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SPILL THE PIMEN-TAE
Everyone said my boozy side hustle wouldn’t work, now I earn six-figures & quit my job – Michelle Keegan’s a fan
Plus, the co-founders share their top tips to start a company
MANY people return from holiday with dreams of packing in the day job, but these two friends made it a reality after a trip to Mexico.
Sick of working for others, Alice Parmiter, 29, and Wynter Karo, 28 decided to launch - and the ready-made tequila cocktail business started in their kitchen now turns over six figures.
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But it hasn't been easy, wanting to get away from the corporate 9-5, the pair used all of their savings and even risked losing it all to get to where they are now.
The pair decided to go into business together after trying the best tequilas in Mexico while backpacking the region after meeting at Leeds University.
They started the company with £20k back in 2021, cash they'd saved over years of working in their day jobs, and now they've made just shy of £1 million.
We both got very, very itchy feet and were like this isn’t for us
Alice Parmiter
After university, the pair lived in Wandsworth where Alice took a job working at Asos, and Wynter in Sky Media, but neither had even thought of at that point - so they focused on climbing the corporate ladder.
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"We both got very, very itchy feet and were like this isn’t for us,” Alice says exclusively to Fabulous for our Bossing It series.
"We’d both been taught that the traditional path is to graduate from uni, go into your grad scheme, climb up the corporate ladder which sadly everyone at university is told is the way for success.”
"It was very much like 'here at the top four, if you don't get a grad scheme, that's not a fantastic thing for you.'
“Which is why it's so ironic that we ended up running our own startup, but I guess sometimes it's equally as important to know what you don't like as well as what you do like."
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The pair put their savings together, and also needed money to live, so ran the company alongside their jobs for six months.
"We never knew if it would really take off or not as it was on the edge of lockdown," explains Alice.
Battle Of The Tinned Cocktails
But lockdown might have been their lucky break, with no one able to go to pubs, there was a rise in people buying pre-made cocktails to enjoy at home, plus the pair were able to work from home giving them more free time to work on the launch.
“It’s what allowed us to take off so quickly,” says Wynter, “I’m not sure if we would have had the time to it if we weren’t in lockdown.”
The co-founders revealed on social media that many people didn't believe in their business at the start, writing ' starting your own cocktail brand won't work' - but they proved them wrong.
Despite no experience in bartending, the pair knew a good margarita when they tasted one and perfected the recipe before sending packages out to influencers and celebrities.
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Tips for starting your own business
- View it as one step at a time, map it out, and look at the micro-steps so it’s not as daunting
- Speak to other founders, mental resilience is a priority to keep you positive
- Knock on doors and speak to other brands to work with to get your brand out there
- Don’t limit yourself by money, you don’t need a lot of resources to start up
- Reach out to influencers to get advertisement online
The pair then went around London during their launch - dropping off packages themselves to 30 influencers in the hopes one or two would post it online.
But to their excitement, every single influencer posted the package on social media praising the margaritas.
And it's not just influencers who love their products, celebs do to.
Michelle Keegan's makeup artist told Pimentae: "Me and Michelle were literally messaging this morning because she’s back from Australia next week and how we’re going to make tapas and have picantes when we catch up.
"The last time we made them I was squeezing limes for what felt like forever, my hands were burning.
"The Pimentae Chilli Marg is life changing, honestly one of the nicest I’ve ever had. Definitely ordering some in for the festive season."
After handing her a bottle, Michelle put the brand on her Instagram stories with the caption ‘Emmy Clarkson (MUA) turning up with the goods today’.
Conor Maynard, Luiza Zissman, Sarah Ashcroft, Maya Jama, and Jessie Ware have also praised the brand.
The initial £20,000 investment paid for the website, bottles, labels, liquid, manufacturing, production, postage, and influencer packages.
The pair made use of free rent for business operations and getting the recipe down by putting them together in their own kitchen in their South London flat.
“Wynter and I travelled to Mexico together, and tried lots of high quality tequilas, a lot of people don't understand the history or culture of it, it’s a protected spirit like Champagne, the process behind it is an incredible craft," says Alice.
“People love a margarita - but there was no way to buy it in a bottle.”
And it seemed like their idea has well and truly paid off at the right time, with Tequila being the fastest growing global spirit category at the moment.
It was make or break, it was like all of our Christmases came at once
Wynter Karo
But as with any business venture, there were times the girls weren't sure if the business would make it.
The pair decided to take a massive risk and hired out a bar at a festival.
But the pitch fee was £25k - more than what they had in the bank - so they took out a loan to help pay for it.
“It was make or break, it was like all of our Christmases came at once, thousands of people came to the bar,” says Wynter and they managed to make £50,000 in one weekend.
“Off the back of that we could quit our jobs,” and it led to their first investor reaching out six months after launching.
Both were eager to get out of their office jobs and ditch the rat race, Wynter explains: “There was such little variety, we were all employed to do our own thing and a lot of bureaucracy.
“Only 5% of my brain capacity was being used, but for me it was boring, I needed more risk.”
Meanwhile, Alice hated "the lack of creative freedom" in her industry.
"I worked with the most talented people but lots of ideas just didn't go ahead, it was really demotivating," she says.
“Running your own business there’s so much freedom, even with a little amount of money, the reward you get from that is incredible.”
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The Tequila used in Pimentae is from El Tequileño, one of only 8 brands of tequila that is exclusively made at its own distillery and family run for 60 years. Limes for the cocktails are also shipped in from Mexico.
Now Pimentea can be found in Selfridges, Waitrose and Fenwick or on their online shop.
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