Norm Snyder Discusses Innovating in the Ultra-Competitive Soda Industry

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Norm Snyder joined Reed’s Inc. in September 2019 as the Chief Operating Officer. He was appointed Chief Executive Officer in March 2020. Prior to joining Reed’s, Norm served as President and Chief Executive Office for Avitae USA, LLC, an emerging premium new age beverage company that markets and sells a line of ready-to-drink caffeinated waters. Prior to Avitae, he served as the President and Chief Operating Officer for Adina For Life, Inc., President and Chief Executive Officer of High Falls Brewing Company, and Chief Financial Officer, and later Chief Operating Officer of South Beach Beverage Company, known as SoBe. In prior experience, Norm served as Controller for National Football League Properties, Inc., and in various roles at PriceWaterhouse during an eight-year tenure. Norm earned a B.S. in Accounting from the State University of New York at Albany.

Connect with Norm

https://drinkreeds.com/

Drinkvirgils.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drinkreeds/

Episode Transcript

[00:00:00] Norm Snyder: I have one prerequisite for people that come to work for us. You want to be there and it’s just not a job, right? You want to be there to make a difference.

[00:00:13] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Hi, and welcome to the innovative mindset podcast. I’m your host. Izolda Trakhtenberg on the show. You get my conversations with peak performing thought leaders, creatives, and entrepreneurs. We explore how you can innovate through creativity, compassion, and collaboration. I believe that innovation combined with compassion and creative thinking can save the world and I aim to bring you ways.

[00:00:35] You can do it too. If you’re enjoying the show, I’d be super grateful. If you could support it by buying me a cup of coffee, you can buy me a cup of@buymeacoffee.com slash Izolda tea. And now let’s get on with the show.

[00:00:57] Hey there and welcome to the innovative [00:01:00] mindset podcast. My name is Izolda Trakhtenberg. I’m super happy that you’re here and I’m so honored and happy to have this week’s guest on the show. Check this out. Norm Snyder joined Reed’s incorporated in September of 2019 as the chief operating officer. He was appointed chief executive officer in March, 2020 prior to joining Reed’s norm norm.

[00:01:21] I love that norm served as president and chief executive officer of Avita USA, LLC, and emerging premium new age beverage company that markets and sells a line of ready to drink caffeinated waters prior to a VTA. He served as the president and chief operating officer for Edina for life. He was president and chief executive officer of high falls brewing company and chief financial officer.

[00:01:44] And later chief operating officer of south beach beverage company known as Sobe in prior experience. Mr. Snyder, norm served as the controller for the national football league properties that tells us something about norm and in various roles at Pricewaterhouse during an [00:02:00] eight year tenure norm earned a BS in accounting from the state university of New York at Albany.

[00:02:05] Wow. You have quite the resume norm. Thank you so much for being on the show. Welcome.

[00:02:11] Norm Snyder: Thank you. Good to be

[00:02:12] Izolda Trakhtenberg: here. I am. First of all, you have such a wide range of experience and you began. As an accountant, which I think is so it’s so fascinating because accounting is in many ways, everything, knowing where you are, knowing where you want to go and knowing the sort of the, the numbers behind it is, is incredibly fascinating to me.

[00:02:37] And I’m wondering, how did you get from? I started in accounting to, I am the CEO of one of my favorite beverage companies reeds. Cause I love the ginger beer and ginger ale. How did that

[00:02:48] Norm Snyder: happen? Well, you know, it kind of goes back to the, before I went to school and, and figuring out what I wanted to do and I, I always had a pension for business [00:03:00] and, but I also thought I wanted to be a lawyer.

[00:03:03] And somehow I threw that into a cup and shook it up and threw it out and accounting came out. And I thought, you know, the, the real basic premise behind it was, is it exactly you touched on if I understand the, you know, the numbers guide, every business, I understand where all the numbers are coming from.

[00:03:21] It would be a great way to learn. It would be a star. So, you know, I spent the formidable part of my career, really working with big fortune 500 corporations and really got to see a lot how they operated and really use the numbers, how to, how to dig in and understand that. And then when I got on the business side, I loved it even more.

[00:03:41] So I knew that, you know, businesses where I really wanted to be and, you know, in an operating role. And as I progressed, I just, I loved it more and more. And then I found at the end of the day, it really gave me a competitive advantage, being a CEO that understood [00:04:00] numbers and how things work. So I always felt like when it came down to financial negotiations, nobody could, nobody could top me.

[00:04:06] So it was kind of a stepping, stepping stone or a ladder is how to start and where I wanted to go. Then once I got into that side of the business, I fell in love with it. And I just, you know, I knew that was that’s where I wanted to be. And, and that’s where I am now.

[00:04:24] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Oh, that’s fascinating to me, this notion of having a springboard and then you innovated from there and you develop this incredible career from something that is as basic as numbers, but they can be really complicated and.

[00:04:40] It’s interesting to me because reads is I am going to be very I’ve. I’ve been drinking reads since the nineties, when I first heard about it and, and started, it was only available like in the natural health food stores type places, it wasn’t widely available and yet you’ve been innovating and making it so much more [00:05:00] prevalent everywhere.

[00:05:00] I would love it for, for those of you listening, who have not heard about reeds, you need to go out and get it’s so good if you, especially, if you like ginger, but norm I would love it. If you would talk a little bit about reads where it was when you started and where it is today. And if you could tell just a little bit about what the company is, I would love that.

[00:05:19] Norm Snyder: Well, let me just, let me, let me say a couple of things before I answer that. Number one. I started drinking it in the nineties too. So, you know, I’ve been in, I was a consumer long before I became involved with a company. The other thing too is, you know, throughout your career and I’ll, I’ll say this to any young people that are looking for advice, I’ve also had great mentors.

[00:05:41] And one of the reasons why I’m here ironically, is a guy that I started working for over 30 years ago in NFL properties, named John bellow. And, and you know, if you look at spots on my resume, there’s a lot of spots that he was involved with. And, and he has been very instrumental in my career in terms of [00:06:00] learning and pattering pattern things of him.

[00:06:04] So that’s important too. Now reads reads is a, a great company. And one of the things that I love about it and this, this is what makes me feel good when I wake up every morning. And I talk about. You know, we just came out with this campaign called Reno reads is real or reads. I got to make sure I get this right.

[00:06:25] You know, real real is always better. That’s it? And we, if you take a look at our ingredients panel and if you know how we make our products, they are so far superior than any of our competitors by far. And that makes me feel really good because we’re offering consumers, you know, the best ginger beer, the best ginger ale, you know, the best craft sodas that we have.

[00:06:52] And, you know, Reed’s was, it’s a 30 year old company started by a gentleman in Southern California named Chris Reed who had this [00:07:00] idea and he loved ginger. And that the world really knew nothing about ginger, except for maybe, you know, in a Chinese food menu. Right. And all the great properties that ginger has.

[00:07:13] And created this all natural, better for you drink. And which started because if you go back in 30 years ago, the only, the only, the only channel that would carry such a thing was that were natural stores. Right? And then it morphed into grocery stores because groceries as natural stores became bigger and started stealing business from grocery stores, grocery stores said, wow, we’ve got to start offering more natural products, right.

[00:07:39] And you know, most mainstream grocery stores today have a fairly large section of natural products or have natural products that are interspersed within the regular categories. So we kind of morphed off into that. And you know, we’ve been growing ever since because obviously [00:08:00] as people become more educated and understand the great properties that a lot of these products have and become more knowledgeable.

[00:08:09] And want better for you products. You know, it’s the classic supply meets demand scenario, and we’ve been able to fill that gap.

[00:08:19] Izolda Trakhtenberg: I’m taking all of that in for a second because it’s in many ways looking at it from, from an economics standpoint, that whole idea of supply and demand is it’s as old as time.

[00:08:32] And yet there are some innovations here that are, that are fascinating to me because the innovation, when Mr. Reed started the company was all natural ingredients as specially focusing on actual ginger instead of this sort of, oh, ginger, if you will. And, and that was different. That was really different. I remember thinking that when I first started drinking it and that, that it tasted like ginger, not [00:09:00] fo ginger, if you will.

[00:09:01] And so. How does that work when you’re starting something like this. And I know you haven’t been with the company all that long, but, but you’re still innovating. You’re coming out with new campaigns. How does, how does somebody decide, you know what, I’m going to do things in a way that people aren’t thinking about like all natural ingredients, actual, fresh ginger in the sodas, instead of fake ginger or whatever, what do you think the mindset has to be of someone who takes that kind of chance?

[00:09:32] Norm Snyder: I think they truly believe in and stayed true to their convictions of this is what they want, and this is good. And I’m spin up persevere and educate as many people as possible. And hopefully they’ll feel the way I do. I mean, obviously anybody that takes that type of risk, right. And anybody that creates something that sticks for 30 years has done something pretty tremendous my view.

[00:09:56] And so one of the things we, we, we, we [00:10:00] haven’t deviated. From its founding guiding principle that Chris started. And that’s why, you know, it came back to this whole thing. That real is always better than, you know, 30 years we’re still doing it the way he did it and his garage or his kitchen. Right. We were still using organic, real ginger that we import from Peru.

[00:10:28] And we still make it the same way and we still make it the, what he refers to as the Jamaican inspired recipe, which is fruit juices. So we use pineapple, lemon, lime and honey. Right. And you know, what I’ve tried to do is just improve the efficiencies of how we put all that together. Right. And not deviate, but as you mentioned, innovate, so.

[00:10:53] That’s a great next step in you know, what, how we innovate is because if you look at the ginger beer category [00:11:00] relative to other beverage categories, it’s, it’s, it’s kinda small. And, and a lot of competitors saw the successor reads as an up comment and obviously that takes market share. And if you look at, if you look at ginger beer consumers you know, it’s kind of a mix and it’s, it’s, it’s used as a mixer, obviously with the popularity of Moscow mules and dark and Stormys, and that’s quite frankly how I met reads with overall Moscow over a few Moscow mules

[00:11:30] Izolda Trakhtenberg: in

[00:11:31] Norm Snyder: those special copper cups, but those copper mugs, right.

[00:11:34] And then. But you have some folks that like, drink it, like I use the Jamaican inspired recipe. We had to make a woman that worked for us and how everybody makes their own home version. But, you know, they, they drink it like a soda. So it’s a mix that, you know, people that drink it like a soda they use it as a mixer, actually, there’s people that drink it because of that helps their digestion.

[00:11:58] It helps them, they have [00:12:00] nausea. You know, we have a lot of like cancer patients, believe it or not that reach out to us because it helps them. So you know, kind of, that’s sort of very limited type of audience. So, you know, one of the things that we thought of, which was kind of a natural is the ginger ale category, which people drink, drink ginger ale the same way.

[00:12:21] I mean, my grandmother gave it to me one in an upstairs upset stomach and my mother gave it to. If you go to the hospital, they give it to you. Right. But it’s a much broader category. It’s not as you know, you don’t have quite the ginger burn that you do in ginger beer. But we sent cheese. Why aren’t we in the ginger ale cannon?

[00:12:39] I mean, and as we peel back the onion a little bit, we found once again, that nobody’s really using fresh ginger or real ginger, they’re using ginger flavoring, ginger extracts. So we took that formula and applied it to our ginger ale. And again, it’s one of our it’s, it’s probably our fastest growing product right now.

[00:12:59] [00:13:00] And you mentioned that you would be drinking your zero calorie, ginger beer. I’ve been drinking like zero calorie, ginger ELLs, like they’re going out of style. Right? I just love the flavor. You know, it’s, you know, it’s, again, it’s a great product. We took the foundation of our ginger beer and created this.

[00:13:19] You know, a great way we have innovated. Then we took it a step further and we came up with mocktails. Cause we found out that a lot of folks said, Hey, I want to go out, but I don’t want to feel like I have to have an alcoholic drink in my hand. So, you know, and, and if I think in your, in your neck of the woods in Brooklyn, there’s been non-alcoholic bars that have popped up, right?

[00:13:39] People would go off that want to have fun and socialize, but don’t want to feel like they have to drink. So we came up with these ginger rail based mocktails, surely temp on our versions called Shirley tempting and then transfusion, which is you know, which has been a very popular drink. So obviously if you want to mix it with alcohol, you can.

[00:13:58] But if you don’t, you have a [00:14:00] really great, healthy zero calorie beverage that you can enjoy and, and not feel like you have to have to have consume it with alcohol. So I think that’s a great sort of three step, how we’ve really pivoted and innovative to give folks. A great quality product. It’s all natural, but that they can drink at the, at the occasion that they’d feel the most appropriate.

[00:14:23] And the reactions then really, really possible.

[00:14:27] Izolda Trakhtenberg: And I’m so glad that you said that because I am not a huge drinker and I’m usually the designated driver, you know? So, so it’s really nice to be able to go. I would like something that, that is going to taste great. It’s going to, this is going to sound a little weird, but it’s gonna look good if you see what I mean.

[00:14:47] I

[00:14:47] Norm Snyder: don’t want to feel out of place. Right? You want to feel like you’re you’re, you’re, you’re, you’re you’re you fit in with everybody. And then that’s the beauty of these things. And you know, one of the things that I do and I love part of my job is so [00:15:00] I, we have six production facilities across the country.

[00:15:03] Every production run that they do, they should product. So my office looks like a collection of bottles, right. And I have a mini refrigerator and I drink, I try and both warm, ambient temperature and cold, but I drink multiple products every day from different locations where they’re produced to locate for quality, be for consistency.

[00:15:25] But I mean, I want to drink this stuff cause I want to know if a consumer says something, but I can say, look, I had that this is what I believe. Or, you know, do I detect there’s an issue because if there’s an issue we need to fix it. So I do that every day. I mean, I drink multiple products every day, seven, you know, all the time in the office, but I, but I have a collection of all of our production stuff, so I know what’s going on and I know what our consumers are picking up.

[00:15:55] Izolda Trakhtenberg: I love that. I, you know, it’s funny going, going into a bar or [00:16:00] pub and ordering something, nonalcoholic feels sometimes I’ve had people say, oh, you must be in AA. And I’m like, no, just didn’t want to drink. And so, so this it’s, it’s a weird way. It’s a weird way of passing actually, because fewer people will talk to you about that sort of thing.

[00:16:20] Not that it’s any of their business, but yet something that, that is interesting to me about what you just said about making sure that the consumer experience is a positive one. That’s, that’s one of the, that’s one of the results, right? Is that people feel more comfortable drinking it and something else that I would love to ask you about, you said, That you check in as far as whether or not things are going well from all the production facilities.

[00:16:49] And I like to say that an innovator is a creative thinker on a mission. And it sounds to me like you’re embodying that this notion of checking in, of being very [00:17:00] practical. Can you talk a little bit about what those steps are? How does that, how do you keep innovating while staying very practical in the evaluation and assessment process?

[00:17:13] Norm Snyder: Well, because the innovation is the fun part, right? It really, it really is. I mean, you can, you can come up with a wackiest ideas and it’s like a release, right? It’s like, you can get all this stuff off your chest, off your mind. I mean, I’m like, it’s kinda funny. It’s ruined me forever being in the beverage business.

[00:17:35] Cause I can’t go into a store and just buy stuff. I’ve got to go to the beverage section. I got to go to the coolers. I got to check out what’s going on. You know, I look at there’s all this scan data. So it’s syndicated data that either Nielsen or IRI puts out that shows by category what’s selling.

[00:17:53] What’s not selling by package. I mean I love data too. So it’s kind of like, see you assimilate all this stuff that [00:18:00] you’re seeing, that you hear people talking about. I have I have three 20 year old children. Well actually I have five but three that are in their twenties and I’ll watch what they drink and what their friends drank and what they talk about.

[00:18:12] Like I said, when I go into stores, I, no matter what I’m doing, if I’m going on mission a, I always end up in the beverage outlet, check out what’s going on. So it’s the fun part is the innovation thinking, this is what I think people want. We do a lot of research this based on what the research tells us people want.

[00:18:30] So we’ll put together a product concept. This is what it becomes a little bit more formal, but a product concept, and then work with our R and D department to create something. And then the fun part is that, that first time that you taste it and does that product really reflect what you’re trying to do.

[00:18:50] Right. And sometimes you get there very quickly and sometimes it takes a dozen iterations. And sometimes you just say, can’t get there. Can’t get there. No, [00:19:00] one’s gonna, no, one’s going to drink this. So that’s kind of the fun part. Because it’s part science part our, you know, part into it in intuitive and, you know, and I do it with, you know, a lot of people within our organization.

[00:19:14] Right. So it’s just not me. It’s everybody. And it’s kind of like free flow. I’ve got to make sure I said that slowly free flow thinking where people can just kind of like, say what’s on there. Right. And you know, you watch trends and you have data and you do other stuff and you try to put it all together and come up with a decision that makes sense.

[00:19:35] But you know, we do that on the premise of who we are and what are our, what are our key values, right? It has to be within those because what if we deviate from what our values are then who are we really? Right. So we try to, we try to stay within that sort of bandwidth of who we are and what we want to be.

[00:19:56] And, you know, some, like I said, sometimes it just feels really good. It’s [00:20:00] like, boy, we nailed this. And sometimes it’s like, well, it could be a stretch, but does it work? And sometimes we come back and just say, that’s not us. So it’s the fun part of the job. And it’s the part that’s unstructured and very loose and very flowing and it’s fun.

[00:20:15] And you know, I’m really, I’m really proud that as an organization, we have no shortage of really good ideas. And, and, and like, you know, we, we’ve got the next two to three years covered, right? Not saying that if we, if something new comes up that we could react quickly, but we have that, we have that many ideas that are, that are good.

[00:20:37] Izolda Trakhtenberg: That’s fantastic. And I’m, I’m struck by the notion of including everybody that it’s not just you making the decisions, it’s you working with your team with, with the people who make up the company. And I’m wondering that that’s in many ways, an innovative thing. Also, I’m wondering if you could talk a little bit about [00:21:00] how you structure that if there is a, you said it’s free flowing, but there has to be some sort of a, almost a process when you’re doing something iteratively like that.

[00:21:10] How do you do that?

[00:21:11] Norm Snyder: Yeah, what we we’ve, we’ve developed, not that we want to be burdened with structure. But at the same time, it just can’t be shooting from the hip. So we develop. Can can you to develop processes once we get to that formal stage of, yeah, let’s do this. But so my job is which is hire as many good people as possible.

[00:21:33] Right. And let them do the work and let me take the credit. Right. My, my job is to really kind of, I’m almost like the, the conductor in the orchestra and there’s different sections and there’s people with different strengths and different weaknesses. And after you work with folks, you get to, you get to know what their strengths are.

[00:21:53] So, you know, when something comes up like this person or that person, or this group of people are the ones that [00:22:00] I’m going to listen to a little bit more, that’s shut other people out because you know, there’s been good ideas that come from from people, you know, you don’t expect, but, and it’s sort of it’s, and I’ll tell you, it’s kind of spontaneous because.

[00:22:14] I’ll start on one project and it all either be bogged down or something else will come up and then I need a break and I’ll just say, all right, let’s cut. Let’s taste. Right. Let’s taste. We’ve got a bunch of stuff that we’ve been working on. Let’s taste it and we’ll sit there and you gotta be careful because you can’t, once you taste too much, your taste buds become severely ineffective, as well as your ability to smell.

[00:22:40] So you really got to kind of measure yourself, but it could be spontaneous. Like let’s do it, or let’s talk about this. Or then we, or we schedule, you know, we have we, we have weekly meetings and deal with all these things and a lot of it starts, but then we may say, let’s just have a meeting dedicated to this one topic on X date.[00:23:00]

[00:23:00] Right? So we, there is a little bit of spontaneity largely because of my schedule, but I think it works well. And sometimes people say, Hey, I’ve got this. What do you think? And I’m like, let’s do it right now. So that, that makes it kind of fun too. But once we get serious, we do have a very documented process and we have people that are responsible for aspects of that development.

[00:23:24] And we fine tuned it over the line. We have fine tuned the process over the last year and it’s gotten really good, really good. Like we’re working on a couple projects right now. And because of that, I think we’re ahead of the game ahead of where we, where we should be, because we’ve done a real good job of tracking ourselves and communicating.

[00:23:48] Izolda Trakhtenberg: I’m sorry. I’m pausing because I’m, I I’m taking all of it. Tracking yourselves and communicating those two are so collaboration to me is, [00:24:00] so it’s people say it’s a buzzword, but I think it’s so important where everybody feels like they can contribute. And also that they’re valued and valuable. So, so communicating their ideas, communicating through the process is fantastic.

[00:24:13] But tracking that, that to me as, as, as more of a creative thinker, the notion of tracking things like that makes my head explode. Just because it’s, it sounds like there potentially so many details. Can you talk a little bit about what the, what the ideas are behind traffic tracking and what it is that you’re actually tracking?

[00:24:35] Norm Snyder: I think you just answered the question. There’s so many details, right? I mean, at the end of the day we build it forward, but I’m going to do it. I’m going to reverse engineer because I think this is easier to explain. Say you, you have this great concept and you know, right now everything’s on cycle, right?

[00:24:59] So [00:25:00] the, sell it into a channel or, or a retail chain, you know, they have their meetings on X day and then they make changes on Y date. Right. And they’re pretty, I mean, think about this. Cause you’re dealing with hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands of products and you just can’t like do it every day and every week.

[00:25:21] So they have these fixed periods. So you know what those are and see your work backwards. And you say, okay, we’re going to launch X, Y, Z product at this retailer because this is where we really feel like we have to start. So, you know, the date that you can present, you know, the dates that, that they’ll do resets at store.

[00:25:41] Then you kind of work backwards and say, okay, what do we have to do to get to that point? Right. What are all the steps? And it’s, you know, it’s, it’s starts at concept. The first thing is the liquid, you know, what’s the liquid look and taste like, right. And what do you want that liquid [00:26:00] back to that whole, you know, that whole product brief, what does it represent?

[00:26:05] And then you kind of go forward into, okay, when do we, you know, final product approval. And then from there artwork and labeling package configuration, and then you’ve got to produce it. So you have to have all your, you know, source all your raw materials and just about every piece of raw material, except for the liquid itself is branded.

[00:26:28] And then, you know, legal, is it, you know, are we infringing in anybody’s intellectual property? If not, is it available? Can we can. And then what sort of campaign are we going to have behind it? And then when are we w you know, when do we go, when do we actually scale up to a full production mode? And when can we have that product in our warehouses and when can we ship it?

[00:26:51] So it’s, you know, all these various aspects, which involves every department, right? Sales, marketing, [00:27:00] operations, finance. So it’s a multi, multi departmental collaboration and meeting where we’re tracking and making, checking the box. Do we have that covered? Do we have that covered? Do we have that covered then?

[00:27:14] What’s the timing? I mean, because depending on the package, if it’s a specialized package, we may have to, we may have to put something in at the plant that produces it because they can’t produce that package. So, so all these questions, you know, and, and where are you sourcing the ingredients and what’s the lead times, right?

[00:27:33] So. Yeah, and you want to kind of time it, right? Where you have product packaging, you know, artwork that you can share to sell it in and they can taste it. And then to be able to put a final product on their shelves the day, the day that they want it. And that’s the process. And if you don’t document it, you’re going to miss something.

[00:27:57] So, and it, you know, we have someone that [00:28:00] leads to that process that brings everybody together, then holds them accountable as to where do we stand with this? You’re supposed to get back to us on that. Where do we stand on this aspect? Where’s that aspect. And you know, again, it, it, it, it brings, you know, it brings the organization closer together.

[00:28:17] I mean, we’re not a big organization and, and you know what, not just, not just brands, make organizations successful it’s people and how they, how they play off and interact with, with one another. So, you know, you can understand like what, you know today. I remember when I was a little kid and the Beatles were popular right.

[00:28:37] Today, you put on a Beatles record and it sounds contemporary, right? Like they haven’t lost anything. And, you know, granted they wrote great music, but together as a unit, what, what just, you know, one plus one plus one plus one was like 24 and I believe it, I believe organizations are the same way where if people click [00:29:00] together intellectually, if they, if they collect together spiritually, if they click together on so many different levels, you’re more powerful.

[00:29:09] Right. And, and this process really brings out the best in an organization.

[00:29:17] Izolda Trakhtenberg: I love that you use the Beatles analogy. I mean, I agree the Beatles solo band on the run is a great album, but nothing can compare that they did solo two rubber soul and revolver. So I slightly completely take your point. And, and it’s interesting to me how everybody, every person in your organization sounds again like, like they’re encouraged to contribute and then also need to contribute.

[00:29:43] And that you, someone who is an implementer, someone who is, or maybe an integrator who goes, yes, this is my job to make sure that that everybody is on track. And again, that’s one of my challenges I sometimes take on too many projects. Have you ever found that happens [00:30:00] with the course?

[00:30:01] Norm Snyder: How do you handle that?

[00:30:04] It’s difficult. That’s that’s something that you have to watch very, very carefully, but it’s something that C C w. I have one prerequisite for people that come to work for us, you want to be there and it’s just not a job, right? You want to be there to make a difference and you could be the guy that mops the floors, but you’re going to make a difference.

[00:30:26] Right? And I want everyone to feel empowered that they do make a difference in quite frankly, they do, because if one employee doesn’t do their job, the whole company suffers. Right? So there’s nowhere to hide. And I don’t mean that to add pressure to people, but it kind of, it sets the, it sets the bar high, where I want you to be, want to be here.

[00:30:49] I want you to want to make a difference and I want you don’t want to contribute. And when you have people thinking at that level you get great results and then, but you’re right. But then the negative side is [00:31:00] you gotta be careful that people don’t take on too much because when they do that’s when errors occur and errors, aren’t good.

[00:31:09] Because obviously it adversely impacts the company, but it adversely impacts that individual. Right. And I, you know, I also believe that look, I’ve, I’m a hard worker. I’ve worked hard my entire life. My family accuses me of being a workaholic. And there’s been many Fridays when we’re supposed to do something to grow some place and dad’s still at work or on a phone and everybody’s angry with him.

[00:31:35] But I also believe that you need time off to refresh your batteries and to have fun and enjoy your family or whatever you want to do during your time off. So I really encourage that as well. But when you’re here, I want 150%. Now I want you to want to be here, but you’re right. That, that the tough part is I’ve had several employees.

[00:31:56] I’ve had to, it’s kind of funny. I’ve had to admonish and [00:32:00] say, I don’t want you doing that. I want you to doing this. This is where you’re the most effective. And I don’t want you burnout. Or I had one employee. I told him if I saw an email from him after 11 o’clock at night, I was going to fire him because he was burning the candle at both ends.

[00:32:18] And I’m like, I don’t want you doing that. So that, that, that’s something you have to watch. And then, you know, I never thought about it to you brought that up, but that’s something that you definitely have to watch is that people get so caught up in it and they take on too much. And it’s, and it’s not that a desperation because they want to, and they can.

[00:32:38] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Sure, but it doesn’t matter does it because they can still burn out. Even if you care about something you can still burn out. So, so balance in all things I think is, is the way to go and something that I, speaking of balance, this is a weird transition, but here it goes. One of the things that I noticed as far as the packaging of reads, and this is because I’m a [00:33:00] artistic type person and I love colors from very early on.

[00:33:03] I remember thinking, wow, the ginger ale is more yellow. The ginger beer is more green and then there’s always an orange accent. This is yes. I noticed these things in here. It is. So, so I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about the design, how, if, you know, because you weren’t at the company yet, but how did that all happen?

[00:33:24] What w what were the colors chosen? I know that they’re white, yellow, orange, but, but how does that all translate into how you’re innovating now with the, with the way the product is presented?

[00:33:38] Norm Snyder: I think we’ve, I mean, obviously we, we like that to sign cause we, we, we, we stay with it. I just think it sort of reflects that whole motif, you know, the Jamaican inspired ginger beer.

[00:33:49] I think that’s what if I had to put my finger on it, it kind of comes down to that and it sends off that whole sort of tropical image, [00:34:00] which is reflects that, you know, the style of the, of the Jew, our ginger beer, and then something that like, if you look at now, we really use the Palm trees and our ginger ale and our mocktails.

[00:34:11] So we’ve kind of stayed true to that. And it just feels, you know, colors in the, in the whole creative element. Yes, I guess there is a bit of a science to it, but I look at a more of what’s appealing to the eye and where, and where does your eye go and what, what does it catch and what does it reflect?

[00:34:31] And, you know, obviously there’s, you talked to a designer and they’re going to tell you, you should paint your kitchen, this color, because it, it creates appetite and, and vibrancy. And this room, you want this color because it creates that and bedrooms, you want this color because you want them to be serene and comfortable.

[00:34:48] And I think labels are kind of the same way. Right? And it just stayed on that whole sort of Jamaican slash tropical theme of who we were. And [00:35:00] the roots of it’s really in the ginger beer. Right. And again, we haven’t, you know, we’ve made it more contemporary, but we haven’t deviated from that basic story.

[00:35:13] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Yeah, cause it works right. And it’s instantly recognizable and that’s something, that’s something that was great for me again, when I started drinking reeds in the, in the nineties was that you could, oh, I could always find them. And, and I, I don’t know how quite it was quite how to say it, but I’m just going to say it, it feels to me like the, the beverage industry is really crowded.

[00:35:36] You’ve got the, the big giant.

[00:35:38] Norm Snyder: Oh yes, it is. Yes. You know, you know, let me come back that for a second. The two things that are really haven’t talked about is we’ve sort of dominated the conversation with our reads portfolio, but we also have another perhaps of portfolio called Virgil’s. Right. Which is, you know, we bought it in 94, so that’s [00:36:00] 27 years.

[00:36:00] So it’s, you know, it’s in the same age group is reads and again, it’s, it’s. But the same basic premise, all natural non-GMO. And we haven’t talked about, you know, this aspect where a lot of consumers now, and the trends are, are no sugar, right? Zero calorie, no sugar. They’re keto friendly, certified keto friendly.

[00:36:25] You’d mentioned you, you know, you consume the zero sugar, ginger beer. And I talked about the zero sugar ginger ale, but, you know, I drink a lot of I drink all of our stuff, but we’ve. Well actually reads had it. We brought it back, our doctor better, which is a pepper flavored item, but we have a great, you know, root beer among other flavors.

[00:36:47] And you know, we have this proprietary sweetening system, that’s all natural that tastes gray and has no aftertaste. So one of the things about [00:37:00] zero sugar items, people tend to plug their nose and they can taste it because it’s zero sugar, but it has a bit of an aftertaste. And our son doesn’t and we haven’t really spent a lot of, and so in terms of innovation now, we’re, we’re looking for something that has mouth feel and flavor that emulates a full sugar drink, but has no calories and is all natural.

[00:37:26] And, you know, again, that’s a big part of our innovation. We’re seeing a lot of growth at our zero sugar line, both reads and Virgil’s, but you know, we think we have the best tasting zero sugar product, you know, on the market. And that’s another thing where we’ve, I think done a really good job job of innovating.

[00:37:48] And again, staying true to who we are all natural, but trying to give the best experience to our consumers as possible. And like I said, I drank these every day and sometimes [00:38:00] I drink and I’m like, I have to look at the, I have to look at the label and say, damn, did we do we put sugar in this all of a sudden, because it tastes that good in the muffins that good.

[00:38:09] So those are two things, you know, virtuals and the zero sugar line, which we have across our entire portfolio. And we use, which I think gives a far superior taste and a taste. That really is the closest thing in the marketplace in Miami. That you can get to a full sugar equivalent.

[00:38:31] Izolda Trakhtenberg: It’s so interesting.

[00:38:32] You’re talking about mouthfeel. And one of the things I, I, my husband accuses me of being a supertaster because I can taste certain things from a mile away and what I don’t like, I definitely don’t like if you know what I’m doing, and what’s interesting to me about drinking breeds, first of all, I’m vegan.

[00:38:50] And so the zeros, I know the other ones aren’t vegan, but the zero sugar are vegan. There’s no honey in them. And, and that makes me so very happy because now I can [00:39:00] drink reeds and again, and so what, what’s fascinating to me about what you’re saying this notion of, as I said, mouthfeel, is, is that it is about the experience, not just of drinking the drink, but how you feel after you’ve drunk it.

[00:39:16] And that’s a, and maybe because I’m not as familiar with the beverage industry as, as I could be. I didn’t think that that was something that a company would be thinking about. I would think that it would be, and this correct me if I’m wrong, that it would be more like, oh, you know, our products, you like our products, you buy our products.

[00:39:35] Yay. But mouthfeel is a post experience thing. Can you talk a little bit about what it is that you’re trying to, what it is, what mouthfeel is just for clarification and also what it is that you’re trying to achieve with the drinking experience for the person who’s opened up a bottle of reeds?

[00:39:55] Norm Snyder: Well, let me, let me just make a comment about supertasters.

[00:39:58] They scare me, but I love [00:40:00] them at the same time, because it’s a unique group of people. And I can tell when people comment I’m like, that must be a supertaster because they have the ability to taste things in both positive and imperfections. The vast majority of people don’t taste. So that’s always good.

[00:40:18] And w we actually, we have a couple of supertasters in our office, which I love to bring them in to taste stop, because they can pick up imperfections that most people can’t. So that’s a great skillset. So mouthfeel the best way to describe it, describe it as like, so take a glass of water and take a chocolate milkshake.

[00:40:37] Right. And those are like two extremes and how they’re going to feel in your mouth. And it, and a lot of mafia is about what you perceive it to be. Right. So when you think about children and all my kids were really finicky eaters, it wasn’t so much about taste. It’s how that, that food felt in their mouth.

[00:40:58] Right. [00:41:00] So, so if mom feels such an important aspect of it, and again, a lot of it’s perception, but so. In a typical beverage and let’s go back to before zero sugar diet sodas were, were there the best way to describe it, let me see if I can get this right. So the flavor is the music, right? But the sugar is the amplifier, right?

[00:41:30] It takes it up a notch, it makes it loud. It makes it bold and it really gives it that mouthfeel. So you know, if you say you’re vegan, I’ve been on a couple of these podcasts and other things with some other great entrepreneurial people in the food and beverage space. And when they talk about zero sugar for baking fill and mouthfeel are important because that’s what you can’t use, like Stevia at a banquet.

[00:41:57] Right. It just, it’s just awful. [00:42:00] So. When you think about sugar, not only gives it that flavor, that amplification of those flavors and makes it pop it gives it that mouthfeel that you expect that again, that you feel like you’re like, you could almost chew it, but you don’t bite into with it. It tastes that good.

[00:42:17] And it’s that satisfying? It’s not just like, Kool-Aid, it’s just not like flavored water. That’s the big distinction between, you know, our craft sodas and our ginger beers is that mouthfeel. And when you take sugar out, right, and we use cane sugar. So cane sugar direct to me has better mouth feel than just regular sugar or high-fructose corn syrup, which the mass majority of mainstream beverages use.

[00:42:43] You take away that. And with the zero sugar, you can get the flavor, but then it tastes like flavored water. So you need that mouthfeel, that sort of bite to it. Makes it feel like you’re drinking a full sugar because it’s not just the flavor, it’s the feel. [00:43:00] Right. And we’ve, that’s we really taste, you know, mouthfeel when zero sugar, not just flavor, but sweetness and mouthfeel.

[00:43:10] It, does it feel light? Does it feel too heavy? Does it feel right? And we spent a lot of time on that and developing our zero sugar because we want it to emulate a full sugar taste. Most consumers have basically said, okay, I’ll deal with a compromise on flavor. I’ll compromise on mouthfeel. Cause I don’t want sugar, make it to overstay.

[00:43:35] Say I’m going to pick and choose where I get my calories. I’m going to pick and choose if I want sugar where I’m going to get it from many, say I don’t, I want to eliminate sugar entirely from my diet. So we want to give them. That product that they feel like they’re having that indulgence. Right, right.

[00:43:54] Without the negative things that they’re trying to avoid. And why should you have to, why should you have [00:44:00] to plug your notes are chunked down and just say, okay, the zero sugar, I’m going to accept it. Right. And we want to say to our consumers, or to all consumers, you don’t have to compromise. You can have your cake and eat it too.

[00:44:14] So to speak, right. Zero

[00:44:16] Izolda Trakhtenberg: sugar cake. Yeah.

[00:44:18] Norm Snyder: Look at, I drink and that’s what I drink. Zero sugar. So I’m, you know, personally motivated because I want drink the best thing and I can drink and have the best flavor. So we really take that very serious. And that’s what, again, stay true. Who do we are the best tasting, all natural, bold flavors, real as possible.

[00:44:40] And when we develop products, that’s the goal. And ML feels important because like I said, I’ve, I’ve opened a can of something I’ve drank it, like our black cherry. And I’m like, my God, this tastes so good. And I know what the answer is, but I still look at the back of the can to make sure it doesn’t say sugar.

[00:44:59] Right. [00:45:00] And that’s, I want, you know, and I want to feel that way about all of our products and that’s our, that’s our goal for, you know, for, for zero sugar products, make them feel like they’re full sugar, then there’s no compromise in the base. Fabulous.

[00:45:19] Izolda Trakhtenberg: That’s awesome. And it’s interesting to hear you talk about it with, with such passion about, about these products, because otherwise, why do it right if you’re not going to, if you’re, if you’re not going to be really, really in love with, with the work and. And this is something that I, I love the way you described it.

[00:45:45] It feels almost like drinking. The drink is a tactile experience in addition to being a taste experience with. Yeah, it is. It really is. It’s fascinating.

[00:45:55] Norm Snyder: I mean, even like look at our products are carbonated having the right carbonation [00:46:00] because that matters because people that like, I, I drink, I love carbonated products.

[00:46:07] I drink sparkling water. Right. I drink our sodas. I love carbonation. And I’m very particular about carbonation. Carbonation is almost like sugar. It’s like the tone, right? It’s the base of the trouble, the music, if it’s right, it makes everything perfect. If it’s off it, throws it off and you know, that’s another, another element of mouthfeel.

[00:46:32] And then the attribute of the product that. We spend a lot of time in like sometimes when we do our samples, our samples lab can’t get the carbonation level that we want. So we try to do our best with that, but it just shows you how important that aspect is too. And that we really watch and that’s, and that’s, you know, the thing I do when I open our product.

[00:46:57] Oh, easy. Does that twist open? Does it [00:47:00] make that pop? When I poured in, does it, you know, do we get that? Do I see the level of carbonation and fall? Cause that’s another really important attribute of our products. When we develop to make sure that they’re in the range of carbonation that we think makes the most sense to really accentuate the flavor.

[00:47:18] So it’s really, I mean, it is, we are very passionate about it. You’re right about it. And it’s just not me. It’s everybody in the organization. When we taste and we drink our stuff, but those are the things that. At that level and want to make sure that we have an absolutely perfect. So when consumers open that they feel the same way and there’s, there’s nothing more pleasurable when you get, when you get an email receiving an email from a consumer about your product and how they love it.

[00:47:46] But at the same time, there’s nothing like a kick to the gut when somebody has a bad experience. And I’ll tell you what, when they have a bad experience, they reach us. We reached back out to them to try to make it better, to try to get, you know, get their input, maybe [00:48:00] clarify something, maybe, you know, sometimes somebody misinterprets what a product really is.

[00:48:05] And you have to kind of help them get there. But, you know, that’s that these are important aspects that we’re very customer centric and want and are committed to put in the best quality products. And we take every aspect of those products very soon.

[00:48:23] Izolda Trakhtenberg: And that makes sense, right? That, you know, no company has anything without its clients and customers, you vacuum.

[00:48:29] So, and that’s something that, that brings me to my next question. Cause norm, I’m going to keep you here for the next eight hours. I’m fascinated by the fact that people have their favorites, right? They, they might have their favorite as far as reads. They might have their favorite as far as Pepsi or Coke or whatever.

[00:48:44] And REITs has this reputation for being a cut above. But how does that affect the average person who wants to drink are the people who you’re serving as a, as an organization, as a company. Are they people who are more discerning in a certain way, or are they people who are [00:49:00] healthier or who want to be healthier?

[00:49:02] How does all of that break down when it comes to what we were just mentioned a little while ago, there’s pretty crowded beverage industry.

[00:49:11] Norm Snyder: Well, I think they’re definitely discerning and you know, some are kind of sewers that love our product. You know, we’re still, we still have growth with all of our full sugar line in today’s day and age, which to me, I find amazing.

[00:49:29] I think most people are driven by healthier on natural. And I think that’s really probably the mindset of our consumer. They want natural ingredients. They want healthier products. They don’t want preservatives. They don’t want artificial colors, artificial flavors. They don’t want high fructose corn syrup if they’re drinking sugar.

[00:49:52] So I think those are the things that they clearly read labels are. I think our consumers are label readers, which [00:50:00] I think is great for us because they know what they want and they’re not going to compromise. And I think that the trends are going that way. I think those are the you know, Where people want and they, you know, and when they indulge, they want to indulge in something that’s good for, you know, that’s good.

[00:50:16] Not just something that’s crap, that’s artificial. So I think people are more, more educated obviously, and they know what they want in their diet, but they still, everybody still wants things that tastes good. Right. I mean, that’s one thing that hasn’t changed. So if you can deliver something that tastes fabulous but it’s healthier and it’s all natural.

[00:50:38] That’s, that’s our consumer. But in terms of flavors, everyone’s taste buds are different. You know, you could taste something and I could taste it and we taste two totally different things. So that’s what you have to be careful. That’s why I called you. We can’t be the empire that listens to the crowd.

[00:50:55] No, because the empire in a good day, when he makes 50% of the people happy. Right. [00:51:00] So we can’t, you know, you’re not going to make everybody happy with every flavor. Sure. People taste things differently and that’s how they pick their flavors. But you hope that the flavors that they like that you satisfied it just, you know, the flavor spectrum and how people taste.

[00:51:16] It is wild. And even when we do our tasting, how people react to what they pick up on, but I mean, you can’t criticize people because that’s what they perceive and that’s what they taste. Right. And you can’t tell them what they taste. So that’s always the big challenge. So it’s kind of like stick to what you’re trying to, what you’re trying to produce, whether it’s an orange or vanilla cream or a root beer, that’s our best.

[00:51:40] And you hope that people like it, but you can’t be. And then you can’t get frustrated because people may have, I mean, cause what if somebody says, Hey, I bought this, this and this, I love this, but didn’t like that. Well, you know, maybe you don’t, that’s not the flavor. Doesn’t jive well with your, your, your taste buds.[00:52:00]

[00:52:00] So you can’t let that discourage you too much because you’re never going to have people like everything across the board, as much as we strive to, it’s just not going to happen. So you know, we try to whatever flavor it is, this is what, we’re one of them. This is what we want to achieve and we’re going to make it the best tasting.

[00:52:20] So the people that like that will love our stuff, but you know, coming kind of back, I think that’s where the trends are going. You know, obviously we talked about the non alcoholic beverage options, which is growing. We talked about all natural. We talked about zero sugar. And I think people just want healthier, better for you products.

[00:52:38] And then. And in the case where our ginger beer is where we’re using ginger, you know, there’s some efficacy with ginger, right? And that’s, I think what sets us apart with our ginger rail and our ginger beer is we’re getting, you’re getting real ginger and those products and real ginger has a lot of great properties that we hear from our [00:53:00] consumers all the time, all the time, why they drink our product and how grateful they are, that it exists.

[00:53:06] And that, you know, we used real ginger in those products.

[00:53:11] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Yeah. I mean, I love it. When I go on the few occasions, I’ve had to go sailing in my life. I bring reads, frankly. I know I sound like a commercial for you all, but, but I bring it because to, to stave off being seasick, it’s wonderful for that. So, so yeah, absolutely.

[00:53:28] I, I understand. And I love what you just said about perception and how. Your perception of what you’re tasting is so unique to each individual person. I think that’s, I think that’s so important and, and you know, to me, something that’s good for you and tastes bad is medicine and something is for you and tastes good.

[00:53:48] Doesn’t necessarily have to be that way. It can be something that you’re just enjoying and, and yet, you know, we’ve just, we’re, we’re sort of coming out of this pandemic where a lot of people [00:54:00] have had all sorts of obviously obviously big issues and Reed’s play has played a role. I’m sure in many people going, okay, I need my comfort and this is, this could be my ginger ale and my ginger beer.

[00:54:13] What has gone on if you, if you can talk about it a little bit, what are some of the challenges that Reed’s faced during the pandemic and, and the, how have you dealt with them and, and, and where are you going next with respect to this new future that we’re going to be living.

[00:54:30] Norm Snyder: That’s a great question. I was thinking about this.

[00:54:31] So I went out and I was at a one of our production locations yesterday. So traveling back, you know, you got a lot of time to think. So I’m thinking about that. And I’m like, man talking about the economy of two worlds. So during the pandemic, we actually benefited because people I think went back to brands, they could trust brands that reflect quality and brands that were healthier.

[00:54:59] [00:55:00] And we had a really good year right now. What I didn’t really see coming post pandemic. And I don’t think anybody did for that matter was what’s going on with the supply chain and transportation in this country. There’s so much pent up demand. Right. And then with people losing jobs like I was in I was in And Philadelphia last night at the, at the airport and the place was jam packed.

[00:55:29] Right. And I’m watching it. And I just, I love, I love seeing stuff happened and I’ve got a chance to talk to the manager. And you said, our business is up 30% over last year. Our staff has done 40%. I’m thinking, wow, that’s, that’s gotta be really taxing. So the point is the big challenge this year, which we had some issues that we, we, we, but we worked it [00:56:00] out.

[00:56:00] Supply chain is, is just been very difficult to manage. I mean, for example, you can get cans in the United States. Every Ken manufacturer is at capacity. So people are importing cans from all over the world. Well guess what happens with that? There’s all the ports of this country are congested. So.

[00:56:21] What would normally be a four month lead time could be a seven, eight month lead time because we ordered something from Europe and it sat sad. The Pacific sat in the ocean for two months before it could even get a dock time. And then once you get a dock time to get through customs and get unloaded. So the supply chain it’s been probably the most difficult I’ve seen in my entire career by far transportation.

[00:56:47] I talked about the port congestion. I think I read something for every truck. There’s 12 loads to go on that truck. Wow. So, you know, it goes back to what I talked about supply versus [00:57:00] demand. Our transportation costs have gone up of double of double. Wow. And it’s like, wow, where did this come from?

[00:57:09] Now? They’re starting to come down and. Things are starting to look like they, by the end of the year, it could become more normal or at least in the first part of next year. But so requires you to plan things out more or you know, which we use for a raps in cardboard for containers have longer lead times.

[00:57:31] There’s been a shortage of steel for caps to put on your bottles. There’s been a shortage of carbonation because the primary supplier carbonation or ethanol plants, and when nobody’s driving, no one’s using ethanol, right? So the by-product of that. So carbonation is even gone up. What’s gone up with pallets that you stack your product now.

[00:57:50] So virtually every aspect of our supply chain has been impacted. And we didn’t see this during COVID, you know, we saw some tightening [00:58:00] labor is the other aspect to production facilities are having a hard time hiring people. So it’s, it’s really touched every facet of our business. So postcode, the post COVID year has been believe it, or not much more challenging than during the pandemic, which I thought once we got through the pandemic, the biggest challenge is going to be changing consumer preferences and tastes and how they shop.

[00:58:28] And that would be enough to challenge us. That’s really been, the supply chain has been turned sideways, right? And so when people ask me what keeps you up at night? That’s what keeps me up at night, pasta transportation. And snafoos in our supply chain because as good as our people are, we have to think out longer periods of time to avoid issues.

[00:58:56] And we’ve had a few, we’ve had a few of them [00:59:00] and it’s really unfortunate because it’s like, man never had to deal with this before. Not even close, like, as you get older and remember my parents talk about certain parts of life and yeah, I remember that, but we got through it, remember that and we got through it.

[00:59:16] But now this is the most unique I’ve ever seen, but you know what, we’ll power through it. I mean, it’s not like we’re defeated and, or are hanging our heads down and say, we can’t do it. We just work twice as hard. And we know that it’s going to return to some aspect of normalcy, but it’s been a bigger challenge than most people think.

[00:59:38] And if you pick up any financial press, it’s in the paper every day, right. And look, every head impacts every aspect. I mean the buy cars, you can’t buy a car, try renting a car. You can’t even rent a car today. Right. Cause there’s not available. Right. I tried to buy a steroid receiver. I couldn’t find the, the brand and model.

[00:59:57] My wife wanted a new washer and dryer, [01:00:00] but we got the last one in the store. The model that she, it, otherwise we had to wait like two months, right? If you want to buy faucets faucets, you must have were out of stock. I mean, so it’s impacted virtually every consumer category. There is imaginable this whole supply chain.

[01:00:17] So it’s, it’s been, it’s been a struggle. Like I said, we’ll power through it and we’re not complaining, but it’s, it’s definitely changed how we, how we do business.

[01:00:31] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Oh, sure. I imagine, I mean, whatever supply surplus there was pre pandemic got used up during the pandemic. And now all of a sudden, if you didn’t have a supply surplus to carry you for two years, yeah.

[01:00:44] You’re going to be short. And, and who did, you know, no one ever thought during, during the pre pandemic or even during the beginning months, no one thought it was going to be this long. And so having to stay agile and having to stay sort of light on your feet[01:01:00] is, has become so important for so many companies.

[01:01:03] And moving, as I said, moving into the future, it’s going to be fascinating to see how we all do. If, and when something like this ever happens again, how will we plan for it? And, and that sort of leads me to my next question. And I w I promise I will, I have like a bunch more questions, but I will, I will, I will absolutely stop soon.

[01:01:24] I, I was just wondering, what’s your vision for reeds moving into the future? What is your vision for this company?

[01:01:32] Norm Snyder: Well, you know, I, I think we, we’ve probably talked about this before we w we went on air that the thing that I’ve seen that I’m really proud of, but it feels good too, is that we’re pivoting that we’re, we’re kind of, you know, the, where we’re, we’re migrating from, you know, the, what I’ll call them all natural ginger beer company that kind of played in one [01:02:00] category to something that’s much more.

[01:02:04] Resonates with a much larger group of consumers that really satisfies their demand, but stays true to who we are. And it’s been a subtle pivot, but you can see it in the products that are ordered. You can see it on what, you know, what’s selling and what’s not selling can see it in consumer feedback.

[01:02:23] So I think, you know, the, the vision is continue to produce great tasting all natural beverages and, you know, that are both ginger base, but also our craft, our craft sodas that are healthier that we have, you know, continued to develop great zero calorie, zero sugar products. But, you know, to really look into maybe additional categories, either in the beverage or the food space, but to be sort of that company.

[01:02:57] That really puts out [01:03:00] premium high quality, better for you all natural products. And you know, just like we were able to leverage and successfully grow our business, you know, on the whole premise of ginger, you know, there’s other ingredients out there that, Hey, why can’t reach, do that too? Right. So, you know, the future is, you know, being that company that really represents that product that consumers can trust that they enjoy drinking and they, they know comes from the finest ingredients source throughout the world.

[01:03:37] And, but also that, you know, we, you know, and we’ve talked about this too, and it’s the first time I touch on this that, you know, really looking at as most companies are that have a, a conscience. You know, aspect of our day-to-day living. And part of that’s going to be sustainability, you know, that we’re looking into in digging deeper, but, you know, just being a company that, [01:04:00] that reflects the times that we live in, that, you know, doesn’t just die and go away because they stayed true to what they used to be.

[01:04:10] I mean, there’s so many great examples of that. So many products and companies when I was growing up that were like the big, big players that are just barely hanging on today. Right. And I don’t want to be that company that doesn’t recognize what consumers want and what are the current trends, but to be on the forefront of that.

[01:04:30] And I think we’ve really done a good job of pivoting to do that. Right. And that’s where I get that sense of what’s going on in our company. And I really liked that feeling that we’re, we’re putting out products that people want and that are happy to have in their hands. But also enjoy tremendously, right.

[01:04:49] And that are relevant to today’s consumers. And that’s what I want to be. I want to continue to be that way and, and, you know, start from this great idea that really was [01:05:00] innovative, right? Truly innovative in terms of ginger beer and using ginger and to continue on those, that whole premise, but you can’t just stick to something and hope that it lasts forever, but to be able to respond accordingly.

[01:05:16] And I think we’ve, we’ve, that’s been the real KIDO it’s reflected in our innovation and who we are. And I think that’s what kind of sets us apart too. And it makes it a great place to come to work because that’s what we’re doing.

[01:05:33] Izolda Trakhtenberg: That’s fantastic. I love it. I love it. All right. So speaking of the place that you work if you don’t mind, how do people find out more about reeds? Do you have a website and Instagram? Could you share that? Because I would love to have that

[01:05:49] Norm Snyder: WW dot drink, read sat com WW dot Frank burgess.com. We have, we have a Facebook page.

[01:05:57] We have an Instagram account. I have [01:06:00] them on my computer, so I just hit the button. But I mean, it’s all linked. It’s all linked on our on our website, but there’s a tremendous amount of stuff there. We have an 800 number for tumors to call. Obviously you can comment on our social media, there’s a consumer info email that people can contact us and we do, and we do reach back.

[01:06:19] So it doesn’t just, it’s not a one-way street. You know, we do respond to. And like I said, there’s times that I pick up the phone or email. I mean, let me say we had a, we had a family that ordered some products on Amazon, in our, the, it was, unfortunately, we, there was only available glass, the product broke and they were disappointed.

[01:06:46] I was struggling like 10 year old son. So I read it and I’m like, wait a minute. They’re were like two towns away. So I said, reach out to them and tell them that they’re going to have a special gas. That’s going to deliver the product. And I showed up at the, [01:07:00] and they wouldn’t let me leave. The kid was self ticketed.

[01:07:05] I showed up with a case of the love and root beer. I showed up with a case of that. So I, you know, I look at things like that and I’m like, wow, I want to do this. So I’ll say to work at team, let me handle this one. But I think that we’re really good about that. Right. We take it very serious. No. So you can do our, you know, through our website and there’s links to everything Instagram, whatever you could reach out to us and you’re going to get a response.

[01:07:30] But if you, the websites to me are always the best because they have, they have the most information and they’re linked. So you can go from one to the other. And it, but it talks about all our products. It talks about our history. It talks about how things are made. What’s important to us. So there’s a lot out there and, or just Google us.

[01:07:46] I mean, we’re going to pop up and you’re going to, there’s a lot of information out there.

[01:07:52] Izolda Trakhtenberg: Yeah. There really is. And, and, and I’ll just say it this way and they’re really, they’re just tasty and good. I know. I sound like I’m a commercial [01:08:00] for you all, but I’m not an affiliate. I just, I’ve been drinking reads for a long time and I love that.

[01:08:05] We love it.

[01:08:06] Norm Snyder: That’s what we love to hear. We love it.

[01:08:09] Izolda Trakhtenberg: That’s awesome. Well, norm I’m so grateful that you took the time to join me on the show. I have just one last question that I ask everybody who comes on the show. And it’s a strange little question, but I find that it yields some fascinating answers. And the question is this.

[01:08:25] If you had an airplane that could sky write anything for the whole world to see, what would you say?

[01:08:35] Norm Snyder: What would I say, boy? You know, I’ve got to find a way to say that. Well, first of all, I, I guess I would go back to the whole, our whole campaign here is that, you know, reads is real right. And I can’t emphasize it enough that, you know, we, there [01:09:00] is a difference between us and other products. There really is how we, what ingredients we use and how we make.

[01:09:07] And I love that. You know, real is always better. I think I would write that real is always better, but I guess I’d have to say reads. I mean, that, that’s the me, it’s like look, I, one of my hobbies is cooking. When you use real fresh ingredients, you can taste the difference and it doesn’t have to be black.

[01:09:27] It could be the simplest thing, right. To go out in your garden and grab some fresh herbs. And that’s, and you know, how I cook as I think reads is it’s like real is always better. And we use real ingredients. We use the finest and it, and it, and how we make everything. So I would go with our Kent and our current campaign, which is really reflects who we’ve been from day one and who will continue to be real as always.

[01:09:57] And that’s what I would write. And obviously I’d have to write [01:10:00] reads and virtual. So, because

[01:10:03] Izolda Trakhtenberg: it’s a very big part of the sky, the plane has the notsell.

[01:10:07] Norm Snyder: I have the reads of Virgil’s logo come after that, but I mean, that’s who really we are. And it’s pretty simple because we were sitting around talking about it and it’s like, you know, that’s, you know, it’s, it’s funny.

[01:10:22] Well, I won’t get into that. It was a movie I saw online that

[01:10:24] Izolda Trakhtenberg: I love. I’m a big movie file. So go for it.

[01:10:27] Norm Snyder: Almost famous, which is now 20 years old, great movie, which is one of my favorite movies. And they get caught in a Russel and was the guitars for the band Stillwater and the, the enemy, you know, the reporter there.

[01:10:43] Well, who was, was portraying Cameron. And they, you know, they, there, they have, the ban is a fight over the t-shirt. They go walking out, the kid still needs to interview this Volkswagen mini bus pops up and says, Hey man, aren’t you Russell from Stillwater. And he says, yeah, on my better days, [01:11:00] he goes, well, my buddy’s having a party.

[01:11:02] And you know, we’re real Topeka people. And you know, the whole, you know, they give him something and he’s drinking the whole night he’s gone. And this is real is flashing the lights on. This is real you’re real. And I just, that, that sticks in my mind about being real. And I’m like, but when we were talking about it, I just felt like we’re real.

[01:11:21] That’s who we are real ginger real judge, not fake and all the other stuff. So I think that’s what I would say real is always better. And, and probably, and we’re real, Virgil’s reads. And that’s, that’s, you know, it’s that simple, but it’s that powerful at the same time. And I think obviously being a supertaster, you could pick that up.

[01:11:43] You know, it, it does, it does make a difference. Sure,

[01:11:47] Izolda Trakhtenberg: sure. No, it does. It does. Absolutely. It does. And, and that’s one of the reasons that, that my husband buys me, he goes, I get cravings and he goes out any buys me. He’s a good [01:12:00] man. He’s a keeper. Right? Once again, norm, thank you so much for joining me.

[01:12:04] I appreciate it. And I’m really grateful and I will toast you the next time I have a bottle of

[01:12:13] Norm Snyder: this has been a lot of fun. It’s my pleasure. I mean, I could tell, you said eight hours. I could, I could be here for eight hours. This is my favorite topic to talk about. I mean, obviously I love what I do. I love the product, so not only am I the CEO, I’m probably the number one fan and a big consumer, but it’s a fun job.

[01:12:30] And you know, I, I was passed the mantle. I didn’t create it. And I tip my hat to the guy that did. And the folks that brought up this far. It’s an honor and privilege to be at the helm and. I have fun every day.

[01:12:43] Izolda Trakhtenberg: That’s amazing. And I love that you said that loving what you do, getting to that point where you really, really are a big fan of what you do is it’s, it’s aspirational.

[01:12:54] It’s something that we can all aspire to, to just to just get to play and have fun while at [01:13:00] the same time creating something that is so, so beneficial to so many norm. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. This is, oh my pleasure. This is Izolda Trakhtenberg for the innovative mindset podcast. I’m super grateful.

[01:13:14] You were here. If you’re liking what you’re hearing, first of all, you need to go get yourself a bottle of reeds by four. They come into four packs and, and drink, drink a bottle of Reed’s toast, norm Snyder and his team at reeds and at Virgil’s. If you’re liking what you hear again, leave a review of the show.

[01:13:33] I would love to hear from you any comments or ideas that you have, I’m all ears until next time. Again, this is Izolda. Trakhtenberg reminding you to listen, learn, laugh, and love a whole lot.

[01:13:50] Thanks so much for joining me today. I really appreciate you being here. Please subscribe to the podcast if you’re new, and if you like what you’re hearing, please review it and rate [01:14:00] it and let other people know. And if you’d like to be a sponsor of the show, I’d love to meet you on patrion.com/innovative mindset.

[01:14:08] I also have lots of exclusive goodies to share just with the show supporters. Today’s episode was produced by Izolda Trakhtenberg and his copyright 2021 as always. Please remember, this is for educational and entertainment purposes. Only past performance does not guarantee future results, although we can always hope until next time, keep living in your innovative mindset.

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