This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Zach Malin, senior vice president of business development for Krier Foods.
Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce and Johnson Financial Group last month announced Random Lake-based Krier Foods’ Jolly Good Soda is this year’s Coolest Thing Made in Wisconsin. The craft soda product was chosen as the winner for 2024’s contest after more than 150,000 votes were cast.
“This award is a really big deal for the 100-plus employees that live in small-town Random Lake, Wisconsin that help produce this every day,” Malin said. “So it’s super, super exciting … it’s an amazing brand for the employees to see get recognized on such a large scale in the state of Wisconsin.”
The company’s main business is canning beverages, manufacturing energy drinks for “every brand you can imagine on the store shelf,” he said. The Jolly Good Soda brand was created by the Krier family in 1966, and has been “a small Wisconsin brand that people resonate with” ever since.
Malin shares his experience traveling from Michigan to Wisconsin to accept the award on behalf of Krier Foods, calling it a “humbling” experience.
“When they announced we won, it was like ‘Oh, wow. Was not expecting this,’” he said, adding “hearing Jolly Good Soda across the speakers … was overwhelming.”
He also touts the online buzz around the “iconic Wisconsin brand,” which beat out around 130 other products that were nominated for this year’s award. Following an initial popular vote, finalist companies competed in a bracket-style “Manufacturing Madness” tournament that pitted products against one another in a series of voting rounds.
“The number of Instagram stories, the Facebook messages that we get where people write in and say, ‘I remember my dad would give me fifty cents on the way to basketball practice, and I’d pick up two cherry sodas. One for the way there, and one for the way back,’” he said, adding “it’s those stories that make Jolly Good what it is today.”
Listen to the podcast below, sponsored by UW-Madison:
