After launching their new vodka drinks, three Williams Lake entrepreneurs have an enviable struggle to face – keeping the new drinks in stock.
"It is flying off the shelves faster than we could imagine," said Lucas Samways, one of the three founding partners behind the new vodka beverage Trio, which comes in four flavours.
Samways said after their launch on April 1, "the feedback and the sales were out of control, we couldn't have been happier."
It was just mid 2024 when Samways and his co-founders Levi Nelson and Tanner Gainer thought there might be an opportunity in what was missing in pre-mixed vodka drinks.
"We thought it'd be good to see a product that actually included real fruits and real ingredients rather than the artifical stuff," said Samways.
The men wanted to make a drink using B.C. ingredients as much as possible, specifically real fruit. So they started a business and began developing a new beverage to fill the gap. The drinks are made in Kelowna with the fruit sourced through a B.C. company, though obviously not necessarily B.C. fruit, with fruit flavour ingredients which include pineapple, coconut and citrus.
Samways, who is from Australia, also said adding electrolytes to drinks has become a popular addition in recent years in that country.
"Which hasn't sort of been ventured when it comes to beverages in Canada," he said.
"We all live active lifestyles and that sort of thing, so having good ingredients in a beverage was pretty crucial when it came to us creating one," he said.
The three men worked with Kristian Sorensen from Orchard City Distilling in Kelowna to help design the drinks and produce their first run.
"He's been so amazing for us," said Samways, with Sorensen being a key factor in their successful launch.
Samways said after trials, the team have come up with four flavours: raspberry-peach, pineapple-coconut, trio berry and lime, and black cherry and lemon, which he said aim to accommodate most people's flavour palettes for these type of beverages.
"They're all really really good," he said.
Due to the tariffs and trade dispute with the United States, many B.C. brewers and beverage makers have been facing escalating costs in their aluminum cans, which are predominantly made in the U.S., but Samways said the group was able to purchase their first cans before costs went up.
"We're still in the unknown of the additional tariff costs," said Samways.
Now, with the Liquor Distribution Branch (LDB) sold out of their drinks, which is where liquor stores purchase alcoholic beverages, they will be ordering around 7,000 to 10,000 litres more of each flavour from the manufacturer so they can take their drinks to an even larger market.
So far Trio pre-mixed vodka drinks are available in a number of Williams Lake liquor stores, some local pubs and bars, in 150 Mile House, Kamloops, Vernon, Lake Country and Kelowna. Samways said their next order will be five times their first one and they hope to be able to have the drinks in liquor outlets across B.C., and potentially even further across Canada.
"We're beyond grateful for the support," said Samways, with big orders coming in over the last week since their launch.
He said their goal is to be founder-driven.
"We want to be purely behind our product," he said, and said they'll be supporting other local businesses along the way, starting with sponsoring the barrel racing at the Spring Classic Indoor Rodeo in Williams Lake on April 17.
"It's a very fun adventure," said Samways of the beverage company, with all three men new to the industry.
"We're just taking it step by step and enjoying every minute of it."
