MANSFIELD, Ohio - Figg’s Liquid Innovations has been in business for four years, and although founder Korinna Goettel said she’d hoped to be further along at this point, she said that things are going well.“It’s almost as though you have to pay your dues,” Goettel said. “It’s almost as if, until you get to a certain point, you have to prove you are a real company. It’s taken this long for people to say, ‘We’ve seen you around, you are real, you are here to stay.’”Figg’s Apple Pie non-alcoholic cocktail mix was originally featured in the Eye on Entrepreneurs series in March, 2014, and at that time was available in one flavor in several locations. One year later, Figg’s can be found in new flavors, many additional locations, and is available for private labeling.Private labeling is a new venture, noted Goettel, with Grandpa’s Cheesebarn in Ashland and Cooper’s Mill & Market in Bucyrus as the first of what she hopes will be many companies to private label Figg’s products.Cooper’s Mill & Market, she added, will host a tasting of products on May 1 and 2. Figg’s newest liquid innovation is Sweet Heat, a jalapeno apple pie flavored cocktail mix that is becoming a fast favorite with Figg’s fans, if the line for samples at the recent Wayne’s Country Market wine tasting was any indication. Customers sampled Sweet Heat as well as traditional Figg’s Apple Pie cocktail mix in a variety of mixed drinks, or just alone, and comments were favorable. Once the new label is ready, Figg’s Sweet Heat will hit store shelves, possibly at the end of May, said Goettel.Two new flavors, Apple Green Tea Chiller and Apple Lemonade Chiller, will soon join the popular Figg’s Apple Cinnamon Juice Chiller.All three are all-natural juice beverages available in 16 ounce containers, said Goettel.The Figg's Apple Cinnamon Juice Chiller flavor was chosen as the result of a blind taste test, or product validation, held in Bellville last year. The product validation was held as a part of the Braintree Business Development Center’s business canvas.“As a Braintree tenant, I have been exposed to a wide variety of networking opportunities, including audiences to introduce new product ideas to,” she said. She added that feedback from staff and other tenants has been invaluable.Goettel still bottles by hand, but has bottling equipment ordered as part of a grant from Braintree - a grant which Goettel said will allow her to grow the company to “the next level.”Partnering with other companies has been part of that move to the next level, said Goettel. In addition to the private labeling, Figg’s Liquid Innovations is taking advantage of their commercial kitchen and bottling experience to bottle a product for another company.Figg’s Apple Pie’s origin stems from an old moonshine recipe, which makes it a fitting product to be paired with moonshine, said Goettel. Mill Street Distillery in Utica and Straitsville Special Moonshine in New Straitsville both carry Figg’s products. Goettel said that Figg’s Liquid Innovations and Mill Street Distillery are working on a partner product, as well.Figg’s Liquid Innovations is an Ohio Proud partner. Ohio Proud is the Ohio Department of Agriculture's marketing program that identifies and promotes food and agricultural products that are made in Ohio and grown in Ohio.Figg’s products are available at many new locations, including Blooming Valley in Bellville, Bexley Natural Market in Bexley, and Local Roots Market in Ashland. Figg’s Apple Pie cocktail mix may now be purchased at the liquor store located in Kroger Marketplace on Lexington Avenue. For more information, visit the Figg’s website and Facebook page.