When Bryce and Jill Morrison started diluting flavored vodka into an old Dasani bottle so Jill could stop feeling bloated and hungover after a day in the sun, they weren’t trying to build a brand. Neither of them had ever worked in alcohol: both of them worked in the medical industry. What started as a homemade fix for their pool days in southern Indiana became Mom Water, the first non-carbonated, unsweetened vodka water on the market, and today one of the top 5 independent RTD brands in the country, still family-owned and funded off a line of credit rather than outside investment, sold in tens of thousands of retail locations nationwide.
In this episode, co-founder Bryce Morrison joins the Park Street Insider to talk about building a national alcohol brand with zero industry experience — learning distribution, co-packing, and federal excise tax as he went. He shares why leaning into an unapologetically mom-centric identity, rather than chasing a broader audience, became Mom Water’s biggest growth engine; how the brand scaled almost entirely on word-of-mouth and organic social content instead of paid marketing; and what it took to hand the CEO role to his sister, Kara, while staying independent and keeping the family-run culture that built the company intact.
Park Street Imports is the back-office and importing solution for alcoholic beverage brands launching and scaling in the U.S. market.
Featured Guests:
Bryce Morrison, Co-Founder, Mom Water
Mentioned in the Episode:
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