It was 2022, the middle of a pandemic. Josh Mendenhall was at home working when his lightbulb-over-the-head idea arrived.
He looked at the two drinks he had nearby, a chocolate milk and an energy drink. Why didn’t caffeinated chocolate milk exist yet? And why couldn’t he be the person to make it a reality?
Mendenhall had already worked at two Utah-born companies, Entrata and Pattern, helping build Entrata’s brand before taking Pattern’s team from a singular creative — himself — to one with 25. He was coordinating daily with videographers, copywriters, producers and project managers. For the seven-plus years he was there, they developed the talent and know-how necessary to produce all their creative assets in-house. That was his world.
“And I felt like I could do this thing,” Mendenhall says. “I could create a brand.”
While still working full-time at Pattern as the company’s chief creative officer, he started building out his caffeinated chocolate milk brand idea on nights and weekends, mocking up logos on cans and creating a website. He called it Spylt.
A bold brand and authentic storytelling
Poking around on LinkedIn looking for local dairy farmers led Mendenhall to connect with Dairy West and the Dairy Farmers of America, allowing him to learn a lot about milk, including the best ways to pitch a business idea within the dairy industry. When he learned of a contest called NY MilkLaunch, “an innovative dairy product accelerator driving milk and milk-based product consumption for Generation Z (ages 10-23) with a focus on sustainability, commercialization, and diversity,” according to its website, he wanted to take part.
Entering the contest meant he had to quickly create his first 50 cans of product in three months’ time. Mendenhall drove to work every day, passing a Quick Quack Car Wash being built. It had a COMING SOON sign draped across it, along with the date it would be finished.
“Their grand opening coincided with the same time I needed to have my cans done. And if they could freaking build a car wash, I should be able to put caffeinated chocolate milk in a can,” Mendenhall says. “It became my thing. I had to beat Quick Quack.”
His efforts paid off. Mendenhall both entered and won the contest. The $150,000 grand prize enabled him to go even further with his budding brand. It got him closer to making his company more of a reality than a mere idea, an opinion also shared by Fred Schonenberg, CEO of VentureFuel, which ran the 2022 NY MilkLaunch Program Spylt won.
“Spylt took the best of what makes dairy special — its natural nutrition, protein and taste — and turned it into a smart, modern alternative to energy drinks. They built a bold brand with authentic storytelling that resonates with younger consumers,” Schonenberg says. “Our team evaluates thousands of startups a year, yet Spylt stood out for its power to disrupt a category that’s craving something genuinely better-for-you with the taste and cultural cool to scale.”
A trillion-dollar industry
The food and beverage industry is a highly competitive field to get noticed in, and it’s one of the largest industries in the United States. Globally, packaged food and drink reached an estimated $7.22 trillion in 2023 alone. With that in mind, Mendenhall got some help.
Partnering with Nick Greer, founder and CEO of Built Brands, helped Mendenhall sell products faster; once, they even sold out of $60,000 worth of product in 12 hours. Ultimately, the partnership helped them transition from selling online to establishing a presence in retail locations across the state, and Spylt officially launched in Harmons Grocery in 2024.
“There’s only so many linear feet of shelving with retail. Monster [Energy] gets more shelf space, but they’re paying a lot to have more. It’s competitive in that way,” Mendenhall says. “Our product tastes very good, but getting it on the shelf and keeping it there? You need to make sure your brand performs better than the one leaving ahead of you.”
Before the Built-Spylt partnership was formed, Greer’s team was already looking for brands to partner with. When Spylt surfaced as a possibility, he took action.
“The brand was an immediate slam dunk, an easy choice, and I told Josh we needed to do this together. From that point on, it was a match made in heaven,” Greer says. “We knew we had captured lightning in a bottle with Built; now we had lightning in a can with Spylt.”
Spylt launched hard within the state and now has national distribution. By strategically hiring those who already have working relationships with retailers, caffeinated chocolate milk is landing everywhere — at Kroger stores across the United States, Albertsons, and H-E-B.
Spylt is growing quickly, but Mendenhall believes stronger brand awareness could mean faster growth.
“So many people are trying to sling a drink, but we’re trying not to just be a product. We’re trying to be a brand, and we’re focused on what our brand represents,” Mendenhall says. “So many people say, ‘Man, this reminds me of when I was a kid.’ And that’s the entire brand ethos. How do we lean into that idea even more?”
“Spylt is about building brick by brick, and it’s a brand you want to be connected to. That’s what gets us excited about what we’re building. It’s so much more than plain old chocolate milk. Anyone can create chocolate milk.”
— Nick Greer
Nostalgia is sweet
One of the ways they’ve leaned into it? Advertising.
The company has a spot on YouTube surrounding a fictional institution called Spylt Academy. There’s hardly a mention of the product; instead, it focuses on what the energy drink alternative makes someone feel after having it. The general concept: You’ve lost your fun. You’ve got a nine-to-five and bills to pay. The videos urge viewers to remember what it was like to be a kid, when chocolate milk was a norm.
By capitalizing on a feeling that allows Spylt customers to revisit their childhoods for the few minutes it takes to finish drinking it, they’re no longer just selling a product they hope others will enjoy. They’ve provided a brief escape hatch to a time gone by.
“The idea of spilled milk is part of that,” Mendenhall says. “It’s OK to mess up. It’s OK to take things less seriously. It’s OK to cry over spilled milk. It happens, and it’s part of life.”
Greer recently offered a can of Spylt to an associate visiting from New York. After taking his first sip, his eyes widened. The taste immediately brought him back to his childhood days.
“People often say it reminds them of Yoo-hoo or Nesquik but all of a sudden, they do feel like a kid again,” Greer continues. “And that’s what we’re trying to do. We’re taking our customers back in a nostalgic kind of way.”
Brick by brick
Greer’s vision for Spylt is that they’ll grow over the next few years, much in the same way they have already, taking the time to grow sustainably. A brand designed to last can’t be built overnight.
“Spylt is about building brick by brick, and it’s a brand you want to be connected to. That’s what gets us excited about what we’re building,” Greer says. “It’s so much more than plain old chocolate milk. Anyone can create chocolate milk.”
Over the next 12 to 18 months, Greer says their product will start surfacing in “every single store” across the state and beyond. Making that happen will have been nearly four years in the making.
Mendenhall sees what’s possible: replacing energy drinks with an alternative that’s actually nutrient-rich and good for you.
“I want to own X Games to the point where you don’t even see Monster advertising anymore. All those athletes wear Monster. They wear Red Bull,” Mendenhall says. “I want to have hats and be on their heads. I want to be on the bottom of snowboards. I want Spylt to be a brand people are into like that. We have a good product, but we’re trying to build a brand.”
Part of that, of course, is making sure they bring on the right kind of talent. Spylt has brought on what Mendenhall refers to as “game changers” in the field, including one employee with 30-plus years of experience in beverage and retail, specifically Coca-Cola. According to Mendenhall, he’s a game changer. The person spearheading their operations? Their finance guy? Game changers, both.
“Every time we hire someone, we level up and get better,” Mendenhall says. “It’s about learning. I learned so much at Entrata. I learned so much at Pattern. But it’s learning, learning, learning. If you want to see how good you are at something, though, you start a business. Everybody who works for Spylt has that same sense of ownership. They can see how far we need to go versus how far we’ve already come. But we’re building this, and that’s why many of them have come here. They want to know how good they are, to really see if they can do this. So far, everybody has.”