1. Raaka Chocolates: This company makes premium chocolates in Brooklyn, NY. Raaka has a variety of super flavors including Bourbon Cask Aged and Blueberry Lavender. Raaka’s packaging is clean and distinctive, and I could see the company being very successful although they have lots of competitors.

2. That Indian Drink: This company makes ready to drink lassi beverages. Lassi is an Indian drinkable yogurt beverage and That Indian Drink makes all of their own products, including their own yogurt. Their products are delicious and really stood out in my mind.

3. Off The Cob: This company makes tortilla chips from sweet corn, giving them a distinctive and bold flavor. Off the Cob is already available in all North Atlantic Wholefoods, and founder Cameron Sheldrake is a really cool guy.

4.  Bollywood Delights: This company makes kulfi, a traditional Indian frozen dairy dessert in three flavors: pistachio, mango and original. All of the flavors tasted great. Currently Bollywood Treats is sold mostly in ethnic markets around Boston, but the company hopes to make it into Wholefoods later this year. Their products could be huge although the packaging might need to be changed to appeal to organic/natural foods consumers.

1) Cost: Co-packers require you to produce a minimum amount of your product in order to manufacture it. That means spending more on raw materials and packaging. It also means spending a lot more on storage. Manufacturing products on your own will greatly reduce these costs, especially the costs of storage.

2) Ability to Pivot: Everyone wants hit products, but what happens if your products aren’t a hit right away? If you make your products yourself, it is easier to make important product changes in response to consumer feedback. You won’t have 10,000 bottles of your newly launched onion juice in storage, and you will be able to change your recipes and manufacture new products immediately.

3) Being Able to Say You Made It: Being able to say you hand-made your product will give you a sense of pride, and it will also give your product a story that will resonate with consumers. People will be more likely to try your product and support your brand when they know that it is local and handmade.

4) Freshness: Co-packers have minimums. Smaller beverage co-packers will generally require you to make at least 500 cases of your beverage for them to co-pack your product. The more bottles you make at one time, the more time it will take for all of them to be sold. That means your products will be on the shelf or in storage for a longer time. Manufacturing your own products in smaller batches reduces the time between production and consumption which means your products will be fresher when they are purchased.

5) Control: Manufacturing things on a small scale allows you to control the quality of your products. If something goes wrong during production, it’s easier to fix the problem because it is on a smaller scale. It is also easier to take a step backwards during production than it would be if you were working on a larger scale with larger machinery and more raw materials.

1)Plan Tea: Plan Tea is a Brooklyn based beverage brand that offers a modern spin on classic teas. Plan Tea donates 5% of revenue (not profits!) to sustainable charities that help people solve problems. Their white tea is my personal favorite.

2) Runa: Runa sells Guayusa, a traditional beverage from the Amazon that packs a caffeine kick. Runa was founded in 2008 and partners with farmers in the Amazon to deliver both social change and a delicious beverage. Runa is currently available throughout Wholefoods in the Northeast and New England.

3) Tumeric Alive: Tumeric Alive makes healthful elixirs packed with raw tumeric which reportedly has numerous physical benefits including producing digestive health and protecting against cancer. Each bottle is handmade by the Tumeric staff at the Organic Food Incubator in Long Island City, Queens.

4) Bad Ass Organics: BAO is made by the people that run the Organic Food Incubator and offers flavored kombuchas as well as delicious sauces. Their Mango Kombucha has the perfect blend of sweetness and spice.

5) Brooklyn Kombucha: Brooklyn Kombucha hand makes kombucha in Brooklyn. BK Kombucha has a flavor profile and level of fermentation that makes it more tea- like and less extreme than other kombuchas on the market.

6) Love Grace: Love Grace makes cleanse juices and other juices with great flavor profiles.

7) Rawpothecary: Rawpothecary makes gourmet juices and nut milks. Rawpothecary uses whole fruits that are blended rather than pressed, leaving the fiber content of the fruits intact.

8) Grady’s Cold Brew: Grady’s Cold Brew makes New Orleans-style coffee concentrates brewed locally in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

9) Beyond Kombucha: Beyond Kombucha is made in Astoria, Queens. The company crafts inventive takes on kombucha, including offering high alcohol Kombuchas.

Here’s what changed between our 2nd and 3rd runs:

• Greater Manpower: During this run we had 3-4 people at a time working on the run. Last run we had 2-3 people working at a time, which simply was not enough manpower to complete every thing on schedule.
  
• A More Efficient Production Process: The biggest time sinks during our production process are 1) labeling and 2) filtering out kava, mint and ginger. We fine tuned our production process and were able to greatly reduce the time spent straining the kava.
  
• Cheaper Labels: We bought labels in bulk from a commercial printer and cut the cost of labels by about 66%.
  
• Higher Quality Labels: Our new labels are much higher quality than our previous labels. Last run was something of a test run to see how consumers would react to our product. The feedback we got was positive so we had the confidence to do a bulk order of high quality labels.

• 1st place: 3 cases of normal mint/lemon King Kava from the first run. One case of Mint/Lemon that somehow got way extra kava put into it during the production process.
• 2nd place: 2 cases of mint/lemon King Kava from the first run
• 3rd place: 1 case of mint/lemon King Kava from the first run.

*Please note: this contest is for New York City residents only.

• Larger Logo: Once King Kava was in stores and alongside other bottles we noticed our logo was slightly difficult to read. To make it more readable we increased the size of the logo.
  
• Slightly Redesigned Logo: Our original logo looked great on paper, but in a crowded refrigerator it was difficult to read from a distance. To make it more readable we had our designer, Beth Slocum, push the flowers more to the background, turn them into a circle rather than a square and enlarge the words “King Kava.”
  
• Changed Label Copy: The copy on the front of our original label read “organic herbal relaxation tea.” Having all those words meant we had to use a very small font, and we didn’t really think the words “herbal” or “tea” were selling any bottles. We simplified the copy to “organic relaxation” so people could understand our selling points without any superfluous words thrown in.
  
• Added USDA Label: Between our two production runs we got our organic certification, so we added it to the label.