Market Research of Blackfly Coolers

2012

Company: Black Fly Coolers

Products: Ready to Drink Segment

Target Market: Georgia(US)

Names: Pavitra Parikh

Falguni Patel

MARKET RESEARCH OF BLACKFLY COOLERS

Introduction:

Black fly beverages INC is a London base family owned business. Since 2005, the company is committed to serve Canada with ultra premium vodka coolers and a distinctively Canadian profile for the clientele who are interested in quality drinks. The company shares very good business term with liquor control board of Ontario. The company currently has five different products in three categories over 5oo LCBO in six Canadian provinces. The company deals with the ready to drink segment of the alcoholic beverage industry.

The History:

Black Fly Beverages Company is Ontario's first micro distillery. It was founded by a husband and wife Rob Kelly and Cathy Siskind Kelly in the mid 2005.The name black fly itself has an interesting history and significance, the name comes from a small northern Ontario insect who has a mighty bite. The company also being small has created a bite that's unforgettable for people who experience its products once. Initially black fly started in a historic bank building in the London downtown, the heart of the city. Over the years the business expanded and in May 2008, exactly three years from beginning the black fly beverage company moved its operations to a new and larger location at the state of the art production facility in the city's industrial quarter. And since then black fly has continued serving Canadian markets with ultra premium beverages. Black fly also started to export their products in Hong Kong and Greenland.

Capabilities:

Currently black fly has 10 full time and 20 part time employees. The production unit currently runs in two shifts.

PRODUCTION PROCESS: (STATASTICS AND LOCAL DEMAND)

* Mixing process: 14 hrs

* Bottling process: 16 hrs

* Per week capacity: 84000 bottles

* Regular demand: 1200 cases (28800 bottles-per month)

* Seasonal demand: 3600 cases (86400 bottles) (ref 1)

The Organizational Structure:

* Controller- Rose Schmit

* Director of Sales- Mike Pearce

* Territory Manager- Maura Hanratty

* Production Manager- Mike Nisker

* Regional Manager- Chelsie Buch

* C0-founder- Cathy Siskind Kelly

* Co-founder- Rob Kelly

* Production Supervisor- Kevin Carpenter

* Accounting- Anya Tursa

* Production Supervisor- Keith Newman

(Organizational structure is retrieved from the presentation on 16 th January by the owners of Black Fly team.)

The research and development team at the black fly has been really innovative. They have come up with new products time to time. Their recent up comings are the tequila based drinks -the tequila sunrise and tequila margarita.

Products:

Vodka base Tequila base Cocktails

Vodka Cranberry Tequila Margarita Black Fly Martini

Vodka Blueberry Tequila Sunrise Black Fly Lime Margarita

Black Fly Punch

Black Fly Mimosa

Expertise:

The company's expertise is the uniqueness of the products. The distinct flavor that they developed has been their identification mark in the market. The products are 60% less sweet than the present competitors in the market. Black fly products do not contain any food coloring and they use cane sugar rather than high fructose corn syrup.

Their packaging is also very thoughtful. The bottle has a wide mouth-big enough to put ice cubes .The plastic caps are reusable. Black fly uses PET packagings, there are many advantages like they are eco friendly, less risky, more flexible in transporting.

Product Strengths:

 The flavors are different.

 Coolers more like a cocktail.

 They are less sweet as compare to typical coolers (come on the 4 -5 range of LCBO sugar scale)

 Juices used are pure.

 Having a year around appeal.

 New test and innovative product

Nature of Business:

Black fly beverages deals with the business of alcoholic beverages .There are certain rules and regulations around this type of business. The company has to follow all rules put up by federal and state government policies.

The chemical terminology used for alcohol is ethanol or ethyl alcohol, and it is the result of a natural process of fermentation of fruits, grains, vegetables, plant matter, and even dairy products. Its three main classifications are wine, beer and distilled spirits other classifications are often related to culture, content of alcohol, production method and legality.

The relationship between alcoholic beverages and public health in general has been studied for more than a century, and is still an interest to governments and public health professionals, the public at large, as well as a central issue for the beverage industry. Indeed over past two decades, major international beverage alcohol producers have taken a broader look at the way in which they respond to issues related to alcohol.

...