Caroline Perrott Caroline Perrott | September 26, 2022 | Food & Drink,
Get Peach Spritz Society and all other Spritz Society flavors at your local Total Wine in the metro Atlanta area. CAN PHOTO COURTESY OF SPRITZ SOCIETY
THE RUMORS ARE TRUE: BEN SOFFER’S UBERPOPULAR CANNED SPARKLING COCKTAIL HAS OFFICIALLY MADE ITS WAY TO THE PEACH STATE. (CELEBRATE WITH A PEACH SPRITZ NOW, YA HEAR?) JEZEBEL GOT THE CHANCE TO SIT DOWN WITH THE MAN BEHIND THE BRAND AND TALK ALL THINGS FROM INGREDIENTS TO CATCHING A BUZZ.
What is the origin story of Spritz?
Spritz Society (@spritz) is a family business, but I’ve always either ran or participated in celebrity and influencer marketing. Most recently, my goals were to understand product market fit: why some celebrity brands succeed, why some influencers sell products while others are simply not influential. The goal was to take those learnings and apply to a business, and Spritz Society was born. My wife, Claudia Oshry (@girlwithnojob), is a touring comic, most recently selling out the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden, and her podcast with her sister Jackie, The Morning Toast (@themorningtoast), reaches over a million millennials a week. In short, our audience is huge and they are super engaged. Our goal was to make something through and for our community.
ORANGES PHOTO BY NAKA STUDIOS
What makes Spritz the best drink on the market?
It’s simple. We care about taste. We made sure to bring on a world-class beverage scientist with an impressive résumé, asking him to craft us original recipes that just taste better. Most canned cocktails on the market use artificial sweeteners that have a strong aftertaste, so we went with just sugar. These days, brands are so focused on 100 calories and 2 grams of sugar, when in reality, I’m not fat because of the extra 20 calories in a spritz, I’m fat because I eat sandwiches. I think this commingling with diet culture and alcohol is dangerous. Wouldn’t you just rather have the 6 grams of sugar? It’s not that much more than the sugar you put in your morning coffee, or wine, or the margarita you just ordered. Life’s too short for drinks you don’t love.
How does it feel to be a businessman beau?
Well, I’ve always been a quiet businessman beau, so to be in public is great. I will say that now, being in the public eye, people have less of an understanding of why I can’t post the same frequency of content as I once did. But if that is the biggest downfall, I’m good. I’m just so proud that we are building something together as a family.
What is your favorite Spritz flavor? Claudia’s?
That’s really tough, sort of like picking your favorite child. Today, it has to be peach. When you drink things so many times, you become so used to them. When I first tried grapefruit, I thought, ‘This is the best thing I’ve ever tasted in my life,’ and now I feel that way about peach. Claudia’s favorite was grapefruit and now peach too.
What’s your dog Theo’s favorite?
Unfortunately for Theo, we keep him on a strict non-spritz regimen, but if he were to drink Spritz Society, I think he’d be a pineapple guy.
Ben Soffer, founder and CEO of Spritz Society SOFFER PHOTO BY YVONNE TNT/BFA.COM
How does it feel to team up with United Airlines? That is a huge company milestone!
This partnership speaks to our brand and taste. For a 1-year-old brand to partner with a giant like United is almost unheard of. I think this is a testament to Spritz Society’s sense of community, beautiful packaging and its paramount taste to other offerings. It’s a great milestone and something we are hoping to build off of.
What is the future of Spritz? Do you have a short-term or long-term goal?
The future of Spritz Society is creating the best-tasting sparkling cocktails, period. And maintaining that we are a company that stands on great taste and a great community. We want to continue to pop up at fun events that encompass our personality. Ultimately, we want to expand Spritz Society into other forms of cocktails. We want to be able to lean on the brand itself and launch a whole suite of products that are based in a strong community, great taste and great product.
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