient versus trying to just, you know, see if consumers like it, sitting on what we have, you know, having like a simple message.

10:03I mean, I think this goes back to, you know, why do entrepreneurs start new brands versus is why do conglomerates launch brand extensions or new products? I mean, I think the conglomerates are basing their innovation strategies on data, market research, surveys, et cetera, whereas entrepreneurs are trying to fill, and typically they always say this, typically trying to fill a hole in their own lives that they feel like others have as well. So the thing with Coke Spiced, I don't know, maybe the marketing team at Coke is saying, oh, well, people like a little bit of heat or spice in their beverages.

10:39Let's see if it works with Coke. Apparently, I just Googled this and the spice in there is not even clear. They haven't revealed, I guess, what it is. Someone actually did taste this and it said it tasted like someone added a teaspoon of cinnamon powder to a bottle of Coke. Once again, I don't know who's asking for these things. I don't know if that would fill a hole in my life. It can't be the first time cinnamon Coke has been a thing. Could it, John Craven? I was going to say, it sounds familiar, but who knows yeah there have been so many flavors there's the coke freestyle that has like all those different wonky flavors that they don't sell rtd so yeah who knows whereas i did an episode of elevator talk or hosted an episode of elevator talk yesterday i was talking to one of the founders of twirl milk tea which is a low sugar low calorie non-dairy tea latte product that she described as creating its own category.

11:32Now, milk teas have been in the market for a long time. They're pretty ubiquitous in Asia, but in this country, we haven't seen too many of them and certainly not a low calorie, low sugar version. So whether or not she's really creating a new category, I think you could probably quibble with that. But she is definitely bringing something new to the market that I feel does fill a need. I love milk teas, but I always avoid them because they are high sugar and high calorie. Want a cinnamon Coke update? that's gonna be a reoccurring theme in this episode i can tell specifically in 2019 coke's gift to us was coca-cola cinnamon the drink reappeared the following year in 2020 but for a limited time it has been mia ever since interesting like many products there you go but they you know they can just bring it back like like you said under a different under a different label or it might not be even an innovative beverage it might be something we've tasted before and just didn't work out and under the previous name or packaging and they're just slightly bring it back.

12:29That happens. Yes. I don't know. They should just give us ghost pepper Coke. Ghost pepper Coke. Come on, do it. No, Jackie's like, stop. No spicy. Oh boy. Yeah. Sorry, Jackie. Bringing up bad memories there. How about a flat Coke? Have you ever had a flat Coke? Yeah. But you just open it and leave it for a while. Yeah. And then you just toss it. Tastes terrible. Does it? Yeah. Just tastes like syrup. I'm certain you've had one at a restaurant at some point in your life where they accidentally ran out of gas. Yeah. So that's, I think, the only place I've ever had one. I don't know. I think there's some appeal to a flat Coke sometimes if you don't want too much carbonation.

13:11Hey, you do you, I guess. Well, if they do create a flat Coke, you know what they should put it in? A Tetra Pak. Tetra Pak carton. Man, I wanted one more comment. I was going to tell you to go drink some Diet Coke and eat some Mentos. Let us know how that works out. Well, your comment has been heard. Speaking of things that would explode in a Tetra Pak. I don't think that the folks at Tetra Pak would advocate for anyone to use their cartons in that way. It would happen. No, but in all seriousness, I do want to thank our presenting sponsor for this episode. That is Tetra Pak, the pioneering packaging solutions company that provides safe, innovative, and environmentally sound products that each day meet the needs of hundreds of millions of people around the world.

13:56Learn more at tetrapack.com. You know what? Actually, now that I think about it, and I'm being totally serious about this, a milk tea would work really well in Tetra Pak. Because I think, for me, a milk tea is more of a sipping kind of thing. And in a can, I'm probably going to sip it over the course of like a couple hours. Whereas if it was in a Tetra Pak. On a front porch? On a rocking chair? On a hot day? With straw? Mike, the marketing machine over here. Nothing to do. Just rocking back and forth. Painting the picture for everyone.

14:31I saw this in our Slack the other day, and I got to bring it up. I didn't even know. Okay, teen moms. I didn't realize this is still a thing, but people are obsessed with teen moms. Where are we going here? Yeah, we're totally obsessed. Okay, so. The TV show, not actual teen moms. Yes. To clarify, thanks, Jack. This was in the Newswire. Reality TV starlet Janelle Evans announced the launch of a new brand, Time of the Day, a functional mushroom coffee they are available for pre-order exclusively at time of the day dot shop to teen moms only what was that all about i don't i don't know what's the transition there no the thing is it's like i mean yeah this just feels on all levels like it doesn't make any sense.

15:17And maybe it's just because I'm not a teen mom, I don't know, fan. Where are we going with this? Like you don't watch the TV show. I'm not a teen mom fan. No, like there's a TV show called Teen Mom. Yes. And everyone who's a celebrity, whether they're like an F-list celebrity or an A-list celebrity, seems to be getting into CPG. But just, come on, this just seems a little strange. Just so you guys know, Ray Latif is a D-list celebrity. I am an H-list celebrity actually. Is this the one point in time where you're going to recommend that they should have launched a celebrity tequila? I'm just trying to figure out how a, I don't know, complex and complicated idea like functional mushroom coffee applies to the fans of Teen Mom and reality TV starlet.

16:05Okay, so let's give them the benefit of the doubt here. Let's say they're just a normal person and they want to launch a, what is it, a mushroom coffee? Functional mushroom coffee. Okay, fine. So you're really passionate about that. But you also happen to be a celebrity of whatever level. Of course you're going to use that to your advantage and give it a try, right? I mean, I guess maybe this is just, it's just a real product launch, but that's the PR. You're definitely not going to hide it. No. No. And she says that she does have health issues. So she's used functional mushrooms in her own life.

16:40We've got the story. So she has the story. She probably has an audience of other moms that drink coffee every morning. What's the promise? Do they have a promise to go with the story? Everyone has our story, our promise. I don't know her promise yet, but I think what she's trying to sell is just, you can, you know, heal your body. You can have the energy and moms are busy. So, you know, if she has an audience, that is interested in buying that product it might not be something that has super wide reach but if her audience wants to buy it why not no we should have just let jackie set this whole thing up we just did excellent now look i i i think anytime you see someone launching a product in a gold rush category a lot tequila you sort of question like you know is there some real authenticity also it's kind of like you can't be like i had health problems so i launched a tequila right it's not like some life thing, right?

17:37So that is the only reason right off the bat, I was like, maybe this is like legit. I have not read this press release, but your description, I tried to make some sense of it. Just makes more sense than like, you know, celebrities co-signing, like you said, on a spirits brand, even if they don't drink, you know, we've seen so many celebrities that say that they do not drink alcohol, but they're still promoting alcohol. So I think this is more authentic than that. That's a good point, Jackie. And maybe we should try this. Apparently it's a rich instant coffee with a touch of nature's mushroom magic reishi and turkey tail for energy and recovery.

18:17Seven superfood blend for immunity and overall wellness and lines made in cordyceps for memory, support and stamina. I am sure all the buzzwords that Janelle and her team at time of the day are ecstatic that we're talking about this on the podcast. Coffee and mushrooms. I want to try it. Okay. And to note, John didn't read the press release. You didn't read my show notes that I sent at 1030 a.m., a half hour before we started the show? I take pride in deleting that message.

18:43Okay. You know, I saw this as well. Another, now this guy is a bit more of a celebrity. I would call him maybe a B-plus celebrity. Cole Hauser, who was the star of the hit TV show Yellowstone. Is he an A-list? Okay, hold on. What are these celebrity rankings? I don't know. I mean, like Cole Hauser, I know. You're very specific. It's like B +, but maybe just a B -. Maybe Ray has a whole list of all the celebrities, and he's ranked them. George Clooney, A-list celebrity. Okay, Cole Hauser, star of Yellowstone, a hit TV show, which I've never watched, to be fair. I'm going to give him a B +, but he should probably be an A, because Yellowstone's a big hit.

19:18You know why, Jackie? Kevin Costner, who's actually the biggest star on Yellowstone, A-list. Ray's tracking his own ascension on the list. Or decent. I have no... First, you have to be on the list, Mike. He's like, if I could just take out Cole Hauser, I'll be a B+. I'm going to be. Okay, so you may know Cole Hauser from a couple movies, Good Will Hunting. He was not the Ben Affleck, Casey Affleck, or Matt Damon. He was the other friend in the group of four friends. Yep. They had another friend? Yes. Didn't we talk about him in the last episode? No, we were going to, and then we didn't. We deleted that part.

19:50Yeah. Mike deleted it. And then we deleted it. We just didn't start talking about it. Mike deleted it again. And he was also in Dazed and Confused. He was one of the football players who was doing the hazing. Anyway, he has officially launched Free Rain Coffee, which is, according to the press release, a new coffee brand that draws its spirit from the open promise of the American dream. The cowboy coffee. Yes. Paying tribute to the hardworking cowboys that he grew up on and off set. We have bags of it. When I think about coffee, I think about cowboys. Uh, yeah. We're going to brew some up after this.

20:27So once again, um, you know, interesting that, uh, this guy is trying to sell coffee and his fans, I don't know. Is this an authentic, do we, is this as authentic as a time of the day, Jackie? I don't know. I don't know. I mean, he is on Yellowstone. He's hanging out with Cowboys on set. I guess this makes sense for him. I'm going to start, I'm going to get, I'm going to bring a lasso to the cafe moving forward. It does have this chill picture of him. Slash of all of our customers. It has this close-up of him with a mug of coffee with the Free Rain logo. And it's close up to his face. And he looks like a cowboy that's just waking up in the morning.

21:10Just waking up in the morning. Ready to go on to the ranch and, you know, wrassle up some, I don't know what they do with the cowboy, actually. Does the press release actually mention Yellowstone? Yeah. It says, Actor Kohlhauser, star of Yellowstone. I thought they're not supposed to be doing that right now. I don't think they're supposed to be doing that either. No, I was going to say, he's got, he's on, I mean, I assume he's a SAG member and he's on strike, so he can launch a coffee company. Oh, wow. But I don't think he's supposed to be mentioning, he should be like, from that cowboy show. You know, they probably already sent us like, We're getting a cease and desist.

21:43Eight emails being like, you can't mention Yellowstone, but here it is, still on BevNet.com. Oh. Yeah. Cut that. Read all about it. Well, we have not tried his coffee either. We have it sitting in the next room. Okay. The package does look nice. I will give him credit for that. It does. I'll give him credit. We have to try it. Let's try it. Yeah. Everyone needs coffee, including Cowboys. Yeah. So why not? Cowboys definitely need the coffee. Next episode. John Landis doesn't need coffee. He doesn't drink coffee. He's the one person who doesn't need coffee. I always use a neuro-boosting agent before these shows.

22:16Shows. Okay. Okay, so when I say like a brain support, I don't know, supplement. See, I guess it doesn't work because I can't speak. The one I always take is a brand called Nutri, N-U-T-R-I by Nature Fusions. I actually got this from like Expo West. They had this in the media lounge. And I love it. I don't know exactly what's in it, but it feels like it does something for me. Or maybe it's a placebo effect kind of thing. How far before the episode do you have to take it? I don't know. It's not working. It's not working. Also, the way you just showed that, I feel like it should end with go to tasteradio.com forward slash whatever for 30 % off your first order of whatever that stuff was called.

22:55Ray's affiliate link. Use coupon code RayLikesIt. It got very Joe Rogan. It did. It got a little weird. Yeah. Things got weird. Commercial, it's just like your brain expanding. Yeah. This is what he uses instead of professional medical care. Well, I guess.

23:09Sorry, Ray. The active ingredients in this thing are selenium, molybadenum, and glycine. Those are the things. Oh, and there's actually, no, the key ingredient is N-A-C-E-T, which is, I can't read anything. Thanks, Dr. Ray. Here I am talking about how important it is to have ingredients that people can understand and easily learn about. And now you're pitching affiliate links and crazy supplements. Oh, Jesus. I mentioned that note because I got sent a cognitive switch shot or a cognitive boosting shot from Juvenessence. It's actually called Cognitive Switch. This is a tropical flavor. It supports a healthy brain using ketones.

23:52It says that ketones are an efficient energy source that promote mental performance. I'm going to go for one. Now, you're supposed to drink this half an hour before you want the boost, which I obviously didn't. Oh, lucky us. Is it just crap on Ray Day or what the heck is going on today? He'll be boosted 30 minutes after this tripe is over with. The thing is, Ray, we've seen where we rank on the celebrity list. It's far below you. Hold on. I want to show my neuro product here. Okay, go ahead. Oh, everyone has neuro products. While I'm opening my Juvenessence bottle, which is actually rather challenging to open.

24:26Okay, John's going to talk about it. Do you want a screwdriver? No. Ray is struggling. John is an actual screwdriver, not vodka and orange juice. What's wrong with us today? I don't know. The show is amazing. I'm not gonna lie. I wanted to open this package of cookies and the first thing I found that would probably Tiny little screwdriver you realize our studio director is gonna be looking for that Anyway, this is not for neuro support. It's just super tasty. This is the St. Agri's this phony mezcal Negroni. It is a non-alcoholic cocktails bright red liquid Crack one of these is it cold? No way.

25:04No time for that This might be one of the best RTD cocktails I've had so far. It's not oak. It's not oak, yeah. How come we didn't have cups for this? You always bring cups. Well, I might have one upstairs. He has 16 more at least. They sent him a box. Does it taste just like a new groaning? No, I actually bought these. Did you? Yeah. I was like, they Instagrammed it. I'm like, I don't want to waste time asking for free samples. I just want to order it. I thought those were samples. No, I'll share them. I have more. No, you've been spreading the wealth. that thing is tasty but yeah these are super good i mean i think it's nice and smoky there have been some attempts to create mezcal in a non-alc form but this is like the first one that i think really nails it it's a beautiful bottle yeah and they also nailed the negroni yeah they also have a phony negroni they make a regular negroni uh and they have these nice sort of uh tapered i don't know what you would call this shape bottle definitely not a boston round no but anyway it reminds me of the bottle you know that water company called found oh yeah yeah all right so uh i was managed to open up the juvenescence the the cognitive switch i should call it that and uh the shot actually looks like a milkshake inside it's i'm not gonna lie it's scaring me a bit um i'm just gonna take just a quick oh um looks like elmer's glue it actually does have the consistency of a milkshake.