The Startup CPG Podcast

Ollie Spring
Both young millennials, Gen Z, they're the people who are driving this trend of sober curiosity and not drinking. You know, one example of that is I think it's 45% of Gen Z have never tried alcohol. So that's another, you know, key reason that we wanted to choose sparkling tea. And when we're kind of listening to our consumer, understanding what is gonna interest them, figuring out that they've never had a non Al whiskey or a non Al tequila, It's figuring out the right flavors for that consumer.

00:39
Sophie Spring
Yeah, those are all acquired taste. If you've never tried them before, you don't want them. You just want something elevated. And so that was really the taste profile were going after.

00:50
Caitlin Bricker
Hey everybody, this is Caitlin Brooker, editor at Startup cpg. We are back with another founder feature. Today we're talking with Ollie and Sophie Spring, co founders of USO Sparkling Tea, a non alcoholic beverage designed to give people confidence when they choose to drink less. After meeting on Hinge and surviving a pandemic together in their tiny New York apartment, these somewhat newlyweds turned their frustration with sugary or overly bitter NA options into an award winning brand. Sweetened with organic honey beef, featuring clean functional ingredients. From racking up multiple awards in just over a year to removing all caffeine from their lineup to be more inclusive for their consumers, they're building something up. Fits seamlessly into a curated Gen Z or millennial lifestyle and Beyond.

01:37
Caitlin Bricker
As someone 14 months sober from alcohol, I'm always here for beverages that make cutting back easier and dare I say, stylish. Enjoy. Hey everybody. Welcome back to the Startup CPG podcast. This is Caitlin and today I'm here with Ollie and Sophie Spring, co founders of USO Sparkling Tea. Welcome to the show.

01:59
Ollie Spring
Hey, thanks for having us.

02:01
Sophie Spring
So glad to be here.

02:02
Caitlin Bricker
I'm very excited to have you here. Sober October is upon us. I feel like it's very fitting that we have an award winning non alcoholic beverage brand to talk to. So how's it feel being in the midst of Sober October as an award winning NA beverage brand?

02:20
Sophie Spring
It is chaos. But all good. We launched in June of 2024, so this is our second sober October actually. So we feel like we have a little bit of ground under us this year versus last year. So we're really excited about a really strong start heading into the holidays, but we really feel how much the community has gotten behind us. There's a lot of people who are cutting back on their consumption of alcohol, so this year feels very different and very exciting. And we think we're in a really great place to show up for everybody that's looking to cut back.

02:53
Caitlin Bricker
Totally. I amongst that crowd, I think. I am. Not that I'm counting or anything. I definitely am counting. I think I'm 15 months sober from out, or maybe 14. Thanks. It feels good. I, like, never thought that this would be a decision that I would make for myself. It's just something that everybody does in a social setting. And I. I never saw this being me, but here I am. I'm here for it. And it makes it so much easier when there are good beverages that I can sip on instead of, like, orange juice or water.

03:24
Ollie Spring
Yeah. And that's like the whole inception story of our brand, really, is that, you know, I've never been a huge drinker, and Sofas has dabbled a little bit more than I have. But when we didn't want to drink at a bar or a restaurant or at home, were looking for something that was still bold and unique and delicious and complex. And, I mean, we can get. We can get into that if and when, you know, you ask. But I just kind of really sympathize and empathize with that because, you know, that's what people are looking for out there and that's what we're trying to deliver.

03:52
Caitlin Bricker
So tell me, what is uso? That's a perfect time.

03:56
Sophie Spring
Amazing. So USO is a sparkling tea, and it's really created to be an elevated beverage to replace a moment where you'd normally be consuming alcohol. So what we found in Ali was kind of being a little cheeky earlier, that I dabbled a little bit more. I had dabbled a lot more in drinking. I. My career has been in wine and spirits, so I was kind of immersed in the world, and I found it really difficult to choose not to drink when I was in a social setting. And I found that to be a real block and not great for health. So I was trying to figure out ways where I would feel comfortable to cut back in a situation where people would normally expect me to be drinking.

04:38
Sophie Spring
And so what Ali and I found was that brand really held a big weight here, and we wanted to create something that would give people the confidence and excitement to not be drinking alcohol during social occasions. So that's kind of like the start of the brand.

04:54
Caitlin Bricker
I love to hear that, because I worked in the cannabis industry for five years prior to this, and you would think that everyone's getting high, but really everyone is drinking and drinking all a lot. It was disrupting my Sleep. I was having major anxiety, obviously drinking a little bit too much, staying up late, the whole deal. And it's not a great path to be on, especially like in a work setting. I don't know, like, yeah, I might have cool coworkers, but do I necessarily want to be getting drunk with you? Maybe not exactly.

05:27
Ollie Spring
And I mean, that's a huge part of the brand. And what we've tried to create is where do we get, as Soph was alluding to, where do we give people the confidence to make that decision to be themselves and, you know, still want to be out with friends, have something delicious? And I think that kind of like our three, what we call our headline goals while we're building you some, basically that guides a lot of the decisions that we're making are we want, you know, a liquid that's as close to objectively delicious as possible. Something that's, you know, tasty, that, you know, hopefully no one can deny that they want to drink.

05:57
Sophie Spring
Yeah. And we wanted tea was a really big thing for us. We wanted it to be tea based. We felt tea had that ritual approach that's similar to alcohol. It had health components to it. It was truly delicious. And it's also the second most consumed beverage in the whole world. So we knew people really loved tea and they wanted to consume more of it.

06:16
Ollie Spring
Yeah. And then, and then that second kind of pillar, second tenant, was to create a net positive health benefit. As I've said, you know, tea has an inherent health benefit, but we wanted to take it a step further. So if drinking is a net negative, not drinking would be a net zero. We wanted to add things to that. So we have, you know, the tea, the vitamins and adaptogens, things that are really, hopefully going to make you feel better the next day. And as we kind of looked at the data and understood that the reasons people weren't drinking, the top two being mental and physical health, we knew that people were really looking for something that was that net positive. And then lastly, we chatted about it a few times now.

06:54
Ollie Spring
But the brand and the design, you know, have a big job to do and making sure people are comfortable with what they're holding, what they're ordering, what they're seen with. And especially, you know, our target demographic, young millennial Gen Z, people who really have, like, those ultra curated lifestyles that we want to fit into.

07:10
Sophie Spring
Yeah. So our mission for the company is really to inspire people to feel confident when they choose to drink less.

07:17
Caitlin Bricker
I'm all for it. I am so for it and I feel like I never see sparkling teas. So tell me how you landed on choosing tea and sparkling tea specifically for your beverage.

07:30
Sophie Spring
Yeah, so were playing around a lot. It was Covid time. We were stuck in our tiny apartments in New York City and we had decided that we wanted to improve our physical health and our mental health by drinking less alcohol. It was a conscious decision we made, and so we started trying some nas that were out there. It was 2021 at the time, and everything was either really sugary or it was very bitter or really acidic. And it didn't really fit the need that were looking for. And when Ollie and I do drink, we often drink a natural wine and we wanted something that had that complexity, that funkiness. And so were drinking a lot of kombucha and then we started to kind of make our own tea beverages at home.

08:12
Sophie Spring
And it just sort of sparked this, like, real excitement around tea and how the complexity, the flavor and the ritualness really kind of was the perfect fit for what we needed when were coming back.

08:24
Ollie Spring
And. And then from more of like a strategic point of view, there's no denying that, you know, like yourself and like other consumers in the non alcoholic or adult, non alcoholic space, it's a behavioral shift. They're changing, you know, what they're usually choosing and. And what they're usually doing. So we want all the hurdles, pardon me, that we can kind of control and the levers that we can pull. We wanted to be able to make sure those are as kind of welcoming as possible. And you know, many people are familiar with tea and with our kind of what we call our headline flavors, green tea, mint and lime, hibiscus, ginger and currant. Things that are like, welcoming and, you know, not too scary for people.

08:59
Ollie Spring
And then as people are kind of drinking and kind of finding new flavors, new scents kind of on the nose, you know, we wanted to surprise them and make sure that they realized like, oh, this is more than just tea. This is something that's a bold and kind of complex beverage.

09:13
Caitlin Bricker
Love it, love it. Sophie, you mentioned that a lot of beverages, especially back in 2020, like, I can't even think of a non alcoholic beverage maybe besides like odules or athletic back then, like, nothing else is coming to mind. But you mentioned sugary beverages, overly bitter beverages. I love me some bitters, but sugar kills me. So tell me about your ingredient selection and why you landed on the sweeteners and the ingredients that you chose to ultimately use.

09:45
Sophie Spring
Yes. So ingredients were hugely Important for us. We wanted to make sure that everything were putting into USO was premium and it was good for you. So we did not want to use any synthetic sugars. We felt that synthetic sugars some people are really excited about, other people are wary about. It's a little bit of an area that we didn't want to get into. We felt we wanted something that was a whole food ingredient. So we sweeten USO with organic honey. And there's that lovely connection between tea and honey. It's kind of how you think of it. Honey has functional benefits and so we wanted to include that as part of the story. And it has a lovely taste profile. So that's kind of how we ended up with honey. We also knew we wanted all organic teas.

10:31
Sophie Spring
We wanted to make sure that tea was really the main flavor that you sipped when you first try to do so. And then you, as Ollie mentioned, you discovered these more complex flavors. We do have a little bit of a bitter note in our hibiscus ginger currant. I really love bitter. Ollie's not guy. But we wanted to have that note to really make it feel like an adult beverage, but have it be non offensive and just kind of complement the flavors.

10:56
Ollie Spring
And then one thing I'll add is like before we, you know, launch the business, while were working on it, while were formulating, you know, I went, spent time in bottle shops and was, you know, bothering the store associate, asking a bunch of questions or watching people shop. And you know, one thing I frequently saw and heard was done was the consumers are turning the can. They're like kind of bottle spinning or can spinning. Because these people are both, you know, curious, educated, want to know what's in their beverage, what they're consuming. And so making sure it was, you know, a clean label, a clean nutritional panel, those were all important things that we kind of had to hit to know that were, you know, winning on our, on that kind of middle tenant that I was talking about that net positive health.

11:36
Sophie Spring
I think it also helps, as I mentioned earlier, I come from the wine and spirits industry, so I had some people who tasted our product when they were just kitchen samples. We actually had a friend of mine, Lacy Hawkins, who helped us really kind of like elevate the beverage. She is a award winning mixologist. She's worked at some of the best bars in New York. She really helped us kind of elevate USO to make sure that it was an adult beverage and added those notes that you think of when you think of wine, you have a mid note, you have an end note, you have a nose making sure all of those pieces were included in uso.

12:10
Caitlin Bricker
I have two things that I want touch on, Ollie. First, you're mentioning spinning the bottle or spinning the can and that to me, as soon as you said that, I'm like, you know what? I don't know if when I was drinking alcohol, if I ever looked for an ingredient label or if I ever even saw one, to be honest with you.

12:30
Ollie Spring
Is it one?

12:30
Sophie Spring
It does not exist.

12:32
Caitlin Bricker
That says a lot. I think it's like, maybe if you pick up this can or bottle, you're just like, what does it matter if there's something else in here?

12:42
Ollie Spring
You're putting a lot of trust in the brand you're trying to drink or the, or what you're choosing when you know. We wanted to like build that relationship and make sure people know. Exactly. And obviously we had to as a non alcoholic beverage. But we want to make sure and kind of be very clear with what we're kind of sharing with our consumer.

12:59
Caitlin Bricker
Wow. The light bulb is like going off over my head right now. I don't know if I ever really put any thought into that until you just said it. That is a crazy thing. Because I am such an avid ingredient label reader, I will never buy a product without reading the ingredient label. But even when I was eating natural products and buying kombuchas and all this stuff and still drinking, I wasn't looking it.

13:23
Ollie Spring
I'm sure, I'm sure you're not the only. I'm sure you're not the only person.

13:26
Caitlin Bricker
Interesting. I would love to hear from more people if that's been their experience too.

13:30
Ollie Spring
Yeah. And I think that kind of hammers home the fact that people who are looking to drink less, those top two reasons are physical and mental health. So then they are realizing, hey, I don't even know what's in this. Or on the flip side, they're saying, hey, I want to know what's in this. So it definitely makes sense.

13:46
Caitlin Bricker
Very cool. And Sophie, you're mentioning a couple times now, but you do come from the wine and spirits industry, so I'd love to hear more about both of your backgrounds. Maybe Sophie, you can start and just tell us a little bit more about what you were doing before usa.

13:59
Sophie Spring
Sure. So I started my career working for wine and spirits distributor sales side. So I kind of have a base in commercial and that's really where my mind goes. Immediately I think of kind of like how these products work in a commercial environment. I then went back and got my master's at Syracuse Stew House and then switched over to the marketing side and I now work for a wine and spirit supplier on the brand management side. So more dealing with kind of more like GM work, ensuring that all of our items are cohesive, et cetera. So I kind of have that background of marketing and sales. And then Ollie comes from the flip side of the coin.

14:37
Ollie Spring
Yeah. So, I mean, one of the reasons that we wanted to start this is we had such complimentary skills. And my career started in finance. I was investment banking for a few years and then Soph had her master's and I was like, oh, I need to be just as educated. So I went back and got an MBA from NYU Stern, which is kind of just over here in the city where we're Brooklyn based. So it was a thankfully a short commute. And then I had a little bit of experience, well, in my MBA with consulting, but decided to be doing this full time and kind of take that leap and no better time than now.

15:09
Caitlin Bricker
Wow. And how did you two meet, if you don't mind me asking?

15:12
Sophie Spring
We met in the really beautiful way of dating app I like to say is the golden age of hinge in 2019 when we matched and the rest is history.

15:25
Caitlin Bricker
And you lived through a pandemic together too. I think that says a lot. And you just celebrated a year of marriage together.

15:32
Ollie Spring
Yeah, the pandemic was a crazy time that accelerated our love. And then one year in and we're going stronger than ever.

15:41
Sophie Spring
Who says sparkling tea sponsored by Hinge.

15:45
Caitlin Bricker
You know, you are not the first couple that I've spoken to. Figa Foods also, they met on Hinge. They recently got married. Hinges, really? They're doing it right.

15:55
Ollie Spring
This is a shout out. If Hinge wants to do a series on like CPG fan brands, find your good on hand.

16:03
Caitlin Bricker
We should definitely tag them when this goes live. Something I did notice when I was looking at your website, something I'm sure probably sound like a broken record to some people, but whenever I buy a product or I'm interested in looking at a product to buy, first thing I do is look at ingredients. Of course I'm looking at the branding, I'm looking at the packaging, but ingredients are going to tell me whether or not I want to buy a product and then I want to go and I want to learn about you. So I'll look at your story, I'll read your about us. That is going to tell Me if it's like, if the vibes are there, you know. And I read you're about us, your story on your website, and you wrote about each other.

16:41
Caitlin Bricker
And I thought that was so cute and so cool. I have never seen that done on a brand website before. So kudos to you. And like, tell me the thought process behind that.

16:52
Ollie Spring
We're not exactly sure. I don't know remember where we had the idea.

16:56
Sophie Spring
I think were thinking about writing our own bios and that felt really weird.

17:00
Ollie Spring
I think that's. That's probably what it was. We're both.

17:03
Sophie Spring
So we swapped.

17:03
Ollie Spring
And I think that's also a big thing about the brand. I mean, we're not. We're both not like really out there. Like, I want to be the face of this brand and I think that's like part of having to come out of our shell and post, you know, a few photos once in a while of ourselves on the. On the drink goose on Instagram. But I think the real kind of impetus of why we did that was we started writing about ourselves and were like, let's just write about each other. It's authentic. And you, I mean, who better to write about you than the person that knows the next most about you?

17:32
Sophie Spring
Yeah. I've also said this before, but I do feel the best part about USU is that we get to work together and spend more time with each other. And that just kind of felt authentic to like share a little bit about each other. Cause that's such a big part of the business. So the website was so much fun. Ali learned how to code and built the whole thing himself. Been pretty incredible how much we've had to learn through this process because we bootstrapped the. This thing for the whole first year. So the website is very near and dear to our heart.

17:59
Caitlin Bricker
What's it been like being business partners and life partners? And how do you find the balance, if there is even a balance to find for you?

18:08
Sophie Spring
The balance is tricky, that's for sure. We tend to have dinner and talk about uso. We tend to go to walks and talk about uso. But I think both of us are so passionate about it that it doesn't always feel like work when we're doing it together, which is the really nice part. And I think that the trust that we have in each other is so rare for a co founder. And what really helps is our. Our skills are very different. So we kind of let each other run in our own lanes and think of each other as experts in those things.

18:41
Caitlin Bricker
I love that and I think it says a lot too because I see behind you there you've been in business for how long?

18:47
Sophie Spring
We've been in business since June of 24th.

18:50
Ollie Spring
Yeah, it's like a year and a quarter. Yes.

18:52
Caitlin Bricker
Okay. And I see at least two trophies hanging out behind you. You want to tell us a little bit more?

18:59
Ollie Spring
2 glass transparent ones that are hard to see and then there's. There's two more. One that the most recent notable one startup CPGS Shelfies which is great but yeah, I think, I mean a kind of little funny anecdote about, you know, us being a couple living together but also founders the kind of larger cup looking one there was from the new beverage showdown at Bednet Live. And we pitch in the semifinals. We went home that night knowing that we had made the finals and we're in our living room, you know, practicing and we knew, you know, let's get reps. And I mean obviously another thing about us being a couple is learning how to set boundaries. And sometimes I push more and you know, and I'm more of the opinion like let's keep going, let's keep willing and soph.

19:45
Ollie Spring
It helps me also set my own boundaries. But that night for example, we really benefited from being in the same place, being a couple, you know, living together to get those reps. And I mean to answer your question, we got a few there and hopefully a couple more on the way. We'll see.

19:59
Caitlin Bricker
I was watching Bevnet live. When you got that trophy, when you won that award, there was some fierce competition there. You are one of my favorite beverage brands. But you were up there with several other of my favorite beverage brands. And I was like, this is like picking your favorite child. This is so unfair. Like how could you pin these people against each other? But then again, this is. I feel like it's such a friendly community that people really aren't. It's not head to head competitions. Like it really is all in good fun. How do you feel about that being in the beverage space with so much competition?

20:37
Ollie Spring
I think at the end of the day, like Bevnet for example, although were all beverage brands, were all kind of different in that scenario. But even when. And we made a lot of great friends from that competition. But even when you look at like the not the adult non alcoholic beverage community alone, I mean we've had, you know, made great friends, you know, have great connections and you know, we love to kind of help where we can but As a young brand, so far, we probably asked more questions than we've answered. The people are always so generous, and it's such a strong community that it's so true.

21:08
Sophie Spring
It's absolutely incredible how many people are willing to help and how many people have helped us. It's just kind of, like, hard to count at this point. So many people have been willing to help for just the sake of helping, which has been pretty incredible. And we've been able to meet some really wonderful people who have been mentors to us who have, you know, built our community here. And so even when were at Fancy Foods, we started cpg, we still chat with a lot of people that were in that section. So we've been able to make some great connections through this world of cpg.

21:43
Caitlin Bricker
I hear that so often. I think that's such a testament to this community and to the industry as a whole. I have never experienced the type of camaraderie that I've seen in this sector of CPG, like here in 2025. Never seen it before, never experienced it. I think it's very special.

22:02
Sophie Spring
Yeah, it's super special. I think we're all experiences really difficult time from an economy standpoint. We're battling a lot of things that founders haven't battled before. It's one of the hardest times to raise capital, so I think we all bond over that. I don't feel competition with anybody in this startup space. I feel competition with, you know, the mainstays that we're going up against, the big guys, the big fish. I think we're all kind of challengers in that world, and we're here to support each other.

22:29
Caitlin Bricker
It's a good challenge. It's definitely a good thing to have and I think might turn the industry on its head. I mean, it is already. Right? Like, people are asking more questions. They want more transparency. They want more of a personal touch and a personal story attached to their food and beverage and even personal care products that they're purchasing, or at least I definitely do.

22:50
Ollie Spring
Absolutely.

22:50
Sophie Spring
Yeah. Gemsy especially, I think, really cares about those things.

22:54
Caitlin Bricker
And Gen Z is a target market for you, and I believe you said millennials as well. Can you talk to me a little bit more about why they're your target market?

23:02
Ollie Spring
Yeah, I mean, both young millennials, Gen Z, they're the people who are driving this. This trend of, you know, sober curiosity and not drinking. You know, one example of that is I think it's 45% of Gen Z. I've never tried alcohol, so that's another, you know, key reason that we wanted to choose sparkling tea. And when we're kind of listening to our consumer understanding, know what is going to interest them. Figuring out, you know, that they've never had a non Al whiskey or a non Al tequila. It's figuring out, you know, the right flavors for that consumer.

23:32
Sophie Spring
Yeah, those are all acquired taste. If you've never tried them before, you don't want them. You just want something elevated. And so that was really the taste profile were going after.

23:41
Caitlin Bricker
I think you nailed it. I'm a big fan of the hibiscus ginger current. I don't drink caffeine, but I appreciate that you have an a caffeine free and a caffeinated option. That is very cool.

23:53
Ollie Spring
We actually, I will say this is the first announcement. We will have zero caffeine in all of our USO flavors in the new year is the plan. Yeah, we recently wanted to focus on that because, you know, obviously Gen Z is driving this trend, but there's no denying that kind of the pregnancy. And you know, women who are pregnant are looking for non alcoholic beverages. So we wanted to make sure that, you know, caffeine wasn't a barrier to that community also. And we also have a new flavor coming up, coming soon. We've been working on that. So, you know, all things will be zero calf, but still very USO and very delicious.

24:31
Caitlin Bricker
I have to ask, you have the two flavors right now. Do you have a favorite child?

24:36
Ollie Spring
We have different favorite children.

24:38
Sophie Spring
Yeah. I tend to always reach for the green tea and Ollie tends to always reach for the hibiscus.

24:47
Caitlin Bricker
I feel like you really can't grow wrong with either one of them. But they definitely. I feel like the hibiscus one for me resembles like a fall kind of like cozy vibe. And then the green tea one is more of like a spring summer. Yep, it's nice.

25:03
Ollie Spring
I think. I think there's time of year weather, there's time of day, there's just vibe and how you're feeling. We really wanted to make sure they're kind of yin and yang and, you know, scratch different itches and fit different vibes.

25:15
Sophie Spring
And our third flavor that's coming out in January is going to fit right in the middle.

25:18
Caitlin Bricker
So, so excited. This is like such a cliffhanger. I'm like, I want you to tell me, but you don't. You don't have to tell me. I will wait. All right, so I need to ask, what does it mean? I can take some guesses. My guess, should I just Say, let's hear the guess. Does it have to do with your names or is it, like, because I saw your stickers, it says, like, spill the tea. Is it, like, when you get into a conversation and you're like, ooh? So this is what I heard.

25:48
Ollie Spring
I love that both are good guesses. We do use the. The latter as, like, a phonetic pronunciation of like, ooh. So good. Just so people remember how to say it. But the kind of the. The real origin story is that the O's are from the heart of Brooklyn because we're where. We like to say we're born in Brooklyn. Yeah. And then you're kind of the. The former was correct in that it's Sophie, Ollie. So it's a little bit of, like, Brooklyn with a little bit of us. So it's so. Thank you.

26:18
Caitlin Bricker
So good. I love that you have that personal tie in there too.

26:22
Ollie Spring
Yeah. The naming process is a difficult one because you. You come up with, like, this fantastic name, and then you go on the USPTO website to make sure you could file it. And unfortunately, it's already taken by a hundred other, you know, companies wanted one in the beverage and then a million other and everything else. So it's. It's hard to come up with something. We ended up saying, you know, let's come up with a word that we're kind of. We could see ourselves asking for at a bar, ordering on a menu at a restaurant, or kind of just being kind of having some feeling towards it. So that was. That was what we ended up with.

26:53
Caitlin Bricker
So good. All right, I need to ask about the branding to talk to me about the branding. How did you land on the colors, the style, the vibe? Tell me everything.

27:04
Sophie Spring
Yeah, so branding, I think, for us was probably the majority of how we plan to launch the brand, because we knew that, again, there's this awkward thing around being the water guy at a party. We wanted to give people confidence in what they were holding. We knew that it had to be really cool. I had to, like, strike a nerve. And so we knew our audience, of course, was Gen Z and young millennials. We knew that this is the nostalgic generation. You know, you're seeing the Y2K stuff, you're seeing a lot of vintage come back. So we really wanted to have a vintage vibe, and we really wanted to give the brand a heart and soul.

27:45
Sophie Spring
So we did a lot of digging and found what's called the Bauhaus movement, which was a movement, a design movement based in Germany that kind of inspired a lot of the mid century movements. And we just really connected with it. And a lot of the principles of being authentic and being yourself and kind of supporting that individuality, it really married with what were trying to do with the brand. So that design system was how we built USO and how we still kind of think about the brand today. That color blocking minimalism, but like strong punchy colors and it really works on shelf. It drives this stripe billboard and kind of works really hard for us both on shelf and at the bar.

28:30
Caitlin Bricker
Wowee. You guys just really like nailed it all around. Thank you so much.

28:34
Ollie Spring
And the like the other, I guess, funny story about the green and also the orange, but more so the green, it vividly kind of sticks in my mind is went through, I can't even tell you how many like literally chips of green that we sent to our label printer that they could print so we could try to like pick the exact perfect green. You know, you go too far one way and it becomes, you know, really artificially looking and then you go the other way and it's a little too dull. So, you know, just everything that we've been trying to do, you know, especially in the brand, is how can we be intentional in making it something that someone can deny it looks delicious and they want to grab?

29:11
Caitlin Bricker
I have to ask before we wrap up here, for any retailers that are out there listening, why should they stock USO on their shelves?

29:19
Ollie Spring
Yeah, I'll say first and foremost, it's unlike anything you already have on your shelf. You know, if you want to be that retailer with something cool and something new and something that you don't have already, first and foremost, no brainer, USO is that product. I'm a little biased. I'm a little biased. But yeah, we have Caitlin's confirmation endorsement.

29:37
Sophie Spring
I'll also say that we have this really incredible consumer in the Gen Z millennial space. We see them drinking poppy, making that functional shift and soda category. So our main goal is to take that consumer into the nighttime and give them something more elevated that they're looking to consume. And the exact same consumer, but it's just a more elevated occasion. We know that consumers going to these grocery stores, they have buying power and so giving them something that they can really take into the nighttime is how. How we're pitching the product. It lives in a really exciting set for Non Elk that's kind of seeing a split at the moment between products that are mimicking alcohol. The Non Alk beers, the Non Elk wines, the Non Elk tequilas, Et cetera.

30:21
Sophie Spring
And then this other category, which is what USO lives in more of a social tonic that's not mimicking the flavors of alcohol, but it's really creating a more elevated flavor profile for that young consumer for what they're looking for.

30:34
Caitlin Bricker
You know, I don't think that I have heard any other n a brand talking about a beverage that you can drink into the night. I really like that.

30:42
Sophie Spring
Yeah.

30:42
Ollie Spring
I think, I mean, any. Any time of day, of course, but when it comes to when people are drinking, that kind of, like behavioral shift that we're trying to intercept, there's no doubt that's more of like an evening situation.

30:53
Caitlin Bricker
All right, so how do we get more USO into people's hands? Where can they find you online? Drop your handle. Tell us where we can stock you the whole deal.

31:01
Ollie Spring
Yeah. So first and foremost, we ship nationwide on our website, which is drink o o s o.com if you're in New York, which is our home market. I mean, some of our. Our shops that we've been in since the very beginning, like, Big Night and Happier Grocery are great spots to find us. We have a store locator on our website as well, which can. Can help you. But then we're. We're slowly kind of growing across the US and we're going to be popping up in more places for sure.

31:28
Sophie Spring
But yeah, and the other piece is we just launched on Fresh Direct, so we're available to be ordered on Fresh Direct, which is really convenient for anybody in the New York area.

31:37
Caitlin Bricker
Congratulations. This is all sounding so good, and I can only imagine the amount of fun the big Night team probably had merchandising your products. Because if I remember correctly, I've never been in there, but I've seen online they love collecting color coding in their store. Oh, it's so good. It, like, makes my mouth water looking at things like that.

31:57
Ollie Spring
We love working with them. They're a great. They're a great team and a great partner. Especially here in New York when people are kind of like, going into their shop and looking to discover new things. We love being on the shelf for them to discover.

32:07
Caitlin Bricker
It's probably such a good surprise for new customers to discover uso. Well, thank you both so much. This has been a lot of fun. It's been great getting to know more of your stuff story. Now I can love your products even more, and I'm definitely going to be cracking a can when I get home.

32:21
Ollie Spring
Great.

32:22
Sophie Spring
Thank you so much.

32:23
Caitlin Bricker
Thank you. Talk to you soon. 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 startup cpg I'm Caitlin 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.