Kinship Milk Tea founder Caitlin Cash Traveled the World on Her Bike and Brought Thai Inspired Milk Tea Back to Texas

Instead of taking a well beaten path after attending UT Austin, Caitlin Cash taught English in France and Thailand, but her travels did not stop there. For the next 5 years she guided cycling tours all over the world and upon her return to Austin, she took up bike racing, but she also yearned for the sweet and refreshing Milk Tea she enjoyed in Thailand on hot days, so she set about making it herself and testing the results on friends. It wasn’t too long before she was bottling her milk tea and selling it in stores. 

Not only has Cash made remarkable strides with Kinship Milk Tea, she also understands the power of her business. And the potential it has. Cash focuses on empowering women and minorities with leadership, hiring, and sourcing and sharing her struggles so others can benefit. On the product side, Cash seems to be doing many things right because she was accepted into a very exclusive Whole Foods accelerator after the taping of this episode. Tune in to hear how the Kinship story started with bikes, and how Cash's entrepreneurial successes have not come without learning the hard way.

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Transcript

0:12

This is so cool. I'm so proud of you. Thank you. Thanks. You yourself are going for it, and I yeah. I don't have enough awesome words. I'm so proud of you. Thank you so much. Yeah. It's like, man, it's fun, though. Right? Hey. This is Sam Huntington, and you're listening to Hill Climbers. Over the last 10 years, I've ridden bikes in Philadelphia and then LA and more recently, Austin, Texas. And it's been one of my life's pleasures to meet hundreds of cyclists over the course of this time. And, sure, There's been friendships and camaraderie built around some healthy competition on group rides and and on Strava, and and that's great. But Hill Climbers is really paying homage to those, cyclists I've met that I admire Off the bike, these are individuals that have really fascinating stories. They're they're building businesses, or or they're part of the cycling Zeitgeist, in alternative ways. And I think it is a a fantastic opportunity here with this podcast To tell stories of what they're doing off the bike that, maybe you you would never hear about On the group ride riding next to them. For me, the legend of Caitlin Cash and Kinship Milk Tea starts right here in the Austin cycling community. I believe the 1st time I met her, I was rocking a long haired wig and overalls, And Cash had on a nun's headdress and huge fake tattoos, but I digress. Cash does not disappoint, and let me repeat that for emphasis. Cash does not disappoint. Instead of taking a well beaten path after college, Cash taught English in France and in Thailand, but her travels did not stop there. For the next 5 years, she guided cycling tours all over the And upon her return to Austin, where she's from originally, she took up bike racing, but she also yearned for the sweet and refreshing milk tea she enjoyed in Thailand on hot days. So as a self professed doer, she set about making it herself and testing the results on friends. Honestly, it wasn't too long before she was bottling the milk tea and selling it in stores, and we'll get into that story on on the show. It's been a pleasure getting to know Cash in her business over the last couple years. And not only does she have incredible stories to tell, she also the power of what her business means, and what I mean by that is the potential that it has. I'm talking about empowering women and Minorities with leadership, hiring, and sourcing, and sharing her struggles proactively so others can benefit. On the product side, Cash seems to be doing many things right because she was accepted into a very exclusive Whole Foods accelerator after the taping of this episode. Congratulations, Cash. And now, everyone, please enjoy this episode, and go out and try Kinship Milk Tea. I think I'll be asking this question to to every guest on the show. But in my in one of my first interviews, my my guest said, You know, you you enter a bike race and the field is is 50 or a 100 competitors. You know, really, your your chances of actually winning the race are are pretty slim. So if you think about it, Unless you're the elite Mhmm. Tadeh Pokachar. You know, you're really doing it for for reasons other than just just winning the race. And I you know, I'll I'll speak for myself. Let let's put put it that way. So, you know, the notion of of staying in the race, Being competitive, showing up every day, being more about the process and than actually the win, he thinks has a has a lot, related to entrepreneurship. And I was I was wondering if you agree or disagree and if you've got any, anything that that you could share that motivates you, you know, day in and day out with with all these struggles that that you mentioned to keep your business moving forward? Yeah. That's An excellent way to think about it. Fully, wholeheartedly agree. Mhmm. I think there's a number of lessons that you learn on the bike that are, easily transferable to a number of different life situations, not even entrepreneurship. I mean, simply the fact that Sometimes you're climbing a hill and it's a grind and you don't wanna be doing it anymore, and then sometimes you're cruising and coasting, and then sometimes you're having a blast and going downhill. And I think There's different seasons in life that can be compared to all of those different, things on a bike. Metaphors. Lot of metaphor. Metaphors for days. Right? Yeah. Metaphors for days. Yeah. I think especially with with small business and entrepreneurship, The cards are stacked against you always. Always. You're always the underdog. So you are constantly fighting every step of the way to get your product in front of someone to, you know, to to do anything in small business. And For me, do I have really lofty and ambitious goals about where I wanna see Kinship go? Absolutely. Am I gonna get there? We don't know. Like, only time will tell, but for me, just as in bike riding and racing, It is about the journey. It's not about the end result. It's about the journey. It's about how you show up every day whether that be on a starting line or in the kitchen. You're in there. You're kind. You're a smiling, friendly face. You're supporting everyone else. You're supporting the network, and in turn, you're being supported by others. Yeah. So so from the very minute that you start the race or you start the day in the kitchen, whatever it is, To how you treat everyone Yeah. Throughout the process. Like, we wanna be a really good company to work with. Hell, yeah. We want you to feel Excited to work with us. Like, we have your back in turn, and we want our customers to feel the same thing that's important to us, all the way through to the end. Right? Like, I don't win many races on my bike, and, you know, I don't win A lot of things in business either, and that's just the nature of it. But every time I get knocked down or every time I Do poorly in a bike race or whatever it is. You know, you're still at the starting line. You're still showing up. Correct. Yeah. You're still showing up. Yeah. And taking up space in a place where we need more representation Yeah. Simply put. So, yeah, I think that's a great That's a great analogy. So what was your what's your history Recycling, what was your entrain with sport? You know, if there's a story, that that's good, but yeah. Definitely curious. So I got my 1st road bike when I was 16 years old. My dad bought it for me. It was a used giant. He bought it for me for my 16th birthday instead of a car. I think it's a Funny joke. Thanks, dad. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. I mean, I knew that I wasn't getting a car, but, he was like, here's your here's your wheels. Like, alright. Thank you. I appreciate that. It says something about your dad's sense of humor too. Yeah. Exactly. A little tough love. That's what's out there. Right. So we started cycling together, all road when I was in high school. Wow. And I kind of Took a break in college and only after college really dove back into the sport of cycling. And and was your dad, like, a long term roadie? Or No. He started with Me. Cool. It's fun to learn a new sport together, and we were it was our 1st time wearing spandex, and we were Falling all over the space. Vulnerable wearing that spandex. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it was a really cool thing to to learn alongside my dad. Awesome. And and then I'm so I I cut you off. You were saying moving into college and and what yeah. What happened then? So after college, I, went to work abroad which was incredible. So I, studied French and business at UT Mhmm. And leaned really heavily into the French side Mhmm. And started working for the Ministry of Education in France after I graduated. So I had a teaching post over there in a school. I absolutely loved being in schools, so I extended that. I've never been to Asia before. Mhmm. Did some research, decided on Thailand, packed all my stuff, shipped it back To Austin, went directly from Paris to Bangkok and started my new post. Alright. And when I was in Thailand, I heard about it was Coming to the end of my teaching position there, and I heard about this company called Backroads. And Backroads is an active travel company. They focus on cycling trips. So And Backroads is still around? Backroads is still around. Cool. Yeah. They're based out of Berkeley, and I worked for them for 5 years. So I was a guide Wow. And I would take Guests, about 20 15 to 20 guests on these 6 day cycling tours. Wow. And I was working mostly in France, a lot of different regions in France And Ireland and then some in the US in the national parks like Acadia and things like that. Incredible. And so I really dove Head first into the world of cycling. They train you as a mechanic to some degree. You're out there taking care of all of these guests on on bike and kind of exploring the world on bike. So that was my real push into the world. And I think when I moved back to Austin after I stopped living out of a suitcase with my girls, the the time has come, that I really miss that community. Most of my coworkers, we would on our off time, we would ride bikes. Right. We would ride bikes during In some pretty cool exotic places, it sounds like. Yeah. Yes. And then we would have a week off and we would take bikepacking adventures. We would do all these really fun, adventures together on bike and I missed that. So when I got back to Austin, I was really seeking out a community here in the bike scene. And What what years are we talking? What catch me up to getting getting out of, and the company's name again? Back roads and back to Austin when I think that was 2018 was my last year with back roads Okay. If I can remember correctly. So probably 20 end of 2018 or 2019 is when I came into the women's cycling scene here in town. Okay. And I started joining rides, and I started going to women's bike events, and eventually joined a team here. It's a women's team called ATX Sirens. Mhmm. And we focus primarily on crit racing and road racing. Cool. I got my ass kicked on that team. There's some really, really strong cyclists, and I was more of a more of a leisure Yeah. And that was your was that more or less your 1st time racing? Yes. Cool. 1st time racing. Yeah. Yeah. So they kinda taught me the ropes. It's, I had no idea about the categories and so you start off as a category 5 and you eventually work your way up. Yeah. I will, for the rest of my life, be a very, very mediocre cat 4. Never go above that. I'm absolutely certain. But that's that's more than a lot of folks. That's that's more that's more than me. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah. So I focused really on crit racing, which I loved. I think, you know, growing up I was a soccer player. I was a forward. Mhmm. And I did, you know, shorter distance track events. So I do consider myself much more of a sprinter than an endurance athlete, which is really comical to me that I have gravitated towards cycling so much because it is Absolutely an endurance sport. Yeah. But I think that's why I loved crit racing as it's fast. There's a lot of strategic, moves you make with your team. Yeah. There's there's adrenaline. There's adrenaline. There's all these things, and then at the end, you're totally gassed. You mentioned, Your ATX Sirens, club. And I I just wanted to call out how, big of a Community and, you know, impact women's cycling has here here in Austin, Texas. And I I can't really speak as much for other, regions for other cities, but I I I just think it's it's awesome. You you go out on group rides and, like, women are are very well represented. I think I think much better than than other areas of the country. So, this this is Definitely a theme for for you, I feel like, and and promoting and and putting yourself in position to to promote women's cycling and in influence. Yeah. No. Absolutely. You're right. It's, it's a pretty phenomenal spot to be in terms of the cycling scene. There's a lot of really, really badass Women in Austin who ripped on bikes, and it's really cool to see. And one thing I did wanna note on that is, A really, really amazing thing that we have going on here called the driveway series, and it's a weekly Thursday Krit racing series. And the one thing that they do That goes for an excruciatingly long period of time because In Texas, like, the spring is great, and then it gets really hot. And I think the cat is it the cat Fives race Race First? Yes. Like, 5 o'clock on any given Thursday from June through September Mhmm. It's really, really, really hot. So, like, shout out to all the cat fives and and maybe fours that race at 5 PM on those days because I I can't Imagine. Yeah. It's brutal. Sorry. No. No. That's great. Yeah. The driveway series is amazing, and I think one of the coolest things about it though is that they have, a mentorship program where if you're new to racing, they pair you with a mentor for your 1st race and Many other races after that, and the mentor rides along with you and real time coaches you on what you should be doing in the race and it lowers the barrier to entry Mhmm. Which is fantastic because I think it can be, quite intimidating. Yeah. You're going really fast and you're really close together in a large group of other cyclists. Yeah. And having that person there alongside of you, coaching you, telling you exactly what you need to be focused on, maybe helping you with your Cadence, all these different things was, absolutely incredible as I started. And Oh, so you you were a mentee? I was mentee. Cool. Yes. Do you wanna shout out your mentor or mentors? Yeah. Yeah. So that's exactly how I joined ATX Alliance. So the sirens are really heavily focused on mentoring new riders. Okay. And so a lot of them are Incredibly accomplished cyclist, cat 1, cat 2, racing almost at a pro level, and they are mentors. And so they, really, really helped me out on the course, and I loved what they were doing and giving back to the sport, and I wanted to be I be a part of that. That's so cool. And one one theme for the show and I'm I'm literally, in real time figuring out Why we're doing hill climbers and and, what some of the main themes are. And I think one is, I came into the sport basically at 30 year year I was, yeah, 30 years old, late twenties. And, I think it's really interesting for people. You started riding road bikes at 16, but really got kind of indoctrinated in in road racing much later. I think it's interesting to share the stories of how people get involved, you know, when a little bit later in life when they're not teenagers, they're in their thirties, they're in their they're in their forties or, You know, what have you. So, that's a that's a great onboarding into the sport. Yeah. And I think the greatest part about Riding a bike is the freedom that it affords you. It's almost like a childlike sense of wonder when you're out there and cruising on a bike Yeah. And I am loving kind of seeing the shift that the pandemic has brought away from a lot of these really elite spaces and into, diving into a much more inclusive sport, whether that be Mentoring new riders or putting more resources towards, women in the sport, there's a definite shift of more support, and I'm fully on board with That that's, really incredible to hear. And, yeah, I mean, Quran, who is our our last guest on the show, really emphasized how important, like, documenting, the process was, documenting the the experiences, you know, women women are having, riding and And putting it on Instagram and and spreading the word, it makes and also, I think I'll reference Breakfast Club too. Like, Yeah. There's there's the a group and every everyone's kind of, doing their thing, riding fast, but then the majority of folks that are that are showing up, are are not, they're not there to race. They're there to, yeah, get have fun, get a workout, and and probably learn a thing or two as well. Yeah. We have a long way to go. I will note that. Yeah. Well, we have come a long way. We have a long way to go still. So the the fight continues. You ride bikes abroad, you know, touring folks are all around Europe. You spent time in in Thailand, and what, I guess let's just get into to kinship. Can you tell us about milk tea, your your relationship with milk tea, how how it all started? Or Definitely. So I have a, I have a small business here in Austin called Kinship Milk Tea, and we Make small batch, iced milk teas. So for those of you who may not be familiar with milk tea, It's essentially an iced tea latte. It's vegan. We make it with oat milk. Truly handmade here in Austin. It's delicious. My sweet, sweet retired father drives around all of our deliveries. But the reason I have this company Can can all go back to bikes? I mean, that's a really cool I didn't I didn't pay her to say that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Component of Everything. I think, you know, Thailand was a country that I spent quite a bit of time in before working for Backroads, But it led me to Backroads. And when I was working for Backroads And and you were you were teaching English and Thailand. Yeah. And how can you share a little bit about that experience? Yeah. Absolutely. I was in Central Thailand, in a in a town called Soopanburi, and I was teaching high schoolers, and it was an absolutely magical experience. I cannot Speak highly enough of the curiosity and integrity of all of my students. Mhmm. And And you're still in touch with some of them? I'm Still in touch with some of them. It's wild. It's wild. That was I don't even know. Over well, I guess right at maybe 10 years ago, Wow. Cool. Receive messages from some of them on Instagram, updates here and there. So it is a really amazing thing but, So shout out to all my students. Yeah. I know none of you are listening but, and and yeah. So I think in Thailand I became, familiar with milk tea. And I was living in a little apartment and I would walk to school every day. And on the way to school, I would stop at the local seven eleven, and I would buy a bottle of milk tea. And 7 elevens, outside of the US are phenomenal. Magical? Yes. They're phenomenal. And they had an entire section just of bottled milk tea. On the way home, maybe I'm stopping for a boba tea, like, I just It's a hot climate and it was a really refreshing treat for me. I didn't really drink coffee at the time, and so I I've totally fell in love with it in that sense, and then through Backroads I worked a lot in Ireland which is also a very tea forward country, Just in a very different way. So they you know, that's a colder, rainier climate, so they they consume it differently. They consume it warm, but it is still A milk tea. Yeah. And so I have these 2 very tea forward countries that I was fortunate enough to live in and work in and Just really fell in love. So when I moved back to Austin, it was something that was missing in my daily routine And I had And there there's a bit of, ritual around it. I mean, in in Thailand, you were you were drinking it to to cool off in a little kind of comfort. And I really mostly in colder weather, like, I'm I'm the same. Yeah. I have it almost every day, and it's, Yeah. It's comforting. Right? It is. Yeah. It is comforting. So so yeah, I realized when I came back to Austin that if I wanted this to be part my daily routine, I had the option of either driving somewhere to a boba tea shop and getting something that I didn't really feel strongly about the integrity of the ingredients Mhmm. Or I could make it myself. Like like, sort of, Synthetic ingredient, like, what what kind of stuff? Yeah. Just, really sweet, quickly, quite creamy. Some of the teas are not Really high quality, some of them are. Mhmm. But I and don't get me wrong, I love Boba Tea. It is absolutely an indulgence, I think what I was looking for in Texas was more of a cross between a boba tea and just a southern iced tea. Okay. Lipton iced tea that you would drink. Like, my dad drank it mowing the lawn. That's what he wanted was a Lipton iced tea. Mhmm. And so I wanted to find some sort of Happy medium. It was never supposed to be a company. It just so happens that it is that it is now, but I started Playing around and tinkering in my home kitchen and trying all these different recipes, I initially started with a Jasmine Green, and I would serve it to my coworkers at work, during lunch, I would bring it in. The guinea pigs. Yep. I would get feedback, I would Push it upon all my friends and family if they came over to visit, send them home with samples. Mhmm. Those friends started taking it to their offices and those co Co workers would reach out, ask me if they could buy it, and I was like, wait a second. This is not for sale. This is just something that I'm doing for myself and my friends and family. But there there's a theme here, and and I think on the website and maybe some other content, you have sort of, labeled or categorized yourself as as a doer. So, like, what what is that what does that come from? You you know, you wanted to make your own tea. Is it something With your with your family, with your parents, is is there a a common common thread there? Yeah. Yeah. I, Oh, that's a good question. Both of my parents are creatives. Mhmm. So my dad worked forever for Texas Parks and Wildlife. He was the videographer and series producer for the show. Right. Meaning that we grew up going to a bunch of state parks and tagging along for his for his shoots, which Shooting wildlife. You're welcome. Yeah. Shooting, you know, people that were doing really cool things like hand building canoes and then taking them down Rivers for overnight canoe trips. Just finding these different stories to tell in Texas. So that's what he did and and my mom for a really long time was, A photojournalist and she worked in photography before shifting to a to a new career in the early childhood special needs. And so I think For me when I decided I wanted to study business at UT, my parents both questioned me. They were like, wait a second, are you sure that's what you want to do? And I didn't have really any reason to do that, it just seemed like a solid smart choice. And so I don't think that From my parents, I had a lot of, they they were not entrepreneurs. Right. It wasn't like but they were makers. They were They were makers. Yeah. We're creators and and are very, you know, very, very creative, creatively minded. And so I'm not exactly sure where that comes from, but it is almost to my own detriment sometimes. I cannot stop. It is like I see something and I and I Start thinking on it and I'm like, holy shit, we gotta do something about this. So I think it's just there. Yeah. And, so I definitely consider myself. I don't not one to sit on the sidelines. Mhmm. I like to be in the action. I like to to make mistakes, and I like to learn from them, and that's exactly what Entrepreneurship and small business gives you Yeah. Gives you all of those opportunities to just learn about yourself, learn about others, which I think is really beautiful. And that's that's another theme. I mean, I mean, we talked about, you know, women in cycling, but, also, I I feel like, you know, woman ownership and and operating, Kinship is a really big, like, pillar of the brand and and being outspoken about it and and really spreading the word that you just shared. You know, entrepreneurship is Is a worthwhile pursuit, for for women as well. Absolutely. And that's one of the coolest parts of, running your own business is you can build your team exactly the way that you wanna build it. And so for me, I try to hire women and I try to hire women of color. Mhmm. And I think that is really, really important. So we're majority, woman of color on the team. Badass. Yeah. Everyone's part time or interns or or whatever it is, but I I try to build it intentionally through that representation. And eventually, the goal is to have a full, women owned supply chain. So I'm talking all the way to the exact source Yeah. Of the tea farm. The vendors, the partners. Yeah. You're right. Yeah. The the tea farm, I wanna work with women led tea estates. I'm not the, you know, the co packing facility who we use eventually. There's not many women in these Spaces, especially beverage. Beverage is almost all male dominated. Usually, it's 2 it's 2 men, so there's 2 cofounders is what you typically see. And so to be a woman is amazing in the beverage space and to be a solo founder is, awesome and challenging and all of the things, but we're we're trying to break the mold in A number of different ways, not only from the way that we build the company very intentionally with a long term kind of strategic goal of getting more women in the space Mhmm. But the way that we make our tea is the same thing. We're disruptors. Yeah. I think, We're kind of rebelling against the traditional steeping methods of tea and how you typically use it and and, make it, and we're proud of that. We're like a rebellious little, It's a it's a good story to tell for a brand. It's a really authentic story. And and I guess on that topic and we're jumping the gun a little bit. We'll get back to the the origin story. But On this topic, because we're we're on a roll, do you do you think that because You're you're the owner, and it's it's a a mostly woman led team. You're more transparent about, the the difficulties that that entrepreneurship, has, you know, by, innately. And and as opposed to, you know, the the myth of the, you know, the entrepreneur who's who's Fearless and and makes all the right decisions and and doesn't have a care in the world. I mean Yeah. Yeah. No. We really pulled the curtain back, I think. And Great great way to sum it up. Yeah. We and and I keep saying we, but it's mostly me. I make a lot of mistakes Mhmm. At the helm, And I like to really think about how to lead with a gentle power. So I think there is a certain fierceness that comes with being a small business owner or a business you know, any business. Mhmm. Business is hard. That's why a lot of people don't do it. That's why they work for large companies where they don't have to deal with lot of the the challenges that small business owners have to deal with, and I think I'm pretty Eager to share a lot of those mistakes with either Yeah. Customers, you know, our transparency in our Instagram, with other founders, if anyone reaches out and asks what we're working on, I'm very, very Honest with people. Mhmm. And I think that's important because you can hear stories all day of companies that make it Big and they grow quickly and they're doing really awesome things. I think that's wonderful, but, the day to day reality of it is it's a grind. Yeah. What's the other 95% that isn't isn't documented? Right? Exactly. And I think, you know, when I talk to People who are starting their own business, I mean Austin is an incredible incubator city for food and beverage and CPG which is what I fall under consumer packaged goods. We absolutely are an incubator, and the community is the driving force behind all of this. When I started Kinship, I reached out to about 15 different founders, and I asked to take them to lunch, to take them to coffee, if I could just pick their brand and exchange. And not a single founder turned me down Wow. During that experience. Yeah. And this was before I had a name, before I had, You know, an iteration of the product. I was, like, serving them in mason jars, and they had a bumper sticker on the front. You know, just Not ready at all. Yeah. And I had those conversations because there's so much to learn. There's no guidebook for being a business owner. I mean it is just you are thrown to the wolves. Yeah. So inherently you're gonna make a ton of mistakes and you're gonna experience a lot of failures, and I think having some extreme adversity initially with I mean, I started this in fall 2019 and COVID hit. And I think that can either make or break a person in a business, and having that early adversity and those challenges Afforded me the opportunity to step back and actually very thoughtfully think about what I want this to be. Good transition. So so just to, revert back to what we were talking about, you you are testing it on Friends and family, get getting feedback, at some point, I guess, in around 2019, you decide to, go go pro and and launch launch the brand. Of course, COVID hits, and that And and was there anything else you wanted to add to my to my summary? Or I would say I mean, the brand launched on Instagram illegally, and I'm, You know? At first, I was like, no. Maybe I shouldn't say that. Like, no. That's the truth. Yeah. We launched on Instagram and, you know, as I mentioned friends would take it to work and their coworkers would reach out, and so I was like, you know what? Let's just try it. Let's put an order up there on Instagram and see what happens. And so I was making it every Saturday, I was taking orders, making it every Saturday and then I was driving it around Austin to hand deliver it every Sunday and loving it. Yeah. And it got out of hand, and I had too many people Reaching out and and were incredibly supportive of it. So I, had to my hand was forced. Yeah. Either I could shut it down because We don't have any of the licenses, we don't have anything that we need to actually be doing this, or you go for it. Yeah. And I'm a doer, so we went for it. But, yeah, COVID COVID shut us down right as we were starting. And and for the, sake of full disclosure, not only does Cash have, you know, partnership in the inn, as well as starting Kinship, Cash also has a full time job. So, don't get it twisted. Like, this is this is not you know, this isn't Someone who who's who's got oodles of time on her hand just to start a a CPG brand, this was this was something you you deliberately did with a lot of Artie Already cooking. Right? A lot already on your plate. Yes. Yeah. And it I mean, initially, these things start as a as a side hustle, and that's really exciting. And in the case of Kinship, Has grown to be absolutely more than a side hustle. It is a living, breathing entity all on its own, which is amazing. But So can we can we jump back to the brand the branding story? So, COVID hits. It's an opportunity to To kinda hit hit pause and and gather, collect your thoughts, what what happens then? I love that you used the word opportunity Yeah. For that Because initially I did not see it that way Yeah. And was pretty bummed. Yeah. You know, I had my new secretary of state and corporation of my business, and I was ready to get out there. And that's exactly what it was. It was an opportunity to step back and truly think about What are my goals with this business? How long did it take you to get to the feeling like it was an opportunity? A few months or like 6 months. Yeah. Yeah. Fair. But I yeah. I'm really fortunate to be surrounded by an incredible network of people. That That's the I can easily say my biggest accomplishment in life is the people that support me. Mhmm. My network of friends and family. There will be no bigger thing that I accomplished other than having those people on my side. And I had an incredible Designer friend, Chris, and Chris is, he's a total badass and exceptional at what he does, and I don't think he'd ever designed packaging for a food and beverage product. He works on a lot of different things. And Chris and I worked together, so we took I wanna say it was a full 4 to 6 months on the packaging, and I knew a couple of things. I knew that we had a split second to catch a customer's attention on a shelf. The the Market is saturated in beverage right now, and you have no time to to get someone's attention. So it had to be striking, it had to be different. And then also in the stores that I I was targeting at the time, It maybe is a new product category for a lot of people, so they may not really quite understand what it is. It is not a new beverage by any stretch of imagination. It is something that is well loved in many parts of the world. Great point. I'm racking my brain, and I can't think of a single other milk tea brand or milk tea maker. So, that's a that's an exciting opportunity. Love it. Yeah. It's definitely an opportunity to bring what's to bring something that is working in a lot of the world to the US in a bigger way. After water, tea is the most consumed beverage in the world. So that is a pretty big deal. Yeah. And we are trying to take some of that. Wanna take some of that market. Can you share the the story of what kinda, started to put kinship on on the map like you're we we we talked about some of the hardships, but but let's get into to some of the the victories here. Definitely. So we relaunched. I got, you know, fueled Yet again in early 2021 as things were starting to open up a little bit more, and I knew that I wanted it to be similar to how you find it in Thailand, which is in small grocery stores, convenience stores. I didn't wanna do d two c. I wanted you to be able to find it in a really approachable convenient way. So I made Probably, I think it was right at 300 bottles of milk tea. Mhmm. And I put them in coolers in the back of my car And over the course of the weekend, I drove all around Austin and hand delivered them to many of the small grocers in town, coffee shops, whoever I wanted to work with, and and being from Austin, I wanted to work with other local businesses. It's a it's an ecosystem. Like, just I'm not the only one being supported. Like, I want my brand to support your mission and what you're doing and your store even There's there's real reciprocity. That's a great point. Yeah. Exactly. We I mean, we just depend on each other. 1 cannot be there without the other. Yeah. So, I Would walk in and I would ask to talk to either the buyer or the manager and I had a little line sheet, which is a resume for your product and your company Mhmm. And dropped all of these things off and just asked people to try it. And the first, account that we landed was Bento Picnic. Alright. And we just kind of kept the ball rolling. I think the product Speaks for itself. It's a really, you know, and I'm not gonna put anything out in the world that doesn't taste awesome. Mhmm. Right? So, I think A lot of people who tried it really loved it and they loved that it's local, they loved that it's women owned, so we picked up, you know, a couple of Royal Blues, we picked up some Toms, we picked up Tiny Grocer, and all of these new accounts started rolling in. And and how long did that take after you dropped off the sample? When when did the orders come in? Alright. Like a month. Alright. Yeah. Like a month. That's some good feedback. So, Yeah. I think I dropped them off in May, and we were launching early June in a lot of stores. So we were in these these Tiny stores that we absolutely love to work with and support and, you know, walk in there and they know who we are. My dad retired last year, and he now is put to work as a member. Employee. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The joke is that he's been Fired and hired by a lot of times now. He'll he'll do something. I'm like, dad, you're fired. You're fired. This is your That that's gotta be its own little catharsis right there. Right? Fire your dad. You're fired. Yeah. And for his birthday last Drew, I guess I got him his own delivery t shirt so I had a caricature drawn of him. Oh, man. Because he looks like The Big Lebowski. He's a big character. Okay. All the store Store teams love him. He's super friendly. Yeah. He's really gregarious. Sales guy. He's a sales guy. Yeah. Yeah. And, So I had this delivery t shirt made and it's got this caricature of him on the front holding a bottle of milk tea, and it says dad's delivery service, on the back, it says number 1 dad. Mhmm. And he is a part of it. He's a big part of it. Awesome. And so we were in stores for six Months and then I received an email, from a buyer at Central Market around Christmas. Mhmm. And I actually Thought it was a prank email because I was like, there's absolutely no way this is real. And they were interested in carrying the product and I But but there's a little bit more. I mean, you you, like, you didn't even respond to the email. Correct. Yeah. I didn't respond to the email. I called my sister and I was complaining to her. I was like, wow, we just got a really weird prank email. I don't know why people would do that. Why would they do that? And she asked some clarifying questions and she was like, wait wait a second. What is this person's name? And she looked it Looked it up. Because you can do that on the Internet now these yeah. These days. I don't know why I didn't think about it. Crazy business called LinkedIn. You know? Exactly. So she's on LinkedIn, and she's like, Caitlin, Put the phone down and call him right now. He is a real person. And so I had this moment of panic of like, oh my Oh my god. Central Market. So I call them and and So and and for those that aren't here in Texas, Central Market is the elite brand Of HEB. HEB, you know, runs runs the supermarket game supermarket game here in Texas. They they're one of the largest Privately held companies that there is. Like, they're a huge privately held company, and Central Market emailed Caitlin. Yeah. So Central Market is a big one, it's like the Texas equivalent of Whole Foods probably. Exactly. And I had a conversation with the buyer right before Christmas, I was up in Vermont And I was sitting at the kitchen table and he basically said we really love your product, we wanna bring you on. And not only do we wanna bring you on, we want you to be in stores March 1 for women owned product month, and we wanna feature you. And and when when did was this conversation how long did you have to get the product in stores? So that was probably, like, December It was right before Christmas, so maybe just So less than 3 month or 3 months. Right? Yeah. Less than 3 months. Yeah. Yeah. So that was a scramble. Right. Yeah. I just kind of parrot it back to him. I remember the conversation so vividly. He was like, yeah. We wanna bring you into all the stores. And I was like, All the stores. He was like, yeah, there's, 10 across Texas, I was like, 10 across Texas. And I just we had nothing in place. We had no infrastructure in place. We were still making it in quite a bit Smaller batches at our commercial kitchen at that time. Mhmm. And so it was a real scramble in terms of figuring out how to scale, Ordering supplies, getting everything in place in a 2 month period. Yeah. I was You learn a lot in in 2 months. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So tired. I remember the day it launched officially in the Austin stores. I think I went to bed at, like, 5 o'clock that night. I mean, it was just getting to the finish line Erin, it was a really surreal moment. I decided to wait and go with my entire family to see it for the first I think I've seen photos of the of that. Yeah. Yeah. My dad and I showed up in matching outfits accidentally. And we already look a lot like each other. So I was like, Dad. We really should have discussed this beforehand. But so so we show up in matching outfits and we're We're trucking in there, and my sister's filming everything, and, we get around to the back and it's on shelves and I see it there for the first time next to, Like, really big players in the coffee industry just right there, right alongside them. And, It was a really emotional surreal moment knowing how much work had gone into it. Yeah. I mean, I I was in tears. Absolutely in tears. My dad started crying. We were we were an emotional wreck and Yeah. And people are like, what's going on? I was like, this is my business. This is my business. And, so it was a really, really exciting, time. Because not only did we expand outside of Austin, but we are working with a bigger player in the industry, and it's allowed us to kind of understand what that looks like in terms of operations too. Yeah. Awesome. So from from the time, I guess, You started back in 2021 to getting that Email from Central Market. How how long how much time had passed? Like 6 months. Alright. Yeah. So that's quick. That's really quick. That's really impressive. So I guess, yeah, with, with scale, what are some of the the challenges? I mean, what what, did you work through in those 2 months and then put into practice to do more volume with clients like Central Market? Yeah. I mean, simply the production process Mhmm. Was super challenging. I don't come from a culinary background. I didn't know that, like, A liter of water is the same as a kilogram of water, and so I'm, like, over here weighing water when, You know Yeah. These things that you don't realize if you don't come from that background. So, I have a mentor in the space, shout out Nick Patrese of Patrese's. Delicious pizza. Thick and house. And he came by, and he helped me to scale my process Awesome. Basically. So he, is super experienced. He's a friend from college. He went to UT as well. And, he helped me scale and understand what I should be doing and and correct processes to get there. But it was tough. It was really tough. I mean, we experimented with a ton of different things, we changed kitchens, you know, the 1st batch that we Produced for Central Market, was I think like 700 or 800 bottles. Wow. And that's in one day. So our, shelf life is pretty short. We're, we're a fresh product. Our shelf life is 21 days Mhmm. And we basically make it in the kitchen every Monday morning And then we drive all around town to deliver it. I Ordered the labels wrong twice, I think. So, labels are Really challenging. I think I could recite the FDA guidebook, which is like 60 pages of, you know, like, FDA Right. Jargon Requirements. Where things be on a label, how large the font has to be. Mhmm. There's so many rules and requirements. And they have to fit within the the kinship language. Right? Yeah. So, It took yeah. It took me a while. I mean, I just was doing I was I was spread too thin and I was doing too many things And, I think I first ordered the Earl Grey labels incorrectly, and they Got to all the stores, and I had my delivery driver who he just texts me, You know, he's he's part of the distributor. Mhmm. He was like, hey, we're getting some information that Central Market is rejecting your Order? I was like, what do you what do you mean? He was like, well, there's no barcodes on the labels. And if there's one thing that the labels have to have, it's barcodes. Is it UPC? Is that yeah. Yeah. And they can't accept it without that. And so I was like, there's no way. They have barcodes. I don't understand. And Chris and I were working on something to to update, to put a nutrition panel on and move things around, and in doing that, I sent him the incorrect file And it didn't have the barcode on it. So he he didn't catch it obviously because he's that's not his job to catch that. And, I was like, Yeah. No. You're yeah. You're right. They don't have barcodes on them. Ouch. Okay. Well, There we are. There's 800 bottles out there with no barcodes and none of the stores can accept them. Mhmm. And they were delayed in the 1st place because it was during that, Cold snap in whenever it was February, so they had gotten delayed, and there's just nothing we could do about it. Right? We're not We are a fresh product. So if we can't get its full shelf life to the vendor, they can't sell it. Yeah. So, that was a wash and I had to just kind of laugh about it instead of being really upset about it. I was like, yeah, that was your mistake. Yeah. That was an expensive mistake to make, especially when you're fully bootstrapped. Yeah. We don't have any funding. Yeah. We don't you know, people ask us for budgets on things and I'm like we should probably have budgets but we just fly by the seat of our pants a lot of times. And so that was that was a crazy mistake to make, and then I did it again. Yeah. Not only did I do it once, I did it again Right. For the new flavor where I Messed up all the tasting notes. Mhmm. We we just transferred accidentally the Earl Grey tasting notes to the back of the English breakfast label Right. On accident as I was Sending the files. I sent the wrong file again. And and you know what? Like, really appreciate you sharing this because I know for a fact from other friends that That have CPG companies, like, this type of stuff happens all the time and it All the time. On on a on a ridiculous scale too. Like, these mistakes can happen to like you like you said, a a you know, an order of 800 units or or or more or way more. So Yeah. That's that's how you learn the game. Exactly. Exactly. We we mess up, we fail, we maybe do the same thing again. And then and then we finally learn our lesson and have someone else check over everything. Where do where does that take us here here to present day As far as fundraising or or sort of capital, like, what what is what's the plan? We need it. Okay. Alright. We need it. Tell your friends. Alright. Yeah. I think we finally have enough proof of concept out in the marketplace to be able to think about fundraising. Mhmm. Most, most VC firms want to see a 1,000,000 in revenue before you even have the conversation, but there are more and more Smaller firms or angel investors that are willing to work with you. And I think a lot of times what I hear over and over again from other founders, it's just Like a chicken and an egg game. Right? Like, you can't get to scale and you can't get a 1,000,000 in revenue unless you have the capital to do that. Yeah. And then vice versa. Like, they won't give you the capital when you're small to to make that growth step forward. Yeah. So Fundraising. Yeah. I'm working on wrapping my head around that, and I think we're gonna dive head first into that really, really soon. Alright. Cool. Well, I, I mean, one of the reasons, hopefully, one of the values for the the shows is Having the opportunity to to tell the the Kinship story in a long format, you know, talk about the the story, the brand, the the company evolution. So, we'll definitely get this in front of investor types and and, Help us. Spread the word around the the cycling and and investing community because that that's that's a real thing. I mean, per, the the podcast we had with with, with Nick, Eucardia, he he was fundraising, you know, riding his bike, so we'll we'll spread it around. Help us be dangerous. We know we can do it. That that might be the tagline for the show. Help us be dangerous. Caitlyn, thank you for for being on the show, and and this is, this is A momentous one because it's the 1st filmed filmed version. We'll we'll get we'll get it on YouTube, and, I've just had a total blast, so thank you so much for I know you're really busy. Thank you so much for spending your time with us. Thank you. I'm honored to, I'm honored to be here, and, for all of you guys out there, keep going. I know it gets Keep riding your bike. Keep going. Yeah. You're gonna get there. Yeah. Perfect words to end on. Thanks again. Thanks.