Michelle Obama's Foray Into CPG – On Target Or Missing The Mark?

0:10hello friends and thanks for tuning into taste radio the number one podcast for the food and beverage industry I'm Ray Lateef, the editor and producer of Taze Radio, and I'm with my co-host for this episode, Jackie Brugliera, Mike Schneider, and Melissa Traverse. Get access to limited swag and exclusive content by becoming a Taze Radio VIP. It's easy for you to join that group of very important people. Just head to TazeRadio.com slash VIP and take one minute to sign up. Well, John Craven is in Vermont today, which means we're blessed with the presence of Melissa Traverse. Melissa, how are you?

0:46I'm fantastic. The pleasure is all mine. You fill the seat very well. Oh, thanks. Graven, I think, actually, I don't think he sits up as well as you do, though. Like, you have better posture. I've worked on that. It's taken me a long time, but I fill a seat. Yeah. I feel like I'm kind of, like, slouching. We're all slouching. We're like, oh, goodness. We're now regrating our posture. It's slightly problematic because we have these wonderful green velour chairs, which are just so comfortable. Jackie, do you have one of these nice chairs to sit in? No, it's like a very, hits the low back and it doesn't help me sit up straight.

1:22Isn't that one of our BevNet stage chairs? Yeah, it's a stage chair. Repurposing. Practicing. We need to get Jackie a velour chair or something very comfortable at the very least. And I can just like, you know. You do find yourself just sinking right into it though. Well, she does that. Jackie has one advantage and that's it's a swivel chair. So if she's trying to reach for something, it's easier to do. So when I reach for something, I basically bang my head into the microphone or into some product that I'm trying to reach for. So I'll be bad when I'm fidgeting, though. And then I'm like, hey.

1:55No fidgeting. Do people say that anymore? There was fidget spinners. Remember those fidget spinners? Yeah, people still have fidget spinners. Really? Now they're encouraging the kids to fidget in my day. I know, right? I don't like fidget spinners. Life would have been so much easier if I could just fidget all the time. No, they had stress balls. I mean, they still have stress balls that they give out at trade shows, you know, for people who get angry at work. And there are also these little cubes. You ever see these where like it has like little snaps and push-up buttons? Yeah, yeah. Fidget cubes.

2:27Fidget cubes. Yeah. I think those are a little bit less distracting than a fidget spinner for everyone else. Except for the noise that they make. Yeah, constantly flicking a thing around. Flick, flick, flick. I mean, our teachers are just like, sit still. Will you sit still? Please sit still. Stop talking. Sit still. I miss so many recesses. Jesus, Mike. You need to talk to someone about this? I think I just did. That was kind of scary. I think I just did. Thanks, everybody. Thanks, Taste Radio listeners. Well, on that note, today is the last day to apply for new Beverage Showdown 25. It's pretty much a no-brainer.

3:00We've been talking about this. It's a no-brainer if you're in an early-stage beverage brand. The exposure, the advice, the networking, your brand being top of mind with industry gatekeepers, It is the right thing to do. We've had a ton of applications already come in, and we're looking for more. Again, today is the last day to apply. And, you know, whenever we do the New Beverage Showdown, the feedback we always get from the brands that participate is, this was outstanding for getting my name and my brand's name out to the industry. It is so hard to get that kind of awareness. And when you're on stage in front of all those industry gatekeepers, all those people who are so influential in the beverage industry, it's, you know, you can't really put a price on it.

3:42You're going to get a lot of great feedback. You become a celebrity for the event basically and you don't have to, you know, start your conversations with your pitch. Yeah, and it's not just about winning. There's been so many past participants that haven't won and have gone on to be super successful. It's all about getting on stage, getting that visibility, getting some feedback. And like Mike said, being a little mini celebrity at BevNet Live. Just say it, Jackie. Mike screwed up liquid death. I wasn't going to say I just, you know. I have an important question about New Beverage Showdown. If somebody had a beverage brand, why wouldn't they apply?

4:20It doesn't cost anything to apply. The application is pretty straightforward and easy. We ask for a video and a few questions about your business. And if you do make it on stage, it's so much fun. And I'll just reiterate everything everyone said here. the exposure and the feedback that you get, not only from the judges, but folks who are at the show is invaluable. And you can do that video on your phone. You don't need like J.J. Abrams to produce it or anything. You can just shoot it on your phone. We just want to see who you are and get a sense of how you're going to pitch and make sure you're a little bit prepared to be up on stage because, you know, that part can be a little bit daunting for people.

5:00But again, it's a safe space. It's a great place to pitch. Leading up to the event, we actually support those brands that are going to get up on stage with holding a couple meetings with our team, with people outside of our team that have been there in their shoes to show them the ropes, to give them advice and feedback on their pitch as they prepare and to get ready for BevNet Live. Absolutely. And just to say it one more time, you know, if you're on stage and you don't want the competition, you still might be on stage later in your journey as a speaker at Bednet Live, just like the three brothers from Super Coffee, the three brothers and co-founders from Super Coffee are exciting to see those folks in June.

5:43And just off the top of my head, we mentioned Super Coffee, Vive Organic, Liquid Death, all brands that didn't win the competition, but are prime time and well-respected and well, highly distributed brands across the United States. So if we haven't made it clear, you should definitely, if you're an early stage brand, apply for New Beverage Showdown 25. We want to see you in New York City in June. And of course, there are lots of other folks that want to meet you in June, including suppliers and service providers. Is one of them AFS? One of them being AFS, Applied Food Sciences, which is the leader in innovation for functional organic ingredients in the natural products industry and is built on the belief that quality is transparent from seed to label through organic farming, ethical sourcing, and sustainability.

6:32You can learn more at AppliedFoods.com. I love their website, too. It's very straightforward, easy to navigate. And if you're looking for an answer, you can find it pretty quickly. Check out AppliedFoods.com. And thanks, AFS, for partnering with Taste Radio. Of course. Thanks, AFS. Mike mentioned J.J. Abrams earlier, and it's because we were chatting about J.J. Abrams. And, you know, the director, he's well known for the new Star Trek movies, some of the Star Wars movies, Cloverfield, Lost, the TV show. Were you a big Lost fan, Melissa? Yes, I absolutely was. Really? Oh, yeah. Did you watch every episode?

7:05Every single episode, yeah. Did you watch it more than once? No, that's really a one and done series, I think. Is it? Okay. Once the big reveal happens, I think, yeah, you're all done. I haven't seen a single. I think I know how the show ends, but I'm not. I didn't get into Lost either. I think the biggest reason was because HBO series already existed and I didn't want to just wait through commercials. Like, you know, when you watch Lost on ABC for the first run, you'd be sitting there every four minutes just like twiddling your thumbs. And I just don't like that. It got a little lost at the end, if you will.

7:42But I stuck it through. Okay. Good to know. Well, anyway, I thought J.J. Abrams did a really good job with that new Star Trek movie. I think that, but that came out, oh gosh, like at least 11 to 10 or 11 years ago at this point. But I don't know. I love the idea of Star Trek being this future where everyone isn't necessarily focused on money, but is focused on a better society, like a better civilization for all people. I think everyone, you know, generally wants, you know, good things for all people. And I kind of feel like that's why Michelle Obama got involved in the beverage industry. The breaking news from last week was that Michelle, the former first lady, announced that she's joining a kids drink brand called Plezi as a co-founder and strategic partner.

8:31And the focus is part of her overall focus to fight childhood obesity. Plezi is a foreskill line of beverages currently sold at Sprouts and Target stores. It's sweetened with stevia and monk fruit. and it has 75 % less sugar than average, leading 100 % fruit juices. It's also fortified with fiber and other nutrients. Huge story, huge story. Are you on a first name basis with Michelle Obama? Because I always call her Michelle Obama, but you're on a first name basis with her and J-Lo. I mean, Ray Latif, mover and shaker. Ray knows important people. You know, that's a dream bucket list interview is Michelle Obama for sure.

9:09Oh, absolutely. Yeah, like every time a celebrity gets into the food and beverage space. Are you like stoked? Are you like, this is my chance? Yeah, well, sometimes. I mean, it depends on if it's a A-list celebrity or if it's an E-list celebrity. I mean, E-list ones are pretty... E-list ones aren't necessarily the most exciting ones to get, but I think Michelle Obama's like an A++ celebrity. I think she's on her own list. Yeah. Yeah, she's top of the pyramid. But, you know, in terms of impact, I mean, this is really interesting because she's not just going to associate her name with any brand.

9:46And, you know, Plesi is an interesting company. And I think about what the upside and sort of the potential of this partnership is, you know, in terms of broad impact. I think it's interesting because she's starting with a beverage. I think maybe the thought process is that it's something that's approachable, that is a little bit easier to get into schools than maybe a food brand. It's also a closer one-to-one alternative to some of the fruit juices and sodas that are in schools now. So it's a little bit more approachable for kids. It's less of a leap to something that's maybe more functional or not as tasty.

10:27And I'm very, very curious about just what's next too, because it seems like Plesi is going to be a platform for other products as well. And this is just where they're getting started. Yeah, I mean, that's their statement of identity, or at least their mission statement on their website is to be a driver for change, creating higher standards for how we make and market food and beverages for our kids. That's a pretty bold statement and a big mission for sure. But with Michelle Obama on board, you know, who knows? I think this might be one of those brands that is as spoken and top of mind as, say, Liquid Death is or Prime.

11:07Now, not everyone loves this partnership. You know, we saw a little bit of backlash on Twitter, of course. You know, that's expected. Oh, shocking. Yeah. There is someone named Callie Means, who is the co-founder of True Med Payments and the co-author of an upcoming book on health. I guess he is associated with Stanford and Harvard as well. and he tweeted that yesterday, as in the day this was announced, Michelle Obama announced that she is partnering with a junk food company to sell sugar water to kids. We must speak plainly. This is a cynical cash grab. Kids don't need safer cigarettes and they don't need safer sugar water.

11:43They need leadership. That's pretty biting. You know, that's a pretty cynical view of this announcement and this partnership. To Mike's point, I would be, I would also be interested in hearing what the vetting process was. Michelle Obama is so well known for trying to incorporate, as we discussed, more vegetables into school lunches and healthier school lunches. So I would be super interested in understanding what her vetting process was in wanting to partner with Plesi. And so I get why some people are concerned about, you know, a beverage that has added sugar in it, but we're not going to wipe off the face of the planet, at all beverages with added sugar, all kids' beverages with added sugar.

12:26So this is a step in the right direction. And I feel like that's kind of what Michelle Obama is looking at. She's looking at the big picture. Okay, how can we get better drinks in the hands of kids? We know it's not going to be an overnight thing, but let's take a step-by-step process in that direction. Yeah. It seems like she's trying to meet kids where they are. Bottom line here is that we need Michelle Obama to join us for a future episode of Tase Radio. to just dispel the controversy. We just need to just flesh this out entirely, you know, and hear it from the former first lady herself. Now, Plesi isn't the only brand that's trying to create better for you products for modern consumers.

13:06There's a lot of folks in Target's new, its latest, takeoff and food beverage class is part of Target's accelerators program. They just announced that 10 emerging food and beverage brands have joined that class, including some that we've mentioned here on the podcast. So many that we love. Yes. Glownuts. Glownuts. Resist. Resist nutrition. Immoral. Immoral. Yeah. One of my favorites, Homia's in there. Homia. I am craving Loxa lately. I mean, theirs is so good. I want to eat it for breakfast. Yeah. Also, Brooklyn Tea, Bumpin' Blends, Mocktail Club, Better Chew, Honeycutt Kitchen, and Soldadera.

13:44Congratulations to all those 10 brands. It's a six-week program, virtual six-week program. And it is, according to Target, designed to give these folks an MBA in retail with help in merchandising, digital marketing strategy, packaging, and optimizing supply chain management. So interesting stuff for sure. You know what we need? We need an upstart Chartreuse company to solve all these supply chain issues that we're seeing with Chartreuse. Now, if you don't know what Chartreuse is, A, you're missing out. And B, you're probably not alone. What is chartreuse, Melissa? Chartreuse is a product made by Carthusian monks since the 1600s, over 100 botanicals.

14:26It comes in a yellow and green variety. And I have gone down a chartreuse rabbit hole because just recently I understood that there's a chartreuse shortage. And do you want to know why? Yes. It's a spirit, right? A spirit? A spirit, yeah. I will say I am one of the people missing out, so I'm curious about that. chartreuse it's so good the last word is like probably one of the most famous cocktails made with chartreuse but the monks want to dedicate their time to prayer and solitude and no longer want to mass produce chartreuse that is so i guess there can't be an upstart brand of chartreuse because there's all like they would have to be like a breakaway group of monks starting their own brand.

15:14Maybe, I don't know what they would call it, but it's chartreuse. What's your favorite chartreuse cocktail, Ray? I don't really have one. I don't know. I used to do chartreuse jello shots. What? Chartreuse is expensive. That is very, those are very fancy jello shots. Well, there's, there's two things about that. Number one, chartreuse is a very, yes, well, it definitely comes in two colors, yellow and green. And chartreuse is actually the, is a color name. So it's the only liqueur I believe that is named after a color or vice versa. And in Boston, it's... Chartreuse. Chartreuse. My favorite, I think my favorite cocktail celebrates both the pomp and circumstance of Chartreuse.

15:55It is a naked and famous. Okay. Ooh, yes. That sounds appropriate. But, you know, Chartreuse Jell-O shots. So our dear colleague and friend, Adam Stern, frequent a bar in Boston on a pretty regular basis. And they would have this annual party where they would shut down the bar and have it open only for select patrons. And I think you would pay like a hundred bucks for a ticket to get in. But all the proceeds would go to a charity and it would just be a blowout party. And as part of the party, they would make chartreuse jello shots. And Adam would take a week off from work after attending the party.

16:35Recovering from the jello shots. Oh, no. I can hear it now. Oh, no. He never specifically said that it was because of the party. I think he called it like the flu. The chartreuse flu. The chartreuse flu is what it was. The char-flu. Char-flu. This char. Going back to the monks, do monks have to make chartreuse? Yes, they certainly do. Yes, it's a product made only by these monks in France, which is not to say that chartreuse won't be available from here on in. it'll be more widely available in France than other places. So it'll be more of like an allocation based thing. Another tip about chartreuse that I found while diving down in that rabbit hole is that if you want to find out which year your chartreuse was produced, you take a look at the top of the bottle.

17:24You take the first three numbers that you see, add them to 1084, and then you'll get the year that your chartreuse was created because chartreuse ages pretty well too. Interesting. I was just reading a New York Times article about this, and there was a former monk, apparently he's a former monk, who oversaw chartreuse production from 1986 to 1990. And following up on what you talked about, Melissa, he said, there's only so much chartreuse you can make without ruining the balance of monastic life. And, you know, it seems like it really is interrupting their monastic life because production is currently at 1.6 million bottles per year, the highest level since the 1800s.

18:04Wow. They were producing that much in the 1800s? Wow. Wow. I want to know what percentage is green and what percentage is yellow. The default is green, right, when you say chartreuse? Correct, yeah. The yellow is so lovely, though. Just pour it over a little ice. I love it so much. It's so good. You guys are tempting my sober curiosity. I have to go try it, but I don't know if I'm going to be able to find it. I know somebody who will send you some, Jackie. Yeah, yeah. We'll send you some chartreuse jello shots. Yes, please. All right, back to some non-alcoholic food and beverages. Congratulations to the folks at Better Sour, Bella Hughes, and Samira Niku, who are the co-founders of the Better For You gummy brand that is inspired by global flavors.

18:48They recently made their retail debut across California Erewhon stores this month. They're exclusively available at all nine locations of Erewhon until July before expanding into other retail accounts later this year. Good stuff. fabulous brand and a fabulous MENA brand. MENA standing for Middle Eastern and North African or of Middle Eastern and North African descent. Also known as the brand that I ate a whole bag of in front of the founders. They are so good. It's a lower sugar gummy, but I mean, I feel like they do a really good job with the product itself. Yeah, absolutely. Great packaging too.

19:23And speaking Speaking of great packaging and Erewhon, Struesli, that's spelled S-T-R-U-E-S-L-I, which is a granola or described by the company as a granola, redefined with no added sweeteners of any kind in packs of superfoods, recently introduced two new chef-crafted flavors in partnership with Erewhon. I have both of them here on my little side table. One of them is the original, and one of them is the cacao and coffee. they come in these cylinder packages, which are absolutely beautiful. Each one comes with tiger nuts, pecans, pecans or pecans? What do you think, Melissa? Yes. I say pecan. Pecan?

20:05Pecans. Yeah, I knew Jackie was going to say pecan. It's very much a Brahmin. It's the Brahmin accent. Pecan. Pecan. Walnuts, coconut flakes, hemp hearts, chia seeds, and flaked sea salt. Actually, the original comes with flake sea salt and the chia seeds, the cacao one does not. I would love to. I haven't tried these yet, but I can't wait to crack them open. I wanted to hold them until we talked about them. They look like scotch. Tempting us? Yeah. They look like scotch. It does. The packaging is gorgeous. Yes, it looks like if you open this up. I'm listening to what you're saying, but I'm like, that's granola?

20:38Well, the package, the cylinder package looks like it holds a scotch bottle inside. I was like, is this Islay granola? That's why you say pecan. Space side granola? Exactly. This is the pecan. Melissa has a space-eyed granola over there. Four grams of fiber, two grams of sugar. Those are some pretty good stats. Maybe Ray will let us try it. Maybe. Also, in terms of some delicious things that I haven't tried yet, but I'm excited to do so, Anjali Bhargava, who is the founder of Anjali's Cup, which is a maker of golden milk mixes and turmeric powders. Yes, please. Yes. Recently introduced a new product.

21:16I'm going to butcher the pronunciation of it. But it's Maz Haldi Dude Masala. That's a mouthful. Yes. Essentially, it's a golden milk mix with turmeric and ginger. The tin I'm holding in my hand. Oh my God, we are making lattes. Yes. And it has 20 servings. You just need to heat six ounces of milk with two ounces of water and a teaspoon of Maz Masala. Sweetened to taste. Okay, I'm going to make shots of that. We're going to make some golden milk lattes. So are you thinking like a dirty golden milk latte with espresso in it? No, no, no, no. Why would I pollute it? That's going to be amazing. Can you believe I said pollute in coffee?

21:55No, I'm shocked. I don't even know who you are anymore. But I love, love, love, love a turmeric latte. And that just sounds amazing. It is. Ray, earlier in the show, we were talking about better for you water. And this water, it comes in a pack that looks like, I guess, the leading, it looks like a Capri Sun pack. It sure does. So it's called Happy Water, H-A-P-I. And it's got zero grams of sugar and it's got the straw. It's got the whole, you know, the whole thing. This one in my hand is called Apple Joy. And I tried it. I thought, yeah, it's pretty good. You know, it reminded me of Capri Sun.

22:35And Gen Z in the office cannot get enough of this. like Amanda Huang and Colin, who receives all the samples and he's on our AdOps team. I saw him drinking it. They look like little kids when they're doing it. They have them like, they just, they basically, when it gets like three quarter done, they're just holding it by the straw in their mouths and just like little kids. It's amazing. We all want to feel like a little kid again sometimes. It's super, they told me it's just super fun to drink and it just takes them back to their childhood. Did you guys try the, uh, these sea monsters, seaweed puffs at Expo?

23:12I tried them at Expo West, but we tried them at the snack shot event. Oh yeah, that's right. I think these are super tasty. Um, they're made out of, you know, a few, a bunch of ingredients, but the two major components are sorghum and seaweed, which are both climate friendly ingredients. And I think sometimes with seaweed snacks in general, they can get a little fish foodie, but I thought that Zima... Which I don't mind, but I don't think everyone likes that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I thought they did a really nice job with the puff itself and the seasoning. I think those are a great alternative to Cheetos.

23:47And I like that, just that form factor and just the crunch, crunch, crunch of them. And yeah, I could eat a whole bag of those. My kids love those. I love the packaging and it's also just way more approachable than some other seaweed snacks or things on the shelves. So yeah, I think they did a great job. Yeah. They've got these little icons on the front. So there's a different character for each SKU similar to off limits. So it makes them keep friendly. They're a lot more approachable than your daily gloop, Jackie. Gloop. My CMOS. Oh, Jackie, are you into CMOS? Yes. Yeah, last episode we got down the rabbit hole.

24:26That was the rabbit hole last episode. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. I've been dying to, so I hear, I hear kind of like differing opinions. Like, is it bad for you? Is it good for you? Yeah. But Jackie's on sort of like a longitudinal study. So how are you doing? Do you have any gills, any sign of gills? No gills. I can't breathe underwater yet, but I'm working on it. We're working on Aqua Jack here. So what I'm going to eat for lunch today is a new product from Somos. So Somos, I'm just always impressed by the number of products they have and how many products they launched with. But this is a new skew of 90 second rice.

25:05So this is Mexican street corn white rice. Get in. Yeah. I love Mexican street corn living in San Diego. I mean, I eat it a lot. But this is really exciting that I I can eat this in 90 seconds and it has really quality ingredients. It's gluten-free, plant-based, non-GMO. So this is a recent addition to their line of products. Jackie means that she can not only make it in 90 seconds, but can eat it in 90 seconds. Less than 90 seconds I can eat it. Is it ready to eat? Do you add anything? Nope. You just pop it in the microwave and it's ready to go. I love that pouch packaging for these instant meals.

25:42It's just, it makes, well, and I love the - dozen cousins in my belly. Right. And I love that they have the option of microwavable preparation, or you can just open it up and put it into a pot for like two minutes. And it makes you feel like an astronaut if you eat out of the package. But it also reminds me of what used to be convenient back in the day was not very good for you. I remember in my college dorm room having packs that looked like this, but didn't have the same ingredients had way more sodium was not good for me. But that was what I was eating in the dorm and college kids these days have so many options.