New Beverage Showdown Finals: Round II

Speaker 1 [00:36] All right. Welcome back. Hope everyone enjoyed lunch, those in attendance anyway. I gotta thank our events team, which has been tremendous, uh, in producing these uh events for sure. And also feeding us quite well. I've really enjoyed the food here. All right, this is round 2 of the finals of the New Beverage showdown. Let's get right to it with our first two presenters. We have Lena Zurovsky

Lena [01:01] and

Speaker 1 [01:01] Russo Skolnich, who are the co-founders of Passion Joy. Come on up. Hello again, microphone. Clicker right here. And Good to go. All right. And please just keep an eye on your timer.

Lena [01:30] Well, it was a long journey, but we are here. Hi, my name is Lena and my name is Russo, and we are founders of Passion Joy. When it comes to fizzy beverages, I realize there are only two choices tasty and terrible for you, or functional but hard to finish. I wanted to find a way to bridge the gap between flavor and function without sacrificing quality. In our journey to create a refreshing, organic, low sugar beverage for the whole family, I discovered ingredient that packs powerful benefits the passion fruit. It's an underrated super fruit that's packed with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that help boost immunity, reduce stress, and support whole body health. And with that, we created passion joy. Born in sunny California and made in the United States, Passion joy comes in four flavors strawberry, mango, pineapple, guava, and lime. It's only 30 calories, plant-based, packed with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. It's kid-friendly and certified organic. It has no gums or anything artificial. Our suggested retail price is 299. And we would like to make passenger affordable for all families in the United States. The super fruit with a delicious taste, passion joy has naturally high levels of vitamin A and C, magnesium and potassium that has a lot of benefits such as immunity, digestion, heart health, and even stress relief. There is no other organic beverage on the market that delivers on flavor, calories, and ingredients that a passenger does. The market of functional beverage is huge and it's only growing. We are going to start small and local and build distribution incrementally. Passion joy is for consumers looking for a low calorie beverage with flavor. In fact, 60% of consumers are looking for a low calorie options, while 70% state that taste is a key factor to purchase. We are proudly immigrant founded. I was born in Ukraine. I was born in Latvia and with over 16 years of experience in beverage sales and distribution, and with our network of thousands of importers and distributors across 87 countries, we will bring passion joy to the market both here in the United States and internationally. We name it passion joy because we believe happiness comes from good health. It's my passion, and I would like to share this passion with the world. Our plan is to start locally here in California and the United States, also through social media and e-commerce. Based on our experience in, uh, international distribution, we will quickly launch overseas, starting from Gulffo, uh, starting from, uh, Dubai, uh, Middle East, and Europe. Uh, actually, we have, uh, presented Passion Joy during a Global Food summit in Dubai this year, where we've met a lot of interest. We are launching with 4QUs with a plan to expand to 8 shortly, and we will continue to create great products that fit into our mission to share amazing flavor and benefits of passion fruit. Give your body a boost with each refreshing sip of your new favorite beverage, passion, joy. Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 [05:25] Well done. Thanks. If you could slide up over here, you got, there we go. And Lena, if you can slide it so the cameras can see you, terrific. Suzanne, let's start with you. Uh, passion, joy, I haven't seen too many passion fruit focused beverages. Have you? And if not, you know, what do you think of their plan and their

Speaker 3 [05:42] brand? Um, I have not. Uh, I think it's super interesting, and passion fruit, of course, is delicious. Um, I thought the liquid was great. I would say as consumers start to explore more into different fruits, you see a lot of, uh, you know, you see a lot of raspberry and then you see, oh, there's a lot of guava things, so maybe passion fruit is the next wave, and so to be on the forefront of that is really great.

Lena [06:06] Thank you.

Speaker 1 [06:08] John, uh, we heard a bit about functionality and the functionality of, uh, passion fruit beverages, but do you, where do you see it as more of a functional product or more of a refreshment product?

Speaker 4 [06:18] Um, I, I definitely see it more as like a refreshment product that's low in calories. The You know, the functional stuff feels kind of like a lot of, you know, everything's a superfood or whatever, you know, it's like it might be good for you, but you're not really looking for like, you know, efficacious functionality from it. Um, you know, I think just a couple of other thoughts on this. I mean, you know, the packaging looks really nice and polished, um, so nice job on that. I do wonder about. Some of the stuff that you showed up there with like, you know, 8 skews, like, I mean they all are going to taste like passion fruit, like I'm not sure you need that many, um, and I guess I'm a little nervous about the like. US and then go global, you know, I think it's hard to like be successful just in the US, so I'd just be careful with going too fast, you know, so I think the small and local approach would be, would be great. So but yeah, nice work.

Speaker 1 [07:17] Thank you. Yeah, and Sabrina, let's talk about that US retail strategy we saw target retailers, you know, plan to roll out here in California. What are your thoughts?

Speaker 5 [07:27] Yeah, I, I liked where you were headed. It wasn't a lot of California retailers on that list, if that's where you want to start. You're saying born in California, but Um, you started, you know, talking to some of the national ones or going out east to Publix. Um, I would just put a few more of those conventional retailers right here in California and really get those units per store per week churning so that you have that story to take nationally.

Lena [07:57] Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 [07:58] Ken, did you understand the concept? Do you understand, you know, where this brand is and where it could go? I guess what I'm asking is, do you see the market potential that Leon Russo laid out for it? Ray, you know, I don't understand very much, so. Um No, what, what I would say is you've got the passion fruit as a hero and I happen to really like passion fruit, so I like that part of it. But with the brands that have been out today, passion fruit's just one flavor of an entire lineup. So I am curious, can this be the hero skew? And then the other cautionary thing I think dovetails along what John said, which was part of your A presentation said we intend to do this slowly, methodically, strategically. I may have inserted a couple of extra words there, but then

Lena [08:45] you

Speaker 1 [08:45] talked about

Lena [08:46] Dubai

Speaker 1 [08:46] and, you know, these just faraway places. There's no compelling reason to do that. Do you want to address that at all? Sure.

Lena [08:57] OK, so, uh, as we said, per our conversation, we said, uh, that we're very experienced in the distribution. So, uh, we've been like for a lot, a lot of, um, exposition in Europe. Uh, we went, um, in October in Paris, Seattle. We were in, uh, Singapore, so we are a big, uh, distribution company, so everyone wants to have American drinks, and this is sadly in Europe, a lot of drinks, American drinks are prohibited because of not healthy ingredients and our drink is kind of substitution because a lot of people in um, In Europe, in Dubai, in, uh, everywhere are requesting, it's in high demand. American products are very in high demand. So we have opportunity, but we want to start from California very slowly. So we have opportunity also introduce to customers, our customers who wants and waiting from us such a long time and um regarding the philosophy, uh, uh. Of our drink, so the base, the main base is passion fruit, and we put like a little flavors to compare the best match of passion fruit. So people who likes it probably would enjoy it.

Speaker 1 [10:09] So and I think it's uh unfortunately I've got to cut you off there because my team is going to scream at me, but very, very well done, Russo. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you so much

Lena [10:18] and thank you for the opportunity to be here. Thank you for your feedback.

Speaker 1 [10:22] Thank you. I can take your microphone. Thank you so much. All right. I think I lost my notes. No, I didn't. They're right here. OK, but how can I forget who our next guest is going to be? Of course that person is Danny McPherson. I think I said McPherson yesterday. This Mc McPherson, right? There's no fear in McPherson. Danny McPherson, the co-founder of Grind with Gratitude, come on up. Good to see you. How are things? OK, you got your clicker right here. Please keep an eye on your timer. All right, thank you. So I guess what I should say is maybe there's a little fear in McPherson, uh, when you get in front of a crowd. So we're super excited. Um, I heard it in a presentation actually 3 times while being here, uh, so far at this event, by the way, Bevnet, first time here, 1st class, amazing. Start with why. Uh, we did that yesterday in our presentation. Um, got a little feedback from it that was both positive and negative, but what Grind with gratitude is about is focusing first on our why. That to us is the most important thing. We own a chain of restaurants on the East Coast. We've done very well. We'll have about 100 locations in 3 years. We understand that when it comes to food, it's just a given that you have to have a good product. Now there's some testing that goes along. Um, I don't know if you would believe this, but we have some people that ask us for Pepsi in our restaurant. Pepsi. Of course, we sell Coke though, of course. Right? But so for us, we wanted to dive in first into the why. That's what really drives our company and our mission is our why. Um, we're gonna stay true to that. Uh, we definitely know we need to talk about the how and the what. 2 minutes wasn't enough yesterday. Uh, we're gonna get into it a little bit today, but you're still gonna hear more about our why. Um, green button. But we know the how and the what is important. But we also know that a lot of people have different opinions on the how and the what. I've tasted a lot of amazing, um beverages here today. Shout out to Amy and Mellow. I'm a little more relaxed right now because I had them right before I came up on stage. Uh. But when it comes to the, the product, there's been a lot of testing done and a lot of people have different opinions. I personally know what I think is the best coffee on here, but that's not what the Consumer Reports talked about. Uh, they talked about different ones. So again, how and what we're in the infancy stage right now. We're pre-launch. We've made so many contacts here at this event that we know we're going to be able to tweak our product from here and there. Uh, we actually weren't even planning on launching until the late 1st quarter, uh, to our surprise, and I think the Bevnet's team's surprise now too. We actually got selected to be here, uh, and 6 days before this event, we did not have a product. Um, Tyler and myself had to drive through southeastern, uh, North Carolina, Georgia, and South Carolina to get our product here. Uh, so we had to go very fast. We'll use the contacts we've made here to make it better, we know that. But again, back to our why we focus on our community. I think the only reason I'm on this stage right now is because of our community. Our community helped us be the fan favorite, because they believed in our mission. I listened to Heidi speak yesterday, and she talked about how Gen Z, the fastest growing generation in the history of time, they don't trust companies, and that has them hesitate to buy their product. We're going with our why. We're staying true with that. We're going to build our community. We're going to build our brand. These are our customers. It's not a he, it's not a she, it's not a fitness. It's not a non-alcoholic. It's everyone out there who's a dreamer, right, who wants to be an entrepreneur, who wants to get away from their 9 to 5. Uh, the girl who's going to speak after me is amazing. Uh, we've all faced the critics. But after you face the critics, what we like to do is support our community by giving away $2000. So as we grow, you'll see this from time to time where we give those entrepreneurs, those out there daring greatly, $2000. So Mattie, I hope your presentation goes well. Um, right here on this podium, you'll probably want to take it. There's $2000. So congratulations, and we're excited to see you grow your brand, and Trent to grow his brand and so many other people to grow their brand, because that's what we love to see. Uh, we know this is a crowded space. Uh, we know we're going to have to have persistence to get there, but we believe that as long as we stay true to who we are, that there'll always be room for one more brand. It might not look just like that because our how and our what might get changed a little bit, but we know. There are a lot of great products out there that make a lot of great money. We just want to join them and be the next one. And we're going to do it by building the community, building our brand so that Gen X trusts us, and they trust us when we put out products. Our job, um, who was it, Madeleine I saw speak today. Is founders, she spoke about how you can outsource packaging, you can outsource marketing, you can outsource all those things, but as a founder, what you cannot do is you cannot outsource passion, grit, and persistence. We will never outsource those things. We will outsource labeling and canning and product development, but grit, passion, and persistence will make us the fastest growing beverage company in 2025 because our zeros, our sales are zero. I wanted the gong. All right. You ended right on time, so no gong. Well done. Well done. You can actually hang on to that actually. OK, thank you. Thank you, Maddie. Don't forget that. If she does, I'm fine to that for her. Uh, John, let's start with you. Uh, you know, Danny talked a lot about the why. Um, you know, how does that, how do you feel about the why for grinding with, uh, gratitude?

Speaker 4 [16:33] Um, I mean, I, I feel like right now, you know, certainly what you're talking about is the why is admirable, but I think it does feel a little bit like the, you know, hammer in search of a nail, and I'd kind of ask if like, A beverage is the best place to actually execute that given that you know it is like especially water like Cutthroat, like the most cutthroat, uh, you know, fractions of Penny's business.

Speaker 1 [17:00] So watching time. So we won't be just water. We do our, our restaurant is, uh, brunches, so breakfast and lunch, uh, so we, the grind will be part of that too. And so we'll have a coffee line that goes along with that as well. Yeah, I mean we're just a little rushed to

Speaker 4 [17:14] get here. Sure, coffee, coffee beans, that would make more sense with like the name and the restaurant background than. I think we saw a THC seltzer and a bottled water, two things that like really never ever would go together. I probably would not do either of those if I were being totally honest, but, uh, coffee line sounds pretty intriguing,

Speaker 1 [17:34] yeah, and just trying to be a platform company and getting started. So, but I appreciate the feedback. Thank you. Yeah, Sabrina, let's stay on that for a sec because I asked yesterday, the judges yesterday, that is, um, if there were one or the other, uh, you know, do you think you go with bottled water? Do you think THC beverage, I mean, where would you recommend the team go from here?

Speaker 5 [17:51] Well, there's a lot of waters out there, right? And so I think that THC probably sets you aside. I love the focus on entrepreneurs. It's just how do you connect that with your brand and how do you tell the buyer the story because you have two buyers, right? You've got the consumer, but you've got to sell that buyer at your gros at the grocery store who may care less about the why and more about the product. And so just make sure that comes, comes to light.

Speaker 1 [18:20] Awesome, thank you. Ken, as someone who makes early stage investments, um, and you've talked about this in the past, you're betting on the jockey, you're betting on the founder, but, um, did, was there something in the presentation you wanted to hear more about, more of with Grind with gratitude? Yes, absolutely, and one of them was that judges, at least some of them accept bribes, and there's $2000 up there. It's actually, uh, 1900s on stage, so. Well, I'm a cantankerous kind of judge, but No, look, I is the THC a delta 9? It is not. OK, so it's straight. That's Ray. That's why I'm not myself. Oh, OK. Um, no, I, I look at it. There's a lot of, uh, sort of variables at this point, so I think directionally is all I can opine on, and you know, it's, uh, it's sort of at a nebulous stage, but I like your energy and your grit and your potential for grind. So good on you. Thank you. I appreciate that, Suzanne. In terms of the brand itself and what you saw on the packages today, I mean, do you think that Grind has a good foundation for growth?

Speaker 3 [19:27] I would just say the more you can focus, the better, um, because to me it was, uh, I mean, to your earlier point, there's a water, there's a seltzer. I think coffee certainly makes sense. Um. So I was just a little bit confused. What is the through line, and I think the why absolutely explains that, but if I'm a consumer in the store, I may not know, right? I may not understand that. Um, so I think there's a lot of opportunity to tie the good that you're doing in the community to the actual product. Um, I would say just figure out what that one thing is and do it great first.

Speaker 1 [20:01] I think we did that one thing good enough to get up here on the stage. No, I think you did a great job, Danny. Well done. Well done. We love the criticism that really helps us get better, so we're excited about that. Outstanding. And you know what, thank you so much for all your generosity. I think that is a really wonderful thing you did. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. All right. I don't think I'm gonna have to ask her to come up here because there's $1000 here waiting for her. Maddie Frank, the founder of Daffy, come on up. Mr. He's a microphone. Is there enough space for that?

Speaker 6 [20:39] 4000

Speaker 1 [20:40] dollars. There you go. The stand here, your clicker right here, and please keep an eye on your timer.

Speaker 6 [20:45] Wow. Well, first of all, thank you so much, Grind With Gratitude team. I, wow, yeah, thank you. Um, hi, everyone. My name is Maddie and I am the founder of Dappy Booze Free Drinks. I love socializing and going to parties with friends, but you know what I don't love? Waking up after a night out and googling, am I dying or just hungover? Morning after regrets that have me cringing. And embarrassing texts that have me side-eyeing yesterday's meme. I'm not alone in wanting a better alternative. The market is shifting as more and more people are looking towards booze-free drinks. But the options out there, sparkling waters, sugary sodas, and sad mocktails, let's face it, they're not exactly party material. People want to feel included, have fun, and stay sharp without sacrificing their health or their mornings. And I'm not alone in feeling this way. 1/3 of young adults are drinking less or escaping alcohol entirely. But That people want to feel included, have fun, and stay sharp. So meet Daffy. Daffy is a non-alcoholic beverage with mood lifting adaptogens and nootropics, which is actually where the name Daffy comes from. Dappy is a play on the word adaptogen, and it's just a plus that it rhymes with happy. Day has refreshing, mood lifting ingredients, and we have the two incredible flavors seen right here which deliver a sophisticated, refreshing taste unlike anything else on the market. Not to mention it's only 30 calories per can. Day has fun relatable branding with the flavor names don't text your ex and anxiety Not Included. And with our bold, fun, and sleek packaging, Dappy is designed to stand out on any shelf or Instagram feed and appeal to our socially savvy, visually driven consumer. Now, I know what you're all thinking. The non-alcoholic beverage market is exploding. What makes Stappy different and special? Rather than prioritizing health and wellness, DI focuses on creating community amongst consumers who are looking for connection without alcohol. With our conversation starting packaging, Uh, bold, our conversation starting flavor names, uh, bold, eye-catching packaging, and unique refreshing taste. Day delivers an experience, not just a product. Our vision isn't just to sell drinks, it's to create a cultural shift. Our purpose is to eliminate the stigma that exists around not drinking alcohol in social settings. But let's take a step back because Day only launched 3 weeks ago. So, first, we need to sell drinks before we can achieve this grand vision. So, how are we selling Day and who are we selling it to? DI launched with a direct to consumer strategy, which was a fantastic way to collect early data and gather customer feedback directly. As for what's next, we are already in talks with local retailers in the San Francisco area. Uh, without spending any money on marketing, our social media first strategy led to an overwhelming response during our launch, which made it clear that our branding and flavor profiles are resonating with consumers. Day is packaged in sleek 12 ounce cans and sold in 4 packs at $1999 a pack, $5 a can, which aligns with consumer expectations for premium, high quality drinks and ensures that we can create healthy margins as we continue to grow and scale sustainably. We are targeting women aged 25 to 35, a demographic that is social, Uh, excited about innovative products and cares about finding community. However, we intentionally designed our branding to resonate with anybody who values feeling sharp, connected, and confident in social settings. This strategic approach ensures that as the sober curious movement grows, our brand will continue to resonate with a broader audience. Uh, creating an expanding market potential. The, the, the world is changing and we hope that you will join us on this new era as we, uh, reshape socializing. Thank you.

Speaker 1 [25:51] Well done. You can hang on to that. I'll take it quicker. You just move up here to the X. There you go. All right, uh, Sabrina, let's start with you. Um, the direct to consumer strategy is one that a lot of early stage brands take, but, um, how difficult is it challenging? Is it, what information do you need to take to that retailer to go to brick and mortar?

Speaker 5 [26:09] Well, I mean, you're, you're going to get a lot of good information from that consumer, right? Your, your flavor profiles, what works, what doesn't. You're gonna get feedback whether you want it or not, but also your ranking. And things like that and uh that's very important. I mean, I think by the time you go to a brick and mortar retail, you've got this as a, as a database to help you sell in and so leverage that education, leverage that data that you'll get from e-commerce. Exactly.

Speaker 1 [26:37] And just as a follow up in terms of the price point and the demographic, I mean, do you think these are in line with what Deppy is trying to do in this space? Yeah,

Speaker 5 [26:44] I think the demographic is good. I You just probably need to go through your pricing. 1999 is a great price point, but by the time you get into brick and mortar, are you going to be at 25? You know, you've got to add on some of those distributor and transportation costs. So just take a look at that to make sure you land on a shelf at the right

Speaker 6 [27:04] price. That's helpful. Thank you.

Speaker 1 [27:07] Ken, you have some interest in the space out of non-alcoholic cocktails. How would you evaluate Dappy in this space? I think there's a lot of good stuff here. I like the uh adaptogen and happy uh confluence. Um, I did find the functional stack to be sort of disconnected. Um, I don't think, I, I think it's a little bit kitchen sink. I know I used that term once before, but I think in this case it's like what are you trying to be and either isolating by flavor or um leaning in on one of those occasions. Did you want to address that, Maddie?

Speaker 6 [27:41] Yeah, I'm actually, I'm curious more what you mean. We have like the, we have the flavors and then the function. Are you saying just kind of in the in the messaging and branding kind of prioritize one over the other? Too many, too many. Oh, OK, that's helpful. Thank you,

Speaker 1 [27:54] Suzanne. In terms of the name, um, and the front of pack, again, very important to get consumers interested in the product. Um, do you think it's enough to draw people in?

Speaker 3 [28:03] Yeah, I mean, I think the packaging is beautiful first of all, I think there was a lot of thought that went into the logo. I like the little subtle smile. It's nice. I was confused about the flavor names. I just thought anxiety not Included or Don't Text your ex was just some like cheeky. You know, romance copy and that the you know the names underneath were the actual flavors so maybe getting a little bit tighter on hierarchy of communications but overall I think it's beautiful and eye catching. I do think it skews a bit female, but if that's your demographic, nothing wrong with that.

Speaker 1 [28:38] OK, we haven't talked about taste, have we, John? What do you think of the flavors?

Speaker 4 [28:43] Um, I thought they were really tasty. I mean, I think what's, what I think is kind of interesting with what you've created, and maybe it's a little bit of a double-edged sword, is that. They're super tasty, and the difference between this and you know maybe the flavored sparkling water that that consumer is drinking is not that great, so. You know, in that sense it's super familiar, it's crushable, and you're trying to reposition it into a use occasion at a higher price point, and I wonder if that'll work or if you need to lean into more like assertive flavors so that like I'm not crushing it like a LaCroix or something, um, you know, but again, I mean you have really great taste. I didn't find it to be something that was like weighed down by all the functional ingredients in it, which is good and 25 calories. Like, that's awesome, exactly where you should be. So I think it to me it just opens a question of like is the right positioning for this to be like a booze-free product or some other type of functional drink.

Speaker 1 [29:44] All right, great feedback, great presentation. Well done. Thank you so much thank you. Thank you. OK, yeah, don't forget to tip your showdown host. That's uh. In all seriousness, this is an amazing group. All 6 finalists did really, really well. All 12 semi-finalists did really, really well. A round of applause for everyone who presented over these past few days. I always do this at the end of the show, but, uh, let's do it right now. Our amazing judging panel, thank you so much for everything you've contributed. Well done. We're gonna be back here on stage at 3:10 p.m. Pacific time to announce the winner of the New Beverage Showdown. In the meantime, the judges and I are going to exit the stage. I'm gonna bring up my colleague Jeff Kleinman.