[00:00:00] Jordan Radke: Hey folks, it's Ray with Taste Radio. Right now, I'm supremely honored to be sitting down with Jordan Radke and Dan Abel, the co-founders of Pilot Project Brewing. Jordan, it's great to see you again. Yeah, likewise, Ray. Dan, how are you? I'm great. Thanks for having us. Thanks so much for being with me. And thank you so much again for hosting our Taste Radio Chicago Meetup last month, a fantastic event that you guys hosted at your location in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago. Really well attended and just heard a lot of really good feedback from folks about the networking and of course, your amazing space, which was so welcoming to our guests. Thank you again.
[00:00:41] Dan Abel: We always have fun with those types of events. The fact that you guys were able to bring so many people from the industry is massive for us, too. So thank you.
[00:00:49] Jordan Radke: Yeah. And I think listeners probably identify Pilot Project brewing with beer and you do make beer and you sell a lot of beer and you work with beer companies, but Pilot Project itself is a concept that goes well beyond beer. And I'd love to start from the beginning. Jordan, just talk a bit about the origins of Pilot Project and how you got started.
[00:01:14] Pilot Project: Yeah, I think part of the origin is understanding where Dan and I came from. So Dan and I have known each other since we were five years old, growing up in the same town in Minnesota. We went to the same college in Wisconsin, UW Madison. And then after graduation, kind of split ways into our different career paths. And it was really nice and interesting to kind of get a phone call late one night with Dan proposing this idea of essentially a co-pactor that is just adding additional services in terms of building brands, but also accelerating brands growth. And so that's kind of where it started in terms of working with startups or breweries at the time that had, you know, small goals and just helping them achieve those goals. And throughout that time, the business model has changed, it's grown. We've worked with hard kombucha, we've worked with obviously beer, but now really delving into NA beer, NA RTDs, alcoholic RTDs, and now even into the hemp space as well, at least through the rest of this year.
[00:02:17] Jordan Radke: It's pretty remarkable given that there is so much interest in differentiated concepts in the beverage industry. You meet founders and I meet founders every day who are coming to market with really innovative ideas. But how does Pilot Project support these founders, especially when you're considering the breadth of ideas that are out there?
[00:02:41] Dan Abel: I think about the analog that we often draw to the music industry. So back to Jordan's origin story, after we split apart and following college, I moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career playing music. And to the question that you're asking, one of the things that I came to LA with at that point in time was a brand. That was my name or the band I was playing in, and then a selection of ideas, i.e. songs and performance and all that stuff. But then I had all this infrastructure built around me in the music industry to then take those concepts and bring them to light, right? I didn't build my own recording studio. I didn't go around the country knocking on the doors of radio stations. I worked for the record label. So when you think about a brand coming to us at Pilot Project, which is effectively a record label and recording studio for the beverage industry, what we want to see you come with is a great idea. Like, what is the next idea? What's the next trend that hasn't been established? But then further is that you have to have the vision. You have to be the entrepreneur that can actually deliver on what you're bringing forward. So we really look for three different things. We want to make sure that you got a product that's good. We try it right there beside you when you come in and audition. We want to make sure that you have brand vision for what direction you can take this organization or this beverage. And then we want to make sure that you're the person to do it. We're a portfolio business. So when the brands are coming to us, pitching us the next great idea, we're taking an equity stake in these businesses. Like we're putting our name on the line. We're taking the risk with you. We're literally jumping in with you. And so, yes, can we technically produce your product? Absolutely. We can produce it a hundred cases at a time or a million cases at a time. But then to what Jordan was getting at, we have the distribution team. We can validate your products in all of our different tasting rooms with comparative data beside 50 other unique SKUs, unique products. And then when we go out to market, it's not just about brokering a deal with the next distributor, we have big box retail partnerships across the country. We have independent retail relationships in major cities like LA, New York, and Chicago. We're a flywheel well beyond just production, and that's where, what's Jordan saying, it's like the flexibility that's required of our system, of our network, it is paramount.
[00:05:07] Jordan Radke: Part of building a great brand means understanding what that consumer wants, not just today, but tomorrow. And as we've touched on, there's a lot of things going on in beverage that can be pretty enticing to modern consumers that feel innovative, that feel different. But based on what you've seen over the past, say, five years or so, what's really sticking? What's really resonating with modern consumers?
[00:05:33] Pilot Project: you know, we're on top of a lot of the different studies and data that kind of comes through. I think we've all seen some of the recent studies that are kind of comparing some of the younger generation drinking with, you know, different occasions. So I think for us, it's always been a variety, you know, where we kind of came in as this brewery incubator, But the idea wasn't to help five different clients that did five branded IPAs. The idea is to fill our portfolio with pockets of new and interesting trends. So that's why we've worked with the NA beer. We've worked with the NA RTDs and the hemp drinks. But I think in terms of what consumers are looking for is a lot of what we kind of consider as well, data is a huge factor. So are they able to kind of compare their data, their drinking habits to anyone else online, whether that's apps or just using online databases and with the influx of AI nowadays, who's to know what that's going to look like in a year or even by the end of this year. We also focus a lot on innovation. So being able to utilize you know, new hop varietals that are new to the market, anything that's kind of on a technological advancement. One of the fun things that we've been able to do with N.A. Beer recently is working with Nagardo, which is a mushroom-based product that kind of helps with the stability of N.A. And so we can kind of reach out to our vendor list and our nice, welcoming community to kind of see what the next sort of ingredients are, and then that can kind of help push what the new trends are as well.
[00:07:11] Dan Abel: the approach that I generally have with any brand that's coming to us. If they say all of a sudden that they're a protein company, well great, that's a good way to enter the market because we know that there's a market for it. But how are you building your brand in a way that can actually translate across a spectrum of beverage because we know how fickle consumers and time are. But to be more direct to your answer, I mean, we are seeing a ton in the protein space. We are seeing a ton in the mushroom, you know, viability space. And then I'm also, as people are starting to think about the what ifs, you know, post the hemp laws that, you know, that currently caught on question is like, how do those brands pivot based off of whatever decisions there are, and what are tangential ingredients to that type of product? And I think all of those things are, you know, what we're saying more than anything else.
[00:08:05] Jordan Radke: Yeah, the uncertainty around him makes it even more important to have a partner like Pilot Project that can work with you on not just production, but innovation and new product development as well. Guys, I can't thank you enough again for hosting us in Chicago and for this fantastic conversation today. Really appreciate it. Just for our listeners, if someone wants to reach out to you, what's the best way to start a conversation?
[00:08:32] Dan Abel: Well, there's a few different ways. One, if you're interested in applying, visit our website, www.pilotprojectbrewing.com. There's an application there. Otherwise, if you just have interest in other ways, feel free to reach out to hello at pilotprojectbrewing.com via email. Lastly, we have a very active social team. So if there are ever things that you want to do collaboratively online, we're at pilotprojectbrewing and at pilotprojectmke on social media.
[00:09:00] Jordan Radke: That was very thorough, Dan. Thank you so much. Usually someone will just mention the website, but I like that. You've got a lot of different ways to reach out and connect. So thank you so much. Once again, Jordan, Dan, really appreciate the time and let's definitely stay in touch.
[00:09:14] Dan Abel: Thanks, Ray.
[00:09:14] Jordan Radke: See you soon.
[00:09:15] Dan Abel: Absolutely.
