Route-To-Market Strategies For Beverage Brands: NYC Panel Revisited

An incredible group of founders joined us at Diageo HQ to dig deeper into the challenges that often arise for new drinks brands as they enter the US marketplace. With the help of an expert industry panel, an audience keen to participate and perfectly-moderated session - the takeaways from the day were nothing short of fantastic.

Hearing challenges & finding solutions

Spaces for the event booked out in just 48 hours - unsurprising when you consider the expert panel and agenda topics. We covered all tiers of the RTM process with first-hand perspectives and tangible solutions to start-up challenges from our brilliant speakers who generously shared their knowledge for the session:

- John Oliver, Sr. Director, Business Development, Breakthru Beverage Group
- Nicolas Palazzi, Owner, PM Spirits
- Bridgette Taylor, Founder, Harridan Vodka
- Josh Morton, Founder, Barrow’s Intense
- Paige Flori, Owner, Boutique Wine & Spirit
- David Porter, Director of Ventures, Diageo North America

Here's a taster of some key insights shared on the day:

John Oliver shared the importance of setting and managing expectations when a new brand approaches a large distributor. ‍

"It's all about setting expectations. Knowing what we, as large distributors, are capable of and what you, as a brand, need to do. So many newer brands expect too much of new distributors. Yes, we can get you into a licensed account but we aren't going to build your brand until it's a few years down the road. It's setting the tone that the brand is going to do the work. You need to keep that expectation level in mind if you're going to approach a large distributor."

Bridgette Taylor, Founder & CEO of Harridan Vodka that launched in 2020.

"Start with which shelves and back bars you want to be on. Narrow down from there, define the types of accounts you want to be in first, so you can determine the distributor strategy you need to make it happen."

Nicolas Palazzi doubled down on the importance of valuing every interaction with the right people, even if they're not in the right place for you at that time - because the drinks industry is one that travels and talks.

"Even though the work is hard here and now, it's about finding the people who are going to evangelize for you because word will travel - so it's worth playing the long game."

Founders' main takeaways from the day

We caught some time with attending founders at the post-event happy hour to enjoy some delicious serves and network with the drinks community. When asked what were the stand out solutions and tips that resonated most, they reflected on the following:

Distribution and RTM is critical - and there's commonality across all of them, whether you're in a 3-tier distribution model, trying to find the right distributor, finalising your proposition - the trade-offs are the same and the prep you have to do to make sure a model works for you is the same.

Hone in on your real market - focus on where your true customer is drinking, shopping and showing up.

Go deep, not wide - it's better to spend time and energy penetrating 5 key markets for your brand well over spreading your resources thin trying to be everywhere.

No one-size-fits-all - the challenges with distributors are front and centre but the early stages of strategising are brand-focused to determine the right distribution route for your brand.

"It's a lonely world being a founder.

Which makes it overwhelmingly awesome to see the community of the spirits world. The amount of support that groups like Distill Ventures, Diageo and Breakthru come through with to really support new founders.

[...] You're not alone.

Dive into these events, take these opportunities to mix and mingle, network with these groups of individuals who have years upon years of experience launching new brands and they’ve seen every challenge that a new brand has."

‍Mike Winters, Founder of Quintaliza Tequila

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We're busy planning the next event in our Quarterly Series to be held at Diageo HQ, NYC, in April 2025. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay close to our announcements.

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