The Experts Behind Celebrity Drinks Brands Are Finally Getting a Spotlight

Chandra Richter didn’t start her career journey intending to end up in beverage development. 

“My background is in science. I'm trained with a doctorate in molecular, cellular, [and] developmental biology,” says Richter. “As I was finishing my doctorate and really doing a lot of soul-searching [about] what I wanted to do, I got some great advice from somebody who said to write down everything you love and see what the intersection is. At the time, I was like, this is silly because I love science, I love traveling, and I love food. What possibly could be the intersection of that?” 

That same week, the stars aligned and Richter was contacted by E. & J. Gallo Winery about a molecular biologist role that checked all of those boxes.

Now, a beverage development expert with over 20 years experience under her belt, Richter is head of product development and supply chain for Sprinter, the new canned vodka soda brand founded by media personality and entrepreneur Kylie Jenner.

When Sprinter launched in March of this year, though Jenner was clearly the face of the brand, Richter was often given equal billing in press releases and made guest appearances at launch events as the expertly trained, taste-testing scientist who had developed the product with Jenner.

Though it may seem like we’ve reached peak celebrity beverage status, there’s another tequila, ready-to-drink cocktail, or vodka around the corner with a glossy name attached. But many celebrities aren’t content to just tack their names to products to watch the money roll in. More and more are looking to work directly with the scientists, master distillers, and veteran bartenders who have spent decades in the business. As a result, more of those experts are coming out from behind the scenes to join their celebrity counterparts on the center stage.

How to start a celebrity booze brand

Lynnette Marrero, veteran bartender, cocktail educator, and co-creator of Speed Rack, the all-women bartending competition, was already a notable figure within the drinks industry when she was tapped to partner with Jennifer Lopez on her bottled cocktail brand, Delola, which launched in April 2023.

Considered one of the busiest consultants in the drinks business, Marrero is a perfect collaborator for Lopez, who is known for her intense work ethic. At next week’s Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans, the world’s largest cocktail conference, Marrero’s schedule is packed. The convention will host Speed Rack’s season 12 national finals, she’ll participate in multiple panels, events, and cocktail demos (with Delola served throughout), and host a book signing with co-author Ivy Mix, for their new book A Quick Drink. 

Marrero’s high-profile mixology MasterClass, as well as her established relationships within the industry, positioned her well to join Lopez’s brand.

“[Lopez] was working with Ken Austin and Jenna Fagnan, who are well known for their celebrity brand partnerships and really finding the right kind of people to work with,” says Marrero. “You could see that with their relationship with the Rock [Dwayne Johnson]. The way that they work with celebrities really is in this model of not being an endorsement, but actually a true partner. Somebody who's actually working with them on the brand [is] going to be a real part of the brand. I think that's where the tone starts.” 

Marerro’s early product development process for Delola was similar to Richter’s. Both Jenner and Lopez had very clear ideas about what they wanted to produce but needed the experts to get them there. 

“Kylie spent a lot of time really developing the concept and thinking through the process,” says Richter. “There were already some prototypes and some kind of thought behind the liquid before I became involved. I got to taste some of the things and, ultimately, the prototypes they had just weren't really delivering what was expected.” 

Marrero says that the concept for Delola came out of Lopez’s experience drinking in Italy. “Jennifer was really intrigued by the spritzes that she had there, and [her team was] like, ‘Okay, what cocktails can we do in this style?’ That's when I was brought in,” she says.

For both Richter and Marrero, there was then a lot of back and forth until they got the formula right. 

As a partner of De Soi, the non-alcoholic apéritif brand she co-founded with Katy Perry in 2022, master distiller Morgan McLachlan’s experience was very different from Richter and Marrero’s. 

“I really had already started developing it when we met,” says McLachlan. 

An established distiller and co-founder of Los Angeles-based spirits brands AMASS and the now-closed The Spirit Guild (and one of Food & Wine’s 2022 Drinks Innovators of the Year), McLachlan says that she “started developing De Soi candidly in 2019.” 

The distiller had already been experimenting with alcohol-free products with the release of AMASS’s Riverine and had experience working with botanical-forward, functional beverages with natural adaptogens. When Perry met McLachlan through a mutual friend in early 2020, they were both pregnant and connected immediately.

“She totally got, especially at that time, what was really a new category,” says McLachlan. “So while I hadn't completed product development, I certainly had the general flavor profiles laid out and the brand positioning — where I saw the white space in the market, and not to mention the functional attributes.” 

According to McLachlan, the process was still very collaborative.

“Katy actually does have a very good palate,” says McLachlan. “So in terms of the development of both the product and the brand, I brought her along the whole thing. With our original three flavors, she certainly was tasting them along the way and giving feedback.”

When De Soi launched in 2022, it was clear from the promotional material and photo shoots that both Perry and McLachlan were featured with equal prominence, and that the brand was a partnership. 

“I think that the reason our partnership has worked really well is because this isn't some licensing thing. She's really a partner. She's really invested in what we're doing and really believes in what we're doing, and it's really a part of her,” says McLachlan.

Delola similarly includes Marrero in marketing campaigns and social media content, emphasizing the narrative that these products were developed and tested by a trained professional.

The choice to put a spotlight on these drinks creators has as much to do with the need for consumer transparency as it does with the fact that many distillers and bartenders, and even molecular biologists are now media-trained and familiar with being consumer facing. These qualities make them an easy fit for celebrity brands seeking to portray a sense of legitimacy. 

No matter how media savvy and experienced these experts are, however, many of them wonder exactly how they got here. 

“Never in a million years did I think I would become business partners with an A-list celebrity. That wasn't on the vision board,” says McLachlan. “But I’m so grateful to work with her.”

For Richter, it’s a bit surreal working with one of the world’s most recognized personalities in media. 

“I mean, I'm just a scientist,” she says “My big claim to fame would be speaking at an international meeting about the molecular structure of aroma compounds that derive pineapple flavors. So yeah, this is very new and very fun and very, very exciting.”