[Founder Stories] Laura Taylor: Redefining Social Drinking with Mingle Mocktails

Introduction

Laura Taylor is the founder of Mingle Mocktails, a non-alcoholic beverage brand that’s redefining social drinking culture.

Inspired by her own experiences and the gap in the market for enjoyable alcohol-free options, she created Mingle Mocktails to bring inclusivity to social events for those who prefer not to drink.

With a background in corporate sales engineering, she brought a unique blend of resilience and market savvy to her role as Founder and Chief Mingle Officer, enabling her to turn Mingle into a leading name in the non-alcoholic space.

This is her story.

Interview

1. What inspired you not only to found this company but take on the challenge of shifting from corporate to being an entrepreneur?

Years ago, I made the decision to give up alcohol. It was a lot more difficult than I had expected to go back to social situations where boring sparkling water was the only non-alcoholic option. I often felt out of place at social events, and I realized I wasn’t alone in this feeling. I was passionate and determined to find a solution for this missing gap in the non-alcoholic beverage market. My corporate background actually had prepared me really well with the skills needed to thrive as an entrepreneur. More specifically, I acquired a deep understanding of how to collaborate effectively with a variety of individuals from corporate to manufacturing environments. I started my career making sales calls at steel mills, and potato chip factories as a sales engineer before managing strategic relationships with CEOs and senior leaders at Fortune 100 companies. I’m one of the few people who can say my college degree in Industrial Engineering prepared me incredibly well for my journey from sales engineer and tech executive to Founder and Chief MIngle Officer of Mingle Mocktails.

2. Was there a particular moment when you realized you/your brand had achieved success? What was that experience like?

As a first-time business owner, I’ve had many memorable moments, but one of the most surprising ones was when Bethenny Frankel reviewed Mingle completely organically in a TikTok taste test alongside other mocktail brands. Bethenny was on the vision board I created when I first launched Mingle Mocktails — I’d always respected her as a true trailblazer in the beverage industry. Seeing someone I admired so much share such positive remarks about our product was an incredible full-circle moment for me and a major win for the brand. I then seized the opportunity to reach out to her team, which ultimately led to Bethenny becoming a part of the Mingle Mocktails family as both an investor and strategic partner. There was another “pinch me” moment when Bethenny interviewed Flavor Flav on her Podcast and was about to introduce him to Mingle knowing he was sober for 4 years, but Flavor Flav had already discovered Mingle and even had a can of the Mingle Mojito within his reach.

3. Was there a time you faced a challenge that made you doubt yourself and the businesses? How did you overcome and push through that?

In the early stages of Mingle, I made a careless, big mistake that left me really frustrated with myself at the time but ultimately ended up being a key learning lesson that has stuck with me. Our distributor called me, letting me know that a few Whole Foods Markets had noticed our bottles of Cucumber Melon Mojito were scanning as Cranberry Cosmo. I looked into it and realized that I used the wrong UPC code on the labels of our last production of Mojito bottles, which meant over 12,000 bottles of Mojito were labeled with the wrong UPC. My next few days were spent at our warehouse, tirelessly unboxing and re-labeling the Mojito bottles by hand to make sure they were stickered correctly. Needless to say, this experience taught me to ALWAYS check and double-check the UPC labels (and everything else) of packaging to avoid this ever happening again.

4. During the early stages of your company’s growth, which areas did you prioritize to drive rapid expansion—was it product development, sales, marketing, e-commerce, or something else?

To make a lasting impression in the competitive beverage market, I knew I had to take a multi-faceted approach, prioritizing several areas simultaneously—product development, sales, marketing, and e-commerce. First and foremost, I focused on ensuring that each of Mingle’s flavors was something I would want to reach for myself as a consumer — the quality was non-negotiable. I then concentrated on securing distribution with top national retailers like Total Wine, Amazon, Whole Foods, CVS, Walmart, Target, and more, ensuring that we were sold everywhere our target consumers were already shopping. From there, it was essential to build and maintain a strong brand identity, connecting deeply with our target audience to foster lasting loyalty and growth. Each of these elements has helped us achieve exponential growth since launch and earned us recognition by Nielsen IQ as the fastest-growing non-alcoholic spirits brand in the category.

5. Can you share how you established connections with your distribution partners? What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs looking to build such relationships??

Since I started Mingle in 2017, we’ve secured distribution in some of the nation’s top retailers including Whole Foods Market, Walmart, Publix, Albertsons Safeway, CVS, Total Wine & More, Wegmans, Amazon, and Target, while earning recognition as one of the fastest growing brands in the category. My advice would be to put yourself in the shoes of the category buyers of these distributors; they get bombarded by brands every day wanting to be the next “big thing”. Set your ego aside and consider how you and your brand add value to the distributor and their retail customer base. My background in strategic alliance management has served me well in adapting to the unique personalities and drivers of individual decision makers. I approach these individuals knowing their time is valuable and I don’t want to waste it, so I spend time preparing to convey my message as quickly and succinctly as possible and ensure I’m not just regurgitating data they can find online. I’m proud of the lasting relationships I’ve made with many buyers and leaders, particularly women, in organizations like KeHE, Total Wine and Whole Foods, who saw that I truly cared about building this category WITH these partners as a team.

6. In terms of customer acquisition, what strategies have been most effective for you in growing your customer base?

This is a loaded question as it’s something I’d ask of any successful brand and it’s very specific to how each brand goes to market, whether it’s Direct to Consumer, through hospitality, grocery, or club channels. I treat each channel as its own ecosystem and prioritize which channel has the greatest impact, then I prioritize resources to support the growth within that channel. Depending on the channel, the investment can go into salespeople, digital advertising, retail promotional programs, events, influencer marketing, and so on. I think each brand has its own answer to this question and frankly, I’m still figuring it out!

7. Where do you envision Mingle Mocktails in the next 5 years, and what personal goals do you aspire to achieve during that time?

In the next 5 years, I’d love to see Mingle served and sold anywhere that alcohol is. I’m starting to hear strangers and friends-of-friends find Mingle on their own, which is exciting, but I want Mingle to be the #1 go-to non-alcoholic cocktail for people, with a keen focus on women. I hope to look back in 5 years knowing I’ve given 150% to bring this vision to life by seeing Mingle readily available in all the places that I used to drink alcohol; including sports arenas, convention centers, resorts, airlines, grocery stores, bars, restaurants and so on. My personal goal is simply to have no regrets, be authentic to myself, never second guess my gut, be an example to my family, and know that hard work does eventually pay off at the end of this wildly fantastic journey.

If you'd like try your own Mingle Mocktail, check out their website here.