Entrepreneurs come up with ideas in all sorts of different places and situations. It could be at the movies, in the car, while walking the dog or eating breakfast.
For Bronya Shillo, the light bulb clicked at her family’s bar, The Pequot Inn, on Fishers Island in New York. It's located two miles off the southeastern coast of Connecticut in Long Island Sound.
It was a bustling summer night and Shillo was bartending into the early hours of the morning. Her family had created their own signature drink that was made with vodka, whiskey, lemon and honey, and it was a real hit among the locals.
Shillo went to reach for a beer and a shot for a customer, and then it struck her: Why not take her family’s recipe and put it into a bottle or can for all to enjoy?
Seven years later, that idea has grown into Fishers Island Lemonade, a drink that is sold in nine states and a company that has helped launch the canned cocktails trend in the spirits industry.
“But it’s important to learn patience and be confident in your own decisions to ensure you’re set up to succeed.”
“It's super exciting to have had a hand in creating a new beverage category and be expanding while more competitors join the market,” Shillo told Rhode Island Inno.
After deciding she wanted to explore the possibility of turning her family’s recipe into a business, Shillo began doing extensive market research.
The Salve Regina University alumna, who resides in Newport, wanted to figure out why none of the other large companies had explored ready-to-drink options such as canned cocktails for mass distribution.
She soon realized that for the big players in the industry, it all came down to distribution and margin — which would be one of the early challenges for Shillo. In her case, she would have to make the numbers work with more expensive premium alcohol ingredients and higher taxes on liquor versus malt or wine.
Difficulties aside, Shillo set out working on the product in 2012. This journey initially included forming connections with distributors, because she wanted to have the supply chain ready for when the product gained traction. Lucky for Shillo, her then four-year stint at the The Pequot Inn meant she had both informal expertise in the spirits industry and as some key contacts.
But in 2013, Shillo's forward momentum hit a roadblock in the form of a funny taste. Rather, she wasn't satisfied with the resulting flavor that partner distilleries were producing of the beverage for mass production. As a result, she chose to delay the launch — which meant it would be another year before she would be open for business.
“This was probably one of the hardest things I had to do because I was so mentally ready to take that next step and leave the bar business, and it just was like, ‘Alright, well, you're going to be here for the rest of the year, so buckle up,’” she said. “But it’s important to learn patience and be confident in your own decisions to ensure you’re set up to succeed.”
Shillo eventually developed the drink to her satisfaction, officially launching on Memorial Day weekend in 2014. A bonus: She had a lot of easy access to customers through her loyal following back home on Fishers Island, and word spread — so much so that people were taking their personal boats to the island for the chance to buy a four-pack out of the Pequot Inn.
Fishers Island Lemonade's popularity with casual drinkers piqued the interest of state distributors, and the then 28-year-old Shillo found herself presenting the brand to company leaders.
“Here I am, a female-founded startup in the male-dominated beverage industry, talking to senior VPs about margins,” she said. “They were spitting out calculated numbers really quickly, but I had to position the brand differently than craft IPAs or spiked seltzers and other malt beverages hitting the market. My distribution partners had to understand that premium canned cocktails is a new category.”
Fast forward from those boardroom conversations to today. Fishers Island Lemonade is sold in most of New England, New Jersey, New York, Georgia and Colorado. Shillo isn't finished expanding, either, but in the meantime wants to prioritize brand awareness to continue to create demand.
"People are starting to understand more and more what this ready-to-drink canned craft cocktail category really is," Shillo said. "We're not a malt beverage like many of our predecessors and competitors, and we're a gluten-removed alternative to craft beer.”
Drink up!
