Daily Inspiration: Meet Zackery Smith

Today we’d like to introduce you to Zackery Smith.  

Hi Zackery, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
Lively Up Kombucha’s roots come from our (Brenna and I’s) appreciation for Lively Up started in Muskegon, Michigan in 2017 as a way to be involved in our community through selling our kombucha tea at our local farmers market; what was once thought to be a temporary side hustle soon became a product with demand greater than we personally envisioned. 

It all started in 2015- when Brenna and I first discovered that kombucha could be so much more than a beverage. At the age of 19, we moved out to the Hawaiian Islands and became fascinated with Hawaiian culture. Another aspect of Hawaii that we fell in love with was the literal kombucha bars scattered about the island. It was amazing to be able to walk into an N/A bar and drink from a tap list of numerous kombucha flavors, each crafted using Hawaiian fruit & herbs. It was unlike anything we’d ever seen before, especially since we were native Michiganders from a city known for their beer tent and biker parties. Becoming more inspired by the day, we decided to move back home to Muskegon County and bring some of the Aloha spirits back home with us! At the time, the only kombucha you could find in Michigan stores was highly commercial/big box brand kombucha that was extremely high in sugar. There wasn’t much of a market for niche local brands at the time. We began home brewing kombucha as a hobby, and as our SCOBY cultures grew, we began to grow out of our home kitchen and decided to take the leap and open the lakeshore’s first kombucha brewery! 

To this day our vision remains the same as it did back in our home brewing days- to provide Michigan with affordable, low-sugar kombucha that can be beneficial to all! 

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I definitely wouldn’t say it’s been a smooth road. There have been a ton of bumps, dead ends, and unexpected challenges. When we first started Lively up, we were brewing in a shared rental kitchen, fermenting our kombucha in a closet at the facility! When we were finally able, we moved into a 1,000-square-foot ice cream shop, during which we were still delivering our kombucha entirely out of the back of our old car, set to break down at any moment. We were going door to door and making connections with other entrepreneurs along the way, which helped keep us motivated to push through during some of the darker moments. We learned to bootstrap, maximizing our money by learning to do things ourselves. We actually built our first bottling machine out of some 2×4 planks of wood! We also built our own walk-in cooler, which we used an air conditioner unit modification to keep it refrigerated. There are so many challenges that we have faced over the last five years, and to this day we still find challenges with our growth. Looking back, though, the challenges we’ve endured have made for some incredible learning lessons and character-building. We wouldn’t have such a strong company now if it wasn’t for facing some of those challenges along the way. By sticking through the tough moments, we have been able to remain 100% family-owned as well! 

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Brenna and I actually never went to college or developed any special skills to create this business. Lively Up Kombucha was created when we were both 21, as we were just beginning to figure out who we were individuals. We both started this business out of a passion for bettering our community, which led to us doing so much of our own research on how to run a company correctly. I think that in and of itself is what sets us apart from others; the fact that we have been able to successfully run this business with no formal training but allowing ourselves to learn along the way. This also includes learning from past mistakes too! 

We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
If there was anything we learned from the pandemic, it was that communities need to stick together! There was a great sense of support from those around us when the Covid-19 pandemic was in full force. Our friends & customers felt the call to continue to support us and other small business alike, which helped us all to thrive in those dark months. We, too, worked to adapt to the rapid changes happening at that time by offering home delivery services for our kombucha! This was pivotal for those with compromised immune systems to be able to continue to drink kombucha while staying at home. 

Contact Info:

• Website: www.livelyupkombucha.com
• Instagram: livelyupkombucha
• Facebook: livelyupkombucha