What's Generating Deal Flow & Investment? Plus, New Collabs We Love.

0:10Hello and thanks for tuning into Taste Radio the number one podcast for the food and beverage industry 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. I should stop calling us co-hosts or calling you guys co-hosts and just refer to all of us as the Taste Radio squad. Squad goals. Squad. Didn't Taylor Swift, like, she made that a big thing, calling everything a squad. Whatever Taylor Swift says turns to gold right now. Yeah. It does. I mean, she has, like, the bracelets that everyone's wearing now. Jackie's wearing one.

0:46People can't stop watching football. Like, what is this? But do you only get one of those bracelets if you're part of her crew or part of her squad? No. If you go to her concerts, you like trade them. Yeah, you just make a pile of bracelets. You trade them, yeah. Okay. That's how Travis Kelsey got on her squad, right? He got a bracelet. Well, he was going to make a bracelet. And he made one, but he couldn't give it to her, supposedly. But then somehow they connected after the fact. And now they're almost helping and wife. Now it's the story you can't stop hearing about even on Taste Radio. It's fun!

1:14I mean, they're really trying to squeeze all the juice out of this one because they are on SNL revealing their relationship. Like, it's kind of a big PR stunt. Did you guys see our dear friend Lance Bass? He was at the game and he had a sign that said, sorry, not Taylor Swift. And you just brought it up really slowly. Oh, geez. That's kind of sad, actually. It was funny. He's a funny guy. Got him on TV and Mike talking about him. Do you remember when you did an interview with him and he was doing some mixture brand? I remember. That's why I called him our dear friend. That was in air quotes. Okay.

1:51That was like six years ago. I wonder what happened to that. That was January of 2020. January of 2020, was it really? I think so. It's a winter fancy food show. Oh, okay. I think he's just the right level of celebrity. Just like, he's kind of like, just barely below you, Ray. And then, you know, not Taylor Swift level, of course. So he can get around. People know who he is, but he can, you know, he can still probably go out and public, have a good time. So what you're saying is if I had launched that Mixer brand instead of him, it might have been a success. Oh my God, it would have gone off the rails, Ray.

2:20I don't know. That's like one of those brands where they were like, and we launched in January of 2020, and then the pandemic hit. Rocket ship right to the top. Not ideal, but NSYNC is coming back, so you know, he's got something else going on now. Justin Timberlake is coming back to NSYNC? NSYNC is back together. The band is back together. Really? Yeah. Man, this is like entertainment news. Ray's living under a rock segment here. All right. We got to get back to the CPG. Okay, we'll get back. Stick with what you know, Ray. All right. Well. Manchester United. No, we're not going there. I'll tell you, BevNet Live and Nosh Live to a certain extent have been known of late for having celebrities featured at the events.

3:03From time to time. From time to time. And our winter events are coming up. And, you know, it's possible. It's possible. You might see some celebrities at the shows. Not saying it's going to happen. but it might happen. There's a little teaser out there for you. But what you will see for sure at Nosh Live is the opportunity to meet with some of the leading retailers in the United States, including Kroger, the Fresh Market, and Thrive Market. And recently added to that list is a heavyweight that many of you know that heavyweight is, Jackie. It is Whole Foods. Indeed, it is Whole Foods. So at Nosh Live on November 30th and December 1st in Marina del Rey, attendees are invited to meet one-on-one with representatives from Thrive Market, Kroger, the Fresh Market, and now Whole Foods.

3:51Private meetings throughout the two-day event. Pretty amazing stuff. I mean, when else, where else can you have this opportunity to meet with four of the top retailers, the most sought-after retailers in America? That's happening at Nosh Live. And you get to have a great strategic discussion with them. Bring them your pitch. They'll give you feedback. I'm going to try to have a nice strategic discussion with Whole Foods and ask them. Right after the brands. No. Yeah. I get, I get dibs. Brands get priority. Yeah, sure. Why not? See, John gave me dibs. No dibs? Darn. Because I was hoping to launch a brand called dibs and now forget that.

4:26Oh yeah. For that, you do. Yeah. Yeah, Ray, you'll be first on the list. I'm sure they're going to want to talk to you. We have to get one dad joke in today. All right. Way to go. There will be plenty of buyers there. So I think you'll have some time, right? There are five representatives from Whole Foods from a variety of categories, top execs. So all you need to do as a brand is just register for Nosh Live and then you have access to sign up. Thrive is sending three representatives. It's going to be awesome. You say there are five from Whole Foods and three from Thrive? That's incredible. I almost wanted to do the, was that Eddie Murphy where it said Hercules, Hercules, Hercules?

5:00Do I remember that one? Yes. I remember. Nope. Nope. Nope. Someone listening definitely In addition to these incredible one-on-one opportunities. They were trying to forget. They couldn't. Attendees will have an opportunity to join us for a live session of Elevator Talk. Yeah. Elevator Talk being the series that profiles early stage and disruptive brands from across the food and beverage industry. We sit one-on-one, or actually in this case, two-on-one, me being the host. and we'll have a co-host who is an expert in the field of investment, retailing, merchandising, or distribution, talking to brands about their business plans, their products, their strategies, their packaging, et cetera.

5:38So an incredible opportunity to hear from an expert about your brand, about your company, and how to scale in a really efficient way. Practice your pitch. We're gonna live stream it. At the end, there's a video of you. You can send to people. There's all kinds of great reasons to come to Nosh. Exactly. Now I should mention that at BevNet Live, you will also have an opportunity to meet one-on-one with the retailer. That retailer is? Albertson's Companies, which is the umbrella company of pretty much most retailers you can think of. Safeway Vons, Pavilion, Star Market, Shaw's. Star Market. Star Market.

6:18Star Market. Sorry. For Boston people, that's the same as Star Market. Yes. I mean, this is an incredible opportunity to meet with a retailer that really does cover the entire United States and has retail stores in pretty much every state across the country, I would say. Thanks to our partner, LA Libations, which is also SIP, LA Vibrations, and High Touch Distribution. Indeed. Powering the Albertsons umbrella being there. And you know what else I'm excited about at BevNet Live is the return of the Taste Radio Studio. The Taste Radio Studio is our live podcasting format in which we sit down with attendees for about 10 minutes at a time, chat with them about news and updates with their brand.

7:03We also have some exciting features in which Mike and a to-be-announced attendee at BevNet Live will be sitting down and examining package design. On the spot, baby. I love it. So if you're interested in participating in our Elevator Talk series at Nosh Live or Taste Radio Studio at BevNet Live, please send us an email to ask at tasteradio.com. Would love to sit down with you for an interview. Right after BevNet Live comes Brewbound Live. We're going to talk a little bit about Brewbound Live, Ray. The beers, kid. The beers. The beers. The beers. And the Beyond Beers. And the Beyond Beers. And the Beyond Beers.

7:41And the RTDs. We've got Brewbound Live going on with our Pitch Slam competition. Great content on stage. Awesome opportunities for networking. We're going to be returning to Firestone Walker Brewery for our party. We're going to have a kickoff party. There's probably a rap party, too. I mean, Brewbound has a lot of cool networking opportunities. There's a rap party? LL Cool J is going to be there? Yeah, LL Cool J. Did you see how Mike immediately went? I'm ready for the turntable, baby. He was trying to scratch. I went right to scratch. Okay. Old school, man. No, I mean, I love that BrewBound.

8:12I do love Kendrick too, though, you know. I love that BrewBound Live is coming up. He's not a big scratcher, is he, Jackie? No, Kendrick's my favorite. Yeah. I do love that BrewBound Live is coming up right on the heels of BevNet Live because there is so much blurring of the lines between non-alcoholic beverages, spirits, beer, FMBs. It all feels like it's kind of coming together as part of sort of this overall beverage industry that is trying to get better at every level. And so, yeah, definitely excited to see, hear from. Justin, Jess, Zoe, planning an incredible program. Those are the editors and reporters for BrewBound.

8:48For BrewBound. Excited to see the stage content. It is always top notch. The pitch slam is going to be awesome. There's a really nice through line from BevNet Live to BrewBound Live on Sunday. We're kicking off BevNet Live with our RTD Spirits content and competition. I know we also have some RTD Spirits content planned for the main stage of BevNet Live and then continue that right into BrewBound Live, which we'll be talking about beer and the whole world of Beyond Beer, which is just expanding and growing. I am excited and I'm excited to host all four competitions. It's going to be a test of endurance for sure.

9:27We believe in you. Well, I mean, my favorite thing to do is like, I always go back to like Press Your Luck and some of those game shows in the past where you get so excited for the winners because they have been working so hard to get to this point. And once you announce their name and you see them walking up to the stage, it's like nothing. It's like no other feeling because they earned it. They really, really earned it. And it's just it's a fun experience to be able to share that with them. Wasn't your childhood dream being a game show host, Ray? Indeed, it was. As I mentioned, Press Your Luck, Peter Tamarkin.

9:56Yeah. I always talk about this, but if you Google Peter Tmarkin and press your luck from back in the day, you'll see there's some... You're basically his clone. As similarities between he and I in terms of our appearance and I guess the way we both act like Muppets up on stage. Yeah, you're definitely not as robotic as Wink Martindale back in the day. Wink, what a cool name. He was a cool guy too. You know, you guys forgot to mention one other important part about the events. Which is? I mean, the networking, the investors, all that good stuff. And the fact that there's hundreds of people already signed up for these things.

10:33And our hotel room block is for BevNet. I think the hotel sold out, right? For BevNet Live, the hotel sold out. But don't fret because there are good hotels nearby. Lots of good hotels and Airbnbs nearby. So you won't have trouble finding accommodation. Yeah. Not too far from Santa Monica, Venice, all the good spots in LA. Marina Del Rey also has many hotels, so. It definitely does. It's set up for you. And we can go surfing afterwards. Yeah. In a marina, no, but you do you. Go boating, maybe? Kayaking? Well, paddle surf. No, you probably have one of those little things that hovers you off the ground, right?

11:11I don't know what you call it. Hovercraft? I mean, the surfboards. Is it like hydro surfing or something? I don't even know. We are in the marina, but we're not far from the beach. I mean, it's awesome. You could swim there right from the marina. Highly recommend. Okay. Yeah. You go first. John, you mentioned networking, and I hope that folks at BevNet Live gets to network with the fine and incredible team of Tetra Pak. And Tetra Pak is, of course, the presenting sponsor for this episode of Taste Radio. Tetra Pak is the pioneering packaging solutions company that provides safe, innovative, and environmentally sound products that each day meet the needs of hundreds of millions of people around the world.

11:51Learn more at tetrapac.com. All right, switching gears to food news. Very excited to hear that T. Lupita, the brand of clean label hot sauces, salsa macho, also known as Mexican chili crisp, and grain-free tortillas and tortilla chips made with a base of nopales, also known as cactus, has raised$2.6 million in funding led by Santa Terra Capital and GBM Ventures. Congratulations to Hector Saldivar, who is the founder and CEO of Tia Lupita, who told our Shauna Golden that the investment is validating and comforting and represents its confidence in the startup's potential in the Better For You Mexican food segment.

12:42Love this brand. I had an opportunity to interview Hector a few episodes back on Taste radio, well, more than a few episodes back. I particularly love their salsa matcha. I mean, there's, there's a bunch of, I don't know, at least maybe more of a handful of salsa matcha products that have come out since Tia Lupita's, but theirs really is a special and couldn't happen to a better guy. Have you guys met Hector? Yeah, he's awesome. He's so friendly. Like you walk up to a booth at a trade show and he's very welcoming and it feels like you just saw him the other day. And its products are quite tasty.

13:20Yeah, it's been great to watch the brand evolve into different categories as well. Like I really enjoy their cactus chips too. And I know, I believe they started with their hot sauce, then created the salsa matcha and then the cactus chips. I totally agree with Hector. I mean, with the idea that this investment is validating, but it also is validating just to see this brand in thousands of retail stores. And, you know, you wouldn't be in these retail stores unless the products were turning. And, you know, they seem to be doing quite well and on the right track for sure. So congratulations again to T.

13:52Lupita. Yeah, I think there's a great opportunity for Better For You Mexican brands living in San Diego and going into, you know, Mexican grocery stores. There's still a lot of the traditional Mexican brands in there and not a lot of startups or emerging brands. Well, speaking of deals, what is generating investor interest in food and beverage these days? That is a top of mind question for everyone in the industry. And once again, we turn to Shauna Golden, who broke down a recent survey published by an M &A and capital raising platform called Axial. And in this survey, there were three takeaways that stood out.

14:35One, that businesses must first address ongoing operational challenges. It's interesting because we saw so much of this at the outset of the pandemic where people were having a real hard time accessing co-manufacturers and getting the ingredients, getting the raw materials they needed to produce their products. And it seems like it is still an issue. The survey also pointed out that there's a heightened focus on understanding forward demand. And lastly, it noted that private equity firms, family offices, and sponsor-backed strategics will be most active in this space over the next 6 to 12 months.

15:10For the full story, head to nosh.com. The name of the article is Dealmaking Survey Confidence Lags for Food Brand Fundraising. Which, you know, doesn't sound as great as it should, but I think it's, you know. It's kind of weirdly worded because I think the way that survey works, food was the fourth best of all the things, but the percentage is maybe a little lower than normal right now, especially after it was probably super high in pandemic times. But some of that stuff, it was interesting. I mean, I feel like, are we ever at a point where there isn't some supply chain or operational challenge for CPG businesses or businesses in general?

15:53I mean, I don't remember a time like that where everyone just found all the ingredients and components they needed at, you know, super cheap prices and everyone was happy. That's like not a thing. But yeah, interesting that obviously we're not at a point where there's just VC money writing checks like crazy for brands, but certainly some positives and some good advice in that article. For sure. Yeah, it was interesting in that survey that grocery, as in food, was ranked as the fourth leading subsector behind health and wellness, pet and animal care and personal care products, respectively. Pet and animal care, goodness gracious, is amazing how much money people spend on their pets.

16:34Everyone got a dog in the pandemic. Is that what happened? It makes sense. I mean, I didn't. I mean, in my town of Brookline and surrounding towns as well, it feels like I'm seeing a new animal hospital open up like once a month. I'm not even kidding. It's nuts. You get a franchise? No, I don't think I could be a vet or be in that business. They don't have enough hand sanitizer. I used to be small as a kid and dogs used to knock me over. That was like their favorite thing to do. And so I'm not a huge fan of dogs. I definitely have some dog trauma too. Oh, yeah? What happened to you? I just always had to be the person who takes care of the dog.

17:07So everybody else wanted the dog, but I didn't. So they're like, hey, do this. Take care of this part. You know, feed the dog. Go clean up the dog's, you know, business. And I just, I didn't want to do that. I want to go play soccer. I also had dog trauma. Everyone has dog trauma. Jeez. Do you have dog trauma? I do. When I was like a baby, my mom got chased by like a Rottweiler with me in her hands. And so I was scared of dogs until I was, I think like 12 or something when I was big enough, you know, to not be scared anymore. You remember that when you were one year old? Well, I think it was like two or something, but I think it was just the whole situation.

17:44I internalized it. Oh my gosh. The next door neighbors, my grandmother's next door neighbor's dog knocked my brother down, cracked his head open. He wanted to go visit the dog and the dog just, I don't think the dog was trying to, but it jumped up on him and knocked him over. Maybe we should cut this whole anti-dog rant out of the podcast. I'm not anti-dog. It's just dog trauma. I love dogs. It's getting a little dark here. It's getting pretty dark. I mean, you know, dog trauma, I'm feeling it right now. You know what's going to help me? Get away from this dog. What's that, Ray? Maybe a drink.

18:14I don't know. John Craven, you got a cocktail over there? Oh, yes, I do. Okay. John Craven with the cocktail. Can't prepare here. John Craven with the mix. What? A shaker? Let's not have that logo. What is one of the most trendy purple ingredients that's out there right now? I know what it is. Ube? That's right, Ube. Okay, if you didn't say ingredients, they would have said Grimace from McDonald's. Now, when you think of what liquid is gonna pair perfect with Ube, doesn't Glenlivet 14 come to mind? Well, that Glenlivet 14 does have a purple label. It does. It was begging. Well, part of the label is purple, anyway.

18:50So, anyway, the fine folks at the Glenlivet suggested this. Oh, boy. Wait for it. this is a espresso martini riffier ray okay loaded up with ube so there's ube yes why don't you try a sample and see if you can look at those jesus i might fry the board here there's scotch in there too oh yeah there's glenlivet 14 in there okay let's see how we do like a half a bottle cocktail with glenlivet 14 that's incredible cheers okay cheers cheers let's see how we are How is it? Oh, my dog trauma's gone. Thank you. Everything's healed. This is their recipe. I don't know. I just thought it was kind of amusing that it had ube and scotch.

19:32No, this is delicious. It's Glenlivet, coffee liqueur, cold brew, and this ube milk here, which is basically coconut milk with a bunch of stuff in it to make it purple. You know, 300 shows in a row, Ray would not sample, and you just broke the streak. It was the dog trauma. I mean, it's a nice looking purple cocktail, right? I mean, you could sell this at a bar for$16, you know, not that bad. I mean, I think this is, I can't remember what the name of it is, but it's like the, an ube, I don't know what they call it, exuberant or something, espresso teeny or something. I don't know. We're probably not the target demographic here.

20:12We could just sip on some Glenlivet later. I have some advice for the folks at the Glenlivet. they could call it the Glenlivet Grimace. Might get a cease and desist there. Why? No, no, no, not Grimace. G-R-I-M-A-C-E, lowercase. Yeah, exactly. You know what else would pair great with this cocktail? What's that? John's slowly turning into me. Yep. I'm just segueing from one, filling one brain to the next. It's not compensated in any way for this. Just want you to note that. But this is the new Ruby and Bjorn Korn collaboration. They made a seasonal tangy and salty popcorn that's got some hibiscus powder in it.

20:57It's pretty darn tasty. Very cool. Ruby being the brand of hibiscus-based beverages. Bjorn Korn is spelled B-J-O-R-N-Q-O-R-N. I don't really see Bjorn Korn in the salty snack section. I almost always feel like I see it somewhere else. like in um i don't know like a like a an ethnic food section am i crazy yes but not for that so not for that no that's that stuff is interesting it it has like a a tangy almost sour flavor to it from i think it's from the hibiscus and it tastes cheesy so i thought it was cheese but it's nutritional yeast nutritional yeast nutritional yeast and how about since i'm just on a roll here another collaboration away i don't know how do you pronounce these dough dough that's right I wanted to The name of the brand Is spelled D-E-U-X It should be Deux You know I don't know When brands have their own Pronunciation Sometimes it's a little hard to remember But anyway This is a collaboration With Chamberlain Coffee Yeah It is a Vegan and gluten free Cinnamon sugar Donut hole And dough is a maker of Dough and What would you call these Refrigerated Like dough bites Those are Dough bites Yeah those are bites But dough also makes Just like cookie dough In jars Exactly right the cookie dough in the jar is quite tasty so i'm gonna try one of these anyone want yeah i want to try one too kind of looks like a little cookie dough ball oh hold on hold on got the pet mad branded hand sanitizer for you there we go you know what's cool about those two collaborations now around expo east or at expo east we talked a lot about the collaboration between orobora and graza and noted that you don't typically see a lot of food and beverage brands collaborating on an LTO, a limited edition offering.

22:41But here's two more. You saw Bjorn Korn and Ruby. This is not what I was expecting. You saw Chamberlain Coffee and Doe. So love to see these collaborations coming together. I hope we see more of them. This is really good. It's super fluffy. It's almost like a super fluffy donut bite that's coated with almost like a chai tea tasting, cinnamon, sugar. This is awesome. Nice. Yeah, it's good. Speaking of treats, I have some of Evolved's new treats in front of me. One is a chocolate protein bite. What is Evolve again? Evolved is a maker of chocolates. Didn't it used to be called Eating Evolved? Yeah, it used to be called Eating Evolved, and now it has evolved to just evolved.

23:22It has evolved. This one is dark chocolate hazelnut. I also have white macadamia. They both have 10 grams of protein per serving. Serving is two pieces, by the way. And then I also have their new cups. So this one is organic brownie batter, and I also have organic coconut keto chocolate cups. I don't know that I love white chocolate in general, but these are pretty good. Well, technically white chocolate isn't chocolate. I know. It's not. I don't. It's white chocolate. It's white chocolate. Never just call it chocolate. Anybody want to try these? Good for now. All right. I'm going to go for the dark chocolate hazelnut protein bite here.

24:02While you guys are chewing on a brand called Yaza. That's Y-A-Z-A. They are a maker of clean label Lebna. Lebna is a Mediterranean style dip that's made from cultured milk. Yaza has three varieties. They have a za 'atar and olive oil variety. They have a spicy chili and they have a original plain. And it was great to meet with the founder of the company, Kareem Khalil, who joined us for an episode of Elevator Talk. And it's interesting because I think, you know, hummus was something that 20 years ago we wouldn't see in every grocery store across America. And now it is ubiquitous. I mean, you go into any place and you'll see, I don't know, like what, eight brands of hummus out there.

24:47And I really feel like there's an opportunity for Lebna, which again, is a dairy-based dip. It's like a thicker sour cream kind of thing. Almost like a yogurt. Yeah, but it's thicker than that. Much thicker. And you can eat it with pita bread. You can use it as a side to breakfast or lunch. You can use it as a condiment for sandwiches. And the cool thing about Yaza, and this is from the company, it's the first traditional lebna with no preservatives or added sugars and can be sold nationwide. So great stuff from Kareem Khalil. Hope to be seeing Yaza in my local grocery store soon. I can't wait to try it.

25:24You've got more than one skew there. You've got sautard, olive oil. What are the other ones? Spicy chili and just the original. Awesome. The one thing I might say about their spicy chili, spicy chili is kind of a redundant term though, isn't it? Well, you want to, it is and it isn't. So it can be made with chili peppers and still be sweet. If you don't use a lot of chili, it just kind of tells you how much you use. Okay, fair enough. I think it's okay. Or if you're like eating chili, it's not necessarily spicy. I'll allow it. Spice, you know, can be different levels. Right. Like you can have habanero or something and it's not spicy.

26:03If anyone would know that, it's Jackie. And then on all levels of spice. So I believe it was a week and a half ago, we went to the local San Diego meetup for Naturally San Diego. They had their fall fling. And I ran into Alex Bayer with Genius Juice. and he had his new daily nootropic shots. And this is the chocolate skew. And he also has a coffee one and it's really tasty. This just honestly tastes like chocolate milk, but it has a lot of different functional benefits because it's packed with lion's mane, cordyceps, my favorite things, mushrooms, MCT oil, some vitamins, and then cacao. So it's supposed to help with like brain fog and help you with focus, energy, and clarity.