Brewbound Pitch Slam 14: Semi-Finals - SUNBOY

Speaker 1 [00:24] All right. Our next semi-finalist, and I apologize for not pronouncing your name correctly, is Yair Taigil, uh, the founder of Sunboy. Did I get that even close? OK, cool. All right. Uh, just keep an eye on your timer, please.

Yair Tygiel [00:44] Hello Brewbound, I'm Yair, founder of Sunboy. Sunboy defines a new category of better for you beverages as the world's first ready to drink spiked coconut water. We combine hydrating coconut water, real fruit juices, and a gluten-free brewed alcohol that classifies us as a beer. It's all natural with 0 g of sugar added. Sunboy has only been out for about 1 year, but it's almost a decade in the making. Back in the early 2010s, my co-founder and I created the custom branded coconut by building a machine that burns logos onto the outside husk of the coconut. We got started by serving them from bikes at illegal dance parties on the Brooklyn Bridge, but then brands like Diageo hired us to serve fresh cocktails in coconuts with their logos on them at giant parties and music festivals nationwide. We were selling marketing space on coconuts, handheld billboards. When those events stopped for the pandemic, we took everything we knew about coconut sourcing and coconut cocktails, and we canned it. Someboy hits on all of the biggest trends, ready to drink, better for you, lower sugar, and lower alcohol. We're not allowed to make any explicit health claims, but we really don't have to. Consumers understand that coconut water is hydrating, it's healthy. It's what they reach for in the morning when they're feeling hungover. Uh, we were, it actually solves this literal pain point that consumers are feeling, and we don't even have to say so. So since we launched in New York about a year ago, we're now in hundreds of independent and chain doors throughout the city. We hand sold into Whole Foods, uh, outside the set and quickly became one of the top 40 best selling alcohol beverages in key stores. We also just became the first ever alcohol brand to win Best New Beverage at the Expo East Nextie Awards, not Best New Beer or Best new canned cocktail, but Best new beverage overall in a field of 600 natural products. It shows what a crossover hit Sunboy is. It's not just popular with alcohol drinkers, but also with the wellness crowd. And you probably saw that Captain Morgan and Vita Coco are jumping on the bandwagon with their own spirit-based coconut water. We say bring it on. We're going to greet these new fans in supermarket aisles with a higher quality, better tasting drink. Thank you.

Speaker 1 [02:51] Nicely done. All right, um, Jess, is this something that, uh, more important people, I mean, we've seen some spiked coconut waters out there that you referred to. Um, is this something that more and more consumers are looking for?

Speaker 3 [03:04] Yeah, I mean, the, the younger consumers are, are a little bit different. I'm still trying to figure them out, but, but they're looking for that function and they're, you know, I think, you know, the, the hydration, gluten-free, lower sugar. I think that's something that they're all, they're all looking on, and then it's very flavorful. That's the other big thing. I mean, there's a lot of flavor in that product. Mhm.

Speaker 1 [03:22] Um, how big of an opportunity do you think this is? How, how much of a runway do you think Sun Boy and other kinds of beverages like this have, Ryan?

Speaker 4 [03:29] I mean, it's really hard to say. I mean, coconut water, non-alk is a big category. It's not growing as fast as it was, but um if you look at that as a benchmark, there's a lot of awareness already, which is nice for the brand to have that built in. Um, but how big you can scale spiked coconut water, I have no idea.

Speaker 1 [03:43] Um, Rich, you know, it seemed like a lot of people like the flavor of this product. What are your thoughts?

Speaker 5 [03:48] I thought it was good, um, coming from, like, you know, I'm a straight craft beer head. I could be stubborn in my ways, but, um, I thought the product was really good. It wasn't too sweet. Um, the malt that he used to, uh, kind of bring it into the beer category, like it was just like the unifying ingredients, like it came out a really good product, and I think like it'll catch people off guard, like when they try it for the first time and Not sure how fast it could grow, but like I think there's a lot of opportunity there with this, the new RTD.

Speaker 1 [04:15] During the last presentation, you mentioned label design. What do you think of label design for

Speaker 5 [04:18] Sunboy? Sun Boy, uh, they're nice and bright. Um, his, his part of his go to market strategy is serving out of coconuts. It, it all works together.

Speaker 1 [04:29] Um, Jamie, uh, yeah, you talked about the crossover, uh, between beverage, uh, categories, um, sort of happening right now with Sun Boy. Um, do you think that there's, uh, there's a real business opportunity there?

Speaker 6 [04:41] I do, um, I think there's gonna be a lot of awareness that's gonna be needed in this space, um, so my first advice is to stay the course, um, and do you think that coconut water, um, and just sort of uh hydrating properties is really interesting. Um, and so finding those natural ingredients that deliver on those functional benefits without having to explicitly call it out, I think is a really interesting space, and I think going back to just your point about younger consumers and wanting, um, sort of those better for you products and ingredients, um, I think this product delivers on it and the packaging's fun, the flavors are fun, um, and so I, I do think there's a lot of opportunity here.

Speaker 1 [05:21] Fantastic. All right, good stuff.