Missy Koefod | Co-founder, 18.21 Bitters | Brash is Better

This week, host Eva Hartling is joined by Misty Koefod. Alongside her wife Kristen, Missy co-founded the famed cocktail mixers and spiked seltzers brand 18.21 Bitters — which got its name from the 18th Amendment that enacted prohibition and the 21st which repealed it. Missy found her way to 18.21 after a career in hospitality, followed by a stint as an attorney, when a fight with cancer made her rethink her life’s priorities. Today, Missy and Kristin’s brand has been celebrated by bar owners, cocktail aficionados as well as International media conglomerates, from GQ, Vogue, Vanity Fair and more. 18.21 is available in 48 states, 6 countries, and counting. But what's most important is 18.21's commitment to fair practices and built on a strong purpose and values.

Listen to this episode to hear about her road to 18.21, the fundraising round that just led to over $100,000 from just a dozen of investors through crowdfunding, what she really thinks about working in the hospitality/alcohol industry, and about her personal commitment to social justice and how that translates into their company's values

This season of The Brand is Female is brought to you by TD Bank - Women Entrepreneurs. TD is proud to support women entrepreneurs and help them achieve success and growth through its program of educational workshops, financing and mentorship opportunities! Find out how you can benefit from their support!

Full Episode Transcript

Eva Hartling: I'm Eva Hartling welcome to The Brand is Female where every week I speak with women change-makers who are redefining the rules of female leadership. This season of our podcast is brought to you by TD bank group women entrepreneurs. TD helps women in business achieve success and growth through its program of educational workshops, financing and mentorship.

Visit The Brand is Female dot com slash podcast. And follow the link to find out how TD can help. For today's episode. I spoke with Missy Koefad co-founder along with her wife, Kristen, a famous cocktail mixer, and spiked seltzer brand 1821 bitters, which got its name from the 18th amendment that enacted prohibition and the 21st, which repealed it.

Missy found her way to 1821. After a career in hospitality, followed by a stint as an attorney, until the fight with cancer made her rethink her lives priorities. Today, Missy and Kristin's brand has been celebrated by bar owners, cocktails, aficionados, as well as media from GQ Vogue, vanity fair and more. It's available in 48 states and six countries, 1821 recently fundraised over a hundred thousand dollars with just a dozen of investors through a crowdfunding round.

But most importantly, 1821 is committed to fair practices and it's built on a strong purpose and values. Here is our conversation.

Missy, it's such a pleasure meeting you and thank you so much for joining me on The Brand is Female today. Thank you for having me, Eva. And where are you joining from? If I may

Missy Koefod: ask, I am in Atlanta, Georgia, today.

Eva Hartling: Love Atlanta, fantastic city. And the first question I have for you is going back in time a little bit.

What kind of future did you imagine for yourself later in life? And did the idea of owning your own business one day, even cross your mind at that time? I

Missy Koefod: think when I was a kid, I always thought I would grow up to be a lawyer. Like my dad. My, my cousins both are entrepreneurs, so I got to see female entrepreneurs growing up there.

They're a bit older than I am but successful, hardworking women. And so I think the thought was always in the back of my head as I was growing up and watching them.

Eva Hartling: And let's talk a little bit about your journey to launching your own business. And I'm assuming that wasn't something that just magically happened in your life.

I'm sure there was a path leading you there. So I'd love to know, what got you to where you are today and where did the idea for your own business? Sure.

Missy Koefod: Yeah. went to undergrad at Georgia state and after undergrad worked as an insurance adjuster but realized that I really wanted to do something in hospitality.

I've worked my way through undergrad as a bartender and server and cook. And so I'm a little bit impetuous found a bar that was for sale and bought it. And. Ran that bar for a couple of years up in Athens, Georgia, and then sold it so that I could attend law school. Because I thought it was time, to be a grownup.

And I went to law school and graduated from practice law for a little while. And then I was diagnosed with a very rare and aggressive form of cancer. I had pretty, pretty bad odds, but I overcame those odds and. Facing my own mortality made me realize that I wanted to do something that I was passionate about and practicing law, was not it.

So I wanted to go back into the business in the hospitality industry. My wife comes from a family of chefs and I wanted her to join me in business. And so we started talking about business ideas and when the idea of cocktail mixers and bitters came up, both of us. Very interested in and excited by that prospect and our business was born out of that.

Eva Hartling: I that what an amazing story. And you chose, owning a bar as a woman and going to law, typically these industries, women are not, are typically underrepresented in both industries. So what was that experience like? And what, I'm curious to know what kind of challenges you, you encountered and I'm sure there, there were more challenges as you launched

your own company, but what was that experience like and how do you typically tackle challenges that you face in life and in work? There were a few questions in there. I apologize.

Missy Koefod: That's okay. My mother always raised me to face challenges head-on and she said, things might be harder because you're a woman sometimes, which I didn't understand when I was a kid.

But came to understand when I was older and dismissed, especially as a younger woman when I opened the bar. But I think just through hard work and perseverance and maybe a little bit of having blinders on and just pushing through and not paying attention to any negativity around. I was able to push through and be successful at the bar.

Law school was quite heavily female. So that was nice to see so many women in law school with Mason. I went to law school with some amazing attorneys and then in the liquor industry, you're right, it's really male-dominated still. But I really enjoy a challenge. So being able to perform well in this industry has been fun.

Eva Hartling: and are there, you mentioned some of your cousins who were entrepreneurs, were their role models along the way you've mentioned attorneys that you studied with as well were there strong women who inspired you or influenced you and maybe it was back then maybe it's a different set.

Missy Koefod: Sure. Yeah. My mother first growing up with my grandmother who raised her many children by herself. So having these strong female figures in my life watching my cousins start businesses with no fear and be successful. My father was an attorney and some of the folks that he introduced me to growing up.

And then my mom worked, at a science company. So seeing these female scientists and female business executives when I was at her place of work, and I think I was surrounded by really interesting people growing up. And then as I grew older some law school professors that I had, I've always really looked up to their determination and kindness and community orientation and hard work.

So that's probably. Who I've grown into.

Eva Hartling: And you've mentioned leaving to the world of law to go back to the, well of the hospitality business, but on the brand side were there things that you wish you knew before launching your own brand? And you had owned a bar before, so had some experience running a business, but what's maybe one thing that you wish somebody had told you prior to launching.

I wish someone

Missy Koefod: told me COVID was going to come so I can prepare for that. That was up. That was a surprise. Yeah. No, I think, it's really a rollercoaster ride. Some days you're on a high cause you did something great and some days you're going to screw stuff up. And when you run the company, it's all on your shoulders.

And I think, I didn't realize how much of a roller coaster it would be. I knew it was going to be a lot of hard work, but it's really been. Especially at the beginning really interesting to see how incredibly different and challenging every day can be. So you just have to stay on your toes and keep calm and deal with it as a roll with the punches.

Eva Hartling: Was there a moment where you questioned, what you were doing with a company and or maybe some, what seemed like an insurmountable obstacle come your way. Was there a moment where you wish you had done something else or you considered turning around and doing something different?

Missy Koefod: So many times I've told my wife, I quit, sorry, you're going to have to do this by yourself. Yeah. Cause you know, you have bad days. You have, we have employees and sometimes dealing with employees can be challenging. I think the biggest difficulties that we've had in running this business have been supplier issues, things that are out of our control.

There's an aluminum can shortage right now as an example. Yes, it's pretty significant. We create carbonated beverages. So I didn't realize that every day for the past year would be spent sourcing aluminum.

Eva Hartling: That's

Missy Koefod: a little surprising. So sometimes there are frustrations like that or, shipping issues that are out of our control.

And I think learning how to deal with those frustrations is probably one of them. The biggest hurdles that I've had to overcome.

Eva Hartling: Are you someone who typically makes decisions based on intuition and gut feeling, or are you more of a data-driven person who wants to see all the numbers before making a call?

I keep

Missy Koefod: Pretty good numbers. I do financial forecasting models once a month. So keeping our numbers up to date and our modelling up to date based on current economic situations current supplier situation. That being said, I do have that in the back of my head since I do it so often, but I do feel like I go on intuition and gut mostly.

Okay.

Eva Hartling: And how, you work with your wife as a partner. How is it maintaining that dynamic and also finding that balance between, your personal life as a couple, and then also being partners in business?

Missy Koefod: Sure. So we have completely different hobbies outside of business. I go surfing as much as I possibly can.

We actually live in Mexico. I'm just in the states visiting for work right now. And she paints and we have very different hobbies. But the time we do spend together at work has been really nice. They have been some challenges. But it's nice to be able to spend so much time with somebody that I love.

I think maybe we're an unusual couple because people say that we're nuts, but I think it's been really good for our relationship. And we've had a lot of fun

Eva Hartling: That's amazing. And you've mentioned, COVID obviously we're now, or we thought we were emerging from a, an 18 months pandemic. And obviously, now the fourth wave is at our door or so it seems obvious the hospitality industry overall and anybody who's involved in selling products or making products that are consumed in restaurants and bars have been

deeply affected. We also know that women especially have been affected by what many are calling the She session. How was it? And, obviously, you launched prior to COVID and nobody could foresee that this was gonna hit us all. So what was it like and how, what keeps you going basically even with a crisis like that, which I'm sure completely turned your plans.

Missy Koefod: Yeah, we were pretty blindsided. We actually had a retail store with a small production facility before COVID and we ended up transitioning. Into a larger production facility so that we could keep up with the demand for online sales, which pretty much made up for the bar and restaurant losses and keep our employees.

So we've been able to retain all of our employees. We've been able to give all of them raises. We're very happy about that. And we've been able to create a safe, healthy environment for them to work. Which has been wonderful. But we, it was scary at first because most of our business was bar and restaurants, and we had to work very hard to shift, to grocery, to delivery to online.

And we had no idea how long it was gonna last, we thought a few weeks and it's really decimated the hospitality industry. Which is hard to watch. But we've been lucky enough to be able to pivot and keep pretty successful and keep all of our staff gainfully employed, which has been wonderful.

Eva Hartling: That's Fantastic. And it sounds like you were one of the lucky few, but also obviously smart in, in planning that the dreaded word, 'pivot' that you would, that you undertook during COVID you've mentioned your team and keeping, your employees employed and providing for wages.

Tell me about what leadership and leading a team mean.

Missy Koefod: We're more like, I think a family we've always had this hiring practice where if we wouldn't invite you into our home for dinner, we won't hire you. And so that's created this environment where everybody feels like family. Our staff hangs out together.

Our manager supports the staff very nice and. We're there for them. They know they can call me anytime they want. And I think they've seen that we would never ask them to do anything that we won't do ourselves. And so we've really led by example. We're not very close to them anymore, but we're always reachable supportive.

And I think making sure that they get to profit by their hard work, keeping them involved and invested in what they're doing really helps to create an environment. You don't have to lead by draconian force, but lead by example. And having, the team feel like they're part of something and making them really part of the business has been probably what's created.

A really great working environment for us and we've had long-term employees. So we've been really lucky in that regard.

Eva Hartling: That's amazing. And what are some skills that you think you bring to the table? I like to talk about, what leaders, what traits or skills, or, often we talk about soft skills, right?

I hate that we're using the word soft because it makes it seem less important than some of the other theatre, hard skills. But I think what you're talking about, that culture of the community of inclusion, of making your employees feel like they're a part of a bigger purpose. So what are things that you think, personally, you brought to the company's purpose and mission.

Missy Koefod: I think a sense of calm and being able to think calmly about situations that arise and not just react based on emotion right away is very important. I've seen a lot of managers, a lot of owners, snap, yell, react poorly. Then I understand where that emotion comes from, but it's not productive at all.

And doesn't create. A work environment that I would want to be in, let alone that I would thrive in. I also think having. A why behind your brand a why behind your company, a why behind what you do for a greater purpose, besides just profit is really important. We're very driven by diversity and diverse hiring practices, creating opportunities for women and those that are typically underrepresented in the workforce.

We're also very driven by the fact that Help creates skills for our employees that they can use to move on and follow their dreams. And we're very supportive of that as well. So I think that's really important to have a sort of identity besides just being profit-driven. Yeah. We're very diverse and community-oriented and that helps create a really nice work environment where people feel like they're doing something.

Bigger, even though we're just cocktail mixers, we're not curing cancer. We do try to do some good and do things that are important to our team. So that's important. I think having an identity outside of work,

Eva Hartling: I, I would tend to agree with you in that. That sounds great. I'm I'll be sending in my resume to, to join your team after this.

Sure.

Missy Koefod: Yeah. Come on.

Eva Hartling: This season of The Brand is Female is made possible with the support of TD bank group women entrepreneurs confidently building your business Takes sound advice, plus guidance to the right connections, tools, and resources. As a woman, entrepreneur myself, I know I need all the support I can get.

What's great about TD services for women in business is their collaboration-based approach. They work with both internal and external partners who can provide education, financing and mentorship and community support. TD employees are able to be proactive in the advice and guidance they give to women's businesses.

They can facilitate and connect. It's coaching and mentorship and they engage other like-minded business leaders in an authentic way. So we can share experiences and learn from each other. And as a segue to that question, what does success look like to you? And if I had asked you that same question, maybe back when you were in, in the law industry, for example, would the answer have been.

Probably

Missy Koefod: not, no, I think success is just having peace of mind. For me, knowing that my business is thriving, knowing that I'm thriving and my team is striving and that we're all growing together and going to be okay. I don't think that there's a monetary value you can put on it. We're a profitable company.

We have been since inception. Perhaps, that's not weighing as heavily in my answer as it would, were we not profitable. Just knowing that I wake up every day and enjoy what I do and can support a team of people that also enjoy what they do is the definition of success.

Eva Hartling: I love that and congratulations on your success.

And it seems like the notion of community is obviously important to you both internally within the company also with your clients and the public. And I know that you recently fundraised through crowdfunding actually, which is an interesting decision because you could have gone with the traditional seed money or investors money.

So tell me a bit about the decision behind that and what it means to you to be, working in that way with the community that surrounds you. We have some really

Missy Koefod: great customers that, love our product and we've grown close to over the years. And they have asked. Can we invest?

Can we invest? Can we invest? And we'd never taken investment before last year. So it was always, I, we're not raising, we're not raising, but when the opportunity presented itself to raise and grow the company we thought that this is a great way to get our customers involved, that they can take ownership in the company that they've been so supportive of for all these years.

So that's cool. Just as somebody that, isn't an insider in the investment world, I'm not in private equity, I'm not in venture capital. I don't really know people, in that world. So the opportunity for me to invest in companies is very limited. And I feel like crowdfunding really democratizes investment and allows those who otherwise wouldn't be able to get involved in a startup’s growth to be involved.

And we do have some investors that bring some skills to the table, which is really nice. It's like expanding our team monumentally and they let us reach out to them. And lend their expertise to us. So it's been very helpful,

Eva Hartling: And that's such, it's such a great idea and a good way to have not had to bring in, what could be somebody who's got completely different motivations into your company.

It keeps the mission-aligned. Yeah. Yeah. It's been wonderful. What would be your advice too and it could be anyone but thinking of women, especially those who would want to follow in your footsteps may be launching their own brand in any consumer product category or maybe something specifically in food and beverages.

What kind of advice would you have?

Missy Koefod: I think just to research the market really thoroughly, make sure they have a product-market fit. Make sure they're not entering the market in an oversaturated environment. There'll be competing for shelf space at the distributor at the grocery store, wherever they're selling the product.

And if it's the same as everything else out there, they're going to have a hard time with gaining shelf space, but really creating something that they really believe in is important, not just creating a product, but a product that you can stand behind because your passion is palpable.

People can feel that. And that really means a lot to people that are going to support your brand and your product. And if anyone needs help starting in the industry. I'm always available, to help in any way that I possibly can.

Eva Hartling: Fantastic. I love that. And actually, one of my next questions was going to be how do you show support for other entrepreneurs and women entrepreneurs, especially in what's your approach to supporting and mentoring the next generation or just entrepreneurs around you.

Oh, people

Missy Koefod: probably think I'm nuts because when I hear them talking about starting a business, I freak out and I'm like, Ooh, what are you starting what? I wanna, I want to help. I get so excited about entrepreneurship. I'm very passionate about entrepreneurship. Generally speaking, I don't think that they teach it enough in schools.

Parents don't encourage their children typically to pursue untraditional career paths. So having people out there that I could reach out to for guidance was very helpful. Offer that to any entrepreneurs that want to take me up on it. I'm happy to stay on the phone for hours and help them with financials, give them some of the trips and tricks.

I can't talk right now, given some of the tricks and tips that have helped me and help us over the past few years, we use certain websites. Use certain techniques with getting on shelves and getting into distributors and, discussing that with entrepreneurs, I think is it's fun for me to be able to help.

Eva Hartling: That's fantastic. I love that you're sharing your knowledge and your experience. It seems to be something I've spoken about quite a bit with women entrepreneurs on the show is this the shift that we saw and I think it was kinda, it was setting up before COVID as well, but certainly, our experience during the pandemic has kind of

amplify that were a lot of consumers are making more responsible choices with, the companies that choose to buy from. So it could be in terms of the company's mission and purpose, supportive, social causes and supporting local small companies as well. And being more mindful. Who's in our own town or our own market.

Are you seeing, and obviously you're in a category where you've got some massive, big commercial players who override the smaller brands. And typically I would assume own a big share of the market. Have you seen that shift and that appetite from your consumers and if you have, do you think that's going to stay beyond COVID and it's going to become a trend?

That's a movement that's really here to last,

Missy Koefod: I hope so. I hope that people are more conscious of their consumer decisions. I'm a surfer. I'm very passionate about the environment and the ocean. And we contribute corporate profits to clean ocean initiatives. Also, a local charity called entre Amigos in our little village in Mexico helps support local children.

Through college, which I think is very important. Cancer charities, dog rescue, and cat rescue charities are important to some of our staff. So we don't do that because we want people to buy our product. We do that because it's important to us. And so if brands are doing that, if companies are doing that because it's important to them, I want to support those brands.

I don't want to do it because it's a corporate initiative that they think is going to look good Publically. We are minority-owned. We're gay-owned. My wife is black. We're female-owned. We have female management and I've seen people take interest in that. I hope that keeps up. I hope people, are very conscious consumers in the future.

We think that our brand stands out because we have a great product. So I think that's why people really are attracted to our brand. And if you don't have a great offering, regardless of whether you're female-owned, or contributing to something, someone cares about no, one's gonna like your product.

But it definitely, I think is something that is, is trending and I think will last for quite some time.

Eva Hartling: And you've spoken about that, responsible attitude from consumers. In your case with your own consumption choices what are things that, you look for, or maybe a little.

Gestures or, little changes that you've made just to ensure that you are making more responsible choices a, on an everyday basis.

Missy Koefod: Sure. Even with our packaging, we moved to eliminate all plastic packaging from our products. So we package in cardboard, recycled cardboard boxes now from a personal standpoint I try to support female-owned companies.

I buy my board shorts from a female-owned company. I, we try to support black-owned companies. There's an Atlanta, a gentlemen that we know that makes perfumes and we purchase his perfume. I try to avoid single-use plastics and so we try to make conscious decisions. And if I get a chance to support a company, that's supporting something I care about, I definitely go out of my way to do that.

Eva Hartling: You've received quite a bit of recognition. You've been, you've won a few words. You've garnered press coverage. What does that mean to you? Is that, is that kind of recognition either from. From media, from the industry, something that's helps drive you or something that you think is.

Missy Koefod: It's still surprising to me that anyone even wants to talk to me or listen to me or put me up on stage somewhere, we've been asked to speak at a few conventions and I'm like, really me. So it's cool. I still feel like a little kid that, gets a part in a play I'm like, this is so cool.

So I guess it's, I still find it very exciting. It's still new and fresh to me. I know it's been. Seven years but I still find it very exciting.

Eva Hartling: And I think it's also, it's your approach is so humble. You talk about this stuff and it's so down to earth and it's clearly just who you are as a person.

It's not something that's performative or that you've had to think really hard about. So I think that's why people also want to hear your story. There's just something that's. So a 10 thick with the brand and what you and I would say that's a big strength as an entrepreneur.

Thank you. I appreciate that. So what's next for the company? We are slowly emerging hopefully from the pandemic. So what's next for 1821 bitters over the next few months or few.

Missy Koefod: After I get off this podcast with you, I am heading over to one of our largest distributors’ offices to have a discussion about that with them.

We have. We have some big things in the works. I don't think it's a secret that we are entering the CBD market. We were supposed to do it quite a while ago, but COVID put a wrench in those plans and the can shortage has put a wrench in that plan. So we're ready to expand on that. As soon as the market opens up a little bit more and then we have a few other surprises in the works that I can't discuss just yet, but that will be released in January of 2020.

Eva Hartling: Very exciting and best of luck with that meeting with your distributor. And where can you welcome. Where can our listeners find your products? What's the best way of shopping for your stuff.

Missy Koefod: They can go to their favourite liquor store and ask to have 1821 products carried by their favourite liquor store who can order it for them from their distributor.

Or they can go to our website at www.Eighteentwentyonebitters.com and they can order through there and we can ship it

Eva Hartling: to their house. Amazing. So we'll link to that in the show notes. And my last question, which is my favourite question to ask. Yes. What do you wish women would do?

Less of

Missy Koefod: apologies. I wish women would apologize for less. That's a big

Eva Hartling: one. I would agree. Yeah. And is that something you're successfully putting into practice?

Missy Koefod: I don't really apologize for much. I never have. I'm a little, I've been told I can be a little brash and I take it as

Eva Hartling: a compliment. I would say so.

Yeah. We need inspiration like you, right? Because of so many women, I tend to do some of that myself over-apologize. Saying sorry way too often. So now we'll think of you.

Missy Koefod: Yeah, please do. That would be

Eva Hartling: awesome. Amazing. And actually, what's your one last question.

Give, given your line of business, what's your favourite cocktail to have

Missy Koefod: Oh, wow. That's so hard. We have so many good cocktails

Eva Hartling: or maybe there's a cocktail of the moment. What, you've, what you've been drinking lately. Anything

Missy Koefod: with our barrel-aged bitters is really great in the wintertime, but I live in the tropics.

So I have been using our jalapeno lime cilantro syrup and, which is like halfway between tequila and mezcal. It's a very Mexican Agava. To create a resia margarita that has a little bit of spice to it, which has been very refreshing after my surf sessions. So that's probably my go-to these days.

Eva Hartling: That sounds delicious. I'll have to look that up. And actually, I've stopped drinking a while ago and literally the only alcohol I can consume that, I still tolerate is tequila. So that's a great recipe for me. I'll be testing that one out. Yeah. Yeah. Amazing. It was so great getting to know you a little bit better.

We'll stay tuned for all the new stuff. That's around the corner for 1821. Bitters we'll share the links so people can shop for your products and yeah, I can't wait to see what's in store and thanks so much for chatting with me.

Missy Koefod: Thank you, Eva. Super stoked to be able to come on your podcast. So I appreciate you having me.

Thank you. Thank you.

Eva Hartling: I really hope you enjoyed today's conversation. And if you did, as always, don't forget to subscribe, rate and give us a review wherever that is possible. Thank you to TD bank group women entrepreneurs, further support of The Brand is Female. You've got it in. Let TD help guide you, visit The Brand is Female dot com slash podcast.

And click on the TD logo. Thank you for listening. I'll be back in a week with a new guest.