We have five aromas finished and signed off. Three of them are going out in the first run. The other two are sitting there, done, waiting.

That was not the original plan.

The advice we took

The plan was to launch all five at once, because that is what having five finished products makes you want to do. The manufacturer we blend with talked us out of it in about two sentences.

His argument: a shop has limited shelf space and no reason to trust a brand nobody has asked for yet. Turn up with five and you are asking for a whole shelf on nothing but enthusiasm. Turn up with the two or three you would personally buy, and you are asking for something a buyer can actually say yes to.

He started his own brand on a single flavour. He is on six now. That is the order it happens in, and he has watched a lot of people try it the other way round.

Why it is better for you too

A range of five from a brand you have never tried is not a choice, it is a guess. Three is a decision you can make.

It also means the three that land first are the three we are most confident in, rather than three good ones and two that are fine. Nobody benefits from us padding a launch.

What happens to the other two

They are finished, they passed the same three week test as everything else, and they go out when the first three have earned the space. Not reformulated, not quietly dropped. Just later.

If you want to know when, the list is the only place we will say it.