Why Her ‘Cheeky’ Strategy Is Paying Off

Now, founder and CEO April Wachtel is pushing the brand into a first-of-its-kind functional tonic, and shares how real-world feedback is reshaping everything from where the product belongs on the shelf to how she’s thinking about Cheeky’s next chapter. For CPG founders, it’s a compelling case for embracing iteration rather than waiting for perfection.

Show notes:

0:20: April Wachtel, Founder & CEO, Cheeky Cocktails – April discusses her unconventional path from working in restaurants as a teenager to becoming a craft cocktail bartender, spirits brand ambassador and consultant before launching her own company. She reflects on the evolution from her original brand, Swig and Swallow and how she ultimately relaunched the business just as the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated at-home cocktail culture. April explains how her experience as a bartender, cocktail instructor and consumer shaped Cheeky’s portfolio of premium syrups and juices, as well as its newest product, Cheeky Lime Tonic, which she describes as a functional tonic with fiber and 40–70% less sugar than traditional tonics. April details the extensive R&D and consumer feedback that went into developing the tonic and explains why she believes entrepreneurs should get products into the market quickly to test their assumptions and learn from real-world reactions. She also discusses Cheeky’s evolving retail strategy and the challenge of building a company around two distinct product lines and the possibility that the tonic could eventually become the primary focus of Cheeky. April  also shares how intuition, personal experience and data have each influenced her entrepreneurial decisions, emphasizing the importance of following instinct while validating ideas with market research and consumer feedback.

Brands in this episode: Cheeky Cocktails, Poppi, Olipop, Culture Pop