Brittany Merrill-Yeng, co-founder Skrewball Whiskey, joins ChedHER to reveal the origins of Skrewball Whisky, experiencing a period of rapid growth, and navigating a male-dominated industry.

chedHER

The Founder Paving the Way for Women in the Spirits Industry

joining us now is Brittany Merrill Yang, co founder of the original peanut butter whiskey, screwball whiskey, Britney, glad to have you on this morning, you actually started the company with your high school sweetheart turned hubby. How do you, how did screwball whiskey kind of with your now hubby get started? Well thank you for having me on. Yes, so my husband um he had, when he came to America, he was an immigrant and he had peanut butter for the first time and it was phenomenal, he was something he had never had and so he had been incorporating that into his recipes at his restaurants and um he had over the time built um very successful restaurants and a signature cocktail was a peanut butter whiskey cocktail and I saw the success that we were bringing in with this and I, I what what was so amazing, it was bringing people into the whiskey category that that weren't interested in it and so I was like we should bring this to the, to the world and I was hopeful that we could continue our, what we had done of giving back with the restaurants we have built and bring that on a, on a broader scale, fascinating to, to think that started from like him just being a fan of peanut butter and then turned into this whole kind of business but but that being said, I mean screwball became seemingly popular overnight, I mean what has the growth been like, you know for the company and what is it like, you know leading through this rapid growth period. I, I think it's always on the outside, it seems like much faster when you're in the thick of it, It's it's years of hard work and all of the stuff that comes before the launch, um developing the brand, developing the product, um all the nose, getting the production and so it's it's been interesting um as we've grown the, it's not as though you ever become an expert, the the challenges just keep changing. Um and it's been incredible an incredible learning experience for for all of us, I love that because I could imagine from the outside, we hear this brand and like, oh my God, this is popular overnight, but the years of working to get to this point um it's a really valid and real point to kind of make their, you know, what is fascinating to me is not only, you know, the product that the idea of peanut butter whiskey, but the alcohol beverage industry, this is a typically male dominated industry. You are a woman, kind of leading this company. I'm curious how cognizant are you of that and if so how are you trying to pave the way forward for other female leaders in this space? I I think as a woman, you're aware of it every day um in the interactions that I love. Um I love the education that people have done to to really further women in this industry and it really comes down to learning how people might communicate differently um and really educating ourselves and so I've been a great proponent of Deborah Brenner with women of the violent spirits. I worked with her as soon as the the pandemic hit and we saw what was happening in the restaurant industry, I she was the first person I went to, I was like how can we help women more is it was really helping in the bar industry and so we put together a badass bartenders, the community to support ah the female bartenders and I've always just been available and open, it's it's a real thing and I think we just need to talk about it, I love that, you know, this show is one of my favorite shows to kind of do it because it really speaks to other women entrepreneurs out there, especially those who are successful, but those who are just looking for advice and guidance. So to that end, I wonder what advice do you have for other women both in the industry and the other women who are looking at an industry to enter that is also male dominated and they have some trepidation there, I I have so much respect for the women who have gone through the industry and really worked their way up. I think that's a lot harder. Um at least when you come in and you're an owner and after you gained some success, your position kind of entitles you to some of the respect and so I I have always been in awe of these women and we seek them out to hire them within our company um and so I think they need to give themselves more credit and um maybe branch off if you've heard a few knows um and you know, you can do it to, to just start in terms of community, you know, we know the community is a focus for the brand, How important is community and what are some ways that you guys are giving back for for us when we launched? Um so we started in the restaurant industry, my husband, um and I actually used to work together in the restaurant and um in the restaurant when I was in college and um that was something that we did to spend time together and um one of the things that we did is we built that in the community that we both grew up in and so it was really important for us to be ingrained in the community to give back um to the issues and so when we launched screwball, we just saw that as a bigger opportunity to do that. And for us, it's more than just writing a paycheck, it's getting involved as I talked about with badass bartenders. Um it was when the pandemic hit, it wasn't just writing a check to wonderful organizations have become very involved with core Children of restaurant employees, but also becoming ambassadors for the program, we went on the road and actually saw people and um, donated to local food banks and, and make sure we were able to use, um, the restaurant, the, the um, contacts we had in the restaurant industry to get resources that weren't available early on. And um, now we're doing the same as we see things going on with Ukraine. Have my husband having been a refugee. He really resonates with that. And we've been working to set up temporary uh, orphanages and spaces for um, the kids coming over into Poland, Wow. Before I have to let you go here. I mean, all fascinating stuff that you guys are doing, they're on top of the success of the business and utilizing that for greater good. But just speaking with the spirit space overall, I've only got 30 seconds, but I'm curious what trends are you watching in the spirit space right now? I think the greatest trend is the premium ization. People really wanting a good quality product. And that was one of the things that we came on the market. They said, you can't sell it at the price that we wanted. They said it has to be 1999 or less. And that's, it's otherwise you're going to fail and we didn't approach that. We weren't from the typical, um, industry background. And we said, no, we want to create the best tasting quality product and that might cost a little bit more and people were willing to pay for the quality product with a true story with um everything else that they can connect with. And so I've I've really been interested in seeing that happened on the industry as a whole, Brittany really appreciate your time, your insight and congratulations to all your success, you and your husband, Brittany, Merrill Yang, co founder of screwball Whiskey.