A passion for iced tea concentrates

“Nothing great in this world has ever been accomplished without passion.”

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

At the BevNetLive conference in New York last month, I got to hear Rob Ehrlich of Rob’s Really Good and Pirate’s Booty put his individual spin on an old saying.  Rob made the comment that his goal was, “to get to the point where people can’t figure out if he was working or playing.”

Of all the things I took away from that conference, this one line has really stuck with me.  I have always tried to have fun at “work”.  Or rather, I have always tried to find work I thought was fun.  A lot of my employment decisions have been based more on the “challenge” or “fun” quotient rather than the “money” quotient.

When I was younger, my dad would say, “Whatever you end up doing in life, make sure you enjoy it.”  I wasn’t entirely sure what he meant at the time, or the ramifications of not enjoying my work.  I don’t think I had held my first real job at that point.  But, I knew my dad loved what he did for work.  He may not have enjoyed the company he was working for, or some of the things his employer required as terms of employment, but there was no doubt that he LOVED what he did.  As proof, he retired after 30+ years of doing the same thing week in and week out.

If you love what you’re doing, you will be passionate about it.  If you’re passionate about something, chances are you won’t be deterred or distracted.  You’ll learn more.  You’ll retain more.  You will find more ways of immersing yourself.  And, you will have more fun.

As an example, one of my all-time favorite football players is Joe Montana.  If you go back and look at some of the old video footage, Joe was always smiling, having a good time.   But his professional career almost never happened.

Joe didn’t get to play every game in college.  He spent a lot of time on the bench, backing up other quarterbacks.  Notre Dame used him sparingly, usually in the 4^th quarter when his team was down in points.  Montana would typically come in, rally his teammates and score points.

In 1977, during a game against Purdue University, the starting quarterback went down.  Montana was given the chance to come in with 11 minutes left in the 4^th quarter, trailing 24 – 14.  He threw for 154 yards and one touchdown.  Notre Dame won the game 31 – 24.

For his performance, he was named the number one quarterback on the depth chart and went on to win the remaining 9 games of the season and a National Championship the following year.

Coming out of college, the experts commented on his arm strength, or lack thereof.  He was not as tall as your typical quarterback and the experts felt he would have trouble seeing over his linemen and downfield.

None of that stopped him the minute he was given a chance.  He stepped up, delivered, and went on to be one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game, winning the 4 Super Bowls he started in as quarterback.  He made it look easy, and fun.

The “haters” will say, “it’s easy to have fun when you’re winning and successful.”  That is true, to an extent.  The difference is if you’re passionate about, and love what you do, you will have fun even in the trying or challenging times.

But how do Joe Montana and his passion for football convert into passion for iced tea concentrates and foodservice beverages?

Easy.  Spend an hour with anyone on the ThirsTea staff.  Our employees, from our college intern to our office manager to our sales force, all have the same focus and passion for our products, our brand and our company.

We know, without a doubt, that we are the best foodservice beverage company in the marketplace.  Our products are operationally easy to implement.  They are great tasting beverages, made from high quality ingredients.  And they will help improve profit margins in any beverage program.

We aren’t number one in our category…yet.  We have had (and continue to have) challenges like everyone else in the industry.  But, the team we have put together is committed to becoming the best.  Sure, it has been difficult at times.  But we continue to make quantifiable progress with our customers, our distributors and our supplier partners.

Overnight success takes years of commitment and hard work.  Along the way, you need to make sure everyone is having fun.

Martini Friday’s anyone?  This week’s special will be Passion Fruit.

Ray Welch

President