Dan Lourenço Introduces GHOST Energy Blueberry Cream and Talks Legend V5

0:00 – Introductions

Ben, Mike, and Dan are again in Vegas, this time at GHOST headquarters on the Tuesday earlier than SupplySide International. It is Mike’s first go to to the workplace. The three simply caught up at FNIS (the Future Nutra Innovation Summit), however Dan agrees that hold was too fast, and the blokes saved texting afterward about every thing they nonetheless wished to cowl.

Ben admits he wants some caffeine, so the primary order of enterprise is cracking open a can that, as he jokes, is not AI.

0:45 – The Blueberry Cream Story

Dan calls Blueberry Cream one of many tales of the yr as a result of it captures his day-one purpose: followers who really feel like a part of the model. In 2025, rumors claimed the flavour leaked on a distributor’s order web page. GHOST formally answered on video that it had by no means sampled the flavour and even put it on a whiteboard.

But… the rumor would not die.

Faux pallet images circulated, and the AI renders fooled Dan lengthy sufficient that he known as his group to verify he wasn’t loopy. He determined the flavour ought to exist, cracked the primary pattern on digicam, and now it is lined up for 2027 cabinets.

When a Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP) chief at NACS requested what client perception impressed it, Dan’s reply was “the buyer perception is the fan”. That is the sort of “information” that you do not discover in spreadsheets.

3:45 – The First Official Taste Overview

Dan declares this the primary official taste assessment of Blueberry Cream, and the hosts crack their cans on digicam. Mike says it is precisely what he wished from scent to style, evaluating the over-the-top blueberry to Boo Berry cereal and warning that it is not for the faint of coronary heart. Dan will get extra of a Go-Gurt vibe and calls the flavour weirdly nostalgic, like one thing to drink whereas watching cartoons.

On the flavour’s roots, Dan suspects followers linked the dots from GHOST’s cream lineup. Orange Cream helped encourage Raspberry Cream, which started as a UK confection-inspired pre-workout thought earlier than touchdown within the can. GHOST has completed blueberry earlier than, however by no means creamy, and its cream base now offers the group a basis for layering new fruit.

The scent hits fast, and the flavour hits more durable. It could not be any higher for individuals who like highly effective, cream-based flavors.

5:45 – Selection Packs and the Walmazon Migration

Ben asks a few rumored selection pack pairing Blueberry Cream with Orange Cream and Raspberry Cream. Dan says the group hasn’t mentioned it but, since GHOST desires suggestions on the flavour first, however “the answer is not no”. Grocery multipacks by no means took off for GHOST, whereas club-store selection packs (the place consumers purchase complete circumstances) maintain working.

Dan Lourenço returns to the PricePlow Podcast for the sixth time to debate the Legend V4 launch, the primary half of 2024, and the Ghost 100 12 months Plan in Episode 143

That opens up GHOST’s retail historical past. Dan coined the “Walmazon migration” round 2015, when specialty manufacturers began transferring past GNC and Vitamin Shoppe onto Walmart and Amazon. GHOST waited till about 2020 to launch on Amazon, supporting day-one associate GNC, then added Vitamin Shoppe and independents in 2021. Immediately Dan desires the cans in each airport, comfort retailer, and grocery retailer, whereas staying choosier with powders to maintain them premium.

8:30 – Listening, Credit score, and Powder Roots

Does getting memed right into a taste invite extra nonsense? Dan would not assume so: “we have the boldness to hear, and we have additionally received the boldness to present credit score the place it is due”. Few manufacturers GHOST’s dimension do this exterior crowdsourcing campaigns, he says, and GHOST has failed if folks do not feel like they’ll hang around with the group.

Ben notes that some shoppers fear GHOST is leaving sports activities vitamin behind for cans and grocery. Dan says they’re noticing scale, not priorities. He cites roughly 2,000 to 2,300 GNCs and 700 to 800 Vitamin Shoppes versus about 14,000 7-Eleven and Speedway shops. Beverage is way larger, however in Dan’s phrases, “My coronary heart and soul and the DNA of GHOST positively is the powder aspect of issues”.

13:00 – Restricted Editions and the 2027 Rotation

Dan confirms Blueberry Cream is headed for broad distribution as GHOST’s first restricted version of 2027. GHOST runs about three rolling restricted editions a yr, roughly 4 months every, or a “trimester LTO program” if Dan desires to sound company. If Blueberry Cream takes off, it may return by way of specialty, on-line, or a spread pack, and sustained demand is how a taste ultimately goes everlasting nationally.

The 2026 rotation ran Welch’s Grape-Cran, then 7UP, then A&W, and Dan says A&W and 7UP are each going everlasting in 2027 as a result of they carried out so nicely. Flavors that do not make the beginning lineup on shelf typically keep accessible on-line, and Dan says a lot of this cadence comes from retailers and the rhythm of the beverage trade.

14:45 – Flavors for On a regular basis Consuming

7UP Lemon Lime was the take a look at. A&W Root Beer confirmed it. GHOST Power clones a soda higher than the soda firm does. Zero sugar, 200mg caffeine, and none of that skinny weight loss plan soda texture. Now give us GHOST Power Dr. Pepper.

GHOST’s early vitality flavors had been wild, Ben notes, whereas newer ones are simpler to drink each day, and Dan agrees. Intense sweet collabs put GHOST on the map and drove trial, however repeat purchases now favor subtler flavors like Iced Tea Lemonade, A&W Root Beer, 7UP, and the slushie-style Blue Raspberry, which is outperforming the bitter sweet taste earlier than it.

Mike calls A&W a ten out of 10 and says many followers assume it beats the unique, a case we made in our take a look at GHOST’s soda-cloning collab period. Dan sidesteps the comparability, since liquid-to-liquid comps are by no means apples to apples. KDP’s management known as A&W GHOST’s greatest taste evolution from first draft to closing, and Dan calls the work with KDP’s taste scientists a “group raise”.

17:30 – The Caffeine-Free Query

Ben raises the increase in useful and non-alcoholic drinks, and Dan insightfully solutions with a query: what number of do you retain in your fridge? As for caffeine-free GHOST Power, a relentless fan request, Dan’s reply is shelf house. A retailer like Circle Okay may give GHOST two cabinets and 20 slots, so caffeine-free variations would change flagship cans, and in the event that they promote much less, each the shop and GHOST lose.

Mike, consuming his first caffeine in over 30 days, desires a 12-ounce caffeine-free Blueberry Cream for the night and predicts demand inside 5 years. Dan would not be shocked, given how briskly the outdated two- or three-brand shelf modified. For now, development is in sugar-free useful efficiency drinks, he says, and GHOST will pounce on new shelf house.

25:30 – Rebuilding the Legend Lineup

GHOST makes use of athlete collabs as take a look at beds. Rob Lipsett’s Legend tried Nitrosigine® (plus a whiskey bitter taste that by no means returned), and Maxx Chewning’s pump-chasing variations added VasoDrive-AP. This yr’s athlete editions, like Sydney Cummings x GHOST Mango Colada, had followers asking whether or not they had been seeing Legend V5. Dan says they don’t seem to be the ultimate type, and GHOST used the suggestions to maintain growing it.

GHOST went with a dessert basic for the fourth Protein Bar taste. Mint Chocolate brings 20g protein and 2g sugar per two-bar pouch, made with Normal Mills like the remainder of the lineup.

Three issues drove the rebuild: pre-workout hasn’t had a platform breakthrough in years, commodity prices maintain climbing whereas shoppers really feel squeezed, and Legend and All Out by no means had a transparent step between them. The repair is a smaller serving, a lower cost, international consistency, and spending solely on substances folks worth, as a result of “you won’t wish to pay for the kitchen sink”.

30:30 – A Stimulant-Free Legend

The piece Dan’s most enthusiastic about is a stimulant-free Legend. Loads of stim-free pre-workouts exist, however Dan says GHOST’s reasoning is completely different. At Dragon’s Lair, the hardcore gymnasium the place he trains, superior lifters carry cans of GHOST Power, although, as Dan sees it, vitality drinks aren’t designed to do a pre-workout’s job. Reasonably than struggle that behavior, GHOST desires to enhance it.

The non-stim Legend makes use of a smaller scoop of core substances like L-citrulline and beta-alanine, with out stimulants, to pair with GHOST Power or any vitality drink. (Dry scooping is not one thing GHOST recommends, Dan provides.) It isn’t groundbreaking, however “generally the perfect innovation is inches, not miles”, and Dan believes vitality drinks partly clarify pre-workout’s slower gross sales.

34:15 – Pump, International Legend, and Pricing

GHOST Pump is not going anyplace. Dan calls it considered one of GHOST’s most underrated merchandise and one of many few formulation they’ve barely touched. In his view, beta-alanine is what separates a pre-workout from a pump product for many shoppers.

Legend is increasing globally, so GHOST constructed it for regulatory consistency throughout markets. All Out stays largely U.S.-focused, and the non-stim model can attain solely sure nations. Dan says the formulation are kind of finalized and coming quickly, with GHOST advertising all three collectively so consumers know who every is for. The group is focusing on about $30 for flagship Legend, which can broaden past specialty, whereas All Out will value extra and keep specialty-focused.

37:00 – Break-Even Powders and Whey Provide

The GHOST x Bitter Strips Appleberry collab is full. GHOST Creatine takes the tart apple and candy berry right into a 40-serving tub, and GHOST Legend carries the leaner 200mg caffeine formulation reasonably than V4.

Consumers are price-sensitive, Ben says, and Dan will get candid: GHOST’s powders, particularly with in the present day’s protein pricing, “break even on a very good day”. GHOST runs them skinny to maintain costs aggressive, hoping protein, creatine, and citrulline prices ease. Whey was a cheese byproduct, and with demand hovering and America’s pizza-driven cheese enterprise hurting, Dan says there is not sufficient to go round.

A two-pound tub now prices what 5 and a half kilos as soon as did, but Dan says GHOST has handed on solely a fraction of rising prices. Tweaking the mix would not assist, since focus, isolate, and hydrolysate value about the identical, and he will not do “open coronary heart surgical procedure” on a best-seller to save lots of pennies. Some flavors are on maintain, and massive retailers face allocation.

41:15 – Enhancing GHOST Protein Bars

The GHOST Protein Bar comes from a partnership with Normal Mills, one of many nation’s greatest bar producers, which hadn’t made a standard sports activities vitamin bar earlier than. GHOST waited 9 years to launch a bar, avoiding Chipotle-style contract bars the place everybody picks from the identical menu. The 2-stick design provides chocolate coating, which modifications the consuming expertise and nudges the macros.

The bars had been good out of the gate, however time on shelf informed a unique story. No scorching field or accelerated testing replaces actual growing older, Dan says, and the aged bars graded a B or C, in need of the GHOST customary. Fixes often come all the way down to inclusion dimension and water exercise, and Dan says Mint Chocolate nails it, backed by actual shelf-time information.

45:15 – Normal Mills Licenses GHOST

Mike is shocked to study that the bars and GHOST Protein Cereal are literally Normal Mills merchandise. Normal Mills licenses the GHOST model, makes the merchandise, and largely distributes them. GHOST handles improvement enter, taste testing, artwork, design, and technique, and its group approves what goes out.

GHOST Protein Cereal x Trix is official. The fourth everlasting taste within the line brings the identical 17g of protein per serving to fruity multicolored puffs.

Ben loves the reversal. GHOST constructed its title licensing different manufacturers, and now a meals large licenses GHOST, with Normal Mills press releases touting GHOST’s innovation. Dan spent years knocking on Normal Mills’ door, hoping to make use of its marshmallows in a cereal milk protein, earlier than he met the appropriate folks. Now it is a two-way road: GHOST makes use of Normal Mills manufacturers in GHOST Whey flavors, whereas Normal Mills brings GHOST into bars and cereal.

47:00 – Ingredient Companions and Peptides

Requested about unique substances, Dan says provider partnerships have formed GHOST since day one, generally with first-to-market entry. GHOST labored with NuLiv Science on GHOST-specific medical or preclinical analysis analyzing AstraGin® alongside substances GHOST pairs it with, which Dan lists as choline, taurine, and carnitine. It additionally partnered with TSI on OptiCreatine™. The philosophy is one Dan has repeated for years: formulate for the 1%, construct the model for the 99%.

On peptides, Dan speaks just for himself. He prefers tried-and-true choices with extra information and time behind them, and calls himself cautiously optimistic. He would not see peptides becoming GHOST, which has all the time prevented compliance dangers and gray-area substances in favor of respected, trademarked suppliers.

50:15 – Creatine Codecs, Gummies, and Meals

Creatine in liquid is the place Dan will get old-fashioned. He nonetheless has huge considerations about creatine’s stability in answer, and he desires to see information behind the brand new patents and merchandise in that house. OptiCreatine lets GHOST pair a tried-and-true creatine monohydrate with GHOST flavors, plus an unflavored model that reveals off its solubility.

Gritty creatine that settles on the backside of your shaker? GHOST is finished with that. Their relaunched Creatine makes use of OptiCreatine™, which dissolves absolutely in below a minute.

Gummies stay an open door with nothing on the horizon, since Dan has seen loads of testing failures and merchandise that want a pile of gummies to ship an efficient dose. On useful meals, Dan notes that including actual useful substances and claims blurs the road between meals and complement. He additionally believes creatine’s mainstream surge comes extra from curiosity in its cognitive analysis than from power and muscle.

54:00 – GHOST’s Accomplice Household

Dan will not title the pattern he shared with the blokes earlier than filming, which Mike says might or might not arrive subsequent yr. As an alternative, he factors out what fan renders miss: GHOST will not make a soda collab with a Dr Pepper competitor, or a Kellogg’s cereal taste whereas working with Normal Mills. Followers ought to anticipate GHOST to maintain doubling down with its household (KDP, Normal Mills, Warheads, Sonic, Welch’s, and Bitter Strips) as an alternative of chasing random licenses.

Ben notes KDP’s plan to separate its espresso enterprise and asks about GHOST Okay-Cups. Dan remembers a dialog about ten years in the past, earlier than KDP, however questions how a lot efficacy a hot-water machine may ship. GHOST has loads of low-hanging fruit already, and Dan says it will be a part of KDP’s go-forward beverage firm.

57:00 – Constructing a 100-12 months Model

Imposter syndrome? Dan says GHOST works as a result of he and co-founder Ryan Hughes see themselves as “one of many guys”. They stop coaching collectively earlier than GHOST as a result of they talked enterprise as an alternative of lifting. Now they’re on larger corporations’ earnings calls, and Dan admits it hasn’t absolutely sunk in, since they’re targeted on the 100-year model. A chip in your shoulder helps, he says, in the event you keep in mind your roots.

Ben asks about C4, since KDP additionally holds a minority stake in Nutrabolt and distributes C4 and Bloom. Dan calls it a well-rounded portfolio with distinct clients, and credit KDP for rising from nearly no vitality enterprise to about 20% of vitality gross sales in some shops. He desires to win, however a rising tide lifts all ships.

1:01:00 – Why Pouches Do not Match

4 merchandise, one tropical taste. The Sydney Cummings x GHOST Mango Colada assortment covers Legend, Greens, Clear Whey, and Hydration Drink, with the RTD becoming a member of a Sydney collab for the primary time. All restricted version, so it is gone when it is gone.

Pouches are booming, however Dan is not a fan. He admits he would not know the class nicely, however sees a slippery slope from “useful” pouches to tobacco and nicotine. Corporations have approached GHOST, and Dan acknowledges the monetary alternative, however not each technique to make a buck is price pursuing when vitality drinks, protein RTDs, and powders already maintain the group busy.

The hosts agree. Mike raised regulatory considerations finally yr’s SupplySide, since a pouch is not swallowed like a dietary complement. Ben dislikes the class’s origins and would not need an trade already below a microscope sitting subsequent to one thing so closely regulated. Dan places it merely: who you are on shelf subsequent to issues as a lot as who you are not on shelf subsequent to.

1:03:30 – The Yoo-hoo Launch Story

Mike loves GHOST Protein Drink x Yoo-hoo Chocolate, and Dan ranks its story amongst his favorites of the yr, partly as a result of it by no means leaked. Yoo-hoo is a KDP trademark, and KDP’s group questioned constructing on a dated model. Dan known as it loopy nostalgic and requested them to belief him, and he credit KDP for that belief.

The launch plan was brutally easy: Dan and Ryan concurrently posted the can with their sneakers, Ryan on Instagram and Dan on Twitter. No cash, no marketing campaign, no company. It blew up, and Dan says it is promoting nicely. Launching only one taste was intentional, since chocolate is the highest protein drink taste anyway. GHOST can put all its capability behind it, then use gross sales information and suggestions to determine what’s subsequent.

1:06:15 – What’s Subsequent for Protein RTDs

Ben remembers discussing protein RTDs with Dan and PricePlow’s Cody final yr (Bevlab Podcast Episode #1), then asks about extra Yoo-hoo flavors. Dan pushes again on on-line posts claiming GHOST confirmed 4 new ones. In his opinion, there’s just one Yoo-hoo taste, although something’s on the desk, and he factors to GHOST’s associate household for any future RTD flavors. GHOST selected ultra-filtered milk as a result of the workplace already loves easy UF milk shakes, and Yoo-hoo felt nostalgic and “actually GHOST”.

GHOST x Yoo-hoo Chocolate Protein RTD is going on. 25g protein, 110 energy, 11 oz can — and it seems to be precisely just like the collab you’d hope for. No full vitamin panel or launch date but, however we’re watching intently.

Mike argues GHOST has now overwhelmed the originals with A&W, 7UP, and Yoo-hoo. Dan will not say that. “Authenticity is undefeated”, he says, so the purpose is capturing the unique’s essence. GHOST benchmarks sodas in opposition to their full-sugar variations and treats every collab as a contemporary tackle an older basic.

1:11:45 – Fan Requests, Dr Pepper GHOST Power, and Model Character

Dan’s solely public assertion on Dr Pepper GHOST Power: “The folks need it”. The blokes beloved GHOST’s Nationwide Dr Pepper Day publish joking the day may have gone in another way, and Dan admits he noticed it once they did. That freedom is the purpose. If GHOST stops having enjoyable and sparking dialog, from followers or critics, Dan says he’ll hold up his cleats.

The intuition dates to his earlier firm, the place he jokingly tweeted a chicken-and-waffles protein pattern that was by no means meant to launch. The corporate noticed it as ego, however Dan noticed what Blueberry Cream confirmed: “Individuals wish to be part of the method.” That perception helped push him to start out GHOST with Ryan, and he credit KDP for letting GHOST keep itself.

1:15:30 – AI and Offline Neighborhood

Mike has by no means heard Dan discuss AI. Dan says it hasn’t actually modified how GHOST works, or his private life, but, although he expects the subsequent 5 years to look very completely different. Ben argues GHOST’s group nonetheless runs on human concepts: somebody beloved Raspberry Cream sufficient to think about Blueberry Cream, and AI solely rendered it.

Dan’s optimistic view is that AI nonetheless wants human creativity to information it, because it is aware of the world however not what you are promoting. Fan renders nonetheless require realizing GHOST and having a humorousness. He additionally hopes a extra digital world makes real-life connection extra beneficial, which is why GHOST’s festivals and music occasions matter a lot to him. In Dan’s view, nothing replaces the offline world.

1:19:00 – SupplySide and Closing Thanks

Dan plans to cruise SupplySide for a day, and he likes that residing in Las Vegas means the trade involves him. Ben notes that GHOST’s group often walks the ground quietly, scoping issues out. Dan compares the 2 reveals: SupplySide is a stadium present full of conferences and dinners, whereas FNIS looks like an intimate present the place folks let their hair down, join, and study.

To wrap up, Mike thanks Dan with a present from podcast sponsor Excellent Shaker and Darren Thompson: a laser-etched shaker, possibly with a Blueberry Cream brand as an alternative of the same old GHOST mark. A becoming end, because the taste followers dreamed up opened the present.