Hey folks, it's Ray with Taste Radio. Right now I'm supremely honored to be sitting down with Oliver Trevena, who is the co-founder of Caliwater. Oliver, it's great to see you. You too man. You too. Pleasure to be here. The name of the brand is Caliwater, but uh, as you mentioned before, we hopped on the mics, you're gonna be splitting your time between California and Florida becoming a Miami and LA man.
Yes. Yeah, it's a big change. I've been in California, in LA for 22 years. I've had an incredible time there and I, I still love it. But for me, you know, I like a challenge and I think Miami's got a lot of energy at the moment and a lot of buzz.
And also Florida's gonna be our next market for Cali war. So it, it makes a lot of sense. I think a lot of people think LA and Miami are probably similar in terms of their vibes, maybe their weather, but I think they're very different actually in terms of their vibes and weather. Miami is much more humid.
You go there in February, it could be like 85 degrees and the air is thick. Whereas in LA it's a little bit more temperate. And then the vibe. I think when I went to Miami last year, it was the first time I'd ever been to the city. Wow. And it felt a little more fast paced than I was expecting. I think LA in some ways is definitely more laid back.
You feel the same way? Yeah. I mean, the vibes are so different. I, I think they're polar opposites. And for me, in all honesty, the heat is tough. You know, I'm British and an Irish background, so sometimes the days in Miami feel like an episode of Fear Factor. It's like pure survival for me. And I have a French bulldog and I think he feels the same.
But yeah, I mean, look, it's, I, I've been Miami many, many times over the years and I think it used to be laid back, you know, it was that beach vibe. It was purely known for South Beach and, and just, you know, that kind of like. Rollerblading down the beach, kind of, I guess a little bit like Venice, but then laying on the beach, you don't really get a lot of that in California.
You know, beach days. People may go down to Malibu in the summer, but I think the recent years and the change in how they've bought so much business to the state and the city of Miami is just changed everything. So it's, it's brought that kind of city life into a beach vibe, and that's what makes it so much more fast-paced than it used to be.
It's a fun city for sure, and it's a growing city and uh, I'm excited to see how it all develops, especially for CPG because we went there in February of last year. It just felt like the community was thriving and hungry. Yeah, totally. Yeah, totally. Yeah. I mean, I, I think for Cali War in particular, 'cause it's a, it's a, you know, amazing hydration beverage.
I think it's gonna do really well in Miami, in Florida in general. And then there's just, yeah, there's just, I saw a friend of mine recently, Shelly Armstead, and uh, she's opening like an amazing grocery store there, kinda like an hour one by called Flow Grocer. So you're seeing all these things pop up that have an LA feel.
And yet they're now happening in Miami. So I think soon enough you're gonna walk around Miami and be like, am I in la? Yeah. You know, like a lot of the same things that we see are now moving from California to LA or, or similar versions of them opening. Yeah, well, Caliwater was born in LA and it was born in la Probably not out of convenience.
I think there's a, there's a reason and a time and a place for everything, and it just seemed like the timing was right, especially for folks who are in the business like you and your co-founder of Vanessa Hudgins are. Yeah. Uh, and by the business, I mean Hollywood, you're both actors, you've both been involved in the entertainment industry for some time with celebrity.
There's a give and a take, you know, for you. Does the celebrity that's associated with your brand help it? Is it an advantage? Is it a distraction? Is it a little bit of both? I mean, great question. I think it can be a bit of everything, right? I think for me, the real positive is she's like my best friend, right?
Mm-hmm. We've known each other, we had a history of, you know, 15 plus years, and so there's no shocks. You know, it's not like you are when you have a brand and you're like, oh my God, let's attach this person. You're on a journey together, right? It's like any relationship. And within a few months she might be like, what have I done?
Me and this celebrity just don't get along and now I'm stuck with them with my brand. So, you know, there was an advantage there because we knew each other inside and out. She's massively passionate about the products herself. There's authenticity there. She didn't wanna do this just because she wanted to release a brand, you know, or be an entrepreneur or, or be a founder.
I think people rush into that so quickly. She wanted to do this because she believes in the product. And you know, her herself, she had fainted a few times by literally dehydration, true story. And she just, you know, there's people that just don't like drinking water. It's not, it's not, you know, it's not thought that they have, I should drink some water.
And so for her. Was a perfect kind of like hydration angle that she enjoys. So she found herself, you know, wanting to drink five cans a day and was like, I'm obsessed. So I think with, with celebrity brands, there has to be clear communication from the get go, and you have to really know who you are getting on the journey with.
And there has to be authenticity. They have to really wanna do this and really believe in the product because no one knows the journey. There's still an element of like. Some brands, very few, I'm actually trying to think of, but very few brands you launch and you just hit it, right? So it's gonna be some blood, sweat, and tears and they've gotta believe in it.
They've gotta wanna do it. You know, Vanessa, to this day, if I need her on a call, if I need her expo, you know, she's a expo every single year behind the booth for 10 hours. That's what you need in a celebrity partner. And it's very rare, you know, as we know. I mean, you know, you go to expo. You might see a celebrity's photo on the wall that they back the brand but they're not there.
Or they might show up for a quick photo moment and then get back in the car. That doesn't work for me. It still can work for brands when people just take a photo and do it. But I think this was gonna be a journey and she's been part of that journey. So, you know, I've been lucky that it's, it's probably the best way of putting it because I've heard horror stories of other celebrity founders and things like that and you know, that goes the same with all of our investors.
Like, we've not been like. The brand that's been like, Hey, we give you this, we give you that. We'll pay you this, we give you shares. You know, all the investors in our brand have backed it and they backed it. I would love to say because of me, it's not true. You know, I am friends and a lot of these people I've worked with on movies, but they, they did it because of the product.
They love the product and so I think the key to anything is authenticity, and I think the key to a successful CPG brand is that it's solving a problem that consumers have. Of course. Yeah. Solving a real problem. Yeah, I mean for me personally, I mean, Vanessa by the way, also loved the drink because she used to love prickly pan margaritas.
So there's a whole, you know, other reasons. She used to love mixing this. For me, I was a big coconut water drinker and I realized, you know, through, I'm very into longevity and, and health and blood testing, that my sugar levels were very high and you know, I was drinking three coconut wars a day and doing 60 grams of sugar, you know, good sugars, but you don't need that much sugar.
And also I was in a place in life where, because I love the health space, I was drinking a lot of drinks that I made myself think I enjoy, but I didn't really enjoy the taste of, you know, like I've been a kombucha drinker for years. But if you put me on a, like the texting machine and it said, do you like the taste of kombucha?
And I said, yes. It would be like, eh. So we wanted, I wanted to create a health drink, not just hydration. I mean, we have digestion benefits, skin benefits, you know, immunity. There's electrolytes. Potassium, you know, it's an all around great for you beverage that you enjoy the taste of. And that was the big thing that we wanted to do.
And, and you know, Vanessa was a massive part of the taste. I used to be, I guess I don't have a, like a, uh, advanced palette or what, whatever people say, but I used to be like, this tastes great. She's like, no, this something's still off. And we would go back to the formulation team and, and make small adjustments and we really wanted the product to be enjoyable.
Good for you. Stand alone without any bells and whistles. That's the other thing, right? This is a celebrity brand, but take away the celebrities. It doesn't matter. Like I genuinely believe in our products and that's my favorite thing is when people taste it, they maybe have heard nothing about it. They dunno about Vanessa, they dunno about Glen Powell.
They dunno about, you know, any of the amazing people we have involved in the brand. They taste the drink and they love it. That to me is what success is. You know? But yes, your point. The market was for me, I was like, look at what coconut water do, and we're half the calories and half the sugar. So I saw an opportunity there.
And to be clear, your water is sourced from the prickly pear, not from cactus. Exactly, so the prickly pear, you know, I didn't have a, a lot of knowledge around it, obviously I do now, but like the prickly pear is the fruit on the end of the cactus, you know? Yeah. It's a remarkable fruit. It uses 80% less water to, to the, you know, the crop itself.
It's sustainable, you know, lives in so many different places and countries. When you think about, you know, hopefully one day Caliwater will be, you know, right now we're in the US and Mexico, but if we expand, it makes it easier when there's a crop that's available worldwide. And yeah, the prickly pear fruit that lives on the end has this remarkable taste and benefit.
I'd like to think cactus, as Hollywood says is, is having its moment right now because I get sent articles all the time and there's now fashion brands using cactus as leather. There's obviously with prickly pear part, but the, the crop in general is, is being used for so much more than it ever got useful and I think that's just because people are now like noticing it.
At the outset of your brand, I'm sure you know the reference or the, the, the reference point of coconut water was a good one. 'cause you could say, well this is a naturally sourced plant-based water that has a lot of the same benefits but lower sugar in, in some cases, I would say lower calorie Right. As than coconut water.
Yep. But it's still, and you described it at the outset and you still describe it as cactus water, and I wonder how many people. Even took the second call, you know, read the email, passed the subject line, and you said, Hey, we have cactus water. What did you feel like was going to be the initial response when you started talking about that, using that descriptor and you know, what was the reality when you first came to the market?
Yeah, it was a challenge. People had told me, you know, beverage was hard. I will say definitely had a lot of optimism, maybe a bit of ego going into it, thinking. No, I know what I'm doing. It's hard. It was hard for many reasons, not just because of the drink, just because of the way beverage, you know, works in general.
It's hard to find your team in any business. It's hard to, you know, the whole distribution side didn't quite make sense to me at the time. I remember going to people and being like, Hey, will you stock us? And they're like, yeah, we, we love it. We love what you're doing. Who's your distributor? And then I'd be like, we don't have one.
They're like, well come back when you do have one. And then I'll go to a distribution company and be like, can you bring us on? They're like, yeah, we love it. You need at least 50 stores and you're like, this doesn't make sense. So there was a lot we had to work through in addition to just telling the story, you know, creating the awareness.
Some people, by the way, even as of. The last few weeks have said to me, you should call it cactus. I just don't think that's possible because it's a, it's a market itself. I don't think you can call something, a drink you wouldn't want to. Uh, well-known investment banker in food and beverage once told me, never include the ingredient name in your brand name because it limits where you can go with the brand.
Well, you just answered my question there, Ray. You just saved me a bunch of times. Thank you. I'm here for you, Oliver, whatever. There you go. I can do. There you go. There you go. Look at that. Well, it definitely feels like today's consumer is looking for more than just refreshment, and so if you do have that functional benefit, it's going to.
Entice someone to try, buy and hopefully buy again. The question I bring up is one that a lot of entrepreneurs ask me is, what should I lead with? You know, how much does functionality, how much does product benefit play into my message? And I think with Caliwater, it makes a lot of sense to talk about the hydration benefit because that's an easy thing for people to understand.
Yeah, I think it's the easiest route and it's also a necessity in everyone's life. It's a, if you're a child, you need hydration. If you're an 80-year-old, you need hydration. You know, it's just something that is key. You know, dehydration is a, is a, is a real issue. So I think hydration really works because it's, it's something that everyone needs.
You know, it's, it's, it's universal. Wherever you're from, wherever your age, you need it. And I think, as I say, we presented it in a way that's enjoyable to get hydration. Yeah, customer acquisition can be quite expensive, uh, certainly at the outset. Okay. All right. I guess that's, that reaction tells you everything about how customer acquisition, how expensive it's been for Caliwater, and you know what, it's true for every single brand, but has customer acquisition been the most expensive part of this business for Caliwater?
Lemme just ask. I mean, in terms of lessons learned over the course of the business. Is customer acquisition the most expensive mistake that you've made? I mean, when you think about how you're spending your money and where you're spending it and how you're trying to get people to buy into what you're selling, sometimes you can spend a lot of money for very little result.
Yeah, I would say right now I'm a lot more involved than I've ever been in the company, and that's not from a saying that I didn't care or I wasn't involved. I was just always like. I come from a, a soccer background. I'm a good striker. Some of my friends will tell you different, but I believe I'm a good striker.
I, I was never a player that was like, let's, let's learn how to defend or, you know, I do a few games in as goalkeeper, so I kind of used that in business a lot and I'm like, about building a team. But the last few months, because of the, you know, the, I would say the excitement, the fear, the everything around the company as it grows, I've just got in the trenches a lot more.
And when I see, I guess. Learnings. I think in beverage, as you just said, it's, it's, you try a lot of things too. You know, you have to take some shots, you have to see what works. You know, as far as ads and digital media, it's so not my world, you know? I struggle to even do my own Instagram very well. So you build a team, you know, you have agencies, you put trust in them, and I think there's a lot of that there.
It's just the gamble. The same as by the way, even employees. It's, it's like you don't know, you know? And we don't have a, we don't have a headquarters, so there's, there's just such an element of hoping that people are doing the best they can and hoping that people care about the brand as much as you do.
And I don't think it's exclusive to us, it's just reality that we live in, that it's, it's, you know, it's hard to find your kind of ride or die family in business. As far as learning. Yeah, acquisition cost is tough. I think we have an advantage there. That's where the celebrity does come into play. When they're pushing it and they're posting about it and it's costing us $0, there's a real advantage there.
So we tap into that as much as possible. And definitely this year we have some real exciting things that we're about to announce and add. And you know, one person in particular who I'm so, so excited about is a dear friend of mine, and I would say arguably one of the. S on the planet right now. That's all I say, because I get in trouble if I say anything more.
You know? That's the fun. That's how we can do things without spending money. Right? But at the same time. Of course there's just, there's things that change. There's the algorithms of Instagram and all these things and that have changed so much, not just for a brand, for, you know, personalities in general.
You look at people's engagement, it's gone down, you know, you look at how hard it's to get a brand ad seen it because it's so controlled and so constructed and people were trying to. Keep you there or move you to TikTok? I think there's so much, so much that I don't understand, that I know has changed over the last few years.
That definitely plays a part in making it harder to be seen and to get that customer acquisition than it used to be. I'm really glad that you described. The hiring of outside design agencies and staffing your company as sometimes a bit of a gamble and sometimes something that isn't necessarily as cut and dry as it might seem.
I talk to a lot of founders who really praise their ability to build a strong team, or at least praise the fact that they have a strong team. But it's not easy and you don't always know, and sometimes you do have to roll the dice and it's not always gonna work out. And I really appreciate you, Oliver, for saying that because.
The glamorous part of CP G is always, you always see it on LinkedIn or in some cases on Instagram, but it's not easy and you do have to take a lot of risks, and it does cost a lot of money. And on that latter point when it costs a lot of money, you know, raising dollars. Is something that never ends. Yeah.
For a founder, seemingly never ends. Have you been able to raise money a little bit more effectively because you have celebrity partners or you know, how much of it has to do with the development of the brand? And I know it's an easy answer is to say both, but does one really stand out more than the other for investors?
Yeah, I guess just to answer your first point, right. About the challenges. You know, I've been through a lot in my life and the entertainment industry is glamorous as it looks. It's tough, you know, the ups and downs. The one minute you think you've made it, the next minute you haven't. Being a founder, this has put me on the floor at times.
You know, there's been tears. There's been like so much, I don't know, so much I've had to learn. It's without a doubt been the hardest thing I've gone through. You know, it looks always fun from the outside because you kind of have to, right? It's like, you know, we love our product, we smile about our product behind the scenes.
Wow. You know, friends come to me now and they're like, I wanna start a brand. I wanna do this. And I'm, I'm very transparent. I'm like, just be ready. You know? I, I really hope it just goes, I wish nothing more for you. But it ain't always that journey. It's tough. It's really, really tough. And to your point then on fundraising, it's tough as well, you know, because you are also dealing with so many outside aspects that you can't control, you know, like the economy, like if the economy tanks.
Last thing people are gonna do is use extra money to invest in a, in a vision or a company that you know, just because you believe in it, it's harder to get them to believe in it when their business manager is now saying, hold onto your cash. You know, don't spend anything. So you are dealing with a lot of things externally that you have no control over.
CPG in particular, like, you know how many times I've gone to take a meeting and, and they've had the call and they're like, look, we love your product. We love what you're doing, but we are not touching beverage. Or we just had a beverage company go under two weeks ago. There's so much you can't control. So, yeah, it's hard.
It's hard. I mean, we, we've raised money. We've been lucky with, well, I don't know if Lucky's the right word. As I say, it comes down to the product, but some of the people that have invested in our company and backed our company from athletes to musicians, to actors, to, you know, really influential businessmen, that's been incredible.
You know? But it doesn't change, you know, because of so much of raising capital, it's like swings and roundabouts. You have to just, you kiss a lot of frogs. I don't know why that came to mind, but that's just the truth, you know? But then we have the, I guess we're being completely transparent on this interview, then you have the problem that when you do have a celebrity attached to the brand, and I'm not talking about me, I'm talking about Vanessa.
You have people that are like, Hey, saw your deck. I can't wait to invest. You know, we're a hundred percent in, but my daughter would love a video from Vanessa. Oh no. Can we get a video from Vanessa and I made so many of them say or, or you know, but my son runs the fund and he wondered if he could do a lunch review on Vanessa just to talk through some more details.
I would say 99.9% of the time, actually a hundred percent of the time, whenever there's been that start, they've never invested. Hmm. You know, there's always been an excuse at the end of it, but they got their photo, they got their selfie, and that was posted on social media. It's tough. It's like, uh, you know, and then the sad, the not the sad thing.
You know, I'm not, I, I love what I do. The tough thing is that you can't then use that mindset the next day because the next day the guy that maybe you think is gonna be a waste of time or you don't wanna meet, or you know, whatever reason, you could go and sit down with it could be the easiest 250 K you've raised.
So it's just a constant. I love that and, and thank you so much for sharing that and being so transparent about that because it did answer my question about whether. It's the celebrity or the traction that the brand is having as to what investors really want Yeah. To see and why they fund your business.
It's very much the latter. Sorry, I, I went off on that Ray. No, no, no. I, I, I went a different answer, but I, I will just say to put a pin in that it's very rarely the celebrity, the celebrity might open the door, but most people now, especially in the business of beverage, because of the, you know, I, I sometimes.
Compared movies and beverage, very similar because everyone's had a bad movie investment. Mm-hmm. And everyone's had a bad beverage investment. So the celebrity would get you in the door and get you the conversation. Then they're gonna look under the hood. So your, your business has to back it up. I think in other areas you can, you can do that.
You can get away with it. Especially innovative areas where they've got nothing to really compare it to. You know, like if you are trying to think of something off the top of my head, but if you are launching a toilet paper company, not many people have probably invested in a toilet paper company or lost money.
So there's an element of that that, you know, they're like, you know what, I like this. I'm down to take the risk. Beverage comes with a reputation as well, you know, and a history and a past. Doesn't mean it's negative because then you look like you look at a poppy. Mm-hmm. Boom. You know? That's great. Shows you what can be done.
But yeah, it's a journey. It is. And I think for every poppy or buy or vitamin water or body armor. You know, there's a thousand other brands that don't make it, probably 10 times that number. Really? Probably more. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. But you know, the, the rewards can be extraordinary and I think everyone has to just temper their expectations, but still has to have.
A bullseye still has to have that north star as to why I am doing this. And if you, you know, brass ax, if you had to be asked, you know, what do I wanna see in five years as a business, five years from now, what does winning look like for Caliwater? How would you answer that? I would like us to be, I mean, it's maybe a, an obvious and a big vision, but I'd love us to be a household name.
You know, like when I think of a household name in the, in the, in the health space, you know, in the, in the functional beverage. Because for me, when I was growing up. Coca-Cola were just like something that just existed in your mm-hmm. And it was an experience that the family would enjoy. You know, I'm, I'm one of four boys, I have three brothers, and my mom would come home with a 12 pack of Coca-Cola and I would drink it.
My older brothers would drink it. My dad would pour over his whiskey, you know, and my mom would enjoy it. And it was a, it was a household name. Wasn't good for us, wasn't good for you. You know, I would like us to be that, because I think we have that opportunity to cover such a range of the, of the family.
You know, you can have your mom drinking it after a yoga class. You can have the, the newborn drinking it, you know, Vanessa's kids. It's literally like, it's so cute. Her little boy. It's all, it's all he asked for, you know? He's like, where's my Cali? And so there's an opportunity there to do something different that I don't think's done has been done as a health beverage.
I think there's a very niche market for each brand, which some people say it's smart and you should go after, but I just believe we can be so much bigger than that. So that's kind of my five year point, and I would just, you know, I just love to keep growing. If you would've asked me that day one, I would've been like multi-billion dollar company world domination.
And then you get a reality check and you're like, I just want this to succeed, and it will succeed and it should succeed, and I would like to keep growing. That's it. I'm excited for the day and I don't know if this is ever gonna happen, but when there's a Cali Cola, so that way you know, you have your 12 pack of Coca-Cola.
If somebody wants, there's no bad idea. Right. I like that. Got they got some Cali Cola instead. Yeah. Uh, Oliver, this has been such a great conversation. Thank you so much for taking the time. I'm really excited for you and your team. I think. Thank you brother. Caliwater has been on a journey and you're evolving.
You're growing, and you're adapting to this ever-changing world that we live in. That's food and beverage, and I think you're on the right track, and I'm excited to hear about all the things that are happening in 2026 and beyond. Thank you, brother. Truly appreciate the support. Thank you.
