Mocktails with Marina

Mocktails with Marina is a weekly business podcast for owners and operators in the kava and non-alcoholic industry: kava bars, non-alcoholic bars, sober lounges, booze-free bottle shops, functional beverage brands, and everyone building something in this space, whether you sell by the shell, the bottle, or the hour.

I'm Marina Castillo, founder of The Modern Mocktail and a consultant to kava and non-alc businesses. I'm sober, I'm a mom, and I've worked almost every job this industry has. I've been a kavatender, a bar manager, a menu developer, an event producer, and a fractional COO for a multi-location kava bar company. I founded the Arizona Kava Coalition, I hold a Thought Leader designation from the Global Kava Coalition, and since 2014 I've helped more than 1,000 businesses open, grow, and in some cases franchise.

I'm also the customer this industry was built for. I don't drink, my favorite nights out are at kava bars, and I buy the products my clients are trying to sell. When I give advice, I'm giving it from both sides of the counter.

My husband Tyler and I run our business as a family, and God is with us in all of it. We cap our working hours and built the company so it doesn't need us on call. We make decisions based on lifestyle richness, which for us means owning every hour of our time and keeping room for our son, each other, and the work we want to do. I want that for you too, alongside a business that actually makes money.

Every episode is built around one shift in how you think. Most of the problems I see in this industry start in the owner's head long before they show up in the books.

Some episodes are pure small business strategy: operations, hiring and training staff, leadership, menus, pricing, marketing, events, and building a business that runs without you. Others are about what I'm living through, like pregnancy, loss, birth, motherhood, and sobriety. Both are on purpose. It's hard to take advice from someone you don't know, and the personal episodes are where you see how I actually make decisions.

Pull up a chair. When you're ready for the operating system behind everything I teach, find Bula Boss at marinamars.com/bulaboss.