Female Founders: Nicole Tanner on Embracing the Entrepreneurial Spirit

Name: Nicole Tanner
Title: Founder
Company: Swig
No. of units: 100
International units: 0
Growth plans: Open 1,000 locations across the U.S. Swig has signed approximately 400 franchise locations across the country, securing its place as the national leader in refreshing beverages
Public or private? Private
Year company founded: 2010
Year started franchising: 2022
Your years in franchising: 2

Nicole Tanner is the fifth of eight children and grew up on a farm in beautiful Teton Valley, Idaho. On the farm, she learned the value of not quitting until the job is done, and when you work together, you get the job done a lot faster. She has five children and seven grandchildren with another on the way.

She started Swig in April 2010 because of her love of Diet Coke and a need for human connection in a drive-thru. She enjoys spending time with her family, taking hikes, and being in nature. She has hiked the Grand Canyon from rim to rim twice. Her motto: “Life is a gift. Make sure you make it a good one by loving those around you and doing all you dream of.”

Beginnings

What inspired you to start your business? Swig was founded on the idea that getting a drink should be a better experience than being a number in line at a drive-thru. We wanted top-notch customer service where each person who comes to Swig knows they’re appreciated, and we wanted to serve them an elevated product.

We want to show our customers that we care and deliver a great experience to them. That is an important part of our culture, and I think it’s how we differentiate and how we’ll continue to succeed in the marketplace.

What is your background? I have an associate’s degree in administrative assistance. I also have restaurant and customer service experience as a server at McDonald’s and Sizzler. I built a team of seven as a Mary Kay consultant. But the main experience is what I experienced as a customer throughout the years and what I saw was lacking in experience and customer service.

How did that prepare you for starting your business? I knew what I wanted to feel as a customer in a drive-thru and wanted to solve that missing connection for other people. Building my team as a Mary Kay consultant helped me understand the power of a team and how to help them achieve their goals and fulfill their dreams.

What’s the best and worst advice you got when starting out? The best advice is to care for your customers and your team as though they are family. The worst advice is that you need the best, latest, and greatest equipment to start.

Was this your first time in franchising? Yes.

Why did you choose to franchise? We want people around the world to have a Swig near them so that they can have that same connected experience in a drive-thru getting their favorite drink. Our customers feel a part of something special when they come to Swig. They are part of the family. We want the world to be a part of that as well. Franchising helps us accomplish that in a streamlined and fast way.

How did you fund your company at the beginning? As you grew? The company was funded out of personal savings in the beginning. I did not take out a business loan. I paid myself when I could and didn’t take dividends for years. Everything was going back into the business for growth. Three years later, I brought on our first partners to provide financial backing for growth. Again, I did not pay myself dividends. Everything went back into the brand. Four years later, we brought on additional partners who knew the restaurant industry and could provide the needed expertise to scale the business. Our funding for growth was equity based then, which provided the funding needed.

What were the keys to funding your brand? Selecting the right partners to add value to the brand and accelerate growth. Early on, I partnered with Dylan Roeder and Chase Wardrop from the Soda Shop. Savory Fund’s partnership in 2017 was crucial to funding the brand for growth and equity-driven funding. The Larry H. Miller Company’s majority acquisition of Swig in 2022 brought the power and funding to help us scale nationwide.

The Business

What has been the best and the hardest thing about being an entrepreneur? The best thing about being an entrepreneur is seeing your idea grow into something far beyond what you hoped and dreamed it would be. Building a team that shares the same care and passion for the brand and is working hard to share that with others makes it far more than a business and gives it purpose. 

The hardest thing is figuring out what your business is. If it’s a new concept and you are the first pioneer in the space, you don’t know what you don’t know. There are learning opportunities all along the way that can be scary and intimidating.

How has your experience in running a franchise business been different from what you expected? Helping our franchise partners know all they need to know to succeed is harder than expected. Many of our partners have experience scaling a business but may need more support as they learn the food and beverage industry.

How did you grow the brand at first? What changed as you expanded? I had one location for three years. I needed to see if others would latch onto this concept like I thought they would. I also had to figure out what the food and beverage industry was all about. I had experience in it as a server 20 years prior but not as an owner. So, there was a lot of learning and growth in the first three years of figuring out what Swig was. As we expanded, we developed systems and processes for efficiency. We also developed a leadership program to help us find the leaders and managers necessary for Swig to scale nationwide. You can’t grow effectively and keep the same culture while scaling without our leaders and people. I often say that Swig is a leadership company that sells amazing drinks and treats!

How did you transition from founding a brand to leading a brand? It is difficult to transition from leading a brand and doing it all to letting go of some of the control and letting your leaders take on the things you did to get the business up and running. Stepping into the founder role, letting go of that control, and trusting in your new partners and leaders can be hard because you don’t want to lose the momentum you have worked so hard to build and create. I have learned as a business owner that you can’t do it all if you want to scale. Trust in your team. We all go through the finish line together.

How would you describe your leadership style? We are team driven and dedicated to lifting each other up and learning alongside each other. We provide leadership training opportunities and room for growth at the company.

What is the key to your company’s success? Swig is focused on the experience we deliver when a customer visits us. Our employees and team members love what they do, and costumers feel that when going through a line at Swig. That is one of the ways we differentiate ourselves, and it adds to our success. We like to say Swig is “happiness in a cup.” We’re all about focusing on providing premium, customized, refreshing beverages and doing that in a value-focused way.

Female Founder

Was being female an advantage or disadvantage for you in building your company? How? Being female was an advantage in building Swig. I’d say 80% of our customers are female, so they could relate to me as a female founder regarding how hard it is sometimes to build and create something as a working mom.

Have you found specific advantages or disadvantages to being a woman business owner? There are very few women-owned businesses, so it plays to our advantage at Swig by showing that women can build strong teams around them that help build their businesses. As women, we love to grow and nurture. Building a business is no different than building and nurturing your family, your children, and your community.

What has been your biggest challenge as a woman entrepreneur? The balancing act of work and family. Many of us are moms running households with children with many needs: activities, homework, dinnertime, and bedtime. Finding the balance is so hard, but it is possible when you can prioritize and leave the mom guilt at the door.

Why do you think there are fewer start-ups with female founders than male ones? Women already have so many responsibilities with their families to balance. Starting your own business is a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. Many hours are spent getting the business off the ground. That can be intimidating and overwhelming to a woman with so much on her plate.

What do you think is the biggest issue for women in the workplace? Having confidence in their skills and abilities to run million-dollar businesses can be a big challenge for women. But I want to change that. Our leaders are young and between the ages of 18 and 24. Instilling in these young adults the confidence that they can achieve anything they set their minds to is the game changer.

From your perspective, what notable changes have you seen for women in franchising since starting your brand? The world is realizing that women know how to lead a team and run highly profitable businesses. Several of our franchise partners are female, and others are choosing female managers to lead their regions to success.

Which female leaders do you admire? Why? Gail Miller, co-founder of the Larry H. Miller Company, is a true inspiration and a great example of focusing on her leaders and community. She emulates humility, grace, and love to all who know her while building and leading a company.

Has mentorship made a difference in your professional and personal life? How? Watching how other leaders grow and lead teams have made a big difference in how I lead. I love learning from others how to mentor and grow a team.

Are you involved in any female entrepreneur organizations? I am not involved in any female entrepreneur organizations yet. My current focus is on building our own female leadership team. Our field leadership team is 90% female. They are the driving force behind the business. They are the people behind the scenes making the magic happen. My goal is to build the strongest leadership team in the nation that will be a force to be reckoned with and be where other organizations want to come and learn from us to see how we have done it.

Looking Ahead

What would you like to achieve in the next five years? Our goal is to have 1,000 locations nationwide. Every community deserves a Swig to enjoy their happiness in a cup!

What’s coming up that you’re excited about? Swig is the tenant of a new building owned by the Larry H. Miller Company and Vesta Realty Partners, which will aid us in expanding Swig’s operations and bakery. But what I am most excited about is growing the brand with our leaders and franchise partners. Seeing a franchise partner’s eyes light up when they open the doors to their first location is magical and surreal for me. It takes me back to when it all started as I hoped and prayed that just one location would work. Now, I’m seeing it grow into what it is today with more than 100 locations.