Jennifer Newman didn’t plan to become a founder. Let alone one whose companies would all be acquired. Her career began far from craft beer and entrepreneurial exits, rooted instead in African American history and civil rights. But in a recent conversation with Maureen Ballatori on the Spilled Salt podcast, Newman offered a grounded look at the path from liberal arts grad to C-suite advisor.
Lessons In Building Both Tech And Beverage Businesses From Scratch
Newman grew up in Rochester, New York, and after earning her degree from The College of Wooster, landed her first job at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). It wasn’t a predictable leap from her studies, but her internship in a university computer center helped her bridge that gap.
Newman likened her time at PwC to a mini-MBA, where she worked on large enterprise resource planning (ERP) rollouts for utility companies. The work taught her how to navigate systems and complexity—a skill that would underpin the rest of her career.
From PwC, she moved to Scholastic in New York City, before her husband pitched an idea: quit your job and help launch a software company. Newman’s initial reaction: “You’re crazy.” But she said yes. And six months later, they had sold the company to ISS, a publicly traded security firm.
From Startup to Exit and Back Again
That experience sparked a repeatable rhythm. Over the next decade, Newman co-founded two more tech companies, including Application Security, which scaled to more than 150 employees and was later acquired by Trustwave. Another venture, early social media monitoring software, was acquired by a UK firm.
Then came a shift.
In 2015, Newman co-founded Young Lion Brewing Company, located on the shore of Canandaigua Lake in upstate New York. The idea was different from her earlier ventures in every way: a consumer product, a capital-intensive business, and thinner margins than software. But the thread was the same. Build something smart, and build it well.
Building a Team of Subject Matter Experts
Newman relied heavily on hiring strong talent from day one. “I tried to make beer, and it was the most disgusting thing you’ve ever had,” she joked. Knowing she needed expertise she didn’t have, she conducted a national search for a head brewer and taproom manager. That humility, matched with clear operational leadership, set the company up for early success.
Young Lion opened in 2017, during a period of steep growth in the craft beer industry. But Newman said she always kept a close eye on broader trends. “At one point, a brewery was opening every 10.7 hours in the U.S.,” she said. The scene was booming, and Young Lion grew quickly.
Facing Plateaus in Growth and Data in Decision Making
Still, the pandemic marked a turning point. Growth slowed, and national data showed a shift: beer consumption was leveling off or declining, especially among Gen Z. Newman began to see “headwinds” and took them seriously.
By 2024, she made the decision to sell both the brewery facility and the Young Lion brand. In reviewing the data, Jen believes the brewery could handle the storms ahead, but not at the cost of her team’s well-being. “[It’s the] leader’s responsibility to take care of that culture and to take care of your employees.”
Her approach was deeply analytical but also personal. She cited long hours, industry saturation, and shifting consumer preferences, including growing interest in ready-to-drink (RTD) beverages and cannabis as factors in her decision.
“The ones that make it out the other side will be stronger,” she said of the beer industry. “But I think it’s going to take a few years.” Newman believes the industry will see a correction, not a collapse.
Newman emphasized the importance of understanding your own data as well as industry trends. In her view, the future of beverage is about flexibility, thoughtful consolidation, and quality over quantity.
Operational Excellence Begins with a Team That Believes
And for founders, she had a clear message: people need to believe in the mission. “Buy-in from your employees is the most critical piece of doing a startup.”
Now consulting as a C-suite advisor, Newman is selective about her next steps. She’s not rushing. After four companies and a nearly decade-long run in beer, she’s taking time to consider what comes next.
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 guest is Jennifer Newman. She is just a remarkable and brilliant jack of all trades. She’s an expert in change management, enterprise resource planning and growth strategy. And she’s currently consulting as a C-Suite Advisor.
What makes Jen qualified to do that is her background as a founder of four companies that all four of them have been acquired. So that’s a big deal.
The first three companies were software and then Jen moved to beer. She was the co-founder and CEO of Young Lion Brewing Company in upstate New York from 2015 to 2024.
In today’s conversation, we’ll talk about what it takes to start and scale a company of any kind, but we put special focus on the Brewery because this is an agriculture podcast.
And we talk about how important it is to forecast out for the future, to consider and apply critical data like sales insights and consumer trends to your business. Enjoy the conversation.
Hey, Jen, how are you? Thanks so much for joining me for this. I’m really excited to tell your story.
Jennifer Newman: Hey Maureen, good to see you. I’m excited to see you and chat with you.
Maureen: Thank you. So I always love to start with your background. So where did you grow up? Where’d you go to school? Start me from the beginning.
Jen: Right, born and raised in Rochester, New York in the city. Yes, and then ended up at the College of Wooster in Ohio and then came back, you know, immediately got a job out of school at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). So I was traveling all over the country for that gig.
Maureen: And what made you want to go to Wooster in Ohio?
Jen: Wooster in Ohio. So it’s a small school. I actually went to East High School in the city. So Wooster was actually even smaller than my high school.
But really it’s just an incredibly welcoming and accepting environment. It has extremely strong academics and it is a true liberal arts school, which they don’t have as many right now.
Now I think, you know, colleges are more focused on exactly what your career is to be, but the school at the time, way back in the day, really focused on, let’s find out what you’re passionate about and let you explore that.
Maureen: And so when you went in, what did you think you were going to go out with? Like when you went in, did you think you were going to end up with XYZ job and you ended up with like a very different role?
Jen: Yes, I went in thinking I was actually going to be a lawyer. For some reason, that really appealed to me and politics and civil rights appeal to me.
So East High is in the city. And as a white person, I was actually in the minority at the school. So when I got to Wooster and suddenly I was in the majority at that school, it felt very foreign to me and I missed black culture.
So I actually ended up with a degree in African American history just because that’s what I missed and that’s what I loved. And I was trying to figure all that out. My thesis was actually on the freedom rights and the civil rights movement.
Leaving college, even less of a clue what it was that I was going to do. Because what was I going to do with an African American history degree?
Maureen: Interesting.
Jen: Other than, you know, I mean, there are obviously a few things like teaching, but I wouldn’t have traded both experiences for anything in the world. I think that a strong sense of inclusion and civil rights is important.
Maureen: Right. Yes. So you landed at PWC and what were you doing there and what in your studies having gone for African-American history led PWC to say, Jen Newman, she’s our gal.
Jen: You know what, it really was, well, I was lucky enough that I did have some connections there. So that got my foot in the door. And then, yes, it really just was a good, we just, we connected, I think analytically.
I had been doing an internship, you know, in the computer center. And the great thing about PwC is they really accept diverse group of individuals as far as you know there were math majors there were history majors so they they really appreciate sort of different ways of thinking and they put you through training that was essentially like a mini NBA and so I was implementing ERP packages which are very large technology packages for every facet of a company for large utility groups.
Did MISCON, which was in Michigan. I did South Carolina Electric and Gas, I did Cleveland, New York Water Board, multi-year projects all over the country. [It was] 100% travel, fly out on Monday, work like crazy and then come back on Friday. So tough way to live, but an incredible experience. And what I learned there was really priceless.
Maureen: Wow. Well, and it sounds like, you know, for your, like you said, your background, your upbringing, your frame of reference being really diverse, focused and inclusive and to land somewhere where you said they really embrace different ways of thinking, it feels like that’s a natural trend line of you landed in a place that really aligned with your values.
Jen: You know, I never thought of it that way Maureen, but you’re absolutely right. Yes, I know. It was a great fit. And if you don’t find a company that has that great fit, it’s never going to work out, right?
Maureen: Yes, I couldn’t agree more. So how long were you there? What happened next?
Jen: I was there for about four to five years and then decided that 100% travel was tough.
I was currently living in New York City, so I got a job working for Scholastic, the Big Red Dog, Harry Potter publishing company in Soho, a great location. And I essentially just went in-house with what I was doing at PwC. I was implementing a large ERP package for them at the time. It was called PeopleSoft. It’s now Oracle Financials.
I did that for them for a couple of years. And then, you know, my husband came home and said, I quit my job, we’re going to start a company. I said, you’re crazy. Like what? No.
Born and raised, my family’s a Kodak family. It’s like you have one job, you don’t start your own company. So he came home and said that and I was like, okay, well, I’ll support you. You know, we just bought an apartment there. We have a mortgage, you know, young kids.
So I’m still going to Scholastic and then I come home a couple months later and he goes, I want you to quit your job. With your background in training and operations from PwC. I want you to run a sequel server security software. It was the first one in the world and so I once again said, you’re crazy! What? No we can’t do this! We need to have salaries and benefits
But I did, I listened to him, so I quit. And yes, the tech bubble hadn’t burst yet. Within six months, we had sold it to a publicly traded company called ISS down in Atlanta. So it was a great experience. But it was definitely a baptism by fire into getting into being an entrepreneur. It was a quick adjustment psychologically to make that pivot.
Maureen: Wow. Yes. Well, and so what was the lifetime of the company when you and your husband were working on it before it was acquired? The whole company?
Jen: Six months and four days into revenue. First customers within four days were Swiss Bank, the NSA. Because no one had this security software.
Security software wasn’t even really talked about. So yes, when there was a big article on us in SQL Server Magazine, which was seven pages long or whatever it is, it’s a tiny little publication, but everyone got it that had SQL Server, which is a Microsoft, the original Microsoft database.
Then four days into revenue, we had a letter of intent (LOI) and we followed up on it and moved to Atlanta for the integration with ISS.
Maureen: Wow, that is wild. And you had kids at the time too?
Jen: No, I did not. My daughter was born in Atlanta.
Maureen: Okay, gotcha. Wow, amazing.
This is the start of what you talked about, how you said, I don’t do this, my family works at Kodak, you stay there 40 years, right? But this was the tip of the iceberg for you. You have founded and had four businesses acquired and that is absolutely incredible.
So talk about, after this one, what happened next. And then I want to ask you some probing questions about what you think it takes to found a business to scale it to acquisition.
Jen: Right. So usually there’s a requirement for about 15 months to integrate when you’re acquired. Usually the company wants you to come along.
I didn’t want to put all of my eggs in one basket. So I went to work for a great company called Cox Communications down in Atlanta while my husband went on board with ISS to fulfill the 15 month requirement.
And then as soon as that was done, we moved back to New York City to start a company called Application Security. And that was a suite of software products. At this point in time, software security was getting, the need for it was more prevalent.
The tech bubble hadn’t burst yet, so it also grew pretty quickly. So once again, I handled the operation side of that. So he’s brilliant at creating the product. And I, with my PwC background and my HR background, was able to handle everything that needed to be done from legal to trademarking to hiring to firing facilities.
So yes, so application security, it ended up growing to about 150 people over 12 years. We exited, we didn’t exit, but we moved back to Rochester when there were about 50 to 60 people. And that’s where my second child was born in New York.
Yes, but at that point in time, venture capital was involved and it’s a little more challenging to manage a large company and what are the financial expectations when venture capital (VC) is involved.
While we were still stakeholders, we moved back to Rochester. My husband said, where can we move where there’s a great cost of living and a great place to raise the kids? And I said, let’s go back to Rochester. We have a support system there. No better labor force. And with RIT and U of R, would be technology students coming out that we could employ.
Maureen: Yes, fantastic. And so then that you ended up exiting that company as well and selling the rest of it to VC or private equity (PE).
Jen: That exited sort of on its own with us sort of being at arm’s length from that after about 12 years to a company called Trustwave. Then, we started a company, we moved to Rochester and he said, social media, it’s going to be big. And I said, you’re crazy. It’s going nowhere. It is people talking about their cats on blogs.
Maureen: Got it.
Jen: There’s no way to monetize it. It’s never going anywhere. He said, no, no, we should create a social media monitoring software so that PR firms can see, and marketing firms can see how their campaigns are doing and we’ll do wonderful reports around it.
I was like, fine. You know what? Okay. So this is the third time around. And sure enough, he’s brilliant. And it was a hit. And that one operated for about three years and it was purchased by a company called Ulterior out of the UK.
Maureen: Wow. And so then the fourth one was Young Lion, right?
Okay, so before we go to Young Lion, I want to kind of put that on a shelf, which is funny I’m saying that, because you have a giant shelf of Young Lion behind you in our video here.
So not only is there a trend of you telling your husband he’s crazy because he wants to start these things, which I absolutely love, but also there’s an ideation component, right?
I just think this thing could work. And then you guys sort of work on it together and then choose what is the thing that you’re going to actually launch and do and run with it.
Talk about that a little bit, right? Like, especially in the social media example, you talked about that there was a realization that this is going to be a need. I sort of see the future in this idea of this is going to be something that’s going to be needed by people. But there were probably a million of those ideas, right? Of like various things that you could do, right? Or no?
Jen: Right. That’s really the tough part. He’s now my ex-husband, by the way. But when I see him do presentations on how did you know what that niche was, he never quite answers it.
And that is really… That’s really a skill. There were things that we did try that didn’t work and you need to figure that out very quickly and pivot.
But finding that, and we’ll talk about it in a few minutes, but you know, when I started Young Lion, it was very different from software and very different philosophy.
The philosophy for the software companies was always to exit them and was to always try to sell them, to monetize that.
Young Lion, a much tougher market than software. Margins are much smaller. Both require a large capital investment, but software, the business model, you make it once and you can resell it as many times as you want.
Beer, completely different. And also in the retail space instead of business to business (B2B). I guess you could say beer has a little bit of B2B, but for the most part, it’s retail. So really landing on that, what is it that you What you want to do needs to have a lot of thought.
And you need to decide if it’s something that you really love or is it something that you’re driven for because you have a business structure that you want to implement. Did that answer your question?
Maureen:
Yes, I think it does. And when you think about your role in operations at each of those companies and what was the measure of success or what was like the thing that you knew that needed to happen in order to get to the end result being to exit, what are some of the things that you knew needed to be in place?
Jen: You needed to keep expenses low, right? You needed to quality because you know, you’re for software, you’re working through the night a lot of the times to get a push of a version out.
People needed to get along. They needed to do and people that were part of the mission. So I will say that all four of the companies buy in for the mission with a company that size is critical.
We were working on folding tables and, you know, had extension cords. It was not a fancy office that we were working in and the brewery to some degree, a little bit of the same thing. So buy-in from your employees is the most critical piece of doing a startup. I bet you find the same thing.
Maureen: Yes. I think it’s in any company really, when you boil it down, it’s all about the people.
It’s about the people that are on your team. It’s about the people that you choose to work with.
It’s about the partnerships that you make. All the way from like one of the things I’m observing now in food bev ag that’s happening, I think more than it ever has is PE is stepping into agriculture ventures. I think more than ever, more than I’ve ever seen before. and they’re ruining it.
Like they’re stripping because their goal is they want to see an agriculture venture on paper more like a software company, right? That has really low expenses and things like that.
But when you take the heart out of it, it just doesn’t work sometimes. And so sometimes that’s what the PE firms want to do.
And I’m vastly generalizing, right? But they’re not all evil. But I think most of them are evil, you know, where they come in and they just strip out the heart of a and soul of an organization. And it’s so hard for them to continue to thrive.
And sometimes they know, the PE doesn’t care. They just want to get their investment back. They don’t care if the doors close, you know, and onward. But it’s about the people that are there every day doing the work and, now, and the customers and clients that are coming to the table for that relationship.
While I think a lot of times founders and owners try to put that responsibility of a quality culture on their employees to be nice and to be team members, at the end of the day, the culture is truly the responsibility of the leader. If you don’t create that environment where that can happen and you can have that quality culture, it’s really back on you.
Necessity is a part of it and all of that. And PE doesn’t care.
So after those three startups, you then went to beer. And so I know you’ve got this background as an ops person and a business analyst, and I know that there is a through line to Young Lion Brewing. I just know you as the beer queen. And so talk a little bit about that transition into beer from software.
Jen: I was getting divorced and I reached a moment where I could do whatever it was that I really wanted to do. And I also felt like, okay, this is my time to do something on my own.
I was grateful for the previous companies and I was grateful for that whole experience, but this was a time for me to really step out and to do something that I truly wanted to drive.
And yes, I was lucky enough to fall in with a couple of other individuals that wanted to start Young Lion. And they said, you know, they saw my experience and they said, go, here we go. So you build it and we will support you.
And so I was lucky that, you know, when we started, you know, Young Lion was located right on the shore of Canandaigua Lake across from Kershaw Park. It was at the time, it was just a brownfield at the time. And we built it from the ground up.
Maureen: And tell me about your partners. Like, how did you find each other?
Jen: It really was out of business. One of them, her family had the location that was being built and so they were looking for an anchor and the other one had a background in hospitality and her family was involved with some restaurants. So she wasn’t, but her family was.
They both wanted to go in on this venture, but they were really looking for someone to really just lead it. They have their own lives and they’re really more silent. So I was so incredibly lucky to have them involved. Yes, so it was just a perfect fit.
Maureen: Talk about what, so what year was that?
Jen: That started in 2015 and we opened our doors in 2017. And what I say is, I tried to make beer and it was the most disgusting thing that you’ve ever had. And I say that as a joke because I knew, and I knew this from the previous companies as well, that I needed someone who was an expert in making beer.
So I did a national search. While we’re building the brewery, I did a national search for our first head brewer and our tap room manager, because those were experts that I needed someone on board to help me.
Maureen: Yes, same along the lines of what we just talked about with the success of those software companies and anywhere that you’ve ever worked, the cornerstone of the people, like we just talked about, same idea. And so you knew you needed those people at your side.
What did the industry landscape, particularly in New York, look like at that time? So 2015, 2017.
Jen: Right, so at that time, the New York State Brewers Association was just getting started. Now, beer in general is a fascinating industry. In the 90s, there were 100, I’m not going to get these numbers right, but it was less than 150 breweries. Now we have over 10,000 in the US. So a brewery was opening every 10.7 hours at one point in time in the United States.
At that time there were, I think there were about 5,000 breweries, and please don’t quote me on that, but that seems about right. There were about 5,000 breweries and growth was still happening in the double digits.
There was a line out the door for a lot of these breweries when they would do a release. Like literally people would stand in line for two hours waiting for a new release. People were passionate about it.
It was an industry that was going to continue growing and if we didn’t people would ask me, well, are you going to hit critical capacity in Rochester for breweries as these breweries are all popping up.
My reference point would be you know what Portland has you know, you know close to a hundred breweries in the area. So no, I don’t think so. I think we’re going to be just fine. California and Oregon have way more breweries than we do and we’re behind them So that’s what it looked like at the time when we opened in 2017.
Maureen: And then what were the high points and the low points of that roller coaster over the years?
Jen: Right, the high points were great growth and like everyone was really in love with beer and it was a very sexy industry to be in.
The press was very supportive and the customers were passionate. had the, also the camaraderie in the Rochester area.
We were so lucky to have Genesee here with us during that growth because they really, Genesee Brewery acted like a big brother to all of us where they let us use their testing equipment, know, their big expensive testing equipment that we could never afford just to make sure the beer was dialed into where it needed to be.
We all got together. Genesee hosted a 585 meeting where we all got together and supported each other and hung out. So it was actually very [welcoming], while I was one of the few women in the area at the time that was an owner.
It was like I had all these big brothers that were looking out for me and giving advice which I was so grateful for because like I said this was a big unknown for me. I wasn’t like most of them. They were all brewing beer in their garage and had this great artist inside. I didn’t have any of that so so very [different].
Maureen: Well, and I would argue though that you were probably a big sister to them in ways that they didn’t have expertise in how to run the business.
What do the numbers need to look like? That sort of thing, side of the house, right?
So you didn’t grow up, you know, as a home brewer with the garage brew and you knew how to make really, really great beer, but didn’t know how to run the business, which is true for most breweries that I have encountered.
And for you, it was the opposite. And the ones that I have found that succeeded are the ones that had that understanding of the business because you have to know the numbers in order to know what the business truly looks like. It’s not just a can of beer.
What’s the profitability of that beer? What went into it? Like how much should I spend on marketing that can of beer and all of those things. I suspect. that you were probably a big sister to many of them in that room on the business side.
Jen: I hope so, I certainly hope so because I would love to give back as much as they gave to me. And I do think you’re right, even now, most of my calls that come in are for exactly what you’re talking about. Can you look at this for me? How did you do this? Can I borrow your spreadsheet on getting to my margins and that sort of stuff? So I hope so.
Maureen: Mm-hmm, yes. So ultimately, the Young Lion roller coaster did come to an end. And so talk a little bit about that because that was an intentional decision for you.
Jen: It was. The beer industry has started, alcohol in general has gone down over the past couple of years. And I could see the headwinds coming.
That’s not to say beer is, I mean, let’s be clear, beer is not going anywhere. I think this is a correction. I think that those that come out on the other side will be stronger and I think it will end up being more profitable.
But I think it’s going to take a couple of years to settle down for this correction. And I was just very lucky there was one brewery, the other half, which is a national brewery that I was close with.
Once again, these great relationships are a big reason why this was possible. You know, they were looking for they had been inquiring about the location for a while and then and then there were certain needs that they needed.
We invested heavily in the equipment that we have and it was equal to what they were using. So that quality of equipment and the layout fit with what they needed. Then yes, so once that was handled, I honestly didn’t think because there were so many brands. That it would be easy to sell the brand.
Distributorship is a big deal when you’re distributing and who your distributor is. So we were very close with a brand that shared the same distributor we did, and so I sold the brand to them for them to keep it going.
Maureen: Yes. so, talk a little bit about what led to that decision. You touched on a little bit by saying that the industry changed a lot over that time.
What did you see when you were looking to the future that made you, I don’t want to say acquiesce to, know, other half’s request to come into that space and the decision to sell the brand, but what was the insight that you saw or the moment that you knew this is time, it’s time to wind this down.
Jen: It’s a tougher industry than say software was.
Anyway, like I said, the margins are small. I mean, I compare it to running a restaurant, running a farm actually, very, very similar.
I would take your advice on how close it is to other CPG companies, but it’s tough and it was a lot of work and I was doing 90 hour weeks. And we were fine. We had stopped growing.
During COVID was probably our last real year of growth. And while others were going down, we were plateauing, but I could see the headwinds with Gen Z and because I was so into the data, right?
I was looking at what was happening nationally. And I found that we were pretty much, at least for us, we are one of the larger ones in New York state as far as capacity. What was, my numbers usually reflected closely with what was happening nationally, even though this area is a little bit behind what happens nationally.
So, yes, I knew that it was, I knew that these headwinds were coming and I knew that Young Lion, to get through it, could we have gotten through this correction?
Yes, I genuinely believe we could have, but I think it would have been going back to what we’re talking about, about being the leader’s responsibility to take care of that culture and to take care of your employees.
I would actually say that that was probably the straw when I said, you know what, this is not going to be the same place to face these headwinds and come out on the other side and. So I just wanted to take that opportunity. Luckily my co-owners, you know, agreed with me.
Maureen: Yes, I love your perspective and your insights on that and your reflection that it is about analyzing the data because that for any business, I can’t tell you how often I’m going to agricultural conferences and food, ebv conferences where I’m talking about how to strategically grow the business. And it starts there.
It starts in, you have to look at the data for your own business and understand where the opportunity for growth is. And what is the short term game you’re playing and what’s the long game that you’re playing?
And you’re absolutely right. Gen Z consumption. Well, alcoholic beverage consumption for the last number of years has been either plateauing in some segments, it’s declining.
Some segments are growing. I think beer and wine have both been steadily declining over the last 10 years and national stats overall.
Whereas (ready to drink beverages) RTDs and spirits have been growing a bit more, but Gen Z is just not drinking alcohol like millennials and other generations did.
And so I think that it’s wise to both have the understanding of what your own data is telling you, and what the industry data is telling you.
And then also just the feeling. Like you mentioned, you were working 90 hours a week, which also means that you’re sending the message to your team. that this is a place where we work 90 hours a week. And that’s just not a healthy lifestyle for yourself or anybody else.
Jen: It is, you’re absolutely right. And I will say, too, that we explored all of those extensions.
We explored and we explored RTD. And just because of the constraints on space or the constraints on capital, we could have done them. Yes, but they would have been a challenging fit for us. So that was another variable that played into, you know, what is the best path for us going forward?
Maureen: Right. Interesting. My favorite Young Lion beer was the Go Low ABV IPA. I used to love it. I lived like 10 or 15 minutes from that tasting room that was in Canandaigua and I would go there with my kids and we’d play a game or go and read books.
And I loved that Go Low ABV option just because it’s, I’ve been declining my consumption over the years as well. And it’s like, it’s nice to be able to have the taste of a good beer without, you know, the ABV content.
Jen: You were ahead of your time. So we did that for the Senior PGA. That was a partnership that we did with the senior PGA when they came into town.
Yes, the golf drinkers were very vocal about this is what we want to continue. We listened, it went away for a little while, but definitely sessionable beers were ahead of your time with that Maureen. You usually are. That’s how I think of you.
Maureen: Oh, thank you! I’ll take that compliment.
So, as we’re winding down here, I’m curious about your overall thoughts on the future of the beverage industry at large.
I think you have a unique perspective, both from your hat as a business analyst and as a person who kind of… sees consumer trends, I think of you as a marketing person too, you know, have that marketing mind. What do you think the future of the beverage industry looks like?
Jen: So I think the beverage industry overall, unless you’re in one of those segments, maybe possibly like RTD, like if you’re High Noon, you’re probably doing pretty well. But look at them, they’ve diversified, right? And that’s one of the reasons why they’re doing very well.
So if you’re in a beverage, I would say, truly explore those extensions and where they fit well. What you can exploit, I think, is opportunities right now. I think that you’re going to see wonderful consolidation going on. And I think that, if done correctly, because there’s challenges.
I know this from being acquired by those other companies. When you’re acquired or there’s consolidation, there are significant challenges there. But if done correctly, I think the resulting beverage companies will be stronger. So I think that that’s going to be a great result.
Jen: And I do think that listening to the market, but I do think also just knowing that we need to get through this downturn, like I said, and alcoholic beverages are not going away.
This is not the end and everyone is not going to be done drinking. It is alive and well. I think that once you come through that, we come through that downturn, I think that there’s going to be a great opportunity for some real growth on the other side. And I think there’ll be, now, through crisis comes ingenuity. So I think that that’s what we’re going to be seeing over the next couple of years.
Maureen: I think you’re absolutely right. And I think that that’s an important message to send as well, that alcohol consumption is not going away.
However, I do think that we’re going to be in this lull for a while. I think it’s going to be a few years. I think it’s going to be more like five or 10 years, personally. I really do.
Because when you look at generations and how people respond and react to generational movements, both from the way that they’re raised and what their parents do and how they emulate or go against that behavior. I think Gen Z is not drinking as much because their parents drank a lot more.
I think the RTDs have also changed that landscape and also where cannabis is coming into the landscape as well as really changing things.
Where we have cannabis beverages coming on the market, that instead of an alcoholic beverage, they’re drinking a cannabis beverage or they’re consuming cannabis in another way.
That is another factor that is really changing the industry. And I truly think that cannabis legalization is on the horizon. And once that happens, that’s going to double down on that segment of the industry.
And there’s going to be curiosity around that, that people are going to go follow that for a while. And then I think that alcohol will come back. stronger than ever and continue to grow.
Jen: The only caveat, well, the only thing that I’d love to hear your opinion on though is when I see trends, because of social media and the way these generations are, seem to, as a very old Gen Xer, the trends seem to happen much faster now than they did.
And I don’t know if that’s a social media influence, I don’t know if it’s because we’re more global, don’t know if it’s because there’s more exposure, I don’t know if it’s because we have shorter attention spans than we used to.
So, I could be totally wrong, but that is one variable that I would love to try to think about with the equation.
The other thing too is that I’m wondering if Gen Z drinks less because they watched millennials lose jobs and have anxiety about being captured on social media and have anxiety around that as well. That’s obviously not going away ever. So that’s another variable like that. Maybe that’s because of that fear of social media. Maybe, maybe this will continue even longer. So I don’t know that either.
Maureen: I think that’s a really interesting thought. I agree with you that I do think social media is making things happen faster because just information is being spread more quickly, but they’re in another vein of why I think it is maybe closer to 10 years than it is closer to five years of a trend is because the other mega trend we’re seeing is health and wellness, where people are really so hyper-focused on what they’re putting into their bodies.
And the story that is being told on social media is that, and across the board, not just social, but like media in general, is that alcohol is toxic and it is poison.
And then again, going back to the rising popularity of cannabis, cannabis is just a plant. That’s the perception.
I’m not a cannabis user. I still drink beer, I still drink spirits. I’m a minimal wine drinker, but I think that’s the overarching voice of Gen Z and we’re all just having a conversation here.
It’s not like we’re putting our stake in the ground, but I think that it’s fun to speculate about where those trends will go. And I think that the perception of Gen Z is that alcohol is poison and cannabis is a natural plant and so I’m going to consume that instead.
Jen: I think you’re spot on and it’ll be very interesting. Exactly, wellness is such a huge variable and that actually carries forward not just Gen Z, but you can see millennials and Gen X also being very influenced by that messaging as well.
Maureen: I think the last like mega trend and I do think that this is in alcohol’s favor and aligns with your prediction of what you were talking about with these consolidations and acquisitions and exits and everything is that the ones who make it out the other side will be stronger is that there is this mega trend of quality over quantity.
And so when you’re going to choose to have a drink, you’re going to be really. picky about what it is and you’re only going to drink what you really want to and the garbage is just not going to make it.
Jen: You’re spot on, right? Because if you’re going to do that, then you’re going to choose quality. I couldn’t agree more.
Maureen: So Jen, what is next for you? We talked about what’s next for the industry. What’s next for Jen Newman?
Jen: Thank you. I don’t know. If you can figure that out, you let me know, Maureen.
So right now, like I said, I’ve been doing a little consulting and sort of cherry picking interesting projects that, whether they be friends or whether they be people that need help or whether it’s just something that I find incredibly interesting.
And I’m just being thoughtful about what’s going to happen next. I’m very… When I do something, I’m usually all in. So it’s important before I take that step in and decide what it is that I’m going to do, that I make sure that it’s the right step.
So right now, I’m taking a breath, spending time with people that I love talking to, and yes, just thinking about what should come next. In the meantime, trying to do some good out there in the world and help people get to where they want to go.
Maureen: Yes, I love it. Well, I think that you’re doing a lot of good in my perspective, sharing this story here for people to be inspired by you and your background and the work that you’ve done and being, I think, inspiring people to have the confidence to look objectively at what they’re doing and decide if it feels like the right thing, I think is a great key takeaway from your shared insights here.
Jen: Back to you, buddy. Thank you. That was nice.
Maureen: Thank you, awesome. All right, Jen, thanks so much for joining me today. I really appreciate it.