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