YUMAMI, KARSTEN CH'IEN: The Fifth Flavor

Let’s make America healthy again! With obesity and diabetes on the rise, consumers have become victims of unhealthy snack options. On the flip side, what if healthy snacking could help you by introducing you to the fifth flavor, umami? Or as Karsten Ch’ien spices it up by saying Yumami.

Co-Founder Karsten Ch’ien launched Yumami Food Company in September 2016. A start-up in the early stages of the CPG industry, Yumami has set out to make it easier for people to eat better on the go. By combining his Asian heritage with American values, Karsten has been able to introduce sophisticated Asian flavors with plant-based protein to create healthy snacks with no added sugar. Or as we like to say, he put the yum in umami. 

“I wanted to give people a healthier and tastier option for snacking.”

Karsten grew up in Hong Kong and “like any Hong Konger loved to seek out delicious foods from many cultures. When I left to the US for college the thing I missed the most was the food.” With an undergrad degree in Anthropology from Yale University and a JD from Harvard Law School, Karsten started exploring the idea of launching a CPG company after conducting research in food policy and public health.  

Karsten’s stomach kept grumbling as he moved on to work at LeadDog Marketing Group in brand strategy. “I loved that job because we worked with a lot of consumer facing clients and I was better able to understand the laws of marketing.” Karsten quit in 2014 and set out to find his two co-founders, Ian Kwok and Lawrence Reutens to build his venture. The team recently pitched at the Project NOSH conference in LA where they won the inaugural Pitch Slam prize of $5K. Talk about validation!

Why The Name

“If you are a foodie, you probably notice the word umami, the fifth flavor, in our name. The initial brand idea revolved around ingredients rich in natural, savory umami, allowing us to use less junk but still taste great. There are also a lot of health benefits associated with eating umami-rich foods. The brand evolved as we thought the natural snack market was ready for more sophisticated Asian flavors.”

“I want Yumami to be a strong brand that appeals to consumers and can be differentiated in the marketplace.”

Yumami’s products include Popped Nori Chips, priced between $1.49 to $1.99, which are a better rice chip featuring superfoods such as chia, flax, quinoa and umami-rich nori seaweed, so they have less sodium than similar snacks and you can munch on them all day long, guilt-free! They also sell Go-Dips, priced between $4.99 to $5.99, which include the Popped Nori Chips + bean based dips with exotic Asian flavors such as Adzuki ginger ponzu, Edamame green pea wasabi, Black Bean yuzu chili, Lentil roasted onion shiitake. These snacks are perfect for post-workout, on-the-go, at school or at the office (warning: your boss might get jealous). 

The Distribution Model

Currently manufactured in New England, Yumami can be purchased both online and in-stores. Their business model is currently focused on grocery retail. Their Popped Nori Chips are available in over 100 stores in the NY metro area and their Go-Dip snacks will be launching at Whole Foods Northeast stores by the end of January. Their biggest challenge? Lining up manufacturing capabilities for their needs. “Small brands have a higher cost of production because of economies of scale and consumers also don't want to pay more than a certain price ceiling. To battle that, we came up with unique products and unique flavors.”

The Marketing

“Everything for us is about sales. Since we are only launching in the Northeast, our marketing is focused on having customers find us.” Yumami does sampling events with companies such as Soulcycle, Lululemon and after school language programs to expose kids to healthier options. “We are putting off advertising and exploring more options closer to the point of sale. The purchase decision happens right in the store when you see, and especially when you taste our product.”

The Advice

Karsten tells us how important it is to “learn the margins in the CPG industry” as this could kill you. “The nice thing about the natural foods world is that people in the industry are very open to sharing their knowledge and network, whether they are competitors or not. This is because everyone is in the same fight together against big, unhealthy food.”

Tired of eating rubbish? Get out and grab yourself a Yumami snack. Yumami is also currently seeking funding from investors. Contact us and we will put you in touch. 

Photo courtesy of Yumami. 

ARQ, DANYA SHULTS: The Jewish Way

There are stereotypes…we’ve all experienced them before and tried very hard to bust them. But there are some that just need to be owned. Danya Shults, a Jew by birth and a lover of all-things-Jew-ish by choice is doing that and more via Pop-Up Shabbat, The Ish and soon to be launched, ARQ.

Originally from New Haven, Danya graduated from Washington University in 2007. Although she studied music and anthropology, her first official job was with Teach for America as a staff recruiter. Four years recruiting at college campuses and a short gig at a startup later, she decided to quit and work on a creative project of her own. And so her journey to creating three different platforms that made sharing the Jewish culture easier began.  

Pop-Up Shabbat is the commercialization of a Shabbat dinner hosted at unique venues in New York. The Ish is an online digest that shares with the Jewish and non-Jewish folks happenings, events and community updates across the globe. The latest edition to Danya’s plate will be ARQ, a lifestyle brand of events, products and content stimulated by the Jewish culture in a modern way. Watch out for its launch this Thanksgiving holiday!

The Origins

Danya had always dreamt of moving to New York, having a desk job and wearing a black trench coat (apparently that’s how the world perceives fashion in NY!). Yet, when she quit her day job at Skillshare, she convinced her then boyfriend now husband, Andrew along with their friend, Melissa to join her in creating Pop-Up Shabbat. Over the next two years, they hosted pop up dinner events every two months with tickets ranging between $50-$90. Soon enough, they realized that events wouldn’t be the way to make bread and butter. “It was great for community and brand building - a true passion project.”

Then, life happened and Danya and Andrew got engaged. While planning her wedding, she started The Ish, which still spoke to the audience’s needs and was a lighter load to take on. It was originally a Gmail email to friends and family with a roundup of cool Jewish things happening around the world. Side note: at this time, she was also working at Spark Capital with fellow Maker, David Haber.  

Finally, after feeling the energy at the dinner events and the response to The Ish and understanding the macro-context of what was going on in the society, Danya decided to build a consumer brand that appeals to people in a more relevant and inclusive way. Now, dipping her toes in ecommerce, Danya hopes to introduce products that are aesthetically elevated Jewish products that already exist in the market. Think Menorah, seder plates, etc. that are neither too traditional nor too DIY, they’re just right!

The Market

 What has motivated Danya over the years was the chatter around a national study that had been published around the time Pop-Up Shabbat came about. It was the first study that was done by a non-Jewish organization, noting that most Jews were not keeping kosher or wanted the synagogue anymore. “I saw this as an opportunity. Although my projects were the result of an inkling of passion, the business side in me knew there was more to it.”

Indeed, she was right! The immediate demographic for her platforms are Jewish American Millennials who care about where they come from but they’re not proactively engaging in the conversation. Then, there are partners of Jews and friends of Jews. “My real aha-moment was when I was talking to a friend who was about to attend a Jewish wedding. She asked me for gifting ideas for the couple because she didn’t know where to look or wasn’t aware of the ‘traditional wedding gift.’ Plus, a search for ‘chic Jewish wedding gift’ on Google wasn’t helpful.”

“I am a big believer in less is more, especially in the content realm.”

Like any company that has genesis in digital, there is a question of ‘but how will we make money?’ Danya was in the same boat and realized that content creation doesn’t always lead to revenue generation. Hence, she is experimenting with sponsored content, an editorial where single individuals can be featured (think niche matchmaking) and metric driven activities.

So, what metrics are useful? “First priority is always the quality of the content that is being pushed. Then, I look at open rate and compare it to past issues; the call to action is the subject line and what attracts people to open it. I also look for patterns in top links to see which ones have been clicked on in the newsletter that gets sent out.” Besides these, Danya also looks at growth in subscribers week over week. Ultimately, her goal is to have evergreen content, for example travel guides from a Jewish lens or field guides for Jewish holidays and lifecycle events.

“I try to find peers who are steps ahead of me or at the same stage. I learn best from them and by spending hours researching on Google.”

As Danya works towards launching ARQ, she has had to learn about ecommerce and how to sell products without actually holding the inventory. “I originally thought of having ARQ be a website with image galleries with affiliate links to vendors. Then, after speaking with a few vendors and testing the idea, I found out that no one actually uses affiliate links.” Thanks to Shopify, the beta version of ARQ will be a platform where consumers can purchase specially curated products but the vendors themselves will ship the products out (aka drop ship).

Through this platform, Danya hopes to reclaim the term “Jew” as she thinks it has become derogatory in today’s world. “I’m all about taking back stereotypes and owning them!"

Subscribe to The Ish here for updates on ARQ or follow @popupshabbat on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram for all your Jew-ish needs. 

Photo courtesy of Danya Shults. 

POP BAR, DANIEL YAGHOUBI: The Pop Star

When was the last time you had gelato on a stick? Yeah, it does exist. Pop Bar is one of New York’s most beloved spots for ice-cream fanatics. Not to mention, the flavors and colors will leave you crawling back for seconds. #CheatdayErrday! 

Co-Founder Daniel Yaghoubi is one of the masterminds behind the ever-so-famous Pop Bar or as we like to call it, magical goodness on a stick, located in the West Village of NYC. The joint was opened in May of 2010 and has been in the spotlight of ice-cream lovers ever since. 

“The idea was around selling gourmet popsicles on the go and from there we came up with Pop Bar.”

Born in Germany, Daniel is no ordinary foodie. One, he doesn't weigh over 200 pounds (just kidding) and two, he never went to any sort of culinary school. In fact, Daniel’s past life consists of him being a music producer for seven years before starting Pop Bar. Warning: do not confuse this for being a DJ. Daniel does not DJ, but engineers sounds. He was also a Graphic Design major from Hofstra University back in the day. “I worked at Integrated Studios for a couple of years but realized that the music industry was not the surrounding I wanted to be in. I am a person who likes to have control of their own destiny.”

The Aha Moment

“There was never an aha moment for me. I knew I wanted to create something in the food industry and got together with a family friend/Co-Founder, Reuben Benjehuda, and started brainstorming for ideas. One idea was to make gourmet popsicles. Reuben was Italian, so naturally, he wanted to bring the gelato aspect into it. We moved through the process really quickly.” The idea came into inception in 2009 and boom, one year later, Pop Bar had opened up its first store. 

The Challenges

Daniel mentions how building a business was a big challenge at the age of 26. “I was young so I didn't overthink things and this gave me a good opportunity to take risks and create a vision moving forward.” The ingredients used are very traditional alongside an infusion of American culture flavors such as peanut butter and pumpkin pie. Our favorite licks are coconut dipped in dark chocolate + green tea (must try!). “We like to stay preservative free and gluten free. However, our biggest challenge was to get a creamy taste without having the gelato melt off the stick too quickly. You really only have one chance to get it right and you can’t change your recipe as you go. You can tweak it, but that’s it.” 

“Having a store itself is the strongest platform for promoting a brand, especially in the location we have.”

Daniel tells us how his biggest marketing platform has been the shop itself. The display is set up to be very vibrant and eye appealing to create curiosity as people walk by. PR and press have also been impactful for the brand. “The New York Times came in on the first day we opened and I have done a lot of collaboration events with friends in the fashion industry. We also rolled out our catering services around the time when mini cupcakes were taking off. Brands such as Rag & Bone and Alexander Wang engaged in these branded sticks with their logos for fashion parties which helped increase our reach.” 

The advice? “Make the best product because that is how you will get returning customers.” Looking towards the future, Pop Bar offers worldwide franchises and catering services for parties. Help spread the love by setting up your own local Pop Bar or head on over to the West Village for one of the best popsicles you will ever experience. 

Photo courtesy of Pop Bar.

GLASSFUL, ADRIA JOVER: The Wine Who Knows Best

Red or white? In a world with so many liquor options, customers often find themselves confused and overwhelmed. Lo and behold, brands such as Glassful are making it easier for us to pick our favorite flavors and open new corks, through e-commerce and technology.

“There are two types of people in life: those who read the instructions before using a device & those who use the device & simply try to figure it out.”

Adria Jover, Co-Founder of Glassful is a man of many traits. Originally a sculptor, Adria grew up in Barcelona, Spain and moved to New York when he was 17 years old to study architecture. A true entrepreneur, Adria has never worked for a company since graduation. “I always invent and try to do things differently.” A bad-ass motorcyclist, he gave up the craft of his hands to open up an independent branded entertainment agency in 2002 that catered to brands such as HBO. Having launched too early for its time, Adria decided to move on and set up a restaurant in New York called The Elephant. Working from 9 am to 1 am seven days a week, Adria wasn't too happy with the way things were going anymore. He felt that the depreciation of the restaurant business was very high. So, he sold his business and hopped on a plane to Japan for six months where he disconnected himself from the world to regain peace.

The Idea

Adria returned to his hometown, Barcelona, after Japan and spent a lot of time with his family. A naturally born wine drinker, Adria loves wine and we mean he loves it so much that he prefers it over coffee. Having his veins pumping with more wine than blood (joke), Adria felt that he could build something in this space.

So, when was that aha-moment? He tells us, “I was in Barcelona at a restaurant and went for dinner with who is now the second half of Glassful. She was doing a similar project back in Spain called Wine and Social and had created an algorithm to figure out what a person’s palette is based on with a range of symbols. I found that a bit too complex to bring to the U.S. market, but that was when a trigger was pulled in my mind. After coming back from my travels of a year and a half, I met up with friends and explained my current business idea to them in New York. Everyone was very positive and told me to go for it and that's basically how we started!”

“We are the only ones who specialize in organic, natural wines from all over the world. We have a very specific niche of products that we taste and select through our system of rating wines. This helps put us ahead of our competitors.”

Glassful is an online technology driven company with a brick and mortar store and office located in Long Island City. To start, customers have to fill out a fun, interactive quiz to get a sense of their palette. Based on the results from the algorithm, Glassful hand-picks three bottles of wine and delivers them to your doorstep for only $54. Based on a subscription model, members can then rate the wine online, resulting in better selection for the future. That’s not all! To keep you guessing, each month is themed and each box arrives with a surprise gift inside! (Talk about Christmas coming early eh.)

Despite their addictive business model, Adria wants customers to become socially conscious of where their wine is coming from. “It takes a lot of effort to create the magic inside those wine bottles. If people took the time to meet the families producing the wine, they would be supporting agriculture, which is very important to the rural side of the country.” Fun fact: you can actually tell how well a certain town is doing, i.e. its employment rate and cleanliness, based on its wineries and thermometers.

Why The Name?

The name Glassful was chosen because, believe it or not, it was one of the only related names left for domain purchase. “I believe the most well known and coolest brands have the silliest names.” Just like these cool brands, Glassful’s target market consists of the same avid online shoppers as those who would purchase from Warby Parker, Birchbox, and Casper to name a few.

Feeding off that demographic, Adria tells us how cross promotions and partnerships have brought him the most traffic. “It helps us reach a wider audience in one single campaign. For example, when we partnered with Casper, it automatically brought us an average of 1,000 to 2,000 Instagram followers that we would have never been able to reach on our own. So it’s really about time versus cost.”  Adria also tells us how word of mouth marketing (as usual) has been a top runner for spreading the word. Breaking news: Glassful recently got acquired by invino last month, hooray!

The Red Tape

The alcohol industry is one of the toughest to enter since it's basically ran by major industry players. Despite Glassful being a small elf in this situation, the regulations in this vertical are extremely costly. Adria tells us how “it would be helpful for the government to update their regulatory systems to make it easier for alcohol companies to scale businesses. From an investment point of view, you definitely need physical assets, cash, licenses, and space. The logistics were also a big challenge as we were dealing with such a fragile product.” Insider tip: legally, you can't be a producer as well as a distributer or retailer. It's the law!

Building a Team

With an office location in Long Island City, “I think it is easier to be yourself and find your own company voice when you are not surrounded by New York City’s energy. We tend to all eat together in the office mainly because there isn't much happening in the area. As a result, we become stronger as a team.” In terms of building a team, “to hire someone is the easiest thing ever, but recruiting is one of the most difficult tasks. I have had my fair share of wrong hires in which I thought the person I was hiring was capable of carrying out the skill-sets needed to only find out two months later that they were not able to perform up to my expectations. Times like these end up costing a lot for both the company and the individual.” Currently, the Glassful team consists of nine players. As a manager, Adria comments on how it is important to have empathy with people's lives and problems as well as care about their moods. After all, we are all human at the end of the day.

Key Takeaways:

• Start a company doing something you love, even if it is wine

• Don’t try to reinvent the wheel too much

• Test. Build. Get feedback. Evolve.

• Share the concept and raise initial investment with family and friends

• Delay talks about shares and becoming a corporation until you have tested the market and received enough feedback

• Try to wait as long as possible before spending your first dollar!

Get your wine on by subscribing today and using promo code: Glassfulradiche2016 for a 30% discount. If you're interested in practicing your Spanish language skills or drinking with Adria? Email us at founders@radiche.com and we’ll put you in touch. 

Photo courtesy of Glassful.

BEN & JERRY'S, KRISTEN SCHIMOLER: The Ice Cream Guru

Calling all foodies out there who have devoured mouth-watering, chunk-hunting, swirled-swiveling Ben & Jerry’s ice cream tubs growing up. Yes, you know who you are and today is your lucky day because you get to meet the food scientist behind your favorite flavors – Cherry Garcia anyone?!

A New Yorker from Long Island, Kirsten Schimoler, was brought up in a family of restaurateurs. Her father, the proud owner of four restaurants in Cleveland, was her greatest source of inspiration and motivated her to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Food Science Operations and Management from Cornell University. Instead of joining the family business right away, Kirsten decided to pave her own path, one of immense deliciousness and creativity in the culinary arts. 

In 2008, she joined Unilever and worked as a product developer for their frozen "Dinner For Two" products. After a year and a half of experiencing corporate life, Kirsten realized that it wasn’t for her (welcome to the club). Serendipitously, she came across a vacant position at Ben & Jerry’s and landed her “dream job” in Product Development. 

“I love food and science so realizing that I could have a career in the food industry without working at a restaurant till 2 am…that was tempting to me.”

Moving to a progressive office in Burlington wasn’t too hard for Kirsten considering she grew up in Waterbury, Vermont and visited the Ben & Jerry’s factory quite often. “I remember going to the quality assurance lab, and they would use this giant knife to break chunks and generously add them to the ice cream tubs. I loved the brand and what it stood for so working there was a dream come true.” At Cornell, Kirsten worked within The Food & Brand Lab, performing research on food psychology and consumer behavior. Understanding what we eat, how we eat it and how we can make changes to our lifestyle and our everyday habits was the underlying theme during her time there. In addition, she learned how food presentation impacts how much a consumer would pay for it. This eventually helped her during her seven years at Ben & Jerry’s where her responsibilities ranged from tasting new flavors with the marketing team to brainstorming with consumer insights team to dealing with the design, PR, supply chain, finance, and procurement teams. Kirsten can basically run a company on her own at this point!

What made her more valuable to the company was her decision to pursue an M.B.A in Marketing and Management from the University of Vermont in 2011. “I remember my father saying on the night of my graduation from Cornell, ‘If you have this culinary background along with an M.B.A, you will be very distinctive in the industry.’ And it has definitely helped me because I am in a more managerial role now but I understand the technicalities of creating a product from start to finish and can make smarter decisions.”

“Some people still think we are packing ice cream in a garage somewhere in Burlington.”

Ben & Jerry’s has been around since 1978 with over 500 Million Euros in sales just last year and it was the first major player in the industry to go to market with a line of vegan ice cream. Kirsten, whose first outside-the-box project was launching Greek frozen yogurt in 2012, was the tastemaker behind the non-dairy products that were introduced in February 2016. “This was huge for our brand because our branding has cows all over it and we are known for our dairy products. We knew we had to deliver an amazing product to differentiate ourselves from the smaller players in the industry."

With 900 media placements and 300 million impressions, the non-dairy products were the biggest launch the company had ever witnessed. “We wanted to give people options and along with our ice cream expertise and stance on non-GMO, we were able to capitalize on our brand equity to create this line. There was a petition that 35,000 people signed asking Ben & Jerry’s to make non-dairy products. That alone speaks volume of our brand reputation and customer loyalty. From a sustainability perspective, moving to all plant based ingredients was a massive shift and we met with many vegan bloggers and influencers to understand the market.”

From Creation to Distribution

Clearly, she is smart and incredibly creative with great taste in food, but where does she fit in as a Flavor Guru for Ben & Jerry’s? Kirsten gave us a quick rundown of the new product development process and it sounds like a career made out of the movies, no joke. “It’s funny because I always think of those memes where my mom thinks I do this; my friends think I do that but this is what I really do. I don’t eat ice cream all day but that’s what everyone thinks I do. My role changes based on seasons. From September to December, we are coming up with new ideas, making 30-40 new flavors, and testing them with the brand and consumer insights teams. In early spring, I go to plants and run mass production trials with the new flavors while working with our vendors, those who make our brownies, cookie dough, etc. and 75% of my job is basically paperwork!”

Photo courtesy of Ben & Jerry's

“The most important thing to me is being a really gracious host and giving people the opportunity to come together over good food, drinks, and merriment.”

With the vegan line, Kirsten spent seven months at the production facilities and nine months in the technical development center. “We needed to do a lot of trial and error to make sure that the vegan products felt and scooped like true ice cream. It was very technical and science-based development so my background came in play early on.” The RADICHE team was lucky to taste the new vegan flavors and although we shouldn’t pick a favorite, P.B. & Cookies may just be the yummiest thing our taste buds have ever experienced. Meanwhile, Kirsten’s all-time-favorite continues to be Chocolate Peppermint Crunch, mostly because she turned her childhood love for Girl Scout’s thin mint cookies into an ice cream flavor (Oh, the perks!).

Inside the Food Industry

We couldn’t resist the foodie tendencies in us and asked Kirsten to comment on some trends that were bothering her in the food industry at the moment. “There is a lot of talk and a lot of poorly grounded research out there. People don’t know why they are reacting to certain things in a certain way and have started self-diagnosing their diets. The difference between desire, allergy and intolerance has become muddled these days. My father gets the most ridiculous requests at the restaurant and it’s mostly because people are confused about lactose intolerance or being 'vegan' or going on a paleo diet. There is a lot of education that still needs to be put out in the industry for people to make smarter decisions and I am hoping to be a tastemaker and drive that change in the way people eat.”

Is there a flavor you’ve been dreaming of that you would love for Kirsten to create? Email us at founders@radiche.com and we’ll make your sweetest wishes come true.

FROTH, DAE LIM: The Cocktail Passport

We live in a city with thousands of bars, but most of us tend to stick to our neighborhood. What if we told you that there was a way for you to explore the best city in the world one bar at a time? (Would you think we were alcoholics?) 

The trio, Catie Cole, Dae Lim and Harry Lee founded a new app called FROTH. What is interesting about these specific TasteMakers and company is that FROTH is launching for the first time now, as in right now, as you read this. We were able to speak to the founders back in March and gain insight as to what their process was in coming up with the idea and the best ways to execute a social mobile app. 

“What we really enjoy about drinking is the opportunity to meet new people.” 

The three met back in 2013 (clearly three is a recurring number here) and came up with the idea on a warm sunny summer afternoon in August 2015 (quick turnover from ideation to execution!). Being new in New York City and overwhelmed with options, they found it hard to explore and find the right bars. The idea revolved around “how can we make drinking a smarter activity and how can we gain exposure to different bars? It's essentially like joining a drinking club. The future plan is that if you are traveling and don't know where to go in a new city, FROTH acts as your guide” (watch out Yelp!).

“The last thing we want to be is a Groupon. We want to make this an affordable membership, but at the same time it is the branding and community aspect that brings a sense of sophistication to FROTH.”

Unlike other apps, FROTH functions around a $10 subscription business model in which members can only join by invitation or referrals. This helps the team control the demographic, create organic growth and build a community of like minded individuals. Reason being? To provide valuable opportunities to bars by targeting a specific demographic. “Right now, we are working with a few micro communities in the NYC area, such as NYU grad students and Columbia grad students.” FROTH is also part of the Columbia and Harvard Incubator teams as well as the WeWork community. Fun fact: after signing up, your first five rounds of drinks are free or as the founders like to say FROTH, First Round On The House. “Our main value proposition to the bars is that we bring customers to their door and hopefully they will get that second round of drinks. We also have behavioral incentives in the app to encourage people to order another round. There are a lot of factors to consider on the scalability of the model, but it is a model that we hope to expand beyond New York.”

The Team

So who are these people you might wonder? Dae was born in Korea and graduated from Harvard University in 2014 with a major in Applied Math. Post graduation, he worked at McKinsey for a year and a half as an Analyst. He had previously known Harry from Korea and actually met Catie at an Ultra Music Festival during college where they became fast friends. He is the man behind the strategy for FROTH. The youngest on the team, Catie is currently attending Harvard herself and is set to graduate this May (congrats) with a major in Psychology and handles sales and user acquisition. Harry, on the other hand, previously graduated from Columbia and majored in Computer Science. Being a tech guy, he is responsible for building out the app alongside two in-house engineers, who are also friends. This has helped control development costs as well as allow FROTH to be flexible and agile. 

“Everyday we changed our strategy and model because new things would come up or people would express concerns and we were so vulnerable and accepting of everyone's criticisms. But now, we are a point where it is more fun than anything else.”

“The hardest part initially was getting an introduction to the bars as they are constantly being pitched by lots of companies everyday and none of us had ever worked in the food and beverage industry. At the same time, ClassPass was just getting big at this point and we wanted to jump in on the subscription space. We jokingly called it BarPass in the beginning as coming up with a name was such a struggle.”

Mentorship

It is crucial to get an advisor on board to help you in your infancy stage. FROTH did just that by bringing on Miguel Aranda from Botanical Lab and Apotheke to help familiarize them with the market. The team reached out to a lot of different people in the industry to receive feedback and Dae tells us how effective cold emailing has been for the team.

RADICHE GUIDE for those looking to launch an app:

1. Aha, you’ve come up with something brilliant!

2. Send out a survey to your target market to collect feedback and prove your hypothesis

3. Test out the market before developing a digital product

4. Create a minimum viable product, even if it's a Squarespace website to shop the idea around

5. Focus on user retention first and how to drive up user activity before worrying about user acquisition

6. Get as much feedback as possible early on

7. Join incubators or tech-accelerators to jump start your funding or fine tune your business plan

8. Bring on an advisor from the field

9. Constantly iterate

10. Once you start acquiring users, be mindful of your branding and marketing

11. Be you because everybody else is already taken!

Interested in meeting the team and getting a round of free drinks? FROTH is hosting its Cinco De Mayo, Tequila tasting event on May 5th at 10pm. Click here for event details and download the app to gain exclusive access using referral code Radiche.

TIQO, SARAH & GIGI: The Little Black Bottle

On the beach, at a game, in the woods? Never get caught without a drink in your hand again. For the health-minded and style-conscious—we have found an alternative to the usual.  

So you’re at an event, and your only alcohol options are limited to beer or wine. But what if you don't like either? You’re screwed or, even worse, sober. Not today, though. Meet TIQO, a mixture of tequila and coconut water in a minimalist bottle to give you, party animals, another option—but not another hangover.

“I think we are both very passionate when we get excited about something.”

Co-founders and current roommates, Sarah Pierce and GG Mirvis go way back—and we mean all the way back to 2012, their sophomore year at Columbia University. The idea of TIQO was generated by a trip to Guatemala during Sarah’s sophomore summer vacation. Sarah has never been a beer drinker, so when she got to Guatemala, “everyone was grabbing a six pack, hanging on the beach and I never had something that was easy to drink. I would get a bottle of tequila and soda and mix myself a drink. One day they were making these tequila and coconut water drinks on the beach and just hacking off a coconut and pouring some tequila in it. It was kind of the perfect drink. It was naturally sweetened, didn't make me feel bloated in my bikini…and that's where it kind of clicked. So when I got back to my apartment in New York, I was like OMG! I want to bottle tequila and coconut water in a beer bottle.”

Upon hearing Sarah’s brilliant proposition, GG was very excited and extremely supportive. So the two of them got to work. Obsessed with nutrition and health, GG wanted to add extra ingredients to the drink to appeal to the health and wellness space. “We came up with the recipe by going to Whole Foods and hand-picking out the ingredients ourselves.” Sarah and GG wanted to create a product that celebrated old Mexican culture while adhering to the young, edgy, minimal kids on the block. The black color packaging was chosen for gender neutrality.

Why The Name

They say if you want a store to sell your product, you should get your friends to inquire about it to stir up demand and buzz. Playing on this, Sarah and GG went to a liquor store near their campus to ask if the store had a new drink, Quila (they thought it was a cute way to shorten “tequila.”) The confused sales rep denied them bashfully. After the girls admitted they were just gathering market data and fooling around, the rep said, “Okay, well let me know when TIQO comes out.” Voilà, the name came into being.

“It was really hard to get production with a giant company because they didn’t take two girls seriously.”

“We were self-funded between sales from our first production round and then from friends and family. I think that there is a huge mentality out there right now that you need to go out to raise, raise, raise and that you need a ton of money to get things done. Yeah, you do need money to make money, but you can also be more creative about it and utilize your network and word of mouth. Hustle more and push it out there.” However, the girls would not have been able to launch TIQO without the help of their family friend’s grandfather, who was the chairman of a distribution company. “He really saw a gap in the alcohol distributors market for an alternative to beer.” From conceiving the idea in 2012, to designing packaging and product ingredients in their apartment, TIQO hit the market in March 2015.

“We have this thing called Brutal Honesty”

Optimistic and uplifting Sarah says she never takes feedback personally from her partner “because how are you supposed to improve if your partner isn't going to tell you? Go into a partnership with somebody that, at the end, you don't want to be at the finish line without them. At any moment in time one person is going to be doing more than the other. So it's a total give and take. Many people tend to let their ego get in the way.”

“Your company and the whole process only benefits from you learning how to do things yourself.”

“We initially thought that the hardest thing was going to be being two women in the alcohol industry, because there aren’t many women starting alcohol companies. As in, I don't know of any!” remarks GG. However, when you are launching a product, details are extremely important as well as the coordination amongst different constituencies. “People actually take us very seriously when it comes to what we are doing.”

“A lot of people come to our events alone because it has the atmosphere of openness”

Most of TIQO’s marketing revolves around partnering with upcoming DJ’s, musicians and artists, basically “people who are amazing but don't get recognized.” They focus on locations such as the Hamptons and Montauk. Their first event was held at Surf Lodge in Montauk during the 2014 Memorial Day weekend with a pop-up bar on the beach, as part of the inspiration that one can drink TIQO anywhere even without a full bar. They don't like to close out venues for their events because they’re not snobby like that, and they want to welcome new customers to join the party. “It’s really about bringing together new groups of people.” FYI for those of you who are single, GG and Sarah love setting up people at their events.

Want to start your own tiki bar or just kick back with your friends while watching a big game? Grab a four pack of TIQO for only $16.99 here. We promise delicious taste, no beer belly and most importantly, zero hungover mornings!

VICTORY CLUB, STEPHANIE NASS: The Artistic Foodie

Photo courtesy of Kristin Simmons Art

Bored of attending regular dinner parties with your usual friends? Well, now you have the option to enter a world filled with art, influencers and magic in rare and unknown spaces. Oh, and there will be food.

Founder, Stephanie Nass or “Chefanie” as some call her, hopes to bring individuals together through the power of culinary arts. Given our busy corporate lifestyles, Stephanie found a lag in the market when it came to meeting interesting people while conversing over art. To fill this gap, she has successfully combined food, art, love, friendship, and strangers to create Victory Club, your new kind of supper club that has become increasingly popular in New York City and overseas.

Born and raised in New York, Stephanie has enjoyed cooking for as long as she can remember. When she was 16 years old, she moved to France, bonjour, to live with a French host family in a rural community. However to her surprise, her host family, unlike most French people tended to eat a lot of processed food. “So I found myself not really eating that and cooking for myself. That’s kind of when I caught the bug and couldn't stop cooking.”

“I found myself cooking in every free second and my time in California really defines how I cook today”

A recent graduate from Columbia University, Stephanie studied Art History. Leaving her paintbrush behind in New York, she moved to Silicon Valley upon graduation to pursue a career as a financial analyst. "I was really teaching myself on the job and wanted to see what it's like to grow a company from the financial side." But, she never stopped cooking and once again caught herself fastened in an apron at one of her favorite bakeries. “When I was working 20-hour days, I realized that I couldn't do both, so that only lasted a short time.” After working as a financial analyst for a year and a half in the California and New York offices, Stephanie realized where her true passion lied and it wasn't in the books, but with the cooks. As a result, she enrolled in cooking classes at night at the International Culinary Center in SoHo.

Photo courtesy of Victory Club

FROM FARM TO MARKET

It was on a late fall evening in 2014 that Stephanie hosted a dinner party in her apartment and welcomed friends to bring a plus one as a way to meet new people. The night revolved around discussing Stephanie’s personal art collection, experiencing her delicious meal and making new friends. There was never an aha-moment for Stephanie, but this was the day that Victory Club would become a reality.

So how does it work you might wonder? "The way we work with partners is that we look at their art and then think about how we can incorporate it into food. I love to host the events in artists’ homes because you get a sense of how the artist works, how they live and what inspires them. However, from time to time we will host in galleries.”

Artist Kristin Simmons captured in her beautiful New York home

When we met Stephanie on a mid winter afternoon, her current muse was Kristin Simmons, an artist from New York City and a fellow classmate from Columbia University, whose art focuses on the second amendment and gun control. "The guns are definitely my signature piece. Looking at political issues, gun rights are such a hot topic right now." 

Kristin previously worked in advertising at BBDO and came from a very corporate upbringing, one that did not support her decision to become a “struggling” artist. “I was trained in a very classical manner but in college, I developed my own aesthetic and started moving into the pop realm. I was very inspired by toys, symbols of childhood innocence blended with corrupt issues. I deal with type a lot too, which comes from my background in advertising; using language to make connections between things that seem disparate.” Despite her family’s concerns, Kristen created a personal website, exhibited at art fairs, showcased at gallery shows and promoted it all on social media—finally seeing her labor of love pay off.

Kristin’s pieces typically range between $1,000 to $5,000 for a painting and $250 to $1,500 for prints. "I want to make sure that people our age can afford to start building their own art collection." 

A sample menu designed by Stephanie

WHAT’S IN A NAME

“My blog in college was called Folded Victory and that came from an Elizabeth Bishop poem, one of my favorite poets. She writes about folded sunsets, a picture you would fold and put in your back pocket. So, I was really interested in daily folded victories and that became the name of my blog. And when I began this project, I thought it would be called the Folded Victory Supper Club, but that was too cumbersome as a name so it just became The Victory Club. Sometimes at our events, we will do poetry readings and celebrate everyday victories in art and in people and the name echoes that." 

 

“People leave feeling like they have made relationships, not simply connections and acquaintances”

Since past January, Victory Club has hosted over 30 events worldwide including London, Miami, Nashville and New York. “We have grown so much so fast, BMW just sponsored us.” What has helped spread the word and increase members to subscribe is mainly word of mouth marketing. "The brand is a lot of me, so whenever I meet people and tell that what I am doing, they're really interested because it is so much of a manifestation of my personality." Besides the beautiful art, homey space and great food, majority of the people who attend these dinner parties are entrepreneurs and heavy influencers across different industries. “It’s great because this project attracts really cool people, so even if it's a small group, it's quite charged and powerful.” Stephanie has also been successful in match-making at these events so ditch your tinder app, people, it's all about joining the “club.”

Photo courtesy of Victory Club

CHALLENGES

When launching Victory Club, the biggest obstacle for Stephanie was getting taken seriously. “I was starting a business at 23 and if you looked at my life it almost seems like all of a sudden I became a cook, but in my mind, it made perfect sense. Getting taken seriously as a person and as a business was really hard and I think that’s what I fought for all of 2015.”

“I don't think you can go from zero to one hundred overnight. It’s about gradual growth”

In terms of building a business, the most important piece of wisdom she received was from Alexander Gilkes, CEO of Paddle8, who said "build your brand and business for you as the target customer, so whenever you do anything always think: if you were paying for this, is this what you would want to see?” Stephanie tells us, “I think this is very important because in the very least you create a cohesive brand with a strong sensibility. It is also important to believe in your company and then others will too. Maybe not everyone, but you will never appeal to everyone.”

Interested in attending the next event? Well, GET YOUR BRITISH ACCENTS ON! Victory Club is partnering with ChefXChange in London on March 24.

If you can’t hop to London for this event, consider becoming a member by applying online and get instant access to exclusive dinner parties for a monthly fee between $35-$50. Non-members pay $100 for tickets to these events. Let them know we sent you over, Bon Appetite!