"Anyone can make lemonade. But only I can make Ritchie," says Jan Verlinden. That may sound a little bold. But Ritchie was the lemonade of his childhood, bottled at his parents' brewery. Forty years after the brand disappeared from the market, Jan brought it back to life. The ingredients: a strong brand, attractive design and a compelling story.
You might think that a good recipe is the foundation of a soft drinks brand. For Jan, it started somewhere else: with the trademark. Ritchie had been off the market for over forty years. Anyone could have registered the trademark in the meantime. So Jan's first step was to find out whether the trademark was still available and whether he could register it without any issues.
"If you don't have the trademark, you have nothing to start with."
Building a timeless brand takes time
The original Ritchie design still reflected the atmosphere of the period just after the Second World War. It was a great starting point, but not a design Jan wanted to take to market. Together with designers, he gave the bottle and labels a timeless look. The recipe was also updated, using only natural ingredients.
That took time.
Three years passed between the initial idea and the launch.
Blood, sweat, tears and patience, is how Jan sums up that period. "If you can't enjoy the journey, you'll never make it."
Even a great brand doesn't sell itself
Jan still vividly remembers the delivery of the first bottles of Ritchie. "There were 20,000 bottles of lemonade sitting in my garage. Lemonade that nobody was asking for, so to speak. And that nobody had heard of. But which did have a shelf life of twelve months."
And so Jan had to hit the road. No shortcuts, as he puts it, just good old-fashioned hawking. With a backpack full of bottles on his bike, he visited cafés and restaurants in Leuven. Not every establishment took the bait straight away. But Jan had the optimism of a first-time entrepreneur. "I thought: it'll work out."
The bottle design deserves protection too
Once the brand was established, Jan also had the design of the Ritchie bottle protected.
"I'd wanted to do that for quite some time, but I never got round to it. When you're starting out with a limited budget, you have to make choices."
| Jan handled his trademark registrations himself. At the same time, he emphasises that there are clear advantages to working with an expert. |
Is the brand now strong enough to still be around in another forty years' time? The soft drinks market is large and highly competitive. But Jan is optimistic. "It's a great Belgian brand with enormous potential."
TIP: Before investing time and money in a new brand, it is wise to first check whether the trademark is still available.