Whats the best wayto start small?

[rkaye]

I am looking to start my own line of juices.

What I would like to do, is start real small with just a couple of dozen cases or so and hit the pavement to try to get the product on shelves.

Is going with a co-pakager or producing your own facility the only to go?

Im assuming I cant juice in my home (and pasteurize and bottle with smaller units that canbe bought) because there must be regulations for that.

Is there a way to start real small, or must you have tens of thousands just to even consider it?

I know it sounds silly, but I have read about Odwalla and Honest Tea and they both - supposedly - started out small like that. Could be a marketing story, too,I guess.

[meetingpeopleiseasy]

How about starting with this, pretend I am one of the people you bring your new line of juices to. Tell me why I should care about your juice? What flavors are you going to offer, what are you going to do to stand out in a crowded juice case?

[Mr Zabe]

Just my arm chair thoughts.
The barriers to entry are to great to compete
even on the small scale for a bottle juice business.
There are too may competitors in the market for
a "ma & pa" start up business. IMHO

[rkaye]

I understand the need to make the drink taste good, properly package and market, etc. And, of course, I know there is a lot of competition. I do believe however, that I have a good combination of uniqueness in taste and branding. And, I believe that if I approached stores to put it on their shelves, I could get a trial run from them.

The problem is, Id like to do just that - a trial run. In order to do that, I would need a handful of cases - lets say less than 100. It would need to be pasteurized and bottled. How can I do this on a small scale? The only options I see are co-packaging wich have minimums far bigger than I want.

[rkaye]

"The barriers to entry are to great to compete even on the small scale for a bottle juice business. There are too may competitors in the market for a "ma & pa" start up business"

Isnt that the same issue for all of the new bottled waters, iced teas, etc?

Or is juice different for some reason?