When the Jell-O shots come out, you know you’re probably in for a good time.
As a frequent maid of honor and go-to party host, Dee Dee Bryant always liked the idea of Jell-O shots but not so much the ingredients. Or the mode of drinking/eating/slurping them. So the founder and CEO of Austin-based Boozy Bites by Prim Improper set out to reinvent the party favorite.
“I wanted to find something that was not only convenient but gave you that emotion without the degradation of the moment,” she said. “I knew it needed to be vegan. We were solving for quality. But we also needed to solve for the experience. That’s when we started innovating for the cup, and we wanted it to look as beautiful as the moment demanded.”
A former senior marketing manager for PepsiCo Frito-Lay, Bryant knew people in the food sciences.
She turned to them for help with her idea. Her COO is David Tafares, and Michael Eisenmenger, who still is at Pepsico, is the chief science officer.
The company recently hired five full-time employees — a big step.
Although it always will have a direct-to-consumer focus, “we are expanding retail and on-premise this fall in Texas,” she said. “We plan to get into new markets outside of Texas in H2 of 2021.”
Boozy Bites started R&D in early 2018 and sold its first product in September 2019.
Boozy Bites recently rebranded. The company launched as Ethyl Ambrosia — a name Bryant loved but realized didn’t quite tell people what the product was about.
Made with seaweed rather than gelatin — animal byproducts — Boozy Bites’ shots are vegan, contain 15% alcohol and come in a champagne glass.
“It took a little over a year to perfect the formulation,” she said. “They push up out of the cup with a really nice, clean push.”
No fingers or tongues are necessary to down the shots. “You’re able to eat it without a messy experience,” she said.
The shots are shelf-stable and don’t melt below 130 degrees, she said. Boozy Bites are direct to consumer and manufactured in-house. The team wanted control over the product, Bryant said.
The majority of customers are women ages 25 to 55. However, Bryant said the company has noticed an increase in parents buying Boozy Bites for their children to celebrate college graduations, 21st birthdays, new jobs and other milestone experiences.
“Happy 21st, Love Mom” Bryant said, recalling an order. “That’s been a really unexpected (market).
Boozy Bites come in several flavors such as rosé, mojito, Moscow Mule and citrus punch. They arrive 20 to a box for $60.
“Our most popular flavor by far is our rosé,” she said. “Our Halloween party packs are live now.”
Bryant bootstrapped the startup, saying she had a “decent amount of disposable income and credit card limits,” adding with a laugh that she wouldn’t necessarily recommend financing a company with credit cards.
“We did bring in an angel investor to help us pay for some of the initial equipment,” she said.
“We were approached by Third Craft, which led our seed round, in December. I wasn’t sure I was open to investment yet, but it worked out perfectly. We closed that round in late April.”
So far, Covid-19 hasn’t affected Boozy Bites too much. Because they ship directly to consumers, it’s actually a perfect time.
