For producers & brands
Bringing a product into the HoReCa market? Start here.
BARVOX talks to the people who decide whether your product gets poured: bar owners, brand managers, importers and the bartenders behind the counter. This page collects what we have learned about entering the bar, restaurant and hotel market, especially in Denmark and the Nordics.
How drinks and food products actually reach the bar
In most Nordic markets the route runs through importers and distributors, not direct sales. In our conversation with a Danish brand manager at an importer-distributor, he describes how brands approach him weekly to open the Danish market, and what separates the ones that succeed: passionate people behind the product, respect for the category, and a willingness to listen and adapt to what local bartenders actually need.
Denmark punches far above its size. Copenhagen’s food and cocktail scene is watched internationally, so a brand that wins here gets seen everywhere.
What Nordic bars actually want from new products
- Bulk solutions. Many venues pre-batch cocktails; formats that reduce glass, handling and waste win listings.
- Sustainability you can prove. Certifications like B Corp and honest production stories carry real weight with Nordic buyers; vague green claims do not (and in Denmark, unsupported sustainability claims can get you fined).
- Transparency. Clear provenance, honest labelling and straight talk about production build trust in a market tired of marketing fog.
- People, not just product. Buyers here repeatedly say they choose brands they can build relationships with.
Learn from producers who made the jump
- From bartender to rum producer: building a spirits brand on radical transparency, and the hard lessons of pricing, distribution and reinvention.
- From chef to glassware designer: turning craft credibility into a product business.
- Introducing an unfamiliar product category: what it takes to sell something the market did not know it wanted.
Work with BARVOX
BARVOX reaches working bartenders, operators and decision-makers across the Nordics through the podcast, the newsroom and the newsletter. If you are launching a product into hospitality, there are two ways in:
- Sponsor the show: put your brand in front of the trade audience you are trying to reach.
- Come on as a guest: founders with a real story and real lessons make great episodes.
Common questions
How do I get my drinks brand into bars in Denmark or the Nordics?
Most brands enter through an importer-distributor who handles logistics, compliance and trade relationships. Approach them with a clear category story, proof that people love the product, and realistic volume expectations. Listen to our episode with a Danish importer’s brand manager for the buyer’s-side view.
What do bar buyers look for in a new product?
Quality first, then: batch-friendly formats, provable sustainability, honest provenance and founders they can work with long-term. Price matters, but a cheap product with no story rarely survives.
Can BARVOX help me launch my product?
We are a media platform, not an agency. What we offer is education (free, in the episodes above) and access to a trade audience through sponsorship and guest appearances.