Above the bridge
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Above the bridge
Episode 186 RAIN EL DAKHAKHNI ( Owner of 76 Sips Bar Co. )
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RAIN El DAKHAKHNI is the founder of 76 Sips Bar Company, a Hawaii mobile bartending service focused on fresh juice, local ingredients, and craft cocktail quality for weddings, brand events, and private parties on Oahu. We talk through her route from working and opening bars to betting on herself, plus why she’d rather be called a “cocktail artist” than a mixologist.
We also get real about what most people never see: the long nights, the paperwork, and the stress of standing in a liquor license hearing where a few commissioners can decide your livelihood. Rain shares what helped her push through, how she keeps her standards when the market rewards shortcuts, and why honesty about product quality matters more than clever menu buzzwords.
Then we nerd out on the fun part: how she designs custom drink menus around an event’s theme, color palette, and glassware, including riffs on classics, acid-adjusted citrus, and ingredients like calamansi picked fresh from the farm. We also dig into the business side of growth, from social media marketing on Instagram and TikTok to delegation, training contractors, and pacing your spending so your passion doesn’t turn into chaos.
If you care about entrepreneurship, hospitality, and craft cocktails in Hawaii, hit play, then subscribe, share this with a friend planning an event, and leave a review so more people can find the show.
Welcome And Meet Rain
SPEAKER_04Okay, welcome to another edition of the Above the Bridge podcast. We're back, ready to rock and roll. Thank you for being patient. I was on a trip for my daughter's volleyball tournament. We're in California. We just got back and we're ready to continue recording these episodes. I'm excited to be back if this is your first time checking out the podcast on whatever platform you're listening to. Please like, subscribe, leave a comment. It means a lot to me. And thank you for taking time out to check us out on Above the Bridge podcast. Aloha. Okay, this week my guest owns a mobile bartending company. Her name is Rain L. DeCockney. I got it right.
SPEAKER_02Yes, you got it.
SPEAKER_04Alright. I uh recently seen her stuff on Instagram and I thought it was such a cool creative concept. And I'll get into it with a couple of her videos, but I want to know a little bit about you before you started this whole company.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. So uh before I started 76 Sips, um I worked at numerous bars, um, managed a few of them, opened a few of them from the start. Um, I worked at numerous mobile bar companies as well. Um honestly, I kind of worked at every single one on island before I uh started 76 Sips, maybe give or take one of the three. There's maybe 15 on island. Um, but yeah, so I did that first until I kind of felt like, you know what? I kind of have worked so many different places, done so many different things. I think it's about time that I try. If I stumble a few times, that's fine. That's just gonna happen. It's the norm, you know.
SPEAKER_04That's super cool. Were you always creative with your drinks when you're bartending? Because you have a lot of oh, okay.
SPEAKER_00Definitely, yeah. So um honestly, behind the bar, I always kind of used to be experimenting and especially like a lot of the different bars I worked. Um, even before I started working for the bar, the first thing that I would look at, whether before I decided whether or not I wanted to work there, I would uh go in, uh sit down at the bar, take a look at their menu, see what they have. That already kind of gave me some cues, like, hey, I would like working here, or hey, you know, maybe it's not a good fit. And then I'd also look at um the liquor that they'd have up on the shelf, like, oh wow, that's cool. I haven't used that before. Or, oh wow, you know, like they have the whole line of Portaleza, or, you know, wow, they have drambue here. That is it, you know, uh like that kind of stuff. So um, yeah, I used to do that to kind of gauge if it would be enjoyable for me to work there other than, you know, just for income. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Jambue is what? That's a liquorish liqueur, right?
SPEAKER_00No, I actually have a bottle up on my shelf. I have maybe like two to three hundred bottles of liquor, like specialty liquors all around me right now.
SPEAKER_04Party at your house.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah, I still live in a beef, so it's it's convenient. I don't know where it is. I think I just used it for an event. Okay. Darn. Well, yeah, I I have it somewhere around here. But it's a honey scotch liqueur to answer a question.
SPEAKER_04Oh, okay, okay.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_04I would never have guessed that.
SPEAKER_00It's delicious. So if, for example, like
Craft Cocktails Without The Attitude
SPEAKER_00if you drink uh penicillins, it's a popular Scotch uh New World Scotch cocktail now. Uh it's ginger, honey, scotch. Um, so oftentimes it's not traditionally prepared with drambue, but I will put that in there. Um plays really well off of everything that's already supposed to be in the cocktail.
SPEAKER_04Okay. So you're what they call mixologist.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, I don't know. I feel like there's such a heated uh debate right now of people like not wanting to be called mixologists, and I kind of get it because I feel like what keeps a lot of people away from the craft cocktail world or like fine dining in general, is they feel like there is a level of pretentiousness uh with a lot of everything about it, you know. And that's why a lot of bartenders, even though we enjoy, you know, crafting and you know, improving and you know, pulling from other knowledgeable people, they don't like to be called mixologists because they're like, oh no, wait, don't call us that. It's gonna, it's gonna throw people off. We're we're not we're not we're not pretentious, you know. So I don't know. It's I kind of like to I don't know. For for my like email sign off, I just put like cocktail artist or crap cocktail artist. Uh honestly, I kind of am like that's that's kind of closer to the way I feel about it anyway. But yeah, that makes sense.
SPEAKER_04It is a art, and you guys should be, I guess, labeled as artists. It's it's definitely a cooler, cooler title. I definitely would rather be called an artist than a mixologist. That makes it right.
SPEAKER_00I think it's easier to understand too, because people are like, mixala, what? Like, what even does that entail, you know? Yeah, I don't know.
SPEAKER_04I like the artist.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_04That sounds way more cool.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_04So
Why 76 Sips Is Named
SPEAKER_04how did you even start? Well, first off, I like the name and you kind of explained it to me, but can you explain it to our listeners how you came up with 76 Sips Bar Company?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. So uh I actually sat thinking about what I wanted to call my company name for like eight months. Um or no, sat on the logo for eight months. I thought of the name, and immediately as soon as I thought of it, I'm like, oh gone. That's the one. So 76 sips, people like I have done events like Townside uh or even like uh Kanyehoe side, and they're like, oh, what what does that mean? Like, do you need to get to the 77th sip? Like what what happens when you do? Like, does something bad happen? I'm like, no, no, no, no. That's not what it means. So what it does mean, uh, if you're going off the highway and you take uh 6A, it you see on the sign 76 south. So that's just the highway going into Ebba Beach. So there's Eva first, and then you get to Ebba Beach. Um, everyone kind of maybe knows a little bit about that. If you're from Ebba Beach, you say you're from Ebba Beach. If you're from Ebba, you do not say you're from Eva Beach. You know, it's the whole thing. But anyhow, I'm growing up.
SPEAKER_04Wait, wait, wait, what's the difference? Because I used to live Eva Beach for a little while.
SPEAKER_00It says like on the address. It says Ebba, I don't know. Eh. Uh, so there's that, and that's the first part. And then right when you get to like kind of around Safeway, does it turn into Eva Beach?
SPEAKER_04Oh, I okay. It's like the newer townhome pre-fab stuff, and then the old school where your auntie grew up, kind.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_04Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_00My uncle, um, I used to do electrical work with him like growing up. Like that was kind of like one of my first jobs. Um, and he's from like he's been here from like before Eva Beach was Ebba Beach, you know, when it was all sugarcane. I remember he used to tell me like he would go uh play with like in the pineapple fields. I remember he was telling me. And um, anyhow, he was like, Oh yeah, that that argument was heated like even back then, like you know, yeah. And he's also from Eva Beach.
SPEAKER_04He lives I never knew that. I guess I lived in Eva then, not Eva Beach.
SPEAKER_00I don't know. It should say on the address.
SPEAKER_04All right, but so you named your company after where you're from. That's pretty cool.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. I've grown up in Eva Beach. Uh I still currently live in Eva Beach. Um, yeah, uh my mom's house is literally like five minutes from here. So pretty convenient.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, you're in Raider for uh kitchen.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yep.
SPEAKER_04So how did you come up with the logo?
Building A Brand People Feel
SPEAKER_00The logo, so my boyfriend actually, shout out, uh he designed it on Instagram. Uh he made my logo. Um, he we went through rendition after rendition, and he kept showing me different things because I didn't know what I wanted and I'm extremely picky. So yeah, whenever you'd show me like different things, um, I'd be like, eh, I don't know how I feel about it. Eh, don't know how I feel about it. And he just kept modifying it and changing it uh until we kind of got something that I liked. So it's baby pink, brown, and yellow. Um kind of all over my house. I have like little baby pink things. So it's kind of one of my favorite colors. Um and yeah, yeah, it has a cocktail like a martini glass. So um in the craft cocktail world, um, we used stem glasses a lot simply to keep the drink colder for longer. So it just makes sense for me.
SPEAKER_04That's cool. I love the concept of how you created your uh logo and your name. I feel like in time your uh business will define the logo and the name, so then it doesn't matter, but it'll always have that part of you that has your like your connection, and I I think that's cool. It's kind of like what I explained to you, I have Above the Bridge as my as my company, as my podcast.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, it's wonderful. I love heartfelt stories like that that connect to businesses because I feel like, you know, in modern day, kind of we talked about a little bit, but in 2026 especially, people want to feel connected to whatever they're buying, whether that's a product, whether that's from a service business, doesn't matter what it is. People are very much lacking in connection and sick and tired of all the commercialization, you know, that we've been kind of having for the past few years. Um, so like especially with the emergence of TikTok. My dad actually used to be like the second or third head security uh from TikTok. Like he built the infrastructure, helped build the infrastructure.
SPEAKER_02Wow.
SPEAKER_00Um, anyhow, uh that's crazy. With the emergence of TikTok, uh, you are kind of seeing like less professional content, um very heartfelt um, you know, kind of connections to people that don't even know each other. So I feel like I've only kind of just recently kind of started to feel comfortable like showing who I am, who is behind the business, who's actually making the drinks, who's designing the menus, who is uh coordinating colors to go with their uh event theme for the cocktails. Um yeah.
SPEAKER_04That's super cool. I think you're right. I think people need that connection. I think it's kind of turning back into being more in person, and we're hoping that's that's the situation. I think even with the events that I do, I'm noticing less phones and less people on their screens and just being in the moment, enjoying the moment that you're in. And I think that's that's what the society needs is personal interaction and connection. You're right. Um yeah. And I guess that's what being a bartender is, right? Uh being in like in a bar, like you probably heard every single problem and you were everybody's counselor, and yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'd even feel like um, like for me, uh as a little kid, I was kind of the person that I have an older brother, for example, and he's very outgoing. Uh he is well, I guess he's graduating soon, but he wasn't a frat um in the mainland. And um he's very social. But I, on the other hand, when I was a little kid, I was the kind of person that was zip super quiet and kind of scared to go out and trying to socialize and make friends like on the playground. Um so bartending for me was almost a way to train my socialization skills. I got better, of course, as I grew up before started bartending, but it's definitely helped develop my personality a lot as I've grown into adulthood. And um, I've come across so many new people on a daily basis, even in the events business. You know, people come in from all corners of the world to have events here in Hawaii. And um yeah, I mean, it's just cool hearing about different stories and people feel more relaxed when they're drinking, of course. So it's easier to connect with them and to chat with them and get honest responses, um, in my opinion. Um, but yeah, it's it's it's helped me in so many different ways, honestly. You know, getting into this business.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and being in the industry is a crazy, it's a crazy life. Okay,
Bars, Hotels, And Nonstop Work
SPEAKER_04stop. Let's take a moment. I want to shout out our sponsor, Defenhawaii. They've been my sponsor from day one. They have some new stuff out for summer. If you go to their website, defenhawaii.com. And look what they have. Put it in the shopping cart. And when you check out, use promo code ATBPod upon checkout. You'll get 15% off your entire purchase. Defenhawaii.com. Let them know above the bridge podcast sent you. Aloha. Uh, what were some of the bars you worked at in Hawaii? Oh, yeah, I've got to be.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I mean, I've I've worked everywhere. Um, so let's see. Uh I opened up uh the bar at the lineup. Uh what was it called? Um gosh, I don't remember, but it's the bar at um right above the wave pool. So that's in Eva Beach. Oh, okay, okay. Um yeah, it's kind of near Huakale. So I opened that up. Uh I opened up the Gatsby. Oh, they're still going out, but they changed ownership. Um I worked at Straights for a little bit.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00I worked at Art and Waikiki for a little bit. Um, I opened up Waikiki Brewings 808 craft house in Ko'olina. What else? I know I'm forgetting a few. Have you done nightclubs? I mean, Lava Tola, I opened that bar up as well. It's not open anymore, but it was at the Alohilani Waikiki Beach, which used to be Pack Beach. Um, so Lava Tola actually had lobby bar, which lobby bar is kind of an older brand um that Hide he took and he tried to revive at the Alohilani. Um, it was fun, but the location I think was maybe a little bit more.
SPEAKER_04It was kind of narrow, well, it was like yeah, it was a weird, weird feel in there. I've been in there.
SPEAKER_00It was just tricky because the original location was a lot bigger, um, more spacious, you know, it's just different. So it's hard to, you know, convert something still with that old branding and people still remembered it. Um, back when it used to be near Red Lobster um in Waikiki.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, was that the modern hotel, right?
SPEAKER_00I believe so. Yeah, I didn't work at the original one, but um, he kind of tried to revive it. Um, he still owns Sky Waikiki and he's still running that, doing awesome. Um, but that kind of transitioned me into working uh for hotels. Um, I kind of forgot this, but always I'd be working like between three and like 10 jobs at a time. I know that kind of sounds like a lot, uh, but I'd have like maybe two, two or three full-time or part-time jobs, and then I'd have like numerous like events, contract contracting jobs for different companies. Um so yeah, while I was working at all these bars, I was doing events on the side. So I pretty much was working like six to seven days a week on average. I'd maybe have like a day or two off like every few weeks. Um, did I really need to be working that much? Probably not. You know, I'm still pretty young, but uh I don't know. I I guess I'm a I'm a bit of a workaholic, you know. Uh for me that was kind of like how I got rid of any other issues. I kind of just tried to work it off, you know.
SPEAKER_04That's smart. At least you make you money too.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, exactly. Right. It's it's a good, it's a good way that's not uh it's not as self-damaging as like drinking away your problems.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, that's true. I don't know. It's a lot better than yeah, but making other people drink their away their problems helps your problems.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I'm like, yeah, just work it off, work it off. Um yeah, so um I worked at Art Rugger Reef first, uh, and I did that for a few years, and then I transitioned into a alokulani Waikiki Beach after I left La Batola that was inside Alokulani. Um, yeah, so I actually still work at the Alokulani till today. It's just I get to kind of work, you know, whenever I'm free of my business. And the management there is honestly amazing. Um Brandon, he's been there since I started working there. Top tier manager. Honestly, probably one of the best managers I've ever had. And I feel like a lot of what I've learned about trying to manage a team, um, I've learned definitely one of the people, he's one of the main people that I've learned from. Um yeah, before that he was at the Sheraton. Um, honestly, I think for like 50 years. 50 years, something like that. Um yeah, so he's still over at the a Lucky Lani right now. But um, yeah, I have a team now. Uh technically, I don't know, around I'm not sure how much it is now. I started off with 28 in the beginning, but you know, I was kind of still learning. I didn't know how many events I'd get, and that's contractors, of course. So they get jobs, new jobs or availability changes, etc. But I started off with 28 people on my list of people that I can call for events.
SPEAKER_04Oh, that's that's crazy. How did you even come up with the idea? This is what you wanted to do, and how how
Getting Fired For Telling Truth
SPEAKER_04did you oh say, okay, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna create my own company and I'm gonna I'm gonna try to run it and and take off with it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Uh let's see. How do I explain this lightly? So uh back when I was saying earlier, uh, I work for numerous mobile bar companies, right? Um, other than record bars. Um oh yeah, I totally forgot. I opened up another bar recently what I could keep. So Which one was that? I don't really want to mention them by name because um but I was kind of already really busy with the business. And I I was hired there to kind of like get them set up, but you know how it can kind of be difficult if management is not putting like if you tell them to do certain things and make certain changes and then they don't do it, it's like okay, well I can only do as much as I'm able to do if you allow me to do it, you know.
SPEAKER_04Help me help you.
SPEAKER_00Exactly, yeah. So kind of while I was working over there, I was working at another mobile bar, and that mobile bar has a good reputation on island, they've been open for a very long time on this island. Anyhow, so they were not honest with their customers about their product quality. And I was not how do I say this lightly? Because this is almost like an illegal, kind of like a legal situation a little bit. Uh so they weren't honest about their product quality with their clients. And I said it to the wrong person. I guess it was someone that helped orchestrate their events, and they were not honest to that person. And you know, I kind of just said it in casual conversation, like, oh, I just wish we used fresh things, you know, like super casual like that um at an event, and not in front of anybody, like, you know, just like oh, I'm eating taking my lunch break. Oh, I w you know, I wish we used fresh juices, but hey, whatever, you know, it's not my job. It's not my it's not my business, you know. Um, but anyhow, I mentioned it to the wrong person and the next day I get a text, hey Rain, uh, you're fired, and uh we need your shirt back. And uh yeah. And I I was working for these people for like a year and a half. So and like consistently working for them. And we were honestly, I was honestly pretty good friends with like the daughters of the owner. So it was like a little bit like, whoa, what did I do? I'm like, I don't know. I still don't know at the time, they didn't say why. I only found out later what it was for. But anyhow, so that I was kind of like, you know what? Since nobody else is is kind of doing it consistently. You know, people kind of just you know, I almost kind of got a little like frustrated, I guess, you know, because I feel like in bars too, like um and I feel like in hotels in general and and you know, just different bars, you'll kind of see like buzzwords on menus like fresh, uh made to order, high quality. You'll see all these different buzzwords. But then you find out later, you know, like it's like for example, McDonald's, they'll pre-package their items and they'll bake it there so they can say bake to order or made to order. So it kind of sounds like you're getting a high quality product, but in reality getting processed BS. Yeah, in reality, it's like is it really good quality now?
SPEAKER_04Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_00Because and you know, it's tricky because how much does the customer care nowadays? I feel like you're we're transitioning more into uh customers actually caring what's consuming, especially with wellness, you know, wellness um becoming more um more important for for people. Um people are caring more than they used to. Um so that's kind of where my pain point is, my passion is it's bringing quality options to the market for events because I feel like it's either really simple, where you're kind of just getting vodka sodas, whiskey cokes, you get a beer, you get a hard seltzer. Those are options. Or um there are you know, there I'm sure there's tons of alternatives, and I've only worked at some of them, and some of them have been great. You know, I don't mean to bash anyone, but I just wanted to bring some of what we've done at craft cocktail bars where I'm like, wow, this is a great program, you know, everyone's passionate about their work. People want to create new recipes, they're inspired by other bartenders. I wanted to bring some of that that I, you know, I really loved and was super happy with and bring that into events because um I remember my manager Brandon at Alohilani, he told me before, I was like, Why have you been in events for so long? I asked him that before, kind of innocently. And um he was like, Well, Rain, um, events you will get to see so many different things, celebrations, um, milestones. Um, and you will see a lot of people come together that won't ever come together again. Or, you know, they're just a very special thing, you know, versus your day-to-day bar operations.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, and he said that happy, positive atmosphere atmosphere is what I really love about events and why I've been doing it for so long. And honestly, I couldn't agree with him more. Like, I really couldn't agree with him more. I mean, it's it's really cool to to, you know, help bring something to life and help make it even better um for these special occasions, you know. Of course, I miss seeing my regulars, you know, that you would see at a bar, you'd see them every Thursday and Sunday, you know, and you get to know people over a long period. But honestly, with events, it's kind of like that too. Um, you get to know them for that event, and then they'll come back for their anniversary, they'll get you again, they'll refer you to their cousin's wedding. Oh, yeah. You know, that kind of stuff. So it's just like it's it's a really good feeling. Yeah, and that's that's why I really enjoy doing events.
SPEAKER_04What was the biggest
First-Year Mistakes And Milestones
SPEAKER_04challenge you had trying to start your company?
SPEAKER_00Hmm, the biggest challenge that I had trying to start my company. Hmm. Well, I kind of felt like for me, one of the mistakes that I kind of made, um, and I kind of only know this now. People tell you never to run into anything business related if it's emotional in any sort of way, because that's a surefire way to kind of screw yourself over.
SPEAKER_04Well, like if you have a emotional attachment to a certain thing, you try to kind of implement that more or push that that thing more. Oh, okay, that makes sense.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, like, because if you're not going into something that is literally gonna last years or it's like a big decision, right? That it's a commitment, you're not going into it with a clear head, then um, you know, you can end up losing a lot of money, you can end up maybe like being naive like I was and maybe getting used by some people, you know, maybe making friends that you thought were friends and maybe they weren't actually your friends. You know, I'm sure you got we hear this all the time, right? In media. Um, but yeah. So I I've I've learned a lot in my first year of business. We made one year in uh April. Um I didn't do any celebration yet, uh, but I'm gonna have one soon enough. This big festival that we just did um on Saturday. Um, I was kind of just like, you know what, let me just take care of that and make sure everything's good for that, and then I can plan what I want to plan for 76 after the fact.
SPEAKER_04Nice. That's super cool. And one year is a a huge milestone. A lot of businesses fold within the first year, and I think uh with your mindset, I think you'll continue to grow. Okay, let's take a short break from talking to Rain. I want to shout out our sponsor, iRep Detail Supply. They are your one-stop shop superstore. Okay, let's take a short break from talking to Rain and shout out our sponsor, iRep Detail Supply. They're your one-stop shop superstore for everything you need to detail your vehicle. They have a store at Temple Valley Shopping Center, they have a new one they just opened in YPO, and they also have one in Las Vegas. But if not, go to their website, iRepdetailsupply.com, and look what they have. If you have any questions, give them a call or go to their store. Their staff is highly knowledgeable about everything they have in their store, all their products and how to use them. But if not, irepdetailsupply.com promo code ATBPodapon. Check out 15% off your purchase. Aloha. I do love your social
Winning A Liquor License Hearing
SPEAKER_04media. I love the fat for one thing that hit home with me is being in front of the liquor commission board and trying to get your license. I've done those, I've talked at those things and explained events, and it's just nerve-wracking because you're you're basically your livelihood is gonna be determined by these three people who don't know you, and it's yeah, I've never thought to video it. That was pretty smart, but it I it it how stressful was that for you trying to get your liquor license?
SPEAKER_00Oh my goodness. So um I have to first off thank the liquor commission 1000%, because um, even prior to me getting in the courtroom, um, they answered all my questions. They tried their best with the information that they had available. And um, you know, all of the people, like the women uh that helped answer my questions and responded back to my emails quickly, they tried their best to to help me as much as they could. And I, you know, I feel like you hear a lot about the Honolulu Liquor Commission, like especially the thing that happened recently with O Olohana brewing. Um, I believe, if I'm not mistaken, they closed down um because they couldn't get um a specific liquor license to sell their beer. I think they had the license to brew their beer, but they didn't have the license to sell it. Um but my experience with them, even though things felt a little bit government, you know, a little bit difficult, like I had to go to different government buildings to get different documents. I had to kind of run around with my head like with my head cut off like a chicken, uh kind of. Um but at the end of the day, there were like you know, I got it done, I had to get forms renotarized over and over and over again. Our event got pushed back because of the rains, so I had to redo the whole process all over again. Um yeah. Um and then finally, you know, I kind of thought, you know, like, hey, it's a shot in the dark if I'm gonna get the liquor license because you know, the deadline is you have to submit it six weeks prior to um your event. And it was hard getting certain things and you know, it the the things that I'm asking for, it's very particular. If it's not exactly like this, even if it's slightly off, they will not accept it. So, you know, they might have sent something and I'm like, oh no, sorry. I just called them, I just got off the phone with them. They said that they need they it needs this correction, you know, need these corrections and it's stuff that I maybe didn't have access to or couldn't get the information to myself. It's not like I can do it, you know. I needed it from them. Um but uh yeah, so finally I was like, you know what? I'm just gonna pray that we get. I'm just gonna hope and you know, if I don't get it, you know, I have tried my best and I've learned a lot. That's what I was thinking. You know, I I wasn't sure whether we were gonna get it or not. I was extremely nervous. Um but uh I went into the courtroom, thank God I wore a suit because everyone else was well dressed as well. So I'm like, oh, thank God I made the right choice for that. Um so I went to the courtroom, a few other people kind of went before me. Uh so I kind of was saying, like, oh shit, I didn't know that they were gonna ask us questions. You know, I thought they were just gonna look over all of our paperwork and see yes or no. Yeah, say yes or no, and I'd be on my way. Uh but uh yeah, no, they were asking tons of questions to like the people before. Um, and I was like, there was two women in the courtroom and I was the other one, and the other one looked at least my mom's age, you know. So like she she looked like she knew what she was doing, you know. I'm like the only kid in the courtroom right now. And uh yeah. So when I went up to the uh podium, or not podium, the seat, um, I sat down, introduced myself, and was kind of like holding my breath, like, oh, okay, uh, you know, this is our event and uh this is what's gonna happen. And, you know, I did my best to organize everything as much as I could and get everything that was requested. Um they asked me questions and uh I'm I just tried to make sure to answer them as best as I possibly could and you know just hope, hope, hope, hope that they say yes at the end. Um, because yeah, like liquor licenses, it's so strict. You don't know if it's something like a little tiny thing that you didn't put or you forgot to put in the paperwork, and they're like, oh, nope, sorry, have to come back next time. The next court hearing is two weeks. Good luck. You know, I wasn't sure. But the commissioners were very friendly, and it doesn't show in the video. Someone commented this on the video. I I don't remember if it was on TikTok or Instagram, but they're like, Oh, the commissioners like so hoity toity, like hi makka maka, you know.
SPEAKER_04And they look that way though.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I don't know. I feel like from my perspective, uh they're like just from examining their faces, like I felt like they felt that I was nervous and they were kind of trying to ease my nerves. Like, I don't know if you remember, like in the beginning, there was a guy laughing a little. I could tell like they were trying to ease my nerves a little bit, you know, because they're like, huh, what's this kid doing? Probably what's this kid doing in the chair? I'm trying to apply for the liquor license.
SPEAKER_01Like, are you even old enough to drink? You know, sure, like they were looking at me like that, you know, but you know, they g they gave me the liquor license, so I'm happy.
SPEAKER_04That must have been a wild experience. I think
Pressure, Family, And Being Misjudged
SPEAKER_04gratifying too is like you you're taking the time to bet on yourself. And I I always tell this to people that I meet that are doing new things, is no one's gonna have your vision. No one's no one's necessarily have to believe in your vision, except you. And you gotta make the changes and do the do the work to uh see your vision come to reality. And uh that takes a lot of effort, it takes a lot of uh determination, and it takes a lot of self-belief. And any of those things break down, then then it's done. So it's like for you to understand that and and okay, it takes a strong person. And honestly, like the way uh being in the industry I'm in, I've noticed, and I hate to say a lot of females are very entitled, and they're not uh strong enough or willing enough to uh make moves like that. And and I have a daughter and I've been trying to instill those kind of values and and mindset into her. And having people like you on my show that are strong women that are doing cool things, I always let her see the these episodes so that she can learn and hopefully like maybe not right now, but in the future, be like, oh, I remember that. I can do that. That's the that's the same kind of mindset I have. So uh I think for you, you should be proud. I don't know if you are, but I would be super proud.
SPEAKER_00Thank you so much. Yeah, uh, I mean, I I don't even what to say. Thank you so much. Um I don't know, it's so hard because I feel like a lot of like entrepreneurial women or strong-willed women or I don't know. I'm my zodiac sign is a Taurus. I'm not super into zodiacs, but I feel like for me personally, I do have a bit of a bull-like, like bull-like personality. And I feel like women like me or women that are really gung-ho, trying as hard as they can. Um, what whether that be, you know, freelancing or starting a business. Uh it's we oftentimes may come come off like um, how do I not curse and say this? Like a B? Like a bitch.
SPEAKER_04You can curse.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. Yeah. You can come off kind of like um like who who does, you know, she thinks she is, you know, like calm down. Yeah, pushy, pushy. My boyfriend was just saying pushy, yeah. Um like yeah, and you know, I think it it makes it harder for us to uh hold on to close friends. Uh I think it makes us harder for us to find partners. I think it makes us harder in so many different ways. And you know, like for me personally, it also it's hard with family because um my background, um, I'm half Egyptian, Lebanese, and then half like Texan Texan Southern, um, the Mexican. So like Southern Arab basically are the two mixes.
SPEAKER_04So it's a good mix.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's kind of two desert different um biomes that just came together. But um, yeah, basically, I got two very conservative uh minded cultures that mix together. So me going into the liquor business, they're like, Oh, are you kidding me? Like, you know, like the the names I've been called, like you know Stanley. Oh yeah, by my own family. And you know, I feel like that toughened me out a lot, and because I'm already used to being called all kinds of stuff by my family, you know. If you call me a a curse word, I'm like, ah, okay.
SPEAKER_04I heard it from my parents. I don't I don't need it, like you're you can't affect me.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, exactly. So um, yeah, um, I guess what I'm saying is, yeah, it's it's it's hard. Like I wanted to get into bartending at a young age, and you know, I was happy about it and passionate about it, and it's like I couldn't really talk about it with my family because they wouldn't approve, they look down on me, they still look down on me. Um and other people I remember, like someone mentioned to my mom, for example, like, oh wow, the business your daughter is doing is so cool. And she's like, Oh, yeah, all right. You know, kind of like that. And uh I she told me this and I was like, maybe you should listen to them, you know, like I don't know what to tell you, mom, you know. Uh but yeah, so for me it's kind of just like you just gotta keep pushing forward. Like right before I got the liquor license, I kind of was going through a hardship with a business situation, I guess I'll say, that was also kind of close to my heart. And um I didn't let it affect me, you know. That's the thing. You can't let things affect you when you're in business. You can be upset by it, but be upset, process it, move on because the less you get emotionally damaged by things or let it affect you, you know, the more you can just get done and you know, stay sad, less sad for less long of a time. I guess is what I'm saying. Like put that in the background, take your win, be happy with the win, and just be like, yeah, I still did it, even though I was going through something, you know. And I still powered through.
SPEAKER_04That's the truth that that um like I said, like nobody's gonna bel believe in your vision, only you have to. And in this industry, I hate to say it because it happened to me many times. You'll get stabbed in your back, you'll get mistreated, you'll get uh lied to, and I've had people do it to my face, and I uh told myself when I got in this industry I am gonna conduct my business ethically and honest. Whether it was events that were successful or not, I always had that. And anybody who has ever worked with me can only say that that's how fat is and that's how my company is. And I think with you, you can be a strong person, but do things the right way with Aloha, and that's how you're gonna be successful. And um I think you're already on that path. When you're um calling yourself an artist, that's that's already something different, and that's already taking the bartender out of the bar. You're already that shows creativity. Exactly. Okay, let's take a short moment to shout out our sponsor, Medicinal Mushroom Hawaii. They are a locally based medicinal mushroom company right here in Hawaii, and they have five tinctures of extracted mushrooms. And if you don't know what uh medicinal properties these mushrooms have, go to their website, medmushroomhigh.com. They have lion's meat, chaga, turkey tail, red reichi, and the newest one is cortiset. And I take all five religious. I take majority of them in the morning with my coffee. I'll take the red reachy at night to sleep good. And it's been a positive uh positive thing in my life, and I take them every single day. But go to their website, medmushroomhigh.com. If you use promo code ATBPod upon checkout, all capital letters, you'll get 45% off your first tincture of extracted mushrooms. Give them a look, medmushroomhigh.com. Aloha.
Designing Custom Menus By Theme
SPEAKER_04How do you create your drinks and your recipes? Because some of your stuff looks fucking delicious.
SPEAKER_00Oh, let me show you actually. I did an event recently. It was a photo shoot with I believe five, five or six gorgeous models. It was at a beach, and um, it was a partnership with Olina Swimwear crafted by Freya, I believe. Uh polished with Leigh, and then two photographers, Chloe and Mila. So um, I had my brand color palette laminated with me um so I could show the photographers and everyone involved. I'm gonna do this in this order. So whatever swimsuits, whatever jewelry you want to showcase, just let me know which color you want the cocktail to be. To go with it so everything remains cohesive. So this is kind of what I was using. I have a F-150. Um, so I was just making cocktails like on the the tailgate.
SPEAKER_03Tailgate. Okay.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So this is what it was actually had as a reference the day of, and I showed to them. So I actually drew out all the cocktails beforehand. Sorry, the coffee spilled on it, but um I drew out all the cocktails beforehand. So they this is actually all the cocktail glassware shapes and then the actual cocktails that were gonna go in them. So we have kind of like a pupper fish, a bird glass, cucumber drink, matcha drink, um, a humu humu nuku nuku apwaa glass. Um yeah. So I sketched it all out first. I looked at the glassware that I had, I looked at the color palette while I was planning, and I kind of decided, oh, I want this color to go in this class, I want this to go in this glass. What drink can I make that goes with this that makes sense? It's cohesive. Um, and yeah, that's how I kind of came up with it. And um, I wrote down some ideas and um tried to make sure they're different enough, and the girls can still drink it if they wanted to. And yeah, we had some good options.
SPEAKER_04So you create your own drinks just from ideas or like oh wow.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_04So you can create you can create drinks just according to the event you're gonna be doing, then it's not just a set menu of okay, this is what I have to offer. You can create it for that event.
SPEAKER_00This is a menu that we did for James' birthday. So I use like some nicknames or some things that kind of go with the event. So it was his 95th birthday.
unknownOh.
SPEAKER_00So we did a French 95. The classic cocktail recipe is a French 75. So we did kind of a riff on that. Um, for the photo shoot, I um completely made all those recipes and wasn't riffs on any classic cocktails. Uh, for this one, it was like a riff on a whiskey sour, Uncle Hero Sour Sour. That's his um nickname, Uncle Hero. Um but yeah, he also liked tea, so I incorporated black tea into the recipe. Tiki bitters played off the tea notes pretty well. Um, I acid adjusted the pineapple so I didn't have to put lemon juice in the sour as the traditional recipe is. Um yeah, I kind of like to do a lot of cordials um and acid adjustments with um how do I say it? They call it white powders in different countries. It's not actually like it's just like different acid adjusters and recipe adjusters, basically.
SPEAKER_04But yeah. So you you come up with all these at your house prior to the event and figure out how it works. Exactly. Oh, you and your boyfriend must be getting drunk every night.
SPEAKER_01Oh no.
SPEAKER_00But yeah, like I'm looking around and and I look at all these liquor bottles, and I just think of recipes kind of based on a color palette and based on classic cocktail recipes that I already know of, I can do riffs on. Do you want to show me the revolt one, Ben? The revolt menu that you just had?
SPEAKER_04That's super cool.
SPEAKER_00Here, just hand me the pile. The revolt one is on the bottom. Yeah. Thank you. Okay. Um, so this is kind of a simple looking menu. We do the menus to kind of be cohesive with whatever their branding is. So if it's, you know, clean, simple, light branding, kind of trendy, um, I just did the menu as simple as possible. As simple as possible, just black and white. And that was to not be loud, be nice and cohesive, you know. So we think about those things like that. It was a collab with Alo Yoga and Revolt. So I had these um specially made for the event. So um this was a um like a vitamin shot. So we use Mahi Pono, they're based in Maui, uh, for citrus. We use Copole honey, um, everything I juice fresh. Nice um, so we use that for the shot. Um, I had a specialty smoothie. It's kind of like Arowan style, a little bit. So we did that. And then Power Surge, that was kind of like our electrolyte mock tail. It was kind of like a vegetal-ish um electrolyte drink, and it was in a uh to-go bottle, so like a water bottle, so they could take it to go, but it was clear, so you could see like the color gradient with the cucumber. I'm gonna have to attach a picture if you want, somewhere around.
SPEAKER_02That's super cool.
SPEAKER_00Um, but yeah, so they actually are expanding um into a second floor, and I don't wanna announce anything yet, but Christine told me something back when we did this event. Uh, so we'll see what she announces. But that's super cool.
SPEAKER_04So basically, say if I had an event, which I do, like say I I do like say I'm gonna throw a Super Bowl party, a big Super Bowl party, and I came to you with certain aspects. You could just create drinks that would match the idea or theme that I'm going with.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. So we actually did do a football-themed party uh for Jamie Amorin. She is a um model, um, but she also owns Create and Thrive Media. So her boyfriend uh loves the Eagles team. You know, I'm not super into football, but um, everything was like green and white. All of the cocktails on our menu were green. We have like um long uh thin placemat grass placemats that we put, oh runners, table runners that we put on our tables to kind of go with the football theme. Um, and then we even had like little pondon shots for the specialty shot on the menu. Okay. Um so it had like little pondon jellies on the bottom. Um, so yeah, the whole menu was kind of green. Um, and it kind of reflected the crowd, like what they actually liked to drink while still keeping everything very cohesive. Um, our bar also, it has LED lighting built into the waves. Um, so those uh the lights were green as well for that party.
SPEAKER_04Okay. Well, so that's that's creative. That's so I I could come that's good to know because we got some stuff cooking too that we would probably want craft cocktails for. And it would be a signature dish just or signature drink just to our event.
SPEAKER_01Exactly.
SPEAKER_04Oh, that'd that'd be kind of cool.
Favorite Drinks And Local Farm Fruit
SPEAKER_04What is like your favoriteest drink to make? Like what do you love to oh wait? What is your favorite drink to make and what is your favorite one to drink?
SPEAKER_00Um, to make and to drink. That's a tricky one. To drink, I know the answer already. Let's see, where's my compari, bib? Or Fifth Street? Is it somewhere around here? No? Did I drink all it? No. Oh, and I think I was in the garage. Hold on. He's gonna grab it real quick.
SPEAKER_04That's cool. You guys be taste testing and making cocktails and just be getting drunk every day.
SPEAKER_00I try to make small portions if I'm if I'm taste testing, you know. It's still liquor, so it's expensive, you know.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, that very true.
SPEAKER_00You know, I only just started recently able to get sponsorships like uh thank god um shout out Kohana Keya, uh based in Kamia. Uh we they sponsored our uh recent festival with Trial by Fire and Crow Creator Adventure Park.
SPEAKER_04Oh, it's upstairs. My friend's um barbecue company is attached to them.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah, no, they're little piggy. Oh, this little piggy?
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00I know them too. Hey, no, they're super cool.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, he's our DJ. Oh DJ Toma. Toma.
SPEAKER_01Oh, he DJs?
SPEAKER_04He's one uh he was one of the best DJs in probably in the United States. He used to DJ in Vegas and stuff like he just did, he did two of our laid back RB parties. He he just did our our last uh laid back.
SPEAKER_00I think I remember them telling me that too. And I just clicked right now. Oh my goodness, that's crazy. Shout out to DJ Toma.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Oh my goodness. Well, yeah, um, I don't know. He's grabbing the bottle of compari from upstairs. A lot of people like that don't like maybe drink craft cocktails, they're like, what the heck is campare? You know? It is a red bitter liqueur. I love it, absolutely love it. It's made in um Italy traditionally. Um, it is a less sweet version of Aperol. So if you like Aperl spritz, give Kampari a try. Um, I mix it uh equal parts with gin. I absolutely adore Fitz Street Gin from Halimali, I believe. Distilling. Yeah. I met them recently at a golf tournament. We have so much liquor, you can't find it. No, it's fine. Or maybe. Uh so I mix equal parts with Kamparian gin and then grapefruit juice. I've kind of recently added coconut, uh, cream of coconut. I house make it and then I uh slow cook it for like over an hour and a half until it starts to caramelize and turn brown a little bit. Um, it kind of just gives a warmer, toastier flavor to the cream of coconut. I haven't, I've maybe only seen like a caramelized cream of coconut once in a video online, but I haven't seen it anywhere on island yet. But um I add that in as the sweetener option. I don't add any simple syrup. Um and then lime juice for the extra acidity. The grapefruit and the compari, it's already pretty bitter by itself, but I like to add even more bitterness so I add the lime juice as well. Um, and yeah, you can even uh put it in a wine glass with some ice and top it off with like peaver tree grapefruit soda. Very pretty.
SPEAKER_04What would you call it? What would you call it?
SPEAKER_00Uh you know, I haven't named it till this day.
SPEAKER_04Oh you gotta name it.
SPEAKER_00What is the name? I don't know. I mean, it kind of goes with our logo color a little bit, like this baby pink color. Yeah, it's very pretty.
SPEAKER_04Um I'm gonna have you design an above the bridge uh cocktail.
SPEAKER_00Sick. Love it. Let's do it.
SPEAKER_04That's super cool. And like you said, all your ingredients are super fresh and what locally grown and and that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. Exactly. I'm actually working on editing a video right now. Um, just the day prior to the festival. Uh we went out to Wai'Ne, where my boyfriend's mom's and like his whole family basically are farmers, I guess, um, in Lulaluale Valley. So we took the drive out there and we went to the farm and we were picking calamansi ourselves off of the trees. There are numerous numerous trees there on the farm. We were picking tamarind. Um, sometimes there's grapefruit available, sometimes there's other fruits available. Um, but yeah, we picked maybe 40 pounds of calamansi. Um, so that's like four bags that are this big. Um, I'm gonna post up the video soon for that. I'm almost done with this.
SPEAKER_02That's awesome.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so we went and we picked everything, and then uh the next day it was kind of like a caiparinha style um cocktail. So we just washed the calamances well and then we muddled it in with uh castor sugar. Uh we didn't use um raw sugar, we wanted it kind of closer to the style that the Brazilians consumed it. Um traditionally it's lime, but yeah, we we wanted something local. I could could have gone with Mahi Pono, but I wanted to be able to pick it fresh off the tree like the day prior.
SPEAKER_04And they had it. That's super cool.
SPEAKER_00Kalamansi available.
SPEAKER_04So ethically, you can say your stuff is fresh. Yes.
SPEAKER_00Um, this is what goes to the earlier cocktail I was talking about. So this is probably my favorite thing to drink right here. Honestly, like I drink it as a shot, you know, chilled.
SPEAKER_04Really? Okay, I gotta try that.
SPEAKER_00And then shout out to Kohana. They sponsored our festival at Coral Creator Adventure Park the other day on Saturday. Um, yeah, no, so good stuff. Kohana, um, it's a sugar agricole rum. Um, so Brazilians, they don't even really consider cachaca, which is their uh spirit basically of Brazil. They don't even really consider it rum because it's done, made so differently from traditional rums. But um yeah, honestly, like I wanted to go with a local option, and I feel like a lot of people can compare this in a similar-ish ballpark range to cachasa. It has that similar, funky kind of rum uh flavor that's different from standard like silver rums or aged rums.
SPEAKER_04That's super cool. How
Studying The Craft And Certifications
SPEAKER_04much research do you put behind your drinks?
SPEAKER_00Um, I mean, I feel like for me, I'm honestly like always reading, always, always, always reading and always consuming like cocktail content online. Um and I am like a member of USB G United States Bartenders Um Guild. Uh so they have meetings on Island, um, all the bar professionals, um, and then sometimes we meet with brands, like I don't quite remember what's the last brand we met with, but it was like an Irish gin brand. Oh, uh Drum Shambeau. We we met with them. Um, enjoyed delicious uh gin at what was the restaurant? Lady Elaine. I just did an event with them with Creative Order.
SPEAKER_04Okay, we were just next to them yesterday or sat Saturday. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah. No, they do they do uh good food. Um Mediterranean, I believe, style food. Um but anyhow, yeah, so they had an event there and we were getting educated on their gin um and learning new things. So they have like whole like education seminars with USBG for bar professionals on islands. So um, even for me, like I was uh going under training to get my Somalia. Uh so for people who don't know what that is, it's a wine certification. Um, it can be hundreds and hundreds of dollars, especially for the different levels. So um I'm super grateful that I got a scholarship from Aloha Wine Foundation on Island by uh Patrick.
SPEAKER_04That's not an easy job. I know what somebody who's actually trying to become one, and they can he told me he's uh the GM at Royce, his name is Tai Tai, and he's becoming a tamale and like they you gotta be able to name the vineyard, the kind of wine, the grape when it was bottled, when the grape grew. I don't know. I was like, yeah, tell all that by a taste, like there's no way that's a that's a rough job.
SPEAKER_00You gotta know all the the geographic different things as well.
SPEAKER_04And what year? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Like when I was taking the test, I didn't pass by three percent. It was so bad that the the the instructor was laughing, he was like, What the heck? You didn't pass by three percent. This is so sad, you know. Like right at the cut line, you know, where it's like if you just were passed by one or two questions additionally, you would have passed. For me, um, I've always kind of been a spirits expert, if you want to call it.
SPEAKER_02Um, okay.
SPEAKER_00You know, I like wine, and definitely, like for me, what I do, I'll mix liquor with wine and I'll make wine cocktails.
SPEAKER_04Um you could do that.
SPEAKER_00Oh, so delicious. So, like sangrias, you can mix rose with vodka and different uh juices um to make you know stronger wine cocktails so you can get the flavor of the wine, you get the strength of a cocktail. It's honestly there's so much cool stuff that you can do with wine, and there's so many different wines. Um, so I do love wine for sure. But um, for me, I I definitely like to mix it with liquor. But yeah, so like there's a liquor section on the test, and I scored 100% on that section. But for everything else, it was like just a little short. But that's okay. I mean, I'm gonna keep trying. Um it's very important for me to get it. Um, and yeah, that's that's just how it goes. You know, you keep falling until you achieve, right?
SPEAKER_04Until you succeed, yeah, definitely.
Social Media As The Growth Engine
SPEAKER_04Um, I notice social media you're becoming more predominant and putting a lot of stuff out there. Your stuff is super nice. It's oh, thank you. Well did, and you're very uh personable behind the camera. Or I mean in front of the camera. And how important is social media to growing your business?
SPEAKER_00Oh, it's it's it's integral. It's integral to growing your business.
SPEAKER_04I mean nice words.
SPEAKER_00I feel like oh yeah. I mean, I feel like if you are not active on social media, I don't care if you are the best in the business. I don't care what industry it's in, you know, if you haven't been, you know, building your, you know, connections for 12 years with your business, you are gonna be shooting yourself in the foot every single time that you are not showcasing what you're doing on social media because people are active on social media daily, daily, they're consuming media for hours a day, and they're not getting paid to do it. They do so willfully. So if you are not leveraging that as a small business owner or even bigger business owner, if you're not doing that, what are you doing? You know? And um for me, it's it's honestly like people want to understand you. They do want to understand what you're doing. You know, for me before I started to be more active on socials, um, people would come to my events and be like, whoa, I didn't even know this was available. This is a thing on Oahu. Like you can all of this is available. You know, I've done a lot of active events and you know, different higher-level like fine-dining events now. I did like a 13-course whiskey tasting with um the Shane. Um and uh they're kind of like a wine food and wine society. Um, and anyhow, yeah, I didn't showcase any of that really. I have all the media. I have tons of professional photography media because I was adamant about get the media, figure out how to use it later. You know, I was, you know, very passionate. And um, sorry, phone, phone glitch for a second. Um, yeah, so I I've kind of been more like, you know, people don't want professional content, people just want to understand, and they need to understand in a legible way. So, you know, overcomplicating their brain is is not always the right way to do it, you know.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and that's that's the first thing people look for, right? If you tell them you're you have a business, they oh, what's your IG? And exactly. It's it it's a worldwide uh marketing tool if you use it correctly. Yeah, I definitely use it. Um future-wise, where do you see your company in the next five years?
Scaling With Delegation And Training
SPEAKER_00Oh, that's a great question.
SPEAKER_04Or where would you want it to be?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, where would I want it to be? Oh, it's a really good question. I mean, I feel like for me, um I'm the kind of person that hasn't really liked to rely on others, you know, that much, you know, or ask others for things. Um, and I'm kind of learning now more as a business owner to delegate tasks because there's you can't, it's not possible. I I've been learning recently, it is not possible to do certain things by yourself. There's just only so many things you can do. Even with like a smaller team, there's only so many things you can do with that amount of people. It's just it's just a fact. I don't care if you're super girl, it's a fact, you know? Um so for me, I would like to have a well-trained staff that I don't have to worry at all. You know, I don't need to be present and they will know exactly what to do. They will follow a recipe, you know, and not worry about it at all. For me, I kind of am like that, but I still need to kind of direct a little bit around, you know, love my team, they're great, but they're getting used to me just as much as I'm getting used to them, you know, because for me before, like I just opened bars with them and they're my friends, you know, and I work with different mobile bars and you know, we work together as as co-workers. Um, so now they're kind of learning all about me just as much as I'm learning all about them as I don't want to say employees because they're not, it's they're contractors. Um learning to work with them as someone that's directing them, you know?
SPEAKER_04Okay, that makes sense.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um so they're learning, like, oh, maybe Rain needs more help. Like, I need to ask her, like, hey, do you need help with this, Rain? And you know, I'm like, oh yeah, can you do X, Y, and Z. You know, I'm kind of just learning as I go, right? Um, I I have no idea what I'm doing in certain things. Uh but we're we're working as we go. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04So I think uh sky's the limit. I think whatever you try and figure out, you'll be able to achieve or work towards it. I feel like you have a good support system with your boyfriend, so shout out to your boyfriend. He seems like he's on board with helping you reach your goals, and that's that's hard to find this day and age. And someone who's who's there to battle with you. And so props to him and and congrats on meeting somebody cool. You know what I mean? Like honestly, I'm partial to bartenders. My wife, I met because I was promoting District Nightclub, and she's a bartender there. I married her. So I'm partial to bartenders. It's um it's a it's a hard business to be in and uh to have someone supporting you and your dreams. That's super cool to see. And props to him. What do you guys do on on your guys' free times? Um, if you have any free time.
SPEAKER_00Uh we haven't really, he's laughing because we haven't really had any. I mean, he uh him personally, he loves to draw. Um he's working with Kaoka Inc and Action um to learn tattooing. Um and then he has his side business, he designed it um on Instagram where he designs like logos, graphics, different things for small businesses. So he's done a few already. Um different logos and whatnot. He designs all my menus.
SPEAKER_02Nice.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I get free menu designs, so I don't have to worry about that. I just tell him like, here, here's the information, here's the the event flyer, make a good poster to make a good menu that actually goes with it and it's cohesive, and show it to me before you print it out just to make sure there's no spelling errors, and we're good. We're good to go.
SPEAKER_04See, that's the support I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04No, but what do you guys do on free time when you have it?
SPEAKER_00Uh, what do we do? Oh what yeah, honestly, like we used to be more outgoing before I started the business, but I feel like I don't know, it's it's been hard to like stay organized and whatnot. And you know, for me, I'm kind of just like going, going, going, going, going. So I don't always have bandwidth or time after an event to like reorganize everything because things kind of become almost like a hurricane like came through my house or a tornado. Um, but yeah, so we've kind of just been on the couch, like just watching prime and making some food and you know sodas. Yeah. I mean, I don't really drink that much like outside of work. Yeah, we we really don't drink. I mean, I I just drink for quality purposes or like tasting, you know, wine and you know, experimenting, you know, I've been around liquor for so long now, all the time. So it's you know, I'm not, yeah, not really a drinker drinker, you know. That makes sense. I understand it on a technical level, you know.
SPEAKER_04It's just the art uh your palette to create your art. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. Yeah, exactly. You got it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04That's super cool.
Advice On Pacing Money And Systems
SPEAKER_04What advice would you give a f a girl or someone starting out their own business from your experience? What kind of advice would you give them?
SPEAKER_00What advice would I give someone starting off their own business? Hmm. Oh, I know one. So for me, uh I used to have a lot of income on a monthly basis before starting a business. And I would be investing it, like thousands of dollars I'd be investing every month, and you know, I was checking the market daily and like moving my investments around. Oh, you know, look, this did well, you know, and you know, let's buy more of it, you know, etc. etc. And I was extremely organized with my finances down to a percentage level. I knew I only spent between 10 and 15% of my income, max around 20% of my income on a monthly basis. And that includes my living expenses, my rent, etc. Um and you know, my shopping includes all of that. And I was very, very adamant about it. Um I feel like since starting a business, I kind of was just like naive almost take every opportunity, do every single event, you know, make sure to do everything and stay busy and stay busy on a consistent basis. And um, you know, with social media too, if you're not showing that online, um, then people don't know that you are busy, you know. Like, what do they know? So for me, I had like hundreds of people watching my business stories on a daily basis because I never posted to my feed. So the only way that people would kind of know like what's going on is from my stories. Um so for me, I ended up, and I still kind of am very, very much so in debt because I bought like thousand, numerous thousand dollar cocktail machinery. I have a glass chiller that you can literally chill your martini glass out in the middle of the woods or a mountain, you know. Um I overkill kind of thing. You know, like uh like what did I not buy? What did I not buy? Like, you know, I have all this liquor that I bought from a bar that was closing down. Um you know, and you know, it's super cool and I'm using it and I love it, but rain, nobody else is there to pace you. You gotta pace yourself, you know? So I guess what I would say to other like people that are very passionate or want to start something, make sure to pace yourself and make sure to stay organized because you know, things will get very disorganized very quickly. And you might be able to not show it in your business for a while, but eventually it is going to catch up with you and it's gonna show that you're maybe not very organized, Rain. Your stuff is very creative and it's very good, but girl, like why do you not have a box for all of your I don't know, your napkins and your straws? Like, why is it just kind of like loosely in a bin? You know, just like stuff like that. And the businesses I work with before, like, were very organized, but I never really worked with all the backup house stuff for the mobile events businesses. So like packing, I never really learned that. Like I knew like to throw stuff back into the van when I'm done is it at the end of the night. But do I know how to pack properly and organized to be able to use it the ne uh next time? Yeah. You know, I'm kind of learning that. Um all the creativity stuff and menu creation and making things taste good and balance and etc. and all of that and the presentation solid. But um my organization skills definitely could be back to to how they used to be before I had a business where it was like you know, I had a candle on on my dinner table, flowers on my dinner table, and I ate exactly at six o'clock. You know, I was very organized, you know.
SPEAKER_04Regimented. Well, that's good advice. I think with any business, you should grow it as it as like don't go all in with using all your money and like even with our uh day party we've been doing um laid back, we wanted to do certain things, but we waited till the second one to buy certain things, and then the third one we bought and and created more different things when if we just did it all one time it w it would probably not have been as beneficial, and we could come up with different creative uh uh aspects to it. And I think when you're when you have a new business, you do get excited, so you do want it to be a certain way, but you you grow with your business as well, and your mindset changes as well. So it's it's kind of cool to to I guess give that as advice because not m many people think about that stuff.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah, no. All all people see online are the successes and the gorgeous, you know, results, and you know, people are super happy with the the flavor of the drinks and you know, but they don't realize necessarily like, oh my god, I spent two days packing my truck. Oh my god, I spent a day to have unpacking my truck and putting everything back on the shelf and organizing it and you know, cleaning everything, not to mention you have to clean all your glassware. If you rent glassware for an event, not to mention you have to clean all your tools. If you don't clean all of your tools right on time, then it's gonna start to be like, oh my god, girl, like, oh, I have so many bins of tools to clean from all my different events, you know. That's true. You know, and I have like, yeah, I have like 50 jiggers, my measuring tool of you know, I have 20, I don't know, I think even more than that, 30 shaking tins of different brands that I got shipped from all over the world and just gotta clean all of that. If you don't clean it by a certain time, then oh stink, yeah. We got I got two dishwashers. I had to buy them because uh I'm like, girl, I can't keep up with hand washing all of this.
SPEAKER_01There's no way you know there's no way, yeah.
SPEAKER_04See that that's what your boyfriend's for, that'd be a dishwasher. That's good.
How To Book 76 Sips
SPEAKER_04Well, yeah, if people want to hire you and get you to do their events and create craft drinks for them, where can people find you? Your website, social medias, where can people seek you out?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. So um, we are on Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Yelp. We have a Google profile with all of our reviews if people want to check that out. Um yeah, honestly, we're on we're on everything. What is it? Our Instagram's at 76Sips. Our TikToks also at 76Sips, and then our website. Um, if you click on the link in our bio, it'll lead you to it. It's also on TikTok. The link isn't there. Um, if you click on the link um and scroll down a little, you'll see the inquiry form. So just fill out all the info that you can for your uh site. Um there's a few that are required, but the rest, it's honestly the more you can fill out the better, because then I don't have to ask you later. Um yeah, they can fill that out um and then I'll get back to them with a quote and ask them a few questions, try to set up a phone call meeting. Or honestly, I like to meet people for coffee if maybe by the second meeting or whatnot, like to talk to people in person about their event. Um, especially if it's kind of like a a business event too, like um where like a grand opening or whatnot. Um, definitely for weddings, I meet by the second meeting in person. Of course, we have our tasting. Um, but yeah, our website is I believe 76sipsbarco.square.site. Um, but yeah, the link is in our bio. And uh yeah.
SPEAKER_04Right on. Well, I definitely am super stoked you came on. I definitely am inspired by your mindset and your work ethic. That's definitely something I am trying, like I said, to instill in my daughter. And I think whatever you do, you'll be successful. And it's just something you chose to be successful in, it sky's the limit. And it's such a niche market that nobody's capitalizing on, so you got like ahead of the curb. And I think creativity-wise, the drinks you're making seem like they're super delicious. I gotta go drink some of them one of these days.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Well, hey, maybe who knows? Uh maybe we'll be at one of your events soon.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, for sure. We'll figure it out. But um thank you for coming on my show and I appreciate you taking time out. I know you get like you said, you're super busy. Um hope to have you back in a few years and see where you're at. And you like like you said, you probably have a whole team and you're just running the business, and that's the dream, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I've got people that are that I can rely on. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yep, for sure. Right on, we'll shock us for the cameras.
SPEAKER_00Thank you so much. Thank you, Maggie.
SPEAKER_01Bye.
SPEAKER_04Right on, we're out shout out to the artist group network. Aloha.
