[00:00:00] Ray Latif: Hey folks, I'm Ray Latif, the editor and producer of BevNET's Taste Radio podcast, and you're tuning to the latest episode of Elevator Talk, the series that profiles early stage and disruptive brands from across the food and beverage industry. Today's episode will focus on five beverage brands whose entrepreneurs will have an opportunity to hear feedback and advice from our co-host for this episode. That's Dayton Miller, who is a managing partner with BFG Partners. Dayton, it's great to see you again.
[00:00:35] Dayton Miller: Great to see you, Ray.
[00:00:36] Ray Latif: Thank you so much for having me. Yeah, welcome back to Elevator Talk. I think you're a five-time winner, five-time co-host of this show, maybe even six, I'm not sure, but at least five.
[00:00:48] Dayton Miller: Well, it's always a pleasure.
[00:00:49] Ray Latif: It indeed is, and as I told our entrepreneurs before we hopped on the mics, it is just an incredible honor for you to be on the show. You have so much experience in this industry, particularly on the beverage side as a former entrepreneur, and I mentioned former entrepreneur, always an entrepreneur, and now as an investor in CPG. For folks who may have missed your past appearances, tell us a bit about yourself and your work with BFG.
[00:01:16] Dayton Miller: Sure. Yeah, my name is Dayton Miller, based in Los Angeles, and I'm with BFG Partners. We're an early stage firm, investment firm that focuses on food, beverage, personal care, and other CPG products. I specifically focus a lot of my time on the beverage side, just given my background as a former entrepreneur on the beverage side. Some of our beverage investments include Olipop, Chameleon Cold Brew, Magic Mind, Malk, and some others.
[00:01:48] Ray Latif: Some others include a new one that was announced a few days ago. Talk about that investment.
[00:01:54] Dayton Miller: Yeah, so the product is called Noon. It's available nationwide in Target. I actually just picked up my first ones over the weekend. And the idea is really to create a more modern take on carnation instant breakfast. So it's a liquid breakfast drink, 20 grams of protein, 5 grams of fiber, and a delicious shake that hopefully everybody likes as much as I do.
[00:02:24] Ray Latif: I love that you mentioned it's an improvement or a modern take on a legacy brand or category that hasn't really seen a lot of innovation in a long time. And I see in some of the brands in your portfolio that kind of dynamic, you think about a Graza where you really haven't had a modern olive oil brand or one that is for modern consumers. You think about Olipop and the fact that it's a modern soda for today's consumers. Even Birchbenders, which BFG had invested in and has since exited, where or what was the pancake mix for ages? It was Aunt Jemima or, yeah, I can't remember Bisquick or things like that. And so it feels like that strategy. has been kind of consistent in your investments. Is that part of the equation? For sure.
[00:03:19] Dayton Miller: I think as we like to say, it's not a revolution, it's an evolution. And so you're taking a consumer and hopefully getting them to take a few steps in your direction to have a trade up, but you're not asking them to take a giant leap. And so, I know I hear this on your episodes and we talk about it all the time, but We still need to deliver on the customer experience from a taste standpoint. It needs to be a good value proposition, still needs to be convenient, assuming the product initially was packaged in a convenient way. But if you can do all that and you can deliver something that's a bit of a trade-up to the consumer, we think that has a chance of succeeding.
[00:04:02] Ray Latif: And just for context, at what stage of development is BFG investing in? Is it a particular stage of growth? Is it revenue? How do you think about it?
[00:04:14] Dayton Miller: So we really say seed to series B, but like everything, it really depends. For Beverage specifically, the co-investors around the table are particularly important for us because Beverage is an area where it tends to require a significant amount of capital. We're still a pretty modest-sized fund and we're looking for partners to join us along the way. And so that can really mean a lot to us. early stages of revenue, like tens of thousands of dollars of revenue, all the way up to $10 million of revenue on the beverage side in particular.
[00:04:55] Ray Latif: All right, well, I think that's music to our founders' ears and the ones who are joining us today and those who are listening and watching. Once again, Dayton, thank you so much for joining us today. I'm really excited for you to meet the entrepreneurs that are joining us in this episode of Elevator Talk. Are you ready to meet our first? Let's do it. Let's do it indeed. That first person is Dana Grant. She's the founder and CEO of Gold Crush Cocktails. Dana, it's great to see you.
[00:05:19] Speaker 1: Great to be here. Thanks for having me.
[00:05:21] Ray Latif: Thank you so much for joining us. Gold Crush Cocktails, I think I know what you make, and I think our listeners are probably guessing, eh, it's an RTD cocktail brand, but they all wanna know, and I would love to know, and I'm sure Dayton would as well, what makes yours different?
[00:05:35] Speaker 1: Sure, a good question. So for me, this is a passion project turned business. I'm originally from Jamaica and have a love for rum. So Gold Crush Cocktails came out of a visit to a rum distillery back home in Jamaica, and I wanted to bring a premium rum RTD experience to the US. Obviously, we know that RTDs are the fastest-growing category in the alcohol industry. It's a $4.5 billion industry, expected to increase 6% between 2023 and 2028. But a lot of the beverages that are getting made right now are made with malt liquor and artificial flavors, and we wanted to do something different. We're made with real rum and fresh fruit juice. We've been around for about 12 months and our lot skews really favor Jamaican flavors and Caribbean flavors. We're doing a classic rum punch that if you've ever been to Latin America and the Caribbean, we gave you one of those. We're doing a planters punch, which is a citrusy play on punch and a rum mule which Ginger beer and rum, pretty simple but delicious. And I think from a logistics standpoint, our differentiator is that we are single-spirit focused. So that does give us some cost advantages because we are able to focus on that. rum component. And also, because as someone from the Caribbean, I think that there's this white space where no one's really doing this, no one's really serving that audience. And we're able to do that in a real authentic way, because we are building the brand around rum culture, and also people who are just huge fans of the spirit that makes up such a large part of the Americas. So that's, I think, our biggest differentiator.
[00:07:40] Ray Latif: Yeah, a lot of great stuff there, Dana. Thank you so much. And your packaging, by the way, is just phenomenal. Really great, easy to read, easy to see on a shelf. I also think the idea of a spirit-centric RTD brand is a good one. Dayton, I saw you nodding your head as well about the idea of being a rum-focused brand.
[00:08:03] Dayton Miller: Yeah, no, I do think the value proposition is clear. I like the trademark in addition to the packaging. I guess one question I would have is when you think about, I think you mentioned the four and a half billion dollar market for RTD cocktails, how much of that is rum today? I'll admit I'm not personally a rum drinker, but maybe shed a little bit of light on that market.
[00:08:31] Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I think right now it is a very small part of that market. But one of the reasons for that, from a volume perspective, but also from a price perspective, is that a lot of the folks that are doing rum right now are doing quite cheap rum cocktails. So the a four-pack is going for a 9.99, whereas we would sit a little bit higher on the shelf, we are competing with folks that are in the premium RTD space.
[00:09:06] Dayton Miller: Got it. And then, uh, you know, I think your story is so authentic, giving your background and, uh, um, and, and kind of the positioning of the product, I guess, you know, one of the things I'd maybe think about is like, what are you actually kind of selling at the end of the day? Cause to me, when I think about rum drinks, I think about like what you said, like, you know, visiting an Island and someone gives it to you when you get to the hotel or whatever it may be. And so like, in a lot of ways, you're kind of selling escapism. and as much as you are like an RTD. And so the more you can kind of put people in that emotional state of mind when they're consuming it in New York City or wherever else it may be, to me that feels like a bigger opportunity than maybe just saying, rum.
[00:09:50] Speaker 1: Right. You know, we have played around with that in our marketing, whether or not we want to say something like vacation in a can or, you know, that sort of leaning more into the escapism concept. But it kind of swings differently in different markets. It's something we're still testing, quite frankly, because there are people for whom rum is sort of a native spirit. And so that is something that it doesn't necessarily resonate, whereas I am deeply aware that for some people, a big part of their experience with rum is being on vacation or having that sort of, you know, no worries kind of vibes. And so it's something it's something that we're still testing.
[00:10:46] Dayton Miller: Is your goal from like a consumer standpoint, you mentioned the competitor kind of four pack for nine ninety nine. Is the goal to kind of convert those folks into gold crush consumers or is it to kind of convert maybe your vodka drinker or maybe speak to kind of
[00:11:03] Speaker 1: Yeah, the idea is more to convert someone who is currently buying a much more premium product, but doesn't view rum in that same way. So there is an educational component to the work ahead of us. We are going to have to be able to speak to why this particular RTD is priced the same way that a whiskey or a tequila premium RTD is priced, and I think we have that with the fact that it's made from Jamaican rum. There is a premium element to that just in and of itself in the market, but the fruit juice and the other ingredients are going to be a big component of how we push that to folks.
[00:11:54] Dayton Miller: Got it. Do you mind just speaking a little bit more to like the business? You mentioned 12 months and you've been around for 12 months, but kind of where are you from a sales distribution kind of standpoint today?
[00:12:08] Speaker 1: Yes, so we are in New York, which is where I am based and able to go around and talk to folks and get indoors. We're also in Atlanta, where we have a distribution relationship. We're in about 100 stores across those two states. The plan is in the very medium term to focus on the Northeast as Many of you on the call may know for beverage alcohol distribution, things are in flux at the moment. But our plan is to focus on regions where we know that there are folks who are at least have a sense of what the spirit can do so that we can really kind of chop wood a little bit easier. So it's the Northeast that we're kind of looking to get into those markets. the DMV area, Central Florida, where a lot of my countrymen live, and New York and Atlanta.
[00:13:13] Dayton Miller: Great, and is the team today? How many folks are on the team?
[00:13:17] Speaker 1: The team today is me and a few contractors that are working on specific things. So helping us with marketing, helping us with distribution and sales. So that's the only full-time employee is me, but we're making decent progress and we'll probably try to get some more fractional folks on board soon.
[00:13:43] Dayton Miller: And I guess what's next for the brand, either the next six months or even 2027? Is it kind of more focusing on that Northeast and kind of the Atlanta geography and kind of driving velocity and doors in those locations?
[00:13:59] Speaker 1: Yes, very much so. I think for us right now, the focus has got to be to the extent that we're getting into new markets, making sure that those are markets that we can support with a sales presence and so are able to justify being in the market, having that velocity to prove out the concept. That's the biggest thing for us at the moment.
[00:14:26] Ray Latif: Dayton, we saw a headline on BevNET last week about Diageo, which is one of the biggest beverage companies in the world. And the headline was Diageo to focus on RTDs. And when a big company says something like that, you got to pay attention. And I wonder how much that impacts your evaluation of an early stage brand like Gold Crush.
[00:14:47] Dayton Miller: As we kind of like to say, there's no such thing as a bad idea. There's just bad execution. And I think the fact that this is a big opportunity is kind of not news to anybody. So it really comes down to the execution. And we're at least believers that you know until you're a half a billion or a billion dollars of revenue it's really tricky to on the beverage side to be moving the needle from a large big cpg standpoint and so the press release headlines might kind of say one thing, but it just takes a long time to turn an aircraft carrier. So I think in a lot of ways, if you're able to kind of serve as an outsourced R&D function for big CPG, that can be a lot more attractive than the amount of capital that's required to kind of test different concepts from a big CPG standpoint.
[00:15:49] Ray Latif: Yeah, absolutely. And the fact that, you know, these big legacy companies are paying attention to new formats and new ways of consuming alcohol or otherwise, I think speaks to exactly why there is so much interest in this space, even though we haven't really seen, you know, an entrepreneurial brand. Well, I mean, I guess you could think of Cutwater in that regard. I think what Gold Crush is doing is really interesting. And as I mentioned, Dana, I think your packaging is phenomenal. I do drink rum. So if you have an opportunity to send samples to our office anytime, please do. I would love to try them out.
[00:16:23] Speaker 1: Absolutely, I will.
[00:16:25] Ray Latif: Thank you so much. Thanks so much for joining us on Elevator Talk today. Please stay in touch. If there's anything we can do to help along your journey, please let us know. Any introductions we can make. We're here to offer support as much as we are to report on the news.
[00:16:38] Speaker 1: Thank you so much. I really appreciate that. I will be sending some your way, and I probably will also be asking you to make good on that promise for some intros.
[00:16:47] Ray Latif: Anytime. Seriously, Dana, reach out anytime.
[00:16:50] Speaker 1: Thank you, Ray.
[00:16:51] Speaker 2: Thank you.
[00:16:51] Ray Latif: Thank you. All right, great start to the show. Let's keep it going with our next guest. That's Mark Skirmers, who is the president and CMO of Rhody Brew.
[00:17:04] Speaker 3: Mark, it's great to see you. Hi, gentlemen. Good morning. Great to see you too. Thanks for having me, Ray and Dayton. Rhody Brew. It sounds like a beer, but it's not your traditional beer. What do you guys sell? Well, we sell a beer that you can drink in a car.
[00:17:22] Speaker 4: You can drink it on the road. Um, we have a, uh, we have a true zero alcohol and a zero calorie beer to bat. So it's a, uh, this drinks like a super light and crisp lager. but without any of the headache or any of the baggage that typically comes with the beer. We also, I would say if you compare us to other NA beers out there, definitely sit on the very light side of the spectrum, so high drinkability, and what we initially did was, as opposed to going down the route that most of the NA beers were going down, which typically uses vacuum distillation or reverse osmosis, a few other processes that are currently being used, we took inspiration from a Japanese method where, in fact, we're actually creating a tea-like brew, which we then use proprietary process to create, but it has as a result that you've got a much lighter, very drinkable beer that yeah, we launched about two months ago here in LA. The original idea behind it came from two of my co-founders who were out in the desert. One of them ran a Madre Mezcal, a mezcal company, and the other, Pete, who is also one of our co-founders, but also the principal of Elysian Park Ventures, were just sitting out in the desert. And, you know, Pete had recently stopped drinking alcohol some time ago and was drinking a lot of NA brews. And he felt that the more of them he was drinking, he was really liking them and he was trying all sorts of different ones out. But a lot of them had sort of two downsides. One, he was kind of missing a bit of the feeling of what a beer used to be, a bit of the nostalgia, that feeling of freedom. And it felt like a lot of the NA brews that were out there kind of felt like a compromise, even the big existing brands and a lot of the newer upcoming ones had taken a lot of the fun out of it. So you've got a great tasting and a bruise, but not really hearkening back to that feeling of freedom and that sense of what a beer might have been years ago. So that was one part. And the other was that You're kind of compromising on alcohol, potentially. That's how you look at it. 92% of NA drinkers still drink alcohol. So you're compromising on that, but you still have a decent number of calories there. So one of the things that we tried to achieve was a brew that actually also has zero calories. So yeah, to recap, it's super light. and a beer alternative. We like to say it's beer, but better. And high drinkability, very refreshing. We've got our first product that came out about two months ago, which is our Super Light Brew. You can see it here. And we came out with a Tallboy just last week. and are in the process of also launching a few flavors. So really kind of pushing the boundaries of what a traditional beer can be. The red thread through all of this is that, you know, when you open a roadie, we want you to have that feeling of freedom, of being on the open road on a journey. And as a result, a lot of the, and really a journey through the West. So the brand is inspired by the American West. So a lot of the flavors that will be coming out also reflect that. And we'll be launching the first of those next month. And then are also getting into a few other interesting developments on that front that tie into some functional benefits. But I won't get into that too much yet. But there's, you know, one of the things that we've really prided ourselves on is sort of using this opportunity to think of, well, what could that, you know, if you're going to step in that beer occasion, how do you take it a step further and give people something that feels additive as opposed to reductive, which in our opinion, a lot of the other brands are?
[00:21:46] Ray Latif: Great stuff, Mark. A lot to unpack there. You launched in Los Angeles in May. According to my notes, you're in Westside retailers in Santa Monica, Venice, and Malibu. I wonder, Dayton, have you seen this brand out there?
[00:22:00] Dayton Miller: I haven't, but yeah, I'm sure that doesn't necessarily mean anything, but I haven't seen it yet.
[00:22:06] Ray Latif: We were talking about RTD cocktails as being a big growing category. Certainly, NA beer is having a moment and then some. Are you an NA beer consumer yourself, Dayton?
[00:22:18] Dayton Miller: Not regularly. I've definitely tried them. It's interesting hearing Mark's description. I'm almost reminded more of like a hop water or a hop tea given how light it is and I personally prefer those products over the more traditional NA beers. I really enjoyed hearing the positioning of the brand. I've always thought the name Rode is really cool and creative and a way to, or it has a lot of runway in terms of ways you could take it. And yeah, so I think it's certainly on an interesting start with the positioning of the product.
[00:23:01] Ray Latif: Yeah, you know it's interesting you mentioned some of the hot waters out there because I think about roadie and the fact that you actually can drink it in the car. I think even with some non-alcoholic beers you probably shouldn't be drinking it in the car. But this seems like a very versatile product in a way that any beers that are not necessarily, and perhaps could fit into a different part of the store. I mean, the merchandising is really interesting. So from your perspective, is going down the beer route with the beer distributors and that kind of positioning, and Mark seems to point to that position, is that the strategy that you would take as an entrepreneur?
[00:23:39] Dayton Miller: Uh, it's an interesting call. Um, you know, I didn't really think about it like that, but I guess it feels like it's, you'd probably have a lot more flexibility going the traditional NA route. Um, uh, just from, you know, avoiding like the three tier system and everything else. Um, uh, and my, my assumption is that's what hop tea and hop water had done. Um, I'm actually not, not sure, but, um, uh, it feels like that might give you a little bit more flexibility and, you know, it's a question of. Who are you taking share from? Who are you getting your consumers from? And if they're substituting out beer for this product, then sure, I think you want to be positioned next to beer. You know, to me, it feels like it might have more usage occasions and something you could have with lunch or afternoon as a kind of a guiltless treat, something along those lines, then maybe it's more positioned in the NA set.
[00:24:42] Speaker 4: Yeah, I think that's spot on, Dayton. That's very much, you know, also the discussion we've been having internally. On the one hand, going into retail, it makes sense to sort of latch ourselves onto the beer cart in terms of getting shelf space there. But we see the opportunity way beyond that and the hop water Example is a good one. I would say we sit somewhere between a hot water and a beer. So it looks like a beer. It's got a good head of foam. It really has that feeling. But the way we look at it is this is something you can drink all day long. pairs really well with food, it's great for lunch. So in that sense, I think the market opportunity is definitely broader than purely NA. And we're also seeing that it's early days, so we've been in the market for two and a half months, but we're starting to see through customer feedback that that audience definitely is broader than we were initially thinking, which was really that millennial NA beer drinker that takes up the majority of the NA space. And we're really interested to see how far we can push beyond that.
[00:25:52] Dayton Miller: Well, I think the brand itself also has an interesting kind of nostalgia feel to it, which we've certainly seen work in other categories. And I think if you can kind of deliver on that on top of a great tasting product, I think it's super interesting how you guys are thinking about it.
[00:26:12] Ray Latif: Dayton, can I ask you about the lifestyle component to Rody? It feels like what Mark was talking about and how the brand, I'm on the website right now, how the brand is marketed feels like a lifestyle brand as much as it is a beverage brand. Is that something that is useful when you're thinking about brand building, to think about the potential for it to be part of someone's lifestyle as much as it is someone's refreshment?
[00:26:40] Dayton Miller: I think so. I think at the end of the day, you're selling an emotion in terms of how you're making a consumer feel when they're drinking it as much as you are what they're actually drinking. Beverage is different from a lot of categories where, you know, folks want to be associated and it's like a social signaling thing when they're drinking it. They carry it down the sidewalk with them. They won't necessarily do that with like a snack or a bag of chips or something, but like beverages is different. If it's inspiring an emotion in someone, then they're just a lot more willing to, I don't know, show it off and share it.
[00:27:22] Ray Latif: Absolutely. Mark, we always run out of time and we have so much more to talk about, but let's keep this conversation going offline. I'd love to stay in touch and talk about what you guys are doing. New distribution, new products that you alluded to. If you can just keep us in the loop. That's how we know about things. There's just so many brands out there and we really need for founders to tell us what's going on. So again, please stay in touch. Let us know if we can help in any way along your journey.
[00:27:49] Speaker 4: Absolutely. We'll be active, especially on the west side in LA and car events, roadside things, and a lot of activations planned. So hopefully, hopefully David, we'll get closer to your neck of the woods soon too. And if anyone's interested at roadiebrew.com, you can, you can find us and we've got our increasing list of, of stores and retail locations there as well. Thank you.
[00:28:10] Dayton Miller: Good to meet you.
[00:28:12] Ray Latif: And as Dayton knows, we'll be in L.A. for BevNET Live, December 6th through 8th. It's a great event. And I'd love to see you there. And I'm excited to perhaps see some roadie on shelf at the local retailers. Absolutely. All right. Great stuff. On to our next guest for this episode of Elevator Talk. We have Noah Fishman, who's the founder and CEO of Ample Hydration. Noah, it's great to see you.
[00:28:37] Speaker 5: Great to see you too, Ray. Thanks for the intro. Ample hydration, tell us all about what you do. So it's an organic maple water beverage. Maple water is what actually comes out of the maple tree before maple syrup. Just one ingredient, nothing added, nothing taken away. And I view it as a hydration alternative, a coconut water alternative. It's 35 calories for 12 ounces, eight grams of all natural sugar, and it comes with electrolytes and antioxidants that hydrate you.
[00:29:03] Ray Latif: I may have buried the lead because I asked about your brand, but your brand and your career are both really interesting. According to my notes here, you're a 20-year-old student at the University of Maryland. Is that all correct? That is, yeah. Outstanding. What motivated you to launch a beverage company?
[00:29:22] Speaker 5: Well, I tried maple water when I was in Canada last year and I'm like genuine shock, right? Like not like some founder story like, oh my gosh, like I genuinely did not understand why I had never had it before, why it didn't exist. I'm someone who cares about my health. drinks coconut water, other clean hydration alternatives. And I tried it and I'm like, there is definitely a market for this. Started to research, talk to farms, talk to people in the industry. And I'm like, I think I can bring a beverage to market. I think I can make this happen, bring maple water to the people here in the US. I found that it's happened before. And that people have tried, but ultimately what I believe they got wrong and what I've been told from members of the Maple Hall of Fame is that they didn't educate people. People didn't know what they were drinking. They thought that this was maple syrup mixed with water when this is what actually comes before maple syrup. So for better or worse right now, we live in the easiest time in the history of the universe to educate a mass audience of people. Sometimes, we see it for bad, but in this case, it could be for good. If I could just get across to people what maple water actually is, I'm confident when they try it, they'll like it, they'll feel better after drinking it, and it has a real place in the market.
[00:30:31] Ray Latif: I know for a fact that Dayton has a lot of questions and insights to share. I just want to quickly go to your store count. Again, according to my notes, you're in 15 stores or 15 stores or so in New York and New Jersey. Is that right? That might have been old. We're in up to 50 locations in the New York City, New Jersey area. Outstanding. Are you in mostly bodegas or are you just an independent retailers? Where are you sold right now?
[00:30:53] Speaker 5: It's mostly independence. We're in a few bodegas, but mostly like independent specialty grocers, cafes, um, mostly places like that.
[00:31:04] Ray Latif: Dayton, uh, maple water and just tree water in general seems to be having a little bit of a resurgence. What's your take on ample?
[00:31:11] Dayton Miller: First of all, Noah, just sincere congrats on getting something going when you're 20 years old. I think it's awesome. I think the experience you're getting here, regardless of what ultimately happens with the company, is just unlike anything else you can get anywhere. I really admire how young you're doing it and the way you're going after the opportunity. Yeah, you alluded to this, you know, when I when I first saw the URL, I was reminded of I think it was called SAP and then another one called Maple Water. You know, I think there are no bigger perhaps between energy and hydration. It's kind of what everybody is talking about in beverage right now. This is obviously going after the hydration side, I think. There's been some others that have come onto the market recently too, like banana water and things that are trying to go after somewhat of the same opportunity. But it never ceases to amaze me how much consumers are interested in hydration. I think you're right. It's kind of the messaging. And to me, it comes down to kind of messaging of the value proposition and then the taste. And so, you know, how much feedback have you gotten on from that limited distribution that you're in? Like, have you been able to educate consumers? Is it really resonating or is it something that kind of folks are buying because it's there, but maybe not necessarily seeking out?
[00:32:44] Speaker 5: Yeah, I think that people from what I understand have liked it. That was my biggest fear, right? Because I honestly this sounds kind of silly. I believe that this could succeed if it was a 4 out of 10 product, right? Just in terms of when people know that they're doing something good for themselves, people like to drink it. But based on taste and based on feedback, it's... like the actual taste is a lot closer to a 7-8. And when you're going with no artificial sweeteners, all natural sugar, it's only 8 grams. I feel like that's pretty good. People like it. It's light. It's different, you know, so if they're not ready for it, they may be a little taken aback. But the overall feedback has been pretty positive. And in terms of education, we've been on social media trying to do that ourselves, but we're about to start doing a big UGC push and influencer marketing. But what we have been doing this summer in and around the New York City area, which has actually been able to make a dent because of how congested the city is, obviously, we've been doing multiple samplings every single day. Like right now, there are members of the team who are sampling and just in stores that we're in, so then they like the sample, they can go buy it. That obviously helps us with velocity and like the stores that take a chance on us as a new brand, they really appreciate it because we're giving out free stuff in their store. We're driving sales.
[00:33:58] Dayton Miller: I guess the one question I had too, and kind of thinking about some of the prior brands, as you're thinking about scaling, I mean, to me, the kind of question is, maybe there's not a question of whether there's an opportunity, it's a question of how big the opportunity is. And so to the extent you're able to kind of scale methodically and in a very targeted way and not get too far out of your skis, and maybe this is a $10 million brand, does it have to be a $100 million brand or does it have a right to be a $100 million brand? I think I'd focus on making sure getting to the 10 in a responsible, kind of efficient way and then let the market kind of develop around you because there's only so much and so hard you can kind of push on this stuff. At the end of the day, the education does take a little bit of time and I don't think you want it out there everywhere and then not get the turns you need in order to stay on shelf.
[00:34:59] Speaker 5: Yeah, I appreciate that. I mean, I think that education definitely does take a little bit, but it also could happen quickly if we hit on a couple of the right influencers and people feel really passionate about the product. I just think about some other consumer products like colostrum, which blew up overnight, beef tallow everywhere, raw unfiltered honey became this huge thing, right? And then obviously protein craze, fiber craze like that. creatine, a lot of things have just blown up practically overnight. So there's definitely is an opportunity. And in terms of how big the opportunity is, I mean, I just saw a study that the coconut water industry is projected to be worth 12 billion by 2030. And to me, I love coconut water, honestly, full transparency, but this is half the calories, half the sugar, less polarizing taste, in my opinion, better taste. So I think that there is definitely a big opportunity here.
[00:35:49] Dayton Miller: From a supply chain standpoint, are you worried about the supply of maple water and how much maple sap is actually available at scale?
[00:36:02] Speaker 5: So actually not a concern at all. We source everything from the US. So we source from farms in upstate New York and Vermont. So don't have to deal with any potential tariff issues or any of that. But it takes 40 gallons of maple water of maple sap to make one gallon of maple syrup. So I don't see that ever being a problem. And just now that I've learned more about the maple industry, like when you think maple in the US, you're probably thinking about Vermont, New Hampshire, right? Like New England, Ohio used to be the biggest maple state. Like there are so much, no pun intended, untapped maple trees and maple ability in the U.S., so no, I don't believe it's a problem or gonna be a problem.
[00:36:38] Dayton Miller: Are you finishing school or is school done at University of Maryland? Is this a senior project?
[00:36:45] Speaker 5: School is continuing. I'm going into my sophomore year there. No plans of dropping out. Love Maryland, love school. Had a couple investors turn me down last week because I wasn't dropping out, but that happens, you know? That's great. Good for you.
[00:36:59] Ray Latif: Yeah, you hear about investors, at least on the tech side, encourage folks to drop out. I don't know if that's such a good idea because the college experience is pretty awesome. Dayton, Noah referenced Coconut Water a number of times. And I think, you know, when we heard about Maple Water companies launching in the past, they also referenced or used Coconut Water as a point of reference. How impactful do you think that is? How useful do you think that is for Ample in terms of their marketing and communication?
[00:37:26] Dayton Miller: Honestly, I think it's really useful. I think you want to be on shelf as long as you have a strong point of differentiation, whether it's going to taste, nutrition profile, caloric content, sugar, whatever it may be. Look, I like coconut water as well, but you do want an alternative occasionally. And so, if you can be there and you're providing something in a, you know, a similar value proposition from a one-ingredient ready-to-drink standpoint. I think that's valuable. I guess the question would be if you're taking a high usage occasion coconut water drinker and what is their reaction when they have ample? How many of those folks want to repeat purchase and really get into that? You might end up be trying fishing in the wrong pond, so to speak. If those consumers like that kind of more flavor, intense, more sugar, uh, et cetera, experience. Um, uh, so it's really a matter of kind of who are you getting your consumers from?
[00:38:33] Speaker 5: Interesting. I appreciate that. Thank you. Yeah, like definitely trying to target the coconut water market, because I feel like it's very adjacent. It's just what kept on popping into my mind as a consumer, like I've looked at this entire company project as a consumer, which I feel like has been able to be beneficial, but also obviously need more. You know, like we are building out a team. We're also, I'm very excited to announce we're launching in the Get Curious set at Raley's September 9th. So we're going to be in 50 of their locations there. And if you want to find us as well, you could find us in 50 locations across New York City. Check out our website on DrinkApple.com. You can order online as well. That's a good package.
[00:39:16] Ray Latif: Great job, Noah. I'm excited for you and I think your passion and enthusiasm for this industry is just so palpable and I'm so happy that you're starting a company like this because you're right, there is an opportunity here. How far you can go with Ample, as Dayton pointed out, it's really about execution. So if there's anything that we can do to help along your journey. It's a tough business, but just reach out anytime. We'll try to answer your question or connect you to someone who has an answer for you.
[00:39:48] Speaker 5: Ray Daden, so nice to meet you guys. Thank you. And I'll definitely reach out. Not going to be shy. Outstanding. Thanks so much, Noah. Thank you.
[00:39:56] Ray Latif: All right. Great stuff. All right. Up next, we have Taylor Grasso. He's one of the co-founders of Pache. Taylor, it's great to see you.
[00:40:06] Speaker 6: Good to see you guys as well. Thanks for having me.
[00:40:09] Ray Latif: Peche, what a great name. It feels very sophisticated. What do you guys do?
[00:40:13] Speaker 6: Yeah. So Peche is a functional mocktail brand. Basically we wanted to take the alcohol out, but put benefit back in. So I stopped drinking a little over two and a half years ago. And then the same year that I stopped drinking, my husband actually got diagnosed with type one diabetes. So he also had to significantly cut back on his alcohol intake. I'm a registered dietician by trade, so we're already very health-conscious individuals, but we were going to bars and restaurants and all of these things with our friends and family still and trying to find alternatives that weren't still super high in calories, and then also for my husband, really high in sugar as well, because that was obviously negatively impacting his blood sugar. So the idea for Peche came about where we would create drinks where we use my dietitian background to create sensations and add benefit back into the beverages. So each one has a trio of different functional ingredients to create the sensation that they're named after. So we have Lift, which is a peach mango margarita flavor. It has ginseng, green tea extract for a little bit of caffeine, and then lion's mane mushroom. We have Unwind, which is meant to help you to sleep, relax, and recover. And it's a tart cherry Shirley flavor. That one has magnesium glyconate. It has reishi mushroom. And then it also has tart cherry extract. Then the last one is Kickback. It's meant to help you to decompress, chill, and rejuvenate. And that one has rhodiola. It has horticeps mushroom. And then it also has ashwagandha. So basically, we just wanted to, like I said, take the alcohol out but add beneficial ingredients back in.
[00:41:35] Ray Latif: Outstanding. Well done, Taylor. I have in my notes here that you're launching in a Midwest grocery chain pretty soon. Can you make any announcements about that?
[00:41:44] Speaker 6: We can. We're launching in Hy-Vee. I don't know if anyone on this call is from the Midwest at all or has heard of Hy-Vee. I feel like Midwest Founders is not exactly as typical as maybe like Los Angeles or New York, but we're based in Des Moines, Iowa, so good old land of corn. But yeah, we're launching in Hy-Vee grocery stores across the Midwest region, so we're going to be in about 200 stores. And that launch is actually on September 1st, so it's coming up real quick.
[00:42:12] Ray Latif: Outstanding, that's great news, and congratulations on that launch. I've heard of Hy-Vee, but I'm in the industry. I'm sure Dayton has heard of Hy-Vee, probably sold products in Hy-Vee way back in the day as well. You know, functional cocktails, functional mocktails, I feel like there's so many that come to market, and it's always interesting to try to find that point of differentiation. Based on what you heard, Dayton, what makes you interested in this brand? What really caught your attention?
[00:42:40] Dayton Miller: Yeah, I mean, I think they're doing a good job leaning into it, but just really Taylor's background as a dietitian and having that kind of authentic story as well as kind of strong founder product market fit. I think that plus kind of the personal connection to alcohol avoidance resonates with a lot of folks. I think the packaging is really nice looking. It looks tasty, but also kind of functional but consumer friendly. Like it doesn't kind of strike me as functional but until you kind of look at it a little bit more closely and you see kind of the mushroom doing various things. You know, I guess the, but to your point, like I do think about all of the other products that are out there. and just the number that are kind of going after, the number of NAs going after that either kind of mocktail or kind of functional sensation around unwinding and other things, I think that's the trickier thing. So breaking through that noise is what I'd be really focused on.
[00:43:59] Ray Latif: Yeah, Taylor, what's resonating with consumers, or at least people who are finding your brand for the first time? Because I'm on your Instagram page right now, and you've got a little over 4,000 followers, so great work on that. But what's catching their eye? What's making them interested in your brand?
[00:44:15] Speaker 6: Yeah, I would say one of the biggest things is the dietitian formulation. So we do lean into that a lot. We use that founder story as part of what we talk about with the brand. I think that increases the credibility of the functional ingredients that can be found in the beverage too. That was another thing when I was looking at the functional beverage category and the different beverages that already existed. That was where I was also finding a lack of beverages that I personally wanted to drink, just based on the formulations and the ingredients that were found in them. Not that any of them are necessarily bad, but like for example, we don't use any sugar alcohols or artificial sweeteners. I do think that has been a really big resounding point that people have really liked. We do use a little bit of cane sugar, so you know, you can get some kickback with that. However, we keep the sugar really low. So it only has all of our drinks are under 70 calories and then under seven grams of added sugar. So there's a little bit of natural sugars because we use fruit purees help kind of up that sweet level, but no artificial sweeteners and no sugar alcohols. And a lot of that came from the research that I've looked into and how those affect the gut microbiome and wanting to create something that was overall a very beneficially healthy drink. So I think that was something that we've really leaned into and also heard back from consumers is they like the taste of it because it doesn't have those artificial sweeteners and sugar alcohols. And then specifically with our Unwind, the coolest thing about that one is we've been able to get objective data because of all of these really nice fitness trackers that exist now. So things like ORA rings or whoops. people have actually sent us screenshots of their sleep scores significantly increasing when they drink unwind before bed. So that's been really great to kind of build that credibility surrounding that beverage. I would say lift and kickback, it's a little bit harder to get something as concrete as a sleep score obviously, but that has been something that's also kind of helped to build that credibility as well.
[00:46:04] Ray Latif: I think you nailed it and Dayton talked about this, you know, it's really about how authentic that messaging is. And if you are someone who actually lives that lifestyle, you actually drink your own product, it goes a long way. I think taste for me is always going to be first and foremost. And how you break through on that taste messaging on that taste front has also got to be really important as well. Dayton, based on your experience, I mean, in this category of non-alcoholic cocktails or mocktails in particular, is there a way or how would you advise Taylor to talk about that taste messaging?
[00:46:45] Dayton Miller: Yeah, I mean, I think the tricky thing is kind of doing it in a scalable way, right? Obviously, you know, sampling and that kind of thing is always effective. You know, really where we're seeing a lot of success is in some of these services that allow user generated content to post. And, you know, you have these micro influencers now are folks that have, you know, single digit thousands of followers and, you know, just allowing them to spread the word. So, you know, I think that that does drive a lot of repeat, right? And it sounds like you've done a good job kind of getting people to feel the effects, which was another question of mine, especially on kind of the unwind side. So, If you're able to kind of maybe remove the question marks in the consumer's eyes as to whether this actually works, I think the next question is just going to be, well, then how does it taste and your price point and things along those lines. But taste is really the biggest thing, I think. So if you can kind of get those two together, I think you might have something.
[00:47:54] Ray Latif: Taylor, let's talk price for a second. How are you selling this? Is it in four packs, single serve? And what's the price point?
[00:48:00] Speaker 6: We sell it in a variety of different ways. So on our website, we sell four packs and then 12 packs. We sell for $19.99 on our website. However, the pricing is going to be shifting a little bit with the transition into Hy-Vee. We have a very unique partnership with Hy-Vee, actually. They're also our manufacturer. So we're partnered with them on not only the retail side, but then also the manufacturing side as well. That was a recent switch this past year, which is why our launch actually ended up getting a little delayed. All of that to say that we're going to be selling in single cans at Hy-Vee stores and those are going to retail for $3.99 in the Hy-Vee stores. So the pricing is going to shift just a little bit. And then when we're at farmers markets or in-person events, different things like that, we typically sell for $5 a can and we do mix and match as people would like. So as little as one can or as many as they would like in a pack. Sometimes we'll do, you know, little discounts or things like that if they buy a certain amount. But yeah, so kind of from single cans to four packs and 12 packs.
[00:48:57] Dayton Miller: And the positioning is very much a mocktail as opposed to like a functional drink or a supplement or something. Yeah, okay.
[00:49:05] Speaker 6: Yeah, we really dive into more of that mocktail language. And when we first started some of our marketing efforts, we were kind of leaning into like sobriety just because I am completely sober from alcohol. My husband is not though. He still drinks just not nearly as much as he used to with his type one diabetes diagnosis. And what we realized as we were looking at the market is that while yes, there are almost 50% of Americans that are not drinking, there's a lot more Americans that are just cutting back on their alcohol intake. And so we've kind of shifted our messaging to go more towards that like sober curiosity movement that you hear about. Just telling people, you know, this doesn't necessarily have to be something that replaces alcohol, it can be something that's in addition to whether you want to mix it into your alcohol or whether, you know, maybe those three drinks is what sends you over the edge into a hangover the next morning. So instead of having three, have an unwind peche before you go to bed instead of that third cocktail. So kind of leaning into more of that sober curiosity and limiting their alcohol intake rather than just straight up sobriety.
[00:50:06] Ray Latif: Taylor, we're out of time. About two minutes ago, I don't know if people saw this, my head exploded when you said that Hy-Vee makes your product for you. I didn't know they did that. And I don't know if you could, but in 30 seconds, how did that come together?
[00:50:19] Speaker 6: Yeah, we were actually approached by Hy-Vee, which is I think a really unique situation. We were actually, I love to tell this story, I'll try to tell it really quick. We were supposed to meet with the CEO the day I went into labor. So we had gotten contacted by Hy-Vee. I actually worked as a dietitian there for many years, so I had quite a few connections to corporate level individuals, and they had seen our product via social media. And they were like, we want this in our stores, we'd love to get you set up with the meeting with the CEO. I jokingly said the week we had the meeting, I told my husband, I was like, I think I'm going to have this baby this week. And he goes, Okay, we'll just don't have it Thursday, had him Wednesday night. So we didn't end up having to delay the meeting. But yeah, we walked into that meeting expecting to have to pitch the brand. And they were like, we want this in our stores, what do we have to do to make that happen? And then it ended up evolving into more of a strategic partnership. So we're not just partners with them on that retail side of things, but then yeah, also the manufacturing side of things, which has been super, super helpful because they obviously have a lot more resources than a small brand does. So it's been a great partnership. We're really excited to work with them.
[00:51:21] Ray Latif: Yeah, I would assume so. That is a fantastic partnership. Taylor, thank you so much for taking the time. Congratulations on the launch. It sounds like things are going pretty well. And if there's anything we can do to help along the way, just reach out anytime.
[00:51:37] Speaker 6: Thank you guys so much for having me. It was so nice to meet both of you.
[00:51:39] Ray Latif: Thank you, Taylor. Onto our final guest for this episode of Elevator Talk. That is Megan Silk. She's the co-founder and chief of brand of Ginger Bug. Megan, it's great to see you again.
[00:51:52] Speaker 2: Yeah, I know. It's been a couple months, but we're back in Canada after the big BevNET extravaganza. That was awesome, right?
[00:51:59] Ray Latif: Yes. Megan joined us for BevNET Live as part of the New Beverage Showdown, or at least that was one part of your experience at the show. Was the rest of the show good for you?
[00:52:09] Speaker 2: It was fantastic, actually. We loved it. It was really, really well run. And I'm from Canada, right? So when I go to shows, I know everybody in industry now, I feel. So it was really, I really felt like a fish out of water to have so many new people to meet and connections to make, but it was fantastic.
[00:52:26] Ray Latif: Yeah. Yeah. And you were fantastic. I heard a lot of people talk about Gingerbug and I got to try your product and it's delicious. Tell us all about your brand.
[00:52:35] Speaker 2: Awesome, thanks so much, Ray. Yeah, so Gingerbug, we produce a lineup of certified organic non-GMO ginger sodas. And we kind of stumbled, well, totally stumbled into CPG by accident. We were taking on this project as a family to build an off-grid homestead to teach our kids about where their food comes from. And we really tried to make a go of it as first-generation farmers, and it was really tough. uh one week we had a low harvest of vegetables and I just brought some mason jars of our beverage and it sold really well and you know neither Bren or I are really my husband um who I run Gingerbug with are adverse that much to risk we like to to go all in on things and we sat down as a family and we said you know what I think that this product could there is a space in the market for it and if we're going to build a beverage brand we're going to go all in and think as big as possible and so that's That's what we did. Here in Canada, we went right away onto Canada's Shark Tank, which is CBC Dragon's Den. And that was really, really fun. And from there, we had national distribution within about eight months from when we started the brand. So it went pretty quick. Wouldn't recommend that. We've made every mistake in the book over the last couple of years but we did just celebrate our fourth birthday with the brand and we celebrated it also that same week last week when we rolled out nationwide at Loblaw's across Canada, which is a huge win for us. So we are at about 1,000 retailers across Canada right now and moving into the States, launching with Thrive Market in the US in three weeks. And then we also last, we've just got a yes from Sprouts to roll out nationwide in their innovation set, which is also gonna get us with Kahi. So that's great. We've just been grinding it out, showing up as many times as we can to build the brand and learning as fast as we possibly can, so. That's a bit of the background.
[00:54:33] Dayton Miller: I have a question if that's okay. First of all, I love that brand and the packaging, but are you putting it on shelf next to what a lot of folks call kind of modern soda or functional soda, or are you putting it on shelf next to ginger beer?
[00:54:49] Speaker 2: Yeah, it's typically positioned with like poppy, all the pop. Sometimes retailers, we have a chain here, Healthy Planet in Canada, and they'll put it in the cooler for grab and go, but typically it's not positioned with ginger beer. Although, you know, fever tree, it will find its way into the organic section here in Canada as well. So sometimes with that, but it's more seen as a functional, like the ginger ale, Canada dry for the next generation, right? That's kind of the idea. It's a healthy ginger soda. So we have a lineup of three ginger beers. And then we just launched our cranberry ginger ale. This is our brand new one. It's going to be, oh, it doesn't really show with my background thing, but it's a silver can. It's a ginger ale, which is trying to get sort of as close to the nostalgic experience of a Canada dry, but with added health benefits. And, you know, I mean, our brand is Ginger Bug. And so ginger is, I mean, the most important thing to us. We don't even use natural flavors. All of our ginger flavor comes from actual organic ginger juice that is in every single can. So when somebody's drinking one of these, depending on what skew it is, they're getting between one and three teaspoons of ginger juice into their bodies. And as a former farmer, that's something I'm really proud of.
[00:56:09] Dayton Miller: Yeah, to me, to me as the kind of consumer and full disclosure, we're investors in Ollipop. But to me, it's I almost feel like there's a bigger opportunity kind of escaping some of that noise around the whole prebiotic, probiotic soda set. and really kind of, you know, I don't know if it's under ginger shots, like there's a ginger shot company that's done pretty well, but the more you can kind of make that point of difference, and obviously the name is part of it, but I would just try to be a little bit cautious of getting thrown into that kind of modern soda set, because there's so many companies in there, and they're all trying to kind of, you know, fight for that kind of prebiotic, probiotic consumer, To me, you're delivering on the ginger. The easier it is for consumers to know that, the better.
[00:57:05] Speaker 2: Yeah, I totally agree. And we do really try to lean into that. And we are a premium product. I mean, our cans are going to be retailing for $2.99. So that's so true. We didn't want to be a Me Too product. And we're still learning as we go here. But the ginger and the real food is what we really lean into as a brand, because Our product is literally made with food. There's nothing weird in it. Don't use stevia even because I don't really like stevia that much. And yeah, no natural flavors. It's just almost, I'm almost embarrassed. I say to people how simple a recipe is and how easy it would be to knock it off.
[00:57:45] Dayton Miller: Well, you know, the other thing I'd say is like being in a thousand stores in Canada, I think that's awesome. We love finding brands that maybe incubate in one market and then kind of come to the U.S. because, you know, you're able to take all of those learnings. You know, what's the price point? Where's the, where does it need to be on shelf? Which SKUs do you go with? And then you can take that, those learnings as you, as you expand into Sprouts and other places.
[00:58:12] Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure. And actually, I will credit the buyer from Sprouts because we did used to use natural flavors in our product because so many people do. And he actually really pushed back and challenged us on it. And when we did more research, we decided to take it out of all of our SKUs. And so I think that those conversations, especially when you're an industry outsider, I think something that served as well as just being okay to be wrong and listening and always trying to innovate and learn from other people who've done it before.
[00:58:44] Ray Latif: Megan, I love that you described it as a modern-day Canada Dry because I had a Canada Dry the other day, or at least a sip of one, and it just did not meet what I expected. It was really saccharine in terms of flavor, syrupy almost, and your product is definitely not that. So I think really finding those consumers who are looking for a ginger ale or ginger beer type product but aren't getting what they want, which was literally me the other day, is a great way to go. I asked this to one of our other founders. What is what's really getting people to buy this product consistently? Is it the flavor? Is it the functional benefit? Is the packaging? I mean, what's really getting them out of their seats and screaming to the heavens about ginger bug?
[00:59:32] Speaker 2: Do you know what I wish I had an answer for you? Because I still feel we're at such an early stage that we're trying to figure out why people are buying the product and what is exactly working. I mean, in the beginning, we really did a lot of like street campaigns. So we did in when we started, we did I think 1500 farmers markets, we hired 20 university students to get the product out there. So we could make sure the flavor was right, the price point was on par, and to just get the brand out there before we went into retail. So I think that even just developing that consumer base and telling our story over and over, and Canada has proven to be successful. You know what? I'm not sure. We're starting to invest in serious UGC investment. We just hired a full-time marketing person on our staff. We have three industry experts who run our ops department, who I think we have the best ops department in Canada now. So we've kind of built a machine and now marketing and figuring out exactly who our target consumer is, is really what we're focused on. We've also just last week, we've signed with LA Libations to help us in the US so that, you know, I don't know what I don't know. So I'm just trying, we're trying to bring in everybody who knows what they're doing.
[01:00:44] Ray Latif: Well, I think that's music to Dayton's ears that you're willing to say you don't know, but also willing to take advice, at least good advice. And I think getting good advice is sometimes the hardest part of all this is identifying people who can point you in the right direction. Dayton, just based on what you heard in terms of the marketing aspect and trying to get the word out about Gingerbug while also trying to figure out who your target consumer is. I mean, it sounds like Megan's on the right path here.
[01:01:11] Dayton Miller: Yeah and you know what I would say is like there's there's a lot of advice out there and um but I think it's important to remember that there's more than one way to win and uh and you got to do what's kind of you know in the best for for your you and uh your business and uh there's so many folks out there that try to take like the playbook that already happened and repeat it and in our minds that's a really tricky dangerous game to play because if it doesn't work then you're kind of stuck and so um I love the ginger side of it. I think the brand is fun. It has some personality, which is cool that you can kind of play into a bit more. And then it's just a matter of, in my opinion, kind of educating consumers about ginger bug without getting kind of thrown into that same competitive herd of all of the other modern sodas. Because if you do that, then your message will just get kind of diluted and drowned out by all these brands that are a lot bigger that are spending a bunch of money.
[01:02:16] Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree.
[01:02:19] Ray Latif: I'm so glad that we had this time to chat. You know, it's, it's funny how at BevNET Live, you have like these little mini chats here and here and here, and, you know, just to have this opportunity to sit down with you for an extended period of time, even though it's only 10 or 11 minutes, was really, really great. Thank you so much for joining us on Elevator Talk today. I loved, I love what you're doing with Gingerbug, and I think you've got a great one runway in the United States and beyond.
[01:02:42] Speaker 2: Oh, thank you so much. Thank you to you both. I really appreciate it.
[01:02:45] Ray Latif: Thank you. Just a great example, Dayton, I think, of just the variety of founders that are out there and different concepts in new and legacy categories both. It's why I love doing this show, because You see the passion, you see the enthusiasm, you see the legwork before they launch. And now really, as you pointed out, it's really about execution. I ask this of our co-hosts pretty much every episode, but just based on what you heard today, what's one thing that these founders need to look out for as they continue to grow based on what you heard today?
[01:03:29] Dayton Miller: Uh, I don't know, maybe false positives or something along those lines, like kind of, um, you know, just be really brutally honest with what the market is, is telling you. And so, um, uh, you know, it's one thing to have a nice tasting product. It's another to have something that everyone, or the folks are going to reach for and grab for when you're in the. set of 100 other options, and then just being kind of grounded and realistic about what the opportunity is that's maybe attainable, and then get to that before trying to conquer the world. You can always conquer the world, but you should do so after you have kind of a strong foundation. Otherwise, you'll never get beyond that point.
[01:04:13] Ray Latif: Yeah, very well said. I know your inbox is probably going to get swamped sometime in the near future, but for folks who want to get in touch with you and the team at BFG, what's the best way to do so?
[01:04:25] Dayton Miller: Yeah, please do. Please do reach out. So my email is dayton.bfgpartners.com and then we also have dealteam.bfgpartners.com which might even be a faster way to get a response sometimes, but either works great.
[01:04:40] Ray Latif: Dealtime at bfgpartners.com. Dealtime, excuse me, Dealtime. It could be Dealtime at some point, but for the moment it's Dealtime at bfgpartners.com. I can't thank you enough, really. Thank you so much for being with us today on Elevator Talk. I'm gonna bug you again sometime in the near future, but you really add so much to this show and give such great advice to our entrepreneurs, and I really, really appreciate it.
[01:05:05] Dayton Miller: No, well, thank you for all that you guys do for the community, both digitally and in person. And hopefully I'll see you in December.
[01:05:13] Ray Latif: Absolutely. We'd love to see everyone at BevNET Live in December. Once again, December 8th and 8th through the 10th. Head to BevNET Live for more information. In the meantime, I'd just love to thank all of our entrepreneurs who joined us today. Of course, thank you so much, Dayton, and thanks to everyone watching or listening here at Taste Radio. Signing off for our incredible team at BevNET Nosh and Taste Radio, the best in the business. I'm Ray Latif, and we'll talk to you next time.
