Monte Ammons

Growing beverage brands is incredibly challenging. It is estimated that 93% of the 2000+ beverage brands launched each year will fail. Liquid Sherpas offers proven strategies, tactics and support to help you beat the odds and become a powerhouse brand.

The CPG Co-Op is a collective of former founders and industry experts who have spent decades in the trenches, helping emerging brands navigate the unique challenges of early-stage growth. We’ve been there. We know what works. We don’t believe in a trademarked process, but in a unified passion to support founders to make the best decisions for their brand.

Velocity Catalyst is a unique Beverage Incubator providing fully integrated business planning, sales, merchandising, distributor management and operations planning support right-sized just for beverage companies seeking to launch in or expand to Georgia and the Southeastern US.

Fractional COO and Chief Innovation Officer for start-up RTD coffee company.

Mentor within the SKU CPG accelerator program providing guidance with emphasis on business strategy, commercialization, production scale-up and supply chain optimization.

Fractional COO for category leading, early-stage non-alcoholic RTD cocktail company.

Providing companies with natural beverage formulation solutions and superior brewed beverage extracts and vegetable juices.

Helped manufacturers, retailers and foodservice companies conceptualize and bring to market innovative food and beverage products. Partnered with customers to provide beverage formulations, ingredient and packaging sourcing, product manufacturing, inventory management and product routes to market planning. Led sales teams for Regional and Local accounts. Formulated and executed business, sales and product development strategies to achieve financial goals. Partnered with operations to achieve efficient, timely and profitable production of finished goods.

Built and led global account team supporting Starbucks business. Developed and led execution of global and regional account strategies for Starbucks. Built global and HQ-based relationships with Starbucks to expand awareness of Dohler and to secure new business opportunites. Led project resulting in Dohler's first exclusive agreement for supply of a core Starbucks item.

Led marketing organization for the company. Stabilized and revitalized morale and capabilities of the marketing department. Devised and implemented the company's first vertically integrated, omni-channel promotional calendar which gained additional brand presence in the market while reducing marketing expenditures and lessening reliance on couponing and discounting. Managed company's highly successful entry into the single-serve coffee category, significantly surpassing targets for retail distribution and sales. Developed multi-year roadmap for strategic geographic expansion of the brand. Implemented processes to improve communication and clarify roles of supporting marketing partners resulting in cost savings, better brand consistency and greater speed to market. Revamped ecommerce marketing strategy driving double-digit growth in on-line product sales while increasing profitability. Partnered with Sales to exponentially expand product availability in both traditional grocery and mass merchandisers.

Independent consultant providing brand positioning and brand management expertise; marketing and sales strategies; strategic marketing program development; consultation on franchise system design, alignment and optimization; and consultation on optimization of multi-unit marketing activation. Clients included: The Coca-Cola Company, Procter & Gamble, H&R Block, Nestle, Community Coffee Company, Weigel’s C-Stores, Quiznos, Buffalo Wild Wings, Joe's Crab Shack, Sonic Drive-In and Firehouse Subs. • Developed foodservice and hospitality channel marketing strategies for Community Coffee’s National Accounts Sales Team which doubled national account sales within 18 months. • Conceptualized new market entry strategy and programming for Sonic Drive-Ins. • Designed integrated marketing support infrastructure for H&R Block which increased the efficiency and effectiveness of marketing execution across their 12,000+ retail locations. • Helped Buffalo Wild Wings design and successfully drive franchisee adoption of an advertising co-op process. Restaurants joining these co-ops significantly outpaced non-coop units in sales growth. • Provided Coca-Cola with go to market, selling and activation strategies for new beverage dispensing platforms, including the Coca-Cola Freestyle fountain dispenser.