Hangover Joe's Holding Corp. (fka HJOE)

[Luxeguy]

How would I know that 5hr almost went under, well I have been following beverages for over 20 years. I actually set in where the owner of 5hr some years ago was the guess speaker at a bevnet conference in California and he detailed this and how they failed in Walgreens and got kicked out of the chain in the early years. This was back in 2007 as I recall he is very rare to speak or do interviews. Because the category was so new an that energy wouldn't sell know one understood the function he stated. Something else you might find interesting is that before he made it a shot he designed it as a pill for a hangover. I remember at that very conference he stated he thought that someday a hangover drink also would be a very good concept, he explained also how he came about creating 5hr. It's a long story quite funny actually and how they struggled and his family in India was funding him and they almost cut off the funds because they were not convinced he could make it happen. This has also been documented in beverage magazines etc. Vitamin Water the same thing before the celeb deals in the first 3 years the brand struggled, I should know I was one of the first guys to distribute it in the mid south we actually had a buy back clause and it took us months to move it on the shelves it didn't sell well in the beginning but I was a big believer in the brand. The owners have told the story many time that it only sold in high end areas of NYC and on the upper east side and it was almost impossible to get it in the stores in queens and other working class areas of NYC. They have said many time the huge fight in the early days was who is going to pay for water with vitamins. They have been very public once again at bevnet they spoke only 3 years ago in June in NYC that the brand almost went under a few times and it was not till they got to 36 million in sales did they make a profit. These are the facts and it was a marathon not a sprint for these brands and it was tons of sampling and what did all of these guys do but pioneer a new category. You might not like the comparison but in the early days it was very similar. They all fought to get money to build the brand and all fought for distribution and to create a market niche. Another example of this is Lance Collins who actually is a fan I hear of Hangover Joe's he was the founder of Fuse Beverage and they to suffered in the early days. They sold it to coke when it got to around 11 million cases which is not that much in distribution Coke bought Fuse as I recall for 200MM but it also suffer in the early days first 3-4 years and Lance is now fighting to build Body Armour a niche brand health drink but has had some problems in recent months but he back and trying to hit another home run.