Latest / Ready To Drink Podcast / Why Patience Beats Hustle | Jon Arrivo, OG Sodas Co-Founder

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Why Patience Beats Hustle | Jon Arrivo, OG Sodas Co-Founder · Ready To Drink Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh John Arrivo, OG Soda CEO.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: And we're here in our soda microbrewery.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: You can see behind me there there might be some loud refrigeration noises.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: I apologize for that.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: This is a live production facility.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: No, it's perfect.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's just very faint audible noise, but I like it because it lets you feel like we're in there with you.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: So you're good.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: Good.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: Very good.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: Excellent.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: Well, take me, uh, kind of give me the geographic.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: Where are you guys right now for the audience?
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: And then kind of when did you get started?
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: We're in South Florida.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Specifically, our facility that where we make the sodas is in Lantana, Florida.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: We also have our retail, which is called Willie's.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's in Boynton Beach.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: And that's kind of how all this began.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: All this soda conversation, manufacturing, product creation spurred from our retail.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: And now we have our own soda company called OG.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: And where are you guys?
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: Are you guys uh currently located on the shelves?
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: And then DCC, obviously, they can order online and stuff like that, or how do you guys kind of operate right now?
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: So uh we are operating, selling our product um out of our own stores.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we are online at Ogsodas.com.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: And after over three years of RD, retail testing, customer testing, we are ready for the mass market.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be Florida first, and then from there, we'll start in the southeast region of the country, and we will move to the rest of the country.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: So um, we are very unique in how we've done this.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: We've taken the very slow, methodical bootstrap approach, and we are finally ready to release what we believe is the highest quality product, the first craft product in our category.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: And we're also multi-skew, so we are an alternative beverage company.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: We have multiple SKUs, and um, we're extremely excited to get it to the mass market.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: Perfect.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: And for everybody listening as well, go through kind of the different SKUs and kind of what subcategories everything fits in for consumption.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: So first and foremost, we have the Delta 9 product, um, hemp derived THC.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we have three skews.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: We have a lemon lime made, we have a pineapple twist, and uh we just changed from our strawberry over to cherry.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: So we now have a cherry chill, which is like a cherry lime.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: All of our products are made of real fruit juice.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: We sweeten with agave.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so um that's for the Delta 9 product.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: We also have a CBD.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: CBD um just evolved from a straight CBD over to two SKUs.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: So we're now gonna be uh moving our CBD product, which is obviously no buzz, non-alk, just a straight CBD, delicious beverage that calms and it does nothing else.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: So it's really nice for the for the group that doesn't want any type of buzz, still wants an alternative craft beverage to to drink either in a social setting or at home or with friends and family, things like that.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: But we have a CBD CBG, which is more of your calming and your social type of a C B D product.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: And we also have a CBD CBN coming out, which is uh more for your evening, uh calming and resting type of a beverage.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: So our beverages, you know, everybody kind of speaks to functional.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: We kind of go beyond that.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: So our beverages are uh also good for you.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the ingredient stack is incredibly clean, really high quality ingredients, and then we want to provide the consumer with products that is also going to benefit them in some format.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: So the CBD SKU line is for your entry-level craft alternative beverage drinker that wants to try something else.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: They want to try something other than booze, but they don't want the buzz from the THC.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: So that's why we have the CBD beverage, and then we got a lot of customers that talk to us about how our our products are helping them rest.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: So we wanted to focus really in on that and and go down that path even more.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's why we have the CBD CBN, but then we also want the product for the restaurant, the bar, the hotel, and the social setting uh without the buzz.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: So that's the CBD CBG.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: So that's the C BD CBD products.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: We also have a kava, it's really nice Kava nano extract.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um so, and all these get the same three flavors that we speak about.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: So the lemon lime, the pineapple twist, and the cherry chill.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: Those are our three first flavors recipes.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that's our differentiator.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: We also we have recipes in our in our uh facilities.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we're out of the kitchen, so we're making these in the kitchen, all right.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and a lot of this started with just cold pressing our own raw organic juice and making sodas out of it.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: So um that's really where it begins.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: So we have again the Delta 9, we've got the CBD, we have the Kava, we also have a non-alcoholic ginger beer.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, really nice, delicious product that's kind of taken a back burner a little bit uh to go to market with our other products, and we have a mineral water in the can and glass bottle.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: So we are an alternative beverage craft manufacturer, and um, we focus on quality, ingredients, and taste.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: We've taken a long road to this with uh customer and retail testing, and now we're ready for launch.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: Talk to me a little bit about uh Willie's and everything like that.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: Describe kind of the retail environment and like kind of what it feels like and what what the intentions are and goals out there.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: So um, yeah, the the sodas were born from our retail experience, which is called Willie's, just one store right now and a manufacturing facility.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, it started as a coffee concept.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: So um Willie's is a fourth wave coffee company.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and uh we have the most fresh coffee, what we believe is the most fresh coffee in the United States.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: Fly here every two weeks from Armenia, Columbia.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: We're very proud of it, and so that's been a 10-year project.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Willie's also has a raw, organic Florida coconut water.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: So you can see where the sodas come from.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: It comes from these raw, organic, delicious craft products.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Willie's also has an organic raw juice program.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: So everything that came from Willie's is pushed into our soda company, which is called the OG.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: So at Willie's we focus on raw craft products with ingredients that are top-tier organics, things that are derived from the earth and then made for the consumer fresh.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: So that's where the soda company comes from.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so when we're talking about our soda company, we are talking about a company that is uh utilizes fresh ingredients.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: We have no sugar in our products, we use agave, we use top-tier ingredients, we have limited ingredient stacks in our uh recipes.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: So um when you turn the can over, it's really important.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: You look at the ingredients, and the ingredients are top tier, and there's very few of them.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: So we believe in that too.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: The smaller amount of ingredients that we use, the higher quality ingredients gives us a return of a better product.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: So um we're really excited for people to try the sodos because we believe, of course, we're a little biased, but we believe we actually have probably one of the highest quality products in a can.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh in general, full stop.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: So it's good for you, it's delicious.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: It is quality ingredients, and then from there we just infuse with things.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: So we created a top-tier ready-to-drink recipe, and then we're able to just infuse things into that.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: That's our concept.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: I like that.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: What um with when you're at Willie's, talk to me about I want to, I want to actually to ex you to explain something in certain markets.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: Like I'm up in Pennsylvania, and uh, you know, it's completely legal, and it's one one of the uh to sell THC, hemp direct THC products in coffee shops.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, we've had a little resistance sometimes because people will be like, Well, I sell coffee, why would I bring that into the mix?
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_01: Talk a little bit about why it's in such a baseball of your yeah, I would love to hear, I would love for all of them to hear that.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, it's very important because the consumer is completely different from each individual person.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so for example, 50% of people in the country, United States, drink coffee.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so you're taking away 50% of the people that walk into a storefront would be looking for coffee.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so for the people that aren't looking for a coffee beverage, a tea beverage, a um raw organic juice beverage, they're looking for some sort of ready-to-drink product in a can or glass or plastic bottle, and they want something that's specific to their liking.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: So from a consumer perspective, we have definitely found that every single consumer is completely different.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so you want to go broad with your offerings in a retail setting.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: You don't want to be so specific because you want every single individual that walks into your retail setting to be able to grab something, purchase something, whether it be water or a juice or a soda or an energy drink, any, any, any one of those beverages, right?
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: You want every single person that walks into your retail setting to be able to grab something that they like.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so for sure, people are drinking alcohol, beer, wine, and liquor a lot less.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: We know that for a fact.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so you've got all these consumers, you want everybody to be able to come into your retail setting.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's what you're in retail for.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: So you don't want to cancel out any one individual to have a positive experience in your retail store.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so that's where I find our catalog.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: That's why we have the catalog, because we understand that part.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, not everybody wants THC, not everybody wants Kaba, not everybody wants CBD, not everybody wants booze, they all want something completely different from one another, and that's why it's very smart now because there's so many options out there to offer all these different products in your retail setting, and then allow the customer to decide what's right for them.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: Also, very important to choose the highest quality products to put into your retail setting.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: Try them out yourself, make sure that they're correct for your customer.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: So that's the other part is um our notion at our companies is to only offer the highest quality products possible for our specific customers.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so anytime we make something, anytime we create a new product, what we focus in on is are we making this at the absolute highest quality possible?
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's where OG is.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, our retail willies, um, you're gonna find really high-quality organic products, and then from uh our soda offering to more of a mass market, our main focus is quality.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, quality, taste, and ingredients.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why we've taken the long road, the long journey to make sure that what we're putting out, and we're when we're ready right now to put out our product to the mass market, we for sure can tell you with 100% confidence that we're giving you the highest quality product in the camp.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome, man.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: So when did you guys uh you is it how's the ownership structure at Willie's?
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: Is it you and some other people, or is it you by yourself, or how does that all work out?
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's it's at the moment ownership is uh just me and a few small uh stakeholders that are on the projects.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so uh at the moment, no, there are there are no others, there's no investors, there's uh it's just us.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: And that's that's actually really important too, because we got nobody telling us um what it is that we should or shouldn't be doing, and that's where or the timing of things, rush rushing things, or what have you, um, all that we focus on is again um putting out the highest quality products possible.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's very difficult, by the way, to do.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: Takes a very long time, and uh that's kind of what's coming around for the branding of OG as well.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, if any one person or product or uh any type of thing is the OG, it's taken them time to become so um unf it's difficult that way too, though.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so um, but our focus is just to put out the best products possible.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: So that's that's the main goal.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a 18 years this summer, solopreneur, so uh I understand that it takes time to get stuff done.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of people will be like, well, you haven't done this and this, and I'm like, I said I don't have anybody telling me what exactly what you just said.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: I control my life as much as possible.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: Customers and clients, you know, sometimes they'll they'll veer it off.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: But for the most part, it's it's my failures and my wins are mine, you know, and that's that's what it is.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: So it's uh it's something that uh came from wrestling when I was in high school, and it was that individual part of of life that that hooked me in.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: So I I really respect what you're doing, and I respect the way that you placed the uh the the other partner, or not even the word, I don't even want to use the partners, the other uh participatory and the community people that are supporting you because partners, so perfect.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: These are our partners, man.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: We we we have um the customer as our partner.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so uh we've spent a lot of time talking with our customers about the product, about the can, how does it look?
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: How does it taste?
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: Do you like this flavor?
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: Do you like that flavor?
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: What do you dislike?
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: Tell us everything.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: So ultimately, the customer is a partner in our soda project and has been the entire time.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's the beautiful part is that we utilize the feedback from the customers directly to decide what happens next in the kitchen.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: We got we got the same mindset, man.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: I call consumer partners, retail partners, supplier partners, distributor partners, everybody within the ecosystem is a partner because it's an ecosystem at the end of the day.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's nothing in parallel, it's on separate lanes, it's all got a feed.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: So walk me when you went in.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh what kind of launched you into OG sodas?
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: Go back in a little bit into your personal story leading up to entrepreneurship.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: Got it.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: So let's talk about the COVID story because everything a lot of times with these with these 2026 entrepreneurial stories, a lot of things start with COVID to me.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, COVID got laid off, and uh begin the process of creating uh COVID got laid off, and I began the process of moving back into what I felt most comfortable with, which was food.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so my whole life I've worked in restaurants, my whole life I've worked with food.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a cook, I'm Italian.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: So food and uh food products are very much in my blood.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and so um the story of OG begins with how we started a coffee company first, which is called Willie's.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we took over a farmer's market and moved into our first retail setting, okay, and then um we started carrying uh a product made in Miami, um, a soda product, a a hemp soda product.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and we were it was doing really nicely in the store, and we were very uh surprised by the success of a hemp beverage in the refrigerator, okay.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: So then uh we just started thinking to ourselves maybe we should get into the ready-to-drink soda business.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: It seems like this would be a really nice uh area for us to work in.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so uh we got back in the kitchen and we started first making a kombucha product, funny enough.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: And we thought that we were gonna be going into the kombucha business, and we that proved to be very, very difficult.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: So we moved right over to just creating uh sodas in a five-gallon keg.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, it's all started in a five-gallon keg, and then um it started gaining traction, and uh we didn't have a name for it yet.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: We just were making really nice craft sodas for our retail, and um then we started infusing, and we realized we're we're more of uh an entire alternative beverage company, and we can just make a really nice craft soda line and then infuse with different products from there and find out what the customer likes and wants.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: So um, what you see behind me now is our little soda manufacturing machinery, and it just turned on.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: So now we can at will create any recipe that we want.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: This is our facility, our kitchen where we can do testing, we can do RD on flavors and recipes, we can um create any type of batch that we want, and we've been able to learn this wild entire soda manufacturing alternative beverage manufacturing process in a very small format.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: And now where we are growing into is uh a co-manufacturing network that's gonna allow us to provide our really nice craft sodas to the rest of the country because we can't do it with this little small format version of it.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: We can only do it now with uh large co-manufacturing partners that are gonna give us the ability to provide the whole country with large amounts of our product.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: When uh talk about the format a little bit.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: Are you guys 12 ounce cans or 16s?
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to remember now actually.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: 12 ounce, yeah, it's the 12-ounce sleek can.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so we also started in the glass bottle.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and we loved it, and so did the consumer.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: Our customers loved our product in the glass bottle, but it's very difficult to accomplish, especially at a small scale.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so for right now, we are in the 12-ounce sleek.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: We have dreams and aspirations to go back to the glass bottle, 12-ounce, but for now it's just 12-ounce sleeks.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it's the three recipes, the three flavors, which is lemon lime, pineapple twist, and cherry chill.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so soon, you know, we'll we'll venture into other recipes and flavors, but for our launch, that's where we're at.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: And it's uh let me grab a can so we can just show.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it'd be awesome.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: So this is our can.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's uh sleek and silver.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: We have a transparent label.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's the OG.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: We want the can to mimic what's on the interior of the can as well.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: So we wanted a very clean, shiny, sleek looking uh can and specifically clean looking and not busy, minimalistic.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we want it to look very uh elegant and very pretty on the outside because what's on the inside is is even more elegant and even more pretty and delicious.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: So um, when you grab a can, uh, we would love for you to get a really nice glass, we'd love for you to put a block on.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Ice in your glass or get some uh regular ice, whatever, and pour half in the glass because the beverage and how it looks is just as pretty as the can.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like the entire experience is at an incredibly high level.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: And we have put so much thought and so much attention into every single aspect of the product that you know a lot of times the customer um they don't even realize sometimes what has gone into all of the different aspects of creating this type of a product or any type of a product.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: But for us, we really dial into the details of every single aspect.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: So um when you grab a can, hopefully out of the fridge, it's nice and cold.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you'll feel it, you'll grab it, it's clean, it's it's pretty, and then um you either drink it right out of the can like that.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: But I prefer to get a really nice glass, like a cocktail glass.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: I prefer uh uh, you know, your circle uh block of ice.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: And pour up, pour up, pour it over the highball, and enjoy and sip, and it's just incredibly delicious.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome, man.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: Or you um, where did you grow up?
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_00: Are you are you are you originally from Florida?
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: No, I'm from Indiana, but I've been in Florida for 19 years.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm a Floridian now.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, 19 years will do it, yeah.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and so you know, I come from a farming family.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: There we go.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: I also come from on my other side of the family.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: My grandfather owned a produce and farmers market.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: So it's we we have this background in raw products.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: So it's really weird.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: I don't, I can't, I could have never predicted that this is where I'd end up.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, but my background and my legacy and my family's um uh heritage is in farming and produce.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so that also ventures into OG, which is uh craft made, uh using real ingredients, um focusing in on the quality of what we're doing and the taste, of course.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: So it it's very interesting where all of this has led me to, and now we have uh an incredible RTD uh soda product.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome, and I'm glad I got that.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_01: I'm glad I asked that last question because that's that that's how that's right threads it right there at the needle.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_01: That explains it, man.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: You grew up in it, the hands in the dirt, the quality from the ground.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_01: Care about what you put in your mouth.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_01: I love it, man.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's a lot of care.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the the farming uh culture, you know, us farmers, um, you know, I don't really call myself necessarily a farmer, but I'm I'm venturing into it.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's very it's becoming very interesting as we grow.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: We are looking to see how much further we can get into our materials.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe we will get into some farming.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see in the future.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: But um, there is so much care that goes into farming, okay?
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so um, you know, my immediate family, we're not the farmers, but on my mother's side, it's it's her uh side of the family are the farmers, and I am embedded in that.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I I go there and I understand what goes into uh cultivation of um raw organic products, and it is you have to care.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: So um I have that in me, and we absolutely do care about what we're making and what we're creating for the customer and for the consumer.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: And it shows when you taste it and you try it for the first time, you'll understand how much we have put into this and how much we care about the taste, the quality, the ingredients, and everything else, the look, the feel of it.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_01: So it's uh when you get into the wholesale side of things, after you do the co-packing and you start getting distributors, it's uh that's the lens.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_01: So I come from a rural family and we have the farm still, uh, you know, 100 acres and stuff like that in our family.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's non-functioning farm, but with the properties there.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I look at sales, I've been in sales my entire life in public relations, because sales is my farming now.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_01: So like I carry on that, and I don't mean farming like fishing, but it's like literally be intentional, be at the right time, be there at the right time, plant those seeds at the right time, let those things grow, water in when you need to, sit on the porch and wait for the water to hit.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_01: It is it's so actually got chills telling you this because I don't really talk about it that often because it's a good metaphor that I use, and it's like it's just gardening, and it's really it's gardening at scale when you get in wholesale.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_01: And so uh, you know, feel good that you're still carrying on that.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's the same mindset and the same mentality.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_01: And the thing at the end of the day is that people, the reason I use farming is because it takes patience, and that's what wholesale is.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_01: Retail, and you're and that's where this transitional happened is retail, customer comes in, sales done, we're out.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: Wholesale's different wholesale involves a lot of cultivation, a lot of uh calls, a lot of watering.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes you have a bad season, you know, it's all these things that happen, and it's all the same to farming.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I I'm looking forward to a follow-up conversation with you.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: Once you guys are in wholesale, you can be like, Nate, you were nailed it.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: And it it's it's interesting.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: I have a follow-up to that comment.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we are very patient in this process, okay?
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so, and we have full confidence now because we've taken the time that we believe that it takes to create an incredibly strong product.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so when we go into wholesale conversations, which we've had, we've had very interesting, very large scale of wholesale conversations, and I can tell that they take time.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so it's relationship building, and that's okay because we're fully confident in our product and the project now because we've allowed ourselves to be patient and take the time to create a quality product.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_00: So I agree completely.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: And if you allow yourself that ability to take the time that it takes and have the patience and not worry about the timing of things, but worry more about the quality of the relationship, the quality of the building of the relationship and the conversations and understanding what they what the customer needs at a wholesale level as well as at the end user level, right?
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: So um I agree completely.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it's patience is key.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: I've I've learned a lot about patience in this journey.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's always the roughest transition.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_01: So you have a leg up on other founders with that.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_01: When you go from DTC or a couple retail local places to wholesale, that's the biggest thing is patience.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_01: And it's patience financially, it's patience time-wise, it's everything all together.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_01: And it's one of those things too, where that patience shows to the retail.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: So my advice to anybody in the audience as well, you know, when you're out there selling into those retail, don't focus and be so hungry for that first sale.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like build a relationship on the first sale for the sixth, seventh, and eighth sale.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_01: And that's where that mindset shift is like the thing I try to help every founder that's on this show, as well as the ones I work with in the consulting side, is when you are coming in and you're seeming hungry for that first sale, but so hungry because you got to pay your bills, the retailer doesn't want to deal with you at that point.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_01: And they do your your 90, your your 90% like failure rate just became a 99% failure rate.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I think like it's a hard fact to learn, but I comes from me as like 20 years or 22 years in alcohol getting my ass chewed out by by retailers all day long because I'm going for the sale to hit my PFP or whatever it is.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, no, fuck that.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like just build it for the relationship, treat this person like it's somebody in your family, and they'll they'll service you for the long term with it.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_01: But if you come in hungry right off the bat, they smell that it's like a beat.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I appreciate that advice.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's gonna be that's gonna be really nice for me to uh fall back on when um you know, because that's really where this is all going, is uh how do we get our product now out to the mass market?
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and that's gonna probably require a whole different type of patience.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, yeah.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: So um I I appreciate what you said because really without the relationship, there's nothing.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: You just you're just another product on the shelf, man.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: So it seems as though what's the most important thing?
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: It seems to me like the relationship actually is the most important thing, not the sale.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so building the relationship probably is key, and the sales will come because you've built strong relationships.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_01: There's a there's a thing, and I'll I'll close out with this to kind of help you with that as well, is like not even helping, we get it.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_01: But I mean for the audience I'm speaking to is like when I'm in I'm representing brands in the market, and I have like different people that work with me, and they'll call those accounts, like count managers and things like that, to work for me.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_01: When they call those accounts, they're cold calling them, and then they're like, Who are you with?
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_01: And they'll be like, Oh, Nate with FreeMind, blah, blah, blah.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of times, what ends up in the call notes from the people I bring in to help with these projects is the retail buyer saying, Well, I'll bring in whatever you want because Nate's behind it.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_01: I'm invested in Nate.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_01: This is not to stroke my ego, and I want everybody to understand this.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_01: It's because these relationships are long-standing relationships.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's not because I gave them a big win or anything like that.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_01: And these people, because I connected with them emotionally, I know their family, I know all these things, they follow my life.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_01: And even if my life doesn't intersect with them in a sales aspect, they respect and appreciate the drive.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_01: And when you're in these retail places and chain, not so much, but especially in independent mom and pops, they need to know that you're with them in the in the resilience of life.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_01: Because if you're just walking in to check a box to make a sale and earn an incentive, they don't care and they justifiably don't care.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I respect and I appreciate it.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_01: But if you come in and want to build something with them, they're on board.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_01: And that's because they're in this doing their thing and they're working the register, they're they're cleaning, they're clogging the.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_01: I just did a pitch a couple months ago where I was talking to the guy about a new product while he was unclogging the toilet in the bathroom.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_01: But people that conversation and that experience get that guy called three other people and told him in that, you know.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_00: Now, did you help him unclog the toilet?
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I did.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_01: And don't worry, everybody, before I poured any samples, I washed my hands.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_00: Is if you helped him unclog the toilet, because I I go through this, I have a retail.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's the key, I think.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_01: Now he's talked and I talked while we were doing it about what I needed to do because I told him in the beginning, I'm gonna go help you do this because I don't want to take up any of your time.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_01: So let's let's just let's stack this.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_01: I'll run through the product sets while we're unclogging the toilet, and then when the toilet's fixed, you got your pitch.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_01: If you want it, you want it.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_01: If not, I'll move on to the next stop.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_01: So I'll close, I'll close out with giving you an opportunity to remind everybody.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_01: I know it's behind your shoulder, but social media handles, LinkedIn, website, everything like that to kind of give a closing remarks for everybody.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_00: We are OG Sodas, we focus on quality ingredients and taste.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: We have taken the time it takes to create the strongest ready-to-drink product you'll find anywhere.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so what we want now is we want people to try us out.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_00: We've created multiple SKUs for a reason so that everybody can get involved in our brand.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so we have non-out products, we have water, we have uh alternative beverages that most individuals can try out.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_00: And we hope that everybody tries this out because they're just really delicious, high quality products.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so go to ogsodas.com, check us out there first.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but we're gonna be doing a lot of things on social media when it comes to letting people try the product and letting the viewer watch what happens next.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, yes, that's what people need to be doing.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_00: Every time that we go out and we do these uh samplings, uh we are getting nines and tens.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and we're incredibly grateful for that.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so we have at OG always focused on quality, ingredients, and taste.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_00: And when you try us out, you'll find out.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome, man.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_01: Amazing story, John.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_01: I really appreciate you taking the time.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_01: I know we had to do some rescheduling, so I appreciate your patience.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_01: Again, back to patience, and uh but fantastic conversation.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_01: I want to remind everybody no script, no agenda.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_01: I really usually I have strangers on here, but John and I met at a conference in Florida a couple months ago, so give everybody context, but we don't know each other outside of that.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_01: And so what you saw here is something that's really important in 2026 for everybody to remember is that you can connect with human beings.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_01: We need to stop walling ourselves up and be more social.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_01: When you're walking down the street, put your phone in your pocket, look at the strangers on the street when you're walking by, smile at them, whatever.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_01: Remember, just because your life's going well doesn't mean everybody else is.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I want to challenge everybody moving forward.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_01: I started earlier today on another episode.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_01: Five minutes a week is what I'm gonna challenge everybody.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_01: Take five minutes and be an intentionally positive person to every stranger you see for five minutes a week.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_01: That's what my goal is for everybody out there.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_01: When you're at the gas station filling up your cup of coffee, you look at the man or woman next to you and you say, Hey, how you doing today?
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_01: Shut your mouth, listen to them, and actually care about what they say.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_01: Who knows what happens, guys?
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_01: Even if it's three minutes, four minutes, five minutes.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_01: To you, it's nothing.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_01: To them, it could make their week, their month.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_01: And I've got to be honest, somebody could be on the edge of something, and you just brought them back because of human connection.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_01: So, John, thank you for participating in this.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for having the the courage and the cojones to come on because they're geo script and there's no agenda, man.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_01: I only bring people on that know their shit and are willing to talk on camera live.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I really appreciate this, man.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you so much, and good luck to you and everything.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_01: I'm looking forward to getting updates from you, man.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you very much.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_01: We'll be chatting soon.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_01: You have a good rest of your day, buddy.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_01: Peace, brother.