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What do you do next in your career after enjoying a heady run at colorful Lagunitas Brewing? For sizable group of alums of now Heineken-owned NorCal craft mainstay, it's meant a foray into the ice biz. Under name Abstract Ice, a group of nearly a dozen exes have been reinventing the cocktail ice cube biz, offering range of shapes from spheres and diamonds to roses and skulls, often adorned with CNC-etched surface designs - starting with a soccer ball as World Cup mania approaches. Unlike ice cubes produced in-house from molds, Abstract's ice is crystal clear. It's also denser, meaning slower to melt. Based in same town of Petaluma in Bay Area, Abstract Ice by now has proved out concept at elite on-premise venues like French Laundry, Morton's Steakhouse and Soho House and events like Grammy Awards, Emmys and Oscars. Lately it's begun to trickle into retailers like Total Wine, Molly Stone's and Wegmans. It's going live with 50K-sq-ft production facility in Forest City, NC, to augment its original 6K-ft plant in Petaluma. Built in 8 mos, new plant contains 60 proprietary ice makers that can produce 100-120K pieces of ice per day.Leading effort is cofounder/CEO Todd Stevenson, a Diageo/Guinness vet who spent 7 yrs as COO at Lagunitas before launching Abstract Ice in 2020 alongside fellow alum Leon Sharyon, the CFO. In discussion earlier this wk, Todd described concept that had been in gestation since a stint in Japan for Diageo more than 2 decades ago, when he caught "mesmerizing" spectacle of Tokyo bartender shaping a block of ice into a perfectly rendered sphere. Memory stayed with him as, back in States, he witnessed the premium Diageo spirits brands he was flogging routinely poured over "terrible ice" that might be cloudy, misshapen and too quick to melt. When Lagunitas adventure ended with brewer's acquisition by Heineken in 2017, he found himself thinking the time might have come to pursue that ice project. His intent was reinforced by Wall St Jnl article that depicted mixologists chopping down 300-lb blocks of ice with chainsaws to create ice cubes they would sell at 80&cent; apiece. It seemed clear to him that time had come to mechanize the process.That led him on quest to find engineering partners who might bring vision to reality, among them Treetown Tech in Ann Arbor, Mich, his main ice-making partner, and Midwest Machine of Amarillo, Tex. ("We turn napkin sketches into real-world solutions with a battle-tested, multi-disciplinary product development team. Tough challenges? That&#39;s our idea of a good time," promises Treetown's website.) Together they devised proprietary process that creates ingots of very dense yet clear ice that are then configured into cubes or various shapes, reducing to 5 hrs a process that otherwise might take 4 days, and at a price that's "not crazy." It's a continuous improvement process, now on version 7.0. As an added fillip, the co employs computer numerical control (CNC) machining system to create intricate detail on surface of cubes, starting with the soccer ball. Besides the massive plant in NC and the original one in Petaluma, the co also operates small sites in SF and Portland, Ore, to run smaller, customized batches of ice - say, 100 pieces of ice for a wedding.It's a way "to make the cocktail experience as magical as in Tokyo, like zen in a glass," enthused Stevenson, who also drew inspiration from his experience overseeing theatrical draft pours of Guinness with its famous cascade effect. "The importance of presentation always resonated with me," he said.As noted, Abstract Ice team began by cultivating on-premise accts to build awareness among discriminating set of customers, harnessing credibility of its resident mixologist Charles Joly, a James Beard winner who's been only American to win Diageo-sponsored World Class Global Bartending Competition. Bartenders and mixologists seemed primed for an ice upgrade, with Stevenson citing net promoter score of 22% in venues that make their own ice from molds, 47% in those purchasing ice from 3d parties and 95% for Abstract Ice. With Abstract Ice now ensconced in prestige accts and events, it's pushing harder into retail via broadliner KeHe with items like 2-in cubes at $7.99 per 8-pk and 2.35-in spheres at $11.99 per 6-pk. In Calif those customers include Total Wine, Molly Stone's, Nugget Market and Vons/Pavilions. Early East Coast adopters include Wegmans and Hannaford while Sendik's has come aboard in Midwest. Hundreds more doors are coming soon, Todd promised. At retail, Abstract is sold in packaging that protects the ice, even if it's left in the trunk for an hour in summer. It also has DTC biz with fulfillment via partnership with another newcomer to biz, Frozen Logistics, founded in Austin in 2020 and operating Delivered Cold marketplace.Among former Lagunitas colleagues of Stevenson and Sharyon who're on the case are svp sales Jim Randall, dir of natl on-premise accts Cathy Bass and vp ops & engineering Andrew Whalen, some 11 in all, Todd reported.In discussion, Stevenson was guarded about financing, tho he didn't disguise that capital-intensive strategy like this one don't come cheap. At time the plant in Forest City, NC, was announced in 2024, state authorities cited investment there at "more than" $14.7 mil. This past Feb, Stonehenge Capital said it was investing $9 mil in Abstract Ice to support the NC buildout at former foodservice production site. Todd said co currently is in a good place in terms of financial resources.

PROFILE: Lagunitas Alums Find Next Career Chapter Leveraging 'Abstract Ice' to Elevate Cocktails; Pushing Hard into Retail Now

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