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)
Question Hi Eric,
I have a fantastic beverage line idea that could be the next "vitamin water" in terms of popularity. With the population turning towards "health" related drinks, I think I can carve out a niche of people who are sick of sugary sodas.
Does not require any hard to find ingredients. The drink is targeted towards everyone, sort of like a healthy soda drink. This means that it can be sold anywhere and is available year round. I have one contact at nature beverage co, but I wanted your advice before going to him.
Thanks a bunch and let me know if you want in on a partnership lol.
Scott S
Answer Scott,
This is more about how to protect your idea which is a mixture of legal and strategic/game playing advice - in which I'm not an expert.
If the product is something that can be easily created, you'll find it hard to protect...
If its something that you can bring to market, and you have the wherewithal, then we can talk about bottling, distribution etc. But those ideas usually require capital - which is why you see so few softdrink companies. Capital is what is the barrier to entry in this sort of a business.
Give a try with some of the other forums, and come back to me if you're thinking of trying things yourself.
