Culinary Creatives Chat: SUPLMNT
“Seeing is believing—and I think that people are starting to realize that this is a really dope category.”
By EatOkra
updated on 08 Oct, 2024
When Jairus Morris first came up with the idea to launch his water bottle brand, SUPLMNT, not everyone shared his vision. “People were like, ‘water bottles, bro? Start a t-shirt business or a hat business or…whatever.’”
But the first-of-its-kind Black-owned insulated water bottle wouldn’t have existed had its founder listened to the skeptics.
“It [required] a lot of self-confidence in the beginning to actually believe in the bigger picture,” says Morris about the growing brand he launched in 2021 after a long standing professional background in sales. “I was like, ‘Y‘all just don't get it yet. But you will—eventually.’”
The obvious next question was, “Do they get it now?” Morris definitely thinks so. It didn't take Morris’ target demographic long to get on board with a water bottle inherently putting Black consumers at the forefront. To inspire bottle designs, Morris draws inspiration from sneaker culture, with the hope that vibrant, relatable artwork atop innovative vessels inspires the community to drink more water.
In the early stages of fleshing out SUPLMNT, Morris had been told during a doctor’s appointment that he was severely dehydrated. He wasn’t alone. “I started this during the heart of the pandemic, when the urban community was being the most affected—because of high blood pressure, diabetes, all these different things,” says Morris. “But all of this is deeply rooted in, initially, just not drinking enough water.”
Morris spoke to EatOKra about how he first identified the lucrative business opportunity, how he keeps SUPLMNT’s mission top of mind as it scales, and the upcoming brand moves he’s most excited about, including an EatOkra x SUPLMNT activation at the upcoming Culinary Creatives Conference.
On identifying the industry gap that led to SUPLMNT
I stumbled across the insulated water bottle industry by accident. I was selling items on Amazon, and I had discovered a whole category that was doing like 40,000 units a month on Amazon. I had never heard of the brand (it was Hydro Flask at the time). So, I asked a bunch of different people, “Have you heard of this brand?” And of course, I'm asking Black and Brown people, people within my circles, and none were using those bottles. Then, I looked at their marketing and their websites and their social media, and I realized they just weren't intentionally marketing to the urban community at all. So I'm like, “Oh, this is why I've never heard of them, because they don't look at us as their customers." That's when I had an aha moment. I did further research on a bunch of other brands that were in this space, and all of them were geared toward the same group. Seeing that Hydro Flask sold for $200-something million dollars, I knew that the business was lucrative.
This is an extremely high-value category. People will be buying insulated water bottles and reusable cups because of things like microplastics and all these new studies coming out. Seeing is believing—and I think that people are starting to realize that this is a really dope category.
On the significance of the brand name, SUPLMNT
Water is the body's most important supplement. So that's how I came up with the name. We like to push health and wellness, but the beverage industry is who we are; we want to make sure everybody's drinking water. That's the tip of the iceberg when it comes to changing your lifestyle: it’s first being intentional about what you're putting in your body and making sure you're properly hydrated. There's a lot of severely dehydrated people out there. They don't even know it. The mission is to not only give you the coolest bottles with the sleek stuff to match with your outfit, but also have that deep, underlining mission to make sure you drink your water.
On the process of designing bottles
It’s a cool thing dealing with industrial designers, because I feel like they’re probably the most brilliant people in the world. We tried to figure out how to have elements that would easily resonate with the culture. For me, growing up [in Philly], I know that sneaker culture is a huge thing. Everybody loves some fresh kicks. So, the bottom of [this model we did for Air Max Day for Nike] is a replica of a Jordan 1. We also did shoe-string carrying loops, so you can walk around with your bottle super comfortably. The string can be any color. We also did this gritty texture on the lid to represent the blacktops. Our blocks logo that represents the city blocks we all grew up on is on the top of every single bottle. We’ve [designed] a lot of elements to make it this sleek, cool thing that adds value to your everyday life.
On past collaborations and growth opportunities
We've done so many—Warby Parker, Adobe, Google, Adidas. Probably, my favorite one that we did was with Paper Planes. We just got into The Athlete's Foot, the sneaker store in Atlanta, like, literally, Friday; our bottles just launched in there.
With this EatOkra collaboration, we’re [connecting with] a whole different group —[food and beverage people]. I'm just excited and interested to see how everything goes, how we’ll be received, and to be around a whole new group of people we're not typically around.
On exciting upcoming launches
We are going to come out with more items, including the kids bottles, ones that fit inside of cup holders. And, of course, more colors. We're going to keep trying to get into as many retailers as possible. That's what's on the horizon!
You've got to "C" it to believe it. Our ongoing #CulinaryCreativesChat series is a virtual space to empower Black food entrepreneurs through testimonies from thriving industry peers.
