Self-proclaimed coffee obsessives and childhood best friends Grant Gyesky, Jarrett McGovern, and Justin Weinstein wanted to find an alternative to the sugar-filled, high-calorie canned coffee products on the market.
Through research and home experimentation in Gyesky’s Connecticut garage, they discovered that cold brewing coffee released less acid and created a smooth taste like a latte without adding sugar and milk. In 2016, they teamed with two other friends, Melissa Kalimov and Hudson Gaines-Ross, to launch Rise Brewing Co., offering shelf-stable individual cans of nitro cold brew coffee.
“Our mission was and still is to create a product that uses the best organic ingredients we can get our hands on and to make products that taste great, are better for our bodies and for the planet and that we’re excited to drink ourselves,” says Kalimov, the company’s COO.
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Rise’s first batches were brewed with organic beans from Chanchamayo, Peru, and are still what the company relies on today as the foundation for its coffees. It has also since expanded the product range to include canned oat milk lattes, cartons of oat milk, and bag-in-box large format sizes of the original cold brew.
Rise’s cans, cartons, and boxes are 100% recyclable, and the Peruvian coffee farms that the beans come from are organic
Earlier this year, the company launched a program called Time to Rise that supports local charities in the cities where it runs on-the-ground marketing initiatives such as product samplings and merchandise giveaways.
“As we’ve evolved as a company, it has become increasingly important for us to do good for the markets we’re in by giving back within those same markets,” Kalimov says. “We founded the company in the [New York] tri-state area and digging in with our local community was a huge part of our origin story and so, we’ve expanded those efforts nationally.”
THE ITEMS
Rise is sold in more than 25,000 retail outlets nationally, including Whole Foods, Kroger, and Publix, and offers six varieties of individually sized canned cold brew: Original Black, Oat Milk Latte, Oat Milk Mocha, Oat Milk Vanilla Latte, Salted Caramel, and a Nitrogen-Infused Earl Grey Tea Latte called the London Fog.
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The company also sells cartons of oat milk in a barista blend, original, vanilla, and chocolate.
It recently launched two large format organic and dairy-free shelf stable items: a three-gallon ready-to-drink bag in a box of its original black, available primarily through office distributors, and a one-gallon concentrate of the original black.
THE PRICE
Rise’s individual cans range from US$2.99 to US$3.49 while 12-packs retail for US$39.99. Oat milks retail between $5.49 to $6.99 depending on where they’re sold, and 6-packs retail for $34.99. Kalimov said that bag-in-box pricing varies depending on what office distributor a company works with.
WHAT’S THE GOOD
Rise is committed to sustainability and giving back, Kalimov says.
All of its packaging is recyclable, and the oat milk cartons are made with packaging that’s certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. Further, most Rise items are shelf stable and don’t require energy-depleting refrigeration when they’re shipped. Kalimov also says that the company is doing a large push around larger format products. “These allow offices and cafes to serve more cups of coffee from single larger packages, which is much better for the environment,” she says.
Rise’s charitable initiatives include “Time to Rise,” a program that kicked this off this year: At the Northwest Tune-up Festival in Bellingham, Wash., the company supported the Whatcom Mountain Bike Coalition’s efforts to preserve trail access by collecting donations in exchange for cans of its cold brew. Also, at Hood to Coast in Oregon, it partnered with Columbia Riverkeeper to restore clean water by collecting donations at the finish line of a 128-mile relay race.
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The company is also an advocate for the LGBTQ community and recently partnered with the LGBTQ professional rock climber Alex Johnson to produce a street shoe that saw 50% of sales go to all-inclusive outdoor organizations.
WHAT’S NEXT
This year, Rise’s goal is to expand the sales of its large format items which minimize packaging waste in offices and cafes, Kalimov says. It also wants to grow Time to Rise with more activations and give local charities more visibility through its social channels.
“Our two initial events that we plugged with a giving back element were so well received, and we want to build on that by bringing a charitable bend into as many of our 300-plus marketing activations next year as possible,” Kalimov says.
A Cold Brew That Boasts Sustainability as an Ingredient - Barron's
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