“Together Talks” #91: 8th Wonder Sparkling Tea with Founder, Reed Rush

Some Background on 8th Wonder Sparkling Tea

For today's edition of "Together Talks" campaign, KLS had the opportunity to chat with 8th Wonder Sparkling Tea and Founder, Reed Rush. They are not your average tea brand, and don’t want to be ??. On a mission to provide a flavorful, exciting, and all-around healthy beverage that’s open-minded, refreshing, and a euphoric escape from the day-to-day. They believe in the power of ancient ingredients and are committed to using only the highest quality, sustainably-sourced organic herbs to create their unique and delicious tea flavors. So get your zen on with every swig, and savor each moment– even beyond the last drop ?? Join them on their journey and discover your wonder with 8th Wonder Tea.

Two life cycles

The story of how 8th Wonder Sparkling Tea began involves two stories. Reed founded the company in 2016, but it is not the company that is currently operating. Those early phases of the company included many hours of R&D trying to best understand which ingredients brought the best benefit while tasting great. After completing college, Reed started reading books about herbalism and self-educating through trial and error. With a crockpot he started mixing and matching ingredients, he jokes "It is a miracle I didn't poison myself!". After over 200 recipes he found something that wasn't only palpable enough but that tasted like Thanksgiving in a bottle.

He loved the product he created and wanted to test himself to see if he could sell it. He proceeded to drive to every single Whole Foods in Colorado offering to sample it for any employee who could potentially give him shelf space. Fort Collins, CO was the first store to welcome him on the shelves. He was hooked on the chase and continued to bootstrap his company as he added more and more Whole Foods within the state. However, Covid hit and during that time the company made a huge rebrand. On top of a refresh and repackage, they also rebranded converting from glass bottles to cans.

Consumer traction

Reed mentioned how recently there has been an uptick in consumer demands for better alternative products. He mentioned the sparkling category specifically. During his bootstrapping he truly felt that the category was stagnant, and he had a plan to get away from sugar. His product simply put was a hybrid between water and tea. But where it really shines is being a functional beverage. He alluded that so many brands can spread their reach by playing between different categories in the CPG space. While 8th Wonder got its start as a tea company it has morphed into other areas as well including being a functional beverage. What Reed believes is a strength for his company is that despite the category that attracts a consumer, they naturally resonate with the product because it tastes great.

Being a functional beverage with values on the ingredients being used is one way the company differentiates itself. He also mentioned the unique design which not only is captivating to consumers' attention but does a great job of producing brand recognition. The sleek, minimal, zen look the cans provide has contributed to building brand awareness. Reed shared, "We believe our brand communicates something fun and vibrant but stripped down simplistically, yet in a bold way. We are often able to introduce consumers to adaptogenic ingredients without knowing they are consuming them because our taste profile is so strong. Being able to accomplish that without requiring any fillers in our ingredients is so critical to us." Reed also mentioned how privileged he is to be part of this new conscious movement from brands to meet consumer demands. He credited the organic food and natural world becoming more mainstream is very cool to witness. Seeing the revolution of things that have been status quo for so long and watching the changes have been gratifying for him.

Partner with KLS

KLS offers LTL and FTL for both dry and reefer transportation.

Our nationwide coverage provides companies a reliable, consistent, and dependable logistics partner to handle your trucking needs.

For more information on how we can help call our office today 708-980-0920 or reach us via our email quote request here!

Passion to create

We were curious to know from Reed about the current product given how many attempts it took to perfect the original formula. He told us that he views the brand as being dynamic an always evolving to never get stagnant. While that includes not only things like packaging and messaging, but even the product itself. Especially operating with the functional benefit component, there is always an opportunity to get introduced to a new herb or super food that can be a better option for 8th Wonder Sparkling Tea. Having the mindset to always be willing to adapt and move in the direction of what is happening is part of the meaning behind the name of the company. Reed envisions to always seek out not only the new, but the best. Pursuing the latest and greatest to bring to consumers, in theory seeking out the 8th wonder.

With growing his company, we wondered if Reed ever allowed himself to dream into the future and predict where he sees his company going. For him he said it is more of a focus on his daily mission which is to create. Creating is his passion and the ability to constantly innovate is what drives him. Coming from a liberal arts background and not studying business in school forced Reed to learn on the fly in starting his business. Getting into the CPG space required him to not only learn but understand the sales oriented aspects of the company. But he would not be deterred, in his mind he always wanted to be an entrepreneur in some way, "having an idea and being able to create and then see it turn into a tangible thing is fascinating to me."

Various communication styles

Entering the CPG world Reed shared that the biggest challenge is communicating the purpose and benefits behind the product. Having different sales pitches is essential he told us, but through trial and error he has realized how difficult it is to communicate the level of passion he believes and have it adequately translate to the audience. He continues to have language refined to make it as accessible as possible to even larger groups to continue to build the reach of the brand recognition. Reed explained that there is a bit of a fine line they have to walk in not overwhelming consumers with the ingredients and benefits but finding the right tone to enlighten them on the added benefits to their great tasting tea.

Entering a new industry with no business experience came with plenty of concern for Reed, but he credited those early years for allowing him to fail, learn, and not have it be catastrophic. The early period he labels as the learning period of the company. Initially he said he got lost in trying to be everything to everyone but realized that can't be a winning formula for the brand. Understanding how challenging how distribution is, Reed decided to focus on growing in the regions that were staples for the brand and grow with the mushroom effect. Slowly bridging the gap to new markets after saturation of their strongest regions is now their current model with their second go round. He admitted that since the rebrand the vision is much clearer and the company is comfortable in its own skin knowing who their customer base and demographics are. "Without that first period and then Covid, I'm not sure we would be where we were today. Both of those times were so challenging, but influential in showing us ways we needed to adapt and grow to better our business and our brand."

Celebrations

Running a company is a never ending grind, but Reed tries to stay in the moment and appreciate when the company reaches various milestones. For him whether it is company wins, team member wins, or personal wins that lead to professional or personal growth, that is what brings him satisfaction. Tying back into their name and their culture, they are always seeking out the next big thing. And with that it is only fitting that throughout the process, Reed claims he has fallen in love with one thing, selling.

With the milestones, Reed also had to highlight the daily gratification of getting to do something he is so passionate about. He touched on how great obviously a win feels, especially out of the gate. But for him, he cherishes more the wins that followed some adversity or struggle. Those hard-fought wins that have helped create the culture of their company are the ones he reflects on as a sense of pride.

Piece of Advice

The conversation with Reed wrapped up with him sharing his piece of advice.

"Piece of advice: Anything you’ve learned specific to business, life, your role, etc.

Every time gone wrong its been night trusting own inner compass or intuition, On a gut level, followed other people’s vision. Hard to follow that if when not as strong. Trust inner voice."

Interested in being featured with "Together Talks"?

KLS is booking our upcoming schedule now!

Contact us as we would love to learn your story and share it amongst our audience.

Weekly we provide 2 companies our platform to expand their reach courtesy of our campaign. Let's collaborate!!!

In Closing

KLS wants to thank Reed Rush, Founder, of 8th Wonder Sparkling Tea for today's "Together Talks" feature. Keep up to date with 8th Wonder Sparkling Tea by following their blog on their website, check it out here. Follow along for the 8th Wonder Sparkling Tea journey with their social handles below!

Instagram?/ LinkedIn / ?Facebook?/ TikTok