WEBVTT - Premium Pasta Sauce with Carbone CEO Eric Skae 0:00:02.520 --> 0:00:07.000 Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio news. 0:00:07.920 --> 0:00:11.840 This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Tim 0:00:11.880 --> 0:00:14.120 Stenovek on Bloomberg Radio. 0:00:14.400 --> 0:00:15.640 It's five o'clock somewhere. 0:00:15.720 --> 0:00:19.320 Oh well, it means red wine, right exactly, or a 0:00:19.360 --> 0:00:21.919 little red sauce. I'm thinking, you know the Marinara sauce 0:00:21.960 --> 0:00:24.200 aisle at the grocery store these days, Carol, Yeah, not 0:00:24.280 --> 0:00:25.960 what it was like when I was a kid, where 0:00:25.960 --> 0:00:27.680 it was like all classico and prego. 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:30.560 Remember that it really was. 0:00:30.760 --> 0:00:32.720 Can I just wait before you go on? I'm just 0:00:32.760 --> 0:00:35.479 gonna say it. My mom was always made homemade. 0:00:35.760 --> 0:00:36.199 Wow. 0:00:36.320 --> 0:00:38.720 I know I was spoiled, but go ahead, go on, Wow, 0:00:38.840 --> 0:00:41.400 go on, because not everybody shade to Susan Stemine. Here's 0:00:41.440 --> 0:00:43.840 also a stay at home mom for a while, so okay, 0:00:43.840 --> 0:00:44.480 she could do that. 0:00:44.600 --> 0:00:44.760 Well. 0:00:44.800 --> 0:00:47.120 The isle has moved up scale with more botique options, 0:00:47.120 --> 0:00:50.199 including REOs and the sauce from our next guest company. 0:00:50.560 --> 0:00:53.000 Eric Skae is CEO at Carbone Fine Food. It's the 0:00:53.000 --> 0:00:58.160 maker of Marinera spicy vodka, tomato basil arabiata. You like that? 0:00:58.400 --> 0:00:58.800 Wow? 0:00:59.080 --> 0:01:01.080 I practiced that one early Alfredo and more. 0:01:01.280 --> 0:01:03.639 Eric joined He disappeared for like an hour or so. 0:01:03.920 --> 0:01:06.800 It was just holding a bottle in the Bloomberg Interactive 0:01:06.880 --> 0:01:10.560 Brokers studio. Eric, good to see you. Okay, Carol and 0:01:10.560 --> 0:01:14.360 I were talking about this Carbone Fine Foods. Right, Carbone, 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:17.559 the restaurant which is owned by Major Food Group. Let's 0:01:17.560 --> 0:01:20.119 start there. What's the relationship. Just settle the score for it. 0:01:20.200 --> 0:01:23.080 Major Food Group is majority owners of Carbone Fine. 0:01:22.880 --> 0:01:25.959 Food Okay, and inspired by the. 0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:28.840 Restaurant, inspired by inspired by the. 0:01:28.760 --> 0:01:30.920 Restaurant, Yes, what you get in a jar at the 0:01:30.920 --> 0:01:35.120 grocery store from Carbone? MARINERA, Do you get that at 0:01:35.120 --> 0:01:36.360 the restaurant Carbone? 0:01:36.440 --> 0:01:39.800 Yes, I mean as close representation as you can make good. 0:01:39.840 --> 0:01:45.280 That's the IP commercial kitchen. Absolutely all fresh ingredients. Tomatoes 0:01:45.280 --> 0:01:49.520 from Italy, onions are chopped on site, Garlic's minced on site, 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:52.960 basil his hands stripped on site. As we produce a 0:01:53.000 --> 0:01:55.800 product and it cooks for an hour to an hour 0:01:55.840 --> 0:01:59.680 and ten minutes, meeting your homemade taste. What we look 0:01:59.720 --> 0:02:05.120 for strount quality, and Mario Carbone is very passionate about that, 0:02:05.320 --> 0:02:07.440 so he tastes everything. 0:02:07.680 --> 0:02:09.840 I kind of love it when I roll over the 0:02:10.000 --> 0:02:13.080 ingredients and what you're seeing is everything I understand, and 0:02:13.120 --> 0:02:15.680 there's no chemicals, there's no nothing like that. I mean 0:02:15.720 --> 0:02:17.839 that to me is super important. How do you, though, 0:02:17.919 --> 0:02:21.240 make sure that it is as good as the restaurant? 0:02:21.639 --> 0:02:25.520 So I mean, look, we're very, very involved in the 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:29.560 manufacturing of this. So the first year I tasted personally 0:02:29.639 --> 0:02:31.560 every single batch before it was allowed to go on 0:02:31.600 --> 0:02:35.520 a jar. Obviously I have a staff. Now how to 0:02:35.520 --> 0:02:38.280 go one hundred thousand miles on United without leaving the country. 0:02:38.560 --> 0:02:40.680 I live in Las Vegas, so that's my fault. 0:02:40.760 --> 0:02:43.200 How many times did you taste something You're like, nope, nope, nope. 0:02:43.240 --> 0:02:43.799 It sounds like a. 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:47.800 Lot, not that often because I work with people that 0:02:47.840 --> 0:02:50.120 I trust that are very very good at doing this. 0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:52.280 It's a very specialized process. No one wants to cook 0:02:52.320 --> 0:02:54.720 for an hour in a manufacturing facility, so those who 0:02:54.800 --> 0:02:56.960 do it are as passionate as I am about it. 0:02:57.000 --> 0:02:58.680 How do you control that? Because I mean, I would 0:02:58.680 --> 0:03:01.520 imagine you have manufacturing in several parts of the country. 0:03:01.639 --> 0:03:07.600 It's not necessarily centralized in one place. Ingredient variabilities based 0:03:07.639 --> 0:03:11.120 on seasons, and those tomatoes that you do get from Italy, 0:03:11.280 --> 0:03:12.480 how do you control for those things? 0:03:12.520 --> 0:03:14.120 So the tomatoes you get from Italy, you're going to 0:03:14.160 --> 0:03:17.800 be fairly consistent. They come in, we open up number 0:03:17.800 --> 0:03:19.600 ten cans, just like the back of a restaurant. So 0:03:19.720 --> 0:03:22.640 or it's not big drums to the tomatoes. They're packed 0:03:22.919 --> 0:03:26.520 just in tomato season, and that's tomato we use. So 0:03:26.800 --> 0:03:30.360 I mean to your point, I might be able to 0:03:30.360 --> 0:03:34.320 take us taste a slight variation in fresh basil because 0:03:34.360 --> 0:03:37.280 it was hand stripped at a different time. We've never 0:03:37.320 --> 0:03:38.360 gotten a complaint. 0:03:39.840 --> 0:03:41.560 Is it in different parts of the country where where 0:03:41.560 --> 0:03:43.520 you do many where you actually do the manufacturing. 0:03:43.720 --> 0:03:45.680 No, most of it's here in the East Coast. We 0:03:45.680 --> 0:03:47.960 have a couple of cop packords set up that that 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:50.120 we work with, but we have a primary that does 0:03:50.200 --> 0:03:51.240 a good majority of it. 0:03:51.320 --> 0:03:54.400 All right, great bottle carbon name very prominent. Why are 0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:56.200 they doing this? Why do they need to do this? 0:03:56.960 --> 0:03:59.000 You know that would be a that'ld be a question 0:03:59.080 --> 0:04:02.160 for for Mario Mario, but you know, as I've seen 0:04:02.240 --> 0:04:06.200 him ask that question, he's got X amount of restaurants 0:04:06.520 --> 0:04:08.520 and not everybody can get to his restaurants, and people 0:04:08.600 --> 0:04:11.040 want to get there. Yeah, so you wanted to put 0:04:11.040 --> 0:04:13.880 something in the jar that represented the restaurant and allowed 0:04:13.880 --> 0:04:17.600 people to taste the experience of carbone and that's why 0:04:17.680 --> 0:04:20.000 we're so passionate about what goes in that jar, tasting 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:23.640 better than anything. Our recipes on our site were developed 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:28.160 by carbone chefs, so and we've kind of kept them 0:04:28.200 --> 0:04:31.520 simple so the home cook can make it, but they're 0:04:31.600 --> 0:04:32.520 really good recipes. 0:04:32.680 --> 0:04:35.360 Does it create a significant revenue stream potentially? I mean, 0:04:35.400 --> 0:04:38.000 you understand this industry, we didn't. You know, you're former 0:04:38.040 --> 0:04:41.680 CEO Raos. You know someone who's been in the food 0:04:41.720 --> 0:04:43.440 and beverage, but you know area for a long time. 0:04:43.600 --> 0:04:45.680 Is it something though, when you have a name that's 0:04:45.720 --> 0:04:48.279 known that you can build a significant revenue line? 0:04:48.839 --> 0:04:52.920 Yeah? Yeah, I mean we just finished our third full year. 0:04:54.320 --> 0:04:56.640 We've done eighteen million jars since we launched. We're in 0:04:56.680 --> 0:04:59.039 twenty four thousand accounts and we're the number seven brand 0:04:59.080 --> 0:05:02.680 in America, number two in natural foods. So it's went very, 0:05:02.760 --> 0:05:06.240 very fast, and it is in large part because we 0:05:06.320 --> 0:05:09.160 had a name that we could leverage from a from 0:05:09.240 --> 0:05:14.400 an awareness standpoint. You know, awareness was not massive in 0:05:14.480 --> 0:05:17.360 the Middle Midwest, for example, but it was known by 0:05:17.400 --> 0:05:20.960 a certain by enough people to start something. Yeah, and 0:05:21.000 --> 0:05:24.360 then you know, then the blocking and tackling happens of 0:05:24.560 --> 0:05:25.239 building a brand. 0:05:25.520 --> 0:05:28.240 Okay, so this is not your first rodeo, as Carol mentioned, 0:05:28.279 --> 0:05:31.480 your first red Sauce rodeo twenty sixteen to twenty eighteen 0:05:31.560 --> 0:05:34.440 CEO of REOs. That was the period it was acquired 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:37.240 by Sovos for more than four hundred million dollars. Then 0:05:37.240 --> 0:05:38.800 a couple of years later I believe it was what 0:05:38.880 --> 0:05:44.839 twenty twenty one, twenty twenty four, Yeah, twenty twenty four, Yeah, 0:05:44.279 --> 0:05:48.880 when it Sovos closed its acquisition, or when it Soils 0:05:48.960 --> 0:05:51.800 was bought by Campbell's for two point seven billion dollars. 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:52.120 Yeah. 0:05:52.160 --> 0:05:54.280 Obviously some some big growth in the space over the 0:05:54.360 --> 0:05:58.039 last few years. What do you see as driving the 0:05:58.080 --> 0:06:00.320 growth and how much growth is left? And sort of 0:06:00.360 --> 0:06:01.160 the premiumization. 0:06:01.279 --> 0:06:05.120 I think it's significant because of the premiumization. You know, 0:06:05.200 --> 0:06:07.440 Reo started that trend when they put the first jar 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:09.520 on the shelf in nineteen ninety two, So if you 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:12.120 think about it, it's a long time ago. So this 0:06:12.240 --> 0:06:16.680 has been a long slow build the consumer. And you 0:06:16.760 --> 0:06:20.280 think about other categories like craft beer, right that premiumized 0:06:20.360 --> 0:06:23.800 years ago. So ice cream premiumized with Ben and Jerry's 0:06:23.880 --> 0:06:27.880 years ago. The premiumization in every category is happening. Pasta 0:06:27.880 --> 0:06:30.839 saus finally got its turn, you know, around twenty fifteen 0:06:30.839 --> 0:06:34.479 twenty sixteen where it started to really really drive from 0:06:34.480 --> 0:06:37.479 a premiumization standpoint, and people are just looking for healthier, 0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:39.279 better ingredients. 0:06:39.839 --> 0:06:42.240 Listen, I can't tell you. I've got a twenty one 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:44.400 year old and the same thing. We turn everything around 0:06:44.440 --> 0:06:45.680 and we want to know what's in it, and we 0:06:45.720 --> 0:06:48.160 want to make sure we understand the ingredients. I am 0:06:48.200 --> 0:06:51.080 curious how big you think it can be, how big 0:06:51.160 --> 0:06:53.159 you want this brand to be? And is it a 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:55.599 case of you're going to follow the model of selling 0:06:55.640 --> 0:06:56.520 it off at some point? 0:06:56.960 --> 0:07:00.560 You know, there's no decisions made. My partners are young, Jeff, 0:07:00.600 --> 0:07:02.480 Mario and Rich are in their forties. Right, I'm the 0:07:02.520 --> 0:07:04.640 old guy in the room, and I love what I do, 0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:08.080 So I'm in no rush and I actually I would 0:07:08.080 --> 0:07:10.440 have never envisioned doing a startup. I went from REOs 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:12.920 to another run where I took a company through an exit, 0:07:13.480 --> 0:07:15.240 and I didn't want to do that, so that's why 0:07:15.280 --> 0:07:17.640 I went to startup. So we don't have a timeline. 0:07:17.720 --> 0:07:20.680 We believe there's a tremendous amount of growth, not only 0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:23.440 in Sauce, but in Italian like we have a platform 0:07:23.520 --> 0:07:26.120 brand that I could if we wanted to go beyond. 0:07:26.280 --> 0:07:28.800 We see a significant amount of growth in sauce in 0:07:28.840 --> 0:07:31.640 the next two to three years. So I'm not doing anything. 0:07:31.640 --> 0:07:35.280 I believe in maniacal focus when something's working. So it's working. 0:07:35.640 --> 0:07:38.000 Eight to ten bucks roughly give or take you for 0:07:38.040 --> 0:07:42.200 a jar. Are you seeing any pushback from consumers on 0:07:42.800 --> 0:07:45.000 higher price stuff as we speak? 0:07:45.480 --> 0:07:48.440 Not, I mean not that I'm seeing. I mean, of 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:52.120 course people will make comments, you know, friends, friends in general, 0:07:52.200 --> 0:07:54.440 or my brother who wait still it's on sale to 0:07:54.480 --> 0:07:59.200 buy it, but probly, But for the most part, I think, 0:07:58.920 --> 0:08:02.560 I mean, come up, I think Rayoss. I you know, 0:08:02.600 --> 0:08:04.920 I give Rayos a lot of credit. And the people 0:08:04.960 --> 0:08:08.640 before me who built Yos slowly and painstakingly, right, they 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:12.000 really did a good job, and they built a model, 0:08:12.040 --> 0:08:14.680 and they built they built the category so that eight 0:08:14.680 --> 0:08:17.000 to ten is not sticker shock for everybody anymore. It 0:08:17.040 --> 0:08:19.240 is for certain people, and I get it. But once 0:08:19.240 --> 0:08:21.600 you try that product, the amount of care we put 0:08:21.640 --> 0:08:23.520 it into what goes in that jar, it's worth it. 0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:27.800 Here's a problem, Carol, what feeding your kid the pasta 0:08:27.840 --> 0:08:30.840 sauce that you buy as adults, because then they get 0:08:30.840 --> 0:08:33.400 hooked on it, and then you find yourself in situations 0:08:33.440 --> 0:08:37.000 like us ordering huge jars and then they're like, I 0:08:37.040 --> 0:08:37.600 want you know, the. 0:08:37.679 --> 0:08:38.440 Right, that's a problem. 0:08:38.960 --> 0:08:41.720 I mean, that's the expensive pasta sauce. And that's the thing. 0:08:41.800 --> 0:08:44.400 I mean, not every pasta sauce is the same, no 0:08:44.480 --> 0:08:47.440 doubt about it. How do you manage the growth or 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:51.160 the expansion of the brand in a careful, thoughtful way? 0:08:51.400 --> 0:08:52.120 And do you need to? 0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:56.240 Yeah, of course I do. I think brand is everything, 0:08:56.920 --> 0:08:59.160 so you have to make sure it's working before you know. 0:08:59.400 --> 0:09:01.800 If you've got an initiatives and something's not working, fixed 0:09:01.800 --> 0:09:03.920 that before you moved to the next thing. Right, We 0:09:04.280 --> 0:09:07.080 grew fast because it was working. But had I saw, 0:09:07.679 --> 0:09:10.520 you know, some resistance, I would have worked on figuring 0:09:10.520 --> 0:09:13.680 out that resistance before I expanded. I started. I started 0:09:13.720 --> 0:09:16.600 in the Northeast, and my intention was to stay there 0:09:16.600 --> 0:09:20.160 for eighteen months, But within eighteen months I was national, right, 0:09:20.240 --> 0:09:23.160 and I didn't expect that the intention was to go slow. 0:09:23.200 --> 0:09:25.280 I didn't expect it to go as fast as its. 0:09:25.520 --> 0:09:27.640 Stores were asking for you guys, or. 0:09:27.600 --> 0:09:31.440 What we had stores asking for us. We had, Yeah, 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:34.559 I mean all everything. You know, the customer that I 0:09:34.600 --> 0:09:37.560 thought would adopt it immediately took a year and a half, 0:09:37.679 --> 0:09:40.280 which was Whole Foods. But you know, we were we 0:09:40.320 --> 0:09:44.800 started in twenty one. Yeah, pandemic, luck going on, buyer changes, 0:09:45.000 --> 0:09:47.000 you know, so on and so forth. So it took 0:09:47.240 --> 0:09:49.240 a little longer with that particular chain. But now if 0:09:49.280 --> 0:09:51.559 you go into Whole Foods, were very well represented. 0:09:51.800 --> 0:09:54.320 Hey, one thing I noticed about your career is you've 0:09:54.320 --> 0:09:56.760 been in this industry for decades at this point, and 0:09:56.800 --> 0:09:59.800 you started off. You've really rode the wave of different 0:09:59.800 --> 0:10:02.080 tes ends at different points in your career, like the 0:10:02.200 --> 0:10:05.000 juice is in the early part of your career, like 0:10:05.480 --> 0:10:08.840 Fresh Samantha's Naked on Wallas and those sorts of things, 0:10:08.880 --> 0:10:11.960 and then popcorn rayos a little later in your career. 0:10:12.000 --> 0:10:14.360 What's what's the trend that you're seeing play out right now? 0:10:14.440 --> 0:10:15.400 Sort of the next trend? 0:10:16.200 --> 0:10:18.920 It's really hard to say. In today's world. It's gotten 0:10:19.000 --> 0:10:21.199 it's gotten muddy, but any anything that's going to be 0:10:21.280 --> 0:10:24.559 higher protein is on point. You you know, you did 0:10:24.559 --> 0:10:28.920 a segment on GLP once that's going to drive I 0:10:28.920 --> 0:10:33.440 think new innovation. That's really right and healthy innovation. I 0:10:33.679 --> 0:10:36.360 everything points to at least the doubling in usage in 0:10:36.440 --> 0:10:41.440 a last in the next call it five years, and 0:10:42.280 --> 0:10:45.560 the households that are on it, they're actually showing a 0:10:45.600 --> 0:10:48.000 decline and how much they purchase a grocery stores. So 0:10:48.040 --> 0:10:50.640 it's interesting much bigger decline and convenience stores because if 0:10:50.679 --> 0:10:53.480 you think about snacking, right, that's that's what's going to 0:10:53.520 --> 0:10:57.400 get hurt, right. I think good food is always going 0:10:57.480 --> 0:10:59.880 to do well. That's that's the way I look at 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:03.280 healthy food because those people, I you know, just having 0:11:03.320 --> 0:11:06.320 interviewed a couple, they tend to get healthier. Some of 0:11:06.360 --> 0:11:09.040 them tend to get healthier at the same time necessarily 0:11:09.040 --> 0:11:10.400 are looking for better ingredients. 0:11:10.720 --> 0:11:13.559 Is it like the visceral reminder that you're stabbing yourself with, 0:11:13.760 --> 0:11:16.800 don't know, a pen I think, you know, I. 0:11:16.720 --> 0:11:19.040 Know initially from folks who've done it too. I mean, 0:11:19.200 --> 0:11:21.440 they don't like the taste of food, right, and so 0:11:21.480 --> 0:11:23.320 they kind of, I don't know, they almost kind of 0:11:23.320 --> 0:11:25.600 go through a little bit of a cleansing to some 0:11:25.760 --> 0:11:29.240 extent and think, I don't know, it's just interesting. 0:11:28.880 --> 0:11:31.000 To watch that could be. I do have a daughter 0:11:31.080 --> 0:11:34.440 that is using it and that when I say I 0:11:34.480 --> 0:11:37.880 interviewed someone, it's close close to me. Yeah, but you 0:11:37.920 --> 0:11:40.040 know she's like at Barry's boot camp in the morning 0:11:40.080 --> 0:11:44.920 now and like, you know, really healthy, which is great. 0:11:45.400 --> 0:11:47.320 You do wonder if it's a case of and not 0:11:47.360 --> 0:11:49.960 necessarily for your daughter, but others who tried to lose 0:11:50.000 --> 0:11:52.880 weight couldn't lose weight, or whether it's because you know, 0:11:52.880 --> 0:11:56.240 they're diabetic or whatever. And finally, Ken and I think 0:11:56.280 --> 0:11:59.000 it feels really good. They feel so much healthier, and 0:11:59.040 --> 0:12:01.280 I think one to kind of stay in that place 0:12:01.320 --> 0:12:04.760 would be would be my gut. But so I'm curious 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:08.000 if GLP one is really ultimately the driving force and 0:12:08.040 --> 0:12:11.080 a lot of the food companies. Is it upstarts that 0:12:11.160 --> 0:12:13.240 all of a sudden become the giants or do the 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:16.360 giants have to buy the upstarts because they've got to 0:12:16.400 --> 0:12:19.760 catch up and they evolve, they're disrupted, Like, how do 0:12:19.840 --> 0:12:20.760 you see that playing out? 0:12:21.040 --> 0:12:22.840 I think it's all the above. I think you have 0:12:22.920 --> 0:12:25.560 new product development going on in big food already, would 0:12:25.559 --> 0:12:27.840 be my bet. I mean I don't know that certainly, 0:12:27.920 --> 0:12:29.920 but that would be my bet. And they're going to 0:12:29.960 --> 0:12:32.839 look at upstarts because sometimes buying growth is easier than 0:12:32.880 --> 0:12:33.439 creating it. 0:12:34.320 --> 0:12:36.199 So what about the beverage space. We've been talking a 0:12:36.240 --> 0:12:38.839 lot about non alcoholics, a kind of a tease for 0:12:39.480 --> 0:12:43.480 some of our conversations on our weekend broadcast, but we 0:12:43.520 --> 0:12:46.920 are increasingly we often, do you know, no joke, a 0:12:47.000 --> 0:12:50.680 wine segment on Friday or a liquor segment, and we've 0:12:50.679 --> 0:12:52.760 already had a couple of non alcoholic guests. 0:12:52.840 --> 0:12:56.040 Yeah. Ours section in our Bloomberg Business Week the year 0:12:56.760 --> 0:12:58.880 is it the yearhead issue or is it it's just 0:12:58.960 --> 0:13:01.320 like kind of preview. I'm not sure which is well. Anyway, 0:13:01.400 --> 0:13:05.360 there's a huge section on nonalcoholic drinks, and the innovation 0:13:05.440 --> 0:13:07.400 that's happening there is pretty incredible. Are you seeing that 0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:10.720 among the folks you are? You know, you're kind of 0:13:10.720 --> 0:13:13.160 in the part of a group where you've been innovators 0:13:13.160 --> 0:13:15.520 in the food industry for the past twenty twenty five years. 0:13:15.559 --> 0:13:18.199 Yeah, I mean massive, Trent. The whole move to non 0:13:18.240 --> 0:13:21.720 alcoholic is really being pushed by gen Z who's just 0:13:21.760 --> 0:13:24.120 not drinking as much and you know, having kept in touch, 0:13:24.120 --> 0:13:26.079 which at a lot of folks. I know in the 0:13:26.080 --> 0:13:28.960 beer industry, I sold a lot of beer distributors and 0:13:29.360 --> 0:13:32.200 have a lot of friends that sell beer distributors, they're struggling. 0:13:32.200 --> 0:13:34.920 I mean when I say struggling, it's struggling for growth. Yeah, 0:13:34.960 --> 0:13:37.400 you know, I can't say their businesses is struggling. It's 0:13:37.440 --> 0:13:39.199 just they're not selling as much as they used to 0:13:39.320 --> 0:13:42.240 and they're having to make the necessary changes to that. 0:13:42.280 --> 0:13:43.920 But a lot of them are getting into non elk 0:13:43.960 --> 0:13:44.640 in a big way. 0:13:44.720 --> 0:13:47.000 I mean, Consolation Brands lost almost a fifth of its 0:13:47.080 --> 0:13:50.520 value recently when they miss quarterly sales es cements citing 0:13:50.600 --> 0:13:52.600 lackluster consumer demand. I mean that's a big deal. 0:13:52.679 --> 0:13:54.880 Yeah, this gentleman next to me, my co host, I mean, 0:13:54.920 --> 0:13:56.480 you're a non alcoholic. 0:13:56.120 --> 0:13:58.760 Yeah, folks, Yeah, it's the part that group. And I 0:13:58.800 --> 0:14:01.240 noticed it among friends too, where everybody's drinking last at 0:14:01.240 --> 0:14:05.719 this point. So back to Carbone and the innovation here. 0:14:05.720 --> 0:14:07.240 I was pretty shocked when I was preparing for this, 0:14:07.280 --> 0:14:08.720 and I went to the website to see just how 0:14:08.760 --> 0:14:12.280 many varieties you have of this? Is there a plan 0:14:12.360 --> 0:14:17.000 to push beyond red sauce or is it just variant 0:14:17.200 --> 0:14:18.200 variations on the red side. 0:14:18.240 --> 0:14:20.640 So we're in red already, we're in white already. So 0:14:20.680 --> 0:14:25.320 we've got Alfredo's on the shelf, and five of them 0:14:25.320 --> 0:14:28.120 in Whole Foods. They all haven't been announced. Red. I 0:14:28.160 --> 0:14:31.880 think I still have ideas, So there's going to be 0:14:31.920 --> 0:14:35.880 new reds, Like we just launched one. Putinesque is a 0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:38.560 famous Italian sauce, but it just doesn't sell any United States. 0:14:38.720 --> 0:14:42.200 People don't understand the word, and anchovies are pro polarizing. 0:14:42.760 --> 0:14:46.480 So I created Mediterranean Marinara, which is what alos and capers, 0:14:46.760 --> 0:14:48.760 and I took the anchovies out and we took the 0:14:48.840 --> 0:14:50.480 name off and we're going to see how it does. 0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:53.000 It's on the shelves in one retailer right now. An 0:14:53.000 --> 0:14:57.240 initial initial pull looks very strong, so you know, we'll 0:14:57.240 --> 0:14:59.600 see where that goes. So White will be a definitely 0:14:59.640 --> 0:15:02.600 a drive Pesto will be in the future. I have 0:15:02.760 --> 0:15:07.160 some I have something in that I'll announce at some point. 0:15:07.320 --> 0:15:09.440 Give us a little bit that it is going to 0:15:09.600 --> 0:15:11.000 going to be interesting in the RED space. 0:15:11.040 --> 0:15:16.320 But you're still in sauces, not for the foreseeable future, 0:15:16.360 --> 0:15:18.960 because if something's working, why would I dilute the focus 0:15:19.000 --> 0:15:21.680 of my team, myself, my chef. 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:24.680 You know, we have a full time chef that to 0:15:24.680 --> 0:15:25.800 develop things for while. 0:15:25.720 --> 0:15:27.040 I mean, you look at the website right too. And 0:15:27.040 --> 0:15:28.720 you do have, you know, some little gift sets that 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:30.160 you do that you can buy with some pasta. 0:15:30.480 --> 0:15:31.880 Is that apparel selection too? 0:15:32.240 --> 0:15:32.520 Yeah? 0:15:32.720 --> 0:15:36.680 Yeah, I mean can do you expand this out to potentially? 0:15:36.800 --> 0:15:39.000 So I got to tell you, Mario Carbone designed that 0:15:39.040 --> 0:15:42.760 apparel and it's amazing and and like the celebrities that 0:15:42.800 --> 0:15:45.800 have been seen wearing that apparel so far, it's it's 0:15:45.840 --> 0:15:48.280 a great marketing tool. You know, Mario himself is a 0:15:48.560 --> 0:15:51.840 fashion designer, so it's a it's just really been helpful 0:15:51.960 --> 0:15:54.800 to us. So I say, us doing a little there. 0:15:54.800 --> 0:15:57.160 I don't think if it will never become a primary business. 0:15:57.320 --> 0:15:59.480 The gift sets will never become a primary business. But 0:15:59.520 --> 0:16:03.240 there are when you when you get a gift and 0:16:03.280 --> 0:16:05.400 this Carbone and it reinforces the brand. 0:16:05.480 --> 0:16:07.520 Hey. You know, I think a lot of people see 0:16:07.600 --> 0:16:10.120 Carbone in the grocery store and they equate it with 0:16:10.240 --> 0:16:15.120 REOs and sort of that same level of premium. Contextualize 0:16:15.120 --> 0:16:17.840 for us their scale versus your scale right now, and 0:16:17.840 --> 0:16:20.280 to what extent you're sort of nipping at their heels. 0:16:20.520 --> 0:16:23.400 You know, I mean, they're likely at this point I 0:16:23.440 --> 0:16:25.560 have to I have to do some math. But you know, 0:16:25.600 --> 0:16:28.200 eight times bigger than us in sauce, nine times bigger 0:16:28.240 --> 0:16:32.320 than us in sauce. We It's interesting because initially I 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:34.440 thought we would be pulling a lot from Raos, but 0:16:34.600 --> 0:16:37.400 we have a gen Z millennial millennial consumer. If you 0:16:37.400 --> 0:16:39.680 think about my if you think about the owners of 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:42.360 the company, they're in that that age group. If you 0:16:42.400 --> 0:16:45.760 think about how they hit pop culture, right, everybody wants 0:16:45.800 --> 0:16:47.280 to go to Carbone and then they talk about it 0:16:47.320 --> 0:16:50.680 when they go to Carbone. So we've get all of that, 0:16:50.680 --> 0:16:55.360 that that awareness from the restaurants, and it is to 0:16:55.440 --> 0:16:57.680 a younger consumer. So I don't think we've bothered Rayos 0:16:57.720 --> 0:16:59.400 at all. I mean, as a matter of fact, their growth, 0:16:59.480 --> 0:17:03.720 given their eyes, is still very strong. Wow. So and 0:17:03.880 --> 0:17:06.320 you know, I mean, look, we're the fastest growing in America, 0:17:06.400 --> 0:17:09.280 but we're six spots behind them in the list right 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:12.400 So yeah, uh, you know, my goal is my goal 0:17:12.520 --> 0:17:13.400 is to get there one day. 0:17:13.440 --> 0:17:14.600 What are you having for dinner tonight? 0:17:14.880 --> 0:17:16.359 What am I having for dinner? I will be on 0:17:16.400 --> 0:17:16.760 a plane. 0:17:16.800 --> 0:17:19.000 I knew I was going to say, we have to 0:17:19.040 --> 0:17:19.399 let him go. 0:17:19.440 --> 0:17:22.440 He's got a probably probably a cliff park. 0:17:23.240 --> 0:17:23.440 Are you. 0:17:23.640 --> 0:17:26.560 I'm so sorry all that flying from Vegas. It's not 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:28.679 even a hub, so you're you're just doing a lot 0:17:28.680 --> 0:17:32.200 of connecting flag United Work's not that it's correct. 0:17:32.800 --> 0:17:34.480 Keep keep us up to date. When you're ready to 0:17:34.560 --> 0:17:35.680 talk about the next thing. 0:17:36.920 --> 0:17:38.879 I will, I will for sure. I mean, we always 0:17:38.920 --> 0:17:40.760 have development going on and it would be great to 0:17:41.359 --> 0:17:42.359 let you know about it. 0:17:42.840 --> 0:17:45.000 Thank you so much, CEO of Carbone Fine Food joining 0:17:45.080 --> 0:17:47.880 us right here in our Bloomberg Interactive Broker studio. 0:17:47.920 --> 0:17:48.240 Thank you.