Spindrift's Shift & Seven-Figure Raises

0:10Hello, dear friends, and thanks for tuning in to Taste Radio, the number one podcast for anyone building a business in food or beverage. I'm Mike Schneider filling in for Ray Lateef, and I'm with my co-hosts for this episode, John Craven and Jackie Brugliera. Ray left us with some notes here, you guys, and apparently I got parole. Was I in jail again? And Ray's still in the shoe. Yeah. Whenever you leave, you're in jail. It's the only reason. That was in Ray's notes that he left, and I think we read last time. Federal this time. Yeah, you got out quick, though. Yeah. Good for me. Good for me. Well, we've got tons to talk about here, starting with Spindrift Spike.

0:48We missed you already. What's going on with Spindrift Spiked? They canceled it. I know. Why? Yeah, they spiked the spiked. We talked about Spindrift Spiked initially. We talked about it being a whole other business from, you know, Spindrift, the classic Spindrift product. It's an alcohol business. So why do you think they canceled this, John? I think because it is a whole other business. Yeah. I mean, I think they kind of alluded to the fact that it wasn't a bad business. I don't know how big it was, but certainly bigger than a lot of standalone brands. But I think it makes more sense for them, especially under their new ownership, to just focus on growth for the core Spindrift products.

1:28So I don't know. I can sort of appreciate a company that just owns up to that and moves on. Yeah. Times have also changed. I think when they first launched Spindrift, spiked hard seltzers were growing exponentially. and now we've seen that kind of plateau maybe decline a little bit. People are continuing to drink less, so why not double down on their non-elk, which is their flagship? That's interesting. The Brewbound podcast talked about Gen Z drinking and them being very into high noon, aside from the black cherry, which I guess is on the outs right now. Don't get a variety pack with black cherry.

2:07Yeah, I saw that. Zoe's like, no, do not do it. Okay. So check out that episode of the Brewbound podcast, the latest episode of the Brewbound podcast for that. We've also seen Spindrift dip their toe into non-alc with some of the new flavors that they've come out with. Sodas. Well, they've got sodas, but their Spindrift Classic also has some flavors that are like cocktail inspired. Like Yuzu? Like Bellini. Bellini. Oh, like those. Sure. Yeah. I mean, I think that's kind of the point of what we started with is just, there's a lot of different places that that brand can play that are non-alcoholic and closer to the core business.

2:44Right. Closer to the core business. So sticking to that core business, is this a indication that, you know, other businesses should kind of raise their eyebrow if they're thinking of going from just traditional non-alcoholic beverage into the elk space? I mean, I think a lot of companies that dip their toe in a BevAlk, you know, once they get into the wonderful world of the three-tier system, there's reasons to be skittish and probably be happy for what you have without that. Agreed. big congratulations to mooski who is a maker of chilled oat bars there you go and painterland sisters who make a high-end yogurt each of which have finalized seven figure funding rounds is this a step in the right direction for the industry is this a hey people are opening their checkbooks i mean i'm not really sure fundraisers really ever are steps in the wrong direction Well, at least with emerging brands.

3:42I mean, obviously there's bigger companies that raise money or, you know, their valuations are lower than they were before that maybe aren't a step forward. But no, I think those two are. I mean, two great, well, Moosky's been around a little longer than Painter Sisters, but two great, you know, up and coming brands. So yeah, both are delicious. I was introduced to both of them actually at Nosh Live. And I remember sampling Paterland Sisters from the sample fridge. And that was like my breakfast every morning. That yogurt is delicious. Yeah, they've got some great flavors. The yogurt is really good.

4:17And Moosky is one of those where you have to be careful because before you know it, you've eaten three. Yeah, so true. Sneaky good, sneaky good. Sneaky good. Both of them, really nice branding, quality positioning and great founders too. Yeah. What else you got in the notes, Mike? What else we have to cover today? Well, we've got meetups, meetups, meetups, meetups, meetups, meetups. We've got... Are we having more meetups? We're having some more meetups. We didn't talk about this last week or any prior... We've never talked about our meetups that are coming up in San Diego, San Francisco, and of course, London.

4:51Yeah, I believe you both are coming my way. We're kicking it off with a San Diego meetup on September 16th. And then we are doing a San Francisco meetup right after that on September 18th, and then headed back to London on October 2nd. And all of these happen from 5 to 7 p.m. in a variety of different locations. Definitely want everyone to bring their samples. There's going to be great networking and then also have some live Taste Radio podcast recordings. It's going to be fun. And Mike, you probably didn't listen to last week's podcast where I talked about our transportation from San Diego to San Francisco rented us a nice station wagon.

5:29Is it a Woody? I hope so. You're in that back weird area that doesn't have seats. I hope so. I hope it's just like the one that my dad was trying to sell and when I was eight years old, I walked in the garage and he had a buyer and I said, we finally found somebody dumb enough to buy our car. There you go. Are those the ones that had like the seats that were facing backwards so you could just stare at the car behind you? Yeah, you could face backwards. They had like fake wood panels and they were like I used to say even when I was a kid, this is like a boat and the cops can't pulse over. It has to be the Coast Guard.

5:59If you got in an accident in one of those, you flew just straight out the window. Oh, was that you? Yeah. But no, we didn't talk about that last week and that's not true. Unless, I don't know. It'd be a long ride. Does Alaska Airlines count as a station wagon? I don't know. But anyway. Oh, poor Alaska. That's a decent airline. Come on. It's one of those. I don't know. What's the affiliate of Alaska? Delta. No, no, no. Like that does the regional flights. So it's one of those like Alaska, but it's actually some other. Well, not a puddle jumper, but it's, it's, it says Alaska on the outside, but it's for liability.

6:34Powered by spirit. For liability reasons, they make someone else fly. Powered by hamsters. Powered by hamsters. One can dream. Amazing. Well, to find out more about those meetups, if you want to come to San Diego, it's tasteradio.com slash San Diego. go we were going with taste radio.com slash meetups so mike doesn't awkwardly have to read a list of urls yeah just go there everything is there we can do taste radio.com slash meetup sure you can go there but obviously now you know the code so if there's a specific one you want to look at just don't go to taste radio slash cleveland maybe next year maybe next year for cleveland there's a lot of things great things going on terranian chips is in cleveland we got chutney punch in cleveland you got oat house in cleveland there's a lot of good stuff there i'm only only crapping on it because because you're from there but but i i can and i i did a stint i know you did a stint there too it's kind of like jail but anyway um sorry cleveland kidding that's actually where i was last week that's what i got paroled from cleveland we did last week when we had monica on talk about uh taste radio kansas city she's kind of luring us over i did she invited all of our podcast listeners to her house yeah we're gonna host it in her pink living room she has gone pink pony club yeah yes yes keep on dancing in the pink living room please don't do that 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 taste radio.com insider to learn more jackie what you got over there for products i was just drinking a spindrift because we're talking about spindrift but i also have was it a little early for spike it's not the spike version And it's just a nice sparkling lime.

8:19But I also have Throne Sport Coffee. I have their variety pack. So I have their French vanilla latte, their mocha java latte, their coffee latte, and then one more, the salted caramel latte. So I'll be jacked up on caffeine today. Oh, boy. Yeah. But yeah, Patrick Mahomes brand, Throne Sport Coffee. I know Ray did an interview with them. So check out that episode. but yeah, solid packaging, solid product. And I like that they have a variety pack so I can try all of them. Jackie, unlike the Pocky chip where I did not advise you not to do the one chip challenge, I'm going to advise you to not drink all of those coffees in one day.

9:00So much caffeine. Yeah, I'd end up on the floor. I drank a whole two liter of Mountain Dew once and that was not a good experience. Don't do it. Good call. Yeah, I was in college. Good call. Of course. What do you got, John? I have some cookies from Al's Real Goods. So on top of the package of these, it says Kiss My Cookie, which I thought was the name of the cookie. Thank goodness it's not. I'm pretty happy about that. I might have done some sampling. Since Ray's not here, you'll probably try a cookie. Yeah, I'm definitely will. From this... I was going to say... I haven't seen two thirds of the cookies already.

9:31I was going to say grimy, but it's more like used. These must be good. These must be good. Oh, not two thirds. Okay. One half of the cookies. Sorry. That's a chewy, a lot of chewy cookies. DNS. Really tasty. Love the packaging. Love chewy cookies. They come in chocolate chip, ginger smack, and Choco Choco. Just like an all-chocolate cookie with chocolate chips. A little pea protein. Pretty tasty. Yeah, not bad. Not bad at all. Cool packaging. Yeah. On the back, it's just mind-blowingly tasty. There's some pretty cool little illustrations on it of how to enjoy. one which includes someone's head exploding.

10:09I know, I saw that. It's a nice little cartoon. They have this little call-out. You should turn that into an AI video. There you go. They have a little call-out. It's made by a Michelin star chef. Okay. I guess former Michelin star chef. We're going to try the chocolate chip or the chocolate chocolates? Yeah, I've had it. All right. As you can see, I've already tried all of these in excess. Yeah, they must be delicious. Yeah, the packaging over here, from all the way over here, I can see nice cookie imagery. I shared some last week. Don't worry. I didn't need all these cookies. It says absolutely no boring cookies, and I think they pay that off.

10:42But I think these are only available online right now, so worth checking out. AlsRealGoods.com. How about that? Nice and big on the side of the box. I like that. All right. Well, thanks for sending those. I've got some beverages here. Shocking. Our friends at Case, K-A-C-E, have done a little glow up on their packaging, and now very large on the front. It says fruit tea. and they've got two new flavors mango calamansi and pineapple which i've tasted both of these and the pineapple is a little smoky i like it smoky yeah you should definitely take those and try those okay will do and we've got the new flavor of crunchy clean hydration this one is their calm variety pineapple coconut sparkling wellness water supposed to be for stress relief Silly name, serious hydration.

11:32It's crunchy. I love the name. I mean, it's not really literally crunchy. It's not really crunchy. I think that's the vibe. Yeah. It's really tasty. Just got to clarify that. I'm going to drink this one. I'm going for it. Yeah, there's no bits. That 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.

12:08Just 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 Podcasts app or your listening platform of choice. Check us out on Instagram. Our handle is BevNetTasteRadio. 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