45 - Empowering Emerging Beverage Brands With Gil Coosner from Aviv Distributing Artwork

Local to Legend

Local to Legend is the podcast for local business owners like you, looking for the resources and tools needed to create a scalable, profitable, simply irresistible brand. What makes local businesses different than small businesses? Local businesses have their own little ecosystems they work within. Some local business owners have the hopes of being sold to Unilever (Schmidt’s) or getting a HGTV show (Joanna Gaines) or being sold in Target (Ben & Jerry’s). Others want to be a legend in their own community where people know, love, trust, and refer them all the time. The cool thing about being a legend is it’s fairly subjective, right? We have legends in Des Moines, Iowa (my home base), but they aren’t legends in the country. We have legends in the country, but they aren’t legends in the world. What I’ve come to discover in hundreds of conversations with local business owner is this: they desire MORE for themselves. They want to expand, but how? They want to grow their business, but what do they do? They want to pivot, but what will that mean? Local to Legend is about that conversation. And I'm thrilled to have you here.

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Local to Legend

45 - Empowering Emerging Beverage Brands With Gil Coosner from Aviv Distributing

December 27, 2021 • Emily Steele

In this week's episode, Emily chats with Gil Coosner, a small business supporter and founder of Aviv Distributing. Aviv Distributing focuses on helping small alcoholic beverage brands find a place in the market. Gil and his team connect these emerging brands with the right network and distribution to get their product into the hands of their ideal customers.

Gil grew up in a farming community in Israel before moving to NYC in his early twenties. After working in the nightlife industry in bars, he met his wife Brenda, and eventually moved back to Iowa, her hometown. In Iowa, Gil dove into real estate and grew a successful business before deciding to take the leap into entrepreneurship in early 2021 with his own distribution company after many talks with friends about the need for a reliable rep for smaller brands.

Gil chats about creating his own company, the brands he works with and why he loves what he does. He also maps out the journey his wife took to start her own brand, Daisy Cocktail Company (he serves as her distributor). From meeting with a chemist to get her flavors just right to nailing her branding to experiencing launch delays, Gil walks listeners through it all.

Listen to this episode to learn more about Aviv Distributing and Daisy Cocktail Company!

Tune in for topics like:

Gil’s work experience and background
How Aviv helps empower emerging brands
Gil’s experience moving to a new state and starting a new career
The conversation that led to Gil starting his own distribution company
Brenda’s steps to creating Daisy Cocktail Company
Gil’s vision for the future of Aviv

Links from the episode:

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