Latest / Brewsers / Brewsers #378- Della & Josie with Charm Tonic

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Brewsers #378- Della & Josie with Charm Tonic · Brewsers

0:20
Speaker 1: Welcome to Bruisers podcast about beer, coffee, booze and bruisers.
0:23
Speaker 1: I am your host, Rodi John and today we talked
0:25
Speaker 1: to Della and Josie with charm Tonic. We talked about
0:29
Speaker 1: how Charm got started, what they see the future being,
0:33
Speaker 1: and so much more. Charm is absolutely amazing non alcoholic
0:37
Speaker 1: sparkling apotogen beverage. You don't want to hear it from me, though,
0:42
Speaker 1: you want to hear from them. So without further ado,
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Speaker 1: here is Della and Josie with charm Tonic. I would
1:01
Speaker 1: like to welcome the show at Della and Josie with
1:03
Speaker 1: Charm Social Tonic. How a y'all doing today?
1:07
Speaker 2: We're doing great. Thank you for having us.
1:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, super excited to be here. Yeah, thanks for all
1:13
Speaker 1: coming here. This is gonna be awesome. Well, let's uh
1:16
Speaker 1: paint your word picture for people listening. Where are you,
1:18
Speaker 1: guys at? What's going on around you?
1:20
Speaker 2: Yeah? So we are in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and it is
1:25
Speaker 2: just becoming spring. So we're getting some nice days and
1:29
Speaker 2: some quaudi days and today is a cloudy day, but
1:32
Speaker 2: still all good stuff.
1:34
Speaker 1: Yeah. I was gonna say I was in Detroit and Ontario.
1:38
Speaker 1: A couple of weeks ago and it was still like
1:41
Speaker 1: freezing at night, and I was like, nope, I'm out,
1:43
Speaker 1: I'm not doing this.
1:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, we in Minnesota, it's like for actually all the
1:48
Speaker 2: times of the year, it's just constantly fluctuating. So we
1:52
Speaker 2: get some like super hot to days and then it's
1:54
Speaker 2: just cold the next day.
1:55
Speaker 1: So that's all right, that's why they're we.
2:00
Speaker 3: Re joke that the weather here is a little bit bipolar.
2:03
Speaker 1: Yes, North Texas the same way, like we always say,
2:07
Speaker 1: if you don't like the weather, just wait fifteen minutes. Yeah. Well,
2:13
Speaker 1: as much as we're gonna be talking about non alcohol,
2:15
Speaker 1: let's go all the way back in time. What is
2:16
Speaker 1: y'all's earliest memory of alcohol?
2:18
Speaker 2: That is a good question, Josie, Do you have a
2:22
Speaker 2: good answer for that.
2:26
Speaker 3: I guess like what first comes to mind is my
2:28
Speaker 3: parents hanging out with their friends, you know, drinking some
2:32
Speaker 3: beer and just chatting and having a good time. Yeah.
2:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a big one. I think too. That comes
2:39
Speaker 2: to mind as well. Like in Minnesota, a big thing
2:42
Speaker 2: is for people to have like cabins and lake houses,
2:45
Speaker 2: and so it's a big culture here of like you
2:48
Speaker 2: go up north to your cabin and it's kind of
2:50
Speaker 2: like a weekend of you know, people are drinking like
2:54
Speaker 2: usually beers and things like that out on the lake
2:57
Speaker 2: and it's it's a vibe.
2:58
Speaker 1: That's my brother says about Canada too, because I mean
3:01
Speaker 1: he grew up here in North Texas, but he moved
3:02
Speaker 1: up there with his wife and yeah, that's what they do.
3:05
Speaker 1: Let's go up to cabins is hang out for a weekend,
3:07
Speaker 1: and that's what it is.
3:09
Speaker 2: Yeah for sure.
3:11
Speaker 1: Well, so for those who don't know, tell us more
3:14
Speaker 1: about Charm Social Tonic and like, really, how did yell,
3:17
Speaker 1: how did this even start for you?
3:20
Speaker 2: Yeah? For sure. So I'll just give a quick overview
3:23
Speaker 2: of what charm is. So Charm Social Tonic it's a
3:27
Speaker 2: adaptagen seltzer And for those who don't know what adaptogens are,
3:31
Speaker 2: they're herbal supplements that reduce stress and boost mood. I
3:35
Speaker 2: like to tell people they're kind of like camomeal tea,
3:39
Speaker 2: and so it makes you feel a little bit more calm,
3:42
Speaker 2: a little bit more present. And ours specifically is for
3:46
Speaker 2: social settings and so we started it when we were
3:49
Speaker 2: students at the University of Minnesota. Josie actually just graduated yesterday.
3:53
Speaker 1: Congratulations, Thank you.
3:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, and so for us it was we were both
3:58
Speaker 2: one of our majors was entrepren neural management and for
4:01
Speaker 2: one of our classes it was actually to start a
4:03
Speaker 2: business in the class. And so for us, half of
4:07
Speaker 2: the class was coming up with problems that we wanted
4:10
Speaker 2: to solve personally, and for me and Josie, that was
4:14
Speaker 2: wanting to solve the problem that we were seeing of
4:18
Speaker 2: wanting a healthier social environment and something that that was
4:22
Speaker 2: something we were also seeing with our generation as a whole.
4:25
Speaker 2: Gen Z is that a lot of people or a
4:28
Speaker 2: lot of people in our generation are cutting down for
4:30
Speaker 2: a lot of different reasons, one of them being health
4:33
Speaker 2: and just from a lot of stuff that's coming out
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Speaker 2: about it. And so we that is kind of like
4:40
Speaker 2: the crux of the pain point that we wanted to solve,
4:43
Speaker 2: and so we helped create a charm which is for basically,
4:48
Speaker 2: we modeled it after a Seltzer. We made it look
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Speaker 2: like a Seltzer. We put the adaptions in there to
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Speaker 2: give you some of you know, some of the same
4:55
Speaker 2: feelings you like about alcohol, so that calmness and you know,
4:58
Speaker 2: the confidence of holding something at a party, and yeah,
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Speaker 2: that's what that's what we created. Yeah.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, and we're also really mindful about the ingredients that
5:07
Speaker 3: go into charm as well. Like I am also a
5:11
Speaker 3: pre medicine student, and I'm really passionate about health and wellness,
5:15
Speaker 3: and I actually have my own health issues growing up.
5:20
Speaker 3: And because of those things as well, I'm not really
5:23
Speaker 3: able to drink alcohol. It just takes way too big
5:28
Speaker 3: of a toll in my body. And so it was
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Speaker 3: always like really awkward at times going to social gatherings
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Speaker 3: and like not really having anything to hold. I would
5:38
Speaker 3: just usually like hold a red solo cup filled with
5:41
Speaker 3: like whatever, like healthy concoction I wanted to create, or
5:45
Speaker 3: just water, which was just so like boring, and so
5:51
Speaker 3: we wanted to like address that and figure out another solution.
5:57
Speaker 3: And uh yeah. It's also low calorie, low sugar made
6:02
Speaker 3: with zero refined sugars, and that has also been a
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Speaker 3: problem that Della and I realize as well, like that
6:12
Speaker 3: there aren't very many options that you can drink that
6:15
Speaker 3: are low calorie, low sugar and don't have a ton
6:19
Speaker 3: of like artificial stuff in it. And the quote unquote
6:22
Speaker 3: natural flavors that you see everywhere which really are not natural. Yeah,
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Speaker 3: we're really intentional about what we put into Charm.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, we included too. We have like the flavor Charm,
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Speaker 2: we use real fruit juice and natural fruit extracts and
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Speaker 2: so everything in there is just very much, very clean ingredients.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, it is weird. So I've been in the alcohol
6:47
Speaker 1: world for almost two decades now, and it is so
6:51
Speaker 1: funny but also not funny at the same time, how
6:53
Speaker 1: much they claim things are natural and they're clearly not.
6:56
Speaker 1: And then all the stuff that's just like put in
6:59
Speaker 1: these alcohol drinks that, like you said, our sugar are
7:02
Speaker 1: unnatural and you're already putting poison in your body when
7:05
Speaker 1: you're drinking alcohol as it is. So I mean, obviously Josie,
7:08
Speaker 1: more so for you. But like this is I'm so
7:11
Speaker 1: glad y'all are doing this because we need more of
7:13
Speaker 1: this out here. We need more. I mean, obviously we
7:15
Speaker 1: saw during the pandemic people kind of went tilt when
7:18
Speaker 1: it came to drinking. And so now we've seen so
7:21
Speaker 1: many other great non alcoholic brands coming out of the
7:25
Speaker 1: pandemic because of the fact that they, like y'all, wanted
7:28
Speaker 1: to do still socialize with your friends, still celebrate, still
7:31
Speaker 1: go out and do things. But they didn't want to
7:33
Speaker 1: have to drink or they wanted to either. You know,
7:36
Speaker 1: the whole sober curious term even came up around that
7:39
Speaker 1: time because again people are like, I'm just gonna take
7:42
Speaker 1: a break for a little while. And then obviously you
7:44
Speaker 1: know guys like Joe Rogan with the Sober October. But
7:46
Speaker 1: then dry January became even bigger. So the market for
7:49
Speaker 1: the NA world is so much bigger than it ever
7:52
Speaker 1: had been before.
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Speaker 2: Completely all of that stuff is very important to like
7:58
Speaker 2: us as a brand. And I should mention too that
8:01
Speaker 2: like in Minnesota right now, there is we had a
8:05
Speaker 2: law past I'm not sure, maybe two years ago at
8:07
Speaker 2: this point that allowed like some teach seed beverages and
8:11
Speaker 2: so now almost half of all of our liquor store
8:14
Speaker 2: sales when we're talking to liquor stores is coming from
8:18
Speaker 2: those thh seed beverages and most alternatives and so and
8:22
Speaker 2: NA as well. And so it's really just very transformative
8:27
Speaker 2: right now that that sort of culture. And like you
8:30
Speaker 2: said too, one of our big missions is around socialization.
8:35
Speaker 2: Uh so we we re recognize, especially coming out of
8:39
Speaker 2: the pandemic too, just people weren't socializing as much like
8:43
Speaker 2: it's gotten like somewhat better now, but especially like our
8:46
Speaker 2: generation with you know, the technology that like the technology
8:51
Speaker 2: that we have, the fact that it's just kind of
8:53
Speaker 2: like easier to like, you know, not necessarily put yourself
8:56
Speaker 2: out there is actually its own health like crisis. Because Josie,
9:03
Speaker 2: we point to a statistically heard sometimes which is not socializing.
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Speaker 2: It's like equal to smoking a pack of cigarettes a day,
9:11
Speaker 2: which is like, it's like one of socializing is like
9:14
Speaker 2: one of the if not the most important thing for
9:17
Speaker 2: longevity as as just like people, and so it's just
9:22
Speaker 2: like really super crucial, and we're trying to target that
9:25
Speaker 2: as kind of like a social aspect for us as well.
9:28
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, And another thing with Charm too that we
9:32
Speaker 3: notice is that alcohol kind of in a way it
9:35
Speaker 3: inebriates you and takes you away from being in the
9:37
Speaker 3: present moment. But with Charm, the adaptations in there and
9:42
Speaker 3: the branding of Charm itself is designed to help bring
9:46
Speaker 3: people more into the moment and to make those meaningful
9:49
Speaker 3: connections and spend like good times with good friends because like,
9:55
Speaker 3: not only is it fun to do that, but it
9:57
Speaker 3: is also really important for your health and being.
10:02
Speaker 2: And yeah, and the.
10:05
Speaker 3: Statistics like going back to what you were saying with
10:08
Speaker 3: the decrease in drinking, It's it's quite crazy because drinking
10:13
Speaker 3: has been at a ninety year low and only fifty
10:17
Speaker 3: four percent of US adults now drink alcohols. So there
10:21
Speaker 3: is a different, a new trend that is emerging for sure.
10:27
Speaker 1: Right and you know, obviously the alcohol world is trying
10:29
Speaker 1: to figure out what they can do, and a lot
10:31
Speaker 1: of them have leaned into obviously the non alcoholic world.
10:34
Speaker 1: We're seeing Corona Heineken. That's just the beer side, on
10:37
Speaker 1: the wine side starting to grow as well too, Like
10:40
Speaker 1: they're just they think that they're creating this whole new thing.
10:42
Speaker 1: It's like, no, this na category has been around forever.
10:44
Speaker 1: You guys didn't lean into it because you thought it
10:46
Speaker 1: was only for pregnant people and you know, people who
10:49
Speaker 1: just stopped drinking. It's like no, Like this is a
10:51
Speaker 1: category that should have been building for the longest time.
10:54
Speaker 1: It's just now we're actually seeing the statistics of like
10:57
Speaker 1: you said, less people were drinking, and y'all's generation for
11:00
Speaker 1: sure is drinking a lot less, so that category and
11:03
Speaker 1: they have to go do something they're not So does
11:05
Speaker 1: your terrible for you, Bubbly water is fine. But like
11:09
Speaker 1: you said, if if you're putting better things in your body,
11:12
Speaker 1: you're going to feel better and you're going to be
11:14
Speaker 1: doing better things one hundred.
11:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, And some people, some of those companies are
11:20
Speaker 2: still trying to catch up to these trends, like we
11:23
Speaker 2: won't we won't name who it is, but one of
11:25
Speaker 2: the largest distributors of alcohol brands. Josie was talking to
11:30
Speaker 2: them at one point and she was kind of questioning them,
11:32
Speaker 2: being like, hey, like, what do you guys think is
11:34
Speaker 2: like like contributing to this decline that you guys are
11:37
Speaker 2: seeing in alcohol And they nowhere had mentioned at all
11:41
Speaker 2: about that. It was like that health was a big
11:44
Speaker 2: impact for them. I'm not sure if you want to
11:46
Speaker 2: touch on that anymore, but we were kind of laughing
11:48
Speaker 2: about that. They were like almost in denial about it. Yeah.
11:51
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was super It was super fascinating because I
11:54
Speaker 3: was like just like kind of like trying to get
11:57
Speaker 3: them like to maybe go in that direction too. After
12:00
Speaker 3: I asked a bunch of questions and they didn't like
12:02
Speaker 3: say anything about like the health aspect of things, and
12:07
Speaker 3: they they were just thinking that like, yeah, because of
12:10
Speaker 3: COVID people aren't hanging out as much anymore, so that's
12:14
Speaker 3: why people aren't drinking alcohol. And I was like, okay,
12:17
Speaker 3: but I was trying to like see if they could
12:20
Speaker 3: go a little bit deeper than that now, but.
12:22
Speaker 2: They they couldn't get there.
12:24
Speaker 3: Yeah, And and their innovations were We're interesting too because
12:30
Speaker 3: instead of focusing like on that health aspect that so
12:33
Speaker 3: many people want, they were more so going towards like
12:38
Speaker 3: the nostalgia and like going back to the past and
12:43
Speaker 3: like bringing in like things like juice boxes and stuff
12:47
Speaker 3: for like for different alcohol products. And it was just
12:50
Speaker 3: so interesting, which which that that is. There is like
12:54
Speaker 3: a push for nostalgia as well, but a lot of
12:57
Speaker 3: it is coming back to you know, your your health
13:01
Speaker 3: and well being and your roots and that aspect right well.
13:06
Speaker 1: It's also you know, giant companies like that. It's profit
13:10
Speaker 1: over people. So at the end of the day, they
13:12
Speaker 1: just think, oh, unfortunately this generation died off, but this
13:15
Speaker 1: next generation is still drinking, so we're refined. It's like, no,
13:18
Speaker 1: like you said, we care now what is in our products.
13:22
Speaker 1: And if you are not going to tell us what
13:24
Speaker 1: are in our products, then why am I going to
13:25
Speaker 1: continue to drink? And support your products that aren't helping me,
13:29
Speaker 1: because I don't need to be helping you if you're
13:30
Speaker 1: not going to help me.
13:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you know, that's another like thing that really
13:36
Speaker 3: has always stood out to me too, Like with on
13:39
Speaker 3: like alcohol products, they never list the ingredients ever, and
13:44
Speaker 3: that has always like and as someone like I need
13:47
Speaker 3: to read the label for things for health reasons, and
13:51
Speaker 3: the fact that they just never even put that on
13:54
Speaker 3: there was just so crazy to me.
13:57
Speaker 1: There's certain liquors that are starting to do it, but yeah,
14:00
Speaker 1: like you said, for the most part, you are not
14:01
Speaker 1: going to see that at any alcohol label at all
14:04
Speaker 1: because they don't want to tell you what's in there.
14:06
Speaker 1: So like the same way like most sodas didn't want
14:08
Speaker 1: to tell you for the longest time, and now they're
14:10
Speaker 1: kind of telling you. But if it's you know, how
14:13
Speaker 1: much is actually and there is something that they're probably
14:15
Speaker 1: definitely not going to tell you.
14:16
Speaker 2: About, yep, exactly. Yeah, I'm just hiding things too, and
14:20
Speaker 2: like natural flavors and yeah, we've been touched on that too.
14:24
Speaker 2: But like you can basically put pretty much anything in there.
14:27
Speaker 2: And because the funny thing is is you could always
14:31
Speaker 2: tie it back to it potentially being natural you know,
14:34
Speaker 2: quote unquote like everything comes from somewhere that's on Earth,
14:39
Speaker 2: and so uh, it's interesting what they're what they're allowed
14:42
Speaker 2: to fit into that.
14:44
Speaker 3: Yep. And then and then not even to mention like
14:47
Speaker 3: the pesticide and glyphosphate that have been like beer and
14:52
Speaker 3: all these other sorts of products so that you don't
14:56
Speaker 3: need to put that on the label either.
14:58
Speaker 1: So oh man, Well, so how did y'all decide on
15:04
Speaker 1: lemon ginger to start with? And how long did it
15:06
Speaker 1: take for y'all to get the recipe right because that,
15:08
Speaker 1: you know, I imagine there's quite a few test trials for that.
15:12
Speaker 2: Yes, it was. It was quite the process because I
15:16
Speaker 2: will say we actually did the full formulation by ourselves. Yeah,
15:21
Speaker 2: we didn't go through like anybody to do it. It
15:24
Speaker 2: was me and Josie in our kitchens with little with
15:28
Speaker 2: little you know, little baser things like being like okay,
15:31
Speaker 2: what if we like, yeah, like where if we add
15:34
Speaker 2: one more milli liter of lemon juice? Is this going
15:36
Speaker 2: to impact this whatever? So, yes, it did. It did
15:41
Speaker 2: take us a while because of that and a lot
15:42
Speaker 2: of trail and error. We originally formulated that when we
15:46
Speaker 2: were still part of that class at our school, and so,
15:50
Speaker 2: like our classmates can tell you, and our professors, like,
15:53
Speaker 2: we brought in a few formulations that were were not
15:57
Speaker 2: the best. And it's you know, it's interesting too because
16:00
Speaker 2: you know you think, Okay, maybe it's not that hard
16:03
Speaker 2: to like create something like that, but when you're trying
16:06
Speaker 2: to think about how it could scale and like like
16:09
Speaker 2: ingredient costs and things like that and all the things
16:12
Speaker 2: that we wanted to make charm to be like, it
16:16
Speaker 2: starts to become limiting on what you can do. And
16:19
Speaker 2: also just like you kind of just have to, I guess,
16:24
Speaker 2: be a little bit more intentional about what you're doing.
16:27
Speaker 2: And lemon ginger specifically, we chose that because we wanted
16:31
Speaker 2: first of all, it was one of the better ones
16:33
Speaker 2: that we created that tasted good.
16:35
Speaker 1: And what were the other ones that didn't quite taste
16:37
Speaker 1: as good? I gotta know about these, yes, I will.
16:41
Speaker 2: I think we tried some sort of like cherry that
16:46
Speaker 2: was like not good. And then also it's really hard,
16:49
Speaker 2: we've found to get some of the tropical flavors, like
16:52
Speaker 2: mango is a really hard one to get. We tried
16:56
Speaker 2: that one for a while because we knew that was
16:57
Speaker 2: a popular flavor, but yeah, some of those other ones,
17:01
Speaker 2: they were just oh my god, what are we doing?
17:04
Speaker 2: Well I have to probably figure those out at some
17:05
Speaker 2: point though, so but yeah, so we chose lemon ginger
17:09
Speaker 2: specifically one because we knew that citrus was trending at
17:12
Speaker 2: the time that we made it. Uh. And then also
17:16
Speaker 2: and then we're sorry, I'm backing up a little bit too,
17:20
Speaker 2: but when we were looking at the other beverages in
17:23
Speaker 2: the adaptagen market right now, a ton of them were
17:27
Speaker 2: very sort of like unapproachable in general. A lot of
17:30
Speaker 2: them had like psychedelic like packaging and just used all
17:34
Speaker 2: these sort of words that were like magical or you know,
17:38
Speaker 2: it's going to make you. You know. It was like
17:40
Speaker 2: very confusing, and to somebody who hadn't tried adaptagens before,
17:44
Speaker 2: that was going to be like a weird thing to
17:46
Speaker 2: like to like try, Like adaptations are already weird, and
17:50
Speaker 2: the companies were making it even more confusing for people.
17:53
Speaker 1: Uh.
17:54
Speaker 2: And so what we were like, and we were looking
17:56
Speaker 2: at the flavors too, one of them was like, mommy sprits,
17:59
Speaker 2: and we're like, what are you is that? Like we
18:01
Speaker 2: get like a lemon and so that's why we chose
18:05
Speaker 2: our lemon ginger also because we wanted to make it
18:09
Speaker 2: taste similar to alcohol. So the lemon has a bit
18:12
Speaker 2: of acidity and ginger a little bit more of a
18:14
Speaker 2: kick that you kind of get. So that's why we
18:17
Speaker 2: chose that as our first flavor.
18:19
Speaker 1: What does the line extension look like.
18:22
Speaker 2: Of like, how many cans we're offering currently? Well?
18:25
Speaker 1: No, like what what flavored? What do you think will
18:29
Speaker 1: be next?
18:30
Speaker 2: Oh? I see I underton. Yeah, we we have a
18:34
Speaker 2: couple that we're thinking about in the pipeline. One were
18:36
Speaker 2: potentially thinking about a We've heard a lot of people
18:40
Speaker 2: talk about wanting a berry, and so we're thinking like
18:43
Speaker 2: maybe a berry lime or we just got some survey
18:46
Speaker 2: data back that talked about a lot of people our
18:50
Speaker 2: age wanting like a mango passion fruit. So those are
18:53
Speaker 2: a couple of ones that we were thinking about.
18:55
Speaker 1: Okay, there we go.
18:57
Speaker 3: We have a reading scheduled for tomorrow where we're gonna
19:00
Speaker 3: actually we're going.
19:02
Speaker 2: Back to the kitchen. We're going back to the kitchen,
19:05
Speaker 2: our little science lab.
19:06
Speaker 3: And that that's something that actually kind of makes Charm
19:09
Speaker 3: more special too, because typically, like a lot of other
19:13
Speaker 3: companies will hire a chef or like outsource someone to
19:16
Speaker 3: help create the recipe, whereas for us, we literally like
19:21
Speaker 3: developed this ourselves and we put so much thought and
19:24
Speaker 3: intention and trial and error into it. And that's also
19:28
Speaker 3: something that makes us stand out a bit from our
19:31
Speaker 3: competitors because we really are unique in that aspect.
19:37
Speaker 1: Are you using AI at any point.
19:39
Speaker 2: That's a good question. Yes, I I will say it
19:46
Speaker 2: has helped tremendously in doing a lot of busy work
19:51
Speaker 2: that would usually take us a lot more time. Like
19:54
Speaker 2: it's almost like if we weren't using it, we would
19:57
Speaker 2: definitely be not as far as we are today, just
20:00
Speaker 2: because it just helps you like organize yourself immensely. It
20:04
Speaker 2: helps you think through ideas and so, you know, there's
20:09
Speaker 2: definitely problems with you know, AI, and we definitely understand that,
20:15
Speaker 2: but it's like in being a competitive business to you,
20:19
Speaker 2: you you kind of especially like our generation, it feels
20:22
Speaker 2: like kind of a need to adopt that.
20:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's if you use it as a tool, then
20:28
Speaker 1: it's great, But like like you said, if you're using
20:30
Speaker 1: it genuinely for like everything, then no, then then what
20:33
Speaker 1: are you even doing? Like why are you doing anything?
20:35
Speaker 1: So yeah, No, I think as a small tool, I
20:38
Speaker 1: think it is is fantastic. But yeah, I'm also not
20:41
Speaker 1: a fan of these giant data centers. But that's a
20:42
Speaker 1: whole nother.
20:43
Speaker 2: Thing, it is. Yes, we agree that that is also
20:46
Speaker 2: a problem.
20:47
Speaker 1: Yes, well, I mean so like obviously, when you're creating
20:50
Speaker 1: a brand, you've got to figure out what the name is,
20:53
Speaker 1: what the logo is, what the packaging is. Obviously, like
20:55
Speaker 1: which size can you guys wanted to use or or
20:58
Speaker 1: you're going to put in bottles? Things like that, Like
21:00
Speaker 1: where did all those kind of come together for y'all?
21:03
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean as for a name, speaking of AI,
21:07
Speaker 3: it's kind of funny because we did. We we were
21:11
Speaker 3: sitting together and we were trying to think of ideas
21:13
Speaker 3: of like, okay, originally, it's funny because our original brand
21:19
Speaker 3: concept is completely different from what we're focusing on now
21:24
Speaker 3: than Originally we were thinking our very first MVP minimal
21:29
Speaker 3: minimum viable product prototype. Our can design had like a
21:34
Speaker 3: masquerade mask on it, and we were like something to
21:38
Speaker 3: fit in at social gatherings. We've completely kind of pivoted
21:43
Speaker 3: from that, and now we wanted to make the the
21:48
Speaker 3: charm very approachable.
21:49
Speaker 2: But we were using. We we used AI to.
21:53
Speaker 3: Help us come up with like words that kind of
21:56
Speaker 3: mimicked that, and we went through a whole bunch of
22:01
Speaker 3: different words, and then charm was one of the ones
22:04
Speaker 3: that popped up and we were like, oh, that that
22:07
Speaker 3: sounds really nice and then yeah, we ended up running
22:10
Speaker 3: with that.
22:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was like a it was like a brainstormy tool.
22:17
Speaker 2: So like we had actually there was this uh, our
22:20
Speaker 2: professors had brought in a naming consultant agency. This was
22:24
Speaker 2: an eight an agency in Minnesota that specifically did name
22:30
Speaker 2: just named things like that was their whole thing. But
22:32
Speaker 2: they told us all about how like you're supposed to
22:36
Speaker 2: like the best names are something obviously that's easy and
22:39
Speaker 2: short to remember, but also something that kind of like
22:42
Speaker 2: metaphorically connects to your brand. Uh. And for us, we
22:46
Speaker 2: were kind of thinking around the masquerade theme because we
22:49
Speaker 2: were kind of like, okay, like our can, we want
22:51
Speaker 2: our can to like fit in at social settings, but
22:54
Speaker 2: also like it's healthy for you actually, which is different
22:57
Speaker 2: than all the other cans that people are holding. And
23:00
Speaker 2: so we were like this is you know, kind of
23:03
Speaker 2: fits around that sort of theme. And so you know,
23:06
Speaker 2: when we had like prompted it. We were like, okay, wait,
23:08
Speaker 2: this is this word kind of connects to that, and
23:11
Speaker 2: it's still even though we don't have that same packaging anymore,
23:13
Speaker 2: it's very still like translates into how like what our
23:18
Speaker 2: brand is today. It's like, you're our adaptogens in there
23:21
Speaker 2: make you feel maybe more chill or confident or mood boosting,
23:24
Speaker 2: which is things like that you might find in somebody
23:27
Speaker 2: who is charming and anything else on that the specific
23:32
Speaker 2: name thing you can think about, Josie.
23:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, what was the what was your the other aspect
23:39
Speaker 3: of your question? It was the other brand elements, right, yeah, like.
23:42
Speaker 1: The name, the packaging, the logo.
23:44
Speaker 3: Yeah, And because we wanted it to cater to social gatherings,
23:48
Speaker 3: we wanted it to also look like something that would
23:52
Speaker 3: be in a social gathering, So we made it modeled
23:57
Speaker 3: after a Seltzer. Because we also realized, hey, like there
24:00
Speaker 3: are like some other Adapteragen brands on the market, but
24:04
Speaker 3: all of them are, like Della said, like not super approachable.
24:07
Speaker 3: They all look like THHC or they look like they're
24:10
Speaker 3: gonna make you really high or like do something.
24:12
Speaker 2: To you, like mocktail.
24:15
Speaker 3: Yeah, and all like based off of like mocktail formulations,
24:19
Speaker 3: so like heavier, more juicy sweet, you know, and so
24:24
Speaker 3: then we realize like, oh, this is something that we
24:27
Speaker 3: could target as well. We could model an adapter Gen
24:31
Speaker 3: beverage after a Seltzer, and then we can also make
24:34
Speaker 3: it look more like a Seltzer so that it caters
24:37
Speaker 3: to social gatherings and just seamlessly fits into the party environment.
24:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, we took we took a lot of inspiration from
24:46
Speaker 2: other popular Seltzer brands. So if you've ever seen Truly,
24:50
Speaker 2: they have like this up and down label, so we
24:52
Speaker 2: have our label up and down. And then we also
24:54
Speaker 2: took inspiration from White Claw that kind of has that
24:57
Speaker 2: like white and black the base and then the color
25:01
Speaker 2: pop is the actual fruit flavor. And so those were
25:05
Speaker 2: all things that we took inspiration with when we actually
25:09
Speaker 2: created the can itself. And then we also our main
25:11
Speaker 2: brand element is these like little sparkles, which is which
25:15
Speaker 2: is kind of like you think of it as like
25:17
Speaker 2: a charm, as like sparkly, and so that is kind
25:20
Speaker 2: of how we created that too. And yeah, very a
25:23
Speaker 2: lot of things went into you know, every single thing
25:27
Speaker 2: was supernatural by us and got through.
25:30
Speaker 1: So, yeah, how many times have you all been drinking
25:34
Speaker 1: in public in places where it's totally normal drink like
25:36
Speaker 1: a regular soda or coffee or whatever, or energy drink,
25:40
Speaker 1: and people thinking you're actually drinking alcohol.
25:44
Speaker 2: Yes, we get that a lot, actually quite a lot.
25:49
Speaker 2: We're even whenever we do tastings too, people will come
25:53
Speaker 2: up to our booths and start taking out their ID
25:56
Speaker 2: because they think they think that they need to show
25:58
Speaker 2: us their ID to have this. We're actually, you don't
26:02
Speaker 2: need that, And Josie and I joke all the time.
26:06
Speaker 2: I'm like, it would be great press if I was
26:09
Speaker 2: drinking charm, just like driving on the highway and I
26:11
Speaker 2: get too yeah, yes, And I was like, we need
26:16
Speaker 2: to record that. That's going to be our thing that
26:18
Speaker 2: goes viral, And so we laugh about that a lot.
26:21
Speaker 2: But yeah, it does very much look like people think
26:25
Speaker 2: that it is like an alcoholic beverage when when they
26:28
Speaker 2: see it. So it's interesting like how people have reacted
26:32
Speaker 2: to it.
26:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, how has the reaction been in the liquor stores
26:36
Speaker 1: and obviously dealing with the people in the liquor stores
26:39
Speaker 1: as well, because owners can be very interesting characters to
26:42
Speaker 1: say at least.
26:44
Speaker 2: Yes, that's funny. Liquor stores have been good. I think
26:49
Speaker 2: that to zoom out on that question, the adaptagen beverage
26:53
Speaker 2: just industry is trying to find its place in retail.
26:58
Speaker 2: Are we going to be in liquor stores? Are we
27:00
Speaker 2: more of a grocery store thing? Are you know, like
27:02
Speaker 2: where actually is our category? They keep in liquor stores too.
27:06
Speaker 2: They keep placing us in all these random different locations,
27:08
Speaker 2: Like sometimes we'll be in NA, and sometimes we'll be
27:10
Speaker 2: next to the THHC. And sometimes we'll just be in
27:12
Speaker 2: like the mixed drink tonic area, and so, uh, it's
27:17
Speaker 2: been funny in that way. For liquor store specifically, it's
27:21
Speaker 2: been interesting interacting with the people there. I think that
27:26
Speaker 2: a lot of the times there's I mean, obviously it's
27:29
Speaker 2: a liquor store, so people are mainly going in there
27:31
Speaker 2: for alcohol. And so sometimes when we've been, especially on
27:34
Speaker 2: the college campuses, we've we've gotten some funny like we've
27:39
Speaker 2: been like, actually this is Ana, and they're like NA.
27:44
Speaker 2: But those are like those are like the fat boys
27:46
Speaker 2: that are going to get the Bappel in the Bapple
27:48
Speaker 2: twenty four packs in the back. So not our target customer.
27:53
Speaker 2: But we have had a lot of good reactions in
27:55
Speaker 2: those stores as well, people that are going in there
27:58
Speaker 2: that are looking for alcohol, but maybe like are like
28:01
Speaker 2: have a party and so they know that everybody's not
28:03
Speaker 2: going to be drinking there, and so they want to
28:05
Speaker 2: pick up an NA option as well, or they're like
28:09
Speaker 2: we get a lot of times people being like, oh,
28:11
Speaker 2: you know, my wife doesn't drink anymore, so I'll grab
28:14
Speaker 2: this for her, or you know a lot of sort
28:16
Speaker 2: of like kind of alternative ways that people like buy
28:21
Speaker 2: us in those in those stores.
28:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, I imagine that is very interesting, just almost a
28:30
Speaker 1: socio or sociology like look at everything is like like
28:34
Speaker 1: you said, sometimes you're next to tac, sometimes you're in
28:36
Speaker 1: the Tonic mixers, sometimes you're in the na is. Like
28:39
Speaker 1: you know, obviously you guys want to be in the
28:41
Speaker 1: NA market or NA shelf, but also like those they
28:45
Speaker 1: only have so many shelves and they can only fit
28:48
Speaker 1: so much product. I mean, that's a lot of the
28:50
Speaker 1: reason why a lot of these big liquor companies like
28:53
Speaker 1: more or less. We're not going to say they buy
28:55
Speaker 1: their spots, but they are definitely inclined to make sure
28:58
Speaker 1: that they have this, this and this, so you know,
29:00
Speaker 1: the people who are starting from ground floor, Like, you
29:04
Speaker 1: guys are really having to fight for your space on
29:06
Speaker 1: these shelves. And I imagine you're gonna have the same
29:08
Speaker 1: as situation with grocery stores if you're trying to get
29:11
Speaker 1: in there convenience stores as well, because you know, you
29:14
Speaker 1: want to be in those cooler doors, but at the
29:16
Speaker 1: same time, like where are they going to try to
29:18
Speaker 1: put you? So yeah, I imagine it's very interesting for
29:22
Speaker 1: y'all to also watch this as well.
29:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely. The I mean you know this as well.
29:28
Speaker 2: The industry is just so competitive and so you know,
29:33
Speaker 2: I will say though a lot of places, a lot
29:36
Speaker 2: of places have been realizing this trend within their stores
29:40
Speaker 2: and thus have been much more open to conversations with us,
29:45
Speaker 2: And so that is a big thing that I would
29:47
Speaker 2: note as well, just like we've gotten people reaching out
29:51
Speaker 2: to us specifically because they want they're looking for adapted
29:55
Speaker 2: to drinks to put on their shelves, which has been
29:58
Speaker 2: nice from our end. Yeah.
30:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, And it's been really interesting too because a lot
30:02
Speaker 3: of liquor stores are like really scrambling right now and
30:08
Speaker 3: because they know that so many less, way less people
30:11
Speaker 3: are drinking alcohol and so now like you'll walk in
30:15
Speaker 3: and like literally half the stores TC And I was
30:20
Speaker 3: I was talking with another prospect retailer a couple of
30:24
Speaker 3: weeks ago, and they were saying, like estimating that like
30:29
Speaker 3: like fifty percent of their store is going to move
30:32
Speaker 3: over to like NA options soon over the next couple
30:36
Speaker 3: of years. So that was that was pretty crazy, because yeah,
30:40
Speaker 3: like going from like just super super limited NA options
30:43
Speaker 3: to now like so many more, it is a huge jump.
30:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, now that you are actually in the NA market
30:52
Speaker 1: and obviously the aptogen beverage space as well, where do
30:56
Speaker 1: you guys want to see or where do you see
30:58
Speaker 1: the future of the category really going? Because, like you said,
31:00
Speaker 1: it started real small, like maybe two options on your shelf,
31:03
Speaker 1: and now you have a whole section in like you said,
31:06
Speaker 1: sometimes even more in stores and retailers all across the board,
31:10
Speaker 1: like I've seen Target doing it. Obviously Walmart hasn't gotten
31:13
Speaker 1: so far into it, not here in Texas anyway, I
31:15
Speaker 1: imagine they will at some point because they have to.
31:18
Speaker 1: But like we're seeing it everywhere else. So where do
31:21
Speaker 1: you kind of see what the future of the category
31:23
Speaker 1: is going?
31:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, I totally agree with you, Like it just popped
31:27
Speaker 2: up like maybe four to six months ago. That target
31:32
Speaker 2: now has like an entire end cap that's just adapted
31:35
Speaker 2: in drinks, which is super interesting. I think that, in
31:41
Speaker 2: my view, it's just going to keep getting bigger. The
31:46
Speaker 2: t CE market has I feel like almost shown this,
31:50
Speaker 2: like once people know that this is an option that
31:53
Speaker 2: they can have, that you know, it's just going to
31:57
Speaker 2: become really big. Right now. I think there's just a
32:00
Speaker 2: lot of education that needs to go into like what
32:05
Speaker 2: these things do to you, uh, and that is something
32:09
Speaker 2: that is going to probably be a struggle for a while,
32:12
Speaker 2: Like we probably were in Minnesota and so probably less
32:16
Speaker 2: people know about adaptagens than maybe the West or East coast,
32:20
Speaker 2: but you know, it's still probably about like maybe thirty
32:24
Speaker 2: percent of people know exactly what we're talking about, and
32:27
Speaker 2: then seventy percent of people are like, I have no
32:29
Speaker 2: idea what that is, like like legitimately have never heard
32:32
Speaker 2: of that before. And so it's interesting though that there
32:37
Speaker 2: are a lot of there's definitely a few there's a
32:39
Speaker 2: few adaptagen brands that are out there now that are
32:43
Speaker 2: doing a lot of heavy lifting educational stuff for us,
32:46
Speaker 2: which is nice. There's a few, like celebrity brands. Katie Perry,
32:50
Speaker 2: her brand De Sooy is in our category and that's
32:53
Speaker 2: an adaptagen drink. And then there's also Hin, which is
32:57
Speaker 2: Belahadeen's brand. And so it's nice to have those kind
33:00
Speaker 2: of like larger heavy hitters doing some of that education
33:04
Speaker 2: for us because obviously, you know, we're so small, we
33:07
Speaker 2: can't tell everybody about what these things are. So hopefully
33:11
Speaker 2: I think, I think the category is just gonna get bigger,
33:12
Speaker 2: and we're excited to be a part of that.
33:14
Speaker 4: Yeah.
33:15
Speaker 3: And and with you know, these increasing trends and awareness
33:20
Speaker 3: of your health and wellness and how like amazing it
33:24
Speaker 3: really does feel to feel good and have your nutrition
33:28
Speaker 3: down and just feel good in your body. I'm predicting
33:35
Speaker 3: that like this will keep coming, keep growing because people
33:41
Speaker 3: are just they're fed up with not knowing what is
33:46
Speaker 3: in their food, what is in their beverages, what is
33:49
Speaker 3: what they're drinking, how it's impacting their body. And people
33:52
Speaker 3: are looking more to feel better and have more clarity
33:57
Speaker 3: of mind and take better care of themselves so that
34:00
Speaker 3: they can you know, like just show up and be
34:02
Speaker 3: more present in each day to day. And then not
34:05
Speaker 3: to mention how rushed the majority of us are in
34:11
Speaker 3: each of our day day and like stressed. And now
34:13
Speaker 3: there's a huge push for nervous system regulation, calming down
34:18
Speaker 3: and slowing down. And I have a background in working
34:23
Speaker 3: out a naturopathic medical clinic as well, and they use
34:27
Speaker 3: these adaptagens for those sorts of purposes to reduce stress,
34:32
Speaker 3: to support mental health, for like, all sorts of different
34:37
Speaker 3: all sorts of different health conditions and so like. The
34:42
Speaker 3: more that people look into understanding their health and looking
34:46
Speaker 3: into alternatives to take care of their body, the more
34:50
Speaker 3: people will be introduced to adaptogens and learn more about
34:56
Speaker 3: them as well.
34:57
Speaker 2: And for trust.
35:00
Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, well I have a segment show. I call
35:05
Speaker 1: it the five Counts, just five random questions. Number one,
35:09
Speaker 1: who's your first concert?
35:12
Speaker 2: First concert? I think my first This is funny. My
35:16
Speaker 2: first concert was Kenny Chesney. Okay, and and if and
35:20
Speaker 2: if anybody knows me, they know that I'm not a
35:22
Speaker 2: big fan of country music, and so that is a
35:25
Speaker 2: very a little bit of a funny thing for me.
35:27
Speaker 3: Josie, Yeah, mine was jingle Ball and there were a
35:31
Speaker 3: ton of people there. Katy Perry was there.
35:34
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, it was our competitor. It was your
35:36
Speaker 2: first concert?
35:41
Speaker 1: I'm gonna take her down one day.
35:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was yep.
35:47
Speaker 1: Number two. If you're a pro wrestler or m M
35:49
Speaker 1: a fighter, what would your name be?
35:52
Speaker 4: That's a good one.
35:55
Speaker 3: Josie Jaguar. There you go, because Jay is my middle
36:00
Speaker 3: name and I love Jaguars.
36:05
Speaker 1: That's perfect.
36:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, that is good. Gosh, this is a great moment
36:10
Speaker 2: to be for me to be creative.
36:11
Speaker 4: Mm hmm, I think we'll go.
36:14
Speaker 2: I also have a I also have a two letter
36:18
Speaker 2: first named last name, so I guess maybe the damn
36:23
Speaker 2: well destroyer.
36:25
Speaker 1: There you are, good ones. Number three. What are you
36:29
Speaker 1: nerding out on right now?
36:31
Speaker 3: Neuroscience for me?
36:36
Speaker 2: Yes, that's a good one. What am I nerding out
36:39
Speaker 2: on right now? That's good. I'm a big foodie and
36:43
Speaker 2: so I really I really have loved looking at you know,
36:49
Speaker 2: as summer comes up, all these new restaurants are opening
36:52
Speaker 2: around in Minneapolis, and so I've been excited to try
36:54
Speaker 2: new places around here. So that's really fun.
36:57
Speaker 1: Perfect. Number four. Who are what inspires you?
37:01
Speaker 2: I think the I think really what inspires me is
37:06
Speaker 2: a lot of just people in my generation being excited
37:10
Speaker 2: to solve problems, and that I think is really exciting,
37:16
Speaker 2: Like we get to be in a space as founders
37:19
Speaker 2: with a lot of really cool people, our age and
37:22
Speaker 2: a lot of different people, and there's a lot of
37:24
Speaker 2: people that have just put social or you know, environmental
37:29
Speaker 2: activisy and just causes into their businesses, and so I
37:35
Speaker 2: think that that has been a thing that's been really
37:37
Speaker 2: cool to see.
37:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, I you know, I'm going to actually second that
37:42
Speaker 3: a little bit in how in our generation and how
37:46
Speaker 3: they they there's part of us that wants is very
37:51
Speaker 3: ambitious and we want to you know, create a life
37:54
Speaker 3: that we want for ourselves. But then we're also realizing
37:58
Speaker 3: about more about what we don't want, and there's kind
38:02
Speaker 3: of like a pushback to slow down and be more
38:04
Speaker 3: present and more intentional and authentic as well. And seeing
38:09
Speaker 3: that is very inspiring to me.
38:12
Speaker 1: I love that. And number five. Normally I ask what
38:16
Speaker 1: would you tell your seventeen year old self? But that
38:18
Speaker 1: wasn't too long ago for you guys, So I will
38:20
Speaker 1: ask where do you guys see yourself in the next
38:22
Speaker 1: five to ten years.
38:24
Speaker 2: Five to ten years, we hope to be really changing
38:27
Speaker 2: the social environment. We really want people to be to
38:32
Speaker 2: get out there, interact with people, say hi to your neighbor.
38:35
Speaker 2: Just we really hope to be part and a big
38:38
Speaker 2: influence in the space of people socializing more.
38:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, we love to create just a tight knit community
38:46
Speaker 3: that is centered around being in the moment and making
38:53
Speaker 3: meaningful connections with other people because that is just what
38:58
Speaker 3: everyone craves. I feel like in this day and age
39:01
Speaker 3: with how rushed.
39:03
Speaker 2: Like I was saying, things tend to.
39:05
Speaker 3: Be, and how focus and tunnel vision our society can get.
39:10
Speaker 3: And so it would just yeah that we hope to
39:15
Speaker 3: spread that mission hopefully across the country.
39:19
Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean, you guys start one state at
39:22
Speaker 1: a time, and I love that. Well, if people want
39:25
Speaker 1: to find out more about y'all, follow you online, buy charms,
39:29
Speaker 1: or support y'allin anyway, how can they do.
39:30
Speaker 2: So yeah, So you can buy charm nationwide right now
39:35
Speaker 2: on a website at charmtonic dot com, and then we
39:39
Speaker 2: are charmed social tonic on all of your favorite socials.
39:43
Speaker 1: Easy enough. Thank you'all so much for being here. I
39:46
Speaker 1: love what you guys are doing and I can't wait
39:49
Speaker 1: to see again with the future holds for you guys,
39:51
Speaker 1: and not only for you guys, but with the category
39:53
Speaker 1: in general. So yeah, keep up the good work and
39:55
Speaker 1: I can't wait to see it.
39:57
Speaker 4: Thank you so much, awesome, thank you, thank.
40:15
Speaker 1: You so much to Della and Josie again. Find your
40:17
Speaker 1: way to get yourself some charm tonic. It is amazing, uh,
40:21
Speaker 1: and these two women absolutely are killing it with it,
40:24
Speaker 1: and I can't wait to see where it grows. And
40:26
Speaker 1: I can't wait to see what they do later because
40:28
Speaker 1: if they're doing this now, they're gonna do absolutely amazing
40:30
Speaker 1: things in the future. So while you're following them on
40:32
Speaker 1: social media and seeing where they're gonna end up being,
40:35
Speaker 1: go ahead and go follow us on social media. It
40:37
Speaker 1: is bruises Pod. That is b R E W S
40:39
Speaker 1: E R S p O D on the Instagram, the threads,
40:42
Speaker 1: and the Twitter. If you want to send us an email,
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Speaker 1: it is Bruisespod at gmail dot com. If you'll follow
40:47
Speaker 1: me directly, it is Rody John. That is our O
40:49
Speaker 1: D I E. J Owen. Rody John is the name
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Speaker 1: on the Twitter and on a tet in case you
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Speaker 1: want to find out what I'm drinking, maybe we can
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Speaker 1: have a beer together. If you're following me on the
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Speaker 1: threads or the Instagram, it is a Fisher Roady John.
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Speaker 1: So until next time, make sure to enjoy life, drink
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Speaker 1: local cheers three two one