Steve Yeng, co-founder along with his spouse, Brittany, of Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey, was born in Cambodia within the wake of the Cambodian genocide, which left greater than 1.7 million individuals useless by the hands of the Khmer Rouge. When Steve was one 12 months outdated, he was recognized with polio. His proper leg turned completely paralyzed, and his mother and father sought medical assist throughout the border in Thailand.
“We entered right into a refugee camp, basically a jail the place we could not get out,” Steve tells Entrepreneur. “We stood in line for meals and water. After six years, which is kind of a very long time for these kinds of camps, we received sponsored to [move to] California by a pair who wished to do a random act of kindness.”
The household settled in San Diego. Steve’s mother and father received jobs at a neighborhood donut store a block away from his elementary college, the place he first met Brittany. The pair began relationship in highschool and stayed collectively at the same time as they pursued completely different paths post-graduation. She acquired her grasp’s in chemistry and attended legislation college. He jumped into the restaurant enterprise.
Picture Credit score: Strolling Eagle Images. Steve and Brittany Yeng.
Steve’s mother and father had gone on to purchase the donut store they’d labored at, and he adopted of their entrepreneurial footsteps. He and his brother Scott opened OB Noodle Home in 2008 and The Holding Firm in 2016.
“We realized we had actually constructed two separate worlds,” Brittany says, “the place [Steve] was getting house at 4:30 within the morning, and I used to be leaving for work at 4:30 within the morning. And we have been anticipating our first daughter.”
“We used that underdog mentality [and said], ‘Let’s do it.'”
The couple had been toying with the concept of a brand new mission that will permit for extra time collectively: beginning a peanut butter whiskey model. Peanut butter, which Steve and his household usually acquired in baskets of meals throughout their early days within the U.S., was a favourite taste. He’d been experimenting with including it to all kinds of issues: wings, noodles, fried rice — then Jameson.
The Yengs tinkered with the peanut butter whiskey recipe to make it shelf secure, which finally meant touchdown on one which wasn’t creamy, however mixable and good for cocktails. Regardless of the completely different lives they led on the time, “Peanut butter is the glue that basically introduced us collectively,” Steve says. The duo seized their “now or by no means second” and began a enterprise.
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey
The Yengs’ peanut butter whiskey had a stable fan base of their small group of Ocean Seashore, San Diego, however they confronted extra skepticism from traders and analysis and improvement corporations. At one level, an trade marketing consultant discouraged the enterprise altogether, saying they appeared like a pleasant household who should not spend all of their life financial savings on a non-viable enterprise concept.
“All of them laughed,” Steve remembers. “Everyone was a doubter. Nobody believed in us. They noticed us as a novelty, not a phenomenon. [But the] skepticism fueled our drive. We might been profitable earlier than; we used that underdog mentality [and said], ‘Let’s do it.'”
 ”It lastly clicked with us that the product itself was an outsider,” Brittany provides. “It wasn’t simply us who have been outsiders. It is this peanut butter whiskey. The primary time individuals hear it, they’re like, ‘I do not know.’ In order that product and origin story mixed to [perfectly] encapsulate the model.”
“We wished to personal it and put the black sheep main the group.”
Having already honed the model’s recipe by trial and error, the Yengs leaned into their “underdog” standing when it got here to their branding, too. Skrewball’s label options a big black sheep surrounded by smaller white sheep. “We take a look at [being a black sheep] as our superpower,” Brittany explains. “We wished to personal it and put the black sheep main the group.” The founders additionally observe a double that means within the “Skrewball” identify: evoking the odd one out but in addition the hope of discovering your “krew.”
Skrewball formally launched in San Diego in 2018 — and the bootstrapped enterprise was an enormous hit. The model remained solely in San Diego that 12 months as a result of it could not but preserve tempo with the manufacturing required to broaden. Unbiased liquor shops like Keg N Bottle, Newport Farms and Crest Liquor have been essential to Skrewball’s early success, the founders say. So was the San Diego bar and restaurant group, which “instantly introduced Skrewball in and handled it like their very own model.”
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey
Nonetheless, some naysayers thought-about the numerous victory a flash within the pan, the founders recall. However when the model went on to launch in California at massive, it replicated its sold-out success. In the end, Skrewball achieved nationwide distribution throughout all 50 states in January 2020. “We have been the quickest to 1,000,000 circumstances for any model over $20 in historical past,” Steve says. “No person anticipated it.”
“In 2020, the one manufacturers that grew sooner than us in greenback gross sales have been Tito’s and Hennessy.”
After all, like most rising companies, Skrewball needed to cope with some severe challenges alongside the best way. Within the midst of the model’s growth, the longest authorities shutdown in U.S. historical past floor the method of buying correct labels to a halt. Heading into 2020, the enterprise confronted main manufacturing and bottle shortages that just about bankrupted it. There have been occasions the founders “got here house to no electrical energy as a result of we could not pay the invoice.”
Nonetheless, the Yengs think about these very obstacles the catalyst for Skrewball’s eventual lasting success, explaining that they helped them put together for the pandemic years. Skrewball constructed up a surplus of bottles and dry items late in 2019, and that allowed the corporate to broaden and sustain with demand when world shortages hit.
Hitting the street when many main suppliers stayed house was one other key transfer that boosted the enterprise. “I lived on the street — safely — and personally promoted Skrewball, supporting the bars and eating places that have been open,” Steve says. “It introduced loads of consciousness to Skrewball at a time when few different manufacturers have been current. In 2020, the one manufacturers that grew sooner than us in greenback gross sales have been Tito’s and Hennessy.”
The couple stresses it is not luck that is introduced Skrewball this far, however their refusal to surrender and dedication to listening to the model’s prospects.
“We nonetheless do tastings,” Brittany says. “We have been simply at a market. Holding that suggestions loop to be sure to’re nonetheless related to your buyer, offering them worth and responding to their wants [is important]. It is simple to get behind a desk and overlook about why you are really doing what you are doing.”
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey
“You have got to have the ability to adapt. Adapt to modifications and overcome these obstacles.”
Now, Skrewball is a multimillion-dollar, globally acknowledged spirits model. By March 2023, it felt like the proper time to discover a strategic associate for the enterprise. “My daughters have been rising up, and I did not need to miss it,” Steve says. The founders determined to associate with Pernod Ricard, assured in values that mirrored their very own. The wine and spirits firm acquired a majority stake in Skrewball. The Yengs additionally loved a little bit of a full-circle second: Their model had began with peanut butter in pictures of Jameson, certainly one of Pernod Ricard’s spirits.
The Yengs look ahead to the model’s continued progress — and persevering with to win over any doubters.
 ”[We’re still] proving these skeptics improper,” Steve says. “[When people first hear about it, they’re like], ‘I do not know.'” However then they struggle it, their face lights up, and so they introduce it to a different buddy or member of the family, who usually has the identical response — and it is one which “by no means will get outdated.”
Each Steve and Skrewball beat the percentages they’d ever arrive at this level.  ”Once I caught polio, there’s not a lot that is anticipated of you, particularly in Cambodia,” Steve says. “Once I was in that refugee camp, I bear in mind [wondering] Why? I used to be a wholesome child; all I wanted was one shot, and none of this could have occurred. [But what seems like] an impediment, wanting again, could also be a blessing. You have got to have the ability to adapt. Adapt to modifications and overcome these obstacles.”
