How Quincy Is Reinventing the Dirty Martini, One Perfect Jar at a Time

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1:18We use Spanish queen olives pitted. I believe that they, and like from our interviews, bartenders, they are like the juiciest, the most flavorful. I know Castable Tronos have kind of like picked up in popularity, but I feel like the true martini olive really is this like big, juicy, paired perfectly with like your spirit of choice. So that's what we went with. You know, we've done some co-branded products with other brands as well, different olive varietals, but for now, I think ours is superior. Hey, everybody. This is Caitlin Bricker, Managing Editor at Startup CPG. We are back with another founder feature.

1:54Today I'm sitting down with Hallie Siegel, co-founder of Quincy, a 2025 Shelfie Award winner and a premium mixer and garnish brand for martinis and mocktails made with olives and a specially crafted brine. Hallie spent 10 years at high-growth startups like Casper & Chief before realizing she was the bartender of her friend group. She was making 20 dirty martinis at parties and watching olive jars dry up in her fridge. She and co-founder Shelby reconnected in 2023 after the world shut down and they haven't looked back. We're diving into her three distinct revenue channels from specialty retail to on-premise bars and restaurants with East Coast and West Coast distribution.

2:32And why positioning is alcohol-free was the smartest move for capturing the NA market without ever having to reformulate. And her community-driven approach to hosting and entertaining that goes way beyond the product. We hear from founders on this podcast every week. If you're a brand and want to get new opportunities right in your inbox, text CPG to 833-605-7002. That's 833-605-7002. And we'll get you hooked up. As always, enjoy.

3:08Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the Startup CPG podcast. This is Caitlin. And today I'm here with Hallie Siegel, co-founder of Quincy. Hallie, welcome to the show. Hello. So excited to be here. Always great to welcome a new guest. And I just saw you a few weeks ago at Summer Fancy Foods. So I'm excited to hear how that went for you and what your experience was like. Before we dive into that, can you tell everybody what Quincy is? Yeah. So we say we're building brand love for the other half of the glass by redefining mixers and garnishes for the modern consumer. I love it. And for anybody who's listening and isn't familiar yet, Quincy was a 2025 Shelfie Award winner.

3:48It was my first introduction to Quincy. There we go. I should have told me somewhere. Well, you just moved, so we'll let it slide. Exactly. We can get it front and center again. Yes, next time. You did have it out and about when we were at Summer Fancy Food. It was great to see past winners with their awards out on the table. You were one of them. What did it feel like to win an award for your brand? You know, I was I actually remember this because I was on the subway, like I had a meeting and I was listening to like the results. And I was like, there's no way like we're gonna win. I was like, oh my gosh.

4:23And I remember as we were going under the tunnel from Brooklyn to Manhattan, you're like, and now we're gonna do mixers and garnishes. And I remember it like clocked out, like I wouldn't hear you guys announcing and like a bunch of my friends and TPG text me. yay, congrats, yay. And I was like, wow. So it felt really good just to kind of be recognized for the work that we put into building a brand. Once we got Quincy in our hands, full transparency, I'm just about two years sober. I have never had a martini in my life. I've eaten the stuffed olives before. But when we got this product, I just could not get over the branding, the presentation.

5:01It was like, before I even tasted it, it was a clear winner for me personally. And I just, I got to peel back all the layers for what you have going on in this jar because there's just so many good things going on. So I don't know too much about your background. Can you share what you were doing before Quincy and what led up to Quincy? Yeah. So I spent the first 10-ish years of my career working at high growth venture-backed startups like Casper and then Chief, always at the intersection of like operations and experience. So definitely more like customer service, member operations. I was actually employee number seven at Chief.

5:39And that's kind of where I really feel like I grew in my career. So yeah, I have a true love of like just the experience that people have with brands as a consumer. But then also like how do you set up a business to be like scalable, like scale it, profitability, like all those things. So for me, kind of being an entrepreneur is like the perfect combination of those two things. And especially being at the bottom floor of a company that's grown to be so large and so well known, you see a lot and I'm sure you see a lot that many people don't see on the outside. You're feeling things, seeing things, hearing things, and then you see what the public sees.

6:14So that's a pretty cool way to take some info and knowledge and insider information and apply it to your own brand. Exactly. And I will say Casper definitely has an alumni of like very impressive CPG founders, like founder of Praza and Rocco Fridge and Nell Atelier. So like there's definitely like a lot of interesting people came from that time. And I feel like that's just the type of person that worked at Casper and then similarly like Chief, just like go-getter, entrepreneurial spirit, all of that. So just being surrounded is amazing. And you're one of them. Yes, I can only hope. Okay. So before I ask why Quincy, why the name Quincy?

6:54Yeah. So my co-founder and I, one time we're in Palm Springs and we went to a bar and the bartender's name is Quincy. And so we just remember their personality a lot. And when we sat down to think of a name, drinking, not drinking, like making a cocktail mocktail is so personal. Like you ask someone how they make something and like, they like take pride in the fact that like what they do is like a little different than what everyone else does and so we wanted to come up with a name that like almost could like develop its own personality to the consumer versus it being like okay well you know we're something like extra dirty or whatever we knew or we wanted to expand our product line well beyond the martini but two we wanted to be just a personal experience so i don't know it just felt like a fun whimsical name and that personality just stuck with us so that's how we got there i love that that is so cool have you ever been able to get Quincy into Quincy's hands?

7:45No, like it was like, I feel like when I was like, it was like a fever dream. Like we were like, I was in Palm Springs for a conference. It was like a whole thing. I feel like it was like a mirage. He was there, but he wasn't. I don't know. Did you ever try to reach out and get it into his hands? We need to. I feel like I haven't yet. So let's make it happen. I mean, you can be like, hey, remember us. And also we're shouting you out on a podcast and we have this gorgeous new product named after you too. Yes, exactly. I love it. And why Quincy the product? Yes. So along with being an operator, I like love to host.

8:25I am very passionate about like bringing my friends and family together over a great meal. And definitely I'm like known as the bartender of my group of friends. And one night I made, I think like 20 dirty martinis. And the next day opened up my fridge. And if you're familiar with how to make a dirty martini or for those who don't know, you use the brine that the olives are cured in and then cut that with like the vodka, gin, NA, botanics as well. You can definitely like make a mocktail and jars typically have just enough brine to like keep the olives fresh or, you know, preserved. Never enough to actually make the martini.

8:59And also something we learned is that olives are typically just preserved in salt water. No like flavor or anything like that. The olive itself kind of like lends the flavor as it kind of like sits in the jar. And so opened my fridge, saw all these dried up olive jars because I'd use up all the brine and I didn't need the garnish. And there's only so many dishes with olives that you can make. And I thought to myself, why doesn't somebody make a jar that's really geared towards someone who's making a dirty martini? So more brine, brine that tastes good, that like bartenders would want to use. And then just enough garnish, just enough olives in there that you can top off your martini.

9:34And that's kind of how Quincy and it's like, again, like it's like infancy, like it's like earliest stages was like, we're going to start with this one product. And that's what we did. And I have tried it very, very simply with a little bit of Quincy, some tonic and like tonic water and some lemon. I think it's like nice and bright, a little savory, a little tart. It's like very good. I think it's a great product. Thank you. Yeah. I mean, get your electrolytes in. And I love that too. Even like an afternoon pick me up, like it's great with like a lemon seltzer or things like that. I feel like we live in an age where people are like, especially with coffees, I'm sure you see this a lot with like different like syrups or cold foams or things that people really take care in the craft that they make their beverages.

10:15And I just haven't quite seen that yet with like some of these other like mixers and garnishes, but that's where I see is like huge opportunity is like everyone's kind of doing it. And now we're like creating products for people to do it. Totally. I have no familiarity with how olives are chosen for martinis. Is it just cut and dry? Okay, I didn't mean to say that. No, I love it. That is actually probably a very controversial question in the bartending sphere. And I think there's bartenders royalty in New York and they all have different bartending families and they'll have different opinions on what is right.

10:53We use Spanish queen olives pitted. I believe that they, and like from our interviews with bartenders, they are like the juiciest, the most flavorful. I know Casta Fultranos have kind of like picked up in popularity, but I feel like the true martini olive really is this like big, juicy, paired perfectly with like your spirit of choice. So that's what we went with. I think, you know, we've done some co-branded products with other brands as well, different olive varietals, but for now I think ours is superior. Talk to me about the co-brands because I'm always interested to see where brands end up when it comes to co-branding and collaborations.

11:28Yeah. So we did two co-branded products with Big Night. It's a store in New York that has three locations. We did cocktail onions and castellotrono olives and they're still on the shelf. So definitely suggest purchasing them. They're amazing. and then in December actually one of the founders of Taleo which is like a female brewery in New York and they have distribution on the east coast as well tried our brine and we were kind of pitching the idea of like a beer teeny like for their menu and she's like what if we actually like bottled and put it in kegs and served it on tap at our breweries and so December of last year and then hopefully again this year we had like a Quincy beer teeny which was like a pilsner with some brine and then it was on tap and available in bottles.

12:10So it was really fun to kind of see both Quincy comes life in terms of like other mixers and garnishes. That was like kind of our first foray, but then also in other beverages because like that's the whole point. Very cool. And I love that you're getting feedback from bartenders too, because ultimately you want to reach people at home who are crafting cocktails at home, but you also want to reach the bartending audience who's going to be reaching for this on the job. So can you tell me about your strategy for DTC if you have it and retail and restaurant businesses? Yeah. So we have three distinct revenue channels.

12:44I'll kind of like give you a history briefly of each. So we started with retail and our jars, our 16 ounce glass jars, as you can see here. Very much, I'm in New York, Brooklyn based. So we went to like all of my local stores and sold it to them. And just to learn a bit more, like who's buying it? Where should it be merchandised with the olives or the mixers? What's the right price point? really getting that data that I feel like is really important as you want to scale to those like larger retailers. We honestly spent like a year and a half kind of just like focused on these like specialty stores.

13:14And with that, a few bartenders tried our product, obviously, because they were like on the shelf and they went to a party and they tried it. And we started hearing back from people that wanted to bring it behind the bar for on-premise. These will not work. They serve 14 to like 15 martinis, their glass, the like nice labels. So we worked with like about 10 bartenders and like what is the right format is it a 750 is it a gallon like what are you looking for because they still have the same a lot of bars have the same problem as a consumer like they'd order like these olives they'd have to like make their brine or just like not super easy but it's such a popular cocktail they'd end up wasting like so much time effort and money trying to get this made and so when they tried our product like wow this like tastes like the brine that we spent hours making and it's like the perfect proportion so use that to develop our on-premise I was actually like and still do deliver to bars and restaurants in New York.

14:04But now we have distribution for the East Coast and we just launched distribution on the West Coast for bars and restaurants. The food service is very different than retail, but it's actually been really nice because we've gotten some menu placement or if they have a dirty martini on the menu, the list like Quincy Brown and olives, because like ultimately that's what we're trying to do is like the same way that I order like a kettle on the rocks or kettle dirty martini or, you know, Casamigos margarita. We want people to start actually having that brand affinity towards like the mixer and garnish that goes in.

14:32Similar, I think, you know, Fever Street, I think, has done a good job with that. But go to a restaurant and say, oh, wow, they serve Quincy. We know this is like a high quality experience. Yes. And I think that comes through just with the branding alone before you even try the product. I mean, I said this before. For me, it was a clear winner because it was just so gorgeous. But then you get to try the product and you think, all right, this is it. We worked hard on the recipe. You would think like, oh, recipe, Brian. And again, it's not super complicated, but there is some level of like nuance of like how much brine you're taking from the barrels because olives are picked unripe and then they ripen in these like big barrels like wine and so we kind of have a ratio of like how much of that brine that we use just normal salt water how often are we filtering it olives that we have we don't use any additives or colors so like i remember one time we were actually at a food show and someone's like oh like there's a little bruise on this we actually like kind of like that because you would actually be shocked go look in your olive aisle and like see what's in some of these olives like the colors hardening agents things like that if they're basically being embalmed.

15:32Yes, exactly. To like get that perfect olive and like there's something nice about that imperfection if it's good. So what exactly is in a jar of Quincy when somebody goes and purchases it? Yes, we have about 10 to 11 ounces of the brine. Again, like that combo, like the mother brine, that's what it's called, and salt water. And then about like 20, 22-ish all pitted Spanish queen olives. So again, like if you're putting one or two, it kind of nets out. again, like I said, everyone has a preference on how they make their dirty martini. A jar will typically make anywhere from like 14 to 20, depending on how dirty you like it, how many olives you want to garnish with it.

16:08But that ratio is definitely flipped from a normal olive jar. I am very curious. Have you felt the heat at all with more people moving away from drinking alcohol and having more non-alcoholic lifestyles? Has that impacted your brand at all? And if it has, How have you pivoted? I love that. So I think for us, there's a few things here. One, I view almost as like a tailwind versus a headwind. First, like all of the NA that you see in the market is some level of it's mimicking like alcoholic beverages in some capacity. It's like, here's like a phony Negroni or here's like a fake gin or things like that.

16:45Or here's like an aperitif. It tastes familiar. So we feel like it's really good if we can like win. First off, it's still like a trillion dollar category. So if we can really establish ourselves and like we are the experts in martinis. We don't put any alcohol in our product. We advertise that you can make it with like non-alcohol alternatives on our label, on our website. And so we think that if we, again, like can really establish ourselves as like the premier cocktail mocktail, those who are like not drinking or drinking less will kind of say, oh, okay, like I do want to try like a salty or savory alternative.

17:17And like, we fall nicely into that category. So I kind of view it as like it It expands our market, if anything. Even with ready-to-drinks, if you go to any RTD website, they have a recipe book. So even RTDs are starting to say, OK, mix it with this or try it with this. So we're just a complement to all these categories. I really think it opens more doors. I completely agree with you. I just needed to hear it straight from you. I've never had a conversation with somebody who's not like, oh, drinking less. And I'm like, yeah, definitely. like their bars, restaurants, even like the summertime, like we've noticed like a dip in just like our bar sales.

17:52But I just think people care more now about what they're putting in their body. So if they're going to have one cocktail, it's going to be like high quality and premium. So totally. All right. So let's shift gears. I want to hear about your experience at Summer Fancy Food, because that was the first time I saw you in action at a trade show. Was that your first time being in a trade show environment? So first time at a trade show table, we have done distributor shows in this past year, which are very different. It's definitely more of like a purchasing mentality when you go to those versus like kind of brand exposure.

18:23The startup CPG section was amazing. I think it was like the best place for us to be as an emerging brand. One, because like the foot traffic, like it is a place to be. Like, I think we saw every buyer that we wanted to see came through and I, you know, talked to some people who were maybe in a different section and like, oh, I didn't see that person. But then also just like the brands that we were, we were next to you all which was lovely on one side also because all the buyers happened to be there too so we got to chat but we're on the other side of Cotto which is like a cottage cheese dib and it was just so fun to like chat with other founders and like learn their experience and watch them pitch and like what they're saying the feedback they get so overall it was like a very positive experience I'm so happy to hear that you did have prime placement you were like front row see to everything every buyer meeting I'm sure you probably were hearing some good feedback for other brands throughout the time too it was great and then like everyone would like look over what we're doing and then they'd almost like use our olives as like a palate cleanser between they'd go from like ice cream to whatever and we'd be like you want an olive and they're like yeah okay so I feel like a Cotto Quincy collab would be so good I know we were like dipping the olives in that.

19:34I mean, I'm all for stuffing. We've stuffed with caviar, different cheeses, like all the fun stuff. Like we'll never do a stuffed olive, I will say, because it kind of goes against our ethos of like premium high quality. Like, I mean, not better for you. I don't think we'll ever make those claims. It's a drink. But yeah, I think a lot of those, like if you're buying blue cheese stuffed olives, they're good. I like, but I just prefer stuff on myself. It's actually not real cheese. So I have to say too, before this thought leaves my brain, because it happens sometimes, I think what you have done by positioning yourself as a product that does not contain alcohol so that you can span the market for NA and alcohol is so cool.

20:13Because there are other brands that have positioned themselves the same way. We'll use bitters as an example, where it's alcohol-free bitters. Because some people don't want alcohol at all. And you've done the same thing where now you, in my opinion, are 5, 10 years ahead of the game, won't have to think about reformulating. Whereas other brands that might be coming in, working on these products that do have trace amounts of alcohol, they are going to have to reformulate to work with the market and where it's trending. Yeah, 100%. There's a lot of trace vermouth and martini mixes. And then there's also cherries, things like that, have trace alcohol.

20:50So definitely not something we want to put in our products. Props to you for that. Thank you. What do you see on the horizon for Quincy? Do you see yourself expanding your product line or are you strong with that single skew? so it's so interesting we've gotten so much mixed feedback on like how fast we should be expanding and now that we're in like larger grocery and liquor stores the buyers are definitely keen for us to like take up more shelf space and i think that makes sense like if you're going to look at a brand and you see like five of one varietal like you'll probably like be more drawn to it but we really wanted to like focus and win on the martini but we also don't want to be known as like an olive company and like the brine only and so we are coming out with two different formats of our martini one is i wish i could share more but like i'm scared please do not share it protect your baby it should have come out in september though so people will be able to see and then we do have like a co-branded a different co-branded product this time with a person coming out and then finally we have we're like in early conversation with scientists over two completely net new mixers again our ethos is high quality and premium easy to use cocktails and mocktails that people actually drink like no shade to like all these random syrups and stuff like i don't really know what to do and i want to like if i'm trying to mixing at home i want it to be like as easy as possible um and then all again like through that community like a strong brand community driven voice like all of that so as we think about our expansion it fits into those like buckets.

22:25And I've totally seen you, speaking of community, with your products placed at special events in New York City and just like really highly curated. And I just love the vibes when I see that. It's typically Erica from Philo. And I mean, shout out to her because literally everything she does is perfect. If anyone listening is looking for events, she is like the ultimate curator for sure. The best. Have you thought about any other ways that you can incorporate Quincy into events and tablescapes and just like I don't want to say immersive experiences but food is immersive food and beverage is immersive it is I mean there's nothing like going to something like a vintage show or something where you're like I didn't expect to have a martini and like here I am so like this concept of like the mobile martini bar like is definitely something we're like going to continue to push and just like showing up places where you like wouldn't expect something we have started to do and I think it's not taken off as much on our social media but we like basically give like a pack of Quincy a digital camera and like a liquor or any of their choice and we're like a night out with Quincy type of thing and like take photos because I think like again we're trying to really like cultivate this community of people it's more than just like a drink it's like the ecosystem around how people like connect and gather and how do we like show up in that way so trying to get involved more with our community is like something we're focused on I love it.

23:48And I think it is special because the product that you have, too, it's not just you pop the cap off and you drink it. It takes time to put together a recipe, have an idea, have this like thought of what you want to create and how people want it customized, which forces you to take a little bit more time and talk to your people. exactly yeah i mean like i just saw an article actually literally just now bevnet posted that like martini sales are like pulling like neilson said like it's like margaritas here i just think people are just putting a lot more thought and care into like the things that they make at home for their friends or their family like i think we're kind of re-entering that like that phase in life i don't know so could just be my age but i like love a good dinner party no i mean i do too I have a toddler, but so it makes things a little different.

24:35But I love having my friends together. It's like my social battery gets so worn down when I'm just behind my computer screen all day. I mean, I love talking to you and everybody else, but being able to actually connect with people in person, people that you love and just haven't seen for a while, it totally just like brings the battery back up. And I'm like, okay, I'm good for a few months now. Yes, exactly. So again, it's like more than I think a lot of brands these days. And I think it's a smart move. They're trying to be like more than the product. It's like, how are we showing up in the ways that people are using the product?

25:08So for us, it's like, again, like hosting dinner parties, nights out. How do we like put Quincy at the forefront of that? It's definitely an area we're working on for sure, but it's like definitely something we want to continue to double down on. And it sounds like it's very authentic to you too. Like you're not trying to have you or Quincy branch out and be something that doesn't feel right or comfortable to you? Because yes, they say that you can grow if you go out of your comfort zone. But why in this sense? I have always wanted to start my own thing, like ever since I was little. Like I've always wanted to be an entrepreneur.

25:41And I think like obviously working at Casper in Chief, you get the exposure you get to just the types of people, the types of companies is amazing. But like I know a lot of people who become founders become founders, truly founders. And like, it's so funny, our social media friends are like, Oh my gosh, like you got to get out there more. And I definitely think I do. But like, for me, it's like not even about just being a founder, truly bringing to life something that I have a deep care and passion for. And it had to be right. Like it never was like, Oh, I'm just going to go start like this. Cause I think it's like the next hot thing.

26:09And I think I'm going to like be able to exit and make like a lot of money. Of course, everyone wants like those things. But for me, it's like truly comes from like, the same with my co-founder Shelby, we got connected because we both have a passion for this. We were not friends before this. so it's really rooted in like our brand I think that's great how did you and Shelby meet a mutual friend like literally we're both chatting about like martinis and hosting whatever and she's oh you should be my friend Shelby and then very similarly like we both come from like entrepreneur families like no one that you like literally google like um trust me we're not no run-drabo babies here um but like we had that spirit in us and so our friend was like you guys should chat like I think there's something there and we tried to get it off the ground in 2020 but it was like a horrible time.

26:50Like it was COVID. Even though people were drinking more, but it's just hard time to start a business. And then in 2023, I remember I just like had the urge again. And I texted her like, I think I want to pick this back up. And she said, that's so weird. I was just in a yoga class and I was thinking the same thing. So I called Universe Aligned. I have to say something too. I know right now you have a single SKU. This might be controversial for retailers to hear. I love a single SKU product. Yeah, I do. I love a single SKU product. It does not bother me at all as a consumer or as an editor when I see single skew products on shelves.