Building Categories from Scratch: Customer Discovery Over Market Research
From The MAFFEO DRINKS Podcast: Category creation strategies from Guillaume Lambrecht (Supasawa), Michael Ballantyne, and Daniel Szor (Cotswolds)—direct customer discovery, 60+ iterations, and why building categories takes years not months.
Why Most Brands Fail at Trade Shows (And What Guillaume Does Instead)
Most beverage brands treat trade shows as demand generation events, hoping to create interest, build relationships, and generate sales from
Why "Market Research" Won't Validate Your Unknown Product Category (And What Guillaume Did Instead)
How did Guillaume Lambrecht make a new functional category like Supasawa a lifestyle brand? Dive into insights from Podcast Episode 107 of MAFFEO DRINKS
Advocacy Program Evolution: From Transactional to Authentic Partnerships
Advocacy is one of the most talked-about topics in the Drinks Industry, but the traditional model of brand advocacy is
Building Authentic Brand Partnerships in the Modern Drinks Industry
There's a fundamental misunderstanding in how small brands approach the on-trade that often leads to spectacular failures. In
The Missing Middle: Is This Why Cocktail Culture Struggles to Scale?
A personal reflection based on some of my latest MAFFEO DRINKS episodes on the state of the Drinks & Hospitality Industry.
From Modern Classics to Accessible Culture on Villa Mamo, Terroir, and Scaling Cocktail Hospitality with Federico Riezzo
In continuing their conversation, Chris Maffeo talks to Federico Riezzo about modern cocktail classics, Villa Mamo's terroir-driven approach,
Cross-Category Innovation: Bridging Tequila and Whisky Markets
Sometimes the most powerful innovations come from the simplest observations. In my conversation with Michael Ballantyne, founder of Storywood Tequila,
Bridging the Hospitality-Drinks Industry Divide
There's a fundamental disconnect at the heart of our industry that most people accept as inevitable. In my
The Bar Under Their Palm: Federico Riezzo on London's 90's Cocktail Golden Era and Why Service Beats Technical Skills
In this episode, Chris Maffeo interviews Federico Riezzo, hospitality veteran and Villa Mamo founder (a Villa in Tuscany), about London&
