Brewbound Pitch Slam 13 Winner Announcement + Winner Interview

Speaker 1 [00:11] We've kept you all waiting long enough. So let's find out who the pitch slam winner is this year. Let's bring up Ray Latif and a couple of our judges. Veronica, you're here. Malaka, you're here. Indeed, we have a winner. Uh, before we get to that winner, I just wanna, uh, bring up a couple housekeeping notes. One is more of a housekeeping note, the other one isn't so much, but, uh, I just wanna note that, uh, registration for Brewbound winter 2022, uh, is now open. So if you're interested, please do so now. You will save money. This is the key. Uh, my other note, not so much of a housekeeping note, uh, but an important one. Uh, you know, so much respect to the Brewbound team for an incredible agenda, an incredible conference. Justin, Jess, Zoey, congratulations. Well, very well done. Thank you. Thank you guys for coming out and Just a reminder, we're going to go drink some beers and other beverages downstairs, uh, where y'all had lunch this, this morning or this afternoon. And I, I've been up since 4 a.m. so, you know, shit, I don't know what time it is. That was the other housekeeping note. Yeah. Um, you know, I think it was really great to have Bill up here on stage, uh, for so many reasons. But what was really notable is that Bill was on this stage back in 2018 as a pitch slam semi-finalist. He didn't win the competition, but look where he is now. And so I think even though we have one winner, all the semi-finalists have the opportunity to be back up here on stage and talk about how successful their brands are. Everyone did such an incredible job. But let's talk about the, the attributes of the winner, what they did right, what we loved about what they did. Uh, Monica, let's start with you. I'm sorry, Veronica, let's start with you.

Speaker 2 [02:06] Well, I, I will say that every semi-finalist had a unique position, a unique point of view, um, had a potential to change the industry. Uh, all of them talked about quality ingredients. So when all those things become table steaks, where do you go from there? Um, I think the winner had, um, all. The judges thought like a realistic growth plan, uh, and a vision for their business, um, that could stale and stick, um, they had a customer focused product development plan, um, and the most important thing, it tasted great, so it wasn't just one of three flavors, it was all their products tasted great.

Speaker 1 [02:49] Absolutely, uh, Monica, you know. There are some things that the judges saw as potential pitfalls for some of the finalists, some of the semi-finalists as well. Um, where do these brands really need to highlight, uh, some of the things that, or where do they need to keep an eye on some of the things that could trip them up as they go forward?

Speaker 3 [03:08] You know, we as judges had a really hard time debating, um, and as Veronica said, you know, we, we were looking for great tasting products, a great concept that was finely tuned, and energetic and passionate founders, and every one of the pitches today reflected that. Um, there are a couple of things that our final, our winner, um, took to the top, and I'll come back to that in a second, but to answer your question, I think for, for the, for everybody else, for me it really is about continuing to hone your proposition, continuing to hone your customer target, and what that unique selling proposition is not just to consumers but also to retailers and continuing to push forward with smart expansion plans.

Speaker 1 [03:51] Also, I just wanna note that for all the judges, for, uh, they would love for the semi-finalists and the finalists, I guess they're one and the same in some cases, uh, to come up and talk to them afterwards or reach out to them via email. So please do so, uh, from top to bottom. This is an incredible judging panel or our our judging panel has been incredible. So please reach out to them. They would love to help you. Um, Justin, real quick, you know, we saw a broad variety. Of, uh, approaches to the beer industry to be beyond beer at this point, um, you know, how does that reflect, or do you see that as reflective of sort of a new generation of brands, a sort of new way of looking at the beer industry? No, I mean, this is, this is what the beer industry is now. This, it's, you saw it all on stage. It's all these different beverage types. It's blurring, you know, next year, it's, I mean, This year's been awesome. Like this is one of the strongest finals I think I've ever seen. I, I don't even, I. I could have heard who the winner is. I, no one's told me. I want to be surprised. But like, next year, I don't know what we're going to see, you know, like, I'm already thinking like next year, like, what is it, you know, so like, it could be totally different brands next year, like pitching something we've never heard of, you know, absolutely, absolutely. Well, you may not have seen the winner, you may have an idea who it is, but we'll tell everyone right now. The winner of Brewbound Pitch Slam 13 and $10,000 in an awareness package from Brewbound is. Are they going to do this to me again? Funky tambourine. All right. Awesome. Greg, Zach, come up to the stage, please. Come on up. Very well done, very well done. Congratulations. Congratulations. Awesome. Outstanding. Congratulations. All right, let's get a photo of the winners. Hey, folks, thanks once again for joining us on the Brewbound live stream studio. I'm Ray Latif, the editor and producer of Bevnet's Tas Radio podcast, and I'm here with the winners of Brewbound Pitch Slam 13, Rich, Greg, and Zach, I, I almost forgot Zach, the founders of Funky Town Brewery. Gentlemen, congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. You know, uh, just an incredible competition, um, not an easy one. A lot of really great concepts, great pitches and presentations, a lot of passion, but I think the judges really came to a decision that, uh, they saw, uh, something really amazing about your brand, something that was really. Uh, they, something they haven't seen in the in the beer industry. Um, and I think that was kind of, that's, that's exactly who you are. You're bringing something so different and so, uh, inspirational to something, to an industry that just is, has been lacking at. You, you're filling a need, a real need here. Um, let's talk about the genesis of Funky Town Brewery. Um, where, where did the idea come from, because you're relatively new. I mean, I think you told me last night you started in October.

Speaker 4 [07:41] Yeah,

Speaker 1 [07:41] um,

Speaker 4 [07:42] well, I mean, it really comes from our friendship. You know, I've known this guy since 4th grade and I've known this guy since 7th. We've been drinking beer since college. Uh, we've built up an authentic story, but like part of us and like part of the reason like we get so much support back at home is because, uh, our actual personal interactions with people. People have met all three of us through high school, college, and after that like we're the 33 Musketeers and um we wanna try to bring that out in our branding, like the way we create relationships, the way, uh, The way all three of us attack a conversation, just make it fun and goofy. We're like, we try to put that in our business plan in some way so that when people experience the brand, it's like they're experiencing Greg, me and Zach, so. Something like that, yeah,

Speaker 5 [08:29] and just to add with that, just, you know, being on social media often, you know, on Instagram. I'm home brewing every Sunday, every other Sunday. People watching the journey will get messages like, Man, what are you all brewing? What are you doing? We're making beer, and this started early in 2017, so people actually followed us, you know, through our journey, seeing us launch and actually see us here today, you know, to win this competition. So, um, community, it's all about community, and they're very excited for us.

Speaker 1 [08:58] Yeah, it very much is about community. I mean, based on what I heard and based on your presentation. Uh, it feels like there's so much tied to the city of Chicago, and I think there's, um, you know, there's a thought of, OK, well, you dig deep in Chicago, you go deep in Chicago, but where do you go from there? Have you thought about where you go beyond Chicago, or is it just really that's your, that's your laser focus at this point?

Speaker 4 [09:20] We've thought about it, um. You know, Chicago is our bread and butter, we wanna create a foundation there, but like I think of course we want to expand into the Midwest, um, because they're similar environments to Chicago, um, and even with that like if there's a funky town in Cincinnati or a funky town. In, um, Iowa, like it should really resonate with those people, like keep it funky for them. Like it should like we have woo wop the bam because it's a Chicago term. What do the people in Iowa say? What do the people in Cincinnati say? So it resonates with that local culture. So we definitely wanna. Bad out of Chicago. I mean when it comes to like just dreaming, there's a part that we didn't talk about like we like traveling too. We, we would want a brewery in Jamaica. We would want a brewery in Chiang Mai, Thailand if we could, because those are just like the things that we've experienced and like they're just dope cultures, crazy experiences that we want Funky Town beer to be available in those experiences. So expansion is definitely like. Part of the dream, but we have to focus on Chicago first because they need us.

Speaker 1 [10:25] Well, if those places fit into the funky town community, why not? Yeah. And if you love to travel, it's like you're traveling to your own business. You're traveling to your own, basically your own home, your second home, yeah. Um, in terms of, uh, you know, next steps, I mean, I think, you know, winning this competition gives you a little bit of credibility. Uh, you've already had that, you've already earned that credibility. But, you know, when you're talking about like reaching out to the industry, who do you want to talk to next? Who are the folks that you want to hear from or that you want to connect with to help grow your brand from here?

Speaker 5 [10:57] Um, great question. You know, we've been really hyper focused on making sure that our brand is off, um, off our launch pad and making sure that we have a message that resonates with Chicago folks and folks around the nation, um, so you know, being open for only 60 days and being operational for only 60 days, um, I'm not sure that we're at that point just yet. Um, you know, but with this, uh, extra exposure, I know we're gonna get a couple more emails, we're gonna have a couple more phone calls and opportunities that are gonna open up that we might not have thought about a week or two ago, um, so you know this business is fluid, um, you know, we've had to pivot our, our business plans a couple of different times and, you know, pivoting that and having these two guys, um, you know, involved in it, we've been able to be successful up until this point, so. Um, we just wanna move like water, you know what I mean, so if something comes along our way, we're gonna absolutely take the opportunity to listen to it and see what comes from it, um, but everything's moving so fast, so quickly, um, you know, it's, it's, it's, uh, it's not overwhelming, man, but it's, it's great, it's a new issue and a great problem that we have now, kind of victims of our own success.

Speaker 1 [12:10] People are really happy for you. People are really excited for you and for Funky Town Brewery. The viewers at home probably didn't get to see it. But when we announced the Funky Town won, the pitch slam, you guys got a standing ovation, a rousing standing ovation. I don't think we've seen that before, uh, at the Probound conference. So, uh, congratulations again. You know, last question, uh, where's the party? You guys are going back home to Chicago. You, are you exhausted at this point? You're gonna, you're gonna go to bed or are you gonna party into the night? I'm, I'm partying.

Speaker 5 [12:41] I'm partying, baby.

Speaker 4 [12:44] Well, I mean, actually, we've been out here not focusing on this and not posting about the stuff we have going on, but we will be celebrating this Saturday at Robinson's Ribs in

Speaker 5 [12:55] the ribs the Robinson's shout out to Robinson.

Speaker 4 [12:58] It was one of the events that we had planned. That's a childhood friend that we know and This makes that party even sweeter. So,

Speaker 1 [13:06] I, unfortunately, I won't be able to attend, but hopefully you'll have another one. Robinson's rib sounds like it's right up my alley actually. So, yeah, outstanding. Well, gentlemen, once again, congratulations on your victory. Uh, can't wait to see, uh, where the brand goes from here. And who knows, maybe we'll have you up on stage next year at Brewbound, uh, Live Winter 2022 with Justin sitting across from you asking about how'd you get so big so quickly. So, uh, but in the meantime, thank you all so much for watching today. Uh, it's been an honor to sit down with everyone, uh, in the viewing audience. Hopefully, we will see you all once again next year at Brewbound Winter 2022. Registration is open. Sign up today. In the meantime, I'm Ray Latif signing off for an incredible team at Bevnet and Brewbound. We'll talk to you next time.