1
00:00:02,400 --> 00:00:08,240
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. It's five o'clock somewhere.

2
00:00:08,360 --> 00:00:11,719
Speaker 1: Oh well, it means red wine, right exactly.

3
00:00:11,480 --> 00:00:12,760
Speaker 2: Or a little red sauce.

4
00:00:12,840 --> 00:00:14,640
Speaker 1: I'm thinking, you know the Marinara.

5
00:00:14,280 --> 00:00:16,639
Speaker 2: Sauce aisle at the grocery store these days, Carol. Yeah,

6
00:00:16,720 --> 00:00:18,200
Speaker 2: not what it was like when I was a kid,

7
00:00:18,360 --> 00:00:22,320
Speaker 2: where it was like all classico and prego. Remember that

8
00:00:22,560 --> 00:00:23,159
Speaker 2: it really was.

9
00:00:23,360 --> 00:00:25,360
Speaker 1: Can I just wait before you go on? I'm just

10
00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:27,200
Speaker 1: gonna say my mom was always made homemade.

11
00:00:28,360 --> 00:00:28,800
Speaker 3: Wow.

12
00:00:28,920 --> 00:00:31,320
Speaker 1: I know I was spoiled, but go ahead, go on, Wow,

13
00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:32,720
Speaker 1: go on, because not everybody.

14
00:00:32,840 --> 00:00:34,600
Speaker 2: Shade to Susan Stewin, there's also.

15
00:00:34,400 --> 00:00:36,400
Speaker 1: A stay at home mom for a while, so okay,

16
00:00:36,479 --> 00:00:37,360
Speaker 1: she could do that. Well.

17
00:00:37,400 --> 00:00:39,720
Speaker 2: The aisle has moved up scale with more botique options,

18
00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:42,800
Speaker 2: including REOs and the sauce from our next guest company.

19
00:00:43,159 --> 00:00:45,600
Speaker 2: Eric Ska is CEO at Carbone Fine Food. It's the

20
00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:49,680
Speaker 2: maker of Marinera spicy vodka, tomato basil arabiata.

21
00:00:50,280 --> 00:00:51,400
Speaker 3: You like that, wow?

22
00:00:51,680 --> 00:00:53,720
Speaker 2: I practiced that one earlier, Alfredo and more.

23
00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:56,200
Speaker 1: Eric. He disappeared for like an hour or so.

24
00:00:56,560 --> 00:00:59,400
Speaker 2: It was just holding a bottle in the Bloomberg Interactive

25
00:00:59,480 --> 00:01:03,200
Speaker 2: Brokers studio. Eric, Good to see you. Okay, Carol and

26
00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:07,080
Speaker 2: I were talking about this Carbone Fine Foods. Carbone the

27
00:01:07,120 --> 00:01:10,640
Speaker 2: restaurant which is owned by Major Food Group. Let's start there.

28
00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:12,720
Speaker 2: What's the relationship. Just settle the score for it.

29
00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:15,960
Speaker 3: Major Food Group is majority owners of Carbone Fine Food.

30
00:01:16,440 --> 00:01:19,560
Speaker 2: Okay, and inspired by the restaurant.

31
00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:21,800
Speaker 3: Inspired by inspired by the restaurant.

32
00:01:21,880 --> 00:01:23,920
Speaker 2: Yes, what you get in a jar at the grocery

33
00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:27,800
Speaker 2: store from Carbone Marinia, do you get that at the

34
00:01:27,840 --> 00:01:28,959
Speaker 2: restaurant Carbone?

35
00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:32,040
Speaker 3: Yes, I mean as close representation as you can make.

36
00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:38,440
Speaker 3: That's the commercial kitchen. Absolutely, all fresh ingredients. Tomatoes from Italy,

37
00:01:39,319 --> 00:01:42,600
Speaker 3: onions are chopped on site, Garlic's minced on site, basil,

38
00:01:42,720 --> 00:01:45,959
Speaker 3: his hands stripped on site. As we produce a product

39
00:01:45,959 --> 00:01:48,520
Speaker 3: that it cooks for an hour to an hour and

40
00:01:48,560 --> 00:01:52,440
Speaker 3: ten minutes, meeting your homemade taste. What we look for

41
00:01:52,520 --> 00:01:57,720
Speaker 3: restaurant quality, and Mario Carbone is very passionate about that,

42
00:01:57,920 --> 00:01:59,920
Speaker 3: so he tastes everything.

43
00:02:00,320 --> 00:02:02,400
Speaker 1: I kind of love it when I roll over to

44
00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:05,680
Speaker 1: ingredients and what you're seeing is everything I understand. And

45
00:02:05,720 --> 00:02:08,280
Speaker 1: there's no chemicals, there's no nothing like that. I mean

46
00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:10,440
Speaker 1: that to me is super important. How do you though,

47
00:02:10,520 --> 00:02:13,840
Speaker 1: make sure that it is as good as the restaurant.

48
00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:18,120
Speaker 3: So I mean, look, we're very, very involved in the

49
00:02:18,160 --> 00:02:22,160
Speaker 3: manufacturing of this. So the first year I tasted personally

50
00:02:22,240 --> 00:02:24,160
Speaker 3: every single batch before it was allowed to go in

51
00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:28,120
Speaker 3: a jar. Obviously I have a staff now how to

52
00:02:28,160 --> 00:02:30,880
Speaker 3: go one hundred thousand miles on United without leaving the country.

53
00:02:31,160 --> 00:02:33,320
Speaker 3: I live in Las Vegas, so that's my fault.

54
00:02:33,360 --> 00:02:35,839
Speaker 1: How many times did you taste something You're like, nope, nope, nope.

55
00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:36,560
Speaker 1: It sounds like a lot.

56
00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:40,560
Speaker 3: Not that often because I work with people that I

57
00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:42,960
Speaker 3: trust that are very very good at doing this. It's

58
00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:45,000
Speaker 3: a very specialized process. No one wants to cook for

59
00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:47,480
Speaker 3: an hour in a manufacturing facility, so those who do

60
00:02:47,520 --> 00:02:49,560
Speaker 3: it are as passionate as I am about it.

61
00:02:49,600 --> 00:02:51,280
Speaker 2: How do you control that, because I mean, I would

62
00:02:51,320 --> 00:02:54,120
Speaker 2: imagine you have manufacturing facilities in several parts of the country.

63
00:02:54,240 --> 00:03:00,200
Speaker 2: It's not necessarily centralized in one place. Ingredient variabilities based

64
00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:03,720
Speaker 2: on seasons, and those tomatoes that you do get from Italy,

65
00:03:03,880 --> 00:03:05,079
Speaker 2: how do you control for those things?

66
00:03:05,120 --> 00:03:06,720
Speaker 3: So the tomatoes you get from Italy are going to

67
00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:10,360
Speaker 3: be fairly consistent. They come in, we open up number

68
00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:12,200
Speaker 3: ten cans just like the back of a restaurant, so

69
00:03:12,280 --> 00:03:15,640
Speaker 3: or not. It's not big drums tomatoes. They're packed just

70
00:03:15,680 --> 00:03:19,520
Speaker 3: in tomato season, and that's tomato we use. So I

71
00:03:19,520 --> 00:03:23,160
Speaker 3: mean to your point, I might be able to take

72
00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:27,040
Speaker 3: us taste a slight variation in fresh basil because it

73
00:03:27,160 --> 00:03:31,880
Speaker 3: was handstripped at a different time. We've never gotten a complaint.

74
00:03:32,440 --> 00:03:33,840
Speaker 2: Is it any different parts of the country where the

75
00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:36,120
Speaker 2: where you do many where you actually do the manufacturing.

76
00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:38,280
Speaker 3: No, most of it's here in the East Coast. We

77
00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:40,560
Speaker 3: have a couple of cop backords set up that that

78
00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:42,720
Speaker 3: we work with, but we have a primary that does

79
00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:43,880
Speaker 3: a good majority of it.

80
00:03:43,920 --> 00:03:47,000
Speaker 1: All right, great bottle carbon name very prominent. Why are

81
00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:48,800
Speaker 1: they doing this? Why do they need to do this?

82
00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:51,240
Speaker 3: You know that would be a that would be a

83
00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:54,760
Speaker 3: question for for Mario. But you know, as I've seen

84
00:03:54,840 --> 00:03:58,800
Speaker 3: him ask that question, he's got X amount of restaurants

85
00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:01,160
Speaker 3: and not everybody can get to his restaurants, and people

86
00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:03,640
Speaker 3: want to get there. Yeah, so you wanted to put

87
00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:06,480
Speaker 3: something in the jar that represented the restaurant and allowed

88
00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:10,280
Speaker 3: people to taste the experience of carbone. And that's why

89
00:04:10,280 --> 00:04:12,600
Speaker 3: we're so passionate about what goes in that jar tasting

90
00:04:12,640 --> 00:04:16,240
Speaker 3: better than anything. Our recipes on our site were developed

91
00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:20,760
Speaker 3: by Carbone chefs, so and we've kind of kept them

92
00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:24,159
Speaker 3: simple so the home cook can make it, but they're

93
00:04:24,200 --> 00:04:25,120
Speaker 3: really good recipes.

94
00:04:25,279 --> 00:04:27,960
Speaker 1: Does it create a significant revenue stream potentially? I mean,

95
00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:30,280
Speaker 1: you understand this industry, we didn't. You know, you're a

96
00:04:30,320 --> 00:04:34,080
Speaker 1: former CEO Raos. You know, someone who's been in the

97
00:04:34,080 --> 00:04:36,080
Speaker 1: food and beverage but you know area for a long time.

98
00:04:36,200 --> 00:04:38,279
Speaker 1: Is it something though, when you have a name that's

99
00:04:38,360 --> 00:04:40,880
Speaker 1: known that you can build a significant revenue line.

100
00:04:41,440 --> 00:04:45,520
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, I mean we just finished our third full year.

101
00:04:46,920 --> 00:04:49,240
Speaker 3: We've done eighteen million jars since we launched. We're in

102
00:04:49,279 --> 00:04:51,600
Speaker 3: twenty four thousand accounts, and we're the number seven brand

103
00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:55,279
Speaker 3: in America, number two in natural foods. So it's went very,

104
00:04:55,400 --> 00:04:58,839
Speaker 3: very fast, and it is in large part because we

105
00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:01,960
Speaker 3: had a name that could leverage from a from an

106
00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:07,159
Speaker 3: awareness standpoint. You know, awareness was not massive in the

107
00:05:07,200 --> 00:05:10,600
Speaker 3: Middlewest Midwest, for example, but it was known certain by

108
00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:14,240
Speaker 3: enough people to start something. Yeah, and then you know,

109
00:05:14,839 --> 00:05:17,840
Speaker 3: then the blocking and tackling happens. So building a brand.

110
00:05:18,120 --> 00:05:20,840
Speaker 2: Okay, So this is not your first rodeo. As Carol mentioned,

111
00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:24,080
Speaker 2: your first red sauce Rodeo twenty sixteen to twenty eighteen

112
00:05:24,160 --> 00:05:27,039
Speaker 2: CEO of REOs. That was the period it was acquired

113
00:05:27,040 --> 00:05:29,919
Speaker 2: by Sovos more than four hundred million dollars. Then a

114
00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:31,800
Speaker 2: couple of years later I believe it was what twenty

115
00:05:31,880 --> 00:05:36,760
Speaker 2: twenty one, twenty twenty four, Yeah, twenty twenty four, Yeah,

116
00:05:36,880 --> 00:05:41,120
Speaker 2: when when it Sovos closed its acquisition, or when it

117
00:05:41,160 --> 00:05:44,400
Speaker 2: Silvis was bought by Campbell's for two point seven billion dollars.

118
00:05:44,520 --> 00:05:44,719
Speaker 3: Yeah.

119
00:05:44,760 --> 00:05:46,919
Speaker 2: Obviously some some big growth in the space over the

120
00:05:46,960 --> 00:05:50,640
Speaker 2: last few years. What do you see as driving the

121
00:05:50,680 --> 00:05:52,960
Speaker 2: growth and how much growth is left in sort of

122
00:05:52,960 --> 00:05:53,760
Speaker 2: the premiumization.

123
00:05:53,880 --> 00:05:57,320
Speaker 3: I think it's significant because of the premiumization right the

124
00:05:57,520 --> 00:05:59,520
Speaker 3: you know, Reo started that trend when they put the

125
00:05:59,520 --> 00:06:01,880
Speaker 3: first job on the shelf in nineteen ninety two. So

126
00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:03,760
Speaker 3: if you think about it, it's a long time ago.

127
00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:09,040
Speaker 3: So this has been a long slow build the consumer.

128
00:06:09,080 --> 00:06:11,920
Speaker 3: And you think about other categories like craft beer, right

129
00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:15,920
Speaker 3: that premiumized years ago. So ice cream premiumized with Ben

130
00:06:15,960 --> 00:06:19,960
Speaker 3: and Jerry's years ago. The premiumization in every category is happening.

131
00:06:20,120 --> 00:06:23,440
Speaker 3: Pasta saus finally got its turn, you know, around twenty fifteen,

132
00:06:23,480 --> 00:06:27,080
Speaker 3: twenty sixteen where it started to really really drive from

133
00:06:27,080 --> 00:06:30,080
Speaker 3: a premiumization standpoint, and people are just looking for healthier,

134
00:06:30,920 --> 00:06:31,880
Speaker 3: better ingredients.

135
00:06:32,440 --> 00:06:34,839
Speaker 1: Listen, I can't tell you. I've got a twenty one

136
00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:37,000
Speaker 1: year old and the same thing. We turn everything around

137
00:06:37,040 --> 00:06:38,280
Speaker 1: and we want to know what's in it and we

138
00:06:38,320 --> 00:06:40,760
Speaker 1: want to make sure we understand the ingredients. I am

139
00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:43,720
Speaker 1: curious how big you think it can be, how big

140
00:06:43,760 --> 00:06:45,760
Speaker 1: you want this brand to be, and is it a

141
00:06:45,800 --> 00:06:48,159
Speaker 1: case of you're going to follow the model of selling

142
00:06:48,240 --> 00:06:49,119
Speaker 1: it off at some point?

143
00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:53,160
Speaker 3: You know, there's no decisions made. My partners are young, Jeff,

144
00:06:53,200 --> 00:06:55,080
Speaker 3: Mario and Rich are in their forties. Right, I'm the

145
00:06:55,120 --> 00:06:57,200
Speaker 3: old guy in the room and I love what I do,

146
00:06:57,920 --> 00:07:00,720
Speaker 3: so I'm in no rush and I actually I would

147
00:07:00,720 --> 00:07:03,040
Speaker 3: have never envisioned doing a startup. I went from raos

148
00:07:03,080 --> 00:07:05,159
Speaker 3: to another run where I took a company through an

149
00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:07,640
Speaker 3: exit and I didn't want to do that, so that's

150
00:07:07,640 --> 00:07:10,320
Speaker 3: why I went to startup. So we don't have a timeline.

151
00:07:10,360 --> 00:07:13,320
Speaker 3: We believe there's a tremendous amount of growth, not only

152
00:07:13,320 --> 00:07:16,040
Speaker 3: in Sauce but in Italian Like we have a platform

153
00:07:16,120 --> 00:07:18,720
Speaker 3: brand that I could if we wanted to go beyond

154
00:07:18,880 --> 00:07:21,400
Speaker 3: we see a significant amount of growth in sauce in

155
00:07:21,440 --> 00:07:24,200
Speaker 3: the next two to three years. So I'm not doing anything.

156
00:07:24,280 --> 00:07:27,880
Speaker 3: I believe in maniacal focus when something's working, So it's working.

157
00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:30,640
Speaker 2: Eight to ten bucks roughly give or take you for

158
00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:35,120
Speaker 2: a jar. Are you seeing any pushback from consumers on

159
00:07:35,120 --> 00:07:37,640
Speaker 2: on higher price stuff as we speak?

160
00:07:38,120 --> 00:07:41,040
Speaker 3: Not, I mean not that I'm seeing. I mean, of

161
00:07:41,120 --> 00:07:44,720
Speaker 3: course people will make comments, you know, friends, friends in general,

162
00:07:44,800 --> 00:07:47,040
Speaker 3: or my brother who wait still it's on sale to

163
00:07:47,080 --> 00:07:51,280
Speaker 3: buy it, but we all But for the most part,

164
00:07:51,320 --> 00:07:55,480
Speaker 3: I think I think Raos has you know, I give

165
00:07:55,640 --> 00:07:57,520
Speaker 3: I give Rayos a lot of credit. And the people

166
00:07:57,560 --> 00:08:01,240
Speaker 3: before me who built Rayos slowly and painted right, they

167
00:08:01,280 --> 00:08:04,600
Speaker 3: really did a good job, and they built a model,

168
00:08:04,640 --> 00:08:07,280
Speaker 3: and they built they built a category. So that eight

169
00:08:07,320 --> 00:08:09,600
Speaker 3: to ten is not sticker shock for everybody anymore. It

170
00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:11,840
Speaker 3: is for certain people. And I get it. But once

171
00:08:11,880 --> 00:08:14,240
Speaker 3: you try that product, the amount of care we put

172
00:08:14,240 --> 00:08:16,120
Speaker 3: it into what goes in that jar, it's worth it.

173
00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:17,680
Speaker 3: Here's a problem, Carol.

174
00:08:17,880 --> 00:08:21,440
Speaker 2: What feeding your kid the pasta sauce that you buy

175
00:08:21,480 --> 00:08:24,440
Speaker 2: as adults, because then they get hooked on it, and

176
00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:27,240
Speaker 2: then you find yourself in situations like us ordering huge

177
00:08:27,320 --> 00:08:30,080
Speaker 2: jars and then they're like, I want you.

178
00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:31,040
Speaker 3: Know, that's a problem.

179
00:08:31,560 --> 00:08:33,240
Speaker 2: I mean, that's the expensive pasta sauce.

180
00:08:33,640 --> 00:08:35,760
Speaker 1: And that's the thing. I mean, not every pasta sauce

181
00:08:35,840 --> 00:08:38,360
Speaker 1: is the same, no doubt about it. How do you

182
00:08:38,440 --> 00:08:42,120
Speaker 1: manage the growth or the expansion of the brand in

183
00:08:42,160 --> 00:08:44,720
Speaker 1: a careful, thoughtful way? And do you need to?

184
00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:48,880
Speaker 3: Yeah, of course I do. I think brand is everything,

185
00:08:49,520 --> 00:08:51,760
Speaker 3: so you have to make sure it's working before you know.

186
00:08:51,800 --> 00:08:54,480
Speaker 3: If you've got initiatives and something's not working, fixed that

187
00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:57,120
Speaker 3: before you moved it the next thing. Right, We grew

188
00:08:57,160 --> 00:09:00,520
Speaker 3: fast because it was working. But had I saw, you know,

189
00:09:00,559 --> 00:09:03,400
Speaker 3: some resistance, I would have worked on figuring out that

190
00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:07,360
Speaker 3: resistance before I expanded. I started. I started in the Northeast,

191
00:09:07,720 --> 00:09:10,120
Speaker 3: and my intention was to stay there for eighteen months.

192
00:09:10,720 --> 00:09:13,200
Speaker 3: But within eighteen months I was national, right, and I

193
00:09:13,200 --> 00:09:15,880
Speaker 3: didn't expect that the intention was to go slow. I

194
00:09:15,880 --> 00:09:17,800
Speaker 3: didn't expect it to go as fast.

195
00:09:17,480 --> 00:09:20,240
Speaker 1: As its stories we're asking for you guys, or.

196
00:09:20,200 --> 00:09:24,040
Speaker 3: What we had stores asking for us we had, Yeah,

197
00:09:24,080 --> 00:09:27,200
Speaker 3: I mean all everything, you know. The customer that I

198
00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:30,199
Speaker 3: thought would adopt it immediately took a year and a half,

199
00:09:30,280 --> 00:09:33,360
Speaker 3: which was whole foods. But you know, we started in

200
00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:37,800
Speaker 3: twenty one. Yeah, pandemic luck going on, buyer changes, you know,

201
00:09:37,880 --> 00:09:40,160
Speaker 3: so on and so forth. So it took a little

202
00:09:40,160 --> 00:09:42,040
Speaker 3: longer with that particular chain. But now if you go

203
00:09:42,040 --> 00:09:44,160
Speaker 3: into whole foods were very well represented.

204
00:09:44,440 --> 00:09:46,920
Speaker 2: Hey, one thing I noticed about your career is you've

205
00:09:46,920 --> 00:09:49,360
Speaker 2: been in this industry for decades at this point, and

206
00:09:49,400 --> 00:09:52,480
Speaker 2: you started off. You've really rode the wave of different

207
00:09:52,559 --> 00:09:55,280
Speaker 2: trends at different points in your career, like the juices

208
00:09:55,400 --> 00:09:58,960
Speaker 2: in the early part of your career, like Fresh Samantha's

209
00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:02,760
Speaker 2: Naked Wallas and those sorts of things, and then popcorn

210
00:10:02,840 --> 00:10:05,320
Speaker 2: rayos a little later in your career. What's what's the

211
00:10:05,360 --> 00:10:07,280
Speaker 2: trend that you're seeing play out right now? Sort of

212
00:10:07,320 --> 00:10:08,000
Speaker 2: the next trend.

213
00:10:08,800 --> 00:10:11,520
Speaker 3: It's really hard to say. In today's world. It's gotten,

214
00:10:11,600 --> 00:10:13,800
Speaker 3: it's gotten muddy. But any anything that's going to be

215
00:10:13,880 --> 00:10:17,199
Speaker 3: higher protein is on point. You know, you did a

216
00:10:17,240 --> 00:10:21,520
Speaker 3: segment on g LP once. That's going to drive I

217
00:10:21,559 --> 00:10:26,720
Speaker 3: think new innovation, that's right, and healthy innovation. I everything

218
00:10:26,840 --> 00:10:29,079
Speaker 3: points to at least the doubling in usage in a

219
00:10:29,160 --> 00:10:35,880
Speaker 3: last in the next call it five years, and the

220
00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:38,600
Speaker 3: households that are on it they're actually showing a decline

221
00:10:38,600 --> 00:10:40,800
Speaker 3: and how much they purchase a grocery stores. So it's

222
00:10:40,840 --> 00:10:43,360
Speaker 3: interesting much bigger decline in convenience stores because if you

223
00:10:43,400 --> 00:10:46,760
Speaker 3: think about snacking, right, that's that's what's going to get hurt. Right.

224
00:10:48,200 --> 00:10:50,520
Speaker 3: I think good food is always going to do well.

225
00:10:51,120 --> 00:10:53,280
Speaker 3: That's that's the way I look at and healthy food

226
00:10:53,480 --> 00:10:56,600
Speaker 3: because those people, I you know, just having interviewed a couple,

227
00:10:56,920 --> 00:10:59,680
Speaker 3: they tend to get healthy. Some of them tend to

228
00:10:59,679 --> 00:11:01,679
Speaker 3: get help healthier. At the same time, how if necessarily

229
00:11:01,640 --> 00:11:04,000
Speaker 3: are looking for better ingredients, is it like the.

230
00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:07,440
Speaker 2: Visceral reminder that you're stabbing yourself with, don't know, a.

231
00:11:07,360 --> 00:11:10,320
Speaker 1: Pen I think, you know, I know initially from folks

232
00:11:10,360 --> 00:11:12,400
Speaker 1: who've done it too. I mean, they don't like the

233
00:11:12,440 --> 00:11:14,920
Speaker 1: taste of food, right, and so they kind of, I

234
00:11:14,920 --> 00:11:16,560
Speaker 1: don't know, they almost kind of go through a little

235
00:11:16,559 --> 00:11:20,360
Speaker 1: bit of a cleansing to some extent and think, I

236
00:11:20,400 --> 00:11:21,960
Speaker 1: don't know, it's just interesting to watch.

237
00:11:22,080 --> 00:11:24,920
Speaker 3: That could be. I do have a daughter that is

238
00:11:25,040 --> 00:11:27,199
Speaker 3: using it, and that when I say I am to

239
00:11:27,280 --> 00:11:30,600
Speaker 3: read someone, it's close close to yeah, but you know,

240
00:11:30,720 --> 00:11:32,880
Speaker 3: she's like at Barry's boot camp in the morning now

241
00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:37,960
Speaker 3: and like you know, really healthy, which is great cool.

242
00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:39,920
Speaker 1: You do wonder if it's a case of and not

243
00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:42,560
Speaker 1: necessary for your daughter, but others who tried to lose

244
00:11:42,600 --> 00:11:45,439
Speaker 1: weight couldn't lose weight, or whether it's because you know,

245
00:11:45,480 --> 00:11:48,839
Speaker 1: they're diabetic or whatever. And finally, Ken and I think

246
00:11:48,880 --> 00:11:51,600
Speaker 1: it feels really good. They feel so much healthier, and

247
00:11:51,640 --> 00:11:53,920
Speaker 1: I think want to kind of stay in that place

248
00:11:53,920 --> 00:11:57,360
Speaker 1: would be would be my gut. But so I'm curious

249
00:11:57,720 --> 00:12:00,520
Speaker 1: if gop one is really ultimately the dry having forced

250
00:12:00,559 --> 00:12:03,559
Speaker 1: in a lot of the food companies. Is it upstarts

251
00:12:03,600 --> 00:12:05,640
Speaker 1: that all of a sudden become the giants or do

252
00:12:05,760 --> 00:12:08,920
Speaker 1: the giants have to buy the upstarts because they've got

253
00:12:08,920 --> 00:12:12,280
Speaker 1: to catch up and they evolve, they're disrupted, Like, how

254
00:12:12,280 --> 00:12:13,440
Speaker 1: do you see that playing out?

255
00:12:13,640 --> 00:12:15,440
Speaker 3: I think it's all the above. I think you have

256
00:12:15,520 --> 00:12:18,160
Speaker 3: new product development going on in big food already, would

257
00:12:18,160 --> 00:12:20,439
Speaker 3: be my bet. I mean I don't know that certainly,

258
00:12:20,520 --> 00:12:22,520
Speaker 3: but that would be my bet. And they're going to

259
00:12:22,559 --> 00:12:25,400
Speaker 3: look at upstarts because sometimes buying growth is easier than

260
00:12:25,480 --> 00:12:26,040
Speaker 3: creating it.

261
00:12:26,920 --> 00:12:28,839
Speaker 1: So what about the beverage space. We've been talking a

262
00:12:28,840 --> 00:12:32,160
Speaker 1: lot about non alcoholics kind of a tease for some

263
00:12:32,280 --> 00:12:36,280
Speaker 1: of our conversations on our weekend broadcast, but we are

264
00:12:36,320 --> 00:12:39,880
Speaker 1: increasingly we often, do you know, no joke, a wine

265
00:12:39,880 --> 00:12:43,640
Speaker 1: segment on Friday or a liquor segment, and we've already

266
00:12:43,679 --> 00:12:45,360
Speaker 1: had a couple of non alcoholic guests.

267
00:12:45,440 --> 00:12:45,640
Speaker 3: Yeah.

268
00:12:45,640 --> 00:12:48,640
Speaker 2: Our pursuit section in our Bloomberg Business Week the year

269
00:12:49,720 --> 00:12:51,480
Speaker 2: is it the yearhead issue or is it it's just

270
00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:52,440
Speaker 2: like kind of preview.

271
00:12:52,520 --> 00:12:53,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm not sure which is well.

272
00:12:53,600 --> 00:12:57,400
Speaker 2: Anyway, there's a huge section on non alcoholic drinks, and

273
00:12:57,440 --> 00:12:59,559
Speaker 2: the innovation that's happening there is pretty incredible. Are you

274
00:12:59,600 --> 00:13:03,000
Speaker 2: seeing that among the folks you are, you know, you're

275
00:13:03,080 --> 00:13:05,120
Speaker 2: kind of in the part of a group where you've

276
00:13:05,120 --> 00:13:07,439
Speaker 2: been innovators in the food industry for the past twenty

277
00:13:07,480 --> 00:13:08,120
Speaker 2: twenty five years.

278
00:13:08,200 --> 00:13:10,800
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean massive trend. The whole move to non

279
00:13:10,840 --> 00:13:14,320
Speaker 3: alcoholic is really being pushed by gen Z who's just

280
00:13:14,360 --> 00:13:16,720
Speaker 3: not drinking as much and you know, having kept in touch,

281
00:13:16,720 --> 00:13:19,440
Speaker 3: which a lot of folks I know in the beer industry,

282
00:13:19,840 --> 00:13:22,200
Speaker 3: I sold a lot of beer distributors and have a

283
00:13:22,200 --> 00:13:24,880
Speaker 3: lot of friends that sell beer distributors. They're struggling. I

284
00:13:24,920 --> 00:13:27,560
Speaker 3: mean when I say struggling, they're struggling for growth. Yeah,

285
00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:30,000
Speaker 3: you know, I can't say their businesses is struggling. It's

286
00:13:30,040 --> 00:13:31,800
Speaker 3: just they're not selling as much as they used to

287
00:13:31,920 --> 00:13:34,840
Speaker 3: and they're having to make the necessary changes to that.

288
00:13:34,880 --> 00:13:36,520
Speaker 3: But a lot of them are getting into non elk

289
00:13:36,559 --> 00:13:37,240
Speaker 3: in a big way.

290
00:13:37,320 --> 00:13:39,600
Speaker 2: I mean, Consolation Brands lost almost a fifth of its

291
00:13:39,679 --> 00:13:43,640
Speaker 2: value recently when they miss quarterly sales estements citing lackluster

292
00:13:43,720 --> 00:13:44,400
Speaker 2: consumer demand.

293
00:13:44,440 --> 00:13:45,199
Speaker 3: I mean that's a big deal.

294
00:13:45,280 --> 00:13:47,320
Speaker 1: Yeah, this gentleman next to me, my co host, I

295
00:13:47,360 --> 00:13:49,800
Speaker 1: mean you're a non alcoholic. Yeah, folks, yeah, it's the

296
00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:50,679
Speaker 1: part of that group.

297
00:13:51,080 --> 00:13:53,439
Speaker 2: And I noticed it among friends too, where everybody's drinking

298
00:13:53,480 --> 00:13:57,120
Speaker 2: less at this point. So back to Carbone and the

299
00:13:57,679 --> 00:13:59,600
Speaker 2: innovation here. I was pretty shocked when I was preparing

300
00:13:59,640 --> 00:14:01,000
Speaker 2: for this, and I went to the website to see

301
00:14:01,120 --> 00:14:04,240
Speaker 2: just how many varieties you have of this? Is there

302
00:14:04,400 --> 00:14:08,760
Speaker 2: a plan to push beyond red sauce or is it

303
00:14:09,120 --> 00:14:10,800
Speaker 2: just vary variations on the red stone.

304
00:14:10,840 --> 00:14:13,240
Speaker 3: So we're in red already, we're in white already. So

305
00:14:13,280 --> 00:14:17,920
Speaker 3: we've got Alfredo's on the shelf and five of them

306
00:14:17,920 --> 00:14:20,720
Speaker 3: in Whole Foods. They all haven't been announced red. I

307
00:14:20,760 --> 00:14:24,280
Speaker 3: think I still I still have ideas. So there's going

308
00:14:24,360 --> 00:14:28,320
Speaker 3: to be new reds, Like we just launched one. Putinesque

309
00:14:28,360 --> 00:14:30,280
Speaker 3: is a famous Italian sauce, but it just doesn't sell

310
00:14:30,280 --> 00:14:32,880
Speaker 3: in the United States. People don't understand the word, and

311
00:14:33,320 --> 00:14:37,880
Speaker 3: anchovies are pro polarizing. So I created Mediterranean Marinara, which

312
00:14:37,880 --> 00:14:40,560
Speaker 3: is what alos and capers, and I took the anchovies

313
00:14:40,600 --> 00:14:42,360
Speaker 3: out and we took the name off and we're going

314
00:14:42,400 --> 00:14:44,400
Speaker 3: to see how it does. It's on the shelves in

315
00:14:44,440 --> 00:14:48,680
Speaker 3: one retailer right now. An initial initial poll looks very strong,

316
00:14:48,920 --> 00:14:51,000
Speaker 3: so you know, we'll see where that goes. So white

317
00:14:51,040 --> 00:14:53,600
Speaker 3: will be a definitely a drive Pesto will be in

318
00:14:53,640 --> 00:14:58,400
Speaker 3: the future. I have some I have something in that

319
00:14:58,440 --> 00:15:00,880
Speaker 3: I'll announced at some point. Give us a little bit

320
00:15:01,240 --> 00:15:03,120
Speaker 3: that is going to going to be interesting in the

321
00:15:03,160 --> 00:15:07,920
Speaker 3: red space. But you're still in sauces, not for the

322
00:15:07,960 --> 00:15:11,120
Speaker 3: foreseeable future, because if something's working, why would I dilute

323
00:15:11,120 --> 00:15:15,080
Speaker 3: the focus of my team, myself, my chef, you know,

324
00:15:15,080 --> 00:15:16,600
Speaker 3: we have a full time chef. That but you do

325
00:15:17,280 --> 00:15:18,280
Speaker 3: develop things for while.

326
00:15:18,320 --> 00:15:19,640
Speaker 1: I mean you look at the website right too, and

327
00:15:19,680 --> 00:15:21,320
Speaker 1: you do have you know, some little gift sets that

328
00:15:21,360 --> 00:15:22,760
Speaker 1: you do that you can buy with some pasta.

329
00:15:23,080 --> 00:15:24,480
Speaker 3: Is that apparel selection too.

330
00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:28,480
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I mean, can do you expand this out

331
00:15:28,480 --> 00:15:29,280
Speaker 1: to potentially?

332
00:15:29,400 --> 00:15:31,600
Speaker 3: So I got to tell you, Mario Carbone designed that

333
00:15:31,640 --> 00:15:35,360
Speaker 3: apparel and it's amazing and and like the celebrities that

334
00:15:35,400 --> 00:15:38,440
Speaker 3: have been seen wearing that apparel so far, it's it's

335
00:15:38,440 --> 00:15:40,880
Speaker 3: a great marketing tool. You know, Mario himself is a

336
00:15:41,160 --> 00:15:44,480
Speaker 3: fashion designer, so it's a it's just really been helpful

337
00:15:44,600 --> 00:15:47,400
Speaker 3: to us. So I see us doing a little there.

338
00:15:47,400 --> 00:15:49,760
Speaker 3: I don't think if it will never become a primary business.

339
00:15:49,920 --> 00:15:52,120
Speaker 3: The gift sets will never become a primary business, but

340
00:15:52,160 --> 00:15:55,240
Speaker 3: they're a reminder when you when you get a gift

341
00:15:55,720 --> 00:15:58,000
Speaker 3: and this Carbone and it reinforces the brand.

342
00:15:58,120 --> 00:16:00,200
Speaker 2: Hey, you know, I think a lot of people see

343
00:16:00,240 --> 00:16:02,720
Speaker 2: Carbone in the grocery store and they equate it with

344
00:16:02,880 --> 00:16:07,720
Speaker 2: Raos and sort of that same level of premium. Contextualize

345
00:16:07,720 --> 00:16:10,440
Speaker 2: for us their scale versus your scale right now, and

346
00:16:10,440 --> 00:16:12,880
Speaker 2: to what extent you're sort of nipping at their heels.

347
00:16:13,120 --> 00:16:16,000
Speaker 3: You know, I mean, they're likely at this point I

348
00:16:16,040 --> 00:16:18,200
Speaker 3: have to I have to do some math. But you know,

349
00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:20,840
Speaker 3: eight times bigger than us in sauce, nine times bigger

350
00:16:20,840 --> 00:16:24,920
Speaker 3: than us in sauce. We it's interesting because initially I

351
00:16:24,920 --> 00:16:27,040
Speaker 3: thought we would be pulling a lot from Raos. But

352
00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:30,000
Speaker 3: we have a gen Z millennial millennial consumer. If you

353
00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:32,280
Speaker 3: think about my if you think about the owners of

354
00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:35,160
Speaker 3: the company, they're in that age group. If you think

355
00:16:35,160 --> 00:16:38,440
Speaker 3: about how they hit pop culture, right, everybody wants to

356
00:16:38,440 --> 00:16:40,040
Speaker 3: go to Carbone and then they talk about it when

357
00:16:40,040 --> 00:16:43,560
Speaker 3: they go to Carbone. So we get all of that

358
00:16:43,280 --> 00:16:48,120
Speaker 3: that awareness from the restaurants, and it is to a

359
00:16:48,200 --> 00:16:50,560
Speaker 3: younger consumer. So I don't think we've boughted Rares at all.

360
00:16:50,600 --> 00:16:52,360
Speaker 3: I mean, as a matter of fact, their growth given

361
00:16:52,400 --> 00:16:56,680
Speaker 3: their size, is still very strong. Wow. So and you know,

362
00:16:56,800 --> 00:16:59,080
Speaker 3: I mean, look, we're the fastest growing in America, but

363
00:16:59,120 --> 00:17:03,360
Speaker 3: we're spots behind them in the list right. So yeah, uh,

364
00:17:03,840 --> 00:17:05,480
Speaker 3: you know my goal is my goal is to get

365
00:17:05,480 --> 00:17:06,000
Speaker 3: there one day.

366
00:17:06,040 --> 00:17:07,200
Speaker 1: What are you having for dinner tonight?

367
00:17:07,480 --> 00:17:08,960
Speaker 3: What am I having for dinner? I will be on

368
00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:09,359
Speaker 3: a plane.

369
00:17:09,400 --> 00:17:11,600
Speaker 2: I knew I was going to say, we have to

370
00:17:11,640 --> 00:17:12,000
Speaker 2: let him go.

371
00:17:12,040 --> 00:17:15,080
Speaker 3: He's got a probably probably a cliff park.

372
00:17:15,840 --> 00:17:16,080
Speaker 1: Are you.

373
00:17:16,240 --> 00:17:19,159
Speaker 2: I'm so sorry all that flying from Vegas. It's not

374
00:17:19,200 --> 00:17:21,280
Speaker 2: even a hub, So you're you're just doing a lot

375
00:17:21,320 --> 00:17:23,520
Speaker 2: of connecting flag United Work's not.

376
00:17:23,480 --> 00:17:26,439
Speaker 1: That it's correct, keep it, keep us up to date.

377
00:17:26,440 --> 00:17:28,480
Speaker 1: When you're ready to talk about the next thing.

378
00:17:29,280 --> 00:17:31,080
Speaker 3: Well I will, I will for sure. I mean, we

379
00:17:31,160 --> 00:17:33,280
Speaker 3: always have development going on and it would be great

380
00:17:33,320 --> 00:17:34,639
Speaker 3: to let you know about it.

381
00:17:35,440 --> 00:17:37,640
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, CEO of Carbone Fine Food, joining

382
00:17:37,680 --> 00:17:40,840
Speaker 1: us right here in our Bloomberg Interactive Broker Studio. Thank you.