Bloody Marys are one of my favorite drinks of all time. It’s perfect for any season, any time of day and there are so many ways to make them and different ingredients and spices to add to them.
Bloody Marys are one of my favorite drinks of all time. It’s perfect for any season, any time of day and there are so many ways to make them and different ingredients and spices to add to them.
The local guys behind Texas Beach Bloody Mary Mix have done an excellent job creating a mix that satisfies all my taste buds.
Austin Green and business partners Greg White and Rob Wooten have steadily been putting “Richmond on the Rocks” with their thick, peppery, spicy delicious bloody mary mix since early 2015. Read more on their story here.
Named after one of my favorite spots in the city, a place by the North banks of the James River, Texas Beach Bloody Mary mix has flooded RVA’s shelves and beyond and even won the 2016 award for Best New Beverage at this year’s Food and Beverage Expo.
And now White, Green and Wooten are looking to grow their company even more with the help of your votes for the FedEx Small Business Grant Contest to expand to new markets and introduce new mixes.
The company is in the running to win one of ten small business grants that will be given out including one $15,000 prize, eight $7,500 grants, and one $25,000 grand prize winner.
“We’re a pretty small company, capital is always something that we struggle with, we’re doing well, but we would use the money to look at markets outside of Virginia, targeting cities that have a big food or brunch scene,” he said.
Green said the company currently holds over 120 accounts in Virginia and have been successful in expanding with their distributor Williams Corner Wine. You can find their mix in over 30 markets, grocery stores and restaurants in Richmond, check out all their locations here.
Green said they’re also hoping for funding to introduce new products to their line.
“We’ve got a couple different things that I’ve developed,” he said. “We’re planning on expanding our product line by bottling up two of our products that go into our mix…We use Jason Alley’s (Comfort, Pasture) pickle brine and I have my own olive brine so you might be seeing some Texas Beach olive and pickle brines.”
Green has also concocted a few ideas to expand on different versions of a Bloody Mary mix as well.
“One that I tried out was sort of a kimchi-inspired bloody mary mix,” he said. “It’s pretty funky though, it has fish sauce and shrimp powder, it’s really weird…”
And while the grant money would be helpful for the boys behind the local bloody mary mix, Green wanted to stress that they also are striving to get RVA noticed.
“We’re really serious about getting the word out about Richmond on a national scale,” he said.
Voting for the contest runs until June 13th and you can vote once per day through Facebook or by clicking here.
FedEx will announce the top 100 finalists and the winners will be announced July 11. As of Monday afternon, Texas Beach Bloody Mary Mix had 279 votes.
Now go vote for these guys so we can enjoy their delicious Bloody Marys even more than we already do!
