Most café fridges already have still water, kombucha, and a cane-sugar soda. A honey soda is not a fourth wellness drink. It is the treat that still tastes like soda — real fruit, New Zealand honey, no cane sugar, no stevia.
This is the merchandising decision: where it sits, how many cases you open with, and how you order. Not a brand story.
Give it a facing, not a hidden shelf
Put it at hand height, in the cold-drink door, next to the other cans people already grab. Not in the well behind the milk. Not on a dry shelf by the take-home beans. If they have to move a two-litre bottle to see it, it will not sell.
One or two facings of cans is enough for a first fridge. Trade is 250ml cans going forward — do not wait on glass: Cans vs glass for cafés.
It is honey and fruit, not a diet soda. Say that once — on the fridge strip or the specials board. Staff do not need a script beyond honey-sweetened, no cane sugar.
Stock the four flavours that turn
Open with Cherry, Mango, Pear, and Strawberry. That is a bright, a tropical, a dry food-friendly, and an everyday fruit. One SKU looks like a trial. Four SKUs look like a range.
Do not open with a single flavour “to see how it goes.” You will learn nothing except that one can got lonely.
Each case is one flavour — 12 × 250ml cans. Mix flavours *across* cases in the same order. You cannot mix flavours inside a case.
Case pack, minimum, GST
| Decision | Answer |
|---|---|
| Unit of order | 12-pack case (250ml cans) |
| Minimum | 5 cases |
| Mix | Flavours across cases, not inside a case |
| GST / invoices | On Upstock, for NZ trade buyers |
| Direct-account lead time | Typically 2–5 business days |
| Delivery | Nationwide |
Five cases is enough to fill a fridge door without overstocking a small café. Live case pricing sits in Upstock, not on a PDF that goes stale.
How NZ cafés order
Read the trade page first: wholesale soda for NZ cafés and retailers. Range, mixed cases, GST, café vs grocery.
Already a trade buyer? Order on Upstock. First time? How NZ trade buyers order on Upstock, or email Fiona.
Do this on day one
- Face four can SKUs at hand height in the cold-drink door.
- Order 5 cases. Mix Cherry, Mango, Pear, and Strawberry to get there.
- Tell staff the one line. Do not put it next to the milk.
- Reorder from Upstock when a facing holes out — not when the fridge looks “a bit low.”
That is the job. The drink does the rest.
