Ever wonder what it takes to bring a new beverage to market? I’ve been working for startup companies to bring products to market for about 10 years now, but this is the first real physical product I’ve worked on. It’s been a real learning experience so far, and I thought it might be helpful for others to follow along on my journey.
I’ve broken down the process to 5 high-level steps and listed a few of the components of each step below. The prototyping stage included market research through surveys and interviews. One thing about physical products is that changing a product once it’s in-market is slow and expensive, so it’s helpful to spend more time up front to get it right.
At this point, I feel pretty strongly that I’m on to something. The formulation involves working with a good scientist and sourcing specialist to really dial in the recipe before scaling up production. I’m also working on finding a partner to help manufacture the cola.
Before going into production, it’s also important to plan for packaging. The formula needs to plan for the size of beverage and and the co-packer (manufacturing partner) has to be able to support the right packaging size. With a natural beverage, it’s also important to pasteurize the can to ensure the shelf life.
This is just a little peek at the process, but I hope it’s helpful. I’ll be sure to share label and carton concepts as we get closer to finalizing them. Thanks for following along as we get closer to production!
Shakacola is it a African inspired cola . The first thing i think of in my head when i read shakacola is shakazulu and a bunch of african warriors dancing around in the dirt. Reason why isnt racism . Reason is because of the movie SHAKAZULU it may not be spelled the same didnt look it up before typing . But phonetically its accurate .
Yeah, I could see that it could be confused with Shaka Zulu, the African tribal leader. The original intent was about the shaka hand signal or hang loose sign that’s a surfer symbol.