Hi

I'm planning to develop a new drink which I intend to reach some supermarkets with in mid-2014. What I'd like to know is if anyone is aware of factories where drinks are produced and placed in bottles on a mass scale so I can get an idea about the pricing of different quantities of orders - which I'm sure the supermarkets would like to know.

The bottle design and getting a prototype developed for a pitch at the supermarket will be easy. Creating a bottle logo at home in PhotoShop and sending it to some company which can plaster that on a bottle and send it over. The drink I can probably make at home. It's the mass production I'm worried about as it's an area I know little of.

Any help would be great.

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do you own (a) factory(ies)? if not, don't get into it.
chances are, the recipe you'll be using will either not pass legal control (too unhealthy) or look too much like an existing drink
(just wait and watch the lawsuits roll on in, and those companies can afford it)

developing a new beverage, with everything around it (recipe, material, legal, production, promotion, marketing, ... ) usually takes the big companies years and millions of investments, so saying that you'll release it mid-2014 with still no idea on how/where/for what price you'll be able to produce/sell it, is just maddness.

But the majority of the money those companies spend is in fact in the marketing.

The drink I'm planning is going to be an organic, natural drink. Unless fruits can sue I don't see why many lawsuits will be rolling in.

I'm curious though why you're so quick to tell me not to do it if I don't have a factory lol. If the guy who started Innocent had asked the same question and taken your advice he wouldn't be the multi-millionaire he now is.

Your points are interesting though. Also - my plan was to go to these supermarkets for a pitch by mid 2014, nothing more.

fruits can't sue, neither can sugar or water, bot those that hold the patent to a recipe can.
you are talking about mass production, that is something you can not do without a factory. how were you planning to do it? in your bathtub?

You seem pretty close minded. I do not need to own a factory for mass-production, I can negotiate a contract with a factory which supplies to several companies. The factories usually source the material based on your recipe and do the entire source, production, manufacture, and (I believe) delivering cycle once they have elicited the requirements from you. The problem is finding one such factory - I know they're out there because I've often heard about businesses dealing with these. Just need to find one.

It all depends how good, tasty and original, the beverage is you come up with.

It's pretty damn original which is why I can't disclose it here. I've actually contacted a supermarket near me.

Have you patented your recipe yet?

I haven't yet developed a recipe, came up with a logo/brand design. It's currently at it's first stages and I think before I get to that stuff I need to know if doing this will be possible to my budget.

Just doing enquiries for now.

how can you say that it's

pretty damn original

if you

haven't yet developed a recipe

?

what I'm saying is not close minded, it's a realistic view. I'm not saying you shouldn't pursue your dreams, far from it, but I'm merely pointing out some things you really shouldn't overlook.

how can you come up with a logo if you don't even know what it is you'll be selling? your logo is supposed to reflect the product, now you'll have to make your product so that it'll fit with your logo.

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My dad works at Amcor. They make the plastic bottles for ketchup,Gatorade, powerade, soda. Stuff like that . Go to Amcor.com

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Go for your dream but before you start negotiating with any do make the recipe. You need some connections with food scientists.

Lol. I disagree with your sentiment stulteske. As an example, whomever invented the wheel didn't need to know which type of wood to use for it to be a revolutionary idea, because figuring out that stuff is usually trivial. An idea isn't any less greater if you haven't yet fleshed out every detail of it. Btw I'm not claiming to revolutionize the world as much as the wheel haha.

I'll check out Amcor.com, also a nice way to promote your family business ;)

Hmm ok. I've asked a supermarket about their requirements for becoming a supplier to them so I'll wait to see what they say. Maybe they can hook me up with some connections if they're interested in my product.

asif49: the discovery of the wheel has nothing at all to do with my point.
you are trying to organize a marketing strategy (promotion, logo, bottles in certain shape maybe, ... ) and getting customers 'hot and ready' for your product, while you haven't actually got a product.

so, let's say you have a logo screaming "POWER BOOSTER" and having a skull and flames and all 'tha kewl sjiet' in it, and in the end the product you come up with is orange juice. that's false advertising. that's asking for lawsuits, maybe even jail time.

if you were to have a logo like that, you would need some sort of energy drink to go with it, and, if you come up with a lousy energy drink and a brilliant soft-drink, either you go with the energy drink, and loose, since ... well, it's lousy, or, you go with the brilliant softdrink, and loose, since ... well, it's great, but this isn't what I paid for.

even if you come up with a great recipe to go with your logo ... (assume it would be an energy drink) what if a company likes Red Bull takes a look at it and says "hmmm, this recipe is a lot like ours .... a LOT." and they sue you for using their recipe without their permission.
who do you think 'll run out of money to pay their lawyers first, you, or Red Bull?

to get on your last post:

I've asked a supermarket about their requirements for becoming a supplier to them so I'll wait to see what they say. Maybe they can hook me up with some connections if they're interested in my product.

how can they be interested in your product? you just said yourself: you don't have a product yet.
if you really expect a supermarket to sell your product, that means you expect them to make (at the very least) a bit promotion for it, and that they'll be able to have your product in store for years to come.
we're not talking about a few hundred bottles here. chances are, indeed, your products is going to be the bomb, and everyone get's hooked... that's when mass production is a minimal requirement, and mass production is not something you can do at home in the basement, or in the shed in the backyard, no matter what the 'Beer Baron' episode of the Simpsons said.

that's what you'll need industrial machinery for, specialized in all this. not to mention the workforce to maintain the production and the material.

I agree with stultuske.

First off, no product goes straight from concept to mass production. Not even those developped within existing companies which already have the factories & supply chains setup.

Second, even if you were at the mass production stage you'd probably have to pitch & partner with a business tychoon/venture capitalist who has the capital and factories to mass produce & promote the product.

Third, even if you do get all those things the drink market is extremely competitive and quite full already so most likely your product would fail anyway.

So far all you have is an idea and a logo, unless you are a proven entrepeneur with several past business successes in a relevant field (in which cas you wouldn't be asking an IT forum for help), there is no way anyone would be interested in investing/buying from you.

If you really want to take a shot at making this idea a reality you'll first need to look into the legal requirement and get proper certification for preparing food (sanitation procedures etc.. to ensure your product won't give people food poisoning). You'll also have to develop an actual product & recipe. You then need to make sure there is a market for your product most likely this will mean selling from a stall at a market or fair for immediate consumption (recipe needs to be kept secret until patented but patenting is slow and expensive so there is no point until you are confident your product will sell). Once you have proven there is a market for your product start pitching to local independent supermarkets. Only once you have some supermarkets selling your product is it worth pitching to venture capitalists/business men to get help mass producing it.

Patenting should be done before pitching for mass-production.

The drink I can probably make at home.

Even if you could make it at home, depending on where (country) you are, there are strict rules on the information that needs to be on the bottle. In case of biological produce, it needs to be tracked to it's origins in case of (health) issues.

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Thanks for being a great support for him guys. Yeah what you said is reality but dont i think u could have done in a better at like " thats a great idea but first you should do such and such and dont give up"

I'd be happier with negative advice than with a pink cloud. If it's something he wants bad enough, he doesn't need "don't give up" messages from us.

Hey I love people telling me an idea is rubbish, it means I get to spend my time on something more worthwile. But a lot of posts here were pretty rubbish themself, and had the attitude of "you haven't got a product you won't succeed" -are you guys that stupid to read that I have just got the idea so far and judge me for not having the product. In my knowledge of the world we live in it's idea THEN product - both don't spontaneously burst into existence.

I'm all for constructive criticism but some of the comments here were beyond fucking stupid.

thats a great idea but first you should do such and such and dont give up

Why? excessive optimize leads to risky behaviour without back-up plans which can cause tragedy if something goes wrong. We won't be the last people to think it won't work, the people who succeed learn how to persevere despite opposition.

asif49: if you want to explain why my post is bad for you, at least bother to read it.

"you haven't got a product you won't succeed"

I never said this. I'll do better, let me give you an actual quote from one of my earlier replies:

I'm not saying you shouldn't pursue your dreams, far from it,

what I have said, is that if you try to sell your product, before you actually have a product, which is what you are trying, given that you told us that:
1. you don't have a recipe yet (meaning you have no idea what it'll taste like, what it'll cost you, whether you'll be legally allowed to distribute/brew it, ...)
2. you already went to talk to a supermarket, to see if they were interested in distributing it
3. you already have a logo

you already are trying to sell your not-yet-existing product, have worked on selling it (talking to the supermarket) and have worked out a big part of your marketing strategy (a logo is a big part of what the consumers 'll consider to be the 'identity' of the product) without even knowing what the product 'll be. you're not going in a logical order of actions, and in the end, that will cost you, whether you want to acknowledge that or not.

you came here asking us for our opinion on your business idea. we are merely pointing out a few huge flaws in it, that's not a reason to consider us 'anti-you', that 's a reason to look at those flaws, and remedy them if you can.

-- YOU CAN DO IT, BOY-O!!! critique might be more fun, but unlike pointing out where you are going wrong, it doesn't actually help you improve your situation, which is what our posts can help you with. whether you consider or ignore it, is totally up to you.

commented: Great! +0

You can't start marketing something without at least a prototype.
You can't start marketing something without at least a cost indication.

And you can't get either without a recipe and at least a price quote from a production facility.

It's all well and dandy to want to design a bottle and logo, but I'd start with brewing up some actual product and getting some people to give their honest opinion about it (and no, that's not your dad and mom who'll say how much they love it so as not to hurt your feelings).

When you have that, and can make it to the same taste consistently in your kitchen (not your bathtub, that's not hygienic), take that to a production company (after applying for a patent) and ask for quotes on production runs (which might well turn out to be impossibly expensive), or get out and build your own factory (which for local distribution only may well be enough).
Either will require a major investment.
Bottles you can buy in all shapes and sizes. For that small production run at least initially hiring some kids to spend a few afternoons a week gluing labels on bottles works well, or get a labeling machine.
Labels and printing company can make, there's some in every town and city. They often also have connections to graphic design firms that can design the logo for you, if you lack the skills.

Initial layout? Tens of thousands of dollars, hundreds of thousands if you're ambitious and/or need to invest in property to build that factory.

Good luck, think at least 1-2 years lead time though, not a few months.

commented: Good advise! +0

In my knowledge of the world we live in it's idea THEN product - both don't spontaneously burst into existence.

Yes but it goes: Idea => Product => Sales & Marketing

If the guy who started Innocent had asked the same question and taken your advice he wouldn't be the multi-millionaire he now is.

For every one inventor who makes it big there are a hundred who fail. For example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Hurtubise He has had multiple ideas and developped them into prototypes and did televised demonstrations of his products and he still ended up bankrupt.

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