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Market entry and expansion for food and beverage brands

A senior operator in your target market tests the opportunity, defines the route to market, and executes the entry with your team after a clear go or no-go.

180+ experts 40+ countries

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Christine Couvelier
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Christine Couvelier
GourmetPro Expert
Strategic Advisory
Steve Ross
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Steve Ross
GourmetPro Expert
Business Strategy
Hitomi Sato
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Hitomi Sato
GourmetPro Expert
Product Innovation
Sanjeev Srivastav
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Sanjeev Srivastav
GourmetPro Expert
Commercial
Rana Shehadeh
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Rana Shehadeh
GourmetPro Expert
Product Innovation
Kelvin Ng
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Kelvin Ng
GourmetPro Expert
Commercial
Giang Duong
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Giang Duong
GourmetPro Expert
Vietnam Go-to-Market & Sales Growth Expert
Jeffrey Cheng
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Jeffrey Cheng
GourmetPro Expert
Strategic Sales
FerreroBarillaDelica AGBel Group - For All For Good logoCJ CheilJedang logoCanadaDomino's PizzaAssociated British Foods plc logoFreedom Fresh Australia logoSiam Winery logoThe Maple Treat logoJETRO - Japan External Trade Organization logoValrhona logoRemedy Drinks logoBateel logoMontes Wines logoCongo Brands logoSigma GlobalParima logoEnterprise Singapore logoLindt logoToo Good To Go logoKerry logoPROVA logo

Enter your first or next market with someone who has done it before.

Who this is for

Teams making a first or next market bet before local capabilities exist.

  • A first market

    You need a local view of demand, risk, and the route to shelf before committing.

  • The next market

    You have proven the brand elsewhere and need to choose where to expand and how to win.

  • Demand without local capacity

    Buyer interest exists, but you lack the team, partner network, or operator to convert it.

Already operating in the market? See Market Restructuring

What you get

The program runs in two phases with a decision point between them. You commit to the first phase only.

Phase 1

The market case and route-to-market blueprint

An operator in your target market builds the entry or expansion case with you. You receive:

  • A market, category, and consumer assessment: demand evidence, the competitive set, growth opportunity, risk, and where your product fits
  • Where-to-play and how-to-win decisions, captured in a route-to-market blueprint covering target channels and customers, shelf-back pricing, and partner criteria
  • A board-ready entry or expansion recommendation with an explicit go or no-go
Go / no-go
Phase 2

In-market execution

If the blueprint says go, the same operator runs it with you:

  • Product, pack, and positioning localization for the target market's tastes, formats, and label rules
  • Distributor and partner outreach, qualification, and commercial engagement against the blueprint's criteria
  • Launch planning and execution across listings, activation, and commercial follow-through, with capability transferred to your team

How we deliver

The program is delivered by a senior operator embedded in your target market as your local commercial team, with GourmetPro managing the engagement around them.

  1. One senior operator owns the market

    One accountable expert who has run commercial work in your market and category works as part of your team on the ground, not as an advisor who visits and reports.

  2. GourmetPro manages the engagement around them

    We handle matching, quality, and continuity, so the operator is backed by a firm and its network rather than working as a standalone consultant.

  3. In-market capacity without building local headcount

    The work can start in weeks without adding a local salary, entity, employment contract, or months of hiring and onboarding.

Every engagement starts the same way. See how we work

Who actually runs the expansion

The delivery model has a face. These are already-public operators from the GourmetPro network, the kind matched to your target market and category when you engage.

1 of 9

Dennis Samala

Dennis Samala

Culinary InnovationOperations/Supply Chain
Markets: US

Chef Dennis Samala, founder of Creative Culinary Concepts, brings over 30 years of experience in the food industry. He specializes in new product innovation, menu ideation, and culinary development

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Claudie Le Roy

Claudie Le Roy

CommercialBrandingCompliance & Regulations
Markets: ME UAE

Claudie is a UAE-based food industry expert with 18+ years of experience in sales, marketing, and business development in France and the Middle East.

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Raphaelle O'Connor

Raphaelle O'Connor

Product InnovationStrategic Partnership/Advisory
Markets: EU CN

Raphaelle, a seasoned food science expert, specializes in developing and commercializing functional foods and beverages.

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Matthew Smith

Matthew Smith

Market & Consumer IntelligenceBranding
Markets: US

Matthew is an successful marketing leader with a proven track record of driving growth and innovation across various industries, including FMCG.

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Giang Duong

Giang Duong

Vietnam Go-to-Market & Sales Growth Expert
Markets: VN

Giang specializes in go-to-market strategy, sales growth, execution excellence, consumer insight, and AI-driven marketing.

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Jay Mota

Jay Mota

CommercialBrandingProduct Innovation
Markets: IN

Jay is an experienced F&B industry professional with experience across product development, marketing, branding & strategy.

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Kelvin Ng

Kelvin Ng

CommercialStrategic Advisory & Partnership
Markets: APAC SG

Kelvin is a seasoned commercial executive with over 25 years of experience in ESG, sustainability, and brand building across global markets. Passionate about plant-based innovation, he currently serves as the Executive Vice President at Float Foods, driving growth strategies and forging strategic partnerships. Previously, as Director of ASEAN at Green Monday, Kelvin led three business units to success, establishing Omni Foods as a leading Asian plant-based brand in both retail and food service sectors. With a focus on profit and loss leadership and team management, he has consistently delivered outstanding results in the agri-food industry.

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Rob Hall

Rob Hall

CommercialMarket Development
Markets: Thailand AU APAC

Rob, an Australian with 25+ years of brand and marketing experience in Asia, specializes in localizing F&B brands.

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Dan Follese

Dan Follese

CommercialProduct InnovationStrategic Advisory
Markets: US

Dan is a veteran in the foodservice industry with 30+ years of experience blending classical culinary training with innovative food marketing.

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Where we do this

Our expert network spans 40+ countries, from North America and Europe to the Middle East and APAC.

Asia With a rapidly growing economy and consumer spending power, Asia is emerging as the place to be for food and beverage brands. Europe Europe is a diverse region with many different food cultures and a rigorous regulatory landscape. Middle East The Middle East is a promising market for F&B, thanks to the diverse and affluent population keen to try out new products. North America This region is an exciting market to tap into, whether you're a manufacturer, importer, distributor, or are in food service.
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Market entry and expansion questions

What does the blueprint phase produce?

Three named deliverables: a market, category, and consumer assessment covering growth opportunity and risk; where-to-play and how-to-win decisions captured in a route-to-market blueprint; and a board-ready entry or expansion recommendation with an explicit go or no-go.

Can you execute, or only advise?

Both. The execution phase covers product, pack, and positioning localization, distributor and partner outreach, launch planning, and commercial follow-through. It is run in-market by the operator who built the blueprint, with capability transferred to your team.

What happens at the go or no-go?

You review the blueprint and decide: continue into execution, pause, or stop. The decision is yours, and the blueprint is yours whichever way it goes.

How is this different from market restructuring?

Buyer state. This program is for a company with no presence in the target market yet, including one extending into another new market. Market restructuring is for a business already operating there whose performance has stalled. It resets the existing team, route to market, and distributor network.

Questions about how engagements work, cost shapes, or stopping? See the “How we work” FAQ

Bring us the market you want to enter

Thirty minutes with someone who knows the market, not a salesperson.

Schedule a call about your market