S8 Ep21: The Buzz Without the Bite: Clean Cocktails for Conscious Drinkers with Jennifer Roman-Matito Part 2 (EPISODE 200)
“We want to get people to recognize that there are better-for-you options in the alcohol world.” —Jennifer Roman-Matito
While a night of fun and frivolity is part of the social experience, the unpleasant physical effects of a hangover can leave us longing for a better way— a way to continue the party without the painful playoff.
In this episode, Justine sits down with Jennifer Roman-Matito, the co-founder of Mother's Milk, a coconut water cocktail company that offers a healthier alternative to alcoholic drinks. She created Mother's Milk to provide hangover-free beverage options made with natural ingredients for conscious drinkers.
Jennifer shares how her interest in healthier alternatives was sparked by unwanted physical reactions to alcohol and how this led her to create a line of coconut water-based RTD cocktails designed for hydration without hangovers.
Tune in to hear the challenges of launching and growing a female-founded business from the ground up, what conscious drinking means, plus, advice on choosing the right ingredients, building strategic partnerships, and fundraising as a small business.
Connect with Jennifer:
Jennifer Roman-Matito is a dynamic entrepreneur and co-founder of Mother's Milk, a pioneering coconut water-based cocktail brand aimed at health-conscious individuals with a penchant for revelry. Armed with a degree in Communications and Media Studies from CUNY-Hunter College, Jennifer combines her passion for innovative products with her rich island heritage to craft beverages that resonate with a diverse and adventurous audience.
As a self-funded and female-founded initiative, Mother's Milk is a testament to Jennifer's entrepreneurial spirit and dedication to creating distinctive offerings in the beverage industry. Leveraging her hospitality, marketing communications, and event management expertise, Jennifer spearheads the brand's distribution efforts, forges strategic partnerships, and orchestrates impactful marketing campaigns to propel Mother's Milk into the spotlight.
Through Mother's Milk, she offers refreshing libations and cultivates a community of like-minded individuals who embrace wellness without compromising on enjoyment. With Jennifer at the helm, Mother's Milk continues to captivate taste buds, spark conversations, and carve its niche as a trailblazer in the beverage industry.
Episode Highlights:
00:29 Alt Drinks for Hangovers
05:05 Building a Lifestyle Brand
09:17 Challenges and Solutions for Female-FOunded
13:38 Finding Strategic Partners
18:09 Conscious Drinking
Tweets:
Pounding headache and queasy stomach the morning after one too many drinks? Learn how one beverage brand is quenching the wellness-focused crowd with cocktails made for fun WITHOUT the hangover as @jreichman interviews MothersMilk Co-Founder, Jennifer Roman-Matito. #podcast #entrepreneurship #socialgood #inspiration #impactmatters #NextGenChef #EssentialIngredients #Season8 #NonAlcoholicDrinks #HealthyCocktails #WellnessCulture #MindfulDrinking #HangoverFree #ConsciousConsumption #LowABV #CleanDrinks
Inspirational Quotes:
05:09 “Choosing a co-founder is very much like choosing your partner. It's difficult and you want to make sure it's the right person.” —Justine Reichman
08:38 “We had a real just, you know, burn inside of us that we enjoyed food and beverage. And so it happened organically with a lot of research and a lot of mentorship.” —Jennifer Roman-Matito
09:10 “We have to look at other experts in the industry to figure that out and pull other people in to support us.” —Justine Reichman
10:48 “On a daily basis, we run into new challenges, we run into new hurdles… It's figuring out financials, it's figuring out how to do this with a well-thought-out strategy, it's talking to a million other business owners, it's talking to other mentors in the industry.” —Jennifer Roman-Matito
12:46 “It's not just necessarily about the money, it's about the reach sometimes.” —Jennifer Roman-Matito
17:12 “The wellness aspect is mindfulness about what you're putting inside your body. And then if we're talking about balance, we are conscious drinkers, but who said that we don't like to turn up?” —Jennifer Roman-Matito
18:45 “We want to get people to recognize that there are better-for-you options in the alcohol world.” —Jennifer Roman-Matito
Transcriptions:
Justine Reichman: Good morning or good afternoon, and welcome to Essential Ingredients. I'm your host, Justine Reichman. You're on essential ingredients. And with me today is Jennifer Roman-Matito who is a Co-Founder of Mothers Milk.
Welcome, Jennifer.
Jennifer Roman-Matito: Thank you so much for having me.
Justine Reichman: For those listening or tuned in today that are not familiar with who you are, would you just introduce yourself? Your position? What do you do?
Jennifer Roman-Matito: Yes. I'm Jennifer Roman-Matito. I am a native New Yorker, born and raised in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. I identify as a Latina. I am the Co-Founder of Mothers Milk, a coconut water cocktail RTD or Ready To Drink. We feature no artificial flavoring, no added preservatives, no added sugar. We are vegan and gluten free. And we bring you paradise wherever you are.
Justine Reichman: Wow, it sounds amazing. I can't wait to dig in. And of course, when you said that you're born and raised in New York City, I don't know if you said the lower east side of the East Village, either one. Where was it?
Jennifer Roman-Matito: I grew up on Grand Street in the Lower East Side. A very different Lower East Side than you will see today, I'll tell you that. But yes, my mom and dad still live in the Lower East Side. And when I grew up, when I became a big girl, I made the move to all of one neighborhood over and I'm still in the East Village,
Justine Reichman: Are you sort of just below Soho, noho or something?
Jennifer Roman-Matito: I'm actually in Skytown. But right on the edge of town.
Justine Reichman: Well, I grew up in Peter Cooper.
Jennifer Roman-Matito: Amazing. I also grew up in Skytown. I went to high school right on St. Mark's, the school is no longer there anymore. But (inaudible) was an all girl private Catholic school. There were only 50 Girls per class. 10 of the girls in our class were inside out. And so all of my best friends, I used to hang out inside town and Peter Cooper, and we'd run away from security every time. They chase us down because they really patrol the area.
Justine Reichman: It's really different, even though it was very safe when I grew up. Have you ever been into their security system? It looks like 1PP?
Jennifer Roman-Matito: No. There are eight screens taking over. They ring and buzz each other, and it is a real operation.
Justine Reichman: So now that we connected and everybody knows that we both grew up in New York City, I grew up with Peter Cooper, you grew up downtown, we are connecting over food, better for you food, I'd love to know what drew you to this specific area. What was it that brought you here?
Jennifer Roman-Matito: Pretty simple actually. I used to be a margarita girl. I love the spicy Margarita. I love the salty tahini rim. It was my drink of choice. And just as I got a little bit older, as I got a little bit mature, as life got a little bit more hectic, responsibilities started to pile up and the adulting started to happen. I just truly could not handle the repercussions of a good Margarita. I wasn't feeling great. Sometimes the same night, I would have an upset stomach. The next morning, I'd be slightly hungover or extremely hungover. I was having physical responses to these particular drinks that were some of my favorites that I was taking. And then the pandemic hit, and shelters, and these kinds of canned drinks became all the rage. I was buying into it. I was trying a million different kinds, whatever was available. Drinking them at home during our Zoom happy hours. To be honest, it was a funny time. It would be Thursday afternoon, and oh, my God, let me just crack open a seltzer. I started to connect that I'm really not feeling great immediately that evening or the next day.
Justine Reichman: I wake up tired, exhausted. We just don't metabolize the way we used to. And I think men also metabolize their alcohol differently, so I can completely hear where you're coming from. I'm sure a lot of people can. Because as we get older, it's more difficult to maintain that, especially if you don't do it that often. Or if you're doing it not quite as regularly as we were when we were younger.
Jennifer Roman-Matito: So that's really what sparked my interest in trying different alternative options. And then it really sparked one day when I realized why am I chugging coconut water the next morning when I'm hungover. Why am I not drinking coconut water in collaboration with whatever alcohol that I was choosing at the moment. So that is where our remedy drink came to fruition.
Justine Reichman: I know you mentioned that you have a co-founder. So choosing a Co-Founder is very much like choosing your partner. It's really difficult, and you want to make sure it's the right person. Can you talk me through how you guys came together? This obviously sounds very much like an idea you came up with, and so I'd love to hear what that journey was like for you.
Jennifer Roman-Matito: Well, truly, it was a collaboration effort between the two of us. Kristie Kish is one of not only my closest friends, but my business partner. She's the yin to my yang. She's all the things that I'm not, and I'm of all the things that she's not. So just right off the bat. We have great synergy together. But really, this entire idea of going into business together started in the summer of 2022. We were actually upstate in the Catskills celebrating my husband's birthday. And so we've got a bunch of our friends at this gorgeous house, and there's this garden of fresh herbs. We are drinking all day long hanging by the pool, in the hot tub, and I sent Kristie. I said, go make us another one of our remedy drinks or cocktails. She came out and we were in a hot tub. I've got my coconut and vodka with a bunch of muddled herbs to throw in there from the fresh garden, and we were just in the hot tub. All of us kept talking about this, this is giving us life. Literally, this coconut water is giving us life right now. And we are tipsy, right? We really like just peeking, having the best time. And just somehow it's giving us life. It's giving us life. It's Mothers Milk. And it's sparked this entire idea. And so the next morning when everyone else woke up that didn't enjoy some of our Mothers Milk cocktail recipe, they were not feeling great. We felt amazing. We were ready for a hike, we were ready to take on the day. And so really, we have something here, and we should really bring it to the market starting that day.
Justine Reichman: So if we go back, you came up with this idea like so many of us do. Okay, we got this great idea. Was there something specific in your background that you thought could help you do this? Was it just that you are the type of person that takes an idea, runs with it and makes it happen?
“We had a real just, you know, burn inside of us that we enjoyed food and beverage. And so it happened organically with a lot of research and a lot of mentorship.” —Jennifer Roman-Matito
Jennifer Roman-Matito: I definitely had a light bulb moment. Truly had a light bulb moment, it went off. I just said, holy moly, we should sell this. She helped develop the recipe, and she came up with the name. Rather organically just flew out of her mouth. And so I spent the next three to four months following that trip, just digging deep, learning about the alcohol industry, learning all the statistics surrounding conscious drinking, which is an entire segment of the population that just doesn't have enough options out there, in my opinion. Learn about the entire process from manufacturing, co packing, formulation, distribution, and then building your brand. So I had a hospitality background. I spent years in hospitality in New York City, as well as Kristie. A lot of people who put themselves through school ended up being in the service industry at some point working as a bartender or server. And so we both had this background in hospitality. We had a real burn inside of us that we enjoyed food and beverage. And so it really just happened rather organically with a lot of research, a lot of mentorship in birth Mothers Milk.
Justine Reichman: That's awesome. There's so many different things that happened organically for you. But I imagine that there were also some things that tripped you up or had to pull in resources and figure it out. And it wasn't so organic, right? We all have these things where we have to look at other experts in the industry to figure that out and pull other people in to support us. Can you talk to us a little bit about one of those things that happened for you, one of those moments where you're like, oh, no, what are we going to do? Something like that because it's fun to start a business. It is exciting, our adrenaline going. From my personality, I'm a fixer. I fix everything. I'm like, I'm gonna figure it out. But everybody's different. So I'm wondering, what was it like for you in those moments when maybe something caught you off guard?
“We have to look at other experts in the industry to figure that out and pull other people in to support us.” —Justine Reichman
Jennifer Roman-Matito: I'm not gonna lie to you. Those moments happen frequently. When you start your own business, a small business, and we've self funded this entire project out of pocket We have not taken a single investor dollar, and so that is definitely one of the challenges of balancing a business that requires so much funding. We've been able to do it. I will tell you by the bootstraps, my business partner has a master's in animation. She's creative. So we've been very lucky that one of the major challenges that I think a lot of businesses are approached by is just that brand building. Even just creating your logo, even just creating your website, even creating a look and aesthetic, some of your pillars, having a partner that is creative, that really can dive deep into those aspects of your business have been amazing. And I've kind of over here on the sales and operations, and more logistical side of things. But I will tell you that on a daily basis, we run into new challenges, we run into new hurdles. One of the new hurdles that we're running into now is growing in new markets without having enough hands available. And it is being as strategic as possible in figuring out ways to network and build relationships in cities that I'm not on a daily basis. So that's been one of the major challenges that we're working through now. A lot of travels involved there. Also, another major challenge that we've been working through is the fact that only 2% of the total capital investment of 2023 went to female founded businesses. That is just a major hurdle on its own.
Justine Reichman: But are you looking for funding and investments? Are you looking for investment now?
Jennifer Roman-Matito: Yes. Now we're kind of at the point where we move past the pilot round. We're going into our next round of manufacturing and co packing. It's figuring out financials, it's figuring out how to do this with a well thought out strategy. It's talking to a million other business owners, it's talking to other mentors in the industry. I'm not sure if I'm actually answering your question, but I'm bringing up a major point that we run into a lot of different hurdles.
Justine Reichman: And you're not alone. We're not alone in this. We both have female founded businesses. I think my question for you is, I'm also self funded, and so what was the moment that you realized, you know what? We really need to take investment. Why did you make that decision?
Jennifer Roman-Matito: So we're in the process of fundraising now. And we really wanted to find out, we're in the process of finding strategic partnerships, right? It's not just necessarily about the money, it's about the reach sometimes. We've had some conversations where we didn't just want to bring in anyone. We wanted to really be thoughtful about a partnership, we're not interested in just taking money from anyone. We're really focusing some of our attention on who actually is willing to come and support our business. Not from a day to day operation standpoint, but from an overarching strategy and growth standpoint. That's just a challenge on its own, making those big decisions.
Justine Reichman: When you look at the strategic partners, there's probably a variety that comes with different experiences. Is there something you're focused on because you need those skills?
Jennifer Roman-Matito: I'm really good at the day to day operations. My business partner has got all the creative, locked down, truly he does. It is finding somebody that in an ideal world is more experienced than us in this industry.
Justine Reichman: So within food and beverage, within like in CPG, that's what you're looking for? You're looking for somebody that's either taken a brand to market and expanded globally or nationally.
Jennifer Roman-Matito: That would be the ideal. That's the dream. We are having conversations with some other potential partners who actually bring other things to the forefront that just are well connected in other industries that are now looking to break a bit out of those industries and try something new as well, that has a good amount of derive, a good amount of connections and funding that can actually potentially bring another set of eyes and another set of experience to the floor.
Justine Reichman: Is there one person that you have in mind that you'd love to have come on board and be a strategic partner?
Jennifer Roman-Matito: We do have somebody that we're in conversations with right now who has shown great interest. He's actually somebody in the music industry. And so they bring a very different set of eyes perspective, brand curation, brand strategy is something that they've done with their artists. And it's very much something that they could also do with a brand like Mothers Milk.
Justine Reichman: And so that's equally as important. Even though you have your brand person, you feel like this will take it to another level because they've done it on a larger scale. Is that what I'm understanding?
Jennifer Roman-Matito: 100%. Looking at it from the angle of someone who has taken artists, who are on Instagram and create actual brands out of them. It is a very similar mentality that you would need to create a community around a lifestyle brand like Mothers Milk, right?
Justine Reichman: It's really about building that community within the brand. Finding those people that want to engage, want to learn more, want to drink it, express their interests. Because at first, I thought you meant just about the brand. But you really what? I'm hearing and I just want to clarify, yes, it's the brand. But it's the community that you can build, because you want to have a community of people talking about this, trying it, sharing it, doing events with it, all sorts of things.
Jennifer Roman-Matito: 100%, you are spot on. We launched our newsletter, which we call Mother Nature's Fan Club. And it is where we are building and curating our community of minded, mindful, conscious drinkers.
Justine Reichman: So what about your newsletter? How are you creating this newsletter to attract that audience? What are you doing special?
“The wellness aspect is mindfulness about what you're putting inside your body. And then if we're talking about balance, we are conscious drinkers, but who said that we don't like to turn up?” —Jennifer Roman-Matito
Jennifer Roman-Matito: So we have a few pillars that we really try to highlight in our newsletter, on our social media, on our website. Those being nature, wellness, balance and party. And to dig a little bit deeper into each of those. So if we're talking about nature, all of our ingredients in Mothers Milk are given to us by mother nature. If we're digging a little bit deeper into the wellness aspect, we're talking a little bit about how these ingredients are featuring electrolytes, hydration, vitamins, and antioxidants. And so the wellness aspect is a little bit more mindful about what you're putting inside of your body. And then if we're talking about balance, we are conscious drinkers, but who said that we don't like to turn up?
Justine Reichman: I want to explore conscious drinking. Maybe not today, because we're limited on time. But I'd love to bring you back in, and just have an episode on what is conscious drinking. And maybe you could just give us a little small definition as to, what is conscious drinking?
Jennifer Roman-Matito: So if you're curious how I would quickly define conscious drinking, it is an entire segment of the drinking community that just cares a little bit more about what they're putting inside of their bodies.
Justine Reichman: I love that. I love that. It's pretty straightforward. What can we see on the horizon for you in the next year or two? Are there more products coming out?
Jennifer Roman-Matito: So we've got some big goals. I actually get that question very often, are you going to come up with more options, other flavors? The plan as of right now is to focus on the brand that we have right now putting cans in hands, and sips to lips is really my motto. We want to really just get people to recognise that there are better options for you in the alcohol world, and it's very limited, truly. But there is a massive need and gap. And that's actually why we decided to get into this business in the first place. When we went out there looking for what we wanted, what we needed, it just didn't exist. So it's Mothers Milk.
Justine Reichman: I love that. And what I'm wondering is just to circle back to your last comment, are there any hard hitting statistics that showcase the impact of alcohol on humans as we go on, how we metabolize it? How do we feel? And have you done any, if you will, focus groups or anything to see the impact on your groups, and how that compares?
Jennifer Roman-Matito: So we've had large and small groups test out our product and give us some feedback. One of our largest events that we did a sampling at is seltzer Lab, which has about 1500 attendees. They come, and they're just able to taste a variety of different products, old and new. All of it on the market. And our feedback consistently was, one, this tastes like vacation. This tastes like paradise. So we were like, yes, we're winning there. People love the world. But two, we got a lot of feedback that people were like, I feel great. I feel more awake, I feel more alive. And that's consistently the feedback that we've gotten across the board. And so education is key. Just bringing to the forefront that you can still get your buzz on while having a better for you option. Our entire stick is that we're jamming your pack with electrolytes and hydration while we're getting you boozy.
Justine Reichman: Awesome. Jen, thanks so much for joining me today. I love learning about Mothers Milk. I can't wait to try it myself. And we look forward to having you back on here to learn and talk more about conscious drinking.
Jennifer Roman-Matito: Yes, absolutely. Thank you so much for having us. Please follow us @drinkmothersmilk on Instagram. Subscribe on our website, drinkmothersmilk.com, and DM us if you're interested in trying our product. We'll let you know where you can find it.
Justine Reichman: My last question, so for those folks that are interested in purchasing your product, where could they get it?
Jennifer Roman-Matito: So right now, we're located at Astor Wines in Soho Manhattan is our real big hub in New York City.
Justine Reichman: They also mail stuff when--
Jennifer Roman-Matito: You can order online. You can find us at multiple locations, and you can also order from (inaudible).
Justine Reichman: Awesome. Congratulations, Jen. I can't wait to follow along and see how things progress.
Jennifer Roman-Matito: Thank you so much, Justine. Take care.
