The Startup CPG Podcast

Amna Mettmann
I'm originally from a place in northern Germany, very close to the Danish border. And I grew up with browses and Brause is basically an old German word for soda. And there are a variety of different browsers, three of which we obviously created now for the US market. But browser is, to me, it's nostalgia. When I hear that word, I think of, you know, back in the day, I used to sing in a choir for like eight years. And every holiday season we had a big concert and we would go to our local, you know, brewery and they would have these drinks actually on tap. Interestingly enough, the malt soda and the malt beer is on tap in most breweries in Germany. And we would just have that. And it kind of felt like, you know, you were an adult.

00:55
Amna Mettmann
You were, you were getting that like, foamy drink in front of you. And so when I hear browser, I think of my childhood, you know, and just enjoying drinks with friends. And that's how it came about.

01:10
Caitlin Bricker
Hey everybody, this is Caitlin Bricker, editor at Startup cpg. Today we are back with another founder feature. You're going to meet Amna Metman, founder of Braza Browser is a German inspired craft soda made entirely in the usa. Browser creates organic, no sugar added sodas based on traditional northern European drinks, offering a clean alternative to typical sodas and NA beverages. In this episode, you'll discover what Brauza means, the history behind these traditional drinks, and the story behind their branding and brand. I hope you love this episode as much as I love opening the fridge and seeing Braza. As always, enjoy. Hey everybody, welcome back to the Startup CPG podcast. This is Caitlin and today I'm here with Amna Metman, founder Browza. Amna, welcome to the show.

02:04
Amna Mettmann
Thank you for having me.

02:05
Caitlin Bricker
Caitlin, it is so good to have you here. I finally, after months of watching your brand on Instagram, got to taste Braza for myself at the SF grocery run and I was blown away. So for anybody who's not familiar with Braza, can you tell us what Braza is?

02:24
Amna Mettmann
Yes, and I'm actually super excited that you're pronouncing it correctly. I know it's a German word, so not the easiest, you know, feat, but Brause is basically a premium, health conscious take on German craft sodas. Everything is sourced in the US from the ingredients all the way to our packaging, but it is really. We took German craft sodas that have been around for centuries in northern Europe and we wanted to tailor those drinks to the American palate. We use all whole food ingredients, nothing Artificial, we don't add any sugars. We get organic apples and dates do the trick there and then no alcohol, no artificial flavors, as I said. So I would kind of describe them as honest, high quality, delicious drinks.

03:07
Caitlin Bricker
And I would definitely agree with that. I think something that's so impressive for me is that A, the branding is amazing, but B, you're able to accomplish this delicious flavor without using additives like natural flavors or added sugar, which I feel like are ubiquitous in the beverage market. So that to me is a huge feat. So I'm curious why you chose to go in that direction. Why no natural flavors? Why no added sugars?

03:35
Amna Mettmann
I honestly think that especially having a daughter, I think I've become a lot more aware of what is in the food that we consume on a daily basis. And it's been a topic that consumers in particular have become a lot more aware of. And we really ventured out to create these drinks based on the best taste. And it happened to be just very natural. Apples are incredibly powerful. When you bite into, you know, a juicy apple, it can be super sweet. It can be so satisfying. Same thing goes for dates and, you know, the ingredients that we use in general. So there was no need for us to really go the artificial route. It would just happen to be that we really ventured out to create most delicious drinks and you can find really what you need in whole food ingredients. I find.

04:21
Caitlin Bricker
I agree with that wholeheartedly. When you set out to create Browza, did you feel like you wanted to launch with just one skew or did you know that you wanted these three SKUs from the start?

04:33
Amna Mettmann
You know, that's a good question. Our bestseller is the apple soda. I think there is a lot of consumers are truly looking for, you know, that drink that has sharp bubbles. But at the same time we use, as I said, these organic apples sourced in the US and it's incredibly satisfying. It is this skew that really led me to start browser because I left Germany 15 years ago or so after school when I first went to London, then I went to Canada, then I came to the US eventually. And the further I went away from Europe, the harder it was for me to find these drinks that I was super excited about that I grew up with apple soda. That's the number one soda in Germany. We don't really grow up with Coca Cola or Pepsi.

05:14
Amna Mettmann
We don't even know what Mountain Dew is actually in Germany. So the further I went away from Germany, the harder it was for me to find that apple soda that I got used to. And that I grew up with. And so it really was the skew that had me start browser. But when I looked at it and in the CPG space, as you probably know, if you have one skew, you don't have a business, you have a product, but you don't have a business. And so I thought about what does the market in the US truly need right now? We know that there is a really big push towards, you know, non alcoholic drinks, modern sodas.

05:46
Amna Mettmann
And when I thought about it, I thought that the market is ripe to introduce these other two SKUs which are malt soda and malt beer, which have been the alternative to alcohol for centuries in Germany. But we, as I said, we tailored them to the US palate which is slightly different to the European palate. But yeah, to answer your question, the apple soda is what had me started. And it's also what my husband got super excited about because he also missed it. He's also German. But then we thought, you know what, why not start with these three SKUs that are all very different. But truly it's the right time for the US to really be introduced to.

06:21
Caitlin Bricker
So talk to us about your two other SKUs. Can you tell us about the flavors that are behind those? The apple soda is obviously self explanatory. You'd think until you taste it and then you're like, okay, this isn't just a soda, but tell us about the other two.

06:37
Amna Mettmann
No, you got it right. Actually it's funny because with the apple soda it's when people drink it, they're like, wow, this is incredible because it is so flavorful, but it also has the sharp bubbles. It's something that I missed in the US when you think of, you know, these carbonated apple drinks, oftentimes they are too sweet and they're not really satisfying. And the nice thing about and we don't tout any functionality with our drinks, but the nice thing about apple soda is that it is very isotonic. So in Germany, when you go and you run a half marathon and you come back from, you know, a bike ride or so, the first thing you grab is usually an apple soda because it rehydrates you faster than water.

07:14
Amna Mettmann
So I think there was a market for apple soda already here we just had to change it up so that it really is sharp. When it comes to the other two drinks, the malt soda combines, you know, organic apples with weak malt and with sweet dates. And the interesting thing about using malt in sodas is that usually malt and roasted barley and Hops, they're usually reserved to alcoholic drinks. And we've seen that trend around wanting to go for non alcoholic options. The consumer is looking for that for sure. But you don't necessarily need to take an alcoholized drink and de alcoholize it. You can use those ingredients as whole food ingredients and they've been around for a long time. Not only northern Europe actually, interestingly enough, the malt soda, which is more of a.

08:00
Amna Mettmann
It has a similar apple soda flavor, but it is more tart because of the wheat malt. The interesting thing about malt sodas is they also have been around in the US actually for quite some time. Mostly, you know, the Hispanic community drinks it. You find it in Jamaica, you find it in a lot of different areas in northern America. But more often than not, if you think about the drinks that you find that are already existing in that space, they have high fructose corn syrup or they are really, you know, almost thick. And people sometimes even use them in their cereals, which is really. It sounds strange but some people will know what I mean. But we just wanted to create a malt soda that is really refreshing.

08:37
Amna Mettmann
You know, it's still light and it at the same time it has that kind of tart flavor to it as well, which comes from the malt. And when it comes to the malt beer, which I would say is our most unique drink, the way that I would describe it is almost like you drink a Guinness, but it's a little sweeter and it has zero alcohol, not even the, you know, 0.5% ABV. But it really has nothing because we use the whole food ingredients, right. And then you get it with a bit of a coffee like finish due to the roasted barley that we use. So it's. These three drinks are very unique and I think there is a big market in the US for it.

09:10
Caitlin Bricker
It was so interesting trying them because obviously the apple soda is the one that I gravitated towards. The bright green can and it just jumped out at me because of that. I tasted that blown away. It was just so crisp. Like you're like you're talking about crisp and refreshing. It didn't feel like it was going to weigh me down or dehydrate me and. And then I tried the soda. Okay. Getting more complex. And then the beer, it was hard for me to believe that it was na first of all because it had such a beer like flavor. But yes, the Guinness comparison is so good because it's full bodied for sure. But it's still very Light. And it's. It is so refreshing. Like, it's a treat.

09:54
Caitlin Bricker
But it's also something that I could easily drink a can of, no problem, and not have any guilt about it whatsoever.

10:00
Amna Mettmann
Absolutely. And, you know, for any founder out there, when somebody describes your drink the way that you anticipated it to really, you want it to have it exactly the way that you're describing it's. That's incredibly rewarding. It's exactly what you're saying. We were trying to create something that is a celebration of life. You. You drink a malt beer and you get excited about it. You know, after, I don't know, a motorcycle ride, you're exhausted. You just take off your gear and you sit in front of the fireplace and you drink that malt beer, and you just feel so satisfied. And you don't have to drink anything that's alcoholic because what it does is also it foams just like a beer. It has that, you know, that complex flavor to it. And it is.

10:38
Amna Mettmann
I would say, the interesting thing is, you see, with Guinness and with other sort of dark beers, especially in Europe, people tend to oftentimes put black currant in it or other syrups. The nice thing about the malt beer that we've created is, first and foremost, you don't have to do it, because it's already in there with the date syrup that we use, it's organic date syrup, and the date syrup together with the roasted barley, and on top of that, the wheat malt just creates this incredibly rich flavor. And that's what we ventured out to do.

11:06
Caitlin Bricker
It has a very familiar taste, but at the same time, it was just something that made my taste buds go crazy. Like, it was unlike anything I'd ever tasted, but it was very nostalgic at the same time. Very cool experience. So I love to ask, why. Brause? What does brause mean? And where did the name come from?

11:26
Amna Mettmann
So I'm originally from a place in northern Germany, very close to the Danish border. And I grew up with browsers, and browser is basically an old German word for soda. And there are a variety of different browsers, three of which we obviously created now for the US market. But browser is, to me, it's nostalgia. When I hear that word, I think of back in the day. I used to sing in a choir for, like eight years. And every holiday season, we had a big concert, and we would go to our local brewery and they would have these drinks actually on tap. Interestingly enough, the malt soda and the malt beer is on tap. In most breweries in Germany, and we would just have that. And it kind of felt like, you know, you were an adult, you were.

12:09
Amna Mettmann
You were getting that, like, foamy drink in front of you. And so when I hear browser, I think of my childhood and just enjoying drinks with friends. And that's how it came about. The other thing is also, it is a word that's not easily intuitively pronounced correctly, but that's okay. I think Porsche has existed in for such a long time and people still call it Porsche in the US and so La Croix is actually. People pronounce it Lacroix. So I think there's also something to it to just kind of find out, like, how do you pronounce it properly?

12:40
Caitlin Bricker
I think that was the first question I asked you when I met you was how do we pronounce this? Because there are so many brands out there. Borscha is a great example. An example I like to use is Teva. So many of us think that it's Teva and it is Teva. I wonder if there's any other brands that come to mind for people when we talk about brand names. But it does make it very unique because it's a word that was totally unfamiliar to me and because of that, it makes it memorable. Yeah, I agree. So you mentioned motorcycles drinking browser. After a motorcycle ride. I have noticed a little bit of a motorcycle theme in your Instagram. Can you tell us about that?

13:21
Amna Mettmann
Yes. So my husband and I are. We love riding bikes. We love motorcycling. It's something. I think there was a bit of a trend going towards getting your motorcycle license during the pandemic because folks were looking for ways to get out and, you know, enjoy life. And I am obsessed with motorcycling. When I had my baby about two months in, I decided to get a motorcycle license because I wanted to do something that was truly selfish and just for myself and just that feeling of, you know, getting on a bike and getting out there. And it's just different if you are doing your riding on a road in a car. You just don't get that feeling that you get when you're on a motorcycle.

13:59
Amna Mettmann
And when I ride a motorcycle and I want to take a break, more often than not, folks think, hey, you know what, it'll be great to crack open a beer. But we created browsers, especially the malt beer, to be honest, to have something that we can celebrate after motorcycle ride or put it in our backpacks and then we stop somewhere to have a picnic and then we open A malf beer. And it's just a beautiful combination of activities. You know, it's your. It's. It's our companion now on our motorcycle rides, but it's a hobby I found pretty late. I think most folks, when they start motorcycling, they do this in their early, you know, 20s. I just love it. It's so great to be out there and ride a motorcycle.

14:36
Caitlin Bricker
It's nice because it's something that you've clearly had time to think about. And now that you're in this new phase of your life in motherhood, which is so different from any other phase of our lives, I can speak from experience. It's cool that you're like, you know what? I'm gonna ride a motorcycle. For me, it was reading books, but I like the route that you're taking a little better.

14:59
Amna Mettmann
I was honestly also looking for something that I can do with my husband that does not involve our baby or a toddler now. And he got really excited about it first. When he was younger, he rode like a moped back home in Germany. It's obviously not the same, but still, when he came out here, he was the first one to do it. And then I felt like, hey, you know what? I can do it too. And then he took me in all these. We used to live in the Bay Area, and there are some incredible places you can ride and you can almost ride all year long, and it's just. Yeah, it just stuck with us. And now we're looking for ways to get out as much as we can.

15:30
Caitlin Bricker
It's honestly a pretty badass vision. Picturing you on a motorcycle with Rausa in hand or in your backpack. That's pretty cool. So tell me about your branding. It's very sleek. It's very simple. For me, it would stand out on a shelf, no problem. So where did the idea. Where did the conceptualization for the branding come from, and how did it come to be?

15:54
Amna Mettmann
Yeah, I mean, it's funny because you almost sound like a buyer at a retail shop, and because what they have been telling us is, hey, you know what? When we see your branding, it definitely stands out, because it's not trying to stand out. What we ventured out to do is we basically created a sleek design that is very German, almost industrial. And so that's what we try to do with it. The way that it came about is initially when I started thinking about the branding, my husband and I, we have this routine where once or twice a week, when we find the time, we have this outdoor sauna. We go into the sauna and we think about the business and we talk about it.

16:27
Amna Mettmann
And we sometimes feel like we're participating in this ancient old ritual of being in a sauna and discussing business or politics. And that's how this came about. We talked about it and we thought about the branding. And my husband just like suddenly said, what if it's just really industrial clean? The way that, you know, we're known as Germans in the world, kind of reminds me of an Audi or like a BMW. And that's what we wanted to do. We wanted to stand out. Because right now, if you look at the soda aisle or even the non alcoholic beer aisle, it's very colorful. And we just wanted something that's sleek and reliable. I think that word comes to mind and I think of our design.

17:02
Caitlin Bricker
Reliable is a very good word to describe it because when you look at it's very evergreen. The cans are sitting right behind you. For anybody that's watching, reliable is such a great choice because there's nothing about it to me that would need to change. Everything's there. There's no distractions. It's. You're getting what you see.

17:22
Amna Mettmann
And I think we wanted to go back to basics too, with the whole food ingredients, with letting mother Nature speak for her cans with organic apples, organic dates, no added sugars. And I think it's. We wanted something that isn't touting to be functional in any way, shape or form, but truly just something that is to be delicious and honest and health conscious. Yes, but not to the point where we don't have any flavors. And the flavors were really the thing that we wanted to create and that was something that went out to do.

17:52
Caitlin Bricker
I love that about the brand, that you're not going for functional and that you're just going for flavor because the space is so crowded with functionality that I think it causes confusion or even paralysis for customers because they're like, yes, I want all these things, but now what do I choose? When in reality we just want something that tastes good, that might have a good benefit, like it's a great carb hit after, you know, a workout or before you say, go for a walk or a run or a swim because it's nice and pure and clean.

18:26
Amna Mettmann
It's. Yeah, exactly. I think that's the thing with trends in general. Every year we hear something is the best thing and some ingredient is the worst thing. And we just went back to basics. We with the way that we just, we created these drinks. And then the other thing Is also, I think, actually, to be honest, consumers are excited about being able to read the ingredients lists and understanding exactly what's in there, versus you have to, you know, be a chemist to understand what does that mean, what that letter, like, what's that number? Sometimes when there's an ingredient with a letter and a number in it or more than that is. It's just it. It doesn't get me to buy the product, to be honest. I just want to understand what's in the things that I consume.

19:05
Caitlin Bricker
I am the same type of consumer. I don't want any of my food or beverages to be overcomplicated. Dates are my favorite sweetener. I feel like dates are having a moment. This year, I was very excited to see dates as a sweetener and your beverage because, yes, dates are having a moment, but also they just taste really good and they're so good for you and so versatile.

19:28
Amna Mettmann
It's so true. It's funny because that's the one thing where my heritage comes in a little bit. While I was born and raised in Germany, my parents are actually from Tunisia, so North Africa. And dates are just as common as, really, I don't know, apples in the US and so you'd have them all the time in all kinds of food, especially in desserts. And so when we thought about, how do we want to sweeten it, we thought of the dates flavor and the flavor profile itself and how that ties or how that really works so well with malt and roasted barley and also apples. And so that's how it came about. It's a little bit of a melange of sort of my heritage as well.

20:06
Caitlin Bricker
Can you tell us more about your background, you personally, and then what were you doing professionally before Browser?

20:13
Amna Mettmann
Yeah. So, I mean, as I said, I met my husband in Frankfurt, what is it now? Over a decade ago. And were both worked at the same investment bank. And back then, I, you know, I was really bored at the bank. It was not my thing. And one of the things that banco did was they led the IPO of a company called Rocket Internet, which is kind of like an incubator, slash, you know, investor out of Europe, out of Germany or Berlin, to be exact. And when we did the ipo, actually, my husband worked on it and looked at the portfolio companies of that company. And I found a company called HelloFresh. And HelloFresh back then was fairly small, but it was so incredible to see that there was a product out there that did exactly what they did.

20:59
Amna Mettmann
Now they're the number One meal kit subscription business in the world actually. But back then they weren't, they were just a smallish fish out of Germany trying to like take over the market, the global market and meal kits. And I remember this was the first time that I had that I got in contact with the food and tech space and the startup world and I ordered a box and I was so excited about the experience of opening up that HelloFresh box. I remember there was a purple carrot in there. I had never seen a purple carrot before. But they also, you know, they use whole food ingredients. Everything that's in there is raw and you cook it. And I think that was the most exciting thing about it.

21:35
Amna Mettmann
So since my husband already knew the founders, I asked him, hey, can you make an introduction? And so that's how I got into HelloFresh. And I said, you know what, I'm a jack of all trades, I can do whatever you want me to do. And so ended up joining HelloFresh. And you know, we launched new markets, we insourced production. That was the first time that it was really on a production floor. Understanding what that part looks like, what does distribution look like, how do we, you know, get our products to the consumers and consumer insights and all of that. So eventually my husband got the opportunity to work out of Menlo park in California. So we relocated from Germany to the US And I wanted to stay in food and tech in particular.

22:11
Amna Mettmann
And so I looked back then in 2017, it was the height of Postmates, DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub, all these companies. And I really wanted to work at Postmates also partially because the founder was German and I thought it would be a great fit. So I did everything that I could to get it to Postmates. Ended up joining Postmates and became the general manager of our drinks vertical. And that really was really the start of thinking about browser. That was several years ago. And I got to work with large conglomerates. I partnered with Anheuser Busch and Diageo, Constellation brands and you know, all the big ones and even, you know, on launches of new products.

22:47
Amna Mettmann
Like back then there was this influencer called the Fat Jewish and he launched Babe Rose at some point and we partnered with them at Postmates and it was just a lot of fun. You know what's interesting is that was, what was it? 2018, I believe. And back then consumers were already looking for non alcoholic options. So what I found to be the most powerful in my time at Postmates and as the GM of Drinks is finding out what were failed searches on the app, what are people looking for that they can't find? Because those are the largest opportunities. We took that and we informed, you know, Anheuser Busch and Diageo, but also our liquor store partners on what folks are looking for. And so that was the further. Basically I would say that's the start of thinking about browser.

23:32
Amna Mettmann
And afterwards I worked mostly in B2B SaaS, so mostly more in tech. But I think for me to really start launching browser. And we launched, what is it now? Three months ago approximately. But we really started working on the formulation and everything about a year and a half ago when I became a mom. I think one of the things that happens is you realize you're really not ready. You're never ready. And it's the same as in, you know, starting a company. You're just never ready. And I think knowing that I can take on something that I wasn't ready for and doing my the best job to my abilities, I think that allowed me to really say, you know what, I can start browsing now. And that's how it started.

24:08
Caitlin Bricker
Wow, there's so much to unpack there. I am so impressed. I obviously the story behind becoming a mom and realizing, hey, this is not something that I feel ready for, but I'm doing it successfully. And then taking that energy and putting it into a beverage brand is such good advice for other entrepreneurs and people who feel like I have this great idea. But I don't know if I'm ready to start because if you keep waiting, that window of opportunity might close. So it's just really good advice to jump on it in the failed searches that is blowing my mind. That's something that I've never considered before. In 2018, with non alcoholic options being something that people are searching, I would have never been searching for something that was nonalcoholic in 2018.

24:58
Caitlin Bricker
And now to see the industry booming, multi billion dollar industry is just crazy. How much change can happen within such a short period of time. It's true.

25:09
Amna Mettmann
No, it's. It's very true. It's interesting because failed searches in general are so powerful because you know there's a trend starting and you obviously want to be very early when it comes to that. Ideally you don't really think too much of a trend, but you go back to, as I said, the basics around wanting to create something that's everlasting. And I think that the fact that we had for a long time said alcohol doesn't a glass of wine on a weekly basis is not a bad thing. And now we find out actually it is. I think just again pulls you back to the basics of wanting to, you know, enjoy things that don't really harm your body. And in the end, I think the most important thing is not necessarily listening to trends, but really listening to your intuition.

25:49
Amna Mettmann
Your intuition has told you and has told a lot of folk. You know, alcohol is not the best thing for you. Before somebody like andrew Huberman comes out and says alcohol's not good for you. And now everybody's listening, but we already knew that.

26:00
Caitlin Bricker
That is so funny. I hope Andrew Huberman hears this and orders some braza.

26:09
Amna Mettmann
You know, it's interesting because it might have our drinks have something between 60 to 90 calories per can. And I've spoken to so many people that told me get it down to 45 or get it down to the magical like 40 or under 50. And we didn't want to do this because we didn't want to compromise on it. Whenever there's a trend out there when it comes to sort of being health conscious, I think we now see that a lot of these trends are fads. Some of it will stay a hundred percent. But and especially when you think about like clean ingredients and people wanting to immediately understand what is in this versus having to look up, look it up in a dictionary, honestly.

26:43
Amna Mettmann
But I think going back to really understanding what's in your drinks does also mean you don't have to worry too much. There's this new notion around what are calories really mean? Like how harmful is it? Do you really get a better lifestyle, a healthier lifestyle if you reduce calories. So there's a lot of conversation around that again. So I think what we try to do is really focus on clean ingredients and a really enjoyable drink doesn't mean that you should be drinking this, drinking like 30 cans a day, you shouldn't be doing that with anything. But we really wanted something that's honest and that's what we try to do.

27:16
Caitlin Bricker
I think you're accomplishing that. And I heard you say the word everlasting. And evergreen is what comes to mind for me when I think about your beverage. Because who cares if it's 60 to 90 calories? It's not something like you're saying, it's not something you're drinking 30 cans of a day. It's just enjoyable. And it's nice to take a pause, drink something that's non alcoholic and actually enjoy it while you're Doing it and know that it's not just water. And it looks really good in a fridge too. Like, I feel like my fridge is elevated when I open it up and the lights just shining on browser.

27:51
Amna Mettmann
Yeah. Shout out to my husband Julian, who came up with that. He just. It's because he is such a traditional investment banker. And then there is this creative person buried inside of him where he just came up and he was like, this is what we got to do. And I think, yeah, it wouldn't be the design that it is without him.

28:07
Caitlin Bricker
So well done, Julian. So I love to ask all the brands that I talk to, how did you find startup cpg?

28:15
Amna Mettmann
Well, you know, it's interesting because I know, I think I've told you a million times, but startup CPG has been such a game changer for us. Even just getting all the knowledge that we currently have and more. We actually partake in your webinars and whatnot to just learn more and more about the CPG world. But the way that I found out about it is through an ex colleague. And she told me, I told her about the idea. That was like several years ago, actually. I had told her about the idea of starting something. And at some point, it must have been last, beginning of last year or even the year before, she came back to me and said, you know what, you talked to me about this drinks business that you wanted to start.

28:53
Amna Mettmann
I have a front friend that's also starting a drinks business. Why don't you just connect with him? And so I hop on a call and I think that's the beauty of CPG founders in general. We tend to share a lot and we want to guide each other because in the end, we're creating a market for each other too. Right? And so he shared a lot of tips with me and I'm still so grateful. And he told me about startup cpg and he said, are you on the Slack channel? As if. It's like you're not. What are you doing with your life? Which was really funny. So it went on there and I couldn't believe it.

29:20
Amna Mettmann
I remember the first times that I just read through everything and then I used the search, you know, the search option to just find out about certain things that I was trying to find out about. And it was just incredible. And just, it's such a positive space and it. I still can't believe it's for free. I think you guys should probably charge a membership fee because the information. I know, I'm just, I know that's the it's. I think I love the fact that it's for free, but there's so much information, so much rich information in there. And as I said, I. When I met you at SF Grocery Run, the fact that event was for free when I mean, we're going to like, you know, National Restaurant association and fancy food and all of those are really great.

29:56
Amna Mettmann
But it cost thousands of dollars to have a booth, and you probably get as much out of them as you do with a grocery run. And I think that's the incredible thing and so I'm just so grateful is I call it kismet that I found out about startup cpg.

30:10
Caitlin Bricker
I mean, look at you. You went to SF Grocery Run and at least locked in two distributors from an event that was what, three hours?

30:19
Amna Mettmann
Yeah.

30:20
Caitlin Bricker
And didn't require a trade show booth.

30:23
Amna Mettmann
And you know, the funny thing is also I feel like some of the brands, they were so professional. They had the most incredible gear. And I remember I was wearing my husband's hoodie and a leggings and just right before, put together the table and like a banner. But truly, because of the quality of buyers that were there, they really just looked for the right products and it was all about the products and the product experience. And so I think, yeah, that was just incredible. Phenomenal.

30:49
Caitlin Bricker
That is something that I think is changing within the industry, or at least for me. It's always been there, but I feel like more people are adopting the same attitude towards it. I would never judge you for what you're wearing at your booth. I am there to see your product and I want to know who you are authentically as a person. I don't. The big fancy boots don't impress me. If anything, they're kind of a turn off for me because it distracts me from your actual product. And you were just there. You had your beautiful sign that tells you exactly what it is. It's Braza. It's German craft soda. And I was ready to taste and ready to go.

31:28
Amna Mettmann
I think that's. Yeah, I definitely resonates what you're saying because first and foremost, frankly, from a just a practical standpoint, we're bootstrapped, which means we just don't have that much money to spend on it. If there is not a true product market fit, it doesn't really matter how much you spend anyways. If you have product market fit, it should really be focused on the product itself. And I agree, it needs to be a, an honest, you know, story behind it. We went out for the right reasons, I think, to start browser. And I think that's what we try to do and I think we'll continue to just try to have the focus on the products and they should be speaking for themselves. You know, like it's, as I said, it's just really clean ingredients and full flavor and that's what we try to do.

32:06
Amna Mettmann
And nothing else should matter, to be honest. It should just be about the products and it should be about the consumers, if they like it or not. And that's what we did.

32:13
Caitlin Bricker
Totally. And this is why we exist as startup cpg. We want these resources available to you, we want them there for free. And we want you to, as we like to say, find your new CPG BFFs in the industry. And you raise a really good point too. You said like you're not just creating products for your brand, you're creating products for other founders. Because all of us as other founders are consumers. I really like that.

32:39
Amna Mettmann
I love that also because the thing about startup, I think in general the barrier to entry for folks to start a brand today has never been lower, which means a lot of folks with really great ideas can actually go out and do things. And it's partially because of startup CPG that they can do that. Because you find out the information about how to think about your costs, how to think about cogs, how do you categorize what are the distributors you should be targeting based on your size and the, you know, the industry or the vertical that you're in. All this information is available to you now and even for free. The barrier to entry, I think has been actually lowered by startup CPG because of it. And I think that is the beautiful thing about it.

33:20
Amna Mettmann
I think it's something like over 50% of our GDP in America comes from small to medium sized businesses. And I think that's really the backbone of our economy. And you want to empower other founders, you want to empower other people to change up the way that, you know, we've consumed any kind of product historically for the better especially I love the better for you category. And I think that one is going to stay because folks want to have, you know, products that they are not afraid to eat or to drink. And so I think that's what I love about startup cpg, just, you know, empowering and really lowering the barrier to entry for CPG founders like myself.

33:59
Caitlin Bricker
Yes, I think we definitely aim to lower that barrier of entry. And we're also just like opening the gates. There's no gatekeeping we're bringing the buyers to you, we're bringing the retailers to you and we have this entire Slack channel which yeah, there should be a cost to it, honestly, because everything in there really is priceless. But it's all there and it's all happening and every single day there's brand new resources, brand new questions being asked. It's just unbelievable what's going on in there. Not just saying that because I work there, because I wish this was a tool for me when I was a buyer because it's an amazing discovery tool.

34:34
Caitlin Bricker
But yeah, like having all these CPG brands, being able to have this opportunity in front of them, not have to shell out thousands of dollars to be able to create their brand and have these resources. It's what's bringing the magic into cpg. Because options really are nice to have. And better for you is my favorite category as well. I love that it's not going anywhere.

34:56
Amna Mettmann
No, it isn't. I agree. I think eventually it's just going to be the, you know, table stakes for things to better for you. I think the nice thing about it is just like that CPG founder told me about startup cpg. I told somebody, but I actually told quite a few people actually at this point about cpg, especially somebody that was just part of the nominated drinks at Beverage forum. And so I think it's just when you find out about startup CPG and you're a CPG founder, you just want to tell everybody that is thinking about even consider creating something new and especially better for you. So it is like a flywheel in a way.

35:31
Caitlin Bricker
We love that. Thank you for helping spread the word. So now let's spread the word more about you. Anybody who's listening and they want to find browser where can they follow along online?

35:42
Amna Mettmann
Yeah, absolutely. So as I said, we started what is it now Less than three months ago. We're in about a hundred plus stores across the US from you know, local retailers that we love like Potluck Local in LA or Julian Pie Company in San Diego. One of our favorites, the Wine stores in Baltimore and Happier Grocery in New York. But online you'd be able to find us on Bubble Goods, you'd be able to find us on Fair as a wholesale and we will be at Pop Up Grocer in New York for the July rotations or the summer rotation. We landed two distributors and actually third one now through SF Grocery Run which means we're rolling out in the Bay Area with good stuff coming up in a couple of weeks actually.

36:21
Amna Mettmann
So you should be able to find us in a lot of local stores at that point as well.

36:25
Caitlin Bricker
Awesome. And what's your handle on Instagram?

36:28
Amna Mettmann
It's @DrinkBrowser. So just b R A U S E. Amazing.

36:33
Caitlin Bricker
And your website?

36:33
Amna Mettmann
It's the same. It's www.drinkbrowser.com.

36:37
Caitlin Bricker
Nice and simple, just like the beverages. Amna, thank you so much. This is a great conversation. Again, I love your products. I think they are going to blow retailers away and consumers alike. Really nice having you on the show. I'm excited to see where you're going.

36:53
Amna Mettmann
Thank you so much for having me here. And again, thanks so much for everything you guys do at Startup cpg. It's been.

36:59
Caitlin Bricker
We are happy to do it.

37:01
Amna Mettmann
Thank you. Thanks.

37:06
Caitlin Bricker
All right, everyone, thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, do us a solid and leave us a five star review on ratethispodcast.com I'm Kaitlyn Bricker, the host of the Founder Feature Series and editor at Startup CPG. Feel free to find me on LinkedIn or reach out to me on Slack and get on my radar. I'm always keeping my eyes peeled for new and emerging brands to spotlight. If you're a potential sponsor who would like to appear on the podcast, please email partnershipstartupcpg.com and finally, as a reminder for anyone listening, if you haven't already, we would love for you to join our free CPG community on Slack. You can sign up via our website@startupcpg.com see you around.