Mason Domecq - Going After the Energy Drink Aisle with Honey Kombucha

On this episode, we're joined by Mason Domecq, Founder of DIVINI, the Scottsdale honey kombucha brand that's about to take over Sprouts in the Southwest. We get into the formulation that makes the product scalable: ferment the kombucha base to zero sugar, then add back honey, fruit juice, nootropics, and a probiotic strain. We dig into why he chose cans over glass and went after people stuck on energy drinks and soda rather than the high-end Whole Foods shopper, the recent rebrand that helps the cans jump off a crowded shelf, and Mason's pricing strategy and philosophy. We also cover the community-first playbook of music and art events, how a cold LinkedIn DM to category managers led to an imminent Sprouts launch in his Phoenix backyard, and what building in public actually did for the brand. --------------- Episode Highlights: 🍯 Borrowing a SCOBY from a family friend's table 🧪 Fermenting to zero sugar then adding honey back 🏭 Cold-calling the first brewery to white label 🥫 Why cans beat the $6 holistic bottle 🎨 Rebranding so the product sells itself on shelf 💰 Pricing from landed cost to a $4.49 Sprouts MSRP 🎶 Building a community through music and art events 🛒 Cold-DMing category managers into a Sprouts launch 🚚 The local playbook to hit 160 to 200 doors 📈 Going from a pre-seed round to a seed raise 📱 Building the brand in public before a polished product 🔭 What's next: more flavors and grab-and-go formats --------------- Table of Contents: 00:00 – Intro 00:51 – From investment banking to brewing kombucha 03:35 – The recipe that started DIVINI 04:36 – Quitting the day job and the first commercial run 06:01 – Formulating honey kombucha (and why honey is tricky) 07:36 – Finding the first brewery and white labeling in 10:59 – Why cans, and recategorizing functional health 12:29 – Packaging that sells itself on the shelf 14:51 – Knowing when it's time to rebrand 18:03 – Pricing and building the margin model 20:39 – Building community through music and art events 22:51 – The accessibility gap they had to fix 23:56 – Landing Sprouts through a LinkedIn DM 26:53 – The local distribution playbook 28:07 – Fundraising and scaling production 30:03 – Building the brand in public 32:49 – Product roadmap and what's next 34:27 – Where to find DIVINI --------------- Links: DIVINI – https://www.livedivini.com/ Follow Mason on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/mason-domecq-2a3b34192/ Follow me on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-martin-steinberg/ For help with CPG production design - packaging and label design, product renders, POS assets, retail media assets, quick-turn sales and marketing assets and all the other work that bogs down creative teams - check out https://www.kitprint.co/. Shout out to my friends over at Glimpse, the go-to partner for automating retail-related back-office operations and unlocking margin trapped in invalid fees and manual processes. Are you in the market for a new flexible packaging partner? Check out HD Packaging. Third-generation, family-owned and built for the needs of category leaders like Newman’s Own and A Dozen Cousins. Faster launches, lower costs, and no artwork fees.