What Are The Most Fundable Concepts In Food & Beverage?

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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, John Craven, Melissa Travers, and Mike Schneider. Is better for you becoming the new default? This week, we dig into the explosion of functional candy and other health-focused snacks, unpack the latest data on where CPG investors are putting their money, and examine why protein-packed, dive-free, and ingredient-conscious startups continue to attract funding despite a challenging capital market.

1:16We also dive into the next wave of innovation in food and beverage, including mushroom lemonade, snacking croutons, and tinned protein bars. Welcome back to the studio, John Craven Two weeks in the WCB The West Coast branch Or at least in the area of the West Coast branch Yeah, the area of The area of, that's San Diego I love your precision sometimes, Ray Yeah, well, did you get to visit any other parts of Southern California Or was it just San Diego? L.A. You went to L.A., okay I did Oh, what did you see there? Air One Did you really? Yeah Did you get some of their new water? The hose water Oh, the hose water, no So, yeah, I did.

1:56I also saw my favorite L.A. area hotel, the Marriott Marina Del Rey, which, Ray, you should inform our listeners the context of that. Yes, the Marriott Marina Del Rey is hosting BevNet CPG Media's live events in December, including, of course, BevNet Live, Nosh Live and BrewBound Live. To learn more about all three of those events, head to their respective websites. That's going to be here before you know it. Like BevNetLive.com, NoshLive.com, and BrewBondLive.com? Those are the ones. Oh, thanks, Ray. Yeah, yeah. I like when I get it right. Good information. We have an event that's coming up even sooner than that.

2:32That's the Taste Radio Chicago Meetup, which is happening on August 13th in Logan Square at Pilot Project Brewing, 5 to 7.30 p.m. If you are in the Chicago area or visiting, we want to see you there. Just head to TasteRadio.com slash meetups to RSVP. Once again, we need to know how many people are coming so we can order enough Sloppy Joe sandwiches for everyone. Who's supporting that event, Ray? The folks that are supporting that event are The Angel Group, Belay, and Vibrant Ingredients. They are national partners for our entire series. Thank you. Which also includes our upcoming meetups in San Diego, San Francisco, and London.

3:13More details in all three of those events. Once again, at tastereadio.com slash meetups. Good stuff. Good stuff indeed. You know what else is good stuff? Better for you candy. Everyone seems to think that better for you candy has a future, including the New York Times. There was an article recently penned on that legacy media publication called Who Put Candy on a Diet? Healthy confections, whether marketed as better for you or functional, have overwhelmed grocery and convenience stores and even found their way into gyms and supplement shops. Overwhelmed grocery and convenience stores? I wouldn't say that.

3:54I would say they've made an entry, but... Definitely feels like people love candy and people have been looking for better for you versions, whether they are lower in calories, lower in sugar, have some sort of gut health benefit, protein benefit, protein benefit. Who puts protein in candy? I don't know. You know who puts protein in candy? Rotten. R-O-T-T-E-N is the name of the brand. Best known for their... Winner of the pitch slam? Winner of the nosh pitch slam. Well done, John Craven. Winner of the nosh pitch slam in 2025. Here. Oh, and we have even more candy coming here. Aw, thanks, Colin.

4:29Special delivery by... Oh, thank you. It's not Colin. It's Jake. Thanks, fake Colin. Thank you so much. Thank you. Yes. I wouldn't call him fake Colin. He's... No. Oh, come on, man. Yeah. Can't see behind those cameras. No, I know. I couldn't see. Couldn't see. Yeah, Rotten was founded by Michael Fisher. and as John mentioned, the winner of Nosh's Pitch Slam in 2025, best known for their swicy gummies. Right. Spicy and sweet. But they recently introduced a couple new lines of products that are reminiscent of traditional legacy brands. One of them rhymes with Kittles and another one rhymes with Bar Bursts.

5:14I wonder what those could possibly be. Does it also rhyme with carwursts? So Rotten's Kittles alternative is called Original Tiny's, but it's spelled T-I-N-I-E-Z. And they contain 11 grams of protein per bag. How about that? That's quality. Yeah. And then their Barburst alternatives also contain a lot of protein, 11 grams per bag. And they're described as having 50 cent percent less sugar. Well, one variety has 50 percent less sugar than the leading brand. The other one has 50 % than the leading brand. What's the leading brand? I think it rhymes with Barburst. I was doing that until I got the ah from John.

5:56So I got it. Sorry. I have to say they do a really good job with the flavor here. And that to me is the most important thing. So these original tinies are insane. They are like, what's the word? Crack? You know, everyone talks about stuff being crack. Yeah, sure. I just, full disclosure here, have never had crack in my life. So I can't necessarily say that as a truth. But these are really delicious. What's so funny? I was just thinking about you saying tastes like shit too. Because you said that before. Not on this podcast. But yeah, these are really, really great alternatives to the quote unquote real thing.

6:35In fact, I think I like these even better. I'm not sure if I like them better because they have protein in them. Honestly, I think I like them better because they just taste better. Truthfully. Are those the sour? These are the original tiny. Okay. Yes. I haven't had, I was holding and waiting until we all were here to eat these sour chewers. These are the Barber's alternatives.

7:00They're called chewers. C-H-E-W-E-R-Z. So let's, I'm going to go, I'm going to get into the sour ones. Barber's keeps reminding me that I need a haircut. I'm at it. You didn't get a haircut yet for Taste Reader Chicago? Yeah. Thanks for reminding me with the barbursts. Have you guys had these yet or no? Yeah. I got some hand delivered when I was in San Diego. I thought we were all going to wait together to eat them. Look at Ray Hort them. No. No, I did not Hort them. He's opening them right now. He's opening one for himself. He hasn't even passed the bag around. What's great about this also is that the colors are from fruits, veggies, and superfoods.

7:33And when you unwrap the loopy lime variety and you look at it, it doesn't have that neon green color that some other candies do. It actually looks like a kiwi almost. Right? Like it looks like the inside of a kiwi. Yeah, sure. Thumbs up from Ray. The texture is spot on. Flavor is really good. I think they nailed it. Well done, Rotten. Well done, Michael Fisher. And well done to our dear friend, Adam Hertel. who is heading up sales for the company. And I know he wanted to make sure that we got these. So great stuff. We got them. Thank you. I got this Happy Candy in the mail. I don't know if you guys have tried these.

8:15I have. Yeah, they're really tasty. They're gummy, 70 % less sugar. These also have fiber, seven grams of fiber. What I really like about these is that they don't have any alternative sweeteners in them. The thing that bugs me about the Better For You Candy is that cloying, whether it's Stevia or Allulose or whatever it is. But I think these are incredibly tasty and you don't get that kind of side of hurting the side, you know, the back of your jaw with alternative sweeteners. And I think they taste perfectly sweet. Yeah. Great job by founder Maxi Heidenblut, who we featured on Elevator Talk. I want to say it was five or six months ago.

8:57And I really enjoyed eating this product for the same reasons that Melissa described is they don't contain any other alternative low caloric sugars. They just are what they are. They're really reminiscent of a European style candy, European style gummy. And I think that's what Maxie, who is a native of Germany, was going for. Happy Candy also, as reported by our very own Shauna Golden, has made its Whole Foods debut in select Northeast and South Pacific stores. So big, big news for Happy Candy. Great job once again, Maxie. I like all the ingredients that she's using for color. Turmeric. Yep. Spirulina.

9:37Carrot extract for color. Yep. I have the Italian summer skew here, which I think is an interesting way to name a candy skew. It's lemon and cherry. And same thing. Carrot extract for color. Apple extract. Pumpkin. Good stuff. This one's the big apple. Yeah. So interesting because for a long time, it felt like there was only one better for you candy brand on the market. And that was SmartSweets, right? And now it feels like there is... Project 7. Project 7 came after SmartSweets, but Project 7 is a great brand now known as Joyride. Joyride, yeah. Yes, good stuff. But yeah, I feel like we're seeing new entrants come into the market.

10:17It seems like at least once a week. And you got to wonder what's really going to rise to the top. And like we've said with everything, or at least I've said with everything, there has to be little or no compromise. And if people get the sense that they're eating something that just doesn't taste good enough, that's a little off in terms of flavor, it's just not going to work in the long run, I feel like. It's just you're going to alienate a whole group of consumers. Then you have brands like Better Sour who have gone from much better for you, and it depends on how you think about sugar intake, but to maybe a less better for you, but they still are free of artificial colors.

10:57They're using, I think, cane sugar for sweetener. For one of their newest line of products, their Whole Foods line of products is using real sugar. Yep. I don't know. I think I would choose to buy a bag of the full sugar gummies than the previous version. If I'm going to go for candy, then I'm going to go for candy. Yeah. I like the original. So I would do the opposite of you. When we first tried it at the Snackshot, the legendary Snackshot event for XLS, and I ate the whole bag. I was just blown away by those gummies. And even with an alternative sweetener, I just thought they were spot on. Yeah.

11:35The full sugar version to me satiates the sugar craving. I like that too. Yeah. They're both good products. Yeah. I mean, and the gut health benefit to Better Sour, the gut health benefit to other brands as well, including Rotten's original variety, they have a fiber component as well. I think that gives a little bit of a health halo more than it really does a lot, I think, for people. This is what we've been talking about with Poppy and Ollipop for a long time. And I also wonder if people are willing to explore alternative sweeteners in candy because candy inherently isn't good for you anyway.

12:10Yeah, but that's also, I guess, true of soda, right? And so if it's a little bit lower calorie, lower sugar, and again, has that functional benefit, whether it does something significant for you or otherwise, is convincing to a lot of consumers. And in fact, we had a new brand, or at least new to me, in a recent episode of Elevator talks that will be published on Wednesday of next week. The brand is called Good Greed, and they market themselves as a delicious tasting product first and foremost, but gut friendly. So people who are sensitive to alternative sweeteners or just candy in general can eat this and eat an entire bag and not feel gross afterwards.

12:51Someone who ate an entire bag at the Summer Fancy Food Show, that brand is really cool. The flavors are great. I think their sour stuff is really, really, really top. And another great sour for the Better Free Candy space. I think the soda versus candy point is an interesting one, but there's a huge precedent for diet soda. I mean, people have been drinking diet soda for a long time, but when I think about diet candy or lower sugar candy, all I can think of is Brax, sugar-free for diabetics, that kind of thing. That's a much newer category. Brax, wow. Yeah, that's old school. I'm old. That's a throwback.

13:28That's a throwback indeed. Wow. Hey, listeners. Lots of hot new jobs in the August 7th roundup at cpgjobs.com, including from Berkeley Yeast, Spiked Aid, and Owls Brew. Also, Rev Copac, Good to Grow, and Stanford University. Great companies, strong moves, so jump in and apply. And if you're hiring, reach CPG experience candidates already tracking the category, from sales leaders to supply chain pros who've moved real palettes. Because they're self-selected, spend less time screening wrong-fit applicants and more time talking to the right ones. Post your job at cpgjobs.com today. Use code TASTERADIO26 and save on a job listing.

14:13More than 70 % of new CPG products fail, often over margins founders never fully understood. Outsourced accounting can close that gap for good. Visit belaysolutions.com slash bevnet for a free small business accounting guide from Belay. Your inbox should reflect the parts of CPG that matter to you. Choose from BevNet's seven free newsletters covering beverage, food, beer, spirits, careers, education, and more. Sign up and select your favorites at cpgmedia.com slash newsletter. I think a lot of entrepreneurs, and we talked about this with Zoe Licata from our Brewbound vertical three weeks ago, a lot of brands have been influenced by what they saw with Poppy and Poppy's incredible exit to PepsiCo.

15:02They said, hey, well, if Poppy did all these things and all of it worked and well, maybe that playbook or parts of that playbook will work for my brand. And it's funny because Alana, and I'm sure she's not the first person to say this about her brand, but Alana Pickoff of Good Greed, the founder of Good Greed, had said that we want to be the poppy of candy. Now, again, people have been saying things like this left and right. But, you know, the entrepreneur is going to look at these mega exits and say, well, again, what can we pull from that? But the question is, how many of those exits are happening?

15:33Where is investment coming from? Who's getting the money and where? And, well, we have some info. We got a little bit of insight into that. We got some vibes on that. I feel like a lot of insight on that, really. Yeah. New and recent insights into what's happening on the investment front. Mike, where are we getting these insights from? I mean, from our most recent insider report from North Hall, it's the Q2 2026 report on trends and insights in food, beverage, and CPG financings. And it talks about the full Q2 funding picture, how capital is invested, how many companies raised, size and stage of those rounds, how the quarter compares historically.

16:14And there's just a lot more in there. You get venture and M &A deals that stood out. So much in that report. It's delightful. And it's available to insiders. Insiders. BevNet and Nosh insiders have access, complete and free access to that report. Melissa, you're doing such good things for the community. You really are. By providing this information. Thank you for that. Well, you know, I am honored to do it and honored to work with people like Ryan from North Hall. And our editorial team is also working incredibly hard to bring our community all the latest information and investment and M &A. Certainly Brad Avery with his article on Nosh.com right now.

16:59The title is Who's Raising Money in Food? The Better for You Startups. Winning Investors in 2026 talks a lot about M &A and the deals that are providing the bulk of activity. And, you know, there was some really interesting information in there about how there are really like three mega deals that are making up the majority of M &A activity in 2026 so far. It's three mega deals by companies like KDP, Kimberly-Clark, to the tune of$120 billion. So there's a lot of activity with portfolios changing. And the trend here is that the portfolios are changing to accommodate consumer trends. And the trends here are health and wellness.

17:43A few others. You should definitely check out the article on Nosh.com. The article talks about protein, of course, brands like Smearcase and Frozen One, protein snacks, like Buffs raised 1.1 million in a pre-seed round, which totally blew my mind. And another one that I thought was really fascinating is algae cooking oil. Seed oil free is something that so many like Buffs, for example, Buffs calls out seed oil free on their packaging. Algae cooking club raised 11.6 million. And this is a product that I find so interesting. So it's a replacement for avocado oil. It has a neutral flavor. And actually it's not pressed the way that avocado oil is, the way that olive oil is.

18:27It's actually fermented. I was curious about algae. I think we just found the interesting ingredient of the week. This is the interesting ingredient of the week. It grows through fermentation. It has a high smoke point. They talk about omega-9, which I've never considered before. We've got to get our hands on some of this. Yeah. You just combined omega-3 and 6. Exactly. Sorry. But Craven, you said that you use it. Yeah, I do. I like that stuff. It's got a higher smoke point than avocado oil. Really? Yeah. All right. So you can just leave that in the pan for days on end and nothing's going to happen.

19:03All the fire alarms are going off. That's the thing. They won't with all the algae oil. Okay, so if it's fermented, though, can it spoil? So could you season a pan with it? Yeah. I guess it all can, right? It all can spoil. I mean, look, it's in the name. Spoil. Okay? So do you use the algae cooking oil because it has a higher smoke point? That's the main difference for you? Interesting. That was a top dad joke. Also, though, Algae Cooking Club, I think one of their main differentiators is that it costs a fraction of the land and water to make the product because it is something that's grown. They're fermenting it.

19:42These are all fantastic points. I'm like so intrigued. And then Ray has to make the joke. You're spoiling my oil conversation. I apologize. But it is interesting, you know, when you do see these mini deals and how they're related to the macro, the mega deals that you talked about, Melissa. I think everything is connected in a way that is kind of easy to discern as long as you read reports like the North Hall report that's on Nonbase. I think one of the most important parts of being an entrepreneur, and I've heard this from other entrepreneurs, is just making sure that your new product development strategy, that your innovation strategy is in line with consumer expectations and more specifically in line with investor expectations.

20:29Investors are reading these reports and they're saying, OK, these are investable concepts. These are reasonable concepts that we can put our money behind. So it's really critical for people to pay attention to reports and insights like these. Yeah. For brands who have the right story, for the brands who are appealing to the right consumer trends, there's a huge payoff in that. And you can read more about it in the North Hall report on Nonbase. Absolutely. I also saw, and by the way, all this information once again is on Nosh and BevNet. It's available to insiders of Nosh and BevNet. It's very easy to become one.

21:04You just go to the website, you sign up and forget it. What's it? Set it and forget it. That's the old Ron Popeil. Ron Popeil. I need a Vegematic. I need a pocket fisherman. Oh, boy. What was the Vegematic? Oh, my God. I want to continue to talk about trends and insights that are happening in the food and beverage industry. But I am so intrigued by the tins of what look like fish by John's side. I thought they were anchovies. You know what? No, no. I saw this on your Instagram account. It was part of your stories. Yeah. And it's not fish It's protein bars, right? It's a protein bar What? With the amazing name of Jacked Granny Okay, so none of that really aligns with my expectations for what I was seeing there Jacked Granny Yes And it's in a gold tin It's in a tin That looks like anchovies It looks like anchovies The product also launched in like a wrapper, which is what I'm holding here Okay chocolate and a peanut butter or PB &J flavor.

22:10Which, by the way, you need to be a jacked granny to be able to open that wrapper. That is a solid wrapper. It wasn't that hard. Anyway. That's also a very interesting wrapper. It's like mirror silver with yellow. Mirror silver, but it's. Yellow labels or yellow branding. It's a little easier to read. It's four ingredients, 15 grams of protein, 180 calories in the chocolate one. and I think there's 16 grams of protein in the PB &J, but they're moving into these tins, which if you open one of these up, it's just solid with the bar, like completely filled. I wonder why. How do you get it out? You need like a butter knife or something?

22:49Because it's awesome. I mean, you just pull the little tab and it's kind of, you know, I mean, you can get your finger in there, get it out. That immediately reminded me of pet food, honestly. Is there a longer shelf life on the tins? No, I was going to bring that up because it says enjoy by 9-19-2026. That's not very far off. We're recording this in early August. It has no preservatives. And, you know, they're just trying to make a super duper clean bar. Hermetically sealed. Hermetically sealed, sure. No weird ingredients, but they're actually like quite tasty. They're super tasty. I kind of enjoy them.

23:24Yeah. I like them too. Is it whey protein? What's the protein source? Ooh, stump them. Granny. The protein source is granny. Oh, geez. I mean, you can... Granny's the name of a cow. You can fit a lot of granny in that tin, I guess, if you really worked at it. So do they have two package types? Is that silver wrapper one? And then they have tins? Yes, but I think they're trying to move to the tins completely. It's just egg whites. It's kind of like the old school RXBAR. Nice. It's really good tasting. I have chocolate. What do you have over there? PB &J. PB &J. Yeah, the PB &J one is what I've had.

23:59It's really good. Now that you mentioned RX Bar, there's something about that that feels David-ish. First of all, the gold. The gold, duh. The gold tin. But also. The novelty. The novelty. It feels, remember when David did that, what was it, Cod? Cod. David Cod. Yeah. And so the tin, the cod, the fish, the gold, everything sort of reminds me of David. I don't know. When you taste it, it's going to remind you of something else. It tastes really good. What does it remind you of? I don't know what it reminds me of. Does it remind you of your granny? Yeah. My granny's are her oatmeal cookies. Okay.

24:36My granny's oatmeal cookies because they were pure and good and just good ingredients. Okay. It tastes good. By the way, I thought she had a secret recipe all those years. And then one day she told me, I just used the recipe on the Quaker Oats jar. It's another one of these therapy moments that we're not supposed to be having right here in the studio. But anyway. That sucks, man. My grandma was basic and awesome. Super basic. The best grandmas are basic. Yeah, so basic. Because they use the most basic ingredients and make the most delicious foods out of them. You would have liked the way she says goodbye, Ray.

25:07How did she say that? Toodaloo. Oh, boy. That touched my heart. It really did. 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. Vibrant Ingredients is the natural ingredient partner powering food and beverage innovation, delivering flavor, function, and protection through a science-backed portfolio. Vibrant delivers purpose-driven solutions that help brands create extraordinary experiences.

25:49Discover what's possible with Vibrant today. Visit VibrantIngredients.com. The Angel Group was among the first believers in brands like Poppy, Bacchans, Goodles, and Siete. The next generation of great consumer brands is being built right now. Learn about investing alongside other industry professionals at wearetheangelgroup.com. Quick pause for a look at the people making an impact across packaged food. The 2026 Nosh Impact 50 recognizes founders, operators, investors, creators, and connectors whose work is influencing how brands are built, funded, grown, and brought to market. Some are highly visible.