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Focus on single product at start up


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What are the thoughts on being a distillery know for one line of product? Gin distillery? Rum distillery? Although it seems like a narrow approach I feel like it makes you stand out. That way you are know for your gin/rum and not a little bit of everything and can focus your sales approach.

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It depends on what you are want to be when you grow up. If you are primarily interested in selling a well branded good product on a wholesale level, then one item would probably be best, as you could commit all your time and resources to that one thing. If however you aspirations are more along the lines of a destination experience for direct retail sales, more products will bring you more sales. That also depends on your state laws.

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We are just focusing on gin to start, the equipment cost was much less and we happen to be in a very good market for gin (we also just happen to be crazy about it too!). We fully plan on doing whiskey in the future, 3 years or so down the road, but just did not have the funds to support doing it right to start out.

I feel that as long as you are true to what you want your image to be, the consumers will be happy. A broad spectrum product lineup is great for destination distilleries because it means a very diverse tasting, and with large groups of people there are bound to be different palates and preferences, which means sales will be good since the selection also matches the diversity.

Since we are not a destination distillery and will be operating a very small tasting room with just gin and likely a limoncello, we risk having someone come in who is not a gin fan (time to convert!). However, most people who search for us will be gin drinkers already, so that risk is lower with our business model.

Honestly what it came down to for us was our starting budget and experience. If you have a lot of funds and time to invest, you will likely grow faster and make more money with a big product line. If you don't have as much, you better be darn good at what you do to pull this off. I am keeping my day job and staying with a single focus, with the plan to perfect our gin and be able to expand in the future once our production for gin becomes routine and I can start growing in whiskey knowledge and production.

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Yes on the GNS, and you don't need any reflux in the column, we don't have to buy barrels, a forklift, extra warehouse space, and sit on our investment for 2+ years before being able to bring in revenue on it. This is the plan when we can support it, but for us starting small and simple is what we wanted.

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Yes on the GNS, and you don't need any reflux in the column, we don't have to buy barrels, a forklift, extra warehouse space, and sit on our investment for 2+ years before being able to bring in revenue on it. This is the plan when we can support it, but for us starting small and simple is what we wanted.

More power to you.

But always have an open mind. Gin may be your drink of choice but you are going after a super small % of sales too. When you're starting out cash flow is a must. Think about items that will sell whole lot better and faster than gin. If you have the GNS think about vodka also. Just gin could bankrupt your distillery.

Thats my thoughts.

Joey D.

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More power to you.

But always have an open mind. Gin may be your drink of choice but you are going after a super small % of sales too. When you're starting out cash flow is a must. Think about items that will sell whole lot better and faster than gin. If you have the GNS think about vodka also. Just gin could bankrupt your distillery.

Thats my thoughts.

Joey D.

I have been thinking about this very same issue, which I would love to hear more feedback on. I'm curious what you might be implying about a product "that will sell a whole lot better...", unless you really just mean selling vodka. Just any one product could certainly bankrupt any business, but I'd love an explanation or maybe example.

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If your going to be selling in liquor stores grocery stores or other bottle shops it is a good idea to have two products as many retails have said to me that they will give you two face outs on a shelf

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