Health-Ade scaled early retail with 20 part-time, commission-only sales reps
Daina Trout · Health-Ade Kombucha: Daina Trout · Sep 28, 2020 · at 42:14
Health-Ade co-founder Daina Trout explains how the kombucha brand managed sales and production before raising institutional capital.
0:00 / 0:25exact quote · 25.1s
720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“We had some people that worked hourly for us in the brewery to help us. And then we also had some independent sales reps that got paid a commission. So let's say we had about 20 of those individuals that were working like some five, six hours a week, so not, not a lot. That was how we ran our sales. That was how we were able to grow in accounts. And then on the brewery side, we probably had two or three individuals.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Daina Trout
Trout: Beverage distributors rarely accept brands lacking existing retail store traction
“Yeah, but then the catch-twenty-two is the distributor won't usually take you on unless you have some stores. Like, they don't want to build you from scratch. So they want to know, oh, you've got Gelson's on board? Okay, we'll take you on.”
Trout: Coca-Cola invested in Health-Ade Kombucha
“I was extremely proud and am extremely proud that we've been able to build something literally from nothing from that table to something that the biggest beverage company in the world would want to invest at this level.”
Trout: Beverage distributors demand pre-existing retail accounts before signing brands
“But then the catch-twenty-two is the distributor won't usually take you on unless you have some stores. Like, they don't want to build you from scratch. So they want to know, oh, you've got Gelson's on board? Okay, we'll take you on.”
Trout: Health-Ade made the right choice taking early outside investors
“So I know if I was back in that position, I really still would have no choice. But to be honest, they helped us a lot in the beginning. They helped us build forecasts and get into the right distribution. And so, honestly, I think we did exactly right.”
Trout: Global anecdotal evidence suggested kombucha SCOBYs could regrow hair
“I had reported that basically I found all this anecdotal evidence, like all these People all over the world just talking about using a kombucha SCOBY on their head to regrow hair.”
Trout: Health-Ade originally saw kombucha as temporary placeholder for hair loss product
“When we decided to sell the kombucha, we hadn't given up yet on the hair loss idea. We just kind of realized it was going to be harder to make than we could make in the time that we needed to make it by. So it was like, we still thought the big idea was hair l…”