Scaling Your Tribe. The Komos Way.

27:16Yes, I am in very poor health, folks. Yes. He smokes tobacco out of the chocolate bunny bun. All right. it's time now for everyone's favorite part of an episode of Taste Radio what's new and notable the end I feel like we're on a game show right now sorry okay John what do you got but alas we have more what do you got there these are some El Nacho premium tortilla chips I don't want to you know get anyone offended here local brand here yeah local brand they might have appeared in our office yes they have new snack size bags i think the bags are snack size bags but they have a five ounces 2.7 ounces i was way off chips don't weigh a lot right no they don't yeah nice and light they have a new flavor miss mango i love that one really good i don't think i've ever had like a kind of tropical flavor it's like hot honey mango and lime and i feel like the mango isn't it's not so fruity it's subtle i think the the hot honey and the lime kind of are the stars of the show.

28:23And then this one called El Diablo, just chili and lime. Only feedback on this, when you call it Diablo, I feel like it's supposed to burn your face off, but it's a pleasant spice. Not a painful spice. I like that one because it matches my hat. The Red Devils of Manchester United. Oh, yeah. Oh, there you go. I'm seeing an expensive brand collaboration there. Oh, very expensive. They're not going to do anything less than six, seven million dollars. So, yeah. El Nacho. I mean, they're going to sell a lot of a tortilla chip. So I think they could do it. They're delicious. Really good. Yeah. Jackie, what do you got over there?

28:55Aside from your killer, is that a t-shirt or is that a sweatshirt? It's a sweatshirt. That's really cool. It's Cafe du Monde. You bought a lot of swag there. I feel like that's not the first piece of swag we've seen. I think I did. I just love the beignets and I love New Orleans. You're like, I'll take one of everything. I wear this all the time. You know Jackie's a basketball player because the way she pulled it up was from the shoulders. And like a jersey. like a number, right? Yeah, exactly. Nicely done. Throwback, throwback. Yeah, I have something that's not related to beignets, but dude, wow.

29:30This is the name of the Bloody Mary mix that I have in my hands. And I just love the name. I just have been saying it all morning to Ryan, our production manager. I'm like, dude, wow. But yeah, it looks pretty good. They also suggest that you could use it with tequila or gin. So on the tequila train, I've never tried a Bloody Mary with tequila, but I'm going to have to try it now. It's healthier, so. Yeah, exactly. Or I might use it for micheladas too. Okay. Is that like a Bloody Maria or something? I think you're right. I think it is, yeah. I don't really like either of them. Bloody Mary, you know what it is.

30:07Bloody Maria sounds. Like Maria had a tough day.

30:14uh no comment else there jackie yes something to bring us zen and stress relief i have yes love zen joy and i have i believe they have multiple skews but i have two of them in my hands they have the passion fruit green tea and honey green tea they say right on the front of pack stress relief drink so they're really trying to give you these adaptogens to make you relax which includes L-theanine, ashwagandha, and lemon balm. Pretty simple ingredients. And it's just a nice sweetened green tea. Yeah, we were so lucky to have Dan Osborne, who's the co-founder and chief operating officer of Zen Joy, join us at last week's Taste Radio NYC meetup.

31:00A lot of people got to try his product. We're really enjoying it. Dan is also gonna join us in a future episode of Elevator Talk. And folks, if you recall, Elevator Talk is a bimonthly video series that profiles early stage and disruptive brands from across the food and beverage industry. If you're interested in signing up, head to tasteradio.com slash Elevator Talk. We'd love to have you on the show. We'd love to highlight what you're doing and feature you to the food and beverage community that we talk to you on a regular basis. I also want to point out last week's recording of Elevator Talk was a really special one because we recorded on Wednesday the 17th, is that right?

31:41No, Wednesday the 16th, excuse me. Do you know what happens in San Diego on Wednesday the 16th of 2025? Earthquake. An earthquake. Earthquake. And the earthquake happened during the episode of Elevator Talk. And one of our guests who was in LA felt it. He was a little shaken. You know who I didn't hear from though? Ryan, Ryan Galang, who is our co-producer, video editor for BevNet. and co-producer for Elevator Talk. And no slack, no nothing. This guy was such a pro. He's what a pro, yeah. Everything is shaking around him. He's just like completely focused on this episode. I mean, or the shelf full of Mountain Dew that's at the San Diego office could have fallen on him.

32:19It could have, but he doesn't drink Mountain Dew. But yeah, no, shout out Ryan Galang. Amazing. True pro, absolutely. What do you got by your side, Melissa? I brought a couple of treats. the first of which is White Leaf Provisions Mango and Coconut Applesauce. It's unsweetened. I actually got this at Expo West. And my younger son, who's 10, had a soccer game. And so he wanted to eat something, but nothing too heavy. So I gave him one of these. He was so into it. He said, these are so good. Can you please order more of these? And they're not used to like eating things out of pouches. I tried some.

32:54It's incredibly tasty. White Leaf Provisions is such a cool brand. It was started by two parents when they had their first kid who had allergic reactions to all of the baby food that they found in the market. So it's glyphosate free, non-GMO, organic. It's just a really tasty product. And I will be ordering a bunch. Yeah. They're local, I believe. And they joined us for an episode of Elevator Talk. I want to say like two or three years ago. Oh, cool. Yeah. Yeah. I think they make such a great product. And then this, which I assume is new, is the Super Coffee Protein Plus. I found this in our beverage fridge, of course.

33:30And I'm not usually a huge fan of these. And I actually didn't love Super Coffee's original Super Coffee. But there's something about this that I think is really tasty. It kind of hits that like if you're having a sweet tooth moment, you want something a little bit sweet. It has the same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee. and they use monk fruit, which, I mean, you can tell it's not sugar, but it also only has three grams of net carbs or whatever, and one gram of sugar. But I thought they did a really good job with this. The thing that really stands out for me more than the protein plus is the 25 grams of protein, which is center, smack center in the middle of the bottle.

34:08But the one gram of sugar too, if I miss lunch or if I'm just looking for a pick me up, I don't want to be drinking 12, 16 ounces of sugar. And that seems like a really good alternative to, I don't know, whatever you might have. Otherwise, half a sandwich or some soup or what have you. Just on the go. That seems like a really good option. Yeah, before you do a workout. I like to drink some of it and then shake it and it gets all foamy. Nice. You make your own little latte. It's a mocha latte flavor, but you actually Melissa-ize it. Right. Like La Cologne has their... Draft lattes. Yeah, it's like you can make your own draft latte.

34:43Yeah, nice. Very cool. Quick break. If 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. All right, it's time for our featured interview for this episode. As I mentioned earlier, we're joined by Ria Soler, who is the Director of Education and Global Advocacy at Tequila Comos, an ultra-premium tequila brand that's redefining expectations with its unique aging process in wine barrels. I caught up with Ria at the Nassau Paradise Island Wine and Food Festival last month in the Bahamas.

35:24Our conversation dove into how Comos brings a winemaker's finesse to the world of agave spirits, blending traditional tequila craftsmanship with a sophisticated global outlook. Ria talks about how the brand has cultivated a loyal following through organic growth, word-of-mouth buzz, and smart strategic partnerships without leaning on celebrity endorsements or splashy marketing campaigns, and how Comos has focused on thoughtful distribution and authenticity to stand out in an increasingly crowded market.

35:58Hey folks, it's Ray with Taste Radio. Right now, I am honored to be sitting down with Rhea Soler, who is the Director of Education and Global Advocacy for Tequila Comos. Rhea, great to see you. I am thrilled to be here with you in the beautiful Bahamas. Yeah, you look so relaxed. I don't know if that's for me or just being here at the Atlantis. To be fair, I got in on Monday. So I've been here for a couple of days. So it's definitely sunk in. Yeah, the Bahamas. Very nice. I wish I could have been here on Monday. I got here yesterday. Are you going to stay through the whole week? Well, up until the weekend.

36:28Yeah. So I'll be here for most of the events. I think I'm missing the brunch on Sunday, which I heard is really cool. Yeah, it looks amazing. Well, if you don't get on the water slide, you're doing yourself a disservice. I have to get on the water slide. You have to get on the water slide. I'm not really a water slide kind of guy, but is it big? It's huge. And it goes through a shark tank. And yeah, it's completely exposed to the elements on a Mayan temple. It's like insanity. Wow. I'm saying that, but I haven't done it. Okay. But you should. I'm considering it now. I'm worried about lines. I'm not really a line guy.

36:59I totally agree with you, which is why I think I'm going to go at 9 a.m. tomorrow. Okay. As soon as it opens. Good call. I'll meet you there. You may see me there, actually. I don't have any interviews tomorrow morning, but I was just saying we're here in our little media and influencer space that they've given us. And it's quite empty, even though there's some background noise. That's just the music playing here at the Atlantis. And it is a gorgeous day outside. And I'm sure everyone's enjoying the pool, water, slide and beach right now. Yeah, everybody but you is outside. And you as well. But that's because I wanted to speak with you.

37:31So as soon as we're done talking, I'm going to go back outside. Well done. Well done. That's why I said I was honored, because you could be doing something else with your time right now. But you did bring me some tequila, which I am also extremely grateful for. And we have a couple glasses here. That's right. Wine glasses. Some serious pours, by the way. What do we have here? They are friendly. Yes, friendly pours at 11 a.m. So this is two expressions of tequila comos that are here at the Atlantis, which is great. They are our Reposado Rosa and our first SKU, our first baby, the Añejo Cristalino.

38:02So these are both aged in wine barrels, which is why I love to serve them in wine glasses. We aerate the tequilas before they go into bottle, which actually blows off a lot of the ethanol and heat. So you're able to nose these like a wine and not get that kind of blowback of, you know, typically you don't want to do that. No, typically you do not. You do not. But aged in wine barrels and with that aeration, they're really nice and soft. They're meant exactly for where we're at right now. They're meant to be drunk in beautiful places with sunshine. Consumed. Consumed. Yes, absolutely. Consumed responsibly even.

38:39Sipped responsibly. I would like to sip mine right now. It is beautiful. I have the Rosa. You do. And it almost looks like an orange wine. That's the color. It's very light. And there are hints of pink and orange and maybe purple, maybe a little bit of violet. Yeah. It's that beautiful kind of salmon color that you'd find in like a Provence La Rosé or an orange wine, as you say. And it's completely natural. It comes from red wine grape skins. We don't do any artificial coloring agents. So from batch to batch on the Rosa, the color actually changes. Oh, wow. Yeah. Just like a vintage of wine would.

39:13Cheers, by the way.

39:17That is beautiful. Yeah. It's still good. That's what I say when I sip it. Don't worry. It's still good. Yeah. Two months in red wine barrels, the Rosa that you're having. So Cabernet, Merlot, but you You know, things as far flung as Morvedra, Cap Franc. We're really trying to blend in a lot of complexity, a little bit of tannin from those red wine barrels, but some of that dark fruit, dark chocolate characteristic that you're going to get with fresh, fresh, fresh. Hopefully you taste that fresh agave as well because only two months in those barrels. I got to make a confession. I just got into tequila.

39:49So, yeah, I was never a big tequila drinker. Okay. And I have a good friend who has been on my case and saying, Ray, Ray, you got to try tequila. You got to educate yourself about tequila and really make sure that you're tasting as much as you can. Because there's a lot of tequila out there. And over the past, I'd say, five years, there's been an explosion of tequila brands that have come to market. And I have come to really appreciate tequila in a way that I never thought I would. The more I drink tequila neat and the more varieties I try and the more I immerse myself in the backgrounds of how they were made.

40:29It's just such a beautiful story. And it's a beautiful expression of a plant. And as the director of education and advocacy for Tequila Comos, I imagine that's what you talk about often, pretty much all the time. But let's back up for a second, because when I see the name of the brand, I immediately think, is it Greek? Sure. Yeah. So talk about the origins of Tequila Comos and how it came to market. Yeah. So first of all, welcome to the party. I am thoroughly enjoying this party, by the way. Yeah, exactly. Tequila is such a special category. And I think for so many people, there was a moment, be it early days in college or mid-20s or what have you, where maybe you went out and had a party night and you drank bad tequila.

41:13You had shots, you did limes and salts, and you were turned off of tequila as a category because you had not very good tequila, right? And tequila is, in the way of wine, a really incredible agricultural product that expresses terroir in a specific way that a lot of other spirits do not. And when it's handled with care, when the base product, the agaves are grown correctly and then put into beautiful barrels as we do, you get something really, really special. And I think it takes a minute to convince people to come back to tequila. But when you're in here, you don't leave. Komos. How did we get here?

41:52Komos is a Greek name. As a matter of fact, Komos was the cup bearer to the god Dionysus. Dionysus being the god of wine and revelry. And Komos, we age in wine barrels. So we have that kind of Mediterranean winemaking influence. hence the name Komos. It actually means in ancient Greek to throw a party, to revel. Okay. Well, it all makes sense now. Yeah. We don't take ourselves too seriously. I'm sure you can tell I don't take myself too seriously. It's tequila. We should be having fun. Sure. And so that's how the name came about. And then of course, the brand itself is the brain baby of Richard Betts, who is a master sommelier, winemaker.

42:34He made a straw tequila, sombra mezcal before this, you know, and speaking to the audience that we are, when you have that proven track record of brands that are successful enough that they sell, right, and you continue to kind of innovate, you have the market behind you to support something new. So I don't think just anybody could have come out and said, hey, let's age tequila and wine barrels and see what happens. But when you have somebody who's got a proven track record of creating innovative brands and selling them, right? And says, I want to do this special product and project. You know, investors say yes.

43:10Distilleries say yes. Winemakers that he has relationships with say yes, you can have these beautiful barrels. And so that's how we got here. Now, correct me if I'm wrong. How much of your portfolio is Asian wine barrels? Is it all the tequilas? All of them. So I have seen so many tequilas over the past three, four years that are marketed as being aged in wine barrels. But it feels like you guys were the originator, at least the first brand to really put that out there. You know, imitation is the sincerest form of fluttery. The way Rhea, it was a very sly, but slightly frustrated look on your face.

43:48Here's something I say about tequila a lot, and in particular celebrity tequila. I truly believe that a rising tide lifts all ships. Sure. And the more visibility on the world of tequila and well-made tequila, right? People, consumers just even considering tequila. Thank you, The Rock. Thank you, Clooney, whatever. Then they come into the category. And I think the way most consumers do, they start to explore and they start to find that they want to trade up. They want something that is very well-made. So I love the fact that, you know, let's say, can I say Diageo? I worked for them before my let's say Diageo.

44:22You can say anything you want. Okay, like the Diageo, you know, the Don Julio Rosado. That was a direct response to our Reposada Rosa. We were the first to market ultra luxury rosé tequila full stop. So when we see the big players like Diageo taking notice of what we do and creating innovation as a direct competition to our tiny little brand, we love it because it means they're paying attention and it means that we're doing something right. You had to do a lot of the heavy lifting, though, getting people to understand why this is something they should be paying for, why this is something they should be interested in.

44:58How does that happen? Because, again, for someone in your position, this is your position. This is your job is to educate people as to the nuances of your tequila versus those that are currently on the market. You know, it does require a good amount of communication and education, but people love that. If you give it to them in a way that is open and not pedantic and, you know, give them touch points that they can understand, I think people are always excited about what's new and what's next and what's good. Because if these were just innovative, but they weren't delicious, we wouldn't be sitting here.

45:35They are delicious. And that is really a testament to Richard and his palate. You know, he was the ninth person in the world to pass the Master of Sommelier certification in one go. Wow. More people have walked on the moon. I'm going to use a phrase here that I'm going to get pinged for internally. It's an internal joke, inside joke here. When you said talk to people about your brand and spend a lot of time talking about Como's, who are those people? Yeah, great question. I mean, we've got to look at segmentation here. In prior roles that I've had, I would say it was about 80 % trade comms, 20 % consumer.

46:13I would say I'm pretty evenly split between consumer and trade now. And of course, when I'm talking trade, I'm also talking about our distributor network because they are our number one customer. So in the trade, it's not just, you know, to bartenders. A lot of my communication to consumers is going to take place where Comos lives. And so that is beautiful resorts, high-end hotels. I do a lot of fine dining collaborations with chefs. That's why I'm here night. I'm hosting a dinner with Bobby Flay, which is really fun. A lot of country clubs, members clubs where they're curious about, you know, the beautiful bottles that are on their bar.

46:50That's where I do a lot of my communication to consumer. The bartenders are on the front lines. They're the ones who are going to recommend a particular tequila. Certainly consumers, yes, they'll look at a back bar and say, hey, what's that? I think that's how aviation really became the brand that it is today because people saw in the back bar And they're like, what is that? That looks interesting. Also, Brooke Arthur. Shout out to Brooke Arthur. She crushed it on aviation. Yeah. I mean, it is. Talk about a remarkable brand. Yeah. What's resonating with bartenders? What's getting them excited about your brand?

47:19I think this is an important question for anyone that's listening, because whether you're selling tequila, you're selling soda, you're selling snacks. The people that are going to help amplify what you're doing, the people that are going to advocate for you are those. They're the front line. The bartenders, the merchandisers, the buyers, the cashiers in some cases. So how are you getting them excited about the brand? That's a great question. Authenticity. I think bartenders can, they're just, they're really good at reading people because they have to. That's their job. They need to see if somebody needs to be cut off or is being a jerk or, you know, they're four deep at the bar and they see a regular that they know treats them up.

47:57They are good bullcrap meters. I don't know if we curse on this. I said you can say whatever you want. good bullshit meters. Oh my goodness. Now we have to spend a half a day cutting that out of the podcast. Sorry. I'm sorry. But they are. And so if you come to them with your brand story and it doesn't resonate for you, it's not going to resonate for them. So you need to come with authenticity and openness. You've got to listen to what their needs are. You've got to hear what what the end users, you know, experiences, how their consumers are responding, take that feedback in. And then you've, you've got to come at them with the truth, I think.

48:37And so, you know, the truth of this brand is that we are a very sustainable brand. We give back to the community that we come from. We just won the waste reduction of the year award for the entire global spirits network for what we do with our brick project and tequila. And so I think when you arm the bartenders with that kind of knowledge, where they feel good about what they're selling, in addition to the fact that, yes, it's beautiful, it's delicious, it's high-end, it's going to increase their check average. Who doesn't want to hear that, right? They're going to make more money. It gives them an anchor to kind of feel good about selling what they're selling.

49:11In addition, I will say we all know that people are drinking less. It's just a fact. So if somebody is going to have one instead of two, why not make that one be at an elevated price point at a perhaps elevated luxury cocktail level, right? Where it's very experiential. It's very special for that customer. And it is the price of two drinks that might've come out of the well. Yeah, I think that's an excellent point. If you're going to drink less, drink better. Yeah. Is what I've been hearing quite a bit from folks in the industry. I think a challenge might be looking at the legacy brands that have been there and then the ones that are coming up.

49:52And people love trying new things and people love experimenting with their spirits and cocktails. But loyalty has got to be such an important part of what you do. How do you encourage? How do you get people to look at Como says my brand? Yeah, I would say it is a strategy of organic adoption. I tell people we're quiet luxury. I have these conversations one on one. I say, now you know me, right? Now, you know, Como's like we know one another. and it is inevitable. I spent the past two days, Monday and Tuesday, with my distributor here, Bristol. Great people. I've never been to the Bahamas before.

50:30And I said, listen, we're going to take these bottles out at our meetings and we're going to have people come up to us that we don't know. And they're going to say how much they love this brand. Like, it's a shock. Like, oh my God, you have Comos? Sure enough, sure enough, two first accounts. We were at the Ocean Club Four Seasons and then we were at this gorgeous restaurant called Oya. People said, I'm so sorry, I don't mean to interrupt you, but you have Comos. that's my favorite tequila why is that here how do you how do you know it and then I get to give back to them oh my gosh you know you're part of this I hesitate to say family because family is such a fraught and laded word you know community you're part of this you know special group that knows the brand and that organic adoption is so hard to do you know we don't have marketing budget we know celebrities I like to joke that Kevin Hart isn't hiding behind our bottle I'm sorry Sorry, Kevin Hart.

51:22It's such a terrible joke. Well, he is involved with a rival tequila brand. I know. That's why I see. Yes, that is. That has pretty good distribution. It does. And I think tequila comos has pretty good distribution too. But I don't want to call it preciousness of its distribution, but maybe that's part of it. Maybe the fact that people can't necessarily find it everywhere. Maybe the fact that it is something that you're surprised to see in a good way has helped the brand. I can think of another brand that it's the, I don't want to mention it, but maybe I should mention it. Fortaleza. Of course.

51:53When I see Fortaleza, I'm like, you have Fortaleza? Exactly. Hell yeah. That means you guys know your stuff. That means you care about how this is produced. That means that you've got a relationship because not everybody can get that allocation. Do you want to hear the craziest flex? I would love to. And you guys can cut this out if it's not to remain to the conversation. When you lead with something like that, we can't cut it. Okay. All right. So Hawaii is a great market for us. And I was on the big island, Hawaii, and I went to the Rosewood there. and just the barefoot bar on the beach. I said, you know, they didn't have Comos yet.

52:23We were selling it. And I said, oh, okay, well, I'll have a margarita. I've had enough Mai Tais. I said, what's in your well? And he said, Fortaleza. Oh, my goodness. I said, what are you even saying to me? And the guy's name, I shit you not, his name was Brody. Brody was like, I don't know, man. They just give us a Fortaleza. Wow. What a flex. What a flex, Rosewood. Maybe. Big Island. I'm speechless. I don't even know what to say. Because that. I know. Maybe you just gave out the secret, the secret of all secrets right now. We all need to get to the Big Island and steal their allocations. Yeah.

52:55But no, getting back to Como's, because I think that your story about how people have come up to your table and said, Hey, oh my gosh, you have this. This is my favorite tequila. You know, making something a bit more of a story, a sort of a mystery is kind of important as well. Well, think about what Orin Swift did. I mean, let's talk, since it's sideways, it's related. it. Or and Sweft made themselves into a cult, if you can find it, right? They turned their sour grapes and made great wine out of it by the problems that they had, you know, with ownership and, you know, not being able to release their wine for a while.

53:30I think, what is it, seven years in the desert or whatever, then that became a cult of, oh, if you can find it, oh my gosh, you know? And so I think if you can take that story of, you know, we're small and make it a positive instead of a negative. I worked for Chartreuse for four years. Oh, wow. So, you know, talk about precious. I'm pretty good at telling people I'm glad you love it, but I only have this many, you know, so I do think that there is something you do have to be precious a little bit about it. And that's not like precious, like precocious, you know, or like you don't want to share it with people.

54:06Of course, everybody should drink homos. It's meant it literally means to party. We do not take ourselves seriously, right? But letting people know that we think it's special, I think makes them realize and feel like it's special too when they drink it. We're here at the Atlantis NASA Wine and Food Festival. And I'm in a room, there's a big sign over there. I think it says media and influencer room. I'm a person of the media. I might be somewhat influential. I have a few followers on the grams and whatnot. But I'm not an influencer in the typical sense of the word. I got to say, it can be a tough time for brands and how they interact with that community.

54:46It's important, but I think there's a lot of unknowns and you can spend money and resources in a lot of different ways that doesn't help you in any kind of way. But getting people to talk about Comos and maybe where it's distributed and where it's seen and the precious nature of it, or maybe help educate people about the fact that it is aged in wine barrels. All that's really important in disseminating that information. When it comes to that group of folks, what's your strategy? It's a double-edged sword, right? You kind of have to at this point. It's a necessary, I don't want to say necessary evil, because there are some influencers who do phenomenal jobs and really, really care about what they do.

55:27And then I've seen some influencer content where an influencer will have Don Julio one day and then they'll have Avion the next day and then they've got a face cream and it's like, how is this germane to what we do? Whatever pops up in the mail, they'll post that. Exactly, whatever's going to pay the bills. And I get it, we all got to get paid. But like, is that really the person that you want to be advocating for your brand? We have done influencer content. I think sometimes it really works. Like we were, okay, so the most viral thing that happened is Taylor Swift was drinking a Rosa cocktail at Spago and the press saw it.

56:01And, you know, that you can't pay money for that. Sure. Taylor Swift. So if things happen organically within that space, it's amazing. And when they're paid for, they sometimes work and sometimes don't. I think it's a challenging sphere to be in. I'm certainly not an influencer. I like to think that I'm influencing the people that I talk to when I'm in front of them. But it's, you know, me and my 3 ,000 followers on Instagram aren't influencing. Yeah, but you have an important role as the director of education. Yeah. Can you educate? can you influence the influencer? What's your strategy for doing so?

56:35Yeah, I mean, I think that that really comes back to making sure that if we are working with influencers, that they are approaching the brand from a very authentic way, that they understand our brand DNA and that their DNA of whomever they are in that influencer space works within what we do. We've had some crazy placements as far as into TVs and movies. We were this past season, the White Lotus, which is great. I think that really resonates with kind of who we are. We were also in The Real Housewives, which is the other side of that coin. So I don't know. I guess what I do really so much is focus on trade, how they see the brand, and then really making sure that consumers have a personal touch point.

57:22So within that social media space, I leave that but mostly to the social media team and they do a great job. When you see something that may not necessarily align with your role and your focus on education, you're saying this is just totally, and this may not have ever happened, but you might see something that says this is not in line with what we want to do and how we educate people about Como's. What kind of conversations happen then? I think we're still at the point as a brand where all press is good press. Okay. You know what I mean? Like we aren't to a space yet where I've wanted to walk back and say, hey, I don't want to be associated with this person or that person.

58:07Or, you know, that video on YouTube where they rated us and maybe they were, you know, cursing and being kind of kooky or whatever. Let's ask them to take that down. You know, we kind of welcome the chatter because, again, we're still new enough that that all is it's also relevant to us to move things forward. I could talk to you about my distribution network for like the next five days. But then when you get into that influencer world, it's really it's challenging for me personally from on a professional level to really reconcile all of those moving parts together. I really want my digital director here, Diana.

58:45I'm sure she's got a much better answer. No, look, I think the two are so closely related. Yeah. And I think you answered the question quite well, actually, about press as being all good press. It's so difficult to generate awareness. Yeah. It's so difficult to generate excitement about a brand, especially one in the tequila category. Now, Comos is in the luxury, on the luxury end of things. Yes. But even then, you know, I mean, there's a new luxury brand coming out every single day and all of them seemingly depocketed brands. So I think you're right. As long as no one's, I don't know, I probably shouldn't say this, but holding a Glock and, you know.

59:26Yeah, exactly. And dumping a bottle. Saying, I hate kittens while holding guns and saying, but I love Comos. You know, like we don't want that. As long as people aren't doing that. But yeah, going back to your, you know, your job and talking to distributors, they are, again, And a very, very important part of that sales chain. It's actually, and people may not know this, correct me if I'm wrong, it's very, very difficult to get out of a distributor relationship in this business. And that means it's really incumbent upon you and your team to find the right people to align with. And I was talking with Tony Abuganam just before you and I hopped on the mics.

1:00:06And the last thing he said was relationships. Relationships, relationships, relationships. relationships. How do you vet a potential partner such that you have faith that the relationship will be a good one going forward? Yeah, that's a great question. I will say that we are very fortunate in our partnership with Gallo. So we still own the brand, but Gallo owns the Right Star distribution in the US. This happened, gosh, about two years ago. So really early on for our brand. I mean, the amount of focus that was on Comos just early days to get that kind of investment from Gallo was really impressive.

1:00:42And that actually, you said it's hard to get out of distributor relationships. It is, but part and parcel of that agreement was that we swapped over to Gallo's distribution network nationwide. So that meant sometimes we didn't have to change distributors. That meant sometimes we were leaving distributors we absolutely loved and had done such a phenomenal job of building the brand up over the past two years and to make new partnerships. So there's definitely been some challenges right in the past two years, getting to know a new distribution network and also being part of a portfolio approach versus a single brand approach.

1:01:18There's also huge benefits to it, a better, you know, sales force, so much more focused when we are on focus with the distributor, because we're such a large chunk of their portfolio now being part of Gallo. But those relationships, as Tony was talking about, are absolutely vital. And we are in the business of people. I had a boss who used to say to me, like, this is a people business. Otherwise, it's just booze in a bottle. Anybody can have booze in a bottle, Rhea. Like, how do you how do you as a person personify that brand and bring it to life in a way for your partners that they feel good about selling and they feel motivated to do?

1:01:56So developing those relationships, also with Gallo, right? And the Gallo team and our distributor team over the past two years has been a large part of my job. And, you know, we are such an interesting industry because yes, we're B2B within our distributor network, but that's also a B2C relationship. And so you've got to manage the business aspect of it of saying, hey, you got to hit your goals. You know, you need what incentive do you need? You don't have enough inventory on the floor. All of these things where They are our fulfillment agency. But on the other hand, they're also our customers.

1:02:28So how do you make them feel good about the brand? And when they could look at their entire book, say, you know what? Today I'm going to go out. I'm going to talk about Como's. Right. You know, and that has to be done on a personal level. It does. Yeah. I still, I love, one of my favorite things to do in this job is to go and ride along with somebody, you know, a rep I might never see again because I get to see what their challenges are on the ground, spend a day in their shoes, see what their customers are, are honestly talking about. And that kind of insight from my distributor partner, maybe it's a junior rep that started six months ago.

1:03:02They've never been in this role before. To be able to connect with them and their customers over a day, it gives me insight into my business. And then it hopefully develops a relationship where they remember, you know, that we spent a day together and hopefully we had a good time and I bought them a nice lunch. They'll remember that. Oh yeah. Hopefully their car was clean. That's not always the case. that's embarrassing. I don't know why you would ever invite someone into your car if it wasn't clean. Are you kidding me? Have you never done a ride along? I mean, I've done, but like, again, I'm just, oh my gosh, it's a strange ride.

1:03:34I have been in some filthy cars. No, it's not okay. Rhea, I think in your job, one thing you do really, really well, and this is quite obvious to anyone who's listening is communicating. You have developed a way of speaking to people and a way of talking about your brand that is very clear, that is very convincing. Talk about how you've developed your ability to communicate and your method of communicating and connecting with folks that you need to talk to. Thank you, first of all. That's very nice of you to say. I think first and foremost, I really like people. Okay, that's important. I do. I like to talk to people.

1:04:12I like to meet new people and hear where they come from. So I think the best part of talking is listening because if you really listen, then you can really speak. If you're just saying, and we've all been there and I feel bad for these people. We've seen brand reps that are hosting dinners or, you know, doing their spiel and they have their script and they stick to it. And sometimes that is not what your audience wants. And they feel disconnected and you feel very branded and it throws everything off. So you have to listen. You kind of have to feel the energy of the people that are around you in order to get what you need to get across across.

1:04:46Rhea, thank you so much for taking the time. This has been so great. Such a fun, insightful conversation. I know our audience is going to love it. Absolute pleasure speaking with you. Thank you so much. Thank you.

1:04:58That brings us to the end of this episode of Taste Radio. Thank you so much for listening. Taste Radio is a production of BevNet.com Incorporated. Our audio engineer for Taste Radio is Joe Cratchy. Our technical director is Joshua Pratt. And our video editor is Ryan Golang. Our social marketing manager is Amanda Smirlinski. and our designer is Amanda Huang. Just a reminder, if you like what you hear on Taste Radio, please share the podcast with friends and colleagues. And of course, we would love it if you could review us on the Apple Podcasts app or your listening platform of choice. Check us out on Instagram.

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