We caught up with the brilliant and insightful CLAIRE IRIE a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, CLAIRE thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s talk legacy – what sort of legacy do you hope to build?
I would like to be remembered as having honored my mom’s legacy and creating my own, one that my mom would be proud of my legacy. I’m not really certain what people will say after I have gone home. the majority, I sense will say they miss my energy and respected my tenacity for not giving up, even when the world was telling me to quit. I leaned in and handed it all over to God and that made my Faith strong.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I am owner/CEO of Lupa’s Kitchen, LLC . We are a southern brewed kombucha company out of Georgia. Lupa’s was originally founded by my mom, Lupa Irie, who is considered one of the original kombucha brewers in the States. When she started back in the early 1990’s, we were living in Jamaica in the West Indies where she was introduced to “Booch”; as you know, kombucha has become very popular especially over the last 7-8 years, during that time Lupa was developing her culinary skills commercially and expanding her 40+ years of knowledge through obtaining a naturopath degree in 2010. She taught Kombucha brewing and expanded, making cereals and other natural wholesome treats. It quickly became overwhelming and moved from her having a small clientele for her products, into the shelves of the local health food stores, eventually expanding into Whole Foods. By this time, I had been working with her and we joined together to bring high quality Kombucha to a commercial operation.
She has passed on her traditional methods to me and retired to pursue her cookbook and her artwork with flower pressing and stained-glass work, hobbies that she had no time for during the rapid growth and expansion of the newly formed Lupa’s Kitchen company. She remains active with input and some of her foods that she still produces in small amounts for her family and friends. I now have full responsibility for operations and brew today for the community. In 2023 we gave Lupa’s a refreshed look and enhanced what was inside the can!
We produce one of the tastiest well balanced kombuchas around! It is not only easy on your palate but low in sugar. For those who have not tasted it yet, kombucha is a natural probiotic, fermented tea which is traditionally a low sugar drink, also known as the tea of longevity for all its benefits. It is known to help with digestion, and possibly detoxify your liver. Although personally I just find it very refreshing. It’s a great alternative to the high-sugar sodas/light beers that are commonly offered.
I am really grateful for the opportunity to have our product on a clients shelf big or small. We love them all and appreciate it so much. Twelve years later and I still get excited seeing Lupa’s at our neighborhood store.
We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.
My mother Lupa taught me how to brew quality kombucha on a small scale and from there we figured it out as we grew. I remember the first order that we received from a distributor was 40 cases; at that time that was HUGE! We had a hot plate and a 3-gal stainless steel pot to brew tea which is needed in the process.
No one will ever know how hard someone has had to work and what it took to get to where they are today. It all seems so easy when you read about it!
I personally asked questions of those more experienced in the field of brewing and small business. There was a great deal of trial and error however, I was also blessed to meet people like Bob Carlton owner of Brew Depot. Together we figured out how to scale up on a shoestring budget and learned how to can kombucha. It wasn’t until the end of 2021, that we actually moved into semi-automatic. Up until that point, I was canning everything by hand using a beer gun and corny kegs! It was insane but we did what was needed to keep moving forward.
There are many lessons I have learned along the way. However, the main one is to trust God in all things and He will strengthen me. Always. I am a Christian and my faith is in Him and not others. Another lesson is to take time to do it right- even if it means re-doing or rescheduling a delivery.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
We experienced a semi-standstill: Orders hardly coming in or out. Production stopped. It was very scary and, in that season, I had to again lean in, talk to God and get back to my roots. I grew this company by driving throughout the SE region and knocking on doors. I did that again with a focal point on Georgia and figuring out what we could do to enhance our brand. This led into the 2023 refreshed look we are now rolling out this summer. It is important to remember that what you are called to do is not to run someone else’s race but your own. so do it to the best of your ability!
If owning a successful business was easy everyone would be doing it. Its super tough, thick skin is required and lots of respect for your customers.
Contact Info:
- Website: lupaskitchen.com<http://lupaskitchen.com>
- Instagram: @drinklupasbooch
- Facebook: lupas kitchen @boochsouth
Image Credits
Knyckolas Davis graphic designer/rebranding collaborator.