The Startup CPG Podcast

Simon Solis
My biggest thing and a massive differentiator in Huxley is that fruit juice is a key flavor and ingredient. It can't be sugar, it can't be anything else. Has to be fruit juice. And the reason is because I see so many other energy drinks out there, and they might have a fruit flavor or other flavor mentioned on the front of the can, but you turn the can to the back and you don't even see the name of that fruit. It is just non existent.

00:31
Daniel Scharff
Right?

00:31
Simon Solis
It's just hidden in the natural flavors. I mean, where's the authenticity in that? And for me, coming from food and beverage, it's always been about use the best quality ingredients possible, and it's gonna be great no matter what.

00:45
Daniel Scharff
Hello, my CPG friends, and welcome to one of my favorite episodes. Get ready to absolutely nerd out with me about what it's like when a wine expert formulates a healthy energy drink. The brand we feature, Huxley, exploded onto the scene at Expo west. Then they won the recent ticket giveaway we did with the beverage forum and then actually came in the top three in a very competitive pitch contest there. For anyone attending fancy foods. You'll be able to try them in our dedicated startup CPG section. I love this episode. If you want to hear in the moment, what is it like to launch a beverage brand? And also just, it's fun to hear how well it's going for Simon. What a lovely guy. Enjoy. Hello, CPG ers.

01:28
Daniel Scharff
Today, we are joined by Simon Solis Cohen, the founder behind Huxley, a brand new plant powered super fruit energy drink that has had an absolutely incredible first eight weeks in the market. They are dedicated to helping you reach your peak naturally with 90 milligrams of upcycled, plant based caffeine. They have just 5 grams of organic sugar, and they have functional benefits like electrolytes and l theanine. Huxley is not just an energy drink. It's a commitment to better for you. Refreshment. Simon's journey from the culinary world to the wine industry and now to the helm of Huxley is a testament to his deep rooted passion for food and beverage innovation. From working in three different three starred, Michelin starred kitchens to mastering the art of direct, to consumer sales and marketing in Napa Valley, his expertise is across the gastronomic landscape, completely.

02:23
Daniel Scharff
So, Simon, I am so excited to welcome you to the show, especially because I am sipping one of these delicious Huxley strawberry sequoia drinks that I'm enjoying here. And it has been awesome also to see you really recently. And honestly, I just have to say, I don't recall seeing anybody get this much, like, attention and traction in the first two months of their launch. So maybe first, can you just tell me, like, obviously introduce yourself, and then what's that been like? Like, what's going on right now?

02:55
Simon Solis
Yeah. Thank you, Daniel. And I'm happy to hear that. I still feel like I haven't done enough in eight weeks, so I'm glad to hear that. Maybe I'm actually on a good pace, but yeah, no. Nice to meet everyone. I'm Simon Solis Cohen, live in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where I've lived since 2018. We founded Huxley. I started it last year in 2023, but we just launched, as you mentioned, just practically two months ago at Expo west on March 13. That was literally trial by fire, drinking out of a water hose on our launch day.

03:24
Simon Solis
But it's been an amazing journey, and it really feels like a complete culmination of all the different alcohol sub careers I've had in my life up until this point, and now being able to put all my passion and my energy and all my ideas into my own brand for once. So it's just been such a rewarding and honestly, just super fun experience so far.

03:42
Daniel Scharff
Okay, so, Simon, that makes a lot of sense. Obviously, you are very passionate about this industry. Can you just walk me through the last couple months from launch, because there's been so much happening, and I've been hearing so many good things about you. Take us through all of it.

03:58
Simon Solis
Yeah, no, I'd be happy to. So we launched on March 13 at Expo west, and that was really our big debut. We literally got our drink made just in time for the launch. And I can go backwards later and tell you more about that. But since the launch, it has just been hand to hand combat, as I like to call it, and just really going retailer by retailer, account by account, and working on getting everything set up and identifying the partners we want to work with. So, obviously, as you all know, the biggest hurdle is just setting up distribution. So we just signed our contract with UNFI yesterday to be distributed here in the Minneapolis Twin Cities distribution center. They have, which is such a massive hurdle, obviously, to be able to access more retail accounts.

04:38
Simon Solis
And we also have just been working direct with other stores in the meantime. So we have an amazing co op system here in Minneapolis, I think some of the highest concentration I heard of any city in the country. So we've been working direct, and just the response has been incredible. Just the natural pull through velocity is just blowing my mind. And I'm still new to this. I'm still learning what all those key metrics are and what is good versus bad on the metrics. Everyone's like, no, no. You're doing really well. So we're just. We're just so grateful with just the amazing initial response we've had.

05:08
Daniel Scharff
Okay, so you launched March 13 at expo. I know you got a lot of really great attention at the show itself as well. Like, how did you even know to do that? To get a booth at expo? How did you have the confidence to think that would be a good investment? A lot of brands wrestle with this year round of like, am I ready for that? How do you make that decision and also have a good feeling you'd have a product in time?

05:30
Simon Solis
Yeah, I mean, it's funny you mentioned that, Daniel, because a lot of people told me I was crazy, right, to just. They're like, oh, no. Year one product, let alone launches at expo, let alone in their first year. Sure, it is a lot of money. I'm not going to diminish that at all. It was a massive investment. I didn't even know exactly how much it would add up to because, you know, when I had never been to Expo west, you know, it was all brand new to me and, you know, some friends told me about it and, you know, I came up with the idea that I wanted to create this new functional energy drink. I actually. I went back through my emails, found the exact date. It was November 5. That was the day that I decided I'm doing this.

06:05
Simon Solis
So the next day, I look up expo west and I just buy a booth. I call them. I'm like, you have any booth left? Like, we can pencil you into hot products level 100. I'm like, great. I have this idea. I'm going to make this new functional energy drink. Let's buy the booth deposit down. And so we did that and was very much one of those burn the boats mentalities where, like, failure was not an option. And I gave us 130 days to literally go from this crazy idea I had in my head to actually showing up with a product. I mean, it was insane.

06:37
Daniel Scharff
So, you know, I'm here to support founders. That's what I do. And I would have been there to support you, but the thing that I would have done to support you would have also been one of those people telling you, like, no, don't do. You're crazy. Don't do that. Like. Cause I've been through that. I've launched a beverage from scratch. I know how long it can take. So how on earth did you get it done that fast?

06:55
Simon Solis
Yeah, I mean, a lot of luck, I'm not gonna lie. I mean, I think so much of business is right place, right time, and luck. And I don't wanna, you know, diminish that part at all. But there's a few things. So one, I had such a clear vision. I knew exactly what I wanted to do. And so, you know, my background coming. I actually went to culinary school. That was my first career, as I like to call it. I worked in fine dining and in food, and then I moved over to the wine industry, into the beverage side. So I like to think I'm a pretty good palate. I've eaten and drunk so many products in my life and I know what I like and I know what I want.

07:27
Simon Solis
And so I was able to quickly come up with a list of ingredients and come up with what those differentiators I wanted for the product. Obviously, I needed someone to help me with a commercialization of the formula. And through just some networking, I got in touch with an amazing company that has had great successes making some of the most famous products out there in the beverage world that everyone knows. And so, you know, it was a lot of trust I had to put in them. And so I went to them, I said, look, I can give you like four to five weeks. Can you do this? And they're like, we're going to try. No promises, but we're going to try our hardest. And I was just blown away. You know, it's a lot of those upfront meetings being really clear.

08:04
Simon Solis
This is exactly the flavor profile I want. These are the ingredients, these are non negotiables.

08:09
Daniel Scharff
What did you tell them that you wanted?

08:11
Simon Solis
Yeah, great question. So my biggest thing and a massive differentiator in Huxley is that fruit juice is a key flavor and ingredient. So obviously the number one ingredient is water, but the second ingredient after that, I said, it has to be fruit juice. It can't be sugar, it can't be anything else. Has to be fruit juice. And the reason is because I see so many other energy drinks out there and they might have a fruit flavor or other flavor mentioned on the front of the can, but you turn the can to the back and you don't even see the name of that fruit. It is just non existent. Right? It's just hidden in the natural flavors. And that just honestly pisses me off. I mean, where's the authenticity in that?

08:45
Simon Solis
And for me, coming from food and beverage, it's always been about use the best quality ingredients possible, and it's going to be great no matter what. Right? So it's all about those ingredients. And so I'm like, if I want to have a mango energy drink or strawberry energy drink, why would you not? I mean, to me, it was almost like, why would you not use fruit juice? Why would that not be the backbone? And so for me, I was really inspired by, you know, what folks like Poppy and Ollie pop and wild wonder have done to the soda category. And that's exactly what we wanted to do. And our goal is for the energy category. So I knew fruit juice, I want that light, fruity flavor profile. I don't want it to taste like your typical reverse engineered knockoff energy drink.

09:23
Simon Solis
So that was a big focus.

09:25
Daniel Scharff
That makes sense. And, I mean, that's super helpful to hear because I'm drinking it now. I'm tasting it. I see actually on your label, it says, contains 11% juice, which that's awesome. And, yes, your second ingredient in this lovely strawberry sequoia flavor is strawberry juice concentrate. And, I mean, the label is beautiful. So it shows, obviously, a big sequoia tree with strawberries. And, you know, it's very beautiful. And I feel like it is aligned with the taste that you get. And it makes a lot of sensing the ingredients. And so I'm going to take another sip here, please.

09:57
Simon Solis
Do.

10:00
Daniel Scharff
You know, what's nice about it is because I know caffeine can be a little tricky with any product because caffeine has a bitter note to it. And I think that's the most impressive thing, is that the flavor of this, which, yeah, it tastes fruity in a nice way. And it works well because there's depth of the strawberry that I think blends well to ward off what you don't want from the caffeine. And so to me, it, yeah, tastes very well balanced. This is like, you wouldn't want it too fruity because then it's gonna be hard to probably drink this whole thing, you know, if it's like overpoweringly sweet or something. So it's. It's not too sweet. It has the, like, ripe depthness of the strawberry. It doesn't have the aftertaste that you don't want.

10:49
Daniel Scharff
And I think more than anything is like, when you drink the liquid, it feels like there's a kick. Right? Which, because you expect that from an energy drink. Like, it shouldn't just taste like a juice. It should be like, oh, no, there's, like, something in this. So I think, yes, whoever you worked with, it did a very good and record timed job.

11:09
Simon Solis
It was amazing. No, I appreciate that. I mean, we got done ahead of schedule. I actually got the whole thing, the whole production done a week before I was supposed to get it done for expo. And, you know, the R and D team we work with, really fantastic. I mean, so we have three skews. We have a mango mesa. We have the strawberries you just talked about, stripe of sequoia. And then we also have tangerine. Tangerine, tangerine Teton. And so two of the skews, I believe it was the strawberry and the tangerine, they nailed it on the first trial. So, you know, they put three different iterations together, shipped it to me overnight on ice. Nailed it the first time. Right. There's three. Choose from was like, great, I'm going to take a. From this one, c from this one.

11:42
Simon Solis
The main goal, I was like, I just need you to, you know, I give them some feedback. You know what? I wanted them to change a little bit in the formula, and they nailed it on the second try. And, I mean, once again, I'm so new to this, but I hear that's unheard of, you know, and so obviously, it's a lot of credit.

11:54
Daniel Scharff
I think it is, yes. And what I expect is that you gave them very good guidance, because, I mean, yeah, food product developers are incredible. I think they're like artists. You know, it's the same as, yeah, if you work with a creative person, design agency, a music producer, they have an incredible amount of technical skills, and the problem is getting what's in your head translated to what they can do and the tools that they have to work with. And so because I've worked with people who are very strong on the palate and stuff like that, and I expect that's really what you're able to do, is give them a very strong vision of what to go for that then let them come and nail it.

12:30
Daniel Scharff
And it was probably just really aligned with the kind of ingredients that they were able to use, you know, and, like, being able to use the juice and then, you know, just a little bit of sugar. Right. Because, I mean, if you look at. Yeah, if you look at those full sugar energy drinks that might have, I don't know, 40 grams of sugar or something like that. Yeah, I think a lot of consumers are looking, you know, there are many drinks that are doing well with zero sugar, but then also, I think, a big movement for low sugar options where, yeah, it's 35 calories, a total sugar amount of 7 grams, which is 5 grams of added sugars. Like, that's not gonna immediately turn a lot of people off.

13:08
Daniel Scharff
And some people are maybe warm to the idea of just having a little bit of sugar in their drink rather than stuff that maybe. I know there are some sweeteners out there that people are worried about, zero sugar ones.

13:18
Simon Solis
So, yeah, for us, moderation is so important. I mean, I think that it's a word that I think in all aspects of culture right now, moderation is something we all need. And you have those extremes exactly as you said, Daniel. If you have those, you know, we'll call them legacy traditional energy drinks. That, yeah, you're seeing 30, 40, 50 grams of sugar, depending on the serving size. And then you have some of these other spinoffs that are those zeros or, you know, too good to be true. We'll call them with sugar alcohols. And personally, I'm just not a fan of sugar alcohols. I've seen studies that scare me about potential health effects. Obviously, there's still a lot more to study. I'm not a stevia person.

13:52
Simon Solis
No disrespect to people who use stevia in their formulations, but I just don't like the taste, and I want pure deliciousness. And then you can't beat it. We're using organic and sugar, too, so it's less refined. And even just at expo, the feedback people like, oh, my God. Thank God it's organic cane sugar. Like, no stevia, no monk fruit, no alternative sweeteners. It's just a very pure taste. And with the fruit juice, you don't need a lot. It's naturally sweet because of the fruit juice.

14:16
Daniel Scharff
And coming back to the formulation part, then having the ability to then take what they're giving you. And I think the hardest thing to do is to put into words what it is that you want them to change. Actually, the most important thing is knowing that you like or don't like it. So being able to prove, too, right off the bat, amazing. And then being able to give them, I bet you could give them pretty specific feedback about, like, okay, I don't like how it hits the roof of my mouth this way, or actually, this taste is lingering, or I need more body in it, or, you know, hey, the carbonation's not quite right. I mean, I bet you speak that language already, just based off your background, which I imagine is just such a huge advantage for you, but I still don't understand.

14:55
Daniel Scharff
Okay.

14:56
Simon Solis
You approved the flavor.

14:58
Daniel Scharff
How the f. Excuse my language. Did you source all the ingredients in time, schedule a run with a coma, and have confidence that you wouldn't miss that run and have to pay for it, and then ultimately lose all of your booth money?

15:11
Simon Solis
Yeah. Oh, believe me, there was a few sleepless nights. I actually had to completely cancel a vacation, and my wife and I were planning a family getaway.

15:18
Daniel Scharff
Okay. That makes me feel better. Sorry.

15:19
Simon Solis
Yeah, no, there was suffering. I was supposed to visit my college roommate in Puerto Rico, visit him and his family, so I had to cancel that. So, you know, pour me and.

15:27
Daniel Scharff
Okay, good, because it shouldn't be that easy.

15:29
Simon Solis
No, it shouldn't be. That was the one sacrifice. But that was. It was the only bad thing that happened. But, no, I mean, once again, a lot of luck. And I think. I think that's so important, is that I was able to work with a coal man locally here in Minneapolis to do a pilot rod. So that was just great, living 15 minutes away and being able to show up for the run. I mean, that's. Once again, not most people have the opportunity. And then.

15:50
Daniel Scharff
Was that the lab?

15:51
Simon Solis
No, not the lab, but another one. Yeah.

15:52
Daniel Scharff
Okay. Because I've gone to Minneapolis for a pilot run, a sample run, basically, at the lab, which is a very fun experience.

15:59
Simon Solis
I've heard of them. Yeah. So, no, I mean, that's amazing. And then, you know, the ingredients. Yeah. I mean, I swear, those vendors probably hate me because I sent them so many emails, but I try to be super respectful, but just lay it out. And to show them the stakes, I was like, look, guys, there's literally tens of thousands of dollars on the line. I need you to waive your moqs. I need you to speed this the heck up. You know, and I even had one vendor gift me the product. You know, they were just like, you know what? It's such a low amount. We're just gonna make it on the bench, and we're just gonna give the two. We're not even gonna charge you. Right?

16:29
Simon Solis
So just the fact that the CPG community and these vendors kind of rallied behind me was just an incredible thing. And I'm just, you know, flattered that they believed in some crazy guy showing up out of nowhere saying, hey, I need this in two weeks.

16:42
Daniel Scharff
Yes, that is an insane thing to do. Like, hello, I'd like to work with you, by the way. I need a bunch of stuff right away. It's completely urgent. I need you to waive all the minimums, and let's just go. But, I mean, you're such a passionate and charming guy. I bet a lot of them responded to your energy and your vision for this. And probably it's going to pay off well for all of them because they took a chance on you and just seeing the traction that you're getting already, I think probably they'll have a long time customer. So one ingredient that's featured on here that I have the least knowledge but most curiosity about, I'm not even going to say it right. I don't think is the cascara super fruit energy blend. Can you tell me about that?

17:20
Daniel Scharff
Because I know it's featured pretty prominently on here and is a super interesting one.

17:24
Simon Solis
Yeah, you practically nailed that. So good job on the pronunciation. Yeah. So this is really interesting. And because, as you mentioned, caffeine in, depending on the form you're getting, it can be very bitter. Right. It can give, you know, just even anecdotally talking to consumers when we're thinking about this and trying to, you know, get some data about what consumers are looking for, everyone said all that. That bad aftertaste you get with a lot of energy drinks. Right? And I do agree with you, a lot of that is that bitterness from caffeine. So we wanted to find a different caffeine source.

17:52
Simon Solis
We wanted to see how we can create differentiation, but also bring in our big mission of sustainability, which for us is not a just check a box because it looks good that way, but, like, that's what I believe in, and I want to put my money where my mouth is. So cascara super fruit is something that actually most people would recognize because it's the outer husk of the coffee bee. It just has a much more fancy sounding name. So what's really cool about coffee, if anyone's ever seen coffee grown at origin in the countries it's grown in, it grows on these trees. And the best way to describe it is it looks like an overgrown cranberry, a little bit bigger than a cranberry. It has this kind of harder red shell on the outside. And so that's what the cascara.

18:29
Simon Solis
Cascara means husk, in Spanish. And so when it gets harvested at origin, they're pulling these pieces of fruit because that's what it is, off, and then they're breaking it open, and inside are coffee seeds. And that is what then becomes roasted. It ends up as the coffee we all know and love, and there's just the two little seeds inside each piece of fruit. But what's left over is this husk, this cascara. And what happens is most of it ends up in a landfill. There's natural sugars in there, so it's going to start rotting and it's going to start emitting CO2. And because there's so much caffeine and polyphenol content and other stuff like that, you can't really use much of it for animal feed. I think you could only use, like, ten or 20 something percent I read as animal feed.

19:10
Simon Solis
So there's really nothing to do with it. They don't want, like, you know, the pigs and cows just jazzed up on caffeine, probably.

19:15
Daniel Scharff
So that sounds like it would be like a wild petting zoo.

19:19
Simon Solis
That'd be, oh, I'd love that petting zoo. I would go there, I think so. That. So, yeah. So this basically is cascara just literally sits and rots. And so I was able to find a study from Oregon State University, and what they did is they did a study about the 2019 coffee harvest, looking at the global coffee yield worldwide, and did the calculations on the mass of the husk to the beans and all that kind of stuff. And long story short, what they were able to calculate was the CO2 emissions from one year worth of this cascara rotting in landfills across the world. And they found it was the equivalent emissions to 3 million passenger cars a year.

19:55
Daniel Scharff
Whoa.

19:55
Simon Solis
Yeah. So we're all here trying to buy teslas and electric cars and, hey, boy, I think it's great. Well, like, oh, my God, there are so many things out there in food and in CPG that are causing insane amounts of CO2 and emissions. And it's just, it's like, wow, it's.

20:12
Daniel Scharff
Pretty amazing also, I mean, one upcycling is just so cool. Right? And we're seeing consumers look for a lot more of it, especially, like, you know, Gen Z that, you know, fortunately for the future of society, seems to make more purchase decisions around things like environmental concerns, which is beautiful. Yeah. Just kind of amazing to think that all that stuff is discarded, but also what's in there. I mean, that's nuts that you have caffeine, which a lot of people want as an ingredient and will get otherwise from some other place. And then also the polyphenols, which, like, a lot of people will drink other drinks or take supplements just for the polyphenols, which, I mean, I think it, like, it's antioxidant.

20:50
Simon Solis
Exactly.

20:50
Daniel Scharff
Helps your body deal with stuff. Like, maybe you can tell me a little bit more about what that does.

20:54
Simon Solis
Yeah, no, exactly. So I'm gonna probably butcher this. So, you know, don't at me, but chlorgetic acid, I'm gonna butcher that pronunciation. But, yeah, which is in the cascarin, really high doses. And so, you know, people look at antioxidants from fruits like acai and pomegranates and things like that, you know, and so cascara is the same thing. And it's just this amazing. That's why it's a super fruit. You know, it just has this amazing amount of antioxidants. And so there's so many studies I'm out there reading, and I feel like cascara superfood really hasn't been studied enough from a medical perspective. And it's too early for me to confidently make any claims in our marketing. I'm very cautious on making health claims that are, you know, only very well proven.

21:34
Simon Solis
But what I'm reading is so encouraging that there's probably more health benefits than we even realize that I'm hoping more people will be studying it in the future because I think this is just an amazing product that we're able to reduce food waste by using.

21:47
Daniel Scharff
So I want, I'm just going to read through the ingredient panel on here because I think it's super clean and super clean. Really interesting. So carbonated water, strawberry juice concentrate, organic cane sugar, natural flavors, electrolyte blend, which is monopotassium phosphate, trimagnesium citrate, and then the Cascada super fruit energy blend. I mean, that I know how to pronounce from Spanish, but I didn't want to sound like an idiot, like saying the spanish word, you know, like when someone's mom rolls up to Taco Bell and is like, oh, hello, I'd like a burrito. You know, are you supposed to loan.

22:20
Simon Solis
Off for your semester abroad?

22:22
Daniel Scharff
But I know that. I mean, from Spanish, I know that word as being. Yeah, being like, you know, the rind or shell or something. So that makes, now makes sense to me. And then in the superfruit energy blend, you have coffee, arabica and l theanine and citric acid. That's it. So, I mean, for me, pretty clean. Like, you know, I would be pretty happy about seeing all that stuff. So take me back then. Also just to the branding part, because, I mean, it's very beautiful. And, you know, I think everybody should google this and check out the images. But basically you have in big red, it's very clean, you know, so it's kind of like a, what's the color? Is it. What's the background color? Is this a cream, or is it, like a creamy.

23:03
Simon Solis
Yeah.

23:04
Daniel Scharff
Vanilla cream. Yeah, cloud cream and more white, but.

23:09
Simon Solis
Just a little bit of that creaminess to it.

23:10
Daniel Scharff
Yeah, yeah, like an off white.

23:12
Simon Solis
Exactly.

23:13
Daniel Scharff
And then you have the red Huxley font. The x has a feature on it that's a little bit jagged. Which. What does that represent?

23:22
Simon Solis
Yeah, the rub is a mountain, you know, and our whole.

23:24
Daniel Scharff
Oh, it's a mountain.

23:24
Simon Solis
Yeah, yeah. It's a little slowly Easter egg in there, you know, for anyone who sees it. But, yeah, I'm kind of cutting a little mountain. Yeah.

23:31
Daniel Scharff
Okay, cool. I mean, it's rugged, so I get that, but. Okay, now I see the mountain. Now I can't not see it. And then it says, plant powered energy drink under that. And then you have the sequoia tree in a forest looking good and strong and towering. And then underneath that, the flavor name. So how did you get to this so fast? Also, was that as easy as getting the formulation done? Were you doing it at the same time? How did you sequence everything?

23:56
Simon Solis
Yeah, we had no choice but to do everything at once. Right. And so that's obviously super hard, because we're trying to design this, but also, we just have to know certain things about, like, what's in the formula. Right. How big is the ingredient list so we can block the space out? What certifications are we going to be able to get in time? Which we don't really get any of them in time, but we now have them. So on the.

24:12
Daniel Scharff
The answer better be none, or you really are a superhuman. Okay.

24:16
Simon Solis
No. We were so close on the non gmo, which we now have, and on future runs, we'll put it on the label. But, like, we just. There's, like, one or two just took too long. Yeah, we could. Yeah. And so, for us, the whole vibe and inspiration of Huxley is we're inspired by the great outdoors and inspired by adventure. And I think, you know, I think we all kind of came through Covid and the pandemic just locked inside. And I think all of a sudden now, there's just been amazing interest in the great outdoors and adventure. I mean, you saw, you know, things like fly fishing, takeoff, and hiking and camping. And I think everyone's just really start to embrace nature again, which I think is an amazing thing. And so I want it to be more than just a typical looking energy drink.

24:55
Simon Solis
And this is where I go back to my wine experience. Previous to starting Huxley, I had founded a wine marketing agency. I started that in 2018. And then I ended up exiting and selling it in 2023 in order to start my own brand because I was honestly sick of being a consultant. I'm like, you know what? I can help all these other brands, and that's fun and it's great, but I want to build my own brand. And so I had the benefit of being able to do a lot of branding and digital marketing and things like that for the wine industry. And one of the best lessons is the label sells the product, right, especially in wine, which I would argue is even more competitive than energy drinks.

25:30
Simon Solis
And I know energy drinks is damn competitive, but the label was, I'd say, over 90% of kind of what makes that informed decision. When you walk into a liquor store, right, and you look at that shelf of 300 bottles, let's be honest, most people choose it by the label and the label has to stand out. And so I can't tell you how many freak I probably spent every single day during those 130 days walking in different stores, energy drink set, just staring into space and staring at these aisles. I'm like, what is going to be different? And I think that there's some amazing traditional legacy energy drink brands out there that make a crap ton of money and have an amazing consumer base, and that's awesome. But we think there's even more opportunity outside of that.

26:09
Simon Solis
And so when you look at our drink from, call it 3ft back, it doesn't look like an energy drink. And that's the whole goal. One of the best lessons I learned from a designer, you know, when I worked at a winery, were doing a rebrand of the wine labels. He says the best wine labels from 3ft off the shelf look exciting enough to pull you in. But then when you pull in and pick it up off the shelf, you see even more details and it reveals even more of the story. And I loved that. And that's what we wanted to do with this. We wanted to have this national park vibe. We wanted to name every flavor off of the parks, wanted to have these customers bespoke illustrations that we did in house to celebrate. The parks bring a little surrealism with the fruit.

26:47
Simon Solis
And as you pull in and actually inspect the, can you see more and more of those little surprises?

26:52
Daniel Scharff
Okay, so let's dig into the comparison to wine a bit because that's super interesting to me and I've never had that discussion with anyone. First of all, obvious question. When you're doing the taste test and approving the formula, are you doing spit, spitoon, spit, taste like you do with a fine wine.

27:07
Simon Solis
I did. I'm that guy. And I try not to be like, I believe I'm so anti wine snob. Like, I hate that part of the wine culture.

27:15
Daniel Scharff
But, yeah, you didn't have your pinky up. You didn't squirrel swill it.

27:20
Simon Solis
I just definitely switch it in my mouth for sure to taste it all. I'm that guy. I can't stop it. But, yeah, you know, it's just second nature.

27:28
Daniel Scharff
Okay, so, well, speaking of that, then, so you're drinking the mango one, right?

27:32
Simon Solis
I am. That's what I have right now.

27:34
Daniel Scharff
Okay, take us through a tasting of it right now. Just let's go through the whole, let's go for it.

27:37
Simon Solis
All right.

27:38
Daniel Scharff
Tell me what notes you're getting smelling here. My lovely strawberry one. Definitely smells like getting notes of strawberry.

27:47
Simon Solis
Yeah. Yeah. There you go.

27:49
Daniel Scharff
Okay, so take us through the mango.

27:51
Simon Solis
Yeah. So the mango has become my personal favorite so far. I think the one that's, like, overall the biggest favorite from everyone who's tasted them. I mean, they're all great. They all stand alone by itself. It just seems this mango is just hitting a whole nother level. And so there's a few things about it when you taste it. So first of all, and this is where I'm going to, like, get why geeky for a second. But it's all about balance. Balance is the most important thing and also how you taste, right. You taste things in different places. So you take a sip, and then the first flavor that youre getting is this really luscious, fresh cut mango.

28:21
Simon Solis
And thats really important that I wanted a freshness that was one of those big buzzwords on my, you know, pretty much profile I wrote up for my R and D team. I want this to be fresh. I want to literally taste like I just picked the juiciest mango off a tree, cut it open, and handed you a bite. And so what I want to do with this is layer in how the sweetness and the acidity play off of each other. And so acidity you feel underneath your tongue. So if you take a sip like I just did of this mango, and now I just kind of sit here and just let my tongue sit literally underneath my tongue. I just start salivating. And that's acidity. That's where you feel acidity.

28:54
Simon Solis
You feel that in wine, you feel that in this huxley, you filled in kombucha. Anything with acidity. Right, right. So that's where you're going to feel. And then you get the sweetness at least for me, the sweetness kind of copes the top of my tongue and the thing. And that's why I love organic cane sugar versus stevia or something else. Stevia leaves that almost, like, waxy coating feeling, I feel like, on my tongue with this organic cane sugar. It's luscious. You can feel a little bit of a body to it. And then what's really unique about the mango formula is, besides having the mango juice, we actually have mango puree. And so that's really important. So we're using Alfonso mango, which is a varietal of mango, to get super geeky.

29:30
Simon Solis
They're the more oblong ones, the less round ones, and it is just one of the best varietals of mango out there. They're so freaking juicy. And, I mean, the best way to explain is just this, like, literal explosion of tropical fruit. And that's what we want. And so we have a carbonation there too. And so, like, for me, one of the details I put on that brief for the R and D team is I want this to taste almost like a champagne cocktail, you know? And if you have a mimosa, you have something like that, or Bellini peach juice, right? You get that orange juice, you get that champagne together. It's fruity, it's sparkling, but it's not aggressive sparkling. It's not like a Coca Cola or pellegrino bubble, right, which is gonna be much higher carbonation.

30:08
Simon Solis
This is on the lower side of carbonation, which, one we have to do because it's pasteurized, but two, I just wanted to have that light fruitiness and light, sparkling quality, because I want you to go work out. I want you to be active after you drink it. So for us, it was just layering the sweetness, the acidity, that flavor, that carbonation. And altogether, it's just a harmony, and that's what we're all about.

30:26
Daniel Scharff
And carbonation, I was pretty interested to learn, going through the product development process myself, of, like, okay, so you have different levels, right? You can say, like, a lot of comans, in my experience, like, will say, oh, we can do up to two, three, 2.3 in carbonation, maybe up to 2.5, but especially, like, when you pasteurize it, which means after the thing is filled, they heat it, basically. And that's a kill step for food safety. They can go up to a certain level, but you might have some things like, I don't know, a sparkling water, maybe like a perrier, which for me, always, like, I never would have known this before. Going through the process. But it feels highly carbonated. Right. Like lots of little bubbles.

31:04
Daniel Scharff
Like, I don't know what level that got to, but the carbonation that you can select, basically, when you're putting it in, and, you know, you might want to max it out as high as we can. Basically do it without popping a bunch of cans because that's what happens if you heat it and there's carbonated, is the thing's going to pop. Like, if you leave a can out in your car in Miami on a very hot day, which I definitely have done, by the way.

31:23
Simon Solis
That doesn't sound personal at all.

31:27
Daniel Scharff
Oh, no. Fortunately, that one was just water. So not to stain the leather. But, yeah, pretty interesting how much the carbonation can impact the flavor and.

31:40
Simon Solis
Oh, my God.

31:40
Daniel Scharff
Yeah. Just how. Yeah. Like, you know, it kind of, like, opens things up. Right.

31:44
Simon Solis
It is. Because what it actually does, it is a flavor delivery mechanism, carbonation. Right. And so, basically, you know, I'm sure you've heard this a million times, but about 90% of taste, it's the olfactory system. It's actually not your taste buds on your tongue, it's the whole olfactory system. And the carbonation is literally. And this just goes back to my geekiness of doing. I love champagne and sparkling wine, so doing a lot of tastings of that, when you have that carbonation, it helps really bring that up into your olfactory system, and you're going to get more flavor out of it, you know? So if you drink one of these that's not been chilled, where obviously, if you chill any carbonated product, the bubbles are more pronounced, it's going to taste totally different.

32:22
Simon Solis
This as a chilled product versus a room temperature product, I mean, it's just amazing how that carbonation and the temperature makes it way more flavorful.

32:29
Daniel Scharff
Okay, here's a dumb question from someone who was never good at these subjects in school. So it's, like, carbonated. So you're drinking it, but how does that open up your olfactory, like, sense of smell? Like it's carbonated, somehow it, like, I don't know, opens that passage up or. Because it's bubbling then. More.

32:46
Simon Solis
Exactly.

32:46
Daniel Scharff
Okay, so more of the scent from it bubbling then is going to go up the passageway and hit your olfactory sensory. I'm going to run out of words that I know here.

32:57
Simon Solis
Yeah, and that's why were joking about, like, what, eye tasting and swishing it around. That's what you're doing. You're trying to bring in oxygen. You're adding the oxygen to the product in your mouth, and then that's helping to bring up your olfactory system versus if you just kind of just chug it and swallow or, like, take a shot, you know, you're barely tasting it.

33:14
Daniel Scharff
Okay. That makes a lot of sense. All right, thank you for everyone for bearing with us through us nerding out on beverage formulation, because I love this topic. And actually, I just tell everybody, you can probably hear from talking to Simon, but, like, I'm kind of blown away by how much he knows about this coming into it. And I'm just like, okay, I get it now. I get why you guys were able to do this so fast. When you just have someone with your massive skill set and palette coming in. Pretty rarely have I ever heard a founder talk about flavor, so in such a sophisticated way. So it all makes sense now.

33:49
Daniel Scharff
Okay, I promise maybe we'll come back to it, but at least for now, let's move on back to the other part that you mentioned about wine and the importance of the label. So, yeah, I think I've heard. Did you say 90% or something of it is all about the label, or. I've heard that before.

34:02
Simon Solis
Statistic, but, you know, that's my opinion of, like, the decision making process.

34:07
Daniel Scharff
Okay, so how much do you think it would be, then for something like energy or soda versus, like, okay, if you take a product like, Red Bull. Red Bull, for me, tastes horrible. I don't.

34:20
Simon Solis
I like your words, not mine, but.

34:22
Daniel Scharff
Yeah, just for me personally, as a consumer, like, that is gross, but, okay. People learn to accept it over time. Like, you know, that when I was a kid, that did not exist. So it's not like a flavor that we grew up with, but, okay, maybe I had my first one because someone told me if I mix that with some vodka, that was a good idea, or because I had to study all night and I just heard that was the thing that helps, that makes you do that. And so then you drink it, and it's like taking your medicine almost. You know, that's. For me personally, that's kind of what it tastes like. A little medicinal. But, I mean, it's still the number one in the world.

34:55
Daniel Scharff
Obviously, people are still drinking it, but, like, objectively, you give, like, you meet a human who's never had anything in the category and give them that. I doubt they're going to pick that as their favorite drink out there yet. It still does really well. So maybe, I don't know. People are still picking it because the marketing is so strong. Or maybe a lot of people have even become nostalgic for it, and they'll drink it during the day and remember those fun late nights they have with their friends. Right, but so, like, yeah.

35:18
Daniel Scharff
What do you think about the importance, then, of the taste in the category, which has a big variety of things that taste good or taste bad, versus something like wine, where, I don't know, like, how many people even really can taste the difference between different bottles of wine from, like, you know, we've all heard about these things of, like, can the real experts even differentiate between a $10 bottle and a $100 bottle? Like, yeah. What do you think about all that?

35:46
Simon Solis
Yeah. No, that's a loaded but really good question. I mean, yes. To answer your question about why most people can't tell the difference, I mean, there's so many studies I've read and stuff where, you know, if you just tell someone, hey, they give them a two buck chuck and say it's worth a $100, they just think, right? So perception is everything. They think it's good. And I think a lot of taste and a lot of this is you're told you should like it. So you walk in with that preconceived notion that this is what good tastes like. I mean, when I started the wine industry, I started at the bottom of the food chain doing tastings in Napa Valley winery tasting rooms. I was the dude behind the bar, pouring samples, doing tours.

36:20
Simon Solis
I mean, I spent first couple years of my career doing that, trying to get people to join wine clubs, that whole thing. So I've just had years of experience just literally sitting with consumers, doing nothing but pouring them beverages and telling them how to taste it and what to think about how to taste it. And so I think, for me, I've had a front row seat to that. And it's amazing what persuasion can do, you know? And it's all about how you present the product. The thing about wine is, yes, there's that. We'll call it 1% of people who are white snobs and geeks who have white subs and collected. Great. That's awesome. And everyone else, congratulations. You're a cheap date, and you're going to save a lot of money.

36:54
Simon Solis
Because if you're happy with a $15 bottle of wine, God frickin bless you know, like, that's awesome. I think that to go back to your example with traditional energy drink category and how we're trying to disrupt it, I think a lot of people just have assumed this is what energy drinks taste like, you know, they have this need for the caffeine, which is obvious. That's pretty much one of the most consumed things out there in all of its different forms. And they just assume it has to taste that way. And what we're trying to do is say, but no, it doesn't, you know, and we're all about not compromising flavor for functionality. So in my opinion, flavors, table steaks, like that is the baseline. Your product has to taste good. And then everything else is really about the differentiation.

37:36
Simon Solis
But in a weird way, I feel like in the energy category, I don't think people talk about taste very much, you know? And so I feel like we can really start that conversation around flavor. And I could keep harping on the fruit juice. That's just such a massive differentiator. There's just so few brands out there that are doing it. And then you have brands who are doing candy flavored energy drinks. And don't even get me started. Cause I'll rant about that for a long time. But I'm like, what are we doing to society and to the next generations, where we're just continuing to perpetuate this idea that things have to taste sweet like candy? And I think that's kind of scary and dangerous. And, you know, I'm all about, let's go back to nature. Go back to natural and fruits.

38:14
Simon Solis
The best way to do that.

38:16
Daniel Scharff
I appreciate that. Yeah. The ones that are, like, fully loaded up with sucralose are tough for me because they're so sweet and then, like, you know, they get it warm also before you finish them. And then some of them are pretty tough to finish, even very popular ones on the market. And by the way, interesting coincidence for me, like, with wine, I, during the pandemic, got very into wine, too. Into wine. I was not a big wine drinker, but I lived in San Francisco at the time and had gotten excited about a couple different wine clubs, you know, vineyards that I like to go to. I had a really cool one up near Healdsburg that was beautiful, dog friendly, and you know what I thought was good wine.

38:54
Daniel Scharff
So during the pandemic, I just started drinking a lot of pinot noirs from that part of the world. So from Napa, from Healdsburg, and from Sonoma county, obviously. And because I was drinking a lot of it, I would get interested in it. I was having a glass every night and then just starting to see if I could actually do it, if I could call out the notes that was in it right before looking it up. So I would test myself on it. And then actually, I was really surprised that I was getting a lot of it. Like, at least. Well, supposedly, like, whatever I got from it, I would usually get at least pretty close or some of the stuff that a wine expert would have called out when I googled it later.

39:33
Daniel Scharff
And I just got better and better at that, just specifically with pinot noirs and more interested in it. And then. So when it came time for me to be formulating a beverage, I actually felt super prepared, at least compared to where I was. Not obviously at your level, but to then taste things and be confident about what I was tasting and be able to say what I liked and didn't like. So. Although probably I did not need to be drinking as much wine as I was drinking during the pandemic, but it did really give me a crash course in how to taste stuff. And then, you know, you can actually buy these test strips on Amazon to find out if you're a quote unquote super taster or not, which I did, and then was very proud that I qualified as a supertaster.

40:14
Simon Solis
Oh, really?

40:15
Daniel Scharff
Yeah. It's basically, if you could just pick up all of the flavors and the test strips. And then, of course, I, like, lorded that over everybody of, like, oh, you wouldn't get it. Cause you're not a super taster.

40:23
Simon Solis
Oh, no. And statistically, women are more likely to be supertasters than men, so you are even more rarefied, actually.

40:32
Daniel Scharff
Oh, my gosh. Oh, gosh. Rare women usually have better palates.

40:36
Simon Solis
They say.

40:36
Daniel Scharff
This is not an. Not on my dating profile that I'm a super taster. Yeah, maybe if I worked in the wine world, but, okay, so. But back to your brand. Okay.

40:49
Simon Solis
Okay.

40:51
Daniel Scharff
Okay. So just one thing I noticed on here also is that it says 1% for the planet, and you have a call out for National Parks Conservation association. Can you tell me a little bit more about that?

41:02
Simon Solis
Yeah, I mean, that just goes back to this whole idea that I want to put my money where my mouth is, right. And if I'm going to talk about sustainability, I don't want to just greenwash it, and I want to actually put the dollars and invest back into that. And so, obviously, 1% for the planet, started by the team from Patagonia, is just an amazing organization, and it's a pledge, and it's saying that we're going to give 1%. And the keyword here is revenue, not profit, revenue. So, as you know, as a new brand where profit is eluding people, for a while on this industry, you're still paying from day one, so we're still making payments and donations to causes. It's so important, you know, because we're taking resources from the earth.

41:40
Simon Solis
I mean, that's literally what we're doing to make this, and we have to give back. And so we decided to become a big supporter of the National Park Conservation Association, a fantastic charity out there that is doing a lot to help with education as well as preservation of the national park. Since we are using the national parks as our inspiration and the names and the can art, it was just a complete no brainer to work with them. And so what we love about working with them is that we're gonna be able to direct where the money goes. And it's not just sending a blank check to some faceless charity and hope that it actually helps someone.

42:12
Simon Solis
We're going to be able to direct it to specific parks and specific locations and really be able to see where our money goes to making sure that we preserve these parks and these lands for future generations to come, which is just so important. And I worry that, you know, what we're doing with, you know, we won't get the whole thing on climate change and all that. We could talk for hours about that, but it worries me a lot. And it goes into other hard decisions I'm making, which, you know, it's been a roadblock, for instance, of reducing as much plastic as possible from our supply chain. And so when I'm packing out, we're not packing out in a tray wrapped in plastic.

42:46
Simon Solis
And it breaks my heart when I see brands that are quote unquote natural brands, and I see them in the backstop room when I'm delivering Huxley and they're being shipped wrapped in plastic. I mean, just such a waste. And so we're paying way more, obviously, to ship in just recycled cardboard boxes, just your standard RSC box. And that's, once again, it's putting my money where my mouth is. That's the right thing to do. Why would we invite plastic into this chain? And so we are going to move eventually from shrink wrap, which is our label, which you just unfortunately have to do as a new small brand. But hopefully by the end of this year, we'll move on to printed cans, and then we can really get rid of the plastic from our chain, which is so vital.

43:23
Daniel Scharff
That's beautiful. Yeah. I really applaud you. And I hope everybody launching a brand now does it as thoughtfully as you're doing it. And just thinks about how can they use their business for good, whether their cause is sustainability or protecting parks or whatever it is they're doing, but obviously makes a lot of sense given the positioning of your drink. So given all of the good stuff that you're doing, given the taste of it and the branding and all of these promises that you have to the consumers, who do you think will be picking this up first on shelves? What stores are you in? And who is the consumer that you think is going to pick this up off shelf first and become your die hard consumer base?

43:59
Simon Solis
Yeah, I mean, it's been really interesting. We, as you said, we're only eight weeks since launch, but we're already on some store shelves locally here in the Minneapolis, Twin Cities, which is great. And I've been doing demos showing up and just introducing the product. And I know back in business planning 101, everyone's like, who's that target customer? Give me the exact age, what they make, where they live, all their hobbies. But like, and in truth, they say this Huxley has such a wide array of demographics that we're successful with that I'm seeing already and that I think we can penetrate into. So as you mentioned earlier, I think Gen Z is a no brainer. You know, I'm thinking of things like college students, because obviously they need the energy to stay up late and do their work.

44:36
Simon Solis
You know, we don't recommend energy drinks for anyone under 18, but those 18 and above, we think it's a great fit for those looking for an energy drink. But that sustainability mission in mind. But we're actually, I'm doing really well, baby boomers. I mean, when I've just been going to these co ops, you know, and looking at the who's walking in and who I'm getting the feedback for. Baby boomers have been really enjoying this and I think it's a few things. One is the 90 milligrams of caffeine. And I think that's a really important differentiator. That's the equivalent to one cup of coffee. And that's why I chose 90.

45:03
Daniel Scharff
A nine ounce cup of coffee. Even then, not even like a twelve ounce or not even. Not the, like, if you get a venti from Starbucks, that would be like more than. More than double.

45:12
Simon Solis
Yeah, exactly. That's just your small cup of coffee. And so that's why I chose the 90. So that's easy when you know, oh, how much coffee? As much as one cup of coffee.

45:19
Daniel Scharff
Right.

45:19
Simon Solis
You know what that's going to do to your body, you know, usually how you feel and then the low sugar, the 5 grams of sugar. And I think that for people in the baby boomer generation above, you know, there is a focus on lower sugar, less caffeine. Right. And so for me, it's just really interesting. Well, that wasn't my target. We're indexing really well so far. And so there really is this wide swath. And I think that, you know what I've kind of dubbed in my deck as the Diet Coke mom. Right? I just, you know, I look at, you know, mothers who are, you know, that 40 to 60 year old, you know, swath who drink that Diet Coke at twelve or 01:00 in the afternoon into that guilty pleasure they have because they want a little that caffeine, they want that sugar.

45:56
Simon Solis
But they probably know Diet Cokes not, maybe we'll say, the most optimal, healthy drinks to consume, to put it lightly. And they look at this and it's like, great, they're going to get that caffeine, they're going to get that little touch of sugar. It's going to be light and fruity and refreshing. So to me, like, yes, you could have Huxley for breakfast. We have the tangerine. You could replace that instead of your orange juice. I think that 12:00, 01:00 lunchtime window is just that perfect window to consume this beverage.

46:20
Daniel Scharff
Yeah. Yeah. I think that lines up with the data that I've seen about how people consume energy, especially. And that makes a lot of sense to me because I've been in your shoes, I've been out there demoing in the energy category. And that makes sense that it would appeal to that demographic. Especially interesting timing for you to have this kind of a profile drink because obviously we've seen in the last four or five years just the surge for Celsius especially, which completely opened up the category in a very interesting way. So they have, and I think most of their line, they have 200 milligrams of caffeine. So a little bit over double what you guys have. And that was an increase. Right. And so I think historically what you saw was like Red Bull, which had 120 in their top selling line.

47:05
Daniel Scharff
And then like, okay, you had some really starting to push the limit. Bang. Energy had 300, I think. 300, which before I went into the category, I hadn't really had that many energy drinks. And I bought one and tried it and, like, felt faint, honestly, like, I was like, whoa, my God. Like, not in a good way. So then you have Celsius. That hits 200. Super interesting to me. Because Celsius, like, here in La, it's everywhere. If I go into equinox, that's like what I'm seeing everywhere. And that's a new thing because you wouldn't have seen, like, you know, health and wellness oriented, you know, let's say, like 20 to 40 year old women drinking a lot of energy drinks before. And now, you know, they're like, they've just always got the Celsius somewhere near them. It's pretty interesting to see.

47:51
Daniel Scharff
And I think also if you ask them, like, oh, do you drink energy drinks? They may be like, nope. Like, well, what's that? Like, oh, well, it's, you know, something else. Like, they wouldn't necessarily categorize themselves as energy drinkers, and they did not drink energy drinks before they started drinking Celsius. So it completely transformed the category, brought in tons of new consumers who are now also open to other, I would say, alternatives. So then it's interesting for you then to be coming in already with a lower milligram of caffeine alternative, which I think is pretty interesting because just me personally, I do think that there will be some kind of backlash from a consumer perspective about the very high caffeine milligram options because, you know, it's like kind of push up and up.

48:31
Daniel Scharff
And then I think people will be like, okay, we like that, but maybe we don't really need necessarily that much caffeine, especially if I'm, like, doing my workout in the evening or whatever. Like, okay, yeah, maybe that, you know, so that, so it sort of seems like it could pan out very well for you based off that profile. So, anyways, a lot of that just to say, like, I really think the profile of your drink is pretty cool. So one topic I wanted touch on. So I got to see you actually about a week and a half ago because we did this very cool partnership with the beverage forum, which is a conference that's been going on for a long time. Used to be, I would say, primarily kind of like big time companies.

49:08
Daniel Scharff
You know, you're going to see like, the CEO of Millercoors there, Bolson cores or whatever, and like, you know, big companies, big time, like, kind of buyers making, you know, big decisions, but maybe not as much our emerging brand community, but now it was bought by llibations, and I think one thing they really wanted to do was to bring this new world to that conference and inject a lot of energy into it. And so were really lucky to partner with them. So what we did was first a ticket giveaway. Right. So they wanted to really, you know, get the awareness out once LA libations took it over and wanted to bring in this new energy. So we got to work with them first, giving away two tickets to our community.

49:47
Daniel Scharff
So a bunch of people applied for this opportunity, and you were one of the two brands selected to win a free ticket to the show, which is not cheap. Yeah, very cool show.

49:57
Simon Solis
That was a real deal. Yeah, that was a heck of a prize.

50:00
Daniel Scharff
Yeah, it's nothing, you know? And you and magic mind got the free tickets to the show, which, for an eight week old brand or, you know, five or whatever, how many, however many weeks old you were at that point was super impressive. Like, oh, wow. And you and I got to do a reaction video where I called you to tell you and you were driving, and it was an expletive laden reaction, which I loved.

50:24
Simon Solis
I'm from Philly. I'm sorry, I can't. You know, the fact I haven't used an expletive yet today is impressive.

50:30
Daniel Scharff
Congratulations to both of us. So that was awesome. And then at the show, which was very cool, what we did is we got 15 brands up there, emerging brands in the middle. Like, all the big time buyers are there. You know, you've got the sprouts buyer, the Walmart bar, 711 ventures there. Like, all those guys are there. But most of the people featured on stage are people who have, let's say, quote unquote, made it already. Like, you know, you had Allison from Poppy giving a really interesting talk, and even, like, Robert Downey Junior was there, giving a talk about happy, like his new coffee, a lot of big timers. But then we brought the fun, I would say, of all of these new, exciting brands, most of those people had never heard about, but they were very interested.

51:08
Daniel Scharff
So we got 15 people on stage for 30 seconds. And so you were able to pitch. Everybody was able to pitch. And then we had an hour of sampling downstairs. And our panel for this pitch competition was Brian, the Sprouts buyer, Kristen, alas, from Gelsen's, Darren Viscount from Bristol, and Matt Bonovich from seven ventures, and Jess from the Libations team. So everybody got to then do their quick pitches, come downstairs, everybody try the products. And you guys actually came in the top three for that, which that was already a very competitive process, to be one of those 15 brands that got to the pitch. And then you guys came in top three, which is really unbelievable. And I had the privilege of sitting with all of the buyers when they were doing their deliberations and their feedback for you guys was so overwhelmingly positive.

52:00
Daniel Scharff
And I think just everybody could not believe that you guys were so new and just, you know, everybody loved the taste and the branding, and I think, you know, just everybody expected really big things from you guys. So that was a super strong showing. But anyways, in summary, you guys at that point were, like six weeks old, and you won the free ticket to the beverage forum and then nailed the pitch. Everybody loved the brand, and you came in top three in a very competitive group. Again, being like, a six week old brand at that point. So congrats to you guys because that was just really amazing. Any did. What was that experience like for you?

52:32
Simon Solis
Yeah, I mean, geez, 30 seconds for a pitch. That's actually the hardest thing I've done. Like, give me 20 minutes at a PowerPoint. No problem. I got that right. But having to get it into 30 seconds, I mean, I can't tell you how many times I rewrote my little script. I could only say five sentences. I didn't even say my full name. I didn't say my name. I said the brand name, like Simon souls comb. That's too long. That takes like 2 seconds, you know, so I had it down. I think I got exactly to 29 seconds.

52:54
Daniel Scharff
Let's hear it. Wait, let's just drop it now, see if you can get as close. Give your best effort, and I'll just tell you how long it takes.

53:01
Simon Solis
Oh, my God. Am I allowed to pull up my notes?

53:04
Daniel Scharff
I would say just rip it, and let's see how close you get.

53:07
Simon Solis
Let's see. All right, if somebody has not been.

53:10
Daniel Scharff
Listening to the last hour of this and you can only tell them in 30 seconds about your brand. Go.

53:17
Simon Solis
Huxley's an innovative new energy drink that launched a march that proves you don't have to compromise flavor for functionality. Each can includes 90 milligrams of caffeine from cascara superfruit, the upcycled husk of the coffee beet. It's blended with real fruit juice and only 5 grams of organic cane sugar for delicious taste with zero artificial ingredients. Huxley's inspired by the great outdoors, donating 1% of revenue to the national parks, ensuring every sip supports a sustainable future.

53:40
Daniel Scharff
All right. And the crowd goes wild.

53:43
Simon Solis
Can't believe I can remember that a week later.

53:46
Daniel Scharff
I think it was 27 seconds, so.

53:47
Simon Solis
Oh, even.

53:48
Daniel Scharff
Good job. Nailed it. So, yeah. What was the overall experience then? Like, maybe you can compare. What was it like versus expo, where you also were just getting tons of interaction with buyers, like, being at this other thing that was then just a lot of beverage focused people.

54:03
Simon Solis
Yeah, I mean, I loved how intimate was. I mean, I think that was really interesting and unique. I think it was 350 people total, I believe, attended. So, I mean, just that one one access to the different buyers that were there. And, you know, I'll call them CPG celebrities. I mean, just meeting these other founders, being able to. I got to spend time talking to Allison, founder of Pocky and me. She is just a rock star. She is so impressive and so unbelievable what she has done, and very inspiring, as I said, because what she's doing with Poppy to disrupt soda is exactly what I want to do to energy. So I could not ask for a better opportunity than just Ben. I think we should talk about 20 minutes after the whole conference was over, which is unbelievable.

54:40
Simon Solis
And then just getting the Facetime with the buyers. I mean, you know, some of them I'd met at Expo and already had pitched to them, and so this was just another way to get in front of them and just humble. They even remembered my name and my face, which was great. And just continuing those conversations, as we all know, it takes more than one conversation to land these deals. And then, hey, I got to meet some potential hopeful, possible investors maybe one day. I got some great introductions there and other vendors and people in the industry. So just being able to have such intimate, defined access to really, the who's who of beverage, as you said, just being, I think, seven or six, seven weeks old at the time, was just invaluable. I mean, and I think that I love networking.

55:21
Simon Solis
I mean, it's a hobby of mine, I like to say, and I think it just goes to show up. You just never know. Like, yes, we're only seven, eight weeks old. I'm sure there's a lot of people listening who are aspiring founders who are just kind of intimidated and don't know, oh, should I do these things? Should I go to these expos? And it's like, I really believe you create your own luck, and you're not going to create it sitting in your office at home. You just have to show up, get on the plane, spend the money, and it will always pay itself back, and I've no doubt that will pay itself back for us in the long run.

55:48
Daniel Scharff
Okay, so it sounds like you're doing everything right to have gotten this far so fast, but it's only been six months now, so actually, in this moment already, is there anything you feel like you should have done differently, like, a different timeline you should have taken or maybe tried to speed something up or kind of like, sequenced your stuff differently, or you should have invested in something else sooner, or you wish you had been hitting sales earlier or any kind of learning already at this point that you think you would do maybe a little bit differently, to be honest.

56:17
Simon Solis
No, I mean, you know, and I'm really confident this isn't my first business. So for me, like, it's just getting right back on the bike after, you know, spending the last five years building and then exiting and selling another business. So, for me, it was just like, great. I know the playbook. I don't know a lot about CPG coming into it. I mean, and then this is gonna, you know, probably make you blush, but, you know, startup CPG has just been this invaluable resource. I feel like, as I said, I've gotten, like, a master's degree, you know, just through talking to people and slacking with people and making these connections, because I know wine. I know that side. But my specialization was direct to consumer wine marketing. So I was doing Facebook ads and acquiring customers and running e commerce.

56:55
Simon Solis
And now I try to learn what I would call wholesale, what you all would call retail and CPG. I know nothing about retail. I know nothing about working with distributors. So I hired some consultants to help me. I've been networking and chatting with folks and listening and devouring all your podcasts and all the content star PG puts out. And that has just been able to teach me and just be a quick study on how this all works, because I want to know, what are the standards? How is business done? So, for me, I just think it's. We have a plan, we have our strategy, which I'd be happy to get into. And it's just now I think it's enough talking, and it's not like it's time to execute. You know, we have the product, we know our strategy.

57:31
Simon Solis
We just got it now just go do it.

57:34
Daniel Scharff
That's amazing. And honestly, yeah, it makes me really happy to hear that all of the experience that I've had, that the team has had, that our partners have had, can be helpful to you, because that's what this is for, is really, like, there's a funny bone inside of me that just gets a weird amount of energy from just being able to be helpful, being able to share something, having, you know, someone else find that really useful. And so it definitely tickles me every time I hear that something that we're doing is helping somebody from the community. So thank you. That's very validating and really lovely to hear.

58:05
Daniel Scharff
And, yeah, I guess maybe just because you mentioned it about your strategy going forward, anything you want to highlight or, like, you know, where do you hope that you'll be in a year or five years, anything like that?

58:15
Simon Solis
Yeah, no, I'd be happy to. And this is where I've relied on the community. I've been able to network with tons of other CPG founders or consultants or things like that. And, you know, I've decided to go the slow and steady route. And I think that there's so many people out there, young entrepreneurs, who have this go fast and. Oh, am I allowed to curse? I don't know. Great stuff.

58:36
Daniel Scharff
We'll say, I think so. Yeah.

58:38
Simon Solis
Okay. We'll say stuff. I'll be polite today. Go fast and write stuff mentality. And that used to be me, honestly, like, with my last business, I was like, growth, growth, grow in all costs. And it worked out great. But here I'm seeing how capital intensive CPG is, as we all know, and I'm self funded still right now. I mean, yes, I will need to raise money one day. That's how funding will run out. But for right now, I want to delay that fundraising as much as realistically I can. And it's like, crap. Can we cash flow this year? Can we break even, make a buck?

59:10
Simon Solis
And so right now, being in Minneapolis, which probably doesn't get enough credit for being such a CPG capital that it is, I mean, thanks to cargo, general mills target, all these amazing companies based here, tons of other amazing founders and entrepreneurs that come out of the twin.

59:25
Daniel Scharff
Cities, and also the retailers, too. Right? You have NCG there. You have intra basically there.

59:30
Simon Solis
Yeah, no, it's just an amazing hub. And I'm just so grateful that I happened to just randomly move here in 2018. So we really want to build in our backyard. And just the people I talk to, they're like, go slow. There is no rush. Like, you don't need to conquer the world in one year. And it is counterintuitive to how I'm programmed, and I'm really trying to moderate myself and mature and do that. So right now, I'm focused on is opening as many of the right accounts as possible here in the Twin Cities. As I said, we just signed on with Unfi. I'm already working with co ops directly, which has been amazing, some of these NCG stores, until we get the unfi able to distribute us, which is fantastic. And we're having amazing sell through already.

01:00:10
Simon Solis
We're able to, you know, have repeat orders. I delivered last week to a co op on Thursday, and then on Tuesday, they emailed me and said, hey, bring us more. So I just delivered that this morning. So, like, just to have that. And I haven't even done a demo at that one yet. I mean, because it's been like, what, four, five days? Wow, five days. You know, we're going to demo later this month. You know, we haven't even run a promo yet. And so the product is selling itself off the shelf, which is just really exciting. But then once we can actually put our marketing strategy behind it with intense demo support, a very thoughtful TPR strategy, I mean, Sky's the limit, but all within reason.

01:00:45
Simon Solis
So we're going to open up as many accounts as we can out of that twin cities distribution center for unfi and just go as deep and hard as possible. And then from there, we want to maybe look at the rest of the midwest. Obviously, Chicago would be a great market for us. We're looking to do that. We've been authorized with fresh time already writing on the paperwork for that. So that's exciting. So we're going to be in all Minnesota fresh times. We want to do that for a couple of months, get the data, get that velocity, and then hopefully maybe expand to another state or all the fresh times, for instance. So that's really exciting. But we're also looking at some, maybe we'll call them, you know, less obvious options.

01:01:23
Simon Solis
So, you know, some exciting news we can break and some deals we just signed yesterday. So we actually just made. I just made my first delivery to Lululemon, of all places.

01:01:32
Daniel Scharff
That's so good.

01:01:34
Simon Solis
Yeah. Not who usually CPG companies call on, but Lululemon has a flagship in the mall of America here in Minneapolis, where they actually have a cafe. And so they actually have a few locations with cafes in the back. So there's, you know, coffee bar, smoothie bar. They have a little grab and go section. So they had a traditional mass energy drink there. And I just said, you know, I'm just going to show up. So I literally walked into Lululemon with samples, met the manager, you know, talked to her, explained the value prop, and obviously, supporting local is so important, and were able to get that deal done, and it's amazing. So we just dropped it off today. Hopefully, we'll be on the shelf in a few days there and use that as a test to hopefully grow into the more of the Lululemon cafe.

01:02:13
Simon Solis
So for us, that's exciting. And then yesterday, too, we just signed our deal, and we can announce that we're going to be partnering and launching on Misfits market on their e commerce platform starting in June, which is an amazing deal.

01:02:26
Daniel Scharff
Oh, that's so good. I don't know if you worked with Jessie for that. She's awesome.

01:02:30
Simon Solis
I worked with Brooke, actually, who, yeah, I think just recently was promoted into being the category manager for beverage and all that. And she has been a delight. But that's an example of back to how we started this conversation about Expo west. Everyone's saying it's too soon, and Misfits is a perfect example. That came from expo, and that deal alone, in a month or two, will pay off what expo costs me. And so that alone just says the value of just showing up. We just called LinkedIn as many buyers as we could previous to expo. She was one of the people to be courteous enough to email back to me. She said, yep, I'll come to your booth, which I'm sure a lot of people say, then don't show up. And then she actually showed up.

01:03:08
Simon Solis
We got to talk privately, followed up a week after, talked for maybe 20 minutes, and it didn't feel like a negotiation. It just felt like, yes, this is a natural partnership. The mission that misfits has with upcycling, reducing food waste, what we're doing, it was just such a match made in heaven. It was just an easy deal to make. And so we're so excited to launch with them and see where that partnership goes. So, yeah, I mean, it's just been incredible. And we have. We have a lot more than works. We can't talk about yet, but hopefully some more exciting news. And every week or two, we can keep rolling out some thoughtful partnerships.

01:03:39
Daniel Scharff
That's awesome. I am a big LinkedIn fan also for cold outreach, just figuring out who the buyers are. So it sounds like you have already mastered that. I'll give a quick plug for an app that we found that's called surf. S u r f e. They're not like a sponsor of ours. I just recently started using it, and I was like, oh, my God, I wish I'd had this. It's a plugin for LinkedIn where if you use a CRM, like HubSpot, you can even be on the free version. And then if you pay for the surf subscription, or even they have a free one, you can then take LinkedIn messages and put it into your CRM to help you track all that outreach.

01:04:14
Simon Solis
It's oh, my gosh, I need this.

01:04:16
Daniel Scharff
It's ridiculous. Yeah, it's incredible. One, it'll help you get emails also for people off LinkedIn, but then two, you can just click a button and add it as a deal into your CRM so that then you can be like, all right, ping me in two weeks if this buyer doesn't respond to me on LinkedIn and it tracks all the messages that you have with them. Super tool. Very cool.

01:04:33
Simon Solis
I love it. I'm still on that. Yep. I'm gonna go down.

01:04:36
Daniel Scharff
Yeah. S u r f e. It's. Yeah. Very cool. I just got hooked on it. Cool. So, Simon, I think we really got into some good stuff. This was a fun one between two kind of beverage nerds, really getting into the good stuff. So probably there are a lot of people who will find that part of the conversation incredibly interesting and others who will just really have enjoyed hearing about the meteoric. Meteoric. I don't know how to say that word. Meteoric. Rise of Huxley. And it'll just be so fun to stay tuned on your journey and just see how it goes at expo next year and really looking forward to hearing about all of these things.

01:05:12
Daniel Scharff
And I am just so hopeful and certain that at some point this brand that I feel like is born to then displace a lot of the stuff at target and be on shelves there and maybe replace some of the stuff that's too sweet like were talking about. So I'm sure that will happen at some point, and I'll be excited to hear about that. So just in closing, what's a good way for people to follow along the Simon and Huxley journey?

01:05:39
Simon Solis
Yeah, no, great question. So, yeah, LinkedIn. I love LinkedIn. That's the best place. Just, you know, you can follow me personally, Simon Solis Cohen, or the Huxley page as well. I sort of personally post a lot. I think it's important. I encourage other founders, like posters of victories. It's so important. You have to put it out there. No one else is going to say it for you. So I love to. I've been building in the open, and if you go and stalk my feed, we documented the whole 130 days that it took to launch. There's some great content there. And also check out Instagram, Drinkhuxley, TikTok, Drink Huxley, and of course, our website, drinkhuxley.com dot. We do have direct to consumers, so I definitely would encourage anyone who's interested in trying Huxley. Feel free to order from there on Amazon as well.

01:06:18
Simon Solis
And pop it up on stores here in Minnesota and one day nationwide, but in a slow and tempered way.

01:06:24
Daniel Scharff
Preston, just last question. This is an oddball. It just occurred to me, but lets say you found $100,000 in the woods and the requirement was you had to spend it in the next 30 days on your business. What would you put that money into?

01:06:37
Simon Solis
Thats a really good question. The boring answer is inventory, but ill give you a more exciting answer than that.

01:06:44
Daniel Scharff
Thats a good answer.

01:06:44
Simon Solis
Yeah, I mean we both know how much it costs to produce a run. So that now give me more of.

01:06:50
Daniel Scharff
Like a marketing or sales answer.

01:06:53
Simon Solis
So what I'm actually working on is looking to hire right now is an in house content creator just bringing, you know, having run a digital marketing agency, you know, we don't necessarily see direct to consumer marketing as a path to grow beverage brand. I just think it's too expensive. But for us, creating social media content that's really meaningful and engaging and our goal with that is to actually drive to the stores, drive to our retail partners. So being able, I mean, shoot, I'd love to have someone full time right now we're hiring part time, but I definitely spent part of the hundred thousand dollars on just developing really good content because that's the best way we're going to get our message. And you know, we're working on affiliate marketing programs and stuff like that.

01:07:29
Simon Solis
So I think spending money just to create brand awareness, I don't really want to be doing paid advertising. I don't really think there's a bang for your buck. But the organic content, I think, you know, there's not enough money out there to make that.

01:07:39
Daniel Scharff
Love it. All right, from a digital marketing expert. Perfect. Simon, thank you so much. Just for me personally, probably everyone can hear this was a good time.

01:07:47
Simon Solis
Thank you. Daniel.

01:07:48
Daniel Scharff
Rich is a good time for Daniel and just, I think everyone's going to enjoy watching your success. We are really proud at startup CPG to be able to support you specifically and a lot of other founders like you. And not everybody gets the free giveaways and stuff like that, but it seems like you're making the best use of it possible. So I'm really glad that their team was able to select you for that opportunity that you did then make the most of. So thank you again for taking this time with us. I'm sure everybody loved hearing it and we look forward to seeing you all for the next episode. Bye everyone. All right, everybody, thank you so much for listening.

01:08:28
Daniel Scharff
If you enjoyed the podcast today, it would really help us out if you can leave a five star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. I am Daniel Scharff. I'm the host and founder of startup CPG. Please feel free to reach out or add me on LinkedIn. If you're a potential sponsor that would like to appear on the podcast, please email partnershipstartupcpg.com and reminder to all of you out there, we would love to have you join the community. You can sign up at our website, startupcpg.com to learn about our webinars, events and slack channel. If you enjoyed today's music, you can check out my band it's the super fantastics on Spotify music. On behalf of the entire startup CPG team, thank you so much for listening and your support. See you next time.