Ask Me Anything (AMA) for Food and Beverage Founders

If you’re a food or beverage founder at the early stage of growing your business, you definitely do not want to miss this event. It’s a great opportunity to connect with two successful entrepreneurs in the same space and ask them any questions you may have. Make sure you read their stories below before submitting your question on the registration page. Or just ask them in the LIVE event.

Speakers:

Tara Merdjanoff and Jeremy Bohen – Cofounders of QNSY

QNSY is a New York State-based beverage alcohol start-up. They produce sugarbrew-based, premium, natural, sparkling Ready-To-Drink (RTD) craft cocktails in 12oz sleek aluminum cans and sixtel (5.16 gallon) kegs. They currently offer three flavors: Cosmo, Margarita, Mojito. All flavors have 150 calories per serving, with 11g of sugar and 5% ABV.

Tara and Jeremy are two native New Yorkers who love this town almost as much as they love each other. They spent 20 years as actors, entertaining all over NYC. Along the way, they worked at some of the best bars and restaurants in the world. When the pandemic kept them from doing what they love, they focused their passion for pleasing people on a project they’d been working on “back-stage” for the past few years: QNSY Sparkling Cocktails.

QNSY was officially launched in September 2021. Within the first two months, they secured a contract with a distributor and got into several Trader Joe’s locations in New Jersey. They are now in 200+ stores in the tri-state area.

Sutta Saraphum – Founder and CEO of SD Sauce

SD Sauce is a Thai hot sauce brand. Their products are unprocessed, preservative-free, and use only the freshest ingredients. In doing so, they capture the most exciting elements from authentic Thai cuisine. It’s the perfect Dipping Sauce for any type of food. They currently offer three flavors: The Original, Ginger Vegan and Thai BBQ.

Sutta was born and raised in Thailand. She grew up learning how to make traditional Thai dishes by cooking with her mother and working in the country’s most popular restaurants. “When you enjoy a dish in Thailand, it’s usually accompanied by Nam Jim sauce – one of the many spicy dipping sauces. When I moved to the United States in 2011, I couldn’t find anything that tasted as good.” Sutta said.

She began making Thai sauces from scratch using Thai bird chili peppers, lime juice, garlic and fresh herbs. She started by serving the sauce at dinner parties and the guests couldn’t get enough. “Sutta, can you make extra so that I can bring some home and enjoy it during the week?” These requests multiplied after each and every gathering. Fast forward two years later, she’s now selling in hundreds of stores nationwide, including many Whole Foods locations in NYC.

**You will receive a Zoom link the day before the event.

The AMA Series is part of the 2022 Queens StartUP Competition Program. This workshop is open to everyone. You do not need to be a StartUP participant to join this event. However, if you’re looking to participant in the 2022 StartUP program, you are required to take minimum four workshops in order to be qualified to compete and an opportunity to win 10,000 grant award. Learn more at: Queensstartup.org