Latest / The Confident Entrepreneur With Jennifer Ann Johnson / Different by Design: Turning Your Passion Into a Powerful Brand With Ralph Mandarino

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Different by Design: Turning Your Passion Into a Powerful Brand With Ralph Mandarino · The Confident Entrepreneur With Jennifer Ann Johnson

• 0:37
  Jennifer Johnson: One of the biggest struggles I hear from business owners is around marketing and selling.
• 0:42
  Jennifer Johnson: They know they need to promote their business and attract customers, but they hate feeling pushy or salesy.
• 0:48
  Jennifer Johnson: They worry about coming across as desperate or annoying to their audience.
• 0:51
  Jennifer Johnson: So they either avoid marketing altogether or they do it in such a soft way that it doesn't actually work.
• 0:57
  Jennifer Johnson: But here's the truth effective marketing doesn't have to feel gross or manipulative.
• 1:02
  Jennifer Johnson: When done right, it should feel like you're genuinely helping people solve their problems.
• 1:08
  Jennifer Johnson: Today I have the pleasure of speaking with Ralph Mandarino, who is the president and head brewer and visionary force behind Necromantic Brew Company, a Long Island-based horror-themed brewery that specializes in artisanal gluten-free beer.
• 1:24
  Jennifer Johnson: Known to his audience as the founder of fear, Ralph blends his passions for horror, craft beer, and entrepreneurship into a brand that challenges people to use fear as fuel instead of something to avoid.
• 1:38
  Jennifer Johnson: We're going to explore how to market your business authentically and effectively without feeling like you're being pushy or salesy.
• 1:45
  Jennifer Johnson: Welcome, Ralph.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much, Jennifer.
• 1:49
  Jennifer Johnson: I I gotta talk about your business first.
• 1:51
  Jennifer Johnson: Sure.
• 1:52
  Jennifer Johnson: How did that all come about?
• 1:53
  Jennifer Johnson: Wow, that's like combining all kinds of passions together.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_02: It's a lot.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not gonna lie.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_02: It's definitely a lot.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so what winds up happening is uh a number of years ago, my best friend wanted to uh brew beer as a hobby with me because I have uh celiac, or at least I have all the celiac symptoms.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_02: So I haven't been able to enjoy beer in quite some time.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, I kind of shifted away from beer, and he figured, well, you know, this was a way to hang out and enjoy each other's company.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_02: So I said, sure, you know, after we uh he convinced me it took a little convincing, I'm not gonna lie.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_02: Uh it's just one of those things where it's a it's a very big, like uh time-consuming process.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_02: And I have at the time two little ones.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_02: Now they're not so little, but they were uh I was doing coaching, you know, I was kind of the the stay-at-home dad, so I was running errands and doing things, and it was just like to add more on my plate was crazy.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_02: But um, you know, he and I decided uh gluten-free beer was the ticket.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we bought a an at-home um, you know, what is it called?
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_02: Like a brew-in-one kit.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it happened to be gluten-free, thankfully, and then we uh we learned from there.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_02: But, you know, when we were doing this in my house in my son room, you know, what were we doing?
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_02: But, you know, to pass the time watching horror movies on a crappy dollar store um chower curtain that we had a projector projecting on, and we had an upright record player, and we were listening to vinyl records.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, after a while when we were really getting good at this stuff, I said, you know, wouldn't this be fun if we just made my sunroom or my basement like bigger and we just had everybody come and hang out with us while we were doing these things, and that's kind of where the whole thing jumped off.
• 3:32
  Jennifer Johnson: Wow, that is pretty cool.
• 3:34
  Jennifer Johnson: And then you turned it into a business.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_02: That was the goal.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_02: I I have this funny thing where if I'm gonna invest like a lot of time and money, even if it's a hobby, I just have this itch to like take it to the next level if it's possible.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um that was kind of the the thing where we were actually checking out at the homebrew store.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_02: So we had, you know, like buckets and jugs, and you know, we're trying to get it all to the front cashier's counter.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_02: And I kind of like I nudged him a little bit and I was like, hey dude, we're gonna have a brewery.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_02: And he was like, you know, maybe we should just brew one batch of beer first and see how that works out.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_02: And I was just kind of like, for us, gluten-free breweries don't really exist.
• 4:13
  Jennifer Johnson: So I mean I've never heard of one.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_02: In contrast, so I'm in New York, and in the state of New York, we've got over 560 breweries statewide.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_02: Uh there's 18 gluten-free breweries in the entire world.
• 4:26
  Jennifer Johnson: Oh my gosh, and you're one of them.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_02: And we're one of them.
• 4:29
  Jennifer Johnson: Well, so there's a marketing thing right there.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 4:33
  Jennifer Johnson: So I want to talk about the mindset around why you think so many business owners struggle with their marketing because of the fact that they feel it's too sales-y.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_02: Honestly, I think it's because you feel like you're taking and you're not giving.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think that they're putting enough value in what they're delivering.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, that could be a confidence thing, it could be a number of different things.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_02: But I think if you actually think about, you know, I don't want to say like a value proposition, but what it is that you bring to the table, you know, and what it is that you're trying to accomplish, you know, in my specific um little niche, you know, there's there's no, you know, starting from broad to more niche, horror, you would think there's a lot of horror fans in the world, more horror fans than gluten-free people, let's say.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_02: So you would think that there would be many establishments that might cater to that, or at least give people a space to commune in that, you know, like I do, where we play movies and we have events that are all centrically around the theme, but there isn't.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_02: At least in New York, there isn't, which is odd because you would think given Manhattan and all the boroughs, you would have a bunch of these places, but you don't.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and then more, you know, a little more tighter than that, the gluten-free market.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_02: Again, it's like, you know, here I am, I'm offering you something that you just can't get.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so is it a little bit more expensive?
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you can go to other breweries, they're, you know, let's say$7 a pint,$8 a pint.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_02: I'm at$10.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_02: You know, of course, I have inherently more costs because gluten-free grains are almost double or triple what normal grains are.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_02: But, you know, the point to answer the question is, you know, I feel like I'm giving my customers value.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_02: And even the people that are not gluten-free, there are benefits to the beer.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_02: I don't want to say benefits because I mean it's beer, but there are there's certain, certain um, you know, I guess uh less drawbacks than regular beer.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I can't make any health claims, but I've been told that my beer doesn't bloat you as much as a traditional beer would.
• 6:35
  Jennifer Johnson: Because again, well, that's the thing, right?
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_02: So you you're not using wheat, rye, and barley.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_02: I'm using buckwheat and millet and flake quinoa, blue organic corn, roasted rice.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_02: Quinoa, yeah, yeah.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_02: I yeah, isn't that wild?
• 6:49
  Jennifer Johnson: Wow.
• 6:50
  Jennifer Johnson: And I suppose it's a grain, so they still do it.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_02: It's just about it's just about converting starches into sugars.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_02: That's right.
• 6:57
  Jennifer Johnson: Right.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah.
• 6:59
  Jennifer Johnson: So so it sounds like how you see it is you it's a value.
• 7:03
  Jennifer Johnson: If you're giving value, then it doesn't come across as salesy.
• 7:06
  Jennifer Johnson: It's just how it's how you're going about it.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_02: 100%.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, a very quick last example.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I worked, I cut my teeth as a kid in sales.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I worked for lens crafters as a retail manager, but before that I was at Best Buy as a uh department head for uh home theater entertainment.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, I always marveled at the fact that it took less than no effort to get a man or a woman to come in there that wants to buy a television.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_02: And by the way, this is when plasma TVs were$20,000.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_02: That's when I worked there.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_02: So you can get them to spend effectively$20,000 to$50,000 on a surround sound, home theater, uh, projector screen, TV, the whole nine great setup.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_02: No worries, no problem, put it on the Amex, we're good to go.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_02: In contrast, you'd get the same couple to come into lens crafters.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_02: You need the glasses to see what you're installing.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_02: They won't spend$150 on a pair of frames.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_02: It was a big ask.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, it's tremendously strange.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_02: But again, it's it's wants versus needs, and then the balance of you know the value.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_02: So that's kind of what I think.
• 8:16
  Jennifer Johnson: You know, the the other aspect of marketing that a lot of people that I hear is, oh my gosh, I don't want to bother them.
• 8:24
  Jennifer Johnson: I can't send more than one email a month.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 8:29
  Jennifer Johnson: Where do you think we get that idea?
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I think it's because we all have emails, right?
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_02: So, like, how annoying is it when you're you can't find the email you're looking for because now it's been flooded by 50 emails.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_02: And then when you're going through it and you're deleting it, you're realizing how many of these are from the same person?
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_02: Like, you know what I mean?
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_02: And you're just, you know, archiving it or deleting it or whatever it is, and it's just like you don't want to be that person.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_02: But then on the flip side, there is a happy medium because if you're if you're not emailing enough, you're not on people's minds, and it doesn't matter, you know, you can be giving away gold and people won't you you still won't be on people's minds because if you're not in front of them, then other things in their lives take priority.
• 11:35
  Jennifer Johnson: Now, and I know every business is different.
• 11:37
  Jennifer Johnson: Have you found your sweet spot as to how many not yet?
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_02: I am definitely working on that.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_02: And then we have an additional, so like we have a private membership club in addition to our normal email list.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_02: So that's something else.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_02: And then we're a small shop here, so some things I have to delegate, and you know, when I delegate, it doesn't get done as much as it probably should.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_02: And but then I don't really have the time myself, and if I do it, I don't want to half ass it, so it's just it's it's definitely finding a happy medium of important.
• 12:05
  Jennifer Johnson: Tell me about your membership.
• 12:07
  Jennifer Johnson: Okay, so this is what is the membership about?
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_02: So I have a regular glass, which is a 12-ounce glass, it's like a goblet, nice, you know, uh sniffer almost.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so that's you come in, that's what you get, 12-ounce glass, rather, um, and that's it.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_02: Everybody gets that.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_02: But for$200 a year, you get a 16-ounce glass, which is a very nice, more like a tulip, straight and then bulbous at the top.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, it's got the uh logo etched in it, and then everybody gets assigned a number.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_02: And it's funny because with the members recently, uh, because we've been running it for three years now, they just die to get the low numbers.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_02: So everybody's trying to get number one, number two, number three.
• 12:47
  Jennifer Johnson: Why do they want the low number?
• 12:48
  Jennifer Johnson: What does the number mean?
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_02: Well, it's basically just their number in the in the club.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_02: So we have over 55 members.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_02: So this way when they come in, it's their mug.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_02: They are getting a specific mug that is theirs that they own.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_02: And then at the end of the year, they get to take that mug home with them, and that's you know, their mug forever.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_02: But uh encompassing with that, we also have you know events that we try and do mu once a month.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_02: We had attempted to do like outside the brewery events once a quarter.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_02: But again, the uh organization that's required to do these things is uh a little intense, so we kind of dialed it back a little bit, but we do try and have those uh membership month uh days because that's just an incredible revenue driver.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, imagine you're you're bringing in your most loyal people.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_02: I wind up closing just for them because number one, it makes them feel important, which they are very important.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, these are my loyalists of loyalists, um, and I want to do something to make them feel very important and and valued.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_02: And then of course they return that favor with you know the dollars that they spend.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_02: So it's a win-win.
• 13:53
  Jennifer Johnson: So I do you segment your email list then?
• 13:56
  Jennifer Johnson: These are my okay.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_02: And then we have a uh a monthly, well, we try and do the monthly like uh newsletter or whatever, but then we really have the uh the membership email as well.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_02: And sometimes you have to send an email through the regular ones to say, hey members, look out for your emails, because you know sometimes these things get bounced and everything else.
• 14:15
  Jennifer Johnson: And exactly.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's just weird.
• 14:17
  Jennifer Johnson: So what was it?
• 14:19
  Jennifer Johnson: What were customers coming to you and saying, Hey, I want you to do something like this, or is it it's something that you guys just dreamed up that, hey, let's do this?
• 14:27
  Jennifer Johnson: It's a way to differentiate ourselves yet again.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_02: So basically what wind up happening is for my industry, it's actually a very popular program that uh other breweries do run.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_02: So, but the trick is it it's the the program is common, but the benefits are unique.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_02: So, in other words, what would we offer?
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_02: So then I was just thinking, you know, like if I was to pay, you know, this kind of money, what would I want?
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_02: You know, like what would I really be interested in in having and and why?
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_02: And then for me it was I want to feel like a rock star, like I'm paying this money for you know to support this person.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, again, it's$200 for a glass is kind of pricey.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_02: So they get a t-shirt and stuff like that.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, there's still more things that we give them, but it's just you know, in in in the in the uh introduction, when people say, Hey, what's the mug cub program?
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, well, you get four ounces of beer extra every single time you come in and you pay the regular price.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_02: So you're automatically after your third beer, it's like a free beer every time.
• 15:23
  Jennifer Johnson: What do you call it?
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_02: It's club 253, and it's uh it's like a playoff of room 237 from uh The Shining.
• 15:31
  Jennifer Johnson: That was uh I I've never watched it.
• 15:35
  Jennifer Johnson: I'm scared.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, no, it's uh it's definitely uh it's out there.
• 15:41
  Jennifer Johnson: Very interesting.
• 15:42
  Jennifer Johnson: So that that's a cool program, but that is you being in tune with your audience, paying attention, kind of um understanding ahead of what they are going to ask for, you kind of anticipating those needs and and starting it.
• 15:59
  Jennifer Johnson: That's wonderful.
• 16:00
  Jennifer Johnson: I'm curious because you are in such a different space, you are you said one of 18 in the world, is what it was for uh breweries that are gluten-free.
• 16:12
  Jennifer Johnson: Do you do a lot of education around your advertising as well or advertise with the education and use that as a tool?
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_02: Well, you know what's so interesting?
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_02: I do more education inside the brewery than I do as advertising.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_02: And part of the reason is again, if you're looking at things globally, so there's more craft beer drinkers in the world than gluten-free people in the world, surprisingly.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_02: But more so, um I had found early on through testing that the gluten-free aspect is actually a deterrent.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_02: So the average craft beer drinker will not come in here because they know it's gluten-free.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_02: So I actually had to change the marketing to remove the gluten-free aspect.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_02: But through different channels, there are gluten-free apps, there are gluten-free Facebook groups, there are gluten-free, you know.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_02: I join these things and spread the word through the community to the people that need to know.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_02: And then early on, we never removed that advertising.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_02: It's still there.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's the internet, right?
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_02: You can't wash it.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's there.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_02: So people inevitably will find it.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_02: It's in the review section, you know, people will say, Oh, gluten-free beer, it's so amazing.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_02: Best gluten-free beer, whatever it is.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_02: So the information's out there, but you would be actually surprised that you know, the most people that walk in my door, if I said 90% of them were not gluten-free at this point.
• 17:35
  Jennifer Johnson: So I'm curious.
• 17:37
  Jennifer Johnson: I mean, are they thinking, well, gluten-free beer can't be any good?
• 17:40
  Jennifer Johnson: Is that what you think is going through their heads?
• 17:42
  Jennifer Johnson: Oh, I definitely.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_02: I bet the beauty about being on the front lines in a business like this is when you have questions, you just go and ask them.
• 17:50
  unknown: Right.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_02: You know, and I'm not shy about that at all.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_02: Like I had a conversation with a customer yesterday, and you know, I try and keep it light.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_02: But you know, when you get somebody in and it's like, oh yeah, I haven't been here in two years.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, okay, well, you know, what do you want me to say to that?
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_02: Like, is that the icebreaker?
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_02: You know, because now it's like now I'm I'm in no like real mood to chat with you, but hey, let's, you know, let's chit, you know, chit-chat.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_02: And he was like, Oh, how's business?
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_02: How's things?
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_02: How's you know, this and that?
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, well, I mean, I'm personally fine, like the brewery's doing okay, but you know, on our block and our street, like I know other business owners, they're down 40 to 60 percent this year, and that is you know, brick and mortar restaurants and bars, and I fall along those lines, but I'm not any worse off than anybody else, so it's like things are okay.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_02: And again, my membership program bolsters me, the events that I do on a daily basis bolsters me.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, I know that when I walk down the block and I see nobody, and I mean nobody in these restaurants, it's scary, it's like a ghost town next door to me.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_02: They got a burger place, and it was Tuesday night.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_02: I had um like eight people, which was low for us on a Tuesday.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_02: Eight people, and I'm like, huh, I wonder.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_02: So I literally just left the bar and took a quick walk, and I'm like, that burger place is twice the square footage, so I'm 2,700 square feet, they're at least 5,000.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_02: And uh they had a couple, and I mean just one couple, two people, one table.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_02: And they got a hostess, they have a bartender, bar manager, you know, kitchen staff, you know.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_02: Uh how do you afford that?
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
• 19:25
  Jennifer Johnson: I assume it's a local business, like it's a small business.
• 19:29
  Jennifer Johnson: Right.
• 19:30
  Jennifer Johnson: And that you know, that's a very interesting point that you you brought that up because shopping and eating local with local people is so important instead of the chains.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_02: 100%.
• 19:42
  Jennifer Johnson: Yeah.
• 19:43
  Jennifer Johnson: Well, with that, I'm uh how do you find your authentic voice so that you don't and I know for you it's a little bit different because you have the fact, like but you said, you know, I can't really use the gluten-free thing.
• 19:58
  Jennifer Johnson: It's not really what's bringing them in, but how do you find your authentic voice when, you know, there's other breweries out there?
• 20:04
  Jennifer Johnson: How do you shine through over the rest of them?
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_02: So what we did was, you know, again, when we thought we were doing this thing, I kind of was like, look, if it's gonna be alternative, then I want to go the whole way alternative.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_02: I don't want to dip my toe in because I feel like those are the businesses that definitely don't make it.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_02: And if they do make it, it's like a slow, painful death.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_02: You're sitting there and you're like, we're almost there, we're just missing a key piece.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_02: What is it that we're missing?
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's like, you know, the name is necromantic, it's a playoff of necromancy because technically the grains are classified as ancient grains because they're so old.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_02: So it's like, you know, necromantic Bruco conjures delicious tasting, naturally gluten-free beer by harnessing the power of the ancient grains.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_02: That was the whole shtick of it all.
• 20:50
  Jennifer Johnson: Got it.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_02: So then by doing it that way, we figured, well, again, what would what do we do in my house?
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_02: You know, horror movies.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_02: So then let's get a bunch of horror memorabilia, um, you know, prop replicas, things of that nature, and let's kind of make it like the hard rock of horror in a way.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_02: And um, you know, but I still wanted to have the the nuances of a brewery.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_02: So, like certain things, like if you can see behind me, these these Edison lights.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, if you go to any brewery in the country, you're gonna get Edison lights.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_02: That's just what it is.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_02: You know, maybe it's not gonna be as many strings, or maybe there'll be twice as many strings, but they're there.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um, behind me, we also have these long communal tables, which we handmade.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_02: So it's eight, uh, an eight-person table.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_02: We have two of those, so 16 people could sit there.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_02: Generally speaking, at a regular brewery, you have uh picnic tables, but it's seats about the same things.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_02: So again, we wanted to have like winks and nods to what a traditional brewery is.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_02: I also have two barrel tables, but most breweries they'll have wine barrels or or beer barrels or something like that.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_02: These barrels we made specifically from movies.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_02: So, I mean, if you want real quick, so this is like Jaws over here.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_02: Um that's the barrel.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_02: So it's like from the shark where they shot the shark, you know, and then this here is supposed to be from the boat.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know if you can read it, the orca.
• 22:10
  Jennifer Johnson: Yes.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_02: So again, so we made that by hand, but it was like so breweries have you know these tables, and we want to have these tables, but we just want them our way.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that again, differentiator.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_02: So when people walk in the door, they're like, wow, you know, part of it is drinking, part of it is the movies, but but part of it is like, wow, what I remember this movie, I remember that movie, you know.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my god, that that's carry, you know, like all these things that uh and especially for you know the age group of 35 and older, which is generally the brewery crowd, you know, the the nostalgia level in here is incredible, and you can't really quantify monetarily nostalgia because that's you're putting your stamp on it.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, 100%.
• 22:55
  Jennifer Johnson: So, what where does storytelling fall into your advertising and and all the things that you do?
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_02: So early on, what we would do is we would actually make movie trailers for announcements or for beer releases and things of that nature.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_02: Of course, that kind of sh that ship sailed a little because I thought we were gonna have a set menu at first, but then I found my rhythm and my my routine.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_02: And I I like I said before, I like to cook gluten-free.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_02: I I love it's a passion of mine.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_02: So when I'm at home, I do all the cooking generally.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_02: So the beer is no different.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_02: So when I have these ideas, it's almost like, you know what?
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_02: I gotta have that.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_02: And so from 10 taps, I wind up in two and a half years, we have over 64 individual unique recipe beers, which is unheard of for any brewery.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_02: You know, they generally yes, oh, we name them all, and that's the one horror themed.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so like here, I'll read you what I have at the moment.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_02: So from the planet of the apes, you remember they have that guy, the lawgiver.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: They called him I've never seen it.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: Horror movies scare me.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_02: All right, no worries.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_02: So there's uh the planet of the apes, there's this ancient ape that was like uh the guy they that's like their god.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_02: So, like instead of the Ten Commandments, there were these laws.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_02: So they called him the lawgiver.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_02: So I have a lawgiver lager, I have the gourds of Salem, which is a playoff of the Lords of Salem, I have Franken lime, which is like a summer shandy, but it's lime instead of lemon.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_02: And then I made a hard tea with black tea.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_02: So we called it the amate Ville horror, spelled T-E-A.
• 24:37
  Jennifer Johnson: Right.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_02: And then I have a seltzer called the Seltzering, I have a stout called Nightmare on Main Street because we're on Main Street.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um you know, things like that.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_02: We try and have fun with it.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_02: But I I'll be honest with you.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_02: The funniest thing, and I've proven this actually, it would take me five minutes to make a recipe, and it'll take me a month to come up with a name.
• 24:58
  Jennifer Johnson: I think it'd be the other way around.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you definitely would.
• 25:02
  Jennifer Johnson: Oh my gosh, that's funny.
• 25:04
  Jennifer Johnson: So you're a local brewery.
• 25:07
  Jennifer Johnson: You're you're in are you in New York City or New York?
• 25:12
  Jennifer Johnson: Long Island.
• 25:13
  Jennifer Johnson: Okay, Long Island.
• 25:14
  Jennifer Johnson: That's right, Long Island.
• 25:15
  Jennifer Johnson: I actually have a friend who lives in Long Island.
• 25:17
  Jennifer Johnson: She has a store there.
• 25:18
  Jennifer Johnson: Um but I'm assuming that you know relationships are built.
• 25:24
  Jennifer Johnson: It's kind of like, hey, norm.
• 25:26
  unknown: Yeah.
• 25:26
  Jennifer Johnson: Norm.
• 25:28
  Jennifer Johnson: Is that kind of what you've built where you're at?
• 25:30
  Jennifer Johnson: Or do you people coming to see you because you are a destination?
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_02: Both.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_02: Both.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_02: And that that's the you know, I go out of my way to remember faces that come in because I feel like that's part of the value that we that I want to give them.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_02: In other words, if you're and this is true, you know, they're coming from the city, they're coming from actually the tri-state area.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_02: I've gotten people from Boston, Massachusetts.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_02: I've had people from Anchorage, Alaska.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_02: I've had people from um from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_02: We get a lot of out-of-towners because of the town that I'm in.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_02: What's that?
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_02: How do they find you if they're oh so again, so it's a unique brewery, so that's the that's the one thing that pops up.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_02: So like when they're looking for breweries, unique is all over the place, you know.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_02: So it's like they want something different.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_02: They're brewery people, and this fits the bill on all angles.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it could be in the middle of the summer and people still want to see this place because why not?
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_02: Like, are they gonna be back?
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_02: You know, is this a training or are the is it a seminar that they're here for, you know, maybe just a week or something like that?
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_02: But then you do get the gluten-free people because again, there's not many, you know, locally based.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_02: There's one in Jersey City, but he's not a dedicated, he's half and half.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then other than there's one in Maine and one in Vermont.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_02: And then I'm the only I'm the only one till Miami.
• 26:48
  Jennifer Johnson: Oh, wow.
• 26:49
  Jennifer Johnson: I mean, it's all about experiences now.
• 26:52
  Jennifer Johnson: That's what people want.
• 26:53
  Jennifer Johnson: They don't want to just go into the run-of-mill place, they want something that's going to be special, and that sounds like what you provide.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, but as far as giving, you know, that whole cheers angle, definitely it's just like, you know, I have people that they make these pilgrimages, like the guy from Anchorage, Alaska.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_02: I could tell you his name is Sam.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_02: You know, he came in and he introduced himself.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_02: We had a great conversation, and you know, he was the funniest guy at the end.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_02: He goes, you know, I just want to tell you, I like what you're doing here and I think it's great, but I'm never coming back.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_02: And I said, Oh, okay, why?
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_02: And he says, Because I have to travel.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_02: This is what I do for a living.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_02: I travel.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_02: I want to see different places.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_02: I don't want to go to the same place.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_02: How many times am I gonna go to the same place?
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_02: There's so many places to explore.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_02: I said, Oh, okay, great.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_02: Three weeks later, he's back.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_02: I said, What the hell?
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_02: Sam, what the hell are you doing here?
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_02: He says, Well, you really got under my skin.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_02: I really love it here, you know.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_02: It's very comfortable.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_02: I like it.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_02: And the food is good locally, and the beer is nice.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, wow.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_02: Three months later, he's back again.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_02: And I was just kind of like, play it again, Sam.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome back, you know.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_02: And he was, he loves it.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_02: And I love him.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_02: He was like, I gotta get stickers.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_02: And he's sitting there in Alaska sending me photos of the stickers all over Alaska that he's putting all over in the different birds.
• 28:07
  Jennifer Johnson: Like, where in the world is?
• 28:08
  Jennifer Johnson: Right?
• 28:10
  Jennifer Johnson: So, how do you stay top of mind for the people that are going to find you?
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_02: So, what we do is we have a monthly calendar, and that actually gets the biggest play as far as all of our social media engagement and our posts.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_02: And it's the most requested post, period.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_02: So if it was up to people, you know, let's today is uh what is it, the 18th of September.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we're already getting the you know the nudges like, oh, when's October coming out?
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, we're not even done with September yet.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you've got to give me a train.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_02: Well, the calendar is uh, oh boy, so on Wednesdays and these once a month events, these are the ticketed events.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_02: We do psychic night, so I have a psychic come in.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_02: Then uh we do drag queen bingo, that was last night.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_02: We do a paint and sip, and that's again thematic.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_02: So whatever they're painting is somewhat horror-related.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we have a board game club, we've got a Dungeons and Dragons Club, they have a card game called Magic the Gathering that comes through.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, they do vinyl night, which is a very big event.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_02: So I have like one of these um Instagram influencers that's a local guy.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_02: I happen to know him for a number of years before you know he hit it big on the followers.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_02: And uh so he comes in and you can bring your own vinyl records, or we've got you know, three cases worth you can flip through, and then he'll set a playlist based on that.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so that's a big event.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_02: Karaoke comes and goes.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then we have movie marathons, you know, some old, some really old, some current, some even still in the theaters.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um have a uh a license to play films, it's a uh it's like a blanket license, but it's uh it's like an umbrella license.
• 29:55
  Jennifer Johnson: It's just such a different place.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_02: Very, very much so.
• 29:58
  Jennifer Johnson: I don't even drink beer, but I think I want to come.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_02: I'd love to have you.
• 30:03
  Jennifer Johnson: I mean, it's just it's very, very interesting because you've created something very unique that that um nobody else is is doing.
• 30:12
  Jennifer Johnson: I've never heard of anything like it.
• 30:14
  Jennifer Johnson: Um I'm interested in knowing this.
• 30:19
  Jennifer Johnson: There's there's a lot of you can be an extrovert, right?
• 30:23
  Jennifer Johnson: And and be the face of your rubber brand and everything, but then you can also be an introvert.
• 30:26
  Jennifer Johnson: Oh, yes, who's running your company.
• 30:29
  Jennifer Johnson: What would you say to people who may be an introvert?
• 30:33
  Jennifer Johnson: And you know, they're like, I'm not so sure that you know I can do something like this as far as you know, your advertising and being the face of the company and doing all of that.
• 30:41
  unknown: Yeah.
• 30:42
  Jennifer Johnson: What would you say to them?
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_02: I would say, you know what?
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_02: And this is part of you know what you kind of touched on in the intro, like that's the fear.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_02: And that's the fear, that's that's the fuel for me, you know, and and ironically, I guess if like when you take some of those, I forget what type of exam it is when it gives you your personality traits.
• 31:00
  Jennifer Johnson: There's so many.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I I'm an introvert.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_02: I really am, you know.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_02: But if you look, you know, and and some of the things that I do and some of the things that I I have done, um, you know, you wouldn't be able to tell that.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_02: But I mean that's that's the fear you have to face.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_02: That's that, you know, I it's like the dark area, the gray area, in where it's, you know, it's something that's looming that you don't want to do, it's very uncomfortable for you, and you're like, you know what, I can I can still try to accomplish the goal with doing it a different way.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm all about different, really.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_02: I am.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_02: But in certain aspects, you have to make a conscious choice.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_02: Are you really doing it because it's a different avenue and that's the way you want to explore it, or are you actively ignoring it because you know that you don't want to face it?
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_02: Because if it's that you don't want to face it, that's where success lies.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_02: Because if it didn't, everybody would do it, right?
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_02: So if if everybody just was able to be calm, cool, and collective and then be successful, make money, go to bed, nobody would be stressed, life is great, you know.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_02: But for for everybody else that's trying to do something more, or you're trying to get to, you know, the next level or on that next uh plateau, then you know, you have to you have to really conquer some of those fears.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_02: And that doesn't mean that you ever let it go, you know.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_02: Like I've heard many people that take stage, you know, say that they're never really comfortable, like they get comfortable on stage, but when they walk out, you know, there's always the butterflies and the jitters, and you know, so I think you know, even people that uh Denzel Washington probably still gets it, you know what I mean?
• 32:35
  Jennifer Johnson: Like it's just I think we need some degree of it.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_02: You have to.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's the fuel, really.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's I agree with you.
• 32:41
  Jennifer Johnson: I do totally agree with you.
• 32:42
  Jennifer Johnson: Before we head into our final four, I have one last question.
• 32:46
  Jennifer Johnson: What what mindset shift or what one mindset shift uh completely changed how you approach the marketing of your company?
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_02: Patience.
• 32:58
  unknown: Right.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_02: That was a big one.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_02: That was a hard one.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_02: That's a tough pill to swallow because when you do things, you know, you have to let it roll.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_02: So, like uh for the marketing of let's say some of these events, you know, the events you don't I never know what's gonna hit and what's not gonna hit.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_02: There are things that I think are gonna be home runs that are complete duds, and then there are things that I'm like, this will never work.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_02: And then those are the ones that are now my mainstay in my staples.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_02: But you have and and the other thing is you have to be able to roll with that.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_02: Honestly, that's that's a big shift too.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_02: Because so very quickly, when we first opened, I had four events a month, just four.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_02: Now I have roughly 28.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_02: So at four events a month, I wanted a gluten-free event week one, a horror theme event week two, gluten-free week three, horror week four, everything is equal, nobody complains.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_02: We have two events for gluten-free people, two events for horror people, rinse, recycle, repeat.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_02: Well, after a month, just a month of this, I could see the writing was on the wall.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_02: The gluten-free people will only come back for the next gluten-free event.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_02: But if I had a horror theme event on a Sunday and were closed on Monday, they'd be back on Tuesday.
• 34:10
  Jennifer Johnson: Interesting.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_02: So then it was why am I putting time and energy into a segment that's just only going to show up when I put time and energy in, as opposed to having people that are just gonna freely walk through the door because they can count on the atmosphere, the movies, and whatever else may be.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_02: So that's when I realized it had to shift.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_02: So ironically, well, when you do get the average, you know, gluten-free person in there, one thing that they may say is, Oh, I hate what's on the TV.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, well, listen, you know, if if you guys were the ones that showed up and showed out earlier, then I would have this place would have looked a lot different.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_02: Everything would have been a lot different because I would have shifted further that way.
• 34:50
  Jennifer Johnson: But this is where we're it seems as though you know you can't be married to your ideas, and then you can't be upset or feel defeated if those ideas don't work because that just means that something else is better.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_02: You never know what's on the you know the other side of the door.
• 35:07
  Jennifer Johnson: Right, absolutely.
• 35:08
  Jennifer Johnson: Okay, we're heading into the final four, and I love this part of the show because it's uh these are four questions that I ask every single guest that's on my show.
• 35:18
  Jennifer Johnson: Are you ready?
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_02: I'm ready.
• 35:20
  Jennifer Johnson: Okay, first question: what's your favorite book that you've read and what made it stick?
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I would say probably building a story brand that's uh Donald Miller.
• 35:33
  Jennifer Johnson: Oh, I love Donald Miller.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_02: Fear means you're pushing boundaries.
• 35:38
  Jennifer Johnson: Is that what made it stick?
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
• 35:41
  Jennifer Johnson: Such a great book.
• 35:42
  Jennifer Johnson: And I've I have all of his books.
• 35:43
  Jennifer Johnson: I've actually met him.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, really?
• 35:46
  Jennifer Johnson: And um, oh yes, I I have his signature in a book.
• 35:51
  Jennifer Johnson: Do you have a favorite quote or piece of advice that you find yourself going back to time and time again?
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_02: I think I don't know if it was quote, uh quote per se, but my father was big in in investments.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, as a son, you know, fathers and sons, we kind of tend to clash a little bit, you know, more than more than I would actually be, you know, inclined to admit.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_02: But, you know, I I always he never thought it because he would always say, you know, you never watch me, you know, you never learned anything from me.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_02: And um, you know, recently I told him that I said, you know, the thing is that I did actually, you know, pay attention to the things that, you know, he was referencing, like, I still don't know how to do plumbing, you know, like he wasn't a plumber, but he was a handy guy.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but uh I was like, you know, when I used to watch you, he used to make investments, you know, like he I'm 41 now.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_02: I gotta be honest, the man never worked a day in my life because he invested well enough in the stock market, and then he just you know was able to figure out how to navigate those waters since then.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_02: And so my point was you taught me, dad, that you have to look in a place that maybe nobody else is because you know it's it's in those places that you're gonna find something special and that uh you might be able to make a go of it, something really, really cool.
• 37:14
  Jennifer Johnson: That's good advice.
• 37:16
  Jennifer Johnson: Absolutely.
• 37:17
  Jennifer Johnson: What's one habit or practice that's genuinely changed your life?
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_02: Uh definitely um journaling, daily reflections.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um I'm trying to meditate.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_02: I just recently learned that uh, you know, when you try and meditate, you think maybe, you know, if the your thoughts are racing, you're not meditating correctly.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_02: And then I find out that no, that is actually the definition of meditation is to be aware of your thoughts.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_02: And so don't run from those, don't be afraid of what what is happening.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_02: It doesn't have to be quiet and peaceful, it's just be aware of what's zooming around in there, and that's true meditation.
• 37:53
  Jennifer Johnson: Good advice.
• 37:54
  Jennifer Johnson: If you could have dinner with one person, who would it be and why?
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_02: I gotta it's so funny.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_02: I love Alfred Hitchcock as a director, as a movie maker.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but you know, Anthony uh Borden, you know, I thought, you know, he is a master of what they do, you know.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_02: It's just uh storytelling, experiences, um, for my purposes, suspense.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_02: Like I just uh genius, like uh Alfred Hitchcock taught me how to write, honestly.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_02: I love I did creative writing and stuff like that.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_02: That's why I do the journaling and the self-reflection stuff.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_02: I just I love it.
• 38:31
  Jennifer Johnson: Very cool.
• 38:32
  Jennifer Johnson: I've that's a very unique answer.
• 38:34
  Jennifer Johnson: I've never had that, never heard that answer before.
• 38:37
  Jennifer Johnson: Well, Ralph, it has been an absolute pleasure having you on today.
• 38:41
  Jennifer Johnson: If our listeners want to reach out to you or want to come and visit your brewery, how where are you located and how can they get in contact with you?
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_02: So we're in uh Main Street and Farmingdale.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_02: So it's 253 Main Street in Farmingdale, New York, uh 11735.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_02: You can find uh Necromantic Bruco on Instagram, on Facebook.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_02: It's at Necromantic Bruco All1Word.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_02: And then I'm on LinkedIn and Instagram and Facebook too, so it's uh Ralph.mandarino.
• 39:12
  Jennifer Johnson: Fabulous.
• 39:13
  Jennifer Johnson: Thank you so much again, Ralph, for being on.
• 39:15
  Jennifer Johnson: Thank you for having me.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_02: It was a pleasure.
• 39:17
  Jennifer Johnson: And thank you to my guests.