Speaker 1: You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio about the
Speaker 1: global flavored water market. Did a little bit of research.
Speaker 1: The size of it is expected to reach nearly thirty
Speaker 1: billion and a compound annual growth rate of ten over
Speaker 1: that forecast. Here. This is according to report ten that's
Speaker 1: out by grand View Research earlier this year. They say
Speaker 1: the major factor that it's growing consumer demand for alternatives
Speaker 1: to sugary soft drinks. According to their findings, Well, a
Speaker 1: lot of new entrants coming into the space as well,
Speaker 1: trying to take advantage of that growth. One of those
Speaker 1: new entrants is Hey, well, the co founders Ashley Selman
Speaker 1: and britt Aherty join us now on the phone from Chicago. Ashley,
Speaker 1: britt how are you? Thanks for having us? Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: thanks so much for joining us. Hey, Frett, I want
Speaker 1: to start with you because the two of you work
Speaker 1: together at Miller Course and you left to start the
Speaker 1: beverage brand, and it's the idea is making wellness approachable
Speaker 1: for everyone. How would you describe Brittain? Hey? Well, well, halo,
Speaker 1: are we make Sparkling a diptagenic water. They're made with
Speaker 1: adaptogens antioxidants. Wait, wait, wait, what's an adaptogen? I'm not
Speaker 1: the only one who didn't know that. You didn't know that?
Speaker 1: Was sorry, No, I didn't, So help me out here. Sure.
Speaker 1: An adaptation is a class of plants that help us
Speaker 1: adapt to stress, and they really just help people meet
Speaker 1: the demands of modern life. Our drinks, you know, when
Speaker 1: you need a little energy, immunity, focus, or stress. I
Speaker 1: need those things. No, listen, I think you guys are
Speaker 1: tapping into something Tim and I talked about a lot.
Speaker 1: I see it with my my daughter. I mean, we're
Speaker 1: looking at we're constantly turning around the things we eat,
Speaker 1: we drink and really want to understand. We want TRANSPARENC
Speaker 1: people understand it, and we really want to eat things
Speaker 1: that are better or drink things that are better. Um
Speaker 1: for us. Um, you know, actually come on in on
Speaker 1: the conversation here in terms of what the work that
Speaker 1: you're doing and the demand that you're seeing for this.
Speaker 1: You know, we definitely have seen the shift from people
Speaker 1: moving away from things that are bad for them to
Speaker 1: certainly moving to things that have been more neutral. And then,
Speaker 1: especially since COVID, people are looking for increased support, especially
Speaker 1: a stress and immunity support from food and beverages. UM.
Speaker 1: So we're seeing a huge amount of growth their adaptations.
Speaker 1: We get that a lot like adapt or what and
Speaker 1: so it's simply a class of plant. It just supports you.
Speaker 1: We use things like UM Shashandra, it's a berry. It's
Speaker 1: really great for helping manage stress. We use things like
Speaker 1: LC and the omlaberries a great natural source of UM
Speaker 1: an occidental vitamin C. So we we've taken these things
Speaker 1: that are really good for you and we've packaged them
Speaker 1: in these convenient ready to drink UM sparkling waters that
Speaker 1: are low and triser and calories UM and just made
Speaker 1: it easy to find the right occasion for you, whether
Speaker 1: that's a little extra energy and immunity, or UM energy
Speaker 1: and focus, or maybe you know, calm and restore. So
Speaker 1: UM we have this line of UM for sparkling waters
Speaker 1: that we've made and that we UM launched the market,
Speaker 1: and I feel like it's just right on time in
Speaker 1: terms of what people are looking for. Yeah, the line
Speaker 1: includes energy and calm. I'm curious about the distribution strategy
Speaker 1: here because, uh, you know, how how do you actually
Speaker 1: make sure that this gets to the actual convenience stores.
Speaker 1: If what people want to do a single serve or
Speaker 1: go direct consumer by selling on your website and jump
Speaker 1: in here Ashley, Yeah, we've found a little bit of both.
Speaker 1: I'd say, Um, you know, when during especially COVID, when
Speaker 1: retail was a little bit harder to break through, we
Speaker 1: really pivoted and moved into the e commerce space and
Speaker 1: we were just seeing explosive growth there and we've had
Speaker 1: some great partners, whether that's good Eggs or snack Magic
Speaker 1: all across the US, and um, you know, people were
Speaker 1: looking for convenient waste to shop that they didn't have
Speaker 1: to go in the store. So we've done quite a
Speaker 1: bit of the e commerce work and that actually took
Speaker 1: our brand a little bit more national, little bit more
Speaker 1: immediately than we had initially anticipated. But in terms of
Speaker 1: actual retails retail locations, we've targeted you know, larger urban
Speaker 1: markets and specialty retail within that, whether that's air Wan
Speaker 1: or Foxtrot or degru Noes, um, you know, whether you're
Speaker 1: in New York, l A or Chicago, those types of markets. Um,
Speaker 1: so that people can find them, you know, at at
Speaker 1: that point of purchase. Well on truth be told, Britt.
Speaker 1: You know, we were our whole team here as we
Speaker 1: were preparing for you know, chatting with you guys, were
Speaker 1: talking in our newsroom and you know, looking at the
Speaker 1: different places that you can buy the product, and I
Speaker 1: think Target came up, Walmart, Amazon, lots of places. But
Speaker 1: where is it, you know? And I am also curious
Speaker 1: about your for rays, if it's happened or if it's
Speaker 1: in the future in terms of restaurants, you know, and
Speaker 1: and and the bar space, like what where are you
Speaker 1: know the places that you're really really tapping into consumer
Speaker 1: demand there and you're finding the biggest sales. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: mean we do really well in specialty and and natural
Speaker 1: retailers across the country, So places like Foxtrot and air
Speaker 1: jan Um Yeah. Um, so you know, people where people
Speaker 1: are putting priority you know, and spending against health. Um,
Speaker 1: that's where we see you know, these you know, beverages
Speaker 1: do the best. UM. You know, in particular, we see
Speaker 1: a lot of momentum with UM gen Z and younger
Speaker 1: age millennials. That group in particular is just much more
Speaker 1: likely to put a priority on UM functional ingredients and
Speaker 1: leverage functional ingredients to help them with things that actually
Speaker 1: mentioned are critical community and struct Hey, guys, sit tied
Speaker 1: for a second. We'll come back and we're going to
Speaker 1: continue the conversation. We are talking with Ashley Selman and
Speaker 1: Britt Doherty, co founders of Hey Well, It's a beverage brand. Uh.
Speaker 1: They both worked at Miller Corps for a couple of
Speaker 1: years and I'm also not a couple of years longer
Speaker 1: than that. And when we come back, we can talk
Speaker 1: about what that experience brought to uh, this brand in
Speaker 1: terms of maybe what they wanted to do, what they
Speaker 1: didn't want to do. I also want to hear more
Speaker 1: about adaptagens and the source of these ingredients. I've just
Speaker 1: been like kind of going down a rabbit hole a
Speaker 1: little bit with this uh, and it is interesting lemon
Speaker 1: um and at a lot of ingredients I can't pronounce.
Speaker 1: Well done, We'll continue our conversation just a moment. You're
Speaker 1: listening to Bloomberg Business Week, Carol Master Tim Stanevik right
Speaker 1: here on Bloomberg Radio. I want to get back to
Speaker 1: our guest with us, Ashley Selman and Britt Doherty, co
Speaker 1: founders of hay Well It's a beverage brand. UM. Actually,
Speaker 1: by the way, it was a VP of Brand Marketing
Speaker 1: and Senior director of Crafts and Imports at Miller Core's.
Speaker 1: Britt was a VP of Marketing, Insights and Engagement at
Speaker 1: the company as while they were there for several years.
Speaker 1: They're both with us separate lines, but on the phone
Speaker 1: in Chicago. Actually, Britt, one thing I want to ask you,
Speaker 1: and actually let me start with you. What was it
Speaker 1: about your time and experience at Miller Core's that you
Speaker 1: brought with you guys to creating Hay Well, what was
Speaker 1: it that you knew you wanted to do differently? And
Speaker 1: obviously they're not apples to apples, they're different things, you know,
Speaker 1: different times of beverages. But I'm just curious about that
Speaker 1: time and experience, you know, what it taught you in
Speaker 1: terms of what you wanted to do or what you
Speaker 1: learned and what you wanted to do differently. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: you know, we spent a lot of time that millar
Speaker 1: core is looking both at our immediate industry but also broadly,
Speaker 1: and what we found really exciting was just um a
Speaker 1: lot of change that consumers were looking for and that
Speaker 1: there was just opportunity in the marketplace that wasn't fulfilling
Speaker 1: it and we we're finding that just not only from
Speaker 1: you know, a person's perspective, but also personally so Brita Night.
Speaker 1: You know, we're working along demanding hours and UM managing
Speaker 1: you know, UM just crazy lives and we just were
Speaker 1: looking for things to help us on our wellness journey.
Speaker 1: And you know, we found that UM something that was
Speaker 1: UM simple to understand, that was accessible UM also that
Speaker 1: was good tasting, and that had the functional benefits we
Speaker 1: were looking for. UM. We just found that there was
Speaker 1: an opportunity and so you know, we took UM. We
Speaker 1: took a lot of the great learnings that we had
Speaker 1: from our time at milar Cores. And you know, one
Speaker 1: of the most important things with starting with you know
Speaker 1: what what was our mission and what was really kind
Speaker 1: of the reason for being UM. And our mission is
Speaker 1: to help make wellness more simple and accessible for everyone
Speaker 1: every day. And our name is just hey, well is
Speaker 1: a simple invitation to that wellness UM. So when we started,
Speaker 1: it was and what it means to be more simple
Speaker 1: and accessible for us was taking these great ingredients that
Speaker 1: are really good for you, making it taste really delicious
Speaker 1: so that you'll actually drink it UM, and making it
Speaker 1: convenient for you, um and fitting into your lifestyle. So
Speaker 1: that was kind of our starting point when we you know,
Speaker 1: we developed brands for this company for a long time.
Speaker 1: When we finally decided, well, if ever there's a moment,
Speaker 1: we're just gonna you know, go for it and make
Speaker 1: our own brands because we were just really energized by this,
Speaker 1: you know, we did, and so we started with that point,
Speaker 1: um and spent a lot of time in formulation making
Speaker 1: sure that we got all those things right before we
Speaker 1: launched into market. You know, from brand development, a lot
Speaker 1: of brand development for the companies that the large companies
Speaker 1: that we talk about, you know, Coca Cola and Pepsi, Molson,
Speaker 1: cores a b in Bev. A lot of that brand
Speaker 1: development that that happens actually happens outside of the company,
Speaker 1: and then a company comes in and acquires those startups,
Speaker 1: they let them do the actual heavy lifting in a
Speaker 1: lot of cases and finding distribution and and building that
Speaker 1: customer base. Britt, how are you thinking about, you know,
Speaker 1: the next step here in terms of of of what
Speaker 1: happens when the company does get bigger and when if
Speaker 1: it does, if it does grow, is this a company
Speaker 1: that's going to get acquired by a larger company. Well,
Speaker 1: we're really excited about that mission that actually mentioned. We
Speaker 1: think that it's something that consumers really see themselves in
Speaker 1: and our growth plan you know, really reflects that demand
Speaker 1: that we're seeing. You know, you guys mentioned the size
Speaker 1: of the sparkling water segment at eight you know, thirty billion,
Speaker 1: functional beverages eighteen billion and adaptations you know, really driving
Speaker 1: the size of that segment. And we do think that
Speaker 1: we're on the front foot of this trends. The space
Speaker 1: is really emerging, and we do think it would be
Speaker 1: really interesting for bigger beverage companies like the ones you
Speaker 1: mentioned to UM. You know, round out there there's portfolio
Speaker 1: UM with functional uh, with focial beverages that really have
Speaker 1: become you know, eighteen billion dollar segments. Yeah, it's a
Speaker 1: really good point in terms of we watch the evolution
Speaker 1: certainly of the beverage market. Where do you guys go
Speaker 1: with this? It sounds like is there other brand additions
Speaker 1: or not brand additions, but maybe building out the existing
Speaker 1: brand actually go ahead take that. Yeah, you know, we
Speaker 1: see UM, we still see a lot of opportunity and
Speaker 1: UM we have a pipeline that we're working on right now.
Speaker 1: That starts to you know, we started with beverage because
Speaker 1: that's an area that UM we have a lot of
Speaker 1: experience in and a lot of passion for UM. But
Speaker 1: we think that there are UM you know, there's still
Speaker 1: a lot of occasions that we have been addressed yet
Speaker 1: and we feel like there's other UM ways of address
Speaker 1: seeing wellness and making it simple and more accessible, more inclusive,
Speaker 1: and so UM many in terms of product offerings are
Speaker 1: or what you write in terms of products offerings and
Speaker 1: UM UM in terms of just UM also walking and
Speaker 1: living our mission. So you know what's important to us
Speaker 1: and this is really you know what's important to consumers
Speaker 1: is we give back one per cent the nonprofits to
Speaker 1: advocate for inclusion. And you know what we find is
Speaker 1: that UH and this is where we were too, is
Speaker 1: that we you know, people want to engage with brands
Speaker 1: that UM that have this mission that maybe don't start
Speaker 1: as a big corporate brand, but that start, as you know,
Speaker 1: with entrepreneurs that are UM really creating a community that
Speaker 1: believes in the same things that they do. And so
Speaker 1: UM that's you know, our growth plane is really just
Speaker 1: to focus on building that continuity community and providing you know,
Speaker 1: additional product lines down the road that um that meets
Speaker 1: those means. So I said, I wanted to talk more
Speaker 1: about the ingredients. I want to do that, brit And
Speaker 1: and just learn a little bit about sourcing these um.
Speaker 1: Alma berry, a gooseberry that's rich in natural vitamin C.
Speaker 1: There's an urban here, an amino acid and antioxidant, superberry,
Speaker 1: lemon berry, pincome ale and sea salt, potassium magnesium. Britt,
Speaker 1: how hard does it taket these ingredients? Where do you
Speaker 1: get them? Well, you know, we don't know anyone who
Speaker 1: hasn't had you been impacted by supply chain in some
Speaker 1: ways over the last two years. UM, But we're really
Speaker 1: UM delighted to work with partners that help us procure
Speaker 1: and UM. You know, we get them from the US,
Speaker 1: but also from all over the world, and our goal
Speaker 1: is really to make sure that they're sourced in a
Speaker 1: way that aligned to the mission that actually mentioned we
Speaker 1: have behavile making them is more simple and accessible, which
Speaker 1: means you know, getting these ingredients in a way that
Speaker 1: have a scene supply chain, so you know, are they
Speaker 1: eximally sourced? UM? Can we can we trace back to
Speaker 1: the makers? We want to put things in our drinks
Speaker 1: that are good for you, but that people can feel
Speaker 1: good drinking. And UM, go ahead, no, you know, just
Speaker 1: before we go, UM curious, we're Bloomberg. How big is
Speaker 1: your market? I mean, how much growth have you seen
Speaker 1: in terms of sales? Ashley like, how much? You know?
Speaker 1: Just give us an idea of the growth that you're
Speaker 1: seeing just quickly. Yeah, we're seeing we're seeing great growth
Speaker 1: and our plan for next year. What's great growth though?
Speaker 1: Is it? Is it high teams or is it something
Speaker 1: more significant than that? No, it's way more significant than that.
Speaker 1: We will triple our business next year. We're bringing on
Speaker 1: great accounts like Central Market and us Fair, and we're
Speaker 1: continuing to expand and e commerce and so um. We're
Speaker 1: just seeing really exciting growth for for hay Well and
Speaker 1: UM and we've got some great partners, like Brick said,
Speaker 1: that helps us make sure that we can well supply
Speaker 1: that demand. We'll be sure to check in with us
Speaker 1: and let us know as things down the road, as
Speaker 1: you guys continue to build it out, and I'll love
Speaker 1: to get a check an update with you. Actually. Salman
Speaker 1: Britt already co founders of Haywell on the phone from
Speaker 1: Chicago