The energy drink aisle is one of the most saturated categories in retail — dominated by billion-dollar brands with decades of shelf space locked up. So how do you launch a new brand into that and actually win?
In this episode, I sit down with Jean-Olivier Campion, co-founder of Mana, a yerba mate energy brand that broke into IGA, Sobeys, Metro, Avril, and Lufa Farms across Quebec, Ontario, and BC — built by a five-person, no-office team with zero background in the beverage industry.
We get into how a bootstrapped team went from zero to 100+ retail accounts in eight weeks, what it actually takes to pitch a major grocery chain, why they walked away from paid ads after realizing they needed an 11x return just to break even, and how they navigate one of the toughest parts of retail: fighting for (and keeping) shelf space.
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Mana’s Website: https://en.manayerbamate.com/
Mana on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/manayerbamate/
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Chapters:
00:00 Launching In Saturation
02:17 David Versus Goliath
09:14 Taste Test And Branding
17:53 Shelf Space Battles
22:03 Quebec Energy Drink Ban
24:31 Rapid Fire Questions
29:19 Signature Cocktail Recipe
35:19 Remote Work Loneliness
41:08 Final Wrap Up