Ben & Stephen Joffer of Jelly Belly Sparkling Water: Inside the Bold Flavor Strategy to Shake Up the Beverage Industry

As a part of our series about business leaders who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Ben & Stephen Joffer.

Stephen Joffer is Co-Founder of Joffer Beverage Company, and his responsibilities include sales, marketing, team building and overall strategy. Stephen lives in Southern Oregon where the company is based and enjoys fly-fishing, reading and community involvement. Previously, he was a Junior High Pastor and continues ministering in a volunteer capacity at his local church.

Ben Joffer is Co-Founder of Jelly Belly Sparkling Water specializing in corporate sales. He enjoys spending outdoor time with his wife Amy and their two daughters Reese and Mia. When he’s not making sales calls, participating in athletics or telling jokes, ben likes to spend time flyfishing Southern Oregon’s rivers. He is part of the 6th generation of the Jelly Belly Candy Company family business.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

Stephen: Growing up in a business family, I think calculating margin was one of the first things I learned alongside my ABC’s. Living in that ecosystem you pick up terms, concepts and strategies essential to being a successful entrepreneur that I didn’t realize until I went to business school. It gave me a great foundation for my education when I studied business at Biola University in Los Angeles. Upon graduation, I worked as a middle school pastor until the idea for Jelly Belly Sparkling Water was formed. I was so eager about the idea that I was the first to quit my job and go full time into the beverage company.

Ben: I had a very strange career path leading up to this point. I was big into sports in school, where I gained a love for competition and hard work. In college, I worked for three summers guiding raft trips, where I learned to love adventure and charting a new path. After graduation, I went into Real Estate Sales for five years, which were very successful. I’m a big people person, I love meeting new people, building relationships and having fun. But when the opportunity came up to work with my family to grow the Jelly Belly brand that I love so much, I was very excited to jump right in and learn a new career. Jelly Belly has always been such a big part of my life and I’m also passionate about being healthy so creating Jelly Belly Sparkling Water is a dream come true for me.

Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?

The most significant differentiation between the many sparkling water brands is flavor. And so, the king of flavor will be the king of the category, and we want to take a bold approach to get there. Jelly Belly offers unique, powerful and iconic flavors that other brands do not have. We perfectly matched the flavors of our jelly beans and the taste is really unbelievable. We hear all the time “This is the best sparkling water I’ve ever had.” And who else can make flavors like Chocolate, Juicy Pear, French Vanilla, Orange Sherbet and Very Cherry. These are all iconic Jelly Belly flavors and unique to the category.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

We made many mistakes in launching this brand, but the most obvious was that we were too conservative in our initial flavor offerings. On the advice of others, we launched the company featuring pink grapefruit, lemon-lime, and tangerine, common flavors across the industry. We then pivoted our strategy to lean into our family’s successful heritage in candy by introducing unique and innovative flavors such as Juicy Pear, French Vanilla, Orange Sherbet, Very Cherry, Watermelon and most recently Chocolate. It’s clear to us that consumers are looking for something different and unique in the category and expect that from the Jelly Belly brand.

We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?

No one gets anywhere in life or business without some guidance and mentorship. We have been very blessed to have some incredible business minds within our family who’ve served as mentors. Our Father, Andy, was the genius who originally came up with the idea for flavored sparkling water and still provides his insights. During our family gathering in 2019 where we came up with the idea, he was the one who brought Jelly Belly and Sparkling Water together. Of course, my grandfather, Herm, has been an incredible help through the journey. We sat down with him for a whole weekend and drilled into the numbers. He provided valuable insights, and it was a great exercise for us to see where we stood. Now we know our financials well, which is essential to any successful entrepreneurial enterprise.

In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?

First, know your industry. Know everything about it and how each step works and why companies are doing what they are doing. In our case, we are disrupting a multi-billion industry by providing a unique and superior product experience. However, we don’t need to disrupt the manufacturing or distribution process. In the manufacturing and distribution process we have taken the stance, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Once you’ve mastered the key drivers that impact your industry, you can begin to identify areas of the business that need to be optimized. Those are the focus areas where you seek to find solutions. Solutions are disruptors.

Can you share five of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.

1. Quality is a word we have always used with great emotion — Our grandfather says this on a video played on every Jelly Belly factory tour. It reminds us that this is not just a business, but a passion. This has been part of our family’s DNA for generations and will remain a cornerstone of our family business.

2. Stay Focused. — Entrepreneurs are inherently curious and can sometimes get distracted. We are no different, and collectively have a thousand new ideas a day, but we understand the need to stay focused. Due to the success of Joffer Beverage, new opportunities have been brought to us from other large companies. However, we limit our involvement to stay focused. If we are spread too thin, then nothing will truly get done.

3. Hire thoroughbreds, not donkeys — This is a Dave Ramsey quote which emphasizes the importance of building a top-notch team. We have already hired a fantastic national director of sales and are continuing to build a team of other thoroughbreds throughout the business.

4. Take care of yourself — For the longevity and health of the businesses we must take good care of ourselves as leaders. We prioritize our health and wellbeing so that we can be effective and execute in the business. If you don’t take the time for exercise, eating healthy and relationships then eventually you will burn out.

5. Stay humble — If at any point we think that no one can teach us anything, then the collapse has begun. We constantly learn, listen and engage so that all of our strategy and decisions are as effective as possible. Pride will kill an organization.

We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?

Ben: Well as you can imagine Jelly Belly has a huge runway of flavors for us to explore. I could list at least 10 flavors right now that we’ve already successfully turned into a sparkling water… And most of them are completely unique to the Jelly Belly brand. We can’t wait to launch them.

Do you have a book, podcast, or talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us? Can you explain why it was so resonant with you?

Tim Keller is a thinker from NYC whose book, “Every Good Endeavor” has provided us with a framework on how to view work in its proper place in our lives. Being entrepreneurs, it is easy for our businesses to become all consuming, almost taking over our identities. This tends to drive us to overwork and abandon other responsibilities in order to make sure the business succeeds. Hustle culture within start-ups is a prime example of this tendency. On the flip side, work is frequently degraded as a drudgery. Something to escape from as soon as possible. However, Tim’s perspective on work shows the goodness, necessity and meaning of work without allowing it to rule our lives and become our identity. I would recommend every businessperson to read this book so that they can have a wholistic view of business, work and life.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

Don’t be an idiot. — Said by Michael Scott and Dwight Shrute in The Office. When you work with family it’s a bit of a balance. You need to be able to challenge one another and confront one another but not let anything wear down the family relationships. Humor is key to not taking ourselves so seriously during these moments, and some of the funniest business quotes to us are found in The Office, which has become a family favorite.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

We believe that it is through business innovation that many of the great developments in society have also been created. The system we live in incentivizes and rewards those who serve their neighbors with what will make their lives easier or more enjoyable. Therefore, the thing that will do the most good for the most people is true entrepreneurship. Starting quality businesses is the most effective way to bring good to the most people.

How can our readers follow you online?

You can follow us on Instagram @jellybellysparklingwater.

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!