Poppi Founders ‘Jet’ To Next Act, Packaged Food’s Big Payday

Episode 196

Hosted by:

Oct. 22, 2026 at 10:00 am

In this episode:

In this week’s episode, co-hosts Brad Avery and Lukas Southard discuss the knowns and unknowns surrounding Jetty, the upcoming new brand from Poppi’s co-founding husband-and-wife team. They then cover several investments in packaged food and the state of the hemp industry as the December 11 ban approaches. Plus, does protein belong in a White Russian cocktail?

Show Highlights:

0:20 - Allison and Stephen Ellsworth are preparing to launch their next beverage brand, Jetty. Brad explains what we know so far about the brand and what to look out for.

6:15 - Four food brands announced new investment rounds in the last week, highlighting how innovative approaches to various categories are driving institutional funding opportunities.

11:30 - Lukas and Brad check in on the intoxicating hemp category as the impending prohibition edges closer. The podcast hosts speculate on the implications if the ban is delayed or if an extended ban does occur.

Episode Transcript

Note: Transcripts are automatically generated and may contain inaccuracies and spelling errors.

[00:00:05] Brad Avery: Welcome to the CPG Week podcast by Bevnet and Nosh. I'm Brad Avery, and here with me as always is my co-host, Lukas Southard. On this week's episode, we talk about a big week for raising capital and the latest on hemp and Congress. But first, Allison and Stephen Ellsworth, the husband and wife co-founders of Poppi, are ready to jump back into the beverage game with a new brand called Jetty. Lukas, did you see this announcement?

[00:00:33] Speaker 2: I did. We've been talking about it internally for a couple of weeks, anticipating what this would be. I think they did a good job with the branding. The logo is very kind of retro futuristic, like mid 90s,

[00:00:47] Brad Avery: 80s, 90s futurism.

[00:00:50] Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's, it's cool that kind of metallic finish and baby blue powder blue background. I think that looks cool. But we don't have a ton more details on it, but walk me through what you've been hearing about this so far.

[00:01:06] Brad Avery: Well, here's what we do know. The couple teased the upcoming launch on Instagram last week, and there's a tentative release date of November 9th. Details are being held close to the chest, but we do know that this is going to be an electrolyte hydration beverage. Details in patent and trademark office filings from the summer described Jetty as a name for a dietary supplement drink mix and electrolyte replacement solutions in both dry and liquid form. And then there's also the interest in this being the Ellsworth's next move. For one thing, they're gonna be looking to disrupt a category led by PepsiCo's Gatorade, putting them in direct competition with the strategic that purchased Poppy last year for $1.95 billion. But it's a space that's been in the midst of transformation as brands like Electrolyte have quickly seized market share and shaken up this once stagnant segment. Other much typed recent entrants to the hydration space like Prime, Unwell, and Mass Plus by Messi have either failed or are dwindling in need of a turnaround. There's no doubt though that there's an appetite in the market for a new, better for you, disruptive hydration. You can simply look at what Prime did in the first place to. Wake up and energize a once sleepy category. Poppi, if you'll remember, was founded as an apple cider vinegar drink called Mother Beverage, and it was the addition of Ku partner Rohan Oza at the cap table who helped rebrand and transform the brand into what it is today. So, they work well with collaborators. So I wanna know who those collaborators are, and also see how they put their touch on a good sports drink.

[00:02:44] Speaker 2: It is incredibly interesting to watch as these are Two founders that created something that is much beloved at this point, and Exited for a pretty nice payday. They are entering, as you said, a category that has been notoriously difficult. That being said, hydration is a really big trend in functional beverages right now, and as we talked about in recent weeks, you're seeing electrolyte drinks and hydration kind of be mixed with other functional. Ingredients and and other use occasions, whether it's in relaxation or in skin and, you know, hair and nail health, and all these other kind of trendy functional categories. So, I will be interested to see how the Ellsworth approach hydration. And I would imagine they're gonna have an interesting take on electrolyte drinks that goes beyond just Refueling after exercising.

[00:03:56] Brad Avery: Right, and you know, a few of those brands we've mentioned that made a splash before falling off like Prime, like Unwell and Moss Plus, influencer driven, influencer led brands that sort of relied too heavily on having a big face for the business. In this case, you have people who are big face celebrities within our realm of CPG, but Only so much reach outside of that with the consumer base. And so, we have people who are experienced brand builders, and yes, to us, they are very big names, but I think they know that they need to put a lot into establishing a strong brand, a strong identity. Allison has a great reach with her social media, but she's not Logan Paul. And I think that's a good thing for the business. I think that's actually a sign that they're gonna have the foundation that's right to have something that can sustain itself long term.

[00:04:56] Speaker 2: It will also be interesting to track how they use some of the lessons that they learned while Founding and growing Poppi to supercharge Jetty. I'm thinking about distribution and, you know, if they're going to go into mainline or use DSDs, what channels they're going to go into first. Are they going to do a big splashy launch partner and exclusive with a national chain, or are they gonna start small and do the D2C ecom route. So, a lot of unknowns, but also a lot of things that will be fun to track for founders that Built built Poppi and are now doing it again in a different category and maybe using some of their context, but also using a lot of their experiences to hopefully not make the same mistakes that they might have made early on, or to give them a leg up early on.

[00:06:00] Brad Avery: Well, Lukas, tell you what, meet you back here in 3 weeks and I'm sure we'll have a lot more to talk about that. It's a deal. Well, moving on, Lukas, you took a look at some of the big investment deals from last week. We had a number of announcements.

[00:06:15] Speaker 2: It was a big week for raising capital among packaged food brands. This week, we saw Wild Brands, which makes protein chips and crackers made from chicken, raise $40 million led by S2G Investments. The company just moved into a new production facility in Kentucky, where it uses its proprietary equipment to make chicken chips and a cheese-I like cracker innovation, which it launched earlier this year. So I imagine that new capital will go towards supporting that growth in production. They also hinted at some new snack innovations that are coming down the pike soon. Also this week, we saw seasoning brand Dano's raised $25 million from the Newcastle network. Founded in 2015, the viral spice mix maker is in more than 22,000 retailers nationwide and has expanded into dip mixes earlier this year. Another seasoning brand, Easy Bombs, raised 25 million as well. The brand got its start making Mexican sauce and seasoning blends as an innovative bomb that is dropped into a pressure cooker or slow cooker. Think a bath bomb, but instead of relaxing salts and essential oils for a good soak, it makes birria or pozole to enjoy for dinner. I also reported last week that frozen cinnamon roll brand, Sunshine Buns has raised $7 million. I caught up with this brand over the summer at Utopia Now, as the brand was preparing to enter Target. The Utah-based business currently makes 4 varieties of cinnamon rolls that are fully cooked and ready in under 1 minute in the microwave. One of the co-founders told me recently that they're planning to launch some savory skews, as well as mini buns sometime next year.

[00:08:08] Brad Avery: Oh, I love cinnamon buns.

[00:08:11] Speaker 2: They were very tasty, I'm not gonna lie, and it's interesting

[00:08:14] Brad Avery: because I gotta try

[00:08:15] Speaker 2: those. Yeah, they, they told me that there actually isn't a lot of basically ready to eat or heat and eat. Cinnamon buns out there. Most of them you have to bake in the oven for, you know, 20 minutes or longer. It is kind of a strange innovation that you would think would already be out in the market, but there really isn't a whole lot of other options for a ready in under a minute cinnamon bun, and like I said, they are quite good. So I'm excited to see what the savory buns are gonna look like, cause I think they're doing doing some great stuff there.

[00:08:46] Brad Avery: Well, Lukas, this is a lot of money moving around into brands, but you listed 4 very different companies. There's not a ton of connective tissue between these.

[00:08:57] Speaker 2: One thing that does stand out is, like we were just talking about with Sunshine Buns, it's innovation. So Wild's founder Jason Wright started his brand aiming to innovate the better for you protein snack category using lean animal meat. He actually had to create his own manufacturing process to make those chicken chips, and spent years building that chip line into thousands of mainstream retailers like Target. Now that he has done that and established the brand, he is doing it again with these Cheez-It crackers, and in my mind, these are an even better product than the original chip line. They're Basically, like a better cheese it in my mind. They're super tasty, high in protein, incredibly addictive, and they're made from chicken, and they're made from chicken. They, they have the same basically texture as a normal cracker, but they are made with chicken meat as well as chicken uh broth, so they're high in protein and better for you.

[00:10:00] Brad Avery: Well then you have these two spice companies.

[00:10:03] Speaker 2: Exactly, yeah, so the spice companies are, are interesting not only cause they're both seasoning brands, but they also both raised $25 million recently. The connective tissue, I guess, between these two is that they both have utilized social platforms like TikTok to bring a differentiated product or a differentiated approach to the spice and seasoning category. And really catered their branding and their marketing style to modern consumers and the younger generation in general, and it's really worked out. I mean, Easy Bombs is a relatively new company, and they are moving very quickly. To bring this innovation into retail, having established themselves in e-commerce.

[00:10:50] Brad Avery: Well, maybe we can see Sunshine Buns and wilds collaborate on a chicken cinnamon bun.

[00:10:56] Speaker 2: Oh, now we're talking actually. Maybe like some of the, the chips on top is like a little crunchy element.

[00:11:02] Brad Avery: Yeah, you know what? I thought this was kind of a silly idea. I was gonna say as a joke, but now I'm sold on it.

[00:11:09] Speaker 2: Well, Chrissy from Sunshine Buns and uh Jason at Wild, if you guys are listening, there's a collaboration that uh we have already done for you. So just, you know, do the production of it, please.

[00:11:23] Brad Avery: Well, Lukas, we are coming up fast on the deadline for the federal hemp ban. Although there was a thirty-day reprieve, Halloween is around the corner and then Thanksgiving, and before we know it, we could be looking down the barrel of prohibition once again. What's the latest? We've seen some reporting on this space and Lukas, you were digging in a little bit before we started the podcast this week.

[00:11:48] Speaker 2: This is coming up quick. We are less than 2 months away from the Potential ban on intoxicating hemp. Brands and stakeholders in this set. have been preparing, pivoting into new Iterations and new categories of beverage. But we did get some optimistic news in the last week that came at the National Beer Wholesalers Association annual convention in Orlando. Our colleague Zoey Licata at Bevnet's sister publication Brewbound reported that one industry group is positive that hemp beverages will continue to be sold after December 11th or soon after December 11th. Hemp Beverage Alliance president and CEO Christopher Lachner said that the industry is preparing for a quote, speed bump in the form of a miniature prohibition, as he called it, that could likely be resolved with another extension, either before December, or a regulatory agreement sometime soon after the new year. But this is all kind of hypothetical at this point, because I've been talking to a lot of stakeholders and sources, and from what I'm hearing, a lot of people are basically preparing for the worst, that there won't be another delay, and that there will be a ban for at least A month or two until the new Congress is sworn in.

[00:13:26] Brad Avery: Right, we have the midterm elections coming up. At this point, we can be pretty sure that Congress is not going to reconvene and vote on this before then, and we're anticipating that sometime in the lame duck that they will. I do wonder, depending on the outcome of the election, what their priorities end up being and whether the new Congress will likewise consider this a priority. Brands pivoting now and being prepared is the smart thing to do in my mind, and Well, I understand that they could see a speed bump coming. I am concerned about what a speed bump can really do in terms of halting momentum. Because, yes, if these products have to go off shelves, that is a disruption. Consumers might very well. Complain and want to see them back and celebrate when they do come back and that leads to a big spike, but We saw it with COVID, what shutting down an industry for even a short period of time can do in terms of throwing momentum all out of whack. And I do worry that a speed bump could have a lot of unexpected challenges. It's not just hitting pause and, you know, coming back in a month and, you know, resuming everything. There's a lot that goes into it.

[00:14:50] Speaker 2: You're right, Brad, and even though some industry stakeholders like Christopher Lachner at HBA is optimistic, it's not to say that this, that a speed bump, as he calls it, or a temporary prohibition or ban will not impact these businesses, for most of them are still relatively small, and even a couple months can really hurt them. Another thing we've been tracking is is how this will impact the small retailers that have really leaned into this category. So, yes, of course we see the headlines for Total Wine and More and Target and Sprouts getting into this category and doing really well, selling intoxicating low dose THC beverages. But for a lot of the smaller retailers, a ban, even temporarily can really hurt revenue, and 2 months is a lot of lost revenue when Upwards of 50% of your sales for non-alk bottle shops and some of these boutique retailers comes from the THC set, that will tank a business really quickly. I, I recently spoke with Edibles.com CEO Thomas Win Stanley, who called this period a parallel path situation, and he said there are some brands who are going full speed and hoping that there's some sort of bridge. We've seen brands like can promote buy a whole pallet of our THC drinks. I don't know where you're going to put those, but that is one approach. But you've also seen some of those same brands, whether it's Can or nowadays or uh lift I move into other categories and bring relaxation beverages, cannabinoid-free functional drinks into the mix.

[00:16:44] Brad Avery: We've covered this relaxation, the, the mind and mood space. We've been talking about this week after week, and there's a lot of demand for those types of products. But I do think that there's a big difference between the THC occasion and some of these other general relaxation occasions. The THC occasion can also fill that alcohol space. It can be a party item, a social tonic, as many of these brands have put out. We're talking about the worst-case scenario here, which is the federal ban going into effect. I do really hope that we're gonna see at least a bridge, at least another kick the can into the new year. If we can get in this lame duck session, a two-month delay passed, give, let the new Congress come in in January, set things up, and then address this. I think that is just as good. For the time being.

[00:17:38] Speaker 2: To leave this on a positive note, one other thing that Thomas Win Stanley was talking about was the fact that there has been a lot of legislation that has been proposed in the current Congress, and that has put a lot of wind in the sails. Now granted, none of those have been approved, and it doesn't seem like any of them is going to get passed before. The midterm elections or potentially in the lame duck, but at the same time, the fact that there has been a lot of these Proposals to regulate the hemp drive THC category in a legitimate way and to in a lot of ways put it under a very similar framework, if not the same framework as other adult beverages and beverage alcohol, that adds a lot of momentum. to there being a solution eventually.

[00:18:31] Brad Avery: You're completely right. Even if we hit this speed bump, ultimately, there is enough of an appetite in Washington, bipartisan support for this legislation to get passed in some shape or form, that this is, will not be a permanent ban on hemp. That I do believe strongly, it's what all the industry organizations are saying, and it does seem to be the case. And there are many brands who have established a strong foundation for themselves, who I think will be able to weather that storm. Uh, it is that interim that concerns me, but there's still plenty of reason for optimism, uh, and you're completely right.

[00:19:10] Speaker 2: Let's hope for the best.

[00:19:12] Brad Avery: Absolutely. Well, Lucas, on a lighter note, I was scrolling Instagram earlier and I saw a video about protein maxing your white Russian. Putting some protein whip on top, and I'm curious, do you want protein or, you know, any functionality that's not alcohol out of your cocktail?

[00:19:31] Speaker 2: Well, I will say the first thing that comes to mind is uh the dude from The Big Lebowski. Pouring himself a protein-filled white Russian, it just seems out of place, but

[00:19:42] Brad Avery: he's got to beef up for bowling, I

[00:19:44] Speaker 2: guess so, yeah, I mean, we have seen the crossover of adult beverages, uh, RTD cocktails, and hydration. With spiked aid and all these vodka aid that have have been acquired, some of them. So I guess there are some people that want to put their functional ingredients inside their adult beverages, me personally. It it's not really for me. I'll drink my protein smoothie in the morning, and I'll have my glass of wine or Crack a beer in the evening and keep those two separate, but, you know, teach their own with this one. why not double dip?

[00:20:22] Brad Avery: You know, alcohol is a functionality when you get down.

[00:20:26] Speaker 2: That's very true, actually. It has a, uh, maybe not the, the health function a lot of us are looking for sometimes, but it, it's functional.

[00:20:35] Brad Avery: Well, thank you all for listening. For a closer look at these stories, become an insider at Bevnet and Nash. If you enjoyed the show, please like and subscribe on your listening platform of choice. Thank you for listening and we'll see you again next week.

[00:20:48] Speaker 2: See you later.

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CPG Week is the podcast that explores the latest happenings in the consumer packaged goods industry. Join our seasoned reporting team as they dish out the week’s stories in quick, easy-to-digest episodes. Catch up on the top headlines of the week, dive into exclusive insights with the BevNET and Nosh teams, and set yourself up to make more informed business decisions. Tune in to stay up-to-date on the latest developments in the dynamic world of packaged food and beverage.

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