Meet Our Recipients - Five by Five Tonics

The concept of the Seed Fund is to provide emerging entrepreneurs with small investment that propels them forward.  While the capital is important, mentoring and intellectual support has proven to be the valuable components to this program. 

Five by Five Tonics Co. was founded in October of 2012 with the goal of ushering in a new generation of cocktail bitters and tonics by offering truly handcrafted and quality products.  While these products have been a part of cocktail culture since the cocktail was born, these small additions to a drink remained in the shadows for the better part of the 20^th century.  The goal is to change the face of these products by introducing quality and craftsmanship.  Five by Five Tonics uses only natural fresh and dried botanicals in their recipes.  There are no artificial colors, extracts, flavors.  Each batch is produced entirely by hand in small batches here in Chico, CA.

Five by Five Tonics Co. was founded by Jesse Smith L.Ac.  Jesse received his graduate training in Chinese medicine and is a practicing acupuncturist and herbalist.  He developed this company out of his training as an herbalist and his recognition of the medicinal history that lies in each bottle of cocktail bitters.  Through his training in herbology he developed a sense for the “personality” of specific botanicals and the methods and techniques for properly blending them.  Five by Five Tonics is the first bitters company founded by an herbalist. 

What started as an interest and hobby is now a company that has moved from its industrial warehouse to a storefront with a tasting room.  Five by Five Tonics received an investment of $6,950 from the 3CORE Business Vitality Seed Fund and has utilized accounting mentoring as well as other resources to continue to grow.  Just recently, Five by Five was featured in the local magazine Edible Shasta (click here for the article) and even more impressive Real Simple Magazine (click here for the article).

Jesse commented, “Initially I would have to say that having a more fluid cash flow picture was the biggest benefit, but actually having the knowledge that an outside organization like 3CORE has shown faith and support of my company has been the biggest benefit.  It feels like I have ‘players on my team’.”

For more information on Five by Five Tonics, please visit them at www.fivebyfivetonics.com
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