Nitin Bajaj

Welcome to the industry show. I’m your host, Nitin Bajaj, and joining me today is Nicole Bray. Nicole, welcome on the show.

Nicole Bray

Thank you so much for having me. I’m very excited to be here.

Nitin Bajaj

Great to have you here. Let’s start with who is Nicole.

Nicole Bray

That’s a big question. So I’m Nicole. I am the cofounder of a nonalcoholic cocktail company. We have two companies, one called Jeng and one called Brae. And each of them contain the two leading functional ingredients found in nonalcoholic cocktails. In Jeng, we have a small microdose of legal hemp derived THC. And in Brae, we contain adaptogens and mushrooms. So we really wanna give people the cocktail experience just without the alcohol and all the good stuff. But personally, I like to think of myself as a brand builder and a bit of a beverage nerd. I’m a proud boy mom of two little boys ages seven and five. And I am a woman living in New York City, just trying to navigate the chaos of life. But personally and professionally, I’m all about creating these wellness rituals and just feeling joyful about life, clean living, and connecting with my friends.

Nitin Bajaj

Amazing. And you’re making things happen, fun things happen for a lot of the people. So that’s awesome. Tell us a little more about your company is called Mercer Hendricks, and you have two Yeah. Under.

Nicole Bray

Yeah.

Nitin Bajaj

You’ve been at this for a few short years. Give us a sense of what I love to understand most, the impact you’ve been able to create through this. But more importantly, and maybe before we get into the impact, what led you to do this? Right? Why did you start doing this? You obviously love beverages, creating these things. Tell us a little more. Give us the scoop.

Nicole Bray

Yeah. Sure. Sure. So this as with all new companies and new ideas, it really starts with a personal need and wanting to solve something for myself. I’m 46, and as someone who kind of started going through perimenopause, alcohol was really stopped working for me. But I still really crave the ritual of an evening cocktail and the relaxation and also, like, the joy of a beautifully well crafted mixologist inspired drink. And I just couldn’t find anything that could have met that moment. So I thought let’s create it. Jeng was born in Montauk, which is the very tip of Long Island in New York, and it’s a really special place for us. It’s right on the beach, and it has this kind of beautiful, relaxing, chill lifestyle about it. When we created Jeng, we really wanted to tap into that relaxed beach lifestyle. Who isn’t happy when they’re at the beach? So Jeng was born in Montauk. It was really made for women like me Bray women who wanted to really unwind, but without slowing down. And then soon after, we launched Brae, which has the same recipe profiles, but, again, instead of legal hemp derived THC, it has the adaptogens. So the ashwagandha, l theanine, and cordyceps mushrooms. And it’s a really what I love about Bray is that it’s a really bold and beautiful brand with the I don’t know if you’ve ever tried cordyceps mushrooms, but it gives you as a social ease. Like, it’s a little it gives you a little kind of up feeling. So we we we really think about Bray as being for the out and about Bray crowd. People going out really this post COVID lifestyle of we’re going out, but it’s really we think about Jeng as being for Montauk, but Bray is for the sparkle, sophistication, and the magic of Manhattan.

Nitin Bajaj

And I love how beautifully the packaging kinda tells that story. Right? So

Nicole Bray

Yes. Yes. Bray is is influenced or inspired by precious metal. So one thing that we found when we’re talking to people and we ground everything is in a lot of research, and we conducted many focus groups. When we talk to Gen Z is about their alcohol consumption, and it’s a very well known statistic of that over 40 of Gen Z is not over the age of 21 or not drinking. And when we did these focus groups that really rang true, and one of the biggest kind of barriers and challenges for this group who didn’t want to drink or just didn’t wanna drink as much is that they felt awkward not having something in their hand in social situations. So we made a can that is beautiful, that is inspired by precious metals, gold, rose gold, platinum, and copper, and and really wanted to create a beverage that not only looks good, but helps you feel good at the same time. So people have mentioned to me, oh, drinking Brae. It’s like a little accessory to my outfit. So

Nitin Bajaj

I love that. Now tell us a little more about the impact, the reach, the geographies you’re serving because I know there are some at least today, there are some limitations in terms of which product can be put out in what number of states. So give us a sense for where things are at right now.

Nicole Bray

Yeah. Yeah. Jeng is federally legal, so we’re able to ship it to most of the country. And then as each state starts to impose regulations about how hemp derived THC can be sold in that state. We’re starting to roll out with distributors in each of those regions, but it is a state by state situation, and we very much welcome regulation. We take a very responsible approach to to our beverages. We encourage regulation to come into each state to guide people on how and where and when they can sell these drinks. Brae, we have no limitations. We can really sell that everywhere and anywhere across The United States. But we’ve literally sold hundreds and thousands of cans. For for Jeng, we had partnered with DoorDash for on demand delivery. We’ve rolled out across the state of Texas, New Jersey, Connecticut, Missouri, and we have a lot more in the pipeline for Jeng. It’s it’s happening very quickly. And then for Brae, we are we were selected by Southern Glazer, which is the largest wine and spirits distributor in The United States as one of their new brands for 2025. So we’re very excited to be starting in a few key territories with Southern Glazer in addition to rolling out across New York City, Connecticut, and New Jersey. So we really do believe in this concept of winning local, trying to trying to really put a a a strong imprint in the states around New York City. So it makes it easier for us.

Nitin Bajaj

Yep. That’s amazing scale. Congratulations.

Nicole Bray

Thank you. Thank you.

Nitin Bajaj

If I were to ask you, amongst the many things, regulation being one of them, what’s the one big challenge you’re facing as a business? What would you like to call out?

Nicole Bray

I think so so I think biggest one is just building trust and breaking through the, but how will it make me feel hesitation. And that goes across both of them because adaptogens is immature market, but it’s growing rapidly. Whether it’s Jeng or whether it’s Brae, the first question people ask is how will it make me feel? Jeng is a microdose. It’s designed for mass market. We want everyone to have a great first experience. We specifically design it for women by keeping it at a lower dose, and we also have real fruit juice and clean ingredients and nothing to hide. But one thing that we’ve just launched is recently is the happiness guarantee. So that people can try Jeng risk free and feel confident that they’re sipping something that supports their lifestyle. And if they’re not happy with it, then they can just reach out to us, and we give them a refund. We just it’s so important for us that that people love our product, and they have a great first experience and to get more people to consider taking a more wellness approach to drinking their alcohol.

Nitin Bajaj

I love that creates a whole new market and, which brings me to the other question. What’s the most exciting opportunity that lies ahead of you?

Nicole Bray

I would say our retail growth for sure, but also the community led expansion. The word-of-mouth amongst our most loyal customers is incredibly important. We have an 83% repeat customer Bray

Nitin Bajaj

Wow.

Nicole Bray

On Jeng, which is wild.

Nitin Bajaj

Yep.

Nicole Bray

Which is why we’re very happy to implement the happiness guarantee because we’re very confident people are gonna love love our product. And if they don’t love a flavor, we’ll happily switch it out for another one. But for the most part, we feel very confident that they’re gonna love the product. We’re really targeting kind of strategic retail partnerships and then investing ambassador network so that we can get liquid to lips again. Try it. You’ll love it to really build that grassroots momentum. And we wanna meet our customers where they are. So if it’s in store, online, and help them just keep redefining what a cocktail can look and feel like.

Nitin Bajaj

I love that. Liquid lips.

Nicole Bray

That’s amazing. Yes.

Nitin Bajaj

Now as we look forward in terms of these opportunities and growth and scale, I wanna pause and reflect and have you take us back in time and share two instances. One where things did not work out as you had expected. There was failure, lessons, and another instance where things exceeded your expectations and became a success beyond your imagination.

Nicole Bray

Oh my goodness. Yes. Look. Running a small business every day is a roller coaster. It is like, there’s the high highs and the low lows, but then I always say to my cofounders, like, you we have no idea what tomorrow is gonna bring. And quite frankly, normally, something fabulous happens the next day. I think for me, in the early days, we we did we made the mistake of hiring kind of people who are good enough for right now and within a certain budget instead of finding the real pros, and it slowed us down. And we’ve since restructured to ensure that every team member vibrates at the same level as me and my cofounder. We talk about having pros in every position. And it’s you have a Shopify site. You have a Shopify specialist. You have email marketing. You have an email specialist. You have a meta ad agency, like, people who are just focused on being the best at that one vertical. So that has been really important to us. But then within that, just finding the people who vibrate. I had my web developer say to me just yesterday, I woke up at 6AM this morning with a genius idea for your 48 packs.

Nitin Bajaj

Love that.

Nicole Bray

You know you’ve hired the right people when they’re waking up at 6AM thinking about your company. So I was like, it’s a validation that we had hired we’ve hired the right people in these positions. There’s in terms of the success story and beyond our wildest dreams, there’s actually many that I could many. I mean, from Southern Glazer selecting us as one of less than 10 brands to be part of their roster for 2025 out of over 800 Brae. They 800 brands applied and less than 10 got selected. That was mind blowing for me. When we were featured in Vanity Fair as a power player in the wellness space, and it was really proof that conversations around alcohol free living is shifting and that brands and like, ours can really be both wellness forward and culturally cool. And Jeng is being served at big a list parties in Hollywood, and then you have big a list celebrities ordering through your Shopify site. It was quite amazing. So, yeah, you know what I mean? That’s the that’s the roller coaster. It’s some days, it’s it feels really hard, but then when the highs hit, you’re just like, I’m doing this for the right reason. I also just got an email the other day from a customer who’s 73 years old and thanked me for making such a great product because it’s really helped her with her aches and pains, and she just really loves having her jam. And it brought tears to my eyes because we’re do this like, what we’re doing means so much to people, and we’re truly helping people live better lives by giving them an option besides alcohol.

Nitin Bajaj

I love that. First off, congratulations on those milestones, but the stories that make this on those low days, it makes it worthwhile. Otherwise, we just shared. We are doing it for the right reasons, and there are days when we have fun doing it. Amazing.

Nicole Bray

Exactly. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Every now and then, I just pull up that email. I’m like, yes.

Nitin Bajaj

That’s so cool. Now switching gears for a bit, you’re in the business of making people relax and kick back and have that fun and peace. What do you do? Obviously, instead of drinking Jeng and Brae, what do you do to kick back, relax, and de stress?

Nicole Bray

Oh, goodness. I hope so. I’m a working mother with two small businesses. So that’s a that’s a loaded question. Family time is really important. So running around the beach to the backyard in Montauk with the boys is just it’s everything. We love when we’re at Montauk, we love gardening and throwing the football around in the backyard. So just really being with being with my kids. I love reading a good book and also listening to podcasts. So it’s just going for a nice I think what they call it, a mental health walk. You’re putting your podcast in with a cup of coffee, and it’s like,

Nitin Bajaj

I

Nicole Bray

was like, great. I’d like to listen to someone else talk for a while.

Nitin Bajaj

Yeah. And you know you want it. Right? That’s something I believe. Okay.

Nicole Bray

Oh my god. That’s good.

Nitin Bajaj

Yes. Yes. Now talking about books and podcast, is there one that is a favorite and you would like to share with others?

Nicole Bray

Yeah. I the the there’s a quite a few, but I think probably my top my my top two or three is Wiser Than Me, which is Julia Louis Dreyfus, where she interviews older women asking them to share their their wisdom them with us younger women. I do love listening to Smartless, which is the Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, and Sean I forget his last name. But, anyway, I find that absolutely hilarious. And I do I I really love mood with move with heart, which is Melissa Wood Health podcast. And she talks a lot about health, well-being, spirituality, parenting. She has two two young kids, and she’s trying to balance it all, and I feel like I can really relate to that.

Nitin Bajaj

Amazing. Thank you for sharing those. Now on to my favorite part of the show, which we call the one nine life lessons. Nicole, I would love for you to share your life lessons with us.

Nicole Bray

Oh, okay. Alright. And so this probably comes I’m a Taurus. So move forward. Get it done. Move forward. Get it done. What is the plan? And one of my biggest philosophies is done is better than perfect. Right? And I know a lot of people will get caught up in the procrastination, but taking a step towards getting it done rather than waiting for it to be perfect, you learn so much as it goes. The other one is hire slow and fire fast, which is never a nice position to be in. But, again, when I go back to, like, finding the right people who vibrate with you and your business, it is really important. So taking the time to find those people who align with you is just life changing. It’s business changing. And then I do think it’s protecting your peace. So it’s like you can’t sweat the little things. You have to keep your eye on the big picture, on the what are we doing this for? Don’t get crying down in the fact that a case was missing from this pallet and blah blah blah. All the you can’t sweat the small stuff. You gotta keep your eye on the prize.

Nitin Bajaj

Love that. Thank you for sharing your life lessons. And I have to say this. When you said don’t wait for it to be perfect, having looked at the product, having tasted the product, I can’t say that it’s not perfect. So

Nicole Bray

Thank you. Thank you. Congratulations. It takes it it takes iterations to get there to get there. So I’ve gotta tell you, when all of our recipes are proprietary and we start in the kitchen, everything is everything starts in our kitchen, and then we work with a commercial formulator to take it from there. So it really is, like, so much love in every in in every can.

Nitin Bajaj

Yeah. And I have felt it and tasted it. So. Thank you. Thank you so much for making the time to be with us, sharing your journey and story and your life lessons with us. Really appreciate it. Congratulations on the successes so far, and I know many more is to come. So would love to bring you back on and talk about more of your successes.

Nicole Bray

Thank you so much. I really appreciate this opportunity, and it’s just it’s great to be able to take a moment and just pause and reflect on everything. So thank you for the opportunity.