Anytime Spritz, co-founded by Maddy Rotman and Taylor Lanzett, is at the forefront of the sustainability movement. In this episode of the Spilled Salt podcast, the co-founders sit down with Maureen Ballatori to discuss their commitment to regenerative organic agriculture
Maddy and Taylor have created the first regenerative organic gin and vodka, setting a new standard for the alcohol industry. Their spirits and Ready to Drink (RTD) cocktails are supporting sustainable agriculture while meeting growing consumer demand for eco-friendly products. Founded by women and powered by farmers, Anytime Spritz is paving the way for regenerative organic spirits and the future of sustainable farming.
Sustainable Farming Practices for Regenerative Organic Spirits
Regenerative organic spirits are distilled using ingredients that come from regenerative farming practices. This means no synthetic pesticides, GMOs, or harmful fertilizers are used.
Instead, these farming methods focus on improving soil health, increasing biodiversity, and promoting carbon sequestration. For Anytime Spritz, their regenerative organic vodka and gin are made from wheat grown using these methods, sourced directly from regenerative organic farms.
In partnership with the DeLong Company, a grain aggregator supporting climate-smart agriculture, Anytime Spritz ensures that their ingredients meet the highest standards of sustainability. This collaboration allows farmers to contribute to regenerative agriculture while also tapping into a growing market for responsibly sourced products.
Farmers at the Center of the Alcohol Industry
One of Anytime Spritz’s core beliefs is that farmers should be at the center of the food and beverage system. As Taylor explained, farmers don’t get into agriculture to pollute the environment—they are often stewards of the land, making decisions that benefit both their crops and their communities.
Regenerative organic farming gives farmers the tools to improve their soil health and grow crops more sustainably. Anytime Spritz has made it their mission to work directly with these farmers, ensuring that they have the financial support and market access they need to succeed. This farmer-first approach ensures that those growing the ingredients are properly rewarded for their efforts to protect the environment.
Sourcing Regenerative Grains for Alcohol Production
A key aspect of Anytime Spritz’s production process is their commitment to sourcing regenerative grains. Working with partners like the DeLong Company, they source wheat from regenerative farms, helping to create a more sustainable supply chain. For farmers, this means new opportunities to sell their crops at a premium, as more brands and consumers seek products made from responsibly grown ingredients.
The collaboration between Anytime Spritz and the DeLong Company is a great example of how partnerships between brands and agricultural businesses can drive meaningful change. Together, they are building awareness around climate-smart agriculture while creating a new market for sustainably sourced alcohol.
Scaling, Regulations and Growing Awareness: Challenges and Opportunities for Growth
Scaling a regenerative alcohol brand comes with unique challenges, especially in an industry heavily regulated by the three-tier system of suppliers, distributors, and retailers. Unlike many other sustainable brands, Anytime Spritz cannot rely on direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales due to legal restrictions in the alcohol industry. Instead, they focus on retail and on-premise locations, expanding their market through relationships with distributors and retail partners like Whole Foods.
Despite these challenges, Anytime Spritz is optimistic about the future. As consumer awareness of sustainability continues to grow, brands like Anytime Spritz are leading the way in providing options that are better for both people and the planet.
For many in agriculture, the rise of regenerative organic spirits represents a new frontier. By partnering with brands like Anytime Spritz, farmers are tapping into the growing demand for responsibly sourced products while also contributing to a healthier, more sustainable planet. The future of agriculture lies in regenerative practices, and regenerative organic spirits are just one of the many ways this movement is making an impact.
Transcript
This transcript has been edited from its original form to support readability.
Maureen Ballatori: I’m Maureen Ballatori and this is Spilled Salt, a podcast on the thrills and spills from the food, beverage and agriculture industries. Today’s guests are Maddy Rotman and Taylor Lanzett, co-founders of Anytime Spritz.
Anytime makes organic and regenerative spirits and cocktails that are better for you and our planet. They’ve made the first regenerative organic gin and vodka.
This conversation is a part two from last week’s episode with Dylan Vaca of DeLong Company. Anytime is working with DeLong to source the regenerative grains for their products.
I absolutely loved today’s chat with Maddy and Taylor, especially because we get to nerd out on food sourcing and regenerative ag and what that means to farmers and what it means to consumers and what it takes to develop a brand that sits in between those two things.
A fascinating discussion. I hope you enjoy the conversation.
Maureen: Hello, Maddy and Taylor, how are you?
Maddy Rotman: We’re good. Happy to be here.
Taylor Lanzet: Great to be here.
Maureen: Good, thank you. Awesome. So glad you can join me. We were saying in the pre-show chatter here, and sometimes it happens that it sometimes is kind of interesting to navigate more than one guest on the show, but it’ll make for a really great conversation, I’m sure.
So the way that I always love to start these is with the background. I’m a big believer in everything that you did before is part of the reason why you’re doing what you’re doing now.
And so I’d love for you to start me off with like the ghosts of your career pasts. So Maddy, why don’t you start?
Maddy: I love the ghosts of your careers past. Taylor and I actually met in college. It was my first day of Brown University, and I stumbled into an internal environmental studies class. And there was Taylor as my Teaching Assistant for the class. And so we sort of joked, it all began there.
But really, the ghost of our past is just fruits and vegetables. We met in college and ran a CSA, which I think your viewers will know, but a community supported agriculture program.
We worked with farmers in Rhode Island and really we’re just trying to figure out ways to get really delicious fruits and veggies that farmers were growing to the university campus to feed not only the staff and the faculty, but also the students and the grad students and really build a community around this agricultural practice.
And that’s where we sort of began asking these questions of like, how can farmers be at the center of our food system, how can we support local agriculture? How can we work with organic growers and build what they need in the soil and help educate consumers around this?
After school, I’ll sort of tell my story and I’ll let Taylor jump into hers, but I ran to New York after school and went to Fresh Direct where I worked in merchandising and sourcing and supply chain around regional growers and really figuring out how to build the Northeast ecosystem of farmers and bring it into retail. FreshDirect is the largest online grocery in the Northeast.
It was just such a blast to work with these farmers, work with these folks and work with a team that was really just feeding New York City and sort of make that connection. I then went on to Imperfect Foods, which is now with part of Misfit Market and was their Head of Sustainability.
And really, again, sort of figuring out these questions of, how can we eliminate food waste, put food at the center of the food system, and figure out ways to build a sustainable food system that can scale and grow? And from there was really having this great conversation around like, what does the climate look like, the actual climate in terms of climate change? And what do farmers need? And how do we build markets around that?
In that instance, in that part of my career, it was really around figuring out ways to use the whole farm supply. And as we sort of dug into this, Taylor and I were really trying to figure out ways to help farmers use their grain, and their entire farm supply system into, what later became the Anytime world, which we’ll sort of dig into, but that’s my career trajectory and path in the retail space, in the food space, in the farm world, figuring out ways to build what we need in the soil and figure out markets to build that.
Maureen: So before we hand it off to Taylor for you to chime in on your side of that, Maddy, where did that interest in farmers come from? Like, did you grow up in a farm community?
Maddy: No, I mean, I grew up in Southern California where I think I just took it for granted that seasons are not really a thing and fresh food is rampant and beautiful like all year round.
When I moved to the Northeast and Rhode Island I was just kind of shocked that the most expensive farmland in the country, seasons are real, your vegetables change year round, what’s available in grocery stores change year round.
I credit my family that no matter what was going on in the world, we all sat down to eat together at the dinner table. There was always a meal served and we had hard conversations around that. And so I think my interest in food really just came from. How do you solve problems? It was always at the dinner table and it’s a great place to have a new eating ground.
Maureen: Yes. I love that, solving problems at the dinner table. Taylor, what about you?
Taylor: I was happy with the ghost of my past, but I left school and similar to Maddy and sort of meeting or, you know, Maddy’s first day as a TA in environmental studies. I went on to work for Dig Restaurant Group, a fast casual chain in New York City.
In college, no one had said the word supply chain to me. It was, you work, you study environmental studies, you go to work for Greenpeace, right? Or you go to do something very activist, boots on the ground focused. And I kind of stumbled into supply chain and have just never looked back.
Dig was very focused on building out their own farm, an organic farm in Chester, New York, using that as a source to supply their restaurants. And from there, I worked with over a hundred growers directly and sort of throughout over six years there, just learned a ton about what it means to build a thoughtful supply chain that puts the people growing food at the center of menu development.
Most importantly was sort of at a price point that worked for lunchtime goers. And so, you know, sort of early on, I started really focusing on what is good, thoughtful for people and plan it looked like at a price that isn’t only for some.
From there, I went to work on a small burrito startup, by the name of Chipotle, where I oversaw all their beef and dairy and their dairy program. Food with integrity, right? Any of the dairy you get from Chipotle, those dairy cows have been on grass 365 days a year.
I think a lot of us who got started in this can look back fondly on some early memories of Chipotle. For over 25 years they paved the way, right? And others have gone beyond and such, but learned a great deal about scale on a whole different level.
Then most recently before Maddy and I fully started working on Anytime, I was Head of Strategic Sourcing and Planning for Daily Harvest. So fruits and veggies, hyper-focused on organic and transitional organic and building out sort of fresh defers and supply chains.
I think it was in 2008 or 2007 when I read Omnivore’s Dilemma. And I hate being the person that was like, that book kind of changed my life, but it really did. And I had just never been the president of the high school environmental club or was focused on recycling or read this book.
Actually, if I focus all of my thoughts around agriculture, the thing I love so much, the impact I can have on improving our climate, our people’s safety, it just clicked and definitely just haven’t looked back.
Maureen: Wow. You both refer to this concept of farmers at the center of the food system. What does that mean to you?
Taylor: That’s a great question. I really believe that no one gets into farming to pollute the water, poison their family, right? Or produce something that’s not safe or edible to eat.
I think if you were somebody who’s working the land, especially third-, fourth-generation farmers, you were just committed to growing land, growing things, cultivating a community, right? Investing in what you do in that physical space.
I think there was a couple of decades of just really demonizing all agriculture. And we know this, right? And people listening to your podcasts know the nuances of there’s good, there’s bad, and there’s some gray, right? There’s a lot of “better”.
And so I think in sort of my work, my sort of excitement, what I like to learn about is just farmers who are the ones preaching, hey, this is actually how we use cover crops here. We had a till this year partially because of this reason if we didn’t or hey, you know, I was certified organic on cherries for 10 years, but then I had a year where I had to decide that it was either my full harvest, right, where I make no money or I lose that.
I feel like when you have conversations with farmers who are working the land, who understand the nuances of making ends meet, providing good, healthy, safe food, when you ask them what products they have to sell, when you ask them how to get them more money in their pockets to keep investing in their farm, that’s putting them at the center.
And we really think our purpose is to have those conversations, find the product, and then find a place to sell it. And if we can grow that, yes. Maddy, anything else on that?
Maddy: I think the food system is complicated, right? And it’s like this big amorphous thing. We’re all eaters. We grocery shop, whether it’s at a big grocery store, a tiny store, a farmer’s market, something in between.
One in three people in the US work somewhere in the food system, which could be at a restaurant, could be at a grocery store, could be a trucker, moving food. And there’s so many ways to look at this.
But for us, we’ve been really deep in this farm to table retail and restaurant world. Like that’s our ghost. And again, we love our ghosts. We’re super happy with them. They’ve taught us so much and have led us here. We’re proud of our ghosts.
But so much of that is about how do we build a food system that continues to support the ones that are actually making it continue to move, which is the farmers, right? The folks working the land. And there’s so many ways to improve and make our food system better.
And a lot of times, folks don’t think about or listen to the farmers who really have a lot of the solutions. And so I think when we talk about putting farmers at the center of beverage now, we’ve sort of made a jump from the food space to the beverage space, even though it’s food and bev, and the beverage space is missing the farmer.
It’s a really massive industry that is still based on agricultural products, right? Every drink you drink comes from some agricultural product, and yet the farmer hasn’t been talked about here.
And so for us, we’re really taking what we’ve been learning and preaching and being preached to about, listening to farmers and solving the problems that they have solutions for through all of these market adjustments and actually putting them in the beverage industry now at the center.
Maureen: Yes, and I think that the exception to that really is like beer, straight up beer and wine, right? Where there is that more direct connection, but anything else, you’re absolutely right. There’s that ambiguity of the loss of the story. And just as a note, you said something else, Taylor, about the idea of like the farmer’s approach to sustainability and doing the right thing. And that sometimes that might mean that it’s not exactly the same every year.
So we had a guest on the podcast, I think maybe last season, who was doing biodiversity in the vineyard for his winery. And so he’s like, it’s not fully regenerative across the whole farm. I tried one vineyard first and then that one worked and it felt trustworthy. So I went to another one, but we’re not totally across the board.
And so how did you decide that regenerative, because you have the first regenerative organic gin and vodka. How did you decide that regenerative was what felt right for you? Because that’s such a problematic, I shouldn’t say problematic, challenging way for farmers to grow with that certification specifically.
Taylor: You nailed it, right? I think for us, the base of everything we do is certified organic, right? So when you think about sort of standard agricultural systems, right, you have conventional systems, you have sort of like moving along, you have maybe sort of sustainable, right, or minimal chemical use or low pesticide use, you then have certified organic.
And then for us, sort of the gold standard of organic system management is regenerative organic. And we found our way to the ROA, or the Regenerative Organic Alliance, really through organic systems. And for us, that’s, you know, no GMOs or synthetic pesticides, right? Or fertilizers, right?
Really thoughtful crop rotation programming, really thoughtful cover cropping, really thoughtful animal integration. Everything we sort of read and focused on was that regenerative organic is a set of principles that when done right and are for what your landscape is, right? Improved biodiversity, improved water, water sequestration, right? Result in soil that is just fundamentally healthier for the land and for us.
And the science is very clear that when soil is healthy and not deprived, right, like any living sort of being, right, it thrives. And when soil thrives, it just means it holds carbon. It acts as a carbon sink.
A lot of the work done by some of the leading sort of, know, Rodale Institute, right, and some of these science -based agriculture investors, researchers, really just have doubled down on regenerative organic.
There are some folks out there who are really focused on regenerative principles, but are still in conventional systems. It’s really tough, Spraying pesticides, but then also focusing on some other regenerative systems is better. It’s not the best. And for us, right, we have a single ingredient spirit. We use 100% wheat.
it is easier for us as a single ingredient product to get that certification. We recognize that. But we really landed on the Regenerative Organic Alliance just because we think the work that they are building around consumer awareness, right, to expand organic, right? The pie, it’s about making the pie bigger, right? Not saying, not sort of stifling it off. And we’re big believers of organic as well. And so, to say everything we do is additive, which is what we focused on.
Maureen: And so Maddy, can you speak to how Anytime got partnered with the DeLong Company to source the regenerative wheat?
Maddy: Yes, mean, there’s a couple ways to parse this question, but we met with the Regenerative Organic Alliance specifically, pretty much when we started our business.
We identified that this was where we wanted to go and there was a white space. We actually reached out to the Regenerative Organic Alliance saying, hey, do you guys have spirits? We don’t see one in the market.
We started conversing with them around the certification process because there had not been a certification for spirits that were regenerative organic. And so we actually helped them write those standards in place so that we could build out this category.
When we began sort of in those conversations, that’s how we met with Breathe Deep Farm, who’s our regenerative organic farm. They are in Hudson, New York, and they grow our warthog wheat that we harvest, and then stone ground mill and distill.
There is sort of that trajectory of how we sort of got into that farm and, you know, how we began sort of our regenerative organic process. But I’ll let Taylor sort of talk about how we found the DeLong Company because it’s slightly separate.
Taylor: Yes, they found us. That team is wonderful and they are really focused on solidifying the USDA definition of climate smart.
Obviously, a lot of regenerative work is climate smart. And then there’s that crossover for better for worse. That language is hopefully going to become very sort of uniform with regenerative.
Obviously, having the USDA back this is huge and putting money behind it is what farmers are asking for. Right? Especially farmers who are saying, Hey, I’ve been doing windbreaks for the last decade. You’re telling me now I can make 20 bucks an acre on that. That’s huge.
So they reached out to us and said, Hey, we’re looking to diversify some of the brands we work with onboard new farms. And we really just hit it off right.
We focused on regenerative organic, right? This is our commitment in terms of certification, audit, all of it. And you know, they said we want brands that represent a wide range of some of the products we can grow in the US, right? And then sort of make more value add from.
And we’re really excited because we’re at a point, right, where the consumer has a lot of information and we’re putting our sort of back behind regenerative organic and and grow smart to be the legacy labels.
We’re not saying that every consumer knows what these are today, but we know that over the next five, 10, 15 years, if we can take what is right now, which is just one percent of all alcohol sold in the U.S. is certified organic, take that to two, three, four.
We are transforming farmland then, right? If that’s what we can do. So we’ve loved working with them just because we know their connection to the larger USDA landscape, money, investment, that’s huge for a lot of folks.
Maureen: Really it’s all about the big puzzle pieces that are made up of the little puzzle pieces, right? That all goes into moving this forward and exactly like you said, increasing consumer awareness about what this means, right?
Because the three of us and our listeners generally know what we’re talking about when we talk about the complexity of our food systems and what it means to grow regeneratively and well, isn’t that just something different. It’s not that easy.
Taylor: Exactly.
Maureen: You know, so the more education that can be available, and I think that labels on bottles make a difference, bottles and, you know, food CPG as well, because it starts to build curiosity every time somebody sees a new label. let me, let me learn more about that. And the retailers can also kind of drive the bus on some of it as well. Yes.
Taylor: I don’t think there’s been a better time to introduce some of these things to consumers who were especially younger consumers who were so deeply passionate about climate change and thoughtful purchasing. It’s just right.
It’s like slowly, slowly building all the little puzzle pieces where, you know, if we were to have this conversation 10 years from now, I think the average consumer’s understanding is just going to be beyond what we could have imagined.
Maureen: I totally agree, I totally agree. So what’s been, you launched, when did you first launch into the market? Like when did your first product become available?
Maddy: So we launched our first product, which is our Anytime Spritz farm-to-can cocktails in May of 2023. And those utilize our organic vodka, all real fruits and herbs. And they’re just a really delightful, lovely canned cocktail, 5% ABV.
We call them our farm-to-cans because they’re just fresh ingredients that are light and herbaceous and lovely.
And then later November of 2023, we launched our Farmhouse Spirits. And those are our regenerative organic vodka and gin. So they came out, you know, doing live math, but you know, months later, but all in the same year.
We’re the crazy folks that launched a brand and launched two product lines within 12 months. But it was really important to us to sort of continue to build the narrative and build the portfolio of products that all fall into this.
I think sort of speaking to this messy gray or this messy middle or like getting better across the board. Like for us, it was, we don’t need to have one thing. We can have a variety of products that all fit into where consumers are and what they’re drinking.
Some folks only drink our spirits and don’t drink our canned cocktails, or some folks only drink canned cocktails and don’t drink spirits. Some, you know, of course our spirits do great in restaurants and bars. Canned cocktails do so much better sort of an at home retail purchase to take to a party, to bring home.
And so for us, it’s really about just building that variety of our portfolio that all sort of fits into this climate smart growing practices and continues to build organic farmland.
Maureen: So what has been as you launched these, I would call it three skews, but I’m sure it’s more than three because you have multiple cans, but three product lines call it. What’s been one of the toughest parts about scaling?
Taylor: The alcohol industry is organized by a system called the three tier system, right, which is either tier one, which is a supplier or producer, tier two, which is a distributor, and tier three, which is a retailer restaurant, someone selling it to the final consumer.
Every country in the world has built out laws and compliance around alcohol that in some ways feels way more modernized and advanced than what we still do, which hasn’t changed since prohibition.
But we can only sell to distributors, you can only sell to retailers. And when you think about scaling, right, like a lot of the sort of celebrated, super sustainable, super organic brands of the past couple years, right, have scaled a lot D2C, direct to consumer, and then found their way into wholesale.
We can’t really do that, right? And so it’s very interesting, like we’re laser focused on what we actually can do. We can only take on like state by state at a time pretty much, right? We can only ship into certain states.
That has really made us focus more, but it’s also hard when we look to some of our peers and sustainable products, right? And their ability to sell and get in front of customers, reduce the complexities of compliance are just so much easier.
That is also clear to us why then people don’t do this, right? It’s so interesting. We had a friend who was in the wine space and when we told her we were starting this, she was like, just don’t. Do anything else that is not about alcohol compliance. And we were like, what do you mean? How bad can it be?
Now, we were like, okay, it can actually be that bad. But it’s hard, right? We live in a world where you start a brand; the beauty of today’s life is you could just make a website and sell to anyone.
What we quickly learned is that you need the distributor and the distributor is selective and they actually don’t want to take on a lot and just like thing after thing. So it’s that I think will be both our sort of ability to focus just in terms of growth, but also has just been a really challenging thing to navigate because your average consumer just doesn’t really sort of understand how nuanced it is.
Maddy: We always joke internally that we’re just doing the really hard thing. And there’s a reason no one else has done this or isn’t doing this as fruitfully. There’s so few of us trying to do this in this space.
And we hold hands really tightly with those folks, because we’re all trying to grow the pie together. But it’s a reminder of why we’re doing this, because there’s a reason these are all the blockades of why only 1% of alcohol is organic.
And there is so much potential and growth, but the folks that have made it or sort of control this industry, you know, they do the same thing over and over and over. And what we’re doing looks like massive disruption because we’re rethinking what the supply chain looks like, which to us doesn’t seem crazy. It seems so normal and so obvious, but all of these blockades really.
They do make it challenging to scale, but it’s a reminder of like, there’s a reason that consumers want this and the options just aren’t there. And like, we have to keep building this, but it is hysterically challenging.
Maureen: I interviewed Bluebird Hardwater on the podcast at one point. And the big challenge that they were facing was canning water is something that you can’t do or previously couldn’t do.
It was very difficult to put water in a can. And you, when you think about that, right? Think about sparkling water. You think about everything that comes in a can and you realize, there really isn’t a water. It always has something else in it.
That was his big challenge. It just reveals why sometimes where innovation is able to happen is when there is a realization. There is an opportunity here because there’s actually a big hole in the manufacturing capability or in supply chain sourcing.
All of those things I think are one of the reasons why it’s ripe for innovation, but the fact that you are charting your own course here, like you said, hopefully it is something that has a big payoff later because you’re trailblazing through this new space.
Taylor: That’s so funny about canning water just because we’ve run into similar sort of operational learnings where in doing research with Ball and others, like our product isn’t filled with heavy simple syrup or sugar. And so when you’re filling it, there’s just not enough weight on the counter pressure to like, and I imagine the hard water guys had very similar thoughts, like why is this so hard to put water in a can?
And then there you are on a production floor and you’re like, I’ve never felt dumber in my life. You’re just asking yourself why?
Maureen: Yes. And also, you know, on that show, on that episode, we were talking a lot about Liquid Death. And one of the reasons why that was so innovative was because it had just never been done before. Well, it had never been done before because there literally wasn’t equipment and capability in the United States. And so they were sourcing it from overseas for a long time. You know, I think just in very recent years, they were looking to start manufacturing in the U.S., which is wild.
But that’s a story for another day.
Brands are often asking me about the best way to spend early marketing dollars in those early days of launching and scaling a brand. And it’s so different for everyone. Depending on what they’re trying to do, and the target customer that they’re trying to reach. What has worked well for you in terms of your marketing efforts?
Maddy: It’s so funny that we were just having this conversation this morning because we’re at a little bit of a pivotal change moment. But I’ll say that, you know, for our first year in business, we were really, really, really hyper focused on meeting our customers in person where they were shopping.
A lot of this has to do with, as Taylor mentioned, like we aren’t a real D2C brand. We have only really launched in retail and have expanded to bars and restaurants and sort of the o-premise world. Specifically with retail or where customers buy alcohol when they’re buying their dinner. Or when they’re going out to a friend’s house and when they’re going into the world.
This is not a bulk stock up purchase. It’s not like, I buy my coffee in five pound bags because I’m consistent and it’s every morning. Alcohol is not the same way. It is much more of a treat, something you’re thinking about when you’re eating that meal and you want to have something paired with it.
And so we really focused on the in-person experience, demos. We did hundreds of tastings last year, really just engaging with customers and speaking with them and learning what they were thinking and getting their real interactions and feedback and also sharing our story.
That was invaluable. And I actually think we had listened to the Stonyfield founder on a podcast talk about this, even 10 years in, they were still doing demos because it’s such an important engagement and interaction, especially in a digital world where we’re all inundated with so much digital marketing and it’s so easy to swipe away from it and not actually get the meat of it.
So for the first year, that’s what we did. We’re at this very fun pivotal moment right now where we’re expanding quite greatly into retail. We just expanded into Whole Foods, New Jersey.
And we’ve got some other fun launches coming up with our regenerative organic spirits. And so we’re at this moment of how do we reach as many customers as possible while keeping that same purity and depth of conversation that we’re able to have when it’s one-on-one.
I think what we’ve learned and continue to hyper-focus on is what’s genuine to our brand and what shares our values and how do we find customers that have that same value set.
We’re really in this interesting space of building a regenerative organic alcohol brand when there isn’t even organic alcohol. Folks haven’t made that connection of, I’m shopping at the farmer’s market or I’m being so thoughtful about where I buy my skincare, my pet food, my baby food, and I haven’t thought about it in the alcohol aisle.
And so it’s that aha moment that really clicks for folks with us. And so figuring out how to have that aha moment over and over and over again is where we’re excited to sort of build our marketing efforts.
Maureen: I love that. It kind of reminds me of the early days of Oatly, right? Where they went in through the coffee shops. That was their focus, you know?
So for Anytime, especially that farmers market angle, I mean, in a perfect world with an endless budget and resources, right? Which don’t we all wish? It would be very cool for there to be an Anytime table at key farmers markets throughout the country, right? Because you’re so right. That is where your customer is, that informed audience.
Taylor: You’re in our brain.
Maureen: Tell me about a high point and a low point from your time at Anytime.
Maddy: My gosh, what a hard hitting question. It’s so funny. It’s so hard to think of it only because we really try to celebrate every tiny win.
I think starting a business is so challenging and it is so hard. We come from pretty successful high growth midsize companies that we’ve really watched scale from small to mid or small to large.
To build it from the ground up by yourself, as you know or other founders know, you feel every single step. And so I think we’re really good at just making sure we’re celebrating every small win.
But I think the first orders we got, those were just like, my gosh, we did it. We made a product and we’re putting it into the market. But I think continuing to get customer feedback from folks that buy it and just send photos just unprompted, like that is so heartwarming.
We really built this because we wanted this. And we couldn’t find it in the market, but it really is resonating with other customers. That’s my high. But Taylor, what’s yours?
Taylor: The random texts that you just get, right? When you’re knee deep and trying to understand why the cash is never coming in fast enough. And you’re like, we took this to a party or, hey, I’m just at a party and someone has this and I love that.
Also, people are really supportive. The amount of people telling us, if you need anything, right? Like just that general vibe.
I think that the hardest thing is truly, and I’m sure everyone feels this, but just not comparing ourselves to other brands. Post-COVID, post what the current macro financial climate is right now, no one can do this the same. It’s very different and there’s no one size fits all. And 10 years ago, it was just about fundraising as much money as you can and spending as much money as you can.
I think one of the things that I just struggle with is making sure we’re growing at a pace that works for the Anytime business in future versus being like, other brands did this much faster, but then I have to remember, okay, but that’s because they had this other thing and don’t compare yourself to other brands.
Maureen: I think I know we just mentioned Liquid Death. Like that’s one that I, you know, I speak frequently with students at Cornell University and other institutions. And I use that as a case study because they’re hoping to be profitable in 2024. It’s a billion dollar company that has brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars in investment, but is not profitable, right? So I am always talking about, what is the kind of business that you want to build?
And so that’s a great approach is how do I sort of throttle, right? Slow and steady growth that feels right for us, but also velocity at the same time. And it’s kind of when you’re learning to drive, and you’ve got the pedal on the gas and on the brake and you’re trying to make it down the road.
Taylor: I feel like there’s been a really nice turnaround. That steady, thoughtful growth is good, right? I don’t know how another business could do what Liquid Death is doing in today’s environment. It just seems unbelievable to imagine, right? That hopefully it will be profitable this year as a $1 billion business, but you’re like, probably not. Right? Like we’ll probably take another couple of years.
Maddy: And you’re supposed to need it.
Maureen: I think that VC investors in particular have just become so wise in knowing what good business looks like. And, you know, I think there will always be VCs out there that want to take a chance on something. And that’s what the VC world is all about, right?
But yes, it’s, what are you building? And I believe in what the way that you two are going about it and let’s make sure that we’re doing this right. And when you think about that too, that also gives that respect back to the farmer, right? “I want to make sure that we’re continuing to grow this brand so that we can continue to buy your wheat and support your farmland and your community.”
You guys mentioned when you were talking about why you wanted to partner with farmers and why that was so important to you with the farmer at the center of the food system is because they are doing so much more than just growing food.
They’re creating jobs in communities. They’re supporting the local sports teams. They’re shepherds of the land and the community in so many ways, and that is critical.
Taylor: Absolutely.
Maureen: How has the anti-alcohol movement impacted Anytime?
Maddy: I was going to say, luckily it hasn’t. And I think because what we’re doing is different in the alcohol space. We’re really big believers in thoughtful, integrity forward, flavor forward cocktails.
And for us, that’s not about overindulgence, which is a lot of the anti -alcohol movement. It’s a combating of that overindulgence and that’s sort of like too much. And so for us, it’s about less is more, high quality, premium ingredients that just allow you to enjoy the flavor, you know, very similar to how we think about food.
If you use real ingredients, you don’t need that much and it can just be about the flavor and what you’re actually consuming. But also I think Gen Z is really big on this “damp” lifestyle. It’s not no and not hard, yes. It’s sort of this in between.
That to us really speaks to this similar idea of – indulge in what tastes great and is a delight but doesn’t require too much.
Maureen: If you’re going to choose alcohol, then make sure it’s an intentional choice.
Yes. I think that’s a great way to think about it. I like to ask that question to anybody who’s in the alcohol space, just because it is something that has been all across my TikTok feed. Especially the last couple of years and make no mistake, I’m very pro all of this stuff, but I think that you’re right.
It’s responding to the consumer trends in a way that is still aligned with values. And so that damp lifestyle, like you mentioned, I think is a great way to explain it. And so choices are going to be made more intentionally and it’s not just kind of grabbing for the bottom of the barrel. It’s seeking what feels right.
What’s the last question for you? And then I’ll let you guys go.
What’s next for the brand?
Taylor: My gosh, we have some other really big retail launches happening this year that we’re excited about. And then we partnered with another farm in Montana, actually, who got ROC certified, regenerative organic certified, with Anytime support. And so we have some other let’s just say darker spirits on the way with some other really amazing grains that we’re pretty excited about.
Maureen: I love that. I am a brown liquor fan. So I will run to the shelves. Yes. Very awesome.
This was fascinating. Thank you both so much for your time. It’s wonderful to be able to hear your story and share it with today’s listeners, especially for the topic of regenerative, which is something I’m really passionate about. can feel the passion from you. And I know that it’s a big area of interest for our listeners. So thanks for joining me. Wishing you all the best.