What If It Did Work?
What If It Did Work?
From Finance to Founder: Jack Espy's Spirited Journey
When life throws you lemons, make a honey-sweetened cocktail. That's essentially what Jack Espy did when the pandemic erased his real estate finance job offer right after graduating from USC in 2020. Rather than despairing, Jack asked himself a simple yet profound question: "What if it did work?"
This entrepreneurial spark led Jack to transform his passion for mixology into Spirited Hive, a rapidly growing canned cocktail company that uses honey as its distinctive sweetener. Jack's timing couldn't have been better – he recognized the emerging "better-for-you" category in the beverage alcohol space before it became mainstream, positioning his brand perfectly as consumers increasingly sought quality ingredients even in their alcoholic beverages. Within just a few years, Spirited Hive secured partnerships with major sports teams and expanded across multiple states, becoming the official RTD partner for venues nationwide.
But Jack's vision doesn't stop there. He's now launching Strive, a non-alcoholic functional beverage designed to support health and wellness while providing hydration through a delicious soda alternative. By housing both brands under one parent company, Jack has created an efficient business structure that allows for shared resources while maintaining distinct brand identities targeting different consumer needs. His strategic approach to market entry – focusing initially on Nashville, San Diego, and South Florida before expanding – demonstrates his thoughtful growth mindset.
What makes Jack's story particularly compelling is his authenticity as a founder. In an era when celebrity-backed beverage brands are becoming increasingly common, Jack represents a new wave of founder-led brands built on genuine stories and passion. His journey reminds us that sometimes life's unexpected detours lead to our greatest opportunities – if only we have the courage to ask, "What if it did work?" and take that first step. Follow Jack's journey and try these innovative beverages for yourself at spiritedhive.com and strivesoda.com.
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I never told no one that my whole life I've been holding back. Every time I load my gun up so I can shoot for the star, I hear a voice like who do you think you?
Speaker 2:are all right. Everybody. Another day, another dollar. Another one of my favorite episodes, my favorite podcast because I am biased, it's my own podcast. What if it did work? Got with me the man, the myth, the legend. Got with me jack aspie. He's this week's guest. He's a visionary founder of spirited hive, always been driven by innovation and excellence. Born in denver, educated at usc southern cow or are you a cock, dude? Uh southern cow okay, yeah, dude, I don't know why other?
Speaker 2:assholes call themselves. You know they should just call themselves the cocks, because they love cocks. Jack's journey took a remarkable turn during the pandemic, when he graduated with a degree in real estate, finance and development. Facing a job offer loss, jack's creativity and passion for mixology led him to craft cocktails for friends, sparking the inspiration. Love the name man. Spirited Hive launched in Nashville May 2022. Spirited Hive quickly gained momentum, becoming the official RTD partner for major sports teams. Jack's vision propelled the brand's expansion to new states and markets, maintaining a strong focus the two things we all need more of health and wellness. Jack is set to disrupt the industry once again with Strive, a non-alcoholic, functional beverage boasting natural ingredients and designed to support health and wellness. Congratulations, man. That's more than a mouthful this. Congratulations, man.
Speaker 3:That's more than a mouthful man. So how's everything Good? Well, thank you so much for having me on today. I really appreciate it. But yeah, everything's been going well, man, I mean, it's as you know, being a founder it's a lot of work, it's a lot of dedication, it's a lot of long days and stressful days, days, but it all pays off because I'm working for myself and I'm doing what I love dude, there's nothing better.
Speaker 2:I mean, I don't know what it's like being a founder, because I I'm one of those unoriginal guys. I can find success if you give me the recipe. So, yeah, I was an entrepreneur for 20 years, but it had to be franchises, probably because I, deep down inside, I'm like, oh, I don't know what to do, which is just like a limiting belief. I didn't need anybody to hold my hand, but, dude, what got you from Denver to SoCal?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was actually so. I grew up in Denver. I lived there from when I was born until I was around 14 or 15. And my parents are divorced. They got divorced when I was young. But my mom and stepdad kind of wanted to change a pace and they're like hey, you know, we love California. What if we moved to California? And I was, ironically, a surfer, even though I lived in Denver Denver, I would always spend my summer surfing when I could and I jumped at it. I was like, 100%, let's move. Um and uh. So I ended up moving to Santa Barbara right before high school, lived in Santa Barbara up until I went to college and kind of hopped around from college to college and then I found USC and I fell in love with it. Um, and now I'm officially a Trojan, you know, but I graduated back in 2020. Well, I, and now I'm officially a Trojan, you know, but I graduated back in 2020.
Speaker 2:Well, I'll forgive you. I'm an LSU alum that last year's law stung. I almost became a Trojan myself. Got my picture in front of the Tommy Trojan statue.
Speaker 3:There you go.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I took the tour. Many, many. I'm way older than you, dude, but put it to you this way there was no computers on USC campus when I took the tour. It was one of my dream schools. But coming from a single parent, I'm like, yeah, I can't do that to my mom. I chose an out-of-state school that was a little cheaper lsu. So, man, I gotta hand it to you. So you, you graduated. During all that bullshit, man, the pandemic did. Did you have, like, uh, a zoom um commencement?
Speaker 3:yeah, zoom commencement. Yeah, yeah, it was funny. Um, it was weird because how it actually worked out is actually perfect for me, cause like the whole commencement thing, like going up getting your diploma, is really, really cool, but I thought what we did was pretty great as well. Um, I remember, right when COVID hit, we had about like two more months of school and then we had our commencement and instead of us all staying at home and just watching it online, all my buddies were like what if we went back staying at home and just watching it online? All my buddies were like what if we went back down to USC and just do a massive party at the fraternity house? So that's what we did and we had an absolute blast, but it all worked out.
Speaker 2:Oh, so you're one of those bastards, man. No wonder we couldn't flatten the curve, dude. You needed to stay home, man. There's a cure, man, let's flatten this, let's flatten it.
Speaker 3:I wasn't helping back then but yeah, it was a weird time, you know.
Speaker 1:But I think the world.
Speaker 3:Dude, it's a weird time, don't you think? Oh, yeah, I mean, it's weird to think back that that was five years ago. It's like you almost forget that COVID happened. You know, it's kind of like it's been so long that you know, and the weird thing for me is my whole life trajectory changed because of COVID. You know, if COVID hadn't have happened and I think the world has a weird way of working that everything happens for a reason, you know what I mean and you know I of course especially especially for spiritual dude?
Speaker 3:Oh, totally uh. For me it was interesting because my whole background was real estate finance. Real estate development was about to accept a job in real estate finance. Pandemic hit and then the job I was supposed to get fell through and just I just randomly came across this idea and was like you know what if it did work?
Speaker 2:you know what I mean it has dude, you pivoted, you know how many people. And it's, it's not a political thing, man, because people from both sides I've I heard the oh, the world will never be the same, did you? Did you ever hear? That, oh yeah we'll never be able to go to concerts. We We'll never be able, dude, I thought people were smoking some major good shit. I was literally in Vegas March 11th, I think the world shut down a couple of days ago, yeah, three days later probably.
Speaker 2:And people are like whispers going on. They are going to shut down the strip, but first they're going to shut down a few casinos and I'm like man, people are really smoking some good shit. They're paranoid man. It's never going to happen and literally dude like that and it was funny because I think Corona started seeping into our country.
Speaker 2:It started becoming a headline news like the same, like right around when Kobe Bryant died. But Kobe Bryant was way more important because I mean, it was the Black Mamba, you know, yeah, so that took front page. And then, you know, I remember some stuff in Corona, but never if someone would have told me 20 years ago we're going to shut down the world because of a plague.
Speaker 2:It's going to be like no way but wouldn't you be like oh fuck man, the black plague came back. Those fucking rats came Dude millions upon you know? 30 million dead, 40 million dead. Yeah I was one of the first ones to get it and it was. You know. Do you remember when the news were like they're gonna have to have triages of hospitals and triages of morgues because we're not capable of handling all this death? I'm like, oh man yeah, it's crazy.
Speaker 3:I mean it's crazy, it's like you believe you believe what you see on the news, so you're obviously panicked, of course um, yeah, and for me, I was like one of the first ones to have it too. I had it like march 15th, so like right when it came out like right when yeah, covid was a thing you know and weren't you thinking the same like?
Speaker 2:and then you're like shit, I mean I I was a fraternity guy too, man, and we, we, I've had worse hangovers and worse benders the first day, the second day and then the third day. I'm like, oh, I'm like getting ready. I'm like who's gonna be on my funeral? You know my kids are still too young. You know they're not going to write a good obituary. It's going to be my ex-wife.
Speaker 2:And she's going to say that you know, as a Satanist and I was a complete asshole and there's like so much drama, and then it was like OK, OK, and then nothing, man.
Speaker 2:But it goes to show you, dude, marketing. You're an entrepreneur, you're a founder. The way you market, the way you brand yourself, that's what separates you, dude. We couldn't move the needle if we were like, yeah, man, we got this thing from China. It's like the flu you can get a shot for it and it's going to be as effective as the flu shot you'd be like fuck it, who cares?
Speaker 2:yeah and but overall remember it went like yes, you're gonna have to be two weeks at home then it's gonna be like seven days and I'm like three days but like two and a half feet apart and then finally the guy, uncle sam's like fuck it, man, you have it, you can still go mass off, yeah, yeah exactly yeah, it's crazy to see, you know how long ago that was, and like building a company through that time was so weird but also too like it was in its incubator phase.
Speaker 3:So it was just, like, you know, building in the background and no better time to build a company.
Speaker 3:When the world shut down, you know, like it was kind of a perfect storm in the sense of like all this stuff came to fruition and it gave me the space to be able to have time and spend time on something like that.
Speaker 3:Uh, whereas, like you know, I've always been entrepreneurial, ever since I was a kid. But it just kind of sped up that in a sense, cause it gave me time to, you know, focus on building something. And you know, when I was building it and again, at that point in time, none of us knew how long the pandemic was going to last you know, it was kind of like, okay, we'd shut down for two weeks, another two weeks, another two weeks, another two weeks. So we were just kind of like going with the flow. So when I was creating my company, I thought it was just going to be kind of like a fun thing to do, until I was like it started gaining traction and the dominoes started to fall and people were like, hey, hey, you should actually pursue this thing full time. So it was like kind of like perfect scenario for everything to kind of line up for me so jack.
Speaker 2:You just saw this really is like a side hustle right originally, like, uh, maybe fuck around some friends see, make a little bit of money. This was never. Was that how it was or did? Were you like?
Speaker 3:screw it man it was kind of like game it was. It was like an in-between because like I was building something that I was like really dedicated to, like this new, this idea. But I didn't want to take that full jump because I wasn't sure. You know, I was kind of like I'm not sure, like this is't sure. You know, I was kind of like I'm not sure, like this is kind of scary, you know, because I was also still wanting to be in real estate finance on the side, cause, again, I was like I don't know how much longer COVID is going to be and if COVID, you know, ends, I'm getting back into real estate finance, cause, like that's where the safe position was.
Speaker 3:I knew what I was doing because, on the other end, creating my own company, I'd never worked somewhere before, didn't know anything about the beverage, alcohol industry, so there was so much unknown. But that's where my passion was. Or COVID ends and I get back into real estate finance, much safer. I know what I'm doing and there's a blueprint. So I was kind of in this, like in between.
Speaker 3:And then I remember the day that I told my parents I was like, hey, I'm pursuing this 100%, full time and I was actually in school, getting a master's program in real estate finance to kind of help build my resume even more. For when COVID was done and I said, hey, I'm actually going to be leaving NYU and I'm going to focus on building my company um full time. And they were like no, you're not. And then you know, after a couple of months or a couple of weeks, uh, they understood, cause my stepdad's also an entrepreneur and a founder and he was like I get your drive, uh, go for it, but if you're going to do it, go all the way.
Speaker 2:So he understood, because you have to have it. But but your mom and your dad were probably like what the fuck, jack? At first.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Cause I was almost done.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you're edgy, Jack, but you're educated. You got a degree at the University of Southern Cal. You have a top-notch resume. What you need to do is you need to work your way up the corporate ladder. 10, 20, 30 years from now, you'll be beyond successful. Jack, why are you going to do this? Being an entrepreneur is like being a sales guy. It's for people that you know they didn't go to Southern Cal. They're not Trojans. They might even be UCLA flunkies. They might be Bruins. I don't know, man, but we didn't. You went all that time to be so ahead of everybody else. I'm sure they gave you that right.
Speaker 3:Well, it was interesting because they did give me that in the beginning and then, after sitting with it, they understood that you know, life is, but like a fleeting moment, you know, and like this industry is such a fleeting moment. I mean like pretty much the barrier to entry now to get in the can cocktail space is done Like you can't get in because it's too big, it's too competitive, too many brands out there, whereas back then it was like this new category. So and I knew that because it was kind of like the, the craft beer boom 20 years ago. So I told him I was like hey, look, real estate will always be there for me. If I want to go back to school, I can always go back to school, I can always get back into real estate, I can always learn about real estate and get back into it, whereas this, this is a fleeting moment.
Speaker 3:And after like two or three weeks they were like I totally get it it, go after it. And now they've been like my biggest advocates, which has been amazing. So now they're fully on board. Um, and it's been amazing to see the growth that we've had over the past five years. Um, and you know, there's always that next mountain that you're climbing for, and then when you get to that mountain, then you're like, okay, there's another mountain, yeah because there's there's no people that get people die in comfort dude.
Speaker 2:For, for starters, there is no idol. You're either going forward or you're going back and especially if you own a company, there's always someone out there jack your competitor that's trying to hunt, trying to steal your market share, because it's not personal, they just want to make sure you're eating cat food a year from now yeah, but hey, you know it's not personal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and trust me, I get it, dude, because I I'm an emotional guy. But you have to turn that off because if not, you know, it's like the bloods and the crips. You're like. You know, I can't believe people leave this. Mfr is trying to put me under yeah but?
Speaker 2:but you know, it's it's market share and it's limited market share because, think about it, dude, even coke and pepsi are going at it. It's not like they're trying to say, hey, we got enough sales man, we don, we don't need to advertise, we don't need, because it's it's limited man, not you, you have to keep, you have to find new people and everybody, even even the sugar water, has to find new people, because people die, dude. You have to replace those with, with newbies, totally.
Speaker 3:And it's, and there's only so much time, you know, I think that's the biggest thing is just, time is always at the essence and there's only so much time, you know, I think that's the biggest thing, it's just.
Speaker 2:Time is always at the essence. You said RTD. I can't create my own RTD, Like if I wanted to bring old school Coca-Cola back and put Coke. Or like lithium and 7-Up. I can't go back, Dude. I think it would be a bestseller any of those.
Speaker 3:I would say you would have to. I mean, look, there's always white spaces, there's always niche products that are coming out here and there, but you have to live within the niche, just from my perspective, because, you know, I think you either have to live in the niche or you have to live on the founder side. You know, very founder focused, building a brand from, like, the founder point of view, pushing a lot of content that's founder focused. Because you know these big brands can't create that. You know they, they can get into the labs and they can create amazing products, but they can't create a story behind the brand.
Speaker 3:You know and that's something that I've been working on, you know, over the past couple of years is not only the brand but, you know, being the founder behind the brand, pushing the brand to make it is not only the brand but, you know, being the founder behind the brand, pushing the brand to make it, you know, more attainable for people to get this idea of like, oh well, this Jack guy created this cane cocktail, that sweet honey. He fell into this idea, like, I love that idea and I want to buy into that story, but then also, too, it makes it a little bit, you know, attainable for them to be like. Well, if I have an idea, I can also chase an idea as well, because he did it too.
Speaker 2:Now would you have to say that, being a founder, to me it's a long game, while niche dude that could be a short game. Because, think about it a short game, cause think about it I, I, I can want to break into something by I don't know, giving Travis Scott or one of the Kardashians, or when the the Menendez brothers get out of prison and they become influencers and I give them a million bucks and you and you know they're drinking my, my stuff wearing my swag.
Speaker 2:Really that's not sustainable. But that's a niche and you know, eventually I'm going to be super cool and you know I'll be able to go to all the hip clubs and down in Brickell, south Beach, la, soho, noho and all that, and then one day just disappear.
Speaker 3:Well, 100 percent disappear. Well, 100, I mean you. You hit the nail on the head where it's like the days of celebrity back brands is slowly dying within the beverage industry because you look left and right and that's all you see, like within the past three years. It's like throw a dart into a crowd in hollywood, hit a actor and I bet you anything. He probably actor or actress and he probably she or he probably has a beverage alcohol brand that they're promoting.
Speaker 3:So there, in the beginning, there was this novelty behind having the rock push your brand or Ryan Reynolds, because distributors wanted to mitigate the risk and that was a good way of mitigating it, whereas like a brand that didn't have anyone, it's like well, how are you going to get people to purchase your product? And now there's this new wave of founder led brands that are doing an amazing job because it's all about content. It's content, content, content. Because, like, people want to feel like they're a part of your brand and a part of the story you know and they want to see kind of the how the brand is built, you know in the background, but with those brands, the celebrity run brands, all you get is a product and you get to see the face of the celebrity and that's really about it.
Speaker 2:So like that's slowly starting to die and we're seeing a rise on the founder-led products well, dude, that, not to sound like grandpa, like get off my lawn, but, dude, that's mainly you guys, man, the the gen z's, because I never. It was never like something like oh shit, what is Kim doing? Yeah, but now I'm like oh shit, kim got a law degree and she thinks the Menendez brothers have spent way too many years in prison. Yeah, like like before, dude, to me a fucking celebrity is a celebrity, do I? And you know, that's why there's a backlash, even if you think about the election, you know you had all these.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, I was literally just about to say that. It's like how does that make any sense?
Speaker 2:dude, I I've grown up. I was a star fucker, so I get it, but it was never. I was never like oh shit, what does derrick jeter politics?
Speaker 1:Does he think I should?
Speaker 2:register Democrat Republican. Does Derek Jeter think I need to drink Spirited Hive the gin, the tequila, the vodka? Because if it's a good product it's a good product? But there was this wave of like Pauly D live Vegas at the sugar factory.
Speaker 2:It's like, yeah, okay, you're paying this guy a hundred thousand, but it worked because it worked holy shit, man, I get, I get to hang out with, with, you know, chris jenner or whatever, and it was just like, but yeah, and it was like always to me it was like you could have a shit product but if somebody that you look up to for any reason, for because their ass or because you know keeping up with the kudrat kardashians or whatever, it worked. But that's that's what I'm saying as a founder. Now, dude, I, I looked at your stuff and I'm like man, I'm going to go to total wine and get some. Yeah, so you, you have the alcoholic side, alcohol side for, like you know, lsu number one party school. You know, southerners, let's get shit house. What made you want to have? Because we're promoting a brand for wellness, for health, and I love alcohol, but unless I'm talking to an alcoholic, they're not going to be like you know what? This tequila is great for my wellness and my health. I wake up feeling like a million dollars exactly.
Speaker 3:Well, it's funny because, like I guess on on both sides you know, like with spirited hive, we're almost creating a new category, which is crazy because when I got into that it was you know, the better for you can cocktail and distributors are like what the fuck? Like what do you mean? How does this?
Speaker 2:how does this make any sense, exactly? And now, what does that mean?
Speaker 3:yeah, now there's a wave of products within this space pretty much that we've kind of carved out. That is this better for you product using better few ingredients to craft these drinks, because millennials and gen z, if they are going to drink because they're drinking less, they want to have something that is using quality ingredients. So I saw that before it kind of all happened and I was like, oh, we got to tap into this, and now you're a visionary man.
Speaker 3:Well, now it's coming. It's coming and then Strive, which is, you know, kind of creating somewhat of a new category here too, is, you know, it's it's in the better for you soda category, but it's a soda that also aids in hydration and, of course, I'm a big honey guy is also a hundred percent sweetened with honey. So not only is it using better for you ingredients, it tastes great, but it also aids in hydration. So there's this whole new category within the better For you Soda space, where it's like you saw, poppy, olipop, where it's prebiotic, postbiotic, there's like all these different probiotic things right now, and there's not much outside of that space. And I was like, well, most humans day to day walk around dehydrated, they're not getting enough water, they're actually drinking soda more than anything else. So it's like, well, what if we created a really good tasting soda that also aids in hydration? And I was like, fuck, that sounds awesome. So we just started kind of tinkering with it and created a really cool product and we're actually launching that on August 1st.
Speaker 2:Well, you know it's all about taste. Americans, we fucking lie. I don't give a shit about the caloric content, because years ago you were still a little young. Uncle Sam's like. You know what? We're going to make it mandatory to put calories. This is the way to get people thin. Well, if you drive through McDonald's, it's still packed. Nobody's like, oh fuck, yeah.
Speaker 3:I see the calories.
Speaker 2:I'm just going to turn around or like, since you're a Southern Cal and they're also in Denver, I was going gonna get that double, double in and out. But holy shit, man, maybe if I get it, just get it animal style and just minus the bun. No man, people are fucking liars, dude it never moved the needle.
Speaker 1:That's why I'm saying it always matters on taste.
Speaker 2:Yes, dude, because it tastes like shit no one's gonna drink it this way, people that say, oh my god, diet dr pepper. It's such an amazing taste. I I love the taste of saccharin because you know, it's all these people that that drink it yeah, it's usually all that bullshit yeah, that that go mow down like a domino's pizza, a large. But they got to diet coke because of taste yeah, because they not, because they think magically there's something in it that will will help them revert the yeah well here, your competitor ago.
Speaker 2:You might have been a little too young for this, but when Celsius first came out, they're like and they got. Uncle Sam came down hard because it was deceptive. It was a lie. If you drank Celsius, it would reverse your calories, it would burn calories.
Speaker 3:man yeah Said you would lose weight. I remember.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, just six celsius a day and shit olympia you're gonna be yeah, and then your heart explodes yeah, I'd look like arnold.
Speaker 2:You know, after arnold, like four hours a day in the gym, I'm like no motherfucking austrian oak, just drink celsius, you'll get there. That's all you need to do. Yeah, but no, dude. And then also whenever people say that, oh, it doesn't matter the taste, the reason why people drink diet shit is usually the people that shouldn't be drinking sodas anyways. You never see somebody that's like you know what I eat clean. See somebody that's like you know what I eat clean? I I never. I eat one cheat meal a month, but my go-to beverage every day is it just? I've got diet coke just strapped in my fridge, man top to bottom after a long, hard workout, and I need something to quench my thirst it's a good old diet coke yeah, I just shot one of those tall boys I get the tall boys right yeah.
Speaker 3:Two calories of that. I know Well that's. That's a problem with those drinks too. I mean, people are like oh yeah, I'll, I'll have. You know, just have water, you know like than that, because that shit like the sucrose, aspartame, like all that is so bad for you.
Speaker 2:So yeah, we're gonna die. We're gonna die eventually, man and besides if I want my double double. Or if I want to eat my five mcdonald's meals for the day at least, you know I'm gonna, you know, keep my calories balanced by that diet coke, yeah, so what's with the honey dude? Because I I see that's like you're like winning the poo dude. Yeah, now, as a kid you did you love honey, or or was it because it's a natural sweetener that lasts millions of years and it never goes bad it's uh, it's kind of all the above.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, I've loved honey ever since I was a little kid. I put it on everything. I mean like I. The reason why I like it is because I love the taste, but also kind of the second benefit of it is that it's an organic sweetener. So, like, when I make coffee in the morning, I throw, you know, a tablespoon of honey. You know I'm a butter and coffee guy. I don't know if you put butter in your coffee absolutely delicious, if you haven't tried it. Bulletproof coffee man of good, so good. But I put honey on literally everything. So like, instead of like maple syrup, I'll put honey. If, instead of like, I'll put it on my steak. I don't know if you've had honey on your steak, really, really good.
Speaker 1:But I mean, I was just yeah, put that, write that down.
Speaker 3:But yeah, it's just funny, like, and that's kind of how this, the happy accident behind how spirit hive came to be, was because the night that I was making these drinks for my buddies, I was making, uh, my two favorite drinks at the time, which were moscow mules and mexican mules, and I was making these drinks for all my friends and they were like jack, these drinks are really, are really really good. You should, can these. And then we were all talking about different names and I was like, well, what about the name Mint B? And they're like dude, mint B is the stupidest name I have ever heard of. But why Mint B? And I was like, well, you know, cause there's Mint in a Moscow mule, and B cause it just using honey as a sweetener, because I'm addicted to honey, not knowing that there was no honey.
Speaker 2:And they didn't know that you're like kfc man.
Speaker 3:That was, uh, your secret sauce, the secret sauce, right there was honey right, yeah, so that's why they thought it tasted so good, because it tasted different. So then that's kind of what led me through to creating spirited hive was the different factor being that we're seeing with honey and being that better for you can cocktail. And then with strive I was like, well, shit, it worked with spirited hive. Let's try this with this strive soda and see if it works. And you know when I was thinking about it, you know, with with spirited hive, honey is such a major factor in everything with marketing, et cetera, whereas with strive it's kind of like the third pillar. You know we're a great tasting soda that aids in hydration and we use better for you ingredients that one of the sweetener, like our sweetener, is honey. So it's not as like a part of the marketing. As you know, spirited Hive is with honey, but nonetheless both brands are sweetened with honey.
Speaker 2:Dude, you gave us the secret recipe, yeah, but, dude, I love this man because I can tell you have the entrepreneurial spirit. You're going after like two different markets, man, at the same time. A lot of people would be like Jack focus, let's keep it narrow. Let's just focus on growing the one brand, the Spirited Hive. We've got the gin, we've got the vodka, we've got the tequila, we've got these RTDs. This is hip, this is what's hot. Let's blow this out of the fucking water. Did anybody tell you that?
Speaker 3:I had some investors that were like, hey, I think you need to focus a little bit. And I was like you know, I totally understand that and I totally understand where you know some of my investors came from with that. Because it's like, hey, you know, what you've got going here is awesome. And I was like a hundred percent, um, but we're kind of tapping in cause.
Speaker 3:It's kind of cool how I structured everything. So everything's structured underneath the parent company which owns both the brands. Every employee is underneath the parent company, so they work on both brands and then our production facility produces both brands and then we tap into uh, each one of our retailers is going to be able to cover both brands as well as our distributors. So it's almost like from a marketing standpoint to totally separate companies. But from an operations, in a sales perspective, it's kind of just like an extension of spirited hive, which is cool, so that'll only get us to like to to X amount of revenue, and then strive should actually surpass spirited hive, just from like a revenue standpoint. Because the the point um, the amount of times you use a strive soda is many more times than you're drinking spirited high.
Speaker 2:At least I would hope, um but it depends what region of the country exactly, exactly so okay, I, I get that. Now are you hoping to put strive like everywhere, or is this only like in your whole foods and your, your, you know fresh markets. You're bougie.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we're going to go direct to consumer start, which will be able to target, all you know, 50 States, but mainly like lower 48.
Speaker 3:And then, um, we also will be focusing on three markets from a retail perspective, so actually like in in stores, which would be San Diego, uh, nashville and South florida.
Speaker 3:So those are our three markets that we're going to test and go as deep as we can, um, and so, pretty people, pretty people, you know, young people, health and wellness focused cities, um, up and coming cities, um, and focusing there for probably a year to two years and then build from there. We would be going after you know better for you grocers such as like Whole Foods, trader Joe's, et cetera, and then start to expand out from there. So, you know, hit these stores like Wawa Racetrack Speedway, you know, those ones down in Florida, probably expanded to Publix at some point in 2027, um, and leverage our relationship that we have with Publix from the Spirited Hive deal. So that's kind of cool thing between both these brands is like right now, spirited Hive is so much further ahead that Spirited Hive is going to get a foot in the door for Strive and then, once Strive starts to pass, to pass Spirited Hive Strive can put a foot in the door for hive as well. So like vice, versa.
Speaker 2:The success of that brand has gotten you some shelf space. Because, yes, it would be way harder if you're like, hey, I'm jack espy and I just I want you to try out my new product, strive. It's a non-alcoholic functional beverage and it's a great soft drink. Most people do. You see these shelves there's no room for you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, not happening, exactly. Yeah, I mean, it's such a competitive industry.
Speaker 2:Yeah, of course.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and that's the thing it's like. You know, it's definitely a balance between striving for more obviously, hence the name and kind of building.
Speaker 2:Is that what it plays upon? Because that's what I thought. Strive means to do more. To do more.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so like always striving forward, you know, and always success, and you know wellness, especially health and wellness, and also you know this idea of like using hydration, like a hydration soda that lives in your everyday life to help you strive for more. You know daily and then you know, with that it's, it's always a balance between, and the funny thing is, is that the reason why one of the main reasons why I created Hive was, you know, for myself personally, you know, like I, like I said, am kind of finding my center between both Spirited Hive and Strive and it pulls me back to my center every single day. You know, from building a brand that's beverage, alcohol focused, which is more party, party, party, whereas Strive is, you know, all about health and wellness, and it pulls me back into my center and for our consumers, like our main demographic is a person just like me for both brands, which is very, very cool and it's exciting to develop all that over the years.
Speaker 2:So you're telling me old people can't drink this?
Speaker 3:I never said that. I never said that I'm not fucking with you, dude.
Speaker 2:No, no, I get it, dude, just where you plan on launching. It wasn't like you're like well, I'm going with Topeka, kansas, tuscaloosa, alabama and Jackson, mississippi. There's no fucking pretty people there, man, you're going to try to put this to the Piggly, wiggly. Yeah. What are you trying to fix to do? We're drinking Dr Pepper here.
Speaker 3:Yeah, diet Dr Pepper.
Speaker 2:Of course, because it tastes just the same. So, ultimately, what would you like to see? Strive? Would you like to see it as like the like up there in the years from now, like an everyday name, like you know how Southerners it could be anything. Hey, you want to go get a Coke. Yeah, 10 years from now, jack. Hey, man, you want to go get a coke, yeah, 10 years from now.
Speaker 3:Jack, hey, man, you want to go get a strive? Yeah, I mean I, I would hope so. I think you know we're we're kind of tacking on to hopefully the success of poppy, ollie pop, liquid death, those brands you know, falling in line into that better for you category and kind of almost creating a white space within you know the market of you know this new hydration soda. You know, and I think I could see in the future, in the next two, three, four or five years, that that kind of create a create its own category, because you think about it, three years ago, prebiotic, probiotic, like that was only within. You know kombuchas, like there was never, like sodas in a can, and now that's a whole category. I mean, that category is like I think 800 or no, I think it's a couple billion dollars right now. So carving out that category, I could see that, you know, fall in line and hopefully us kind of tack on to where Poppy and Olipop is in the next 10 years is what I would hope.
Speaker 2:I mean just the future. So, brian man, just a few years ago they, you know, never thought there'd be cbd and now thc man, you could go to like planet 13 or any dispensary and just buy. You know, pretty soon you'll, you'll be like well, you know, we have Strive 2.0.
Speaker 1:You can get it either with CBD or THC.
Speaker 2:We're keeping it low, only 10 milligrams, because we don't want people to get too effed up, we just want them feeling just right going to the club.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then you got Strive 3.0.
Speaker 3:Strive 3.0, it's microdose mushrooms, you know.
Speaker 2:Well, right there, man, you're hitting everything. Man, You're hitting the target market. You know you're hitting the areas where, if you think about it, dude people are actually, when studies are done about microdosing and whatnot, man, when I was your age, people were still under the belief that any type like marijuana is the gateway drug. You take a puff of that, boy, you're gonna be like sucking dick under a bridge and shooting up heroin yeah, it's crazy how and now now, you can buy it at any fricking store, which is crazy.
Speaker 2:Dude, I was at. I was at. I didn't know about your brand, in fact, um, your when your publicist first sent me and it just said spirited, hive a non-alcoholic drink, strive. I'm like spirited. I'm like, oh my gosh, this is going to be like some, some like reborn. We're going to listen. Oh my gosh, this is going to be like some reborn. We're going to listen to Jeremy Camp and we're going to be like Lauren Daigling it, and we're going to be talking about how the Holy Spirit just went through you and it's in every can of this product.
Speaker 2:But yeah, dude. And then when I went on the website, I'm like, holy, smokes your stuff. At the Total wine that I I go to, it's got prime shelf man, it's good. Now, yeah, and you know, believe it or not, everybody, if you sign up here's another promotion spiritedhivecom you have to be over 21.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a must you have to hit that, guys, it's a caveat number and then 10 off man oh yeah
Speaker 3:and if you live in, if you live in florida, uh, like omar does, we are in every total wine and also every public's liquor store it's sweet, yeah, but yeah, believe it or not.
Speaker 2:Um, publics, I've, I've. Only I would have to say it's very rare that out of 30. Well, I was drinking illegally too before I hit 21. Um, that wasn't much of a an alcohol buyer at publics, yeah, at all. She was albertson's because you know you had to buy the albertson's brand vodka. It was before spirited hive. You know, I went to a poor school man. It wasn't like usc. I didn't have my fraternity brothers weren't blaine and and chas and staff chas.
Speaker 3:I like the name chaz. Oh, that's good.
Speaker 2:So, chaz, are you going to take the Ferrari out? Are we going to go to? I'd say let's go on a road trip to Astroworld. I hear Travis Scott's having this amazing concert. Might be a little oversold.
Speaker 3:Yeah, might be a little oversold. Might have to be careful in the crowds. Yeah exactly.
Speaker 2:So, dude, I love everything about this man. I, I love the simple fact that man, I mean, I'm all about the health and wellness I mean, yeah, I, I, I do like the bad shit, like you know, unfortunately, when, when you hear me say I know the menu of like in and out burger and stuff like it's, because I'm a connoisseur of whenever I go to a place like that, or I'm like, oh, that's a Whataburger, I don't have one of those. You know, I act like I've never traveled before. Holy shit, that's In-N-Out. I've only been there 50 times to California, but this time it might be different. Yeah, you see, that's always an excuse because somebody that's strict eat and clean. It's not like they're going. Oh, I can't find it. It's August, september, I can't find Strive, so I'm just going to have to drink this cherry Coke.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, that's the thing. I mean everything in moderation, you know, because that's how I live my life, you know, like I love burgers, so I'll eat burgers every once in a while, but also, just, I'm a big, just meat and rice guy. I mean that's like the main thing I eat.
Speaker 2:But um, that, that's your midwest man, that's the denver in you, that's the denver in me, meat and rice yeah, just stay away from the rocky mountain oysters, exactly it takes Rocky Mountain oysters man, Exactly it takes a lot of balls to eat that man. It does indeed, unless you're the liver king.
Speaker 3:Oh my gosh, I was literally just watching that. I started that documentary over the weekend and I need to finish it. It is ridiculous.
Speaker 2:Dude, you're going to be disappointed. The ending doesn't have any like. There's nothing. There's nothing there. He does shrooms with his kids.
Speaker 3:That's what he's doing these days his kids are like seem so young yeah, but you know, maybe he's just microdosing, like what we're talking about.
Speaker 2:Yeah, microdosing yeah, I'm raising my kids I watched it like that because I'm expecting, like you know. You know there's like an aha moment, like he's like yeah, asshole.
Speaker 3:It was nothing like that. Of course he's not going to do that. I mean, that guy that was so funny. I mean I was I, so I didn't even know that I was buying his supplements, because I'm like a big carnivore guy like I, that's pretty much all I eat I was years ago like, dude, I'm old, so I I did that like when I just joined crossfit oh, I gotta eat paleo.
Speaker 2:I gotta eat paleo. And yeah, you're, you're a young guy, but when you're with older people they look at you like you're fucking an asshole. If like's like yes, is there any way I can have this without the bun, because I'm paleo and paleo.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Some asparagus instead of the fries. So you're at McDonald's, yeah.
Speaker 3:Could you be a little bit easier, sir? Yeah, I mean it's, it's uh. Yeah, it's so funny. I mean that whole thing. Now everyone is on Instagram. That's the thing you scroll through. Instagram.
Speaker 2:That's all it is now. Jack, we all love to build people up. Yeah, our second favorite passion is tearing them down. Dude, you're a little young. You might remember Lance Armstrong, the whole world, oh yeah, oh, the tour de lance and oh, he's a motherfucker. He's amazing, he's this, he's that seven time winner, blah, blah, blah. Cheryl crowe says he's fucking doing the other cycling. Then all of a sudden we're like, oh, he's a motherfucker. I mean, yeah, he could. He could have been in there with the menendez brothers like overnight. He went for it like hero and it he even said it best here at a villain.
Speaker 2:He's like dude. I want to one everybody, and it's true, because you never hear. Well, these seven, we gave it to the second place or third place because everybody was doing it, everyone was doping everyone was but but we, we have this thing man, we just love it.
Speaker 2:Why we love oj so much was he grew up. He was in a time where shit, dude, I, I know we're, we're beyond race. Now, white and black, we're all one, you know we yeah, no racism at all. But back then it was even worse and the guy was colorless man. Everybody loved him, everybody. You know oj, great movie star, great this. You know usc, just like marcus allen and you know, one day did he kill her?
Speaker 2:did he? Did he not kill her, even though 99 of the uh evidence says yeah yeah, he smoked her, we tore him down and you know that. That's why you know, I'm glad, jack, what you're doing, you're doing it organic man because, you're. You know you're not dr, but not even dr pemberton you like. He's the guy that created Coke.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he sold like four his first year in business. So you're, you're doing better in sales already, but it's, it's a long game dude, and and nowhere it's it's not your. You know your. You and I are simple. We're not fucking in the studio out in Bali having this conversation. You're a grounded guy. I can tell by our conversation. I mean you love Lincoln Raleigh. You went to USC.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:You're based in Nashville. Now I'm assuming right the company.
Speaker 3:Yep Company's based in Nashville. I'm in and out of Nashville, but why Nashville?
Speaker 2:Is it because Morgan Wallen's out there?
Speaker 3:No, so what you didn't hear, or what I didn't dive into detail in, was that when I moved from Denver to Santa Barbara, my dad moved to Nashville. So I kind of spent a lot of time between high school between Santa Barbara and Nashville, back and forth, and then when I was building this company, I was spending a lot of time in Nashville with my dad and just kind of organically grew as a Nashville-based company and then I launched it there in 2022. So just been in the market for about three years, but yeah, I'm in Nashville a good amount. I'm actually in New York right now, but I'm always on the move. I don't really have a place that I live full time. I spent a lot of time in Florida, spent a lot of time in Michigan, tennessee.
Speaker 2:Dude, you're nowhere. That sucks. Have you noticed that? You're like yeah, yeah, I was in Denver. I decided to go to Southern Cal for school. You know there's Santa Barbara and oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, my father moved to. You didn't say like some shithole, like Chattanooga, or Chattanooga is growing.
Speaker 3:Chattanooga is growing.
Speaker 2:I hope so, because the times I've been there, well, we're the home of the moon pot. Hell yeah, we're moon pots.
Speaker 3:You're like okay, okay, yeah, that's great, I'm not gonna live here exactly.
Speaker 2:So yeah, dude. So what next man do? Do you do real estate or you just no, just these two just these.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's long gone. Mean, it's not long gone. I think you know I will always want to get back into real estate, and you know, cause? That's that's where my passion is. Like, I really like real estate, I think it's really interesting and you can make a lot of money in that space. But you know, right now I'm super focused on Hives Tribe, building those up, selling them, and then you know, who knows, maybe I'll create another brand, or you know, and do real estate on the side. I mean, that's just, that's a great thing about real estate you can always do it on the side. So I'll probably get back into that at some point in the future next 10, 15 years.
Speaker 2:You want me to tell you a little secret about real estate. It's like communications. I have a master's in it. Add in 250. You'll get me a copy of the USA Today. You can do real estate without a master's, without a bachelor's you can be a high school dropout. Nobody's going to be like, hey, we're going to cut a deal, we've got Jack Damn straight Goes to USC. Oh, that's where John Wayne went, yeah man. That's where Lincoln Raleigh has all these Caleb Williams OJ yeah.
Speaker 3:Let's strike a deal, let's do it. Yeah, that's hilarious.
Speaker 2:That's just something. Academia that's no different. Like when I told you that if you smoke a J before you know it you're going to be like shooting up and even back in the day, I'm sure your high school guidance counselor was like Jack, do you know? If you don't go to college, if you don't get that degree, the best you'll ever be is the order taker. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Do you want that lifestyle? There's no possibility, there's no in between.
Speaker 3:Yeah, there's no in between.
Speaker 2:Yes, because they always said that they were always like Omar either go to college or dig ditches. I'm like and years later I'm like shit man. All these people, all these Vo-Tech certifications. And then I was shocked because after I graduated, I did try journalism and the people that had degrees were shocked. You can actually do this job. Oh my gosh. Without a degree, you can actually speak and you can actually communicate.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:There's no way man, I've got a degree.
Speaker 3:Well, I think I mean that's the thing that's changed is, like you know, I meet so many people that are my age, that are doing great and I'm like where'd you go to college? And they're like, actually I didn't go to college and I'm like cool dude, that's great. But yeah, I mean, like I was seeing, I was actually watching the news this morning and remember Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs, the Dirty Jobs guy.
Speaker 3:He was on and I guess he does a lot of stuff with just different jobs, like welding. He always gives back and tries to educate people on like, hey, this is a job that you could do Welding, plumbing tech whatever it is. Welding starting.
Speaker 2:They make so much money yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they make so much money and you don't go to college for that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, dude. So you, yeah, yeah, they make so much money and you don't go to college. Yeah, dude. So you're telling me you don't have to pay 100k a year to go to us? No, there's no fucking way, man, yeah that's true.
Speaker 2:that's like believe it or not jack. This is the one thing, man success. There's plenty of people that would have walked on stage with you, they doing absolutely jack shit. Yeah, they're like oh Jack, great senior, would you like that in the ground day, or would you like that in the tall? Oh, you know, it would be even better, as if you grab a muffin with that too. There's those people, and there's people that you went through high school with that You're like oh man, this motherfucker is going to be like in jail or he, he's going to be homeless.
Speaker 2:then he's going to be driving in the, the friggin maybach to uh yeah, he's like yeah, he's like hey, and he's like oh, we thought you were a piece of shit because you didn't go to college. He's like no, you know, I I do have a couple people with PhDs working for me, though. Ever heard of crypto Drives off? Exactly, yeah, exactly so. Spirited Hive, that's the best place to like. I said gin. I'm not much of a gin.
Speaker 3:Gin, oh you got to try it though.
Speaker 2:I got to try it.
Speaker 3:Even if you're not a gin person, you gotta try the gin I'm gonna try them all this weekend.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna get all fucked up watching college world series, so not gonna lie there you go. I love it probably partaking, maybe drinking some thc infused drinks, because you can't be successful yeah, yeah, do both. Man and I'll be like Josh drinks are amazing man. I can't wait to try Strive.
Speaker 3:Strive comes out in August right Strive's out in August on Direct-to-Consumer, so how do we?
Speaker 2:sign up for the. There's gotta be a launch somewhere.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so you can follow along at LiveDrinksStrive on Instagram and then also StriveSodacom. Strive on Instagram and then also strivesodacom, so follow along with that. You'll be able to purchase Strive in all 50 states, starting August 1st, and then, if you are in San Diego, nashville or Southern Florida, you can find Strive in most of your retailers. In October, and then for Spirit Hive, we sell to pretty much every state online, and then if you are in Tennessee, georgia, connecticut, michigan, florida or Texas, you can find us pretty much in any liquor store.
Speaker 2:And here's one last question, because you can answer this what do you have to tell the person that has to pivot? They thought their whole life was going in this one way. They're going to be a real estate mogul, they're going to be in finance. They had their heart set being a journalist or whatnot. But life isn't fair. Sometimes curveballs are thrown from China. Sometimes curveballs are thrown whatever and they feel like that's it, that door closed. But there's other opportunities. There's other questions. What if it did work? If I try something else? What words of wisdom would you have to tell that person?
Speaker 3:well, like you said, if that door closed, another door always opens. And if you have a passion, if you have a purpose, if you have a passion, if you have a purpose, if you have a drive for something new, take that step, no matter how scary it is, no matter how messy it is, take that step and you know, even if you don't know what that next step entails, you'll figure it out because you have to. And that's just what life is, you know fake it till you make it, and uh, but you have to have that drive and you have to have that purpose behind you driving you and propelling you forward.
Speaker 2:You know what that reminds me of? That brand new drink that's going to hydrate me on this hot summer nights. It's going to make me want to strive and strive forward right. Strive forward, because that's the only way to do it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, don't strive backwards.
Speaker 2:Dude, dude. Plenty of people do man.
Speaker 3:They do.
Speaker 2:They play victim man. It's always either Trump's fault, Kamala's fault, someone else's fault, because they can't look in the mirror.
Speaker 3:I fucked up, I fucked up.
Speaker 2:All right everybody. Jack Aspey, spiritedhivecom, you will get a discount, but 21 and over, and if you're not just lie, we do drink underage drinking, because it's all about the bottom line. I love you, brother. Thank you for your time, man. This hour went by fast. I learned a lot.
Speaker 1:It did.
Speaker 2:Thank you, omar, you gotta take action.
Speaker 1:Just imagine what if it did work.