Rob Fitzpatrick, John Rizzo & Brock Felt: How We Built a $1B Tequila Brand | DSH #1534

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People People will call you Tiki Dev.

That just means someone who's fun-going, boisterous.

So we kind of thought naked for the natural, complete, pure, great product tequila, and put the Diablo to it as well.

And that kind of mastery.

You got to admit, it's a great name for Vegas.

All right, guys, we got Brock, John, and Rob here from Naked Diablo, all the way from the UK.

Let's go.

Thanks Thanks for coming, guys.

Great.

Thanks for having us.

Yeah.

It's an interesting space.

I haven't had anyone on from the tequila space before.

Really?

No.

Yeah, Tequila is so big

around the world.

I thought you might have had a lot more people on, but I appreciate letting us come on.

Yeah.

It's good to be the first.

Yeah, it is.

Yeah, I got to hear how you guys met through Brock, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

We met through a couple of mutual friends.

So

I basically do investments or I help companies get funded.

And I think back then we were taking a swing at some pro sports teams, which we still are.

It was Everton back then.

And

Rob called me up.

I was like, hey, I'm going to go down to Mexico and

buy up some companies.

Do you want to participate with us?

And

yeah, and then we just started.

So basically our group, we just...

We're all friends.

We're not like an investment fund or anything like that.

But we just love doing cool projects and things that are impactful.

And

so we got into the tequila business.

And the crazy thing is, Sean, the tequila, we got into purely by accident.

So in the UK for 20 plus years, we had bars, restaurants, and clubs.

And one of my partners, another one called John Renee, JR, everyone seems to be JR.

He ran the food and beverage side of that business.

And he said, you know, I want to open up a Mexican-themed late-night drinking place, and I'm going to call it El Diablo, tequila and taco bar.

And he, funny enough, he actually

copied the concept from El Hefi in Scottsdown.

I was there last week.

So, in the process of that, my oldest son said, Well, you know, why don't we create our own tequila brand?

And I went, whatever for it.

And he said, Well, you know, El Diablo, tequila and taco bar, we're going to sell a lot of tequila.

So, what we did, Sean, we looked into it.

We had our analysts and martin guys look into it, and they said, this thing is blowing up.

You've got celebrities, A-listers putting millions, if not tens of millions of dollars, putting the name to it.

We can talk about some of the big celebrities that, you know, own tequila brands.

And they said, but look, if you position yourself in two main areas, one, premium, don't, so you're not this low, crappy, shot tequila.

And secondly, if you go flavor profile and create flavors, you're going to capture position of the market because the flavors will end up being like, you know, the gin space, the Bicardi space, the vodka, where they have a lot of flavors.

So that's the reason why we did it.

And what we decided to do is come out with, you know, eight different expressions.

So you've got your blanco, your reposado, your niejo, an extra niejo.

And then what we wanted to do, because it's all about premium and quality, we made our flavors

reposado aged.

So it's aged in a barrel.

And we went for coffee because it's the second largest drank beverage in the world after after tea.

So we kind of thought a lot of tequila drinkers, a lot of coffee drinkers, that makes sense.

Another one that we created was vanilla.

And purely because vanilla is the number one ice cream

flavor, you know, the best flavored ice cream by far, tens of millions of people.

And then the cinnamon we kind of went for because there's a whiskey called Fireball.

And that controls 54% of the whiskey flavored market.

Wow.

So we kind of thought, let's do the same thing, but under tequila.

So that's why we went with cinema.

Nice.

And we also have a super aged or super strength Blanco,

55 proof, 110 alcohol volume.

And literally, that's in a red, it's a red colour, John, isn't it?

It's a sign of danger.

And also, it looks great on the back bar.

But one of the reasons we did it red sign of danger, but also because we're big Man United fans.

So we wanted to put it out there, and you've got Naked Diablo, Diablo means devil, Red Devils, Man United.

So that's how that all came about.

Nice.

Purely by accident.

And obviously, it's been an interesting journey so far, hasn't it?

Up to this point.

Excuse me.

To say the least, it's been interesting.

We've been,

I guess, when did product first come into the U.S.

Three years ago?

Three years.

So

since then, we've opened up Florida.

The

largest liquor chain in Florida is ABC Liquors.

We're in every single ABC Liquors right now in Florida.

We've obviously expanded into Las Vegas, and we're starting to make some traction in Las Vegas.

So the brand itself is starting to gain traction in the places where we want to gain traction rather than taking a shotgun approach.

We decided that we're going to take a sniper approach and

build out and put as much effort and

wherewithal behind the brand to make sure that we're successful in the markets that we're going at right now.

Once we conquer this market, which we will, we're almost there now, we'll start opening up other markets.

I mean, Sean, you know, we're

California, Colorado, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Tennessee, Massachusetts,

Colorado.

We said Colorado, California, New York, Texas, New Jersey, Connecticut,

Massachusetts.

Yeah, so we're in a few.

Also international now.

You know, we have product in UAE, Dubai.

Nice.

We've just opened up in Europe, so that gives us 27 additional countries.

And our philosophy always was that, you know, everyone seems to focus on the US market and the right to do that, Sean, because by far it's the biggest exporter of tequila on the planet.

But everywhere around the world is literally going tequila crazy.

Yeah.

And the numbers, don't quote me on exact numbers, but it's it's like 90% of the tequila consumption is done in America, but it's still the fastest growing spirit outside of America.

So the,

you know, the TAM outside of the U.S.

is huge.

Yeah.

So

even as it becomes the

premium spirit in the United States,

it is just starting to gain traction in the rest of the world.

And the rest of the world is taking them.

Wow.

I wonder what started this craze, this tequila craze.

I don't know.

I think it's quality.

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I mean, you get quality tequila, and that's what it is.

I mean, tequila's got a very

interesting background in that it's very much like champagne, and that it can only be made in five states within Mexico, and not just made, it has to be distilled within those five states.

And the blue web or agave has to be grown in those five states.

Wow.

So you can't call it tequila unless it meets these strict guidelines of

the tequila, what is it called over there?

The commission?

CRT.

CRT.

The CRT is a commission.

And basically, like an hour distillery, which is one of the most awarded distilleries for tequila in the world.

I should say, obviously, in Mexico, but there's literally people from the CRT that are in there eight, 12 hours every single day.

If the distillery is open, they're in there and they're checking sugar levels, chromographs, and everything.

It is so regulated, it is unbelievable.

In fact, they're starting to use blockchain on the agave

so so that they can find out from seed to bottle.

Wow.

So it is now,

yeah, it is now so strict that the premium tequila

is where the market's going.

We have the premium tequila with the premium, with the premium distillery.

And again, with our distillery, you know, it's called a brick contents, which is the sugar inside of it, which makes the tequila the best.

We only use the highest brick in our agave, which means they're probably two to four years or two to three years older than everybody else in the market.

Wow.

And the interesting thing about the international expansion, if you look at the number two exported country in the world is Spain.

Number three is Germany.

Well, they've actually just flipped on the south.

It is, it's two, Spain.

Three is Germany.

Four is France.

Number five is Canada.

Number six is the UK.

You know, I think Latvia is or Italy is number seven.

So we've got to, you know, in the top 10, Sean, it's in Europe.

So we're focusing on that.

We're focusing, obviously, the Far East, the Middle East.

We're going into India, all over the place.

And that's one of the reasons why,

you know, we created a documentary.

We created a TV show around the brand to try and compete with the big brands that have the big A-list celebrities.

You know, you look at the, you know, Casamigos, they got a billion dollars.

That was because of George Clooney, Randy Gerber, and these guys.

Then you get, you know, the rock dwayne johnson jumps in pays a lot of money to to buy in or create terramana and you got mark wahlberg you got matthew mconaughy all these guys and they're in it for

a couple reasons one cash flow uh is awesome and the profits per borrow sold or case poll but ultimately it's the uh the cash out the asset value the exit they're in it for instant gratification yeah you know and and you know obviously having a an alist celebrity behind your brand um

goes for something if you're looking to try to create and get out as quickly as possible, which is what they were doing and more power to them.

But for people that don't necessarily have that background behind them, you got to do it the old-fashioned way, which is quality product.

And that takes time as well.

Yeah.

And

speaking of which,

we've got some of the people that are brand ambassadors, not paid brand ambassadors, just people who love it.

And I have no problem saying it.

I've got a friend of mine, Vanilla Ice, who's

Ice Ice Baby.

Ice Ice Baby loves Nick Diablo.

You can see him, you know, he's posts all the time about it.

Real estate mogul now, right?

Yeah, he's a player.

He's a great guy, too.

Vegan charity.

Wonderful.

I should get him on here, too.

But the reason, Sean, to try and compete with, you know, the A-list celebrities who put the name to the brand, you know, you've got LeBron James, you've got the...

Oh, LeBron has a television?

Yeah, Low Boss.

Oh, okay.

So he bought into that as well.

Dana White has his own, too, I think.

Yeah, I think.

I know that's whiskey, my bud.

Yeah, so what we, you know, to create awareness, create followers, generate distribution interest from around the world, generate sales, and increase the asset value.

That's why originally we were going down the track of creating a docuseries, and that was following a couple of those guys flying around the world, meeting with distributors,

you know, a bit of the lifestyle, but doing deals as well.

And in the process of that, we got actually

asked, would we like to do a reality TV show, you know, to really create that awareness?

So, all this filming that we did going all over the world

for the docu series, we ended up putting it into a documentary that's currently on Amazon Prime, going on to Apple TV next month.

And that's called How to Build a Billion Dollar Brand.

And that's actually won awards all over the world.

Wow.

Crazy for best documentary in New York, London,

Paris, Milan,

Cannes, Film Festival, Miami, Hollywood, Golden, you know, just crazy.

Best document, Rome as well.

There's that many, I can't remember.

So that gives us the, you know, the

platform, if you will, to create this brand.

So when they all air at some point, Naki Diablo should be the next well-known tequila brand.

Well, the thing of it is also, too, is

we have never had anybody try the liquid that didn't come away and say, if it's not the best, it is up there with the best of it wow up there with don julio 1942

i i will put i will put our extra neo up to don julio any day you should do a blind taste test video and get people's reactions with michael jordan's sincoro tequila that costs eighteen hundred dollars and didn't win i've done it with elon musk tesla z and just involved in that it's beaten both of them but they're also made from the same

distillery that we are it's just we've got different secret sauce interesting yeah so you know talking about the distillery side if you look at it um the interesting thing is the reason why we went with that distillery, most awarded distillery, but the capacity to produce Sean.

You know, we didn't want, you know, at some point, everyone going crazy for Naki Diablo and not having the ability to supply that demand.

So that's one of the things that obviously Michael Jordan looked at.

You know, people like 21 Seed that's

pretty good as well.

And that's just purely a blanco with either jalapeno or orange.

It's infused.

Yeah.

And that's 24 leaf so that's and they got they got 200 million

300 300 was it so you know so we know we're on the right track uh ultimately you know my background is i have my own family office yeah predominantly we invest in three major areas renewable energy real estate and private equity and that's how we got into the tequila space by accident

but this is you know this is an exciting project ultimately by having a a documentary called how to build a billion dollar brand we're ultimately looking to sell it for a billion dollars.

So we wouldn't sell it, I don't think.

I know we have to have that conversation.

Somebody comes along and says, you know, here's 400 million or 500 million, we'll probably have that conversation.

Good conversation.

Good problem.

But I think we'd probably be selling a sell short.

Because I think, you know, based on the current values, I mean, you look at the Terra Mana the Rock.

Yeah.

I know he's a different.

animal in terms of, you know, social media, you know, and the followers on Instagram.

That's probably worth $4 billion, Sean.

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Thank you.

And that's just based on the U.S.

market.

I think he's had that valuation.

Why?

4.5.

Yeah, you know, so that's crazy.

He's at like 300,000 cases.

Oh, my gosh.

He owns all of that, or how did he get there?

I don't know what his own is.

The story is, I think, you know, he invested $42 million

to buy into that startup brand.

I think people like Mark Wahlberg was in the $26 million 56 years old.

Shout out to Mark.

He lives out here.

Yeah, so, you know, these guys are in it for the, you know, obviously they love tequila.

They all say the same thing.

It's the best tequila.

Yeah.

Well, everybody's on paleo and keto.

It's the only keto, paleo drink you can get.

I have heard guys like Ty Lopez say this is the healthiest alcohol to drink, right?

Which it is, Sean.

Yeah, that's the sugar.

That's the fact.

Because people say red wine, but I get a headache the next day.

Sulfate's salt.

You know, it's funny, you know, you mentioned that.

I know we spoke about 21 seed, and John said they got $300 million from DiAzio.

And when we were down at the same distillery, our distillery, DiAzio kept the production still in-house.

They didn't want to move facility.

So that was the exciting thing about that.

But the reason the lady, three women owned of that brand, the reason they started it is because they had...

headaches and having issues and they were at that age going through you know

women things and it was her doctor that said you should start taking tequila well actually one of the ironic things of that is also is is they were also done with Casa Myshu which is our distillery and we were down there with them and after they had gotten purchased from Diageo the master brewer from Diageo asked them is there anybody else I should be keeping an eye on and he says yeah you should be keeping an eye on these naked Diablo guys nice I got a feeling that's the next one that's going to be that's a good sign yeah yeah yeah I mean you guys got the distribution so and you got the experience from running your companies it's a good combo you know what I was saying too it's like you know not not getting political or

anything remotely like that but you know we

I had the opportunity to

you know do some charity events with the Trump family

in in in Florida obviously

you know and since that time

you know we have been you know doing all of the events and the charity events with

the Trump family at all of their events,

things of that nature.

Yeah, don't you?

Oh, nice.

And that, and that was for veterans, Sean, and also,

you know, we go, I go do it for them two or three times a year, you know, go set up everything for them at their house and bring our bartenders and our tequila and have people throw bottles and make a real good looking scene.

But it's all for charity.

It's a good cause.

John, where the homes are?

Well, theirs is Admiral's Cove.

Admiral Cove's, yeah.

So obviously we then went in Admiral's Cove because, you know, the people that I think they did the event, did it for Donald?

Yeah, Admiral Cove did the event.

And Kimberly at that time, Kimberly.

Yeah, at this point, too, I'm working on all the rest of the Trump properties too, which will probably happen sometime.

Nice.

Trump Tower in Vegas.

Yeah, Trump everywhere.

Yeah, they got them everywhere, right?

Yeah, they have, yeah.

Yeah, well done.

Premium tequila, premium brands.

I can't wait to try these.

I've never heard of a coffee tequila, actually.

You won't, and you haven't, and there's nobody else who has it.

Really?

First?

And again, the difference is you have,

I don't even know what you call them.

I don't want to call them flavored or whatever you want to call tequilas, but they're infused.

There's something in the bottle, okay, that's giving it the taste.

And it's usually a Blanco tequila that's giving it a bottle.

What we do is, first of all, not only just with Blanco, we're taking our already urban barrel-aged reposado, and at that point, then we're adding in the flavors.

Our flavors aren't aid.

They're almost proprietary blends because, you know, the way we can make coffee and cinnamon and vanilla, and to keep it consistent, is we have a proprietary method where we're taking all the oils.

So that is what gives us a leg up on everybody with our flavors.

Wow.

And also the volcanic water that goes through the distillery, that helps with the taste profile.

But one of the things that we wanted to do, you know, tequila, traditional flavored tequila Sean, will be literally using the blanc But like John said, super premium, we wanted to have it aged and have that better quality taste profile.

Most reposados will be aged in a barrel for six months.

We're a minimum of ten months and up.

And if you look at the extra inejo, for instance, you know, that's as John mentioned, that's three years aged in a barrel.

So the agave plant literally is in the ground for six to eight years.

traditionally wow

for us yeah yeah for us you get the smaller companies taking it out of the ground at three years

three Three years, four years, and stuff like that.

So that's where you get that bitter taste profile.

So if you look at the extra Nyeho, six to eight years, you know, Agave plan, and then three years in the barrel, that so to get a glass of that will be anywhere between nine years and 11 years.

Holy crap.

That's why you're paying for that price and the super premium demand.

And also the extra Nyeho, that's like a sipping tequila.

That's the tequila to smoke with a cigar.

It's like a Louis the 13th shot.

It takes the place of a Louis,

of a heavy, you know, quality bourbon or a whiskey.

It's just, that's our competition.

Wow.

That's super impressive.

Yeah, you guys are going all in.

Starting off with a show, eight flavors.

Usually companies just launch one at a time, right?

I mean, a lot of people said,

yeah, no, that's it.

You know, obviously, it's going to cost a lot more money to set up and drive the business forward.

And so, you know, but we've, we, you know, to set it up, we spent about just over five million dollars.

We've spent a lot more since then, obviously.

And obviously, the shows don't come cheap.

A documentary traveling around the world doesn't.

But we know our end game is obviously to build this, build it, scale it, and sell it, isn't it?

What goes into the barreling?

Like, why does it taste better when it's in there longer?

Well, the way that it works, believe it or not, is

why I got

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Via's, or Bush, said Blanco tequila so healthy because there's only three ingredients.

It's at least ours.

Tequila, volcanic mineral water, and yeast.

That's it.

And the way it comes out, when you go to the distillery, it literally

looks like it's

love to take you down to

see the process and actually see the distillery.

You grab a glass and you put it underneath and you're drinking tequila.

But the first pass is 110 proof.

So that's where we got our 110.

And what we did is then what we did is just we used an all-natural, FDA-proof color,

you know, all natural.

Yeah.

So then what happens is the difference between this and this is you take a Blanco tequila and you put it in a bourbon barrel and you age it.

I think tequila says, you know, the CRT says it's got to be a minimum of three months, right?

But we're going for eight to ten months in Artequila.

So it's sitting in a bourbon barrel aging and it takes on those flavors.

So you've got this white Blanco tequila taking on that flavor and

it becomes that repository.

Really?

Just from being in the barrel?

That's it.

Being in the barrel.

Wow.

The difference between that repo and that extra and yeho is two years.

Oh, this one's this one, yeah.

That's the coffee.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

So so this has been sitting for a minimum of three so it started out as this came that and ended up as that wow so that's you know and that's a valuable asset as well because it's aged it's like age whiskeys aged bourbons

you know age tequilas there's a value behind it there are a lot of these brands will just push the blank or shown because it's simpler easier and faster to turn the money makes sense we're in it to be completely different from everyone else stand out and you know and we are we think not just because of, you know, a great tasting product, but also I think the branding is awesome.

And there's a little story behind that, Sean, that, you know, we created Naked Diablo and we got posed here in the U.S.

by Naked Wines.

So we had to get our lawyers involved in Laguna Hills, California to fight them.

We ended up with a coexist.

And in Europe, there's

one of the, I think that the biggest wine...

One of the biggest wine companies.

Well, funny enough, Naked Wine here.

And in Europe, uh, it was uh

distillery del Diablo that actually opposed us for the word Diablo.

So, again, we got our London lawyers involved because we felt like you know, we don't want to give up the name, you know, it's a great name.

And if you look at Terra Mana, you know, the rocks, you know, I don't think it's a secret in saying this.

Initially, he wanted it to be called Mana, but someone else had the trademark and actually opposed that.

So, they had to go with the Terramana.

So, there is, you know, tequila companies out there that might have the second or third or even fourth choice name.

We got that.

We wanted to stick with that.

You know, so

got a trademarking now.

So that kind of put us back, you know, because you get opposed, you've got to go through the legal process.

But, you know, I think the name stands out.

Yeah, and part of the name, which we didn't really get to, like the naked, is because we got no additives.

Yeah.

You know, we're clean as convey.

It's tequila.

It's we're not adding anything to it that's not supposed to be added to it.

And that's a hot movement right now, the maha movement.

So you could kind of piggyback off them.

Yeah, there's a lot of uh food dyes getting banned now in the US, and as well, it should be, yeah, yeah, and there's a saying, and where we got the Diablo side because, from you know, no way, shape, or form are we promoting the devil, because you know, Diablo means devil.

Uh, we also have obviously the trademark for distille, this destuda del Diablo as well.

Um, is in the UK, people will call you, you know, cheeky devil.

That just means someone who's fun-going, boisterous, you know, always after having a good time so we kind of thought naked for the natural you know complete pure great product tequila and put the diablo to it as well and that kind of mask gotta admit it's a great name for vegas

it is it is and you and you'll see um sean in one of the episodes i think it's episode uh three yeah on tequila empire we you know simon's calls me into the boardroom saying i've got a great idea for you know the rollout of last vegas and you have these two mid models all dressed in devil's

costumes, you know, with the horns and dancing around.

And I go in, I go, No, that's not the look that we're looking for.

But it makes it a fun, interesting, you know, episode.

Yeah, so you want a classier look than that.

Yeah, exactly.

We're premium, you know, we're proud about it.

We're good Christians as well.

Oh, yeah.

And we're proud too because, you know, we have only been,

it takes a long, it takes a long time to get this in the United States.

Yeah.

And so now that we're here, you know, we're pretty proud that we have made a pretty large footprint in a short amount of time.

You know, and we've been able to do that for a couple of reasons.

One is contacts, okay, which always helps.

But two, and more importantly, is quality of the product.

The product isn't going to sell.

If people don't like the product,

they're not going to buy it no matter how much they like you or what they believe in you, whether your past history or anything like that.

If it sucks it sucks and one thing that we know is we have got the premium product on the market yeah so it's our goal right now to get

more people to know about it more people to taste it yeah because i personally i have no qualms about

anybody tasting it and knowing for a fact that they're going to come out and say and this stuff is amazing okay no it's true and i think that's one of the reasons why you invested john well of course it's also one of the reasons why i kept keep getting invited back to you know charity events and and all these things back that we're doing because it's not only it's not only that we're giving back to the community but it's also

we're bringing a premium product to a premium charity yeah yeah it's a win-win you know we're not bringing and for me sean when it all became real was when you go to a store or go to a restaurant maybe you know maybe i mentioned the ritz carlton um south beach in miami and you go and order a nickel diablo or you see your auto on the shelf, like it's in these liquor stores here in Nevada.

You go, wow, it was worth all that time, effort, money, challenges, because we've had challenges as well.

You know, you don't just create a brand and all of a sudden, you know, you fly off the shelves and you get all these orders, you know,

challenges with, you know, the John mentioned the, you know, the Blanco extra strength, the red one.

Initially, when it was getting sent in, the TTB said, whatever you're making that color go red is not legal in the United States.

Wow.

And it was actually the TTB that gave us three options that we could use to make

that blanco, if you will, red.

And that's where we came up with a natural

carmine color, wasn't it?

So it was, you know, so beautiful bottle.

It is.

Oh, so this was red at first.

No, no.

This it's red with a red label.

See, all of our labels are metallic.

So

it is 110-proof Blanco tequila just as it comes out of the distillery with a red, uh, red label.

Yes, and Sean, again, you know, obviously that's an old back label and you know for sampling and stuff.

But again, the reason we went metallic is to stand out from everyone else on the on the shelves, you know, especially in the retail stores, you know, because you've got so many tequilas to choose from.

Why would people go and pick up a naked diablo?

But people pick up,

what is this?

This is a cool looking

classy cream product.

We had to fight COVID at the beginning.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

We had,

once we were getting these bottled,

we had purchased the labels and we had to

put them on hand.

So we were getting labels put on in hand in the beginning because it was just we couldn't get everything done.

In the COVID, we wanted to get

everything achieved.

So we actually rolled out a lot of this while in the midst of COVID.

Wow.

Yeah.

Tough time to launch.

Retail was shut down.

Yeah.

It was a painful time.

Because nobody knows ultimately what the outcome was going to be.

But COVID did we, no one knew.

Yes, I thought it would last a long time.

I think we all did, right?

Yeah, it was rough out in Vegas.

Oh man, the casinos here to put glass windows in between you.

You had to wear a mask when you're playing poker.

Crazy.

Yeah, it was nuts.

I'm glad we're past that.

Yeah.

Hopefully that doesn't happen again.

Well, where can people find these?

You guys sell them online too, or just in stores?

We do online.

So we're Reserve Bar.

We're also with Bevstack.

And Bevstack gives us the capability in 40 states.

Nice.

Sure.

Obviously, here in here in Nevada, we're in Lee's liquor stores.

Brilliant.

We're in a number of hotels and bars and restaurants here in Nevada.

We've just got approved for the Caesars National Beverage Programme.

Nice.

Which means literally in all their facilities all over the UK, sorry, the US.

And then, you know, we're in a lot of the Ritz-Carltons.

A couple of friends of mine own some of the Ritz-Carltons in Florida, New York Nomad, and places like that.

So we're in the places where we really want to be, Sean.

But I have to give a shout out to Nevada Beverage and Ricky, our manager here, because he's one of the few distributors, if you will, who's really got behind the brand, believes in the brand, and really pushes it out.

Sadly, you know, a few years ago when we started the tequila brand, we've kind of heard about how it works here in the US.

You get a distributor.

The distributor is meant to distribute into all the outlets or the sales funnels, if you will.

So, you go, hang on a minute.

You sign up with one distributor.

They might have 80,000 accounts in one state.

You put your feet up, sit back, and discount the money.

That's not the case.

Once a day, the distributor was really pushing your brand.

Now they just literally just delivery companies, aren't they?

They expect you to do all the marketing, do all the promotion, and they just make their margin.

And that's why the big ones, the big ones want exclusivity all across the whole country.

And sometimes, and I don't want to go say anybody particular, but they'll take a brand and not do anything with it.

just because it's going to interfere with one of the brands that they've already got.

You have to really be John.

That's a great point.

They can either make or break you.

Some of the celebrity brands in the tequila space that they had to give equity up for them to get the distributor they wanted to go with.

Wow.

So it's not just literally, I'm an A-list and I get everything handied on a plate.

No, they have had to give equity.

Yeah, it sounds like a conflict, right there.

No, and like that's a great point that John said.

You know, if there's a tequila brand or a vodka or that you may compete with if you're in the vodka space or you're in the whiskey whatever they're actually slowball you yeah i i had i was i was about to pull the trigger on a distributor in florida um

and just paused everything you can mention the name yeah no i just i paused everything just because um

I'd mentioned the name because

you never know.

It always comes back.

Things come back.

You never know.

It's in the TV show anyway.

We filmed it.

it.

I signed it.

But we had a distributor that

we let go just because of the reason being is that

you need people.

When you're a small brand like this, you need people to get behind you.

I'd rather do it myself than give it to a distributor.

They take 35% margin.

Jeez.

And all they do is they drive it in a truck to your customer.

For 35%?

Correct.

Sign me up.

I'll do that.

It's more than the producer.

Probably 35%.

That's the crazy thing.

And that's it.

they don't give them the margin, they don't want it.

Wow.

But at that point, too,

just because you give them the margin doesn't mean it's going to fly off the shelf.

Yeah, you still have to sell it off the shelf.

And if they're not going to help you, you have to, you know,

you're on your own.

Wow.

No, and that's another reason why we're grateful to be here, Sean, because the reach that you have, the credibility, the name,

just being here and having the ability to speak for

30 minutes about our brand and a little bit about ourselves, We're very grateful.

I know I mentioned it before.

Oh, thanks for coming.

Appreciate it.

Interesting to learn more about the space and what's going on behind the scenes.

It was really cool.

Anything else you guys want to close off with?

The tequila space is just literally gone crazy, isn't it?

Yeah.

It's the only spirit that is growing.

Everything else is contracting.

Really?

Yep.

Every single spirit is contracting.

Gavi spirits are the only thing that's growing right now.

It's got to be because of health, I'd imagine.

People are more health conscious.

And just like I said,

there's 90% of the world that is just getting you know just getting their taste of the killer right now it's unbanked an unbanked population that has not yet tried it but Sean another thing that John and I and some of the partners kind of wanted to do is you know give us that edge or that leverage when we do go and talk to distributors so you know we do have a low calorie healthy you know beer called skinny liger we have a scotch whiskey called rare r-a-e-r which is an award-winning whiskey nice we have a 6100 Vodka, which is an award, again, award-winning.

And we also have a healthy drink as well.

So, you know, when we go and talk to distributors, we can say, look, we don't just have a tequila, we have a vodka, we have a whiskey, we have a beer, we have a, you know, low-calorie, like I said, low-calorie beer.

So, you know,

again, because we like to be different from everyone else.

And that's the reason why, if you think about it, there is not one other brand on the planet that has went down the the route that we have and been disruptive in terms of creating a documentary like i said we're now on amazon prime going on um apple next month but also having a uh you know a tv show a reality tv show and we know how big then things can go oh huge and that's called tequila empire so you know it says what it is um and no one else has done it so we're the first one we're excited by that and we believe that it will reach millions and millions of people and we will be the next well no tequila brand.

We're opening up the curtains on the tequila empire.

Yeah, yeah, we'll link the show below.

We'll link the website and everything that you're coming on, guys.

Thanks for having us.

Thank you.

Yeah, check it out, guys.

I'll see you next time.