This energy drink swings for fences

JUICED UP: Jon Mason shows off a display of Swing Juice in Providence’s East Side Marketplace, the product of his seven-year-old effort inspired by a golf outing with a friend. / PBN PHOTO/BRIAN MCDONALD
JUICED UP: Jon Mason shows off a display of Swing Juice in Providence’s East Side Marketplace, the product of his seven-year-old effort inspired by a golf outing with a friend. / PBN PHOTO/BRIAN MCDONALD

A growing Rhode Island energy beverage company started with one of those offhand, but perceptive, comments that rang true enough to launch a company.
“I was talking on the phone with a friend of mine. We were playing golf the next day and had an early tee time,” said Lincoln resident and Swing Juice founder Jon Mason. “My friend said, ‘That’s no big deal. We’ll just drink our swing juice and we’ll be ready to go.’ ”
A graduate of Providence College with a major in marketing, Mason started creating Swing Juice Hybrid Energy Drink after more than a year of research.
“I didn’t have a food and beverage background, so I started working with a flavoring company,” said Mason. The company’s expertise covered the FDA regulations and other details so Mason could concentrate on developing his product.
“I created the formula, and they produced it,” said Mason.
Growing up playing sports, then baseball at Providence College, and continuing to play golf and tennis, Mason wanted his drink to be what he considered healthier than some on the market, some of which had drawn public concern about high amounts of caffeine.
“I try to make healthy choices in my life and I wanted to put some choices out there to reflect that,” he said.
“At the time, there were a lot of beverages out there. It was becoming one of the hot sectors. Ours was designed to be a healthier version for people with an active lifestyle,” said Mason. “The ingredients are designed to give you a boost without taking you too far over the edge. The ingredients are in moderation and are to give a boost to concentration and focus.”
While the specific recipe is proprietary, the Swing Juice website lists the ingredients as: ginko biloba, to help sharpen focus and maintain concentration; ginseng to reduce the effects of stress, improve performance and maintain concentration; taurine to restore fatigued muscles; caffeine at 25 mg. per serving (by comparison, a cup of coffee can contain can contain from 95 to 200 mg of caffeine, according to the Mayo Clinic), which raises focus and alertness; Vitamin D to promote healthy bones; niacin to ease depression and anxiety; vitamin B12 to alleviate nerve pain, numbness and tingling; and Vitamin B6 to reduce muscle spasms, leg cramps, hand numbness and some neuritis conditions. There are no artificial colors in the three flavors of Swing Juice, pomegranate-berry, orange-mango and sugar-free lemonade-iced tea.
Swing Juice is produced in northern New Jersey, said Mason.
“It’s mainly because the facilities are there for the type of product we make,” said Mason. “I’d like to have it made in Rhode Island, if we had the facilities.”
Sales of Swing Juice are steadily increasing, from 1,000 to 2,000 cases per month in 2009 up to the current volume of 3,000 to 6,000 cases per month, with each case containing one dozen 20-ounce bottles.
Swing Juice has been chosen as the official performance beverage of the Ocean State Waves, a summer collegiate baseball team whose home turf is Old Mountain Field in South Kingstown. The team was recently added to the New England Collegiate Baseball League.
“We are thrilled to have Swing Juice on board in our inaugural season,” said Ocean State Waves owner Jeff Sweenor. “Swing Juice is a great product to have in our dugout.”
“This relationship is a natural fit – a home run,” Mason said in a press release from the baseball team. “The Waves are a great addition to the NECBL and to the South County community.”
Swing Juice is also renewing its distribution to regional Whole Foods markets in the region in June, said Mason. The energy drink is available at Shell Gas convenience stores in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. It is also available in some independent grocery stores, including East Side Marketplace in Providence.
Marketing for Swing Juice includes a strong social media component, including the website, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, said Mason.
And with summer upon New England, marketing for Swing Juice will help boost employment for several part-time interns, said Mason.
Mason will continue as the company’s lead marketer, out on daily marketing excursions, hopping in his car in the morning and topping off breakfast with Swing Juice. He has some more Swing Juice before he goes to the gym.
“I love the stuff,” said Mason. “I drink it every day.” •

COMPANY PROFILE
Swing Juice
OWNER: Jon Mason
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Beverage company
LOCATION: One Industrial Court, Lincoln
EMPLOYEES: 3 full-time, several part-time during the summer
YEAR ESTABLISHED: 2006
ANNUAL SALES: WND

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  1. This is great news of a Rhode Island started company, I’m an intern at a community -based coworking facility in Southern Rhode Island at the North Kingstown Lafayette Mills complex called The Hive RI where start-ups can host events and become part of a community that loves different perspectives. http://thehiveri.com