the beverage category seems to be endlessly expanding especially
as would be drinkers opt for non alcoholic options.
That category includes our next guest who with pop star Katy Perry wanted
to create a drink that would fill the need for what they call quote
considered choice for happy hour that doesn't get in
the way of early mornings and long nights end quote
now more consumers will have access to this option
as the company secures a $4 million seed round,
joining me now, morgen Mclaughlin and co founder of this soy morgen,
welcome to the show, Congrats on this fresh round,
how are you gonna use this funding to expand your business?
Hey, nice to meet you.
Um Yeah, so we're really excited to um like like a lot of CPG companies,
we did launch primarily DTC
um and our strategy initially was to focus primarily on that marketplace.
Um But we actually found,
I think I think the alcohol alternative category
um has some good tail winds going on.
Um It's definitely um I think there's a huge market for this particular category.
Um So we actually found a lot of
like much earlier wholesale success than we anticipated.
Um So our main focus at the moment is uh using
this funding to focus on expanding into the wholesale wholesale channels,
wholesale market.
So national grocery chains um off premise on premise restaurants, bars,
independent liquor stores.
Um and get into those markets much earlier
than we anticipated where our beverages currently available and
what are your ultimate retail goals when it comes
to both reaching stores that carry your brand.
Um So currently we have distributed primarily distributed online.
So there's some really fantastic online retailers like
and better roads um that specialize entirely
like their focus is on this alcohol alternative
um category. Um When it comes to market places where you can buy your products basin.
Um the alcohol alternative retailer actually six locations in new york city
um and they're opening three here in Los Angeles.
Um Otherwise we recently um inked a distribution deal with R. And D. C.
One of the big liquor distributors and we're starting our launch with them.
Um They you know they touch almost every single bar and restaurant and
um anywhere that would would carry also um any spirits products um nationally.
Uh So that was a really big win.
Um Currently we're in uh total wine locations, Erawan, uh Fox Trot.
And we've got a couple of others coming down the pipe pretty quickly.
I want to talk about your partnership with Total Wine,
how does that bolster your sales efforts?
You know I think it's it's probably a little early to
tell because we went in there about a month ago.
But the interesting thing that's happening um I at that at
this moment um sort of I'll say I'll focus on the
north american market because alcohol alternative market is a little bit
more mature um in other countries for example the U.
K.
Um But what's happening right now is um national grocery trains and also
national liquor store chains are realizing that this is a serious category.
This isn't a trend.
Um It's certainly related to the health and wellness I
will say cosmological shift that is happening in society.
Which is a great thing. People are drinking less.
Um This is a statistic um phenomenally
young people specifically are drinking less.
Um So this is something that they're seeing in the numbers and they're seeing that
um they need to do what's called a full full set um Have a
whole dedicated section in their in their
grocery aisles dedicated to alcohol alternatives.
Um You know in order to kind of keep up with demand.
So a lot of these um a lot of retail chains whether they're you know a little
bit more regional or national are working right
now to develop um You know that initial dedicated
space in in in the grocery store for this particular category.
Which is really exciting I think in um in grocery and
beverage it's not too often that um you're actually part of
developing and creating the language around a whole new category.
I think you're right there's a big boom in non alcoholic drinks.
I really see it in all demographics at my house. Currently we're not drinking.
So I want to talk about your beverages
in particular morrigan what makes them so unique
when it comes to this new non alcoholic
category that is growing so quickly in popularity.
Sure so do
um was developed really um You know this is
I so first of all my background I'm a distiller
so actually come from the liquor business and specifically
I do I do my focuses on product development,
that's my job.
Um And you know being a woman,
being a woman in her late thirties um and also being a new mom.
Um You know I love alcohol, so does Katy perry.
We like we love to have fun, we love epicurean and central experiences. Um But
You know I think for ourselves and like a lot of other
people and by the way the vast majority of our customers,
they're not they're not 100% sober people.
These are just people who are looking to reduce the
amount of alcohol consumption in their life but they want
something a little bit more exciting than um you know
a mineral water or something to have with their dinner.
So just what um you know in the in the scope of alcohol alternatives is um
I call it a sparkling non alcoholic aperitif.
Um So you know I think the most common aperitif
cocktail in the United States that we're familiar with is say
something like a like a spritz um And it's really
um like um it's kind of like a wine spritzer.
So we instead of instead of wine um we use a combination of water, um fruit juices,
natural botanical extracts
um And then we actually incorporate some
functional elements into our beverage as well.
Um So the flavor we really wanted to focus
on leading with um an incredible flavor experience.
So it really felt like you're getting a you know, beautiful celebratory beverage.
That was a little bit of a journey in your mouth the same way as
um the same sort of experience you'd have with drinking a nice glass of wine,
whether it's at a cocktail party or just having
a nice little thing to unwind with after work.
Um But we also incorporated some functional botanicals in there.
Um You know I'm not a you know a natural health practitioner
but I have a huge interest in botanicals and plant based medicine.
Um So we actually collaborated with a wonderful ethnobotanist and for some of
these these functional attributes of the beverage not to you know get you,
she's hammered but rather to just sort of give you that relaxation
the effect of relaxation that comes with you know, having a drink
side effects minus the side effects.
I can't wait to try this morgen Mclaughlin, co founder of the soy.
Thank you so much for coming on Gordon