Slow Brew: How a Local Product Lands on National Shelves

While some retailers offer online application systems to solicit new products, Janes has found that they don’t work as claimed. That leaves the CEO making personal contacts with national buyers, just as he did when Zip Kombucha was first sold in Alaskan-owned stores.

Originally sold in kegs to local breweries and restaurants, Janes began canning a variety of flavors. He recalls, “As soon as we started canning, we started with smaller ones: Natural Pantry, New Sagaya, a lot of coffee shops and restaurants. Three Bears was our first big success. When they started distributing for us, we’d send a pallet of mixed flavors to them, and they would send it to all of their stores.”

By 2019, Zip Kombucha arrived in Carrs/Safeway coolers. Janes credits his distributor with helping him make the right contacts. From that point, each success formed a foundation for the next. Janes says he was able to tell Walmart, “‘Hey, we’re in Carrs and selling x number of product.’ Then tell Fred Meyer, ‘Hey, we’re in Walmart and selling x amount of product.’ Then take all three of those and go to Costco and say, ‘Hey, we have a brand.’”

He would also contact store managers directly and ask them to send an endorsement to their head office.

Approval, though, comes with formalities. Janes says, “It is a ton of paperwork: processes, SOPs, checklists to make sure you fit into the GMP [Good Manufacturing Practices federal guidelines] or SQF [Safe Quality Food international program] or whatever food safety requirement that is.” While national and global standards are harder to meet, Janes says they are more widely recognized, satisfying the demands of multiple retailers at once.

Another hurdle is guessing what each store’s customers want to buy. For example, Costco sells a two-flavor twelve-pack at its Business Center for customers more interested in bulk quantity, but the offering at Costco’s main retail stores is formatted as a six pack with two established flavors plus a third at a more developmental stage. Joyful Jane is that third flavor, for now.

Janes says, “I always thought that, when I went to Costco, it would be like, ‘Hey, here’s our product; what form do you want to see it in?’ But it really is the other way around. It was us pitching an idea and a product to say, ‘We think this would sell well.’”

The form of the product also had to be something that Zip Kombucha’s brewing facility in South Anchorage could reliably deliver.

“I can definitely say that Costco was a kick in the pants in a way we did not expect,” says Janes. “We were hoping for one to three pallets per store per month; they’re buying one to three pallets per week. In the last month, we have run out of cans, lids, labels, flavoring, you name it.”

Even so, fulfilling orders has been a surmountable obstacle, thanks to excess production capacity. “I’ve always invested in equipment and processes with the expectation of growth,” Janes says. “We’ve often run under capacity simply because my brain and my dreams move faster than reality sometimes.”

Second Stage of the Race

Zip Kombucha moved from its Arctic Boulevard brewery and taproom into a new, larger building in March 2023. Janes was able to request industrial-scale fixtures, like more floor drains, when it was built. With twice the floor area, the shop has a more spacious taproom. Placing product in national retailers is a continuation of the upswing for Janes, but the race never ends.

The next stage: “Keeping items on the shelf and fighting for your shelf space. One assumes your product is in stores, selling well, they’re going to keep you or expand your shelf space or put you in better shelf space,” Janes says, “but they can do a reset and change everything.”

For example, Zip Kombucha can be found in the Walmart produce section (along with other perishable drinks) because it’s part of the produce “set.”

Janes explains, “The top of the mountaintop is getting in the sets. You can say to people, ‘Go to the store. We’re in this cooler.’ But the process of getting there in the different stores can be tough.”

For instance, the sparkling water that Zip Kombucha now sells in white-labeled cans is harder to find. “Our sparkling water has been accepted into Walmart as an item but is not in any of the sets,” Janes says. “We can put it here, we can put it there, but it has no place to live. At Fred Meyer, none of our products have an official place to live; it’s a constant headache.”

A foot in the door at national retailers opens the possibility for wider distribution of Zip Kombucha. “I’ve got hopes that we can be out of state” Janes says, if he can solve some thorny logistical questions. For now, only stores within his home state are selling the brand.

Zip Kombucha recently expanded its product lines with ciders, thanks to obtaining a winery license. And its alcoholic “hard kombucha” is being rebranded as “hard tea” because, Janes says, it’s easier to explain to buyers what that is. He is also exploring the possibility of making non-fizzy flat teas while also considering if a four-pack might be a more attractive price point than a six pack.

Joyful Jane has plenty to be happy about, but winning a spot on national retail shelves is not the end of her story.