Quentin Job, Managing Director – International at Cincoro Tequila, dove into the brand’s seven steps for global market expansion. Job discussed the journey the brand took, entering over 20 global markets in 10 months, from prioritizing the right markets to finding key regional partners to work with Cincoro Tequila.
Maria Pearman, CPA, Partner at Green Hasson Janks, discussed the importance of preparing your brand’s finances to enter the U.S. alcohol market. Pearman gave a step-by-step guide of all the considerations that should be made before financially committing your brand to the U.S. market.
Cincoro Tequila’s 7 Steps for Global Market Expansion Transcript
Quentin Job (00:04)
Okay, so I’m an English guy married to an Italian wife, so I have an Italian passport. I live in Thailand, I have a global territory covering everything outside the US, and I’m working for a US company—so I have quite an international view of the world! My title today is Over 20 New Markets in 10 Months. It’s actually about 10 and a half months since I wrote the presentation, and we’re in about 22 markets now; it’s evolving quite quickly.
How do we get there? The first thing we did was look at Market Prioritization. How do I go to the business and say, “These are the places I think we should go after first”? How do I get my boss and his boss to agree that these are the right places to go after and, importantly for me, make sure I’m targeting where I’m going to get the best return? The world is a big place, so getting that internal alignment on where to go first is really important.
I loved segmentation when I was the segmentation guy at Pernod, but we had to do it a bit differently because we have a slightly different brand. First, we looked at normal tequila market data—ultra-premium tequila growth, market size, and all that kind of stuff. But the second piece was interesting: consumers are more likely to be interested if they have an interest in basketball, because our founders come from basketball. We asked questions like, “How many followers does Michael Jordan have in that country?” or “How many NBA followers are there in that country?” Markets like India and Indonesia were suddenly really interesting because they had massive NBA followings, as did Australia. Finally, we added economic data. Combining those three things gave us a score, we went through a ranking, and we literally had our top eight for Europe, top three for the Middle East, and top five for Asia. We knew precisely where we wanted to go, and importantly, the bosses agreed with the targets.
Quentin Job (01:58)
The next point was Pricing. At the beginning, we just had our US price sheets, but we wanted to strike the right balance with pricing. Every market is different—each has different taxes, customs duties, excise taxes, and costs, and your competition will be priced differently. However, you want consistency in how your price works from both a consumer level and a trade level.
From a consumer pricing perspective, we wanted to make sure we were benchmarked correctly against our competition—key brands like Patrón, Clase Azul, and Don Julio that you see in many markets. From a trade pricing perspective, if you sell in one country and it’s a little bit cheaper than another country, suddenly you see product flowing between them. When you’re a startup, you might say, “I don’t care about that,” but in a few years’ time, you’ll have a massive headache with parallel gray-market goods moving between the two. I wanted to make sure we started off with a business that wasn’t going to give me headaches later. A lot of work was done on value chains and ensuring we had good pricing in place. While that was based on the original pricing we had for the US, it has really worked, and distributors like it when they see you have control over your pricing.
Quentin Job (03:14)
The next point was having a Brand Deck. This might seem obvious, but there wasn’t one—at least not a full one—at the beginning. It meant pulling together the key information about your brand so that the distributor (since you’re selling initially to the distributor) can know the brand, love it, and want to take it on in their portfolio.
These are some of the slides: our founders; our beautiful, sleek, contemporary, and unique bottle, which reflects how Michael Jordan gave the vision to his designer; how it’s made and the special details about production (which is why the liquid tastes so good); the gold medals it has won; and our simple “plan on a page” instructing our distributors on what to do and where we focus in media. Like I said, it might be obvious, but for a brand that has been on a journey, you don’t necessarily have everything in one place in a 50-slide deck that you can readily share with a distributor.
Quentin Job (04:13)
The next point was Legal Contracts. We wanted a way to immediately meet with someone and say, “Here’s our template, come work with us.” You need a different template if you’re dealing with India versus Croatia because they are different-sized markets, and you don’t want Croatia to have to follow a 30-page contract. We created two templates with a lawyer that would work, and all we needed to do was adjust the names, payment terms, length of term, and a few small details. That meant we could make really quick decisions with our distributors.
Another great thing is that once you’re fully embedded in how these things work, you can be on a phone call with a country that says, “Yeah, I have a problem with these five points,” and be able to say, “Yes, yes, yes, yes, no” very quickly. It’s a great way of doing business, it leads to a sense of empowerment, and distributors like working like that.
Quentin Job (05:12)
The next point is Brand Guidelines. You want to give the market the freedom to execute while ensuring they stay on-brand. Working with our Global Marketing Team, we created brand guidelines covering how to run a great event, how to create POS materials, and all the little details that convey the essence, values, and color palettes of the brand.
We then shared these with our distributors, along with a cleaned-up Dropbox folder where they had complete access to nice glassware assets, great cocktail recipes, and approved pictures of Michael Jordan. Making all of that very simple made working with our distributors much smoother.
Quentin Job (06:01)
Suddenly, it feels a bit like Tinder. Ronan, who is here today, mentioned that dealing with a distributor is a bit like Tinder, and I was like, “What?” But it’s true: it’s not just about whether you like them when trying to find the best distributor for your market; it’s about whether they like or love you, too. You both have to swipe right, and then there’s a match made in heaven between you having a good partner in the market and them having a great brand for their portfolio. Sometimes you think it’s just about finding the best distributor, but you actually need to sell yourself to them, too. They might have another tequila or several other products they’re interested in, and you want to make sure they’re passionate about you. Tinder is a great way of describing that relationship!
The final point on this section is Partnerships. Internationally, we’re a small startup team—literally 1.3 people going after 20 markets in 10 months. One way to achieve that is to work with partners who can help you get the job done. I’d like to highlight three specific callouts:
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Eclipse Beverages in Asia: We signed an agreement with them to help us find new distributors, and they also handle specific distribution in China, Hong Kong, South Korea, and soon Japan. I actually met them at BCB Singapore three days into the job back on November 4th, so that was a great start.
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Route to Africa & Indu in Africa: We recently signed two partners in Africa to cover West Africa and East Africa. Rather than me having to sell to Nigeria individually, these companies sell to 15 to 20 markets each and manage the route to market for me.
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Duty Free Global: Duty-free is a complicated industry with difficult margins where you have to visit many different people. We pay Duty Free Global to work with us—I’m part of their team, they’re part of my team, and we work together to ensure we get listed in the best airports around the world.
Quentin Job (08:20)
Just to share some Final Thoughts: for me, it’s been uplifting to work with fewer rigid processes compared to big companies where there are massive amounts of process. However, you’ll come unstuck if you don’t create governance; if you’re too much of a cowboy about it, sooner or later problems will arise. You have to create those processes yourself to ensure you’re following the right rules.
For me, it’s about balance—creating the right tools and ways of working without becoming corporate too fast. You want to maintain the speed of a startup and make quick decisions like we’ve been doing.
You also want to choose the right distributors. The decisions you make today could impact the brand 5, 10, or 15 years down the line. If you choose a bad distributor today, you’ll be stuck working with them for a long time, which becomes a pain. One of the best ways to vet them is through your network—get recommendations and listen to people who say, “I like working with this person, but maybe be careful about that one.” Listening to that feedback is crucial.
Finally, a little luck helps along the way. Suddenly you’ll meet someone and think, “Wow, that led to the next few things that helped us.” We’re also lucky to be working with a cool brand—a great liquid, a great bottle, and a cool story. Not every route to market is easy; it’s been hard work, but being in 20 markets in 10 months is unusual, so we’ve had a bit of luck along the way as well!
Preparing Your Brand’s Finances to Enter the U.S. Alcohol Market Transcript
Maria Pearman (00:01)
Hi everybody, thanks for being here. My name is Maria Pearman, and I’m a CPA (Certified Public Accountant). I’m headquartered in Los Angeles and I run the food and beverage practice for my public accounting firm. I have particular expertise in beverage alcohol, having worked closely in this space with our clients for more than 15 years, often serving as a contract CFO to assist with strategic financial advisory.
I’m excited to cover some key considerations for foreign brands expanding into the US market. For this discussion, I’m assuming a foreign brand will set up a US subsidiary entity to act as the hub for all commercial activity in the US, while the parent company remains in its foreign country.
Maria Pearman (01:21)
When setting up that US entity, establishing the correct structure is critical from both a tax and legal perspective.
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Tax Considerations (CPA): You’ll work with a CPA to choose between entity structures like a C Corp, S Corp, or Partnership. Each carries different tax impacts, restrictions, and long-term implications for when you eventually unwind or sell the business. A CPA will also help establish your tax year—whether sticking to a standard calendar year or choosing a fiscal year aligned with your commercial cycles—and set up your books and records.
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Legal Considerations (Attorney): You need an attorney (or a firm with multiple specialists) who understands corporate governance, contracts, intellectual property, and the beverage alcohol industry. They will guide entity creation, file for an Employer Identification Number (EIN), draft your corporate documents (Articles of Organization, Operating Agreements), write intercompany agreements, and handle state registrations. State tax realms are complex, and activities like having employees, property, or sales in a state can trigger registration requirements.
Maria Pearman (05:01)
Intellectual Property and Insurance are two other essential foundational elements:
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Intellectual Property (IP): In a parent-subsidiary model, you’ll likely need a licensing agreement where the US sub pays the foreign parent for brand rights. If a similar brand name exists in the US, proper agreements ensure both brands coexist legally. If a name change is required, it’s much better to address it before launching operations. CPAs and IP attorneys must collaborate so that legal agreements align with income tax impacts.
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Insurance: I highly recommend working with an insurance agent who specializes in the beverage alcohol industry. Rather than juggling five or six different agents, find one broker who can source comprehensive coverage across all necessary policies.
Maria Pearman (06:45)
Moving on to the levels of tax for beverage alcohol—this is a meaty topic:
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Three Layers of Tax: In the US, you have federal, state, and local taxes. Federal income tax and excise taxes depend on your entity structure. State business income taxes vary widely by jurisdiction; doing business in California versus New York comes with entirely different expectations. Local municipalities may also impose local income, payroll, or property taxes.
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Other Tax Types: Beyond income tax, employers face payroll taxes (paying tax on wages and remitting withheld taxes), sales and use tax (tax on purchases or use of goods purchased out-of-state), personal property tax on physical assets like equipment and furniture, and personal taxation for cross-border employees, owners, or investors on US-generated income.
Maria Pearman (09:28)
It’s not all gloom and doom, because the US maintains income tax treaties with numerous countries. These bilateral treaties minimize the tax burden on US-generated income, though terms vary by country and type of income (e.g., royalty, passive interest, dividends, or service income). Navigating these treaties requires guidance from an international tax professional.
Maria Pearman (10:20)
Repatriation of profits refers to sending foreign-earned profits back to your home country. Common ways to repatriate funds from a US subsidiary to its foreign parent include:
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Paying royalties for brand licensing.
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Charging management service fees (e.g., a percentage of sales).
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Distributing interest and dividends.
Maria Pearman (11:30)
The key to smooth profit repatriation is establishing a solid Transfer Pricing Policy. Transfer pricing governs the pricing between related entities and must be conducted at “arm’s length” (fair market value).
Because tax authorities monitor transfer pricing closely to prevent profit-shifting to low-tax jurisdictions, your policy must be defensible and substantiated. Commissioning a transfer pricing study through an international tax expert provides strong backing if audited by the IRS. Even without a formal study, ensure you maintain a written policy with regular market-value reviews.
That covers the core overview. I hope this gives you a clearer picture of what to prepare for as you bring your product to market. Please feel free to reach out to me directly if you have further questions!
More Resources on Route-To-Market
The Park Street Insider Daily Newsletter
Our Guide to the U.S. Alcohol Distribution Landscape
Mitigation Strategies for Potential Beverage Alcohol Tariffs