ssw

Bob, yes, my ingredients are FDA approved... shelf stable, easily purchased in any store. It is so simple it is embarrassing, but people go crazy for it. "You will have the next big thing to sell." I know it, but it is the selling part that is the obstacle. Can I take us off on a real tangent here just to get some reactions?... Is there any universe in which a business model could exist that resembles the very popular in-home, independent consultant models a la tupperware, pampered chef, arbonne cosmetics, I believe there are food ones too? The host invites their personal friends to their private home. All are served free products. Products are then available to order through a larger company or distributor. Consultant makes a percentage of sales and host gets credit toward product. I imagine the obstacles are many and would vary state by state. But when I tell people about my "recipes" they are mildly interested. However, when they taste them, they instantly want more, start planning parties where they can serve it, telling their friends, and so on. I am wondering how to develop a plan that builds on word of mouth and social networks that then demand the product from the source or distributor rather than trying to work it the other way around. Just dreaming instead of getting my real work done today... thanks!

Whoa, GMB, you just blew my mind! I don't think it would be great in this application, but with herbs and other similar flavors... wow! Thanks!

Wow, awesome... thanks all for your thoughtful responses. I am truly overwhelmed by your generosity... and also, unfortunately, by your advice. I am still trying to get the lingo down. First, to my Eagle scout friend, thank you so much for your concern. I am not selling anything or even buying alcohol - just infusing for friends but keeping my methods and recipes secret, trying new flavors, experimenting with different techniques. So I hope I haven't done anything terrible. It is certainly nothing more than a different twist on things I have read about in Martha Stewart Magazine and the like. But now so many non-friends are wanting me to do the same for them. I'm not comfortable doing it for people I don't know, and it certainly doesn't make sense to spend my time that way if I am not getting paid. But I seriously get calls every day from people begging me to make it for them, offering to pay me whatever (which I can't take), wanting large quantities for corporate gifts, weddings, or events. It is crazy, silly really. My "product" is simple, but people love it. Reading the responses, it sounds like I don't really want to set up my own distillery. I need to find a distillery or micro-distillery or (is there another type of operation?) who will produce my stuff on contract, correct? So then what? How do I sell it since I can't sell it myself. It has to go through distributors, right? What does that process look like for a teeny-tiny operator like me? I have business experience and a good idea of how I would go about producing a small, exclusive, word-of-mouth spreading product like, say, bbq sauce. But the picture seems entirely different in the liquor business. I can't tell you how much I appreciate everyone's help. Even knowing that there is such an active community so willing share is incredibly empowering. If I could, I'd invite you all over for a lovely evening but instead, I'll have to settle for offering my sincere thanks. S

Hello, please excuse my absolute ultra newbie post, but this seems like such a vibrant helpful forum. I just know someone will have some good advice for me even though my question is not exactly about distilling, but it is about vodka. I am the smallest of small beans, but I need help... I was doing some experimenting last summer and I started making vodka infusions. I hit upon a method and set of flavors that are unlike anything commercially available. I brought some to a friend's party and it all started from there. People were calling the next day, asking me to make more. I knew I couldn't sell it, but I offered to make it for friends who purchased their own vodka and brought it to me. Friends of friends started to call. I continued tweaking and making it in the name of experimentation, just for fun and for friends. Word continued to spread all over the city. At this point, I have people I don't even know, individuals, businesses wanting corporate gifts, party planners, etc. calling every day wanting my "product", that is not a product, that I can't sell. Everyone says, "you should make this a real business! you should sell it!" but I don't quite know where/if to start. All I know is that people love what I make. There is nothing else like it available. Everyone who tastes it goes crazy over it and immediately wants to buy it. Without my trying, it has grown bigger than what I can manage on my own and even so, I don't know how to make it legit. Should I bail on the whole project and consider it a fun chapter for my memoirs? Should I go with it and try to do something (what?!) with it? I have money I could invest in developing it, but expertise is what I need. Please offer any and all advice. Sam in Philadelphia