Editor’s note: Made in Tarrant is an occasional Q&A series on small businesses started in Tarrant County. Submit your business here.
Jacobia Solomon is helping people celebrate responsibly.
A former 20-year corporate executive, Solomon launched her Mansfield-based SipSide Mocktails company in March.
Her premium nonalcoholic beverages — which come in four flavors and sell for about $5 per can — are available online and through business partnerships including hotels and restaurants.
Solomon, 50, said her company evolved from a personal need to have flavorful nonalcoholic options at social gatherings.
“For years, I was known as the water, ginger ale or cranberry person,” she said. “Whether I was at corporate events or dinners or even just celebrating with friends or family, I wasn’t drinking alcohol. I never really acquired a taste for it. Sometimes, it created awkward moments.”
The idea for her company came about a year ago when she hosted a dinner party.
“I would say that was probably the specific moment that really thrust me into it,” Solomon said. “Because I realized I was creating an experience for others and still feeling left out — even at my own party. I wanted to create something bigger where you are part of the moment. It’s intentional about what you’re putting in your body. … Why should my drink be any less?”
The mocktails were developed after Solomon, the company’s CEO, tested several formulas in her home kitchen. She had friends and family offer feedback as she refined her formulas.
“How do I create flavors that represent a scale? That’s what I looked at,” she said. “What can I put together that was a little bit sweet and tart, something that was herbally, (and) something that was spicy?”
The flavors in her product launch are Tropical Bliss, Mango Chili Dream, Raspberry Lemon and Basil Smash, and Honey Peach Delight.
SipSide Mocktails are sold in four flavors online and through hospitality organizations and companies. (Courtesy | SipSide Mocktails)
Jacobia Solomon spoke with senior business reporter Eric E. Garcia. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Eric Garcia: Where are your mocktails made? How exactly do you do that?
Jacobia Solomon: You commercialize your formula first. Once that’s commercialized, you have your nutritional panel and all of your ingredients reviewed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. And then you decide which co-packer you’ll develop a relationship with.
Garcia: How does the co-packer work?
Solomon: The co-packer is one that pulls all your ingredients together and fills and seals for production.
Garcia: Do you have a personal favorite mocktail?
Solomon: I like all four of them. The one that I can drink all the time — anytime — is the Mango Chili Dream.
Garcia: Tell me about your background.
Solomon: I’m an engineer by trade. I’ve been in executive roles across a diversity of groups so I worked in automotive for Ford Motor Co., with Siemens Logistics Canada as a CEO, and as president of AMN Healthcare Language Services. I’ve had the privilege of really leading large organizations and managing complex businesses, but entrepreneurship is different.
Garcia: How have your executive skills helped in running your own company?
Solomon: It’s about how do I apply everything I’ve learned to build something that is personal and meaningful. In a startup, every customer matters, every decision, every dollar matters so it’s really no different than an organization that you’re managing because all of those same points are true. Building SipSide reminded me that innovation often begins when you stop limited choices and that’s kind of where I was.
Garcia: How are your mocktails different from other brands?
Solomon: A lot of the mocktails that I have tried were good but they just imitated cocktails. I just wanted something more complex and more flavor forward.
Garcia: How has your business experience helped in launching your own business?
Solomon: My executive experience taught me how to scale businesses so SipSide has given me the opportunity to do that but do it in a personal way. The go-to market strategy is wholesale through ecommerce and hospitality. I work with caterers, hospitality spots, bar, restaurants and universities.
Garcia: Do you plan to sell SipSide Mocktails at retail?
Solomon: Yes, it will be great to get to retail so you have a mass market and get to go where others have gone and really have an impact on a mass appeal. Eventually, that would be nice to get there, but I’m also loving this different space that I never really thought of, especially when you think about universities and traveling. I’m just following where the consumer takes me.”
Eric E. Garcia is senior business reporter at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at eric.garcia@fortworthreport.org.
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