Langhua Is Live

Last month, we launched our very own drinks brand in China.

Langhua is a hard soda, positioned as China’s answer to hard seltzers: a direct response to a young population that is increasingly calorie-conscious but is defying the apparently global trend of moderation by drinking more non-baijiu alcohol than ever.

Although we bootstrapped it all, we never compromised on our vision to design a special product and provide the utmost quality.

All in all, it took almost a year to go from concept to realised product. In retrospect, believing it could have gone any faster was naive.

With challenges ranging from commercial formulation and choosing the right production partner to the endless slew of bureaucratic hoops we had to jump through, it is hard to imagine it could really have been any faster.

In keeping with our bootstrapped approach, we launched quietly: a small event and a low-key e-commerce presence on Xiaohongshu. The reception has exceeded our expectations.

Without a penny spent on ads, we cleared our first production batch and are onto the next.

We have used this time for product validation, and the signals are forming into real momentum, with audiences reviewing the product extremely favourably and even returning to place new orders less than 30 days after their first purchase.

We are starting to leverage our influencer relationships to create some buzz around the brand with serious marketing, while increasing production volume.

And so, this is where the fun begins.