Ask the Collective
The questions independent drinks founders ask most — answered. Distilled from years of community knowledge so the good stuff never disappears in the feed again.
How should founders measure return on investment from trade show participation?
Track ROI by setting clear objectives beforehand and measuring concrete outputs. Members recommend defining success upfront—e.g. number of samples distributed, new on-trade listings won, face-to-face meetings with key buyers, or direct sales revenue—then calculating cost per unit (cost per sample, cost per customer meeting, cost per sale). This allows you to weigh the opportunity cost of a £10k trade show spend against alternatives like hiring a full-time sales rep. **Direct pallet sales** are the clearest ROI metric. Export-focused shows like **ProWein Düsseldorf** and **BCB (British Craft Beer)** are favoured because orders are immediate and measurable—no grey area. Members noted that **UK trade shows** (after the first attendance) tend to deliver brand awareness and liquid-to-lips sampling for the on-trade, but ROI becomes harder to quantify; revisiting is only worth it if you have genuinely new products to show. **Imbibe** has been cited as effective for pallet sales. Members also flagged **NRB** as valuable for export-focused participation. Caveats: ROI from UK domestic shows has declined in recent years, especially on repeat visits. On-trade wholesaler channels create data gaps that make measurement less clear-cut compared to direct export sales.
How should we account for different pack formats (cans vs bottles) when reporting sales in 9-litre case equivalents?
Members report that the industry standard for converting multiple pack formats to a single reporting unit is the **divide-by-10 method**, used by major players like Diageo. This means 90L of product (whether RTD, beer, spirits, or cans) = one 9-litre case equivalent (also called "EU" or "Equivalent Units"). So a 250ml can would be counted as 0.25L in your calculation, then divided by 10 to get the case-equivalent contribution. This approach normalises across different volumes and formats on a single standardised metric for reporting purposes.