Interview with Jeff Silver Of Jetset Beverages 05/27/08
Hi and thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions for us here at edjunkie.com. I’ll come right out and say I’m a big fan of the Jetset club soda. I like it straight up or mixed with some New Amsterdam Gin.
Question 1. Who are you and what is the name of your company.
Jeff Silver from Jetset Beverages
Question 2. How many people work for your company?
7 people. But we are a family business so it extends even past the 7 employees. We are currently looking for more sales reps in LA and Arizona
Question 3. How did you come up with the idea for Jetset energy drink? What is the story behind the drink and the name?
While working at Rockstar, I handled all on-premise accounts for Southern California. I noticed that everyone would drink Vodka RBs to get an extra boost, but did not like the medicinal flavoring and aspartame after-taste. I decided to look into this by going to several flavor companies over a year and a half, we went through several companies to perfect the Jetset Original.
After leaving Rockstar, I knew I wanted a name that would reflect a certain image for my company. However, everything was already trademarked. While in Tahoe, I was watching the movie “Catch Me If You Can” and I thought of something during the airport scene when DiCaprio uses the flight attendants to create a diversion. What about JETSET? It’s a lifestyle. It has a high-end luxury connotation. I immediately went to search on Google and found nothing with “Jetset” and “beverages”. I then called my attorney and we signed up for a program to search for any companies, website, trademarks that contain “Jetset” or “beverages”. After looking through the 500 different hits that we got, nothing came up and this “Jetset Beverages” is born.
Question 4. Did you originally start out with the regular Jetset and then branch into the Mixers or did you roll them all out at once.
Since my original idea was to give people a bigger option, other than just RB, we started off with Club Soda and Tonic Water. When I was having a drink with a bartender friend of mine, he gave me a drink Fernet Branca with a Ginger backing, which is very popular with the bartenders in San Francisco. I then thought about adding Ginger Ale to the line up. Naturally, I knew that I had to come up with a “energy drink” similar to RB but without the medicinal aftertaste.
Question 5. How did you decide which ingredients to put in Jetset
There are 5 active key ingredients in all energy drinks. It was a matter of fusing them into the soda, tonic and ginger ale with out changing the flavor. To find the perfect flavor for Jetset Original, we had to lessen the carbonation and add more flavoring.
Question 6. Do you plan on releasing other flavors? Maybe a Jetset Cola or lemon lime. “Jack and Jet” sounds like a cool drink to order if you had a cola.
It is definitely a possibility for the future. Cola is a little tricky because then we would run into problems with Coca-Cola or Pepsi. We are also looking into flavors with anti-oxidants. I’ll just say there is more to come with Jetset in the years to come. We will definitely be expanding our line-up.
Question 7. Some companies target extreme athletes, Students, Party crowd, etc... Who is your target market?
We are trying to stay away from the agro/extreme sports image that RB, Monster and Rockstar have. We want the image of a more sophisticated premium energy drink. Jetset is more geared towards high-end bottle service as opposed to something to chug before playing sports. Our demographic age is between 21-30
Question 8. Who is your products main competition? Energy drinks, Energy shots, energy pills. The big boys like RB or Monster?
RB/Rockstar/ Monster
Question 9. Obviously you are not scared to mention energy drinks and alcohol in the same sentence (unlike some ed companies) since your drinks are actually mixers. What are your feelings on the current controversy concerning mixing energy drinks and alcohol?
“DRINK IN MODERATION” and “MODERATION IS KEY”
Nothing has been proven that energy drinks and alcohol has led to anything negative. The key is to stay in moderation. Irish Coffee is the original example of this concept.
Question 10. Who designed your can and Logo?
Chris Toffoli, my business partner and VP and Chief Marketing Officer.
Question 11. Do you plan on adding more drink recipes to your website? There are a lot of possibilities with all the different mixers you have.
ABSOLUTELY. We are currently in the process of updating our website. We intend to include some non-alcoholic recipes including, Jetset Shirley Temple, etc.
Question 12. Why no “Jetset girls”? Seems now days it is pretty common to have some pretty ladies helping promote your energy drinks. I think it would be a good fit.
We DO have Jetset Girls! They are at Bev Mo and nightclub and bars where Jetset is served. They are dressed in either little flight attendant uniforms or black branded t-shirt, depending on the venue.
Question 13. Do you plan on selling drinks through your website in the future? How about selling some shirts or hats. The Jetset logo looks nice and I think would be a big seller on apparel.
We are adding that to our updated website!
Question 14. Tell all Energy drink junkies out there why they should use and support Jetset. Give us your best sales pitch.
Jet set offers options that others don’t. There is no medicinal after taste. With Jetset, you can have the mixed drink of your choice without having to rely on RB to give you a pick in the middle of the night. This way, you can have your favorite drink with a pick-me-up!
Read my review of Jetset Original
Read My review of Jetset Club Soda
Read my review of Jetset Ginger Ale