Esspo
TopicsRetail Distribution, Direct-to-Consumer, Pricing & Margins, Packaging & Brand
Terms in this episode3PL, Co-packer, COGS, Demo, DTC, LTV, Moat, MOQ, Retail doors, SKU, TPR, Unit economics, Velocity
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About
On today’s episode, I sit down with Katharine Leitch, Co-Founder and COO of Esspo, a company making espresso soda in a ready-to-drink format.
Espresso soda is not a new behavior. People have been mixing espresso with soda or sparkling water at home, and versions of espresso tonics have been showing up on coffee shop menus for years. What Esspo is trying to do is turn that behavior into a packaged beverage that can work in retail.
Kat and I talk about what it takes to bring that kind of product to market, from narrowing the company’s original coffee platform down to one core product, to rebranding around a more focused idea, to figuring out what the can needs to communicate in just a few seconds on shelf.
We also get into the economics of beverage, including why retail matters so much, why DTC is difficult when you are shipping liquid, how TikTok Shop fits into the early customer acquisition strategy, and where margin pressure shows up across packaging, freight, and fulfillment.
I learned a lot during my conversation with Kat, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
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