Life is getting spicier for John McDonnell.
He just traded in one top spirits job, as managing director of international business for Texas-based Tito’s Handmade Vodka, for another, executive chairman of Boston’s own Ghost Tequila, this month. Ghost is considerably smaller, and is based in the office of its largest investor, Jim Pallotta’s Raptor Group. But it has a growth story to tell because of the ghost pepper used in the tequila, tapping into the current demand for spicy spirits.
“Spicy is the hottest thing going right now,” said McDonnell, who will work with chief executive and cofounder David Gordon to lead the 12-person team. “Sixty-five percent of Americans either love or like spicy foods.”
McDonnell worked his way up in the business at Seagram’s, spending nearly 20 years there. More recently, he was at Patron Spirits Co., and then at Tito’s. He moved around a bit for most of his career before settling down back in Boston while at Patron; not long after, then-governor Charlie Baker appointed him chairman of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority board, a role he held throughout Baker’s eight years in office.
He said he is confident in the growth prospects for Ghost in part because margaritas are the most-ordered mixed drink in the country. Cofounder Chris Moran launched the business in 2016 after working as a bartender at Tico in the Back Bay and watched drinkers seek spicy-flavored tequila and tequila-based drinks in increasing numbers. Muddling the jalapeno peppers messed up the flow at the bar, so Moran came up with a solution: a tequila that was already spicy.
Now, McDonnell said, a number of regional restaurant operators are pouring Ghost, including Legal Sea Foods, Abe & Louie’s owner Tavistock, and Tavern in the Square. Ghost recently signed a deal to go national with the Buffalo Wild Wings chain. (The drink is manufactured in Mexico.)
McDonnell said his new firm’s revenue grew 12 percent last year, and just hired Momentum, a New York ad agency, to help keep the growth going.
Ghost is trying to spike sales at a challenging time. The tequila market is getting saturated, with so many celebrities launching their own brands (a list that includes Mark Wahlberg’s Flecha Azul).
McDonnell said he believes Ghost has what it takes to stand out: “We have a long runway ahead of us.”
