When Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and his team of co-founders (Dany Garcia, Ken Austin, and Jenna Fagnan) partnered with industry powerhouse Mast-Jägermeister, they didn’t just launch another celebrity tequila – they broke records, becoming the fastest premium spirits brand in U.S. history to reach 1 million cases. In the process, they were able to sidestep the growing pains that new-to-market brands often undergo during periods of massive growth. In this episode, CEO Richard Black reveals how he leveraged years of industry expertise to transform Teremana from a startup into a global phenomenon in just five years.
Join Emmett Strack for a conversation with Black as they explore The Rock’s hands-on role in the brand’s evolution, the untapped potential of the global tequila market, and Teremana’s ambitious vision for 2025 and beyond. This isn’t just another celebrity spirits story – it’s a masterclass in scaling a premium brand while maintaining its soul.
Featured Guests:
Richard Black, CEO, Teremana Tequila
Mentioned in this episode:
What It Takes – Teremana Tequila CEO Richard Black Transcript
Emmett Strack (00:03)
I’m really curious to hear from you. Obviously, there are a number of things that we’ve kind of touched on already that have led to the success and high growth of Teremana, but for you, what are really the key factors that you think have contributed to the success thus far?
Richard Black (00:24)
Yeah, so I boil it down to a series of factors. First and foremost, Dwayne Johnson is somebody who is known and loved around the world, and he’s authentic—people trust him. People have seen his experiences, and he conveys them so well; he’s such a great storyteller that they trust in him and want to have strong beliefs in what he believes in. So having him at the forefront of the brand and infusing his spirit into this brand has been critical.
That’s one element. The second is the quality of the product. If you didn’t have great juice or great liquid—and I talked about the meticulous nature of how they developed that liquid—then again, you’re not going to succeed. So you have to have that.
Third is the price point. We haven’t talked about that, but it was always Dwayne’s intention that Teremana was accessible. He didn’t want it to be exclusive only for those few; he wanted it accessible to people, so making sure that the pricing was accessible was critical.
Then you have the Mast-Jägermeister partnership and the ability to have that strong route to market right off the bat.
Richard Black (01:53)
Lastly, but certainly not least, was just being clear on what the brand stands for. I’ve talked about this concept of mana, and this idea of bringing good mana to the world was always the point of view Dwayne and the founders had: “How do we bring good mana to the world, and how can we do it through Teremana Tequila?” Bringing good mana to the world was a clear call to action. As I alluded to earlier, it’s about bringing people together, bringing good energy, and doing the right thing. All of those elements have been conveyed through Dwayne and through the brand.
I think that magic combination of all those elements just struck a chord and allowed the brand to be the success that it’s been thus far. Obviously, we have huge ambitions ahead of us and we’re just getting started—this is only a five-year-old business—but we have to recognize the success it’s had to date, and hopefully, we can capitalize on that and build for the future. That magic combination is what we believe really drove it, and that’s what we’re trying to enhance and continue as we build momentum going forward.
Emmett Strack (02:57)
Yeah, that combination of elements you mentioned is so important because Teremana came online at a time when tequila was experiencing massive growth, and it also happened during the rise of celebrity spirits. So it was kind of at the intersection of two really high-growth trends, combined with how you guys carefully approached building the brand and the notoriety of Dwayne. I think that’s right on.
Always with brands, timing is so important, and successful brands need to get a lot of things right at once—which you guys have absolutely done. But then I also think that celebrity-backed spirits brands aren’t always a foolproof recipe; we see some brands struggle. The impression that I get is that Dwayne is much more hands-on and involved than your average celebrity partner. Can you kind of speak to the active role that he plays?
Richard Black (03:52)
He’s 100% hands-on. He has been from day one and continues to be. It comes down to passion—this is something he wanted to do and something he saw as a legacy project. Actually, on the bottom of every bottle of Teremana, there’s the word “TASI,” which combines the first two letters of his three daughters’ names. That kind of commitment from him was saying, “Hey, I’m putting these very special people in my life on the bottom of this bottle. This isn’t just a thing—this is something deep and something that I see as a legacy project.”
That definitely makes a difference in my view; having that engagement, care, and passion makes a difference.
Richard Black (04:47)
Then there’s also the hands-on approach to getting to work. He always talks about being the hardest worker in the room, and that’s the philosophy we aspire to here with our team at Teremana. He went and met with the key distributors and key buyers at the launch, and he continues to engage with them around the world—not just the buyers and gatekeepers, but also the consumers.
At the launch of Teremana, everyone was kind of at home with COVID, and he had “Teremana Tuesday,” where he just sat down and had a drink with people alongside his 200 million followers. It was just that engagement, passion, and authenticity. That word gets thrown around a lot, but true authenticity makes a difference, and people can feel that in a product.
If it didn’t have those other elements—if it didn’t have the quality of the product that had gone in or the right route to market—I think even with Dwayne leading it all, it would have been very different. To get that right is a challenge because celebrities have busy lives and a lot going on, so finding the time and having the right moments to do that is tough. But he’s really engaged and continues to be.
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