Hello, friends, and thanks for tuning into Taste Radio, the number one podcast for anyone building a business in food or beverage. I'm Ray Latif, the editor and producer of Taste Radio, and I'm with my co-hosts, John Craven, Melissa Traverse, and Mike Schneider. In this episode, we revisit Southern California's premier CPG competition, unpack the acquisition of a leading ANA beverage brand, and explore how meal kit companies and a product scanning app are impacting consumer purchasing decisions.
Three of us have spent quite a bit of time in California over the past week. Melissa, I I apologize for your inability to make it out to the Golden State, but it seems like you had a nice week yourself. I sure did. Yeah. I've been holding down the fort in the Boston area. Thank you for doing that.
There you go. There you go. So the three people, of course, who were in California last week were Mike, John, and myself, and there for various reasons. Mike was on vacation for a little bit. Palm Springs, baby. Palm Springs, and John and I were- I learned how to relax for a day. John and I were in San Diego for Naturally San Diego's Naturally Rising Pitch Competition.
This is their sixth, or it was their sixth annual competition. I was lucky enough to host the competition. This was my fourth time, and John- Ray, there's no such thing as luck. That was pure skill. You did a great job again. Seen some of the videos and- I appreciate it. Yeah. Sorry I missed that.
It's really fun. I'm telling you, it's all about the community there. There were probably 300 to 400 people at the event, and I was really impressed with the amount of passion and love, really, for brands in the space and the founders who've created them. I think folks in the audience John, you were there, and certainly once we got going, it was extremely loud in that room.
And for me, the five brands that presented were all really spectacular, and I thought all the pitches were great. There was a winner, obviously, and that winner was Fave. Oh, nice. Fave, founded by Ryan Raisch. Fave is a maker of drink powders. Drink powders. It's the new Kool-Aid, man. It's better for you drink powders.
Yeah. There's no functional benefit to it. No. But it's imagine Kool-Aid- It's good ... or Crystal Light. It tastes awesome. Exactly. He mentioned Kool-Aid as a bit of the inspiration for it. Sure. And for sure. So yeah, and it's interesting, like it was, five brands that were all over the CPG map.
You had a shampoo bar, a sunscreen brand, gummies. You obviously had Fave. A mezcal RTD. And a mezcal RTD, and- I don't know. Maybe I'm biased, but beverage seem to do pretty well in these things. Partially because I think there's an easy story to tell about a high velocity brand and whatnot that, for something like a sunscreen brand is totally...
It's just a totally different business, not better or worse. But yeah, it was fun. Yeah, my guess is that most of the folks in the audience and most of the folks that are involved with NSD represent food or beverage brands. So sometimes I think it might be a little bit more difficult to get yourself in the mindset that, say, a sunscreen brand or a shampoo brand might be the one to break out, 'cause you don't know.
You're not ne- necessarily part of that industry or category. But- And for anyone who thinks that John said make a drinkable sunscreen or shampoo- ... that's not what he said. We've had drinkable sunscreen- We have ... in New Beverage Showdown. I know. Yeah. In case you've forgotten. Did not forget. That was something.
But yeah, congratulations to SunMud, FAVE, Oku, Mezo Beverages, and Flora. Once again, they all did fantastic, and obviously special congratulations to Ryan from FAVE. And a huge thanks to the team at NSD. Renee Solaris, who is the executive director, just does such a fantastic job. She and her team were just on top of everything and really made sure that the event was memorable and useful and exciting for everyone.
Congrats on that as well. You feel like that's a good warm-up for the next big competition for you? I think it might be. I think it might be. The New Beverage Showdown is my bread and butter, I would say, and it's one of my favorite things to do throughout the year. Of course, the New Beverage Showdown, the next edition that is, will be happening at BevNET Live, New York City, 2026.
That's happening on June 10th and 11th. I, for one, cannot wait and it's gonna be here before anyone knows it. Today is May 1st, and guess what? It's a month and a half away, which is crazy. But still plenty of time to apply. Not really. Not really. You gotta apply by today, right? Not a lot of time to apply for the New Beverage Showdown.
Ray, how many New Beverage Showdowns have you emceed at this point, do you think? My first one was in 2013. It was the New York City edition of BevNET Live, and so this would be... Let's see, if there's two a year I can do the math. Is it 25, 26, something like that? Minus the COVID ones- Oh, yeah
plus the COVID- ... virtual ones. Do those count? Yeah, of course they count. Oh, the listeners are so- So, yeah. So I think we're, I think- They're sitting on the edge of their seats. I know. I, I- So much math. So how do you keep it so fresh and exciting every time? There you go.
I think it's the contestants that do it, and Ray's just like... He's the perfect person to set someone up. He comes up on stage. Yeah. He does this very professional, introduction, and then- he makes people feel cool, supported, brings them up on stage, they do their pitch, brings them off the stage, brings the next one up.
It just feels cool to see the whole thing happen and to also talk to people afterwards about how professional it is, I think it's the freshly pressed Yuko Boss blazer. Yeah. That's got to- Never lets him down. Never. Shout out to my dry cleaners- ... who are good people and always make sure that I'm looking- Sharp.
Sharp ... sharp for every event. Wait, if you forgot to pack that, I think you would go up there and be like Superman without his cape. Yeah. And a nice warm-up to BevNet Live, of course, is our Taste Radio meetup in Austin, which is happening on May 7th. I am thrilled for this event. Me too. 5:00 to 7:30 PM at the headquarters of Nutribullet, the maker of C4 and major investor in Bloom.
This is an event you really don't wanna miss. If you are based in the Austin area or anywhere near Austin, or if you're visiting the Austin area, just head to taste radio.com/meetups to register. We'd love for you to register so we can know how many sandwiches to bring how many bottles of water that we'll have to have at the event.
I was talking to Jake Dicicco at the Beverage Forum about, at the Taste Radio meetup in the Nutribullet headquarters. He says that place is phenomenal. I can't wait. I'm so excited. Once again, thank you so much to Nutribullet for hosting us in Austin. And of course, thank you so much to our event partners, Vibrant Ingredients, Belay Solutions, The Angel Group, Corner Market Communications, and Next Foods.
I I imagine that we're gonna see a few non-alcoholic beverages or founders that have started non-alcoholic beverage brands. And I'm spec- Oh, yes ... specifically talking about adult non-alcoholic. Adult non-alc, yep. Which is a category that I think we can call it relatively booming. It's j- it's just one of those spaces that seems to be Of interest among retailers, consumers, distributors, everybody wants a piece of this space, and it's because, people are moderating their alcohol consumption.
People are looking at this opportunity to create brands that are going to resonate with younger consumers because, as we know, younger consumers aren't drinking as much. And I think it's pretty obvious that the proof is in the pudding when we look at the acquisition that happened earlier this week when St.
Agrestis, the maker of Fony Negroni, was acquired by The Wine Group for an undisclosed sum. St. Agrestis is a Brooklyn-based maker of non-alcoholic beverages. Their Fony Negronis, and we've talked about these on the show, are just phenomenal. When you think about a Negroni, there's a very specific flavor that you expect and that you want, and to create a non-alcoholic version that is without compromise or, for me at least, without compromise- Yeah
is the real special thing that St. Agrestis has done that, there are other brands that have gotten kinda close, but they're- Lapos. Lapos, absolutely, for sure. But when it comes to the standard the standard in this space, St. Agrestis is that. And while it wasn't surprising to see that The Wine Group, decided to make this acquisition, I think it's- A little surprising.
Eh, I think it's telling that there is a lot of strategic interest in this space, and that this will not be the last acquisition in ANA that we see. I wouldn't be surprised if we see another one of these at least in the next 12 to 18 months. Yeah, no, and I was gonna say a little bit surprising in that, it is, as the name suggests- The Wine Group
The Wine Group, which has brands like Franzia and Meiomi and Woodbridge, and it's interesting to see them hop into an NA cocktail brand. I think that is something that should be exciting, that it's not just one of the usual suspects picking this up. I think more acquirers is never a bad thing, and- certainly, I don't know, this feels like the biggest brand in that set, at least modern set, that, is getting picked up, so that's pretty darn cool. That is the thing that's interesting about it is that The Wine Group are the ones picking it up, and they know everything there is to know about marketing, distribution, selling of wine, but what do they know about this?
Please don't mess it up, guys. Please don't mess it up. We love the Fony Negroni. I think St. Agrestis is a great example of a beverage brand who uses glass to be perceived as a more premium, higher-end product. I know it's, I don't know- Mission accomplished. Yeah. Yeah. They really did such a nice job with that.
They do, and, not to take anything away from some of the others that... And I mentioned Lapos, and I'll mention it again. I put those two as, my top two non-alc Negronis, and now Lapos also has their Negroni water, and they're experimenting with other kinds of cocktails as well and- It's cool to see that there are so many that are so close, and that someone like a Ray could say, "Wow I'm okay with having this versus a Negroni."
I know you love Negronis, so- yeah ... it's just, it's cool to see how far the industry has come. And, at the Beverage Forum, I was talking to Monica Cornischer from Madase, and, it's cool to see her take her liquid and say, "Hey, this is my old fashion." Open it up and the nose hits you, and you're like, "Oh, that's alcohol."
And people just can't believe it when they're drinking this. It- we're getting so, so close to even the burn. I'm sure it's coming. Yeah. Congratulations to the team at St. Agrestis. They are going to maintain production in Brooklyn, but I feel like, as you mentioned, Mike, I really hope that the quality and the standard that they have established remains the same.
Because- Yeah ... what they make is fantastic. Yes. Indeed. Yes, absolutely. I do like a non-alcoholic cocktail every so often. And for dinner, pre-dinner is always the best time to have a cocktail. And lately, I feel like I have just not had a lot of time to make dinner. I don't know. So I've been busier than ever lately.
It's been really tough. And- Oh, sorry, Ray. You guys have been traveling. Yeah, w- maybe that's what it is. I've just been on the road so much. And- you need a hug? No. Okay. No. But thank you. I d- did it seem like I needed a hug? It did. Yeah, sorry about that. Listener give him a hug. Needs an extra bottle of hand sanitizer.
Yeah. I used to think that meal kit companies like Blue Apron would make my life a little bit easier, and I had a Blue Apron account for a number of months, and it feels like the whole point of these meal kits was really to make life easier and make people's dinners a lot simpler.
And I don't know, I just... I think that it hung around for a minute, and then it just seems like there's less and less interest, because I... Because why? I don't know why. Maybe it's just 'cause it doesn't make my life easier. So why did you cancel your subscription? Honestly, it was the food wasn't that good.
Yeah. I feel like the food wasn't as flavorful, as delicious as I could just make on my own without all the little packets. Some frozen, frozen Trader Joe's stuff? I don't really eat that stuff as much. Come on, you're like a Trader Joe's super fanboy. The Tr- the Trader Joe's ravioli is pretty good, their frozen ravioli.
There you go. They're built in Vacaville. The truth comes out. Yeah. But maybe that's the reason. You know- Not frozen, though. True. True. But maybe there are, just easier options, like frozen meals from Trader Joe's, that people find as a more reasonable and higher value option than meal kits.
And there's no subscription either. It just seems like one of those things that's in the middle. Certainly there's, as those meal companies have been around in that era of those things like DoorDash and Grubhub- Yeah ... and Uber Eats have gotten super good at really...
they're like, I don't know, especially Uber Eats, I feel like such a ubiquitous brand in out of home advertising that's just trying to sell you on convenience, right? And then on the flip side, I think there's other companies that have done a really good job marketing to the home cook.
I don't know. I think of all the Made In, Hexclad, all that stuff, where if you're really into cooking you're kinda not, no offense to those box subscriptions, you're kinda not really cooking. You're, like assembling and following instructions really precise, which is the, at least for me, the worst part about cooking.
It's for people who love Legos. So I don't know. We just covered in Nosh that Fresh Realm filed for bankruptcy. They also offloaded Blue Apron, which, you just talked about, Ray. And certainly you're not the only one who isn't that interested in meal kits anymore. The subscriptions for meal kits are declining.
But what I thought was really interesting is that there are some other options that seem to be having an increase in sales. Kroger, for example, they have a ready-to-eat option. I think they also have meal kits as well, and then HelloFresh has a ready-to-eat meal program called Factor, and then Tempo is actually Kroger's ready-to-eat program, and both of those focus on high protein, keto, special diets, that kind of thing.
So there are different ways to reach those consumers, but it seems like consumers aren't really that interested in cooking their own food with maybe subpar ingredients, so you have to spend all the time that you would have to cook, and oftentimes the quality of the ingredients aren't that great, and having a subscription is annoying.
And if you travel. Yeah, exactly. It's just too much. Yeah. Yeah, and at the end of the day, the subscription part of, I think, meal kits is something that holds me back, and I think holds a lot of other consumers back. 'Cause, you might wanna shop on your own terms and you want the kits to come in when you feel like you need them, as opposed to every single week or every single, every couple weeks.
And I think optionality is a big part of this, and unfortunately, I think the optionality and variety sometimes is lacking with these meal kits as well. So perhaps that's a big reason behind it. I think, the- There's no sushi meal kit for you? There's no sushi meal kit. No steak and martini night?
No, but this goes back to exactly what you were talking about, John, which is that the advent of food delivery programs or food delivery companies like an Uber Eats or a DoorDash or a Grubhub has made it that much easier and more convenient to get the kind of food that you actually want without having to cook it yourself.
Or plan in advance. I think- Yeah ... that's the other thing with it. It's like they're kinda designed for people who are, like, not super great at planning, but it requires planning, yeah. It really does. You also have the Hungryroots of the world. So they help you with meal planning, recipe planning.
They also have a bunch of ready-to-eat options. That's also another option for folks who want efficient meals but don't necessarily want a subscription to them. Indeed. Indeed. You know what? In my whole life I, yes, I do shop at Trader Joe's pretty often, but in my whole life, I've never been at an Aldi.
I've never shopped in an Aldi. Oh. Have you been there? No. Yeah. No. I feel like I didn't find that much. Grandma D'Angelo- Yeah ... loved Aldi so much. I always heard that Aldi is great for, I'm just gonna call it what it is cheap food, right? I mean- yeah. I'm loyal to Market Basket. Okay. It's off-brands, and they're Aldi brands.
Do they have a pretty good frozen selection there? Yeah. They do? Okay. All right. Anyway, in the news this week, Aldi decided that they were going to eliminate 44 ingredients from its private label line, which I thought was pretty interesting. Good on you. Seems like there's a lot of retailers moving in that direction, and I don't know.
I never really thought of Aldi as being, like, a better-for-you retailer, but maybe they're moving in that direction. You should give it a try, Ray. You should just go check it out because it is an experience, and it's a very different experience. But go in with an open mind, and, tell yourself you're gonna spend 100 bucks at least, and see what you come away with.
I would wanna know what I'm eating. And I would wanna know exactly what's inside some of these products, and do it in a really efficient way, which is related to a podcast that you recently published, Melissa. Yeah, so at this past Expo West, I feel like I heard more and more people talking about the Yuka app.
So that's an app that consumers use when they're grocery shopping, and you can, scan a product, and it gives you a rating of whether it's good or bad. So I heard so many brands talking about their rating and how it's impacting their pitches at retailers and their retail velocity. So I did have Gabriella Sebag-Wiegrzynski.
So she runs the US business for the app, and she joined the podcast to talk about how brands can, fix a bad score. So if you scan your item on there and you're not doing that well, she explained some of the things that brands are doing to fix those. She talked about how to be one of the suggested brands.
So when a customer scans a product and it gets a bad score, then another item is suggested. So she talked a little bit about how to be one of those brands that are suggested, and I think she said something like 66% of the suggested brands actually get bought, so that's a big deal, and then also how their rating system works, of course, on the Non-Based podcast.
Interesting. Yeah. I I wasn't necessarily familiar with Yuka before the podcast, and so I feel like this is something I'm gonna use, and I wonder if it'll direct me to brands that I haven't considered before or just are not aware of. Put it on one of those packaged slices of cake, Ray. Wait, what?
Had to bring that up again. Sorry. Ray's favorite cake. Yeah. I wonder what the Yuka app thinks of a brand like Tofu Go, and this is a brand that we featured on Elevator Talk a few months back. Very interesting brand. John, what is that? It's like a shelf-stable ... Reminds me of that Walking Tamale brand package.
Yes. But it's just nuggets of tofu? That are individually wrapped within inside said pouch? They're cute. Yeah, but, so let me ask you a quick question before you bite into this. Yes. Do you think this is going to be a sweet or savory product? I thought- Savory ... it was gonna be sweet. Okay. Savory, yeah.
I don't know. I thought it was gonna be sweet when I first saw it. Yes. And then when I got my hands on it, I knew it was gonna be savory. Looks like barbecue. It says soy BBQ on it, so I mean- but I'd never seen the flavors. At first, I thought this was gonna be a sweet product, and I was like, "Okay, it's gonna be like a midday square."
Midday square. Yes, exactly. But you know what? It is like a midday square, except it's also- It's very glazed ... it's glazed. Vegan beef jerky? Because it has the sauce that you want- ... in there, and it- it tastes like a pocket hot pot. It tastes like a pocket hot pot. Have you had hot pot?
Oh, hot pot. Yeah. Yes. Hot pot. Huǒ guō. Okay. Oh, sorry. Saying it in Chinese doesn't help you, but... it was great having Caroline Day on Elevator Talk. I mentioned we featured TofuGo on an episode a few months back, and it's a really interesting concept, and I feel like the question that I had at the time, and the question I still have right now is, who is this for?
A savory snack sounds great. Obviously, a higher protein snack sounds great, but not everyone loves tofu, and I think tofu in a package format like this, I don't know. You really wanna be specific in terms of who your target consumer is. First, it's for people who love tofu. Okay. Second is for people who love savory tofu and these specific spice profiles, and they want it on the go.
Even people who love hot pot can't eat hot pot every day. This gives you a little bit of that taste on the go, and you get three of these for 120 calories, 12 grams of protein, and what do you think? What do you think of the texture? I feel like this is for people who want beef jerky without the actual meat or whatever.
You know what I mean? So you want the- It does have a little beef jerky quality. ... You want the protein. You want the- Satiation okay I wanna ask 'cause this is really throwing me off. Next to the Tofu Go wrapper looks like a vial of blood. What is that, John? This is we do mandatory drug testing, John.
I bring all the weird stuff in. Just on mic though. I, yeah. Just to be clear. Yeah. It's my blood test for the day. And it's not looking good. Oh. Oh, geez. No, I don't know. I'm starting Methnet next week. It says elastin. Is that what that is? Yes. And what is that?
Again, I have no idea. It was on the table. Does it- It's for your skin I brought it. Why did you give that to John? Why does it keep ... it was next to John. Does it help you stretch your muscles? I don't know. It, yeah- Should I do that? It's for your- No ... it's for your skin. It's for your muscle flexibility or whatever.
It's collagen. You guys, it's collagen peptides. Okay, there we go. It's collagen. Okay. And so you- this is a- I'm scared now. You do- Is it topical? I'm sc- You do it like- No, you drink it ... oh, you drink it. I'm so scared. Okay. So just to give our listeners some context here- Are you sure you're not drinking lotion or something?
It legitimately looks like a vial of blood, when you go to the doctor and they collect blood from you. It does. But clearly it's a shot. You just take all of, you take it all at once. Yep. And it's called elastin. Okay, I don't know where you got that from or if it was sent to us or- It was sent to us in a big box and- Okay.
So we have many of these. You have many, we have many of these. All right I'm gonna have- You can have some if you want. Okay. Would you like to try now? Oh, no, I'm good. You first. Is the color- You me first? You me first? Is the color red? 'Cause it looks like- It looks like it from the packaging ... it looks like blood.
Beet juice? It smells like it tastes good. Okay. Yay, it does. Okay. It's like cherry. All right, that's good. Oh, that's good. Okay, good. All right we're- Cherries. Interesting. Okay, hopefully you were supposed to drink it. Okay. Moving on to more traditional beverages- Ah ... John's crushing some Hover.
What is Hover? Hover, it's a sparkling matcha drink. Okay. With a coconut water base. This one's a lemon yuzu. Comes in this little can. Was that our Taste Radio in New York meet up? Yeah. Yeah. It's cute. Yeah. It's super cute. It's cute. It's pretty darn tasty. Yeah, it has a little sort of Pokemon anime vibes going on in terms of the packaging.
Yeah. Very nice. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then Melissa, you've got a can of something and you've got some powder. Spice. It was spice Speaking of our New York meetup Yeah, exactly. So this is from the New York meetup. This is Anavana. There was a lovely founder named Amulya Panyam. I may be butchering that name, but she brought this product with her.
It is a ground-up lentil and spice blend. This reminded me a little bit of chutney punch. Except that's food Exactly. Yeah. So this is- That's not just spice. That's food in there Exactly. And it- Oh ... it's high protein. Yeah. So let's see here. There was- You're adding chickpeas Yeah, so it's got some protein in it, and it's really tasty.
It does add a little bit of- Not that spices aren't food, but that's food yeah this is an additional source of nutrients for whatever you're eating. So yeah, I thought this was- You could put chutney punch on that You could yeah, you could put them both.
And by the way, you should Nice You should use them all Nice. And then you've got... What is this now? You've got a can. I can't see this. I also grabbed a can of Nectar Pop- Oh, wow ... from our fridge upstairs. I didn't actually read the can that carefully before I started drinking it, so I took a sip, and it's just, it's delicious.
It's so tasty. This is the black cherry. They use maple water, which is always fun. It's 45 calories for a can, nine grams of sugar, and super tasty. And then I started reading more, and they have probiotic cultures, and there's maple inulin. But really, what got me was the flavor Yeah. Looks amazing, actually.
Yeah. I love tart cherry I gotta try that. It's really good. Sounds delicious Yeah, black cherry more specifically, yeah Yep So this came a couple of weeks ago. It's Sababa's Saturday Sauce, and it is a phenomenal shakshuka starter. We got it, and, our sample captain, Colin, he never tried shakshuka before.
So I drove home, made some with the sauce, came back, and now he's had it, and he's lo- he loved it. It was amazing. Nice. Yeah It's so easy to make shaksh- it's easy to make shakshuka anyway. Everybody knows that. But now it's Way easier Yeah. Yeah, absolutely How many shakshukas can you make with that jar?
I made six eggs worth of shakshuka Oh, nice Okay. Saturday Sauce. Nice. Yeah. Good stuff.
