The two founders of ONLY™ Beverages would look at home in the 2018 romcom Crazy Rich Asians and their product – a zero sugar, 80-calorie, 4.5 percent vodka soda – is just the kind of thing buff Henry Golding, his bestie Constance Wu or even the film’s Tiger Mom Michelle Yeoh might favor.

It’s something new for Hong Kong, though, and ex-Goldman Sachs equity saleswoman and Chartered Accountant Flora Ma and her partner, Jonathan Der, formerly a real estate broker with Colliers International, dropped out in 2021 to focus on bringing their idea to market. The journey hasn’t been an easy one, but they have 80 distribution points in Hong Kong, four flavors, and are about to try something brand new – which they are not ready to talk about yet. Here they are in conversation with AmCham HK’s editor Edith Terry about their past and future prospects.

“It was scary for me, but no regrets”

Vancouver natives, Flora Ma and Jonathan Der began to hang out with each other when they moved to Hong Kong. Both were successful millennials – Ma is now 34 and Der 35 – but repressed entrepreneurs. During Covid-19, their mutual instincts for risk and adventure came together.

“Four years ago, we started talking about this business idea. Hong Kong is such a vibrant city. There are so many things to do, and so many drink options. Why don’t we have something that’s more a hard seltzer, fruity but low sugar and low calorie, so you can drink and enjoy yourself, but without feeling heavy and bloated like you do with beer,” says Ma. “This type of drink was quite popular in America and Canada, where we’re from. So, we decided to join forces and start building the business from there. It took us a year to get off the ground. This was all in the middle of Covid-19.”

They launched ONLY™ Beverages in May 2021. Ma dropped out of her job with the Goldman Sachs Group (GS.NYSE). Der was between jobs, after seven years with Colliers International Group Inc. (CIGI.Nasdaq) in Hong Kong. Ma had no intention of leaving her job with Goldman initially and would get together with Der over the weekends to plan. A few months after the launch, however, the business was getting traction, and demanding more of her time. “That was when I had to make a really difficult decision, probably the most difficult decision in my life, to leave my job at Goldman and do this full time,” she says.

Covid-19 played a large role in Der’s decision. “I was at a point in my life where I was like, do I go back to corporate? Or do I take a pretty big risk and become an entrepreneur? Covid was a big part of why I made the decision to do this. Obviously, we also saw a gap in the market. We saw something missing. But to be very honest, it was scary for me, but no regrets. I’m very happy I made the decision.”

Starting from scratch

They used their savings before turning to investors – initially family and friends. Der has also done a roadshow with outside investors. “I just pitched to 40+ potential investors for the first time,” he wrote on his LinkedIn page in June. “I was a bundle of nerves going in but came out feeling confident and happy with my presentation! PS, If you’ve seen a guy around Central lately talking to himself and making dramatic hand movements, that was just me practicing my pitch.”

Like most entrepreneurs, the first step was putting together a business plan, looking at the market size for alcohol, with assumptions based on the market in the United States, then establishing the addressable target market for Hong Kong. Says Ma: “All these things look great on paper, and you go through the exercise of identifying your target consumer. Only as an entrepreneur, you realize that these are all magical imaginary numbers. And you start operating the business and some things turn out well and other things don’t turn out as well. The important fact is to be very fluid, and pivot your business, once you see what works and what doesn’t work.”

They approached developers in different parts of the world to make their product, settling on Australia because it was closer to Hong Kong than the US and had the needed expertise. They are just moving production to Asia, to shorten logistics and shipping times still further. When they started ONLY™ Beverages they were the first to market with ready-to-drink, zero-sugar vodka soda in a can. Now Hong Kong has a rapidly expanding craft beer scene, and there are competitors on the ready-to-drink hard seltzer front as well, ranging from BubbleMe Hard Seltzer with 5 percent alcohol to 4.5 percent gin seltzer distributed by Hard Seltzer HK. But ONLY™ got a jump on the market, with a large off-premise distribution list that includes a collaboration with Shake Shack, the New York-based fast “casual restaurant” chain.

By moving production to Asia, ONLY™ will be able to offer more competitive pricing and introduce the beverage – currently in four flavors – to restaurants and bars, as well as begin marketing outside Hong Kong in Asia-Pacific starting next year.

“Hong Kong was always supposed to be our launchpad,” says Ma. “We live in Hong Kong, and Hong Kong is the epicenter of a lot of activity in Asia. But it’s a challenging market environment for F&B. People are frequently traveling and away. Because economic activity isn’t that great, people are reluctant to spend as well. It’s not as ebullient as before Covid, but we’re still optimistic about what the future holds. We have a lot of exciting things in the pipeline.”

“This type of drink is a very new concept in Asia,” Der adds. “A lot of education needs to be involved with this kind of drink, to convince people to even consider drinking another drink besides what they know, like wine and beer.” They do tastings at City Super Limited in different locations, mainly at the International Finance Center in Central.

“We ask people, why not try our drink? We educate them about what makes us different, what the benefits are, such as the zero sugar, low calories, and no gluten,” says Der. “It’s a fun challenge in Hong Kong. We still have a lot of work to do specifically with the local market. International people like expats, Chinese born overseas or who have studied overseas, they get it. But the mass market takes some time,” says Der.

Closing the deal

So how do you convince people to give it a try? Der answers: “On a personal basis, I have always been a beer drinker. And I find as I get older, I can’t drink as much beer anymore because of the gluten. Gluten makes me feel very full from the beer, right? And when drinking ONLY™ Vodka Soda, there is no gluten. You don’t feel it but you have the same alcoholic percentage as a light beer.”

“And we have different flavors [Tahitian Lime, Yuzu Ginger, Guava Hibiscus and Mango Passionfruit] which add to a new, refreshing experience. Overall, why would you drink this? It’s a new type of experience, a new type of drink. Most people have never tried something like this in Hong Kong and Asia, and there’s no sugar in it. Maybe sometimes you drink these sugary cocktail drinks and have these throbbing sugary hangovers the next day.” Adds Ma, “You can enjoy different drinks for different occasions. Maybe wine is good for one occasion, maybe our drink is good for another. Because our flavors are quite light, it’s very easy drinking, and very easily paired with food.” Ma says it’s also the perfect drink when you’re on a boat or relaxing at home after work, and you want something that is not heavy, is fruity and tastes refreshing.

The pair work full time, although they hire freelance salespeople for some of their tastings. Der does sales, while Ma does marketing and finance. They share logistics and production.

Next up, they say, is another game changer. They won’t share details, but Der says, “When we first launched ONLY™ Vodka Soda we were the first to do it in Hong Kong. What we’re about to release, we’re doing something again that no one in Hong Kong has ever done.” And if you happen to drop by City Super while he is running a tasting, “Come say hi.”Jonathan Der was born and raised in Vancouver, Canada to a Chinese-Canadian father and a Hong Kong-born mother. He moved to Hong Kong in 2012 for a college exchange program at City University of Hong Kong while studying economics at the University of Victoria. Enamoured by the city, Jonathan decided to make Hong Kong his home, and spent eight years working in commercial real estate at Colliers International and Jones Lang LaSalle. An avid sports enthusiast, Jonathan recognized the negative side effects of traditional alcoholic beverages, which led him to explore healthier alternatives and ultimately co-found ONLY.

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