Miami University graduates Phil Walker, Myron Powelson and Ryan Schuman, from the class of 2005, pose in front of their Rio D cachaça in their Chicago office.
While Miami University's business program perennially ranks among the best in the country, few business students have the courage or the resources to start their own business right out of college.
However, for 2005 graduates Phil Walker, Myron Powelson and Ryan Schuman, a senior capstone project paved the way for launching their own liquor brand - Rio D cachaça.
"Basically I was a senior business student at Miami and for my entrepreneurship minor and senior capstone I had to write a business plan," Walker said. "I'd had this drink called 'cachaça' when I was at a Brazilian bar in Amsterdam. When I returned to the States I actually went and looked for it at Oxford Spirits and couldn't find it, and I even went over to Jungle Jim's and couldn't find it so I kind of forgot about it until this project came up."
Walker said cachaça, also known as Brazilian Rum, is its own category of spirits just like vodka, tequila, cognac and gin. The idea for the project was to introduce this new category of liquor to the American market.
"I looked into it and found out that cachaça is the third most consumed liquor in the whole world, it's very popular in Europe, and in Germany behind beer it's the highest ordered drink, but as far as the U.S. it wasn't really here yet," Walker said. "So my group decided to go ahead with the project and put together a pretty well thought out business plan with our own brand, and I had some samples shipped in from Brazil and we made a TV commercial and a semi-functional Web site."
The team not only won the competition but also piqued the interest of some investors, who believed the business plan seemed practical.
"We ended up winning the business project and we got a lot of feedback from all of the judges," Walker said. "Right before I left Oxford I met with an importer and distributer of liquor in Dayton and they all thought it was a really good idea. I started taking it more seriously from there and trademarked the brand name, which is Rio D, short for Rio de Janeiro."
According to Schuman, the product has been extremely well received by the public and the industry since Rio D launched three years ago.
"As far as just general feedback, we really have a one of a kind product in that it's the only flavored Brazilian product in the world; people have never had anything like it and when they try it, they love it," Schuman said. "The biggest thing that we've done is that we've obtained a 92 rating from the Beverage Testing Institute, which is in their excellent category."
According to Schuman, the only barriers faced by the company have been the logistics of distributing the brand across the country due to licensing and changing restaurant menus.
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"We're slowly overcoming those," Schuman said. "This past year we were distributed across seven states and coming into 2010 it looks like we'll at least be doubling our distribution, which will allow us to be received much more as a national brand as opposed to being a regional brand."
According to Walker, Rio D should be back on Ohio shelves in 2010 as well after a brief issue with state licensing.
"We were actually in Oxford Spirits, but we relocated from Atlanta to Chicago about nine months ago, and in that time Ohio ran out of our product," Walker said. "Long story short, we should be back on Ohio shelves early next year."
According to Schuman, Miami students can expect Rio D to have a presence around Oxford starting next year as well.
"We're really excited to get back into Ohio, where it all started," Schuman said. "We'll definitely have a strong presence at Miami doing promotional things starting in 2010."
According to sophomore entrepreneurship major Tate Doolittle, Rio D's success is something to strive for, and a great testament to Miami's business program.
"It's great to hear success stories about this program because it only reaffirms that I'm doing the right thing," Doolittle said. "When it's all said and done I know that my work in this program will lead to my own success."
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