Hi, I’m Chiyo Takemoto, founder of Coquetel Collective. I launched Coquetel back in 2017 after spending many years in the hospitality industry, followed by a few years in the wholesale distribution world. From running beverage programs to helping to curate and manage a spirits portfolio during the helm of the cocktail renaissance, I’ve worked all three tiers of the liquor world.

My passion for brand building began in 2014, when I began working with a wholesale distributor as their very first Spirits Specialist.

When I joined the distributor, they were just getting started with their spirits division and I had the opportunity to help build their portfolio. This was exciting times, as new craft distilleries were just starting to pop up all over the country. I worked diligently to build brands like High West Distillery, Mezcal Vago, and Don Fulano, while also building lesser known categories like sake, cachaça and singani.

I really saw the need for local representation for these small, emerging brands, especially when competing with the larger conglomerates who seemed to have a never ending marketing budget.

For those reasons, I formed Coquetel. I wanted to create a sustainable way for small brands to access local representation by creating a co-op structure.