Podcast
How do you stand out in a crowded marketplace and create a product that survives a recession? Jordan Silbert of Q Drinks shares his story of just that. He created Q Drinks with the premise that most cocktail sodas are lousy. They are designed from unpronounceable ingredients by multinational corporations, sweetened beyond recognition with high fructose corn syrup and packaged in generic containers. The typical cocktail soda is an afterthought that adds nothing to the drinking experience.
Have you ever wanted to learn what it takes to start a beverage business but just didn't know where to start? Phil and Anastasia Broikos of OPA! Originals did not come from the beverage industry but had a passion to create something that celebrated their unique heritage and that allowed them to work together as a husband and wife team.
What happened to craft soda? What happened to using all-natural, sustainable, fresh, local ingredients? Why do soda companies create beverages with artificial ingredients and sweeteners that make you feel guilty or think twice to even drink them? This is what three friends from Charleston, South Carolina asked themselves. Mick Matricciano, Brandon Wogamon and Matt Fendley created the Cannonborough Beverage Company as a way to bring the "craft" back into craft soda using small-batch processes that combine art and science in the soda-making process.
Have you ever wanted to start a business but just didn't know how to start? Whether you are in the beverage industry or not, this interview is for you. Learn Andrew Warner's top lessons learned after he bootstrapped 2 multi-million dollar companies and interviewed over 1300 ambitious entrepreneurs.
If you are an entrepreneur, some of the key insights you can take away from this show and use in your business include:
DRY Soda Co. creates sparkling beverages for people seeking culinary experiences in their everyday lives. The full line is available in nine flavor-forward, crisp, unexpected varieties. With a clean ingredient panel and artisan flavors, DRY Sparkling is worthy of gourmet food pairing and premium mixology. According to Richard Blais, "Precision is key in finding the right balance between sweetness and acidity while preserving the aroma and intensity of the featured ingredient." Dry Soda is this such beverage.
In April of 2015, I received a message from Jon Gunnerson, the CEO at BAWLS Acquisition, letting me know that he would be happy to share some bottle and can artwork of the BAWLS Guarana beverages for me to use on the Specialty Sodas website. He also wanted to know if there might be an opportunity to promote BAWLS on the site. While I was not ready at the time to do this, I asked him instead if he would like to share the BAWLS story with the Specialty Sodas community. "Finding Focus" with Jon Gunnerson of BAWLS Acquisition is this such story.
When I heard that Mark Rampolla, the founder of ZICO Coconut Water, was writing a book about his entrepreneurial journey starting the ZICO beverage company and how he grew it to become the market leader for coconut water in less than 10 years, I thought that it would be great for us to connect so he can share his story with the Specialty Sodas audience. I reached out to Mark and asked him if he would like to teach us the lessons and key insights he learned along the way, and he was happy to do so.
I received an email from Pimento Drink founder and CEO Eric Dalsace letting me know that I was out of stock of the Pimento Drink on Specialty Sodas and that he could supply to me directly from France. Although I was not able to import the drink myself, I asked Eric if he could refer some distributors to me in the United States where I could buy Pimento. After taking his suggestions and doing some more research on my side, I quickly re-stocked the Pimento Drink on Specialty Sodas.
This is my first podcast episode.