The Exchanges

Q Alright, so you guys, um, are working, and Alice, in the meantime, you're dealing with just this frustration about not feeling well, and I guess at a certain point, maybe you found something online, um, you started to experiment with apple cider vinegar, like, to take, to, I guess, to dilute it in water and, and see if that would make you feel better?

A Yeah, I ended up doing a full elimination diet where I cut out sugar, dairy, gluten, all the things, and then I slowly started introducing those foods back into my diet, and the consistent thing when you're doing that to help with the cleansing, what they call process, was drinking apple cider vinegar every day, and so going through that process, it was just life-changing. Before I gave up all the food, within two weeks of just having the apple cider vinegar, I felt 50% better, and I just discovered that food can really affect the way that you feel, and the only problem with the apple cider vinegar is, it's just a really harsh taste, and so I was putting it in this big, huge thing of water, adding lemon and cayenne pepper to it, and just, like, almost choking it down daily, knowing I had to do it. I wasn't, like, looking forward to it, and, um, I just, like, was like, I gotta make this taste better. There just has to be a better way.

AI assessment note: “within two weeks of just having the apple cider vinegar, I felt 50% better”

Q so you are, this is having an impact, and, and like, any time people find something that starts to really help them, they get really passionate about it, because I've, I've been in this Position too. And I'm sure you're just like talking up apple cider vinegar to anybody who would listen, but, but to some people, they might be like, oh, that's weird. That sounds weird. You're doing what?

A Everyone thought I was weird. I remember I had one neighbor who she was having some health problems as well, and then she started knocking on my door, and I was making her mason jars of it weekly. It was this thing where I was like, wait, this is interesting. Other people are interested in it, and then soon after that, we went home for Thanksgiving to Texas, and my sister and brother-in-law and my family, like, everyone's there, and I bring it with me, and I just think everyone's gonna be just as excited as me, and I set it up as, like, a tasting in the sunroom, and And the only person that shows up to try it is my brother-in-law. Nobody else would even try it. They're like, apple cider vinegar? Like, no, thank you. I have, want nothing to do with it. And they all called me crazy.

AI assessment note: “Everyone thought I was weird.”

Q this, like, what are, what are some of the other things that you're doing to make it more palatable? Like, I actually love the taste of apples. I buy, like, um, I buy those giant bottles at Costco. You get, like, three or four, you know. Yeah. But it sounds like you did not love the taste of it in water, that you were trying to mask it somehow. Yeah.

A I was trying to mask it, and you know, you're a rarity. Not a lot of people like it, right? Like, you're a little crazy. No. With, with the process, and I'll be honest, I remember trying all sorts of things. I remember, like it was yesterday, simmering raspberries to make purees. I tried essential oils, um, but really what we landed on in those early days was I used to infuse the vinegar, so I would get, like, real raspberries, Real rose petals, and I would put the vinegar in it, and I'd put it on the table, and it would infuse, so it would take on the flavor of those, and then I would literally use sparkling water, soda stream, and then the main sweetener at the time, stevia, and, um, some of the first flavors that I made, honestly, one of them we still have today, which is raspberry rose. I remember doing an orange cinnamon with, like, real cinnamon sticks, lavender lemons, Right, so really just flavors that I thought would go really well together, and some worked and some didn't.

AI assessment note: “I remember, like it was yesterday, simmering raspberries to make purees. I tried essential oils”

Q All right. So, the, there's an update, uh, on Shark Tank. I think that airs in April of 2020. Just kind of an update on, on what's going on with your, your brand. And that, I think, I think instantly you get a boost, right? And, and on most of your sales at this point are through Amazon. Direct to consumer.

A Yeah, so we were mostly on Amazon, and then in April, grocery store shelves were starting to do the load-ins, kind of had gotten their feet underneath them. We were kind of starting to hit the retail shelf, and we had filmed an update on Shark Tank about Poppy and the brand, and it aired Friday night, second week of April, and it just blew up. So we hit number one on Amazon's hot new product list, or We're doing, like, 3000 on Amazon quickly over the next few months. We're doing 250,000 on Amazon a month. It just, like, absolutely blew up our business, and really, it was really eye-opening for us to have a national commercial month two, basically.

AI assessment note: “we were mostly on Amazon... filmed an update on Shark Tank... it just blew up”

Q And what did he say needed to change?

A Everything. But we were okay with that, because we had already decided that we were going to change everything. We wanted to change the name, the position. At this point, it was apple cider vinegar drink, and he was like, no, this is so much bigger. This is soda. And at the time, we were like, well, we don't know for soda. Like, that's a big word to, like, chew on. That's a huge category. So let's play in this functional soda space, which is, like, a whole new category that no one had really been able to figure out. And Kombucha had tried to take on soda. Sparkling water had tried to be an alternative to soda. No one had quite figured out this disruptive soda space, right? And so, we're like, let's play adjacent to soda and be better for you soda. So, we took about nine months, and we did a huge branding exercise. Like, what is, um, if we're a car, what kind of car are we? If we're a girl at the party, are we the cool girl? Are we the girl dancing on the table? Like, what, what is the personality behind us? Are we approachable? Are we funny?

AI assessment note: “Everything. But we were okay with that, because we had already decided”

Q different kinds of responses, but I would say, and I work with my wife, but I would say a lot of people would say, I'll never work with my partner. I can't, you know, it's too complicated. Um, do, I mean, were there ever moments where your business relationship created tension, or do you think just your personalities are, are just naturally matched to make the business side work too?

A Early on when, so okay, early on when we were really early in mother beverage days, and it was really hard with working multiple jobs, having a family, well, scaling a business, I remember I used to get really upset when Stephen wouldn't take time out of the day to get me flowers, or why do I not get chocolate on Valentine's Day? And we finally sat down one day, and it was just like, we gotta pick, right? Is it marriage, kids, or the business? And what do we, like, we, this is killing us. And I honestly, at that moment, we looked at each other and said, our marriage is great. We love each other. We want to be partners. Let's focus on the kids in business and just know that we're good. And once we kind of let go of that expectation, a lot of the pressure went away. So then when he did get me flowers, it was extra special. It wasn't because of a holiday. And so that was really early on and just, like, understanding that it was okay and that just to show up Where we could. And I wouldn't do it again without him.

AI assessment note: “Early on when we were really early in mother beverage days... this is killing us.”

Q Alright, you're making this, this is like, 2000 fifteen-ish. Tell me how, what even, because making it for yourself is one thing, but deciding to Pursue this as a business is another thing. And oftentimes you need outside validation. You need people who are, who are telling you, hey, you have something here. So was that happening? Who was saying that?

A Yeah. So I remember going through this. I was really passionate about it. At the same time, I was feeling better, right? I talked about just the way I personally felt and both Steven and I looked at each other. We'd been married for a little bit. We're like, maybe we want to start having a family. And so I remember sitting at the table one night, it was me, my dad, and Steven, and we were just like, what are we going to do next? Like, if we want to start a family and we don't want to be on the road, maybe Steven could stay on the road while I'm home, but nobody wants to live that life either. And my dad goes, why don't you sell your hooch? And I remember him calling it Hooch, and it kind of hit us, like, wait, could this be a business? It was still a hobby at that point. Um, so we got up, and we bought a place. We moved to Dallas. We moved in December, and I got pregnant right away in January. It was a lot quicker.

AI assessment note: “And my dad goes, why don't you sell your hooch?”