My NGCG HQ March 9th Visit
The following are my observations and answers to questions around NGCG from a one hour conversation with Phil Longoria. We met at the office and besides Arvin that works with NGCG across the hall, Phil and myself had a great conversation with no interruptions filled with sincerely and passion for the business.
Some of the below will make sense to some if you are in the food and beverage industry and to some the comments may be just disappointing verbiage. Myself being in the food and beverage industry now for 26 years and running a $70 million annual business with 160 sales reps understood everything that Phil was speaking about and it made all the sense.
First and foremost ... NGCG is not a scam. feel confident about your investment even if your entry point is .005, .01, .02, .03, or higher. These guys at NGCG want to succeed badly with all facets of their business and their passion to do so was definitely observed.
NGCG is a small startup company that has been in existence for a little more then a year. Phil has tremendous experience in the food and beverage business and his past work experience allows him to be patient and meticulous as NGCG rolls out their business plan. These are my words and not Phil's. Our experiences are more similar then we even thought and that is what made for a solid conversation.
Audited Financials
Yes ... NGCG had started the audited financials last year and they are still being processed. This task was much bigger than anticipated and due to Monster Marketing rolling into a shell back into 2014 after being in business for six years the financials need to be audited for six plus years not just from the inception of NGCG.
Regular Financials
I asked about the regular financials and Phil had lunch just hours before with Anthony Sykes and the March 31st deadline will be met.
Hemp Waters
This was a large pain point with Phil. The hemp drinks that were tasted at the Open House back in November went to be retested as stated many times on this board. When the lab (not noted) came back with the results they came back inconclusive and unable to pass the drinks. Phil grabbed a drink from the refrigerator and showed me a small mass in the bottom of the bottle. The small mass probably from the hemp extract is having trouble diluting and this normal in a drink that has no preservatives. Unlike everything you have seen in the marketplace these have preservatives (Yes ... Rocky High beverage has preservatives) or these companies hide the undiluted mass in a bottle or can that can't be seen to the consumer. I asked Phil flat out, "Just scrap the Hemp Refreshers and move forward about a product line that you are guys are passionate about and have been doing for years?" Phil responded they have come too far and have they have made a lot of headway with the hemp. There are few companies offering this drink and it's not a choice to not make hemp drinks a reality. He has a new lab from beginning to finish working on the hemp drinks and feels the best he has going with this company to remove all major obstacles. The hemp infusers from last year will be a reality. The obstacles with this product last year was the hemp dissolving and having a manufacturer creating "the sticks" as Phil refers to the infusers. You can't just go get 10,000 sticks produced ... manufacturers were looking for at 100,000 stick minimum. The funding was tight last year but with the new $500,000 funding this is back in the line up. Phil explained that the sticks were selling well on Amazon and some other outlets and they felt horrible they couldn't move forward. The commercial by the way was completed. 100% completed, but no sticks .. no commercial. That easy.
The Mucho Macho Michelada Cups
A few years ago there were about 30 companies selling a cup just in the LA area. everybody was producing these cups and many retailers just stuck with cups or manufacturers never lived up to their service agreements, etc. Today, there are only about a dozen companies selling the cups and after last years announcement they were going to stop the production of the cups they decided to bring them back due to 2/3 of the producers dropping out and also due to the requests for the Mucho Macho Michelada cup. There are three flavors as everyone knows and I have ordered all three online and also left the NGCG HQ with cup flavors. The Mucho Macho Cup is the product that NGCG is using to get their foot in the door across the country. Their success in 99 Cent Only stores has proven that as he quoted again the quadruple orders in coming quarters. By the way, the tractor trailer trucks we see in social media are normally shipped with 30 pallets per truck, 49 cases on a pallet, 24 cups in a case. 49 x 24 x 30 = 35,280 Cups Per Truck ... WOW! I visited 10 99 Cent Only stores when in California and these stores have between 75-100 people in them at all times. They do a great business and not having these stores in my home state it was a sight to see. We discussed expanding the Mucho macho sku's in these stores and NGCG just needs to make sure the sizes, flavors, and profit margins are adequate for 99 Cent Only store HQ. Example is selling a seasoning can to a family once every six months is not a great turn, but selling smaller size products that one would buy weekly would be more attractive to the retailer. Have to watch the turns or you as a seller will become less attractive. NGCG plan is to expand their Mucho Macho skus not just in 99 Cent Only stores but throughout the country. Yes ... there is scan data that Phil can and does receive from 99 Cent Only but I didn't spend a lot of time on how this store is selling vs that one etc. As noted, I visited 10 stores and for the stores I saw the cups (beer only stores) they were sold down pretty well.
Distribution
Phil continues to have meetings with possible distributors across the United States. Getting calls all the time.
Asian Co Venture
Phil described the co venture as active meaning just waiting for Equus to understand their needs and wants for their customers and how does NGCG fit in to the overall picture.
Website
The website will continue to be updated as new sku's are added to NGCG's portfolio. many have seen the updates the last couple weeks and the orders have been flowing in on the cups.
I hope the information above helps and I was pleased with what I heard.
The following remark is MY OPINION ONLY ... but after hearing Phil speak and going through quite a bit of dialogue that was too much or too detailed to type on a message board there is no reason why NGCG is not a 20X your investment by year end.
I don't like the pace .. but I enjoy the detail ... the passion ... and the sincerity that our COO has put worth. NGCG will deliver quality products at great prices.
I believe in NGCG and this company will prevail.
