What Grannies & Betties Can Teach Us About Authenticity

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 Ray Lateef, the editor and producer of Taste Radio, and with my co-host for this episode, John Craven, Jackie Brugliera, and Mike Schneider. In this episode, we sit down with two entrepreneurs whose brands are redefining tradition. Kelly McShane, the co-owner of nostalgic iced tea brand Granny Squibs, and Danielle Danese, the founder of Teton, a new premium Spanish olive oil brand. Love both of those brands. I had samples of both at the Naturally New England Naturally Rising Pitch Slam competition, which was held about two or three weeks ago.

0:52And I've been using Teton every single day since. No joke. It's such a good brand. Ray, I listened to the last Naturally New England interviews that you did. You did a fabulous job with those. And so did the founders. I mean, the conversations are ridiculously interesting. I particularly enjoyed the one about meat sticks. Yeah, you know, I think Singing Pastures is quite the brand. And, you know, Holly Arbuckle, who's the founder of Singing Pastures, is so focused and so determined to bring a better quality product to more consumers. And I think she's doing it. I'm telling you, when you snap open one of those meat sticks, it actually looks like meat, which is, I'm sorry.

1:33I'm sorry to say that a lot of meat stick bread, it just looks like the most heavily processed thing. It doesn't even look like food. I really liked her conviction in terms of just how she's certain of her differentiating position in the market and how she's leading with, okay, we're making something that's better quality and premium, and we're not going to apologize for that. But also, she's listening to her audience when she's getting feedback that the packaging feels like candy. And she said, well, that just means somebody's going to want to reach for that. And, you know, it's going to be sort of a feel good snack.

2:10I thought that was a really good point of view for somebody to hear, you know, that you're, you should always be open to the feedback from your audience, because the brand isn't just you, it is your audience as well. Yeah, I thought she made some amazing points. That was published in our episode last Friday. So if you haven't had a chance to tune in, do so. We also sat down with Swati Olavia, who is the president of modern Indian food brand, Monsoon Kitchens. They make some amazing products as well. Plenty more to come from that event, including the two interviews I mentioned just now, as well as interviews with Maura Duggan from Fancy Pants Baking Company, and Allison Elliott, the founder and CEO of Farmer Foodie.

2:50All that's coming next week. So a lot of really good stuff from founders of emerging brands. But for now, I want to talk about how awesome BevNet Live was. Oh, I can't, actually, because we're recording this the Monday before the event starts. I assume everything went well. I'm really excited for the event, and I really hope that everyone who attended enjoyed it as well. But it is our biggest. I mean, even now, I can say this on Monday. It is our biggest New York City event ever. It probably sold out. Yeah, I think within the next, literally the next hour or so, it's going to sell out. It's going to.

3:23Yeah, but very excited. And thank you all who came to BevNet Live and are heading back home now. It was so great to see you, I think. Mike, you mentioned candy, and everyone knows I really enjoyed Joy Rides. new entry. This is last year when they introduced new gummy strips or candy strips, whatever you want to call them. And congrats to Joyride because they recently announced a$30 million round. I think that Joyride has been doing some amazing things and I'm glad to see that they were able to pick up that money to make their products more available to more consumers. It's a better for you candy brand used to be called Project 7.

3:59John, you know, the founder and owner, you've known him for some time. Tyler Merrick's the, I don't know, been on a pretty impressive journey with that thing. He really has. It is funny. Again, when you talked about that, Mike, you talk about this is not just a brand. This is not just your brand. It's your consumer's brand. And when it was Project 7, it was very esoteric. It was a project. It was like a, it just didn't feel like a candy brand. It felt like. Well, it was originally a water brand. Well, yeah, but I mean, Project 7 as a candy brand, it didn't feel like fun. It just felt like something that was out there.

4:38It felt healthy. Right, yeah. Healthy and natural. And it felt like somebody was trying something new. Yeah. With Joyride, joy is in the name. Fun is in the name. And the packaging looks great. The products taste great. I've been talking about this for a long time. You want something that has no compromise. It doesn't feel like you're taking away from what you've previously loved for your entire life, whatever it is you're eating or drinking. you want to feel like it's a natural, easy, no compromise transition. I know they've done like a great job on D2C and then they rolled out in Target and they definitely have made a splash in Target.

5:10I went to Target the other day and they have a whole end cap and people are just grabbing it like hotcakes. Yeah. And according to the NOSH article about this$30 million raise penned by our very own Adrian DeLuca, we learned about the raise through a forum filed with the SEC, which noted that Trevor Nelson, who was a founder and partner with Aria Growth Partners, which is a private equity firm, was named on the form, but Joyride could not be reached prior to publication to confirm whether Aria led the route. I mention this because we've known Trevor Nelson for some time. He started out with ACG.

5:43He went out and has founded Aria. I founded Aria, I want to say about six years ago, five years ago. And they were a pretty significant investor in a brand called lesser evil and as we know lesser evil had a big very high profile exit earlier this year 750 million dollars if i recall to the hershey company so aria might be onto something with joyride all right shifting gears i did not see this news coming which is that Starbucks has aligned with a cold-pressed juice and shot company. That company is Solty, S-O-L-T-I. And Starbucks announced last month that Solty's refrigerated wellness shots that come in 2.1-ounce glass bottles is going into Starbucks stores nationwide, over 10 ,000 locations.

6:44Again, definitely did not see this coming. We've known Ryan O'Donnell and the Salty team for some time. They make a great product. I just didn't see glass bottles, glass bottle shots as something that Starbucks would pick up. I mean, do you ever see a Starbucks deal coming? Really? You know, I think when we started to see Spindrift and Brew Doctor Kombucha go into their stores, I think that's a natural. old i mean yeah i'm just saying there aren't i don't know brands that sort of necessarily have like a starbucks vibe to them that end up in there koya another brand yeah which i mean recently that's again i mean it seems sort of like a random product for starbucks to have but i'm sure that sells well you know and on that same token i think salty shots probably will sell well too It's a good compliment to maybe you're getting your morning coffee, like have a little juice shot too.

7:39I mean, it definitely seems like people are paying more attention to the power of superfood ingredients like turmeric and ginger and wanting to consume them on a regular basis. And I guess if you go to Starbucks pretty often, it is an easy way to pick up that superfood and incorporate it into your daily lifestyle. I do wonder about the glass bottle shots, and clearly they've been able to scale salty. They've been able to scale quite a bit. They're in over 25 ,000 points of distribution at this point now with the Starbucks deal. I mean, if you talk about brands like a Vive Organic, which is a bit more established, I would say.

8:13I mean, I think they're about the same age, but it feels like Vive is a bit more established. Honestly, I would have expected to see Vive in there before Salty. Don't know. Don't know. All right. Like I said, hard to guess which brands are talking to Starbucks or what exactly their priorities are for picking products. Yes. Well, take nothing away from what Salty and Ryan have done getting into that chain. Congratulations. It is an outstanding brand. And I hope more people are now becoming more aware of Salty as a result. Well, I don't want to make it sound like I don't understand the Salty Starbucks deal.

8:48I definitely get it. And now you're going to make it sound like you don't understand the entire industry, I think. No, I'm going to make it sound like I really don't understand why. people who don't eat or drink a particular thing have companies that make that thing okay so blake blake lively the very well-known actress she's married to ryan reynolds a very well-known actor and entrepreneur an advertising guy advertising guy too that's his primary thing he's an ad guy he's an ad guy okay i wouldn't necessarily say that but anyway blake lively I think people know has a brand called Betty Booze.

9:29Betty Booze. Betty Buzz. No, it's Betty Booze. Well, I'm saying that's the original. Right. The non-alc mixer brand that she launched, it was called Betty Buzz. It was launched in 2023. And Betty Booze came out about a year later and they are these canned, ready to drink cocktails. And so Betty Booz recently announced that they have ready-to-drink vodka RTDs. They sell two varieties of vodka iced tea, one made with passion fruit and one with Meyer lemonade. Authenticity has just left the building. I just don't get this deal. I don't get it at all. It's like the Jennifer Lopez thing from back in the day.

10:10Remember, she has an RTD. What's that called? DeSola or something like that? Anyway, DeLola. I think it's called DeLola. And if you are drinking this product and you realize that Blake Lively doesn't even drink her own product, what does that say about the product? What does it say about the brand? Maybe Deadpool drinks it. It has nothing to do with Deadpool. It has nothing to do with Ryan Reynolds. It's like, just, I don't get it. But how heavily is she involved in the marketing? I guess like if I just saw it on the shelf, I wouldn't necessarily know that Blake Lively was involved. So I think maybe they're just banking on people not knowing.

10:46She was quoted in the press release as tasting this product with a taste that's crisp, easy, comforting, and clean, and beautiful cans to match. Exactly. Maybe she spits it out after. No, no, no. Without alcohol. Our new vodka lineup is Meyer Lemonade Iced Tea and Passion Fruit Iced Tea. Whether you're at a barbecue, a beach hang, or just spending your time at home, our new vodka teas are made from recipes created in my home by hand, built to share and enjoy. Lies! Lies! If you're a famous person who doesn't drink, but likes cocktails made by famous people who don't drink, you're going to love...

11:21Her husband did have a gin brand, so I'm sure there's at least someone who likes alcohol in the house. Maybe he's making them in the kitchen? I don't know. This would be like me dehydrating meat in my house and making meat sticks. I mean, it's an honest living. It's not going to happen. Yes, Jackie just said exactly what I was thinking here. Yes, it doesn't make sense. Try Jackie Meat Sticks. the brand I've never eaten. I tasted it and I spit it out. Yeah. Meat by Queen. I mean, this is the thing with authenticity. She literally says, our new vodka teas are made from recipes created in my home.

11:53Now, granted, she didn't say... You're getting really hung up on this one. She didn't say, I created these recipes. She said, created in my home. So maybe, I don't know. Rice fired up. Somebody came, maybe Brian was making these vodka teas at home, but... I mean, or a flavor company came to her house and did the work there. I don't know. I don't know. What's it even matter? I'm just telling you. Okay, listen. This is the point I'm trying to make here. Authenticity actually matters. And if you're going to say something and say that you actually believe in something, well, you better back it up.

12:24I don't think you need to consume alcohol to have an alcohol brand. Mic drop right there. I just don't. I don't know. I think authenticity is like, I just think in this case, like the brand itself is pretty good. I don't know. I just don't think it matters that much. You don't have to finish above 15th in the Premier League to be one of the biggest clubs in the world either. Authenticity. Jackie, I don't know if you want to pipe in there. I don't know. I guess like she must not drink for a reason. So if she doesn't think it's healthy, why is she pushing product that might not be healthy for consumers?

13:04Jackie just said everything I wanted to say, but I was so animated and irate and just out of my mind that I couldn't articulate exactly what Jackie just said. You need a drink to chill out, buddy. I don't know about that. You need a Betty Booze. Okay. I don't want to go any further with this because I've already said all I can say is. But yet, here you go. Here he goes. He's just going to stomp on them more. So before we had Slack, we had an internal social tool called Yammer. Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. Yeah. And every so often, someone in the company would go off the rails on Yammer, and we called it a Yammer bomb.

13:44This was my Yammer bomb. This is a Taste Radio rant. This is my Yammer bomb. A Taste Radio Ray rant. It needs a little theme song at the beginning. I should have skipped. It's just glass breaking. You know what I do like? You know what I think is really authentic? Oh, man. Okay, here we go. Wow. So the Coca-Cola company and our Coca-Cola, the brand, and Jack Daniels, as we know, they collaborated to launch an RTD product. I believe that was last year, probably a little bit longer than that. And recently, they introduced new flavor varieties. There's a Jack and Coke vanilla. There's a Jack and Coke.

14:20Well, there's a regular. And there's a Jack and Coke. Cherry. Cherry. See, I think these make sense, right? This makes sense. Jack and Cherry Coke, huh? Yeah, Jack and Vanilla Coke. Makes a lot of sense, sure. I think that these products are the products that people are looking for, and they've stood the test of time, and there's nothing that's like, okay, it's a natural combination, has been for a long time, unlike Blake Lively and alcohol. I mean, what if the brand manager doesn't drink either? What are you talking about? I'm saying, sorry, what if the brand manager at you know jack daniels doesn't consume alcohol i don't think that's possible i'm gonna look into this and get back to you on this but but anyway as i've mentioned in the past i've tried the jack daniels and coke just the regular non-extra flavored variety and it's really really good like they nailed this and i'm not a big jack and coke drinker but if i were to have one of these once in a while i would be like you should try this too because it's it's really well crafted You would be like that.

15:20Yeah, I would be like that. And I'm excited to try the cherry. Pitchman Ray just put it right out in front of him. Pitchman, you know what? Just because of that, that cynical remark, Mike, you're not going to get it. I mentioned Lesser Evil before. You're not going to get any of these new Lesser Evil products. What do we got? So Lesser Evil. He's gatekeeping now. It's not gatekeeper Ray. The maker of Better For You snacks, best known for their popcorn, has introduced a new, let's just call it what it is, Cheetos alternative. These are called Crunchy Cheezmos, C-H-E-E-Z-M-O-S. And they have two varieties, a blazing hot cheddar and a cowboy cheddar.

15:59They're both made with organic avocado oil. According to this, no alien ingredients. They're both USDA organic certified. I'll be honest, I do like the Cheetos from time to time. I buy the Trader Joe's ones. And I'm excited to see that Lesser Evil has tried these. They seem very, very crunchy. John, Mike, would you like to sample the goods? I would, but I'm not allowed. Why? Oh, that's right, because I banned you. Yeah, you banned me. You can try the spice. I feel like Lesser Evil always delivers on flavor. And that's why people love their popcorn. So I can see this being delicious. Charles Corstein, who is the owner of the company, the CEO of the company.

16:43Well, I guess not since they sold it, but he has, every time I've spoken with him, love talking about innovation. And like any great entrepreneur, he's a visionary and he's always thinking about the next product. He has the most fun creating new products. And I imagine these were in the pipeline for some time because they're always trying to, they have like a fun, you remember they came up with the Amunions, which is their Funions alternative. And the one thing that's a little bit different about this product, this product line in particular is that it actually uses real cheddar cheese it uses real dairy and i think in most of their other products if i'm not mistaken they have never used dairy it's always dairy alternatives i could be wrong but i have not seen if i can recall dairy in any lesser evil products up until this point these are pretty tasty i like uh my favorite call out is no alien ingredients yes guy i said that it's my favorite i'm just echoing it right it's my Favorite call out.

17:40For a second there, I thought you were Adam Stern. That's why I referred to you as Guy. Guy. Yes. Guy. Guy. Oh, no. Oh, my belly. Do I sound like Stern now? You do. Oh. Okay. Well, geez, you have a lot of cheesemos in your hand there. I took too many cheesemos. I was trying not to dig. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Last but not least, I got some masala gossip. Masala gossip is a maker of masala sauces, and they come in these beautiful 10-ounce pouches with a screw cap to dispense said masala sauces the two varieties i have are a spinach masala sauce and a butter masala sauce i feel like we have seen so many new indian brands come to market in convenient formats like these pouches just making it so much easier for people to make good high quality Indian food made with premium ingredients I'm just thinking to myself even if you don't you don't have to obviously have these with chicken but how easy is it is it to just fry up some chicken pour the masala sauce all over it have some white rice or some chickpeas and you've got this delicious dinner in 15 minutes or less lentils yeah I feel like Indian food is like the one thing I can never get right.

18:58Like the flavor is just always so complex and layered. So having these, you know, helpers in the kitchen is really useful. It's because you don't have an Aji who taught you how to make Indian food. No, I don't. And they're beautiful. This is a beautiful package. The spinach masala comes in this forest green color. And on the front, you have this beautiful caricature of a woman who's looks like she's playing an instrument, but she's also surrounded by vegetables. Everything about it seems approachable and premium. So really well done, Masal Gossett. Nice looking product. Yeah. 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.

19:41Visit tasteradio.com slash insider to learn more. All right, it's time to get to our featured interviews for this episode. which highlight two entrepreneurs who are shaking up the CPG world with purpose and flavor. Kelly McShane, the co-owner of Granny Squibs, shares her journey into the beverage industry and her role in reviving and growing the New England-based iced tea brand. Meanwhile, Daniel Danese, the founder of Teton Olive Oil, reveals how a century-old Spanish family legacy and a purple squeeze bottle are helping him educate and win over U.S. consumers.

20:23hey folks it's ray with taste radio right now i'm honored to be sitting down with kelly mcshane who is the owner of granny squibs kelly great to see you great to see you thanks for having me yeah the last time uh you and i were chatting was on the roof or on our deck at that headquarters in newton mass that was a great event it really was yeah this is a great event that we're at as well which is the naturally new england naturally rising pitch competition that's a mouthful yeah But essentially, it's a pitch lamp. But it's at the beautiful Farm Fresh Rhode Island in Providence. So, you know, it's our hometown.

20:56This is a great space. I didn't know. I never I don't I don't spend too much time in Providence. You guys are based here? We are. We're like a half mile from here. We're in downtown Providence. Right now, we're on the west side of Providence. And I'm actually on the board of Farm Fresh as well. So I spend a lot of time here. What is Farm Fresh? Farm Fresh is the leading food access organization. So they help people. They address food insecurity in our state. Awesome. That's a very honorable thing to do and glad you're on the board. Thank you. So Ice-T, Granny Squibs, you guys. Granny Squibs. Yeah.

21:31I'm just imagining you as a child thinking, I want to start an ice tea company, or at least I want to own one at some point in your life. And here you are. Actually, it's kind of funny you say that because when I was like 10 years old, My parents gave my sister and I like$50 to invest in stocks, whatever we wanted. My sister picked Disney and I picked Arizona iced tea, which is, I mean, she did great. I did. All right. But now I'm an owner of an iced tea company. I've always loved it. Arizona iced tea, they're a privately held company. If they had only been publicly traded, you might have made some money.

22:05I might have made some money. I might have made some money. Yeah. I interviewed the co-founder of that company and Don Voltaggio. And yeah, he's. That must have been a fascinating interview. So just quickly, when I went to New York, this was like the day before Thanksgiving, like six years ago. Weird time to drive. And I went to his office. His office is the size of like a large hotel suite. Really? Yeah, he has a commercial kitchen in one part of the office. For what? You know, in case he wants, I don't know. To make some iced tea? Well, I would assume it's if he's hungry for anything, his chef is going to make it for him.

22:44I love that. At one point, you'll get there too. Granny Squibs. We'll definitely get there. Arizona, we're coming for you. There you go. Granny Squibs, I love this brand. You see it pretty often in the New England area. You're not the founder, but you're running the show now. I'm running the show now with my team. Obviously, we're a tiny team. There's four of us, so we're all running the show. But yeah, so the founder started the company in 2009, and it's based on her grandmother's recipe. So Sally Squibb is Granny Squibb, who developed our sweet lemon recipe in the 1930s in Saunderstown, back when drinking tea cold wasn't a thing.

23:24So it became this Narragansett staple, and Robin, our founder, her granddaughter, after a long career in the film industry, ended up retiring and moving back to Saunders Town and started seeing, you know, Granny Squibb's iced tea just like in pictures, you know, the recipe in pictures in restaurants and in friends fridges, you know, so she saw a business opportunity and decided to start bottling it, which is like wild. Like there's entrepreneurs and then there's people that start beverage, CPG beverage companies in their seventies. It's like so badass. Anyone who starts a beverage company is a badass person.

24:05I mean, it's not easy. It's not easy. The failure rate's very high. This is all well known, but it's really exciting. Yeah. It's, uh, I remember when I was in college, I thought about beverages as a potential career career path. Yeah. It's, um, What were you going to make? I was going to make Better For You sodas, if you can believe it. Oh, look at that. You would have been way ahead of your time. I really would have been, actually. But wait, what are you saying about my age? Kelly, come on. I thought we were friends. No, it's amazing because this industry has seen such a roller coaster of trends.

24:39You know, at one point, it's, you know, this is hot. At another point, this is hot. And I think throughout, taste has always been the most consistently important thing, even if people kind of forgot about it a few years ago. And it's really come back to the forefront. And Granny's Cribs, you guys make amazing tasting products. And the recipe has lasted for 100 years. Yeah, but when you are introducing this product to a retail buyer, when you're talking to consumers, what really stands out? What are you talking about specifically? Well, the integrity of the tea. So we're the only company that makes solely New England-style iced tea.

25:11So we use all of our – the basis for all of our SKUs are the same. It's black tea, mint, and then juice, whether that's lemon, lime, peach, or cranberry. All of our teas are organic. They're vegan. They're gluten free, which like a lot of people are like, it's iced tea. Of course, it's vegan. But, you know, a lot of people don't realize that sometimes sugar is like bleached with bone char. So we make sure that all I know, isn't that bananas? I know. And you don't have to say that on the label. So my gosh, we make sure we use organic vegan cane sugar. But we really, you know that it's important to us that our iced tea is for everybody um so that's one thing we're also b corporation we're b corp certified and then um we also have a philanthropic uh part of the company which we're by far the most proud of every new flavor we come out with we match it with a different new england state and then a non-profit from that state and we donate a portion of the proceeds to those nonprofits.

26:13So our peach is matched with Massachusetts and we donate to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Our cranberries matched with Rhode Island and we donate to Save the Bay. And then we're coming out with a raspberry and a blueberry. Our raspberry will be matched with Connecticut and our blueberry will be matched with Maine. And then the lemon and the mojito lime will be Vermont and New Hampshire. Awesome. Very, very cool stuff. stuff i kind of skipped a part yeah when did you why did you want to buy this company why why did you want to take the take the reins well so i i have a background in uh social services and actually i taught math for years linear algebra calculus and number theory i can't see you as a math teacher i don't know i'm sorry i'm a i'm a mathematician at heart okay that's what i am okay cool um so that was my major in college that's what i you know i i love it i still do it all the time.

27:04But so I had a math tutoring business, but I also worked for a social services organization called Amos House. They're based right here in Providence and they help people help themselves out of homelessness. So anyway, so I was working there and, you know, mostly as like a volunteer and volunteers, they're all well and good, but what do these organizations need? They need money. So I was looking for a for-profit business like this where we could kind of channel a portion of the proceeds into nonprofits. So I was already trying to do that with my partner, Nick Carr. And then at the time, we lived in an apartment building in Providence, and the founder of Granny Squibbs lived in that same building.