An interesting thing happened to Nascent Wine Co. Inc. (OTCBB:NCTW) (dba Nascent Foodservice) after participating in the 2008 ANTAD Food and Supermarket Tradeshow that was held March 4-7 of this year in Guadalajara, Mexico. Nascent Wine Company Inc., dba Nascent Foodservice, is the only nationwide distributor of imported products in Mexico, marketing and distributing over 2,000 national and proprietary brand food and non-food products. Nascent is currently servicing over 240,000 sales points, including supermarkets, convenience stores and foodservice accounts like Wal-Mart, Costco, Soriana, Comercial Mexicana, AM/PM, 7-ELEVEN, OXXO and many more.
ANTAD, which stands for “National Association of Supermarkets and Department Stores”, is Latin America’s largest food and supermarket show, held every year in Guadalajara, Mexico. The ANTAD Food Show offers U.S. and European exporters of food (including catering products, beverages, wines and spirits) the opportunity to exhibit their products to buyers for Mexican-based supermarkets and convenience stores. ANTAD 2008 marked the 25th anniversary of the ANTAD supermarket and retail exhibition, and was the biggest one so far. More than 1,100 exhibitors from over 25 countries presented their products to approximately 25,000 trade visitors.
Nascent occupied 6 booths alongside the Wal-Mart booths, and it was there that they showcased their full line of Mitsuki Oriental products, Bonet European items, CORA Italian products, a full line of beverages including Ferrarelle Water, Jolly Rancher Soda, Kabbalah Energy drink, Rockstar Energy Drink, Miller Beer, and – for the first time – introduced the full line of Nery’s Cheese products for national distribution.
The response to Nascent’s exhibit was fantastic, with hundreds of industry buyers showing keen interest and many placing first-time orders. What makes this such an amazing success is that, according to ANTAD, the retailers’ same-store sales are believed to have risen only 1.1 percent in 2007, compared with 4.3 percent in 2006, yet Nascent posted their best year ever. For the year ended December 31, 2007, revenue was expected to be approximately $37 to $40 million, or more than 8 times greater than the $4.7 million revenues generated in 2006.
Other significant milestones surpassed in 07 included the expanding of branded product lines by over 50%, to approximately 2,000 brand name items by December 31, 2007, compared to 1,300 brand name items on December 31, 2006. The company also increased their private label/ proprietary product line to more than 200 private label items, and added more than 6,800 new retail accounts, including Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, Costco, HEB, Soriana, Gigante, Smart and Final. They also increased distribution centers to 18 from 4, expanded the transportation fleet approximately 500% to 35 trucks from 6, added 4,700 employees, and increased their long term exclusive distribution contracts by 100%.
2007 was a tremendous year for Nascent, and they’ve already started 2008 with a headfull of momentum and plans for more incredible growth.
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