We were lucky to catch up with Peter Greco recently and have shared our conversation below.

Peter, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

I started my company out of covid so the customers I currently had were friends and class mates. I needed to think about those people and how they talked about myself and how my kombucha was connected to me. This ended up being the drive for the name. I made a list of names and sent them to all my friends and 90% of them came back with “Pete’s Kombucha”

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

My first thought was that I just wanted to try something different. Not necessarily product wise but life wise. I knew, even before the first time I brewed kombucha at all, that I didn’t want to be an employee under anyone. I have heard and experienced too many stories of crappy bosses power tripping, not liking me for not being a robot of an employee basically, etc. Also, many jobs I’ve had were either boring or way underpaid. I like being my own boss. I knew before starting that I would be failing, tripping and messing up a ton but in all of it I would learn a ton and be successful if I kept to it. I knew I would enjoy the mental challenge of it all. It’s similar to putting a puzzle together but each puzzle piece you either have to make yourself so it’ll fit or you have to go find it. During covid is when everything started. I was selling kombucha out of my car, like a mobile lemonade stand if you will and that proved to me I could make something much more out of this. That was a test for myself really. Most proud of? This is hard. I’m not sure. I’m proud that I want to do a lot of things in my life but I don’t know if that is what I’m most proud of. I am pursuing something I am passionate about rather than settling for a job just because it pays well. I am very proud of that. I am also very proud of the flavor i’ve kind of “unlocked” with my Kombucha. It does not taste like your typical off the shelf kombucha. It’s very flavorful and is very distinct.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I spent $40 on a kombucha starter kit. I sold kombucha using that glass jar to literally under 5 friends I think. Then I used that money and spent $50 on some huge glass jars at world market. I brewed at higher volume and sold more to friends and then for Christmas my dad actually bought the a much bigger fermenting tank for me for $200. I sold more Kombucha. Using that money I purchased a 2nd ferment tank and it just kept snowballing. The money I made from selling I spent on getting the proper certifications and getting into a proper commissary and such. I take the money I make and put it right back into the company.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

About 7-8 years ago I was studying with a very close buddy of mine, Hayden Murphy, for a calculus test and he told me something along the lines of, “Peter, you are one of the few, if not the most persistent person I have met. You don’t not stop. You just keep going.” He was talking about my 6+ hour long study sessions in a sense of “are you mental?”. We would call each other Juggernauts. During my second semester of junior year of college I averaged 4 hours of sleep per night according to my sleep tracker and I was on the track team too. In a nutshell I keep going and people know this about me. Stopping isn’t a thing. I will say I am much more healthy about how I go about my work now but in all honesty I’m pretty sure I was just really bad at calculus and I didn’t want to fail again. Losing sleep like I was is not a flex but it definitely showed my drive.

Contact Info:

• Website: peteskombucha.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/peteskombucha
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/peteskombucha
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-greco-770670109
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/peteskombucha
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/25peterg

Image Credits
Credit: Peter Greco & Beni Kusulas