Simon Solis-Cohen

Simon Solis-Cohen is an American entrepreneur and the founder of Huxley, a Minneapolis-based superfruit energy drink brand that launched in March 2024 and reached more than 300 retail locations within its first fifteen months.^[1] A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America who trained in three-Michelin-star kitchens, Solis-Cohen spent years as a chef and sommelier before founding a wine-industry marketing agency in Napa Valley, which he sold in 2023 to self-fund Huxley's launch.^[11][1]

Within eight months of its debut at Natural Products Expo West, Huxley had secured shelf space in Minnesota Target stores.^[3] By early 2026, the brand had landed its first nationwide brick-and-mortar placement with Sprouts Farmers Market and expanded into three regions of Whole Foods Market, competing in a U.S. energy drink category with nearly $24 billion in annual retail sales.^[4][5][2] Huxley was named a CPG Disruptor by SPINS in 2024 and won the national Naturally Rising grand prize in 2025, judged by a panel that included the SVP of Merchandising at Whole Foods Market.^[9]

Solis-Cohen, a Philadelphia native who relocated to Minneapolis in 2018 after wildfires forced him and his wife to evacuate Napa Valley, has built Huxley with a team of three employees.^[1] The company completed a seed funding round and reports a 50 percent gross profit margin.^[1]

Simon Solis-Cohen was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.^[1] He has described formative childhood memories of his grandmother's garden — picking tomatoes warm from the sun and biting into peaches from her tree — as the origin of a belief that the best flavors come from nature rather than manufacturing.^[19] That conviction carried him to the Culinary Institute of America, where he trained in culinary arts and hospitality.^[6][19]

After graduating, Solis-Cohen worked as a chef in fine-dining kitchens across the United States, including three-Michelin-star restaurants in New York.^[1][19] He later transitioned into the wine industry, beginning with a position in the tasting room at Grgich Hills Estate in Napa Valley, California, where he worked as a sommelier.^[12][19] Retail partner Kowalski's Markets later described his background as reflecting "a deep respect for quality ingredients."^[19]

Highway 29 Creative (2018–2023)

In 2018, Solis-Cohen founded Highway 29 Creative, a digital marketing agency serving the wine industry.^[12] The agency specialized in direct-to-consumer wine sales strategy, e-commerce platforms, website design, and wine club management for wineries across the country.^[12] Solis-Cohen had previously worked in-house for family-owned Napa wineries before launching the agency, and he described its mission as helping winemakers who had "an amazing product, but don't have the time or experience to build their brand."^[12]

That same year, wildfires forced Solis-Cohen and his wife to evacuate their Napa Valley home.^[1] They relocated to Minneapolis, where he continued running Highway 29 Creative remotely for five years.^[1][11] During this period, he also created Tasting Merchants, an in-house online small-batch wine retailer used as a live case study for the agency's digital marketing methods.^[12]

In July 2023, Highway 29 Creative merged with Deksia, an integrated marketing agency with offices in Michigan, Iowa, and Oregon.^[11] Wine Industry Advisor described the combined entity as one of the largest wine marketing and design agencies in the country.^[11] The sale provided Solis-Cohen with the capital to self-fund his next venture.^[1]

Huxley (2024–present)

The idea for Huxley grew out of Solis-Cohen's own caffeine sensitivity. He found that most energy drinks contained 200 milligrams of caffeine or more, paired with large amounts of sugar to mask the bitterness of synthetic caffeine.^[20] "If I feel this way, there's got to be other people who feel this way," he told the Minneapolis Star Tribune.^[1] His years in professional kitchens had trained him to lead with flavor, and he saw an opening in a category where taste was secondary to function. "In energy drinks, I don't see people talk about taste as the leading reason to buy it," he said. "For us, let's just start with, 'This tastes delicious.'"^[1]

Solis-Cohen used the proceeds from the Highway 29 Creative sale to develop the product, working with Bethany Schippel, a former colleague, to formulate a drink built around cascara — the upcycled husk of the coffee cherry — as its caffeine source.^[3][1] Each can contained 90 milligrams of plant-based caffeine, 100 milligrams of electrolytes, 50 milligrams of L-theanine, five grams of organic cane sugar, and real fruit juice, with no artificial ingredients.^[3][5] The brand name came from a passing mention of Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World.^[1] The three launch flavors — Strawberry Sequoia, Tangerine Teton, and Mango Mesa — were named after U.S. national parks.^[17]

Huxley debuted at Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, California, on March 13, 2024.^[17][7] BevNET included the brand in its gallery of new products from the show.^[7] Four weeks after launch, Solis-Cohen was selected from 50 brands to compete at The Beverage Forum pitch competition, where Huxley finished in the top three before judges from Sprouts, Gelson's, Bristol Farms, and 7-Eleven Ventures.^[1]

The brand's initial retail footprint was regional. Within months of launch, Huxley was stocked in Twin Cities co-ops including The Wedge, Seward, and Lakewinds, as well as Kowalski's Markets and Fresh Thyme.^[20][19] By September 2024, the brand had distribution in ten states.^[16] In November 2024 — eight months after launch — all three flavors landed in Minnesota-based Target stores, doubling Huxley's distribution.^[3][18] The brand also ran a trial at a Costco location in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.^[1]

Solis-Cohen described a deliberate region-by-region growth strategy. "We don't have the financing that we could be a national brand overnight," he told the Star Tribune. "So we're going to start in the heartland and build up that momentum here."^[1] He pointed to Olipop and Poppi as models for category disruption: "What they've done with the soda category is obviously transformational. We have a similar idea and vision."^[1]

In mid-2025, Huxley was selected for UNFI's UpNext program, a curated emerging-brand initiative by one of North America's largest natural and organic food distributors.^[15] By June 2025, the brand had surpassed 300 retail doors across the Midwest and nationally.^[1] In November 2025, Huxley unveiled a full packaging and logo refresh, replacing the national-park-inspired artwork with close-up fruit illustrations and adopting the tagline "Refreshingly Real Energy."^[2][8]

The national expansion accelerated in early 2026. In February, Huxley secured its first nationwide brick-and-mortar launch with Sprouts Farmers Market across all locations.^[4] In March, the brand expanded into three regions of Whole Foods Market and introduced a fourth flavor, Peach.^[5] Additional retail partners added by mid-2026 included Albertsons, Kroger, United Supermarkets, Woodman's, Lunardi's, New Seasons Market, Lassens, and Green's Natural Foods.^[1]

As of mid-2026, Huxley operated with a full-time team of three: Solis-Cohen, Schippel, and Jordan Melz.^[1] The company reported a 50 percent gross profit margin and had completed a seed funding round, though the amount was not disclosed.^[1] Huxley is a member of 1% for the Planet, donating one percent of revenue to nature conservation, and supports the National Parks Conservation Association.^[6][3]

In 2024, SPINS, the natural products data and insights firm, designated Huxley a CPG Disruptor.^[1] That same year, Huxley won the Naturally Minnesota pitch slam, qualifying for the national Naturally Network Naturally Rising competition.^[9]

At Newtopia Now in August 2025, Huxley competed against ten other regional winners from across the country and was awarded the Naturally Rising national grand prize.^[9][10] The judging panel included the SVP of Merchandising at Whole Foods Market and the founder of Nutpods.^[9] The prize package was valued at more than $50,000 and included a booth at Natural Products Expo West 2026, an NIQ data package, and retail and Amazon support services.^[9]

Huxley was also selected for UNFI's UpNext program in 2025, providing broadened visibility across the distributor's national retail network.^[15]

Solis-Cohen was 34 years old as of mid-2025.^[1] He lives in Minneapolis with his wife; the couple relocated from Napa Valley in 2018 after wildfires forced them to evacuate.^[1] He has described Minneapolis as an unexpected home. "I would have never dreamed of living in Minnesota growing up," he told the Star Tribune. "Now this is home. Here, I feel this sense of pride that we are this powerhouse of Fortune 500 companies and billion-dollar brands."^[1]