April Wachtel’s earliest professional memories trace back to a bed and breakfast in Vermont, where, aged 13, she earned $3 an hour helping cook, clean, and serve guests at the inn. There, the inn’s James Beard Award-winning chef gave her an early education in hospitality, exposing her to adventurous ingredients like sweetbreads and wasabi.
“I think the fact that it was a sleepy place where people really cared about food culture and serving others—that really hit home,” said Wachtel, the founder and CEO of Cheeky Cocktails, a brand of high-quality mixers that make labor-intensive cocktails a breeze.
After a career behind the bar, Wachtel wanted to share that knowledge and the sense of connection that comes with hosting. She began teaching cocktail classes to cocktail enthusiasts in New York, eventually teaching more than 12,000 students to make cocktails. That’s where she spotted a gap in the market.
Students often asked her what to stock at home. While she had recommendations for spirits and vermouths, she found there weren’t any mixer brands that matched the quality used behind the bar.
For events, Wachtel would pre-make syrups and juices herself, lugging gallons of lemon juice and simple syrup she pre-made at home.
“It was standard across the industry,” she explained. “For big events, you’d either make everything from scratch or rent out bars to make the mixers ahead of time, basically turning them into these mini-factories. I thought, ‘There has to be a better way.’”
In 2020, she launched Cheeky Cocktails—bottling fresh, preservative-free lemon and lime juices, simple syrup, agave, and honey syrups with professional bartenders and home hosts in mind. Since then, the product line has grown to include cranberry, honey ginger, and espresso syrups—including a decaf version for late-night espresso martinis.
“I’ve always loved helping people create memorable experiences with food and drinks,” Wachtel said. “That philosophy drives everything we do—making it easier for our customers to create cocktails they feel proud of.”
Cheeky Cocktails has taken off among both home entertainers and hospitality professionals. As cocktail programs and drink volumes have grown, Wachtel said, the “everything from scratch” model no longer scales. Cheeky’s mixers now help bartenders maintain consistency and speed—two critical challenges in a high-volume service environment.
Today, Cheeky Cocktails are sold in over 1,300 stores and featured in top hotels and stadiums. To increase her direct-to-consumer business, Wachtel started selling in the Amazon store in 2023.
“Amazon gives us reliable weekly revenue without the heavy lift of traditional sales channels,” she said. “We’d be losing thousands of dollars in sales each month if it weren’t for Amazon.”
To serve customers efficiently, Wachtel uses a hybrid fulfillment strategy—leveraging both Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) and Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM). She fulfills most products directly, while bestsellers like the 16 oz espresso syrup are shipped using FBA.
“We sell exponentially more of our bestsellers if they’re eligible for Amazon Prime. From a customer perspective, it’s just faster and deliveries are more predictable,” she said.
She’s also looking into selling mini-packs of high-end mixology ingredients, like citric acid, which she says lend themselves well to FBA because they’re small and lightweight, making the fees minimal—a product you can just “set and forget.”
“We’re looking for products that would be popular on Amazon, are complementary to our existing line, and that we can optimize for FBA,” she said.
In the future, Wachtel wants to bring her teaching experience to her Amazon customers by using Amazon Live—a live shopping video format that allows customers to engage in real-time—to offer cocktail-making tips and tricks.
“Amazon Live lets me do what I love most—teach and connect,” said Wachtel. “It’s not necessarily about driving sales. It’s about giving people something to walk away with—knowledge, inspiration, or just a better drink.”