Happy Thanksgiving

“On Thanksgiving Day We Acknowledge Our Dependence.”

The quote above, originally spoken by turn-of-the-century politician William Jennings Bryan, speaks to the heart of Thanksgiving for me.  As a business man I am not generally willing to admit that I am dependent on anyone, but as an entrepreneur, I cannot possibly claim otherwise. There are a myriad of people that I depend on regularly, to help me keep New Leaf running smoothly.

I depend on my Mom quite a bit. To start with I developed an entrepreneurial spirit because of her leadership. My Mom immigrated to the US from Ireland when she was 15 years old, moving from a small village named Tarbert in County Kerry, Ireland, to the Bronx, NY. She did not move with her parents/family but moved to the US alone to live with relatives and work in NY while finishing high school in the evenings. And I think running a company is an adventure. While my Mom did not run a business, she did have a tremendous entrepreneurial spirit, as she and my dad always managed to find a way to make things work – raising and providing for 7 children, getting us all through college, etc. By watching them make things work no matter what the challenge, I learned that anything could be overcome.

Without her courage to leave everyone and thing she knew in Ireland for a greater opportunity in a foreign (to her) land, New Leaf would not be here today. Not only because I would not be here, but also because I created the idea and what would eventually be the logo for New Leaf on a trans-Atlantic flight home from a visit to Ireland. For that, I am thankful.

I am thankful for my late father, John Skae. Prior to his passing I told him I was thinking about leaving the corporate world of beverages to strike out on my own and create a brand. I explained the tremendous work that would be involved and the risk associated with it.  His advice was simple, he said, “Columbus took a chance and look what happened.” He then went on to tell me that I knew the beverage business better than most, so go for it. The thing I took out of this discussion more than anything was the tremendous belief that he had in my ability to succeed at whatever I did and, for that, I am thankful

Another person I depend on constantly is my wife, Sheila.  To say that she is supportive is an understatement. It was Sheila who originally helped me experiment with the very recipes and flavors you enjoy now. And it is Sheila, now, who helps me coordinate my schedule and makes sure things run as flawlessly as possible. She keeps my life organized and on-track not only at home, but here in the New Leaf office as well.  For that, I am thankful.

At work, I depend on many people, many of whom often go nameless in the day-to-day hustle and bustle of working on a burgeoning brand.  But today, I am going to name a few of them, so I can thank them.

First, my CFO, David Tsiang, who is always willing to lend an ear when I come up with new ideas and provide constructive feedback – critical or supportive. Without the opportunity to delegate David, I would be hard-pressed to successfully steer New Leaf in the positive direction that we’ve been headed for quite some time. For that, I am thankful.

I feel that at this point in time, we have the right team assembled to drive New Leaf’s success.  It is critical, when building a team, that there is a core group of leaders that share and live the vision of the organization. Sometimes the leaders in an organization are the officers, sometimes they are not. For example, take ToniAnn, our New Leaf Brand Ambassador: an employee so committed to New Leaf that she often goes above and beyond. She travels all over the country – sometimes with a day’s notice – to introduce consumers to New Leaf.  Just in the past week she was in NYC, Washington DC and Las Vegas, helping consumers discover New Leaf and that It Just Tastes Better™.

Another shining example of this type of company leader is our Creative Director, Jason – who recently welcomed his first child, Jaxson. Even though he has a newborn at home, Jason works tirelessly, often around-the-clock (literally, I get emails from this guy at 3AM some nights!) on all of the creative executions you see coming from New Leaf – from all of our POS to our product packaging; from the pictures that accompany New Leaf’s press releases to the downloadable jpegs on this very website; from the header on the New Leaf newsletter to the original cartoon in the company newsletter; and everything in between – Jason does it all.  Add to that a plethora of projects that he’s working on behind the scenes, and you start to understand just how much Jason benefits the company.  And he does so, not only without complaint as to the quantity of projects, but also with an impressive skill-level that’s going to help drive New Leaf to the next level.  For these two employees, and the many others at New Leaf like them, I am thankful.

The last people I would like to highlight – and thank – are our friends: consumers, investors, supporters of any kind.  Without your brand championing, New Leaf could never be successful.  You have shown your support in a number of ways: “liking” us on Facebook, following us on Twitter, calling in a compliment to our consumer hotline, emailing us pictures and happy anecdotes about your experiences with New Leaf, commenting on our blogs, investing in our company and subscribing to our newsletter. We have a strong and growing New Leaf family that extends passed the walls of our office and embraces people all over the country, in all walks of life. 

And for that, truly, I am thankful.

New Leaf.  It Just Tastes Better™.

Happy Thanksgiving,

Eric Skae

Founder & CEO

New Leaf Brands

Preparation + Opportunity = Success

New Leaf has been busy on the tradeshow circuit these last few weeks. In early October, we exhibited at NACS (October 6-8 in Atlanta, GA) and at the end of October, we exhibited at The 14th Americas Food and Beverage Show and Conference (October 25-26 in Miami, FL). Both shows were plagued by the same issue: low foot traffic.


But both shows were a rousing success for New Leaf. How is that possible? Well, in both cases it took a lot of prep work, a little outside-the-box thinking, and a ton of follow up. Let’s start at NACS, and see where it all went right.


Success is where preparation and opportunity meet. No one personifies this idiom like our VP of National Accounts, Rob Welcome. Weeks before the NACS Show, Rob was busy doing his homework: finding out who the buyers were at key national accounts, double-checking name spellings and contact information and generating a database of knowledge about each and every person on his target list. Then, after aggregating a list of these people, he emailed them an introduction of himself and New Leaf. That was then followed by samples, mailed out from the main office in New Jersey, which the prompted follow up mail, phone calls and emails to secure appointments at NACS.


And it didn’t end there. Rob had a comprehensive list of all the people who agreed to meet with him, and if someone did not arrive at the 10x20 New Leaf booth, he called them from the show, and asked them to swing by.


Early on at the show, it became apparent that he was going to need a place to sit and converse with these interested, and by now time-invested, buyers. However, there really was no such place available at the show, so Rob headed over to on-site services and ordered a table and 2 chairs, creating a conference room within the New Leaf booth.


The only true measurement of success is shelf space in the major accounts Rob targeted. And while I can’t comment on the status of most of those discussions, I will say look for New Leaf at your favorite retailer in the coming months.


The second show we attended in October, The 14th Americas Food and Beverage Show and Conference (AFB), is another example of how organization and guerrilla thinking pay off. In advance of the show, New Leaf was able to set up appointments through ECRM with key international accounts in South America, Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean, Asia and the UK. All of the meetings were set outside of show hours, so we could perform at maximum capacity in our booth at the show.


When it became obvious that we were dealing with light foot traffic, we took our cold samples of New Leaf to the aisles, armed with a rolling barrel cooler filled to the brim with a variety of flavors. Going to the visitors instead of waiting for them to come to us allowed New Leaf to increase our presence at the show ten-fold. By the end of the show, not only were people flocking to the New Leaf booth, but New Leaf bottles could be seen all around the show floor and in other exhibitors’ booths. Everyone at AFB learned to love New Leaf because It Just Tastes Better™.


As I take a step back and look at the success of these two shows, I see that the quick thinking and preparedness displayed by New Leaf team members are the same qualities that are driving the success of our brand.


As an up-and-coming RTD beverage company, fighting for shelf space and establishing distribution across this great country, we are constantly challenged to overcome obstacles that require creative solutions. I have found that the best strategy is to be well prepared before approaching new endeavors. Because we are an independent company – not owned by the likes of a huge corporation (i.e. Pepsi, Coca Cola, et al.) – this allows us the latitude we need to compete effectively: we are able to be adaptable and resourceful, an advantage in an industry full of rigid corporate domination.


Our goal at New Leaf is to create opportunities for to consumers learn what we already know: It Just Tastes Better™. Really, it’s a matter of sampling: once people try our products, it’s truly love at first taste. So, in preparation, we are working on increasing our distribution, and as mentioned above, reaching out to various national chains for plan-o-gram inclusion. Our goal is to have New Leaf products available wherever consumers ask for them and they will, because It Just Tastes Better™.


Eric Skae
Founder & CEO, New Leaf Brands

New Leaf in the Community

This past weekend, I had the privilege of participating in the 2010 MS Bike Tour in NYC. It was a tremendous event with 5000 riders who had the option of doing a 30, 50 or 100 mile ride. I chose the 30 mile course, which was a loop around Manhattan, and the experience was well worth it. So what makes getting up at 5AM and doing a 2/12 hour bike ride worth it? The answer is simple: friends, family, and co-workers all pulling together for a common cause.

My brother, Peter (Skae Power Solutions), and New Leaf Brands support this event each year with a joint corporate team. When we decided to move Team New Leaf from the Westchester ride to the NY ride, we set a few simple goals.

First, we wanted to double the size of our team.  A goal we more than surpassed as we had 85 riders for this ride, which was more than double last year’s 42-person team.  

Next, we wanted to be a Top 10 fundraising team, which is no easy task considering we were in a group that included Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, Barclays Capital, Blue Ribbon/Naked Nuggets, ING and JP Morgan Chase. We accomplished this task and as of today have raised $26,686 for MS. Our overall goal of raising $30,000 is definitely in reach.  And you can still help, just click here.

Finally, we wanted to build awareness for the New Leaf Brand. With our colorful jerseys and aggressive sampling, I am certain that all 5,000 riders knew who we were.  In fact, we took first prize for best team jersey.

This all happened because we had a community of support with us – friends, family, co-workers and colleagues – who helped us make these goals a reality.

As many of you know, my sister, Hannah, was diagnosed with MS several years ago.  She is a real inspiration to me and does not let this stop her from living life to the fullest.  As a matter of fact, she completed 2 triathlons this year! She was also one of the key catalysts to us having as many riders as we had.

We were happy to donate 85 cases of our iced teas and lemonades to sample to the thirsty riders and their entourages throughout the event, because we are a family company, and this type of support needs to live at every level.  From Audy, Miguel, Delaney and Sheila holding down the fort at New Leaf’s sampling tent throughout the day to our many of our employees, friends, colleagues and family members rode their races or showed their support by making a donation, everyone who cared enough to support Team New Leaf is greatly appreciated. 

And, I would like to take this opportunity to thank our team’s Top 5 fundraisers:

      1) Patrick Yorke:      $4,105   

      2) Peter Skae:         $3,650

      3) Caroline Skae:     $850

      4) Greg Scerba:       $625

      5) Niels Dua:           $610

We are already planning big things for next year.  Our goal is to have a New Leaf team riding in the MS Bike events in NYC and LA, possibly more.  We have no intention of being complacent with our accomplishments, so our goals for the 2011 NYC ride are just as aggressive as this year’s were:

  1) Top Tier Team

  2) 200-rider Team

  3) Raise $50,000

We look forward to seeing you there!  To whet your appetite, here are some of our pictures from this year’s event on our Facebook page.

Honus: Now the Official Taster

Hello.  Honus here again, and, boy am I psyched.  Eric Skae, New Leaf’s Founder and CEO, liked my blog so much last week, that he asked me to start writing them on a rolling basis.  Now, they won’t be from me EVERY week, because sometimes they will be from him, but you will definitely be seeing my name more often.

I was just recently promoted from OFFICIAL Official of The Official Beverage of Taste™ to the Official Taster, and wow, I feel like a quarterback thrown in to the Super Bowl in his rookie year: there is a ton of pressure with the position, but I am excited about the opportunity.  

Because we are The Official Beverage of Taste™, we guarantee that our products are the best-tasting on the market, and now, that responsibility falls on my shoulders. To be clear, NOTHING gets approved without Eric’s final say, but I am now the final gatekeeper before HE tastes the samples.  If he doesn’t like the samples I have okayed, he’s going to lose faith in my abilities as the Official Taster, and I sure don’t want to let him down.

So, you ask, what makes me so qualified?  I got my start refereeing for my son’s peewee league in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. I quickly became renowned for my integrity, my impartial, fair temperament and my great taste off the field, and these attributes allowed me to move up the ranks from peewee to high school to college (Big 10!) and finally, to professional sports. 

Then, in early 2010, after a long period of service as a celebrated sports referee and international food and beverage critic, I discovered New Leaf, and I just had to join the team. For much of my career I'd been searching in vain for a great tasting beverage that was good for me, too. I was tired of all the bland-tasting “natural” beverages AND the overly sweetened high fructose corn syrup-containing beverages that left a tangy aftertaste in my mouth. Tasting New Leaf for the first time was like an awakening for my taste buds. 

After that, there was no turning back. I promptly called Eric directly and told him that I just had to be part of the New Leaf family.  After some long conversations, we realized that we were much aligned on most of our business practices and our personal goals, plus, we just got along well, so I joined the team, and the rest is history. 

I have been proud to endorse New Leaf – I have been prominently featured on their POS AND their websites – and truly believe that this budding brand will quickly flourish into a global phenomenon the likes of which haven’t been seen since Evian re-invented bottled water.

Eric Skae has even gone on record, saying, “Honus has been such a positive addition to the New Leaf family.  Not only does he personify the New Leaf ideal of being The Official Beverage of Taste™, but he’s also very accessible and consumers are really able to identify with him.  They love Honus.”

High words of praise, which I humbly accept as a challenge to live up to in my new role as Official Taster.

A Honus Tasteful Topic: Good News Grows at New Leaf

Honus here.  I was just talking to Eric (and by Eric, I mean New Leaf founder and CEO, Eric Skae) the other day about the State of the Company, and there are a ton of exciting thing happening with the Company! (I'm telling ya, there's a lot, so go a grab a cold New LEaf from the fridge and settle in.  It's ok, I'll wait 'til ya get back........................................ok, good, now we're ready!)

Our recently launched line of lemonades is selling through the roof. In fact, they have completely sold out twice and are quickly becoming our most popular flavors, even outselling our teas!  They are so popular, in fact, that we've doubled production of our currently available flavors - The Tiger, Homemade Lemonade,Strawberry Lemonade and Black Cherry Lemonade - and we're thinking about coming out with even more lemonade flavors soon.  Oops, I probably wasn't supposed to ruin the surprise, but there it is any way: something for your taste buds to look forward to.

In more good news, New Leaf was just picked up by 17 distributors in California.  Talk about a home run!! Do you know what that means?? New Leaf products are now available state-wide in California, which is the third biggest state in the Union! Plus, it means we are now available in the state of Nevada as well. Lots of thirsty people in the desert over there will now be able to cool off by enjoying a nice, refreshing New Leaf.

But not just there: New Leaf products are now available in Utah, Santa Fe and even the Philippines.

On top of that, New Leaf has increased distribution at Whole Foods with the addition of 42 stores in their Southern Pacific division, which includes  Southern California, Arizona, Nevada and Hawaii.  Aloha! Add this to the Mid-Atlantic, Northeast and Rocky Mountain Whole Foods division store we were already in, and New Leaf has the nation almost covered. With regard to Whole Foods that is.

And, if that wasn't enough, New Leaf was also recently approved for all 180 of the Giant Food stores.  Giant Food LLC operates 180 supermarkets in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia.

I know.  That's a lot going on, and it's hard to keep track of sometimes.  So, to help me keep it straight, I like to think of the beverage industry as a football game. You know, from time to time, you get an exciting kick-off return, run back for a touch down. And that's fun and exciting, for sure, but you can't rely on that to be your game plan.

No. The teams that are successful take their time, working the field 3 yards a play and wind up with the same result - 7 points! - but having learned so much more along the way. This team now has the ability to look back and see what worked and why; what didn't and how to improve it. This team has the tenacity and stamina that makes them ultimately successful.

This team is New Leaf. Building distribution brick by brick, account by account and consumer by consumer (yes, You!), creating the best-tasting beverage available.  Oh yeah, and they happen to be all-natural.  

And the tenacity and stamina that we generate along the way are the characteristics that will ultimately turn the Official Beverage of Taste (TM) into a global brand.

Eric said something to me as the meeting drew to a close that really underscored this for me.  He said,"This is a game of stamina. You can't just sprint out the gate and never look back. In fact, it's just the opposite. You need to take your time, making adjustments as necessary. Sure, you might stuble a little, but that's how you learn and improve."

In other words, slow and steady wins the race.

Passion.

Passion. Ambition without passion fails every time. New Leaf was founded because I was passionate about creating a healthy, all natural beverage that also tasted great. I was so passionate about it, in fact, that I formulated the original recipes for the flavors you know and love today, in my personal kitchen, with my wife.  Then I hand designed a bottle and took my sketches to an engineer who fine-tuned those sketches into what you are now drinking your tea out of as you read this blog.

The passion only grew from there.

When you walk into the main New Leaf office in New Jersey, the passion permeates the air.  From our chief officers who are in meetings way before 9AM and who don’t get finish their days until after dinnertime, to our sales assistant who diligently organizes all of the distribution contracts and mass samplings, to our operations team, who not only make sure that packaging, bottling and distributing run smoothly, but also that our office does as well.  Everyone wears many hats here. There’s no task too big or too small for any one person to attend to, if it will drive the success of our brand.

And then, we have our sales team.  Our foot soldiers, who pound the pavement every day, across the country, securing retail space, ensuring quality distribution, being the face of the company to each and every person s/he interacts with during their day. It is their passion, their personality and their drive that ultimately determine the success of New Leaf Brands.

And what a passionate group they are!  You can’t do what they do and NOT be passionate, it just doesn’t work. All you have to do is sit through 15 minutes of a sales meeting and you start to see the passion come through: excitement over new products and POS, determination to fight for shelf space, elation over secured media coverage, tenacity to make New Leaf available to as many people as possible. We have brand ambassadors who work every day sampling across the NY metro area, introducing consumers to New Leaf teas and lemonades and generating consumer-focused video to populate our You Tube channel.

This is a family, and we live, eat and breathe New Leaf together, passionately nurturing a brand that we feverishly believe in.

Last, but not least, we have our fans.  True fans of New Leaf’s iced teas and lemonades are a very vocal, very passionate group. They truly believe, as we do, that New Leaf beverages are the very best on the market. There’s an old saying in consumer-driven business: Bad news spreads faster than good news. Meaning: A discontent customer will tell more individuals about their unsatisfactory experience than a satisfied customer will tell about their positive experience. In all my years in the beverage industry, I have found this to be the case. Until I founded New Leaf. Ever since consumers have been able to get their hands on the product, I have received letter after letter of positive feedback. Don’t believe me? Just take a look at our Facebook page and the “About You” page on this very site.

Passion is hard to contain.  In fact, true passion uncontainable. It continues to grow and grow, until it encompasses everything around it, just like New Leaf eventually will, as long as we all continue to nurture our passion, letting it grow and sharing The Official Beverage of Taste™ with others around us. Until, one day, when we can all sit down together and share a nice cold New Leaf. 

Eric Skae

Founder and CEO

Dispatches From the ’Squan: Lessons Learned About New Leaf Brands From a Pack of Surf Groms

My name is Dave, and I’m the CFO of New Leaf. I’m also an avid East Coast surfer. Once a year, my wife and I “minivan” ourselves to my favorite surf spot in New Jersey – Manasquan Inlet, also known simply as ’Squan to us surfers.

’Squan is a surfer’s only beach, and Surfline.com bills it as one of the best-known breaks on the East Coast. When the ’Squan fires off, the waves can get as high as a three-story house. ‘Groms’ (those young surfers who rip in the waves) love the ’Squan and come from all over the country with their families to surf this spot. This year, our family rented a beachfront surf shack next to an extended family with a pack of ‘grom’ surfers, ages 9 through 14.

Last Monday, with the sunny weather and the waves ‘rolling in’ waist-high, I decided to break out my longboard, leave my wife and kids playing on the beach and head out into the 70-degree water. A couple of hours later, I returned to the surf shack feeling good about the session. I stepped onto my porch, broke open a full cooler of New Leaf beverages and picked out my favorite flavor, Sweet Tea.

In mere minutes, I was surrounded by groms returning from their own surf sessions. “What are you drinking?” they asked with thirsty eyes. I tell the groms that I’m drinking New Leaf Tea, and if they wanted one, they would need to ask their parents for permission. They scurried inside their surf shack.

A moment later, the groms came back with blessings from the grown-ups. I gave the oldest (a 14-year old surfer/snowboarder) a couple of Sweet Teas & Ginseng & Honey iced teas and told him to share them with his siblings. He cracked open a bottle of tea, guzzled it down and broke out in smile. Then he shared his bottles with his brother, his cousin and later with the grown-ups. And yes, they all thanked me.

Throughout the week, the groms and grown-ups raved about New Leaf and how great the iced teas taste. Grandfather, aunts, uncles and groms alike flocked to our little porch to ask questions: Do you have any more? Where can I buy this? Does New Leaf come in a 24 oz bottle? Is New Leaf available in Southern New Jersey? Is New Leaf available in Boulder, Colorado?

I told the people about New Leaf’s 13 unique flavors of ice teas and four flavors of lemonades. I explained how New Leaf is made with pure cane sugar instead of the high fructose corn syrup widely used in the North American beverage industry. And I shared with them that I believe New Leaf is better for you than sodas, energy drinks or other iced teas. 

Word soon traveled around the ‘’Squan and before I knew it, I had run out of New Leaf. There was nothing left to do but direct the new groms in search of great-tasting beverages to the New Leaf web site and Facebook page.

The upside? New Leaf now has new friends and fans in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, New Hampshire and Colorado.

As for me, I’m back in the office crunching numbers for the company I love. But those groms got me thinking – how can I continue to bring New Leaf and smiles to groms and their families? Here are my mental notes:

Lesson 1 Learned: The surfing lifestyle and New Leaf mix VERY WELL.

Lesson 2 Learned: Next year, bring more cases of New Leaf.

Lesson 3 Learned: To my fellow employees, we’re all New Leaf Defenders of Taste…even when surfing.

Lesson 4 Learned: Time to check in with the snowboarders.