201: This Awesome Idea “Fixed” the Alcohol Industry (Ron Alvarado of Ficks Beverage Co.)

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Background on Ron Alvardo of Ficks Beverage:

Ron Alvarado founded Ficks Beverage Co, the leading manufacturer of better-for-you bar products with its line of pure fruit juice hard seltzers and wellness-focused cocktail mixers. They are based in San Francisco, California, and currently expanding their two main products to national retailers such as Whole Foods, H-E-B, Target, QFC, BevMo, and Safeway. Ron and his co-founder, Mike, have been perfecting their craft since their college days, experimenting and brewing in their small studio apartment. They were obsessed with the challenge of creating the best tasting drinks solely using all-natural ingredients.

Today, Ficks is making beverages for people who know that great taste comes from using quality ingredients. Ron wanted to fix what was broken in the alcohol industry, and show people that real ingredients could give them flavor without the calories. By continuing to offer a healthier alternative and giving the consumers good quality flavored seltzers that are low in sugar and have little to no calories, Ficks Beverage is growing at a rapid pace.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

  • [4:51] Ron Alvarado is the CEO of Ficks Beverage Company, which is famous for producing hard seltzers using fruit juice. They are currently based in San Francisco, California.
  • [9:45] According to Ron, it can be tough for small independent breweries to compete against the more established bigger brands without having strategic partners.
  • [14:24] Ron explains why their beverage company is called Ficks.
  • [18:56] In terms of business taxes, it can be difficult to run a business in California, but Ron is still happy to stay.
  • [28:20] During his college days, Ron and his co-founder had this idea of making alcohol healthier and making you feel better.
  • [33:22] After graduating, Ron and Mike started working and having full-time day jobs, but they kept their business idea alive.
  • [38:06] The pivot towards cocktail mixers and making it healthier turned out to be a good decision for Ron.
  • [43:36] Juggling their time between their day jobs and the brewery business took a lot of sacrifices for both Ron and Mike.
  • [50:31] In 2017, they wanted to introduce another fun product line for Ficks, which became the hard seltzers.
  • [54:48] Ron found an industry expert within the bay area to help develop their flavorings and ingredients.
  • [1:00:01] During the early days, the largest run they made for their mixers, which cost them around $25,000, went horribly wrong. It was a very low point for Ron and he thought that their business was done.
  • [1:08:25] Ron shares his story of how he made alcohol in his studio apartment.
  • [1:19:04] Finding a co-packer for their seltzer product in Sonoma County, they started building their own canning line to can their seltzers.
  • [1:24:53] Sharing their recipe and ingredients to other people makes Ron a bit paranoid.
  • [1:29:29] Having authentic, pure, and all-natural fruit ingredients is one of the biggest differentiators of Ficks from other bigger brands.
  • [1:36:45] Using fruit concentrate may save some money but the flavor is not top quality.
  • [1:44:53] Ron shares some of the things he learned in 2020.
  • [1:48:46] Ficks has a store locator on their website, for those who are interested in their products.

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Fabulous 4 Questions:

  1. 📖📚 Favorite Books? Shoe Dog by Phil Knight, Educated by Tara Westover, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Bitter Brew by William Knoedelseder, Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
  2. 🙌😎 Favorite Amazon.com purchase? Air Fryer
  3. 🌱💸 Favorite Tool that's GROWN your Business? Slack & Google Suite
  4. 💭💡 BIGGEST Challenge keeping your Business from GROWING? More Capital, Better Distribution

Key Point from the Interview:

  • “The largest run we've ever done on the mixers, all the money we had to put in the inventory, just went bad, it was all gone. And we couldn't sell it, we couldn't get our money back, we just burned $25,000, which was everything.”

Resources Mentioned:

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