Community Highlights: Meet Jay Ressler and Luke Syka of Jaybird Hard Kombucha Company

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jay Ressler and Luke Syka.

Hi Jay and Luke, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Jay – For most of my childhood, I described my mother as a health freak. She nearly died from an illness when I was about nine years old, which caused her to dive deep into the world of health and nutrition, so eating organic, clean food was the norm most of my life. On top of that, I was always encouraged to cook, so I was used to trying all sorts of different and new things in the kitchen from a young age, which ended up being paramount to crafting the Jaybird we brew today. After brewing beer in college, I decided to try my hand at kombucha in late 2017. With the experience and knowledge from home-brewing beer and kombucha, the transition to hard kombucha was quick and relatively straightforward. By the time I was brewing hard kombucha, there were only two hard kombucha brands in America. I knew the concept of hard kombucha had limitless potential, but the products themselves that were being offered didn’t seem to have what I thought would be needed to take it to the next level. It seemed like only people who had a palette for kombucha were the ones who liked drinking hard kombucha. Meanwhile, you had hard seltzers, which everyone was starting to drink at that point. I knew the hard kombucha category just needed a product that was as good as the concept, so I made that my mission.

I spent around three years tinkering with my recipes and formulas until I reached a point where I knew I had created the best-tasting, most drinkable hard kombucha out there. At that time, I decided it was time to take the leap and quit my corporate 9-5 at an aerospace defense giant. My business partner, Luke, came on board shortly after that.

Luke – Jay and I have been friends since we played T-ball together in elementary school. I came onboard after returning to San Diego after finishing graduate school in New York City at Columbia University. My first day back in San Diego after a long cross-country drive, I tasted Jaybird. It was the first hard kombucha I ever had. I wasn’t much of a kombucha drinker, but I thought it was great. It took me a couple of months of testing other products and researching the space to realize that Jay had created something really special. While I’m formally trained as an environmental engineer, my competitiveness and team mentality as a NCAA athlete fit more into a business environment. I had some background from graduate school-related to high growth startups and we started hitting Encinitas and UCSD library together. Since then, I do a lot of everything and work as Jay’s right-hand.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Luke – For anyone familiar with the alcohol production business, getting to legal sales is a major hurdle. It can easily be a million dollars to build out a brewery and tasting room facility when I Jay and I were broke and didn’t have anybody who could cut us a check for hundreds-of-thousands of dollars. It seemed like quite a mountain to climb, but I was inspired by Jay’s determination and understood the vision. Jay puts something in the hard kombucha that rinses away the notion of doubt.

Jay – I had quit my 9-5 corporate job as a project manager at a Fortune 500 to commit myself full-time to getting Jaybird off the ground. Although many people may consider this a comfortable position, I thought it was riskier to continue to work for a large corporate where I was just another number in the headcount. Of the I went from what many people would consider a comfortable position. I was all-in on finding a way to legal sales. Just prior to signing a lease with a local brewery incubator COVID struck. Trying to raise money for a tasting room/brewery in the midst of a global pandemic was difficult. The pandemic was a dark time, but we used it to refined our brand to resonate in markets outside San Diego by working with an amazing group of copywriters and designers from NYC. We evaluated nine different deals through the pandemic and finally found one that worked. It was an incredibly frustrating time but we made it through and now feel like we can overcome anything.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Started with a home-brewing kombucha kit, turned into a full-fledged business with a 4,450 sq foot tasting room. That’s the Jaybird journey: two hungry (well, thirsty) guys on a mission to give the world an unparalleled hard kombucha experience.

Founded by Jay Ressler and Luke Syka, Jaybird is the first kombucha brand that doesn’t just cater to hipsters and pilates instructors. It’s for everyone—people who think life is for living and (delicious) drinks are for drinking. Now, four years of recipe tinkering and a global pandemic later, Jaybird is up and running and ready to crush the “kombucha drinker” stereotype with their uniquely crushable product.

Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Luke – Jay and I both have a larger appetite for risk than most people, especially when it comes to our careers and business. Back in 2008, both of our dads, who had held comfortable positions in engineering and science for decades, were laid off by their large companies. While their positions were comfortable on paper, it taught us a lesson about evaluating short-term vs. long-term risk. Jay and I understand that since we are young and weren’t gifted trust funds, our time and energy are the most valuable assets we have. We believe that it’s riskier to trade our time and energy for a steady paycheck than to go out and create something people care about.

Jay – We didn’t have money when we built this company, and our parents couldn’t write us a check for $500k to get started. It took a ton of grit and persistence, but we managed to raise a successful seed round from angel investors and friends&family who share our view on risk and believe that this project is worth the time and energy to commit to. We’ve built a growing community of people who are all-in on the brand, mission, and product – we’re just getting started, but with risk comes rewards.

Contact Info:

• Email: luke@jaybirdkombucha.com
• Website: https://www.jaybirdkombucha.com/
• Instagram: instagram.com/jaybirdkombucha
• Facebook: Facebook.com/jaybirdkombucha
• Twitter: jaybirdkombucha

Image Credits:
Mitchel Harris Madeline Javier Danny Hardesty