How to Start Your Own Beverage Company

After creating a fresh business idea for a tasty new drink to sell to make a mark on the beverage industry, an aspiring business owner may be unsure of the next move to take to make their idea come to life. Some beverage makers-to-be may not even be sure of where to start.

With a clear, feasible business plan, extensive research into the market, an effective branding strategy, and a collaboration with professional manufacturers, you can ready yourself for entering the rewarding world of creativity, product development, and profits in the beverage industry. Following the tips listed below and creating and selling a great flavor can set your beverage company up for long-term success.

Create a viable business plan

Putting your thoughts and ambitions into a concrete plan can ensure that your beverage company can be a viable business venture.

Your plans should begin with your initial idea for your product. Will your beverage company only sell one type of drink or multiple kinds? You could sell coffee, tea, energy drinks, soft drinks, juices, natural pro-health drinks, water, sparkling water, or alcoholic beverages in the beverage industry. Determine the drink category where your ideas belong to conduct appropriate research into the market and competition.

Even if you intend to sell your new beverage locally, research markets at the regional, national, and international levels. Doing such research is essential because if your drink is a local success, it could hit other markets. Find out what else is available on the market and gain as much insight as you can about the ingredients competitors use, the prices they charge for their product, and their marketing tactics. Leverage this information to create a superior product and convey to consumers why they should purchase your beverage over the competition.

Collaborate with manufacturing and branding professionals

A critical part of planning a beverage company is considering financing, beverage formulation, sourcing ingredients, package and label design, and distribution.

Determine what flavor you want your beverage to have, its consistency and color, what ingredients to include in it, and leave the rest up to the manufacturing professionals. By consulting private label beverage manufacturers, you can secure excellent research and beverage development, formulation, and flavoring. Professional manufacturers and suppliers provide superior and accurate mixing and testing of your beverage, with guaranteed solutions that are 100 percent within quality control measures. Not only will this professional team create high-quality private label products for you, but it will also make custom labels with the colors, slogan, or logo of your choice, fitting for your brand image and customized beverage.

Set company goals for success

Considering the time and work you put into your company, it’s crucial to set goals. Goal setting is a meaningful, measurable way to determine if your business plans succeed. To make sure your team members are all on board with the operational and financial goals of the company, follow the OKR framework, as used by companies such as LinkedIn, Google, and Twitter.

Referring to objectives—the company’s goals—and key results (KRs), numeric metrics that indicate progress, OKRs work to generate and communicate goals and strategies for a specific period. If you create quarterly objectives, for example, you can use OKRs to evaluate your team’s performance and execution of the objectives at the end of the quarter. From there, you can see what works and what doesn’t, and create new goals for the next quarter, if necessary. The best OKRs enable beverage company owners to develop feasible strategies, measure their progress at meeting even the most ambitious goals, and solve business challenges. High-powered OKR technology can help company founders establish a goal-setting system that suits their business and guarantees success.