Samuel AndersonManaging Partner, BevAssets, LLC · Just Pick Up The Phone 📞 | Joy 🦋 | Empowering individuals through meaningful connections, one person at a time.

Don't miss the opportunity in front of you. #beverages #mixologist #bottledcocktails #mixology

13 Oct 2024 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

0:54

In this brief interview segment, two industry insiders discuss past decisions where they declined to partner with emerging beverage brands. Speaker A recounts turning down Buzz Balls—a pre‑launch product that was later sold to Sazerac—citing concerns about its consumption profile and admitting a closed‑minded approach that led to a missed opportunity. Speaker B shares a similar story about rejecting Athletic, a non‑alcoholic offering, believing there was no market for a beer‑free product, only to later realize the potential sales they could have captured. Both speakers reflect on the importance of openness in trade development and the consequences of dismissing innovative concepts.

Chapters

I'll be the first to admit there were brands, uh, you know, a brand called Buzz Balls? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Sold to Sazerac. Yeah. So Buzz Balls, when I was doing trade development inside my wholesaler, Buzz Balls came to us before they were anybody and they're like, take us on. You know what we said? No. No. Yeah, it was like, this is like the Buzz Balls. First of all, it doesn't seem like it's very, um, cautious about like drinking a whole bit and we ran away from it, right? Man, can you imagine if we would have accepted? But that was a missed opportunity because I was so closed-minded not to look at it. And they were pretty prepared.
I turned down Athletic 5 years ago. I said, who's— there's no beer in it. There's no booze. Who's going to drink it? Right. I would have sold for 2 or 3 times. I mean, I think to me, the biggest thing is getting your—
You would have had the Daytona, my friend.