Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lucas Ryden. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Lucas, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
The concept for Cool Hand Co. was born in 2014. I had recently graduated from UCSB and was living in downtown Santa Barbara, working in restaurants while sorting out what I wanted to do with my career. I had a passion for food and beverage as well as an entrepreneurial spirit, so I figured a product line of some sort would be the perfect challenge for me. The ideas really starting flowing as soon as I found myself working behind the bar, and the world of craft cocktails became the new focus for me. I dove deep into books on cocktail history and science until I found a topic that really piqued my interest and brought my entrepreneurial lens into focus. That topic was “shrubs”: a uniquely tart syrup that combines seasonal ingredients with historical methods of vinegar preservation; originally from the Middle East, but popularized in early cocktail culture in colonial America. I loved the idea of sourcing limited ingredients from local farms and bottling them in the form of shrubs for use year-round in both cocktails and nonalcoholic beverages. The possibilities felt endless, and the narrative felt really valuable from both a sustainability and a convenience perspective, which is a rare combination. There also weren’t many shrub companies out there, just a handful of small ones but certainly no household names. I felt my approach was unique, my flavors were complex, and the world needed these bottles in its pantry.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My first job in high school was bussing tables in a restaurant, and I’ve been working in the food and beverage industry ever since. I started bartending after college and quickly fell in love with the craft cocktail movement that was gathering momentum at the time and decided I wanted to start a business that was rooted in that passion and creativity. The product line I’ve created with Cool Hand Co. is radical in the sense that it cuts corners for clients by making craft cocktails more accessible, eliminating the need for muddling or infusing or juicing fresh fruits. At the same time it does the opposite of cutting corners for the environment and local farmers; we use seasonal organic produce – often the second hand stuff farms can’t sell to grocery stores – and turn it into a delicious product with a pretty impressive shelf life thanks to the vinegar. I’m proud of this hack and its simplicity, which is rooted in thousands of years of food preservation history and traditions. We live in a very tech-heavy world which can feel overwhelming and sort of terrifying, so I love that I created something that is pretty low-tech and kind of anti-progress. Shrubs are the outsiders of the syrup world. Rebels of our refrigerated times.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
I think there are two factors that have really helped build my reputation within the market. First, being a “bartender owned” brand helps solidify the legitimacy of my product and shows that it’s proven and used by professionals in the space. By working in that industry for over a decade I’ve built a strong network that drives leads, and I’ve also learned a ton about drink development and how to use my products in different environments, from high volume restaurants to intimate speakeasies. The second factor is ingredient quality: by prioritizing local farms and organic ingredients, the products speak for themselves and I don’t have to rely on clever marketing to sell them.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
The strategy that’s been most effective for me is proving to clients how much time, energy, and labor they can save by substituting Cool Hand Co. shrubs for other syrups or modifiers they make “in house.” This practice was glorified in the last decade as the craft cocktail movement took hold in every city, but the reality is unless you invest in a really intense prep program, it’s really hard to execute all the flavors you want to use on your menu in a consistent and cost-effective way. With labor costs continuing to grow, it makes sense to outsource anywhere you can find good quality, and I feel like we deliver that along with the consistency people want.
Contact Info:
- Website: coolhandco.com
- Instagram: @coolhandco
Image Credits
Brooke Frederick James Tran