Business Plan

[Chris Martin]

I can confirm the liter preference, particularly by bartenders. Time is money, so they'd prefer to keep pouring rather than open a new bottle.

...and it's easier to take manually inventory on 1L for sales tax reporting.

[daveflintstone]

I have yet to find a retailer who wants a 1L, except Costco which wants the largest size it can get. But all on premise accounts I've seen are ok with 750ml. Only if your product will be an inexpensive well brand do you need to consider a 1L immediately.

So again, if you have just one size, use 750ml. The distributors will tell you the same thing. In fact, my distributor would much rather have a 375ml as an addition than 1L. Retail is king.

I did not know this when I started down the packaging road, and wasted a great deal of time because of it. I wouldn't want others to make the same dingbat mistakes I've made.

btw, a case of 12 750ml bottles is 9 liters. I don't think inventory counting is an issue with bottle size; one must still multiply # of cases by # of liters in the case (then of course convert to proof gallons...I can never remember the numbers, so I bookmark this page)

[Viking]

You might consider joining us in Gig Harbor, WA September 24-28, 2012. We will be doing our next week long workshop. We are now in our third year of training those who want to own their own distillery. Business Planning and Marketing are a big part of the workshop in addition to the art and science aspects. Check out www.artisancraftdistilling.com for details. We are actually doing the hands on part of the workshop at one of our former attendees to the workshop. www.heritagedistilling.com if you want to check them out. Cheers! Allan

[Chris Martin]

btw, a case of 12 750ml bottles is 9 liters. I don't think inventory counting is an issue with bottle size; one must still multiply # of cases by # of liters in the case (then of course convert to proof gallons...I can never remember the numbers, so I bookmark this page)

I think it had more to do with estimating remaining volume of bottles on the shelf relative to the prior count (for reporting purposes) -- probably easier as a fraction of a 1L than a fraction of 0.75L, and also easier if you don't have a mix of different sizes?

I've talked to a few bartenders who say they prefer the 1L... of course there are plenty of 750mL bottles on hand. But the question is whether it fits on the shelf. If it's too tall, that's obviously a problem, which I've been told is a surprisingly common problem with even major vodka brands that insist on scaling up their 750mL to 1L by getting taller rather than wider for esthetic reasons.

[Scott @ Twenty2Vodka]

although the topic of this thread has wandered a bit, since the title is "business plan" figured I'd copy a good resource I found recently for those in the process of writing one from scratch.

http://www.score.org/resources/business-plans-financial-statements-template-gallery

consists of links to guides for both startup and existing busiesses....a good resouce if you are writing a plan.

-Scott

[virtus]

On 4/8/2010 at 8:44 PM, WI Distiller said:

Paul,

As I said before, I had no intention of NOT writing my own business plan or not doing my own research, and I have already visited three distilleries and plan to visit more. I simply felt that the more information I had, the more examples I could reference, the better off I would be.

During my preliminary research I have found quite a few business plans online from wineries and breweries, from folks who started successful businesses and have posted their business plans online, free of charge, simply to help others who might want to start a similar business. Anyone with common sense would know that they can't simply copy and paste their name into one of these and call it their own; markets are too different and always changing, and no two businesses are the same. I just thought that since I couldn't find any distillery business plans online I'd see if anyone here was willing to post one. If no one is, that's fine, I'll just continue on my path. I respect that people might be protective of some of the information in their plans; no hard feelings.

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to post, or who has contacted me offering help.

Hi.

Is a long time ago. Did you ever find som biz plans for starting up wineries and distillery? I am interested. Thanks.

[virtus]

On 3/8/2010 at 2:43 PM, Scott @ Twenty2Vodka said:

But what is in it for the guy who put together the small operation? I'm that guy. I'd be willing share my experiences, and by share i mean sell. I have a 75 page business plan complete with financial projections and shareholder subscription agreements that i used to successfully fund raise the $ required to start an operating distillery. It's exactly the type of information you are looking for. I'd let that go for a price.

PM me if you are interested.

-Scott

Ammdended July 2012 ---> Yeah, once upon a time I thought selling my BP was a direction I wanted to take, but I've since changed my mind. Still getting requestes every now an then, thanks, but I've rescinded the offer. Best to write your own BP without question. -Scott

Its been a while ;-)
Did you have a biz plan for starting a distillery? I am interested. Thanks.