PepsiCo Is Paying Attention. Are You?

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0:37Hello, 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 I'm with my co-host for this episode, Melissa Travers and Mike Schneider. Consumer expectations are changing fast, and brands of every size are being forced to adapt. In this episode, we discuss what PepsiCo's response to GLP-1s and inflation signals for CPG. We also dive into Vitacoco's acquisition of a super premium rival and sample everything from cereal-inspired protein shakes and date-sweetened cola to birch water and caffeinated banana milk.

1:22Today is July 31st, 2026. Where did the month go, Melissa? It went right into thin air, but we still have August. Don't forget about August. Whoever's feeling summer is, I don't like you. Yes. Mike is shaking something up and he's going to stop shaking momentarily while we can continue this intro. We're going to get into whatever it is that he's shaking. But yeah, August is on the horizon. And along with it, our Taste Radio Chicago meetup, which is happening on August 13th from 5 to 7.30 p.m. It's happening at Pilot Project Brewing in Logan Square. It is outstanding. I am really, really excited for it.

2:06There's no substitute for seeing people in person and having a nice conversation face-to-face. And yeah, I totally agree, Ray. It supplements all of the email conversations and social media conversations. It really rounds things out in such a nice way. And I feel like I always get good ideas for content to produce afterwards by talking to all of the brands and partners that we have in our community. I've seen the Can, the Remember Can IRL. They sent us some, but I can't wait to discuss it with them too and hear the whole story because there's just something special about that too. We just, it's just so great to be able to have the community get together and talk about whatever's going on with your brand at this time.

2:50And, you know, whether it be packaging or formulation or distribution or new retailers or, you know, just questions on how to get any of the aforementioned, we're here for you. Yeah. And just a reminder, if you are a founder, please bring samples to the event. We would love to taste your products and we'd love to share them with our community and the attendees of our Taste Radio Chicago meetup. Now, of course, we have other meetups upcoming. San Diego on September 15th, San Francisco on September 17th, and London on October 21st. Please RSVP for any or all of those events. If you can make all those events, you will be a super, super Taste Radio VIP.

3:36Hey, listen, you'll be John Sider. People follow fish like that. I mean, why not follow Taste Radio like that? We are, in a sense, the fish of the food and beverage community. You can sell grilled cheese in our parking lot, gluten-free bread, dairy-free, whatever it is. Do it. That makes you a BevNetter. So head to TasterRadio.com slash meetups to RSVP and learn more. All right. Mike, have you finished shaking? I think I've done shaking. It sounds like you're going for a jog with a half-empty camelback. Okay. I don't know if our listeners can take any more of that shaking. Ray, I'm sure they're happy to hear the shaking.

4:08They love when we test out products. So what I have in my hand here is Meals, I think. M-I-I-L-S. M-I-L-S? M-I-I-L-S. Oh, two I's. Okay. which I think is why it's meals. And it has a sun and a star over the eyes, which of course that makes it pronounced E. And it comes in a pouch. What's this size of the pouch? I was going to say, Ray, this comes in a really interesting package here. Well, the net weight is 1.59 ounces, but it's a pretty large pouch because what you do with meals is you add either milk or water to the pouch and you get a cereal protein shake. Okay, so it's just dry powder in there.

4:51Well, it's also got little cereal bits in it too. There are crunchies, right? Yes, there are crunchies, Melissa. Everyone loves crunchies. Everyone loves the cereal. Amanda, who is our producer today, she tried the cookies and cream. I've had the chocolate crunch, and I did something a little bit unorthodox here. I made super strawberry or banana, so I've got some spilt banana milk here, which is caffeinated banana milk with 20 grams of protein. Okay, we've got to pause here. You can't just skip over spilt. We're not skipping spilt. And we're not spilling it either. No, no. Hold a second and you can go into spilt because spilt is definitely worth another conversation.

5:27But I've taken 22 grams of protein, 19 vitamins and minerals, added some spilt and here we go. Okay. Wow. Mike is drinking some cereal milk with some caffeinated banana milk as the liquid base. Okay. So first I've had the strawberry banana and it is already fantastic. and now the banana is really intense, but the strawberry keeps up. So I don't know, I'd recommend trying this. What are the macros per pouch? What do you want, protein and calories? Yeah, those are macros. 180 calories, 22 grams of protein. Okay. I took some of those home. I want to make a Ninja Creamy with one of them and see. I feel like the flavors would translate really well to something like that.

6:10So the spilt that Mike was referring to is a banana milk. It's spelled S-P-Y-L-T. The logo is vertical on this yellow can. It screams 20 grams of protein, zero sugar and 90 calories. It is caffeinated. So this is my first caffeinated banana milk. I'm going to give this a whirl on its own. No meals. Yep. Wait, so Mike, what you have over there has what, 40 grams of protein in it with the banana milk and the protein powder? 40 grams, exactly. You're going to feel like a million bucks. Caffeine and 40 grams of protein? What more do you need? I'm wrapped at the gym. Yeah. So I was expecting something that was not going to be very palatable.

6:52This is actually pretty good. It's a white liquid, which you would expect out of a milk. It's a little bit sweeter than I thought it was going to be. I would dial up the banana a little bit more, but it's a pretty good tasting product. The sweetener might throw a few people off. It's made with sucralose, which is an artificial sweetener. I don't love it. It's also made with Ace K and other artificial sweetener. It doesn't bother me. I don't like them. But if you describe this as an energy and protein drink, a multifunction kind of beverage, I think it could appeal to some people. It doesn't say energy anywhere, just it's caffeinated.

7:26Because it's only lightly caffeinated. It's 60 milligrams per can. So you could have two cans before you have like a full, like a latte, a full lattes amount of caffeine. Is there a banana in it or is it banana flavoring? So it's a skim milk base and it just says natural flavors. I don't see actual banana in here. So, yeah, there's that.

8:13is it creating real value today? Stay tuned till the end of this episode for a bonus interview when I sit down with Andrew Kreises and Lucinda Akwat of VIP to explore how AI is moving beyond analytics to automate decisions, improve efficiency, and transform the three-tier system. Well, I mentioned macros because it seems like that is top of mind for, well, everyone. Yeah, brands consumers consumers brands and then big companies including pepsico expectations on every calorie how pepsico's ceo is navigating glp1s and inflation that's the headline of an article in the wall street journal that featured an interview with pepsico ceo ramon lagarta i think that's how you pronounce his last name could be lagarta it's one of the two but uh you know for a company like PepsiCo, you would think, look, we sell soda, we sell snack foods.

9:14That's what we sell. Our customers, our consumers really paying that much attention to calories, to sugar, to salt, to things like that. It seems like they are. They certainly are. And like you said, it's the combination of inflation, gas prices, GLP-1s. PepsiCo reduce the prices on some of their items, Doritos and Lay's items, in order to drive sales. They're taking a hit on their margins, of course, but they're sort of choosing volume over margins. I thought it was really interesting in that Wall Street Journal article that Ramon said that while they are taking a price cut for some of the items, they are also innovating on others.

9:59So they said, for example, that with their Pure Leaf tea SKUs, they are innovating on mental clarity and trying to increase the functionality and increase the value of some of their other items. While at the same time, they're reducing the prices on things like Doritos and Lays. And General Mills did the exact same thing. And both of them have seen a 1 % growth by doing that. Which is a lot for those companies. A lot. Yeah. Well, I think there's a lot of pressure coming from all directions to reduce prices, given that groceries are just so darn expensive these days. I've mentioned my own personal experience going to grocery stores, buying literally two bags of products and you end up with a$100 bill.

10:47Yeah, even at Market Basket. Yes. And so I'm sure consumers are looking for the best value, the best options that are going to also be somewhat affordable for their families. Now, are Doritos, you know, lower priced Doritos the best, healthiest option for families? Probably not. But it also means that perhaps people are willing to accept some of the unhealthiness of some of these products because that's what they can afford at this point. And if there's a better for you Doritos out there, and yeah, I know PepsiCo has their naked line and so on. But if there are better for you versions out there, I wonder if they're going to feel any kind of pressure by people, this is probably the wrong term, trading down?

11:38I think that what they're doing is appealing to both sides of what's called the K-shaped economy. So there's some people who are getting squeezed incredibly hard, and it's such a shame. They're in a really difficult position. And then there's another segment of consumers that while they are also getting squeezed, they have more disposable income and they're deciding where to spend their dollars. So maybe they're going to Costco for their paper towels and maybe they're buying private labels, certain things they're going to trade up on others. Like General Mills, for example, they're adding protein to their honey nut Cheerios and they're adding fiber to their Annie's fruit snacks.

12:19So they're offering options for people who do have some disposable income and will spend a little bit more for some of those items. But this is what the Maha movement is supposed to be all about in the first place, because you do have food deserts and people who don't have access to better for you foods. And the brands that are making the better for you foods are small. They have high price points. They have more expensive ingredients. And it's a big Charlie Foxtrot for a small brand who doesn't have investment or is bootstrapped and is making a great product that would, in theory, be better for everybody to have to be able to get it to everybody.

13:06I think this is really disappointing for consumers, especially that segment of consumers who are just getting squeezed incredibly hard and don't have a lot of breathing room. On the other hand, I do think it offers a really strong opportunity for a lot of the brands in our community. Not only are companies like PepsiCo and General Mills looking for places to innovate, looking for brands that consumers will pay more for and see a value with, but also the consumers are looking for places to splurge. I had Scott Sanders, who is now at Carbone, and Jeff Lovering, who is a data scientist on the Nonbase podcast.

13:45It's episode 141. They were talking about this exactly, the K-shaped economy and exactly how consumers are choosing to spend their dollars. And so Scott was talking about at Carbone, you know, their consumers may be looking to trade up for a nicer pasta sauce when they can't eat in the restaurant itself. So this does offer a great use occasion for so many of the brands in our community. That makes a ton of sense that if you can't afford to eat out, might as well eat well, but just at home. Right. So instead of buying whatever value priced tomato sauce, you spend three or four dollars more to get carbone and your average cost per meal ends up being what?

14:27Another 75 cents per? Exactly. So that makes a lot of sense. Exactly. Yeah. It makes a lot of sense if you have another 75 cents per meal to spend. Exactly right. For sure. Exactly right. Right. But definitely check it out. Nonbase.com slash podcast. Jeff and Scott give you tests that you can run to figure out if your promos, your pricing thresholds are working, what to do if you have a price increase and it's affecting your sales. So they really go through and help you figure out, are you a premium brand? Can you command this price and what to do to find yourself in that segment? And founder out there who's listening to us right now, just take your right hand, grab your left shoulder, your left hand, grab your right shoulder, and just give yourself a nice squeeze because this industry is so hard and I know these are challenges that you're facing right now.

15:11Yeah. That's not for me. Yeah. Self hug. Is that what you're advocating? That's what I can give you right now. I feel supported. I don't have a brand. Well done. If you need more, just DM us. We're here to help. Taste Radio meetups are continuing in Chicago, San Diego, San Francisco, and London. Come hang out with the food, beverage, and beer community for live podcast recordings, CPG networking, and sample sharing. Want to attend or partner with us? Head to tasteradio.com slash meetups. Well, a brand that's been around for some time and always been marketing better for you beverages is Vitacoco.

15:50And I'd say that that company is doing a really good job of getting more products into more people's hands. And they're planning to do even more of that with the acquisition of a company called Copra. Copra was founded in 2013 and they specialize in cold chain coconut water and they use an extract and fill production model to create branded products and private label items. So let me just dumb this down for myself and everyone else. Copra essentially markets a product that's pretty similar in taste and value to a harmless harvest coconut water. So make no mistake that this purchase is as much about Vitacoco trying to put a target on harmless harvest back as much as it is expanding their current market share.

16:37I don't blame Mike Urban. I think this is an interesting move for the company where you're continually evolving. You're continually looking for something to motivate you and your team. I mean, they're already the unquestioned leader in coconut water. So why not say, okay, we'll be the unquestioned leader at every tier of coconut water? Because right now, Harmless Harvest does own that super premium tier. But I think coconut water in general is expanding. It seems like every other week, we're seeing a new brand come to market, or we're seeing some sort of variation on coconut water come to market.

17:12And trying to think about why that's happening. I've got to assume it's people looking at that as a natural source of sugar and refreshments that doesn't include just, you know, added white sugar or processed sugar. And I think the hydration component is a big one. I think folks are looking for electrolytes. I also think this is something that's somewhat being influenced by people who are on GLP-1s and looking to make sure they have enough electrolytes and enough hydration. I feel like in our office, we get coconut water and coconut water-based products in every which way, sparkling coconut water, powdered coconut water, coconut water with caffeine.

17:52There are so many iterations and we're seeing them all. I want to see Vitacoco come out with a cola. Vitacoco cola. Why not? Vitacola. Vitacoco cola. Vitacoco cola. Nobody does. Vitacoco cola. Vitacoco cola. It seems like every cola that's ever come out. I think they get in trouble for that one, but yeah. What's the last cola brand, entrepreneurial cola brand that actually has made a mark on the industry? I'm going to go with Jolt. Jolt Cola. Yeah, I mean, Olipop, Poppy. They all have. Oh my gosh, yes. Well, I'm not really in a cola sense. No, but they have a cola skew. They have cola, so. Yeah, I'm going to go with Jolt, even though that's more of an energy drink.

18:28The one that really got me was Nixie. I think Nixie makes fantastic cola. Yes. Yes. But are they really known for cola is what I'm trying to say. Well, not yet, but they will be. Stiller's has one too, don't they? still there yeah yeah yeah well i'm holding in my hand a can of unpop which is described as sublime cola no cap does no cap have cola sorry i was still i was still thinking about cola oh okay so it's uh markets itself as having 16 grams of sugar from dates that's right on the front of pack here it's in this magenta colored can is that is that a good description of i would say It's maroon with magenta type.

19:09Okay. My first thought is that's going to be cherry cola. Okay. 80 calories. We got, as I mentioned, 16 grams of sugar. Let's give this a whirl. Have you had that yet? No. 12 ounce. You're in for a treat. 12 ounce slim can. I love cola. Let's try this. See what you think of this one. It's good. It has an essence of dates or cherry or something like that. It definitely has more going on than just a straight cola flavor. Do you drink Coca-Cola or Diet Coke or Pepsi or one of those colas? I have a Coca-Cola about twice a year and it's the greatest beverage experience I have that year. What are those?

19:44Mexican Coke, right? No, just regular Coke. Regular Coke? What inspires your twice yearly Coca-Cola? Probably the same thing that inspires me to drink. Burgers and fries. A burger and fries, you know, have like a fountain cola. For me, it's like an Italian sub. Yeah. Yeah. Something that's cold and refreshing, fizzy. Coke is the only Coke out there. It's true. It's true. Yeah. It's got tons of sugar, probably not something you should drink every single day, but it is one of the best tasting beverages, period. Agreed. Yeah. On a plane for me too. A Diet Coke on a plane is always kind of a treat.

20:19Really? Yeah. Once in a while. I like Mexican Coke. If it's available and it's whatever the right time is, then I'll go for it. But it's hard for me to choose that over like Caritas, because that's usually right next to it. Right, right, right. It's one of those. But like you guys, once or twice a year. I could drink some Agua Fresca many times a year. You should. That stuff's fantastic. Yes, you should. We're also seeing more Agua Fresca brands come to market. And Tuyo is one of them. T-U-Y-Y-O. I think it's Tuyo. Tuyo. Like you and me. That's what I said, didn't I? You're saying it as one word, but I think it's like Tuyo.

20:52Okay, fine. The Tuyo. The Tuyo. I love Tuyo. That works too. The Tuyo. The Tuyo. The Tuyo. I hope it's in Pittsburgh. the tuyans. So this Agua Fresca comes in powder packs, and this is one variety that they market. It is the strawberry variety, or more specifically, their strawberry electrolyte variety. It's made with real fruit, sweetened with agave, eight sticks per box. And you mix these together, and you have a very delicious beverage. You'll know that that box is fairly empty. Yes. But I have to say, guess why? Guess why? Okay. This isn't the flavor I would reach for immediately from to you.

21:34You know what it is? It's their horchata, which I tried at the Summer Fancy Food Show. I want to try that. Their horchata agua fresca is phenomenal. Yes, please. An outstanding product. So at the Fancy Foods Show, I also saw them and I took one of their hibiscus agua frescas and I took it home and I did a little taste test with my niece, my nephew, and my kids to see what they thought of all the fancy food products that I brought home. And they loved the hibiscus agua fresca, which I thought was kind of impressive for younger kids. It's sort of a more sophisticated flavor. They do such a nice job.

22:10Well done. Stephanie Garcia Turner, who is the founder of the company, Two You has been around since 2022, and she has been doing a great job building this brand, introducing new products. Rick just called it Two You. I love it. Did I call it Two You? Yeah. Okay. Two You. Well, Two You started out, if I'm not mistaken, they didn't start out in Agua's Frescas. They started out marketing crunchy snacks. Did they? Yeah, today they're called crunchitos, but I think they were originally called agave or like cactus snacks. Oh. And so they've since updated the description of these products as crunchitos.

22:52So they make the crunchitos and they make the hydration sticks. Yeah. Agua frescas. Can I put an APB out there? So I've been talking to 2EO about doing a non-based podcast about how to get back on a retailer's shelf after you've come off of it because they reformulated and they did some repackaging. But if there are any brands out there who have come off of a retailer's shelf and gotten back on, let me know because I'm putting together a panel. There you go. I also saw at the Fancy Food Show a brand called Nimble. This is the brand that I was exposed to for the first time or I saw for the first time.

23:31They expose themselves to me is what I was trying to say. Can you believe that? Oh, my. So Nimble is spelled N-Y-M-B-L. It's a brand of high-protein ice creams. The founder sent us these wonderful samples. There are three varieties, the chocolate, the cookies and cream, and the vanilla. Now, if you haven't had this product yet, you would never know that it is a high-protein ice cream. It is delicious. And I'm wondering to myself, this is like three in a row, right? In terms of high protein ice creams that we've tried that are really delicious. There's definitely this understanding, I think, of founders at this point that you cannot come to market with anything that is subpar in terms of flavor.

24:12It's just I think founders finally get it that you got to come strong. You got to come to market with a really great tasting product that tastes like the real thing, quote unquote, real thing. Otherwise, you will have a very difficult time scaling. It's food. It has to be delicious. It has to be delicious because I haven't tried it. I'm only two for two because Ray's hoarding this one. No, this is in the freezer over here. Just kidding, Ray. But, you know, we talked about protein pints and we talked about the David line of frozen desserts. And, you know, both brands come out with or have fantastic tasting products.

24:45What flavors do you have over there? I see vanilla. I said the flavors. I said chocolate, cookies and cream and vanilla. Oh, you have them all. Okay, great. You know, it's interesting. I see French ice cream on the top. I'm wondering what French ice cream is. Oh, that's an interesting question. I don't know. Is it high fat? Might be. There are 15 grams of protein per serving. And the first ingredient here is milk. I think you'd appreciate that. Yes, thank you, Nimble. The second is cream. The third is cane sugar. And then the fourth ingredient is the Nimble protein blend. See, this is what I want to see in my ice cream.

25:18French ice cream is a rich custard-based ice cream made with egg yolks, heavy cream, milk, and sugar. This differs from standard American Philadelphia style. No eggs. Is there eggs in there? Yeah, there's the egg yolk. I think that's what makes it French. That's what makes it French. Yeah. I like the name and I like the way they spell it. N-Y-M-B-L. It's cute and it's fun, like ice cream should be. I think the NY, if I'm not mistaken, has something to do with where they're based because they are a New York brand. Cool. Gotta be. Love it. Makes sense. Yeah. Last but not least, another brand. Also gone.

25:56That we were exposed to. I'm going to just keep saying we were exposed to brands. Another brand that we encountered at the Fancy Food Show is one called Ooze. O-O-Z. It's a brand of birch water. and I've seen probably four Birchwaters. I think the founders would do well to increase the size of the label. There's so many good things happening inside this bottle, but it's really hard to read exactly what the macros are and why someone should be choosing this over water or some other tree-based beverage. Even just putting a color behind the print on that label, I think would make a big difference.

26:37Yeah, I think you just need to increase the size of the label and then make sure that the macros are very clear. Because, again, you want to know why you're drinking this. Like, why is this something beyond refreshment? Why would you be drinking this? All right. So I was lying about it being last but not least because I didn't see the products that Melissa has in her hand there. Yeah, this is last but not least. I just wanted to give, first of all, a huge shout out to Half Day. I'm such a huge fan of their product. I was at the UNFI Mohegan Sun Show and I was chatting with them and they said, come on back for a can before you leave.