HutchBook.comEstablishing a Bottling Business
In
addition to detailed information about the many technical aspects of
bottling soft drinks, James W. Tufts’ 1888 volume,
The Manufacture and
Bottling of Carbonated Beverages, provided guidance
specifically written for bottlers who could benefit from general advice
from an experienced businessman.
Here’s a portion of Tufts’ sage words of wisdom:
The Manufacture of Goods.
The difference in cost between fine and inferior goods
is too small to be figured.
Therefore use the best of materials, and take pains to have your goods
as nice as you can make them.
It only requires patience and perseverance to enable
the beginner to compete with the world.
Beware of the man who will teach you your business for
fifty dollars. He is usually
a fraud, whose stock in trade is copied from the publications of
manufacturers of apparatus.
Reputable houses employ reputable men…
The bottler should constantly study his business.
There is such a thing as scientific bottling, and the
highest ideal will never be attained.
The bottler of four or five months’ experience generally knows it
all, while those of fifteen or twenty years’ experience will always
admit that they have much to learn.
Originality.
In starting in the business, it is never good policy
to try to undersell the old established concerns.
A beginner will find it far more profitable to make specialties,
and to endeavor, in the staple goods, to offer a better quality than
ordinary…ORIGINALITY PAYS…
Do not even imitate imported ginger-ale.
American made ginger is superior to the imported…
Use original style labels and American made bottles.
Advertising.
Bottlers rarely pay sufficient attention to the
appearance of their salesroom; and a display in a show window is almost
unheard of in the business.
This should not be so. The
bottler needs an attractive salesroom and a handsomely arranged
show-window fully as much as a merchant in any other line of business.
A very attractive display can be made with bottled goods, as
anyone who has attended the exhibitions at the bottlers’ convention
knows.
The bottling apparatus should be placed in the front
of the shop, and as near as practicable to a door or window, so that it
may be readily seen from the street, and thus attract attention and act
as an advertisement.
The operation of machinery is always interesting to
the public, and it is a well-known fact that motion is the best possible
advertisement.
Too much attention cannot be paid to cleanliness and
neatness. The purity and
wholesomeness of your beverages will be estimated by the appearance of
your shop.
Nothing advertises a bottling business more than neat
wagons, horses, and men; the public largely judge the goods by the
appearance of these…
Do not spend money at bars to advertise your business.
This is the greatest mistake a bottler can make; it is very
expensive advertising, and besides is unprofitable.
There is no reason why bottled beverages should not be sold on
their merits, as other merchandise is sold, and treating should be left
to the brewers and distillers who originated the practice, and whose
margin of profit is large enough to stand the outlay.
A good team or an attractive shop will do more effective
advertising than twice the money spent at bars, and, it being evidence
of prosperity, will greatly improve the bottler’s credit.
Put your name prominently and permanently on every
article used in your business.
Advice in regard to Help.
The business will be either advanced or set back by
the help, and…too much care cannot be exercised in procuring the right
kind.
A man who abuses liquor, not regarding his own
interests, will neglect those of his employer and of his employers’
customers. Such men
over-drive and neglect horses, and wear out harnesses and wagons.
The assistance of a practical bottler is not to be
despised, and every beginner, whose business will warrant it, is advises
to secure the services of one, as his skill and experience will save
time, and be of advantage in many other ways.
If you employ a bottler, give him full charge of his
work and hold him responsible for its proper performance.
Hire a good man, and having obtained one do not be afraid to
trust him. It is a mistake
to try and keep the bottler in ignorance of your method of mixing and
preparing syrups, etc…He will experiment at your expense when your back
is turned, and will eventually learn that in regard to which you wish to
keep him in ignorance, and it is a great cost to you.
Do not allow loafers and hangers-on to manage your
business. Keep your shop
cleared of them.
Leaks in the Business.
The bottling apparatus, when received from the
manufacturer, is a handsome piece of machinery.
It represents the investment of a large sum of money, and should
therefore receive the greatest possible amount of care and attention.
With good care it should last ten years or more, but if neglected
and abused it can be destroyed in six months.
The teamster will sometimes accidentally drop a case
and break a piece out of it.
If repaired at once it is as good as ever, but if neglected it is so
much capital gone.
Many bottlers accumulate dirty bottles containing
flies, grease and other dirt.
Such an accumulation is a filthy sight, and always impresses
visitors unfavorably. These
bottles should never be broken up, but should be cleaned by the boy in
leisure moments. A half
barrel containing a solution of caustic potash in water should be
provided in which dirty bottles can be soaked.
Neck wires on broken bottles should be removed, as
they are worth saving. Four
or five barrels of broken glass often contain four or five dollars worth
of neck wires.