We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Taylar Knippling. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Taylar below.

Alright, Taylar thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

I decided to quit drinking alcohol in 2018. It didn’t take me long to realize that there are very limited options when you go out for those that don’t drink. You usually get to choose between water, tea, or soda. Every once in a while you can find a mocktail, but it is almost never fresh, and usually tastes like syrup. With such few options, I would get tempted to just get a beer, or a vodka soda when I ordered because I didn’t want water or soda. I can very easily get that at home, and it doesn’t add anything special to your date night.

Trying to live a sober life in a country that promotes alcohol consumption everywhere you look, is not easy. It’s a common social standard to go get drinks for special occasions, meetings, etc., but when someone can’t drink for whatever reason, or simply chooses not to, it is discouraging. After four years of being frustrated when I go out looking for nonalcoholic options, I decided it was time to start my own mocktail business, and offer people what I have been looking for. In July 2022, Herbal Mocktails was born. They are nonalcoholic iced drinks that are fresh, delicious, beautiful, and fun for the whole family.

Taylar, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I grew up homesteading on a horse ranch in South Dakota with my grandparents. This taught me how to be resilient, hardworking, resourceful, and innovative. There is always something to fix and/or improve on the farm, which made me an excellent problem-solver. I moved to Fort Collins, CO in 2015 to pursue my interest in holistic health. I graduated with my A.A.S. in Integrative Medicine in 2019. At that time, I was working as a bakery manager and then covid happened. When I got laid off, I decided to start my own small business. I opened my very first business, Mindful Holistics, an organic herbal apothecary that specializes in custom natural remedies. It was great timing, because everyone was looking for home remedies for covid and other flu symptoms. I got into the farmer’s market scene and was very successful, but during the extreme heat of the summer of 2022, I had to pivot because I could no longer continue to bring my products out in the heat every weekend for markets. It would have destroyed my products.
I thought to myself, “what is something that always does well at markets?” Consumables! There are already a lot of vendors who sell baked goods and there are always food trucks, but never any drink stands. Then I put myself in the consumers shoes (at a market) and thought to myself “what would I love to buy at a market that is unique?” Mocktails! I would love to get a fresh nonalcoholic drink while I am shopping. This is when I decided to pivot and open Herbal Mocktails.
It was an immediate success! My very first event went better than I ever could have imagined. I heard so many sobriety stories, and people expressed so much gratitude for having sober options. Kids loved it. Pregnant women loved it. The sober community loved it. Everyone loved it. Soon after that, I started to get emails asking if I could sell my mocktails at their meetings, parties, baby shower, softball games, and other events!
Right now, I am only mobile, but I am slowly working my way up to opening the first-ever [brick and mortar] Herbal Mocktail Lounge.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I didn’t come from money. I grew up homesteading, so we worked extremely hard for everything that we had. Growing up that way taught me to live within my means. Therefore, I never wanted to take out a loan, or borrow money to start up by businesses. I used all my savings to buy my inventory for my herbal apothecary [Mindful Holistics]. I couldn’t afford a storefront, so I decided to keep it mobile and take it around to different farmer’s markets in the area. Any money I made went back into the business to expand and elevate it. When I pivoted and opened Herbal Mocktails, I liquidated my inventory from Mindful Holistics and used that money to get serving supplies, a mobile bar cart, and groceries to make my drinks. Having a mobile business keeps my overhead low and my profit high. I am currently putting away savings to open a storefront one day.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

The most effective strategy I have used for growing my clientele is making my drinks “photo-worthy”. When people come grab a mocktail, they ALWAYS love it. Then they want to take a picture of it and share it on social media. The fact that they are nonalcoholic makes my demographic larger, too

Contact Info:

• Website: https://tayknippling.wixsite.com/herbalmocktails
• Instagram: @herbalmocktailscolorado
• Facebook: facebook.com/herbalmocktails