What are the key success factors for getting spirits stocked in on-trade venues?

Contacts alone won't get you stocked—the product, brand positioning, and pricing must work for the venue first. Members emphasize that relationships are helpful but not sufficient; a strong brand reputation is equally critical.

**The three pillars of successful on-trade distribution:** - **Desirable brand** — A genuinely strong product with market appeal. Members note that venues won't push products that don't fit their positioning or are perceived as poor quality, and that having a "black book" of contacts is useless if the brand itself is weak. - **Great contacts** — Established relationships with venue owners and decision-makers are valuable but only when paired with a product worth promoting. Members caution against "stretching the friendship" by pitching unsuitable brands. - **Cash** — Capital to support the placement through visibility, activation, events, and consumer engagement once the product is stocked.

**Recommended approach:** - **The "Chicken and Egg" strategy** — Identify multiple opportunities with proven volume commitments, bring them to the supplier/wholesaler, and squeeze from both sides (venues and supplier) until the wholesaler is confident the product won't sit on shelves. Only then should the venue take it on. - **Post-stocking execution** — Once in an account, the hard work begins: drive sales through visibility, activation, events, and consumer engagement. Simply getting stocked is only the start.

**Key caution:** Going in cold to the market is extremely difficult. Even an experienced on-trade sales person with existing contacts cannot overcome a weak product or poor brand positioning.