Maybe a silly question, but the search feature didn't turn up anything too useful so I figured I'd ask ...
We're a small, 100% keg microbrewery that will begin self-distributing (assuming anyone wants to buy the beer, ha) in a few months. I'm in a country where there are no distributors, so self-distribution is really the only option. Acknowledging that every country has a different legal scheme and local laws have to be taken in to account, my question is, in such a situation, how does (or how SHOULD) the actual transaction between brewery and point-of-sale take place?
Is a contract signed for an ongoing relationship with the establishment? I was a lawyer in a former life and can draft up a contract easily - I'm just not as familiar with this side of the operation in practical terms. What provisions would such a contract usually have? Obviously you'd want to have a provision dealing with a keg deposit/reimbursement for non-wear'n'tear damage to the keg, probably some general waiver of liability provisions ... but what's obvious that I'm missing here? What is a retailer going to want to protect against? What am I as a self-distributing brewery going to be want to protect against? What's industry standard to expect here?
I'd also like to add that my country doesn't have much of a craft beer history - all the beer now comes from one national beer company, and so this will not only be new to me but likely to a lot of retail establishments in the area. As such, there's an opportunity to put less of an emphasis on "how has this been done/how is this done" and instead focus on "how SHOULD this be done."
Thanks in advance for any insight those more experienced than I might have!
We're a small, 100% keg microbrewery that will begin self-distributing (assuming anyone wants to buy the beer, ha) in a few months. I'm in a country where there are no distributors, so self-distribution is really the only option. Acknowledging that every country has a different legal scheme and local laws have to be taken in to account, my question is, in such a situation, how does (or how SHOULD) the actual transaction between brewery and point-of-sale take place?
Is a contract signed for an ongoing relationship with the establishment? I was a lawyer in a former life and can draft up a contract easily - I'm just not as familiar with this side of the operation in practical terms. What provisions would such a contract usually have? Obviously you'd want to have a provision dealing with a keg deposit/reimbursement for non-wear'n'tear damage to the keg, probably some general waiver of liability provisions ... but what's obvious that I'm missing here? What is a retailer going to want to protect against? What am I as a self-distributing brewery going to be want to protect against? What's industry standard to expect here?
I'd also like to add that my country doesn't have much of a craft beer history - all the beer now comes from one national beer company, and so this will not only be new to me but likely to a lot of retail establishments in the area. As such, there's an opportunity to put less of an emphasis on "how has this been done/how is this done" and instead focus on "how SHOULD this be done."
Thanks in advance for any insight those more experienced than I might have!
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