Energy Drink - Exclusive Rights

[MoneyDoc]

Hey all,

I've stumbled upon a new premium, sexy, great tasting energy drink manufactured in Europe. The drink is big there but not in the US or Canada. I have exclusive rights to the drink, however, I was looking for any suggestions on how to approach retailers (Convenience stores, Walmart, Shoppers, Loblaws etc,) and try to get them to carry this product. I have great margins for both the retailer and myself (40%+ for the retailer).

Anyone have any experience with similar businesses?

 

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[Vigilante]

Entire careers are dedicated to this. You are not likely to garner a career's worth of wisdom from a message board post. You might try contacting some of the United States largest grocery distributors (http://www.careersingrocery.com/distributors-grocery-resource-35.htm) and see if anyone cares.

You have a lot of FDA and other regulatory hurdles to climb over, as well as manufacturing challenges. You might want to partner with an existing beverage manufacturer located within the United States.

In the United States, the product is the easy part. The distribution is the hard part. The beverage industry is ultra competitive. The energy drink subset of the beverage industry is amongst the hardest. It takes in many cases millions of dollars to buy your way in.

Good luck! No small project, but if it was easy, everyone would do it. Climb over all of the barriers to entry and you will be set for the rest of your life.

 

[Geeko]

Pick up the phone?

 

[MoneyDoc]

Thanks for your response vigilante. The great thing is, it does not require any FDA approvals (at least not here in canada). The main company has spent millions marketing the product, thus it is one of the biggest in Europe.

I forgot to mention, I am in talks with 7-11 convenience stores (about 10k stores in USA, half in Canada). I am currently communicating with the category manager (buyer) for beverages through both email and phone. I had just sent them an email consisting of a picture and a short product description and the buyer called me the week after. So I hope this ends well and I get the deal with them.

 

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[Vigilante]

http://www.fda.gov/Food/NewsEvents/ucm328536.htm

http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/FoodFacilityRegistration/default.htm

"*Domestic and foreign facilities that manufacture, process, pack, or hold food for human or animal consumption in the United States are required to register with FDA."

http://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/fda-energy-drink-regulation-in-the-news-01910/

http://www.fda.gov/Food/Dietarysupplements/default.htm

http://www.fdaimports.com/industries/food_beverages/

"All imported foods and imported beverages (including juices) are already in interstate commerce when they reach the U.S. port of entry. Therefore, if your company exports food or beverages to the U.S.A., FDA will have jurisdiction over the product when it arrives (and even before it arrives)."

 

[Vigilante]

There's an MBA worth of information for you. If you study all of that, you will understand what you need to do to comply with categorization and regulation of energy drinks as you contemplate entering the United States market. Alternatively, consider private labeling the products for 7-11 and let them handle the FDA issues and the manufacturing and distribution. Do it as a private label license deal.

 

[Kfirdragon]

Its been a while, how did it work out? any insights or problems you overcame?

 

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