We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ellen Soria a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Ellen, appreciate you joining us today. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.
I love a good margarita, come on… a beverage that just makes you feel like you’re on the beach in Mexico, it doesn’t get better than that! What’s lead me to launching our products is that there have been so many times where my friends and I have been out to a restaurant or a bar, order a fancy margarita and have left paying an expensive bill and the lasting impression… Drinks were ok, honestly they were so sweet and we make better ones at home. It was this reoccurring experience where I finally said, I make amazing margs!
At Lolita’s we specialize in craft mixers that are 100% clean label. We address consumer demands for organic, low calorie, low sugar and versatile products. I designed our flavors to work with really any clear spirit; they are built for tequila but also pair great with mezcal, vodka, gin, clear rum or even enjoyed as a juice for a non-alcoholic mocktail!
Our products fall 1/2 to 1/3 the calories and sugar content compared to most products on the market today. We are a citrus company, not a sweets company. We are transparent with our consumers on our ingredients and you will never find preservatives or stabilizers in our products. Think cold press juicing specifically for margarita flavors.
Ellen, 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 have a very colorful background that I guess explains how my journey to an entrepreneur came full circle. It started in health science, chemistry, hospitality, food manufacturing and tech. I know… what a random grouping of specialties!
As a kid, I always loved being in the kitchen and cooking up something delicious. At a young age I was always restricted but needing to know “exactly how much” of an ingredient to add into a recipe to get it right, where my mom would always push me to trust my taste and when I would try to ask how much of a spice or ingredient, my mom would reply, “however much you think it needs.” Although her response would drive me absolutely nuts, I understand why she responded with this. She wasn’t wrong and this was a great foundation for me to build my culinary exploration with confidence. I learned how to naturally balance flavors and highlight ingredients organically.
My hobbies always included cooking, but another interesting detail is that my dad owned a restaurant where I started working in at the early ages of 10 years old. I started in the hospitality industry as a dishwasher, moved to prep, helped cook, was a busser, server, cocktailer, bartender, and supported numerous restaurants with front of house management, training, and quality control. My hospitality industry experience ranged from mom and pop restaurants to corporate restaurants, Forbes ranked restaurants, and highly successful privately owned restaurants. All-in I’ve worked in hospitality for 20 years.
In my teens to early adult years, I was moving in the direction of health science where I was on track to go to nursing school and operate in the medical field. As I was on this track I was focusing a lot of my studies in chemistry with an emphasis on how things work within the body specifically from an organic perspective. Right around 2017 I decided I wanted to do something different and share something I create with the masses. I didn’t know exactly what it was but I knew continuing in the healthcare direction wasn’t for me.
I moved into tech while I thought about that kind of product I wanted to create. I worked for SaaS companies and a Green Tech company. These companies were all start-ups where I learned so much on how to start a business, how to run a business, when to be agile, analyze market trends, and pivot when necessary. I’m a ninja when it comes to operations but I didn’t want to stop there.
In 2018 while working in tech, I decided I wanted to take a food based product to market, caramel. 2020 had an impact on this initial product launch as the companies I was about to work with, had all decided to halt further product development due to the economic turmoil the world was experiencing. But with every great story there is always a silver lining.
In 2021 I was still working in caramel and had always planned to launch a beverage as my second product. I was asked to make a specialty cocktail for an event and thought it was a perfect time to test the flavor and see what people said. It turned out to be a hit with people asking where they could buy it! That was early stage R+D but I decided to take a gamble and pause the caramel until the right time and pivot to my beverage product. In the same year I did a soft launch on the east coast as that was the only location I could get a manufacturer to take me on as a client due to the ripple effects of COVID. We launched one of our seasonal flavors with a highly popular juice company but with seasonal changes and consumer trends, I knew we needed more flavors.
From Q3’2021 to Q1’2023 I brought the R+D back to the west coast where I studied consumer trends within the health space / hospitality industry and created 13+ flavors that move with the seasons, ones that truly have unique fresh flavors, all while being incredibly mindful of calories and sugar content. May 5th, 2023 I officially launched Lolita’s Guiltless® Margaritas direct to consumer via pop-ups with two of the most amazing supporters, BoxHaus and Ekam Yoga & Pilates.
Our products do not contain alcohol, and are intended to be taken home and mixed with obviously tequila, or any clear spirit. During our pop-ups I found that they make super refreshing mocktails when you mix it with sparkling water. People love them as nonalcoholic margaritas in addition to them taking them home and making the real thing at home.
So here we are, it’s Q4’ 2023 and we’ve launched with Hi-Time Wine Cellar and Irvine Ranch Market here in Costa Mesa, Farmshop in Brentwood LA and Fireside Cellars on Montana Street in LA. We have many exciting partnerships in our future that we look forward to announcing next year, these range from sparkling water partners, hospitality partners, and tequila partners.
Every mentor and advisor I’ve ever had, always said, “You end up doing what you love…” So I guess it all makes sense, I love creating unique moments with friends and family centered around gatherings. Every great social gathering is centered around the food and beverage spread :) I make great margaritas and I decided I wanted to share them with everyone!
Cheers to an exciting future filled with Guiltless® Margaritas every day!!
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
Oh the fun part of business, funding the dream, or as I like to call it, “you gotta feed the beast.”
So I am what they call a “bootstrapper.” Every leg of the way, I’ve funded each idea, R+D, sampling, manufacturing, expansion and so much more. I’ve never not had a job and as I decided I wanted to be an entrepreneur back in 2018 I worked my ass off to scrape together the money I needed start my journey.
Growing up in Orange County, the cost of living has always been a huge factor and didn’t leave much room for the “extras” from the financial perspective. There was a time where I worked 2 jobs and focused my business, easily working 60-75hr weeks for a few years. These were the very early stages where you really need to put in a lot of hard work and time building the idea into a reality. As time passed I was able to accelerate my skillsets and positions in companies to where I moved into just 1 company full time + my business. Juggling multiple jobs to pay the bills for all the little things that go into building a company from nothing is not an easy thing to do.
When you are in a position where you bootstrap your own company, people don’t always understand the level of sacrifice that comes with it. You miss out on weekend festivities, trips, events and even time with your family and friends. However, the sacrifice is temporary as long as you have a roadmap to your next milestone. I worked 2+ jobs for about 3 years, it was so rough but provided me the financial means to get the foundation of my products completed and now ahead of the curve when it comes to product development.
I’m proud to say that I’ve been able to fund my company myself so far but I’m even more excited to move onto the next phase where I bring on my Angels. We are growing and it’s getting to that point where every entrepreneur needs to bring in their team to scale.
I love sharing our products at pop-ups, participating with larger brands for cross-collabs and seeing how much people love our drinks. We are closing out 2023 with a stacked calendar filled with holiday events and I already know 2024 is going to be an insane and exciting year for us as we expand.
I’m moving from the bootstrapping phase and into our seed phase raise as I look to bring on our strategic Angels!
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
We are often taught that life’s journey and success is a linear experience…. That’s a lie, it is filled with so many damn peaks, valleys, peaks, valley, valley, dark pit, peak, peak, boom – you feel like you got hit by a semitruck (valley), then at some point you adjust to your new “baseline.”
My year is filled with 365 Mondays, if you treat every day like a Monday, you can never be surprised if something unexpected happens and you are prepared to take on any challenge that comes across you. As people we talk a lot about what we “want to do,” once you start the journey, I firmly believe that the universe will test you every; day, week, month, quarter, and year to see if you truly want it. I’ve hit so many walls on my journey, some where I’ve had to break them down to get to where I needed to go, and some that I believe the universe was testing my resilience and roll with the punches but stay the course. Some days are great and some days are terrible where you will question your entire existence and ask yourself if you made a huge mistake. It’s those days that no matter how sh*tty you might feel inside, you push forward with your action item list and you get the job done!
There have been many events throughout my journey that have tested my resilience but I think the greatest test for me was the events that landed me in the beverage industry. As I previously mentioned in 2018 I started in caramel, so opposite in what my company is today. The events of 2020 impacted so many businesses big and small and when I hit a huge hurdle that the companies I was gearing up with decided to stop all new product development, I had to take a moment and recalibrate. I could have given up on my dreams of sharing food & beverage products I create but I don’t believe in giving up. I grew up playing sports and giving up is never an option, you give it 100% every day.
So I took a few weeks and looked around, what’s happening with consumers today (back in 2020) what are the noticeable changes and trends we see? Sugar, a decrease in sugar based products was a huge trend not only from the candy sector but from every food and beverage sector. People started becoming a little more aware on what’s in their foods and drinks and this continues today. At the end of the day, caramel is melted down sugar, what I created was absolutely delicious and I get comments on it all the time but it didn’t track with consumer trends in the current market of where we are going over the next 7+ years. So I decided if I was going to pivot, that was the time I needed to, and that’s what I did and I’m so glad I did!
I would juice veggies and fruits for my personal use all the time as I really don’t like sweets. I refined my juicing process and started focusing on margaritas more and more. The number one reason was, I love margaritas but I hate an overly sweet margarita or where it’s just the standard tequila, lime juice, soda… The most basic and flavorless margarita, people think this is the only option for low calorie and low sugar margaritas. This is where I wanted to place my company in the market. Margarita mixers that are incredibly fresh, tons of rounded citrus, not sweet, and low calorie without major sacrifice. Lastly, I wanted to do this in a way that consumers can enjoy them in the comfort of their own home as a margarita or even a mocktail. My dream is to be in the fridge of everyday consumers across the country. Although our products are margarita mixers first, they are also a delicious mocktail and juice.
Had I not take a moment to reflect on my first go at manufacturing and consumer trends, I would not be in the position I’m in today, preparing to scale Lolita’s Guiltless® Margaritas, a solid roster of 13+ awesome flavors, and amazing supporters and partners in the pipeline. There will be more hurdles to overcome, but every day is Monday and we have trained for this ;)
Contact Info:
- Website: https://guiltlessmargaritas.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/guiltlessmargaritas/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellen-soria/
Image Credits
“Deep Visuals” Simran Deep – Photographer & Videographer