STOP COMPLAINING! Why it's never, ever, ever, been easier to launch and grow a food and drink brand

Stop complaining about inflation ruining your margin.
Stop complaining about only being given 6 months to prove your rate of sale.
Stop complaining about finite shelf space as buyers consolidate ranges.
Stop complaining about buyers not accepting cost prices increases.
Stop complaining about it being hard to raise money right now.
Stop complaining about buyers not having time as they’re focused on bigger bluechip brands.

Why?

Because it’s never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever been easier to launch and grow a food and drink brand.

I’ve just finished The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley.

Delicious book. One big takeaway:

Humans, like me, like you, are addicted to a deadly drug. So is your Mum. And Nana. And dog. And postman or postwoman.

Pessimism.

Ridley says: “For 200 years pessimists have had all the headlines, even though optimists have far more often been right. Archpessimists are feted, showered with honours and rarely challenged, let alone confronted with their past mistakes.”

Media outlets love spreading pessimism. Pessimism is addictive. Pessimism is a warm blanket we wrap around ourselves to make ourselves feel better about everything.

Zoom in vs. Zoom out

Zoom in and all you’ll see is pessimism.
Zoom out and all you’ll see is optimism.

Zooming in, no doubt, the past 5 years have been rough for food and drink brands: Covid, Brexit, Ukraine War, Cost of Living Crisis, Inflation, buyers consolidating ranges, less air time with buyers, brands floundering. Some even, sadly, dying too.

I get it. It’s rough.

But, lets zoom out. Let’s look at challenger food and drink brands over 50 years.

Over 50 years it’s never, ever, ever, ever, ever been easier to launch a food and drink brand.

So let’s be optimistic

First, there are a few crucial inflection points from The Challenger Brand Forefathers who made this whole challenger brand malarki a piece of piss for us.

Inflection Point One: GU, Innocent and Tyrells pave the way

2002 Innocent, GU 2004, Tyrells 2006

Innocent, GU and Tyrell’s huge success and big exit paved the way and showed what was possible to retailers, investors and consumers.

The word and industry “challenger” wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for these brands who showed what was possible.

No innocent. No Tyrells. No GU. No me or you. They had it harder. They paved the way. Thank them.

Inflection Point Two: William Chase tells TESCO to fuck off

2006. William Chase famously stood up to TESCO and very politely told them to FUCK RIGHT OFF. Check out the pod for more on this.

In short, Tesco were selling Tyrells’s without William’s permission.

Before 2006, “Challenger brands” or small food manufactures were notoriously bullied by big retailers. William Chase did the courageous thing, told them to do one. This changed EVERYTHING and levelled the playing field for you and me.

Arguably this was the nascent genesis of Future Brands, the apairy, Tesco accelerator etc. William gave challenger brands a voice in the room.

Inflection Point Three: Camden Town Brewery and Brewdog

2011 and 2013. Launch of Camden Town Brewery and BREWDOG.

These brands made it “cool” to work in food. They made food brands act like rockstars and football teams and DJs.

Last summer, I spoke to Mark Palmer at a Cawston Press event. Mark said in 2002 food and drink wasn’t “cool”. It was a weird industry no one wanted to work in.

In 2013, everyone was wanking over Wolf of Wall Street - wanting to work in finance. Now, food is supplanting finance.

Grads WANT to work in food. Grads WANT to work for start ups.

Founders you’ve NEVER, EVER, EVER had access to a group of talented, hungry, go-getters begging to work in food and drink. It’s never been easier.

Case in point.

Evie from Lucky Saint is running an meet up for people with less than 5 years experience in FMCG a bit like a 30 Under 30. This is SICK!!

Inflection point four: PRIME and Celebrity Packaged Goods

Yup, you can complain about Celebrity based brands grabbing shelf space. Winning listings without the work. PRIME or Kim Kardashians drink ALANI winning space over small brands. I get ya. It’s annoying. Fucking annoying.

And, of course, there’s been a huge influx of celebrity based brands:

• James Haskell and Mike Tindall just launched Black Eye Gin

• Kim Kardashian launched ALANI

• Logan Paul launched PRIME

• Kylie Minogue launched a Rose

Countless other Influencers are crapping out CPG products.

Zooooooooom out - this is ONLY a good thing.

See “challenger” as a total category vs. big incumbents.

The influx of celebrity brands suddenly, makes “challenger brand” as a total category mass market.

PRIME and ALANI and other Celebrity based brands is like a NUCLEAR BOMB of trial and awareness for the “challenger category” as a WHOLE.

Yes, short term, they’re nabbing shelf space.
But, long term, they’re also doing a lot of work for driving trial and awareness for the “challenger category”.

A builder in Hull who doesn’t give a fuck about challenger brands may suddenly switch from Coca Cola to PRIME. Now they’re introduced to the “challenger category”.

Maybe, next time they’re in TESCO, they switch from Walkers to OLLY’s.

A nurse from Plymouth with two kids who’s tired and doesn’t give a fuck about challenger brands may suddenly switch from Diet Coke to ALANI. Now they’re introduced to the “challenger category”.

Maybe, next time they’re in Sainsbury’s Meal Deal, they switch Diet Coke from to DASH.

A Grandma from Birmingham who doesn’t give a fuck about challenger brands but loves Kylie Minogue. May suddenly switch from Sainsbury’s own brand to Kylie Minogue’s Rose “Kylie”. Now they’re introduced to the “challenger category.

Maybe next time they’re in Waitrose, they switch from Own Brand Rose to NICE session wine.

Short term Celebrity Packaged goods are annoying. But long term they’re doing us a HUGE favour - they’re making “challenger” mainstream.

This really IS the golden age for challenger food and drink brands.

Still don’t believe me?

Let’s Zoooooooooooooooom out. Just imagine you’re trying to build your food and drink brand 25 years ago.

25 years ago there was no:

No future brands
No CoOp apairy
No Ocado with unlimited shelf space
No Bread and Jam to meet like minded people
No LinkedIn to literally access any single buyer in the world whereever and whenever you like
No CANVA to make insane decks for free
No social media to get your message out for free
No VCs - you had to get money from a fucking bank
No Slack to manage amazing teams easily
No consumer understanding of Great Taste Stars
No podcasts to get access to wisdom for FREE, anytime, anywhere - (sorry had to do that) check out the amazing Brand Growth Heroes and Untold pod too.
No Shopify to sell via D2C very easily and cheaply
No awareness for food in the UK - Britain was seen as the Grave Yard of food and drink
No co-working spaces to easily meet other entrepreneurs
No Bowimi for field sales
No Unleashed for supply chain
No Distil Ventures
No big fish
No innocent paving the way
No TikTok to get insane awareness for free
No London Coffee Festival
No Lunch! to meet buyers very easily
No William Chase standing up to Tyrell's to give small brands a fighting chance
No MKJ Ignite to find amazing talent.
No access to creative talent
No Facebook ads to reach people easy
No Survey Monkey - to get vital feedback easy
No Amazon Sales channelNo access to a world of barcodes thanks to GS1 - 50 years ago barcodes didn't fucking exist.

In 2001, if you told consumers that supermarkets would be packed with an never-before-seen eclectic mix of brands from Nigeria, Morrocoa, Colombia, Peru, Japan, Vietnam and Australia. They’d laugh.

In 2001, if you told consumers their shopping baskets would be filled with Kombucha, and prebiotic sodas, oat milk and almond milk and vegan chocolate. They’d laugh.

In 2001, if you told retailers, buyers would be having meetings with small producers who are making their product from their kitchen table. They’d laugh.

Yes, its’ been a rough 5 years, Covid, Ukraine, Brexit, Cost of Living, Crisis.
Yes, we’ve lost some amazing brands: Wholy Moley, East London Liquour Company.

Yes, it’s a little tricky right now.

Zoom in - all you’ll see is pessimism.
Zoom out - all you’ll see is optimism.

So let’s be optimistic.

If you enjoyed this please do me a MAHOOSIVE favour and share with a ya pals - also prizes to be won

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Still Hungry? Course you are…

Please feel free to gorge on the most downloaded podcast episodes of all time (these are CERTY: BANGERS)

1. Rory Sutherland: Why Challenger Brands Must Never Follow Logic to Truly Disrupt Categories 

2. Waitrose CEO: How Challenger Food & Drink Brands Can Win and Build Profitable Partnerships with Waitrose - James Baile

3. Spencer Matthews: How Spencer Matthews Built Unshakeable Resilience and Raised + £10m to Launch Clean Co. in Sainsbury's, Tesco and the U.S.A. 

4. How Grenade Exited to Mondelez for £200 Million and Lessons in Unapologetic Authenticity- Juliett Baratt

5. Tyrells Tycoon: How William Chase built and sold Tyrells for £50 million and sold Chase Distillery to DIAGEO 

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