Beverage Industry

Join the FREE Conference Call on Selling to Mexico

2008-07-15T21:02:00.000-07:00

FREE Conference Call

How to Export your products to Mexico

Join us for a FREE Conference Call tomorrow, Wednesday July 16 to talk about how to export your products to Mexico.

As you know we’ve exported more than 1,000 truckloads of food, beverage and other products to Mexico selling it to convenience stores, supermarkets, distributors, restaurants and hotels.

We also created the Mexico Sales Alliance to help companies sell in Mexico.

Now you can learn what it takes to export your products to Mexico. The Number One trade partner with the USA.

Date: Wednesday July 16, 2008
Time: 6 PM PST / 9 PM EST

Conference Dial-in Number: (712) 451-6000
Participant Access Code: 685210#

Thanks,

Jorge

Jorge S. Olson

More Energy Shots

2008-06-28T13:27:00.000-07:00

These past few months I’ve been approached by at least 30 new Energy Shots wanting help, marketing, strategy, sales or distribution. The difference between shots and energy drinks is large. The number one advantage of Energy Shots is the type of distribution they require. Energy Drinks need specialty beverage distributors because of their size and weight. Shots on the other hand can be distributed by wholesalers and small distributors. You can even drop ship shots and still make a decent margin.

Stay toned form much more information in the coming weeks on this wonderfully profitable new category.

Thanks,

Jorge Olson

Hansen Natural Corporation (NASD: HANS) maker of Monster Energy Drink Stock

2008-05-08T15:22:00.000-07:00

Hansen Natural Corporation (NASD: HANS) maker of Monster Energy Drink has seen their stock go down a bit in the last few months.

The beverage maker had a 52 week high of $68.40 and today it had a low of $28.51 per share with volume of 20,857,030.

What does this mean for Energy Drinks, for the New Age Beverage or even from Monster? Is the Energy Drink Category slipping? Are Sales decreasing?

No, they are not. The new age beverage category that includes Energy Drinks is still strong, still growing, expanding, selling.

The stock price decline may reflect, like in many cases, a natural correction due to profit taking, the economy, or many other circumstances.

Read more about Monster Energy Drink and Hansen’s Stock at Fortune Magazine

What’s new in the “Energy Drink Category”? Energy Shots! The small 2 oz shots you see in convenience stores. Keep you eyes out for them and the impact they will have on the industry.

Thanks,

Jorge Olson

Energy Shots are Big

2008-05-06T11:51:00.000-07:00

The 2 oz. Energy Show comes in a small package but it is showing BIG sales. It is the hottest part of the energy drink and new age beverage category at the moment. I’m currently working with a few companies on developing and selling their shots. Our goal is to reach 100,000 stores as soon as possible.

Many large beverage companies are already going into the shot business. You’ll be surprised who they are when we announce it.

Thanks,

Jorge Olson

Beverage Industry News

2007-12-08T10:21:00.000-08:00

Where is the Beverage Industry Headed? Who are the players? How many new companies appear? Stay Tuned for the biggest news on Beverage since the New Age Beverage Category appeared.

Coming Soon!!! Big News!!!

Thanks,

Jorge Olson

Beer Consolidation is only a small part of the total Beverage Consolidation Trend

2007-10-28T13:48:00.000-07:00

Yes, there is big news in watching Heineken NV and Carlsberg AS, bid for UK based Scottish & Newcastle PLC. Even more after the SABMiller PLC combined US operations with Molson Coors Brewing Co. creating “MillerCoors.

Yes, that’s big news, as is the purchase of vitaminwater, Fuze, Fiji, Sobe and other non alcoholic beverages. The truth is that there is a beverage revolution. Not just in the “New Age Beverages” but in microbrew, distribution, international operations and more. SABMiller has purchased many beer companies and brands over the years, in the US we’ve seen the same trend with microbrews and now with non-alcoholics.

There are several points pushing this trend. The major and most noticeable trends are:
1. The Big Beverage Wars have guerrillas on all fronts. – The emergence of small alcoholic and non alcoholic specialty drinks creating the “New Age Beverages” now with real customers, real sales and a major piece of the beverage pie. Consumer started discovering that they could choose their own beer or other drink depending on taste, lifestyle, and health, even social or political reasons.

2. If you can’t beat them join them.- Large companies could not compete with these smaller companies in grass roots promotions, brand appeal or innovation so they started investing in them or buying them.

3. Distributors diversification.- Distribution companies or distributing franchises, such as beer distributors, starting diversifying their portfolio tremendously. This affected especially the large beer companies. Where before a beer distributor sold their name brand beer only, now they sell all kinds of microbrews, imports, and non-alcoholic beverages, especially in the new age category. This means up to 50% of their portfolio is not form the large beer company they represent.

These three just 3 points pushing the consolidation trend. When you have distributors selling 50% of your product, you need to do something about it! The easiest thing to do is buy other brands or merge with them, as we saw with beer and even energy drinks and other new age products.

All of this is topped with the large and new demand for beverages, where “old products” like large beer and soda company products grow in the -5% to 5% ratio new age beverages are growing a whopping 50% per year.

What’s next for the big beer companies? Buy more new age beverages, more microbreweries, and head south, to Mexico, one of the largest beverages consumers in the world. Not only that, the USA has a $1.5 Billion trade deficit with Mexico on Beer alone.

Jorge Olson is a Marketing and Business Strategist. He’s a beverage specialist at Liquid Brands Management, Inc. Find him at www.LiquidBrandsManagement.com

Learn about Beverage Bottling and how to develop your own beverage

2007-10-21T19:39:00.000-07:00

UPDATE

Visit the new update on our main website to see the new content on how to start your own new age beverages and energy drinks.

Go directly to the beverage bottling informatin section at

World Water Conference in Mexico City

2007-09-19T12:50:00.000-07:00

World Water Conference in Mexico City

The world water conference in Mexico City was a complete success. All the leading water companies and upcoming companies assisted the conference. It took place in Mexico City October 13th and 14th.

During the conference major world topics were discussed including:
-The Environment
-The World Water Market
-Water Properties of Italian Springs for Ferrarelle Water
-New Products and Packages

The highlight of the conference was Ferrarelle Water, the #1 water in Italy with some of the best properties in the world. This water has all the right properties including:
-Spring Water
-Naturally Sparkling (no gas added!)
-Mineral Water
-Bottled at the source

Ferrarelle announced that they will distribute the water in all of Mexico with Master Importer and Distributor Nascent Foodservice www.NascentFoodservice.com

Thanks,

Jorge Olson

www.LiquidBrandsManagement.com

Liquid Brands Announces New Web Portal to Help Companies Export and Sell Food and Beverage Products in Mexico

2007-06-15T15:36:00.001-07:00

The portal www.MexicoSalesAlliance.com is part of the largest sales group in Mexico specializing in importing, selling, distributing and marketing food and beverage

San Diego, CA (June 15, 2007) – Liquid Brands Management, Inc., announced today the release of a new web portal from the Mexico Sales Alliance.

The portal found at http://www.MexicoSalesAlliance.com works as an information portal for food and beverage companies, analysts, institutional investors as well as anyone looking to do research on the Mexican wholesale, foodservice, or retail market.

Jorge Olson from Liquid Brands, one of the founding members of the Mexico Sales Alliance says: “We created this informational web portal hoping to help companies and individuals research the market in Mexico”. He continued: “The portal is also here to provide a starting point for Global 5,000 companies to export and sell more products to Mexico”.

The other 2 founding members of the Mexico Sales Alliance are Nascent Wine Company Inc. (dba Nascent Foodservice), a publicly traded company (NCTW.OB) found at www.NascentFoodservice.com the leading Wholesale Distributor of imported products into Mexico and Grupo Sur Promociones de México SA de CV (dba GSP) www.GSP.com.mx one of the largest marketing and promotion companies in Mexico.

About Liquid Brands Management, Inc.
Liquid Brands is a New Age Beverage company specializing in launching and marketing their own and third party beverages in the USA and Mexico. The New Age Beverage category is the hottest growing segment in the retail and foodservice marketplace. Liquid Brands will launch 3 new beverages in 2007: Kids Aid, Hydro Lift and Agua Refresca.
www.LiquidBrandsManagement.com

About the Mexico Sales Alliance
Clients of the founding members of the Mexico Sales Alliance combined represent over $5 Billion in Mexico sales. The Alliance has 4,500 employees servicing over 180,000 retail accounts. Customers and Brands of the members include Proctor & Gamble, Hershey’s, SC Johnson, Miller Beer, Cora Italian Food Products, Jolly Rancher Soda, Kabbalah Energy Drink, Gatorade, SC Johnson, Wal-Mart, Henkel, Johnson & Johnson, CHEP, Ferrarelle Water, Sigma, Tomasso Corp, PUIG, Glaxo Smith Kline, PSI, and many more. For more information and to contact the Mexico Sales Alliance please visit www.MexicoSalesAlliance.com

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Export Beverages to Mexico

2007-05-04T17:18:00.000-07:00

New beverages companies are exploding into the marketplace all over the world. Mexico is not the exception, it’s the rule.

Mexico is the great consumer, and beverages are what Mexicans like the most. You see, Mexico is on the top of the list of most beverage categories when talking consumption per capita and as a nation.

When visiting retail supermarkets and convenience stores in Mexico like Soriana, Wal-Mart, Costco, Comercial Mexicana, OXXO, Extra, 7-ELEVEN, Sam’s Club, HEB, Gigante or other accounts you will be amazed of the retail space given to beverage.

Last week I took several CEO’s from international marketing firms to Mexico City to some of these retail chains. Their first comment was “Wow, look at all this soda”! I’m talking about pallet after pallet on the retail floor filled with soda, water, tea, new age beverages, water and every type of beverage you can imagine. Not just in Pallets, shelve after shelve filled with beverages not just 6 feet tall, in some hallways up to 12 feet tall.

Beverage exports to Mexico are underrepresented with a mere $147,000,000 per year being exported from the USA to Mexico. This shows a Trade Deficit of $2 Billion Dollars in Beverage worth of good. Now, this is the “declared value” and not wholesale or retail value of goods, that’s much higher.

Selling beverages to Mexico is easier than ever, especially exporting from the USA. Mexico is the #1 importer of US products in the world. There is a need for all types of products including energy drinks, beer, water, flavored water, wine, soda and spirits.

Yes, Coca Cola (FEMSA) is in Mexico as is Pepsi Cola, Nestle and other very large companies, the largest, that is. But that’s it. Nobody of the other US or European beverage players are there. We’re talking a growing, emerging economy of $1.3 Trillion US dollars. We’re talking the gate to the rest of Latin America, the third largest economy in the world!

Mexico posts the greatest export opportunity for every US beverage company large and small. It has all the ingredients of a great customer. It has a great infrastructure including roads and ports to ship truckloads of products, many beverage distributors selling to supermarkets and convenience stores and more than 500,000 stores willing and able to buy new products throughout Mexico.

Mexicans are so eager to buy that they come to the USA looking for products instead of waiting around for someone to call them and sell them something. They visit US trade shows, organizations and many companies. I constantly have someone in San Diego visiting from Mexico to speak with me on how they can find products of all kinds to export.

Who’s looking for new beverages? Mainly wholesale distributors and large retailers. They are looking for beverages to sell in retail stores or to other distributors in Mexico, most of the time they will buy truckloads and export them to Mexico themselves, handling the shipping, imports and tariffs.

All you have to do is travel through the halls of Wal-Mart or Costco in Mexico to see how many products are still missing in the shelves. Products available in the USA in every single city.

Why do they do this? Why are they so eager to buy US drinks? Simple, they don’t have Mexican made products they can sell and they want to be the first to carry a new American beverage. They know if they are the first to market with a new product they can make a lot of money very fast. After that they just restock their customer’s shelves and refrigerators.

Mexico should be number 1 on the “To do list” of every small, medium and large Beverage Company in the world. If it’s not in your list, quickly, write it in with pen, bring it to your next board meeting along with some of the facts listed in the article, sit back and look good!

About The Author

Jorge Olson is a consultant, speaker and entrepreneur and expert on the Mexican Retail and Wholesale Market. Learn more about how to sell your products in Mexico by visiting www.MexicoSalesAlliance.com

Nascent Foodservice Inc. co-founds the “Mexico Sales Alliance” becoming the largest Sales and Distribution Group in all of Mexico.

2007-03-06T19:36:00.000-08:00

San Diego, CA (February 20, 2007) – Nascent Foodservice, Inc., announced today they are one of the founding members of the “Mexico Sales Alliance” and with it achieved the status of the largest sales, marketing and distribution group in all of Mexico.

The Mexico Sales Alliance specializes in selling, marketing and distributing directly to 200,000 accounts in all of Mexico including supermarkets, superstores, convenience stores, mom and pop markets and restaurants.

“The infrastructure, manpower and intellectual capital we put together is incredible”, says Sandro Piancone, CEO of Nascent, “the Mexico Sales Alliance has more than 40 sales and distribution offices in Mexico along with 4,500 full time employees in the field servicing our accounts”. At any one time in the day, we have an employee in every single supermarket in Mexico, selling, merchandising, or promoting product.
Nascent Foodservice, Inc. founded the Mexico Sales Alliance along with Liquid Brands Management, Inc. www.LiquidBrandsManagement.com and Grupo Sur Promociones de México SA de CV www.GSP.com.mx and together they offer a complete turn key solution for selling food, beverage and other consumer products in every city and in every channel throughout Mexico.

The 3 founding members formed the Mexico Sales Alliance to sell imported products into Mexico. Manufacturers and brands from the USA and around the world now have a single point of entry to sell their products to Mexico at a national level including Importation, Warehousing, Marketing, Sales, Merchandising, Promoters, Distribution, Collections and Brand Management.

About the Mexico Sale Alliance:
Clients of the founding members of the Mexico Sales Alliance combined represent over $5 Billion in Mexico sales. Clients of the members include Proctor & Gamble, Hershey’s, SC Johnson, Miller Beer, Cora Italian Food Products, Jolly Rancher Soda, Kabbalah Energy Drink, Gatorade, SC Johnson, Wal-Mart, Henkel, Johnson & Johnson, CHEAP, Ferrarelle Water, Sigma, Tomasso Corp, PUIG, Glaxo Smith Kline, PSI, and many more. For more information and to contact the Mexico Sales Alliance please visit www.MexicoSalesAlliance.com

About Nascent Foodservice. Inc.
Nascent Food Service is quickly becoming a leading food and beverage distributor throughout Mexico, marketing and distributing over 2,000 national and proprietary brand food and non-food products. Nascent Foodservice, Inc. strives to be the leading Food and Beverage Distributor in Mexico and the only national broad-line importer of products into Mexico. Nascent Food Service also has the exclusive right to distribute Miller Beer in Baja California, Mexico. Nascent also sells select products from Nestle, Haagen-Dazs, General Mills, Ferrarelle Water, Cora Italian Food Products, Bonafont Water, Avasoft Ice Cream, Kabbalah Energy Drink, and Jolly Rancher Soda. Nascent is focused on acquiring the most profitable and well positioned distributors in Mexico with the best Food and Beverage portfolios in the country, selling to supermarkets, convenience stores and foodservice accounts. Nascent Foodservice, Inc. trades on the OTC Bulletin Board as Nascent Wine, Inc, ticker symbol NCTW.OB.
www.NascentFoodservice.com

Investor Relations:
Pilot Financial Communications network
Rick Gean
(480) 247-2142
info@pilotfcn.com

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Bottled Water

2007-02-20T10:26:00.000-08:00

Here is an interesting statistic; According to Beverage Marketing Corp, Americans spent an estimated $11 billion last year on bottled water. That is over 8.3 billion gallons of bottled water.

For those of us doing business in the internationa arena, it is extremely important that we keep a close watch on the USA beverage industry, especially when dealing with our neighbors to the north and south Canada and Mexico.

The USA has long been recognized as a trend setter for our neighbors. We can bet on the water drinking trend to do the same in Mexico as it has in the USA. Mexico has a history of bottled water drinking due to the non potable water situation. The market is accustomed to 5 gallon jugs and will very easlily assimilate the smaller, trendy and convenient 500 mL and 1 lt bottles.

As one of the largest consumers of beverage in the World, Mexico is surely one to sell. And selling them is both easy and difficult, depending on who and where you are. Getting over the import/export, logistics and warehousing might seem difficult to the outsider but the truth is that Mexico does have all of the requried infrastructure to do business the right way.

This is apparent just by looking at the national and international operators already doing business there; Coca Cola, Home Depot, Mc Donald's, Red Bull, Monster, Rockstar, Cadburry Schwepps just to name a few. The supermarket chains account for the minority of retail sales with over 6,000 markets averaging 40,000 to 60,000 square feet. These supermarket operators use JIT, auto replenishment systems, centralized warehouse ad buying programs, as well as dedicated import warehouses in the USA used for interantional brands. Once the product is positioned in the markets and the required merchandising and other support is in place the sales will kick in. Hispanics are more likely to try a new brand and if your product is placed and being offered, chances are they will pick it up. If they like it and your product is everything you claim, you got yourself a customer.

Bottled water is taking up an important segment in their shelves. We have just seen the tip of the iceberg.

The Mexican wholesaler, retailer and consumer is continually on the look out for the next product.

About Liquid Brands Management, Inc.
Helping beverage companies create, produce, market and sell more beverages including New Age Beverages like Energy Drinks, Hydrating Drinks, Water, Teas and more. Liquid Brands Management achieves success with great products, a solid marketing plan and creative distribution and retailing techniques to capture more market share, faster.

Carlos Lopez is managing director for Liquid Brands Management.
Contact info
619-921-3124
email carlos@liquidbm.com

Create and Sell Your Energy Drinks

2007-01-17T22:02:00.000-08:00

Learn how to develop, bottle, market, sell and distribute your Energy Drink Beverage

San Diego, CA January 16, 2007. Liquid Brands Management, Inc. launched a program dedicated to help Beverage Industry entrepreneurs start and sell their Energy Drinks. Find details at www.EnergyDrinkSales.com

“The beverage industry is growing incredibly, especially in New Age Beverages, and the Energy Drink Category is spearheading much of the growth” says Jorge Olson, Beverage Consultant and founder of Liquid Brands Management. “The Energy Drink marketplace is not only profitable, it’s exciting” Jorge concluded.

Energy Drinks command a US$2 billion industry and have grown over 700% over the last 5 years and there is no stopping in sight. Like in all growing markets, there are many new companies entering the marketplace, most of them are coming from other industries and not from the Beverage Industry. Unfortunately, many of them are unsuccessful and go out of business after a few months.

EnergyDrinkSales.com was created to help new and up and coming companies succeed in the New Energy Drink Marketplace, teaching entrepreneurs how to create the best brands, save on production, execute marketing plans and most importantly, find beverage distributors and sell through retailers.

About Liquid Brands Management, Inc.
Helping beverage companies create, produce, market and sell more beverages including New Age Beverages like Energy Drinks, Hydrating Drinks, Water, Teas and more. Liquid Brands Management achieves success with great products, a solid marketing plan and creative distribution and retailing techniques to capture more market share, faster.

# # #

Beverage Industry: What is the future of Bottled Water?

2007-01-01T18:35:00.000-08:00

First of all to understand the future of Bottled Water we have to see the past. Bottle Water has been around for a long time in Europe. I remember when I worked in Europe about 10 years ago we only drank bottled water. All my friends had cases and cases of bottled water, sparkling and none. They drank it by itself, they mixed it with their favorite juice, they asked for it at restaurants and drank it at home.

Bottled water has a long history in Europe and now the question is what will it do for us in the USA and all of North America?

Well, it’s a good question. The bottled water category is still growing more than 20% per year in scanned data (data available from supermarket sales) but it’s hard to say what it’s doing at convenience. My opinion is that it’s growing even more.

The real eye opener is not necessarily the bottled water category, it’s the consumer channels. The consumers are demanding more varieties of water and better watery. This is where the category will grow the most, in High-end Water.

More content to come on Bottled Water...

Thanks,

Jorge Olson

www.LiquidBM.com
Visit my website a Liquid Brands Management, Inc. to learn more about the Beverage Industry and how to sell more beverages to distributors, retailers and consumers.

How to Produce your Energy Drink Now!

2006-12-27T11:15:00.000-08:00

Minimums for Energy Drink Production

How much do I have to spend to start an Energy Drink Company?

This is a question I get at least once per day by email or phone.

I’m not going to give you the canned “it depends” answer. I’ll give you some real numbers, at least for you minimums.

Ok, if you only want to produce your beverage and save money you need about $15,000 to get started. This will get you a formula with about 1,000 cases of 24 cans per case as well as your “look and feel”.

Please note that if you go to a normal bottling company they will not do this for you because their minimum runs are 5,000 cases and the minimum number of cans you can buy is 8,000 cases (all of 24 cans).

The 1,000 case minimum is a special deal I worked with a bottling facility.

You will also need to think about spending money for marketing, sales sheets, websites, promotions, and advertising. Remember that Production is the easy part, selling is the hard part and selling off the shelves is the really hard part.

If you have more questions about energy drinks or how to start with you project immediately to help you produce or sell your beverage call me.

Thanks,

Jorge Olson

Cell Phone: 619 852 6942

How does Monster Energy Drink and Rockstar Energy Drink promote?

2006-12-16T17:25:00.000-08:00

How to?

One of the most common questions I get is how to sell energy drinks, how to market energy drinks, how Monster Energy Drink promotes the brand, how does Rockstar Energy Drink sells product?

It is important to learn as much as you can about how to sell, market, and promote energy drinks, especially before you bottle them. A great start is to go to www.EnergyDrinkSales.com Visit the site and subscribe to the newsletter so you can start getting information on the beverage industry.

Thanks,

Jorge Olson

Beverage Industry exports to Mexico

2006-12-13T10:33:00.000-08:00

The Beverage Industry Trade Mission to Mexico was a complete success

All of the visitors were complete gentlemen, not to mention high level executives of prominent beverage companies in the USA and in Europe.

Thanks to the trip, every visitor now has representation and distribution in Mexico, some of them at a national level.

During the trip we all stayed in the same hotel, had every meal together and rode in a van to our destination, visiting distribution centers, c-stores and supermarkets all over Mexico City.

This was not only a fruitful trip where we learned, acquired information and closed deals, the networking and friendships developed between everyone was stupendous.

Now it’s time to do the work. We have lots of beverages to sell in Mexico.

Thanks,

Jorge Olson

Visit my latest website on Marketing Strategy called Shotgun Marketing

Export your Beverages to Mexico

2006-11-02T22:32:00.000-08:00

Please join us on a Business Development trade Mission to Mexico City to explore new business opportunities and close deals.

Date: December 7-10, 2006

This Trade Mission will get you in the middle of the action of the wholesale distribution and export business in Mexico and Latin America.

It is not your traditional seminar. It’s a business opportunity trip; a hands-on learning experience where you can not only learn but also close business all in the same trip.

You will learn how to export to Mexico and be introduced to retailers, wholesalers and distributors as well as brokers, consultants, lawyers, accountants, merchandisers, promoters and every person you need to do business in Mexico.

For full details visit http://www.mexicobeverage.com/index.php?pr=Trip_to_Mexico_Dec._06

Energy Drink Sales and Marketing Website

2006-10-29T21:32:00.000-08:00

Finally I posted a website devoted to how to start your own energy drink and sell more energy drinks to distributors and retail stores.

Visit the new Energy Drink Sales and Marketing Page at www.EnergyDrinkSales.com

Thanks again...

Start your own Energy Drink

2006-10-14T15:24:00.000-07:00

Energy Drink Sales

Create Your Own Energy Drink with the help of the experts... save time and money

Finally you have a one stop shop for all your Energy Drink Bottling, Marketing, Promotion, Formulation and Sales needs.

Land the bit Energy Drink Distributors

Visit www.EnergyDrinkSales.com to find how to start your own Energy Drink.

Get help form the experts, don’t spend time or money before you visit this website.

Start your Energy Drink Company

2006-10-04T10:50:00.000-07:00

How do you start an energy drink?

This is the most common question I get from readers. They would like to know how to produce it, how much it will cost to bottle and where do I do it.

The second most popular question is:
How do I get rid of the 5,000 cases of Energy Drinks I produced?

I get this question because many people launch products, not companies. You need to think big picture when launching an energy drink. Not just where to produce it but your overall strategy, target market, brokers, channels, shipping costs, slotting fees, marketing collateral, distributor and retail packages, etc.

What’s the answer? Don’t launch an energy drink, launch an energy drink company.

Visit http://www.liquidbrandsmanagement.com/index.php?pr=Contact_Us to contact us about how to help you launch and sell your energy drink products and company.

Thanks,

Jorge

The Beverage Industry is the place to be!

2006-09-21T20:17:00.000-07:00

Copyright © Jorge Olson 2006

Everyone likes to have a drink in their hand. No matter if it’s early in the morning or late at night, people like to be able to have something to drink. With this never ending demand, manufacturers have begun to see the value in appeasing the masses with a wide variety of beverages for any time of day.

For the morning hours, people need beverages that are easy to grab and go. This is why the coffee industry has become so popular and doesn’t seem to slow down over the years. Things like coffee and tea are still the number one beverages in the country, so trends that focus on this fact tend to be successful. The latest trends include drinks that have more caffeine than the normal cup of coffee to give the drinker a bigger jolt of energy when they are getting their day started. There are also many beverages that can be bought from a local grocery store that are the same formulations of store bought drinks, allowing the drinker to skip the daily waiting in line – things like the Starbucks Frappucino and espresso are now coming in bottles and cans in order to be more convenient for customers.

Starbucks is a great example of how to corner a market. They have their own coffee shops, they sell their brand of coffee in supermarkets so you can make a great Starbucks cup at home, they have cold coffee drinks not only in their own shops but in supermarkets through a partnership with Pepsi Co., and I even saw a Starbucks in the Vons (Safeway) supermarket across the street from my house; if you ever though of launching your own beverage you rarely do any better than this with marketing, sales, business development and branding.

Customers are also looking for ways to shave time off their mornings, so some manufacturers have found that creating smoothies and drinkable yogurts are a good way to appease their consumer markets. By giving customers the option of drinking their breakfast on the way to work, they are allowing customers to feel healthier and get that most important meal of the day. This segment of the market is growing quickly and mixing with technology as you will start to see more drinks with a longer shelf space. I already found several milk products with a shelf life of up to 1 year.

Later in the day when energy is waning, consumers are looking for an added advantage over others. With drinks that include focus enhancing chemicals as well as memory boosting ingredients, consumers don’t have to head to the vending machine for a snack – they can drink what their body needs and start to get their vitality back. Other consumers also like the idea that some new beverages give them the vitamins and minerals that their body is using up when they are stressed out. This launched one of the fastest growing categories, the Energy Drink, growing at about 70% per year. Brands like Monster Energy from Hansen’s, Rockstar Energy, Red Bull and Pepsi’s Sobe dominate the market.

If someone needs something specific, there are ingredient- and flavor-enhanced beverages for every need. From focus to energy, weight loss to immune system boosting, these beverage trends are all the more popular as the society remains as busy and as productive as even. This is part of the New Age Beverage Category that includes energy drinks, vitamin waters, flavored waters and more. Companies like Glaceau with their Vitamin Water, Red Bull, Fuze, Sobe, Jones Soda, and others are the leaders with many new companies and new types of beverages emerging every week.

Beverages are hot, especially new companies in new beverages. What will be the next big boom? Water… Bottled water is big in the USA but it will get much bigger. We will start mimicking Europe and their tradition of bottled mineral water where we’ll buy cases of mineral water to keep in the house instead of 5 gallon containers or tap water.
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Jorge Olson is a consultant for Liquid Brands Management, Inc. He helps companies launch, market and sell beverages all over the USA and Mexico. You can find him at www.LiquidBrandsManagement.com.

New Age Water int he Beverage Industry ... preview!

2006-08-22T16:48:00.000-07:00

Water Water, o so expensive Water...

... or should I say profitable?!

What’s now in Water? Everything… You not only have vitamin water, you have flavored water, artisan water, fruit water, and much more. Stay tuned this week for information on the new age water market. Believe. Supermarkets, c-stores, convenience, health stores, spa’s, gym’s, everywhere…

What are the hot products at the moment? “Energy Drinks”

2006-08-13T15:38:00.000-07:00

There is notting Hotter in the Beverage Industry than Energy Drinks!!!

Copyright © Jorge Olson 2006

The Beverage Industry is hot, sizzling, and it’s all because of the New Age Beverage Category that’s lead by the Energy Drinks. Energy Drinks are the greatest thing happening right now in Retail and Wholesale Businesses. Everyone is getting into it, the beverage distributors, wholesalers, cash and carry’s, beverage manufacturers, supermarkets, convenient stores, everyone.

Energy Drinks are so hot you even start to see them at specialty stores. I’ve seen Energy Drinks at Home Depot, The Gap clothing store, Best Buy and Sports Authority.

I get more calls about Energy Drinks than anything else put together. I get calls form distributors looking for them from manufacturers trying to sell them and from people looking to start their own brand.It’s a great business to get into; more than 300 new Energy Drinks hit the US market last year. If you plan on going into this business do your research first.

Don’t even think of launching or carrying new energy drinks until you know more about the industry. Here are some questions you Must answer before launching, distributing or retailing Energy Drinks:

===Find out:===

-How much is the Energy Drink and New Age Beverage category growing per year?
-What are the best segments to be in?
-How much does a store and distributor sell per month of an energy drink?
-What are the best sizes for energy drinks?
-Who is the best customer for energy drinks?
-Where should you spend your promotions?
-Should you sell at events, schools and bars?
-How to sell to Retail Chains?
-What you need to sell to Distributors
-The Industry Standard Pricing for Energy Drinks in the USA
-What is the best pricing for your product? Price to beverage distributors, wholesale distributors, exporters, food service, cash and carry and wagon jobbers
-How much will you put back into marketing using the Energy Drink marketing formula?

Now that you know the questions to ask and answer before you decide on your product it’s time to sell. How will you start selling? Do you have a contact with a retail store or a distributor? Please pay the most attention to this part of the business. You need sales to survive. Get a seasoned salesperson or a good broker to help you if you are not a great salesperson.Promotions are a large part of Energy Drinks and it makes them very exciting. You have parties, club events, games, sponsorships, fun fun and more fun. Now, the real question here is How much will you get for your promotions? Notice I don’t ask how much you’ll spend in promotions but how much you’ll get back. Please, please don’t spend a dime without a plan to get it back in sales.

Once everyone in your town finds out you have an Energy Drink you’ll be the most popular game in town. You’ll get calls from newspapers, magazines, and especially radio stations, all looking for advertising. Not to mention all the requests for sponsorship you’ll get. What to do? Nothing, don’t do a thing until you know how much you’ll get for your investment in promotions. Don’t spend anything without distribution; don’t spend a dime without knowing your Return On Investment.

Jorge Olson is a Beverage Industry Consultant for Liquid Brands Management Inc. Contact him to launch your new beverage and get National Distribution in the USA and in Mexico. Find him at www.LiquidBrandsManagement.com

Find Beverage Distributors

2006-08-03T21:51:00.000-07:00

How To Find Beverage Distributors

Learn how to get beverage distributors for you product

This is one of the most frequently asked questions I get. I always answer the same way. It’s easy to get products, even easy to get distributors. The hard thing is to get reorders.

To get reorders from your beverages you need not only a good tasting product and great package. You also need a Distribution Program.

A distribution Program is a Sales and Marketing plan for you and your distributor. This does not mean you have to spend big bucks on advertising. It means you need to help them sell and keep their salespeople motivated with commissions, gifts, POP, t-shirts and more. Help them help your product to the retailer and help the retailer sell to the consumer.

Questions? Visit our page www.LiquidBrandsManagement.com and contact us.