EP 48 Rob's Path to Health & Happiness Through Generation NA

Imagine exchanging your favorite cocktail for a non-alcoholic beverage and discovering a world full of flavor, community, and a healthier, happier you. That's exactly what our guest, Rob Theodorow, owner of Generation NA non-alcoholic bottle shop, did. He bid farewell to booze and embraced an alcohol-free lifestyle, finding joy in simple moments, rediscovering old hobbies, and opening up a thriving business.

Rob breaks down his story, which is a testament to the power of choice and the freedom found in sobriety, and what led him to opening up his bottle shop. Our conversation gets into the fast-growing trend of non-alcoholic beverages, exploring the variety of options available from craft beers to zero-proof cocktails and wines.  Rob also shares his ambitious plans for Generation NA and the excitement that's coming in 2024! His decision to open his bottle shop has created a space for others to connect and create lasting memories, and I can't wait for you to hear more about it!

Get in touch with Rob at Generation NA!
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Thanks to Giesen 0% Wines for sponsoring this podcast episode. 

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 You are loved. Big Time Cheers!

Transcript

Deb 0:02

Welcome to the Thriving Alcohol Free Podcast . I'm your host , Deb , otherwise known as Mocktail Mom , a retired wine drinker that finally got sick and tired of spinning on life's broken record called Detox to Retox . Let this podcast be an encouragement to you . If alcohol is maybe a form of self-care for you or you find yourself dragging through the day waiting to pour another glass , I am excited to share with you the fun of discovering new things to drink when you aren't drinking and the joy of waking up each day without a hangover . It is an honor to serve as your sober , fun guide , so sit back and relax or keep doing whatever it is you're doing . This show is produced for you with love from the great state of Kentucky . Thanks so much for being here and big time cheers . Okay , welcome back to Thriving Alcohol Free .

Deb 0:52

You guys , I am a little bit out of my mind right now because I have Rob from Generation NA non-alcoholic bottle shop up in Lafayette , Indiana , is joining us today . I am so excited . First of all , Rob , I absolutely am so grateful for your encouragement . You and I are friends on Instagram . I've been to your shop in Lafayette . Your shop is beautiful and I wanted to have you on the podcast because you just celebrated , I think when we're recording this I think it was two days ago you had 1,000 days of being alcohol free .

Rob 1:20

That's correct . Yeah , comma club .

Deb 1:23

The comma club . So you and I are both in the comma club , so I want to talk to you . I wanted to have you on today because you do not have a background in running a non-alcoholic bottle shop . I want to hear your story about becoming alcohol free . I want you to share your story about opening up a non-alcoholic bottle shop which , as we're filming this right now , I can see the shop right behind you . Your shop is so beautiful . Your shop is like the gold standard of how all non-alcoholic bottle shops should look . It's so beautiful

Rob's Alcohol-Free Journey

Deb 1:47

. So okay , Rob , welcome , welcome to the podcast . Thank you for being on today .

Rob 1:50

Thank you , Deb , so much . I appreciate the kind words .

Deb 1:53

Oh , I mean it , I totally mean it . Okay , so 1,002 days ago . So I don't know when this podcast is going to come out exactly , but so it'll be 1,030 days or so . Okay , so you woke up and you were like I'm going to stop drinking , or did you just want to moderate , or where kind of were you in your alcohol free journey ?

Rob 2:09

So I was a moderate drinker . Covid happened . I own a tech business . I became a pretty heavy drinker . So the first year of COVID I drank pretty heavily and I actually tried to do a dry January In January of 2021 , I failed at it . I did do about two weeks right , so went back to drinking , tried a dry February which I kind of made up . I was like let's try this again .

Rob 2:34

I could have had another two or three weeks and went back to drinking . Then March 10th came around and I woke up and I didn't want to drink anymore and I haven't had a drink since and I realized that it was difficult for me to moderate . I really enjoy drinking . So , like a lot of people do , I have a lot of stress in my tech job and just wanted to feel better . Physically , I was having a few problems . My blood pressure was elevated , I was having like stomach pain , just different things . I just didn't feel well . I was waking up a lot at night . I had a fast heart rate .

Rob 3:10

Mental health wise , my anxiety was out of control . There were days that I couldn't leave the house . I remember one day in particular and this day still haunts me . It was probably in that January or February of that year and I'd gone back to drinking and I was just trying to sit in the driveway and drive my daughter to school that day just a couple of blocks . I couldn't do it . My anxiety just would not let me really do it . I had to have my wife take her to school and I thought you know what ? This isn't a good life for anybody , right ? I mean , what am I trading for or feeling slightly relaxed for 10 minutes . I'm trading my life here . You know I became a pattern that I wanted to improve upon . I really wanted to take an initiative to get back to the person that I knew I could be , both physically and mentally . So I am over a thousand days now and last time I had my labs run my blood pressure is now perfect .

Rob 4:05

My mental health , I mean doing things like this . I do a lot of like in-person speaking events . I was made president of my local business-to-business networking group with other CEOs . Really , I would go up every week and chat in front of like 40 business professionals . I mean I don't want to say my anxiety completely went away , but cutting the booze if it was just one thing that's improved , that alone would be worth it . And there's all these other side effects , great improvements that you get when you cut out too . So like your sleep , your skin , your appetite , your energy , I mean your numbers like blood pressure and things like that .

Rob 4:43

I found that I get a lot more enjoyment out of life , right , like even doing little things , like hanging out with your kids or going to a movie or eating a sandwich , like you get like more enjoyment out of them , and it's not just because you're not hungover , it's because you're not giving your brain these cheap dopamine hits right and you're not like artificially like bumping that up . So I found that I have just a lot happier in life alcohol-free . I don't have any plans on going back Now . When I quit I didn't say that I was never going to drink again . I didn't label myself an alcoholic , I didn't do any of that . I didn't go to AA or anything like that . But I knew I didn't want to drink that day . And every day I wake up and I just don't want to drink for that one day and I just take it one day at a time .

Deb 5:25

Same , exact same . And I will say I mean you're young , you have young kids and so yeah , just to . I mean I was doing . I was the same , like trading my life , Like what was I trading my life for ? And all the anxiety that I had from drinking .

Rob 5:38

And I was not feeling the best on Sundays and I'd hang out at home or on the couch . I wasn't out . So now , you know , I'm hanging out with my kids . I taught my daughter how to ride her bike the first summer I got alcohol free . I hang out with my son , we go geocaching , like we're out , and they grew up so quick . So my kids are 10 and 13 now . So you know , it was about three years ago and they were at a good age where they were to start probably noticed that I wasn't spending as much time , but I didn't want to regret it too . They're going to be going away . They're not going to be living here forever and I don't want to ever look back and say I should have spent more time with my kids , because I'll never get that time back , right .

Rob 6:14

I don't want to ever regret it and I know now that I can be the best father that I can be , the best husband that I can be and the best business owner too . I own a few companies . And tell you what ? You're not a good business owner when you're hung over , so I mean you're not really wanting to go out and do a bunch of stuff . So I was . I was doing a disservice to myself , my employees , my customers , my family . So I just needed to change one small thing and that has really , I feel like I've leveled up , like I feel alcohol free is next level living .

Rob 6:45

And before I became sober I just kind of thought people said that because maybe they wanted to pretend that that was it or maybe they didn't want you to fill a sorry farm or whatever it was . But it's true , like it really is true . And the longer that you're sober every day or maybe not every day at this point , but every week or every month that goes by I continually notice new benefits from it and it's great . And think back to some of your favorite memories , right , a lot of them are probably when you were a kid or at high school , or a lot of them even as adults . You probably weren't drunk . So think about that .

Rob 7:18

What are we looking to get out of life ? We're looking to get good memories and good moments and connection . You know the drink shop that we have here at Generation NA is really all about that and we offer a lot of functional drinks as well . So if somebody is looking for relaxation or balance or focus or energy , we can still give them that .

Rob 7:33

But the benefit is , you know , with alcohol you kind of numb the good and the bad , so you're just kind of like just numbing everything when , with a functional beverage or with sobriety , you can really enjoy the good right , and you can really just get the most out of that moment . I found in particular that going to a sporting event and just absorbing that energy from the event promotes a lot of dopamine and endorphins and feel good you know where . Before I had to be drinking , to even go out in public because of social anxiety and stuff , right , right , and I didn't really remember the event or the show or the concert or whatever I was at and it's kind of sad , you know , honestly , that I missed out on that and there's a lot of people that don't realize there are these experiences in life that you can have alcohol free and they're so much better .

Deb 8:24

It's so true and you said it's so interesting . Like you said , like it's just that one small I think you said small thing . You know that you removed right , but like before , like when you were drinking , did it feel small in your life ? Like , did drinking feel small , like a small decision , or did it feel like a huge decision , like to try to give this up ?

Rob 8:41

It was a big . My life revolved around alcohol , I mean social events . That was the first thing I was at the bar . There was always an excuse you have a good day , you drink . You have a bad day , you drink it's Tuesday , drink it's the weekend . So yeah , I mean , I guess I should have said it was like one thing , like well , yeah , I don't mean that .

Deb 8:59

But I agree with you though . Now , like being on the other side of it . Now , being alcohol free it is , I look at it , I go . It was one tiny little thing and I was allowing it to be this big thing in my life ,

Early Sobriety Challenges and Rediscovering Hobbies

Deb 9:10

you know .

Rob 9:10

Yeah , early sobriety is challenging . The first couple of weekends specifically , I remember feeling that really kind of sad for myself and that I was missing out . I wasn't going out with friends , I was at home . It was hard . It got a lot easier . Like I mean , I don't even think about alcohol now , whether it's a Saturday night or anything , and it just . It just takes time and it does get easier .

Rob 9:34

I saw a graphic once and it kind of showed a person's brain and it showed different colors and there was like a red , yellow and blue and the red was really big and then it was supposedly like this is the way your brain feels about alcohol over time , and then it basically just shrunk that section of the brain and that allowed more room for other things . Right ? So you're allowing more good to come in or really just more of anything . Really honestly , because you're not focused on alcohol . I mean it does take up a lot of brain power and space . I mean , what time is it now ? So 441 ?

Rob 10:07

When we're filming this , I would have totally been thinking oh , it's almost 5 o'clock , I'm going to start . You know , start drinking . What are we going to have for dinner ? Just pair well with some wine . It's almost kind of exhausting to think about doing all that . And then you have to maintain that , of course , because everyone's kind of chasing that the first drink , the first buzz , and that's what everybody wants , right . But after you've had one you've got to have two to get back to one , and then you've got to get three and then four , and you have to keep drinking to feel how you did at the beginning and then you just feel like crap .

Deb 10:37

Yeah , yeah . No , it's true , and it takes up . It does take up so much time . So now , like not drinking ? I mean like I have so much time . That's why I started doing stuff on Instagram , because I was like I had all this time in the evening . I wasn't zoned out , I wasn't thinking about drinking . It was like , ok , what am I going to do with myself ? So yeah , so you're a true entrepreneur with many businesses . So you were like , why not start another one ?

Rob 10:55

I got into all my high school hobbies . Let's see , I started playing basketball . I got back , I set up a bunch of fish tanks .

Deb 11:01

Did you really ?

Rob 11:02

I got my bass guitar back out . I used to play in bands . I totally did all that .

Deb 11:06

I love it , I love it , I love it . You're like I got into my old high school hobbies . That's so perfect .

Rob 11:11

Yeah , because I mean , that's kind of who you go back to , because I went away to college . I went out of state to Purdue at 18 . My first beer was on my 18th birthday at a fraternity , and so it was kind of just the culture from 18 on was around drinking every weekend , and so you really kind of lost your identity with your hobbies and your free time . Because your free time is all about well , we're going to the bars and we're going to meet up with friends or whoever , and it really does take a lot of time and I don't think you realize that until you're sober . But the benefit of that is the weekends are a lot longer , and I did . I mean , you're not hungover and you have all this free time , so it's a lot of fun . You have a lot of free time for hobbies , of course or in your businesses .

Deb 11:53

Yeah , you have a lot of fun and you get to go back , I think , to who you were before . Drinking became a part of your memories , like you were saying .

Rob 12:00

It's who you really are , yeah it's who you really are . And I think it just kind of comes back . Your brain returns to who you really are as a person and it's not dependent on this highly addictive substance . It's kind of driving some of those decisions in your life .

Deb 12:16

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Deb 13:33

And if you want to meet their winemaker , go back to episode 33 of the podcast , where Duncan Shuler joined me to share about the Giesen story . So you're back to your old self . You have all this time now . So you're like let me open up a non-alcoholic bottle shop . And I know we talked about this for the Mocktail Summit , so if anybody hasn't registered for the Mocktail Summit , please do so . But Rob is one of the guests on the Mocktail Summit to talk about specifically opening up a non-alcoholic bottle shop . So do you want to share with everybody how you got into the non-alcoholic bottle shop space and how this has become such a passion of yours ?

Rob 14:07

Absolutely

Opening Generation NA, A Non-Alcoholic Taproom and Shop

Rob 14:08

. So early on in sobriety , my wife bought me a six pack of athletic brewing and I tried it . I liked it . I got into non-alcoholic beers , started an Instagram channel it was first branded NAbeer and I just rated and reviewed beers and I noticed we were getting a lot of engagement and that was great and so I thought , okay , maybe there's more people like that out here , right ? So I thought it'd be kind of cool to open a shop , and I had a tech space at the time that during COVID , we had a lot of available space . We actually even had a bar area upstairs . So I bought about 10 cases of beer , a couple of the ritual spirits and some Shirley wines and that was it . I was like I don't know . I don't know if people are going to come , I don't know if people are going to buy it . It was in like the third floor of an office building and there was no sign . So I made an Instagram and a Facebook post and opened the doors and we had like 30 , 35 people that day , one that came in and I was like , oh my gosh , dude , like you guys like this stuff . And they're like yes , buy more . So we've just expanded every week and then .

Rob 15:07

So last summer we were doing it as a pop up . I wanted to start off small . I didn't spend any money starting up maybe 500 bucks , cheap shelves and some products , and then every week we would just invest back into the shop . So we buy a cooler , a tap system , buy more inventory , whatever it is About a year ago . So October 1st , we got our retail spot . That is behind us now and it's a thousand square feet on Main Street in Lafayette , indiana , and it's been great . I just work virtually for my other company , so I sit at the bar and I do like my nine to five , and then when people come in I get out of my desk and help them out around the store . So one of my initiatives was to like not sit at a desk as much too , because that's not healthy , right ?

Rob 15:47

I mean we're helping them out , and so I've done that for 20 years . So I thought this is a good opportunity for me to still do my day job , because tech businesses are virtual . Now I'm getting up , I'm getting my steps , I'm helping out the community with it . But it's been great . We made our shop more of a liquor store , a tap room , just without the alcohol , so people that are missing drinking can come in and get the full experience . I mean you could do draft beer , you could do shots , you could do beer pong on Main Street sometimes .

Rob 16:15

We do live music , so anything that we've even done , like beer bongs , like anything that you can find at like a bar , like . We want to give people that experience , but without the alcohol , because that's a big part of it when you stop drinking , like you miss going to these places . Some people don't feel comfortable going to a bar , but they want a place that they can socialize . We have a lounge . People can come in , they can sit at the bar , they can sit at the lounge , do some work , have a non-alcoholic draft beer , whatever they want . We do frozen adaptogenic slushies in the summer , so we do a different recipe every week People can vote on and we just want to make it fun , you know , and we want people that walk by to want to come in and check it out .

Deb 16:49

Yeah , yeah , OK . So for anybody who's listening , who's maybe you know , maybe they're just doing dry January . They think about doing dry January . They're trying to do dry January . You know what advice maybe would you give for them as they're thinking , you know , like you know , when am I going to drink ? I'm not drinking .

Rob 17:02

Well , we try to make it easy . So I started off with the dry January and , like I said , it didn't work out so well , but I eventually figured that out . The contrast of going back to drinking is actually what helped me decide that I wanted to stay sober but drink wise . There's a lot . I mean , some of the craft beers we have have won medals over , like their leaded counterparts . So like against , like beers with like eight times the amount of ABV . So if you like craft beers , draft beers , any style under the sun , we have them . We do , obviously , a lot of ready to drink zero proof cocktails , mocktails . We do drinks with adaptogens . So if you want to relax , we'll have things like Kava or functional mushrooms , cbd . We get all sorts of fun stuff . We do zero proof spirits . We have some ciders , bitters .

Deb 17:50

I mean we have the lines and you've got the not all lines .

Rob 17:53

Yeah , we have a lot of that , so I can't forget that . Because you got us in Wine Enthusiast magazine , so I can't forget that .

Deb 17:58

Yes , yes , that's right , I forgot about the article . Yes , that's so awesome , okay . So yeah , is there a certain thing that most people are interested in when they first like ? I know for me , when I first stopped drinking because I was a wine drinker , so I wanted to find what are the good and knock off wines . So is or is it just depend on who the customers is walking in . Somebody's maybe looking for wine , somebody's looking for ready to drink .

Rob 18:18

Yeah , it kind of depends , and so our most popular skew are our mix and match six packs . I love that you do that . We do two of them now so we have the regular cardboard style so you could fit any of the cans or bottles , and we also have a larger tote . Now it's larger so you could you could mix in the spirits , the wines and the mixers and you get 10% off . So we encourage people to try a lot of things so they can come in and make a six pack and try six different beers or three different beers , couple wines , maybe a ready to drink cocktail and they could try a single can of it . So they don't have to order it online and after shipping , maybe spend 30 or 40 bucks to try one thing . They could come in and get a single can . Or they could come in on a Friday and get a free sample . We always do a free sample happy hour . Or on Saturday we do non-alcoholic flights , different theme every week , so we may do red wines or bourbons . We got gins going this week . You get to try five , sometimes six different samples for like eight bucks . So it's just getting people to try out these products . It's amazing .

Rob 19:13

We just did an event for the chamber the other day and next to a regular like a regular , like beer and wine shop , and the line was wrapped around for them . Not a lot of people for us , right , a couple of a regular six , seven hundred people at this . So then we noticed people were . They're walking right by us . We started asking people hey , would you like a sample of this wine or this beer ? Okay , yeah , they would come up and almost everybody that tried a sample either loved it or purchased a product from us while they're waiting online . So it's really just getting them to try it and asking them . I felt like I don't know why , but sometimes people feel that comfortable they don't want to go into an non-alcoholic shop . We're just selling drinks , you know we're not , we're not going to buy .

Deb 19:56

Yeah , yeah , we're not going to buy , we're just selling drinks . Yeah , and there's so many good things to drink when you're not drinking , yeah there really are .

Rob 20:02

Yeah , I mean , I think the functional beverage space is really where it's at . We get a lot of like the Purdue students right . So they come in and they're like I need energy and I need focus . So like , okay , well , we have a couple of drinks that we'll do both and they'll get through a paper or studying for an exam , or somebody will come in . They're like I've really had a hard day . My brain is just firing off . We need , I need something that's going to kind of reset it and kind of slow it down . So , okay , we have a drink for that too . So it's great being able to recommend something to somebody and not just going into a liquor store and just always just having that one option . It's really about flexibility and options and education on ways that we can promote brain health in certain directions .

Deb 20:42

That's huge . That's huge . So did you know about like the functional you know drinks before you opened up Generation NA Like ? Did you know about like Ashwa Ganda and Kava Like ? Did you know about that ? Or this is something you've learned since you started this .

Rob 20:55

Not in the drink space , but I've been taking L-theanine , which is a green tea extract , for about 10 to 12 years , so I take a chewable form of that and back when I was drinking I had a lot of anxiety . I was on medication for a period of time and then I stopped the medication and L-theanine was able to help me manage that . So in terms of the supplement form , yes , but in terms of the beverages we started carrying like recessed drinks early on . So they have , like the magnesium and the I think lemon balm and L-theanine , but we really didn't have a lot of it and I think that that section of the category of the non-acrylic space has really grown a lot too . And , like I mean , we opened 18 months ago , so a lot of the products that we have now were I don't even think they were around .

Deb 21:37

Isn't it crazy . We're like the dinosaur's in the .

Rob 21:38

Midwest here doing this .

Deb 21:40

No , it's true . I mean , like there's so many products that have just come out in this last year , just in this , just in 2023 .

Rob 21:46

It's insane , like I used to have to hunt them down and beg people , and now we get contacted every day and all the time hey , will you carry us , will you carry us ? We get boxes every day with our deliveries and their sample bottles and we're not even requesting them . People are just sending us all this stuff . Oh my gosh , that's great . We want to carry these and get customer feedback . I mean , unfortunately , we're at the point now we don't have a big shop . We can no longer carry everything .

Deb 22:07

But we try to carry as much as we can .

Rob 22:09

I think we have about 450 unique SKUs . It's not a huge shop so like we have to be a little careful now , but we cycle out products . So if you come in , let's say you came in today as a customer . If you come back in two or three weeks , there's going to be a section of the store it's like rotated out , totally changed .

Deb 22:25

Yeah totally different , you just go through this stuff quickly .

Rob 22:28

You know , on the weekends some of the drink categories will sell like one per minute of some of the categories of drinks . So like those things are going out the door , Like I have a pallet next to me of a certain drink because we can get our costs down and I know we'll sell through it . So we'll order like 100 cases at a time .

Deb 22:43

That's incredible , I mean for a small , for a thousand square foot shop in Main Street , america , you know ,

Exciting Developments and Future Plans

Deb 22:50

okay , so dry January is coming or dry January is here . 2024 is here . I was just about to be here . I'm not sure exactly when this episode is coming out . But what are you most excited about , though , for 2024 ?

Rob 23:00

Yeah . So a couple of things . We have a dry January tasting series . We've lined up seven brands from around the country . These are not just small brands , you're just like some of the biggest brands in the space that are coming here to do tastings at our little shop in Lafayette , indiana .

Deb 23:14

I love it , rob , congratulations . I mean just really , can we just stop right there , like that's huge ?

Rob 23:19

I was going to say that's not what I'm most excited about , though that was just like a side note . Well , we're really excited about it . We're going to be coming up with our own Generation NA branded beverages . The first one I'm picking up . On Sunday I'm going to Chicago and we have a new collaboration with Brawler Drops . It's a Mango Bellini and it's a Generation NA collab product . We have a couple others in the works that are really excited and we're going to be trying to come up with our own Generation NA branded products .

Rob 23:47

A lot of people ask me are you going to open a Generation NA in my town ? That's not really my vision for my brand . I don't want to just have them . I want to have one really really cool shop that people will come to . But then we want to get into other fast sets of the area . We have a lot of data . We have 18 months of consumer data . If you put 400 drinks together , what do people like ? What do people ask for ? What's missing ? Where are these holes ? We have the data . We're going to start making our own beverages and filling in those holes and then getting them out not just our bottle shop , but other bottle shops .

Deb 24:19

Congratulations . Please put me on your list , Customer number one . I hope you're shipping . Do I have to come to the shop to pick it up ?

Rob 24:26

That's also good news , because we get asked about every day if we ship . We're not going to ship all products , but for our Generation , na branded products . That's the plan , along with merch . So if you , if it's our product , we're going to have it available for shipping .

Deb 24:40

That is fantastic . Oh my gosh . Okay , 2024 is gonna be so massive for you . Okay , you're gonna have to come on again to the podcast , like at the end of the year . We have to do a recap of what has just happened , because if we get nothing done .

Rob 24:54

Don't invite me if I have to come back and say we got none of that accomplished .

Deb 24:57

That's me . Yeah , that'll be me . Yes , I had all these grand plans and now I have .

Deb 25:03

No , I will you'll have plenty of things to drink if it , but I'm sure it's gonna work . I'm sure it's gonna all work out Just fine . I'm sure it's gonna be amazing . Okay , rob , thank you so much for coming on driving alcohol-free . I am just so thrilled for you and for the thousand plus days that you have , you know , under your belt of being alcohol-free , and for just one encouragement you are to everybody who walks through those doors of your shop and who walks through the doors of your , your Instagram account to get connected . So thank you for all the support you've been to me . I really , really appreciate it . So well .

Rob 25:33

Thank you so much , Deb . This podcast is amazing . I know you've helped a lot of people with your social media accounts and what you're doing , so it takes a lot of great people in the space to make it , make it a thing right . I mean , people want great drinks , they want to feel included , they don't want to feel Stigmatized or marginalized or anything . So , yeah , we want to make this thing Mainstream and it takes a lot of people to do that .

Deb 25:57

Absolutely . It's so much fun . It's so much fun to be in the non-alcoholic space together . It is .

Rob 26:01

I'm having a ton of fun , like I get up and I love going to work and and I just genuinely am excited about coming to work . I'm like man , it's Saturday . I'm not working today what the heck . I love my family hanging out with you , but I really do like love working . I could see doing this for a long time because it's one of the most rewarding things I've done in my life and not just saying that because I worked in tech for 20 years and tech can be great , but it's also you know . I mean people don't always thank you . They usually hear from them when , like their stuff's broken .

Deb 26:31

So I was gonna say , yeah , yeah , the tech people , you . The only time I ever call a tech person is typically if there's a problem .

Rob 26:38

So so like the plumber .

Deb 26:39

You know like you don't call the plumber to say like thanks , great job , yeah , the water's running . You know you call when it's not running exactly .

Rob 26:45

So it's kind of nice to be on the other side of . People are excited to come in and yeah help them out . We can find a drink that can literally like , change your life . It's not just a drink , it's an opportunity to make their life better . Every can that we sell here is a can . That's not alcohol and that's not a promo for circle back , although that's what I'm drinking . I love these guys .

Deb 27:05

But you're right , it's a can that's not filled with alcohol .

Rob 27:07

That can , yeah , yeah , every can every can we sell is is hopefully an alcohol replacement . And you know we just want to change the narrative that we're just fun drink shop like come in . You know , if you walk into a convenience store and you don't think twice about it like come and check this out , we got a bunch of great drinks exactly so .

Deb 27:22

Make a trip , you guys . If you haven't , you know , made a trip to middle America . If you haven't gone to see Purdue's campus or you're taking your child to to visit colleges , make sure Purdue's on the list and stop at generation NA and meet Rob and Lauren and everybody in his shop . They will take great , great care of you .

Rob 27:36

So , yeah , thank you , rob .

Deb 27:37

Thank you for your time and thank you for being on the mocktail summit . I'm so happy for everybody to get to hear more about your shop on there .

Rob 27:43

Absolutely . Thanks for having me dad appreciate it .

Deb 27:47

Big time cheers to you for tuning into the thriving alcohol-free podcast . I hope you will take something from today's episode and make one small change that will help you to thrive and have fun in life without alcohol . If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to help support the podcast , please share it with others , post about it on social , send up a flare or leave a rating and a review . I am cheering for you as you discover the world of non-alcoholic drinks and as you journey towards authentic freedom . See you in the next episode .