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

Orlando, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s jump right into the heart of things. Outsiders often think businesses or industries have much larger profit margins than they actually do – the reason is that outsiders are often unaware of the biggest challenges to profitability in various industries – what’s the biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?

There are two major barriers to profitability in the spirits industry: raising capital and a lack of collaboration among small businesses. The first, raising capital, is simple. The current economic uncertainty, means most investors have limited tolerance for risk. Unless your pitch documents are perfect, most will decline to invest. Unfortunately, when you run a start-up, you’re in the thick of the business, and you’re wearing most of the hats, so the last thing you have time for is activities that don’t seem to directly impact the day-to-day of the business. That makes it almost impossible, without hiring someone, to create the documents that would actually attract investment.

The second is a major issue for small/new businesses. We’ve been led to believe we’re all in competition, when the reality is we’re not. There’s a small class of large corporations that control most industries, including spirits. Small businesses don’t have the capital, staff or resources to compete with them. To level the playing field you need allies and that requires small businesses to assume a bit more risk to work with one another. A few years back, we worked with a regional distillery to help them bring their products to market outside of their state. It was extremely successful and they acquired a lot of new customers. This year we asked that same distillery to supply us product for a special project. It wasn’t something they would do on their own, and it was slightly outside of the scope of their current business. They told us they were, “going to sit this one out.” When you decline these sorts of collaborations with other small businesses, you’re playing into the hands of the large corporations who dominate the market.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m a spirits expert at this point, but I have a background in journalism and media. I worked at several magazines and Complex Media where I played a pivotal role transitioning the brand from print to digital. I was also an executive at Paramount and Def Jam Recordings.

I starting picking single barrels of whiskey six years ago and fully transitioned into the spirits industry in 2019.  I’m the founder of Taste Select Repeat (TSR), a globally recognized spirits company redefining e-commerce and hospitality. Aside from our online store, we do luxury gifting, and events for business and private clients worldwide. I’ve been featured in Vanity Fair, People, Wine Enthusiast, and American Whiskey magazine for my work with TSR.  I also write for culinary publications such as Bon Appétit and Vinepair, judge spirits competitions, and lead TSR’s tasting events. I’ve been blending spirits for a few years, and will release Kinfolk Trust, my own brand of American whiskey blends, in 2024.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

In 2022, after being featured in Vanity Fair, People and other publications for our expertise with single barrel whiskey, large chain retailers decided they wanted to invest heavily into retailing single barrels. They had no intention of putting maximum effort and creativity into it like we did, they just wanted to prevent boutique retailers like ours from acquiring the speciality products that we’d become known for and were necessary for our profitability.

Even though we helped suppliers make their single barrel whiskey programs popular, they favored the larger retailers and our access to these products declined. With this major source of revenue in jeopardy, we had to find a new lane for Taste Select Repeat, and this is how our Services division was born.

Like most industries, it became clear that spirits retail was going to be majorly impacted by consolidation. Big bank take little bank. To avoid being forced out of business, we had to develop our Services. Now we build e-commerce platforms for independent suppliers so they can sell direct to consumer. We handle fulfillment for these clients as well. We’ve just launching out service to grade/valuate spirits for companies invested in barreled spirits as commodities. We consult brands that want to launch new products or reach a wider audience with marketing and social. We’ve grown our book of corporate and private clients where we help power sales calls and events.

We have to be honest about the fact that our entire economy, in every field, is suffering from consolidation. If you find yourself under siege from the large corporations you have to willing to pivot every 18 months and do things the big boys haven’t seen yet. It’s hard work because it’s like starting a new business all over again.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

So far we haven’t accepted any investment. TSR is self-funded and independent. While we welcome the opportunity for funding, it’s imperative to note that because the appetite for risk is low, the strings attached to funding are high. There are many ways to go out of business. Accepting funding, though it seems ideal from the outside, can be one of them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://tasteselectrepeat.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/neatrockscocktail/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TSRspirits/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/tasteselectrepeat/
• Other: https://www.instagram.com/tasteselectrepeat/ https://linktr.ee/tsrspirits -> articles listed her for research purposes

Image Credits
Photographed by Pierre Auguste