What It Takes—Crafthouse Cocktails Co-Founders Charles Joly & Matt Lindner

The RTD category may have seen an explosion in the last few years, but Charles Joly and Matt Lindner of Crafthouse Cocktails have helped refine the canned cocktail experience for the better part of the last decade. 

On the latest episode of the Park Street Insider Podcast, the two industry veterans sit down with Andres Correa to discuss the principles their brand was founded on and their growth over the recent years. 

They touch on how their on-premise background and marketing initiatives translated to developing some of the most popular premium RTDs on the market. The co-founders also break down how they navigated through the Covid-19 pandemic and their recent partnership with Dolphin Entertainment. 

Guests include: 
Charles Joly, Co-Founder & Crafthouse Cocktails 
Matt Lindner, Co-Founder & Crafthouse Cocktails 

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Transcript

Emily Pennington: 0:00

Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the park street, insider podcast. I'm your host, Emily Pennington. And today we're starting up the episode with our new cohost Andress, Korea, who you've possibly already heard on the converging categories episode we recently published. And if you haven't, I encourage you to check it out. We're changing things up around here in 2022, every new episode, we'll open with Andress and I sharing the latest industry news or park street, university updates. So turning to that, Andras you handle a lot of the daily newsletter creation these days. What's going on in February.

Andres Correa: 0:35

Yeah. Hi, Emily and high park street, insider podcast listeners. I'm happy to be here discussing industry news with you guys. So the biggest item in the news right now is the report that was recently released by the treasury department. In July of 2021, the Biden administration issued an executive order that was aimed at assessing the U S market with the goal of reducing corporate consolidation and really protecting small businesses, giving them a chance to compete and in the long run consumers as well on February 9th, the agency finally released a 63 page report from that executive order, but basically detailing the status of the U S alcohol category right now, along with some recommendations for improvement. What

Emily Pennington: 1:19

do you think were the key highlights or takeaways from the.

Andres Correa: 1:24

There were two major trends that the treasury department noted. The first is growth, which is a good positive one, right? There are a lot more wineries distilleries and especially breweries the report noted that there were over 6,400 operating breweries today in the U S whereas in the seventies, there were less than 90, but the second trend, which is the one that they're trying to address with this report is really consolidation at the distribution level, at the retail level. And then for beer specifically at the production level as we know, Molson, Coors and Anheuser Busch account for 65% of beer revenue nationwide. So that's two major brewers that have. The biggest piece of the pie, if you want to put it that way.

Emily Pennington: 2:10

Yeah. I think it's takeaway from this was, it seems like the DOJ and the FTC are likely going to be more discerning when they evaluate proposed, you know, big burgers within the alcohol

Andres Correa: 2:22

industry going forward. Yeah. That's one of the major takeaways from this report. Really. There are some other interesting things in there that the report points out, that it would be intriguing to see some action on for example, the differing federal tax rates for beer, wine and spirits, which currently affect some of the competition between each of those sectors. I think there are little items like that that really are intriguing and will be interesting to see if any actions are

Emily Pennington: 2:53

taken. Yeah. Alright nice. And uh, for those listening at home, we're working on putting together a, an overview of the findings from this and we'll publish it on park street unit. I'm going to switch gears here a little bit and get into this episode. I'm dressed, you did an interview with craft house cocktails. Tell us more about what we're going to hear.

Andres Correa: 3:14

Yeah, so I spoke to Charles Joe Lee and Matt Lindner about their journey over the last decade with craft house cocktails, making one of the premier RTDs in the country right now. And they were basically an open book, which was a big theme of the interview. As you'll see, they love to answer your questions. It's part of their hospitality background. I think they both came from the hospitality industry and their whole goal with craft house was trying to make basically that hospitality experience in a can that you could take anywhere. And I think they've done a great job of that and, and they were open about some stuff that usually people will kind of deflect and say is a little more proprietary, like maintaining the ingredients in. Their product and, and just their whole journey and their, their business experience and some of the partnerships they've had over the years. So it was, it was a pleasure to talk to them. Great.

Emily Pennington: 4:08

Those are definitely the best kind of interviews. All right, well, let's get into it.

Andres Correa: 4:25

welcome to the park street insider podcast. We're here with the, uh, founders of craft house cocktails. It's a lovely Friday afternoon where we're recording. So let's start off with a fun question. Matt and Charles what's your favorite Friday afternoon kind of cocktail get you into the weekend drink that you've been having lately. We'll start off with Charles.

Charles Joly: 4:51

Oh man. Uh, yeah. Um, it is the middle of winter and I'm in Chicago. So, uh, I, I tend towards more spirit forward cocktails right now. So the rental fashion is right up my alley for that. And it's got, uh, you know, I'm a big aged rum drinker in general, I many, many years ago, although I drink plenty of American whiskey, started to lean towards more whiskey drinker, rums, uh, and really, you know, long aged, full bodied,, you know, big rums that, that would, that you can kind of sip on, which is where our Romo fashion was born, because it's a cocktail I like to, uh, enjoy. And you've got to get those baking spices as well. Little, a little chocolate, little coffee tone, uh, to it. So yeah, just really good on a, on a, on a chilly data, you know, warm me up.

Andres Correa: 5:40

That's a perfect answer. And a Matt, what, what are you, uh, sipping on

Matt: 5:44

lately? Yeah, so I'm going to have to move myself into like my fantasy world, where I don't have like kids activities and hockey games and things like that already floating for a Friday night. And if I was, if I was on vacation and unwinding after getting some work done you know, on a Friday I might go to a, more of a sipper. I love just a nice tequila. If I was, didn't do a cocktail right now, it is kind of mood dependent for me as well. But I, you know, I'm kind of in this smoking margarita, the mezcal with M you know, the mescal thing a bit. So, so definitely in the Gavi spirit, I generally go a Gavi.

Charles Joly: 6:22

Yeah, it's hard. I mean, how are we going to, we're going to pick, I've always have some, some, a Gavi within arms reach of me as well. I started my night last night with a tequila Negroni and finished it with a little cheeky tequila, Ocho after dinner as well. So I kind of, bookended some Agava in between.

Andres Correa: 6:42

I love talking to drinks, people about what they're drinking. Charles, I was planning on this answer. I'm not even kidding you. It's for me, it's also the rum old fashion. I've been doing a lot of my craft house research lately. So. I've been having the the rumbled fashion is the one I've tried. That's really stood out also the gold rush. I'm just really impressed with these RTDs that you guys have and your ability to maintain the integrity of the ingredients throughout. I know that's such an important part of the process of RTDs and maybe that's somewhere where we can kind of start as what, what did you guys learn trying to maintain the integrity of these ingredients and, and what can you share with with our listeners about that whole process and, and what it took to do that?

Charles Joly: 7:32

Yeah, I could jump in on cocktail recipes. You know, when Matt and I started talking about craft house in the very beginning, it was. You know, they just, one of the fundamentals of of our conversation and even even going down this route, we said, if we couldn't do it right, we weren't going to do it. And you know, Matt had, you know, has more business experience to me than I do. You know, he opened open several bars and I have more bartending experience as well as though he's spent plenty of time behind the bar and, and running bars. When, you know, I, I am on the cocktail side of things much more and he, you know, he always was like carp launch you know, for me on choosing ingredients on finding spirits on, on whatever the final balance of the cocktails were. You know, of course we, we have, we have Guinea pigs and, you know, get people together anytime we're working on new cocktail and, and get it, you know, dial it in just right. But you know, when it comes to I guess challenges again and getting things together. You know, we're an open book as well. Like we, we always, one of the other tenants of our of our company has always been, you know, Joan do anything in this brand that if somebody asks a question, you don't want to have to state on the answer, you know? So it's we, we appreciate being an open book to the extent. Matt had the genius idea of getting a phone number and putting it on napkins that we then distributed around airports that if people text or call, it goes directly to both of our phones that much of an open book. So that's, that's a real marketing initiative that, that he came up with, which I was very, very appreciative of. But you know, it it's at the core of this, you know, we asked ourselves in 2011, when we, when we can see this idea right. Why is there not a good bottled cocktail? Why are people not just, we know how to make cocktails behind the bar? Why are. People not just making the cocktails behind the bar and putting them in, in bottles. Why are they, why do they suck to be honest, because it was a pretty bottle. Cocktails were pretty bleak in 2011. There's a lot of you know, many more good options now, but it's, it's a world apart from what it was you know, a decade ago. And, and that was, you know, we just started that way with let's, let's use the same ingredients. That's, we're going to make simple syrup. We're going to get citrus. We're going to use spirit partners that we would want to serve you. You know, if you came over to my house, I would grab a bottle of that same tequila we use you know, not using flavored malt stuff or, or, you know, mystery brews or, or. You know, grain neutral spirits and it makes it really easy that way, honestly it doesn't over overcomplicate it in, in terms of not, not to get too long winded, you know, the only thing that we have to do is we have a pasteurized citrus because of course we need, we need to have chefs to shelf stability. But otherwise we have, we have no there's no, no preservatives in our product. There's never has been it's simply a pasteurization that keeps it fresh. And and we have a, you know, a higher ABV than most bottle cocktails on the market, which also helps stabilize everything and keep it and keep it fresh. And yeah, so it's, it's, it's, it's, it's expensive and it's a pain in the butt to do in a, in a bottling facility. But it is. It's actually easier because you'll get, you're using less ingredients. You're not, you're not messing around with a bunch of preservatives and, and, and other additives you know, we just do it and do it as close to that, to what we do in a bar as possible.

Emily Pennington: 10:57

Yeah.

Matt: 10:58

Oh, you're a, you're only one question and we've probably taken up a good portion, but just add to that as well. You know That our reputation obviously is a tremendously important to us. I think we've both spent many years in the industry building that. And so, you know, to Charles's point, making sure we did everything that you could peel back the layers and, and we'd be proud to talk about it in that also when we launched, because we designed these in 2011, like Charles just mentioned, there was nobody else doing it. We actually had the bottle in Canada. We couldn't even find anybody in the states that would handle like our ginger juice and our lime juice and, you know, our pineapple juice and all those different things. So, you know we found a little facility that had, that had hard ciders up in Canada that we started getting going with too to get out because everybody else was like, well, just do this, you know, this is, you're going to save yourself money. You're going to save yourself time. We can do this for you. I'm like, well, you know, that's. How we want to do things in Charles' same way. That's not how he wanted to to do things. So we weren't, we always say, we're not trying to make something that tastes like a Moscow mule. You know, we're actually going to make a Moscow mule. We're going to make a Paloma. And we're going to put it in a bottle for people to enjoy. So kind of went at it from a different approach.

Andres Correa: 12:12

Yeah, that's perfect. And, and so from, from that point that's where you guys kind of started off with the concept. Where are you guys now in terms of how many states, how many ska use, that kind of thing, where have you guys taken this, this idea that worked out so well?

Matt: 12:29

Yeah. So I could, I could talk about that a bit. We have a lot of schemes. We kinda laugh about it. Thankfully people seem to enjoy them all. But we have three different formats and we have our resealable aluminum 200 bottles that are just more of a single serve. We have the glass seven 50 milliliter. That's got that little Grolsch, the flip top closure. And now we've got a 1.7, five bag in the box and not all of our skews are available in all three formats, but many of them are. So just that in itself, it's like probably a distributors nightmare. And I'd be like, oh, we have, I have to carry all these. But again, people, people buy them also. That's good. And we're within the, the end of this first quarter, we're going to be in about 40 states. So we've grown pretty substantially over the last two years. Thankfully we've got just some, some great things going on and great partners and, and whatnot. So it's allowed for us to grow like that. So we're now a full-fledged company of 10, you know, which is not a huge number, but it's, you know, three times the size we were about this time two years ago. Yeah.

Charles Joly: 13:35

And we have eight different cocktails at this point. So across and again, available in those three formats. Yeah. And we're still, we're still an independent. So anyone who, you know, we were the first to come out and we've still been just doing it on our own. And it's been, it's been a one thing that I do kind of. At the team on the back about is the fact that some of the things that we've been able to do as an independent I think as some of the larger competition from the big portfolio is scratching their head as well is to have, and I think it's just a, it goes back to us being, you know, being in that hospitality industry for 25 to 20, 25 years. And just kind of just doing what we would do behind the bar and, and building relationships and, you know, treating people the way that we want to be treated and it's, and it's work work so far.

Andres Correa: 14:27

Yeah. And that's a good point. That's another question I had in terms of your hospitality background. Do you guys want to get into that a little bit and discuss how that background led to the start of craft house and where you guys met? I know you touched on it a little bit, but get more into that and how You guys transferred that hospitality first approach into the RTD world.

Matt: 14:52

Sure. I can hit on that Charles shirt fill in some gaps there. You know, Charles and I are different in a lot of ways which is great, but I, I would say one of our core similarities is how we, how we do approach our hospitality background. And we've both been doing it forever. We've worked together since like two year, 2000. No matter what, the style of our environment, whether it's kind of a finer dining and high-end cocktail lounge down the little neighborhood bar and grill like bird's nest, we wanted people to feel comfortable. We wanted people to, you know have an approachable, non stuffy, interactive environment. And that fits the personality of both Charles and myself. And we really did carry that. We think, you know, right through, into craft house and how we approach craft house. You know, we didn't do any cocktails that were too easy. But we also didn't do any cocktails that were too complex. You know, we wanted to make sure that they were approachable and friendly enough in nature that people are comfortable even even through art or design, you know, we, we wanted to are designed to be fun and light and engaging and not Unapproachable,

Charles Joly: 15:59

I would say, I mean, just the very, the essence of why we were created was to service our guests. And it was, you know, we were responding to like, we didn't, you know, I think so many brands start as a reaction to them seeing a trend. And then, so they all kind of chase their tails and getting a, a boardroom somewhere and be like, all right, well, everybody's got a, a new gen out a craft gen. We have to get a craft gin as part of our, you know, it didn't start that way. We started because we had the cocktail bar. Guests would always ask us for recipe recipes. If they, we made them a classic, they liked, or we had a signature cocktail. We're never, you know proprietary about that. Very happy to write, you know, write down the exact recipe on how to prepare something. If they want to do it at home, they're having a party. And, and legitimately, I mean, I've told this story before, but it, it, I. Got a call on a Friday night from one of our regulars who was having a party. And I had written down a couple of cocktails that they liked that they were going to make it their party. And I remember specifically it was an aviation cocktail which was a great classic gin cocktail that had a nice resurgence and the, a modern cocktail revival in the past, you know, 15 years or so. And she's like, I can't, she's like, it doesn't taste like when you make it in the bar, she was like, what am I doing wrong? And, and so I try to walk her through it, but at the end of that night where, you know, we were talking, I'm like, man, people want great cocktails when they're not here. And it is not their job to know how to make, you know, and balance these cocktails perfectly. So can we give them these cocktails to go can we give them to them, you know, in a place where they would not otherwise have the expectation of a craft cocktail where they might be limited to. You know, making a GNT or a vodka soda or, or, or bring in beer or wine. And we're like, yeah, we can, we're just gonna, you know, and so we re it was, it was born of hospitality. And I think the other side of that hospitality to me, if people are utilizing us in home entertaining or they're utilizing it, even in an on-premise application, when we're at, you know, if we're being sold in a theater or on a train or on an airline or whatever it might be, if you, if I can crack a bottle of a great cocktail and hand it to my guest now I've got that much more time to interact with my guest as opposed to having, having your head down, working in a service well, coming back four or five, six minutes later with a, with a cocktail made from scratch it can, it can really speed up service and allow you to either be a host in your home with your guests, or even at a bar or a other on-premise account. You can actually then build a rapport and be okay.

Andres Correa: 18:34

Yeah, that's exactly. I feel like what you guys are capturing with the product. Let's talk a little bit about the milestones that you guys have hit as a company. And I guess we'll start off with that. Just take us through the research and development phase all the way up until the launch in 2013, I believe

Matt: 18:54

there's been lots of up and downs, you know, lots of different milestones. When we first launched, we were always buyers, you know, Charles and I were, were buyers for several years. We didn't really understand necessarily how the other side worked. So kind of going in, I think one of our initial milestones was when we got into whole foods that was always. W like we modeled a lot of what we did to make sure that we would be allowed to be in whole foods. You know, they've got pretty stringent requirements for their products and we're like, all right, well, we need to make sure that we cross all of those off our lists and we're, we're good to go there. And you know, a lot of these big grocery chains only do resets like once, once a year. And we were kind of You know, you gotta wait, you gotta wait, they'll put something out and you could, and we just literally walked into a couple stores and just asked the buyers, if they had a minute they were definitely not into the category back then. Not something they were looking to do, but as soon as they tasted us, they're like, wow, you know, we could, let's figure out a way to get you in. I think that was pretty early on, but I think that was kind of a significant milestone for us just in in the fact that it really did show one, that we had something good, you know, one that's other people recognize the needs the need for something that, that we were doing at a high level, like a, like a whole food. So that was a, that was a pretty big one. And then maybe two years in, or so when we got on United airlines again, this was, this was a. As Charles and I continue to think about the brand and how this brand can evolve is when we started talking about some of those, like on-premise, we call them non traditional on-premise accounts, like the airlines or train we're on Amtrak and cruise lines, which were on Virgin voyages now. So all these are kind of big milestones, but that was, that was a big one where we started to really recognize that endless opportunities in the ready to drink category that haven't even begun to be explored yet. So that was, that was a pretty exciting thing for us. And for me, it probably the other milestone and maybe Charles has some different ones is, is about two years ago when we were. Redesigned reformatted or cocktails. You know, we did launch that 1 75 cocktails on tap in our, in our bag, in the box. We redesigned our 200 MLS from a four-pack glass bottle to an individual serve aluminum screw top cap, which again allows for more applications, more drinking opportunity locations. So, so those and they both were very, very well-received. So that was, that was a pretty big milestone and also just a general brand refresh. So if I had to pick three things, those would probably be my, my three things historically that have kind of had a profound profound effect on me.

Emily Pennington: 21:33

Yeah.

Charles Joly: 21:34

I'd say if I can toss a couple, a couple in there, you know, with the cocktails we launched with our first three cocktails water, the Moscow mule, the south side and the Poloma. And I kind of, you know, I always felt you know, I was, I've been in the trenches behind the bar. So I can, I see. You know, we see what will become trends two years before they become a trend because we're, you know, in, in the bars as, as part of as part of that. So, you know, those cocktails, the Moscow mule now everyone's like, all right, that might seem passe in 2022, but in 2011 it was just emerging. And was Jessica about to start hitting its stride for a sofa Ivanka cocktail that was quite new, especially with with a really bright and spicy, authentic ginger beer. You know, one that you can get the aroma off of, and it might make you sneeze a little bit from the some of that ginger heat catching your which, which I love. You know, in the south side too, that's definitely left of center. It's still not, not a widely known classic cocktail, but it was a cocktail that we used in the bars as a gateway cocktail to turn people into gin people that, you know, people who love gin will be all over the south side. It's a it's gin and citrus and. So it's kind of like a, a mint Gimlet gin Gimlet, or if you will, or general Hito, I guess in a way so super approachable flavors, but a little bit unexpected. When we finally launched our first age spirit cocktail in the gold rush again, we went a little, a little left to center with that. The gold rush is a, is a contemporary classic made by a bartender out in New York. And in the two thousands, that's a, it's a bourbon sour with honey as the, as a sweetener. So it was, that was fun. And then the, the pineapple daiquiri for me too was, was definitely a pet project. I had years ago met the owner of pier furan cognac, which is the company that has plantation rums and I hadn't talked to him in years and it was the wrong, there's their Stiggins extra fancy pineapple around. That was what I had at my bar. And I would use to make my own pineapple daiquiris along with her five-year-old Barbados from and with, you know, aromatic bitters from Trinidad. That's exactly the ingredients I used. I'm like, man, wouldn't it be awesome if I can get the exact brands that I use to make my own shift drink and put them in our bottles and I set shot and email and lo and behold, they're like, oh yeah, we've been like quietly. Seeing what you guys have been doing over the years. We think, you know, the brand needs great. The quality is great. We'd be happy to you know, get you some spirits. So we're like us being able to actually get the exact spirits was, was pretty awesome. And you know, with that, and that same note I was able to work with my friends who are husband wife, team that own a bitters company called bittered sling which is just a fantastic. You know, small, small ish operation you know, it is, then they make everything with the utmost integrity show for me, real hit, hit up them and get some of their chocolate bitters for our rumbled fashion. You know, these are literally the ingredients that sit on my back bar and I've been at all of the bars that I've all the beverage programs that I've run over the years. So to be able to, I mean, that's, and I think that's, that's why they taste good when they, when they fight when P when y'all taste them, when you crack open up a craft house, because it's like, we can tell you where the tequila comes from. We can tell you where the gin comes from. You know, you come by Chicago, we can go to the distillery where the gin comes from it's it's right. Downtown and on the near south side of

Andres Correa: 24:58

Chicago. Yeah, that actually makes me curious. You guys went into a little bit of what it takes to come out with a new offering, but. What's kind of the whole process of like, what marks do you have to hit and do certain ideas end up on the cutting room floor? And if you want to talk about any of

Charles Joly: 25:15

those. Yeah, we have, we have limitless ideas, whether we were nothing, if not piles of ideas that don't come to fruition it, you know, I would say in terms of limiting, you can't be all things to all people. When it, you know, and you can't have a hundred skews you have to focus at some point, we have eight different cocktails at this point, which is a pretty broad offering. When we look at expansion, we want, we knew we wanted to be, we wanted to have an array of base spirits. So it's a little something for everyone. So we've got our VOC, our gen or rum or tequila and mezcal, you know, our bourbon we have array of flavor profile. So even more than the base spirits. If you're a vodka drinker, you're still going to like a south side. Cause the south side, although it's gen base is bright and refreshing and has minty it's it's not about collaborating over their head. The way a gin martini would. Jen martini might be a big cocktail to transition somebody from Vaka to gin. But if you'd like a bright, refreshing cocktail, it's not about the base spirit. It's just like, it'd be coming to my bar. If I'm more, if I'm working at bar and you come up, I don't ask you what, what spirits you normally drink. If, if you're in the mood for a cocktail and you want to put me to work, I ask you, you know, I want to get your mood. Like, are you looking for. Big boozy, a slow sipper. You know, what time do you need to be up tomorrow? Is it might, might be a question. You know, if there's a lot of other ways to get to what people are drinking. And I think the least creative way is to ask them what they normally drink. Cause they'll tell you, and it's the same thing all the time. They're looking for something new. We have a turnkey cocktail menu really at this point, which, which I think we're really happy about with some of our partners. They don't need to make a single drink. If you put our eight drinks on the menu, you've got a really comprehensive cocktail menu that covers all basis. So, you know, from a little bit lower ABV to big boozy you know, slippers all the way up to the rental fashion. So we wanted to, we wanted something for everyone without getting too, too confusing. As I said, we're, we're out, you know, we're in the\industry still. So we're seeing what people are drinking and we try to get ahead of the curve. We also make what we like to drink, you know? So it's like, we're not going to make something that we don't enjoy or see an occasion for that we wouldn't want to want to crack open and drink just because the market is asking for it necessarily.

Andres Correa: 27:32

Of course. And do you guys know what your top kind of offerings at this point are, are there some that kind of stand out over the rest?

Matt: 27:42

Yeah, we do. It's interesting. It's a bit market to market, you know, there's different, again, spirits that are drawn to certain markets, but nationally, our number one is still the Moscow mule. You know, I think it just familiarity with it, you know, the gold rush in the south side by name or less familiar to people. But however, like you're sipping on as people drink them and explore them, then, then if, if we do a sampling event, they all sell evenly. They really do. Sometimes the south side actually sells better than the rest, which is, you know, again, because some people are unsure of the gin category and, and how they, how they would personally react to it. But once they taste it and they understand what it's about, it's very popular. But my sales stats, the Moscow mule and Poloma are one and two. So I do think it's a lot of that just comes from name recognition. Yeah. I could

Andres Correa: 28:32

totally see that. I could totally see the, the tasting kind of being like the. The thing that evens the playing field too. It's the great

Matt: 28:40

equalizer.

Emily Pennington: 28:40

Yeah, for sure. Yeah,

Charles Joly: 28:41

exactly. Everyone finds a favorite with that. I mean, we did some, we sponsored some, some kind of music festivals this, this summer, and we were out there, we were working the, the trailer, you know, it was just us doing the tastings. And so it was really interesting to see that because you have, you would have a group of five or six people come up that had never heard of us before, you know, we're doing the tasting. So we can't, you know, we're obviously very attached to the brand and in every all, you know, all five people would have a different favorite and that's perfect. That's by that is exactly that's exactly. What's supposed to happen. It's by design, you find your favorite, which is why the, the 200 milliliter, which is like a cocktail and a half. And those small aluminum bottles are great because it really allows you to, you don't have to buy a, a case of 24 or something, and they'd be like, have one and be like, ah, this is, this is not for me. You know, you can just, you can crack one and then, you know, get a little mix and match, which is also cool for, for parties. And if you're like popping over to somebody's

Andres Correa: 29:36

house or whatever, for sure. And getting back to those milestones Matt, you mentioned that the deal with United there's a deal with total wine, I believe. If you want to get into kind of those deals specifically United and total wine, and discuss how those deals came about how you closed them and, and anything in terms of those.

Matt: 29:59

Yeah. So we were on United for, for two plus years. You know right now I don't think they're doing any cocktail program currently, but I know they're going to start one back up in the summer, but you know, it was really. Building relationships across the board, again, the juices in the is in the bottle. So we've never had an issue with people, validating our cocktails from a quality standpoint, it's really just about then seeing where, where it's applicable and you know, is it going to sell? And again, to be candid, the first couple of years we were out, that was a challenge because our people were not necessarily walking down. Our general consumer for craft house was not walking down the ready to drink aisle, looking for a quality ready to drink cocktail. They didn't know where, how to find us. So that was, that was a challenge. But a lot of those retailers like total wine kind of stuck, stuck with us knowing it was something good. You'll probably recognize that at some point that category is going to grow. But a lot of it, yeah, it's really been just. Developing these relationships, people becoming advocates for us and for the brand and, and you know, it's led to some great ones. Like I mentioned, the Virgin voyages where they only ready to drink on Richard Branson's new cruise line on, on both the boat and the island and Amtrak and on the SLO line of the Northeast they, they crush it where quite a few theaters ambassador theater group is real nice. They're the largest in the world, actually theater organization. We've got a great relationship with them and they, and they crush it. And these are great opportunities for us because it actually provides marketing for our brand. That's actually revenue generating as well. So it's, it's kind of an a nice thing to get that real strong on-premise balance to help really drive the retail. And you

Andres Correa: 31:44

bring up a great point, Matt, about some of the changes specifically within the airline industry. You know, some airlines are back to offering again, some airlines really. How has the kind of airline situation factoring into your strategy if it is at all right now?

Matt: 32:01

So I could say when we, when we first had a relationship on United, they were, I don't know, let's call it 65% of our business. It was pretty significant. And, and great. You know, so now we kind of, when we, when we're look to the future and plan on getting an, in some airlines down the road, it's, we're just in a much different position right now because we have so much more sales. It's not going to be quite the same reliance on those. So, you know, we have the stock and the inventory and the sales and support team and marketing support guys that can help us in those relationships. So, you know although we love to get all of them and we, and we do hope to capture a few more great ones in this coming year, we're ready for it, you know? So we're, we're prepared. To be able to capture that and, and do it successfully. So there's not that much additional planning that needs to go on from our end, other than, you know, understand what skews they're looking to focus on, but we're, we're ready to roll for any new partner that comes on board. It's just

Charles Joly: 33:07

such a perfect application for us as well. You know, more than in 2011, you know, now years later, the expectation for high quality cocktails is there in 2011, nobody expected to get on a plane and get a properly mixed cocktail. Like it didn't because it didn't exist. And so no one was spoiled by it yet. Now more than a decade later, people have had lots of great cocktails. You can go to. Then hotels make, have good cocktail programs, big chains. You can go to the airport, they're getting, getting a decent cocktail. You know, you go to a music venue, they've got cocktails. So the expectation is there. And we, we solve a lot of problems for it. You know, obviously it's, it's, it's turnkey, it's consistent. We have a consistent ABV, you know, so more than giving somebody a mini of whiskey or whatever it is, you know, that that's an 80 proof or gin that might be up over 90 proof. You also have a stable you know what you're doing at 10% or, you know, 15 or whatever whatever ABV where, you know, depending on the cocktail, over cocktails, very. Based on the drink. So it's, which is important on a narrow line as we've seen it, especially over this last or this last year. So, and, and it's, it's, you know, it's great for you have a hundred percent cost control and your inventory is very easy. So there are some logistic things from the business side on their end that makes it very, very easy. Even now for us to back then, we had glass bottles with paper labels, for example, repeat you put those in ice, you know, that sit on a plane for seven hours and you know, they would take a little bit of abuse. Now we have these really beautiful aluminum twist top cans. And so they can be in there and they're just better. They almost insulate and become a little coolers of their own. So so we've, we've got we're in a, in a very good place to do some of those partnerships and they were just fun. United was fun. It's our, you know, it's a Chicago, it's a Chicago company. So it was right in our backyard. We just, you know, I could drive 10 minutes to go to a meeting with United, from my house.

Matt: 35:08

And I think, you know, to, just to kind of tap on that a little bit more you know, in our, some of our re the travel channel, you know, now, now we've definitely recognized this is a lot of opportunity for us. And in our redesign, United took those glass bottles on, from a weight perspective and breakage. It was not ideal that just, they just liked the product that much. And now, you know, with our relationship with Virgin and how environmentally conscious they are, you know, to transition to something that's easy and a hundred percent recyclable was great for them. And, and also just from a weight standpoint for the airlines and things like that. So we did take all that into consideration when we, when we redesigned it, wasn't just something that we were looking to do. We, we recognize what our customers were asking for as well and made the adjustments needed for sure. And

Andres Correa: 35:53

a lot of those changes really were obviously due to the pandemic. Did the pandemic kind of affect your business? Ways beyond that. And if so how did you go about adjusting to those?

Matt: 36:02

The cruise line was launching March of 2020. Amtrak was launching may of 2020 for us. And Marriott was doing a pilot program with us in, in some of their one other hotel chains that were super excited and 100% focused on so we really decided that we were going to go hard on the on-premise applications to help drive brand awareness and then go back to focus on retail. And we just, you know, we had just come out with this new formats in the cans and aluminum bottles. So, you know, when all that happened, we weren't sure how our world was going to, was going to be as again, like so many others. And we're we decided, well, we better go back to the retail. Now as opposed to waiting, cause we don't have any on-premise business right now. And, and again, thankfully they're very receptive. I think initially a lot of people, when the pandemic hit, went to their comfort brands, you know, things that they've had and, and done for many years because they weren't sure exactly how long they're going to be bunkered down for. But then as that time kind of continued to move, then they started exploring out and really discovering the RTDs is as much as any other spirits segment that's out there. So at the end of the day you know, it wasn't at all how we expected 20, 20 or 2021 to actually look. But it was probably a net net, you know even to what we were expecting just from a completely different.

Andres Correa: 37:29

One more thing I'd like to hit on for sure. The recent partnership you guys signed with dolphin entertainment. I really wanted to know what you guys, what the plan was with, with dolphin entertainment and what you wanted to achieve out of that partnership.

Charles Joly: 37:42

Yeah, that was, you know, we're very excited to be okay with dolphin entertainment. They're not a household name. They kind of fly a little under the radar in terms of that, but they are, I mean, they're a publicly traded company and we had in a roundabout way, how to relationship with them for a very long time. The door is the arm of one of the arms of, of dolphin. That is a PR company that we we've worked with since the beginning on and off. And so, you know, we've become really friendly with them. I mean, we're obviously a very, very small company. You know, there. That PR companies that are small ish they're not one of these mega companies. So, you know, as you know, with any brand, with anything, you know, anything that people purchase marketing is a huge part of it. There you can have a liquid gold and if people don't know about it, Just doesn't matter. And there are plenty of products that are maybe not the best quality that do really, really well because they, you know, they have great, great advertising or great marketing you know, their billboards all over some celebrity endorsement or whatever it might be. So we knew, we felt like we have liquid gold, you know, like in terms of, in terms of the quality of our cocktails, like we'll go toe to toe any day in our happy you know, very happy with what we put in the bottle. And so this partnership with dolphin is really going to help us, let people know about it. And so, and, and help with that brand recognition. They're a very cool company. They're kind of a one-stop shop, you know, they're, they've come in as a you know a small partnership. And so they've got a vested interest in, in in us all doing well together. And it's, and they've known the brand for the decade that we've been around as well. So it was an easy. Partnership to get involved in. And this next year, you know, we're really hoping we are putting a lot of investment into making sure people know about us and in a variety of different ways. And in all of the, you know, all the ways that you would, you would expect we're definitely very excited to have the assistance on that because there's only so much we can do, as Matt said, there's 10 of us. And that, you know, that covers production and logistics. And there are so many moving parts in this company in terms of just, just simply sourcing ingredients and cans and working with co-packers and getting it to, you know, to 40 states this year, making sure that all the distributors have everything they need. Let alone, before you even start to think about, oh, what's their social media presence, or, you know, so it is there's, there's a lot.

Emily Pennington: 40:12

Yeah,

Matt: 40:12

for, for us, you know, the dolphin just kind of closes the loop for what we're trying to accomplish, you know, in, in and hyper, hyper charging our marketing efforts to really get that brand exposed. There's like Charles saying, and even though we've sold, gosh, I don't even know, you know, a million people have tried craft house and in essence, people still don't know who we are. So, so it's just exciting for us now that we're just all the pieces of lined up and bringing this dolphin partnership online is, is kind of the biggest of all those pieces to just make sure. That all of our efforts in placements at all these different stores and, and all these different on-prem that now people actually are going to recognize and help build some brand loyalty through some of our marketing efforts. So it's just, it's a super exciting time for us to mean, you know, again, we've been up and down through the ringer a few times over the course of the 10, 11 years that Charles and I have been doing this. And we're just, couldn't be more excited with 2022 and what we have going on right now and dolphin being a huge part of that,

Andres Correa: 41:16

for sure. I'm excited for you guys. Do you have we'll finish on this? Do you have any. New offerings coming out. Anything you guys want to promote or talk about coming out in 2022,

Matt: 41:27

we're working on stuff. Charles is always working on stuff. I think one of our goals, again, w we're at eight wide right now in terms of how many different cocktails we do have out there for people to enjoy. I think cool thing for us is maybe just start looking at some small batch releases or some seasonal stuff, or, you know, things that we could kind of just hit and run on as I guess just like, just see how people respond to it. And maybe it becomes part of the lineup, but probably even more than that, just to give people something exciting to look forward to like, Hey, let's see what Charles is doing. That's that's cool and new and, and, and let's, you know, let's see how we can get, get our hands on one of those. Of cocktails that are our current facility that we make all our cocktails on and has the ability to really do that, those types of things for us, and, you know, talking to some partners in the spirit world that we could, you know, friends of ours, again, that we could help and they could help us kind of bring forth some, some really cool, cool ideas, but maybe not necessarily on a massive scale.

Andres Correa: 42:32

All right guys. Thank you so much for joining us, Matt and Charles, I'm sure our listeners are going to be very happy to hear all of your your story, your advice, your, everything you shared, any last words, any ways people can reach out to you or look for your look for your product on the shelves. Anything you guys want to finish on?

Matt: 42:54

Yeah. I mean, if you do, if you do check out our website, it does go directly to us. I mean, we don't have, you know, somebody that's monitoring the website, it email, it comes to Charleston. And then also we do have a partnership with reserve bar which is a really cool platform. I'm sure everybody's pretty familiar with at this point, but you know, not only does it help utilize our retail partners, but it just allows people from all over to, to be able to order us and get us delivered to. So that's a really, really cool function that we've just recently started on. And again are super excited about 20, 22 and the opportunities that that partnership can bring. Yeah.

Charles Joly: 43:30

I mean, it is there is no red tape with graph jaws cocktails. If you jump on our Instagram at drink graft house issued a message, like it's going to be one of us that gets back to you within, you know, within 20 minutes, half hour or whatever. If not, if not quicker I'm on as well at Charles Jolie. So you can see. You know, pictures of my dog mainly, or you know, me doing R and D at the home bar as well. It is you know, we pride ourselves on being an open book and, and very involved with with every step of the way. So we encourage, please do reach out. If you have a question about anything whatever you want to pick, that, you know, you want us to help you with a fruit cocktail, pairing. You want some garnish ideas, whatever it is, you know, shoot us, shoot us a note. And of course our website@craftorcrafthousecocktails.com as well, has all the information and can get you in depth than for one.

Andres Correa: 44:21

Okay. Thank you guys so much for being an open book with others and being an open book with us today. And thank you everyone for tuning into the park street, insider podcast. Have a wonderful weekend, Matt and Charles. It's great

Matt: 44:33

talking to you. Thanks for having us on.

Emily Pennington: 44:36

Yeah.

Charles Joly: 44:36

Cheers. Thanks so much.

Emily Pennington: 44:41

Hi everyone. It's Emily again. Thanks for listening to this episode. If you're enjoying the park street insider podcast, don't forget to rate us and leave a good review. If you're interested in getting involved in park street university, email us@tsuatparkstreet.com. Thanks a lot.