A Tip From A Top Brand? Quality & Convenience Are Essential.

0:10Hello friends, I'm Ray Latif and you're tuned into Taste Radio, the leading podcast for entrepreneurs and innovators in the food and beverage industry. In this episode, we sit down with Neil Cohen and Yoni Reisman, co-founders of the trailblazing ready-to-drink cocktail brand, Tip Top Cocktails. Convenience and quality don't always go hand-in-hand, but Tip Top Cocktails is changing that perception one perfectly crafted drink at a time. Founded in 2019, Tip Top is an Atlanta-based brand known for its spirit-forward, bar-quality offerings. Childhood friends Yoni Reisman and Neil Cohen launched the company with a simple mission.

0:55To make great cocktails more accessible, no bartender required. Tip Top's lineup includes time-honored classics like the old-fashioned Negroni and Margarita, as well as modern favorites such as the Paper Plain, Penicillin, and Naked and Famous. Each cocktail is precisely mixed and served in a sleek 100-milliliter lowball-style can. Now available in over 25 U.S. states and Washington, D.C., tip-top products are carried by national retailers such as Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, Gelson's Markets, and Total Wine & More. The brand has earned praise from the New York Times, Food & Wine, and others, and to date hasn't taken a dime of institutional funding.

1:39In the following interview, Yoni and Neil share how an idea sparked on the music festival circuit evolved into a fast-growing brand with national reach. Their journey is a case study in bootstrapping, brand discipline, and building loyalty through an unwavering commitment to quality and customer experience.

2:03Hey folks, it's Ray with Taste Radio. Right now, I am supremely honored to be sitting down with Neil Cohen and Yoni Reisman, who are the co-founders of Tip Top Cocktails. Neil, it's great to see you. Yeah, great to see you, too. Thanks for having us, Ray. Yoni, I think this is the first time we've met. Is this correct? It is, indeed. It's nice to finally meet you after listening to your voice for all these years. I appreciate you listening. Our marketing team appreciates you listening. And I hope you've gotten some good tidbits out of our podcast that have helped you scale. Okay, good. Good to hear.

2:32You know, I've been fans of Tip Top for a long time. We've talked about the brand on our podcast for, I don't know, years now. And I think when you guys came out, it felt to me like this was the shift. This was the game changer that the industry needed because it solved a problem. And we talked about this before we hopped in the mics. people have been looking for ways to create a convenient, affordable, and easy option to have cocktails consumed at home. I assume this is basically how the company started. Neil, was this just something that you needed in your life, and Yoni, you needed in your life, and you said, let's make this happen?

3:18Yeah, I mean, the spark really happened with Yoni in the festival industry. Yeah. Working in music festivals, we always wanted to serve really good cocktails. And that's sort of where the idea came from. It was hard to do. I mean, for the festival, we would batch them in advance, put them in kegs. But we didn't have to worry about shelf stability or anything like that because the festival was over in three days. What kind of cocktails were you making? Honestly, it was probably like vodka lemonades. Okay. So they weren't super high end, but it's what the people wanted in that environment. So that was really the spark.

3:53After leaving, you know, both Neil and I were in the music festival game. After leaving the festival game, we thought about what to do next. And we've always loved cocktails. I lived in New York going to bars like Milk and Honey and Little Branch and just had some sort of mind-blowing cocktails there. And the combo of that and I guess this idea after the festival world is what sparked Tip Top. And so we sought out some help, some people who really know what they're doing. This guy, Miles McQuarrie, in Atlanta at the Kimball House, is a recipe developer. And he helped us develop our first three, which was the old-fashioned Manhattan and Negroni.

4:37What was the initial reaction that you heard? I think we were looking across the shelf at what the category offered. This, remember, is 2017, 2018. There were some brands at the market, but not the tidal wave that we've seen since then. And what we saw is there wasn't any brand that really spoke to people who spent time in great cocktail bars. And thus, people looked at the category if they were discerning consumers of cocktails and said, there's nothing there for me. And that's precisely why we started with old-fashioned Manhattan and Negroni in order to really send a signal to those people. Hey, this is a brand that's making Negronis in the can.

5:17This is a brand that's making the trifecta of bitter, stirred, classic cocktails. And really, we were trying to appeal to that crowd. We also knew that that would be shelf-stable and not coming from the industry. We felt safer about starting with those three cocktails. And soon as we learned more, we felt more confident going out and expanding to a margarita and a bee's knees, juice-based cocktails. But I think had we started with a margarita, people would have said, I've had a margarita in a can. I know what that experience is, and no thank you. But having a great old-fashioned Manhattan or Negroni on a can, we're able to really convince a lot of people that this was worth revisiting the category.

6:02I mean, I think that's brilliant because when I started to see cocktails in a can, you know, there's a brand out there that we all know that has sold for quite a bit of money. And it was a 12-ounce wide can. When you were reaching out to your initial retailers, your initial customers, how did you get people to buy into your vision? It's taste. The very common reaction when people first taste Tip Top is, oh, it's a real cocktail. And so that really is almost everything. I mean, of course, we got to make sure that the brand looks the part. So we went and we looked at old cocktail recipe books and, you know, kind of played with some like 1960s jazz vinyl kind of looking design and put that there so that it really, you know, integrated that into the visuals of the brand so that those cues really indicated that this is more sophisticated.

6:57I mean, proper cocktails, Yoni, you know, that's a piece that you put into the name. Yeah, that's right. And we learned pretty quickly the term liquid ellipse. That's something people repeat quite often in this industry, and for good reason, especially if you are something a little different. People can come up to your booth at some tasting event and say, oh, okay, an old-fashioned can. That's my favorite part, personally. I love people walking up real skeptical and then watching their eyes as they take the first sip. And as Neil said, they're like, oh, oh, this is a real cocktail. That's the best part.

7:30So Liquid to Lips is really it, and that's kind of the main focus. Miles McQuarrie, our recipe developer, we, at least for me, I knew that that would help our story and credibility. In reality, it really shaped the product in a way that I think continues to be the differentiator for us. Because when we start a cocktail, he crafts his gold standard of what that classic should taste like off of his bar at Kimball House in Decatur in Atlanta. and we'll taste that. We'll say, okay, that's right. That's what we're aiming for. And then as we work with beverage companies to scale that recipe, we're going back and we're tasting that alongside his original gold standard.

8:16And he has the terminology. He has the capability. You could say back to one of those companies, hey, just make this old fashioned better. But he can actually say, okay, we need to adjust the acid. We need to adjust the sugar. We need to adjust this botanical element. in order to get it really right. And that's been really meaningful. But additionally, the community around the Kimball House and so many bartenders and restaurants that have come out of that in the Southeast, we felt in the first couple of months that there was a big rallying around the brand due to that affiliation. And I think that's continued to really fuel a lot of our growth.

8:56Part of our story is that we launched in September 2019, which was only a few months before everything shut down in 2020. And at the time, the more reputable food publications had written off the category and didn't really want to cover it. But all of a sudden, we get an email to our email account from Robert Simonson of the New York Times saying, it's April 2020, we're going out and we're starting to cover RTD as the New York Times. We never thought we'd do ready to drink, but we want to know how the change in consumer habits has impacted a growing RTD brand. And we were only available in Georgia at the time, yet I think he was looking across the offerings and the category and trying to find one that would really be able to connect to that more sophisticated audience.

9:48So it actually helped really elevate our brand in that moment. Well, I would say so because the New York Times has been one of your biggest cheerleaders. Their wire cutter unit, which reviews categories and products within those categories, has consistently rated Tip Top as the best in the RTD category. And in a pretty lay down the gauntlet kind of way. Like if you want a really great cocktail, Tip Top is the brand. There are other great brands in this category. Absolutely. And some good things that I think they're happening to create more momentum and, you know, the old saying, rising tide lifts all boats, et cetera, et cetera.

10:28But one of the things I think Tip Top has done really, really well is make it clear that sophistication can be convenient, right? That just even in the name, Tip Top, you think, okay, well, I'm expecting to get something great and here it is. But how do you sell that? How do you sell sophisticated convenience, Yoni? Yeah, I mean, we talk about the concept of highbrow, lowbrow all the time. Highbrow in that we want to make the best cocktail we absolutely can. But lowbrow in that, like, we're not taking ourselves too seriously. It's in a can. Relax. Pour it over ice. Enjoy it. Make sure you pour it over ice.

11:08Yeah, I mean, if you're in a pinch. Yes, please. If you're in a pinch, like, you can drink it out of the can. But it has been formulated for some extra dilution. and so over ice will certainly be better. But yeah, that's something we talk about often, highbrow, lowbrow, because cocktails can be a little intimidating, which is partly why we put sort of the simple list of ingredients on the back of the can too. If you don't know what a Manhattan is, you don't have to feel like, that's a dumb question I don't want to ask. You just look. So there's like an education piece there too.

11:45The cocktails that you make in particular are classic and I think also on trend. You have a paper plane right next to you, Neil, and certainly the paper plane has been one of the most popular cocktails of the last few years. Your innovation strategy, new product development, how do you go about determining what people want and what people may want the next year? Well, first off, the can, right? 3.4 ounces. I think that in and of itself has given us some parameters to work with. The beauty of this can is that we are doing true-to-form recipes. These are loyal to the proportions that these cocktails have taken on since their inception.

12:32And it's not going to be carbonated in this can either. So immediately we've said, okay, any cocktail that we do has to fit into this size and format. We've also stuck to classic cocktails. So we are looking at the lists of the most frequently ordered classic cocktails. Last year in the innovation process, we released some modern classic cocktails, cocktails that have been invented in the last 20 years that you can still find on a hotel bar menu in Orlando or, you know, outside of the country, like a Naked and Famous, Paper Plain, Penicillin. And so that was really a decision that we made that we wanted to include modern classics in the portfolio.

13:18And as part of that, reach out to the bartenders behind those classics as they're still active out there. Miles was really intent on us doing that because these are people that he's looked up to. And so having Sam Ross, the originator of the penicillin and paper plane, be a part of the process of putting out those two cocktails, having Joaquin Simo be a part of the Naked and Famous was really vital to us. It's also education. I mean, as you were saying, Yoni, we want this to be about approachability to cocktails. So really teaching people where did these come from? What was the inspiration? That's part of it, too.

13:59introducing words like shaken and stirred onto the can so that people know, hey, I like a shaken cocktail. I like that aspect of it. So, yeah, I mean, as far as innovation strategy, though, I mean, you've driven a lot of that, Yoni. Yeah, I mean, quite honestly, I would say it's been more art than science. Yeah, we do look at lists of popular cocktails, but it's also what do we like and what would be really difficult to make at home, right? Like juicing ginger at home, you can do that, but it's quite the task. I've done it before. I don't particularly want to do it again. I don't even think people know that you juice ginger, which is kind of, I mean, like, how else would you get to juice some ginger?

14:42But I guess, yeah. That's right. You're not going to do that at home. That's exactly right. So, like, cocktails that you may want to have, but you're just not going to make for yourself at home. That's also a thought. Don't underestimate how much people appreciate convenience, for sure. That's been part of the process. But as far as education goes, you're making me think of when we released the Jungle Bird. Yeah. You know, like we know that's not a cocktail most people know. That one wasn't really on a list. That was one we just kind of, quite honestly, looking in the Reddit cocktail community, we just kept seeing pop up.

15:15It was a cocktail we personally loved. It feels really industry, like Jungle Bird. Yeah, that's exactly right. It's got a super fun name. I mean, even Bee's Knees, like a big reason we chose Bee's Knees, besides that it's a delicious cocktail, is that it's a really catchy, fun name. And like, that's important. And quite honestly, the reason we're no longer making the Boulevardier is because I don't think people know how to say that word. And that's been a learning, too. It's approachability. It's the same thing. I think in your case, I think in the case of Tip Top and the RTD category, and in particular the size can that you offer and others offer, it's really, really important to get that in front of people's eyes.

15:57Anytime I do that, anytime I bring a Tip Top to a party or show my family or show friends, they're like, what is this? This is incredible. I love this. It's so cute. I get that from a lot of people. It's so cute. I get that from the TSA agents who stop me when I have a tip top in my bag. And they're like, okay, what the heck is going on here? That is a good note, actually. We should remind people when the TSA agents stop you, remind them that it's 100 milliliters. You're allowed to take it through. You are allowed to take it through. You are allowed. Don't let them take it away. What's really great is that they're so impressed by what it is.

16:34Yeah. They're like, keep on moving. They'll call over other TSA agents. Have you seen this? Yeah. Yes, exactly. Like I'm trying to make a flight. No, exactly. Exactly. And I want to give them a can sometimes. I'm like, hey, you should try this. But then I'm going to consider bribing the T. I don't want to get involved in that. But anyway, so I feel like just getting your product in front of people, like you did just now, Neil, with the bartender here at Standard. Standard Wormwood, that is. I'm sure he looked at it and I was like, whoa, this is cool. What is this? This is awesome. It's difficult, though, because you've got to pick your spots.

17:02So, A, how do you think about getting just in general more awareness for the brand and B, doing it in a way that doesn't break the bank, that makes sense for your retail strategy as a whole. I don't know that we fully appreciated this when we started, but I think one of the real sort of secret sauce things for us is the dispenser that we created to sit at the counter. Yes. And whenever we're opening a new account, I mean, that's number one priority is to get that on the counter, have that disruptive moment where someone's going through their buying process and they see this tiny can right there.

17:42It's in a cute dispenser. They want to pull it out and interact with that dispenser. And then they've got it in their hands. It's kind of hard to pass up at that point. They just put it down and they're able to purchase that for, you know, five, six bucks they get to try our product. It's a five-hour of cocktails, really, you know. And so that has really been meaningful. Now, as we get into more chains, it's really more about the four-pack and the volume that that can do on the shelf. But that ability to just trial a single can has worked wonders for us. As far as accounts that we target, I mean, really in-town, cocktail-educated audiences.

18:26Like New York City. We're here in New York, right? We started in Atlanta. You start to get out to the suburbs of Atlanta where there's not a lot of great cocktail bars and education happening, it's harder to sell a Negroni. Right. Here in New York City where, you know, every other block that you're on is a great cocktail bar, people understand it and they see our cocktails, they see the format, and they just get it. Right. So getting into a lot of those independents that are kind of early adopter, trendsetter type of accounts was really important for us to start with. Now as we're scaling, that's beginning to even out a little bit more with chains.

19:08But the independent presence for us has been really important. On premise, though, Yoni mentioned that this started kind of in the music festival world. It really hasn't been a huge focus for us. We do great in hotels for like grab-and-go service, satellite bars, fast casual. But as you stated before, there's been statistics that have come out, some data around RTD, and 75, 80 % of RTDs are being consumed at home, not on the go. And that's really where we understand our audience to be more so, is crack this can, pour it over ice, and have yourself a little affordable luxury at home. Quick break.

19:49If this episode has you thinking about what's next in food and beverage, explore BevNet and Nosh Insider, our subscription platform with deeper insights from the BevNet team. Visit tasteradio.com slash insider to learn more.

20:04From a production standpoint, it's really important to make sure that you're creating products in a consistent level, consistent way. and you've talked about working with co-packers and beverage formulators and making sure that these are the products that you tried when you were sampling them and that these are the products that your customers are going to get. Has there ever been a moment where you tried something that wasn't up to par and how did you talk to your team, your production team about getting it right? Oh, yeah, for sure. We taste every batch that goes through. We taste with miles still till this day.

20:43And there's definitely been a few where we're like, this is trash. Trash? Yeah, meaning not good enough. Yeah. Not good enough to get into the market. In your eyes, even if it's 98%, it's still not so good. Well, yeah, 98%, what's that mean exactly? But the point is we very much understand that most people have never heard of Tip Top, right? And every day, hopefully, someone's walking into a liquor store. They see the cool dispenser. They see the cute little can. And they're like, I'll give that a go. And if they try it and it's gross, that's it. Yeah. In their mind, tip-top is gross. Why would they ever try it again?

21:19We don't necessarily deserve a second chance. So it's pretty important that we get it as close to 100 % as we can. So, yeah, for sure. We've definitely had to trash some batches. And we continue to work on the recipes, on the formulations. I mean, we don't rest on our laurels. The margarita, I think we've, like, three different times we've updated that formulation, and it really has made a huge difference. It's the highest-rated margarita on the market by wine enthusiasts at a 95 score. Yeah, that is a good point. You know, it got a double gold at San Francisco. And before that, I mean, it got a silver, you know, or whatever.

21:55But we're fine-tuning. We're not just resting and saying, oh, that's done. send it. And there's some risk in that because you do have consumers who've gotten used to it a certain way. But we're never going to reformulate and put that out there unless it's at least as good or significantly better than what we've had prior. Neil, you mentioned the hospitality industry earlier and that what you do benefits hospitality hospitality in general because you're introducing more consumers to better cocktails but does the hospitality industry love you guys I would think it's kind of a love-hate relationship in some ways and I don't mean hate but like a love less like kind of relationship it's a good question when we've been at tails or when we're here at BCB which is very industry I'd say the brand resonates more strongly with this audience than any other.

22:53Interesting. Because we put a jungle bird in a can. Yeah. We work with Sam Ross and Joaquin to put their modern classics in the can. I think they, for the most part, respect that when we do get pushback, well, one, we don't belong in these people's bars. So we're not here with a stand trying to convince beverage buyers of bars to bring us in. We don't belong at a bar where they're making handcrafted cocktails. And we know our place. I would say, I think the industry knows we're not intending to replace bartenders, right? Right. When you can, you should go to a wonderful cocktail bar and have a wonderful cocktail.

23:31You're not going to rename TipTap as AI Cocktails? Nope. Maybe that might help with investors one day. I don't know. Tech investors, maybe. I've heard that's a good trick. But if you're going, we talked about this earlier, but if you are going on a camping trip, right? Like you're not going to bring three bottles to make a Negroni. You're just not going to do it. So there's a time and place for tip top. Or even if you're going to like going out of town or staying at an Airbnb, you know, it's like have a tip top if there's no good cocktail bar around. So I think most people get that that's what we're here for versus sort of replacing the cocktail bar experience?

24:10When we get pushback from bartenders, oftentimes I find it's a younger bartender who still has something to prove where they're like, I don't need this pre-made cocktail. No, thank you. The ones who are really established and super confident that they know what they're doing and they, you know, they don't feel threatened by it. Yeah. They're like, yeah, what you're doing is different than what we're doing. And it can be a means of education and respect. Like nitpicking a canned cocktail when overall, when you drink it, it drinks like the real cocktail. Yeah. That's not recognizing that each of them have their own lane.

24:49And I think that's the point, right? There's a place in time for all this. And I know investors are looking at RTD cocktail brands with a little bit more interest and saying, hey, we want to get involved in this space. And I know some brands have taken some money. strategic money and otherwise. But you guys at this point, to this point, have avoided doing that. Why? I mean, for a couple reasons, I suppose we're in a lucky enough position to where we had a group of family and friends that could help get us to this point. But also, quite honestly, we have reached out to a number of strategic investors and we could never come to terms on anything.

25:32So it wasn't that they weren't interested. It was that the terms that you wanted were not met. Sure. I mean, that's implied. I don't even know that we particularly got that far. Well, if they want half your company. That's exactly right. Yeah. That's exactly right. So there is a price for everything, really. But yeah, we've avoided raising from any institutional investors to date. And that may be something we look to do in the future as we continue to grow. turns out building a brand takes a lot of time and requires a lot of capital. And so... I'm sorry. The way you said that, you're like, it turns out...

26:14Yeah. Sorry. Little known fact. Well, I mean, it was one thing to say, it's a whole other thing to be in it. I mean, we've lived this for seven years now. Look, I mean, we talk about this on Taste Radio all the time, and people who are brand new to the industry, and they're like, hey, I'm going to be the next Vitamin Water, or Vitamin Water. like I'm now dating myself. I'm going to be the next poppy. You know, that's a much more current example. But chances are, you're not even going to come close. I don't want to say that, you know, but it's really, really, really hard to scale. It's really hard to scale with that money.