If the last time you scrolled past a photo of rainbow-colored anything on Instagram without stopping for a second was, well, never, you're in good company: Ever since the rainbow bagel captured the hearts of now-grown Lisa Frank lovers across the country a couple years ago, it's been hard to ignore the pull of multicolored grilled cheese sandwiches and lattes and whatever else people have dreamed up.
Zoe Feldman knows that. She's a former strategist for PepsiCo and now the brains behind DRINK, a new nonalcoholic beverage bar in American Eagle Outfitters' Times Square flagship store. We'll give you one guess as to the spot's star menu item. Yep: a unicorn coffee called the Pegasus. And like everyone else churning out eye-catching drinks, Feldman did it for the 'gram. But racking up more Instagram followers wasn't the end goal.
DRINK employs 22 small vendors from around the country — drink purveyors and companies that make honey sticks and marshmallows. If coffee topped with the contents of your sprinkle drawer and whipped cream that's dyed unnatural colors can garner the attention those entrepreneurs deserve, then so be it. "I can give you food coloring and sprinkles and you can make a unicorn beverage, but it's that notion of supporting small businesses that's really critical," Feldman said.
Beyond the fact that the businesses are small, there's this: Forty-percent of them are run by women. The sprinkles on the Pegasus? They're from Sweetapolita, a tiny Canada-based operation run by Rosie Alyea. And the marshmallows offered up — you can get them at Squish, an NYC company started by Katherine Sprung. The girl power-heavy line-up wasn't accidental. "Because I was the one curating everything, I could be selective," Feldman laughed. Traditionally the industry has been male-dominated, though more and more females have been making themselves known in the past few years. "We've been able to give them a chance to shine on the biggest stage in the world, Times Square," Feldman continued.
Darleen Scherer came up with DRINK's entire coffee program, which accounted for almost 80% of sales during the winter. (The warmer weather, and the release of the Pegasus at the end of March, has brought other favorites like Sweet'Tauk Lemonade — owned by Deborah Aiza — and Kelvin Slush — the only slushy company that uses 100% USDA-certified organic ingredients — to the forefront.) She's one of just a few female coffee roasters in the country with her own brick-and-mortar shop, Supercrown in Brooklyn, NY. DRINK was Scherer's first wholesale client, and it was at a shop visit to Supercrown that Feldman discovered her kombucha purveyor. Alex Ingalls, who operates Pilot Kombucha, was peddling her stuff to the operations manager at the coffee shop, and Feldman offered her the opportunity to sell at DRINK, too.
Feldman knows DRINK is unusual. It's a nonalcoholic bar (American Eagle Outfitters does cater to teens, after all) and a store within a store model (the first retailer-developed concept of its kind), but the response has been wild. The #drinkaeo hashtag and the café's geotag prove it. The feeds are a pastel-colored dream — just hands holding pink and blue Pegasus drinks that may or may not even contain coffee. "You can add a shot of espresso, but most people tend not to," Feldman says. "Honestly, I think it's because they don't want to mess with their photo. It makes the drink brown!"
This week, DRINK is switching up their taps. They're bringing in Rise's nitro cold brew, iced tea by Joyride, and new soda flavors by Cannonborough, a company that you can only find in the Carolinas…and at DRINK. "I know there's a lot of press around this because of the unicorn thing," Feldman admits, "but the story behind the small businesses is extraordinary, and I'm really hoping that's what people gravitate to."
Being super trendy for a good cause? That's something we can drink to.
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