AboutEric Hofer Expertise Over 27 years experience, with 17 in international FMCG in back office operations and in field sales and data collection, including design, development and deployment of Handhelds, Marketing Equipment (Service, Tracking and Return on Investment), reporting and Vending management. Have participated on the launch of operations in new markets, and re-engineered the back office in several countries.
Experience Designed and led the development and deployment internal ERP system for Pepsi used in On-Premise/Vending in 13 markets.
Designed 2 handheld systems, the latest is now deployed in 4 markets internationally.
Re-engineered the back office functions (settlements, despatch, invoicing, credit control, etc) for over 20 snack, confectionary and beverage operators.
Developing software: Progress, VB, Access, C, Sybase, SA
Organizations Innovative-Selling Solutions
Publications BudapestSun
Education/Credentials State University of New York - BA Economics
NYU - Courant - Graduate work - Computing
Past/Present clients PepsiAmericas
PepsiCola International
PepsiCola Company
British Steel
British Telecom
Britvic (Pepsi's bottler in the UK)
AT&T
BellSouth
Mars Overseas Bottling
Pepsi France
Matutano (Frito-Lay Spain)
Frito-Lay
Pepsi Foods International
Chase Manhattan Bank
Kidder Peabody
National Power
SmithKline Beecham
Mars Overseas Bottling (Pepsi Azerbaijan)
A&P Bottling (Pepsi Serbia & Montenegro)
Iberia Bottlers (Pepsi Georgia)
I have been doing a lot of research (I may have asked you a number of questions already) about starting a beverage. I have settled on a process and would just like to ask for your assessment and feedback. Ill ask some questions at the end if its ok.
Due to VERY limited capital, I need to start small - real small.
The juice is a fruit/vegetable mix.
I plan to buy small amounts of the concentrates for the fruits, and bottles/caps for hot filling. For the vegetable portion - since it will be a unique blend - I will juice at home on a home juicer.
Then, I will make batches (a gallon or two at a time) and pasteurize on my stove, then hot fill my bottles. I will also make my own labels and label the bottles. I'll make a couple of cases via this method.
I'll use those cases to bring to local stores and try to get the product on some shelves.
Assuming the product sells, and I am confident that I can sell the product, I will then be willing to pay a copacker for a minimum run. It will still need to be small - even by copacker standards. So I will need to find one that isnt a massive operation. Ill look for 500 cases - I have found a couple that will go as low - although 800+ miles away.
So, I will have already done research to find a copacker and a trader for concentrates of higher quantities of fruit juice. I will have the fruit concentrate shipped to the copacker. For the vegetable part, I will still juice my own, freeze it, and ship it to the copacker as well. This is only about 1 ounce per bottle so I can spend an entire day or two juicing and freezing this vegetable juice part.
If this next step goes well, I will then look to expand more (a better copacker, looking for investment capital, etc)
So, a couple of questions here:
1) Does the overall plan seem reasonable?
2) Do I need a corporation set up before putting a bottle on a store shelf? I dont want to get a lawsuit if somehow someone got sick from a bad pasteurization.
3) I know (think I know) that I can pasteurize and bottle at home as long as my pH is <4.6 But how do I label the product (how much vitamin C, Vitamin A, calories, etc)
4) If the juice has a suggested retail price of $2.25, how much should I plan to make per bottle?
5) What would be a good cost for me to target and be comfortable with - in other words how much should I look to have spent for my finished product before I sell it?
6) Should a copacker be geographically close to me? I think it should be but I am having a HARD time finding one.
I think thats it. I appreciate any feedback you can give.
Answer Hi Rich,
Saw the 2nd message first and replied on that....
As to this one:-
- I think this the way to go with a new concept.
- Definitely get legal advice, set up a vehicle that protects you (and a corporation should) and whatever else you need to do to indemnify yourself.
- there are independent labs that can analyze your product; but of course a home process may be subject to variations - again consult a lawyer who can research the current legislation. Usually sampling is done through out the manufacturing process to ensure that consistency remains.
- generally 50% profit is what you should go for, so $1.12. You need all the "fat" you can get to cover unexpected costs, reinvest, etc.
- target investment depends upon what is your "maximum" pain point, what would convince you that you've got "repeat" customers (not people who try it once and never again - btw keep this in mind if initially you shift everything so as to not think you've immediately got a hit). Look at your target outlets and estimate the amount of customers that would repeat; if you can hit that value then you know it works.
- the closer the co-packer obviously the less the transport, time in transit and easier it is for you to manage the quality; but if you cannot immediately find somebody - I guess you'll have to accept the situation (or you might find a closer co-packer once you start up, or shift your initial target market to be closer to the co-packer).
