The serial entrepreneur talks the growth of her Mezcal brand Mezcalum and why she’s never bootstrapping a business again.
Erin Lichy is in on the joke. The Real Housewives of New York City star knows that she did not actually bring mezcal to America when she launched mezcal brand Mecalum with her husband Abe Lichy in November 2023. The mom of three—soon to be four—has joined her cast mates, fans, and the internet in poking fun at her widely-lampooned comment from this past season of the Bravo reality show.
But the serial entrepreneur, who has also launched a handbag line, started an interior design firm, and built up a following of more than half a million across Instagram and TikTok, has brought mezcal to plenty of cocktail drinkers, including those who may not have chosen the smoky spirit over tequila before–namely women. Lichy says she saw an opening for a new brand, because she felt like the mezcal industry was not marketing to women.
“I attribute it to the branding,” Lichy tells Inc. “Most of the branding is very ritualistic…lots of skulls, and it makes me feel like—wow—that’s going to have a really heavy smoke, which it typically does.” She adds, “We wanted our bottle to come across the way it tastes.”
That vibe is smooth and clean with a minimalist, beach-inspired label that people are picking up. Mezcalum sold 4,000 cases last year and has a growing presence across the Northeast in liquor stores, restaurants, bars, including the Surf Lodge in Montauk, and swanky members’ clubs like Chez Margaux and Zero Bond. The brand, which bills itself as a sustainably made, better-for-you liquor with no additives, sugars, or GMOs, is the only mezcal available at Citi Field, where the New York Mets play, and launched a partnership with Bartesian, the Keurig-style cocktail marker, earlier this month.
“We’re on a lot of cocktail menus. That’s really exciting to us, because it gives people the ability to actually try the product without having to seek it out,” Lichy tells Inc.
Investors have also been taking notice. The company secured a $1.7 million pre-revenue round before launching. Now, the 12-person team is raising a second funding round with the target of $2.5 million at a $14.5 million valuation. “We learned from our last business that it is much better to get investors than bootstrap the brand and put your own money into it,” says Lichy, referring to herself and her husband. Investors bring critical expertise and advisement, while alleviating some personal risk, she adds. “We want investors, because they give us invaluable direction.”
The Mezcalum co-founder and chief marketing officer knows that spirits is an increasingly crowded, competitive industry, even for celebrity-backed brands. Though, the Bravo star does not consider herself a real celebrity—at least not yet. Perhaps that’s because she’s competing against even bigger household names like the Breaking Bad actors Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul, who started their own mezcal brand Dos Hombres back in 2019.
The Mezcalum team met Cranston at Sun Wine & Food Fest, an event at Connecticut casino Mohegan Sun. Lichy says her co-founder and COO Chris Roth, who leads sales, started teasing Cranston about being his competition. The award-winning actor welcomed the friendly rivarly. Lichy says Cranston became very serious and told them: Please be our competition. Our industry needs it.
“It’s really true that when the category does well, we all do well,” says Lichy. “A lot of mistakes that are made with entrepreneurs or people who are in the public eye is that they hinge the business on the public eye aspect, but not on the actual need of the product.”
While Lichy can control her product’s formula, bottle, and branding, there is one major headwind to business outside even a Real Housewife’s control: tariffs. Earlier this month, President Trump temporarily backed off from his promise to hit Mexican imports with a 25 percent tax. That news came as a relief to Lichy, but the entrepreneur says the policy uncertainty remains top of mind. Mezcalum still has to prepare for the possibility that President Trump’s tariffs threats will become reality.
Lichy’s husband and co-founder, Abe, who is an attorney by training, found “some interesting loopholes” that could somewhat shield the business, she says. “It’s definitely concerning. Everything right now is concerning.”
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