The Startup CPG Podcast

Joey Labes
Sake High was really born out of a love and passion for sake paired with a mix or a lack thereof, selections in, you know, the US Marketplace for good sake that you could find everywhere that is affordable and. And that you can actually understand when you're picking it up at a store. On top of that, we saw sake very boxed into your classic sushi nights or your other Japanese cuisines.

00:42
Grace Kennedy
Hello, everyone. This is Grace and I'm here with another founder feature. Today I'm talking to Brenna and Joey, the co founders of Sake High. Sake High is a premium sake brand that is brewed with love in Japan. Brenna and Joey also recently launch innovative hard teas that come in flavors such as hibiscus, lime and matcha. I loved chatting with Brenna and Joey about all of the ups and downs that come with starting a beverage brand, and I learned so much about sake in the process. I hope you enjoy this episode and as always, let me know what you think. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the start of CPG podcast. This is Grace, and today I'm here with Brenna and the co founders of Sake High. Welcome to the show, guys.

01:35
Brenna Turner
Hi. Thanks for having us.

01:37
Joey Labes
Yeah, thank you, Grace.

01:38
Grace Kennedy
Yes. I'm thrilled to have you and I'd love to start just by asking you both to introduce yourself and also, what is Sake High?

01:46
Brenna Turner
Awesome. So I'm Brenna Turner and I am one of the co founders along with Joey Lavis right here. And Joey and I have been dating for probably eight years now and grew up together and found ourselves into the sake world.

02:00
Joey Labes
Yeah. So we launched Sake high back in 2022, have been going at it ever since. We're based here in California, but as we've grown, you know, we've expanded coast to coast.

02:12
Grace Kennedy
Now on your website that year, you do nationwide shipping now, which I know can be. And just also expanding alcohol in general can be a challenge, but I'd love to hear a little bit about why you guys decided to start this brand.

02:27
Joey Labes
Yeah. So Sake High was really born out of a love and passion for sake paired with a mix or a lack thereof, selections in, you know, the US Marketplace for good sake that you could find everywhere that is affordable and that you can actually understand when you're picking it up at a store. On top of that, we saw sake very boxed up into your classic sushi nights or your other Japanese cuisines. And were drinking this drink at the beach, on the golf courses, bringing it to pre games, and everyone was always so confused why were doing that. So part of our mission was bringing sake, you know, to everyone. To be one of those drinks that can be enjoyed like anytime, anywhere by anyone.

03:18
Grace Kennedy
I love that. And for the people who maybe don't know what sake is or aren't as familiar with it, could you like introduce them to it or share a little more about what it is and like the flavor profile?

03:29
Brenna Turner
So Sake High is all handmade sake brewed with love in Japan. And we're known for being one of the first sakes in a can in the US and we also sell our sake in bottles. So great, versatile for all different occasions. And we're most excited right now about launching our Sake hard teas. And we are definitely leading the category and disrupting with our sake hard teas. There's really been no innovation in the sake industry. And so for us to go forward with these, it's just something we're really excited and really proud of.

04:02
Grace Kennedy
I'm curious, how did you guys, when you decided you wanted to launch this brand, obviously you're both based in California, not in Japan. How did you start the process of like finding this, the sourcing of like where you would get your sake from and like who would brew it and get those connections from far away?

04:20
Brenna Turner
So, you know, Joey and I are surrounded by different entrepreneurs all the time. And it's so funny, like everyone's always looking for their idea. We were never looking to start a company. I actually had family in Japan and had a really fun one of those drunk nights with a ton of expats. Met a really cool chef. He connected us to this brewmaster and it was really just a serendipitous connection. We learned more about the brewery and the sake industry in general in Japan, and we really wanted to help expand the sake industry and help grow it and grow the category for the modern consumer. And so it really just fell into our lap and it was something we worked really hard on and deep with our brewery partners. And we're just so grateful to be a part of the industry.

05:03
Joey Labes
And what's awesome in the US is the sake community is very tight knit. There are a lot of people that share our passion. Not as many as we hope, but that's growing quickly. But yeah, we've been to events in Washington D.C. In San Francisco, in Los Angeles, in San Diego, really just trying to grow this love of sake. So the community's been super helpful. If there's ever a question or what a new brewery is doing, that's relayed to us and the rest of the community as well.

05:36
Brenna Turner
One of Our missions right now, as sake is growing globally, you'll notice, like a ton of different breweries popping up in the US right now, which is incredible. We're so excited for the category to grow.

05:45
Grace Kennedy
But we.

05:46
Brenna Turner
Our mission right now is to always support Japanese breweries. So you'll see that all of our sake, in both our hero and first product, as well as our hard teas, is coming from Japan.

05:56
Grace Kennedy
Yeah. That's awesome. I mean, I feel like everybody's traveling to Japan these days. I feel like I see it all the time on, like, my Instagram. Everyone's going to Japan. I'm like, I want to go to Japan, but if you can't get to Japan, you know, you can have sake at least, I guess, really like the.

06:09
Joey Labes
Japanese culture and like the Asian culture in the CPG space has just been booming post pandemic. Whether it's like Asian inspired barbecue sauces or in the frozen aisle or just different seasonings, like, the accessibility to all of that is just expanded and became like part of our mainstream culture here in America, which is amazing. And we still, every time went to the store to find some sake, we're like, where is what we're looking for, basically? And so if you can't find it, I guess you build it yourself.

06:45
Brenna Turner
We were actually just in Japan and we had some prototypes of our hard teas, and were showing all the different brewmasters who are part of these breweries that are centuries old. And they were just so excited to see some of the innovation that we're working on and to also hear that, you know, we're not competing with them. We're trying to grow the category and we're trying to get placement into sports venues and stadiums, concert venues, and really just everywhere. So everyone's super excited.

07:10
Grace Kennedy
Yeah. I'd love to hear more about those hard teas and why you decided to create them and how it's been going.

07:18
Brenna Turner
Can we show them?

07:19
Grace Kennedy
Yeah.

07:19
Brenna Turner
Now the time.

07:20
Joey Labes
Yeah. So, like any other alcohol product, some things are just not for certain people. Like, you could offer someone the best tequila or whiskey in the world, and they are just like, I have a line in the sand. I am not crossing that line. I will not drink this. But those people may enjoy a margarita or an old fashioned or some kind of cocktail incorporating that. They may just not like the pure taste. And for us, you know, there's a huge lack of education in the sake industry right now in America. And we would be at tastings. Literally, we've demoed tens of thousands of people at this point and people would be like, what is this? How strong is it? Like, how do I drink it? And we could give them the 30 second pitch right there and then.

08:09
Joey Labes
But like, to communicate that, you know, nationwide is pretty tough. And what these cocktails actually we call them hard teas. What they allowed us to do too is say, hey, sake is more than just this like single style drink where you have it in a tiny cup, all this stuff. These cocktails really are more a high quality version of, you know, your high noons, your white claws out there, twisted teas and yeah, just really unique and fun flavors that highlight, you know, the Japanese roots, but also create a really good tasting and clean drink.

08:44
Brenna Turner
Everyone keeps asking us, like, where do we come up with these tea flavors? And like, the reality is like between us and the customers and the amount of demos we've done at grocery stores, like, we've just gotten creative. We've also been like total last minute types of people who are like, what do they have in the store? What can we put together into a pitcher? And a lot of these skus like came from that. And we've just gotten such great feedback. The hibiscus lime one is so funny. Like Joey and I drink a whole pitcher of hibiscus tea like every other day. And sometimes when were in a pinch, we're like, we need to make a cocktail on the spot with our sake. We would add the hibiscus. It was such a beautiful color and it was so loved by all of our friends.

09:21
Brenna Turner
So it was really easy. It was an easy choice for us. And then the matcha one's so exciting because no one's ever combined matcha into an alcohol on commercially. And so like, we're one of the first to do that and to bring it to market. And you'll see a lot of like craft cocktail spots. I mean, they love mixing matcha into some of their cocktails. And so we really wanted to lean into that and also create something that's a little more buzz worthy and really show that to our customers that we're excited and we're innovating and we're trying something new.

09:50
Joey Labes
And it's ceremonial grade matcha too. So we're using the best of the best stuff and then pairing it with our sake to make, you know, just really fun creations in a can.

10:01
Grace Kennedy
I love that. And so have you guys officially launched these yet? Are they on shelves or are you know, soon to launch?

10:07
Joey Labes
Yes. So we're recording this podcast in April. The product is actually going to launch for nationwide shipping online on Monday, April 21. By the time everyone here is listening to it, you should be able to order it online at our website or in a couple of the markets that we're currently including Georgia, Michigan and California. We'll all have these as well.

10:34
Grace Kennedy
Amazing. So exciting. Well, I hope everyone listening, you know, runs to their. If they're in Georgia, Michigan or California, they should go to the store. But if they're listening in another state, they can go online. But that does bring up another question I have for like, the nature of distribution with alcohol is like, how have you guys approached expanding Socket High, like into other markets? And also like the approach of being on shelf in physical locations versus an online DTC operation?

11:03
Joey Labes
Yeah, well, we definitely focus on being in stores, restaurants and bars over the online piece of it. A lot of buying alcohol to us is so much and in the moment, a physical touch, a how do you want your night to be? And almost that instant gratification of being able to buy it and put it on your bar and show it off. But also, you know, we're a really approachable product. Our hard teas are like 1599 in stores. Our regular straight sake is around $20 in stores. We didn't want to do all this, spend all of our budget doing online ads and then for people just to pay that much in shipping as well. So we wanted to build that community in stores and restaurants as well. And with the expansion, you know, a lot of people say start small, build out.

11:57
Joey Labes
We've tried to follow that model, but have also expanded to some pretty strategic states where we either had the right opportunity with a great distribution partner or just somewhere we thought that sake would really do well where we didn't have the capacity to do it ourselves.

12:15
Brenna Turner
It's funny, we talk to so many different alcohol founders all the time and everyone's told the same thing, you know, like liquid to lips, cans in hands. And there's so many ways to do that. And it's really all about timing, capital and just the resources around you. And everyone I talk to, like, we all start on the same page and like we're all going about it so differently.

12:34
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, totally. It's like there are all these phrases in the CPG industry in general and but they in practice can actually look a little bit different. And I'm curious when you're saying it was the right partner or a great distribution partner, I'm curious like what you are looking for when you're saying it's the Right opportunity or it's the right partner.

12:53
Joey Labes
Yeah, so we always say we go where people are drinking alcohol, not where they're drinking sake. And so when we look for different partners in this, it's not just, hey, you carry the 10 biggest sake brands in America, and it's, hey, you have the coolest new beer on the market. You have the best new tequila on the market. You just got into this brand new pizza spot down the road from us. Those are the partners we want to be with. Because some of our best accounts, whether in California or nationwide, are places you'd least expect sake. I mean, some of these are decades old bars and they had never had sake. And we come in and, you know, now it's being sold every day there. And it's truly amazing to see that.

13:39
Joey Labes
Oh, once people actually see a fun and tasty option in front of them in the sake space, they'll actually buy it. Just no one had taken that risk yet to go to some of these spots we're targeting.

13:51
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, it's so true. And I think it's so American of me to think this way, but I'm like, yeah, I have my sake when I go out to get sushi and I love it and it's great and I never drink it otherwise.

14:00
Joey Labes
And we still support that.

14:04
Grace Kennedy
But it's like, if you love something, you could have it in other occasions as well. It doesn't have to just be at the sushi restaurant.

14:11
Brenna Turner
We always said, like, our sake is meant for food lovers, like people who are trying new flavors. And I mean, probably eating too much. Like, it's low, it's. It's such a small can and it's low volume, but it's like high abv, so it packs a punch and it just goes down a lot easier and like, you feel a lot better. You know, there's no salt bites, there's no sugar, there's no bubbles. Like, you're not getting bloated from like any of the hops or anything. It just so nice. And so like we cook like every other night. I mean, every night. And it's like we want to eat, we want to drink, but we still want to feel light and like, good. And so, like, that's why we love it with all types of food pairings.

14:47
Joey Labes
And these cocktails, again, just show how versatile it is. Like, we'll sometimes pour it out of our bottle into wine glasses. We'll drink it straight out of the can. We'll mess around with cocktails but now that we have these hard teas as well, which they're still 10 and a half percent, they're not in that 5% range that everyone's going for. It just provides another fun opportunity. The hibiscus lime one, I say, kind of tastes like a margarita. You know, it has that, like, limey, acidic punch. So that's perfect to pair with taco night. The white tea peach one is a little sweet. Almost tastes like those peach ring candies we used to get at the candy store. And like, that's a perfect after dinner or pregame drink, you know.

15:31
Joey Labes
So, like, what we're trying to do by expanding this drinking occasion is really making ones right for anything. But just like they say in wine, like, there's no wrong if you want to have your cabernet with a, like, piece of light fish, like, that's okay if you like it. We encourage people to try and mess around and figure out, you know, what their palate is best with, and then try other sakes as well in different styles to see. I like this style when I'm having, you know, steak and big meats. I like this style with sushi and so on.

16:09
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, I love thinking about just, like, where else you can drink this beverage or any beverage really. I think because sake is also something you drink kind of slowly, or at least I do, even though it's high abv. I appreciate that because it's like, okay, I'm gonna naturally drink this slower so I'm not going to be on the floor.

16:24
Brenna Turner
I'm a martini drinker, so I'm definitely a sipper. And so I love pouring our socket into like a nice, like, Nick and Nora glass and just like, sipping on it the same. I like, I like to feel the little, like, punch like every other sip.

16:37
Joey Labes
And that does go back to like, you know, just the intentionality of enjoying sake, appreciating and respecting the tradition, and really just like making new memories wherever you are, you know, and you go out on a weekend, the person next to you may have never had or enjoyed, like, sake in any setting, let alone wherever you are, and just like, teach and share and build that community. That's really what we're trying to do with this brand.

17:04
Grace Kennedy
Yeah. I'm curious. How are you guys teaching and sharing and building this community? It sounds like you do a lot of demos, but how are you bringing this to in front of people's faces and getting them to join the sake train?

17:15
Brenna Turner
Yeah, so we do a ton of, like, partnership activations. We're pretty Organic with it, you know, like, we're always out and about, so we always say, like, we're spreading our luck and our luck surface area and like, meeting new people and they're like, we need to have sake at this event or that event. So we've done anything from, like, Aviator Nation, like, sip and shops, like, at their, like, stores around la, to doing like, one off, like, food pairings with incredible chefs around la. We actually had an aged sake high pairing dinner at Crudo Unudo with Chef Ryan in Santa Monica. And, like, that was a really incredible way to just get it to, like, a different customer base.

17:52
Brenna Turner
And we've done anything from doing like, pre games at like, the big house in Ann Arbor, Michigan where went to undergrad and trying to get the word out that we're selling at the stadium. So, like, we're really everywhere and anywhere. And I mean, the amount of flights and driving we're doing, we try to.

18:09
Joey Labes
Say yes to every opportunity. So.

18:12
Brenna Turner
So you should probably DM us because we'll. We'll show up.

18:15
Joey Labes
Our sake has appeared. Yeah. At Grammy after parties, at charity events, at weddings, all kinds of stuff. So when people ask, we do our best to deliver and we really appreciate it when people do reach out and have an idea. They're like, we need sake for this. We're like, thank you for that. And like, even just like, yeah, tiny concert series here in la, we're bringing our sake and they're sitting next to five different types of beers and kombuchas and stuff. So, like, getting our name in those same circles is amazing because there's never been socket anything like this.

18:54
Brenna Turner
I know most startup CPG followers know this, but I mean, pro tip, it's like, message any brand you're obsessed with and they'll send you product.

19:01
Joey Labes
And we're definitely not supposed to share that secret. Stop doing it.

19:06
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, right. No, that's just like a. It's an unspoken rule, you know.

19:10
Joey Labes
Well, back in the day when you were a kid, you know, it was like, write the letter to Kellogg's and they'll send you, like, free boxes. It's kind of the same now, but we're adults and it's Instagram.

19:22
Grace Kennedy
That's very true. Do you guys do any, like, partnerships on social media, like, with. With any influencers or anything of that form of activation?

19:32
Brenna Turner
Yes. So we love, like, doing giveaways and everything, but right now we're leading into a lot of our restaurant partnerships. So you'll see, like, in February, we did a really fun Like super bowl giveaway with La Sorted's pizza on the east side in LA and gave away like 5 huge mat like giant pizzas and a ton of sake high for like a Super bowl watch party.

19:51
Grace Kennedy
And my God, I wish I'd seen it. I'm like, I want to come to California just to do that. That sounds like a great party.

19:58
Brenna Turner
Partnering like female owned brands. And so like another month we did like a Ro Caviar giveaway which is really exciting. We love showing people like pair this with different types of food and then also with different occasions. So in May we're doing Aviator Nation giveaway for like a fun like sweatsuit outfit just to wear all summer and like rock some vibrant, bright colors with while drinking our heart teas. So we really lean into like some of the local partners we have and a lot of other female owned brands. And then another one that's coming is the Dumpling Daughter giveaway which is all frozen dumplings that are like you can buy in the grocery store. And we're showing like again like all types of foods you can pair with our sake.

20:35
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, that's awesome. It makes a lot of sense to do like sake is always something, almost always something that you're going to pair with either a social event or food. So it makes sense that you would want to do those partnerships. And you were also talking about other female owned brands. And I'm thinking about just the alcohol space in general being so male dominated. And I'm wondering, obviously you're a couple owned brand, but how has it been for you, Brenna, as you know, a part female co founder in this traditionally male space?

21:02
Brenna Turner
Yeah, I mean it's really empowering, especially in the sake space. Historically it's mostly male brewers and I love shining a light on females who are in the space. And there's actually like a couple of breweries in Japan now that are growing and expanding that have female brewmasters. We were just at one of our breweries a couple of weeks ago in Japan and it was nice to see like there are more females coming into the space and I think that's just so incredible to show like the accessibility. I think again, the sake industry in general is so all about camaraderie and like teamwork and empowering each other and sharing and like it's all about prosperity together.

21:36
Brenna Turner
So I think that's kind of what I've leaned into and I'm definitely have had mentors who helped us in the beginning and now I'm definitely trying to like reciprocate that to future founders too. But it's so interesting. Like, I'm a part of so many different female beverage like cohorts and there are just so many amazing, incredible females that are really trying to like expand and create new things and even create new categories. And so like, to have like, others that I can just call on and be like, I know that they're going through the same thing as us or like, maybe they're a few months ahead of us or a few months behind and ask them, like, who's co packing your cans? Where are you getting this? Like, I love this idea.

22:14
Brenna Turner
Like, I want to do it and everyone's just sharing the wealth and I think that's so exciting and hopefully we'll all come up together.

22:19
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, that's awesome. And definitely, I mean, I'll just shamelessly plug our further series and startup cpg, which is all for female founded brands. And if you're female founded brand, you should check it out.

22:30
Brenna Turner
Incredible. I mean, you guys have invited us to so many different female founded brand events and just having that like, accessibility and having like voice on behalf of us is really great. Like, you invited us like a Whole Foods trade show, which was like, so exciting. So. But we're so grateful too.

22:46
Grace Kennedy
Another question I have, which I often ask when it's a couple who run a CPG business together, and particularly it's like a beverage brand which is, you know, hard in and of itself. I'm like, how do you guys manage being both a couple and co founders in a very intensive startup space?

23:03
Joey Labes
And alcohol never escalates issues.

23:06
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, right.

23:08
Joey Labes
No, you know, it's challenging. It's definitely hard. Luckily, you know, it's taken us a couple of years, but we have a pretty good division on our boundaries of when we talk about work, when we don't. There's also which roles we're each doing within the company, which ones we need to share. Yeah. If we go more than 15 minutes without a call from the other, it's like crazy because, yeah, there's just so much moving at once, especially for us. You know, you go from talking about a shipping container getting filled to our hat allocation in a span of three seconds. So it's a lot. But luckily we have so many fun events, so many supportive friends and family that we try to celebrate the wins more than dwell on the losses.

23:59
Joey Labes
Because as any founder knows, you know, there's 10 steps back before you get 11 steps forward.

24:05
Brenna Turner
I think the biggest takeaway is just like knowing we're on the same team. And just like, we're all trying to get to the next point together, but we're in the alcohol space. It's fun, you know, like, nothing is life or death. Even if, like we launched something a year later, which we wanted to launch these hard teas last year. But, like, we're still figuring out, we're still early, you know, so just like allowing us to be like a little more patient and just understanding that.

24:27
Grace Kennedy
Yeah. I feel like people, I've heard people ask, like, couple founded brands, like, should I start a company with my partner and someone? Yeah.

24:37
Brenna Turner
Then imagine doing it with anyone else. Like people who start brands with their best friends. I'm like, wild. That's insane. Like, are you still friends?

24:45
Grace Kennedy
No. Totally. It's amazing that you have.

24:48
Brenna Turner
Honestly, you're still.

24:49
Grace Kennedy
You still love each other. That's a feat in and of itself. I'm curious. I'm thinking about too, though, the launch of these. Coming back to the launch of these hard teas, and I'm wondering how you guys are rolling that out and like getting them out there and advertising them and making sure the launch is a success.

25:05
Joey Labes
Yeah. So it's going to be really interesting to see what flavors people gravitate to at the time of recording this. You know, yesterday was my first day actually out in the field talking to bar managers and store buyers. And I would show them all four and say, take one can as a sample. And it was interesting to see, you know, a lot of people were going towards the white tea peach. A couple just instantly grabbed the matcha one. Especially at these places that are like coffee shop turned bars at night. They're like, oh, this is perfect. And it'll be really exciting to see, like, each of them, we say they each have their own personalities to really have each of them, you know, make their friends and find the right lunch table in the world. So we're launching these slowly but quickly.

25:53
Joey Labes
We want to get them everywhere and really see which ones are hitting in certain stores. And then as we go, you know, then it creates that easier story. But yeah, right now, by the time this comes out, Southern California will have these products. Georgia and Michigan will as well, very shortly, soon. So for the Midwest and the east coast, like right in time for summer. Can't wait for those. And then, yeah, just excited to get everyone's reaction because we've had them so many times that we're in love now we need everyone else to fall in love too.

26:27
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, totally. Yeah. So with the hard teas, I also love the packaging. It's really vibrant and cute. And if you're listening, you can Google it. But it's like a bunch of bright colors. It kind of matches the flavor. The green for matcha, pink for hibiscus. So I'd love to hear a little bit more about like the process of designing that and why you went towards some of these brighter colors versus your, you know, Sake High logo. That's like the black and white.

26:51
Brenna Turner
We love the black and white. We're really simple people. Like, colors scared us in the beginning, but were really excited. We teamed up with our friend from high school actually, who's a really well known Chicago artist, and helped us like really bring our vision to life, which was really just like, have some fun with the bird and the ingredients. So you'll see like all across, like our packaging on the cans and the bottles, like whatever the tea is. Like, there's fun little limes. There's like little hibiscus. The ginger has like a ginger root. And then a lot of people always want to draw our bird and we always say no. Like you're not allowed to. Like, the bird's very ambiguous. So we gave him the right to draw the bird and he made a.

27:32
Grace Kennedy
The bird.

27:32
Brenna Turner
Amazing. So we're really excited about it.

27:34
Grace Kennedy
Yeah.

27:35
Joey Labes
About to say his name.

27:36
Brenna Turner
Oh my God.

27:37
Grace Kennedy
Why don't you say. Just say. Say his name. It's fine.

27:40
Brenna Turner
And his name is Griffin Goodman. Amazing at Griffin Goodman.

27:45
Grace Kennedy
Okay, Griffin Goodman.

27:47
Brenna Turner
Little shout out on our can to him too, which we're so proud of and we're just excited to collaborate with him.

27:52
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, I love it. Are you guys going to be flying to like different locations to demo? Are you like working with any partners to do demos? Because I imagine you'll be doing a lot of demos.

28:03
Brenna Turner
So we do have brand ambassadors. And then you also see Joey and I all around town and everywhere. I mean, Joey was in Denver last week. Starting to get people in Colorado to know about it. For the summer I was in Atlanta. And then we'll be driving up and down the coast all month and all summer I'll be at the Aspen Food and Wine Festival in June launching these as well. So we're really excited for that. And our hometown's Michigan, so we're there like every other month. So you'll definitely see us there as well.

28:32
Grace Kennedy
That's awesome. And when you work with brand ambassadors, is this sort of like, do you work with any company or do you work with just like, is it like your mom in Michigan?

28:42
Joey Labes
They haven't done it in A while, actually. A lot of the people we found, you know, have been friends of friends or random connections we've made at some of our own tastings. And that actually makes it amazing with our brand ambassadors. And because they are passionate about it, they do care. They're not just there to stand at a tasting, you know, and wait till the three hours runs up and fill their time. So, yeah, it's been great with the brand ambassadors we had, and we're always looking for more as we grow. We try to be everywhere at once, but now it's getting a little too hard to do that.

29:20
Grace Kennedy
Yeah. Yeah. I'm curious, thinking of as you grow, do you guys. You're obviously launching a new product, which is a huge point of growth, but I'm curious if you have any other, like, growth plans for this year. Is it to expand further? Is it to expand deeper where you already are? What do you sort of see for this year in terms of Sake High's growth?

29:40
Joey Labes
Yeah, well, some of our other product innovations will keep a secret, but you'll. You'll hopefully see them soon. But yeah, in terms of, you know, our growth, it's really about breaking into more, you know, restaurants and bars and finding those perfect fits all around the country that we've been able to do in our markets now, and just replicating that success and finding that sports bar who has those 10 regulars who love Sake. That's the goal. And expanding that, having new collaborations with bigger and more interesting partners as well. Just, like, really pushing the limits on, like, where Saka has been in the US and then saying, hey, what's the craziest thing we could think of? And trying that.

30:24
Brenna Turner
We're trying everything and anything. Right. Like, we're on our third or fourth year, and I just think, you know, we're obviously already growing with this product launch, but we're trying new things. You know, we're leaning into E Commerce this summer, which we've never done before. So we're definitely trying to challenge ourselves as well and, you know, bringing on more people as brand ambassadors and just getting the word out.

30:43
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, that's awesome. I'm curious, too. I. I always like to ask people this, particularly people who are in challenging categories like alcohol. And, like, what has been one of the most surprising challenges of growing an alcohol brand and particularly an alcohol that, like, isn't beer, Right? That's like, oh, I know what beer is, and I understand that immediately, and I know what to do.

31:05
Joey Labes
Yeah. So that's actually a real. I actually use that all the Time of, like, if were beer, our sales pitch would be, here's why our beer, you know, uses this type of hops. And here's why our pale ale is better than your pale ale. And then a bartender tries it, they're like, oh, okay, I like this one. I'll put it on a keg. And people order beer. For us, it has been completely backwards of like, hey, I know you have all this alcohol. What if you tried some sake? And then, you know. So the pitch is a lot more. It's like, hey, we know people are drinking here. Can we position our sock in the right space that people would buy it?

31:45
Joey Labes
But the other challenge, you know, is just budgeting with alcohol or really any CPG company, you can have as many zeros at the end of your bank account, and you could find a way to spend it all. People come to us every day with, like, the craziest ideas. You should get this celebrity sponsor. Oh, why aren't you hosting at the Super Bowl? We're like, where's your Coachella booth? That's happening this week? We're like, do you guys know how much money, like, all those costs and how much staff and effort and stuff goes into it?

32:20
Grace Kennedy
Yeah. Do they want to invest for you to go to Coachella? How do you manage, like, deciding where the budget goes?

32:28
Joey Labes
Yeah, it's on a case by case basis. We, you know, we have certain rules that we do for bigger, like, beer and wine fest on what we're willing to pay for a booth, what we get out of it. Are they buying the product or is it a donation? All of that kind of stuff. And then really, you know, the focus is kind of on what we see as hot and what's coming out and coming up. Figuring out promotions that go along with the calendar year. Like, our super bowl pizza promotion makes a lot of sense. And then, yeah, like I said, everyone loves T shirts and stickers, and literally, your budget can be infinity. And people still want more, you know, T shirts and hats and all that stuff.

33:12
Brenna Turner
It's tough. I mean, there's so many things we could be doing right. And so we're trying to not spread ourselves too thin.

33:17
Grace Kennedy
But we're also.

33:17
Brenna Turner
We also get so excited and, like, I mean, next. This weekend's Coachella next weekend, Stagecoach. And were like, wait. Sake and country is such a vibe.

33:25
Joey Labes
Like, everyone loves hard check the shirts on the website.

33:28
Brenna Turner
Yeah. Like, so we're like, we gotta make some country. Like, I'm sure it's like we. We added, like, a cowboy hat. To our bird logo. And like, you know, there's so many fun things you can always be doing and but the reality is like there's only two of us and so just like working harder and thinking smarter and working smarter and harder.

33:45
Joey Labes
But the truly the best promotion is getting a bunch of people to go to one location, whether it's a bar, a restaurant, a golf course, whatever it is, and have them drink some sake, eat some good food and socialize. You know, you could plan these Instagram giveaways for month, but like having 2, 300 people at one bar all drinking the same product, like that really goes the longest way.

34:13
Brenna Turner
I co hosted a sake cocktail making class last night and everyone showed up just wanting to drink the sake, like no one even wanted to like make it. And I was like, wait, the whole point is like being hands on and you know, everyone was just grabbing the hard teas and just taking those. So like again, people just want to socialize and try something new. And we say our socket makes you chatty and flirty and that's kind of what the high is all about. Although I'm waiting for you to ask about the bird, but I'll let that come down.

34:38
Grace Kennedy
Well, let's do it. It's coming naturally right now. What's up with the bird?

34:43
Brenna Turner
The birds a metaphor for life. It's all about like flying high out of your comfort zone, cracking open a can with a stranger next to you and like showing them what the socket high is all about. And then high in Japanese is like a word of affirmation, like saying yes and like confirming. And so like we really want to lean into that, like positive and camaraderie, like energy and. And again, leaning into like prosperity for all. So. And then there's always like the high. Like it's like a clean fun, you know, it's like you feel a little lifted and it's almost like everyone talks about like the tequila high and that type of buzz and you definitely get that from sake. And that's why I always say like, chatty, flirty, easy Joey, always chatty, flirty, fun. Yeah, chatty, flirty fun.

35:24
Brenna Turner
And it really is like even going into social settings, it's like crack open a can. Like one, you're going to start a story, everyone's going to ask what that brand is. Huh? You're drinking sake out of a can and then it's a great conversation starter. And two, like, it definitely makes you a little more like loose and a lot more fun. I promise the amount of text you get from people drinking Sake High and is wild. And they are always saying hilarious things and just getting out of their comfort zone.

35:50
Grace Kennedy
That's so fun. And for those who haven't seen or aren't or listening to this, who haven't seen the branding, there's a little bird on their branding that's very cute. And now we know what the bird's all about. So I love it. My last question is always just how can our startup CBG listeners support Sake High and learn more and follow along on the journey?

36:09
Joey Labes
Yeah, follow us on Instagram, drink Sake High.

36:13
Brenna Turner
And we're always on it, so it's literally us responding. So if you ever have any questions, feedback, or you need some merch sent somewhere, just let us know and then.

36:22
Joey Labes
Check our website@sakehid.com you'll see all of our new merch, the nationwide shipping for the teas and the regular product and.

36:32
Brenna Turner
Then and our store locators on our website too. So if you want to try and find something local too.

36:37
Joey Labes
Yeah. And then if you're ever in a restaurant or a bar, even if it's not a Japanese spot, challenge, the bartender say, do you have any sake?

36:45
Grace Kennedy
And.

36:46
Joey Labes
And start exploring that journey for yourself. It's a lot of fun. There's so many different styles, there's so many different ways to enjoy it. And the more, you know, we spread this word and the entire sake industry continues to grow, the more we'll see this product in other spots and we won't get as many rejections either. When we go into bars, we want.

37:08
Brenna Turner
To be people's gateway into their sake experience. So start with Sake High. It's premium, it's affordable, it's accessible. And then go and try something really expensive. Go and try something cheap. You, you'll know it. Try mixing it. Mix your own cocktail at home. So it's really all about your experience and we really want to hear what you guys are doing at home.

37:27
Grace Kennedy
Amazing. I love that. Well, thanks so much for coming on the show, guys. It was so much fun to learn more about Sake High and can't wait to see where you guys go next.

37:35
Brenna Turner
Thank you.

37:36
Joey Labes
Awesome. Thank you.

37:39
Grace Kennedy
All right, everyone, thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, it would help us out so much if you left a 5 star review on ratethispodcast.com startupcpg I am Grace Kennedy, the host of the founder feature series. So feel free to add me on LinkedIn or reach out to me on Slack. I'm always on the hunt for new and exciting brands to feature. And if you're a potential sponsor who would like to appear on the podcast, please email partnershipsartupcpg.com and finally, as a reminder for anyone listening, if you haven't already, we would love for you to join our community on Slack. You can sign up via our website, startupcpg.com.