March 4, 2025 • 21 mins
As the world began to emerge from the challenges of COVID, Ray Rozycki, CEO of Boba POPS, recognized a unique opportunity to unite communities — starting with his own family. With his son, Harmon, graduating from college, Ray envisioned a meaningful bond and a lasting creation they could share together. This vision became Boba POPS, led by this dedicated father and son pair, working together each day to bring their vision to the market.
Whether you are in the mood for a refreshing and light cocktail, a burst of flavor and excitement to a high ABV cocktail, or an infusion of fun and uniqueness into one of your own creations, Boba POPS is for every type of drink. These one-of-a-kind pearls of popping spirits are inspired by the creativity that connects us all, making them...“a perfect choice for every type of alcohol consumer”
https://bobapops.com/
Whether you are in the mood for a refreshing and light cocktail, a burst of flavor and excitement to a high ABV cocktail, or an infusion of fun and uniqueness into one of your own creations, Boba POPS is for every type of drink. These one-of-a-kind pearls of popping spirits are inspired by the creativity that connects us all, making them...“a perfect choice for every type of alcohol consumer”
https://bobapops.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
And welcome in. This is the CEOs You Should Know podcast.
I'm your host, Johnny Heart. Well, let's saylod Ray and
Harmon Rosicky of Boba Pops. Thank you for being with me.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
It's great to be here. Thanks for having us.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
All right, so tell us everything we need to know
about Boba Pops.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Boba Pops is the most innovative concept to be introduced
to the liquor industry in years. You know, it gives
both bartenders and consumers a unique twist to creating cocktails
and plays off of the concept of the popping boba
that you would find in boba teese.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
It's like bobo tees, but it's alcoholic. That's it. What
kind of flavors do you have?
Speaker 4 (00:44):
So right now we have our core flavors are five
fruit flavors strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, peach, and leachy.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Well, hold on, what's leachy? Leachy?
Speaker 4 (00:55):
To me, it's a little bit of like a honey
type floral flavor. It's really good in green teas and
things like that, and it kind of draws inspiration from
the classic boba tea type flavor. So one of my
favorites for sure.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
You drink it on its own or do you have
to have mixed or both? Yeah, it is both.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
It can be enjoyed as its own RTD or ready
to drink if you want to do it that way.
But it also for us, the most creative thing about
it is that it can spice up just about any
cocktail and turn it into something that's more dynamic than
it was before.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
And where can I get it?
Speaker 4 (01:29):
So we can go to Boba Pops dot com as
our website and you can shop online almost nationwide, and
then here in PA you can also buy it directly
from us at the distillery. So we're up in Slippery
Rock right now and hopeing to open a new location
by the airport here soon.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Oh very good, very good.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
We also have, due to some new liquor Control board
laws here in Pennsylvania, we actually are starting to be
offered through chains that could previously only sell malt beverages.
So the beer distributors and potentially can be stores that
can sell those things, can now carry our product even
though it's liquor based, because our proofage is twelve and
(02:06):
a half percent, which allows them to now sell it.
So you'll start to see us in beer distributors, usually
placed by the checkout counter. You'll see a bucket that
has small serving sized cups.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
All right, what's the history behind Boba pops.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Well, that's a fun history, to be honest.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Years ago, twenty fifteen, I invested in a gentlemen who
had a patent to make spherical alcohol i e. Popping
boba encapsulated flavors that had alcohol in them. When COVID hit,
he really wasn't in a position to continue that had
a significant amount of money invested. So at the same
(02:45):
time my son happened to be graduating from Wake Forest,
I was really interested in potentially giving him the opportunity
to learn how to be an entrepreneur and to learn
a little bit about business and ask him if he
would be interested in taking over that company and brand
and growing it.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Out to see what we could do with it.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
All right, So that's where the partnership, that's how we
got well, it actually started when he was born. For
the business partnership and harmon.
Speaker 4 (03:14):
What was your reaction, Yeah, I think Ray called me
probably second semester senior year, and said, hey, you want
to try to do something fun with me? And I
was like, yeah, let's go for it was your major.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
I was a.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
Mathematic economics major, so definitely more of the quantitative side there.
So it's been a lot of fun learning some marketing
and things like that from all of our partners that
we've been working with.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Okay, and right, Well, was your background prior to getting
into this business.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
I've been a lifelong educator.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
I taught high school mathematics at Southayette Township here in
the Pittsburgh suburbs and went on from there to design
virtual schools and designed digital curriculum to help meet kids' needs.
Ended up selling a company in there on software that
we had built and worked for the largest school management
(04:03):
company in the country for six years as their chief
officer of digital education. Helped them sell that company and
then actually have a company that still exists called Spider Learning.
We provide curriculum and services to special needs students throughout
South Carolina.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Wow. So very diverse, but will always an entrepreneurial edge.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Yeah, much of the dismay of my traditionally educator family
who's used to classrooms and schedules.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
I kind of went off on a whim.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
I don't know if I wasn't sure I was going
to be invited back to Christmas dinner or not after
making those changes in the family.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
But I was all right, okay, Bobo Pops. When did
you officially launch Boba Pops.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
So the brand that Ray spoke about previously whenever he
was an investor originally was called Cocktail Caviar, but a
lot of people thought that it was fish eggs fair enough,
which wasn't super appetite for a martini. So we actually,
whenever we took the brand over in around twenty twenty
one or early twenty twenty two, we always had the
vision of rebranding, and then those efforts recently over the
(05:11):
last probably six to twelve months, have finally been realized
and we've been able to launch the fool Boba Pops,
updated branding and everything like that as of late last year,
so kind of a new development with our new packaging
and everything like that. The brand name has been around
I think since twenty twenty three, whenever we moved production
over here. It used to be an imported product from Taiwan,
(05:34):
but just due to shipping times and things like that,
we ended up moving it over here. So we make
it now. Like I said up in Slippery Rock.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
All right, So who does the production? Is there a
particular a company that does it, or are you in
charge of all the production?
Speaker 4 (05:48):
Well, I'd say Ray is probably our resident chemist here.
He's the definitely brains behind the production side of things,
that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
For people who aren't familiar with bubble tea kind of
you know, explain LIGs what exactly your product is.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Yeah, So I mean, if I start going in teacher
mode and talking about the chemistry behind it, we'll run
out of time.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
But hey, I got nothing to do, all right.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Generally, the product is created with an extract of black
kelp that creates a gel like structure when you introduce
it with calcium. So what we do is we create
if you would almost imagine peach snops and add a
little bit of calcium to it. So when we submerge
it in this reconstituted seaweed extract, it creates a gel
(06:35):
membrane around the alcohol, and then we leave it in
that solution to create the right thickness of the little shell,
and then it becomes a flexible. You can almost imagine
you put enough pressure on it with between your fingers
and it bursts, and then that's what happens in the
mouth and you get that burst of flavor from what's
on the inside.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
But this is a patented process.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Yes, we have a pat We have a production for
creating this through twenty thirty five, which was you know
why I became an original investor, Because if you can
get something in the alcohol space that has no competitors,
it could be to your advantage. So that's what we've
been trying to utilize that concept and the fact that
we're really the only ones who can do it, at
least with the technique we use, you know, for quite
(07:20):
a few years.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Yet.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
So someone who's not familiar with Bubble Tea and they
first tried Boba pops, what's the reaction?
Speaker 3 (07:27):
But generally it's a confused look that becomes an enlightened,
wide eyed look very quickly, like whoo, because it's as
surprising when it bursts, because you're not expecting it to
hit you as much as it does.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
With the flavor.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
You mentioned the flavors mention them again, yep.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
So we have three berry flavors, strawberry, blueberry, and raspberry,
and then we also have a peach and a leachy flavor.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
So what was the first flavor you introduced.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
I think the original was leachy. Like I said, that
definitely draws a lot of inspiration from you know, classic
bubble tea that you might get it out of bubble
tea shop or even at a frozen yogurt shop or
something like that.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Does it have a I've heard it compared to like
a pair strawberry and kind of a mix. Yeah, is
that accurate.
Speaker 4 (08:08):
I think that's accurate. Yeah, it's definitely. It's a fun taste.
It's I think it's pretty unique taste. So we're excited
to have that as part of our portfolio for sure.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
I like the mention of the I'm sorry, I like
to mention of the pear concept because I always describe
it as an Asian pair, even though he's like, that's
really not Harmon always tells me that's not what it is. However,
I think that the most interesting pairing piece of it
for me is that LEECHI has a little bit of
(08:38):
an aftertaste like grapefruit, which pairs really well with IPAs
if you want to get creative with the beer. Oh yeah, yeah,
So it makes an interesting you know, either sidecar or
some creative use with an IPA because.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
The unique texture you could put it in the drink.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
It's It's one of the most interesting things about it
is seeing what other people do to create cocked with it.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
You had a different life now you're going into this.
What has been your biggest.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Challenge finding the right partners with regards to marketing, sales,
and general industry leadership, because you know, coming into an
industry blind one that is very nuanced with.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Regards to contacts.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
You know, if you if you have someone that's creating
a bourbon, they usually weren't doing something else. So but
we actually found some really good partners and lucky to
have Savvy Drinks as a consultant of ours and they've
had a lot of success in the past help growing
brands Kenny Chesney's Blue Chair, Bay Rum and stuff like
that they represent as well as the gentleman that founded
(09:45):
Savvy Drinks sold Castle Brands, which was one of the
largest liquor acquisitions historically in the world. He sold that
to Praneau Recard for you know, a multiple that was insane.
So having him on our team and having him bring
on other contacts for us in sales and marketing has
been an amazing opportunity for us to learn from him,
(10:05):
but also helped us solve our biggest challenges. We go
into an industry where we know no one right.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Well, you mentioned you have a patented process. So the
advantages you have that you've cornered the market through twenty
thirty five. But the disadvantage is you have to educate
people a bit what your product is and how to
consume it and what to consume and so you know,
there's good and bad with everything, but you have a
very unique product. That's an advantage because once people like
(10:35):
once you hear about it, you're like, oh, oh, I
got to try that.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
It is definitely brand awareness before we brought the right
marketing partners on was a challenge. Now that we're starting
to really get into the appropriate marketing, designing the label
to appeal to the eye that makes people want to
look at it and want to buy it has been
i would say, in the last six months, an exponential
(11:03):
amount of brand awareness for us having those components.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Are you just in the Pittsburgh area, are you nationwide?
Speaker 4 (11:11):
Nationwide or at least you know, focused in a couple
of target markets, So definitely focusing for twenty twenty five
in California, Florida, Pennsylvania, of course, Texas and a few
others as well.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
But what Louisiana, it's almost Marty Garras, Oh the So
what does how does that?
Speaker 1 (11:30):
What challenges does that present?
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (11:32):
I mean it definitely means we need to find good
partners like Ray mentioned. So it's been awesome to have
our sales team and marketing team on board that can
help us with those nationwide type events and things like that.
You know, if we had it just in Pittsburgh area,
might be easy enough for us to drive over and
go to Monrovio for an event or something. But it's
another story when it's you know, out in San Jose
(11:52):
or something along those lines.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
You know, yah, what do you do right?
Speaker 4 (11:56):
Exactly? So it's definitely been great to have those partners
on board. We're excited to see what we can do
here in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Yeah, but it's also kind of exciting that you're here
in Pittsburgh, you're manufactured here, you're producing it here in Pittsburgh,
and then you get somebody from Sacramento, for example, who
tries it and loves your products. Sure, that's got to
blow your mind. Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
Yeah, that's awesome and we're excited as we keep moving
forward here, we have the opportunity to open up a
tasting room type thing with our distillery permits, so we're
excited to hopefully get into that space here soon as well,
and that might be something that can drive some fun
new tourism to the city and things like that as well.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
So we're excited and Pittsburgh does need all the tourism.
We need all that we can get.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
We have Harmon mentioned our limited distillery permit that we
have with the state, which also enables us to do
events around the state. We're actually allowed to do one
hundred different events a year where we go and have
a booth and have people there selling our product giving samples,
so that all that information can be found out I
(12:56):
think on our Instagram and so forth.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
We announce when we're going out to those. So that's
definitely something that we would hope if any.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
Of the listeners out there are interested in trying the product,
finding a local event here in PA could be a
way to do that.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
This is a substance that it's a product that is
controlled by the state. Does that present some problems, some issues,
some extra effort.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Yes, in the sense that no one knows what it is,
and in the liquor industry, they're either reviewing a malt
beverage or you know, a beer or a vodka or bourbon,
so everything's very well defined. It's been challenging finding the
right department to work with, if you would, and having
the right contacts. Yeah, because is it a food product?
(13:43):
Is it you know, all those come into question, and
then you have to duplicate that both at the state
level and at the federal level with the TTV.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Oh okay, Yeah, and what has been the feedback of
people who have bought your product?
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Yeah, it's definitely it's some super unique like Roy mentioned
at the beginning, Definitely an innovative product for sure, So
a lot of surprise and kind of fun excitement that
comes along with it.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
For sure.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
It's always good to be able to do the tastings
and things like that and put liquid to lips in
that way, especially because then people try it and they're like, oh,
I get it now. It's definitely way easier to taste
it than it is to describe it. So we'll have
to get you got some samples here as well.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Absolutely absolutely.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
One of the most interesting things that from my take
is when people taste it, they're like, oh, my gosh,
if you made this in blah flavor, you know, and
then they name three or four flavors that they want
it in so that they could do it with their drinks.
And that's where I go to our food. He Harmon's
our resident flavor experts. He's always been, I'm gonna say
an aspiring chef to not insult to true culinary people
(14:49):
that went to school for it, but Harmon is an
amazing chef, makes amazing food his whole life. From the
time he could walk, he's been taking cooking classes and
he'll taste something tell us exactly what's in it.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
So that's been very helpful.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
When someone says, oh, if we had this in a
cranberry that mixed with whatever, he hits the lab and
makes sample flavors and we test him out to see
what can go. And we have several other non core
flavors that we introduce periodically throughout the year.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
If you want to share those harms, yeah.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
Yeah, yeah, definitely we have. We're excited this year we
should be doing a pinicolata and margarita or flavor for
the summertime, and then as we get into the fall
and winter, we're thinking of a pumpkin spice and an
espresso flavor. So oh yeah, yeah, definitely some fun ones
for some pumpkin spice, lottes or something to warm me
up in the cooler weather.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Well, from a marketing standpoint, it's probably good that you
have a limited amount of flavors so people can get
introduced to the product and then when you get something new,
they go, oh, yeah, for sure, you know, I really
like the raspberry, but you know, hey, I wouldn't mind
trying to a pinicolada. Yep, definitely. Yeah. So from a
marketing standpoint, what have you learned? What has worked and
(16:01):
what hasn't.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
Yeah, I think a big thing has been Digital advertising
has been a big thing that we've really seen a
lot of success with, especially with the online store and
things like that. So we're excited to keep pursuing those avenues.
And then as we get into some more stores here
throughout this year, throughout those markets, like I mentioned, I
think it'll be pretty fun to see what other fun
(16:22):
stuff we can do. I know we have a couple
of ideas that We're excited about one of them being
almost like Boba Pop's ice cream truck type thing that
we want to drive around and have that for samples
and things like that near some of those areas where
we'll have some new stores popping up. So I think
that'll be a lot of fun to just kind of
see how we can do some of these new activations
and things along those lines here this year, So I'm
(16:42):
excited for those.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Do you miss your old life? You missed the a
lot of you know.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
I missed the classroom a lot.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
I love I love being in the classroom every day,
and I also drive all of our employees and my
partner here as well as our other partners crazy because
I take every moment as a teach moment and I
over explained things.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
To death to everybody.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
So it's I I don't miss doing that because I'm
still doing it whether people want me to or not.
I'm I'm used to having a classroom for kids that
really don't want to learn math, but trying to find
a way to engage them, and I take that out
on all the adults I work with.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
Now, all right, So I've waited till the end of
the interview to ask you this question, what is it
like to work with your dad on a daily basis?
Speaker 4 (17:26):
Yeah, that's awesome. It's definitely one of those things where
it's no matter what else is going on, you walk
in and get to see, you know, your family, and
that's always something that's that's great each and every day.
So it's definitely nice and gives me a good opportunity
to be able to see him more often than I
probably would if I were, you know, in another city
or something like that as well. So it's been good.
Brought me back to the Pittsburgh area as well, after
(17:48):
being down in North Carolina for school.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
So Wake Force is a fan fantastic school. Yeah, thank you.
I love that school. Well, we're playing.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
Duke tonight in basketball. I guess I wasn't supposed to
say that, but.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
It's a podcast. It will live forever. Yeah, hopefully you win, hopefully. Yeah.
But seriously, there's not any downsides of working with dad, No,
I mean, it's doesn't over explain everything. Oh, I mean,
I'm used to that.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
But yeah, it's nice to have a good relationship where
we can, you know, come to each other and talk
about whatever it might be, whether it's something on a
production side or on the marketing side, and just have
someone that we can both bounce ideas off of and
things like that as well. So definitely nice to have
that relationship and excited to see what we can continue
to do. He told me, you know, that it was
(18:38):
going to be something fun that we'd be doing together,
and I'm glad I took the opportunity because it has
been definitely a lot of fun and a lot of
learning since then.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
So all right, right, same question, what does it like
to work? You obviously have a lot of pride with
You're proud of your son.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Oh yeah, there's no doubt about that. I would I
would say that the the only downside is he has
to call me Ray instead of Dad.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
But uh is ever, it took quite a while for
him to break the habit or call me me Dad.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
I heard the first time he said Ray and I
was like, oh, that's weird.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Yeah, we both felt that way for a while.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
I would say that the for me, I was really
hoping that the experience would give me an opportunity to
share what I learned over the years with him. But
he has really introduced me to a different way to
think about things and to think about things from a
different perspective because he unlike most people you would work with,
he's one hundred percent honest with me all the time, uh,
(19:38):
which is which is nice to have. So it gives
me a lot of insight and uh, different ways to
think about things.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
And if sometimes I'm off on my have my mind made.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
Up on something, He's not afraid to introduce a different
perspective that allows me to think twice and make a
better decision. So so yeah, so that for me, that's
that's really been the biggest plus about all of it
is in addition to the time spent with him, because
that was obviously my goal. Is it's become a two
way learning experience, which is which is amazing.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
You're both from the Pittsburgh area. Yes, one thing I
love about Pittsburgh and having lived and worked in Pittsburgh
my whole life, I am so proud of Pittsburgh in
that the family connection that Pittsburgh's have, but also a
long proud history of innovation. This is where those two
(20:32):
worlds collide. You got a family collaboration, You're introducing a fun,
interesting and new, provocative product and it's something that I
personally am excited for and hope that you see a
huge success and you know the fact that it's not
just Pittsburgh, it's nationwide. I wish you all the luck
(20:53):
in the world. It's been my absolute pleasure to interview
you guys. Good luck, guys.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Oh, thank you, thank you for having us. It was
great being here.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Thank you so much. Thank you once again. If you
want more information, the website is Boba pops dot com.
This has been the CEO you Should Know podcast, showcasing
businesses that are driving our regional economy, part of iHeartMedia's
commitment to the communities we serve. I'm Johnny heart Well,
thank you so much for listening.
And welcome in. This is the CEOs You Should Know podcast.
I'm your host, Johnny Heart. Well, let's saylod Ray and
Harmon Rosicky of Boba Pops. Thank you for being with me.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
It's great to be here. Thanks for having us.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
All right, so tell us everything we need to know
about Boba Pops.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Boba Pops is the most innovative concept to be introduced
to the liquor industry in years. You know, it gives
both bartenders and consumers a unique twist to creating cocktails
and plays off of the concept of the popping boba
that you would find in boba teese.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
It's like bobo tees, but it's alcoholic. That's it. What
kind of flavors do you have?
Speaker 4 (00:44):
So right now we have our core flavors are five
fruit flavors strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, peach, and leachy.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Well, hold on, what's leachy? Leachy?
Speaker 4 (00:55):
To me, it's a little bit of like a honey
type floral flavor. It's really good in green teas and
things like that, and it kind of draws inspiration from
the classic boba tea type flavor. So one of my
favorites for sure.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
You drink it on its own or do you have
to have mixed or both? Yeah, it is both.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
It can be enjoyed as its own RTD or ready
to drink if you want to do it that way.
But it also for us, the most creative thing about
it is that it can spice up just about any
cocktail and turn it into something that's more dynamic than
it was before.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
And where can I get it?
Speaker 4 (01:29):
So we can go to Boba Pops dot com as
our website and you can shop online almost nationwide, and
then here in PA you can also buy it directly
from us at the distillery. So we're up in Slippery
Rock right now and hopeing to open a new location
by the airport here soon.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Oh very good, very good.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
We also have, due to some new liquor Control board
laws here in Pennsylvania, we actually are starting to be
offered through chains that could previously only sell malt beverages.
So the beer distributors and potentially can be stores that
can sell those things, can now carry our product even
though it's liquor based, because our proofage is twelve and
(02:06):
a half percent, which allows them to now sell it.
So you'll start to see us in beer distributors, usually
placed by the checkout counter. You'll see a bucket that
has small serving sized cups.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
All right, what's the history behind Boba pops.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Well, that's a fun history, to be honest.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Years ago, twenty fifteen, I invested in a gentlemen who
had a patent to make spherical alcohol i e. Popping
boba encapsulated flavors that had alcohol in them. When COVID hit,
he really wasn't in a position to continue that had
a significant amount of money invested. So at the same
(02:45):
time my son happened to be graduating from Wake Forest,
I was really interested in potentially giving him the opportunity
to learn how to be an entrepreneur and to learn
a little bit about business and ask him if he
would be interested in taking over that company and brand
and growing it.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Out to see what we could do with it.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
All right, So that's where the partnership, that's how we
got well, it actually started when he was born. For
the business partnership and harmon.
Speaker 4 (03:14):
What was your reaction, Yeah, I think Ray called me
probably second semester senior year, and said, hey, you want
to try to do something fun with me? And I
was like, yeah, let's go for it was your major.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
I was a.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
Mathematic economics major, so definitely more of the quantitative side there.
So it's been a lot of fun learning some marketing
and things like that from all of our partners that
we've been working with.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Okay, and right, Well, was your background prior to getting
into this business.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
I've been a lifelong educator.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
I taught high school mathematics at Southayette Township here in
the Pittsburgh suburbs and went on from there to design
virtual schools and designed digital curriculum to help meet kids' needs.
Ended up selling a company in there on software that
we had built and worked for the largest school management
(04:03):
company in the country for six years as their chief
officer of digital education. Helped them sell that company and
then actually have a company that still exists called Spider Learning.
We provide curriculum and services to special needs students throughout
South Carolina.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Wow. So very diverse, but will always an entrepreneurial edge.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Yeah, much of the dismay of my traditionally educator family
who's used to classrooms and schedules.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
I kind of went off on a whim.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
I don't know if I wasn't sure I was going
to be invited back to Christmas dinner or not after
making those changes in the family.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
But I was all right, okay, Bobo Pops. When did
you officially launch Boba Pops.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
So the brand that Ray spoke about previously whenever he
was an investor originally was called Cocktail Caviar, but a
lot of people thought that it was fish eggs fair enough,
which wasn't super appetite for a martini. So we actually,
whenever we took the brand over in around twenty twenty
one or early twenty twenty two, we always had the
vision of rebranding, and then those efforts recently over the
(05:11):
last probably six to twelve months, have finally been realized
and we've been able to launch the fool Boba Pops,
updated branding and everything like that as of late last year,
so kind of a new development with our new packaging
and everything like that. The brand name has been around
I think since twenty twenty three, whenever we moved production
over here. It used to be an imported product from Taiwan,
(05:34):
but just due to shipping times and things like that,
we ended up moving it over here. So we make
it now. Like I said up in Slippery Rock.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
All right, So who does the production? Is there a
particular a company that does it, or are you in
charge of all the production?
Speaker 4 (05:48):
Well, I'd say Ray is probably our resident chemist here.
He's the definitely brains behind the production side of things,
that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
For people who aren't familiar with bubble tea kind of
you know, explain LIGs what exactly your product is.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Yeah, So I mean, if I start going in teacher
mode and talking about the chemistry behind it, we'll run
out of time.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
But hey, I got nothing to do, all right.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Generally, the product is created with an extract of black
kelp that creates a gel like structure when you introduce
it with calcium. So what we do is we create
if you would almost imagine peach snops and add a
little bit of calcium to it. So when we submerge
it in this reconstituted seaweed extract, it creates a gel
(06:35):
membrane around the alcohol, and then we leave it in
that solution to create the right thickness of the little shell,
and then it becomes a flexible. You can almost imagine
you put enough pressure on it with between your fingers
and it bursts, and then that's what happens in the
mouth and you get that burst of flavor from what's
on the inside.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
But this is a patented process.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Yes, we have a pat We have a production for
creating this through twenty thirty five, which was you know
why I became an original investor, Because if you can
get something in the alcohol space that has no competitors,
it could be to your advantage. So that's what we've
been trying to utilize that concept and the fact that
we're really the only ones who can do it, at
least with the technique we use, you know, for quite
(07:20):
a few years.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Yet.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
So someone who's not familiar with Bubble Tea and they
first tried Boba pops, what's the reaction?
Speaker 3 (07:27):
But generally it's a confused look that becomes an enlightened,
wide eyed look very quickly, like whoo, because it's as
surprising when it bursts, because you're not expecting it to
hit you as much as it does.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
With the flavor.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
You mentioned the flavors mention them again, yep.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
So we have three berry flavors, strawberry, blueberry, and raspberry,
and then we also have a peach and a leachy flavor.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
So what was the first flavor you introduced.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
I think the original was leachy. Like I said, that
definitely draws a lot of inspiration from you know, classic
bubble tea that you might get it out of bubble
tea shop or even at a frozen yogurt shop or
something like that.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Does it have a I've heard it compared to like
a pair strawberry and kind of a mix. Yeah, is
that accurate.
Speaker 4 (08:08):
I think that's accurate. Yeah, it's definitely. It's a fun taste.
It's I think it's pretty unique taste. So we're excited
to have that as part of our portfolio for sure.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
I like the mention of the I'm sorry, I like
to mention of the pear concept because I always describe
it as an Asian pair, even though he's like, that's
really not Harmon always tells me that's not what it is. However,
I think that the most interesting pairing piece of it
for me is that LEECHI has a little bit of
(08:38):
an aftertaste like grapefruit, which pairs really well with IPAs
if you want to get creative with the beer. Oh yeah, yeah,
So it makes an interesting you know, either sidecar or
some creative use with an IPA because.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
The unique texture you could put it in the drink.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
It's It's one of the most interesting things about it
is seeing what other people do to create cocked with it.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
You had a different life now you're going into this.
What has been your biggest.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Challenge finding the right partners with regards to marketing, sales,
and general industry leadership, because you know, coming into an
industry blind one that is very nuanced with.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Regards to contacts.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
You know, if you if you have someone that's creating
a bourbon, they usually weren't doing something else. So but
we actually found some really good partners and lucky to
have Savvy Drinks as a consultant of ours and they've
had a lot of success in the past help growing
brands Kenny Chesney's Blue Chair, Bay Rum and stuff like
that they represent as well as the gentleman that founded
(09:45):
Savvy Drinks sold Castle Brands, which was one of the
largest liquor acquisitions historically in the world. He sold that
to Praneau Recard for you know, a multiple that was insane.
So having him on our team and having him bring
on other contacts for us in sales and marketing has
been an amazing opportunity for us to learn from him,
(10:05):
but also helped us solve our biggest challenges. We go
into an industry where we know no one right.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Well, you mentioned you have a patented process. So the
advantages you have that you've cornered the market through twenty
thirty five. But the disadvantage is you have to educate
people a bit what your product is and how to
consume it and what to consume and so you know,
there's good and bad with everything, but you have a
very unique product. That's an advantage because once people like
(10:35):
once you hear about it, you're like, oh, oh, I
got to try that.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
It is definitely brand awareness before we brought the right
marketing partners on was a challenge. Now that we're starting
to really get into the appropriate marketing, designing the label
to appeal to the eye that makes people want to
look at it and want to buy it has been
i would say, in the last six months, an exponential
(11:03):
amount of brand awareness for us having those components.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Are you just in the Pittsburgh area, are you nationwide?
Speaker 4 (11:11):
Nationwide or at least you know, focused in a couple
of target markets, So definitely focusing for twenty twenty five
in California, Florida, Pennsylvania, of course, Texas and a few
others as well.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
But what Louisiana, it's almost Marty Garras, Oh the So
what does how does that?
Speaker 1 (11:30):
What challenges does that present?
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (11:32):
I mean it definitely means we need to find good
partners like Ray mentioned. So it's been awesome to have
our sales team and marketing team on board that can
help us with those nationwide type events and things like that.
You know, if we had it just in Pittsburgh area,
might be easy enough for us to drive over and
go to Monrovio for an event or something. But it's
another story when it's you know, out in San Jose
(11:52):
or something along those lines.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
You know, yah, what do you do right?
Speaker 4 (11:56):
Exactly? So it's definitely been great to have those partners
on board. We're excited to see what we can do
here in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Yeah, but it's also kind of exciting that you're here
in Pittsburgh, you're manufactured here, you're producing it here in Pittsburgh,
and then you get somebody from Sacramento, for example, who
tries it and loves your products. Sure, that's got to
blow your mind. Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
Yeah, that's awesome and we're excited as we keep moving
forward here, we have the opportunity to open up a
tasting room type thing with our distillery permits, so we're
excited to hopefully get into that space here soon as well,
and that might be something that can drive some fun
new tourism to the city and things like that as well.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
So we're excited and Pittsburgh does need all the tourism.
We need all that we can get.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
We have Harmon mentioned our limited distillery permit that we
have with the state, which also enables us to do
events around the state. We're actually allowed to do one
hundred different events a year where we go and have
a booth and have people there selling our product giving samples,
so that all that information can be found out I
(12:56):
think on our Instagram and so forth.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
We announce when we're going out to those. So that's
definitely something that we would hope if any.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
Of the listeners out there are interested in trying the product,
finding a local event here in PA could be a
way to do that.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
This is a substance that it's a product that is
controlled by the state. Does that present some problems, some issues,
some extra effort.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Yes, in the sense that no one knows what it is,
and in the liquor industry, they're either reviewing a malt
beverage or you know, a beer or a vodka or bourbon,
so everything's very well defined. It's been challenging finding the
right department to work with, if you would, and having
the right contacts. Yeah, because is it a food product?
(13:43):
Is it you know, all those come into question, and
then you have to duplicate that both at the state
level and at the federal level with the TTV.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Oh okay, Yeah, and what has been the feedback of
people who have bought your product?
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Yeah, it's definitely it's some super unique like Roy mentioned
at the beginning, Definitely an innovative product for sure, So
a lot of surprise and kind of fun excitement that
comes along with it.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
For sure.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
It's always good to be able to do the tastings
and things like that and put liquid to lips in
that way, especially because then people try it and they're like, oh,
I get it now. It's definitely way easier to taste
it than it is to describe it. So we'll have
to get you got some samples here as well.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Absolutely absolutely.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
One of the most interesting things that from my take
is when people taste it, they're like, oh, my gosh,
if you made this in blah flavor, you know, and
then they name three or four flavors that they want
it in so that they could do it with their drinks.
And that's where I go to our food. He Harmon's
our resident flavor experts. He's always been, I'm gonna say
an aspiring chef to not insult to true culinary people
(14:49):
that went to school for it, but Harmon is an
amazing chef, makes amazing food his whole life. From the
time he could walk, he's been taking cooking classes and
he'll taste something tell us exactly what's in it.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
So that's been very helpful.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
When someone says, oh, if we had this in a
cranberry that mixed with whatever, he hits the lab and
makes sample flavors and we test him out to see
what can go. And we have several other non core
flavors that we introduce periodically throughout the year.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
If you want to share those harms, yeah.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
Yeah, yeah, definitely we have. We're excited this year we
should be doing a pinicolata and margarita or flavor for
the summertime, and then as we get into the fall
and winter, we're thinking of a pumpkin spice and an
espresso flavor. So oh yeah, yeah, definitely some fun ones
for some pumpkin spice, lottes or something to warm me
up in the cooler weather.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Well, from a marketing standpoint, it's probably good that you
have a limited amount of flavors so people can get
introduced to the product and then when you get something new,
they go, oh, yeah, for sure, you know, I really
like the raspberry, but you know, hey, I wouldn't mind
trying to a pinicolada. Yep, definitely. Yeah. So from a
marketing standpoint, what have you learned? What has worked and
(16:01):
what hasn't.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
Yeah, I think a big thing has been Digital advertising
has been a big thing that we've really seen a
lot of success with, especially with the online store and
things like that. So we're excited to keep pursuing those avenues.
And then as we get into some more stores here
throughout this year, throughout those markets, like I mentioned, I
think it'll be pretty fun to see what other fun
(16:22):
stuff we can do. I know we have a couple
of ideas that We're excited about one of them being
almost like Boba Pop's ice cream truck type thing that
we want to drive around and have that for samples
and things like that near some of those areas where
we'll have some new stores popping up. So I think
that'll be a lot of fun to just kind of
see how we can do some of these new activations
and things along those lines here this year, So I'm
(16:42):
excited for those.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Do you miss your old life? You missed the a
lot of you know.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
I missed the classroom a lot.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
I love I love being in the classroom every day,
and I also drive all of our employees and my
partner here as well as our other partners crazy because
I take every moment as a teach moment and I
over explained things.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
To death to everybody.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
So it's I I don't miss doing that because I'm
still doing it whether people want me to or not.
I'm I'm used to having a classroom for kids that
really don't want to learn math, but trying to find
a way to engage them, and I take that out
on all the adults I work with.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
Now, all right, So I've waited till the end of
the interview to ask you this question, what is it
like to work with your dad on a daily basis?
Speaker 4 (17:26):
Yeah, that's awesome. It's definitely one of those things where
it's no matter what else is going on, you walk
in and get to see, you know, your family, and
that's always something that's that's great each and every day.
So it's definitely nice and gives me a good opportunity
to be able to see him more often than I
probably would if I were, you know, in another city
or something like that as well. So it's been good.
Brought me back to the Pittsburgh area as well, after
(17:48):
being down in North Carolina for school.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
So Wake Force is a fan fantastic school. Yeah, thank you.
I love that school. Well, we're playing.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
Duke tonight in basketball. I guess I wasn't supposed to
say that, but.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
It's a podcast. It will live forever. Yeah, hopefully you win, hopefully. Yeah.
But seriously, there's not any downsides of working with dad, No,
I mean, it's doesn't over explain everything. Oh, I mean,
I'm used to that.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
But yeah, it's nice to have a good relationship where
we can, you know, come to each other and talk
about whatever it might be, whether it's something on a
production side or on the marketing side, and just have
someone that we can both bounce ideas off of and
things like that as well. So definitely nice to have
that relationship and excited to see what we can continue
to do. He told me, you know, that it was
(18:38):
going to be something fun that we'd be doing together,
and I'm glad I took the opportunity because it has
been definitely a lot of fun and a lot of
learning since then.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
So all right, right, same question, what does it like
to work? You obviously have a lot of pride with
You're proud of your son.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Oh yeah, there's no doubt about that. I would I
would say that the the only downside is he has
to call me Ray instead of Dad.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
But uh is ever, it took quite a while for
him to break the habit or call me me Dad.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
I heard the first time he said Ray and I
was like, oh, that's weird.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Yeah, we both felt that way for a while.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
I would say that the for me, I was really
hoping that the experience would give me an opportunity to
share what I learned over the years with him. But
he has really introduced me to a different way to
think about things and to think about things from a
different perspective because he unlike most people you would work with,
he's one hundred percent honest with me all the time, uh,
(19:38):
which is which is nice to have. So it gives
me a lot of insight and uh, different ways to
think about things.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
And if sometimes I'm off on my have my mind made.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
Up on something, He's not afraid to introduce a different
perspective that allows me to think twice and make a
better decision. So so yeah, so that for me, that's
that's really been the biggest plus about all of it
is in addition to the time spent with him, because
that was obviously my goal. Is it's become a two
way learning experience, which is which is amazing.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
You're both from the Pittsburgh area. Yes, one thing I
love about Pittsburgh and having lived and worked in Pittsburgh
my whole life, I am so proud of Pittsburgh in
that the family connection that Pittsburgh's have, but also a
long proud history of innovation. This is where those two
(20:32):
worlds collide. You got a family collaboration, You're introducing a fun,
interesting and new, provocative product and it's something that I
personally am excited for and hope that you see a
huge success and you know the fact that it's not
just Pittsburgh, it's nationwide. I wish you all the luck
(20:53):
in the world. It's been my absolute pleasure to interview
you guys. Good luck, guys.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Oh, thank you, thank you for having us. It was
great being here.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Thank you so much. Thank you once again. If you
want more information, the website is Boba pops dot com.
This has been the CEO you Should Know podcast, showcasing
businesses that are driving our regional economy, part of iHeartMedia's
commitment to the communities we serve. I'm Johnny heart Well,
thank you so much for listening.
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