Get your beverage brand into the venues that fit it
A beverage brand can sell into more kinds of venue than almost any other product: cafés, bars, restaurants, grocers, gyms, yoga studios, hotels. That is a gift and a trap. This page covers how to choose where to start and how we get you talking to the buyer. Other categories are on our by-category page.
Pick one venue type before you pick a country
The trap is emailing everyone. A protein water reads very differently to a gym owner than to a bar manager, and an email that tries to suit both suits neither. Choose one city and one venue type for the first campaign, and write for that.
Think about where your drink is already bought on impulse. Functional drinks often do best in gyms, studios and health food shops. Mixers and low-alcohol drinks suit bars and restaurants. Iced coffee and kombucha suit cafés and grocers with a chiller. If it contains alcohol, read our page on wine and spirits for the rules that change.
Awareness or go-to-market?
There are two kinds of campaign. A go-to-market campaign offers a sample or a trial to venues ready to stock, and suits a drink that is in production with stock to spare. An awareness campaign introduces the brand and tests demand before you commit to a big run, which matters when a production minimum is thousands of cans. Many new drinks brands run awareness first, learn which venues lean in, then go to market there.
Who to email at a venue
At a bar or restaurant the person who decides is usually the bar or F&B manager, then the general manager, then the owner. At a café or a small grocer it is almost always the owner. We look for that person at each venue and skip shared inboxes, such as accounts addresses, that nobody reads with buying in mind. Hospitality staff change jobs often, so expect the odd contact to have moved on.
What the email does
Each email is written for that venue: what it serves, who drinks there, and why your drink fits next to what is already in the fridge. It is short and plain, with no attachments or images in the first emails, and one easy ask, such as replying for a sample. Most replies come on the second or third email, so a sequence carries a few follow-ups that stop when a venue replies.
It all goes out from a separate sending domain we set up for you, so your own email address is never at risk.
Samples, done the way buyers like
A sample request is the real yes in drinks, but it is not an order. Offer samples only to venues that ask. When one does, ask the format and the address in the same message ("bottles, cans or a mix?"), agree a day to check in, and never promise a visit you will not make.
What drinks brands have seen
Solbevi, a limoncello spritz in a can, heard from 43 venues and found 30 interested ones across New Zealand restaurants, bars, hotels and ski lodges (case study). Aroā Jun, a jun brand, got replies from 17% of the 121 Auckland stores it contacted and found 13 interested yoga studios, cafés and grocers in four weeks (case study). No Ugly found 16 interested gyms in two weeks (case study).
After the first order
A drink on the shelf is not a drink that sells. Reorders are the signal. Flow keeps each venue in view from reply to sample, first order and reorder, and reminds you who is due a check-in. For the craft of the conversation itself, see our guide to beverage sales. When delivery becomes the bottleneck, read how to find a distributor. Coffee drinks have their own page for coffee roasters.
To see real venues near you that fit your drink, see who would stock you.
Questions brands ask
Do I need samples or even a finished product yet?
Not always. An awareness campaign tests demand before you produce. A go-to-market campaign offers a sample or a trial to venues ready to stock, so have sample stock ready before it starts.
Can we send from our existing domain?
We send from a separate domain that looks like yours and redirects to your website, so your main domain never takes the risk. Keep using your normal address for everything else.
When a venue replies, does the AI handle it?
No. The follow-ups stop and the reply comes to your inbox. You take it from there: samples, price, the first order.
Can it get my drink into a supermarket chain?
Not directly. Build sales with independents first; chains ask for that history before they list a new drink.
Will it email venues that already stock us?
Not if you upload them to your do-not-contact list, which stays private to your brand. You can also remove any venue before sending.
