A new trend is taking the beverage industry by storm: the non-alcoholic liquids. As chronic conditions surge and consumers become more focused on bio-hacking and wellness, a large white space has opened up for branding and product development. Enter Ghia, a non-alcoholic aperitif, with a goal to appeal to the masses, and make a drink that can be remembered in the morning.

We were lucky to catch up with Melanie Masarin, Founder of Ghia, a non-alcoholic aperitif brand, to chat about her journey and product creation process. Melanie was born in France (bonjour!) and grew up in Lyon. Her father used to work in ceramics and her mother had a textile company that repurposes old linens. “My first job was at the age of 15 when I worked in a tobacco shop because you know, that’s what kids in France did”, says Melanie.

Melanie went to Brown University and studied Economics and ended up working with American Eagle, followed by Dig Inn and Glossier. However, her love for hospitality dates back to college, when she worked in dining services at Brown. “I was an international student and needed an on-campus job and ended up becoming the general manager for dining services which has over 10 restaurants.”

The Aha Moment

“I was always interested in learning about food trends and what people want to eat. Back in 2013, I was going through my own personal journey at the time and was trying to figure out why people have different digestive issues and one thing that became very apparent was alcohol being painful for my system. It didn’t work for my body in general and I gave it up. I found myself always having to justify why I didn’t drink.”

“After I left my role at Glossier, I was consulting for a couple of startups and still deciding on what to do next. I wanted to do something meaningful but knew I did not want to work in hospitality again. I ended up traveling to Milan and falling in love with the Aperol spritz. At the same time, I noticed that people I admired were starting to give up alcohol and this was becoming the new way.” After Melanie’s return, her friend encouraged her to take the leap of faith and start what is now known as Ghia (pronounced ghee-ah).

When it comes to its business model, Ghia is a D2C brand that wants to change the menu for non-alcoholic drinkers. They primarily sell online but plan on rolling out a strong B2B, restaurant program based on Melanie’s previous experience in hospitality. Melanie tells us how “it is important to be able to have a non-alcoholic drink wherever you go, not just from the comfort of your home.”

“It took us one year and 37 iterations to produce this product.”

Priced at $33, Ghia smells and looks like a vintage 70’s summer evening corked in a bottle. The beverage has no caffeine, no added sugars, no artificial flavors, and is vegan (for those wondering). When it comes to creating this masterpiece of a formula, Melanie took a very human-centric approach to product development by involving the community from day one. In order to get her flavor profile just right, she grouped 100 people together (friends of friends), including famous NYC restaurant King’s mocktail bartender to provide insight and feedback. “I knew I wanted certain tasting notes such as dry, bitter, and complex. However, I was not a sommelier and found it difficult to be able to translate my concept into a working product brief.” The community helped her do just that.

“We did 1,000 glasses to taste in the past 6 months (January to March) before finalizing the formula. We sent out a survey, got samples, and hosted a little brunch. We had 200 bottles that were poured over those months and the feedback we received was that it was too bitter and people wanted it to be sweeter.” However, when it comes to sweeteners and sugars, most of these ingredients tend to be polarizing and hurt the lining of the stomach or cause IBS. But, Melanie was able to adjust the flavor profile and make it sweeter while keeping the bitter taste. And for some bonus points, the community also provided her with valuable insight on how they would use Ghia, stand-alone, or mixed in a drink. Tchin, tchin!

The Challenges

Like most founders, Melanie found the production process to be a challenging task. Alcohol tends to be preservative, thus it was extremely challenging to find an alternative that would function in the same capacity. This was achieved by working with a formulator and a food chemist to oversee the batches of production and quality control.

Melanie also had to push back her big launch scheduled for April 1 due to COVID and ended up doing a soft online launch on June 16, 2020. “The factory that made Ghia started to produce hand sanitizers for 3 months, and at the same time we were unable to get into a warehouse.” For a brand that originally revolved around a disco theme and joyful occasions, the current landscape didn’t make it seem relevant. Thus, the soft launch allowed Ghia to secretly enter the marketplace while making space for more important conversations online such as BLM.

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Why the Name?

“We really wanted to create a name that would be easy to pronounce in different languages and have an upbeat sound. It is also a reference to quality and excellence working together. It’s a fun four-letter word that sounds happy and we want the brand to spark joy.”

The Advice

“When the pandemic hit, I was very worried about our relevance. A mentor of mine who is a friend’s dad from Brown messaged me and said that I should not react to the market, but take this time to think about life in general and whether or not this is what I want to be doing. I felt that if not this year, Ghia needs to exist in the world and create more joyful moments where people take care of themselves. I realized there was nothing else I would rather be doing.”

For those looking to build something, Melanie provides us with her advice to start a consumer-facing brand:

Think about how you can create a product that people will want to order over and over again. Investors care about the repeat purchase rate!
Try to build a community from the beginning instead of acquiring buyers from ads online. This will help create brand affinity as good things take time.
Place your product in the right places for consumer discovery.
Don’t focus on growth too early, first build trust.

Interested in sipping on a taste of Italy? Shop Ghia here and get 10% off when you mention code GHIALOVESRADICHE, valid until September 30, 2020.

Photo courtesy of Ghia.

Written by Alysha Malik.