[00:00:10] Ray Latif: Hello friends, I'm Ray Latif and you're listening to the number one podcast for anyone building a business in food or beverage, Taste Radio. This episode features an interview with Nicole Dawes, the founder of Late July Organic Snacks and Nixie Beverage Company. Nicole Dawes isn't the kind of CEO that operates from behind a desk. Throughout her career, Nicole, the founder of Late July Organic Snacks and Nixie Beverage Company, has consistently stressed the importance of building brands at the store level. Being in the field yields critical information about how products are performing on shelf, she says, and also strengthens relationships with retail buyers and merchandisers. That philosophy helped her build Late July into a nationally distributed brand that was acquired by snack giant Snyder Lance in 2014. And she's drawing upon the same playbook to develop Nixie. Launched in 2020, Nixie markets organic-flavored sparkling water sold in 12-ounce cans. The products are distributed in 11,000 stores, and the brand has become the fastest-growing in its category within the natural channel. Earlier this month, Nixie entered the emerging Better For You soda space with a new line of zero-calorie and zero-sugar sodas. The products come in three varieties, Classic Cola, Root Beer, and Ginger Ale, and are available nationwide at Sprouts and regional retailers including New Season and Raley's. In the following conversation, Nicole discusses the development of the new soda line, why quote, doing what we say we're going to do is the key to strong relationships with retail buyers, the challenge of deciding when to accept opportunities even if you're not ready for them, and how the Nixie team works hand-in-hand with outsourced field support. Hey folks, it's Ray with Taste Radio. Right now, I am honored to be sitting down with Nicole Dawes, who is the founder and CEO of Nixie. Nicole, great to see you.
[00:02:14] Nicole Dawes: Oh, Ray, thank you so much for having me here today.
[00:02:17] Ray Latif: And where are we here today? We're here in New York City.
[00:02:20] Nicole Dawes: That is correct.
[00:02:20] Ray Latif: For BevNET Live Summer 2024.
[00:02:23] Nicole Dawes: And I got to tell you, this place is exciting.
[00:02:26] Ray Latif: Yes, yes. We're expecting about 700 people attending the show. You are one of the 700. But I would say that you're a VIP of the group because you've been in CPG for many, many years now. You've been a beverage entrepreneur going on six, six years, I would say.
[00:02:42] Nicole Dawes: I think every year as a beverage entrepreneur is a little bit like a dog year. So is it six or is it 40? I don't know.
[00:02:48] Ray Latif: The way Nicole looked at me when I said six, she's like, you know, I've been in this business for a long, long time. So no, but it's fun because I think beverage entrepreneurship for me, and I started at BevNET in 2011, The people that are in this business are so crazy passionate about what they're doing. You know, the idea of creating something that people can drink on a daily basis, something that you can have as a refreshment beverage or with a meal. I mean, there's something really special about beverages in particular as a consumable, if I can use that word.
[00:03:21] Nicole Dawes: You drink a lot of beverages in a day. I mean, you know, previously I had Late July snacks. And tortilla chips you do eat a fair amount, but a box of crackers, you know, you're maybe buying one a month or, you know, the velocity is quite a bit slower. But with beverage, I mean, you can drink Nixie Beverage a day easily. And I mean, it's obviously a very fast paced, exciting part of the CPG business.
[00:03:45] Ray Latif: It's a heavy business too. going from Late July where you have your tortilla chips, your snacks. Very light. Very light. You ship them, oh, it's just like light, fluffy, airy. You get pallets and pallets of beverages. It's a very heavy business.
[00:04:00] Nicole Dawes: Well, I realized that the other day when we're launching a new thing today here at BevNET, actually, and I was carrying three of the cases the other day, and I thought, oh, this will be easy. And then I got about 100 yards into this operation, I thought, You know, three cases of beverage is actually quite a bit heavier than three cases of snacks.
[00:04:16] Ray Latif: Yes, yes. But you have help, which is good.
[00:04:18] Nicole Dawes: Yes, I do.
[00:04:19] Ray Latif: Yeah. You mentioned a new product, new product line that you're launching here at BevNET. I saw it at Expo West. I tried it at Expo West. Delicious product. It is your new line of zero sugar sodas.
[00:04:30] Nicole Dawes: That is correct.
[00:04:31] Ray Latif: Yes. The next evolution of Nixie.
[00:04:33] Nicole Dawes: Correct.
[00:04:34] Ray Latif: Yeah. What's so special about these sodas other than the fact that they're zero sugar? Because there's a lot of zero sugar sodas out there.
[00:04:39] Nicole Dawes: So what I'm most proud of about these, and honestly, I've been doing R&D for almost, I mean, I think over 30 years, if you don't count the cookie company I had when I was 12, which is a little longer. And I've been working with organic ingredients for my entire career. And I can honestly say creating these Zero Sugar Sodas certified Organic Snacks one of the most challenging things I've ever done in my career. And I think part of what I kind of pride myself on and what I've really tried to achieve is I want to make sure that organic products have a similar taste experience to a conventional. Because I don't think we're ever going to move our industry forward if the products don't taste like what people are expecting. And a little bit of this comes from my mom at a health food store in the 70s. And I think I have a little bit of PTSD about those days when natural food products just, you know, they had a real connotation of not tasting great or having like a weird, some weird component. And so I've spent my entire career trying to create organic products that really rival their conventional counterparts. And nobody has done that for diet soda. We're 70 years into diet soda. And, you know, we're still dealing with products that have questionable ingredients. And nobody's been able to really deliver the taste experience of a conventional diet soda for organic consumers. So, you know, we've spent the last year working on this R&D and making sure these products were exactly the way I wanted them to be. Because I really believe that just because I care about you know, the environment and my health doesn't mean I want the products to taste different. I still want them to have that same experience that people are expecting. So that's what I'm really proud of here. I mean, I think we have put forward a product that is going to really give conventional diet sodas a run for their money.
[00:06:29] Ray Latif: I would say so. I've tried the cola. It's amazing.
[00:06:32] Nicole Dawes: Thank you.
[00:06:33] Ray Latif: I would never think to call it a diet soda, though. And it's funny because we were just talking about how many beverages people typically drink in a day. And I think about the Diet Coke, Diet Coke. I mean, people are fiends for Diet Coke and getting them to switch from their product, because it is their product in so many ways, to something different is really hard. And I think, again, the positioning of a low-calorie or a zero-calorie soda is something that a lot of people love. They just don't want to drink their sugar. They don't want to drink their calories. But again, it's really hard to get people to switch. I mean, how are you attempting to convince people to make that switch?
[00:07:12] Nicole Dawes: Well, obviously it's really hard. We're an emerging brand. You know, we don't have a big advertising budget. I think one of the most important ways that we're going to try to convert people is just by working with our retailers. You know, our retailers are amazing ambassadors for organic food. We're actually launching these nationwide with Sprouts and they've just been an incredible partner. You know, people who are walking into Sprouts, you know, they're expecting to see a product that is free from questionable ingredients. And, you know, so I mean, I can't tell you how many people that I've talked to since, you know, I started working on these that, you know, people have said, I used to love the big one, but I stopped drinking it because of all the questionable ingredients that are in it. And, and I just, you know, I don't feel like that's compatible with the, like the kind of food I want to put into my body. So I do feel like there's a lot of people out there that are like me that, you know, want these products, but they just aren't, willing to drink what the conventional brand has to offer. And, you know, one of the things as an emerging brand, you know, we don't have to be all things to all people. It's a $10 billion category. We just have to be all things to the people who care about what I care about. And there's enough of us out there to be a sizable business. I mean, typically natural food products will be, you know, 10 to 15% of the conventional. I mean, that's huge.
[00:08:35] Ray Latif: It is huge. But in our business, that of CPG, the end game is always in the back of your mind. At least it is for most entrepreneurs I know. Thinking about, OK, well, how do I really scale this? How do I think about getting this in the hands of everyone? But, you know, at this point, Yes, Sprouts consumers, Whole Foods consumers, you know, natural retail consumers are the ones that are going to be looking for these types of products. But when you think about the big opportunity, perhaps even a Coke or Pepsi or, you know, DPS, which is now current Dr. Pepper, as a strategic partner, I mean, do you ever think about that? Or is that something that's just, let's, you know, let's stay focused on what we're doing right now. And, you know, that will come later.
[00:09:20] Nicole Dawes: I mean, I think the best thing to do, I mean, I obviously scaled Late July and we sold it. But the thing is that all you can do to create a brand that hopefully will last forever is to build a strong brand. And I mean, I'm excited to see Late July, I actually just read they grew 26% this year. I mean, it's still performing. And you know, that's what I want to do with Nixie. I want to create a brand that resonates with a lot of consumers, that continues to put out strong growth year after year, and has a foundation to back that up. And I think that that's what I need to focus on. And a strategic partner, if and when that comes along, will come along because of the strong brand that we've built and the foundation that it's resting upon.
[00:10:06] Ray Latif: The brand is amazing. When I first saw Nixie, I thought, OK, this looks very differentiated from other sparkling waters that I've seen in the past. One of the hardest things I think about that, though, is like you can have the best brand, best looking brand, most polished, most attractive label, but you're still in a category that is extremely competitive and has a lot of players with a lot of deep pockets. How are you evaluating or how did you evaluate that opportunity in sparkling water? And how are you making your way through it? Because Nixie is well distributed. You are one of the, in my opinion, best independent sparkling water brands out there. So how have you kind of navigated this humongous, highly competitive category? Was it something that we have a plan, we're going to stick to it or is it very much we just got to go with the flow?
[00:10:56] Nicole Dawes: I mean, one of the things that I feel really grateful for is that when we started Nixie, we were able to bring a lot of our senior talent from Late July along for the ride with us. And, you know, I think that we have probably one of the best retail execution teams in the biz. You know, I mean, we've built our brands around retail partnerships and When we partner with a retailer, we do what we say we're going to do. We uphold our end of the bargain. And we've been doing that for a long time. So when we go out into a retailer, we don't do it until we're prepared to support that exactly the way it needs to be supported. And I think the reason why Nixie has grown into so many retailers so quickly is because of that track record and because we go the distance for our retailers the way that they do for us. And obviously, with our sparkling water, we're out there in about 11,000 doors nationwide. Our soda's not going to be there quite yet, but we're following the same strategy that we did to build our sparkling water for soda.
[00:11:55] Ray Latif: What's an example of doing what you say? I mean, it sounds pretty straightforward, but when you tell a retailer you can count on us to do this for you, what's an example of that?
[00:12:06] Nicole Dawes: Well, a good example is like when you go into a retailer, depending on the size of the retailer, it's I mean, obviously you're trying to get a customer that has been buying something else or maybe not even in the category at all to take a chance on a new product. And, you know, hopefully the goal is that we're going to come into a category, we're going to raise their category sales, you know, because obviously you don't want to just, you want to, you want to trade up and grow and, you know, you want everyone to win in the end. And so in order to do that, the retailer has to give you opportunities to get in front of customers, but you have to be able to pay for those opportunities too. You can't go into a retailer until you're prepared to support them with what they need. And every retailer is different. So, you know, if you're going in and you need to do a certain types of promotions, you need to be able to do certain types of marketing support. And I think the worst thing that you can do as a brand is to go into a retailer before you're ready or able to do every single thing you need to do to succeed there. And it could take two years, three years of building to get to the point where now enough consumers in that account know who you are and are buying your brand, and you've hit all the benchmarks you need to hit, and their category's growing, you're growing, and it's a win-win for everybody. But you have to be financially able. And also, you have to have the people, the bandwidth in your team to be able to support that on the ground, at the headquarters. So I think that, you know, it's a lot. I mean, it's store level and it's also, you know, headquarter level.
[00:13:38] Ray Latif: Finances are important. Fundraising, in particular in the beverage industry, is really important. And people, it seems, are always looking for money. Founders, that is. When you started out, did you have a sense of how much money you would need? And has that changed over the years?
[00:13:54] Nicole Dawes: Well, I think one of the things that was a little bit unfortunate is we started like we hit stores right as the pandemic started. And that definitely wasn't ideal. I mean, we've made the decision to stick with our retail strategy as opposed to switching to DTC or some other strategy, because, you know, ultimately, I believe that consumer products you know, the majority of them want to be purchased at store level, especially beverages. It's very hard to ship beverages and have people have a good experience. So, you know, we stuck with our strategy even though it was definitely, it added some expense and it made us roll out a little bit slower because, you know, obviously we couldn't be at store level to support it. But outside of that, I would say that, I mean, it was essentially what we expected. If you remove the COVID from the equation, that I would say added an extra, you know, year and a half to our expectations. But, I mean, I think our rollout went about as we had planned and the scaling up of, you know, different suppliers in terms of cans and other things was about what we expected.
[00:14:58] Ray Latif: When you're selling at the store level, what's the most important thing for a consumer to see first and foremost? Is it price point? Is it brand? Is it ingredients? You know, what really convinces the consumer to buy a can of Nixon?
[00:15:12] Nicole Dawes: just multiple exposures to it. I mean, getting off shelf is the most important thing you can do because you're trying to get someone to notice your packaging, to hopefully pick it up, to read about it. Maybe they go to your social media, but you're really trying to stop them in the store because they haven't seen you before. And that could take four or five times of them going into the store, going down the aisle where you are. So it's really just exposure, I think, to your packaging in store. So you want to do as much as you can to increase the chances that they're going to see you.
[00:15:46] Ray Latif: Typically, when you have multiple facings, that'll help with exposure for sure. When you're selling into a retailer, how do you negotiate multiple facings? How do you negotiate a block?
[00:15:59] Nicole Dawes: I mean, it takes time. Again, that goes with the whole building. Effectively, when you start out in most retailers, you're not going to get the ideal scenario. You're going to get one facing of each. And one of the most important things I can think of that people need to do is to make sure that if those facings are limited, they're your best sellers. That can be tough because sometimes a retailer will fall in love with a product that isn't your best seller, but you only have three spots. You really need to work hard to make sure those three spots go to number one, number two, and number three.
[00:16:29] Ray Latif: When you say number one, two, and three, you mean of your products?
[00:16:32] Nicole Dawes: Of your products, absolutely. Yeah.
[00:16:34] Ray Latif: There are so many brands out there with incredible distribution and have relationships, deep relationships with retailers already. When there are such entrenched brands, Is there a way to build trust such that they trust you? And again, I know we talked a little bit about this, which is do what you say you're going to do. But is there another way for you to sort of build a similar relationship that they have without the kind of muscle that strategics and established players already have?
[00:17:03] Nicole Dawes: I mean, again, it is really difficult because you're at an enormous disadvantage. If someone's been working with somebody for years, obviously they're going to know what that brand does and they're going to rely on it. And that's where it comes into just, again, you absolutely always have to follow through. and when given opportunities, take advantage of them. I think field support is incredibly important. You know, store level, getting to know the people who are actually out there building displays and working in the stores is invaluable. And it takes time, but eventually, you know, if you make sure that your product stays in stock, which isn't the easiest always. And you're supporting the stores, not just at the headquarter level, but also at the store level. You're going to build those relationships and your brand will grow with time.
[00:17:53] Ray Latif: So I want to unpack two things you said there. Field support is expensive. Typically, if you are at a certain level, it's outsourced and you've got to find people that you can trust to manage your brand well at that level. When you start out, you're probably doing a lot of this in-house. But as you continue to grow, how do you think about finding the right companies to partner with such that they are on the same level, almost a part of your, an extension of your company, in that you're completely in line and balanced with your goals and objectives.
[00:18:28] Nicole Dawes: It's like with anything else, you really can't leave those relationships up to chance. You need to get to know people. And in every major market, we have our own Nixie team members that are out there in the field with merchandisers. And any job that a merchandiser is going to do, we're going to do too. I actually think that the store level relationship is one of the most important in our business. And we take it that seriously. So we're always in the field.
[00:18:57] Ray Latif: How many field sales representatives do you have that actually work for Nixie?
[00:19:01] Nicole Dawes: We have five.
[00:19:02] Ray Latif: OK.
[00:19:03] Nicole Dawes: And then we marry those up with our other salespeople. And I mean, there's someone outside of our field team. You know, we have our senior team is in the field, too, or I'm in the field. I mean, someone's in the field all the time because I cannot emphasize enough the importance of knowing what's going on at store level.
[00:19:23] Ray Latif: Taking advantage of the opportunities that are presented to you, that's something else you said. But I want to contrast that with being ready for retail and being ready for those opportunities. I just sat down with the founder of this Better For You candy bar company called Harkin. Harken Sweets are phenomenal, phenomenal brand. And four months after she launched, Katie Lefkowitz, who's the founder, has gotten the brand into 3,400, 3,500 Walmart stores. And I asked her. Nicole almost cringed when I said that because again, yeah, of course, as an early stage vendor, how are you prepared for that? How are you going to support that at store level? You know, even if it is next to Snickers bars and Twix bars and in the ideal place in the store for candy bars, It's not like someone's going to see that and be like, oh, I should trade up and buy this automatically. You've got to introduce, educate, make people aware of what you're doing. So in her case, she said she's buttoned up and she's ready to go. But I would be freaked out about that opportunity. I would say, OK, yes, I would love to do this, but am I really ready for it? And I think that's a question that a lot of people struggle with. I see founders and entrepreneurs who will say, oh, yeah, you know, Sprouts is offering me this opportunity to be in all of their stores nationwide. I'm like, that's amazing. Are you going to be able to support the brand nationwide with a two person team? So, you know, how would you advise early stage founders to be prepared for those opportunities and to say yes, even when, you know, they might not be 100% ready?
[00:20:56] Nicole Dawes: I mean, that is the eternal question, I think, for CPG founders is, you know, when do you say yes? When do you say no? Nixie's doing a test right now in Walmarts, but we're only doing 100 in California because I felt like I could comfortably support that level of a launch. And I cannot emphasize enough the importance of testing things and going slow in certain scenarios if you're not 100% that you're capable of supporting it. I mean, I've made that mistake. It's, it's so easy to make because you, you know, you see the sales, you see the opportunity and it's, I mean, saying no to opportunities is one of the hardest things to ask a founder to do. Cause obviously you believe in your products, you know, they could succeed. It's probably not a question of, of can they succeed? It's just, do you have the resources right now to make them succeed? And I think as long as you have a supportive buyer that understands that there's a chance that you might not be able to have the resources, or you might not be able to do that, and they're still willing to take a chance with you, I think that is, I mean, it's still going to be expensive, but it's worth a shot. It's far more superior to know you're prepared, have tested it, figured out what works, how you can support it. You know, with big accounts, distribution is one of the more difficult things to solve for. you know, just because you get on the shelf doesn't mean that you can replenish that shelf effectively, you can support it with trial, you can, you know, get promotions. So I definitely would encourage people to do tests before you do nationwide launches, if at all possible. And if you can't, and you're still willing to, hey, I'm an entrepreneur, I get it, I, you know, I've done that. many times when I probably shouldn't have. Hopefully with Nixie, we learned all those lessons earlier on with Late July and we're trying not to repeat them with Nixie. But I'm very sympathetic to when that opportunity presents itself. But I definitely, if someone wants to listen to me, I would advise you to test things, save your money, figure it out before you go nationwide. If you're not 100 percent, that you can support it.
[00:23:07] Ray Latif: I want to pull a quote from our last conversation from six years ago. We spoke in December of 2018. And as part of that conversation, you had said, understanding your velocity is the entire game. But when you're in 100 stores, when you're in your 100 Walmart stores, and you're evaluating velocity at those stores, it's still a pretty small sample. I mean, let's say Walmart's like, oh, you know what? We want to take you from 100 to 2,000. Is that 100 or do those 100 stores give you a good representation of what's possible in terms of velocity?
[00:23:40] Nicole Dawes: Oh, definitely.
[00:23:41] Ray Latif: Yeah.
[00:23:42] Nicole Dawes: I mean, it's not perfect, obviously, because you're not going to have exactly the same demographics in every single store in the country. But it gives you a decent enough expectation of what it's going to be like. So understanding your velocity is incredibly important. And I said it you know, a few minutes ago too, but it's understanding, you know, what your best sellers are in account, you know, how the product is going to get there, how well it's going to be replenished. I mean, there's so many question marks when it comes to each and every account and velocity is number one, absolutely. Because knowing the benchmarks and what you have to reach and are you reaching it and can you do it? And is your distribution even capable of doing it? I mean, sometimes we'll do the calculations and, you know, we'll know a store's benchmark. and we'll know our distributor distributes twice a week, and we know our shelf space can accommodate, you know, two cases. So at two cases twice a week. we're going to sell out before we can hit that store's benchmarks, if they won't keep back stock for us. So I think it's working out the model on all of those different scenarios for each and every account is, you know, it's unique and, and being successful means, you know, you have solutions to each of those problems for every account.
[00:24:58] Ray Latif: Let's come back to the soda line. A cynic, not me, but a cynic might say that if you're launching a early stage soda brand or a new line of sodas that are better for you, you might be a little late to the party because there's already a handful of them out there marking themselves as mid calorie, better for you, have a functional component. Got to be careful about that these days. But is this something that you've run into? Is this an issue that you've run into with certain people saying, yeah, but there's already this brand out there and that brand out there? Or are you looking at this as sort of not on the same playing field as those types of products?
[00:25:38] Nicole Dawes: I think we talked about this like a little bit earlier is that, you know, typically natural organic food will represent, you know, 10 to 15% of a category and healthy sodas isn't there yet. When you look at the whole diet soda market, alternative sweetener market, there's still a huge opportunity for healthy sodas. And, you know, I think part of the reason for that is because we need something that more closely mirrors the experience people have with a conventional product. So, you know, we haven't really run into that. I mean, I think, you know, we very specifically didn't launch, you know, with a functional claim on this product. That isn't the type of stuff that we've ever done. I feel like being certified organic is one of the, you know, I mean, obviously it's verifiable. it stands for something, it's been very personally important to me, and that's really what we focus on. And there was enough of an opportunity within the segment to offer something that is more closely mirroring the conventional experience. So that was the niche that we went after, and that was what the product I wanted too, personally.
[00:26:46] Ray Latif: Nicole, I think every founder needs to be asked this at some point, probably multiple times a day. But how are you doing? You know, this is, again, coming full circle. This is a tough business. And entrepreneurship is not for the, what's the word? Faint of heart? Faint of heart, yes. So, you know, how are you managing your own, I guess, emotional state from day to day? And, you know, I think about this and I ask all entrepreneurs this because it's such a roller coaster.
[00:27:15] Nicole Dawes: You know, I always, I think of myself as somebody who's like an adrenaline junkie that doesn't do extreme sports. You know, I wake up every day into the rollercoaster of being an entrepreneur. I mean, I love it. I honestly do. I love the chaos, the excitement. My husband and I have worked together throughout Late July, and now at Nixie, we're about to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary this summer. You know, our family, I was pregnant with my son who's gonna be, you know, 21 now, when I started, Late July. I love this life. I feel grateful every day that I get to wake up and do this job. I think the people that I'm surrounded with, the other entrepreneurs, it's an incredible group of people. We're all rooting for each other all the time. Our retailers are amazing. I mean, the team at Sprouts, I mean, Infra, NCG, Moms, like, you know, Air One, I mean, the people who are launching our sodas, I mean, I don't know how I could be more grateful for what I'm surrounded with every single day. And it's a hard job, but it's amazing. I mean, the fact that I get to create a product, the fact that I just spent the last year creating a product that other people are going to go to the store and buy and bring home and like share with their friends or serve at a party. You know, it's like, I can't believe I get to do that job. I mean, it's like amazing. I mean, I'm the luckiest person in the world.
[00:28:36] Ray Latif: Yeah.
[00:28:36] Nicole Dawes: You know, and it is hard and it's stressful and expensive, you know, and it isn't for the faint of heart. You're absolutely right about that. But I don't think I would know how to live any other way.
[00:28:48] Ray Latif: Sometimes that adrenaline rush and that excitement about what you're doing as an entrepreneur passes down to your team as well. Hopefully a lot of it passes down to your team. You know, when I think about our team at BevNET, John is a pretty laid back guy, John Craven. He's a little bit introverted. He's not you, Nicole, but that's OK. He's still an entrepreneur who probably loves the highs and lows and just he's developed the thick skin that it takes to be an entrepreneur. But I think everyone who works at BevNET, is kind of an adrenaline junkie, too. Like, we love the chaos. I mean, look, here we are in New York City at BevNET Live. There's 700 people around us. There's lots of screaming and yelling. And all I see are my teammates going, yeah, yeah, throwing out the thumbs up. And you're like, yeah. And again, I don't know if that really comes from John, per se. But do you try to instill that in all your employees? I mean, do they just naturally absorb that energy?
[00:29:36] Nicole Dawes: You know, I mean, I, it's funny, like, I'm actually kind of an introvert myself. I know it doesn't seem like it, but like, I, like, I love this, but like, I, I do like to curl up with a good book and, you know, be by myself. And I think our team does feel this. I mean, one of the things that's really cool about being in an emerging brand is, like, when this Soda Launch, I mean, every single person on our team played an integral role. There's nobody that isn't going to see this product in a store and think, I was part of that. I mean, that's an incredible feeling. For some people on our team, this will be their first product launch, which is the most exciting probably. For others, they've done a bunch through Late July and now. But the feeling you get of pride and just everything you did to contribute to something, particularly when you're also really proud of what it's accomplishing in terms of organic and environment and sustainability. I mean, it's hard not to feel proud about that. And I do think, you know, we were just yesterday on like a big team call, just going over some last minute details. And believe me, there were a lot. And, you know, just everyone was reflecting on their own kind of part of this launch and the nerves that like, you know, I'm feeling today and you could see it kind of everybody with this like nervous excitement. And I mean, as a founder, that just feels awesome to see, you know, just to see the ownership that everybody has, even just like getting the shipment. from our first production run that I was at last week to BevNET today. One person watched that shipment to make sure that it got here and she reported in, shipments arrived, we hand it off. Each one of those roles is individually so important, but collectively, hopefully, we'll make a successful launch.
[00:31:26] Ray Latif: Did you hire everyone? I mean, are you, do you give final say on everyone who gets hired? Yeah, I do.
[00:31:31] Nicole Dawes: I mean, I'm part of the interview process for everybody. I mean, I don't do the whole interview process, obviously, but I like to at least meet everybody that's going to be part of the team. And I did that, honestly, I mean, right up until the end of Late July, too, because every team member is important. And no matter what your role is, you know, I don't hire people that I expect to kind of cap out where they are. every person I hire, I want to help them get to wherever they can go in their career. And it's important for me to know where they want to go in order to help them get there. So, not everybody knows the day they get hired out of college, obviously. But if you keep in touch and you find out like, oh, my goal is to be in operations or I want to be a CMO or whatever it is, the more I know about that, the more that we can stay close and make sure that they actually get there. So, I do like to be part of it because I think it's important for everybody to know that I care about their contributions to the company. And I also want them to feel comfortable communicating with me. You know, sometimes I forget that in some environments, like you're not supposed to communicate with the CEO, because I just assume that people will...
[00:32:42] Ray Latif: How do you mean?
[00:32:43] Nicole Dawes: Well, like if you're in a big company, like you wouldn't like email or text the CEO of like your big giant company necessarily.
[00:32:49] Ray Latif: Probably not, no.
[00:32:50] Nicole Dawes: You know, so when people come to us, they might not know that it's okay to text me 24-7 if they have a problem or if they need something, you know, so I like to kind of out of the gate, make sure they know that it's, you know, there's no piece of information that they think is important that they shouldn't share with me. I mean, I don't, I'm not gonna, you know, they don't have to, but if they want to, I want to make sure that they know that line of communication is open.
[00:33:13] Ray Latif: I mean, I think that's so important to have that open line of communication. I think it's also important to make sure that your team knows that they can operate independently and that you trust them to do the right thing most of the time. But I think trust, building trust with your team takes time, obviously. But do you encourage sort of independent, I guess, thought and independent work such that they are as much a part of the entrepreneurial spirit and thought as you are?
[00:33:43] Nicole Dawes: Yeah, I mean, there's two ways that we look at that. I mean, one, I don't like people to have to own problems on their own. I never want someone to feel like if something went wrong, like it was all their fault. You know what I mean? Like we're a team. So when things go wrong, like we should help each other. Like I don't want someone to like be wallowing in a problem and be too afraid to reach out. So that's like part of it. But I also, you know, every time someone says, well, what do you think? Like my first question is always, well, what do you think? You know what I mean? Because I want people to start feeling comfortable like having opinions and it's okay if their opinion isn't the same as my opinion. In fact, my husband and I work together, we'll often not agree on something because it's important for the team to see that there's not one way, there's not one solution. Obviously, I don't have all the answers and you should feel comfortable. I mean, like everyone has to feel comfortable sharing what they think is the right direction. It doesn't mean we're going to necessarily do it or do my way. but open communication and dialogue and getting people. I think one of the most difficult things to do with junior talent that's coming in is getting them to trust their opinions. It's something I've learned over my long career, but is that when you say it's instinct, well, it's not really instinct. It's 30 years of experience that is telling me what the right answer is. You could call it instinct, but it's not really instinct. and training people when they're new in their career to start to recognize what's a guess and what is experience, and trusting that feeling of, I've done this a few times, I feel like that's the right answer, I should push for that solution. Getting people to trust themselves enough to stand by something is, I think, an important part for anybody new in their career.
[00:35:35] Ray Latif: I mean, being able to make a decision, have an opinion, and be able to back up that opinion with good information.
[00:35:43] Nicole Dawes: Correct.
[00:35:43] Ray Latif: Is really important.
[00:35:45] Nicole Dawes: Like, I want my team to also know that we're in it together. You know what I mean? Like, you know, one of the things is like, if something goes wrong, or, you know, there's a challenge, like, we're going to all support each other. And it's like, that's okay. You know, don't, there's no like weakness and needing help either.
[00:36:00] Ray Latif: Yeah, for sure. I know there's a lot of people who are not employees of Nixie who definitely want to talk to you on a regular basis. Do you do a lot of mentorship? Do you mentor entrepreneurs?
[00:36:10] Nicole Dawes: I mean, I have an open line of communication with a lot of entrepreneurs. And I mean, I always feel like just because someone's newer at the entrepreneur game than I am, it isn't to say we can't help each other. Right. So, I mean, I definitely have a network of a lot of entrepreneurs that we regularly, you know, text each other. I mean, anybody who I've ever talked to or offered any advice to knows they're welcome to text me. virtually anytime and I'll get back to them. And I would say I have a pretty extensive network of like, you know, more newish entrepreneurs and a lot of people that have been doing it for a long time. And sometimes we just need, you know, a friendly ear to bounce something off of. The one thing I have learned over the years is most entrepreneurs do kind of already know the answer. They just want to validate it with somebody. And the group and the network that I have, you know, worth regular communication relationships with is pretty awesome. There's some incredible people. And yeah, I mean, I've always done that. I mean, so many people helped me when I first started out that I feel like, you know, you got to kind of pay it forward. And I certainly don't have all the answers, but I've made enough mistakes that I'm willing to share my lessons from those mistakes with anybody who wants to listen. And I also, like one of the tricky things though is, I do get a lot of requests on LinkedIn and I don't always see them. And so in the back of my mind, like I'm always have this like nagging feeling that I've like ignored somebody. And, you know, it's definitely not on purpose. You know, I would never intentionally not get back to somebody, but I do try to respond to anybody who reaches out for advice and set up calls. And, you know, then once we've had a call, the line of communication is always open.
[00:37:50] Ray Latif: That's great to know. So reach out to Nicole on LinkedIn. If she doesn't respond immediately, don't worry. She'll get back to you. She hasn't seen it. Or perhaps you can reach out to me or someone else from WebNet and we'll try to make that connection as well.
[00:38:02] Nicole Dawes: Definitely. Yeah. Actually, a lot of anytime someone from WebNet does reach out with someone, I've always set up calls. But I'm always so impressed with what entrepreneurs already know. They just think they want my advice. They already know the answer.
[00:38:15] Ray Latif: OK. Well, I know the answer to what I'm going to be drinking for the rest of the day. And that's Nixie's cola. There's zero sugar soda. Is it zero calories?
[00:38:23] Nicole Dawes: Yeah. Zero calories. Zero sugar. Yep. Everything.
[00:38:25] Ray Latif: Outstanding. So you have five a day. Is that what you said?
[00:38:30] Nicole Dawes: Currently, yes.
[00:38:30] Ray Latif: Currently, yes. OK, well, I think I'm going to have three today. Yes, yes.
[00:38:34] Nicole Dawes: There's 40 milligrams of caffeine from green tea.
[00:38:37] Ray Latif: I'm definitely going to need all 40 in every single can to make it through the rest of this day. So I need it. Nicole, thank you so much again. It's such a pleasure speaking with you always. And I know this conversation is going to be so helpful to entrepreneurs listening. And I can't thank you enough. Thank you again.
[00:38:53] Nicole Dawes: Thank you so much for being here. This is such an exciting way to kick off the day that we're launching these new sodas. I mean, I'm just happy to be here at BevNET New York City. I mean, it's the energy. I wish everybody listening could feel the energy in this room. If you didn't come this year, you should definitely come next year.
[00:39:10] Ray Latif: Our marketing team has to send you a very nice note after this show. No, in all seriousness, it is an amazing show, New York City, BevNET Live. I'm just happy to be here as well. Nicole, thanks again.
[00:39:22] Nicole Dawes: Thank you.
[00:39:26] Ray Latif: That brings us to the end of this episode of Taste Radio. Thank you so much for listening. Taste Radio is a production of BevNET.com, Incorporated. Our audio engineer for Taste Radio is Joe Cracci. Our technical director is Joshua Pratt, and our video editor is Ryan Galang. Our social marketing manager is Amanda Smerlinski, and our designer is Amanda Huang. Just a reminder, if you like what you hear on Taste Radio, please share the podcast with friends and colleagues. And of course, we would love it if you could review us on the Apple Podcasts app or your listening platform of choice. Check us out on Instagram. Our handle is bevnettasteradio. As always, for questions, comments, ideas for future podcasts, please send us an email to ask at Taste Radio.com. On behalf of the entire Taste Radio team, thank you for listening, and we'll talk to you next time. you
