Donnie Duenas | Sidney Frank Importing | secretary | omnipresent personal assistant

LIQUOR BEFORE BEER, never fear. But what comes after a $2 billion vodka? Tequila and wine, apparently. That's what Sidney Frank Importing is focused on, now that Grey Goose is one of Bacardi's many brands.

The surprise is that the company is focused on anything. You'd think they'd still be nursing a hangover after the sale of its second-leading product line (behind Jägermeister). But when Frank agreed to sell Grey Goose, not only did no one lose a job at his importing company, everyone got a bonus. A big bonus, in some cases. Frank's secretary - he now calls her "the richest secretary in the world" - is rumored to have gotten one percent of the Grey Goose sale price. His omnipresent personal assistant, Donnie Duenas, who roams around Frank's apartment during our interview answering various questions that Frank yells out - "Donnie, what was the name of the basketball player who drank Jägermeister?" "Donnie, what do they call that sauce you put on asparagus?" - reportedly got $250,000. And plenty of the company's 150 employees received two years' salary. In cash. "We gave away a total of $22 million," Frank says. "Everyone in the company got something."

The bonus has helped keep everyone at the company going, Frank thinks, even in Grey Goose's wake. But he wants another big-brand breakout. "You ever heard of Red Bull?" he asks, explaining that a Red Bull-esque energy drink, Frank's first foray (independent of his company) into the $1.1 billion energy-drink market, could be that next big thing. "It's called Crunk. Tastes delicious."

Maybe so. But it's making me giggle. There's just something funny about an 85-year-old, ashen-voiced guy in bed, in his pajamas, saying "crunk." Still, Frank isn't the one pitching the product to consumers. He's got hip-hop singer Lil' Jon, the self-proclaimed King of Crunk, doing that.