Sep 25 2024 47 mins
Encore Presentation from 2020: Ryne O'Donnell is the Founder of Sol-ti, a living beverage company. Ryne’s personal obsession with health and well-being along with the undeniable benefits of good, organic food and juice had on his body made him realize that there was a lack of quality options for travelers. This, coupled with the incessant infiltration of plastic packaging got Ryne thinking that it was time to address the gap in the market for glass bottled living beverages which was how Sol-ti was created in 2014.
Ryne is also the Founder of Permaculture Planet, a Costa Rica-based corporation specializing in permaculture design land development and design properties. He invested in a farm in Costa Rica as a backup plan in case his business failed and later moved there.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
How Ryne O’Donnell's personal challenge led to the Sol-ti
Ryne talks about making smoothies and other beverages at home before starting his business
What prompted Ryne to leave the tech industry and develop a mobile phone app to help people find healthy food and juice bars
How Ryne started his Sol-ti business and the returns he got during the first month of sales
Ryne’s initial plans for Sol-ti, how he produced his products at a rental kitchen, and his initial sales run at a local yoga studio
Ryne explains what Sol-ti means, the flavors they currently have, and where the products are sold
How Ryne filled the gap between demand, distribution, and production
Ryne talks about Costa Rica and his decision to sell the beverage company only to buy it back later on
How Ryne handled sales for his business and what he learned from hiring sales reps
Ryne talks about the glass element and pricing of his products and why he refuses to use PET (Polyethylene terephthalate)
Ryne's advice to fellow entrepreneurs on building a classic and iconic company and brand that stands out
In this episode…
Many entrepreneurs in the food and beverage industry started their businesses to solve a specific personal challenge they had. For Ryne O’Donnell, the lack of quality healthy beverages on the road because he traveled a lot and the infiltration of plastic packaging for the available products got him thinking about addressing this obvious gap in the beverage industry. He then decided to make his own glass bottled living beverages.
However, Ryne soon found out that the food industry is tough and requires tenacity and persistence. He has learned so much about entrepreneurship after leaving the tech industry and knows that it can take years to build an amazing brand. But while it’s challenging, Ryne vouches that the view from the top is amazing.
In this episode of Nexxt Level Brands Podcast, Ryne O'Donnell joins Steve Cleere to talk about how he started and grew his beverage company, Sol-ti. He talks about the expectations he had while starting his entrepreneurship journey, growing his business, selling it and eventually buying it back again, moving to Costa Rica, and his future plans for his beverage brand. Stay tuned.
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Resources Mentioned in this episode
Better Life Organics / Charlie's Produce
Sponsor for this episode...
Our podcast today is sponsored by Kitchen2Shelf, the educational arm of NexxtLevel Brands. Kitchen-2-Shelf provides online and in-person courses and workshops for CPG entrepreneurs at any stage of growth.
Whether you're an early-stage startup, a local growing business, or if you want to just expand your distribution to a national level, Kitchen-2-Shelf can help you learn what you need to know to grow.