Evan O\u2019Connor:<\/strong> I was working at a place called Fort Brewery & Pizza. I was the culinary director there. It was during the middle of the pandemic. I was making flavors for their beers and seltzers. I left because it was really, really hard to keep a restaurant staffed. It was really frustrating.\u00a0<\/p>\n I wanted to step out and kind of control my own destiny and start our own company. At first, we did catering. We did salsas, hot sauces, little bit of the drink mixes. Then the owner of the brewery contacted us to continue making the flavors for them. So that\u2019s kind of what sprouted off the cocktail mix side of the business. We were making their flavors for all their beers and seltzers, and still do.\u00a0<\/p>\n Belkoura: Can you talk about all the products that you create?<\/strong><\/p>\n O\u2019Connor:<\/strong> We\u2019ve got a wide range. Our blackberry mojito, which is made with fresh blackberries, lime mint and cane sugar. We also go to the opposite end of the spectrum and do old-fashioned mixes as well. I personally hate going out to a restaurant and paying god knows what it is for a cocktail now, $12 to $15 sometimes, and the mix is totally off. We wanted to make things that we would like and that we know would really wow people.<\/p>\n The reason why we do what we do with the all-natural mixes is because it\u2019s so hard to find something in the market today that\u2019s not just random colors and corn syrup. We wanted to focus on doing everything from real and fresh ingredients that people could trust. There\u2019s so many beautiful colors in nature. There\u2019s absolutely no reason to put these artificial colors and dyes that are doing god knows what to people\u2019s bodies. The name \u201cI Am Root\u201d represents the all-natural aspect.<\/p>\n Belkoura: What is it like working with your significant other?<\/strong><\/p>\n O\u2019Connor:<\/strong> Doing this together with my wife has been exciting, tiring, all of the above. She still works her full-time job. She\u2019s not really able to take part in the kitchen. The role that she is taking on, which is probably even bigger than the role that we have at the kitchen, she does everything in the background financially. She has completely designed our labels from scratch. She comes up with all the names, all the recipes. She\u2019s been key in at least 75% of all of the flavors that we\u2019ve come up with.<\/p>\n There\u2019s been some trying times. It\u2019s getting better as we grow and figure things out. But the first couple years, there were many, many nights where we\u2019re both up till 6 o\u2019clock in the morning and have to be up at 7 o\u2019clock to go to a market. It\u2019s been very challenging, but in the end, I think it\u2019s kind of brought us even closer together.<\/p>\n Belkoura: You mentioned that you don\u2019t have a storefront. How do you get your product out to the masses?<\/strong><\/p>\n O\u2019Connor: <\/strong>We go to festivals and farmers markets. We have people pushing our stuff at some of our commercial locations. We don\u2019t have a website currently. We do all of our delivery and shipping sales through social media outlets. When we talk to our customers, when they\u2019re buying, we like to explain that, \u201cHey, you don\u2019t need to just come see us at markets. We\u2019re available throughout the week as well.\u201d<\/p>\n We are currently trying to get into some store shelves, but it\u2019s been a little bit difficult. It\u2019s just getting through the red tape on some of these corporate spots. We do have a couple little spots that we\u2019ve been in and out of. We\u2019re currently at a store called Sweet in Granbury. We\u2019re dealing with a company called Whiskey Morning Coffee out in Tolar.\u00a0<\/p>\n Our sizes that we bring to markets last for a little while, but our hope is that people are going to contact us back for larger parties, weddings, barbecues, Christmas parties, all different types of occasions. We do have some regular customers that we deliver to that get just the regular sizes. Our hope is that it\u2019ll turn into larger orders.<\/p>\n Belkoura: Y\u2019all started during the pandemic, and it\u2019s been running for the last five years. So it\u2019s been relatively successful. What\u2019s the long-term goals with the business?<\/strong><\/p>\n O\u2019Connor:<\/strong> The long-term goals with the business are definitely to get into distribution for our commercial accounts. We don\u2019t ever want to send any of our stuff off to a manufacturer. We always want to keep it in-house. There\u2019s some really complicated things that go along with some of our recipes. Keeping it local, keeping it fresh, and making it more available to the public every week is our goal right now.<\/p>\n Belkoura: What\u2019s customer satisfaction been like?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n O\u2019Connor:<\/strong> Not everybody\u2019s going to like every flavor. We\u2019ve gotten a little bit of negative feedback here and there. But a lot of it is people coming back saying, \u201cWow, what did you do to this stuff? And how do we get more?\u201d In any of our reviews on Facebook, Google, everybody\u2019s been very happy as far as we can tell. We can tell because of the large orders that come in. We\u2019ve gotten multiple weddings that we\u2019ve done in the past year. Our sales from the start have doubled every year, and we\u2019re looking at tripling sales this year as well. I think we\u2019re headed in the right direction.<\/p>\n Belkoura: You started in a time that was pretty tumultuous. What would you say to any person out there that has a business idea but is scared to make the jump?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n O\u2019Connor:<\/strong> You just got to do it. There\u2019s never a perfect time for it. If you\u2019ve got an idea and a passion, you\u2019ve got to jump on it.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve always worked for someone. And starting a business, it\u2019s almost like a free fall off a cliff at first. I\u2019m hoping there\u2019s something down here, that my idea is going to catch me. But if you don\u2019t take the risk, there\u2019s no reward involved at all. With any business, there\u2019s gonna be ups and downs. I\u2019ve had to do some things for supplemental income in the first couple years to make sure we\u2019re keeping the bills paid. But if you have the passion, it will be rewarded, especially if you\u2019ve got a product that people love.<\/p>\n Ismael M. Belkoura is the health reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at ismael.belkoura@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n Fort Worth Report is certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative<\/a> for adhering to standards for ethical journalism.<\/p>\n Republish This Story<\/p>\n
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