Chad Treboniak and John "Shorty" Oldwine of FoxxyBeverages.com

Oldwine and Treboniak are pure Clevelanders; both are without any hint of pretension. These guys have no glorified Foxxy television ad campaigns with scantily-clad dancing girls and exploding flashpots. They have no 16-oz "mega-can" that dazzles with a golden glow in the refrigerated cases of local convenience stops. They have no "extreme sports" ESPN2 sponsorship or rap-superstar spokesperson. And, perhaps most importantly, they make no claim that their bright red beverage Foxxy "gives you wings," to intimate another slim-and-squatty can's frenetic claim.

Wings, it seems, would be a gross, miscalculated understatement.

Upon his release from prison, Oldwine recreated his Foxxy (this is the original slang term for the drink) while he was cooking in Treboniak's restaurant. To hear Oldwine tell it, once Treboniak tried the odd mix of tropical punch, coffee and sugar -- a recipe personally made by inmates all across the country to provide energy for their workout regimens -- it was "like Chad had a rocket jetpack on." The two immediately began thinking "start-up" of how best to turn Oldwine's experience behind bars into a profitable, legitimate business endeavor headquartered in Amherst.

Today, they're marketing the beverage to retailers across Northeast Ohio as an urban alternative to the energy drink pretense. In a very short period of time, Foxxy's become an underground phenomenon, particularly among city youth. And, it seems, among young professionals (read on). When Cool Cleveland caught up with Oldwine (working in town, on local marketing) and Treboniak (out-of-state, exploring expanded distribution channels), they were both more than happy to walk us through the brief history of their bottled Foxxy concoction.

Cool Cleveland: So, Nantucket Nectars was a beverage created by two Brown University students over 20 years ago. They ran a floating convenience store together before deciding to take their beverage concoctions to market. Your story's a bit different, and a bit the same. How did the two of you meet to launch this start-up business?
Chad Treboniak: John and I came to know each other through my restaurant in Lorain called Steel Toe Sam’s back in 2003. The story's pretty simple: he was working at the restaurant, which I opened, and one day I saw him drinking this stuff in the back of the house. I asked him for some and after I drank it, hell, I was on edge for about 20 hours (laughs). And I’m not even joking, man. I had to leave the restaurant for a while. Anyway, that's how we connected... we kept working together there for about a year until the idea to launch Foxxy as a beverage came up. Now, I’ve turned over the restaurant to my family and we’re doing this full-time.

Who is a typical Foxxy drinker? It seems to be marketed, at least from everything I can tell, to urban youth.
John "Shorty" Oldwine: Basically it's from the streets and for the streets, you know what I’m saying? It can be urban, suburban, it’s for everyone. We’re trying to get it to everyone who wants to try something new.

CT: John’s right. It’s for everybody. It has cut across a lot of demographics. Regardless of race and upbringing… everyone we’ve offered a sample to seems to love it. The 13-year-olds and 83-year-olds… outside of the urban market, there is a strong following in that young middle class, who need an outlet and see themselves questioning authority. Rebellion. Foxxy gives them an outlet. It’s a very unique beverage, when you think about it. And it has a very unique origin, coming from the prison system and John’s experience. It is not some corporate thing that was cooked up in a conference room—

I’ve had it at the Agora, but I bet you’d be surprised to hear that I first had Foxxy at a business meeting, in a conference room, with people who were wearing sportcoats...
JSO: (laughs) Man!

CT: Damn, that’s funny. (laughs) How and where did you get your hands on it?

The gang at thunder::tech, your website connection.
CT: I would not doubt it! The intrigue makes everyone who encounters it try it at least once. I gave them two cases for Christmas. I guess Brad Fagan down there at thunder::tech is pretty well addicted; Jason [Therrien] was caught licking a glass with Foxxy remnants in it! I gotta call those guys. Too funny.

Tell me about the recipe. I was a bit thrown off by that "Kool-Aid-like Tropical Fruit Punch meets Instant Coffee" thought at first, but it really is an "original prison drink" recipe, as the labeling suggests, isn’t it?
JSO: Yeah and for real, it’s the original energy drink before all that corporate stuff came out. A lot of people talked about [marketing it commercially] when they got out [of prison], but once you get out, you know, you get back with your friends and your family and all that went to the back of their minds... My fiancée told me, "John, you'll never know what will happen with Foxxy unless you try." When I saw Chad bouncing off the walls after he tried it... yeah! (laughs) Then I introduced it to everyone on my job they were all zooming around on it, carrying around hot plates. Watching Chad was bad. (laughs) That's what made me decide we had to do this.

CT: I was flying. I had to step away for a bit, I’m telling ya. (laughs)

The name Foxxy seems like a nod to R&B bad gal Foxy Brown, yet also a throwback to blaxploitation films.
JSO: I get what you mean, man, but like I said the name comes from the inside. It’s really not a black drink though. Everyone, male and female, who has been in the system knows all about it.

CT: It makes for a great mixing beverage. Inside the prisons, they mix it with a number of items, like Jolly Ranchers, they call that a [raunchy female hardcore rap star] "Lil' Kim," right?

JSO: That's true.

I want to get to mixology and bartending in a minute. So Foxxy’s uncarbonated, yet a bit syrupy like a soda. I wasn’t too sure about the taste when I first tried it, but the flavor really does grow on you... I was surprised. And it does have that caffeine kick. Any plans for other flavors of Foxxy?
JSO: We tried [making] it with grape, and with orange Tang. They do it that way in the system... but the fruit punch is the most common and we stayed true to that. Now, I want to hear what they're saying in the streets and go from there with it. You still could take a Jolly Rancher [candy] and drop one in there, too, if you’re feeling like a different flavor. Shake it up good, man... that could change it up.

CT: Grape was just OK to me. Perhaps in time we'll do something else with the flavors. There are other flavors of Foxxy in the prison system, like John said. Fruit punch was the most popular, by far. Somewhere down the road, we might go down for another flavor. Grape. Orange. Lime. Who knows. We gotta get punch down first.

I understand some local bars and bartenders are beginning to use Foxxy like Red Bull – as a liquor mixer – in a drink called "Foxxy in the Henhouse." What exactly is in that?
JSO: Foxxy and Hennessy, yeah. (laughs) You even got a "Foxxy Brother," which is Foxxy and Christian Brothers’ [Amber Cream Sherry] mixed together! Possibilities are endless, man... I came up with this one called the Bill Clinton, which is Foxxy mixed with “White House” cherry vanilla ice cream. (laughs) He sure was a Foxxy in the White House, wasn’t he? (laughs)

I’ve got nothing to add there! No response. (laughs) What's your opinion on the flooded energy drink market, guys? There’s a ton of choices.
JSO: I don’t even drink them, man. I’ve had a Von Dutch, my opinion? I don’t like it.

Too much marketing--
JSO: Yeah, and not enough flavor.

CT: Yeah, I'm not really one to do the Red Bulls, Rockstars and Monsters, honestly. And we’re not carbonated, so we’re really not in that category either. We sort of have our own market.

A story I heard on NPR recently suggested that soda consumers in the US are really starting to change their choice in beverages. Why might consumers choose Foxxy over the seemingly thousands of other choices in those refrigerated cold cases?
CT: The flavor is unique. The rush. Beverages are moving in a lot of different directions: some are geared to waters, others to energy drinks, others to juices... there's a high sugar level to what we've got in Foxxy... and the caffeine plays on your internal systems! (laughs) You know, it's just not a "me too" beverage. Truly, we haven't done in-depth market studies on this, but knowing our audience, it's the great label, the great name and the great story and taste. We did not deviate from the prison style of it at all. A lot of trends start inside the prison system, you know. We didn't take anything away from it.

JSO: The stuff's for real, not doctored or fake. That's what makes it.

You guys are both big hip-hop fans. How cool has it been for you to have a Foxxy Music Tour, featuring the local act Ill Disciples? Is that a marketing strategy you're looking to expand and how "hands-on" were you both with those rap shows?
JSO: You know man, Chad and the Ill Disciples really put that thing together. But I gotta tell ya, it was beautiful. I got to know the guys with the groups on the tour. Hopefully we’ll get to do more of that in the future.

CT: We’re big hip-hop fans. Our friend Anthony Garofalo actually put that whole thing together, he's mix-master in the Ill Disciples. We got together back a few months ago and talked about a concert that we were going to put together. He ran with it and did a great job… we’ll definitely do more of those shows. And we have plans for community service programs and stuff too, which will happen when we gain momentum and more distribution.

The controversial rapper The Game references Banana Snapple and Belvedere Vodka as his "drink of choice" on a track of his album, The Doctor's Advocate. I'm thinking, Jay-Z is back and out of retirement... right? Maybe you guys can get him, or [local rap star] Ray Cash, to be a Foxxy spokesperson?
JSO: I don’t know, man. (laughs) When I’m sitting down talking to a few of my partners, we keep talking about [DJ] "Scratch Master L" at 107.9 FM as a possible spokesperson; you know what I’m saying? Basically, we’re sitting down now with some ideas and trying to decide who to get it -- to get it in the right hands—

CT: Oh, boy. A Foxxy spokesperson? (laughs) Right now, it's John. He's the driving force in the marketing, the reason why we’re successful, the man with the recipe. He's the one on the bottles. He's the "OG certified" guy. That's his [prisoner] number on the bottle; "Think Inside the Cell" is his slogan... as for the big name spokesperson, who knows what the future would bring with this product.

For the benefit of the readers, how does one go about taking a food or beverage idea to the marketplace as a formal business? What all is involved in that process?
CT: There’s so much detail to it. Production, bottling, health code stuff... marketing... it was helpful to have the experience in the restaurant industry, believe me. That seemed to help us overcome a lot up front. It's a challenge, really, but people are doing it all the time. I think getting people to buy in was the hard part, even with cold [sales] calls. It was an easy sell, though owners stores thought too expensive. Our clientele really is our sales force now. Most took at least one case to try it out and fell in love with it because it’s not mass produced.

JSO: And I just took it to the streets, man. Basically, I'm in every neighborhood I know, and I let them know it was coming when we were ready... we started with little or no advertisement, now we've got a website, which is cool. I’m still out here now in Cleveland, though, doing some advertising and follow-up. Building relationships, one person at a time.

There has been a lot of positioning in the beverage business recently, particularly in acquisitions. Pepsi-Cola bought the Naked Juice brand; Coca-Cola bought Odwalla, another “healthy juice” vendor. And Nantucket Nectars was purchased by UK-based Cadbury Schweppes and is now part of the Snapple Beverage Group. Once Foxxy establishes itself and hits big, which big corporate conglomerate do you think might line up to buy up your brand sometime? Maybe Starbucks?
JSO: Nah. Probably not Starbucks, but I get where you're coming from.

CT: I don't think Starbucks. If I were to guess or choose a big corporation, I would be more after Pepsi taking it, reason being they market to a typically younger generation. Coke goes for an older crowd. [Pepsi] would want to stay ahead of Coke, especially in Cleveland, because of their presence. Foxxy began in Cleveland and has its roots here; we’re glad to have it out in our hometown. And Pepsi's got the marketshare for it. If you know anyone over there, could you make a few calls for me?

Well...

CT: We’ll work something out for ya... something nice! (laughs)

I'll have my people call their people. (laughs)

From Cool Cleveland Managing Editor Peter Chakerian peterATcoolcleveland.com
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