The MHW Mark Podcast
Welcome to the MHW podcast, bringing you conversations with experts and leaders in the alcoholic beverage industry. Covering topics ranging from selling alcohol online, creating a new brand from scratch, and what you need to know when you start doing business internationally. Hosted by Jimmy Moreland and a rotating cast of cohosts from the folks at MHW.
The MHW Mark Podcast
Breaking into the Category: Mixers & Non-Alcs Part 1 - with Margaheata's Briana Kovacs and Andrew Hirko
In this episode, host Jimmy Moreland and MHW's Cassidy Poe are joined by Margaheata Founders Briana Kovacs and Andrew Hirko to talk about their spicy startup simple syrup brand, and how they've leveraged grass roots marketing and data collection to maximize growth in their home market of Colorado and beyond.
More about Margaheata: Website
More info about MHW at https://www.mhwltd.com/
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Welcome to the MHW Mark podcast, where we take deep dives into various aspects of the alcohol industry. My name is Jimmy Moreland. Mhw is a US and EU beverage alcohol importer, distributor and service provider Co-hosting with me. Today I am pleased to welcome back MHW's Cassidy Poe. Welcome back. How have you been, hey, jimmy? Happy to be back.
Speaker 2:Mhw's Cassidy Poe, welcome back. How have you been? Hey, jimmy, happy to be back. It's been a while.
Speaker 1:It's been a minute but we're back. How have things been at MHW? I've been seeing on social media it seems like the event schedule has been pretty packed.
Speaker 2:Yes, we've been very busy, especially our marketing and sales team, attending a lot of industry events and planning for the upcoming busy well, not even upcoming anymore. It's already started the busy trade show season. Some of our team was at the Beer, wine and Spirits Daily Summit in January and then we also had a team just come back from the WSWA Access Live Conference in Colorado, which I heard great things about. Most recently, some of our sales team went to VinExpo Paris and got to meet with some really awesome brands and see clients, which they said was a really great time. And now, coming up, we have Provine in March and then it just continues on from there. So we're keeping ourselves very busy around here and if anyone's interested in attending any of these events, they can also see all the upcoming events on our events calendar on our website.
Speaker 1:Yep, head over and check out the website it's mhwltdcom and go to those events and you can put a face to the voices that you hear every other week on this podcast. Yes, well, for this episode we have something a little different. Generally, we talk with people who are in some way directly involved with alcohol brands, service providers and so forth. Today, our guests are the founders of a simple syrup brand and we get into some great conversation about how they fit into the broader picture in this industry. So let's get into it. My guests today are first, the co-founder and COO of Marga Hita, andrew Hercow.
Speaker 3:Hi Jimmy, Hi Cassidy, Thanks for having us on.
Speaker 1:We're also happy to welcome the founder and CEO, Brianna Kovacs. Welcome, Brianna.
Speaker 4:Thank you so much. It's a pleasure to be here.
Speaker 1:It's great to have you both on here. Can you just for us give us a little bit of a bio, a background on each of you, just to let us know how you came to be in charge of Margarita and, if you want as well, some background on the company itself and Brianna, if you want to kick us off there?
Speaker 4:So a little bit about myself. I am a Colorado native, still living in Colorado. Outdoor enthusiast, I, for a few years, lived in the New York area, actually in the wine business, at a retail shop where we did click and mortar as well. This was after finishing university and that's where I ended up meeting Andrew many years ago I won't tell you how many because it will date me and we've subsequently moved back to Colorado and, in addition to being in the wine industry, I've dabbled in a series of different industries, so being the electronics industry for a Fortune 200 company and also within the fintech space, specifically digital payments, working for international companies, European companies specifically.
Speaker 4:And how we came to get involved with or create essentially, marguerita is that I am a spicy margarita enthusiast. So many years ago I ended up having a fantastic spicy margarita. This was before they became really popular. It was at a craft cocktail bar and I thought, wow, this is incredible. It was the perfect combination of many of the major flavor categories. Right, you have the sourness of the lime, you have the saltiness of the rim, you have the spice, the heat of the spice within the margarita and I was hooked. So then, as I would continue to go to restaurants or bars, establishments and they had it on the menu. I would often even ask if they didn't. Establishments and they had it on the menu. I would often even ask if they didn't. I began ordering that when I was indulging in a cocktail and found myself typically fairly disappointed more often than not, and of course taste is very subjective. But then sometimes I would stumble upon again a very craveable, delicious, spicy margarita and I would end up going back to that establishment and ordering the drink again and it would be completely different. And I would end up going back to that establishment and ordering the drink again and it would be completely different. And that's just due to many variations. And we've all experienced that in different bartenders making the drinks, different methodologies, that they're using different variations just within peppers themselves. We've all had an extraordinarily spicy peppers themselves. We've all had an extraordinarily spicy jalapeno and then some that are very mild.
Speaker 4:And so I decided that I would begin a quest to create the perfect spicy margarita, if nothing else, at home. So I began experimenting, essentially, and I started with the classic muddling and I found again the same thing. Because of that variation in peppers, it was really inconsistent and I found the spice level to be underwhelming. And then I began to julienne jalapenos and put those in the tequila, my tequila of choice. The challenge there was that the first few drinks that I would make from that bottle, the spice level was again underwhelming. Then the drinks I would make after that, the spice level was again underwhelming. Then the drinks I would make after that, the spice level was great. And then towards the end of the bottle, it was too spicy. So again, it wasn't the perfect approach. So then I began to experiment with spicy simple syrups and many, many iterations later I came up with what I felt to be the perfect spice level.
Speaker 4:And mind you, jimmy, I know that you mentioned that you like spice, I too like things really spicy. So it required some feedback friendly feedback from people that maybe it was a little bit too spicy. So we found what we thought was just the right level and also something that was, you know, more conscious of the caloric impact too, right. I mean, you know, when we're people like to indulge in an adult beverage but not always indulge when it comes to the packing and the calories or the extra sugar, et cetera. So we just were sharing it with family and friends when we would host or, you know, we would go to extra sugar, et cetera. So we just were sharing it with family and friends when we would host or we would go to a gathering, et cetera. And people started asking have you thought about sharing this with the broader world? And hence the advent of margarita, which is, we like to say, it adds heat to any margarita. So that's the background as to how it came to be.
Speaker 1:Andrew, can we get a little bit about you personally, and then we'll jump back into Margarita.
Speaker 3:Sure, I mean Brianna covered most of it, but I would say we did meet when we were both in the industry.
Speaker 3:So I was managing an importing distribution business in New York for a long time and from that experience was great, learned about the industry and when we got together it was a long time ago and I fell in love with Colorado coming out here to visit with Brianna's family and we would go camping and skiing and really fell in love with the state. And when we decided to move here in 2010, I think it was the best decision we made. But we went different paths in our careers and I was also with a Fortune 200 company locally here in Denver and subsequently have also joined the digital payment space. While we're building our careers, we also decided to launch this business and it's been a long process, an exciting process. It was fun to have our official kickoff at the Access Live event in Denver in the beginning of February, so we're just excited to be creating this thing and sharing it with the world. I guess that's the right way to say it.
Speaker 1:Can I ask and you're free to tell me to mind my own business can I ask if this crazy venture of putting out a whole new consumer product here are you able to continue your parallel careers, or has this thing completely consumed your lives and this is the only thing you can do? It hasn thing completely consumed your lives and this is the only thing you can do.
Speaker 3:It hasn't completely consumed our lives yet. It's consumed a lot of our evenings. So our day jobs take up. You know we're focused on our careers as well, but weekends and evenings are kind of consumed by this right now.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we're in that exciting time where things are starting to move faster and get a little bit bigger, and so, while we have maintained our day jobs if that's what you would call it yes, I would say that we are getting less sleep, albeit we also have two young children relatively young children, a five-year-old and an 18-month-old, so sleep is really something of the past anyways, but, yes, yes, it is to the point where it's definitely taking more time, but I mean in a very encouraging and exciting way. And just so to add to Andrew his background as well, he also has a background in the restaurant industry and specifically large restaurants and managing bars, et cetera. So that was something that was really has been very helpful for us and really understanding that perspective, the on-premise perspective as well.
Speaker 1:Y'all are gluttons for punishment, it seems.
Speaker 4:Yes, yes.
Speaker 1:Well, we're glad because we all benefit from it. Can we hear a little bit more, I guess, about the product as it stands today? You can go to the website. We'll have links to that in the show notes for people to check out and you can see. I love that you've got the Colorado flag on the bottle. I love that. But can you tell us more about Marga Heat Estrella as it stands today, now that consumers can get their hands on it? And you know you talked about your issues and why you iterated and figured out the right formula and the right product type in the first place, whether it was an infused tequila and you've sort of landed on a simple syrup now and I guess why it was important to do all of that iterating to where it was useful, not just in your own bar at home, but as something that consumers and the bars and restaurants might want, something like this behind their bar.
Speaker 3:Talking about iterating, I mean when you start making a product like this, you make it at home. You can't legally sell it and you can make it however you want and it's your own kind of I don't want to say risk. But when you're making any product at home, it's not a commercial kitchen and when we first decided we want to sell this product it was okay, well, how can you legally sell the product? So we went through a very long process of finding a commercial kitchen where we could produce it and sourcing the products and the labels and the bottles and the induction seals and all of that stuff and getting licensed by the city of Denver and the state of Colorado and register with the FDA. And we did all of those things. And it's like Brianna said, we have a small family. You know, like Brianna said, we have a small family. It's very difficult to take a day off and have multiple babysitters watch our children and spend a day in downtown Denver producing this product. But it was great. We were able to iterate there, kind of perfect the recipe in a way that it's where our friends went from oh wow, that's really spicy to my gosh, it's delicious, so that kind of a thing. So we iterated on flavor first, and also in a safe way. So where we're certified to be acidified food manufacturers, we understand ph and all of the things that go into making sure that this thing is safe. Ultimately, we've got a two-year shelf life, with you know, before the bottle is open at room temperature. So it's a very, very safe product.
Speaker 3:That was one of the key points, and the second round it, or the third round of iteration would be when we decided we need to be able to scale this and we partnered with a co-packer here in Colorado and with that co-packer it was a whole nother round of iterations on how do we scale this product and how do we refine the recipe in a way that we can scale it, but it still.
Speaker 3:We refine the recipe in a way that we can scale it, but it still hits all of our standards. And there were about 10 rounds of production with a co-packer until now, about four or five months ago, he was able to get it to a point where we're happy with it and it's incredible and we were able to produce the volume that we need I mean hundreds of gallons at a time to be able to serve the market and fill the bottles and everything in a way that it's truly scalable at this point. And today it's the syrup, and tomorrow I guess it's one of the things we'll talk about, but tomorrow is going to be the RTDs and you know, partnering with tequila brands and things like that.
Speaker 1:Can you share with us roughly what's the time frame that it took from when you decided like, okay, let's do this to like first product on the shelf, to today Like, how long are we talking here?
Speaker 5:I'm also curious, like was that a big learning curve for you guys to figure all that out in the beginning, or did your backgrounds like kind of lend a hand in sorting everything out?
Speaker 4:Oh, there was a huge learning curve, absolutely. I mean, you know, I'd like to think it was a slightly less painful curve than if we didn't have certain backgrounds and you know, let's say, in the liquor industry, restaurant industry, et cetera. But absolutely, you know, andrew was mentioning all of this, all of this licenses and the certifications and you know, really making sure that we are crossing our T's and dotting our I's was really important, right. And you know, and I think you know, and also learning a lot from other people talking to other people. You know Andrew mentioned that we, you know, we were a vendor at the Access Live WSWA event this last year and, candidly, one of the greatest benefits from that event was talking to other people with experience and hearing, just getting that firsthand guidance.
Speaker 4:Because you make missteps, right, you try the Facebook adage fail fast. We tried to do that. But to your question, jimmy, I mean from when we first came up with the idea to now is embarrassingly slow, and that's also again having children and having other full-time jobs et cetera. But Andrew and I have talked about it. It's been about seven years, but I remember years ago and I can't credit the original source, hearing that you know, as you get older, life doesn't get harder, it just gets faster, and I often think of it as sort of a game of Tetris. So it's not necessarily getting harder, but things are coming faster. And so now you know, a lot of it was okay. We kind of have this idea and okay, let's, let's see if we can come up with a product and let's see if we can kind of perfect it, and then let's come up with a name, you know with friends, and then, okay, well, let's trademark the name, and that trademark process takes quite some time, and you know then the various licenses, et cetera, all the way to the.
Speaker 4:You know Andrew mentioned that now we have a co-packer, which makes this significantly more scalable. Albeit, it was really important to us to have it be a local co -packer because we want to be there, we want to see the peppers, we want to really be hands-on. It's incredibly important to us for the quality of the product that we be very involved in that, rather than truly outsourcing absolutely everything. Right, this is our baby, so to speak. So it's lots of learning and we're still learning, honestly, and I'm sure there will be many more lessons again in the future. But at this point. Now we are to the point where we are able to scale it more, which is really exciting and it's really well received by the market. I still consider us in our launch stage, sort of I won't consider us out of that stage until we're really a household name. But yes, things are starting to move much faster in a very encouraging way.
Speaker 1:Let's talk a little more broadly about margaritas. Tell us about specifically spicy margaritas, like do you have data or how do you sort of make decisions about forecasting? You know what you're doing? Or is it just like hey, we know, we've got anecdata that says there's a need for this in the market, and so, by God, here we are.
Speaker 4:That's a good question.
Speaker 4:I mean in terms of hard data, industry data, and, andrew, you can of course elaborate on this. You know, certainly, liquor sales. There are hard statistics around that right. There are organizations, companies that they track, that, they report it, et cetera. So you know, as you mentioned, tequila being the number one liquor type in terms of sales and margaritas being the number one most popular cocktail in the States.
Speaker 4:For at this point you know, years running, when it comes to specifically spicy margaritas. It's a little more challenging to ascertain that because that requires some on-premise reporting versus the likes of, you know, suppliers and distributors and wholesalers, et cetera. But really the best gauge of that, especially in today's day and age, is to be paying attention to the chatter, and one of those sources is the likes of social media, in addition to people's just general experience talking to restaurants and bars and things like that. But there is an increase of 25%, at least in the States, of chatter on social media about specifically spicy margaritas, and that's even higher in Canada and even higher, I think, up to 32% in the UK. So it's obvious that this is a trend and there's also a greater trend towards bolder, more adventurous flavors in the cocktail scene and you know we talked about cocktails and liquor, but I mean, in all honesty, there's another big trend which is around non-alcoholic and mocktails. Right, I mean, there's especially the younger generation you know Gen Zs, but people in general are choosing, for a variety of reasons, to abstain and they also want flavorful beverages and they want options as well, and so that was one of the reasons that we feel we're really filling a niche because, in addition to margarita being able to be used for spicy margaritas and giving the additional flexibility for any tequila right, you know, perhaps you have a specific preference toward the brand, or you can also use it in let's be honest any cocktail If you like spice. You know the sky's the limit in terms of being able to experiment, but also it's excellent in mocktails. Sky's the limit in terms of being able to experiment, but also it's excellent in mocktails.
Speaker 4:I have had periods when I was pregnant or breastfeeding or whatever, where I was not indulging in cocktails, but I still wanted an interesting drink, I still wanted to be able to have that experience, and Marguerita is the perfect solution for that because it adds that complexity, it increases the satiation of the overall beverage to where you really. That's feedback that we've received. You really don't even notice that there's no alcohol in the beverage, and going back to the fact that we really focused on making sure that that spice level was to the point where that we really focused on making sure that that spice level was to the point where it's still present, but you're not suddenly making the beverage so sweet, because that's also feedback. We have friends who don't drink alcohol, and that was one of their complaints is that typically these mocktails are just syrupy and overly sweet and they really don't want the empty calories, et cetera, and so margarita is a really excellent solution for that as well, in adding that complexity without necessarily packing in all the additional calories.
Speaker 1:Let's talk Scoville's. How spicy Do you have the Scoville measurement?
Speaker 4:This is a challenge actually, andrew. Do you want to take this one?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean we're relying on our palate at this point. I mean these, you know the Scoville meters are pretty expensive and you know we're using habaneros and serrano peppers and we kind of know the level of heat. We haven't gotten crazy on it at this point and I would just say, you know, we're just trusting our palate at this point.
Speaker 1:I put you on the spot and I apologize for that. But I have the nice way to sort of like bring us around there in that I really do appreciate spice. I've done the hot ones challenge. I bought all 10 of the hot ones sauces all the way up to level 10. And if anything will radicalize you against the Scoville system, it's doing the hot ones challenge, because a jump of three times the amount of Scoville units does not correspond to three times as spicy and it's like no, the last one was spicier than this one, even though it says it's four times as many Scoville units. I hope we don't get a cease and desist from the Scoville people, but that's I'm going to say. If that's something that y'all aren't interested in, don't do it, Don't worry about it. Talk about the comparables, I think, comparing qualitatively and talking about the spices that are represented in the formula. I think so when you say Serranos and Habaneros, I've got a good picture and I know what I'm getting into. So I think that's. I think that's the way to do it.
Speaker 3:And to just add on to that, I think the it's not just about heat. I know the name is Marga Jita, but it's a very balanced, well-balanced flavorful syrup. And we've talked about on the side of doing a scale of one to five. How hot do you want your beverage? I would say the recommended recipe of a quarter ounce in a drink is about a three, and if you want it to go to a five, just add more, and it does add more heat. But it's more about the flavor. I mean, there are plenty of products on the market that have extracts of habaneros and you can just add the heat without the flavor. Ours is really a well-balanced syrup that makes a delicious cocktail in our opinion. And, um, some really good feedback we got from the show a couple weeks ago was um, the reactions were uh, you'd have to bleep me, I mean, but some of these people were saying you know f that's good, like that is really delicious. That's very encouraging because that's exactly what we were going for.
Speaker 5:I'm glad to hear that you guys had a good time at the show and everything was worth it. We had a great time as well my team that was there. I wish I could have been there to try Margarita. But I want to switch gears a little bit into your either current or like potential ways that you guys could partner with like spirits brands and bars. I imagine that your product would be a great way for spirits brands to help better accelerate their on-premise volume goals and achieve their milestones. So do you guys have any plans of doing this in the future? Are you working, working on this? What's going on with like spirit brand and bar partnership?
Speaker 3:Yep, I mean we like to say that Margarita is a bartender's best friend. It enables the bartender to operate efficiently, craft, consistent, craveable spicy margaritas that's really the pain point that we're trying to solve in the beginning. Spicy margaritas that's really the pain point that we're trying to solve in the beginning. It's difficult to find a consistent spicy margarita. But it also enables them to offer, like Brianna was saying, a broader range of spicy beverages. So it streamlines them, allows them flexibility, and I've worked, I've managed restaurants that have the tequila steeped with peppers and you can't modify it and the heat level changes as you consume the bottle or serve the bottle. So we're trying to make sure that their guests aren't locked into a specific drink or tequila brand and it just makes their job easier.
Speaker 3:But, to your point, we are talking to several tequila manufacturers about exactly this how to go to market and our product being a non-alcoholic product, there's a lot of flexibility that some of these companies don't have. Enables them to offer, maybe a free bottle of Margarita when you purchase a bottle of their tequila brand. It enables them to do specific menu items where it's the spicy margarita with their brand and the margherita brand combined, so that the restaurant is sort of helping to promote that specific tequila because it goes well with margherita. And that was one of the biggest takeaways from this event is we tried dozens of tequilas and there are some that just are head and shoulders above the rest and I'll end up getting myself in trouble on this podcast with some of those companies, but I'm not just mentioning that. There are some that we're very keen to partner with and the feeling has been reciprocal from those companies. It's really cool.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and in the long run, at this point we're working directly with other tequila manufacturers, one in particular who's we really feel like their product is top shelf and so it's. It seems like it's a great synergy between us. But, you know, in the long run we would envision things like having be co-branding. You know some sort of you know Marga Hita with you know, the major tequila producer. And also you know some sort of you know margahita with you know, the major tequila producer. And also, you know, looking at ready-to-drink beverages, you know that's another really growing trend. But you know, quality is really important. I think we've probably all had those experiences where you've been excited and you've opened the drink and it's maybe not been quite what you had hoped for. So you know, we want to make sure that if that's an avenue we're going to go down, that it's really the right fit and it's going to properly represent Marguerita.
Speaker 1:I imagine stepping into the space. I just imagine that the burden of regulatory compliance and everything else that comes into play once you're actually delivering something with alcohol in it, I imagine that's quite a big step to consider. Is that daunting to you?
Speaker 4:Both of us having had experience in the wine industry and a bit of experience, I did have a New York State liquor license in my name many moons ago. Yes, absolutely, and we appreciate that. You know the regulations vary state by state and that is a whole monster in and of itself. So, yes, although that is one of the benefits of partnering with liquor manufacturers right, they have the licenses, they have that experience level to bring into it. So I mean, I'm trying to think of the phrase is alone you can go fast, but together you can go far. And that's really, you know, part of our strategy in the long run is partnering, making good choices of the right partners, but then having us be able to collaborate and leverage the experience and skill sets of one another to be able to go far to be able to go far.
Speaker 1:To get back to a point that Andrew was touching on there about on-premise strategy we want for our listeners, especially the listeners who are perhaps involved with younger brands, newer brands, can we talk a little bit about on-premise strategy specifically? I don't know, like working with bartenders and I guess there's a training element to it. Can you talk about just sort of that strategy and share any lessons, hard fought or otherwise, that you can share?
Speaker 3:Thanks, yeah, absolutely. I mean we have several friends who are serious bartenders and we've gotten a ton of feedback from them and worked with them to help develop some cocktail recipes. And I would say the thing that gets everybody so excited is that Margarita is flexible, really doesn't require a lot of training. You can add it to any cocktail or mocktail. It adds a balanced heat to the beverage. We say a quarter ounce for a drink is your general guideline, which makes it easy for the bartender. If the customer wants it or the guest wants it spicier, you add a little bit more. Everybody kind of gets their own taste on what they prefer, how much, but we designed it in a way. Even the bottle itself is designed in a way to just make it simple. So it's a little squeeze bottle, just add a little bit more. It's nothing to be scared of. Once the person tries it the first time, they're like wow, this is easy. It's easy to make it consistent.
Speaker 3:But the tip that we provide to the bartenders is what I mentioned before, which is ask the guest or ask the waitstaff how spicy do you want your drink? And that's sort of what we, what we would envision a restaurant doing, the do you want it on a one to five scale. Three is how we serve it. Do you want it a four or five, or do you want it less than a three, and we'll adjust the drink accordingly. You can always add more. That's pretty easy.
Speaker 3:Taking it out, obviously, is the hard part. So we start with the three, which, from our feedback from hundreds of different people tasting this with us, has been that's really the right level. Obviously, if it's a Mexican restaurant and they've got the margarita in a big bowl, they would have to adjust it and we would have to help them a little bit determine what's the right ratio. But it's really a quarter ounce for every eight ounce drink is what we think.
Speaker 3:So the goal is obviously to help, not just streamline the bartender's job and the waitstaff's job, where we go to restaurants and order a spicy margarita and we've had it take 20 minutes maybe it feels like 20 minutes but it's really 15 but you're sitting there and waiting and the food is coming. The drink doesn't come because the bartender moves the ticket over. They don't want to make that one yet because they have to go. You know, muddle the peppers or we've. We've experienced that many times. And. But it's not just that efficiency, it's the consistency getting the drink where you're like, wow, this tastes delicious. And then the bartender earning a tip and the waiter not having to check back at the bar because the drink's not ready. The goal is to improve the guest experience, ultimately, and it doesn't really require much in the way of training, to answer the question.
Speaker 5:I want to make sure we cover the off-premise side of this too, because I know you guys have two different approaches here. So can you tell us a little bit about your approach for off-premise and your goals with that?
Speaker 4:So, in addition to it being great for on-premise bars and et cetera, it's also really excellent for the home enthusiast and the host. You know it's great for bundling is what we typically suggest when it comes to on-premise. So, you know, putting together, you know, either in an end cap or, you know, a package online if they're doing online sales, being able to bundle and put together a spicy margarita package, it helps them be able to choose to promote certain liquor brands and put those things together. Also, it's great for that impulse buy at checkout, you know, sort of taking a look and thinking, okay, well, I was planning on making margaritas, right, I've got my tequila, I've got my triple sec or my you know, pre-made margarita mix, whatever, whatever they may be using, and then suddenly they see that at the checkout line and it's a great thing to add to the cart to just increase the average ticket value as well. So it's, it's excellent and again, it's very versatile, right. So it could be that, you know, depending on what, what type of tequila they want to use, maybe they want to use you know it's. You know you could do Moscow mules, you could do lots of different types of cocktails.
Speaker 4:It's not limited to just margaritas either, and so you know you can at retailers, off-premises can be really creative about putting together some of those recommendations, because you know we have found that oftentimes, you know some patrons come in and they know exactly what they're looking for, right, they know where it is in the store, they're going to go grab it and then they're going to check out. But oftentimes people come in and they're open and they're actively seeking suggestions, and so it's a great opportunity. You know someone comes in for just tequila and the retailer can ask well, do you like spicy margaritas? Do your guests like this? And then suddenly you are adding additional items to their basket, which is a win-win for everyone.
Speaker 3:I think, with Cinco de Mayo coming up too, that's going to be where you'll see some of these bundles in stores.
Speaker 5:I think that's actually a great segue into the next question. Here is your plans for the next five years. What's in store for Margarita? Are we seeing more of these bundles and partnerships with tequila brands? We would love to hear more.
Speaker 4:Well, our ambitions are lofty in terms of the next five years. So I think you know, at this point we're gaining momentum within the industry and some consumers. Our goal is, within the next five years, to have Marguerita truly be a household brand, you know, be that, recognizing it from the shelves of your, you know local liquor stores, but also on menus. You know, working with restaurants to, you know, have sort of co-branded cocktail Marguerita and having the patron immediately recognize that and know what to expect. And having the patron immediately recognize that and know what to expect. And co-branded liquors and possibly the RTDs as well. So you know, that's something you know, we think Xerox or Kleenex, I mean, yes, these are very ambitious goals, but this is what we're driving towards, this is what we'd ultimately like to see for the brand Time for our final fun question that we always like to end with, and that is simply what is your favorite adult beverage?
Speaker 4:Well, I think I let the cat out of the bag already on that one. I would say a spicy margarita, specifically a skinny spicy margarita. You know I tend not to enjoy the overly sweet ones as much. So for me this is again hitting those notes where you have the sour, you have a little bit of the sweet, you have a little of the salt and you have that heat. You know gets a little closer to that umami for me. And so I would have to say that, the skinny spicy being my ultimate favorite. That said, I always am interested if I see something really unique and interesting on a menu and exciting. I love to order that as well, because you know, I think that I always appreciate the art of the craft of creating cocktails and I like when people are adventurous and I'm often pleasantly surprised by those.
Speaker 3:For mine, we've been. Well, brianna is really the mixologist in our household and she's pretty talented, I'm going to say, but she's been making a basil lemonade cocktail using vodka and fresh basil and fresh squeezed lemon for years. We usually take a batch of it when we go camping and it's just refreshing.
Speaker 3:It always makes me think of camping and we've actually turned that into a mocktail where we'll serve that to friends and delicious. But I take that with using vodka and add margherita to it and it's just, in my opinion, perfection. Balanced spice, the flavors, the acidity, everything just goes so well together. That's my go-to.
Speaker 1:Very good. A basil lemonade with or without vodka, with some margherita in it. I have to ask are you aware of a beverage called a prairie fire?
Speaker 4:I know, no, do tell.
Speaker 1:It's a very simple shot that you can call at certain kinds of bars and certain kinds of places, and it's simply a shot of clear tequila with a shot of Tabasco in it.
Speaker 4:Wow Interesting.
Speaker 1:Shout out to the United States Marine Corps for teaching me that one when I was stationed at Fort Meade. It's not as bad as it sounds. It actually is, surprisingly. It goes down smooth, and if you can keep it down then you're in good shape.
Speaker 4:Well, I suppose probably better chance earlier in the night than at the end of the night in terms of keeping it down. You said it's called a prairie dog shop, prairie Fire, prairie Fire Ah, okay, interesting yeah.
Speaker 3:We should formulate a recipe with marguerita. There you go.
Speaker 5:I was going to ask if there was some sort of like shot recipe that you guys could do. I feel like that could be fun.
Speaker 4:Well, honestly, I think probably we should get you guys some samples in your hands and we welcome the feedback Because, I mean, that's one of the most the more fun parts of this whole project is that people really like it and it inspires them to try new things and play around with it. Yeah, get creative.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, I still know some Marines. I'll invite them over and we'll give it a shot, please do. It's not a true prairie fire if there aren, aren't marines sort of yelling at you to keep going? Well, um, this podcast is all about responsible. Okay, we'll do the legalese later. I want to thank y'all for coming by. I want to be respectful of your time. So thank you so much, brianna kovach and andrew herko, for stopping by and talking with us. We will put links to marga hita in the show notes for people who want to check out what's going on there and maybe get themselves a bottle. So thank y'all for stopping by. Thanks for having us.
Speaker 4:To me and Cassidy. Thank you so much, it's been a pleasure.
Speaker 1:And thank you listeners for joining us on the MHW Mark podcast and thanks again to Cassidy Poe for joining me in hosting.
Speaker 2:Glad to be here, Jimmy. Thank you.
Speaker 1:This podcast is produced by me, jimmy Moreland, with booking and planning support by Cassidy Poe and Bridget McCabe. It's presented by MHW. Find out more at mhwltdcom or connect with MHW on LinkedIn. Lend us a hand by subscribing, rating and reviewing this podcast wherever you listen. We'll be back in your feed in two weeks. We'll be back in your feed in two weeks. We'll see you then. Cheers.