Today we’d like to introduce you to Nour Abusaad.
Hi Nour, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
I’ve been in the beverage industry for over 15 years now. In high school/college, I worked at my uncle’s Smoothie Factory in Richardson, Texas, making the standard smoothies but always creating all types of different mixes. After college at SMU, I worked for Dr. Pepper Snapple Group in Plano, Texas for about 8 years before switching to work for Red Bull the last 4 years.
I’ve always had a passion for beverages and during family/friend gatherings, I’d always make some unique or new mocktail recipes for everyone to try as my contribution to the party. One day sitting all together with my family, who are in the wedding/event industry as DJ’s and vendors, they brought up a recent wedding they were at that had mobile Chai Carts and Coffee Carts for all the guests. That’s when my brother-in-law suggested I should make my drinks in the same capacity. I’ve always had goals of a storefront or bottling a drink but saw high risk in those avenues and saw this suggestion as a low-risk option to see if there could be success.
I realized quickly that there is a market out there of people like me that do not consume alcoholic beverages for various reasons and that the options given at events are pretty limited. Wanting to have a differentiating factor and to showcase me as the brand because of my past beverage experience, I developed different secret ‘Sauce’s’ that I add into my mocktails. With my last name being ‘Abusaad,’ I decided to brand it as ‘Abu Sauce,’ which ‘Abu’ in Arabic means ‘Father of’ or slang for ‘The Best At.’
I decided to take some time to build out my plan on pursuing this and ended up launching July 4th weekend in 2022. I had low expectations on how this would play out, and I’m super thankful with the response from my community and the support we were given. I imagined being hired to only weddings and engagements, and now 8 months in, thankfully I have done grand openings, corporate events, house parties, and conventions.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
It definitely has been a great learning experience overall. Some of things I didn’t realize is the learning curve for most people on not knowing what a ‘Mocktail’ was. In addition, many people not knowing that Red Bull is one of the largest mixers used in mixed drinks. Although the brand started in the bar/club atmosphere, it doesn’t have to include alcohol. There are other challenges I’ve faced in regards to operations, prep, and marketing on social media, but having a great support system, especially my wife, has been extremely helpful in getting through them.
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I graduated with an Engineering degree from SMU in 2009 and received my MBA from DePaul in 2017 and have I’ve been working in the Beverage space for about 15 years. I’ve been working in the Insights field throughout most of my time using data and analytics to create fact-based selling stories looking at all types of trends. It’s essentially using a mixture of art and science to visually sell on various concepts in the beverage world. I am a person that loves problem-solving, and this career provides that for me. With so much data in the industry to use, what sets me apart is my experience and technical skills gained from my past to able to visualize data in a digestible manner to become a strong storyteller. Understanding these different trends from Sales to Shoppers to Flavors assists me in Abu Sauce Mocktails and what I provide to all the consumers.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
Having a mentor has been very rewarding to me. I’ve been fortunate and learned a lot from them. My advice is to be confident if you have someone in mind that you wanted to learn from and network with. Always keep an open mind when it relates to feedback and advice. Sometimes people are myopic when it comes to approaches with their jobs or roles and can get complacent, so allow for feedback that can possibly help you grow.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abusaucemocktails/
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@abusaucemocktails
Image Credits
Riz Zaheer
