Halfday Ice Tea (Part 1) - How a Dorm Room Idea Disrupted Iced Tea

The Story of a Brand Show

Ramon Vela

Business, Entrepreneurship

5 • 145 Ratings

🗓️ 24 June 2025

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Every now and then, you come across a founder story that’s both heartfelt and hustle-packed—this is one of those.

In this episode, I sit down with Mike Lombardo, co-founder of Halfday Iced Tea, a brand that’s redefining what iced tea can be. We talk about everything from starting the company out of a college dorm room to turning a personal health journey into a functional beverage brand that’s now on the shelves of Whole Foods, Sprouts, and more.

Mike shares how Halfday was built on a foundation of relentless iteration, a belief in gut health, and a flavor-first approach that makes it easy for consumers to get behind. With a mission rooted in Kayvon’s fight with ulcerative colitis, Halfday has stayed true to one thing: delivering great-tasting iced tea that’s actually good for your gut.

This episode is a powerful look at entrepreneurship, adaptability, and building a brand that truly resonates.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

* How a college capstone project turned into a national beverage brand

* Why product iteration—down to the can size—was key to Halfday’s success

* What it took to land their first retail buyer without even having samples

* The story behind Halfday’s Good Day Prebiotic Blend and why it matters

* How Mike and Kayvon think about innovation, scaling retail, and brand storytelling

Join me, Ramon Vela, in listening to the episode and learn how Halfday is changing the iced tea category—one can at a time. Whether you're a brand builder, a gut health geek, or just love a good founder story, this one’s worth a sip.

For more on Halfday Ice Tea visit: https://drinkhalfday.com/

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, quick note before we begin.
0:02.3	I originally had both founders scheduled for this interview.
0:05.4	Unfortunately, Kvon was not feeling well, so we had to reschedule him for another day.
0:11.0	But this episode is actually a part one and a part two.
0:15.8	So when you're done with this one, make sure to listen to Part 2.
0:19.9	Both founders have this very unique perspective
0:22.2	on the story behind half-day iced tea. You won't want to miss it. This is an amazing company
0:28.9	with two amazing founders. I hope you enjoy. So we were making iced tea. This isn't how we
0:35.4	walked through the pitch, but we kind of did. So we were making
0:37.9	ice tea in Kvon's kitchen, mixing prebiotics in, and we kind of had this gut feeling that there was
0:43.9	nothing really speaking to us as millennial and Gen Z consumers. And so it was kind of these like,
0:48.5	kind of this like comparison to what we saw in carbonase soft drinks. And we kind of made this
0:52.8	argument that the ICT category
0:54.7	is prime for the taking. It needs to be shaken up and needs to be disrupted by a young new brand
0:59.4	that serves, you know, the modern consumer, what they want. And we're here to create that. And so
1:05.4	that was sort of the initial pitch. And what we've created and what we presented to her was that,
1:10.7	you know, we basically were creating a better for you ice tea that it's made with prebiotics for gut health.
1:16.6	But it only has three to five grams of sugar per can.
1:19.8	And the big important part of this is that it has the same classic taste of iced tea that we knew and loved growing up.
1:26.0	And so that was sort of what we wanted to tackle.
1:28.9	And I think that that was what they really resonated with. This concept was one that excited them.
1:33.5	And this, to clarify on the time, and this was around 2021 as well. So it took years for us to get this
	...

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