Business model & route to market

Own the brand. Rent everything else.

KILDE owns the specification, the brand and the customer relationship. Production, warehousing and fulfilment are contracted — no factory, no fleet, no cold chain (subject to final product specification).

Supply chain

Container to customer

1 · Source

Qualified co-packers in Vietnam/Thailand produce to KILDE specification with screw-cap formats; MOQ from one 20 ft container; EU-Organic lines available. Supplier quoted

2 · Ship

Sea freight to Oslo (5–7 weeks). Landed cost NOK 7.0–8.5 per 330 ml, NOK 14.2–16.5 per litre incl. freight and clearing. Supplier quoted

3 · Store

Shared Oslo-region 3PL: pallet positions, not leases (~NOK 50–90/pallet/month). Ambient shelf-stable product — no cold chain. 3PL quoted range

4 · Fulfil

One inventory pool serves every channel: pick-pack for webshop, cases to venues, DC deliveries for grocery. Reorder at 1.5 months forward cover.

Container ship at a Norwegian harbour at dusk — Container → Oslo · one shared 3PL · working-capital cycle ~9–11 weeks order-to-shelf

Revenue engines

Eight ways the same carton earns

DTC single purchase

12-pack webshop, NOK 349 incl. VAT. Contribution ~NOK 12.0/unit (47.6%). Margin engine and brand laboratory.

DTC subscription

NOK 314/month, pause anytime. Contribution ~NOK 9.6/unit after discount; recurring revenue smooths the container cash cycle.

Gym & sauna wholesale

Cases direct to venues at NOK 15/unit ex VAT; venue retails 25–35. Every fridge is paid brand media.

Independent retail

Helsekost and specialty at outlet terms; low listing friction, credibility for the category review.

National grocery

Wholesale ~NOK 12.5 (330 ml) against a NOK 24 shelf price; entered in phase 3 with 12 months of velocity data.

Corporate & hospitality

Offices, hotels, events; case logistics identical to outlet channel. Planned

Private-label supply

Defensive option: supply a chain’s own label from the same co-packer line before a foreign co-packer does. Optional / phase 3+

Nordic export

Sweden first (phase 3+): same 3PL reach, grocery prices already proven at ~NOK 44–49/L. Planned

Route to market

Three phases, each with a gate

Phase	Timing	Focus	Margin profile	Gate to advance	Principal risk · response
1 · DTC validation	M1–M6	Webshop + subscription, founding-member campaign, athlete seeding, sauna/training occasions	CM ~42–48%/unit	500 subscribers · repeat ≥35% · CAC ≤NOK 250	CAC drift · shift budget to occasions content & sampling
2 · Specialist outlets	M4–M12	Gyms, saunas, cold-plunge and climbing clubs, padel, juice bars, health food, sports e-com	CM ~36%/unit	60+ outlets · ≥8 units/outlet/week · reorder ≥70%	Slow reorders · field-rep route density before breadth
3 · Retail	M12–M24	Online grocery first, one regional pilot, national review with scan data; Sweden next	CM ~29%/unit	≥4 units/store/week in pilot before national pitch	Listing-fee pressure · velocity data + private-label card

NextSee what each phase costs and returns

Organisation

Six roles, one and a half salaries

The co-packer is the production department; the 3PL is logistics; accounting and label law are external. What remains in-house is brand, sales and coordination — detailed on the team page.

NextTeam & governance