Millions Or Meh? Gauging The Potential For Breakout Brands.

27:07Well, I guess my big question is how much is it? Because for peanut butter, I feel like I wouldn't spend a ton of money. Okay. So you're more of a Skippy sort of person. Yeah. If I'm buying peanut butter, I'm buying cheaper peanut butter. Jackie's been tapped out. No, I like this. You know, Jackie's making an excellent point here because this does look quite premium, even though it's a little, it has sort of a kid kind of appeal because one of these jars is like a lime green. The other one's like Easter colors, right? Very Easter pastel colors. And the two varieties are crunchy peanut butter and smooth peanut butter.

27:43But that's a good point. If something looks really expensive, maybe you're not even gonna attempt to pick it up off the shelf. I think two bits of feedback on this, you know, it's definitely against the grain to sell a nut butter of any kind where you can't actually see the product inside. And I think that's something that could be a bit of a challenge in that, you know, you can see for certain peanut butters that it's like kind of coarsely ground, for example, things that like appeal to the senses. And this doesn't have that, you know, that could work out either way, I guess. My only other immediate feedback is I saw this one, the crazy crunchy peanut butter first.

28:23And the word crazy was a little bit of like a stop and pause and be like, what, like, why is it crazy? Like what's in it? Is it a THC peanut butter or something? Okay. But fair point. Yeah. No, I think it certainly really goes against sort of the typical look. Yeah. And what's interesting is this is an organic brand, One Trick Pony. They make their peanut butter with organic roasted Argentinian nuts. And for the silky smooth one, just a little bit of Patagonian sea salt. But the USA organic seal is pretty small on the back. and there's a small note on the front that says just organic peanuts and salt.

29:04I wonder if organic would, certainly for a premium peanut butter brand, if you increase the size of that font, how much of a difference that would make for consumers? If you have the certification, you should put it someplace people can see it. Yeah, I think the packaging's interesting, but it's almost distracting from the quality a little bit. Like if they're going for quality, that's not really, I guess, coming through. Interesting. I wasn't expecting this conversation because this was promoted online, One Trick Pony's recent repackaging, and it seemed like people thought it was a home run. And I really do think it's standout.

29:38It's very differentiated. It's very disruptive on shelf. But the points that everyone has made are good. It's definitely CPG, social media, eye candy, for sure. Are we still playing the game? No, the game's over. You didn't even ask. Oh, I'm sorry, Mike. I'm sorry. I thought you chimed in. Here, hold on, hold on. You know the answer, though. Okay, what is the answer? I don't know the answer. I love peanut butter, so yes, I'm in. You're in just because of peanut butter? Yeah, just because it's premium peanut butter, so I'll try it. Oh, peanut butter? I'm in. Any kind of peanut butter. Okay. But I think the one thing that we haven't really talked too much about is just it's smart to have your peanut butter container upside down because, you know, just makes it easier to mix it, too.

30:15Right, because there's separation typically between the oil. Yeah, well, another brand that does that is Nutso. We've seen Nutso as well. So well done. All right, last? No, we have one more, and then we can get to yours. Okay. You have my product over there. I do have it. I do it. Okay. Come on. Hippies. Everyone knows Hippies. They're a maker of chickpea-based snacks. They introduced the new cheesy cheddar-flavored pops product, described as light and airy pea puffs, baked, not fried. To be completely honest with you, I'm going to give my two cents first here. Okay. I've always felt like the texture of Hippies has not been for me.

30:52It's a little too crunchy. I love it. It's a little bit like Captain Crunch. you would scratch the top of your mouth. It's kind of aggressive. It's definitely zigging while others are zagging for sure. Okay. Because we started with you last, Mike. Oh, thanks. We'll start with you. Is this a product that would fill a hole in your life? I like it. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So you'd buy this? Well, just because it's hippies and something different, I would want to try it. So yes, I would buy it at least once. Okay. Jack, is this do anything for you? Would you change? Would you cost your regular cheesy pops for this?

31:23I would eat it because I'm a huge smart food fan. So I would definitely eat this. But smart food is popcorn. Yeah, but it's still cheesy. You still get the cheesy elements. It's pretty different. It's the cheese. Yeah. Okay. All right. So, John? The snack itself. I don't know if you hold your... Let me see. I'm like, he's just holding it like in my face. But anyway. I think he did fine, right? I've tried these. They're pretty good. But I feel like the brand proposition for this is kind of confused. because it's a brand that's been around for, geez, how long has Hippie's been around? A decade? About that, yeah.

31:59Oh, shit. It kind of became a chickpea snack, and now this is like a chickpea, but also a pea puff. So I guess I... What is it? Is it a pea or a chickpea? And also... I think it's a little bit of both. Did they just process chickpeas to bring them back in as chickpeas? Well, it's chickpea flour and pea puffs. Yeah, it's a little bit of both. And is it fully plant-based with the cheese? oh good good question uh it says vegan so i'm gonna say that's a yes yeah so i mean i don't know i just my question for this is having seen a lot of brands that try to make a pivot away from whatever their core was i feel like that's what this product sort of represents a little for me and i just feel like it's a little bit of a muddled message if i'm being totally honest but it is it is a tasty snack when you get a chance to taste it there's a bit of nostalgia there for like old school puff cereal, but it's cheesy.

32:53So it's kind of an interesting combination of the two. Yeah, the one thing I would say about this is, and it's cheesy, they're spelling it C-H-E-E-Z-Y to get around any controversy or potential lawsuits around dairy. But not the cheddar. Yeah, but not the cheddar, ironically. The only reason I probably would not try this aside from my past experience with hippies is because it's described as light and airy pee puffs. I automatically assume it's going to be a compromise in taste, flavor, and texture because it's described as pee puffs. So I know transparency is great, and I understand what they're trying to do and make it very clear to the consumer what they're getting.

33:30But I'm not necessarily moved or interested or want to try this because of the word pee. Well, these are also what you probably wanted the other hippies to be too, because they're super light and airy, like they're almost fly away airy. So the crunch that you're expecting, the texture you're expecting from these is not what you're getting. Well, the other reason I might try these is only because the description is slightly reminiscent of Like Air Snacks. And I love Like Air Snacks. Like Air, my goodness. Those are awesome. Best new snack brand in some time. These are definitely crunchier. They're a little crunchier, but they're not like if you put them next to each other, you know, on a table and you tried them both, people wouldn't be disappointed in either of them.

34:08No. All right. Let's wrap up the banter here with John's. Okay, because do you want me to talk about it? Okay, do you want me to do your little Do my little thing? My thing. Oh, God. I dropped some things there. All right. Clean up in the studio. Final product is IQ Bar's new salted caramel chip bar that was made in collaboration with the very famous chef, Thomas Keller, of... Getting French Laundry. The French Laundry. The three Michelin star French Laundry, which is in some hot water of its own. Google it. So, anyway. So, IQ Bar. This looks delicious. It's got 12 grams of plant protein, one gram of sugar, and it says it has brain nutrients.

34:51These are tasty. But at a glance, another protein bar we're talking about here. Jackie, what's your feeling on this? At a glance, I think I would be skeptical and say no, because I would assume it doesn't taste good because it's really leaning on function. Interesting. Okay. Because of the plant protein or the brain nutrients? The brain nutrients just throws me off. Okay. Interesting. But it says IQ bar. But what about even on the protein bar scale? Because, I mean, none of them taste like a Michelin star restaurant meal. Yeah. So you wouldn't think this is tasty even with salted caramel chip flavor?

35:27I think it's just the brain nutrients makes me think of something that's like very functional. And that's going to be even more functional tasting, I guess. I like that we're trying to sell Jackie on this. And she's like, no. No. We're trying to get to the bottom of it. Just not a good problem. I'm doing my best Pitman Ray right here. She should be a consumer of this. I think I just don't like protein bars. What do you think Thomas Keller does here? What are you implying? Jackie needs to start eating some of this brain nutrient stuff. Yeah, right? Yeah, she does. It's like me with Cognizant. I've got to have that to have a good show.

36:04That is some good stuff. All right, John, to you. I'm sorry, busy chewing and housing. You've already been housing this. Hey, Mikey, he likes it. Well, first of all, I mean, all of the IQ bar flavors that I've had, especially the mint chip, tastes really good. I don't really understand the, at least from the package, I've read the press release. Thomas Keller just sort of getting dropped in there is kind of like, what did he do here? You know, is there going to be some like weird foam when I open this thing? Is there going to be a bill for like$700 when I open this? Oh, you know, you rip through the three stars on the package.

36:40That's the thing. regardless thomas keller or not it's a solid tasting bar i really like that this sort of function of iq bar products is just basically spelled out for you on the front of the package in a pretty simple way i mean obviously brain nutrients is something that people might wonder well what's that i mean and they nicely have a kind of bulleted list on the back there so For brains. This is, at least for me, like IQ Bar is a brand where, you know, I see one of their products and I'm like, this is going to be pretty good. And this definitely delivers. I mean, I like how it says that these are for brains.

37:19Although, I mean, I think people know magnesium is there. I don't know if they know about, you know, what vitamin E is for. But MCTs, I think those are also, you know, known for smarts and flavonoids. I don't know about that. And Lion's Mane adaptogen probably also. at least you got three of the five that are pretty well known as brain health ingredients so if you saw this on shelf next is perhaps a david bar sure you'd be reaching for this i would check that out i would check them both out and i'd look at the back okay yeah i would reach for this and that was kind of my point earlier of just like the curb appeal you know like this is another one it's got the sort of colors that appeal to the senses like you do see some caramel on top yep yeah and it's something that is well thought out for its appearance on shelf.

38:09So I don't have a problem with whey protein either. So I might look at these both and say, okay, for the same calories, I'm going to get 28 grams of protein. So I might go for the David bar. I will say this. I would have to pick this up, this IQ bar, and I probably would pick it up. And you can feel through the package that it is a bit of a softer protein bar, which definitely appeals to me. Yeah. And the size too, I think. Yeah, the size is good. Size is good too. It's a really tasty product. If I was to eat a protein bar and I put that like next to David, I'd probably lean more towards that because I'd want more function out of my protein bar if I was going to eat.

38:43She's coming around. She'd just have the barf bucket nearby because she doesn't like protein bars. There's dual functionality here. There's the protein and there's their brain function, if you want to call it that. So, yeah. Well, this was fun. We should do this again sometime. Let's see this again sometime. Maybe next week. Perhaps next week. Yeah. Great. Let's do it. All right. 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 TASERadio.com slash Insider to learn more.

39:19All right, let's get to our featured interviews for this episode, which spotlight two remarkable women on a mission to elevate the way we eat. Holly Arbuckle of Singing Pastures and Swati Alavia of Monsoon Kitchens. Fresh off her win at Naturally New England's Naturally Rising Pitch Competition, Holly shares the story behind Singing Pastures, a premium brand of fermented, slow-smoked meat sticks rooted in regenerative farming practices. She talks about her agricultural roots, the value of nutrient-dense food, and her vision for a more sustainable meat industry. Meanwhile, Swati, a nutritionist with a deep love for Indian cuisine, discusses Monsoon Kitchen's journey from serving institutions to launching retail products.

40:08She reflects on the challenges of scaling, the importance of staying true to culinary traditions, and her commitment to offering clean-label Indian meals.

40:21Hey folks, it's Ray with Taste Radio. Right now, I am supremely honored to be sitting down with Holly Arbuckle, who is the CEO of Singing Pastures. Holly, congratulations first and foremost. Thank you so much. I'm just thrilled right now. Yeah, we're here in Providence at the Naturally New England Naturally Rising Pitch Competition, which you won just now. And it was a tough competition. Some really great brands, really great presentations. But the judges heaped praise on you and your presentation. and your brand, Singing Pastures. For folks who aren't familiar with the brand, tell us what you do.

40:58So Singing Pastures is the name of our farm. We're a farm in Midcoast, Maine. And I'm always very clear that we don't single source from our farm. We source from other pasture-raised and grass-fed branches. But our farm, our product, so it started as a farm, and now we're a CPG brand also. So our hero product line is premium craft meat sticks. And Meat 6, definitely a category on the rise, but what makes yours different from all the other ones that are on the market? That's a great question. So what I was pitching tonight was the next generation of our products. So we've actually been making Meat 6 since 2016, and we have grown slowly over the years.

41:41So at the beginning, our differentiator was we were pasture-raised pork. A lot of the other sticks are grass-fed beef. That's kind of how we got our entry in. And we really talked a lot about farming because that's what we do. And we've been very involved in the regenerative agriculture movement. We've done a lot of studies with SARE. I did two SARE grants and we're with another one right now, which you don't need to know what that means. But the important thing is we're always pushing the envelope about nutrient density in meat and how it's important to know how the animal is raised. None of that is why I won tonight.

42:14We won tonight because we were talking about women and meat sticks. right now, historically, a lot of the brands were very masculine and macho. When you think Jack's Lynx, you know, Old Trapper, Slim Jim. And I give credit to Chomps and Archer that have really pushed that category. But what we're seeing is the reason that category is exploding is because of women. Women are looking for high protein. They're looking for, you know, snacks on the go. And we've just taken that to the next step. So we're launching our new packaging that is a lot more female oriented. It's Gen Z oriented. And we have a new recipe that has grass fed beef bone broth and grass fed collagen in it.

42:58So those things, I think, you know, we're looking to kind of talk to the women out there that are doing strength training and looking for protein. One of the things that for me looks a lot different or seems to be a lot different than other meat sticks that I've seen is that when you cut it open or bite it open, it actually looks like meat on the inside. Clearly that was an intentional decision or isn't, there's a lot of intentionality behind that. It doesn't feel processed, even though, you know, meat sticks, you know, they're processed. It is what it is. But, you know, how do you incorporate that kind of education into your marketing?

43:34Just make it clear that what you're eating, the ingredients are high quality, you can literally see them? So you said a couple of things that I want to touch on. One is that the way we make them is different. And I said that during my pitch tonight, they're fermented and then they're slow smoke. So the process of crafting we're doing is 16 hours. It's twice as long, maybe more than twice as long as most of those other sticks on the market, like Chomps and Archer. So they use encapsulated acid and liquid smoke. So the first thing is part of what's happening is just the way that it's made. And so that makes it kind of more tender and meaty where those sticks are dried down more.

44:17And so that's how they get the protein up. So part of the reason that we're making this evolution in our sticks is adding grass-fed beef bone broth. It's for the taste, but a fortunate by-product of that is that it also is going to be higher in protein. And then to your point about the processed food, I think of our sticks as a processed food, not an ultra processed food. And here's why. If you have yogurt, if you have sauerkraut, right, those are processed foods, right? Ours are fermented and then there's smoke. It's something you could do in your kitchen. We don't have any encapsulated acid.

44:50We don't have any partially hydrogenated oils in our sticks. And I think that is very different, right? That's a different step. So I'm always trying to tell people you want to eat food that you could make in your kitchen. Maybe you never will, but is it possible? Yes. Is it possible if I give you a stick of corn to say, go make corn oil out of it in your kitchen? Probably not, right? That's an ultra-processed food. So that's just the line that I think of between processed and ultra-processed, that we're trying to do it the slow way and the right way. Holly, you mentioned that a lot of the growth in the meat stick category is coming from female consumers.

45:29Are they shopping for meat sticks in the traditional places that we've seen them by the cash register? I guess where are the opportunities to merchandise meat sticks at retail and in what channels as well? So primarily we're going to be in the jerky aisle and then I think also by the cash register. So those are places. I think that this is part of the pivot. I think historically it was mostly men. Like 7 out of 10 people were men eating meat sticks and meat jerky. But when I was in high school, we were told to eat granola bars and do a lot of aerobic exercise. Now, pretty much across all age groups, from Gen Z to I'm Gen X, everybody that I know, my women friends are all looking for protein and they're doing strength training.

46:17Right. And we're doing that, you know, not like just to get buff, but just because we know it's good for our long term health. So those are the people that I'm really speaking to and not exclusively, right? Like because our packaging is really bright and fun and colorful, we took our inspiration from brands like Graza and Fishwife. You know, I also could see young men eating them and, you know, lots of people eating them just because they like the taste. So that's the direction we're going. And, you know, I hope people really like it when they see it on the shelf. Yeah, I hope so as well. Price.

46:54Price also, you know, is a factor in how people buy meat sticks. Unfortunately, for the most part, people are looking at them as being on the less expensive side, especially now that you can get, you know, a stick of chomps at a Trader Joe's for$1.50. How do you think about pricing strategy when it comes to the development of your brand? Yeah, we're going for price integrity and price conviction, which means that ours will be on the higher end, no doubt about it. So right now, our SRP is$2.59. As we pivot in our new recipe, we're going to be adding grass-fed beef bone broth, grass-fed collagen.

47:30Stick's also going to be 20 % bigger than it is right now. So there's a lot of value coming with that. So our SRP, we're looking at$2.99 a stick. And having gone over everybody in the category, we're still within the boundaries. of how much, at least at Sprouts, because that's the one national grocer we're with right now. We're in 400 locations of Sprouts. We're still within the range. We're not going outside of that range. But for me, I feel like if there are people that are already buying this often as a meal replacement, right? It's still a really good value because you're getting the protein.

48:07And one of the neat things about our new sticks, like the beef stick is going to be 10 grams of protein and 80 calories. So it has a really great protein to calorie ratio also. So, you know, if it's the extra 15 cents or 20 cents, I think a lot of people are going to be willing to do that because they want the quality. And then they buy it again because they like the taste, right? The first time is just like, oh, it's good for me. I like the packaging. But then after that, it's like, no, this is meaty and juicy and tender. And, you know, I want to be able to eat this and put it in my kids' lunchbox.

48:40Great segue because I'm seeing a lot of kids eating meat sticks more than I ever imagined. And I feel like that's a big opportunity for meat stick brands. Are you looking at that? Are you looking at that? Well, yeah. If you look at our new packaging, which is not launching until August, right? So it's not out there. If you go to our website right now, you're not going to see the new packaging. But that's what I was pitching tonight because this is the up and coming thing. And we've got the packaging. We're on track. You know, it's just a matter of getting everything done and out the door. So kids, absolutely.

49:13I think the bright colors, the Gen Z, the kind of fun cartoonish look, that all went into it, too. I can easily see this something. And really, we're going with super bright colors, like yellow and bright pink, you know. And I had one person say, oh, it reminds me of candy. And at first I thought, like, ick. Like, I don't want to remind anybody of candy. But then the second thought I had was, actually, what they're telling me is it seems like it has a lot of flavor. It's something that I'd want to reach for. And that's what we want for our kids today. We have filled up children with sugary snacks forever.

49:49And we know we're not doing them any good. We know it's not good for their metabolic health in the long term. So just even returning to real food seems like something that has captured the imagination of the public right now. like simple ingredients. I want to be able to pronounce it and afford it. And I guess that is where we're going is like, you know, in a sense, it's just a real bread and butter kind of thing, you know, real meat and then have some water with it as far as I'm concerned. Yeah. Simplicity goes a long way. And I think people are looking to simplify what they're eating because it's probably the healthiest way to eat is using the ingredients that are easy to pronounce that you know and don't make you feel ill.

50:31It goes a long way too. Yeah, we're governed by the USDA. And the USDA, there are a lot of things that I can say. It's very hard sometimes to negotiate with them. And I feel like there's been historically a lot of room for food corporations to write the rules, you know, and grass, which people know about, generally regarded as safe. You know, here's an example. This is not going to be true anymore, but this was true when we started. When we went to make a meat stick at first, I found out that red dye was in the casing, the collagen casing, and it didn't have to be disclosed. You didn't have to put it on the ingredient deck.

51:13And I didn't want red dye in our stuff. So we started with dye-free casings, right? So that's what you put the meat in. And I went to the USDA and I was like, I want to put no red dye on our box. Well, that got turned down. I'm not allowed to say that. I could say in a dye-free collagen casing. So that's what we ended up doing. But there are really strange rules sometimes that you have to negotiate. Now, of course, that's probably going to change because, as we all know, that seems like some of the artificial dyes are going to be going away. But who decided? That was considered, like, generally regarded as safe.

51:49Who decided that's safe? Who decided that that didn't have to be on the ingredient deck? But that's how it is. And when you look at a gas station meat stick and it looks unnaturally red, that's why. It's red dye. Yeah, well, I can't thank you enough for sitting down with me today. Congratulations again on the big win. Thank you so much. And I look forward to speaking again soon. I look forward to it too. I appreciate what you're doing to try and bring integrity into food and help people to understand it. One day at a time. Thank you. Thank you.

52:21Hey, folks, it's Ray with Taste Radio. Right now, I am honored to be sitting down with Swati Alavia, who is the president of Monsoon Kitchens. Swati, great to see you. Thank you, Ray. Great to see you, too. Yeah, thanks so much for joining us here at the Naturally New England Naturally Rising Pitch Competition. Is this something that you were ever interested in? You guys are pretty far in. You don't need to be in a pitch competition right now. We probably don't need to be in a pitch competition, but, you know, our big business is food service. So in retail, we could actually come and do a pitch competition, but we are not participating in today's.

52:55Yeah, but Monsoon Kitchens has been around for a long time. 20 years. 20 years. Incredible. Tell us a bit about the origins, the history of the company. So the history starts with me. My background is in nutrition and food science. And I came to America to do my PhD in nutrition. And then I came, did my PhD in nutrition, became a registered dietitian. And then I worked for a large CPG company, General Mills. My husband moves a lot. And when we moved to Boston from Minneapolis, I wanted to do something that I really enjoyed and I was good at, and that was Indian food. And I loved CPG Company. I mean, I loved the business of CPG.

53:33So I thought, why not combine my skills with what my experience is? And around that same time in 2001, my daughter went to college. And when I went to the parents' weekend at that time, I asked the chef, I said, you are serving Mexican cuisine, you are serving Chinese food, but you are not serving Indian food, even though there are so many Indian students. What university is this? University of Chicago. Okay. And he said, you know, we would love to do that, but we don't really know how to do it well. It's complicated. And there are no good products that are turnkey that we can use. And I was like, what is turnkey?

54:10I mean, really at that time I had to think about what was turnkey. There was no Google at that time. Right. So when I found out what Turnkey was, it took me three, four years to figure out what my mission was going to be. And I figured I would try and create a product line that would be wonderful assistance to the chefs, that they could serve their customers, whether it was colleges, hospitals. And that's how it began. That's fantastic. And I'm so, I know this is in the past, but I'm so excited for the opportunity for food service operators to have high quality Indian food without the kind of preparation that it would necessarily take to start from scratch.

54:53Typically, we see CPG brands go from retail and then maybe introduce a food service line. For Monsoon Kitchens, it's the opposite. That's right. Why get it to CPG? I think the brand name has been recognized by a lot of people in the food service industry. When we go and do the trade shows, everybody says, where can we buy this? And they can't really buy our food service products because they're big. They're like big boxes. So we thought we are going to go ahead and introduce some retail products. And when we decided what to introduce in there, because we have just now 32 food service products, and we decided we were going to do some fresh products.

55:30So just now I've brought you two of the items. I did not have a third one in our warehouse, but we have a chicken tikka masala, which is a 16-ounce meal. And this can be sold either frozen or this can also be sold as slacked out and fresh. Oh, interesting. Yes. And then there is a butter chicken here, same, 16 ounces. And we actually have a coconut shrimp curry, which no other Indian company is doing it. We are the only ones who do seafood. And these are just now selling in Publix. public markets. So these are in about 1 ,000 public markets. That is an interesting retailer for you, too. I mean, was that your first retailer?

56:08That was our first retailer for these products. And guess what? We just got this on a Kuwait military base. So the first order just delivered yesterday. You have some interesting first-time retailers. Publix, which is, as most folks know, primarily based in the Southeast, really well-known for Florida. And then a Kuwaiti military base, I would not have guessed that in a thousand years. That's right. That was one of your retailers. When you were thinking about your retail strategy and where you wanted to be, why was Publix an interesting or a key primary retailer for you guys? So it was not because we wanted to.

56:42It happened because we introduced our products just before COVID in 2019. By the time we were ready to start getting buyers meetings, COVID hit. It was impossible to get any buyer to look at anything new because they were struggling with what they currently had. But then when they started doing Zoom calls, the Publix buyer got very interested in it. So whoever at that time would be interested in it, we could ship the product, and they said, fine, we are going to launch it the following October. So this was launched in 2021 October in Publix. Why would we say no? Right. Correct? Yeah. And we had not even shown it to anybody else at that time.

57:22We were just trying to basically throw the mud on the wall and see which one sticks. But then we also had frozen items. We had lovely frozen samosas with a packet of tamarind chutney. We got quite a bit of national distribution with that during COVID and after that. But the prices kept going up. We didn't understand how to do it right. And I will completely agree on that, that people have to know how to get into retail and try and make money. We couldn't make money on the frozen. So we decided to pull back for a while, and we will go back with a better assortment of products. Because there are a couple of Indian companies that are doing well.

58:02We don't want to be the same old, same old. So we will go back, but we will go back with something more unique. I feel like Indian food, branded Indian food, is having a moment. We're seeing a lot of new Indian-centric brands come to market, and those that are already existing on the market seem to be doing quite well, which is great. But then that also means you have more competition. You are seeing more frozen entrees on shelf in primary retailers like Whole Foods, Wegmans, Target, Walmart, what have you. Is that competition good or has it made it a little bit more difficult for you to kind of stand out and explain why you're different?

58:41That's where the skill comes in, correct? because I always feel that if you didn't have competition and if you felt that all Italian restaurants have opened in the world, there will be no other new Italian restaurant. So there is more competition for those kinds of cuisines. Indian is still starting. It's a very big pie, and we haven't really just, I think we have just basically scratched the surface. So yes, the competition for another tikka masala would be hard, but then there is something else so for coconut shrimp curry that we do we have no competition and everybody seems to be interested in it because it's differentiating right i don't know if you know a lot about indian food no not so much okay so indian food is so varied i mean we have such incredibly delicious vegetarian items and i don't think anybody's selling those there are some shelf-stable products, but in the frozen, there is hardly any vegetarian that is just promoting health.

59:43That is still not the case. We are just doing traditional Indian cuisine. But being a nutritionist, I think there is something to be said about how our products or how Indian food can be extremely healthful for people, especially given what today is happening. I mean, if you see what's happening is all these new products are coming, healthful products, but for the first time there is a negative correlation, heart disease is again increasing. Obesity does not seem to ebb at all. Something is not right here. We are eating healthy. We have healthy products on the shelf, but the population is not getting healthier.

1:00:23You just blew my mind right there. You're totally right. And why? I mean, it's a 20-year reverse for heart disease. It's amazing what's going on. So as a nutritionist, my first love is nutrition. My second love is CPG. But I do keep my credentials as registered dietitian and I read a lot about it. And it just boggles my mind that we have a lot of good healthy products, but we are not seeing it correlating with the health improvement. So as the founder of a brand like Monsoon Kitchens, how do you walk that line between saying our products are healthy and our products are also very delicious? I would think delicious is probably the thing you lead with.

1:01:00Absolutely. So how do you talk about health or how do you want to start talking about health? So we talk about health in some ways that, okay, our products have, first of all, very clean ingredients. It has moderate amounts of fat. It doesn't have a lot of fat. Our sodium is moderate, which is considered to be not low sodium, but it is moderate that people who are trying to improve their health can be consuming it but we need to come up with new products that's where our goal is we do sell those in food service just now like we have lentil based dishes and we have beans dishes like pulses we have a lot of those we haven't brought them to the market in detail and that's what my next five years will be when you do have innovation or an innovation pipeline you have new products that are you know potentially coming to market.

1:01:51Who's the first call? Do you start talking to retailers well ahead of the potential launch? We would like to start doing that. And this is my very first. I just joined Naturally New England because, you know, before that I was focused on college and university associations, all the other food service trade agencies. But now if I want to be playing in this arena, I have to be a part of Naturally New England because that's where my heart is. I think salmon would be a great addition to our product line. I think what I'm looking at right here on the table that we have is a really delicious product or products, because you have your chicken tikka masala and your butter chicken, that I want to eat right now.

1:02:33And I can't, obviously, but buy it in my course. You can take those. I can? Yes. Okay. I'm going to get back to you, Swati, and talk to you about my experience with these. And I hope that folks in the region where Publix stores are most located get a chance to try Monsoon Kitchens as well. But in the meantime, thank you so much for taking the time to sit down with me. I really appreciate it. And very, very excited to start seeing Monsoon Kitchens maybe in the Northeast pretty soon. We hope so. I mean, if it can go to Kuwait, why not Northeast? That's a really good point. I'm really glad we had this opportunity to sit down and talk.

1:03:06Thank you so much. Thank you for inviting me. Thank you.

1:03:11That brings us to the end of this episode of Taste Radio. Thank you so much for listening. Taste Radio is a production of BevNet.com Incorporated. Our audio engineer for Taste Radio is Joe Cratchy. Our technical director is Joshua Pratt. And our video editor is Ryan Galang. Our social marketing manager is Amanda Smirlinski. And our designer is Amanda Huang. Just a reminder, if you like what you hear on Taste Radio, please share the podcast with friends and colleagues. and of course we would love it if you could review us on the apple podcast app or your listening platform of choice check us out on instagram our handle is bevnet taste radio as always for questions comments ideas for future podcasts please send us an email to ask at taste radio.com on behalf of the entire taste radio team thank you for listening and we'll talk to you next time

1:04:08Thank you.