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Meet Aaron Carter, Mikáel Pyles and Navarr Grevious of QuikLiq

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Aaron Carter, Mikáel Pyles and Navarr Grevious.

QuikLiq was originally founded in 2011 by Clark Atlanta University (CAU) graduates and fraternity brothers, Navarr Grevious and Mikael Pyles. However, it wasn’t until June of 2018, when the company brought on its third founding partner/fellow CAU alumni, Aaron Carter, that QuikLiq became fully operational and open for business on Miami Beach. “We are not just a delivery service,” said Aaron, Chief Operating Officer. “We are a fully integrated, online marketplace that brings consumers, retailers, brands, and influencers together. Whether you are planning a big event at work or a relaxing night at home, the QuikLiq experience is curated to satisfy each person’s individual needs.”

The team is led by Navarr Grevious (CEO), who spent several years working as an Auditor for one of the largest “Big 4” accounting firms in the world (Deloitte), as well as excelling as a top recruiter for a collection of Fortune 100 companies. In addition to his corporate accolades, Navarr has a Master’s Degree in Accounting from Clark Atlanta University where he spent time studying abroad in China—receiving a 4.0 GPA during his matriculation at the University of International Business and Economics (Beijing). Mikael Pyles (President/Chief Strategy Officer) cut his teeth in the corporate world, starting off as an Assistant Buyer for Target where he managed a $400 million dollar portfolio and won multiple awards in Merchandising / Household Commodities, Mikael decided to move to New York City to hone his sagacity for sales and entrepreneurship.

Quickly becoming a top sales performer/trainer for The Container Store, Mikael was invited to the bell-ringing ceremony for the company’s IPO on the New York Stock Exchange in the Fall of 2013. Most recently, Mikael has been successful as a Senior Sales Agent for a boutique, residential real estate firm in Manhattan—where he specializes in luxury real estate and has brokered several million-dollar transactions. Aaron Carter (Chief Operating Officer) has worked in the alcohol industry for several years and brings a decorated background of sales, marketing, and merchandising experience to the team. Having most recently worked for Brown-Forman on the full portfolio of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey, Aaron was responsible for leading and managing the budgets for over 100 highly-visible activations, including the Super Bowl, NBA All-Star Weekend, Atlanta Food & Wine, Music Midtown Atlanta, One Music Fest, etc.

Has it been a smooth road?
If I were to answer this question succinctly, I would say no, it has not been a smooth road. However, the question and—more importantly—the journey is much more complex than that. Are there many (or any) examples of an industry-changing company that had a “smooth road” to success? Probably not. At QuikLiq, we are literally endeavoring to revolutionize the alcohol industry; an industry that has not only been around for hundreds of years but one that is highly regulated and fraught with restrictions, legal roadblocks and lots of red tapes. Truthfully, growing and legitimizing this business has been a lot of hard work and ironically, very sobering. We must always be aware and compliant to an ever-changing landscape of legislation—state and federal; and this is just the beginning, just the starting point. Once we got ingratiated to all the legal obligations of our company, we realized that we were attempting to gain share in a trillion-dollar industry, where money begets money!

Funding has been a major consideration and perpetually increasing necessity, as so far the company’s founding partners have personally funded everything without any outside assistance. Meanwhile, most of our competitors are backed by hedge funds, venture capitalist groups, and other multi-million dollar / billion dollar operations. Moreover, while I have mostly been talking about the struggles of entering the alcohol industry, I haven’t even begun to explain the complications of entering the tech world. From geo-targeted algorithms for our delivery service to complex coding/system integrations for our online alcohol inventory and marketplace, every day is a new adventure. We are striving to build one of the most sophisticated and innovative platforms our customers have ever seen; and while we have certainly struggled, our daily successes have made it all worth it!

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the QuikLiq story. Tell us more about the business.
QuikLiq, an online marketplace / digital platform for wine, beer and spirits, today announced its public launch of the first Black-owned alcohol delivery service. Integrating web and mobile-based technology to give customers access to a myriad of alcoholic, non-alcoholic beverages and home bar essentials, QuikLiq is setting out to not only disrupt but also revolutionize the liquor industry. With their motto of “QuikLiq with just a click!”, the company wants to make ordering alcohol as easy and convenient as it is to order food/groceries, transfer money, and hail a ride—with just the click of a button on a cell phone or laptop.

“These days, people are all about convenience,” said Navarr Grevious, QuikLiq’s CEO and co-founder. “We all lead extremely busy lives, so anything we can do to save time and energy is a huge value-add. With the emergence of countless consumption-based mobile apps that make it easy to receive almost any product or service in minutes, we felt there was a serious void for this sort of service in the alcohol industry, and we decided to do something about it!” QuikLiq currently provides three options for customers to order their favorite adult beverages: 1) Download the App (iOS and Android), 2) Order via the Website, or 3) Call the Customer Service Number.

“QuikLiq is going to be an absolute game-changer for the alcohol industry,” said Mikael Pyles, President and co-founder of QuikLiq. “We did not cut any corners; we have spent several years refining our business model, building a formidable team and partnership group, streamlining our processes, and creating the most innovative, tech-forward fulfillment service the alcohol industry has ever seen.

We have so many exciting changes in the works, I don’t even know where to begin! For starters, we have been a 100% grassroots operation so far; we have not entertained any outside funding or external investments into our business. All company resources has come from the partners’ personal investments into the business as well as transaction revenue. However, this is about to change. We are in the process of launching our first round of funding campaign and will start pitching for investment capital very soon. Our business is growing extremely fast, and in order to keep up with the demand for our service as well as some of the forthcoming enhancements to our platform, we are going to need stronger financial resources.

Currently, we are mainly operating our delivery service on Miami Beach with the capacity to fulfill special orders in the greater Miami area; however, we are looking to undergo a statewide expansion that will allow us to service customers all over Florida—and eventually other states as well. With this growth comes a myriad of exciting additions, including more inventory/alcohol options, an enhanced online marketplace for adult beverage products and relevant accouterments, and a strategic focus on locally sourced beverages (alcoholic and non-alcoholic). Last but not least, we are committed to establishing a culture of drinking responsibly. We are in the midst of developing a powerful and creative Responsible Drinking Campaign that will integrate social media along with guerrilla marketing to promote corporate and social responsibility. Exciting things to come for sure!

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
The Alcoholic beverage industry is a multi-billion dollar industry, and we don’t see that slowing up any time soon. E-commerce innovated the way consumer interact with retail partners via inventory listing, price comparisons, monthly features, and much more! Online alcohol marketing has allowed retailers an opportunity to reach consumer locally, domestic, and international. Suppliers and distributors have also claim stake in online digital alcohol; marketplaces to engage consumers through storytelling, holiday programming, and rebate incentives.

Aaron- C.O.O
“In 5-10 year we anticipate providing access to not only larger Distilleries/Breweries/Vineyard, but small domestic and international brands that are not able to compete on a large scale but are hometown favorites. We hope to see consumer utilizing the safest option of having their beer, wine, and spirits delivered to them.”

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