????如果你曾經在便利店的汽水售賣機嘗試過混搭飲料，你就會知道它有多美。uFlavor公司是一家位于印第安納波利斯的初創企業。該公司希望利用這一理念，推出灌裝混搭飲料產品。該公司在網站上為消費者提供了42種口味選擇，供消費者隨意混搭，根據自身喜好定制飲料的甜度、碳酸飽和度以至咖啡因濃度。uFlavor公司還有一個雄心勃勃的計劃：讓消費者從商店里的冷飲機也能買到這種混搭飲料。這個創業點子很妙，但是從點子發展為實業可能會很困難。

????一定程度上來說，可口可樂（Coca-Cola）和百事可樂（Pepsi）兩大巨頭之間的較量主導著價值742億美元的飲料市場。可口可樂的市場份額約為42%，而百事可樂為29%。密歇根州立大學（Michigan State University）助理教授、食品零售專家菲爾?霍華德稱：“從本質上來講，這個市場就是可口可樂和百事可樂兩大公司的雙頭壟斷市場。因此，初創企業想在這個市場分一杯羹難度相當大。”對飲料業的初創企業來說，要想獲得發展，與這兩大巨頭的其中一家進行合作似乎是唯一的穩妥路徑。

????目前，uFlavor公司仍在為自力更生而努力。公司董事長邁克爾?克勞然說：“我們的夢想是為消費者提供一種與眾不同的全新口味如果我們把公司出售給大企業，我們的夢想可能隨之破滅，這是我不愿意看到的。”克勞然及其團隊于去年12月正式成立該公司。他們號稱將于2012年底實現消費者個性化定制飲料口味和包裝設計。公司還表示，在接下來的一年半之內，他們還會推出一種飲料定制自動販賣機，能夠根據需求混搭、灌裝飲料。該公司自籌資金，由位于印第安納波利斯的總部負責在線訂單的配送。

????但據罐裝有機茶公司Honest Tea共同創始人賽斯?戈德曼表示，飲料公司（走到這一步之后），要想繼續發展壯大會很艱難。1998年的Honest Tea公司和當下的uFlavor公司處境類似。戈德曼的妻子需要利用上班途中的時間來為全食食品超市（Whole Foods）送貨。他的業務合伙人巴瑞?納爾巴夫則把自己的車庫改成了分銷中心。戈德曼稱：“如果你看過我們最早期的業務方案，你會發現很明顯的紕漏，我們當時根本沒有意識到分銷有多重要。公司的發展因分銷問題而受阻，這一點也是很多飲料企業面臨的難題。”

????公司后來找到了一個權宜之計。因為沒有大型飲料分銷商愿意接單，迫不得以，戈德曼和納爾巴夫只得轉向天然食品分銷商，尋求他們的合作，以獲得產品上架機會。戈德曼說：“當時，我們已經在這行做了十年，我們的目標不是要成為一家飲料銷售商，我們希望做的是打造品牌。”他主動接觸可口可樂公司洽談收購問題，希望以少數股權換取可口可樂的分銷人力資源。可口可樂公司于2011年全盤收購了該品牌，但并未披露收購金額。當時，Honest Tea的零售客戶數量已經從三年前的15,000跳漲至75,000多。戈德曼表示，到今年年底，公司的規模將達到與可口可樂合作前的五倍。

????If you've ever played mix master at the convenience store soda fountain, you know just how rewarding it can be. Indianapolis-based startup uFlavor wants to take that concept and bottle it. The company offers 42 flavors on its website, which consumers can mix and match, customizing sweetness, carbonation and even caffeine levels. uFlavor's ambition is to make its product available in soda fountain machines as well. The idea is clever, but helping it take off may be difficult.

????The $74.2 billion soda industry is more or less dominated by the Manichean struggle between Coca-Cola Co. (COKE) and PepsiCo (PEP). Coca-Cola holds about 42% of the market share and Pepsi 29%. "What you have is essentially a duopoly between Coke and Pepsi. So, it's a real challenge for startups to get any sort of shelf space," says Michigan State University Assistant Professor and food retail specialist Phil Howard. For a beverage startup, partnering with one of the two inevitably starts to look like the only guaranteed way to grow.

????For now, uFlavor is trying to make it on its own. "For us, the dream is to make this an entirely different flavor experience. I would hate to see that not come to fruition because we sold to a large company," says uFlavor Chairman Michael Cloran. Cloran and his team officially launched the company in December. The company says it plans to allow consumers to personalize their soda flavor and bottle design by the end of 2012. And within the next 18 months, the company says it will have a soda personalization vending machine available that can combine and bottle beverages on demand. The firm is self-funded and distribution of online orders occurs from its Indianapolis headquarters.

????Growing beyond there may be difficult, according to Honest Tea co-founder Seth Goldman. In 1998, Honest Tea was in a similar predicament. Goldman's wife was delivering the product to Whole Foods (WFM) stores on her way to work. And his business partner Barry Nalebuff operated a distribution center out of his garage. "If you read our original business plan, what [is] glaringly missing is any discussion of the importance of distribution. We were just stuck. And this is where so many beverage companies have a challenge," Goldman says.

????The company had put together a patchwork distribution method. Not quite successful enough to be picked up by any major beverage distributors, Goldman and Nalebuff turned to natural and gourmet food distributors to get their products on store shelves. "At that point, we'd been at it for 10 years, and our goal wasn't to be a beverage distributor, it was to be a brand," he says. So Goldman approached Coca-Cola with a proposition: invest in a minority stake of the company and allow Honest Tea to use the beverage giant's distribution manpower. By the time Coke fully acquired the brand in 2011 for an undisclosed amount, Honest Tea had jumped to more than 75,000 retail accounts, up from 15,000 three years earlier. By the end of this year, Goldman says the company will be five times its size before partnering with Coke.