CEO & Co-Founder

Tara Merdjanoff is the Founder & CEO of QNSY Sparkling Cocktails, an M Wells Steakhouse alumna bringing six years of acclaimed restaurant experience to the ready-to-drink cocktail space. Part of the broader M Wells alumni entrepreneurial movement that includes Michelin-starred Cote and beloved Frenchette, Tara represents the first M Wells veteran to crack the beverage industry. As 90% owner of the first WBE-certified canned cocktail company from Jackson Heights, Queens, she recently achieved a $6.5M joint venture with HMS Host at JFK Terminal 4.

She's leading the Queens Local Alcohol Access Initiative to champion local businesses excluded from major venues.

Tara Merdjanoff co-founded QNSY Sparkling Cocktails in 2021 after spending six years on the opening team at M Wells Steakhouse in Long Island City, the acclaimed restaurant that has spawned an entrepreneurial dynasty including Michelin-starred Cote, beloved Frenchette, and Brooklyn's Chez Ma Tante. Tara represents the first M Wells alum to successfully crack the beverage industry

As CEO and 90% owner, Tara has built QNSY into the first and only WBE certified canned cocktail company operating out of Jackson Heights, Queens. Her crowning achievement: a S6.5M, 15-year joint venture with HMS Host at JFK Terminal 4 one of the largest deals achieved by a small beverage brand and proof that restaurant culture breeds transferable business success.

Co-Founder

Jeremy Bohen is Co-Founder of QNSY Sparkling Cocktails, bringing 25 years of Manhattan bartending experience to the ready-to-drink cocktail space. A veteran of prestigious establishments including Houston's Park Avenue and The Capital Grille Rockefeller Center, Jeremy spent decades mastering cocktail craft and hospitality excellence. He met wife and business partner Tara Merdjanoff in 2000 as fellow actors, marrying in 2004 and collaborating on creative projects for over two decades before launching QNSY in 2021. As QNSY's master relationship-builder and sales ambassador, Jeremy's networking skills and industry connections have been instrumental in the company's grassroots success and recent $6.5M HMS Host partnership.

Jeremy Bohen co-founded QNSY Sparkling Cocktails in 2021, bringing a quarter-century of Manhattan bartending expertise to the ready-to-drink cocktail revolution. His hospitality journey began at a Hell's Kitchen dive bar before ascending to prestigious establishments including Houston's Park Avenue (now Hillstone), where he worked for nine years, and The Capital Grille Rockefeller Center, Wiere he served until the pandemic shutdown in March 2020

Jeremy's parallel creative life as an actor and producer, spanning over 25 years in NYC's small theater and film scene, shaped his collaborative approach to business. He met wife and business partner Tara Merdjanoff in 2000, marrying in 2004, and their creative partnership flourished through numerous artistic projects over 21 years of marriage, including their recent DIY wedding celebration in Positano, Italy, before launching QNSY.

At QNSY, Jeremy serves as the company's master relationship-builder and sales ambassador, leveraging his natural networking abilities and deep industry connections. His bartending expertise informed QNSY's authentic cocktail profiles, while his hospitality background drives the company's grassroots demo program that has connected with nearly 4,000 customers face-to-face. The company's signature tattoo artwork emerged from Jeremy's friendship with Danny Galluzzo, a fellow Capital Grille bartender turned tattoo artist, who created custom American Traditional designs for each QNSY cocktail—a perfect fusion of cocktail culture and tattoo artistry.

Jeremy Bohen represents the entrepreneurial spirit that emerges when deep industry expertise meets creative vision. As Co-Founder of QNSY Sparkling Cocktails, he's transformed 25 years of Manhattan bartending mastery into a thriving beverage business that celebrates both cocktail craft and authentic human connection.

Jeremy's hospitality journey began in the trenches of Hell's Kitchen, working at a neighborhood dive bar that taught him the fundamentals of service and human nature. His talent and work ethic soon elevated him to Houston's Park Avenue location (now Hillstone), where he spent nine formative years learning the intricacies of upscale hospitality and cocktail excellence. In 2008, he was recruited to help open The Capital Grille's Rockefeller Center location, where he refined his craft until the pandemic brought NYC's restaurant industry to a halt in March 2020.

Throughout his bartending career, Jeremy maintained a parallel creative life as an actor and producer, spending over 25 years in NYC's vibrant small theater and film scene. This dual existence serving customers by night, creating art by day —developed his ability to read people, tell stories, and build authentic connections. It was in this creative world that he met Tara Merdjanoff in 2000, marrying her in 2004 and beginning a 21-year partnership that would span artistic collaboration and eventually business success.

Their relationship deepened through countless creative projects over two decades of marriage, from intimate theater productions to independent films where Jeremy Aften functioned as both performer and producer. This collaborative spirit was recently celebrated with their DIY wedding celebration in Positano, Italy—a renewal that embodied their shared values of authenticity, creativity, and doing things their own way.

When the pandemic eliminated their restaurant industry careers, Jeremy and Tara channeled their combined expertise into QNSY. Jeremy's role extends far beyond traditional co-founder duties-he's the company's master relationship-builder, sales ambassador, and cultural translator who helps customers understand why QNSY represents something different in the crowded RTD space.

His bartending background proves invaluable in product development and customer education. Having made thousands of mojitos, cosmos, and margaritas behind some of Manhattan's busiest bars, Jeremy understands what makes these cocktails work and how to translate that authenticity into canned form. His natural networking abilities and deep industry connections have been instrumental in QNSY's grassroots success, from securing retail placements to building the demo program that has connected with nearly 4,000 customers face-to-face Perhaps most emblematically, QNSY's distinctive tattoo artwork emerged from Jeremy's friendship with Danny Galluzzo, a fellow Capital Grille bartender whose dream was becoming a tattoo artist. During slow shifts, Danny would share American Traditional tattoo history with Jeremy, who recognized its overlap with American cocktail culture. When Danny began his tattoo apprenticeship around the time QNSY was launching, the collaboration was natural: custom American Traditional designs for each cocktail, created by an artist who understood both the craft and the culture.

Today, Danny owns his tattoo shop on Long Island, and Jeremy and Tara have built QNSY into a success story that proves authenticity and relationship-building still matter in business. Jeremy's journey from Hell's Kitchen dive bars to a $6.5M HMS Host partnership demonstrates that true hospitality expertise-the ability to make genuine human connections-translates across any industry.