Beverage Manufacturing

Itjust takes three easy steps – Positioning, Beverage Development and Bottling

The most important point in beverage manufacturing is beverage positioning. Yes, I know most people spend their time in beverage formulation or beverage development.  That’s a shame because in positioning is the most difficult and crucial point of the whole beverage manufacturing process.

Why is Beverage Positioning so important in beverage manufacturing?

It shows you who will drink your product and how much they will pay for it. It also shows you how your perfect consumer wants to buy and how they want to be sold.  That’s not all.  You will also know where to sell your product and what types of distributors to use to get your product there.  Imagine having a roadmap that tells you everything you need to know about beverage manufacturing, sales and distribution. That’ ’hat you need to get from your beverage positioning.

If you miss your positioning you will not have a good product even if you have a fantastic package and a great tasting product. 

Do you want help with beverage manufacturing? Contact me to talk about your project: (619) 663-4129

The 3 Steps for Beverage Manufacturing

Positioning

Positioning is the most important part of beverage manufacturing. It is the guide, the roadmap that you need to take to go from idea to a great product selling on the shelve.  To develop your positioning strategy always start with the consumer, not with your product.  This is what I call “Marketing Reverse Engineering”.   Always start with your consumer and move backwards to backing up all the way down to the beverage.

Here are the steps for marketing reverse engineering:

• Who are your perfect consumers?
• List everything about your consumers
• How much will they pay for the beverage?
• Where do they shop?
• Who distributes to those stores?
• How do you market to those consumers?
• What are their tastes, their likes and dislikes for package and flavor?
• Start with development and beverage manufacturing

Beverage Development

Beverage development is an important part of beverage manufacturing once you have your positioning done.   A great beverage has a good package and flavor; but it also has the correct size and profile that identifies with that perfect consumer we talked about before.  This is not just what you like or what your friends or colleagues like. This is what your perfect consumer would like.

Even if you think you have a good beverage development strategy always reach out to your perfect consumer and ask them what they think.  

The main points of beverage development are:

• Package – Can, bottle, etc.
• Formula – Flavor, color, texture.
• Size – 8 oz, 12, oz, 16 oz, etc.
• Feel – How does the product make you feel

All of the points in the beverage development process are clear except for the last one; feel!  I know: how do you account for feel?  It’s not an easy thing and it requires both knowledge and experience.  Feel is what you have to get right and it all depends on the exercise you did in beverage positioning.   If you’re targeting a teenage crowd with your energy drink the Feel is different than if you’re targeting a working class consumer like you would do with an energy shot.  You don’t what to alienate your consumer with the wrong feel so pay special attention to this in your beverage manufacturing process.

If you need my help to go over your Feel simple call my beverage consulting hotline at: (619) 663-4129

Beverage Bottling

Beverage bottling is the easiest and most automatic part of beverage manufacturing.  In beverage bottling you just need to look for a co-packer that is close to you and has line space to cover your order.  It can take as little as 20 minutes after they push the button to fill your complete order.  Yes, I said 20 minutes!

Well, if you’re bottling water it will take 20 minutes. If you have a formula they have to prepare the batch, bring the bottle or can and then push the button.  It still just takes a couple of hours for the whole process. 

Now, some of you have more sophisticated formulas or beverage manufacturing process. That means you could require a special line or production equipment.  If that’s the case you should probably call me to talk about your project as this article is not large enough to go over all the intricacies of custom beverage manufacturing processes.  Maybe you have a special bottle, or special formulation or you have to export to another country; in any case contact me and we’ll go over your beverage manufacturing needs and talk about my beverage consulting packages.

If you need more information about beverage manufacturing, strategy or positioning start at the home page

Beverage development can be easy, quick and a lot of fun

Beverage development can also be very difficult and painful. Costing you years and at least $50,000 in only 6 months without

Over the years I’ve seen many companies wasting $10,000, $25,000, $50,000 and up to $100,000 in Beverage Development without having a good product we can sell…

Mistakes in formulation, in production, in artwork. How many companies have I seen? Many. I see at least 5 companies every single month that already spent too much time and too much money

Here are some examples of mistake made on an everyday basis...

This mistake can be thought of as choosing outsourcing versus in-sourcing. Are you going to take charge of your product’s development process, or let someone else make the decisions for you.

First let’s talk about outsourcing. Outsourcing is the practice of contracting out work to a third party. This practice is most commonly used today by big companies for telephone customer service. However, many people who are seeking to develop a new product, and lack experience, will also use third party beverage development firms.

There are several problems with using these types of companies:

• Lack of decision making power
• Expensive start up costs
• Expensive long term contracts that require more money at the beginning of each new step in the beverage development process
• You are kept out of the loop, and gain no knowledge of beverage development from the process.
• You will lack an understanding of the beverage development process
• You don’t get the information, contacts, or direct relationship with suppliers

Many third party beverage development companies take your idea and handle the development process to create a product. The problem however, is that they make many of the decisions for you in their best interest. These types of beverage industry companies take full control of the beverage development and handle most of the development process on their own. They have in-house flavor labs, formulators, and bottling design departments and therefore can bring your product from idea to reality without much input from you.  The sad part is the formulas can’t be used with beverage bottlers and you have to start all over again.

The problem with this is that you want to be able to understand the beverage development process and every step in it. Once your product is developed, you are still responsible for running your business and selling your product. Don’t you want the confidence in your product that comes from being fully involved in every step of the production process? Of course you do! In order for that to happen, you need to have control over your product and be able to work directly with formula/flavor houses and bottling companies.

Instead of outsourcing your beverage development, you need to in-source. As the manufacturer, you need to be in charge of finding flavor houses, bottling companies, marketing firms, and distributors. Or at least understand how it is done and do it together with your consultant, employee or project manager.  You need to work with these companies directly so that the vision you have for your product is achieved. You need to take the time to learn as much as you can about developing your product so that you can have control and confidence around your new product. Learn everything you can about the different business involved in the development process so that you can rely on yourself instead of relying on another to company to make decisions.

If you feel that finding and working with all the different types of companies involved in the development process to be too daunting, there are other companies out there that can help. Companies such as Wholesalefund can help you make connections with development companies while also giving you control over your beverage. Look for companies that offer consulting and help with managing different aspects of your beverage development process. These companies will give you assistance without taking any power away.

Remember don’t hand over your beverage development, your beverage project or your beverage company to someone else.

#2 Mistake: Out of the loop -No beverage development know-how

When a manufacturer is seeking beverage development, they look for businesses that can help: flavor houses, bottling companies, etc. However, a common mistake they make is that they do not do enough research to find the right company for them or the company wants them “out of the loop.  Most of the time, they settle for a company, instead of getting exactly what they want. What should you want? Service, Knowledge, Mentoring, Project Management.  Not to mention sales and distribution; even in the beverage development process.

Maybe a formulator you find will work just fine, just OK, but they do not specialize in what you need. Why settle for that? Why not do your homework and search for companies that specialize in exactly what you need and will be the best for your beverage? Manufacturers often don’t do due diligence; investigating the company they find to develop their product. Don’t be lazy and settle on the first company that you can find; be discriminating. In the end, it is your product that you want to sell, wouldn’t rather get exactly what you want?

Finding resources can be tough, but remember to do your research. Ask each company what types of beverages they develop, what they specialize in. If you want to develop an energy drink, why would you work with a formula house that specializes in soda? There are so many different companies out there and you want to give your business to the right company for your beverage development.
 

I have a rule when doing business. Don’t do business whith someone you would not invite to your house to have dinner and meet your family.
 

#3 Mistake: Failing to do research on the beverage industry market

The beverage market dictates what sells and what doesn’t. As with any market, there is a demand for products. If your product meets the demand, it will naturally sell and if you product does not meet the demand, you will not get sales. It doesn’t matter if you think your beverage is the best drink that has ever existed, if the market is not willing to accept it, it will not sell.

In order to safe guard yourself against putting time and money into a product, only to have it not make you any money, you must take the time to do your research on the market. Identify your beverage’s ideal customers; who are you trying to sell to and what do they want? Which beverages are selling and which aren’t? What is in demand? Is the market over-saturated with the type of drink you want to develop? Is there a new category of beverages emerging that you can develop a product for? These are questions you need to answer in order to be successful.

These beverage development mistakes can cost you months of time and thousands of dollars. Be sure to avoid these mistakes when developing a beverage and you can be successful.  Give me a call so we can talk about your beverage development project.

So remember:

• Be the primary decision maker in your beverage product development
• Do your homework on development companies
• Research the market

What will you get when you work with me?

• Expert Strategy and Consultation Sessions
• I will handle your project personally
• You will be a beverage development expert!
• Mentoring, not just task execution
• Unlimited phone calls and emails 7 days per week
• My personal cell phone number
• Beverage Development, Sales and Distribution
• Access to my personal sales and distribution network

Contact me for beverage development, sales and distribution: (619) 663-4129

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How to find the best beverage development service for you

How will you approach your beverage development project?

Do you have a solid beverage development business plan and realistic timeline?

How many ways can you approach a Beverage  Project? If you want to do it the right way, there is only 1 golden rule of to start in the beverage industry…

If you are thinking taste, formulation, or packaging you are wrong! Give me a call and we can discuss the right way to develop your beverage taking the consumer in mind, the retailer, the wholesaler and the golden rule of beverage development.

Beverage Development Service from beverage formulation to sales and distribution. You will benefit from the most comprehensive Beverage Development services that include formulation, flavour, bottle, bottling, business plan, sales collateral, and marketing plan, sales to distributors, wholesalers and retailers.

Where Do You Start Your Beverage Development Project?

After speaking with hundreds of companies I’ve noticed some of the same questions on beverage development pop up over and over again. The top questions are:  How much will it cost to develop the product? How much will it cost to produce? How long will it take? and What is the minimums for production?

How much does beverage development cost?

The costing questions are very easy because each type of product has minimum quantities in bottling or production. This goes along with costing of your product. For example, if you are doing cans the minimum is higher than bottles. If you are making a carbonated beverage the minimum is higher than non carbonated beverages.

The issue of timelines and how long beverage development last is not so easy. You have to consider artwork, formulation, a standard bottle or can or a custom one, your displays, racks and many other variables. Most of the time here is waiting for feedback on logos, taste, colors and artwork. We also have to wait for samples, for printing, mailings, and all of this can take a few weeks.

How much time will you spend on beverage development?

Beverage development itself does not take much time. You should have all the details in less than 2 weeks. The rest of the time is going back and forward and decided what to do and how you do it. I mean flavor profile or how you want the beverage to taste. What is the action you would like the beverage to do? Is it an energy drink or energy shot? Is it a vitamin water or how about a soda? Maybe you’re developing a tea or coffee product.

Would you like to learn more about beverage development, sales, marketing and distribution? Read the book Build Your Beverage Empire and be a beverage business expert.

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Read The Beverage Development Mistakes That Cost $50,000 in 6 Months

The Energy Drink Revolution

Learn how to jump start your energy drink project fast!

Many people want to start their energy drink company and spend dozens of hours surfing the net and calling companies all around the USA to see how to get started, how to get all the ingredients, how to label, buy cans or bottles and how to bottle.

The problem is there is no real information out there on how to actually start your energy drink company. Suppliers are now asking you for large amounts of money just to speak with you because of the demand they have and lack of time. What can you do as an entrepreneur?

The first thing you should do as an entrepreneur of Energy Drink Beverages is focus on the most important points of creating your company. These points will include:

Beverage Development: including flavor, formulation, label, package (like a can or a bottle), and size (the best is 16 oz).
Production: Where will you produce your energy drink, what is the price per case with what minimums, how to warehouse it and where, shipping costs.

Marketing: How is your product different from the rest? Your differentiator can be taste, packaging, ingredients, or sales strategy. Who is your customer and how will you sell to them? How will you let the distributors, retailers and consumers know about your product? What is your budget per store and per case?

Sales & Distribution: How will you sell your product to wholesalers, distributors, retailers and consumers? What are your pricing models for every level of sales? How many salespeople will you need and where? How many accounts will you open per city and how?

Exit & Business Strategy: How much money will you need? Do you have to raise money through investors? Will you sell the company? When will you sell it? How much money will your company make per year for the next 3 years? What are those numbers based on? How many accounts per day will you open to achieve these numbers?

We all see how Red Bull, Monster Energy Drink, Rockstart Energy Drink and other products like Sobe, Hansen’s products, Full Throttle, Noz and all the other energy drinks are growing. We see them in supermarkets, convenience stores an now in different types of retail stores. We’ve seen how these companies grow at up to 100% every year. The question is how can entrepreneurs start and do the same with their products. Or in many cases entrepreneurs don’t want to grow exponentially from the start and would like to sell to local stores in their town or in their city.

How can you start? Who can help? Who has done every level of beverage development, distribution and sales? We have! We can help you from start to finish with your product.  If you want to read more about beverage consultants click here:

These are just a few points that you need to explore when starting your energy drink company or any beverage company. The points can be the basis for your business or operational plan.

If you are ready to start your energy drink or any other beverage NOW we have a new plan to help you start in just a few days and be ready with your product quickly.

Contact Us Today at (619) 663-4129

Subscribe to receive great Energy Drink Business Strategy

Just For Signing Up You Will Learn The New Strategy to Reaching 2,000 Beverage Distributors in Only 30 Days – Free Video!

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