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The Entrepreneur Podcast improves your odds of entrepreneurial success by sharing the stories and lessons learned of world-class entrepreneurs.
Introduction
You are listening to the entrepreneur podcast from the Western Morissette Institute for Entrepreneurship, powered by Ivey. My name is Eric Morris, and I will be the host for this session.
Eric Morse
Eric Brass didn't hate his job in asset management. He had a terrific boss, wonderful colleagues, and the pay was great. But six years before, on an exchange trip to Guadalajara, Mexico, Eric fell in love with premium tequila, so much so that it planted a seed that ultimately led him to create a world-class tequila brand. In this episode, Brass revisits the entrepreneur podcast and talks about his ongoing journey with Tequila Tromba and shares some exciting updates on his latest venture that is supporting sustainability in Agave cultivation.
Eric Morse
This all kind of came about, I know, not directly, but it was a school exchange in Mexico, Guadalajara, is that right?
Eric Brass
That's right. Most of my smart friends went to Hong Kong, France, Switzerland... in their last semester of Ivey, and I went to Guadalajara, Mexico.
Eric Morse
That seems like you're maybe the smart one. I don't know about that.
Eric Brass
I mean, I wanted to, part of me just wanted to have a unique experience, do something different, do something that was kind of out of the realm. And two of my best friends were going to Sweden. I originally signed up for Sweden, and something just said, that's not the right choice, okay? Guadalajara, Mexico, is the right choice. And certain circumstances happened, or just convinced me I got to go here. And I ended up opening that exchange for Ivey. Ivey didn't have that exchange. Subsequently, the exchange... So I opened it and closed it, and that's the story over a few, probably a few margaritas, okay, you know, it was an amazing experience, because I got out of my comfort zone. I went down to Guadalajara, speak any Spanish, didn't have any knowledge of Mexico, and down there I fell in love with tequila. So I thought tequila was that terrible shot at that horrible bar at that city hour of the night, ended up trying good tequila for the first time, and was amazed by how good tequila actually can be.
Eric Morse
Well, it's funny. I think such an education realm, and we'll leave this for later. But when you tell people there's good tequilas, there's still so many that don't know that, right? And so that's an education that's ongoing, I think here in Canada and North America.
Eric Brass
Yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's amazing though, how much it's premiumized. So when I started trauma, premium and tequila didn't were naturally not the same sense, right? For sure. But today, if you ask the younger generation who has a bad tequila story, they'll look at you like you're you have three heads bad tequila story. What are you talking about? Tequilas, premium tequilas. Tequila is a beautiful sipping drink. You can make a great cocktail with it, where our experience is much more shared of that, you know, too many bat you know, CD hour the night, close your eyes, plug your nose, hope for the best. It was the joke shot right. And so tequila is the fastest premiumizing spirit on the planet. Wow. It's even overtaking cognac in some pretty, pretty unbelievable.
Eric Morse
It is pretty unbelievable. So you made a really interesting connection while you were in made a made a friend,
Eric Brass
Made a very good friend, and his father was the original master distiller of a little tequila brand you may have heard of called Don Julio. So better to be lucky than smart. We, we became acquainted with him, and, you know, came back to Canada, worked, worked in finance for about...
Speaker 1
So you kinda left, that though, right? Was there any thought at that time of a business?
Eric Brass
God, no, just made a cool friend. Yeah, I met, I met a cool friend. And we had, we had some, we had some good parties, yeah, we had some good parties. We had some good we had some great drinking experiences. But quite, quite obviously, no. I mean, you know, I went to Ivey, did reasonably well, right? Finance was what I was after, and didn't think much of it when I came back to Canada as a tequila advocate, didn't think it would lead to the next realm of my life.
Eric Morse
And you worked in capital asset management, I think for three or four years?
Eric Brass
Seven years (seven years). Got my CFA, (okay), probably the only guy with in the booze business, with the CFA.
Eric Morse
So when did it, like, when did it come to you that, you know, what, I want to do something different, and I've got these friends and, you know, in Mexico that are in the tequila business, but like, what led to that?
Eric Brass
I mean, it was, it was a constant itch, right? It's kind of, you know, I think entrepreneurs always, always have that, whether it's, you know, on vacation, you know, watching watching TV, whatever it is, that itch was always there. Of, I wanted to something different, something unique, something that was entrepreneurial, yeah, and I love my job in finance, like that's a misconception that many people have, is you must hate your job and find this is terrible. I had a great boss, great job. I was growing all of those things, but still something was pulling at me to do something different.
Eric Morse
Yeah, fantastic. So good friend. Dad's master distiller. So the three of you get together and say, Hey, let's do something. (I mean) And what's the Master, what's what's your friend's dad going "really?"
Eric Morse
He did look at us a bit weird when we first brought up with him, because, listen, we didn't have any, we didn't have any any money. We have any knowledge of the market. We didn't have any big distribution contracts. And we knew we had to have a great Mexican pedigree to make a great tequila. I'm not a great Mexican pedigree, in case you can't tell by my voice, but Marco Cedano, the original master distiller of tequila, the original master still of Don Julio, and when the founders of premium tequila is the Mexican pedigree in a nutshell. And so, you know, we said, why don't we pitch him to effectively create this brand? Because when I was coming back and forth, working in finance from Mexico, working in finance from Mexico, I'd always bring tequila back from me when I when I go on vacation, right, come back to Canada, and people would be floored, and loved it. And so I noticed this is an opportunity. This is something really different, really interesting. And I get invited to parties, and people would say, "Eric, why don't come to come to this party. You know, you bring your tequila. You can come to if you want, but," but it's cute. The tequila is number one. And I just saw the reaction of people's faces trying good tequila. I noticed that that gap in the market, I wanted to address, and so we pitched Marco to effectively create create brand called Tromba. And he said, I'll do it on two conditions. Number one, I got to be partner in this company. So, you know, I spent 17 years effectively working, and all I got was a watch for my efforts. That's not gonna happen again. And number two, no gringos in the kitchen. So I'm going to create the brand the way I want to create it. And we said, Absolutely. And so we ended up raising a bunch of money, not a bunch of money, a little amount of money, I should say, but we had about 10 grand left over, yeah, backpack, and went bar by bar, bottle by bottle, to build the brand.
Eric Morse
And that's really how you did build the brand. I mean, I remember those days. And I mean, you literally went city by city, bar by bar...
Eric Brass
Yeah, some nights I go to six, seven bars a night. And it was just, it was persistence, persistence, persistence, and not taking no for an answer. And if you speak about grassroots and about, you know, authentic brand building from the ground up, that's, that's how we did it. And it was so unconventional the way we did it, where the conventional way is, you effectively do a big, do a big launch party, splash into retail, talk to the bar owners, get the, you know, top White House venues, night clubs, to buy the product. And we just did it completely differently. We went grassroots, telling the story, bartender by bartender, street fighting, hand to hand combat.
Eric Morse
So those bartenders started asking for the product?
Eric Brass
Yes, yeah. So, so, I mean, we got laughed at by our competitors, because they would say, what is this guy doing going to the bar? These bartenders can't make the decision. They don't write the checks. It's the bar owner. It's the bar managers make the decision. This guy's wasting his time. And my viewpoint was number one, we had to do something different if we compete on a conventional way with (tough industry to get into). Yeah, yeah. I mean, you're talking 10... we had 10 grand versus 10 million, right? And so we had to do something different. And speaking to the bartender, any bar worth their salt is going to listen to listen to their bartender. So if you're a bar manager, bartender, and then you come to the bar and say, I'd like a you know, Can you recommend a cocktail? Can you recommend a tequila? That bartender now became our advocate, and they would say, you got to try Tromba. And that's how the brand was built, and continues to be built to this day.
Eric Brass
We are number one independent tequila brand in Canada, number one independent tequila brand in independent tequila brand in Australia. (Nice) One of the fastest growing craft tequila brands now in the US, we are aligned with the Sazerac. Sazerac partnership in the US, we just launched a new product, which is a gallon jug of tequila, the first of its kind.
Eric Morse
Awesome. And how are you doing now in Canada?
Eric Morse
Wait, wait, back that up a gallon jug?
Eric Brass
A gallon jug of tequila.
Eric Morse
So who buys a gallon jug of tequila?
Eric Brass
Champions buy a gallon jug of tequila. We want... So that size just became legal in the US, and we jumped on it, all right?
Eric Brass
In Canada, unfortunately, not. We're behind the times, but in the US, we are the first brand to bring up kind of a bit. And the reason why we did it is, number one, it's different, right? That's and that's and that, and that's the case. And tequila is obviously a very saturated market. The liquor industry is very saturated, so it's different. A lot of celebrities, a lot of, you know, marketing sizzle, not, maybe not a lot of steak behind the products. But for the gallon jug, it's really interesting, because if you're a bar, you get the gallon jug and you can use different, you know, cheater bottles, so to speak. So you can put it into, you know, liter bottles.
Eric Morse
I've never seen that...
Eric Morse
You have to be a fit bartender.
Eric Brass
Well, no, listen, it's, it's not that heavy. Listen, dumbbells you can lift our gallon jugs. But your, your ounce cost, your cost of pouring an incredible craft tequila, goes way down, because you're and also, there's a huge sustainability, yeah, there's a huge sustainability aspect too. We're saving 88 metric tons of glass a year (Wow) by effectively doing these jugs, we ended up launching these jugs by mistake in Australia. That's just another story, and now they're our best selling items actually in Australia. Yeah.
Eric Morse
Well, congratulations. And I think that actually is a nice transition to kind of your newest business. Uh. And you've really kind of that sustainability angle is a big play here. So tell me how you got into kind of the Sustainable end of the agave plant and reuse.
Eric Brass
Yeah for sure. So tequila's got a big waste problem, and it's probably not as publicized as some other problems, just because Mexico maybe has bigger fish to fry when it comes to issues within within their country. But 1.5 million tons of waste is created every year for tequila. And that waste, it's it's a fibrous strand called the bagasse, and that waste, effectively, is disposed above one of two major ways. Number one, it's either dumped in rural landfills, which impacts those that can least afford to be impacted, which is the poor farmer creates carbon emissions, seeps the soil, contaminates the water. The second way is, it's burned on site, and we can figure out why that doesn't make make good good for environmental impact there. And so we saw this, we saw the huge amount of waste that was being created, and we said we got to be able to be able to do something with it, because the agave behaves much like a wood pulp. And so we took the waste and listen, everybody knows there's a straw problem in the world. Yeah, the double fuse plastic and the double fuse paper. Yep. And so we said, There's got to be a better way to create a new product with a straw. And so we did our first iteration of a straw and sustainable Agave straw, and it just took off, wow. And we partnered with with Cisco USA, (okay, great!), biggest, biggest and biggest in the US, fantastic partners, and we created the straw, and now effectively have a whole portfolio behind it. We just did our compostable and biodegradable cutlery cups, working on a whole line of molded pulp, clam shells, bowls. And we have two major prerogatives with this business. Number one, it's to upcycle Agave waste, so take waste of the environment, and, number two, replace single use plastics. So we're killing two very bad birds with one stone. And we're going to sell our billionth straw this year, which is pretty, pretty exciting.
Eric Morse
That's fantastic. And you started with the straw, not the plate. Plates seem easier.
Eric Brass
No straws. Straws are straw. Straws is a funny market, because it's, it's, relatively speaking, a small market, but it gets so much attention, (sure) and, you know, and the straw problem is just, it's so prevalent, right? Everybody hates a paper straw, yeah? Nobody wants, everybody loves a performance of a plastic straw, but doesn't want,
Eric Morse
Yeah, the metal straws people like stay away from these are tough to clean.
Eric Brass
Totally, and it's all kinds of, yeah, who knows what kind of bacteria is on that straw. I don't like to drink out of metal straws either. And so, yeah, I mean, we, we produce a straw that's compostable, biodegradable, performs like plastic, but has the environmental characteristics of the cutting edge, sustainable straw.
Eric Morse
So The Sustainable Agave Company, (yes) coming to a store near you (I hope). So has this second time around... I'm sure it's been different, maybe easier, in some ways, harder than others. What do you tell me how the second one has gone for you, and maybe what you've learned relative to the first startup.
Eric Brass
Yeah, I think it's been, you know, it's definitely been different relatively speaking. It's, I would say an easier is a really tough word, yeah. But, you know, we were, effectively, you know, starting trauma, I was, I was blind as to what to do, and didn't know where to go for legal, didn't know where to go for accounting, to know where to go for Exactly, right. And then with, with sustainable, you know, I have kind of the background of where to go, what to do and what not to do. With, with Tromb. You know with Tromba, I learned some lessons about, you know, about things like, you know, for example, don't, don't throw stones at every dog that barks, or else you'll never get your destination. And with Tromba, I would, I would I would do that, I'd stop, and I'd look at the little problems, not the big picture. When I started. Now, it's all about the long game and and I think for me, I think for me, you know, in my experience, at least, I think, you know, the first venture taught me how to be an entrepreneur, and then the second venture maybe taught me why I'm an entrepreneur in that sense, where, you know, Tromba is the passion, authenticity built in a really interesting market. But sustainability, sustainable Agave is about sustainability, giving back in a full circle business. That's, you know... we want to be profitable business, but we also want to do good while doing good in the sense where we're effectively giving back to the environment as well.
Eric Morse
Yeah, very nice. And so what's your end goal for The Sustainable Agave Company?
Eric Brass
I mean, it's, it's just putting it in more applications. So we spoke about straws. And straws is, you know, it's a pretty prevalent, you know, some, sometimes you get a paper or a biodegradable straw, or compostable straw with a big fat plastic cup, yeah, right. And that always bothers me, right? (Yeah, sure) And so there's so many applications that we can effectively take the waste of agave because it's just, it's such a problem, there's 1.5 million tons every year. You can apply that to so many things, from disposable views every day to things we're not thinking about, you know, like consumer packaging, clam shells, pretty much any. Them. I mean, the biggest risk of this business is the different ways we can go about doing it.
Eric Morse
Now, are you finding it hard to come by supply like you'll use up all yours. Can you then go to other distillers and say, Hey, will you give us, hopefully, your waste?
Eric Brass
Fortunately for us, unfortunately for the world, we're gonna take it's gonna take a long time for us to use up all that Agave waste. And also, you know, it would be great if more people use the agave waste, because, again, it's every single year as people, you know, a lot of drink tequila. Yeah, more waste, right? And again, I don't know, I don't have statistics to back this up, but the vast majority of it is going to places where it shouldn't go, Sure. So yes, in terms of supply of raw material, there's not a shortage on the horizon.
Eric Morse
Yeah. Okay, yeah, fantastic. You were very early in the certificate of entrepreneurship at the Ivey business school. Are there a couple of lessons you can share that really helped or shaped your career from inside the class, outside the class. I know it's totally different, like you said, you know, she's legal and all these things that you don't think about that when you're really doing it you have to go to but what are maybe some of the things your lessons?
Eric Brass
I mean, I think that couple, a couple things I would say on that number one, just on on the case study method in general, I candidly went through school at Ivey, and I was in candidly, I was like, this, what am I learning here? This is, this, is, this is, this is a waste of time. I'm learning about some guy fixing a machine to effectively produce more widgets, or somebody launching a toy business in a foreign market like this doesn't have any data applicability. Give me theories, give me book stuff, and when I got into the real world, I realized it was an epiphany. I realized how valuable that case study was, because you're able to effectively take a problem, dissect that problem, figure out what the problem is and what the solution is. And that path and I my first job, I was in a rotational finance program with different people from different schools and queens you have tealick and no knock on those schools, schools, but the ability for me to effectively look at problems and break them down and find solutions versus more of a book type method was unbelievable. And I don't know if the students will appreciate it now during but afterwards it is. It's incredible, and it's unconscious, and just think about it. And then, you know, on the entrepreneurship side, look like, I think I was in your first entrepreneurship class, and, you know, as well as I do the, you know, we're now in a building dedicated pretty much to entrepreneurship, right? And the resources back then were not much, you know, what you were, you know, I could barely spell entrepreneurship, let alone, you know, knew what it knew, what the whole thing that everything involved with it. But, you know, being in your class and remembering the lessons that you had and giving me not only the, you know, the book smarts and doing cases that were effectively, you know, geared towards that, but also giving me the confidence and the structure so I can approach problems. Because, as an entrepreneur, it's, it's a bit of a lonely game, (Yeah, for sure). And so falling... I remember falling back on that bit, hold on. I took a course on this, I know this stuff. It was invaluable to me. It really was.
Eric Morse
Thanks, Eric. You know the problem solving and entrepreneurs, that's what you do, (totally) and so being able to fall back on that, I think, is helpful, but it's it's also about just learning, as you know, right? (100%) think the best entrepreneurs are those that can learn the fastest. (Totally agree) If you had to... I have two questions up. So maybe one is, what is the best piece of advice you received kind of in your entrepreneurial journey? And then maybe, what piece of advice would you leave for our students?
Eric Brass
Good question, I would say the best piece of advice was, was be persistent, and my father taught me that my father is a self made entrepreneur, and he started selling extension cords in the trunk of his car in the 70s, and built a nice business for himself by being persistent, by out working his competition, by out loving his customers. And he always told me that you can overcome so many obstacles by not taking no for an answer and just by being persistent, being that dog on the bone, which I think was, you know, was invaluable to me. My My piece of advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is, and maybe this also translates to me, it's a little bit of life advice, but, and you know, certainly it affected me is be uncomfortable, because you're not going to grow as a person unless you're uncomfortable. Yeah, you're not going to try new things unless you're uncomfortable. It's the only nobody's created anything great by being comfortable. (Yeah) And if you don't want to be uncomfortable, then that's totally fine, too. You can effectively pick a path. But I remember somebody asked me, you know, somebody was, was asking me some thoughts about, you know, being an entrepreneur and stuff like that, and he had an idea, and he said, Well, I think I'm going to try it and see how it works out. And I go, No, no, you either do it or you don't do it. That's it, right? And if you have to, you're gonna have to sacrifice things to make it happen. But if you don't make those, you know, if you don't trade, you know, comfort for conviction, (yeah) then you're then you got, then you got no chance.
Eric Morse
If you don't believe in it. Who else will?
Eric Brass
100%
Introduction/Outro
The Entrepreneur Podcast is sponsored by Quantumshift 2008 alum and founder of Closing the Gap Healthcare Group, Dr Connie Clerici. To ensure you never miss an episode, subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player or visit entrepreneurship.uwo.ca/podcast
Introduction/Outro
Thank you so much for listening. Until next time you.