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Most founders assume the hardest part of building a spirits brand is making something people want to drink. Claudia Romo Edelman would tell you that's the easy part when your category doesn't have a name yet. Claudia is the founder of Sotol Romo, bringing a Mexican spirit with an 800-year history, and a denomination of origin that's only two decades old, to U.S. drinkers for the first time. She's joined by two people who've spent their careers deciding what does and doesn't earn shelf space and menu space: Dia Simms, co-founder of Pronghorn, and Jeff Bell, managing partner at PDT in New York City, who directs the spirits buying across eight bars.

In this conversation, Claudia, Dia, and Jeff break down what it takes to build a brand while building the category around it at the same time. They get specific about what actually creates value in a spirits brand beyond the liquid itself, and the exact number of cases per month an account needs to be pulling before a founder should even think about scaling. Jeff also names the single biggest mistake he sees founders make when chasing premium positioning, and it isn't the one most founders expect.

Park Street Imports is the back-office and importing solution for alcoholic beverage brands launching and scaling in the U.S. market.

Featured Guests:

Claudia Romo Edelman, Founder of Sotol Romo
Dia Simms, Co-Founder of Pronghorn
Jeff Bell, Managing Partner at PDT NYC

Mentioned in the Episode:

Sotol Romo

Pronghorn

Please Don't Tell

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