MAFFEO DRINKS: Built Bottom-up

Happy 2026. This Episode is hosted by Chris Maffeo and brought to you by MAFFEO DRINKS. A Deep-Dive Analysis of This Episode is Available at maffeodrinks.com In this episode, Chris Maffeo spoke to Dom Bowcock, Co-founder of Bowimi. They discussed the importance of executing their strategy in a focused way and understanding how to prioritize an area before moving on to the next one. They spoke about the difference between selling beer and spirits brands and how crucial it is to sustain sales velocity instead while expanding distribution. They closed the episode by discussing how founders can ensure they hire the right people in their team and set them up for success. We hope you enjoy the conversation. Share it with friends, click follow and rate it if you liked it. About the Host: ⁠⁠⁠Chris Maffeo⁠⁠ About the Guest: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Dom Bowcock This episode is brought to you by MAFFEO DRINKS, an Advisory helping drinks leaders execute bottom-up growth while managing stakeholder expectations. You can get in touch at bottomup@maffeodrinks.com 

Happy 2026. This Episode is hosted by Chris Maffeo and brought to you by MAFFEO DRINKS. A Deep-Dive Analysis of This Episode is Available at maffeodrinks.com In this episode, Chris Maffeo spoke to Dom Bowcock, Co-founder of Bowimi. They spoke about the importance of having a simple system to capture and analyze data to identify which customers to focus on. They discussed the importance for brands to secure new accounts and nurture relationships with existing ones so that their products continue selling well. They chatted about how small-scale experiments are beneficial when trying out different strategies across various venues - but balance is key to gathering useful data points without causing paralysis by analysis. We hope you enjoy the conversation. Share it with friends, click follow and rate it if you liked it. About the Host: ⁠⁠⁠Chris Maffeo⁠⁠ About the Guest: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Dom Bowcock This episode is brought to you by MAFFEO DRINKS, an Advisory helping drinks leaders execute bottom-up growth while managing stakeholder expectations. You can get in touch at bottomup@maffeodrinks.com 

Happy 2026. This Episode is hosted by Chris Maffeo and brought to you by MAFFEO DRINKS. A Deep-Dive Analysis of This Episode is Available at maffeodrinks.com In this episode, Chris Maffeo spoke to Mike McGrail, host of ⁠⁠Drinks Noise Podcast⁠⁠ and Digital Marketing Controller at Whyte & Mackay. They spoke about the importance of On-trade as a channel to build brands. They spoke about how to go from 1 bottle to 1 case by selling the first bottle with the second one in mind. They then dove into what tools to use to make that happen and discussed the mindset change that needs to happen to help bars "get rid of" bottles as fast as possible to make a new order. We hope you enjoy the conversation. Share it with friends, click follow and rate it if you liked it. About the Host: ⁠⁠⁠Mike McGrail About the Interviewee: ⁠⁠⁠Chris Maffeo⁠⁠ This episode is brought to you by MAFFEO DRINKS, an Advisory helping drinks leaders execute bottom-up growth while managing stakeholder expectations. You can get in touch at bottomup@maffeodrinks.com 

Happy 2026. This Episode is hosted by Chris Maffeo and brought to you by MAFFEO DRINKS. A Deep-Dive Analysis of This Episode is Available at maffeodrinks.com In this episode, Chris Maffeo spoke to Mike McGrail, host of ⁠⁠Drinks Noise Podcast⁠⁠ and Digital Marketing Controller at Whyte & Mackay. They spoke about the importance of On-trade as a channel to build brands. They focused on how you create demand for your new brand, how to select the right bars to sell to and what are the first steps to sell the first bottle. They closed by talking about building a relationship with all the links of the bar from the bar back up the owner in a bottom-up way as they all play a role in the decision-making process. I hope you enjoy the conversation. Share it with friends, click follow and rate it if you liked it. About the Host: ⁠⁠⁠Mike McGrail About the Interviewee: ⁠⁠⁠Chris Maffeo⁠⁠ This episode is brought to you by MAFFEO DRINKS, an Advisory helping drinks leaders execute bottom-up growth while managing stakeholder expectations. You can get in touch at bottomup@maffeodrinks.com 

Happy 2026. This Episode is hosted by Chris Maffeo and brought to you by MAFFEO DRINKS. A Deep-Dive Analysis of This Episode is Available at maffeodrinks.com In this episode, Chris Maffeo spoke to Ilias Mastrogiannis, host of ⁠⁠Distillery Nation⁠⁠ and founder of the ⁠⁠Mastrogiannis Distillery and Winery⁠⁠. They spoke about the importance for brands to build demand and trust by educating consumers about the category and drinking occasion rather than just talking about their brand. They also suggest that brands offer something unique to stand out without overcomplicating things by creating a product just for geeks. In the end, Ilias asked Chris questions to help listeners understand better who he is and what he does. I hope you enjoy the conversation. Share it with friends, click follow and rate it if you liked it. About the Host: ⁠⁠⁠Ilias Mastrogiannis⁠⁠ About the Interviewee: ⁠⁠⁠Chris Maffeo⁠⁠ This episode is brought to you by MAFFEO DRINKS, an Advisory helping drinks leaders execute bottom-up growth while managing stakeholder expectations. You can get in touch at bottomup@maffeodrinks.com 

Happy 2026. This Episode is hosted by Chris Maffeo and brought to you by MAFFEO DRINKS. A Deep-Dive Analysis of This Episode is Available at maffeodrinks.com In this episode, Chris Maffeo spoke to Ilias Mastrogiannis, host of ⁠Distillery Nation⁠ and founder of the ⁠Mastrogiannis Distillery and Winery⁠. They discussed how drinks brands should focus on winning in their backyard and build relationships with distributors, importers, and retailers instead of looking for shortcuts and hacks. They spoke about the importance of building Cost-of-Goods COGS from the glass to avoid becoming too expensive in the market. They discussed the hidden costs of direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales, such as margins and marketing costs, and the danger of scaling too quickly while not being cash strong to satisfy large orders. I hope you enjoy the conversation. Share it with friends, click follow and rate it if you liked it. About the Host: ⁠⁠Ilias Mastrogiannis⁠ About the Interviewee: ⁠⁠Chris Maffeo⁠⁠ All rights reserved: ⁠Distillery Nation This episode is brought to you by MAFFEO DRINKS, an Advisory helping drinks leaders execute bottom-up growth while managing stakeholder expectations. You can get in touch at bottomup@maffeodrinks.com 

Happy 2026. This Episode is hosted by Chris Maffeo and brought to you by MAFFEO DRINKS. A Deep-Dive Analysis of This Episode is Available at maffeodrinks.com In this episode, Chris Maffeo spoke to Ilias Mastrogiannis, host of Distillery Nation and founder of the Mastrogiannis Distillery and Winery. They discussed how the On-trade scene has changed by blending occasions and categories in recent years. They dived into why focusing on target occasions is important rather than categories. They discussed the importance of building demand for a brand before attempting to capture it and how On-trade sales have changed in the last few years. They discussed sales, building demand, targeting and filtering on-premise accounts, and the importance of focusing on the essentials, focusing on bottle-by-bottle sales. I hope you enjoy the conversation. Share it with friends, click follow and rate it if you liked it. About the Host: ⁠Ilias Mastrogiannis About the Interviewee: ⁠Chris Maffeo⁠ All rights reserved: Distillery Nation This episode is brought to you by MAFFEO DRINKS, an Advisory helping drinks leaders execute bottom-up growth while managing stakeholder expectations. You can get in touch at bottomup@maffeodrinks.com 

Happy 2026. This Episode is hosted by Chris Maffeo and brought to you by MAFFEO DRINKS. A Deep-Dive Analysis of This Episode is Available at maffeodrinks.com In this episode, Jason Littrell and I face the challenges of listing drinks brands in bars and restaurants. We deep dive into the steps from selling one bottle to one case. How do you start from being on the back bar to be on the menu? What are the triggers in the conversation between a salesperson and a bar manager? How do you start from the glass and build brand pull rather than brand push? I hope you enjoy the conversation. Share it with friends, click follow and rate it if you liked it. About the Host: ⁠Jason Littrell About the Interviewee: ⁠Chris Maffeo⁠ All rights reserved: The Littrell Show This episode is brought to you by MAFFEO DRINKS, an Advisory helping drinks leaders execute bottom-up growth while managing stakeholder expectations. You can get in touch at bottomup@maffeodrinks.com 

Happy 2026. This Episode is hosted by Chris Maffeo and brought to you by MAFFEO DRINKS. A Deep-Dive Analysis of This Episode is Available at maffeodrinks.com This is my very first podcast interview from January 2021. My friend and ex-boss Luboš Kastner invited me to his Czech Gastronomic Podcast to discuss my approach to the Drinks Ecosystem. We wanted to share this episode as it aged well, being so actual now after two years.What are the challenges of drinks companies in the ecosystem? How can they improve how they interact with the On-trade? We hope you enjoy it. About the Host: Luboš Kastner About the Interviewee: Chris MaffeoAll rights reserved: Český GASTRONOMICKÝ podcast This episode is brought to you by MAFFEO DRINKS, an Advisory helping drinks leaders execute bottom-up growth while managing stakeholder expectations. You can get in touch at bottomup@maffeodrinks.com 

Happy 2026. This Episode is hosted by Chris Maffeo and brought to you by MAFFEO DRINKS. A Deep-Dive Analysis of This Episode is Available at maffeodrinks.com This bonus episode was recorded at Bar Convent Berlin, where Chris Maffeo held a presentation as a guest of Park Street University.In his presentation, he talks about the MAFFEO DRINKS approach to building brands from the bottom up, explaining the most common mistakes brands make and how to solve them.About the Host: Chris Maffeo About the venue: BCB - Bar Convent BerlinAll rights reserved: Park Street This episode is brought to you by MAFFEO DRINKS, an Advisory helping drinks leaders execute bottom-up growth while managing stakeholder expectations. You can get in touch at bottomup@maffeodrinks.com