[REPLAY] Brian Rosen on his Journey and How he Can Help Build a New Beverage Brand

Thirsty Thursdays @3PM EST on 📽 YouTube! Subscribe and Watch Here! 😁💃https://www.youtube.com/ @ThirstyThursdaysat3PMEST

📢I talk🎙️with Brian Rosen, Chairman of  Growth Beverage which owns 4 entities helping innovative brands accelerate through funding, incubation, and points of distribution in 6 states.  🎇 🎉 🍸✨ 👏

Brian’s father was tuned into the Chicago market before prohibition and was awarded the first alcohol retail license after prohibition ended. These Rosen gentlemen learned and understood how to perfect retail and did so for decades and developed Sam’s over time. They encapsulated innovation as part of their growth strategy. 

They knew if a customer stayed more than 17 minutes, they would add $100 to their cart. They also knew if they could get them to have a glass of wine or two with maybe a cheese plate, they would increase their margin and customers would stay for 38 minutes.

Brian, a highly educated individual, grew up running the largest, most innovative retail store in Chicago, and the biggest in the country. If you were to put Specs, Total Wine, and a wine bar together you would get a closer picture of the concept he and his brother and father built together. Yes, they were the precursor to your shopping experience as you know it today.

Brian then applied these skills to his passion for helping smaller innovative brands. The business has given him so much he wants to give back the 2nd half of his career.

His skilled team helps brands develop faster with capital, sales, and marketing at all the right times for optimum growth.

What Brian and his team are doing fits right in my wheelhouse and I look forward to watching their continued success.

1) BevStrat multimillion company and sold to MHW
2) InvestBev ($300 Million AUM private equity in bev alc) (5th fund)
3) Sprout Beverage - win $100k for your brand
4) Algoma Capital
($100 Mill separate fund distilleries and brand owners that need credit but do not give up equity)

Thank you for listening and be sure to subscribe to be notified of all new episodes!

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Host Jessie Ott's Profile on LinkedIn

Chapters

• 2:05 Welcome
• 3:13 Where Brian is Calling From
• 3:34 Where Brian is From
• 3:45 Family was first liquor license after prohibition
• 4:18 Sams Liquor and Wine Store turned into the largest liquor store in the country
• 5:58 Credit to Brian's dad for their Family Success
• 7:14 If a customer spends 17 min in a store they will spend $100 more in the cart
• 9:00 1st Job after Selling Sams: Price Waterhouse Coopers
• 9:45 Brian started his first company Bevstrat in 2015
• 10:26 Sold Bevstrat to MHW in 2019
• 10:30 Invest Bev created at the same time as Bevstrat
• 11:08 Founding Algoma Capital
• 11:33 Sprout Beverage
• 12:52 How a brand should get started
• 14:48 A brand can come to them at any time
• 15:14 Process of discovering new brands
• 16:41 Why he wants to help innovative brands succeed
• 18:12 How BevStrat's sales team works
• 19:43 Stat that will Ruin Your Day
• 25:59 Mentors
• 34:26 Biggest no Brainer in Retail
• 34:49 Biggest no Brainer for Brands
• 35:48 Pain Points in the Industry
• 50:24 Outlook
• 52:32 Brian's love for gin
• 53:26 Rise in Sipping Rums
• 56:35 Brian's thoughts on Sake
• 1:02:37 Brian's Passion
• 1:05:06 What Brian does outside of work

Transcript

00:00:05:08 - 00:00:28:19
Jessie Ott
Welcome to Thursday, Thursdays at 3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. My name is Jesse at the host of this podcast, which is all about beverage innovation. I talk with innovation pioneers from agriculture to glass. This week I'm speaking with Brian Rossen, chairman of Growth Beverage, which owns four entities helping innovative brands accelerate through funding, incubation and points of distribution in six states.

00:00:28:21 - 00:00:55:08
Jessie Ott
Brian's father was tuned in to the Chicago market before prohibition and was awarded the first alcohol retail license after prohibition ended. These rose and gentlemen learned and understood how to perfect retail, and did so for decades and develop Sams over time. They encapsulated innovation as part of their growth strategy. They knew if a customer stayed more than 17 minutes, they would add $100 to their cart.

00:00:55:09 - 00:01:22:13
Jessie Ott
They also knew if they could get them to have a glass, wine or two with maybe a cheese plate, they would increase their margins and customers would stay for 38 minutes. Brian, a highly educated individual, grew up running the largest, most innovative retail store in Chicago, the biggest in the country. If you were to put specs, total wine and a wine bar together, you would get a closer picture of the concept he, his brother, and his father built together.

00:01:22:15 - 00:01:49:13
Jessie Ott
Yes, they were the precursor to your shopping experience as you know it today. Brian then took these skills and applied them to his passion to help build smaller, innovative brands. The business has given him so much, he wants to give back the second half of his career. His skilled team helps brands develop faster with capital, sales and marketing at all the right times for optimum growth.

00:01:49:15 - 00:02:11:17
Jessie Ott
What Brian and his team are doing fits right in my wheelhouse, and I look forward to watching their continued success. Tune in next Thursday and have a great week! Thank you for listening and be sure to subscribe to be notified of all new episodes. Hello everybody, and welcome to Thursday. Thursday. This is Jesse at and I have Brian Rosen with us today.

00:02:11:17 - 00:02:13:10
Jessie Ott
Hi, Brian. How are you doing today.

00:02:13:12 - 00:02:14:15
Brian Rosen
In the flesh.

00:02:14:15 - 00:02:37:12
Jessie Ott
In this. Thank you for having me. Yes, yes, I'm so excited. I've seen some of your videos and and whatnot. So I'm super excited to, to have you on to talk about all that you're doing. I, you know, I mentioned to Brian, before we get started recording, you know, I have such admiration for him and what he's done for our industry and helping the little guys, because that's really what's kind of going to help propel, I think, a lot of our business in the future.

00:02:37:13 - 00:02:48:15
Jessie Ott
You know, it's kind of the, you know, people weren't weren't sitting around on their hands during Covid. They're creating brands so that they can put them in our in our hands. So it's pretty exciting stuff.

00:02:48:17 - 00:03:07:09
Brian Rosen
The little guys is the backbone of the whole industry. So the little the little brand, the little supply or the little anything keeps the whole hospitality industry rolling. And so the big guys don't need any support from anyone. They got a handle. It's a little people that really need the support. So that's kind of what we built our companies.

00:03:07:15 - 00:03:16:09
Jessie Ott
Yeah. No that's it's all in my wheelhouse. Food and beverage innovation and I'm all in. I just absolutely love it. So Brian where are you calling from today?

00:03:16:11 - 00:03:31:20
Brian Rosen
Well, I'm I'm in Chicago. I split time between Chicago and Miami. but I'm in a I'm in. I was at a business investors meeting today, and so now I, I've stepped away from that meeting in suburban Chicago, and I'm ready to talk all about drinks.

00:03:31:20 - 00:03:39:00
Jessie Ott
Yay! This is my favorite. Yeah. So where are you from originally, Brian? Are you from Chicago?

00:03:39:01 - 00:03:49:20
Brian Rosen
Yeah. So here, I'll give you the whole, I'll give you the whole story. Right. And it's truly as a story, I was my family was the very first liquor license had handed out in Chicago after prohibition.

00:03:49:20 - 00:03:54:19
Jessie Ott
The very first how? Well, you know, they.

00:03:54:21 - 00:03:58:11
Brian Rosen
As my father would say, there were some crooked dealings in the day.

00:03:58:11 - 00:03:59:21
Jessie Ott
Surprise. Father.

00:03:59:23 - 00:04:10:03
Brian Rosen
Yeah. No shit. You know, my grandfather, Sam and Al Capone were friendly. And so when the licensing and liquor license were there to be handed out, like, you know, Oreos.

00:04:10:05 - 00:04:11:20
Jessie Ott
My grandpa was right.

00:04:11:22 - 00:04:22:18
Brian Rosen
And what that turned into that one liquor license turned into a saloon, turned into a liquor store, turned into the largest liquor store in Chicago, turned into the largest liquor store in the country.

00:04:22:20 - 00:04:23:09
Jessie Ott
Wow.

00:04:23:09 - 00:04:32:15
Brian Rosen
I when I say when I say Big Jesse, I'm talking 33,000ft was our smallest store. So for the viewers at home, think a small Walmart.

00:04:32:17 - 00:04:35:22
Jessie Ott
Wow. And and that's back. Back then.

00:04:36:00 - 00:04:41:01
Brian Rosen
Yeah that's back then we built our first superstore in 96.

00:04:41:03 - 00:04:41:22
Jessie Ott
Wow.

00:04:42:00 - 00:05:02:06
Brian Rosen
We built our first superstore in 96. So from there, from there we began, growing these superstores all around the country. And at the end of our run, we were the highest grossing, wine spirits shop in America. So. So back then, you know, there there were no big box mass wine stores. Spirits stores. We were the very first.

00:05:02:06 - 00:05:26:21
Brian Rosen
Yeah. And under one roof, we sold cigars, food and food, cheeses, fromage, salami, all sorts of gourmet market books, glassware, and of course, wine, spirits and everything else. And that became Sam's. And that became the largest in the country in terms of gross sales, number of employees, retailer of the year. three times four was best of the web once.

00:05:26:23 - 00:05:33:01
Brian Rosen
many, many market watch awards. So we to say we knew retail I think would be a slight understatement for sure.

00:05:33:03 - 00:05:46:20
Jessie Ott
Yeah. And it's interesting too, that you had, you know, food, cigars in the beverage, side of things because, you know, you have total who's obviously all the beverage and then the cigars, and then you have, what do you think?

00:05:46:22 - 00:05:47:22
Brian Rosen
Where do you think they learned it from?

00:05:47:22 - 00:05:56:03
Jessie Ott
Yeah, exactly. They learned from the best, I mean, and then and then you have specs here who, that has a deli, right? Yeah.

00:05:56:03 - 00:06:23:03
Brian Rosen
Look, we were what? I think. So here's credit to my old man, my father. The credit goes here. We were young kids. I went to undergrad at DePaul University in Chicago. I went to graduate school at University of Chicago and, my father was very hands off in terms of what we could and could not do. And a lot of family businesses, they're like, hey, kids, you got to stay in this corner until I pass away and then you can have my corner.

00:06:23:08 - 00:06:40:03
Brian Rosen
It wasn't like that. My my father said, hey, you guys are young. I was when I got in the business, I was 26 years old, full time and, my father said, hey, if you've got better ideas and me, let's, let's try them out. And one of the things we did just that was so unique in a Highland Park store and the first in the country, and now it's like commonplace, right?

00:06:40:08 - 00:06:44:21
Brian Rosen
I find it quite laughable, to be honest, is we put a bar on the inside of a store.

00:06:44:22 - 00:06:52:23
Jessie Ott
And, so that's nice. Yeah. No one is doing it. I mean, everybody's doing it. Yeah. We had handles.

00:06:53:03 - 00:07:13:01
Brian Rosen
We had so think about like this, you know, a big box store. We had 5 or 6 or eight wine tap handles and inside a coravin kind of set up. And then we had the cheese counter, etc., so a customer would come in, they would buy a cheese plate, they would buy two glasses of wine, and they would sit there in a lounge type of setting in the middle of a retail store.

00:07:13:03 - 00:07:26:03
Brian Rosen
Wow. And what I learned, what I learned in school, which is now like, you know, it's on the tip of everyone's tongue, is that if a customer spends more than 17 minutes in a retail store, they'll spend $100 more on that on the cart and the spend.

00:07:26:08 - 00:07:32:08
Jessie Ott
Interesting. So my whole 17 minutes. Wow. Think about your shopping experience.

00:07:32:10 - 00:07:36:10
Brian Rosen
Yeah, I went to Nordstrom's on Sunday. I had to go out of there in 15 minutes.

00:07:36:12 - 00:07:37:18
Jessie Ott
One yeah.

00:07:37:19 - 00:08:01:22
Brian Rosen
You're in. You're in a wine store, you're browsing and people like to look at the labels and do all of those things. Now think about it. We had wine glass holders built into the shopping carts, so it was no extra effort to walk around with a glass of wine. They buy their wine for six, $7, whatever it was back in the day, and they would drink and they would get buzzed and they would spend more and they would invariably, they would invariably buy what we had in the corvettes.

00:08:02:00 - 00:08:19:17
Brian Rosen
So not only do we increase the average cart, we increase the gross margin. We sold a couple glasses of wine and maybe a cheese plate, and the customer stayed for 38 minutes. We were the first we did that. And now you see it everywhere. You see every grocer, every grocery store in America, every big box. One has a test kitchen, has a a wine bar has a cheese thing.

00:08:19:17 - 00:08:20:22
Brian Rosen
I mean, we were the first.

00:08:21:00 - 00:08:23:14
Jessie Ott
And that was in the 90s.

00:08:23:16 - 00:08:24:11
Brian Rosen
It was in 96.

00:08:24:11 - 00:08:28:04
Jessie Ott
Wow. That's so visionary. That's incredible.

00:08:28:06 - 00:08:31:12
Brian Rosen
I look, I, I will take the credit if you're giving credit.

00:08:31:12 - 00:08:33:11
Jessie Ott
Sure. Yeah. Absolutely.

00:08:33:13 - 00:08:56:09
Brian Rosen
But visionary is not you know, it was it just seemed like a no brainer to me. Everyone it it's a whole world of this is how we do it always. Yeah. Not not not this is how it can be done. And that those two sentences together speak to how we run gross beverage now. Like how we run the big company now it's not a lot of focus and this is how we used to do it.

00:08:56:11 - 00:09:17:17
Brian Rosen
It's more focus on this is how it can be done. And that's how all the companies go. So from there sold that company to a private equity firm in early 2000. And I went on to PricewaterhouseCoopers and I ran the adult beverage division for I started out as a managing director, then I made partner and I ran the adult beverage category for North America, Canada, Mexico.

00:09:17:22 - 00:09:20:02
Jessie Ott
And what did that involve?

00:09:20:04 - 00:09:39:14
Brian Rosen
Great question. Not a ton of nothing. I was I was like the show pony, to be honest. They would drag me out when they wanted, hey, this guy has done it in retail right? So they would drag me out and say, this is what Puerto Rico, Diageo, constellation, all of the target stores, what have you. 7-Eleven. They would say, this guy's done it in retail.

00:09:39:15 - 00:09:50:01
Brian Rosen
Listen to him. And, I was there for a couple of years. I didn't feel like being the show pony. And I left price and I started Bev Street, which was my first company.

00:09:50:03 - 00:09:50:22
Jessie Ott


00:09:51:00 - 00:10:01:02
Brian Rosen
I founded solely aside from Sam's, group, Bev, straight to a multi-million dollar sales company which operated under the premise that distributors aren't going to build your brands.

00:10:01:04 - 00:10:01:12
Jessie Ott
Right.

00:10:01:17 - 00:10:13:22
Brian Rosen
And and if you're the fifth vodka in the same distributor as Tito's or Kettle one or Ciroc or whatever, if you're in that same world, you're going to need to employ your own sales people because no one's going to give a shit about you.

00:10:14:00 - 00:10:15:04
Jessie Ott
That's right. Right.

00:10:15:06 - 00:10:20:16
Brian Rosen
And so Bastrop was that I grew Bastrop to many millions of dollars, and I sold that to M.W..

00:10:20:18 - 00:10:27:02
Jessie Ott
Oh, you did okay. So when did you start that 2015? Okay, okay.

00:10:27:02 - 00:10:52:13
Brian Rosen
And I sold it in 2019. W was at the same at the same exact time of, creating best street I created in West Bev. Okay. And now in Bev, which is now right around 300 million in, AUM assets under management in West Bev is a largest sector only focused private equity firm in adult beverage. And those two happened in 2015 together.

00:10:52:15 - 00:11:00:21
Brian Rosen
Fast forward to current times. I have raised four funds in invest five. Our fifth fund just launched this week actually.

00:11:01:01 - 00:11:02:23
Jessie Ott
So here we are. Congratulations.

00:11:03:01 - 00:11:25:13
Brian Rosen
Thank you. With $150 million raise all for adult beverage. And, in that interim, we also founded Algoma Capital. Algoma cap, we call it. And I go, my cap is $100 million separate fund for distilleries and, for brand owners who need who need credit but don't want to give up equity or shouldn't give up equity.

00:11:25:15 - 00:11:27:15
Jessie Ott
Oh, amazing. Okay.

00:11:27:17 - 00:11:57:08
Brian Rosen
And then the most exciting thing really. So you have got Bev Strat, you've got Algoma Capital, you've got you've got invest Bev. And the most exciting thing is Sprout Beverage which could be very germane to your listeners. Sprout beverage is an incubator and accelerator for brands this week alone. And last week, I should say in Chicago last Wednesday and Thursday, we had over 13 brands fly to Chicago for two days, two days seminar and had to be about a brand taught from myself.

00:11:57:10 - 00:12:21:08
Brian Rosen
The investment of team executives, from Molson Coors, executives from Bacardi. So Sprout Beverage now, and by the by November, we'll have 20 graduates. The Graduate and Pitch Day, which is in November, gets $100,000 from me. And they can use that for growth. They can use it for marketing, and we help them matriculate to the next level. So those are the four companies that we have.

00:12:21:09 - 00:12:36:17
Brian Rosen
Those are my businesses. They're all in adult beverage, and they're all exist solely in an ecosystem where a brand can come into our company and stay for 30 years, because you've got growth, capital, debt, capital sales and marketing and, incubation and acceleration.

00:12:36:22 - 00:12:42:14
Jessie Ott
And that's technically under the the growth beverage brand. Is that right? That's correct. Okay.

00:12:42:16 - 00:12:51:04
Brian Rosen
So beverages is the parent co. And these four brands all feed up into growth which is is a double entendre on purpose okay.

00:12:51:06 - 00:13:09:05
Jessie Ott
So walk me through let's say I own a tequila and I'm looking to do you work with brands that aren't yet in the US or do you help them, you know, come to the US or do you help create brands like where's where's the. Yeah. What's the first place that you start with with brand.

00:13:09:05 - 00:13:29:19
Brian Rosen
What's the best part about the ecosystem? Right. Because if you've got brands that aren't in the US yet, they can for sure work for, Sprout Beverage. They can get in the Sprout Beverage program. Right. We have a lot of brands that are from overseas, mostly Mexico, because of Miscount killer right now, but there's no reason why it can't be an RTD from, France or from Italy.

00:13:29:21 - 00:13:47:19
Brian Rosen
No reason. It can't be a winery from Bordeaux or Burgundy or what have you. that's a sprout beverage entrance. They would come into the incubator. We would give them all three tier expertise. They need our estimation through my. I'm 52 years old. Nope. It's true. I thank you for that.

00:13:48:00 - 00:13:55:10
Jessie Ott
No, no, you look great. Now I'm surprised you published so much already.

00:13:55:12 - 00:14:19:05
Brian Rosen
Keep it in the podcast. the the, you come over here and we've estimated that you can make $100,000 in mistakes. Just get your brand started. Oh, yeah. Run the wrong label guy, wrong cola guy, wrong TTP person, wrong distributor, wrong sales team, wrong marketer, wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong. It's 100 grand and you haven't sold your first bottle yet.

00:14:19:07 - 00:14:42:02
Brian Rosen
So you come over into Sprout and Wolves for, I don't know, six, seven, $8,000. Whatever it is, you will get the $100,000 of mistakes erased and have an immediate head start in the marketplace. Now think about it like this. You're in sprout. You do really well. You win pitch competition. You win pitch day. Now you got $100,000 coming back to you in capital and services.

00:14:42:04 - 00:14:47:23
Brian Rosen
And then you get our whole team, which is 20 people strong, working on your brand every day for free.

00:14:48:01 - 00:14:48:07
Jessie Ott
Right.

00:14:48:11 - 00:14:53:09
Brian Rosen
So this is this is how it works. And so a brand can come to us at really any.

00:14:53:09 - 00:14:54:08
Jessie Ott
Time, okay.

00:14:54:10 - 00:15:10:00
Brian Rosen
They can come through, they can come to invest by the authority in existence in their care and their cash flowing and their operating company. They can come to invest, but let's say they're a dead opportunity. They want to buy barrels to make their product. They can go to Algoma Cap if they're an incubator or startup type brand, they go to sprout.

00:15:10:02 - 00:15:12:20
Brian Rosen
And if they're a brand that just needs salespeople to go to best, right.

00:15:12:22 - 00:15:34:01
Jessie Ott
Nice. Okay. So do you. Are you looking for brands or do you have a process that you're looking for, brands or a team, or is it sort of, people are contacting you and you sort through the brands that you feel like are the, the most qualified are the ones you think are going to make it versus other ones.

00:15:34:01 - 00:15:55:09
Brian Rosen
The world is looking right. If someone's got an idea that I don't know if someone's got something that's interesting, you know they can for sure apply online to any one of the websites. And and submit their brand for consideration. I'm not actively looking because the pipeline is so robust. This business is so unique. And you know this and I'm guessing your listeners do as well.

00:15:55:11 - 00:16:01:12
Brian Rosen
It's so unique in that you have to spend all this money before you sell your first bottle.

00:16:01:12 - 00:16:02:23
Jessie Ott
First bottle. Yeah.

00:16:03:01 - 00:16:26:02
Brian Rosen
First bottle. And you're and think about it like this. Your first production run has to be 500 cases, so you can get even any kind of scale for your gross margin. so it the business is not for the faint of heart. So there are plenty of people coming to us. The, the the pipeline is definitely robust because the business is hard.

00:16:26:02 - 00:16:44:11
Brian Rosen
And I and having grown up in this business, I really feel for every brand owner, yeah, every supplier, because the deck is stacked against them. The minute you say, hey, I can do this. You know, the deck, the deck is stacked against you right away. And so, this business has given me so much I have to give back.

00:16:44:16 - 00:16:49:09
Brian Rosen
I feel the need to give back. And that's what we've the last half of my career now is giving back.

00:16:49:12 - 00:17:08:08
Jessie Ott
Yeah, I love that. You always want to find a way. And I feel, I hope, I, I hope people feel like it's through this podcast to help encourage other people or, you know, to tell people's journeys. At least that's my that's my way at this point. You know, you always want to try and give back to the industry that's giving you so much that you love and such great people.

00:17:08:10 - 00:17:09:22
Jessie Ott
And I think and, and I think.

00:17:09:22 - 00:17:30:22
Brian Rosen
Also that people are creative by nature. Right? They're creative. They want to create something. So many stories started off that I've heard that like, hey, my two, my two buddies were in a bar and we said, there's got to be a better way. You people want to create. People want to create all the time. In any other industry that I know of, you can do that.

00:17:31:00 - 00:17:49:21
Brian Rosen
You can do it. It's easy to low barrier of entry fashion. I mean, Elon Musk, although a billionaire, created a whole car company that's valued more than Ford in the last ten years. Yeah, it is this that the world is ripe for creativity. Yeah, the liquor business is hard to execute.

00:17:49:23 - 00:18:11:17
Jessie Ott
It is. It really is hard because there's just so many layers. And I mean, it's really the cost, right? The cost of just like you said, everything. you know, you can create a brand and you can come up with a strategy, but to, to be able to know what those steps are from 1 to 10 to actually get your first, you know, in at a distributor, I mean, you know, to your point.

00:18:11:17 - 00:18:22:18
Jessie Ott
So from the distribution standpoint, you have a sales team and so does your does your sales team work with the current distribution channels that are out there.

00:18:22:20 - 00:18:40:11
Brian Rosen
So if you hire that first. Yeah. So this is what you're really asking. If you hire a Bev Strat we will work. we work for the supplier. And there's the difference. If I'm a distributor rep, I've got a thousand brands I have to sell, and then I've got a manager on top of me who says, hey, rep, you have to sell kettle.

00:18:40:11 - 00:18:58:22
Brian Rosen
You've got to sell Santa margarita, you've got to sell Kendall Jackson Chardonnay, and you gotta sell Miller Lite, because I need to make my numbers, says the manager. When the supplier hires us, the supplier hires us. It really is just about what can we do for the brand? And we will. We will go into market. We will take orders.

00:18:59:03 - 00:19:17:03
Brian Rosen
We will submit them through the proper channels, and the distributor distributes the goods. And oftentimes I should say distributors want us in the market. Yeah, because they used to be a dirty secret. Hey, I'm not going to sell this little itty bitty brand. You used to be a dirty secret. Now it's I'm not going to sell your brand.

00:19:17:07 - 00:19:29:18
Brian Rosen
We'll take you on and distribution and happily take 30 points from you. But you're going to have to pay your own sales team. You're going to have to have your own depletion allowance. You're going to do all of these things because me, Mr. Distributor, have too many brands that matter.

00:19:29:18 - 00:19:41:18
Jessie Ott
More, right. It's hard. It's it's a it's a hard situation. But to your point, suppliers even I mean, after you get past the top 20, it gets hard after that, you know, I mean, just in terms.

00:19:41:18 - 00:19:54:06
Brian Rosen
I'll give you a start. I'll give you all. Yeah. That's going to I'll give you a stat that's going to ruin your day. The stat is there are 50,000 brands registered for cola. There's 500 that account for repetitive skew velocity.

00:19:54:08 - 00:19:56:01
Jessie Ott
Wow.

00:19:56:03 - 00:19:57:09
Brian Rosen
Wow.

00:19:57:11 - 00:19:58:01
Jessie Ott
It's just hard.

00:19:58:04 - 00:19:59:08
Brian Rosen
It's a hard business.

00:19:59:08 - 00:20:19:12
Jessie Ott
It is a hard business. It's really tough, you know. Yeah. I've gone through different, you know, parts of the industry wanting to, work with a broker and bring in brands and help sell them. And it's it's just tough. It's just really, really, really, really hard. And you got to have some backing in order to get started. And you got to have the right brands and the right distributors.

00:20:19:12 - 00:20:21:20
Jessie Ott
And yeah, it's it's tough. Yeah.

00:20:21:22 - 00:20:46:16
Brian Rosen
And like never before has there been an though the ability for the small brand to compete on the big brand scale because of social media, because of the internet, you can reach the same audience that Bethenny Frankel can on your Instagram account, right, right on your TikTok account. So you now have direct access to the end user, to the consumer, which didn't exist 10 or 15 years ago.

00:20:46:18 - 00:20:55:02
Brian Rosen
Right. So while the business is harder than any other business out there, CPG business, the path to market is a little bit easier. Can be.

00:20:55:04 - 00:21:06:04
Jessie Ott
So when you have a field sales team, are you set up like a traditional supplier would be like a regional manager? State managers and market on premise, off premise.

00:21:06:06 - 00:21:27:13
Brian Rosen
So in the best rep model, we have full time representatives in the market. We're talking about, they sell for you. They will, they will sample for you. They will do all of those kind of things. And, they will work alongside with the distributor. But there's not that that whole org chart is baloney for the distributors use.

00:21:27:14 - 00:21:51:11
Brian Rosen
I'll tell you something else. Covid did no one any favors because Covid taught the distributors they are able to, have less employees, less salespeople, and still sell as much or not more. If you think about if you think about closing for one second, you had an unemployment rate of 17.6% in the height of Covid and yet yet liquor sales.

00:21:51:11 - 00:22:22:17
Brian Rosen
And I say liquors, wine, beer, spirit sales were up 15.6%, I'm sorry, 5.6%, 5.6%. So you the highest unemployment in U.S. history. Yet liquor sales continued to thrive. What it taught distributors was they don't need 100 reps. And if you notice during Covid, all of them developed their order platforms, their order, their order portals. so they're driving the retailer and the on premise and off premise account to go use the internet to order goods.

00:22:22:17 - 00:22:27:19
Brian Rosen
So there'll be a time for less salespeople coming up in which that strat will continue to thrive.

00:22:27:20 - 00:22:32:12
Jessie Ott
And you work across all different distributors in each state. Then, depending upon which we work.

00:22:32:12 - 00:22:33:22
Brian Rosen
In, we work in six key states.

00:22:34:01 - 00:22:34:17
Jessie Ott
Okay.

00:22:34:19 - 00:22:41:02
Brian Rosen
Illinois, Florida, California. New York, new Jersey, in Colorado.

00:22:41:02 - 00:22:42:05
Jessie Ott
Okay.

00:22:42:07 - 00:22:49:06
Brian Rosen
Generally speaking, for those states are self distribute states. So you can, you know, either you or Park Street operate.

00:22:49:08 - 00:22:50:04
Jessie Ott
Gotcha. Okay.

00:22:50:04 - 00:22:58:15
Brian Rosen
You you can distribute it there. And you don't need to be with a traditional distributor. You can be in with what's called a three PL in those states.

00:22:58:17 - 00:23:01:01
Jessie Ott
Kind of like a flip dip situation.

00:23:01:03 - 00:23:23:09
Brian Rosen
Yeah, yeah. Liberty, of which I was an investor in for a hot minute. and I know Cheryl well. great. Great concept, great idea. So kind of like the lib tip, except for the fact that. And I'll be in Park Street to have warehouses. They have a livery truck. difference. And you pay for those services. but Liberty is not that.

00:23:23:11 - 00:23:33:20
Jessie Ott
No, no, she, she mentioned I had her on a podcast earlier in the year and she said that, obviously you have to ship it to a warehouse of some, some kind before a.

00:23:33:20 - 00:23:34:06
Brian Rosen
Doctor.

00:23:34:09 - 00:23:41:07
Jessie Ott
Right. Yeah. Yeah. I don't, I don't know that she's interested in that side of the business at all. Or maybe that's a future I don't know.

00:23:41:09 - 00:24:09:12
Brian Rosen
No. I was with Cheryl pre-launch. I knew Cheryl from Lib. Deb now it really is become the back office for our in DC right. And so when I talk about when I talk about, distributors learned how to operate with less salespeople during Covid, they all have their platforms limited, has created the platform. The kind of the white label for our in DC makes perfect sense, and I applaud her and all her efforts.

00:24:09:14 - 00:24:10:20
Brian Rosen
She definitely fills the void.

00:24:11:00 - 00:24:33:05
Jessie Ott
Oh yeah, I thought it was really smart to partner with a big distributor like that. And then once a brand gets a high enough volume, they can switch over to the R&D. I mean, it's a great platform for brands to get to get going, because, you know, what she was explaining is I would, well, first of all, she lost a lot of distributors just because people kept getting bought out, over the, you know, that that time.

00:24:33:07 - 00:24:46:01
Jessie Ott
And the second thing is she was saying, well, I would go and research my own accounts and, and I'd go visit them on my trips to these different cities, so. Well, what am I paying for her? And so it just kind of happened out of necessity.

00:24:46:02 - 00:25:07:19
Brian Rosen
Yeah. And look, at the end of the day, it is a great platform and will remain a great platform for anyone who wants to discover new and unusual wines or new and unusual spirits. It's really great for that. But at the end of the day, the need for the sales person will never go away because you're at. Don't forget, I was a retailer for the first 20 years of my career, right?

00:25:07:21 - 00:25:24:01
Brian Rosen
So I'm not going to get into my store at eight in the morning. we open at nine. Let's say I'm to get my store at eight. I'm gonna get the store ready for a day of business, and then I'm not going to go on my iPad and try and find something new and unusual to buy it on a website and have it shipped later.

00:25:24:04 - 00:25:47:09
Brian Rosen
I'm not going to do that. So the salesperson working, you know, in conjunction with Lip Tip is a great move. A sales person working in conjunction with MH, W or Park Street is a great move. A salesperson working in conjunction with southern R&D. C breakthrough, Young's market, whatever. All a great move because again, there's 500 products that account for repetitive skew velocity.

00:25:47:11 - 00:25:53:15
Brian Rosen
And there's 50,000 projects products registered. How does that work at all.

00:25:53:17 - 00:26:13:16
Jessie Ott
Right. Doesn't it doesn't I know it's so it's so crazy. So have have there been any particular mentors? I know you kind of mentioned your dad. He seemed like a pretty great guy, kind of giving you some, you know, creative, you know, leeway on on what you're seeing in the market to kind of expand what your store was.

00:26:13:18 - 00:26:21:05
Jessie Ott
Is there any anybody else that had a big influence on, on any of the moves you made or any of the businesses that you created?

00:26:21:07 - 00:26:47:23
Brian Rosen
You know, it's it's funny because having the biggest retail store in the country and being the youngest guy in that company compared people that are bigger than us now because we're out of the business, would come and look at us for guidance. You know, Gary would come all the time. Vaynerchuk, Stu Leonard would come in, the grocery chains, Myer, Kroger, Mariano's, Safeway, they would all come in and look at what we were doing.

00:26:48:01 - 00:27:21:03
Brian Rosen
And what was interesting to me is I would look at them and say, because I'm a financial person by nature, I'm a financial person. Now, having the investment companies, so I would say I would kind of flip that question and say, we didn't need a lot of help mentoring in retail. What I Brian, needed a lot of help with was mentoring in financial, acumen in how to start a private equity firm, how to start a debt fund, how to support a brand with capital, things like that.

00:27:21:08 - 00:27:43:18
Brian Rosen
And I got a lot of that mentoring, a lot of that schooling, if you will, through years and years of peer groups. Ypo is one of them that I'm active in. Still, Tiger 21 is another, EO vestige groups like that that teach business skills that are transferable across multiple industries.

00:27:43:18 - 00:27:50:03
Jessie Ott
So those aren't offered to any to any industry. It's just all like executive level.

00:27:50:05 - 00:27:50:14
Brian Rosen
Training.

00:27:50:15 - 00:27:51:14
Jessie Ott
Training.

00:27:51:16 - 00:28:13:11
Brian Rosen
And therapy and maturation because you can't the liquor business. There's only a few guys at the top of the mountain. Yeah. So who it's not you know, it's not. Who's going to teach. Whereas in the financial services business or in the peer to peer learning space, there's dozens and hundreds of groups that where people get together and exchange ideas.

00:28:13:13 - 00:28:17:09
Brian Rosen
And I can bet that. But if I'm thinking about something, someone else has already made that mistake.

00:28:17:11 - 00:28:19:13
Jessie Ott
Yep. So it.

00:28:19:15 - 00:28:35:00
Brian Rosen
For sure. Right. So when I look at mentoring, that's what I look at. I look at groups of people. They don't have to be in a similar business, but they have to have a similar mindset. And if you surround yourself with those kind of people, you can cut your mistakes down and thus increase your propensity for success.

00:28:35:02 - 00:29:01:04
Jessie Ott
Yeah, I appreciate you saying that. My my mentor, he because I was telling him, as I'm building my business, I go the one of the, hardest things for me to to grow and to continue is I'm not getting enough feedback. And he's like, oh, okay, well, here's what I do. I have a group of like, you know, eight people or whatever, that we bounce ideas off each other if we have a thought or, you know, is this, is this does this look good or whatever you're doing?

00:29:01:06 - 00:29:09:03
Jessie Ott
and I just thought that was so smart. That's exactly what you're saying. But obviously at a, at a much higher level and a much more organized, methodology.

00:29:09:05 - 00:29:24:21
Brian Rosen
you know, I think the key to feedback for anyone is are you going to take it. Right? And how are you going to grow from it. Right. I spent and so again, I'm 53, I spent the first 35 years of my life thinking I had all the answers, and I spent the rest from 35 to now. So what's that?

00:29:24:21 - 00:29:37:14
Brian Rosen
35, 45, 17 years, 18 years. Now I listen more than I talk. And when I began to shift like that, I began to have outsized success, for the actual thing that I'm doing.

00:29:37:16 - 00:29:50:11
Jessie Ott
Interesting. That's very cool. And so outside of that, is there any other resources or anything that you recommend, for people to use? outside of the mentoring circles that you mentioned?

00:29:50:13 - 00:30:08:21
Brian Rosen
Well, if it's, if it's specific to the wine and spirits space, what I always do and I still do to this day is I'll go to a bar in a restaurant and I'll just watch. Yep. watch what they're drinking. I'll watch what they're ordering. I'll go to a liquor store and just watch consumer behavior. What? They're picking off the top shelf, the bottom shelf, or they're buying more from bins or racks.

00:30:08:23 - 00:30:30:07
Brian Rosen
It's price important. Is store layout important right. Is shelf set important things like that. I just watch the consumer. And I've said this for years on all of my kind of social. The consumer will always tell you the truth, whether they're doing it on purpose or not, they will. It's up to us as business people, brand owners, distributors, all your listeners.

00:30:30:07 - 00:30:32:17
Brian Rosen
It's up to us to listen.

00:30:32:19 - 00:30:33:19
Jessie Ott
Yep.

00:30:33:21 - 00:30:52:11
Brian Rosen
That's it. And listen and read the tea leaves and listen to the rustle. And that's what I've done. that's what I would recommend anyone do that for a practice of how their, how they run their life. Shut up and listen. Because the truth, you know, like the X-Files, the truth is out there, you know, the consumer will always tell you the truth.

00:30:52:13 - 00:30:54:03
Brian Rosen
Always. And you have to listen.

00:30:54:05 - 00:31:03:10
Jessie Ott
Yeah. No, that's that's absolutely true because they're the ones picking it up off the, the shelves every day, you know, or ordering online or responding to some social media tips.

00:31:03:12 - 00:31:19:18
Brian Rosen
Jesse. It's it's the subtleties. Like we've had people come through the incubator and they make a 50, 60, $70 gin, but they make it with a long neck. So so it means that the retailer has nowhere to put it. Yeah, they can't put it on the spot. They can't put it on the bottom shelf because of a shelf on top of that.

00:31:20:00 - 00:31:37:09
Brian Rosen
And they can't put it on the top shelf because it doesn't belong there for price. And so stupid things like that would really be alleviated if you just spent one day in a liquor store and watched go to Total Wine, go to bevmo, go to specs where you are and just watch. Just sit there and watch. You'll learn so much.

00:31:37:11 - 00:31:41:03
Brian Rosen
It's so humbling, but it's so rewarding and it will be a better brand for it.

00:31:41:05 - 00:32:03:11
Jessie Ott
Yeah, it's really true. The the truth is, right before us, you know, and I would say, I guess specs too, but total, as big as they are, they turn on a dime, you know, they immediately went to Rtds and now they're doing low Noel. And, you get to give a credit. You got to give them credit for being able to kind of turn pretty quickly, with the mass scale that they have.

00:32:03:12 - 00:32:03:20
Jessie Ott
I'll tell.

00:32:03:20 - 00:32:24:20
Brian Rosen
You. Yeah, yeah. And I'll tell you. So Bevmo and total both tried to buy Sam's back in the day, and we turned down offers down from both. And one of the thing about total that you said there, you know, I turn on a dime total came into our store in Chicago, one of our stores in Chicago, and they're walking through our store, up to the offices where we're going to have this big high powered business.

00:32:24:20 - 00:32:25:21
Jessie Ott
The negotiation.

00:32:25:23 - 00:32:49:20
Brian Rosen
With it. At the time, it was David Trone, who was a founding family, and he knew he was counting the money we were spending on his way up to the offices. He was counting the paperclips, counting the bottles, counting the payroll, everything. They don't miss a beat. Total, total does not miss a beat. Super smart, super adaptive. And so if you want to know and Costco's the same way.

00:32:50:00 - 00:32:56:09
Brian Rosen
Yeah, I would always say, I always say to if you want to know what's next, go look at the center aisle of a Costco liquor department.

00:32:56:11 - 00:32:56:22
Jessie Ott
Yep.

00:32:56:23 - 00:33:21:09
Brian Rosen
Don't look anywhere else. There's six months ahead seasonal. You want to know what rosés are going to pop in summer of 24? Go to go to go to a Costco in March. That's and that's how you see and those are the brands you buy. It's the biggest liquor retailer in the world. And they know what they're doing more so than you or me or any of the smart ones out there for sure.

00:33:21:11 - 00:33:42:11
Jessie Ott
Yeah, I've noticed we live in, you know, in a small town called Lake Mary, just north of Orlando, part time in Dallas, part time. And I, we have, we have a Costco pretty close to their Dallas house, and we have another one. And you can really tell the difference in what brands they carry and like, even, the quality, it's so different.

00:33:42:11 - 00:34:04:01
Jessie Ott
So I don't I don't know how Costco works at I'm just a consumer. I've never called on them or worked on a team, or anything like that, but I found it astonishing, actually. My wife loves Pinot Grigio, and so we took a family trip to Costco. I actually got her converted to a Costco fan. only took one trip because that's how great it is.

00:34:04:01 - 00:34:16:08
Jessie Ott
But they didn't have any Pinot Grigio, which kind of, like, how do you not? We're we're in Orlando, Florida. It's summertime. How do you. Maybe it's sold out too. I don't know, it could be that they just sold out. But it's just interesting things.

00:34:16:10 - 00:34:20:04
Brian Rosen
Before you married your wife, you should have made sure she was a Costco member.

00:34:20:06 - 00:34:21:21
Jessie Ott
Because, yeah, because.

00:34:21:21 - 00:34:23:08
Brian Rosen
For me, that's always a deal breaker.

00:34:23:08 - 00:34:24:23
Jessie Ott
That's,

00:34:25:01 - 00:34:44:22
Brian Rosen
Yeah, that's part one. I am a Costco fan through and through. Not to buy, although I buy plenty. but you'll walk around and watch. Yeah, I do it by myself. My kids know I do it. They. Yeah. It's going to Costco to walk the perimeter, they call it, and I do that. but make no mistake, it's the biggest no brainer in retail is opening up.

00:34:44:22 - 00:35:07:15
Brian Rosen
Is opening up a store next to a Starbucks. Right. You know they're going to pull traffic in. The biggest no brainer in booze is emulate the 200 skews that Costco has, right? That will give you a really clear and really good example of how your inventory needs to look. And it's free. You don't need to bring Bain in or McKinsey or Pricewaterhouse or Deloitte.

00:35:07:18 - 00:35:17:02
Brian Rosen
You don't need to bring any of them in. Just go to Costco. Yeah, they carry 200. They carry 200 SKUs. Put everyone in because they're not. Nothing there is by mistake.

00:35:17:04 - 00:35:25:16
Jessie Ott
That's true. That's absolutely true. And I know that they have their own private label brands, too. we've been kind of tasting through some of those.

00:35:25:18 - 00:35:30:22
Brian Rosen
And they're all good. Yeah. And and the bottles all look similar to the brand they're copying.

00:35:31:00 - 00:35:31:17
Jessie Ott
Yeah. You know.

00:35:31:17 - 00:35:44:23
Brian Rosen
People, if you look at Casamigos there, it looks exactly the same. If you look at, the wine Santa margarita Pinot Grigio may not be there, but you can bet there's a bottle. Looks just like it there. Yep. And Pinot Grigio that they are trying to sell.

00:35:45:03 - 00:36:02:14
Jessie Ott
Yeah. No that's true. That's really, really true. So outside of kind of what we've already talked about, you know, with the some of the pain points in the industry, is there anything else that we haven't mentioned that you're kind of seeing, you know, post COVID's a bit of a different world, like you mentioned, there's not as many feet on the street.

00:36:02:14 - 00:36:23:23
Jessie Ott
And the distributors I don't know if that's a and, you know, to your point of, a financial decision or if they can't keep people because, you know, people are shifting around and doing different things or maybe a combination of both, but is there, outside of, you know, the competition because there's just so much is there anything else that you're seeing out there that you want to kind of talk about?

00:36:24:01 - 00:36:46:06
Brian Rosen
No. Look, I'm a big fan of the no. And low movement we just made, and I've just made $1 million investment into 10 to 1 rum, which is a partnership with with Diageo and Pronghorn. we're in that we're in Cannes, which is, cannabis beverage. It may not be available in Texas, but is so yummy. And it's, THC and CBD infused beverages.

00:36:46:08 - 00:37:03:04
Brian Rosen
we're in speakeasy. We're in reserve bar. So if you look at our investing portfolio, you can kind of see a little bit where the market's going. tequila. Fine, but overdone vodka, dad. Gin. Going to pop, rum going to pop gin has been popping in the UK, by the way.

00:37:03:04 - 00:37:03:15
Jessie Ott
Forever.

00:37:03:17 - 00:37:07:04
Brian Rosen
Yeah, forever. But somehow it can't catch fire here.

00:37:07:06 - 00:37:09:13
Jessie Ott
I loved it, I can't wait. Yeah, but rum.

00:37:09:15 - 00:37:33:10
Brian Rosen
But as bourbon gets more expensive. Yeah, I love Gen2. But as as as bourbon gets more expensive and Irish whiskey get more expensive, rum will be a nice accretive drink to have, you know, have with a rocks glass and a little and a and a one ounce pour or two ounce pour of rum in a big cube that's going to replace, other kind of rocks, glass drinks, because it's cheaper, it's more palatable.

00:37:33:12 - 00:37:43:06
Brian Rosen
Yeah. Those are all benefits of what's happening in the market. But again, if you are, looking at what's now, you're always going to miss what's next.

00:37:43:08 - 00:37:43:17
Jessie Ott
Yeah.

00:37:43:21 - 00:38:06:12
Brian Rosen
Right. So you got to look one eye now. One eye next. And next is low and no alc. To your point, I'm not a big fan of the alternative movement. So one drink with alcohol, one drink without, because, you know, that whole movement and then one drink with one drink without, it extends the sessionable activity. Not a fan of that because they've been because the other side of that is retailers have to carry both.

00:38:06:17 - 00:38:09:22
Brian Rosen
And on premise accounts have to carry both. That may not happen.

00:38:10:00 - 00:38:10:14
Jessie Ott
Right?

00:38:10:16 - 00:38:17:18
Brian Rosen
Right. But I do like that people dry January is not just a it's not just a month, it's a movement.

00:38:17:18 - 00:38:19:10
Jessie Ott
It's a movement, but 100%. But it's.

00:38:19:10 - 00:38:24:12
Brian Rosen
Possible. But it's less than 1% of the total consumption. Public.

00:38:24:14 - 00:38:44:18
Jessie Ott
Yeah, I knew it wasn't that big. I mean, the UK from learning from my people in my podcast have really been into that movement a lot, a lot sooner than we have been over here. And, you know, even other people that I've, you know, asked about it on the podcast, whether they're in the restaurant industry or Somalia or whatever, they're like, no, that's not that's not what we do.

00:38:44:18 - 00:39:07:12
Jessie Ott
It's, you know, and that's their choice. I mean, it's still going to take some time. but one of the things that I've learned with, Claire Warner, she was on a few weeks ago, she talked about how much people are leaving, dollars on the table by not having that option on their menu. So instead of getting water or Coke, they're going to buy a beer, right?

00:39:07:16 - 00:39:12:11
Jessie Ott
Or they're going to mix a cocktail and they're going to make ten bucks on that person, right? Yep.

00:39:12:14 - 00:39:40:08
Brian Rosen
Yep. There's Claire's smart and Claire's correct. Here's here's the issue though. And then people get blinded by statistics. If you saw one more non alc drink today tomorrow than today that's a 100% improvement. So you can realistically say I'm 100% up in my non alc. But just hold one drink right. So this the sample size is so small.

00:39:40:12 - 00:39:41:08
Jessie Ott


00:39:41:10 - 00:39:59:11
Brian Rosen
The percent people are using percentages to talk about the category. It's kind of bullshit right. If you said I sell ten cases today and I sold 10,000 tomorrow, that's a real number. But if you say I sold ten cases today and 15 cases tomorrow, 50%, but it's only five cases.

00:39:59:11 - 00:40:02:07
Jessie Ott
Yeah, it's definitely small for sure. Yeah, it's a little small.

00:40:02:07 - 00:40:06:22
Brian Rosen
But for people where people get all excited about, oh what's up 20% year over year.

00:40:07:00 - 00:40:27:20
Jessie Ott
Big deal. Yeah. I don't even know what that base is just to be honest. Exactly right. Yeah I yeah, I just think it's a movement counter to what you were talking about earlier, you know, January, dry January. It's really more of a movement. I think from Claire's point of view, she's about the health of the people in the industry, you know, longevity and that kind of thing, which is I think is really, really great.

00:40:27:20 - 00:40:54:05
Jessie Ott
I've never heard of anybody standing up for that community. That part of the, our business. I'm sure there's plenty, but, you know, I know her now. but I just I feel like, you know, with the newer generations coming up drinking less, it's going to be, I don't think it's a fad. I think it's a I think it's going to, in my opinion, I feel like it's just going to slowly creep up and kind of be a part of our culture.

00:40:54:07 - 00:40:59:04
Brian Rosen
Yeah, it's going to be a part. It's going to be segment for sure. The same way that Lemon Cello is a segment.

00:40:59:06 - 00:41:01:22
Jessie Ott
You know, it's people drink that.

00:41:02:00 - 00:41:21:08
Brian Rosen
Do you know, it's it's a small piece and it's important part for health. And as people get you know it's funny there's the number one trend in show right now. And Netflix is is is is Blue's own show, which is all about these, these five places in the world that, where people live to be 100 years, 100 years old.

00:41:21:09 - 00:41:24:23
Jessie Ott
Yes. I've my wife has watched this. I haven't watched it yet.

00:41:25:01 - 00:41:29:00
Brian Rosen
It's great. And I've watched it and I've like I said, I'm not doing any of these things.

00:41:29:00 - 00:41:32:11
Jessie Ott
I hope I don't die. You don't want purple sweet potatoes?

00:41:32:13 - 00:41:38:03
Brian Rosen
No, but. No, but but by the way, I, I, I would love them. I would love them if you're offering but I don't I don't.

00:41:38:03 - 00:41:39:23
Jessie Ott
Where do you get it. I don't know.

00:41:40:01 - 00:41:41:13
Brian Rosen
It's at the purple Whole Foods.

00:41:41:15 - 00:41:42:16
Jessie Ott
And.

00:41:42:18 - 00:41:56:01
Brian Rosen
And but my point is that the guy who did the show, he picked these five places out and he said, these are the common threads, the through line through all five places. And one of them was wine.

00:41:56:03 - 00:41:57:06
Jessie Ott


00:41:57:07 - 00:42:24:18
Brian Rosen
Wine? Red wine what? Or white wine in Greece or, low sulfate wine or what have you naturally occurring wine? No pesticides. The natural process of making wine. So here is a whole show and a whole there's a movement right now on this right about living to 100 plus. and the one common thread, there are many common threads, but the one common thread for our concern is they're all drinking 1 or 2 glasses of wine a day.

00:42:24:20 - 00:42:27:23
Brian Rosen
And if that's really the barometer, I should live to a thousand.

00:42:28:01 - 00:42:31:19
Jessie Ott
I'm right. Yeah, I'm right behind you. Yeah. So much.

00:42:31:20 - 00:42:34:07
Brian Rosen
And the point is, is that like, no. And low is great.

00:42:34:07 - 00:42:35:02
Jessie Ott
Yeah.

00:42:35:04 - 00:42:54:23
Brian Rosen
But I don't know anyone who I don't know anyone in my circle at least who wants a hey, it tastes just like X but has no alcohol. Yeah. Because a lot of people like just drink water. And then when you're ready to drink with alcohol, go ahead. But again it's a personal preference. And I ward people who live that lifestyle.

00:42:54:23 - 00:42:57:21
Brian Rosen
It's just not I don't think it's a measurable thing in the short term.

00:42:58:01 - 00:43:18:07
Jessie Ott
Yeah I agree I my experiences, I, I had co-founders of Athletic Brewing on and so I had to go in but they told me that they had their upside down was, what do you call it, process to remove gluten, whatever, whatever that process is. And I was like, oh, yes, I'm going to go try it.

00:43:18:09 - 00:43:34:11
Jessie Ott
And so I bought some and we went to my mother in law's, who would go there sometimes and have dinner and get in their pool. And it was really nice just having, I mean, for beers for me, no matter what, it's like 1 or 2 tops, but it was really kind of nice just to sip on a really nice, beer.

00:43:34:11 - 00:43:50:09
Jessie Ott
It's hot, you know, and you just want something cold and then, you know, have a cocktail later or something like that. So because, you know, you're driving back and forth or whatever. Yeah. And I was like, oh, this is, this is this is actually kind of nice. I wouldn't have thought of me being somebody that would participate as much in, in, in, in it either.

00:43:50:09 - 00:43:58:16
Jessie Ott
And I was actually kind of, you know, surprised. And now it's going to be a part of I'm going to have it all around. Yeah.

00:43:58:18 - 00:44:10:16
Brian Rosen
Well look, we, we again going back to invest, have we see 10 or 15 brands a week that are looking for capital and the percentage that are non ALC has gone up every week for two years.

00:44:10:16 - 00:44:11:10
Jessie Ott
Wow. Okay.

00:44:11:14 - 00:44:33:17
Brian Rosen
More and more people are making non alc beer wine RTD pre-mix what have you. so it's definitely something that's happening in the drinks business. Is it a forever. Yes. Is it a big segment? No. Will it ever be a big segment? Probably not, but it will be. It will have its sliver.

00:44:33:19 - 00:44:34:01
Jessie Ott
Yep.

00:44:34:06 - 00:44:41:20
Brian Rosen
It will have a sliver. And listen, perhaps to the people who started it all in the sharps, in the. Oh, jewels of the world.

00:44:41:20 - 00:44:44:16
Jessie Ott
Yeah. You know, the only choice for many decades.

00:44:44:18 - 00:44:58:19
Brian Rosen
Horrible for home free. Horrible. You know, now there are people are taking there's an artistry to making non alc and you know and don't forget also that weed drinks, cannabis drinks plays a role in this too.

00:44:58:19 - 00:45:00:00
Jessie Ott
Absolutely. Yeah.

00:45:00:02 - 00:45:21:03
Brian Rosen
You know, like our, our brand can, is a replacement also for people that don't want to get drunk or don't want a hangover, but want to celebrate the moment, you know, with the THC and CBD kind of blend, the world is open to them to now. And as more and more states become legal, Florida, you need a medical card.

00:45:21:03 - 00:45:27:13
Brian Rosen
But, you know, as soon as soon we're going to be federally regulated, I guess in the next five years, I'm hoping.

00:45:27:15 - 00:45:28:06
Jessie Ott
I hope this will.

00:45:28:06 - 00:45:53:20
Brian Rosen
Be a natural thing. Yeah. Me too. And and even where it's not federally legal, you've got the hemp derivative, which is selling off the shelf like crazy. For instance, our can drink in Minnesota is trending on Nielsen and it's it's hemp derived as opposed to THC derived. Right. So they're there that the market is evolving even if the regulations are not.

00:45:53:21 - 00:46:10:13
Jessie Ott
Well, isn't there certain degrees of pot that are legal like I know in Texas you can get delta eight I think delta 8778 Delta like. Yeah. And then Florida's the same way. Are they able to make it. Is it legal for them to use you know delta eight or delta nine.

00:46:10:15 - 00:46:21:03
Brian Rosen
Well we do in Minnesota okay. But in Illinois where recreational marijuana is legal, it's 5% THC or 3% THC and 2% CBD, what have you.

00:46:21:03 - 00:46:21:10
Jessie Ott
Right.

00:46:21:15 - 00:46:26:00
Brian Rosen
In California, where there are no rules, you know, it is.

00:46:26:03 - 00:46:27:16
Jessie Ott
It is.

00:46:27:18 - 00:46:41:15
Brian Rosen
It is 5% THC and the tall boys are 5% THC, etc., etc.. So, where it's not legal yet, they use the delta derivative where it is legal. It's a THC.

00:46:41:17 - 00:46:55:00
Jessie Ott
So do you feel what the THC and CBD do you feel like there people that are drinking them are already people that are already in the know, or are you converting new people over?

00:46:55:02 - 00:47:01:22
Brian Rosen
That's a great question. I don't know that answer. You know, I know that as I get older.

00:47:02:00 - 00:47:02:17
Jessie Ott


00:47:02:19 - 00:47:04:17
Brian Rosen
I it's harder for me to drink red wine.

00:47:04:19 - 00:47:05:16
Jessie Ott
Yeah.

00:47:05:18 - 00:47:14:22
Brian Rosen
I don't feels good. I get stuffy in the nose during the night, I get hot, you know all of that? Yeah. no trouble having a couple drinks of cannabis.

00:47:15:00 - 00:47:18:04
Jessie Ott
All right. You know, and I get, you know, feel bad either.

00:47:18:06 - 00:47:38:16
Brian Rosen
Don't feel bad. And I get up the next morning until 5:00, and I'm at the gym by 530. And so I think that part and partial to this not out conversation, it's not about today always. It's about how do you feel tomorrow. And and and so non-health low. Well works for tomorrow. Meaning you can drink as much as you want tonight.

00:47:38:16 - 00:47:57:22
Brian Rosen
And tomorrow is still a regular day. THC can for instance is the same. You can have a couple cans and you can get up at five in the morning, still make it to the gym. No hangover, no weight gain to speak of, no caloric intake like you would with having 3 or 4 beers. Yep. No bloat and it pairs with food really well.

00:47:58:03 - 00:48:19:14
Brian Rosen
So there the the American consumer and in the general sense, the global consumer is evolving 100% and no longer is cool for the day when you had one option in beer, wine and spirit. There's as many different types of people there are in the world. There are options for them to to drink and to smoke and to drink.

00:48:19:16 - 00:48:23:19
Brian Rosen
THC and so the the suppliers are responding.

00:48:23:21 - 00:48:42:17
Jessie Ott
Yeah. No, I definitely agree. I've, I've tried some of the cbd's, in the past and I just for me, I can't have a drink and, and smoke or even do a gummy like I can't do both my. And I just immediately throw up. I don't know why I can't handle it. So that's your problem? Yeah, it's my problem.

00:48:42:17 - 00:48:50:04
Jessie Ott
It's totally my problem. And I, you know, raise my hand. You need to work on that. I did, I did need to go to the, get in shape, I guess.

00:48:50:06 - 00:48:52:06
Brian Rosen
But I need to train.

00:48:52:08 - 00:49:03:13
Jessie Ott
But I'm certainly open to, you know, learning more about it and tasting it as long as it, you know, as it gains more traction on the shelf. So you can you can get it and you can try it because, yeah.

00:49:03:15 - 00:49:09:15
Brian Rosen
And look, I mean, and, and, and dispensaries are like Apple stores, you know, in a lot of cities.

00:49:09:17 - 00:49:12:07
Jessie Ott
They are they're fun. They're. Well, yeah, beautiful.

00:49:12:07 - 00:49:41:23
Brian Rosen
They're well lit. They've got great displays on the wall. They've got great pots and pop. They're they're retail juggernauts and, it's no longer like the day where you're buying weed in someone's garage, you know, and you guys are changing cats pretty. You know, I'm going back to my, my when I was 17 years old, but but now it's a it is a legal experience that is perfectly okay to have a sustainable activity around.

00:49:42:01 - 00:50:01:04
Brian Rosen
And so, again, I think that the drinks universe all encompassing is evolving and there's room for everything. And it just it's up to the supplier to adapt. It's up to for the distributor to make room. It's up for the distributor to take a risk. It's up for the consumer to want.

00:50:01:08 - 00:50:02:08
Jessie Ott
Right.

00:50:02:10 - 00:50:05:11
Brian Rosen
And when you put all that together, you've got a brand that can thrive.

00:50:05:13 - 00:50:12:13
Jessie Ott
Yeah. No, that's that's super interesting. well well said. Actually, I don't know if you.

00:50:12:13 - 00:50:14:15
Brian Rosen
Want to go on past that. That could be the clothes.

00:50:14:17 - 00:50:34:22
Jessie Ott
I don't know, I, I would, I would love to keep asking more questions. I do have maybe two more and, and. Yes. And. Okay, so what's your outlook? Is there anything, that you see that's changing? We've kind of talked about CBD, THC, low and. No, you kind of did, I guess give us a little bit about.

00:50:35:00 - 00:50:56:21
Jessie Ott
You think Rom's coming? Gin's coming, which are both very exciting for me because I love them both. I think they've been the redheaded stepchild long enough, I think. I think it's time. I would love to see, you know, I, I had, another guest on Chris Scott. He's a wine guy. but he loves gin, and he was talking about over there that he's like, they're going to crazy.

00:50:56:21 - 00:51:01:12
Jessie Ott
There's too many flavors are going past the original intent of gin. Are you?

00:51:01:14 - 00:51:08:19
Brian Rosen
So in the UK, gin is today, where vodka was in the US ten years ago.

00:51:08:21 - 00:51:10:10
Jessie Ott
Really? Okay. That makes sense. Yeah.

00:51:10:11 - 00:51:30:12
Brian Rosen
So? So it means, like, if you look at like pinnacle, for instance, and vodka with cream flavors, strawberry shortcake flavor, all these flavors and what it really comes down to and your listeners should absolutely know this, they go to their local store. It's a land grab and nothing to do with the brand at all. They're making wine extensions to take real estate off the shelf for competing brands.

00:51:30:12 - 00:51:31:03
Jessie Ott
Makes sense.

00:51:31:06 - 00:51:51:23
Brian Rosen
And so that's why Stoli, Stoli, Smirnoff, all of them have multiple flavors. Absolut at one time had ten flavors. You know, Citron and regular being the main gig. But they had papaya and they had grape and they had vanilla, and they had all of these different flavors of Absolut. Yet 98% of the SKUs selling was regular. Absolut. Yeah.

00:51:52:04 - 00:51:59:07
Brian Rosen
So what's happening in gin in the UK is exactly what happened in vodka in the US years ago.

00:51:59:09 - 00:52:08:01
Jessie Ott
Gotcha. That's interesting. I didn't know that. It seems like the UK is, quite a different market than than what we have over here.

00:52:08:02 - 00:52:27:03
Brian Rosen
It is. But but then it is. But think about it. I'm not talking about the consumer at all. I'm talking about the distributor and the suppliers. Real estate grab. Right. Yeah. This is a this is a business. And if I put ten line extensions on the shelf, right. That means that's nine places that my competitor can't get.

00:52:27:05 - 00:52:32:14
Jessie Ott
Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. Well hopefully that'll that'll evolve.

00:52:32:16 - 00:52:42:14
Brian Rosen
I'm a gin guy too. I've been a gin guy since I'm 22 years old. 23 years old. When I saw when I saw a guy who was much cooler than me and still is much cooler.

00:52:42:14 - 00:52:44:09
Jessie Ott
Than me, I doubt that.

00:52:44:10 - 00:52:57:19
Brian Rosen
No, I know, order a Bombay Sapphire and Tonic did this and I'm like, that guy's cool. I'm gonna do that. I'm going to order that drink. And I've never, besides, for switching Hendrix, for Sapphire, I've never wavered from that. That drink ever.

00:52:57:20 - 00:53:09:17
Jessie Ott
I just had one. A couple days ago, we went to, Fort Worth to the best Bass hall, Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill. is on tour, so. Yeah. Oh, was so refreshing. Was so lovely. Yeah.

00:53:09:19 - 00:53:24:13
Brian Rosen
It's a great summer drink. It's a great winter drink. I mean, it's got in the summer. You can say it's refreshing. In the winter. You can say that gin with other juniper has this Christmasy feel, right. Yeah, sure. Very aromatic. So they they've made a product that plays, you know, across all four seasons.

00:53:24:19 - 00:53:37:05
Jessie Ott
Yeah. No that's true. And I'm excited about rum too. I love rum probably a little too much. you know, being in Florida, it seems like the go to, you know, when you're in the, in the pool. yeah.

00:53:37:05 - 00:54:03:05
Brian Rosen
Ten to 10 to 1. was our first rum investment, for out of our fund three. And, Mark Farrell is, is the founder there? It's very, very smart guy. Diageo came in, as I mentioned, pronghorn came in. And this guy is originally from the islands, so he's got a good sense of that island vibe, and he's got a good sense of how to create this thing.

00:54:03:10 - 00:54:15:08
Brian Rosen
And it's an aged, beautiful, rum at a time when people want something other than bourbon and whiskey. So I think he's going to hit that plateau right on. And we're very excited to be in the rum business now.

00:54:15:10 - 00:54:31:23
Jessie Ott
Yeah. No, that's that's great. I think you're you're spot on with the high end rums. You're seeing a lot of them I think even in Texas. But in Florida for sure, where you just we had company over the summer. My best friend and her husband, who loves, rum, he found he found a bottle, and he's just sipping it, and it was.

00:54:31:23 - 00:54:47:10
Jessie Ott
It's just it's it's great. I love I love that. I mean, I think people, have maybe a little bit of palate fatigue on bourbon. It's never going away. It's always going to be big. But, you know, to try something different, maybe a little, softer, I guess you could say with the softer Oscars.

00:54:47:12 - 00:55:05:05
Brian Rosen
Right. And and the cube cuts it right. The ice cuts it a little bit, and it's a little bit sweet. So you can appeal to the salty and sweet kind of demographic of someone's palate and all of those things together, in addition to the rising price of other commodities, are going to move the consumer towards rum.

00:55:05:05 - 00:55:24:13
Jessie Ott
We hope we really well, I hope so too, I think so, I think it's got room right. my first, my first experience with rum and, I don't know if you're a Jimmy Buffett fan, but I was, May he rest in peace. Yes. May he rest in peace. And the the person that, I was devastated.

00:55:24:13 - 00:55:44:09
Jessie Ott
I was so upset. The the person that got me started on Buffett was my cousin Randy Wilkin, who just passed 68 years old this last weekend. Very sad. but we. Yeah, it's just I don't know, it's sad, but anyway, Buffett. Buffett, you. So we had rum and juice in Buffett. We called it Buffett juice. And we'd hang out by the pool and listen to, to Jimmy Buffett.

00:55:44:09 - 00:55:46:00
Jessie Ott
So anyway, it's kind of cool.

00:55:46:00 - 00:55:51:19
Brian Rosen
And one more thing to think about is that we're not talking about Captain Morgan, right? No, it's a it's a staple.

00:55:51:21 - 00:55:52:10
Jessie Ott
Right?

00:55:52:12 - 00:56:02:10
Brian Rosen
The consumer in America is really making this move towards Premiumization. And they're making a move towards they're defining who they are by what they put in their body.

00:56:02:13 - 00:56:03:03
Jessie Ott


00:56:03:04 - 00:56:21:08
Brian Rosen
Right. And that's why sweet greens the salad chain is so popular. That's why pressed juice cold pressed juice so popular people define their sense of self self their sense of it by what they put inside their body. So they're not they're going to put a premium rum in there because it says they're in the know. It says they're successful.

00:56:21:08 - 00:56:32:02
Brian Rosen
It says money's no object. It says they're sophisticated. So our rum game is playing to the exact movement and time of where the US consumer is.

00:56:32:04 - 00:56:52:08
Jessie Ott
Yeah. No, absolutely. Quick question. I'm kind of digging my heels into soccer. We went to Japan this summer and I feel, you know, Asahi is now building a brewery here in US stateside and New York. And are you seeing any brands come to you guys, or is or are you seeing any trends on that side of the business?

00:56:52:10 - 00:57:12:15
Brian Rosen
I see you're you're reading my bio. two years ago, we worked Bev Strat worked for Hiro Saki, and, it was a New York brand. It's in all the States now. And their goal that Hiro Saki was to be the Saki for everyone. And they were the first brand to ever met. That was a Saki brand.

00:57:12:15 - 00:57:33:12
Brian Rosen
That said, I don't want to be in Japanese restaurants, right? What they said is I want to be everywhere. So we're going to create a drink menu around everywhere around Sakata. So martini with Saki, less hangover, less calories, what have you. So again, I think it's a movement. I think there's a place for Saki. same way there's praise for baijiu, right?

00:57:33:12 - 00:57:45:05
Brian Rosen
The number one spirit globally, but 1%, one incremental increase over one, which is 100% is still too.

00:57:45:05 - 00:57:46:11
Jessie Ott
Right.

00:57:46:13 - 00:57:54:00
Brian Rosen
So, again, I default always to there's opportunities in the, in the wine beer and spirits space for everyone.

00:57:54:01 - 00:57:55:07
Jessie Ott


00:57:55:09 - 00:58:15:17
Brian Rosen
If you pick a small market to begin with like Saki. Right. Like milord, like Jagermeister. What have you pulled. You picked these small markets. We're only a small percentage of the consumer is going to enjoy drinking this on a regular basis. Then you are limiting your upside quite a bit. And so we don't necessarily like to invest in things like that.

00:58:15:17 - 00:58:43:01
Brian Rosen
Because total addressable market is a huge thing for investment firms. Right. And if your total addressable market is the Japanese restaurant community, which is wonderful, and then high end hotels who make socket tinnies, you're leaving out the rest of Earth, right? And and so for those reasons, Saki will continue to grow or slowly keep study. But it's never going to be, you know, a top ten Nielsen trending.

00:58:43:01 - 00:58:43:20
Brian Rosen
It just won't.

00:58:43:22 - 00:58:44:03
Jessie Ott
Be.

00:58:44:03 - 00:58:46:09
Brian Rosen
Possible artistically. It's impossible.

00:58:46:11 - 00:59:04:05
Jessie Ott
Yeah. And I don't know if the consumers here want that. I just feel like there's a whole educational component that's missing that, that, I think could be a little intimidating, like wine is, you know, the varietals and, and whatnot that could maybe break down some of those barriers. I just, I feel I feel like it's kind of coming.

00:59:04:05 - 00:59:22:23
Jessie Ott
And so for, for me, kind of wanting to lean in on saké and lo and know just to see, you know, where it goes just because I feel like it's something. Yes. It's just very, very, very small base. but what I found in talking to different people about in this world is, they're saying, like, you know, how Italian restaurants are really popular.

00:59:22:23 - 00:59:34:13
Jessie Ott
They're popping up everywhere. Two different people have told me that Japanese restaurants are now the new Italian restaurants, and I found that very interesting. And I don't have any, facts or anything to back that up. It's just there, good or.

00:59:34:13 - 00:59:54:00
Brian Rosen
Bad, though. Are you are you implying that Japanese restaurants are becoming more common and more accepted or not? As you know, it used to be that Chinese, for instance, or were for Chinese, you know what I mean? They serve local flavors, right? Are you saying that? Are you saying that the Japanese restaurant is a has become a generalist like an Italian restaurant would be?

00:59:54:06 - 01:00:08:09
Jessie Ott
No. I think there's more interest in that in that segment of food, in that, in that type of environment. I think there's like there was, you know, with Italian food at some point in the past, like, I don't.

01:00:08:11 - 01:00:35:19
Brian Rosen
Yeah. I look, my opinion about Saki buys you, other things that are that they need to get a push on premise. Right. which means that the supplier has got to have a bartender or series of bartenders that are in their corner to recommend, because someone's going to come into a beautiful restaurant in downtown Manhattan and say, what do you have that's new in the martini world?

01:00:35:21 - 01:00:45:14
Brian Rosen
And some bartenders got to say, I have an idea, consumer, let's have a martini with Saki. So you've got all these different people that have to be in your corner to make it go.

01:00:45:15 - 01:00:46:17
Jessie Ott
Yeah.

01:00:46:19 - 01:01:03:09
Brian Rosen
That's a challenging route to market. That's the same thing with people that that the brands, some of the brands we have in our company where they say, hey, the bartender just has to recommend this. Okay. So that means you have to incentivize a bartender, you have to train the bartender, you have to have a mixology program. You have to have a drink menu.

01:01:03:15 - 01:01:10:07
Brian Rosen
And then the consumer has got to ask for it. So it gets recommended. Yeah. And then there's more. And then you.

01:01:10:07 - 01:01:11:12
Jessie Ott
Realize.

01:01:11:14 - 01:01:35:01
Brian Rosen
That's it's like and then you're recommending that the bartender is your advocate. When the bar when the bartenders got 25 things in there. Well, and 50 drinks in the back bar, it's just a hard road. It is we like, at least in our companies. We like frictionless transactions. And so should you supply your listeners you want, don't they have the route to market with the least amount of friction?

01:01:35:02 - 01:01:44:21
Brian Rosen
And so when you come to market with an orange flavored, tequila made by, a one armed psychopath, right? I mean, there's going to be a few people that want.

01:01:44:21 - 01:01:47:10
Jessie Ott
That, right? The world. That's a tough.

01:01:47:12 - 01:01:48:13
Brian Rosen
That's a tough thing to.

01:01:48:13 - 01:01:48:22
Jessie Ott
Make.

01:01:48:22 - 01:02:12:06
Brian Rosen
Yeah, yeah. So so look, I'm all for I'm all for the market growing. I happen to enjoy Saki quite a bit. I enjoy Cold Saki quite a bit. I do not love hot Saki. I think that's amateur hour cold Saki's work that, But I'm one of 1,000,000,006 billion, and it's. The market has got to kind of come up to meet the need as well.

01:02:12:08 - 01:02:30:17
Jessie Ott
Yeah, no, 100%. It's just something I've been, you know, hearing on the podcast about. There's not a lot of specialists out there there, even in Mexico it's coming up. They're like, well, we need to find a specialist to teach, you know, blah, blah, blah. So I just feel like I'm kind of hearing it here and they're not really necessarily asking the question.

01:02:30:17 - 01:02:36:20
Jessie Ott
So I just thought I'd see in your experience on your side of the business what you know, what kind of year you guys are seeing.

01:02:36:22 - 01:02:39:12
Brian Rosen
Yeah. We listen, we we see everything.

01:02:39:12 - 01:02:41:01
Jessie Ott
Yeah, I'm sure it's scary.

01:02:41:03 - 01:03:13:03
Brian Rosen
And and this is where it kind of goes back to the top of the show. We work for small brands. At the end of the day, that's my passion. And it's heartbreaking to look in the eye of someone who leveraged their house or cashed in A401K to create a product that no one wants. And the one advice I would give your listeners, as we kind of whine to the end here, is if you make a product that you yourself love or your Aunt Mary drinks, or your wife's or your husband Steve, and that's their favorite, you're not making a product for everyone.

01:03:13:03 - 01:03:36:21
Brian Rosen
You're making a product for something. Yeah, right. And so your audience will be restricted to one. So when I look at entrepreneurs and inntrepreneur ers or suppliers founders be generalists, get share of mind, get credibility, get share of wallet. Yeah. And then you can mess around with flavors and different profiles and age statements and all of those things.

01:03:36:23 - 01:03:43:09
Brian Rosen
But you need to create something that the world wants in the general sense, and then you can expand upon that.

01:03:43:10 - 01:04:00:13
Jessie Ott
Yeah. No, absolutely. Really good advice. I think that's you know, it's kind of when you think about a buyer. Well, I don't like that. Well, you're maybe your audience does or maybe your customers do. You know, it's it's a hard it's a hard thing to, you know, and a lot of them obviously use Nielsen and then volume down.

01:04:00:13 - 01:04:20:23
Brian Rosen
Yeah. But that's you're never going to new brands, never going to build a new brand will never blank if you're only using Nielsen or IRI data or AWS are a new but what the brand owners should do is they should have they should go sample 100 customers off site, have get 100 people that like their brand, have 100 people, call the buyer at said store.

01:04:21:01 - 01:04:21:15
Jessie Ott
That's right.

01:04:21:15 - 01:04:44:23
Brian Rosen
And say and say do you have X and then go in the next day and say, I'm selling X, right? That's what you do. That's how you get into a store. And then once you get that placement, you service the shit out of that store, you do tastings, you do activations, you make sure everyone knows who you are, and then you go to the stores around that store and you say, hey, I'm doing really well over here at this grocery store, at this wine shop, you should buy a case too.

01:04:45:01 - 01:04:54:17
Brian Rosen
And you rinse and repeat and repeat. And it's exactly how it goes. And it's not pretty and it's not. It's not quick and it's not cheap, but it's proven and it works.

01:04:54:19 - 01:05:13:06
Jessie Ott
Yeah. You have to kind of create your own little, community. Yep. Building communities. Yeah. So this has been awesome. Brian, what do you what do you like to do when you're not working? Do you have any hobbies or trips that you like to take or.

01:05:13:08 - 01:05:17:03
Brian Rosen
No, I like to travel. I, unfortunately, it's always around work, right?

01:05:17:03 - 01:05:19:10
Jessie Ott
But that's okay. There's places to go to travel.

01:05:19:11 - 01:05:30:16
Brian Rosen
I like to speak at shows. I've got family that we all go together in different places around the world, and I and I, and I like to be a little bit physically fed and golf and run and all of those kind of things.

01:05:30:17 - 01:05:33:03
Jessie Ott
But,

01:05:33:04 - 01:05:35:03
Brian Rosen
The beverage business has given me so much.

01:05:35:03 - 01:05:36:00
Jessie Ott
Yeah.

01:05:36:02 - 01:05:52:03
Brian Rosen
Me so much. And it's my turn to give back. And so by having these companies, by doing what we do, by investing capital, by trading founders, all of those things is my way as I wind, as I'm in the back nine of my life, if you will. hopefully not so.

01:05:52:04 - 01:05:53:04
Jessie Ott
Much in the first place.

01:05:53:06 - 01:05:55:14
Brian Rosen
I'm not in pain. I'm on the 10th hole of.

01:05:55:14 - 01:05:56:22
Jessie Ott
18 and I get.

01:05:57:00 - 01:06:01:14
Brian Rosen
18. That does not include the bar at the end. So man, I'm on the 10th hole of 19 hole course.

01:06:01:16 - 01:06:05:04
Jessie Ott
There you go.

01:06:05:06 - 01:06:17:06
Brian Rosen
I want to give back to the community. And so, so what I do for fun is I help brands and that to me is fun, rewarding and fulfilling. And that's where I'll kind of. And my days there.

01:06:17:11 - 01:06:22:00
Jessie Ott
You know, I love it. I mean, you when you when you do what you love, you never work a day in your life, right?

01:06:22:02 - 01:06:24:16
Brian Rosen
It sounds like a hallmark card, but yes.

01:06:24:18 - 01:06:26:21
Jessie Ott
Yeah, I'm sure I stole it, ripped it off from somewhere.

01:06:26:23 - 01:06:30:05
Brian Rosen
Appreciate it. You know you didn't, but that's old. Yeah, that one's old.

01:06:30:07 - 01:06:46:10
Jessie Ott
So. But I have found that, you know, the last year, you, when you, when you get into your element of what you really love and enjoy, it is waking up and wanting, you know, winding down the weekend to Monday is a different feeling.

01:06:46:10 - 01:06:50:09
Brian Rosen
Yeah. Add value to someone else's life, and you will add value to your own.

01:06:50:11 - 01:07:12:10
Jessie Ott
Yeah, absolutely. Well, Brian, this has been amazing. I, I really appreciate your time. You're doing amazing things. And thank goodness that our industry has someone like you that you can help all these brands because education is so key, especially a lot of these people that are are creating these brands that don't have a background in it and or don't even understand our three tiered system.

01:07:12:10 - 01:07:22:22
Jessie Ott
They're, you know, they're coming from a different country. So, you know, thank you so much for everything you're doing for all of them and for for all of us in the industry. So I've had the pleasure.

01:07:22:22 - 01:07:27:06
Brian Rosen
Thank you for having me. And and I really enjoyed this, this, this bit of time with you today.

01:07:27:09 - 01:07:31:18
Jessie Ott
Thank you. Thank you. Me too. All righty. Thanks, Brian.

01:07:31:20 - 01:07:33:03
Brian Rosen
Thank you. Bye bye.

01:07:33:05 - 01:07:37:12
Jessie Ott
This week's episode was produced by fedora J productions.