Laying down a challenge in the Coke kingdom

Feb 12 2008 by Sue Scott, Evening Gazette

GUY WOODALL of Eaglescliffe’s Thorncroft drinks employed a UKTi “virtual export manager” to help him break into the Coke kingdom with his all natural, Healthy Thirst fizzy juices.

“It worked very well in terms of getting a very professional manager in to help and take hands-on control,” he says.

Not surprisingly, Americans initially struggled with the concept of a premium soft drink, but two weeks’ worth of product sold out in just two days through the upmarket Wholefoods Market. Price remains an issue.

“The US is one of the markets where we went in when the dollar was 1.69, which we thought was high. America is a cheap market for that kind of stuff; they buy on price. We got a tremendous response, but Wholefoods put it in at $1.99 which for us is not sustainable. We had to put it up to $2.50, which hit sales quite a lot and then the dollar slid drastically. Our US importer is still keeping it going, though.”

The company has, however, made some concessions. It is introducing a natural cola-based alternative to the iconic Coke, called Carnival Spirit, and is upsizing all of its bottles to 70cl “because the average single serve is about half a litre in America anyway”.