Among the failed businesses in President Donald Trump’s portfolio are two attempts at hawking namesake beverages: Trump Vodka, discontinued in 2011, and Trump Ice, a water brand that season one contestants on The Apprentice were forced to sell to New York City vendors as part of a challenge. But that hasn’t stopped his son and granddaughter from following in his footsteps. This spring, both Barron Trump and Kai Trump—who, at ages 20 and 19, are just a year apart—launched dueling energy drinks.
Barron, a six-foot-seven rising junior at NYU’s Stern School of Business, debuted Sollos, a “brand built around the Florida lifestyle,” in May, while Kai, who will begin her collegiate golf career at the University of Miami this fall, collaborated with beverage company Accelerator on Blue Raz Slush. Both beverages are sold in 12-packs and made in America—Barron’s in Palm Beach, Florida, and Kai’s in Newport Beach, California. Otherwise, there is little overlap across taste, price, and personal promotion of the products. But each caters to a generation that is already drinking less alcohol and more caffeine. A study of energy drink consumption published last year found that 64% of Gen Z, ages 18 to 24, consume energy drinks, and that young men slightly outpace their age group’s women (34% to 31%) in terms of consumption. With their new energy drinks, the Trumps join fellow young influencers like Emma Chamberlain, Logan Paul, Alex Cooper, and Alix Earle—all of whom have launched or collaborated on their own caffeinated beverages in recent years.
As someone who has an affinity for celebrity products and straddles the zillennial line, I endeavored to sample both Trump energy drinks—despite spirited warnings from friends and colleagues that one could become red-pilled from ingestion alone.
Barron is one of five cofounders—“a group of close friends ages 19–23 who grew up living in South Florida”—behind Sollos Yerba Mate Inc., which is headquartered near the Trump family’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach. While America’s first son has no official social media accounts (“He doesn’t like the public eye so much, which I understand,” Kai, who is Barron’s niece, said on Jake Paul’s podcast earlier this year), the announcement of his energy drink caused a stir anyway—mainly for its use of a South American product and Spanish name as the Trump administration targets the Latinx community with its current immigration policies. Nevertheless, Spencer Bernstein, one of Barron’s cofounders, told Fox Business last month: “We’ve received very positive feedback about the taste of Sollos, even from people we expected to dislike it because of preconceived notions.”
A taste of Sollos social promotion:
