Today we’d like to introduce you to Buddy Jordan.
Buddy, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Myself, my business partner Joey Kindred and our VP of Sales David Barton all worked together at a fine dining steakhouse in downtown Austin. Back in the early 2000s when infusions were getting popular, I started infusing a vodka with fresh chili peppers, one among many, and the chili pepper-infused vodka is how The Bloody Buddy got its start. The Bloody Buddy was added to our local cocktail menu and surprisingly became the most called drink there. I say surprisingly, because we opened daily at 4:30, in our minds, not the prime time for bloody mary consumption. We soon learned it didn’t matter the time of day. The Bloody Buddy can be enjoyed anytime. With its gaining in popularity, Joey and I started making plans to bring it to a wider array of people. We learned how to make vodka, make our own bloody mary mix and decided we wanted it to be a ready to drink product, back in the mid-2000s there weren’t’ very many RTD’s in the market.
We thought making a fresh, all-natural, no preservative ready to drink bloody mary all in one bottle was needed in the world. It turns out we were right. Folks love it! After we figured out we could make it in bulk and bottle it, we drafted up a business plan with the help of Joey’s late father, Michael Kindred, and started raising capital. After a good 10+ years of research, we got funded in 2015 and brought The Bloody Buddy to the market in late 2016. Here we are a little over three years later and we just launched three new states making us available in a total of six states right now. Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Colorado, Kentucky and Tennessee. Florida, Georgia and South Carolina should come later in the year. We are in over 1300 liquor stores and many golf courses, country clubs, hotels and football stadiums. We are still a small family run business that makes The Bloody Buddy by hand and with lots of love.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It’s a struggle to try and stay relevant. With all the products on the market and new ones coming out daily, you have to stay in people’s minds. First off, make a great product but you have to market it constantly. Constant events, tastings, online ads. It’s fun and we love doing it but it is nonstop!
A funny story, our 200ml bottles are plastic, a custom plastic and a custom mold. We went through months of making sure this bottle was perfect. Once completed and samples were sent to me, I noticed they didn’t send caps with them. I reached out, asking where the caps were and soon found out caps do not come with the bottles. I assumed they did. Had no clue they didn’t. Our special bottling process requires a heat induction cap that seals in the flavor, a difficult cap to get a hold of. I ended up finding the caps but had to change our neck size so the caps would fit properly. A lot longer process than expected but finally figured it out. Lesson learned bottles don’t come with caps. Find your bottle then search for the correct cap before making any decisions.
The Bloody Buddy – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Texas one and only ready to drink bloody mary. The Bloody Buddy is a chili pepper-infused vodka and homemade bloody mary mix combined in one convenient bottle. Everything is made at our distillery in Dripping Springs with love. We are preservative-free, non-GMO and all-natural. The Bloody Buddy is a spicy and fresh bloody mary for any occasion. Just shake and pour over ice.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
The best feeling is hearing and seeing people’s comments about The Bloody Buddy, how they love it, where they drink it, how they’re going to share it with their friends. It’s so cool to see people’s eyes light up the first time they try it and realize how good it is. That’s why we make it. We want to give folks a great tasting drink they like but also want to share with friends. Seeing The Bloody Buddy on a new liquor store shelf or in a new hotel, we are constantly proud of what we do and thankful of the support we get.
Pricing:
- 200ml 4 pack: SRP: $15.99
- 1 Liter: SRP: $13.99
- 1.75L: SRP: $24.99
Contact Info:
- Address: 100 Russell Lane, Suite 1
Dripping Springs, Texas 78620 - Website: www.thebloodybuddy.com
- Phone: 512-791-5280
- Email: buddy@thebloodybuddy.com
- Instagram: TheBloodyBuddy
- Facebook: @thebloodybuddy
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