RMBR: Kombucha, reimagined: A new wave of kombucha crafted for daily rituals, not just health kicks.
- KLS
- 7 minutes ago
- 8 min read
For the 247th feature of our "Together Talks" campaign, we collaborated with RMBR and Co-Founders, Jack Joseph and Kiara Tomirotti.
rmbr - re·mem·ber /rəˈmembər/
Standing for real memories. Better rituals. A new wave of kombucha, crafted for daily rituals, not just health kicks. RMBR is a sparkling probiotic tea that skips the vinegar and actually tastes good.
"Together Talks" feature 247: RMBR presented by KLS - Your Trusted Shipping Solutions In The USA
What separates you from your competition? What have been the biggest challenges? Goals for upcoming year + Next phase of the company?
What were your concerns to transition to starting your own business? What aspect of entrepreneurship do you appreciate the most? Share a decision that you made that was detrimental?
Story of how it was created?
This business was honestly inspired by my brother, who struggled with drug addiction for several years. One of the things that helped him the most when he began his recovery journey was developing healthier daily rituals, and one of those rituals became drinking kombucha.
That experience didn’t just change his life—it changed mine and changed our entire family’s life. It also made me realize that the category that helped save him didn’t really look like the people it had the potential to help.
When Jack and I graduated from college—we met at Michigan State—we recognized that we were part of a generation drinking less alcohol and actively looking for better alternatives. Kombucha seemed like a great fit for that shift, but when we looked at the category itself, the products on the shelf didn’t feel approachable.
Most kombucha brands felt vinegary, medicinal, and honestly a little intimidating. The branding often felt overly niche and the flavor profiles were alienating to anyone who wasn’t already deeply invested in the category.
That’s really where the inspiration came from. We started asking ourselves: What if kombucha could actually be craveable? What if it felt modern, social, and approachable to people who had never connected with the category before?
What separates you from your competition?
RMBR is a sparkling probiotic tea brewed with green tea, real botanicals, no vinegary taste, and flavor profiles bold enough to sit next to a cocktail at a dinner party.
We’re not trying to compete for the traditional health-food-aisle kombucha loyalist. Instead, we’re focused on expanding the category itself.
We’re bringing in the soda drinker, the person reducing alcohol consumption, and even people who have never picked up a kombucha before because nothing on the shelf ever spoke to them.
A huge part of our success has come from our flavor profiles, the functional benefits of the green tea caffeine in the product, and the way we use dry herbs and functional botanicals to create something that feels elevated and approachable at the same time.
We’re really trying to redefine what kombucha can feel like for a broader audience.
What have been the biggest challenges?
Jack studied entrepreneurship and supply chain in school, so in some ways his background aligned more naturally with starting a business. But honestly, RMBR itself started almost as a happy accident. It wasn’t originally this massive planned-out vision of what the company would eventually become.
We were right out of college. We had very little money, no real savings, no industry connections, and absolutely no experience in beverage manufacturing or consumer packaged goods.
That was definitely one of the biggest hurdles—having to learn everything from scratch.
At the same time, though, I actually think that lack of resources ended up helping us in a lot of ways because we had no choice but to do everything ourselves. We had to be incredibly scrappy from day one.
That mindset shaped the foundation of the company. When you’re forced to figure things out on your own, you develop resilience very quickly, and I think that mentality still influences how we operate today.
Goals for upcoming year + Next phase of the company?
One of our biggest goals right now is closing our seed round, which will be our first official fundraising round. That’s a major milestone for us.
Beyond that, we’re very focused on driving velocity with our existing customers and growing revenue within the accounts we already have, rather than simply chasing as many new accounts as possible.
We want to go deeper before we go wider.
At the same time, we are actively working toward getting into Whole Foods regionally, along with several other key retail accounts we’ve been targeting.
Operational efficiency is another huge focus for us this year. We’re currently working to identify a manufacturing partner that can help reduce our tolling costs by roughly 18%, which would significantly improve margins and help position us to reach the $5 million revenue mark.
That operational foundation is really what will set us up for the next stage of growth.
We also recently launched with Fresh Market, expanding into 174 stores across 22 states. At the same time, we unveiled a complete brand refresh and new packaging design, which feels like a major evolution for the company.
This rollout represents a really exciting new chapter for us because it reflects not only our retail growth, but also the maturation of the brand itself.
What were your concerns to transition to starting your own business?
I was right out of college and still living at home when we started, so honestly, I didn’t feel a tremendous amount of fear in the beginning. When you’re starting from scratch, it almost feels like there’s less to lose.
But one thing I definitely thought about was whether or not I’d eventually be able to create a sustainable living—not just for myself, but ultimately for both of us and eventually for the families we hope to have one day.
In the early stages of a small business, you often can’t pay yourself. Reaching the point where the business could finally support us financially was definitely a challenge.
At the same time, we were extremely grassroots from the beginning. We didn’t raise massive amounts of money upfront, so we weren’t dealing with the same pressure that comes with large amounts of outside capital. Our challenges were different.
Another major concern was product-market validation.
We believed deeply in the product, but there’s always the question of whether people outside your immediate circle will connect with it in the same way. Friends and family will often support you because they love you—but that’s very different from real market validation.
That’s why we intentionally started locally and focused on building 50 to 100 food-service accounts in our own backyard first.
Coffee shops and restaurants became our starting point because the barrier to entry was lower, and consumers are naturally more open to trying something new when they’re already out spending money.
That strategy gave us real-time product feedback and helped validate that people genuinely connected with what we were building.
What aspect of entrepreneurship do you appreciate the most?
I actually worked in corporate right out of college for a few years before transitioning into the business full time.
One of the biggest challenges in that transition was adapting to a completely different structure. In a corporate environment, you have managers, set schedules, clear KPIs, and a framework that largely dictates your day.
When I transitioned into entrepreneurship, I suddenly had to create all of that structure myself.
You wake up every day and decide what matters most. There are no defined working hours, which often means you end up working all the time.
That adjustment took me a while. Luckily, Jack had never gone the corporate route, so he was already accustomed to operating in that kind of self-directed environment, and he helped me a lot with learning how to structure my days.
But despite the challenges, what I appreciate most now is how fulfilling the work feels.
Before, work was primarily about stability and income. Now, I genuinely enjoy my days. I feel connected to the mission behind what we’re building, and there’s a real sense of purpose in the work.
For me personally, that’s been the most rewarding part.
For Jack, the biggest thing has been the autonomy—the ability to directly influence our own future and create something meaningful on our own terms.
Another incredibly rewarding aspect has been the community we’ve built throughout this journey. The CPG industry is full of amazing people, and through this business we’ve formed relationships throughout Chicago and far beyond.
Those connections and that sense of community have been incredibly fulfilling for both of us.
Share a decision that you made that was detrimental?
I wouldn’t necessarily say this was a “bad” decision, but it’s definitely something we learned a lot from.
One thing I always tell other founders is to be extremely thoughtful about bringing friends and family into the business.
At first, it can feel like the perfect situation. You get to work with people you love, and they’re excited to support your vision. But those relationships require very clear communication and boundaries.
We’ve been fortunate in that it hasn’t gone badly for us, but we’ve definitely learned that it’s more complicated than people expect. Just because someone is family or a close friend doesn’t automatically mean working together will be easy.
I’ve seen situations with other founders where those relationships became very strained, so that’s something I always encourage people to think carefully about.
From my perspective, one thing I wish we had done differently was investing more heavily into the brand from the very beginning.
Over time, I’ve realized just how important branding really is. The brands that resonate today create an entire universe around themselves—a strong community, a visual identity, and an emotional connection people want to be part of.
In the beginning, we didn’t fully understand that. We started with the bare minimum because that’s all we could afford.
I’m grateful for that process because it taught us so much and allowed the company to grow organically. I honestly wouldn’t trade that journey for anything.
But if I were starting over, I would invest much earlier into building a fully realized brand ecosystem with stronger assets, cleaner organization, and a more cohesive identity from day one.
Do you have a moment that brings you the most joy?
For me, the most meaningful moment was when Kiara was finally able to join the company full time.
From the very beginning, she was my biggest supporter. I may have initiated the business, but she played a huge role in shaping the brand from the earliest days—helping fill bottles, building the identity, and supporting every stage of the process.
For a long time, she was essentially a co-founder without the title.
Being able to bring her out of the corporate world and work together full time on something we’re both deeply passionate about was incredibly special.
That moment made everything feel real in a completely different way.
What is new?
We just launched with the Fresh Market,174 stores across 22 states.
We also just came out with a brand new packaging. We just did a brand refresh.
Piece of Advice
Have fun. At the end of the day, it’s really about the journey, not just the destination.
That advice sounds simple, but it’s incredibly true. If you’re only focused on the end goal, you’ll burn yourself out very quickly.
Entrepreneurship is filled with constant ups and downs—sometimes multiple in the same day—and you have to learn how to ride those waves while still finding joy in the process.
Find the moments worth celebrating wherever you can.
Another important lesson is understanding that there’s never just one path to success. Don’t become hyper-fixated on one specific outcome or one exact version of how things are supposed to happen.
If you’re too attached to a single outcome, you risk feeling disappointed when life takes you somewhere unexpected.
Be open to different versions of success. Stay flexible. Sometimes the opportunity you ultimately achieve looks very different from the one you originally imagined—and that can end up being an even better thing.
Promo Code
Purchase from their site, RMBR, use promo code:
KLS10 -> 10% off!
In Closing
KLS wants to thank RMBR and Co-Founders, Jack Joseph and Kiara Tomirotti, for today's "Together Talks" feature. Follow along for their journey with their social handles below!