We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rachel D’Acquisto a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Rachel, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
From behind the bar, I could note trends and became obsessed with filling a void in options. Not a beer, not a cocktail, and a-better-for-you option, started my long love affair with spiked tea. I am a hospitality lifer and consulting is the placeholder while I explore my passion as a hard tea brewer. Throughout my career the aspect I love most, is sharing memorable experiences with folks as a bartender. I wanted to expand on that and do it on a larger scale. I selected and combined ingredients, that could appeal to a broader base of people than some traditional options. I choose to make something that allowed folks to worry less about calories, sugar content, gluten or being too strong. And so, it was that Ray Ray’s Sonoran Spirit Tea was born!
Rachel, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I am close with my family, and fiercely independent. When I turned 16 I wanted a car so I went to work as a rollerblading waitress to get that car! I was hooked, fascinated with the industry and how I was rewarded in tips after developing genuine connection with guests. I care about people having a good day with good people, making good memories. It’s fun and natural and I couldn’t believe how big the wide world of hospitality was. Consulting allows me to share my experience and knowledge to help business owners succeed but Ray Ray’s Sonoran Spirit Tea is the product of my passion. The name comes from the nickname my bar family gave me. Sonoran Spirit refers to our sense of place and spirit-based product, ( vs. fermented or malted). I was a bit tired of paying to feel crummy when I socially drank alcohol. I went to work on something not as strong, not as sweet and not as caffeinated as my, “go to”, bar order. The end result is a something for everyone, beat the heat, light and refreshing drink. I couldn’t be more excited.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I realized I didn’t have to have money to start the process. I joined a small business incubator, (Startup Tucson), to gether resources and general business information to start filling in the blanks. Every step along the way: every, “I don’t know”, was answered with a resource for me to formulate my own answers. Money was not the first thing I needed to focus on. Or the second or third.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
Social media is an incredible free marketing tool. My strategy is to share my process and reciprocate to my clients by featuring their business. It is nice to not need a perfect brand and to document my journey. I have organically built relevant followers. Instead of featuring content only and always about my product, the content is evergreen information about diverse businesses that carry my product. It has given followers reason to stay engaged but allows me to offer genuine support to other small businesses. It’s a win, win!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.CocktailLabAz.com
- Instagram: @RayRaysSonoran
- Facebook: Ray Ray’s Sonoran
Image Credits
Gino Calles, Beecher Howard & Kathleen Dreier