Meet Carly Erickson of Boro Beverage

Today we’d like to introduce you to Carly Erickson. Them and their team share their story with us below:

Boro Beverage started out as a hobby and grew sustainably through demand! When owner, Carly Erickson attended a Sustainable Agriculture program she found herself working on various farms in the community of Pittsboro. During that time learning about growing methods and the local foodshed, she also worked at farmers’ markets. At the end of the day, lots of unsellable produce was being left to go to waste which was disheartening. Carly started to learn about food preservation in efforts to create value-added products to lessen waste and provide consumable and potentially sellable food items. Starting with canning this journey led her to fermentation. Practicing with vegetable ferments eventually Carly discovered kombucha, a fermented tea using simple ingredients and creating a delightfully refreshing and healthy beverage that was extremely versatile. She started flavoring kombucha with local produce working her way through the seasonal abundance. Fast forward, Carly started developing a niche product that was found nowhere locally and set out to fill an uncharted demand in the market. Essentially the first kombucha company in NC, Carly started to take this endeavor more seriously and began working out of a commercial kitchen while selling at area farmers’ markets. She started with large growler bottles which were reusable and her customers could bring back, establishing a customer base. After a couple years of trials and errors, Carly incorporated from a sole proprietorship to an LLC in 2017 and started selling wholesale. Being a mission-driven business, she aligned herself with vendors that had similar missions. Committed to local products, supporting area farmers and sustainable practices, and being socially responsible working with various local nonprofits specifically around building the local foodshed and supporting community members with food insecurities. As wholesale grew the need for more space was inevitable. In late 2018 Boro Beverage secured a space in downtown Chapel Hill and installed an onsite kitchen to support their production needs. Since the location was central to many businesses and neighborhoods a retail space was also built out to allow customers to visit on-site and consume the products as well as sell other local items. Wholesale still remains the primary source of revenue which inevitably has led Boro to work with a distributor. This year Boro signed on with Happy Dirt in Durham to help spread their products around the state. 

Boro continues to be 100% woman-owned and community-focused. They currently have a project called This Will Help which offers kombucha in two flavors where sales go directly to families dealing with hardships around immigration in our area. This Will Help can be found at Weaver Street Market. Additionally, Boro has become a 1% for the planet company to give back and is on the board for the Good Foods Association. 

Boro is in the name. Committed to all the “Boro’s” in our area. Supporting community, raising awareness, and committed to quality through local, uncompromised ingredients! So, drink up! It’s local culture in a glass! 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Smooth as gravel! There is no such thing as an easy road in entrepreneurship, and a true entrepreneur knows this! It is all about risks. Some calculated some vision led. Needless to say, though, if you love what you do then getting back up from these struggles is all part of the journey that you love. Sometimes the challenges are small but they feel like mountains because being an entrepreneur can be lonely. The biggest thing is finding a support network that understands these struggles and can relate. sometimes all we need is validation. Covid definitely presented its own set of challenges with the economy but we learned to pivot with the change and have come out stronger than before with lots of new opportunities. We just didn’t give up. When things got really hard and I was unsure what to do I always brought myself back to the same thought, “if you are done and stop than it’s just all over.” Simple yet I could always find the truth from this and the truth was I’m not done yet. When I was in my early stages I also joined an entrepreneur accelerator program called LAUNCH Chapel Hill that helped me scale and prioritize my business needs. I also joined other business groups, the chamber, gained counseling through my local SBA office. 

Majority of the struggles were day-to-day logistics, delegating tasks, identifying your strengths and passing on the things you don’t excel at to others, and prioritization. Another struggle is with your own self. Being able to make boundaries and learning the art of saying no. Most entrepreneurs don’t have one business or just one idea. They have many and sometimes so Manny it can be hard to focus in on the things that do well because you get excited about new things. I found people to place in my corner who will hear my ideas but then be able to pull my kite strings when I needed it. 

We’ve been impressed with Boro Beverage, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Boro Beverage is known for their line of kombucha sold throughout the triangle of NC. We source all our ingredients locally and never compromise our quality. We also sell mixers in our store and currently growing our brand through more brand development and awareness. Our biggest goal from the beginning is to be the number one nonalcoholic alternative drink of choice in your community. We want to be your go-to at the local brewery, coffee shop, and co-op. 

Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
Mentorship through SBTDC, Launch Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership, and the chamber of commerce have all been fantastic resources for us. Additionally, we began besties with other local businesses with similar values and missions as well as female-owned companies creating an alliance. These are the people you want in your corner. I have mentors I can or show up to their place with questions, tears, smiles, and hugs and it is always receptive. 

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: borobeverage.com
• Instagram: borobeverage
• Facebook: borobeverage

Image Credits
Shannon Kelly
Stacey Sprenz