Changing Industry Standards ft. Molly Fedick of Buzzkill Wines | EYB

In this episode, Laurel Mintz chats with Molly Fetich, founder and CEO of Buzzkill Wines, about redefining the non-alcoholic wine market. Discover how brand positioning, product innovation, and strategic pivots—like switching from cans to bottles—drive growth in an evolving CPG landscape. Molly Fetich shares insights on industry headwinds, lessons for new entrepreneurs, and a sneak peek at a nostalgic celebrity partnership. Perfect for founders and brand builders eager to learn from the front lines of beverage marketing.

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Transcript

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You're listening to the Elevate your brand podcast, the number one podcast for entrepreneurs and wantrepreneurs looking to gain insider marketing and brand building tips from some of the smartest entrepreneurs and fastest growing brands on the market today. I'm your host, Laurel Mintz, a reformed corporate M and a attorney who founded award winning LA based marketing agency Elevate my brand. We've elevated some of the world's biggest brands from Squishmallows, Geico and Verizon to innovative startups to you haven't even heard of yet. Are you ready to elevate your brand? Keep listening. Hi everyone and welcome back to another episode of Elevate your brand. I, of course am your host Laurel Mintz and I am joined today by Molly Fetich, who is the founder and CEO of Buzzkill Wines. Molly, thank you for joining us today. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for having me. Buzz Kill wines is a non alk wine category beverage. On the website it says non alcohols for retired party people, which I thought was so funny. But share with us a little bit more about the brand. Yeah, absolutely. So like you said, Buzzkill is a non alcoholic wine. We are 0.5 ABV, which is the same as any non Elk beer or any, any like Kombucha, anything like that, it would fit in that category. I started the business about four years ago as a response to leaving New York City and just sort of realizing that I had spent the last like 10 years of my life either drunk or hungover living in New York. It's like crazy, right? Like you just everything involves alcohol. It's like work, happy hours and birthday parties, brunches and blah blah, blah, blah blah. And I don't think I realized how much I was drinking until Covid started. And then my social life basically came to a screeching halt. And I was like, wow, I'm feeling really good right now because I'm a social drinker. And so I just really wasn't drinking. I always say I was the only person during COVID who didn't drink. And that was like, I cannot say. That was my case. Yeah, it was like my, my cooling off period. So. So, yeah, so that's kind of where I got the idea for the, for the wine. I wanted something that I could drink while I was cooking. I was cooking a lot during COVID as we all were. And I love wine. And the name Buzzkill just sort of came about because I was actually living in Lake Tahoe for part of the pandemic and all the ski bums that I would hang around would call me a buzzkill when I wasn't drinking. So I just thought it was so funny and just like a natural, it naturally fit the brand, which I wanted to be like a little bit more fun and edgy and sort of take a different spin on wine. Well, I have to say, I think the name is hilarious. I think that it's so very relatable. Like I said, I definitely went the other direction during COVID which a lot of people did. But what happened was that then the pendulum swung back and after Covid ended, I was like, oh shit. I think. I think I might have a little bit of a drinking problem like everyone else did. Not really, but you know, and I was like, I need to clean this up. But you still want to have a good time and you still want to be social with friends. And I will tell you, as my audience has heard many times, we have been sent so many non alcohol products actually, you know, beverage replacements for wine or spirits or whatever. And they're usually like, just terrible. They just have the worst labor profiles. I'm like, why do we need ashwagandha and everything? I don't understand. Yeah, there's a whole other side of the functional beverage community that I don't really get it, but to each their own. Completely. The worst, though, is when you're like, we were just at a CPG event and I had to taste a bunch of products in front of the CEOs or the founders and I was like, so awkward. But I can not taste it in front of me because I want their real opinion. I don't want them to feel like, pressure, you know. Oh, I don't feel any pressure. And I tell it like it is like I had that exact experience recently and I was like, you know, like, this is just not for me and it's not going to be for everyone. But especially in the beverage space, which is so highly competitive and so expensive to get, you know, sips to lips and on shelf. I think it's got to be a banger out the gate, which I was so pleasantly surprised by your. Your wines. Like I said, I get sent a lot of crap and most of it sits in my. Either. Either I give it away or it sits in the. In the garage fridge until people who come over are brave enough to try it. But I did not feel that way about your wines. I was really pleasantly surprised. Well, that makes me so happy to hear. And it's actually something that I hear a lot. I just dropped I work out of a coffee shop a lot and there's a sommelier that also works out of there sometimes and she runs the beverage program at a few restaurants here in la and she tried the wine and she had kind of the same reaction that you did. Like, wasn't expecting much and then was pleasantly surprised. So she's adding buzzkill to like the buy the glass programs at a few different restaurants in Beverly Hills, which is super exciting. Well, that actually begs a really interesting question, which is what are you seeing in terms of consumer behavior? Because one of the big categories for revenue generating for a beverage company is obviously on premise. And what I've been hearing, actually I'm not going to say it. I'd like to know your opinion on are these programs going to have longevity? Is this a flash in the pan? Like are these non elk programs going to continue to pick up steam? What is your perspective on how that's going to play out in the on prem situation? Well, I will say that from four years ago it's a completely different world. We are seeing so much more adoption and curiosity about the, about the category. When, when I started this four years ago, it was like pulling teeth trying to get people to try the product and even think about having a non alcoholic section on their menu. Now it's a lot easier, especially since I'm in California and obviously we're very like wellness focused here, but other parts of the country as well. I will say though, there's definitely still challenges. Each category of drink is sort of experiencing it at a different rate. I think beer is absolutely the most well known and accepted na adult beverage at the moment. There really isn't a clear winner in wine right now. And then the spirits replacements are really interesting. I actually like a lot of them. But I think the general perception of spirit replacements a lot of times from people that aren't in this industry is that like, well, why? They just think it's like a mocktail and like why would I pay all this money for these ingredients that don't like make me drunk Wine and beer I think is a little bit easier to understand. So from that perspective, I think adoption has been pretty quick, honestly. But definitely it's been like a climb to get here. And what else? I think, I think honestly like awareness is, is a huge hurdle as well. We have, you know, a lot of people don't know to ask for non alcoholic drinks when they go to a bar or a restaurant. They don't even, it doesn't even cross their mind that they could have them, you know, wherever they're eating or drinking. And so I think the. The most important thing for me has been trying to get buzzkill placed on as many menus as possible and then also talking to the beverage directors about how they should be displaying and where they should be displaying the non elk drinks on their menu. Because the thing that I see a lot is, like, you'll have the beer and wine list and the cocktails on one page, and then you'll have to like, flip, flip the page to get to the non elk section. And if you are really running a great non elk program, your adult non alk beverages should be on the same page as the regular beer and wine. So I think it's just like getting that message across and you really do just have to go, like, one by one, you know, person by person to make sure that that happens. I'll tell you, I agree with you that mocktails are more challenging, and I agree with you in terms of building the program the way that you have mentioned. My bigger issue, and maybe you'll help me overcome this, is if I'm not going to drink alcohol, I don't want to take the extra calories. Like, I'd rather eat the calories than drink the calories. So that's really been my issue. The only issue that I have had in the non L category. Yeah, I totally understand that. I'm right there with you. So Buzzkill is only 30 calories a glass, which I don't know about you, but I think I can spare 30 calories. And it also, it also only has between 1 and 5 grams of sugar, depending on the varietal. So it's actually a very healthy choice. You know, some might even argue that it's better for you than Diet Coke because there's. There's no aspartame in it. So, like, you know, you've got, you've got that going. But I agree with you. Like, I have a tough time, a really tough time justifying mocktails, especially because a lot of them are so high in calories. And I, I mean, I kind of led you into that question because obviously I've tried the product and I know what the makeup is and nutritional on the back, but I do, I did want you to call that out because I think it is another stumbling point for a lot of folks when they look at the mocktail menu. It's like it's basically all the same calories, just no alcohol. It's sometimes even worse because they put so many simple syrups and different, you know, things in it. And I'm like, I would rather have a cookie, honestly. Yeah, no, I'm the same way for you, though. I'm a salty person. I would so much rather have French fries. Oh, yeah, definitely. Yeah. But that being said, there are some really, really cool, complex cocktails that I think that. Or mocktails, I guess, that the. The calories are worth it. I had an espresso martini, a non alk espresso martini at Dante in New York City, and I thought that was, like, totally worth it. I don't know how many calories were in it, but I can't imagine. It was super low, but it was totally worth it. Well, I get that one. Because at least with the espresso martini, you're getting the upper side of it, right? Yeah, that actually makes total sense to me. It's so funny. You're the second person that's brought up Dante to me this week alone. There's one here in L. A as well. Yeah, I think it's following me. We're going to take a really quick break. We'll be right back. We are thrilled that you've joined us here on the elevate your brand podcast. But did you know we have a ton more useful content on our blog page? Make sure to go to elevatemybrand.com and check out the tips and tricks that we share with you every week on how to elevate your brand via marketing, advertising, branding, messaging, social media, you name it, we've got your back. Thanks for sticking with us. And if you were just joining, I am chatting with Molly Fetich, who is the founder and CEO of Buzzkill Wines. You have a really exciting rebottling rebrand situation happening very soon. Tell us about it. Yeah, it's. I think it's going to come. Well, I think it's going to come as a big surprise to a lot of people. It's a complete 180 from what our product has looked like up until. And it's also a repackaging. So we are bringing in bottles. Currently, the product is in cans, and then the look of the product is completely changing. So it's so funny, Laurel, because it was the idea that, well, the way that the bottle, the label is going to look and the way that the brand is going to look was my original idea for how I wanted Buzzkill to look. And I was talked out of it by so many people. And it's so funny because it just kind of like stuck in the back of my mind and I Hadn't. I hadn't. This is my first, you know, CPG company. I hadn't done this before I worked at Hinge, the dating app and so what did I know? So I took the advice of all these other people and it just never the current branding. It's, you know, it's great branding but it just never really felt true to me and true to what I think the company needs to be. So this rebranding is way more of a owed to like traditional Napa wineries, but almost poking fun at the traditionalism of the wine industry, which has actually been talked about a lot. The wine industry is very slow to adapt to anything. So we've got this very like classic looking label now. But it's funny because it's got like buzzkill and very like swirly language or swirly font on the top. And from far away, if you place the bottle on a table, it just looks like a regular bottle of wine. You really can't, you can't even tell that it's non elk. So I'm really excited for all of our customers to see this and experience it and I think it's going to open up like a whole new world of possibilities for us, especially in terms of on prem consumption. You know, places that want to pour table side, they can now do that. Wow. Oh, that's interesting. So you're going to full 750 milliliter bottles? Yes, we, we do have some, some cans still in stock, so we're going to be selling through those and then depending on how cogs, you know, shake out and everything for cans, we may bring the cans back later this year. So we're just kind of keeping an eye on that. The tariffs though have really caused a lot of, a lot of issues from the buying cans perspective. Yes, yes, I, not just for you, but for so many others. What a shit show. I mean, yeah, I cannot imagine being a consumer brand right now. Since you brought it up, how have you pivoted to overcome that? And do you think we're going to be facing those same headwinds in 2026? To be totally honest, I am just so lucky and so happy that buzzkill lends itself to bottles and that I wanted to go to bottles because I don't see this can situation improving for small businesses, small beverage companies. There is just so much packaging involved in putting together, let's say like a four pack of canned wine or a six pack of beer. So and you know, the product of making, you know, non alkaline, it's Very expensive. So these costs just like get racked up and racked up and racked up. And for a company that's just getting off the ground, you know, your moqs are probably pretty low and it's going to be an expensive product to produce. So I personally, if I were starting another business right now, I probably would not start a can business. That's very fair and I appreciate the honesty on that. And it's because most cans come from China. Is that why our cans actually come from Canada? It's just tariffs across the board? Yeah, it's just tariffs across the board. I know a lot of other founders that are buying their cans from all over the place. Um, and we're all sort of facing, facing the same thing. And of course, you know, with a business, any business, you want margin there. And so our margin is increasing like 40 to 50% by moving to bottles. That's incredible. It's so funny because originally it was exactly the opposite. Right. Like people were going to cans because it was a much more efficient model and cost effective model. And now it's going back in time. It's so wild. And same thing with your design. That's, it's like a, it's like a throwback, but really it's like what you originally wanted to do. Yeah, and, yeah, and it's so funny too because, like, I really wish I would have listened to myself because it's like I like drinking wine out of bottles. I think the bottle is part of the ritual. I think people, when they're looking for wine in the store, I don't think I know they're going to be looking for a bottle. So it's like, why did I do this in cans originally? The cans perform great on Amazon and they perform great at like events and stuff when you want like a single serve option. But other than that, honestly, I'm just like so excited for the bottles to drop. Yeah, I can't believe, I can't believe we're having this conversation. It's so 2022, 2023. I don't know. Yeah, it's also, we've also got a really unique situation with our producer. They are equity holders in our company in Buzzkill and they have their winery and they have a bottling line on site. So for us it's a, they don't have a canning line. So for us it's, you know, you've got that extra savings there of our, you know, our producer has the ability to, to bottle on site. Makes sense. Well, I can't we can't wait to see the new designs and the new bottles. And I do agree, like, there's something ritualistic about taking the foil off and, you know, popping the bottle table side. It is really a social experiment or a social moment, but it's also really going to be different. Like, you don't. Do you still need to sniff the cork? Is it. Is it going to be cork or is it going to be screw top? Well, the. The Cab and the Sauvignon Blanc are going to be screw top, and then obviously the sparkling will be corked. Ah, got it. Well, perfect. Segue into the different wines that you have and tell us a little bit about the flavor profiles. Yeah, absolutely. So when I started this company, it was really, really important to me because, like you, I've tried everything. I've tried so many Non Elk wines, and so many of them are very juicy, watery and sweet. And so I wanted to make sure that none of those things applied to Buzzkill. So the profiles of all three. All three wines, they're all very dry, not sweet at all. The Cab, I think, is great because it really coats your mouth in the same way that a traditional wine with Alcoh alcohol in it would. A red wine would coat your mouth. And the Sauvign is just. It's got, like, a great zing to it. It's a great summer, a great summer drink. There's the top note is lemongrass, which I think is pretty interesting. And you don't see that a lot in Non Elk wines. So very excited about that. And then our sparkling. A lot of people just love the sparkling just because the bubbles add, you know, obviously, another dimension to what's happening in your mouth. And. Yeah, I mean, I drink all three of them on a regular basis. I think they're great. And I can't wait to do another varietal. I honestly think the next one will probably be a. Mmm. We love a good. And in fact, I won't mention the name because it's a competitor brand and one that we've actually invested in, but there was a whole coverage in the LA Times Magazine about Non Alk wine specifically and. And how it's taking off and how it's going to be a continually evolving category of growth for. For the RTD category. So I think it's an. It's really going to be interesting to watch how that evolves and. And there can as well. So I guess that we'll have to wait and see. And so your perspective is that it is. We are Going to face the same tariff headwinds in 2026. There's nothing. Yeah. Face the same tariff headwinds. I'm just, I'm really happy for many, many reasons that we are bringing in bottles. Yeah, I love that. And then before our next break, one last teaser. You had mentioned a potential celebrity partnership. I know you can't tell us who, but give us a little teaser. Yeah, I will tell you after the break. Okay. Who says you've got to be big to get things done? We know that size matters in some things, but in other things, like marketing, a small and scrappy team like elevate my brand can really take your brand to the next level. Our job is to create visibility so you can create profitability. Give us a call today and let's schmooze. Thanks for sticking with us. Chatting with Molly Fetich, who is the founder and CEO of Buzzkill Wines. Give us the inside scoop. I don't. I think you said you can't tell us exactly who or maybe you're going to tell us. I don't know. I realized after I said that that it sounded like I was going to tell you, but I meant I can tell you about it, so. Damn it. We were wanted to be exclusive. I'm just. I'll tease it a little bit, though. I think millennials will be very excited about this. It's a person from our childhood slash teenage years who is still extremely relevant. But I think there's like an element of nostalgia in there and there's also an element of this person is like the ultimate retired party person. So fits with what the brand stands for very, very well. Can we say if it's a man or a woman? Man. Oh, my God. I have so many guesses. I want to play like the name game. But we won't do that. We won't do that. So tell us now, how long has the brand been around now? The brand's been around. We've been selling for. Coming up on four. It'll be four years in June. Got it. And in that timeline, a lot has changed. As we were just talking about what have been some of the big lessons. We have a lot of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs listening. And what are some of the things that you'd like to teach them so that they don't have to fail and can move past some of the fail points or learnings that you have found along this path? I have so many lessons and learnings, Laurel. Like, I could do an entire 10 hour podcast on this topic. I think from A practical standpoint, I think if you're, let's just say you're starting a company and you've never done this before. Like I was, watch out for people taking advantage of you. There's going to be so many agencies and different groups trying to get you to buy their software or use their service or whatever. You don't need 99% of them. You will waste money on these people. The only thing that you need to worry about at the beginning is getting your product made and start selling it. So whatever you have to do to do that, just do that, focus on the sales. The other thing that I think is like been a real game changer for me has honestly been like mindset work, which sounds very woo woo and annoying. But you can't be in this business long term if you can't handle risk, anxiety, fear. You need to have a very, very high threshold for those things. So my, my tolerance for that has, I mean, double, tripled, quadrupled since I started this business. At this point it's like, okay, drop an anvil on me. And I still think I could like set up and I'll be fine. And not nothing phases me anymore. I truly believe there's a solution to every single problem. Whereas, like at the beginning I didn't, I got very intimidated and overwhelmed easily. And I think that just comes from experience. But also I started doing yoga very like religiously at the beginning. Maybe like a year into this, maybe a little bit less. And it's completely changed my life in terms of being able to like handle stress and just view the big picture and take things into perspective. That's been like a major game changer for me. Oh, and the other thing is, don't ignore your problems. If you ever have to talk to, you know, if you ever are having a problem with a vendor or you can't pay someone on time or whatever it is, just pick up the phone. Don't email, pick up the phone and call them and explain the situation. Nine out of ten times they will work with you on a solution. And it's nowhere near as scary as it sounds. And always, if you can pay something, pay something. It's better than paying nothing. Yeah, I think that that is a really great lesson in life in general. Like, communication is key. I don't understand the ghosting situation. That has never made any sense to me because you're just making everyone's life, life way harder than it needs to be. Which, like, yeah, I don't know if you watch. Oh God. Saint Dennis. It's a, it's a one of those dumb ABC comedies or NBC whatever. It's really funny. And she's reading a book right now that's like make a decision in three seconds and you basically breathe and you go 1, 2, 3, yes or no. And like you make that decision in real time. Like that's what I think the gift of communication does, is allow you to not have these stack ups of the things that you're supposed to be doing. Because the truth is that we, we know what we're going to do in that moment, right? Like so to, to ghost or to be non communicative is just wasting everyone's fucking time, frankly. Wasting everybody's time. And I think honestly it's gained me a lot of respect from many people that I work with. You would be shocked or maybe you wouldn't. I mean you talk to people all the time. But I was shocked how many people just fully ghost in business. Like they just like fall off the face of the earth. So it's become important to me to like have integrity and just, even if you don't have the, you know, the answer that you think the other person wants, just communicate. It's so much better. And it's never as bad as you think it's going to be. Absolutely. On the last few minutes that we have left, first share with us where people can find your products. Yeah, absolutely. So you can find us online on our website buzzkillwines.com or all over Amazon. And actually great, great segue here. We just dropped our price on Amazon to 19.99, which makes us one of the most affordable non alk wines available on the platform. And what else? We're in Albertsons Bonds Pavilions in California and then lots of smaller stores, lots of restaurants all over California, New York, Massachusetts, Michigan, Maine. Really big in Portland. So our website has a very robust store locator. So I would suggest go there and then also follow us on Instagram. You can see the new brand. We've completely redone the Instagram to reflect the new brand, which is exciting. So yeah, that's, that's where you can find Buzzkill. Awesome. And it's buzzkillwines.com in case you are interested. And yeah, your socials are super fun. So highly recommend you follow. All right, so we are going to pivot and do what we call our quick fire in the last few minutes that we have left. So these are just what comes up top of mind. Are you ready? Yes. First question is, what was your favorite subject in school? English. And how has that impacted your current work? I think being a good writer is the foundation for everything that anyone does in business. And being a good communicator, as we discussed before, I love writing. I love that you're also very succinct. Like, usually we have these quick fires, and Bulleg would go on and on and on. I'm like, what part of quick fire don't you understand? Yeah, it's supposed to be fast. Next question is, what was the last concert or show you went to? Backstreet Boys at the Sphere. Oh, my God. My sister was there. That's hilarious that it was the best show. Yes, it's a great show. Oh, my God. Much fun, actually. Well, that's actually not. That was the last big concert I went to. I also saw John Mayer perform at Formula One in Vegas. Also in Vegas. Yeah. Yeah. Next question. How do you best deal with stress. Yoga, breathing, and taking walks? Next question. You have any pet peeves? Yes, I. There's so many phrases that people use online, like the girlies and, like, it's giving and like, all of these. All of these, like, social media influencer type phrases. They drive me up the wall. Whatever. I mean, it is what it is. It is what it is for sure, and we have to deal with it. Can I give a few more pet peeves, please? Okay. People that don't return their grocery cart to the, like, thing where you're supposed to put it, and people that don't pick up their dog poop. I think those two things show so much about a person. Like, if you don't do. If you don't do those things, like, you're not a good person in my mind. And if you're mean or rude to wait staff, I hate that. Totally. Totally. It's always. There's a statement. I can't remember who created it, but it's like, you can always tell the kind of person someone is by the way that they interact with someone that can't offer them anything. You know what I mean? Exactly. Like, you're nice to people who you're, like, raising money from or who you want to contract from. But if it's a waiter who's just, you know, servicing you and you're nasty to them, that you're not really a good person. And I agree about the cart thing. Oh, my God, that is so frustrating. I think because I go to grocery stores so often now for work, it's. It's like, doubled my. My noticeability of it. Absolutely fair. And then the last question is what was the last thing that made you happy? Cry. Oh, that's a good one. Oh, I. Okay. I actually, this is a side note on my career. Not to do with buzzkill at all. I actually wrote a book. I wrote a novel, and I got signed by caa, which is a large agency, so they're my new literary agent. And that happened in August. So I've got a book coming out, and I cried when I found out about that. Oh, my God. Congratulations. Thank you. I appreciate it. Yeah, I've been wanting to do that since I was a kid, so it was like such a. Such a cool, important moment for me. Congratulations. Thank you. Well, we are wrapping up today's podcast. This was such a fun conversation. I think this actually might be the second of our new season, so we are so thrilled to share your product with our awesome audience. If you could wrap us up with any final words of wisdom. Gosh, I don't know. I would just say if you're. If you're someone that has a business or thinking about starting a business, do it. Don't spend money if you don't have to. And just try and get your nervous system regulated as best as you can, because, honestly, it will help you in all parts of your life. I completely agree with that. Well, so wonderful to have you on the podcast today. Thank you for sharing your perspective, your products and your peeves. We love all of those, and we look forward to seeing the new branding. So thank you, Molly, for spending some time with us today. Thank you so much, Laurel, for having me. This was fun. And thanks to everyone who tuned in. Stay tuned for more from Elevate youe Brand, coming up next.