We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Van Sharma. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Van below.
Van , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you come up with the idea for your business?
Alongside my brother, we both grew up in the Indian restaurant business our entire lives which our family has been in for over 50 years in Europe and the United States.
During COVID, we both re-jigged our lives and moved back to Portland, Maine after living in London and Australia for a decade. During this time, major beer brands struggled with distribution, especially Asian and international beers from places like India. This got us thinking of ways to solve the supply chain when it came to ethnic beers in the U.S., and the rest is history.
Our goal was to craft a beer that pairs perfectly with Indian cuisine— with rich, spicy dishes like creamy and complex curries, alongside naan. Traditional highly carbonated beers often cause discomfort with heavy meals and intensify spice by irritating your tongue’s pain receptors. Rupee Beer solves this with lower carbonation, offering a smoother, more enjoyable drinking experience.
Van , 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 grew up in the Indian restaurant business my entire life and also always been a huge fan of import and craft beer. I was on track to be a diplomat after my masters degree in Boston several years ago, and instead ended up moving back to London where I was born, and launched a career working across start-ups and sales roles. It was here I ventured into my first venture in Europe which was co-working spaces. Upon exiting that, I moved to the United States where I ended up alongside my brother starting Rupee Beer, which was a pandemic project which now has reach across 20 U.S. states and is in several major national retailers.
Have you ever had to pivot?
Business, start-ups and life are all about pivoting. I’ve done it so many times across my life and career, and will say the best advice I can give is to fail fast, and move on even faster. That’s what really defines the worlds best entrepreneurs in my opinion. You have to know when to part ways and start fresh to really win.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
These days with so many social media platforms out there and also so many content creators creating really inspiring and also educational material I pick and choose from. There is so much gold when it comes to start-up, business and management video resources out there you can extract and learn from. Platforms like TikTok and YouTube have thousands of interesting content creators curating super easy to view and digest content for small business owners to learn from and also put into real world practice.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://rupeebeer.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rupeebeer/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RupeeBeer/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rupeebeer/
- Twitter: https://x.com/rupeebeer
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@rupeebeer/featured
Image Credits
Rupee Beer