How We Quit Our 6-Figure Jobs to Start a Multimillion-Dollar Hard Seltzer Business
Summary
TLDRSea Row, co-founder of Lunar Seltzer, shares the journey of creating a craft seltzer brand inspired by Asian fruits. With flavors like Korean Plum and Yuzu, Lunar fills a gap in the market between domestic beers and imports. Sea and co-founder Kevin Wong's passion for business and representation led to a successful launch during COVID-19. Their grassroots approach, including direct engagement with retailers and consumers, resulted in rapid growth and a million-dollar milestone, showcasing the power of authenticity and relationship-building in business.
Takeaways
- 😊 Ci Ro is a 33-year-old co-founder of Lunar Hard Seltzer, a local craft hard seltzer made with real Asian fruits.
- 🍑 Lunar offers flavors like Korean Plum, Yuzu, Lychee, and Passion Fruit, available at retailers like Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, and Target.
- 🏫 Ci Ro and his co-founder Kevin Wong met at the University of Virginia and have backgrounds in tech startups and investment banking.
- 💡 They were inspired to create a business reflecting their Asian-American identities amidst growing representation in media and arts.
- 🍹 The idea for Lunar was conceived in early 2019 during a conversation over drinks, recognizing a market gap between domestic beers and imports.
- 🛠️ The development of Lunar involved extensive R&D, home brewing in their apartment, and sourcing authentic flavors from their cultural backgrounds.
- 🌍 They conducted taste tests and surveys with friends and colleagues to refine their product and ensure it was scalable and authentic.
- 🚀 Lunar's initial batches sold out quickly online, and their popularity on social media signaled a strong market demand.
- 🏢 During the COVID-19 pandemic, they personally promoted Lunar by visiting local Asian-American restaurants and retailers in New York.
- 📈 The success of Lunar was bolstered by building personal relationships with retailers, leading to quick placements in stores like Trader Joe's.
- 🎄 The Korean Plum flavor was refined with the help of Ci Ro's mother, ensuring it met their high standards and cultural authenticity.
Q & A
Who is Sea Row and what is his role in Lunar Seltzer?
-Sea Row is the co-founder of Lunar Seltzer, a local craft seltzer brand that uses real Asian fruits to create flavors like Korean Plum, Yuzu, and passion fruit.
What is unique about Lunar Seltzer's flavors?
-Lunar Seltzer's flavors are unique because they are inspired by real Asian fruits, which makes them sweet but not overly sweet, reflecting the founders' Asian-American identities.
Where can Lunar Seltzer be found for purchase?
-Lunar Seltzer can be found at retailers such as Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Target, and online retailers like 99 Ranch and Hmart, primarily in Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York.
How did Sea Row and Kevin Wong meet?
-Sea Row and Kevin Wong first met on the first day of college at the University of Virginia, where they were both out-of-state students.
What career paths did Sea Row and Kevin Wong initially take before starting Lunar Seltzer?
-Kevin started his career in investment banking in New York, while Sea Row took a detour to grad school and later joined tech startups in New York.
What motivated Sea Row and Kevin Wong to start their own business?
-They both had a desire to be their own bosses and to have control over their own destinies. They were looking for opportunities to create a business that reflected their identities as Asian-Americans.
How did the idea for Lunar Seltzer come about?
-The idea for Lunar Seltzer came about during a conversation over drinks, where they noticed a gap in the market between domestic beers and imported seltzers, and decided to fill that space with a product that represented their Asian-American heritage.
What was the initial investment to start Lunar Seltzer?
-Sea Row and Kevin Wong bootstrapped the initial investment of approximately $150,000 to start Lunar Seltzer.
How did Sea Row and Kevin Wong develop the flavors for Lunar Seltzer?
-They developed the flavors by sourcing fruits and ingredients from grocery stores and trips to Asia, then experimenting with different formulations every two weeks, assessing taste, authenticity, and scalability.
What was the process like for Sea Row and Kevin Wong in terms of market research and product testing?
-They hosted tasting parties with close friends, colleagues, and acquaintances, and conducted surveys to gather feedback on the flavors, asking participants to guess the flavor, rate it, and provide recommendations.
How did Lunar Seltzer achieve its first million in sales?
-They achieved their first million in sales by pounding the pavement in New York during the COVID-19 pandemic, visiting local Asian-American restaurants, tastemakers, chefs, and retailers, building relationships and getting their product on the shelves.
What role did Sea Row's mother play in finalizing the Korean Plum flavor?
-Sea Row's mother played a critical role in finalizing the Korean Plum flavor by taste-testing different variations and choosing the one that she thought was the best, which is the formulation they still use today.
How did the encounter at Long Island City Trader Joe's contribute to Lunar Seltzer's success?
-The encounter at Long Island City Trader Joe's, where Kevin overheard staff members praising Lunar Seltzer, led to an immediate introduction to the manager and a quick decision to carry the product, showcasing the importance of building relationships and personal connections.
Outlines
🌟 Founding Lunar Hearts Selter: The Beginning
Sea Row, 33, introduces herself as the co-founder of Lunar Hearts Selter, a local craft seltzer made with real Asian fruits, available at various retailers across Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York. She recounts meeting her co-founder, Kevin Wong, at the University of Virginia, and their respective career paths in investment banking and tech startups. Both had a desire to start their own business, inspired by their Asian-American identities and the growing representation in media and arts. Over drinks, they identified a market gap between domestic beers and imported seltzers, sparking the idea for Lunar.
🚀 From Idea to Execution: The Lunar Journey
In early 2019, Sea and Kevin began the two-year process of developing Lunar, working on it while maintaining their full-time jobs. Sea, earning $130,000 annually at a tech startup, juggled work with Lunar’s development. In May 2021, after Lunar's launch, she left her job to fully commit to the venture. They invested $150,000, starting with home brewing in their small apartment and learning through online resources. The initial focus was on creating flavors from their Korean and Taiwanese backgrounds, using authentic fruits and ingredients, and refining the recipes through rigorous testing and feedback.
🍹 Perfecting Flavors and Gaining Traction
Sea and Kevin sourced fruits from grocery stores and trips to Asia, experimenting with flavors that resonated with their childhoods. They held tasting parties and conducted surveys to refine their recipes, balancing taste authenticity with scalability. Despite brewing in secret, they persisted, and their first batches sold out quickly online. The positive response on social media validated their efforts, prompting them to intensify their production and marketing. They achieved their first million dollars in sales by directly promoting Lunar to local Asian-American restaurants and retailers, leveraging personal connections.
🛒 Breaking Into Retail: The Trader Joe’s Success
Kevin's fortuitous encounter at a Trader Joe’s led to Lunar being stocked in the store. Hearing staff praise Lunar, he introduced himself as a co-founder, leading to a quick product adoption. This exemplified the power of personal relationships and being present in the community. Customers discovered Lunar at Trader Joe’s, reinforcing the importance of retail presence. The Korean Plum flavor, particularly challenging to perfect, was finalized with the help of Sea’s mother. Her critical input ensured the authenticity of the flavor, which remains a staple in their product line.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Lunar Hearts Selter
💡Asian fruits
💡Retailers
💡University of Virginia
💡Tech and finance careers
💡Asian-American identity
💡Home brewing
💡Scalability
💡Market validation
💡Trader Joe's activation
Highlights
Sea Row is the 33-year-old co-founder of Lunar, a craft seltzer brand using real Asian fruits.
Lunar seltzers are available at retailers like Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Target, and online platforms such as 99 Ranch and Hmart.
Sea and co-founder Kevin Wong met at the University of Virginia and both pursued careers in finance and tech before starting their business.
The idea for Lunar was conceived in early 2019, with 2 years of R&D and preparation while Sea was still working at a tech startup.
Sea made about $130,000 in salary but decided to leave his job in May 2021 to focus on Lunar after its successful launch.
Lunar was bootstrapped with $150,000, starting with home brewing in a small East Village apartment.
The founders sourced fruits and ingredients from grocery stores and trips to Asia for authentic flavors.
They tested different formulations every two weeks, assessing taste, authenticity, and scalability.
Lunar hosted tasting parties and surveys to gather feedback on their seltzer flavors from friends and acquaintances.
The initial batches sold out quickly on online platforms, indicating a strong market response.
Lunar made its first million by focusing on New York, especially targeting Asian-American restaurants and retailers.
Building personal relationships with retailers was key to getting Lunar on the shelves.
A chance encounter at a Trader Joe's led to Lunar being carried in the store within 3 weeks.
Consumers have discovered Lunar through word of mouth and positive experiences at retailers like Trader Joe's.
The Korean Plum flavor was particularly challenging to perfect, with Sea's mother ultimately choosing the final formulation.
The success of Lunar highlights the importance of authenticity, personal connections, and persistence in the beverage industry.
Transcripts
[Music]
hi I'm sea row I'm 33 years old and I'm
the co-founder of lunar Hearts Selter
lunar is a local craft Hearts Selter
made with real Asian fruits so that is
sweet but not too sweet we have flavors
like Korean Plum Yuzu lii and passion
fruit and you can find this at retailers
like Whole Food Trader Joe's Target
online retailers 99 Ranch Hmart
throughout Massachusetts New Jersey and
New York my co-founder Kevin Wong he and
I first met on the first day of college
actually at the University of Virginia
we were both out of state students and
didn't have a lot of local friends Kevin
he started off his career in Investment
Banking here in New York for me I took a
little detour by going to grad school I
wasn't quite ready to be an adult just
yet so I wanted to stay in school a
little bit ended up going to carigan
melon afterwards I came to New York
decided to join Tech startups and after
we came to New York and started a career
in Tech and finance we also both had the
itch of wanting to be our own bosses and
putting our own destiny in our own hands
we knew we wanted to start some sort of
a business and we were looking for
opportunities and one of the areas that
we always came back to was something to
do with our identities as
asian-americans and at this time there
was an upswell of representation in the
film media and Arts and Music Space and
we started looking around what are some
other industries that could use a
similar level of disruption and
representation and we were having this
conversation over a couple of drinks so
naturally as we were about to order our
next drink we saw that there was a white
space between kind of the domestic beers
and products and and Selter and the
Imports and that's when we knew exactly
that's where we wanted to be
so we first came up with the idea of
lunar in early 2019 so that was about 2
years of R&D work prep work because my
job was still at a tech startup I was
working easily more than 40 hours a week
so for me it was just trying to manage
and squeeze and time block whatever I
could in the evenings in the mornings
and on the weekends I was making about
$130,000 in salary and in May in 2021
basically a couple months after our
launch I decided to leave my job and go
all in on basically this the stream job
we had bootstrapped I think1 $150,000 to
start we started home brewing in our
tiny 400t East Village apartment and we
just literally Googled how to make
Seltzer at home we were also watching
like a bunch of YouTube videos of people
literally in their garages trying to say
this is how I make my heart Tel the fun
part of this business was figuring out
and r& ding which flavors we wanted to
share with the rest of the world
naturally a place that Kevin and I
started was from our childhoods and our
backgrounds as korean-american and
Taiwanese Americans for me the Yuzu and
the Korean Plum were flavors that I had
grown up with during my time in Korea
and also in my Korean family and for
Kevin the leuch and passion fruit were a
big representative fruits of his summer
that he spent in Taiwan whenever he
visited his grandmother the process for
it was we were you know buying a bunch
of fruits and fruit ingredients from the
grocery store bringing it back from our
trips whenever we were visiting Asia and
going on sourcing trips we met every two
Mondays at evening trying a bunch of
different formulations we were going
through and assessing a combination of
obviously does it taste good does it
taste like what it should and you know
what we grew up with authentically but
also because we are building a business
the third Factor was you know can we
find scalable sources of it our
landlords definitely did not know that
we were making moonshine or home brewing
alcohol but I believe it's not illegal
to make for your own consumption we used
to host tasting parties of close friends
colleagues and friends of friends but we
also had surveys that we were having
everyone fill out after trying all these
various samples some of the questions
included hey can you guess what this
flavor is you like it you know rate it
at a scale of 1 to five subjectively any
recommendations or anything that you
would change about it once the initial
first batches like sold out uh
immediately on our online retailers and
we were going viral on social media we
thought that was enough of a signal from
the market to be like okay we're we're
really on to something um I think it's
time to really you know kick things up
and not we made our first million as a
business just by pounding pavement here
in New York it was during the covid
pandemic still in 2021 and Kevin and I
were carrying samples in our backpacks
and visiting all the locations
throughout the city and we were starting
with places that we thought made a lot
of sense which were kind of local
Asian-American restaurants taste makers
and chefs and restaurant tours and also
local retailers that are Target
demographic of kind of 25 to 35 High
earning asian-americans will be shopping
at and it's really just building the
relationship because you know you're not
the First new brand to come up to them
to say hey I have this amazing thing
that's the best thing since slic bread
and you certainly won't be the last so
it's very much about building a
relationship and that personto person
connection because at the end of the day
these retailers for new brands are
taking a chance on you as the founder my
co-founder Kevin after the Long Island
City Trader Joe's opened up he was just
shopping there as a consumer and as he
was checking out he overheard some of
the staff members talking about hey have
you tried this thing called lunar I just
tried it the other day and it was really
really good so after checking out he
walked over and say hey I didn't mean to
e drop but I just couldn't help but
notice that you guys are talking about
lunar I happened to be one of the
co-founders and I just live around the
block here the team basically yanked the
manager who was about to walk by and
said we need to carry this product It's
amazing And this is the founder and he
lives here that was one of our first
customers our activation from first
Contact at Trader Joe's to being on the
Shelf only took about 3 weeks so it goes
to show that you know just being you
know being a good person and also just
like building relationships uh just
really pays off we get a lot of
consumers who come to us over the years
or months afterwards being like Oh my
gosh I found out about you guys cuz you
at Trader Joe's and I had to try it and
I love your product this Korean Plum
flavor the formulation is you know we
call it Mom approved but it's quite
literally true because this was the one
that we were really struggling to nail
down before launch I remember Christmas
break of 2020 I went back home for for
Christmas and I laid out like four or
five different cups of different slight
different variations of this formulation
and I was like Mom I need your help to
figure out like which one's the one and
she went down the line and she gave the
answer she was like very critical as a
Asian mother would be the one that she
chose was the one that we went with and
that's the one that's still our
formulation today
[Music]
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