switch Hall has a really distinct flavor
profile and not everybody likes it but
people that do like it really love it
switchin is an early American vinegar
base drank it dates back to the 1600s
and probably came from the Caribbean its
core ingredients are apple cider vinegar
maple syrup and ginger and we discovered
this drink for the first time on a side
road in Vermont a couple years back and
fell in love with it and tried to buy a
recipe from someone who didn't want to
sell they said don't waste your money
just make your own it's very easy and
here we are not everybody likes Witsel
but people that do like it really like
it how important is that you get you
know there's early adopters yeah it's
sort of like a kombucha right it doesn't
taste like a bleach as much it's much
more approachable than that but you know
kombucha started out with a core you
know audience and I think switches
starting out the same way it's it's not
a name that many people knew about a
year ago that's growing really rapidly
you're seeing a lot more vinegar based
drinks on the market people who love it
really love it and I think the people
who tried it and they're like quite sure
are starting to come around on it as you
know people's tongues are changing they
say so what kind of progress have you
made so far you know when did you launch
and how widely available if the product
news so we launched sideroad in
September of 2014 and we shipped our
first shipments about a year ago
February of 15 and we're now in about
close to 2,000 stores nationwide we have
national distribution through ke and
uNFI and several other you know more
regional distributors as well okay so
there are tons of companies at this show
all vying first you know shelf space in
a very competitive market what are some
of the challenges that you've faced you
know trying to punch above your weight
category yeah I think just educating
people on on what's Twitchell is the
easy part for us I think has been the
uniqueness of the drink and everybody
all the buyers are looking for unique
products these days that are both you
know functional and taste great they're
you know maybe or shelf-stable or not
but I think did you know the real
challenge has been just growing a
business
on a shoestring basic you know it's it's
20 pounds at a time you know it's it's
our cases weight 20 pounds I always say
you build a business 20 pounds at a time
in terms of the buyers though are they
now all looking to stock a switch love
some variety or already still having to
introduce a concept to some people I
still a little bit of both we're still
having to introduce a concept a little
bit but most we've had a lot of people
come by in the show saying I've been
looking for a switch a product which to
me is great news
what the heck is switch Allah is what we
always say