Greg Hrinya, Associate Editor03.16.15
Ludlow Cocktail Co., which specializes in a jelly shot designed for cocktail parties instead of frat parties.
“This is not your frat boy Jell-o shot,” says Adam Padilla, CEO and founder of BrandFire.
While eating dinner on Ludlow Street, Estreller used a novel idea to create her own company specializing in jelly shots based on classic cocktails: Fresh Lime Margarita, Meyer Lemon Drop, Old Fashioned, Planter’s Punch and Moscow Mule. These craft cocktail jelly shots are 30-proof, all natural and feature premium packaging.
They are termed "jelly shots," not to be confused with the trademarked "Jell-o shots."
Estreller gained experience as co-founder of Coolhaus, a gourmet desserts company that caters ice cream and has a presence in Whole Foods. Although she did not have a finished product, BrandFire believed that there was a market for her idea.
“The challenge was because they didn’t have a product, we didn’t really have a package to design to,” says Padilla. “They didn’t really have a standardized height for the gelatin cups that they were going to use or the diameter, so we didn’t even really know what form this was going to take. We took a leap of faith and took the client on.”
Temperance Distilling and BrandFire collaborated on a flexible folding carton that stands 6.75" tall. It comes in a hexagonal prism shape and features two-spot coloring: a scaled black and the flavor’s color. Inside the package, there are five individual cups that have a foil top.
In order to help the product stand out on the shelves, the packaging features a window that reveals Ludlows’ product. “The window is a rounded rectangle that gives you an indication to the color of the jelly inside,” explains Padilla. “The window helps you understand that you can look at it at a glance and see there are cups in there with your standard ‘lift here’ foil tabs on the top like any kind of jelly cup. We picked a pantone color on the outside of the box to match and accent the inside and really make it pop.”
The packaging was also designed to give the product easy mobility. “Because there’s no glass and there’s nothing to break, it’s something that you can take to the beach and it’s safe,” adds Padilla. “You can throw one of these five-packs, one of these sleeves here, right into your knapsack and take it with you. So there’s a convenience factor.”
On the corrugated cardboard folding carton, Ludlows used lithographic printing with the two spot colors. On the cups containing the jelly shots, a gravure press was used to print the various information and legal copy on the foil lid.
The company then opted to go with more understated graphics as opposed to using wild and flashy colors. On the Meyer Lemon Drop packaging, Ludlows used a pantone 7405 yellow to contrast with the black panel. On the black panel, white etching details the ingredients. Instead of a gelatin, Ludlows makes its jelly shots with agar gum.
“We did an old-school etching style of an actual photo of a Meyer lemon drop, so you see that glass and the lemon rinds in it, and it’s done in a woodcut old-fashioned way. You have the ingredients called out because we want people to feel familiar with the fact that these ingredients can be pronounced,” says Padilla. “This is a simple, craft formula, so we wanted to underscore that with the side panel.”
Currently, Ludlows cocktails are available in California stores with plans to expand over the next year. The company hopes to gain a presence, both on-premise in places like restaurants and bars and off-premise locations like liquor stores. The jelly shots are also available online.
Ludlows has received positive feedback since the product’s launch. Its presence at trade shows and events has increased the brand’s awareness. “People love this,” says Padilla. “They’ll do events where high-quality food is being served, so these (jelly shots) marry very well with the foodie culture. You see these at events where you have Food Network stars, and that’s the kind of culture they’re tapping into.”
Ludlows is marketing itself to the crowd that would not think twice about traditional Jell-o shots. “They want to do the events where people appreciate finer things, finer tastes and molecular gastronomy,” says Padilla. “That’s a huge thing right now. Anybody who wants to get a buzz, that’s an easy sell, but they understand that if you go for the more expensive palate, the better, more refined palate, and they accept you, it’s kind of easier to go downhill from there and everybody else will appreciate you.”
When consumers think of Jell-o shots, their minds probably do not race to sophistication and class in a mental game of word association. Freya Estreller took the road less traveled and created “This is not your frat boy Jell-o shot,” says Adam Padilla, CEO and founder of BrandFire.
While eating dinner on Ludlow Street, Estreller used a novel idea to create her own company specializing in jelly shots based on classic cocktails: Fresh Lime Margarita, Meyer Lemon Drop, Old Fashioned, Planter’s Punch and Moscow Mule. These craft cocktail jelly shots are 30-proof, all natural and feature premium packaging.
They are termed "jelly shots," not to be confused with the trademarked "Jell-o shots."
Estreller gained experience as co-founder of Coolhaus, a gourmet desserts company that caters ice cream and has a presence in Whole Foods. Although she did not have a finished product, BrandFire believed that there was a market for her idea.
“The challenge was because they didn’t have a product, we didn’t really have a package to design to,” says Padilla. “They didn’t really have a standardized height for the gelatin cups that they were going to use or the diameter, so we didn’t even really know what form this was going to take. We took a leap of faith and took the client on.”
Temperance Distilling and BrandFire collaborated on a flexible folding carton that stands 6.75" tall. It comes in a hexagonal prism shape and features two-spot coloring: a scaled black and the flavor’s color. Inside the package, there are five individual cups that have a foil top.
In order to help the product stand out on the shelves, the packaging features a window that reveals Ludlows’ product. “The window is a rounded rectangle that gives you an indication to the color of the jelly inside,” explains Padilla. “The window helps you understand that you can look at it at a glance and see there are cups in there with your standard ‘lift here’ foil tabs on the top like any kind of jelly cup. We picked a pantone color on the outside of the box to match and accent the inside and really make it pop.”
The packaging was also designed to give the product easy mobility. “Because there’s no glass and there’s nothing to break, it’s something that you can take to the beach and it’s safe,” adds Padilla. “You can throw one of these five-packs, one of these sleeves here, right into your knapsack and take it with you. So there’s a convenience factor.”
On the corrugated cardboard folding carton, Ludlows used lithographic printing with the two spot colors. On the cups containing the jelly shots, a gravure press was used to print the various information and legal copy on the foil lid.
The company then opted to go with more understated graphics as opposed to using wild and flashy colors. On the Meyer Lemon Drop packaging, Ludlows used a pantone 7405 yellow to contrast with the black panel. On the black panel, white etching details the ingredients. Instead of a gelatin, Ludlows makes its jelly shots with agar gum.
“We did an old-school etching style of an actual photo of a Meyer lemon drop, so you see that glass and the lemon rinds in it, and it’s done in a woodcut old-fashioned way. You have the ingredients called out because we want people to feel familiar with the fact that these ingredients can be pronounced,” says Padilla. “This is a simple, craft formula, so we wanted to underscore that with the side panel.”
Currently, Ludlows cocktails are available in California stores with plans to expand over the next year. The company hopes to gain a presence, both on-premise in places like restaurants and bars and off-premise locations like liquor stores. The jelly shots are also available online.
Ludlows has received positive feedback since the product’s launch. Its presence at trade shows and events has increased the brand’s awareness. “People love this,” says Padilla. “They’ll do events where high-quality food is being served, so these (jelly shots) marry very well with the foodie culture. You see these at events where you have Food Network stars, and that’s the kind of culture they’re tapping into.”
Ludlows is marketing itself to the crowd that would not think twice about traditional Jell-o shots. “They want to do the events where people appreciate finer things, finer tastes and molecular gastronomy,” says Padilla. “That’s a huge thing right now. Anybody who wants to get a buzz, that’s an easy sell, but they understand that if you go for the more expensive palate, the better, more refined palate, and they accept you, it’s kind of easier to go downhill from there and everybody else will appreciate you.”