Thirsty Thursdays @3PM EST

Revolutionizing Convenience Stores: The BEVZ Story wtih Jason Vego

February 08, 2024 Season 2 Episode 6
Revolutionizing Convenience Stores: The BEVZ Story wtih Jason Vego
Thirsty Thursdays @3PM EST
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Thirsty Thursdays @3PM EST
Revolutionizing Convenience Stores: The BEVZ Story wtih Jason Vego
Feb 08, 2024 Season 2 Episode 6

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Thirsty Thursdays @3PM EST on YouTube! Subscribe and Watch Here
πŸ“’I talkπŸŽ™οΈwith Jason VegoπŸŽ‡πŸ‘ CEO & Co-Founder of BEVZ, an inventory & delivery 🚚 app πŸ“ for independent convenience store πŸͺ owners!😁🍻  πŸ₯ πŸ• 🌭 🍿 🌯 🍩   

πŸ“½  Watch a Quick Video!

My main focus at BEVZ is setting and executing the company strategy ✨and vision, πŸ‘€  building a strong culture, maintaining consistent and scalable company growth, and recruiting, retaining, and coaching a superstar ✨team.

In this leadership role, I helped grow the business by 506% YoY and raise over $4M in funding. On a day-to-day basis, I oversee strategy and planning, business operations, financial planning and analysis, company budget and spend, and analytics. Within this role, I also focus heavily on all things HR and legal, including onboarding, contract development, compensation and benefits, and employee career development.

I also own all fundraising efforts and investor relations, including pitch decks, one-pagers, and presentations. I'm also on the road (virtually and in-person) talking with and pitching current and future potential investors.  πŸ’²

Jason Vego
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jvego/

"I'm an entrepreneur and startup expert focused on building strong teams, fixing the toughest problems I can find, and growing early-stage companies. I specialize in startup operations and finance, growth marketing, team management, and culture building. I've spent time in big tech, nonprofits, and startups...but I really love startups."

✨ Investor Pitch: https://www.thepitch.show/120-bevz-a-tech-bro-walks-into-a-corner-store/


😁 😍 πŸŽ‡ 🍺🍻 πŸ₯‚ πŸ€— πŸ‘πŸ§‘πŸ·πŸš€

PR Newswire articles Funding   Great Start

NOW ON YOUTUBE!!! Thank you for Listening! Join us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter!

Host Jessie Ott's Profile on LinkedIn





Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

Send us a Text Message.

Thirsty Thursdays @3PM EST on YouTube! Subscribe and Watch Here
πŸ“’I talkπŸŽ™οΈwith Jason VegoπŸŽ‡πŸ‘ CEO & Co-Founder of BEVZ, an inventory & delivery 🚚 app πŸ“ for independent convenience store πŸͺ owners!😁🍻  πŸ₯ πŸ• 🌭 🍿 🌯 🍩   

πŸ“½  Watch a Quick Video!

My main focus at BEVZ is setting and executing the company strategy ✨and vision, πŸ‘€  building a strong culture, maintaining consistent and scalable company growth, and recruiting, retaining, and coaching a superstar ✨team.

In this leadership role, I helped grow the business by 506% YoY and raise over $4M in funding. On a day-to-day basis, I oversee strategy and planning, business operations, financial planning and analysis, company budget and spend, and analytics. Within this role, I also focus heavily on all things HR and legal, including onboarding, contract development, compensation and benefits, and employee career development.

I also own all fundraising efforts and investor relations, including pitch decks, one-pagers, and presentations. I'm also on the road (virtually and in-person) talking with and pitching current and future potential investors.  πŸ’²

Jason Vego
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jvego/

"I'm an entrepreneur and startup expert focused on building strong teams, fixing the toughest problems I can find, and growing early-stage companies. I specialize in startup operations and finance, growth marketing, team management, and culture building. I've spent time in big tech, nonprofits, and startups...but I really love startups."

✨ Investor Pitch: https://www.thepitch.show/120-bevz-a-tech-bro-walks-into-a-corner-store/


😁 😍 πŸŽ‡ 🍺🍻 πŸ₯‚ πŸ€— πŸ‘πŸ§‘πŸ·πŸš€

PR Newswire articles Funding   Great Start

NOW ON YOUTUBE!!! Thank you for Listening! Join us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter!

Host Jessie Ott's Profile on LinkedIn





00:00:00:18 - 00:00:14:13
Jessie
Welcome to Thursday, Thursdays at 3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. My name is Jessie, the host of this podcast, which is all about beverage innovation. I talk with innovation pioneers from agriculture to glass.

00:00:14:13 - 00:00:19:14
Jessie
Thank you for listening and be sure to subscribe to be notified of all new episodes.

00:00:19:14 - 00:00:36:04
Jessie
Hello, everybody, and welcome to Thursday, Thursdays at 3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. My name is Jesse Art and I have Jason Vigo, CEO and co-founder at Bubs. Welcome, Jason. I'm so excited to have you here today.

00:00:37:15 - 00:00:38:15
Jessie
Yeah, of

00:00:38:15 - 00:00:39:16
Jessie
course.

00:00:40:03 - 00:00:41:02
Jason
Yay!

00:00:41:04 - 00:00:44:03
Jessie
It makes it that much more fun, doesn't it?

00:00:44:03 - 00:00:45:15
Jessie
So

00:00:45:15 - 00:00:47:03
Jessie
where are you calling from? Jason?

00:00:50:15 - 00:00:55:03
Jessie
L.A. Nice. Is it nice and sunny there?

00:01:01:17 - 00:01:02:03
Jessie
So let's

00:01:02:03 - 00:01:07:15
Jessie
jump right into two bevs here. So let's start from the very beginning.

00:01:07:15 - 00:01:09:03
Jessie
Where did you come

00:01:09:03 - 00:01:12:15
Jessie
up with the idea? Like, how did it start?

00:01:58:20 - 00:01:59:03
Jessie
no.

00:01:59:03 - 00:02:00:01
Jason
Way.

00:02:14:20 - 00:02:25:01
Jessie
So how does a basketball coach get into that? And then the second question is why? Why are you his first phone call?

00:02:25:01 - 00:03:28:23
Jessie
And

00:03:28:23 - 00:03:30:23
Jessie
they're like, No, no,

00:03:38:23 - 00:03:45:10
Jessie
I'm pretty sure you are. There's not very many people that have those types of experiences.

00:03:45:12 - 00:03:46:11
Jason
You know?

00:03:48:04 - 00:04:00:11
Jessie
Okay, So I'm still a little confused on how a basketball coach even is into convenience stores. So I don't know if there's any story there. If you want to move on.

00:04:06:19 - 00:05:08:21
Jason
Gotcha. Okay. Gotcha.

00:05:09:02 - 00:05:18:09
Jessie
can you tell what his moment was when he or what what was really missing as an owner operator that was kind of solves.

00:06:46:19 - 00:06:48:07
Jessie
And what does that entail?

00:06:48:07 - 00:07:52:05
Jessie
That's a major that's a major application right there.

00:07:53:06 - 00:07:59:20
Jessie
Yeah, they don't scan it as Nick comes in the store so they don't have any idea what.

00:07:59:20 - 00:08:23:17
Jessie
Okay, that, that, that makes sense. I mean, I think that happens in other industries as well. I know it does for my past with wine, you know, the distributors dropping off wines, they don't necessarily have the time or the the means or it's not necessary to to to to take the time to do that. I mean, it has to be some that's a whole mind shift change.

00:08:45:10 - 00:09:25:04
Jason
yeah.

00:10:41:03 - 00:10:47:19
Jessie
Yeah. That's a major undertaking. And are you working with just small independent operators at the moment

00:10:47:22 - 00:10:50:03
Speaker 3
Yeah. So what we found is

00:10:50:03 - 00:10:51:05
Speaker 3
Yeah. And there's other,

00:11:39:00 - 00:11:48:17
Jessie
Yeah. I think that's a good idea. So you can, you can actually build the software. Right. And then once you get a real, you know, off the shelf solution, you can go to the bigger guys. But

00:11:48:16 - 00:11:57:15
Jessie
I know you started out e-commerce, but does this kind of connect? Is it sort of like an open source technology platform where you can connect into there,

00:11:57:15 - 00:12:00:04
Jessie
accounting software to,

00:12:00:04 - 00:12:02:06
Jessie
infiltrate kind of their entire,

00:12:02:06 - 00:12:07:00
Jessie
environment on the technology side and you just sort of bring it all together.

00:13:06:17 - 00:13:07:07
Jessie
Price

00:13:24:08 - 00:14:23:02
Jessie
Yeah, that's great. I saw your focus right now is the convenience stores and the wholesalers, right? And then brands are kind of coming on later after you kind of get this piece figured out. Yeah,

00:14:25:01 - 00:14:58:20
Jessie
So how are you trying to track inventory then? Are you having this store do an inventory check like once a month and just add in what they have on shelf or power?

00:14:58:20 - 00:16:17:06
Jessie
What's the starting point there? Because that's that's really hard. Yeah. Yeah. Anything is better, right?

00:16:17:08 - 00:16:25:19
Jason
Yeah.

00:16:25:19 - 00:16:27:11
Jessie
Is there any discussion,

00:16:27:11 - 00:16:36:20
Jessie
you know, having the convenience operators, convenience and liquor store operators actually have a conversation with the distributors and ask them to start scanning in.

00:16:36:21 - 00:16:40:16
Jessie
And if they did that, would you use the SCC code on the box

00:18:26:20 - 00:18:40:03
Jason
yes.

00:18:40:04 - 00:19:06:19
Jessie
Well, you know, when you think about post-COVID in the workforce and you know, the distributors have more competition so they have less percentage of, you know, ownership or percent percentage of sales in the and you know, volume in the stores. And they can't keep they can't keep people because it's kind of a revolving door situation. And so so it's not maybe necessarily their fault.

00:19:06:23 - 00:19:36:15
Jessie
I mean, their business model is changing, too. So, you know, somebody has to pick up where they left off and it's I mean, technology is certainly the answer right then. But how does that technology get plugged in? Is is what you guys are solving, which is really great because I, I just can't even imagine trying to run a convenience store with thousands and thousands of SKUs and items and and not not knowing all the information that would be I mean, that's a gray area they're used to, I'm sure.

00:19:36:17 - 00:19:39:07
Jessie
But, you know, as an analyst, that would be very difficult.

00:21:35:19 - 00:21:39:15
Jason
Yeah.

00:21:39:15 - 00:22:10:13
Jessie
how did you get started or where are you at now? Do you have like a handful of stores that you beta test for certain releases is, or or is it just sort of, okay, everybody here we go. Like, you know, how does it work?

00:22:10:15 - 00:22:14:10
Jason
Nice.

00:22:25:04 - 00:22:53:23
Jessie
That's great.

00:22:53:23 - 00:22:58:08
Jessie
That's a great idea. I like the QE. That makes total sense. So

00:22:58:08 - 00:23:00:10
Jessie
how many states are you in now?

00:23:00:10 - 00:23:14:13
Jessie
Okay, that's a lot. Right

00:23:14:14 - 00:23:20:05
Jessie
how do you know if they're independently operated? Because I'm assuming some of them are franchisees. Right.

00:23:27:12 - 00:24:45:11
Jason
wow.

00:24:45:11 - 00:25:10:21
Jessie
Yeah. Well, that's kind of the the fun of it, too, right? You you learn I'm sure you're learning so much all the time. because I bet, you know, obviously different states have different needs. I mean, the basic human needs are there, but different regions and different, you know, habits and food items. I mean, just driving from Texas to Florida, back, back and forth, you we see it in different states.

00:25:10:21 - 00:26:12:20
Jessie
There's just different different items. You know, pork rinds just aren't everywhere. Well, peanuts just turn everywhere.

00:26:12:20 - 00:26:47:21
Jessie
Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of states, I think, that don't do that. Well, I don't know anymore because drizly kind of changed all that. And now you have a lot of alcohol delivery. Yeah, Texas has it. Florida can. Yeah.

00:27:35:08 - 00:27:38:18
Jessie
Right.

00:27:38:18 - 00:27:46:23
Jessie
Okay. It's a kind of a selling point to, I suppose, to the store. Yeah. Make maybe more money. Yeah.

00:27:46:23 - 00:27:54:02
Jessie
But I don't. I mean, for Texas, yes, you can deliver, but convenience stores can't have liquor in them.

00:27:54:02 - 00:28:15:20
Jessie
I don't know. I haven't seen liquor in Florida either, but I know that you can get it delivered. so I don't know. That's just, you know, the laws are difficult to foster state by state and rural challenge to keep up. And like you said, they keep changing because it's the right thing to do.

00:28:18:22 - 00:29:20:17
Jason
Yeah,

00:29:23:04 - 00:29:40:04
Jessie
You know who have a lot of lawyers or suppliers, You could probably lean on them if you if you build relationships with them, they could help you navigate a lot of that, whether it be tobacco or, or, or alcohol. Yeah.

00:29:40:06 - 00:30:01:13
Jason
Yeah. It, yeah,

00:30:01:13 - 00:30:24:20
Jessie
Wow. So that's. That's super exciting. Jason, have you worked in the business before? The wine and spirits business, the tobacco or any of any of the items that were in in any of these stores?

00:31:05:04 - 00:31:16:20
Jessie
Yeah, and that's a huge learning curve, too. I mean, it's there's laws, there's different restrictions in there, and each state is different. And, just kind of understanding all of it, it's pretty overwhelming.

00:31:16:20 - 00:31:37:23
Jessie
And, and they're varied. The beer, wine and spirits space is very different. So that's kind of learning. Yeah, learning. I mean, you got snacks, you got snacks, you got gum, you got gum. But the wine, beer and spirits is is slightly, different wine and beer, kind of more of the same versus, you know, the liquor. But, yeah, that's a that's a long time.

00:31:37:23 - 00:31:49:05
Jessie
And we're still learning every day, right so, yeah, always, you know, our kids came along and.

00:31:49:06 - 00:32:16:19
Jason
CBD, I

00:32:18:11 - 00:32:35:09
Jessie
Yeah.

00:32:35:09 - 00:32:53:03
Jessie
have you ever thought about connecting to brand platforms? Because what they have out there is I'll give one name that I can remember, salsa fly. So a lot of my customers use that. And you know, your brand teams change the label and it changes it across the board.

00:32:53:05 - 00:33:21:08
Jessie
And you know, you have all the right information, you know, up to date. Is is that feasible for you guys to even look at that as an option Because that with thousands of items, you know, snacks and all that other stuff, I don't I don't know.

00:33:21:10 - 00:33:34:18
Jason
And I am.

00:33:59:00 - 00:34:03:07
Jessie
Yeah,

00:34:03:08 - 00:34:03:15
Jason
You'd.

00:34:03:15 - 00:34:54:22
Jessie
Think that the federal government and I don't know what it's like for snacks maybe they don't need to go through the federal government to get a UPC, but you'd think they'd just be a massive database of of this information somewhere that you could tap into. I don't know what that looks like or what that would be, but wouldn't that be nice?

00:35:02:13 - 00:35:37:18
Jessie
Yeah, nice. Yeah, that is cool. I, I made it a point to try to put an hour each week, dig into it because I just haven't taken the time and I've. So I've lost a year. But it's, it's interesting I've seen where you can, you can air yourself like in you can create videos and not even be doing it.

00:35:37:18 - 00:35:42:16
Jessie
Your air smells can do that. And I'm like, Why? That would be really fun.

00:35:42:19 - 00:36:52:22
Jason
To, you know, to create more content.

00:36:53:00 - 00:37:13:14
Jessie
Yeah, well, you can, you can program your own air. I've seen it a few different ways and but you know, if you can and you can do that, that would certainly be something you could market.

00:37:13:16 - 00:37:15:07
Jason
Yeah.

00:37:15:09 - 00:37:21:05
Jessie
Yeah. I think you have time. I mean, air is not going anywhere and it's going to evolve.

00:37:21:05 - 00:37:30:09
Jessie
You can't, you know, not everybody's not going to create everything all at once. It'll be a process. It'll be a process.

00:37:30:11 - 00:38:19:22
Jason
Yeah. So much.

00:38:19:22 - 00:38:24:18
Jessie
there anything else that you want to talk about with Bevs that we haven't touched upon

00:38:24:18 - 00:39:34:06
Jessie
yet?

00:39:34:08 - 00:39:35:12
Jason
Yeah.

00:39:35:14 - 00:40:01:08
Jessie
I love it. You're in the right spot. Yeah, I love that. Awesome. Well, that was a really cool breakdown of the the business and I really appreciate the hopefully gives people a lot of clarity. and you know, for as for brands, you know, in terms of how to connect with you would be more under on the back side of things versus anything else at the moment.

00:40:01:10 - 00:40:08:22
Jessie
But you have a lot of room to grow. So it's really exciting. I'm I'm excited to follow your progress.

00:40:38:13 - 00:40:45:22
Jessie
Awesome. I think I just got my commercial right. All right. That's good. That was really good, dude. That was awesome.

00:40:45:22 - 00:40:57:09
Jessie
All right. So where are you originally from, Jason?

00:40:57:11 - 00:41:01:20
Jessie
Yeah, I mean, home is where the heart is, right? You know, you love.

00:41:01:19 - 00:42:34:00
Jessie
So you're from L.A.? That's awesome. Then you said you left a couple of times, but came back. What part of L.A.? Where? Where abouts? Yeah,

00:42:34:01 - 00:43:03:05
Jessie
it's awesome. I like that. It's kind of come full circle.

00:43:03:07 - 00:43:29:10
Jason
that's awesome.

00:43:29:12 - 00:43:39:07
Jessie
Yeah, that's awesome. You got the Bermuda Triangle going on?

00:43:39:08 - 00:43:44:23
Jason
Yeah, Yeah, that's.

00:43:44:22 - 00:43:45:17
Jessie
That is nice,

00:43:45:17 - 00:45:18:07
Jessie
how did you get into the. The tech world? How did you what was your big jump into it?

00:46:12:19 - 00:46:15:22
Jessie
So did you stay in marketing tech on the.

00:46:15:22 - 00:47:24:05
Jason
Tech tech side?

00:47:24:07 - 00:48:04:12
Jessie
Yeah. Well, I mean, it's pretty rare, at least in my experience or in in my in my head, I guess that someone with such deep h.r. Experience would ever want to be a ceo because they're they're just they're concerned about people. And but you had more of a strategy role within h.r. Which i think is really interesting. Also, i and i think a lot of companies aren't that forward thinking to include h.r.

00:48:04:12 - 00:48:17:15
Jessie
On strategy and and the people and in structure and what what to look for in the future and all that so that was a that's a very cool experience. Must have been kind of cutting edge because i don't think it happens very.

00:48:17:15 - 00:48:45:14
Jason
Often.

00:48:45:16 - 00:48:47:04
Jessie
So important.

00:49:02:23 - 00:49:45:12
Jessie
I we're an idea

00:49:45:13 - 00:49:46:15
Jessie
you know, I don't know if.

00:49:46:15 - 00:49:47:11
Jason
You.

00:49:47:13 - 00:50:10:09
Jessie
Had a chance to listen to our roundtable I a release a full podcast like this every week and then have a special one. This week is our first live happy hour. But the first one I started with the roundtable because it was so important to start the year with advice, I thought from people that live in this world and help brands like yours every day.

00:50:10:11 - 00:50:38:12
Jessie
So I tailor had Brian had been Salisbury and then in Gary and so and and Matt and so these guys they live on all parts of the all parts of the world right of the of this world. And so they all had such great advice. But one of the big Tavis we talked about was making sure you hire the right people, because it's extremely important when you're a young company like this to get the right people that have the same vision that, you know, want to grow.

00:50:38:12 - 00:50:47:21
Jessie
Like you said and, and as the company grows. So, yeah, that's really interesting and very important part of, of being a startup.

00:50:47:20 - 00:51:56:11
Jason
Yeah.

00:51:56:11 - 00:51:59:18
Jessie
Yes. Culture is very important. Do you. Are you all virtual.

00:52:55:21 - 00:53:26:21
Jason
Yeah.

00:53:26:22 - 00:53:27:05
Jason
Yeah.

00:53:27:05 - 00:53:29:12
Jessie
I think it's good to do hybrid if you can.

00:53:29:11 - 00:53:34:23
Jessie
just to get that kind of brainstorming, it's a little bit easier to brainstorm, I think, when you're together.

00:53:34:23 - 00:53:38:04
Jessie
in a sense, you know. That's good.

00:53:38:04 - 00:54:08:08
Jessie
Yeah. So are there any mentors that you want to mention that have kind of helped facilitate your growth in any of your ventures?

00:54:08:10 - 00:55:03:03
Jessie
Yeah,

00:55:29:14 - 00:55:38:12
Jason
Yeah.

00:56:08:05 - 00:56:09:12
Jessie
Yeah, 100%.

00:56:09:12 - 00:56:11:07
Jessie
What about any resources?

00:56:11:07 - 00:58:01:09
Jessie
wow. Yeah, that'd be hard.

00:58:01:11 - 00:59:14:14
Jason
yes. Yeah.

00:59:14:16 - 00:59:24:06
Jessie
Vision.

00:59:26:21 - 00:59:27:14
Jason
Yeah.

00:59:27:16 - 00:59:48:16
Jessie
I know 100%. I agree. Learning from other people's stories, which is part of the reason I wanted to do this podcast, right. It's kind of tell people's journey and stories and how like how do people get where they get, you know, how does it happen in every obviously everybody's different. Everybody's different, you know, which that's just so great.

00:59:48:16 - 00:59:50:20
Jessie
I love that about this podcast.

00:59:50:19 - 00:59:54:19
Jessie
there any pain points that you see that are affecting the convenience part

00:59:54:19 - 00:59:55:20
Jessie
that you'd like to share?

01:00:35:20 - 01:01:54:20
Jessie
Yeah,

01:01:54:20 - 01:02:03:07
Jessie
I don't see it letting up any time soon. I do think, the, the funding is going to dictate a lot of that on where it goes.

01:02:03:07 - 01:02:11:14
Jessie
you know, I think a lot of a lot of people were at home during COVID and, and created a lot of different things. I mean,

01:02:11:14 - 01:02:14:12
Jessie
I know you've been kind of studying the industry.

01:02:14:12 - 01:02:33:17
Jessie
Our industry was, is slow, it doesn't change. And then all of a sudden it's exploding with all these different categories and all these different things really, really fast. And so I think we're all still to catch up to that because we're, you know, at a snail's pace. I mean, there'd be wine extensions and there'd be, you know, this, that and the other.

01:02:33:17 - 01:03:06:02
Jessie
But the explosion of bourbons now, this explosion of tequila was that that's that's not as as new. But then you get all these different categories that are just popping in and, you know, you get to change the mindset of some of these buyers of not just buyers, but just convenience store owners. Anybody that has to bring in product to open up their shelves and find room for this stuff because it's selling and, you know, how far do you go and you go too far.

01:03:06:02 - 01:03:14:14
Jessie
Do you need to back up the is it you know, it's I think it's going to shake out. I think people are going to continue to try. But if you're not.

01:03:14:16 - 01:03:14:20
Jason
The.

01:03:14:20 - 01:03:41:18
Jessie
Key is to be funded and not everybody's going to get funded. And so you got to figure out a way to stand out to get that funding. But yeah, I don't think I think RTD was a yeah,

01:03:41:18 - 01:03:44:12
Jessie
it's hard. I mean, I,

01:03:44:12 - 01:03:53:00
Jessie
I have zero desire to even try to do, you know, creative product just because it's just it's a lot of energy, It's a lot of work.

01:03:53:16 - 01:04:43:03
Jessie
you know starting any business is that but it's really difficult and it's really, it's just really, really, really hard. So I admire people that, you know, that want to do it. And it's important that they do to create that innovation and to create a exciting things. Yeah, for sure. So, you know, I respect

01:04:43:03 - 01:04:58:22
Jessie
well, if you think about baking or, you know, the gluten free world, I mean, I was it's strict, it's difficult, you know, And then you got to have a warehouse and you got to have, you know, it's no different, I guess, than trying to open a restaurant, You know, that is hard that, is really hard.

01:04:59:00 - 01:05:38:22
Jessie
And then you're there every day, you know? Yeah, I know. We need you. Yeah. And that's not our role for for the industry, you know? And that's.

01:05:38:22 - 01:05:39:15
Jason
Okay.

01:05:39:17 - 01:05:42:20
Jessie
We're doing other things to help support it.

01:05:42:20 - 01:05:58:00
Jessie
Any outlook on the industry for 2024?

01:08:23:16 - 01:09:09:03
Jason
Yes.

01:09:56:20 - 01:10:05:06
Jessie
that's great. Now that's really good vision. I like that a lot. On with the non alcoholic beverages. I was going to ask you earlier

01:10:05:07 - 01:11:59:00
Jessie
if that was a thing. If you're seeing more and more nonalcoholic spirits, nonalcoholic beers kind of infiltrate the convenience piece of our business right. Right. That would

01:11:58:23 - 01:12:01:16
Jessie
that's the first time I've heard of a non alcoholic convenience store.

01:12:01:16 - 01:12:28:19
Jessie
Now, I've we here in Orlando, we have the first cocktail bar which is fine They were on the podcast I've reached out to at hotel that's kind of like a high end chef driven hotel with, with all nonalcoholic beverages in it. so it's, it is coming. It is certainly coming. And part of where I am in the industry is that I've leaned into two categories and this is one of them soca is the other one and that's, that's two to come.

01:12:28:19 - 01:13:26:19
Jessie
But I think it's really important to, you know, include everybody. When a person walks in the in your restaurant because cocktails are fun. They're fun and who cares if there's alcohol in them? They're just fun. It's fun to see the little fruit and all fixin's and it's just fun. It's a nice totally.

01:13:30:21 - 01:13:36:17
Jessie
Yeah, I've been exploring it. We're kind of doing dry January around here.

01:13:36:19 - 01:13:49:00
Jessie
and it's been just mixing cocktails and exploring what's available. the cocktail bar also is a retailer, so you can buy, come in and buy bottles of wine and spirits. And so I need, I need to hit

01:13:48:23 - 01:14:12:10
Jessie
hit that hit don't head down there in Orlando and check it out. And maybe I haven't tried any wine. So, so I'll have to explore.

01:14:12:12 - 01:14:40:18
Jessie
Great job. Beers are there sparkling water? Yeah.

01:14:40:20 - 01:15:04:11
Jason
Yeah, yeah.

01:15:04:12 - 01:15:24:07
Jessie
Yeah, yeah. I think you just. It's trial and error. You got to find which ones that, you know, resonate with you the most. And, and you know, that's going to be different for everybody. But I was told Last Tales of the cocktail. There's an event in New Orleans every summer. Claire Warner told me she was a judge.

01:15:24:07 - 01:15:47:05
Jessie
And so she was saying that there's a lot of really good wines coming. Chris Scott, who is a WSET level educator of wine, he's excited about it. He's excited about we're enjoying so, you know. yes, I will. I will combine all list and let you know because I've been interviewing a few, a few people also that I've been introduced to.

01:15:47:05 - 01:16:07:22
Jessie
So I'm super, super stoked about what they are because it's, it's kind of nice. It's really kind of nice to have those alternatives. I drink athletic brewing all the time. They're a Yeah,

01:16:07:23 - 01:16:13:09
Jessie
yeah, it's the taste. It's the flavor that I care about.

01:16:13:11 - 01:16:14:00
Jason
Yeah.

01:16:14:04 - 01:18:11:07
Jessie
So do you have any passions outside of work? I know you like to visit with your families. Are other things that you like to do. It is. I mean, you're. You're punching and then you're cooking and

01:18:14:03 - 01:19:15:18
Jessie
nice. That's awesome. Really good. calorie burners. I know. Impact. Yeah, cause I go to how it works, but that's, you know, it's a 45 minute workout is 20, you know, 15 minute, one way or I can I started this bistro this summer, and there's their 20 minute workouts I could do in the garage.

01:19:15:19 - 01:19:32:04
Jessie
Scrape high impact. Yeah And it's a circuit, so you get your heart rate up and and then your shower and you're back in and back in the shower within an hour.

01:19:32:06 - 01:19:33:14
Jason
Yeah.

01:19:33:18 - 01:19:54:18
Jessie
Awesome. Well, this has been a pure pleasure, Jason. I'm super about what you're doing. I think, you know, convenience stores certainly need a need someone to be, you know, looking after them and I think you've really hit a huge home run here with with how you can do that. Technology is certainly needed

01:19:54:17 - 01:20:05:13
Jessie
in every channel, and if they don't have what they need, then you're then then you're there solution, which I think is pretty exciting and that you're focused on the independents also.

01:20:05:15 - 01:20:31:21
Jessie
And I just that Bravo, I love your experience. I love that you're not, you know, tech writer. You're everything else that a company needs in a leader, you know. So I think that's super important to get the right people to build the right company. So congratulations. I'm very excited for you. It is.

01:20:31:21 - 01:20:43:21
Jason
Fun.

01:20:43:21 - 01:20:59:12
Jessie
Yeah, of course. Well, we'll have to keep in touch, and I to know how you're progressing, so we'll have to touch base here in a few months.

01:20:59:13 - 01:21:02:03
Jason
Yeah.

01:21:02:05 - 01:21:24:07
Jessie
Well, I do have a new segment for owners and brands to, you know, if you have a big release that you want to talk about, that's like maybe you're saying, Hey, we want to reach out to brands. You could come on, it's just a 10 to 15 minute segment. It's just real quick and easy. You can always ping me and come back on and we can just talk about that release.

01:21:24:07 - 01:21:25:20
Jessie
Yeah, let's do it.

01:21:25:22 - 01:21:27:06
Jason
All right.

01:21:27:08 - 01:21:31:16
Jessie
All right, Jason, thank you. Have a good rest of your day

01:21:31:17 - 01:21:33:18
Jessie
already. Bye bye.

01:21:34:06 - 01:21:37:18
Speaker 1
Tune in next Thursday and have a great week.

01:21:37:18 - 01:21:43:16
Jessie
This week's episode was Produced by Fedora J Productions.


Welcome and Intro
Where are you calling from?
How did Bevs start?
How does a basketball coach get into this and why are you his first phone call?
Can you tell when he realized what problem this solves?
What does that entail?
Are you just working with small independent operators at the moment
Can you explain how the software works?
Inventory tracking / starting point?
How did you get started and where are you now?
How many states are you in now?
How do you know if they are independently operated?
Have you worked in the business before?
Have you thought of connecting to brand platforms?
Is there anything we haven't talked about that you would like to?
Where are you originally from?
How did you get into the tech world?
Are you all virtual?
Mentors
Resources
Pain points
Outlook for next year
Passions outside of work.