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Invst Guru
From Bar Recipe to Whole Foods: Building a Caribbean-Inspired Beverage Brand.
Season 1, Ep. 111
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In this episode of Invst Guru, host Jeff “fuzzy” Wenzel sits down with Karl Franz Williams, founder and CEO of Uncle Waithley’s Beverage Company, to unpack what it really takes to build a beverage brand rooted in culture, craft, and consumer demand.
Karl shares how Uncle Waithley’s started as a house-made ginger beer behind the bar at his Caribbean rum bar and evolved into a nationally distributed adult non alcoholic beverage now carried in over 200 Whole Foods locations across the East Coast. What began as a solution to a missing mixer turned into a platform for showcasing authentic Caribbean flavors that rarely make it onto U.S. shelves.
In this conversation, we explore:
• Why the adult non alcoholic beverage category is growing so quickly?
• How Caribbean flavors like ginger, scotch bonnet, sorrel, and thyme create real differentiation?
• The role of mixology and hospitality experience in product development.
• How taste, trial, and repeat drive retail success more than hype?
• The realities of beverage manufacturing, minimums, and distribution.
• Scaling from one Whole Foods store to hundreds through velocity and reorders.
• Fundraising strategy and why growth capital matters in beverage.
• What investors should actually look for in consumer brands?
🔗 Learn More About Uncle Waithley’s Beverage Company
Visit https://unclewaithleys.com to explore the full product lineup, brand story, and where to find the beverages in stores and online.
Explore more:
https://wefunder.com/uncle.waithleys.beverage.company
This episode is for founders, operators, investors, and anyone interested in how authentic products scale in crowded consumer categories. It’s an honest look at beverage entrepreneurship, cultural storytelling, and the slow, disciplined work behind overnight success.
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