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Beverage Distribution/trying to get me a drink on the market

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Question
hello mr hofer my name is antoine and i have a drink in mind to benifit  people but i can i get it off the ground i got my own recipe and im in shreveport louisiana i really need your help thank you

Answer
Hello Antoine,

No need to be formal, Eric will do.

I'd like some more information please.
- What is the drink?  
- How is it "of benefit?"  
- Is it complicated to manufacture?  
- What is the cost of manufacture?  
- At what price would you it expect to retail?
- Is it something that would sell "on-premise" (for example in a bar); or is it "take home?"
- Are the ingredients easy or difficult to obtain?
- Is there already an established competitor with something similar?
- What niche does it fit?  
- Is it seasonal (eg. hot cocoa, or Pimm's Cocktail)?
- Is it relative to a type of alcohol - eg. like a screwdriver is related to vodka)?
- Who is the target audience/customer base?  
- How would you take it to market if you had unlimited funding?
- Is it something that would garner the interest of people outside of your area?  Or is it a local taste?
- Who have you approached so far?  What issues did you face?  

And for me and others who may some day look at our exchange (and its only out of curiosity so it's not mandatory):
- What is your background?  
- What is your native language?  
- Is it a "style" to ignore capital letters and punctuation?

Awaiting your reply so we can continue,
Eric

Beverage Distribution

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Eric 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; SalesSuite

Publications
BudapestSun

Education/Credentials
State University of New York - BA Economics NYU - Courant - Graduate work - Computing

Awards and Honors
Moderator of LinkedIn CEE Group

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)

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