If part of your New Year's resolution is to lose weight and slim down, taking it easy on the alcohol may be on the list of things to avoid -- especially if you love sugary-sweet cocktails. The average margarita can deliver as many as 800 calories, while a traditional frozen pina colada rings in at around 550 calories. Even a simple mojito or cosmo martini has at least 230 calories.
Now if only there was a way to get your drink on with fewer calories. Well, thanks to Florida's own Jordan Engelhardt, founder of Jordan's Skinny Mixes, those wishes have already come true. When her career as a real estate appraiser started to suffer several years ago, she turned to drinking -- but in a good way -- to develop a product every South Floridian could use.
Turns out a few years of partying and relaxing by the pool or the
beach with her friends while attending Florida State University helped
Engelhardt bring the perfect business idea to fruition: a line of low-
and zero-calorie drink mixes that actually taste good.
"We
all wanted a drink with few calories and less sugar. So, I figured if
my friends wanted it, and I wanted it, then women everywhere must want
something like Skinny Mixes," Engelhardt told Clean Plate Charlie.
After a year and a half of product testing, sampling, and recipe tweaking, Engelhardt launched Jordan's Skinny Mixes in 2009 with her best-selling sugar-free and zero-calorie margarita mix, and a cosmopolitan martini mix. Three years later the line has grown considerably.
Today, the company offers 20 different products including nine cocktail mixes and a newly-launched line of 11 different "skinny" syrups designed for use in coffee and dessert drinks. There's a Skinny mix for appletinis, mojitos, strawberry daiquiris -- even a white chocolate peppermint martini mix. Next up: a few new flavors, pomegranate and mango margarita.
And while several of Jordan's Skinny Mixes -- like the Skinny Bloody Mary and Skinny Pina Colada mix -- are low-sugar and deliver five to 10 calories per serving, most are zero-calorie and sugar-free.
"The great thing about my product is that it delivers strong, intense flavor without being too sweet, and it doesn't have that fake "diet" flavor," said Engelhardt, who sweetens her product with sucralose.
Jordan's Skinny Mixes are currently available for purchase online on the company website, or can be found across Florida in Total Wine, ABC Liquor, Home Goods, TJMaxx, Marshalls, Ross and Bed, Bath and Beyond.
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