Thriving Alcohol-Free with Mocktail Mom

EP 84 Launching Texas's First Alcohol-Free Bottle Shop with Helenita of Sipple

• Deb, Mocktail Mom • Season 1 • Episode 84

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On this episode of Thriving Alcohol-Free, I’m thrilled to sit down with Helenita, co-founder of Texas’s first non-alcoholic bottle shop, Sipple. Helenita shares her and her husband's inspiring journey into creating a space for those seeking alcohol-free beverages and how they’ve built their business from the ground up. You’ll hear about the challenges they faced, like navigating through the pandemic and facing rising shipping costs.

Helenita also opens up about her own alcohol-free journey, the evolution of their business, and what it’s been like to create a welcoming environment for everyone, no matter why they choose not to drink. Plus, we get the inside scoop on the hottest products flying off Sipple’s shelves, from non-alcoholic wines to tequila alternatives.

So, if you’re interested in learning about running a small business, pivoting in a growing industry, or just want some encouragement on your own alcohol-free journey, this episode is for you. Grab your favorite mocktail, sit back, and join us!


Get in touch with Helenita at Sipple!
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Giesen 0% Wines

You are loved. Big Time Cheers!

Deb:

Buckle up, friends, and welcome to the Thriving Alcohol-Free Podcast. I'm your host, deb, otherwise known as Mocktail Mom, a retired wine drinker that finally got sick and tired of spinning on life's broken record called Detox to Retox. Let this podcast be an encouragement to you. If alcohol is maybe a form of self-care for you, where you find yourself dragging through the day waiting to pour another glass, I am excited to share with you the fun of discovering new things to drink when you aren't drinking and the joy of waking up each day without a hangover. It is an honor to serve as your sober, fun guide, so sit back and relax or keep doing whatever it is you're doing.

Deb:

This show is produced for you with love from the great state of Kentucky. Thanks so much for being here and big time cheers. Hey friends, it's Deb. Welcome back to Thriving Alcohol-Free with Mocktail Mom. I am so happy you're here and I'm so excited. Today, our guest is the co-founder of Texas's first non-alcoholic bottle shop. Helenita from Sipple is in the house and I can't wait to hear your story. I don't know your story and so I'm really excited to hear your founder's story and what it's been like for you guys to get started and just your journey being alcohol-free and so excited for you to be an encouragement to the listeners.

Helenita:

I'm doing well, it's been a crazy morning. We've got some big Texas storms rolling in, so camp was canceled. My kids sail in the summertime and camp was canceled today and who knows what's coming the next few days. But you know, living the life as a mom.

Deb:

Any mom's listening, and dad's too. But yeah, it's like, boy, when those summer plans get shifted, it's just like, okay, we are all pivoting. Everyone, let's pivot together and it's a good. It's good life lessons for our kids, right? So yeah, but it's not easy when you're trying to run a business and juggle children.

Helenita:

Correct and today's technology day of age, they just don't understand boredom. They expect us to consistently entertain them every second of the day and we're like we've got jobs, We've got work to do. This is a typical work day.

Deb:

Yeah, all right. So here you are in the midst of your own personal summer storm, with your children home. Plus, you have Texas storms rolling in, all right. So when did Simple get started? When did you guys start this business? And I would love to hear about how you guys got started.

Helenita:

Yeah, so officially we opened the store in October 2021. But it started a while before that. So my husband, danny, stopped drinking in 2019, like the fall of 2019. And he was beverage director in Sommelier. He spent years in the service and hospitality industry and just kind of got to a point where he was like this industry breeds alcoholism. Like, even if you are not a true alcoholic, like you can't do anything, you can't hang out and have a social life without drinks being involved. You stay after, have an after shift beer, glass of wine, like it's all surrounding alcohol. And at the time, you know, we had three young kids and he was just like, hey, I just don't want to be waking up feeling like this, I don't want to be having wine breath at 10 AM and it's just you know all of these things because he's in the early morning hours is when he's having distributors coming and giving him samples. And so he got to a point where, you know, he kind of was like this isn't really working for me and he stopped drinking. Obviously, then we entered into the pandemic and he's been very vocal about the fact that had he not stopped drinking before the pandemic, it likely would have killed him, like because he just to get through the pandemic without alcohol was a feat, I think, for anybody that was able to do that, and I definitely did not. I doubled down. I was like I'll drink for both of us, don't you worry which you know resulted in me. I was working for a company that it was my family business and I was the CMO of a baby brand. We furloughed everybody. I was still staying on full-time without pay, just to save our family's business for majority of 2020. And I was heavily drinking incredibly unhealthy, just suffering panic, anxiety attacks every single day.

Helenita:

Finally, I tore the ligaments in my ankle and I was like I had already started doing 75 hard, like I'm going to stop drinking. I'm going to go 75 days no drinking. About five days into it, I am a puddle, just full blown emotional puddle. And I looked at my husband and I was like what's happening? And he was like you're feeling all of the feelings that you've been numbing by drinking as much as you've been drinking. And I was like I don't know that I want to feel these feelings at all. But I stuck with it and I stayed through the whole 75 days. I wasn't able to do like the exercise aspects of it, simply because I tore the ligaments in my ankle, but I stayed through the whole 75 days. I wasn't able to do like the exercise aspects of it simply because I tore the ligaments in my ankle, but I stayed with everything else and I was really proud of myself and I started to lose weight, I started to feel better, I started to sleep better, I started to have more patience with the kids and everything.

Helenita:

And during this whole time, he was reaching out to different brands globally, saying like hey, we have this really great idea. He was like hey, we have this really great idea. He was like I can't be the only person that doesn't want to drink and I can't be the only person in the United States that doesn't want a bunch of sugar in my drinks and wants it to taste good and wants it to be high quality ingredients. Like I cannot be the only person. But why is it so difficult to find stuff? So he starts reaching out globally and gets brands to send us products so that he can start sampling them. And this idea he came to me. He's like what if we had a non-alcoholic bottle shop? Or it was a website, right, an e-commerce site.

Helenita:

And I came from a background in marketing, digital marketing, website design and development. I was a project manager for a long time. I had been the CMO of a baby brand for quite some time. I have a degree in marketing. I I had been a CMO of a baby brand for quite some time. I have a degree in marketing. I could immediately see the website, could see the e-commerce. I could see everything. He's very much an idea man like loves to come up with ideas and this is the first idea, I have 18,000.

Deb:

Yeah, I'm the idea person. Okay, good, yes, you're married to an idea person. You guys are a good match then. Yes, yes.

Helenita:

At times it can be like, okay, which one are we going with? But this was one of those. I was like, okay, I can see this one coming to life, this one has legs. But we had always said, like, if we ever work together, that's it. Like we're done, our marriage is over. There's no way we work very, very differently. I have.

Helenita:

I was diagnosed I and he's high-functioning autistic and we've been navigating. How does that work? How do our very, very, very, very different brains work together? And obviously we started the company in 2021. So at the time we had no idea.

Helenita:

So it was pretty seamless in the beginning because I stayed in my lane. He stayed in his, he was part of procurement and bringing in products and his palette was what it was and I built the website. I designed the branding. We worked together on the brand, but I brought it to life in this beautiful e-commerce space. We launched our Instagram. We started to let brands know this is what we're doing, and so we launched in May of 2021. I still was fully employed at my full-time job, but I was doing this in the evening hours is building the website. So we launched online as this marketplace where people could come on, they could purchase stuff and then it would drop ship from the brands directly. Because, having been in e-commerce and consumer packaged goods for a long time, I was like I don't want to touch a fulfillment with a 10-foot pole, like I'm not doing that. I definitely don't want to get into glass fulfillment and exploding can fulfillment, so I'm like I'm not going to do that Hard pass.

Helenita:

So we'll drop ship directly to the brands. But unfortunately, because it was on the heels of the pandemic, jeff Bezos ruined free shipping for every small business and I had already felt that in the business that I had worked in, because he offered free shipping on everything that you purchased on Amazon. You no longer had to pay unless you wanted it, like super quickly. It just ruined it for small businesses and so consumer behavior was drastically shifting. Having been in consumer behavior for 20 years, I was like, okay, I see this, this is not going to go well for businesses. We're going to have to eat costs or we're going to have to mark up the costs online to have the shipping built in. But what was happening is we launched, people weren't really buying because of the shipping costs. So then we built it in, marketed as free shipping, to do all of the marketing that needed to be done. And then they would comparison shop because our baseline price of a bottle, let's say it was $29 on the brand site, but they didn't offer free shipping. Then they would look at the bottle on our site and it was $35, but free shipping. They would end up still going and getting it and paying shipping costs. So you're like you're damned if you do, damned if you don't. So we were like we got to pivot and open a store. I think that this is such a nascent industry, as it is, that people don't even know what to expect. They don't know what it tastes like. We need to leverage your background and experience as a beverage director and sommelier you have the palate, you have the education and my experience in marketing and let's open up a store.

Helenita:

So we opened up a store October of 2021 and it's just hit the ground running since then, and we are so grateful for our landlords who took a chance on us.

Helenita:

It took eight months for us to find a spot because we had several letters of intent signed and ready to go, but as soon as it got to like whoever the powers that be were because it was an unproven concept and we didn't have any financials to give them they were unwilling to take risk on us, and we found that over and over and over again, they're like we want a bathing suit shop or sunglasses or baby clothes, and we're like great, but this is something that people want, this is something people need and you're preventing us from being able to give that, and so we were even talking to different places, different shops that did exist around the country, to ask them like hey, can you give us, like at least seasonality, not your financials, but just some indication of seasonality.

Helenita:

I was doing research on the area that we were looking and saying that the traffic is really heavy there, like we can do, like I was pulling out all the stops but it still isn't working. So I'm so grateful to our landlords for giving us the chance that they did shout out to the landlords took a risk.

Deb:

yep, that's awesome.

Helenita:

One of them came up to Danny about two months after we opened and had seen like a lot of cars just coming in and out, coming in and out, and he wasn't a drinker. He just goes up to you and is like man, I got to give it to you. You got bigger balls than I do because I would not have done something that didn't exist. Like that takes a lot of risk to do.

Deb:

Yeah, a lot of courage, like a lot of courage.

Helenita:

It's a big risk to take and I'm really grateful for them and I'm proud of my husband for really just having this idea and going with it despite these roadblocks that we faced Wow, Okay, so how has it changed?

Deb:

How has your the shop changed since October 2021? You're coming up now on what three years? It's going to be three years, yeah.

Helenita:

Wow, almost three years in October. Almost already three years since we launched online. But it's changed drastically. Like, our motto is what are you drinking today for tomorrow? But our internal model is just like the image of Ross from Friends yelling pivot.

Deb:

Oh, I love that, like what your kids are doing right now.

Helenita:

Yeah, it's so important in a small business with an industry that is consistently like booming and changing and evolving that you have to pivot. You can't stay cemented into how you set out. You have to really think outside the box and say, okay, how are we going to move with the industry, instead of planting our feet firmly and fighting and going against the grain. We were already going against the grain. No, you're right.

Deb:

That's really smart. That's really smart.

Helenita:

Yeah, so we've been pivoting a lot. So when we first launched, I think we got a little bit of backlash because there was a misunderstanding of us. I personally didn't stop drinking until 2022 because I got a health scare and was diagnosed with cervical dysplasia and I was like, okay, I got to stop. This is not beneficial to my body. I have to take care of myself. So we did it for health reasons, we did it for family reasons, emotional reasons. We didn't do it for sobriety or addiction or recovery. That's been part of our evolution, is just, really, I think, becoming more of an advocate for an all-encompassing embracing of like.

Helenita:

There's not just two reasons why people don't drink. It's not just pregnancy and sobriety. There are myriad reasons why people do not drink and we need to create an inclusive environment where everybody feels welcomed, everybody. No matter why you're not drinking. There's a place for you, there is a product for you. Even in our store for those that are in recovery, there's stuff that doesn't have an alcoholic counterpart. There's not a trigger option there. We have things that don't exist in the alcoholic space, like a sparkling tea.

Deb:

Right, right, right, like that doesn't exist. It's not trying to mimic a gin and tonic.

Helenita:

Right, when I have talked to people in the recovery community or even just listened to like other podcasts like one of my favorite podcasts and everything kind of circles back to friends or armchair expert, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. When I listened to Dax, he says you know, sobriety is one of those things that you have to take every day, one day at a time. He says if I were to ask if you want to live forever, you'd probably say no. But if I said do you want to live today? You'd be like yeah, do you want to live? And then tomorrow I'm going to say do you want to live today? You'd be like yeah, and then do you want to live today?

Helenita:

So, for me, sober the word sober was so daunting for me that I was like I can't give myself that because I am already. I know myself as being a very all or nothing person and I have experienced the damage that that all or nothing mentality has caused me in my life and so I couldn't do that. I have. I personally, in my journey, had to figure out how to find moderation in my life and to live in a place of middle of the road. Moderation and not complete abstinence or indulgence.

Deb:

That's my journey, that's so good, that's so good, no, and I think that's so encouraging. You know, because everybody's in different places, you know, and that word can be very overwhelming, Very overwhelming. So yeah, but I love that. Just yes, today, today, we're not drinking right.

Helenita:

Yeah, today I'm not going to drink, and today I'm not going to drink, and today I'm not going to drink.

Deb:

Exactly, Exactly going as the days keep going. Yes, Okay, Some of you know that I accidentally stopped drinking when I did a challenge to take a month off from alcohol my BFF Chardonnay. And now I live an alcohol-free lifestyle and I absolutely love it. But I also realized that's not for everybody. Originally my goal was just to moderate. I wanted to learn how to moderate. So you might be thinking I would love to cut back a bit, but I am not ready to quit cold turkey, so you don't have to. I have a little tip for you. It's called Sunnyside. It's the number one alcohol moderation app in the United States and maybe it would be a fit for you if you're looking for no pressure, just support and tools to help you actually drink less. With Sunnyside, you set your own pace, track your drinks and connect with a community of people who get it. You pick a plan that fits your goals and, the best part, 96% of people who use Sunnyside drink less after just 90 days. That's huge. So if you're ready to cut back your drinking without feeling overwhelmed, maybe give Sunnyside a shot. Visit the link in the show notes to get a free 15 day trial and check out Sunnyside for yourself.

Deb:

As you guys know I love Giesen 0% Wines. Their Sauvignon Blanc is my go-to on a regular basis, but they recently launched a delicious sparkling brute 0% which is quickly becoming a fan favorite. I am so proud to have Giesen as the exclusive non-alcoholic wine sponsor of the Thriving Alcohol-Free Podcast. Giesen 0% wines are created through the magic of advanced spinning cone technology to remove the alcohol from their full-leaded wines. The award-winning winemaker Duncan Shuler and his team have done wonders in Marlborough, New Zealand, by creating an entire family of 0% wines with all the flavor and deliciousness you expect from traditional quote full-leaded wine. Their non-alcoholic wines maintain the aroma and the body to create a low-calorie wine that never contains more than 0.5 ABV.

Deb:

Globally available, look for Giesen 0% wines wherever you shop for your non-alcoholic options. Their family of alcohol free wines include the most effervescent member of the family, the sparkling brute zero percent, which is absolutely delicious for any celebration. My personal favorite although I do love them all is the Sauvignon Blanc, coming in at only 100 calories for the entire bottle. And, not to be missed, the other members of their zero percent family the Riesling, the Premium Red Blend, the Rosé, the Pinot Gris. With Giesen's 0% wines, there's a de-alcoholized wine for everyone and every occasion. Give Giesen a try and let me know how much you love it, and if you want to meet their winemaker, go back to episode 33 of the podcast, where Duncan Shuler joined me to share about the Giesen story. Okay, so what is hot right now in the shop? What's flying off the shelves? What are people loving, or what are you guys loving?

Helenita:

Next to adaptogenic spirits and ready to drink, I would say it is wine as the number one selling product in the store. For sure, houston is huge on margaritas, so we sell a lot of tequila.

Deb:

Okay, do you have a favorite, or do you have a couple of favorites? I feel like I'm asking you which one's your favorite. I mean, I see it behind you.

Helenita:

Ritual tequila is the go-to for all it changed my life, that and Free Spirits. Now I will say Free Spirits, their old formula. I'm so glad they reformulated because their old formula was sweet. People weren't really loving it. This new formula, it's a toss-up. We're now at a place where ritual was our number one tequila and now it's a little bit Free Spirits, it's not taking over, it's definitely still ritual, but I would say it's a toss-up.

Helenita:

I used to pour, so we pour samples of all of our spirits, so ready to drink wine, all that stuff, because everything is available in a single can in our store. We don't want people to have to commit to a six pack or a four pack. We want everybody to like what they get and to try things before they buy it, and so we offer everything in a single can. You can mix and match, make your own six pack. We also pour samples of all of our spirits, whether they're botanical aperitifs, functional analog spirits. We want people to like what they're getting. It's a big purchase. It's a 750 milliliter bottle. We want them to like it. A 750 milliliter bottle, we want them to like it. And so I have like gin tastings, I have tequila tastings like pretty regularly any day of the week, all for a lot, I would say. My average time per new customer is anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes.

Deb:

Seriously, yeah, like a one-on-one consultation of what's the right thing for them to purchase. That's phenomenal. Okay, what part of Houston are you guys in? We are?

Helenita:

located right near Rice Village. It's basically the center of Houston, so Rice Village is one of the most heavily pedestrian trafficked outdoor shopping malls, I guess in the United States, and so we're about two blocks away from there For anybody that is in Houston. We have free parking.

Deb:

Oh okay, good to know, yes.

Helenita:

Bryce Village is notoriously like it does not have. You have to pay for parking and it's-.

Deb:

Okay, Free parking at a one-on-one consultation, Correct. I mean really. I mean that's amazing. That's amazing. So anybody who's not following you, we need to make sure they're following you on Instagram. It's SIPPLE S-I-P-P-L-E dot C-O. Is your Instagram handle, Did I ?

Deb:

Any last bit of advice for, like, maybe somebody who's thinking about opening up a non-alcoholic bottle shop, you know, maybe somewhere well, anywhere in the world, I guess, but in the States, what you maybe would encourage them, I mean.

Helenita:

I think, do your research for the area that you're thinking about opening it up in. We do and have consulted for a few different people that have recently opened up bottle shops. So if you are interested, reach out to us. Dani offers business consulting and kind of helps you understand what your startup costs are, what to look for in a leasing space. So we want to help everybody succeed. You know, for us we are very much like the rising tide that lifts all ships mentality and I have to say, like you asked earlier, what shifts we've seen and how we've had to evolve. And I would say that when um Boisson had to shut all of its doors, I can't say that I was surprised because I, having been in this space for as long as I've been in and with my husband, having opened restaurant concepts for a long time, anytime you're expanding that quickly, it's like well, and in high, super high rent the highest rent areas in the country start concepts for a long time.

Deb:

Anytime you're expanding that quickly it's like, well, and in high, super high rent, the highest rent areas in the country, Right, I mean.

Helenita:

I was not surprised, but I can't say that we haven't experienced our own decline in sales and foot traffic. It's hard because we are so big on expansion in terms of the space, right Accessibility for everybody and it's great for brands and we're so excited for the movement as a whole. But as a small business owner it's really tough because you have all these products now going into big box retail stores where you don't get the education. You're not going to get somebody at a Total Wine or a Spex or a Sprouts or a Target or HEB or wherever you are in other parts of the country that has an iota of understanding of non-alcoholic. You go and you have a tiny maybe at best 12 by 12 space in the entirety of the footprint of the store and those people don't know the education behind it. They can't help you understand what's actually happening in the de-alcoholization process.

Helenita:

It is something that I do with every single new customer they come in. I ask where are you in your non-alcoholic journey? If they're not in recovery, it's the first thing they say. They make it very known they're in recovery. But if they're not, then I ask them and if they're like oh, I'm brand new, I make sure that I tell them, like, okay, what's your understanding of how products are de-alcoholized? What goes on? Why wine tastes more like juice? It's not that it's not juice because it is, because all wine is juice. What is actually happening when you are de-alcoholizing?

Helenita:

But I am really excited about the movement, I'm really excited about the accessibility. I would just say don't forget about the small bottle shop that kind of got things going over here it's. You're not going to get that kind of education, you're not going to get the hand-holding experience that you get here. And if you are coming to us and you are excited about what you're experiencing, please tell your friends, let people know that we exist. We are more than just a bottle shop. We really, really care about our customers. But it doesn't go without saying we can only stay so long as we're profitable. We are still a business at the end of the day. And so, as you are considering where to shop, if you are local to Houston, please come and see us. Please come and visit our store, support our business. We offer favor delivery. We offer local pickup. We don't offer shipping outside, but you know, I don't blame you, I don't blame you.

Deb:

Come and talk to us. That's a beast. Yeah, yes, okay. So if anybody, if you're in Texas, if you're in Houston or if you're headed that way, please, please, please, stop by Sipple. All right, helenia, so nice to meet you, thank you. Thank you for being my guest. I'm so happy you were here. Great to meet you, you're so welcome.

Deb:

Thank you Big time cheers to you for tuning into the Thriving Alcohol-Free Podcast. I hope you will take something from today's episode and make one small change that will help you to thrive and have fun in life without alcohol. If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to help support the podcast, please share it with others, post about it on social, send up a flare or leave a rating and a review. I am cheering for you as you discover the world of non-alcoholic drinks and as you journey towards authentic freedom. See you in the next episode.