Liquid breakfast + the missing item in your freezer.
Plus: we've got a podcast rebrand on our hands...
Hello hello!
You may notice the podcast looks a little bit different this week.
In an effort to unify our branding across our properties, we rebranded our dear podcast The Curious Consumer to Express Checkout!
If you’re a fan of the newsletter, you just might be an even bigger fan of the pod. Express Checkout (the podcast) is where our stories really come to life—where you get all of the CPG and retail news (plus our hottest takes), recent product finds, and exclusive interviews like this week’s, where Troy Bunde, co-founder of Sauz, shared exactly how his $22M brand thinks about innovation and content.
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Nate’s Pickup:
Hot Box Pretzels
If you came up to me on the street in one of those street interviews in Washington Square Park and asked me what is the one food I always crave, my answer every time would be a pretzel. Soft, hard, salted with cheese, with cinnamon sugar. A pretzel. I love, love, love a pretzel. And I particularly love just a plain salted pretzel. I could eat those any day of the week, any time, any season. But I will say I have a particular soft spot for a hot soft pretzel. And I’m always on the lookout for a good pretzel, whether it’s in a restaurant or a food service stand or in a grocery store. Damn do these really hit the spot.
Quick Facts: Frozen soft pretzel bites out of Jacksonville, Florida, from Roman Desmond—who dropped out of college to run a single pretzel food truck at local markets and festivals. He ended up competing on season two of Gordon Ramsay’s Food Stars, where Ramsay and Lisa Vanderpump were the first two people to ever taste the product. They use lye-dipped dough, nothing artificial, no seed oils, and ship frozen nationwide. Each bag comes with its own seasoning packet, and they’re ready in minutes in the oven or the microwave. Comes in flavors like Salt, Cinnamon, Honey Butter, and Everything Bagel.
Reasons to love:
Genius simple packaging. This is somehow one of the easiest frozen food items that I have received to heat up and also be really good and really tasty. You can warm these up a few ways, either frozen or thawed but my favorite method that I’ve tried has been from frozen, directly in the bag, right into the microwave. And it doesn’t really get soggy. They get soft. They get pretzel-y. I’m really impressed at this method and at the fact that you can just heat it up right in the bag that it comes in. This product is a treat. I can easily heat the whole bag and a treat is something that I want immediately. This form of heating up, being able to microwave it just in the bag, is perfect.
The perfect size and texture. I have tried the bigger soft pretzels at home and they just never heat up or perform well. I’m really glad they actually went with smaller bites. Size is not too small that it doesn’t get all of the seasoning on the surface but it’s also not too big that a lot of it just falls away and you don’t get anything. It’s truly the perfect size to capture all of that flavor. I also think the size lends itself to a really fluffy and airy texture as well. Compared to the smaller bites you might find at the mall, these are a really good texture. Also, there’s just something really satisfying about popping these little bites into your mouth one at a time. It feels even more like a treat.
The flavors. These flavors are perfection. They’re very creative. They’re very treat-like and they lend themselves very well to the vessel that they’re attaching themselves to. The other thing is that the way that they include the flavor packets and all of that makes it really easy to season these. You put it all right into the bag. You can add the melted butter if the flavor requires it or you can just add the flavor packet that they include in the package.
This is really another brand that proves to me how good the frozen aisle has become.
Where to buy: Online
Jenna’s Pickup:
Noon Protein - Honey Banana
I am typically not a proponent of replacing meals with something in a can or bar form. Typically, I find these products come with a stench of guilt-induction—have this instead of your meal, because eating a full meal is synonymous with overeating, and the only way you can properly restrict is by having something contained to a package. This messaging is icky! Bad! I do not like it!
BUT (and a heavy but indeed), I do like having feel-good options for when I am, admittedly, too lazy to make a meal. Instead of the language of “replacement,” I prefer the concept of optionality, of having another choice for a meal that doesn’t shame you, but provides alternative nourishment when you’re busy. NOON Protein’s Liquid Breakfast is the perfect example of that, and I’ve really been enjoying it lately as one of multiple options on my breakfast rotation.
Quick Facts: Australian ready-to-drink canned protein beverage (”liquid breakfast”) that just made its US debut in Targets nationwide after raising a $2.5M seed round.
Reasons to love:
Tiny can packed with nourishment. In just one very-portable 8-oz can, you get 20g of protein, 5g fiber, and 150 calories. Made with super simple ingredients like milk, oats, and real banana puree, it doesn’t feel like some wacky “meal replacement” that’s engineered to keep you artificially full—it’s much closer to a liquid version of a breakfast I’d probably make when I have the time.
Branding. So many “meal replacements” or meal shakes feel sterile, weirdly masculine, or diet-coded. Noon just feels fun. Its bright, bold typeface, emphasis on flavor with the ingredients front-and-center, and modern feel make this a can I want to reach for, as opposed to something that feels like a punishment. The brand focuses less on restriction and what it doesn’t have, and more on what it offers: the protein of 3 eggs, the fiber of 2 bananas, and real milk + oats.
The banana flavor!!!! I’ve been so on-board the banana train. As many have noticed, banana has been a huge flavor trend this summer—spanning categories from protein bars (Barebells) to beauty (Glow Recipe). I know that banana-flavored things can be controversial; but this Honey Banana Flavor tastes like real banana—probably because it’s made with real banana puree. I absolutely love the combination of banana and coffee, so my recent favorite “hack” has been pouring a NOON over my cold brew for the fastest, tastiest, multifunctional “liquid breakfast” of all time.
Where to buy: Target nationwide!