VICTORIA, AUSTRAILIA — Alcoholic beverage consumers may enjoy their beverages without the hangover due to Bae Juice. With their product, co-founders Liam Gostencnik and Tim O’Sullivan are aiming to enhance the alcoholic beverage consumption experience without having the negative side effects the next day.

Bae Juice is considered a natural option for hangovers with it being 100% Korean pear juice packaged in a pouch. The co-founders encourage consumers to drink Bae Juice before an alcoholic beverage and the next morning to lower the chances of a hangover.  

“This product is for those who enjoy the night life scene, but not the next morning,” Mr. Gostencnik said.

The product idea stemmed from a trip in South Korea when Mr. O’Sullivan went to visit his then-partner Sumin Do’s family. He noticed pear juice was a popular beverage during his trip, especially after a night out.

“We were drinking (alcohol) almost every day,” Mr. O’Sullivan said. “When we were finished with the evening, we would stop at the convenience store and Sumin and her friends would buy a pouch or can of Korean pear juice, which I thought was very interesting instead of going for water. So I asked, ‘does Korean pear juice really help with a hangover?’”

The question never left Mr. O’Sullivan’s mind after the trip to South Korea and he later told Mr. Gostencnik what was soon going to be their next entrepreneur journey.

With the help of Ms. Do’s mother, they found their manufacturer in South Korea, and in January 2019 they began their business journey in Australia. With success in the Australian market, the entrepreneurs wanted to share their product with North America.

From left to right: Tim O’Sullivan, Sumin Do and Liam Gostencnik, created Bae Juice for consumers who enjoy the night life scene. Photo: Bae Juice

The company recently raised $325,714 in a seed funding round to propel their launch in North America.  

“It’s one of the biggest markets in the world, it’s been on our whiteboard from day one,” Mr. Gostencnik said.

The company initially planned to launch into the United States in spring, but faced some hiccups along the way and officially introduced the product in November.

“We’ve been using the term getting US ready,” Mr. O’Sullivan said. “We thought we were going to be launching in the first week of March and now it’s the first week of November. There were some things setting up in our business that took a little figuring out like FDA (Food and Drug Administration) compliance.”

The team is rolling out its product in New York to see how it resonates before pursuing other states.

“New York seemed like a great place for us to start,” Mr. Gostencnik said. “It’s one of the most famous cities in the world.”

Mr. O’Sullivan added: “There’s some of the biggest cities in the states (United States) but just to dip our toes in the water starting small was the right way. We’ll measure success in a small space and double down on what’s working.”

The company is partnering with Gold Coast Distributors in Queens and will focus its business on Amazon, its website and soon into retail.

While the product mostly is aimed at consumers who enjoy an alcoholic beverage, the team is testing the waters to see how it sits with health conscious consumers in North America.

“We’ve been speaking with Korean distributors and Korean people in our network and they drink it every day,” Mr. Gostencnik said. “It’s healthy like orange juice and it’s similar to having your daily juice. We pigeonholed ourselves in Australia as the big hangover guys or brand, so we’re hoping we can come into the states as a really healthy natural brand and company that helps your hangovers, but still helps your daily consumption.”

Being themselves and putting their story out there was their go-to-market strategy for Australia. The team is hoping that strategy resonates with North America.

“We’re seeing a lot of founder stories and that worked really well for us in Australia,” Mr. O’Sullivan said. “Bringing in our personalities and explaining our brand, making sure consumers connect with us. We were just normal people and went for it and people really liked that aspect.”

In addition to telling its story, the team is going for traditional marketing tactics as well.

“We’re going to do some visual billboards, posters, different advertisements,” Mr. O’Sullivan said. “We’re staying away from celebrities, that was our biggest learning curve and maturity for us as business owners. There’s glitz and glam and then there’s real conversion of sales. We’re going to have our displays in store poppers on shelves, counter positions, visual merchandises. Drink me before alcohol really sort of sells itself.”

Mr. Gostencnik described America as the country with endless opportunities and plans to take Bae Juice full throttle in the states in the coming years.

“The dream is to add some states next year and expand the retail presence to the West Coast and slowly build the brand,” he said.

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