Brewbound Pitch Slam 14: Semi-Finals - Shojo Beer Co

Speaker 1 [00:24] All right. I believe it's time to get to our first contestant. I'm trying to find them here in the audience. That person is, and I'm gonna I may butcher their name, I apologize, Haider Hatchem, who is the co-owner of Shojo Beer Company. Come on up. All right, good, sir. It's your microphone, please keep an eye on your timer.

Speaker 2 [00:50] What is up, brewbound? It's your boy Haidar Hashem, and I am one half of the Shojo Beero team. It is myself and my beautiful wife Marilyn out there in the crowd. We are born and raised in the 305 Miami, Florida, and we are a Japanese aesthetic type brewery with our Lebanese and Nicaraguan roots deeply instilled into it. So we have thus far done 6 contract brews and we have been distributed all throughout Florida, throughout California, throughout New York, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and DC and we also were in Portland, Maine for the Beers Without Beards festival, so. What we plan to do is to bring all that awareness that we've reached out throughout the United States and through the nation and to bring it all back in to create a hyperlocal space. What we plan to do is and what we've done is for every release that we've put out we have donated a portion of the proceeds back to nonprofits that we strongly believe in. We did this because without the love and support that we've received from everybody that's helped us get to where we are today, I mean we wouldn't be here and we wouldn't be in front of you guys talking today so. The next step is just building out a brick and mortar. Uh, we've dialed back on the contract brews and that's why sadly we did not have any beer to bring to here, uh, but we've sold out of everything that we've made thus far, so I think we're, you know, kind of headed in the right direction and. We just want to, you know, create awareness and, you know, deeply instill our roots back home in Miami and just let the world know who we are so guys thank you so much have a good one.

Speaker 1 [02:51] All right, stuff, uh, Shojo Beer Company, multicultural, um, mission driven. Jamie, what are your initial thoughts on the brand?

Speaker 3 [03:00] Um, I think it's interesting, kind of like the roots and the story. It would be, it's hard to comment without seeing what the product looks like and a little bit more information about the product, but I think just the initial energy behind the mission is interesting.

Speaker 1 [03:16] Jess,

Speaker 4 [03:17] um, obviously being in Miami we've got a facility down there, so it's, it's interesting. I'll ask my folks if they've, they've seen it and, and kinda see what the vibe is down there, but. I mean, you got a ton of energy, which is great. Yeah.

Speaker 1 [03:29] Definitely need that this morning. Yeah. Uh, Ryan, in terms of sort of the presentation, what you heard, is this something that investors are kind of looking for? Are they looking for that sort of dynamic, different approach to beer and that it is mission driven and multicultural like I mentioned?

Speaker 5 [03:41] Yeah, I think they are. I mean, I love the energy, I love the passion. You could tell it before you even start talking. Um, I would want to know more if I was an investor about distribution strategy, how you plan to go to market, brick and mortar strategies. There's a lot of pieces there that need some more detail to understand. Mhm.

Speaker 1 [03:55] Uh, Rich, we heard about a focus on hyperlocal, um, something that I think you guys know a little bit about as well. I mean, what do you think about that approach from an early stage brand like Shojo?

Speaker 6 [04:04] I mean it's best to get your footing like locally at home first before you try to branch out with them having like the diverse leadership. I think that's like a good way to, uh, get the community to really buy into what they're doing. Mhm,

Speaker 1 [04:17] um, we didn't get to see the cans, but from a graphic standpoint, I mean, Jamie, what do you think about, uh, what Sohojo is presenting to the, uh, beer community?

Speaker 3 [04:24] Listen, it's super hard to stand out, right? Like we were having this conversation this morning just about all the new innovations that are coming across different spaces in the category, so just the, um, the color story, the energy, the complexity, and some of the graphics that we see are definitely ones that stand out, um, so I'd definitely be curious to see how that plays into the overall product and packaging.

Speaker 1 [04:48] Great, great feedback.