Frédéric Pondant · Knowledge series

No BS
Brand Guides.

Short, opinionated guides on the real challenges of building drinks and hospitality brands. Written from the inside — not from a textbook.

5 guides available now · More coming

Single guide

Pick Your Topic.

€49

per guide

One specific problem to solve. Choose the guide that speaks directly to where you're stuck right now.

  • Full guide — 12 to 15 min read
  • Practical checklist or audit framework
  • Immediate download
Browse guides →

Available now

01

Listing strategy · On trade · Horeca

Listed Is Not Enough.

Getting on the menu feels like a win. It's just entry. Here's what actually needs to happen — and why most brands stop too soon.

02

Brand building · Volume · Pull strategy

Volume Is Vanity.

Chasing volume to survive is understandable. Mistaking it for brand building is a slow, expensive error — and the Aperol story that proves it.

03

Menu design · Psychology · Revenue

Your Menu Is Your Best Salesperson.

109 seconds. That's all the attention you get. Here's the psychology that drives +20% revenue — without changing a single product.

04

Events · Community · Activation

Events: Growth Lever or Expensive Vanity?

Getting your brand into events feels like progress. Most of the time it's an expensive way to be forgotten. Here's how to tell the difference — before you sign anything.

05

Brand · Foundations · Identity

Before the Logo. Before the Website. Before Everything.

You don't choose whether to have a brand. You only choose whether to build it deliberately. Here's where it actually starts.

06

Operations · Brand experience · Activation

Perfect Serve: The Most Underrated Brand Tool.

The glass, the temperature, the garnish, the moment. Most brands obsess over the liquid and ignore everything else. That's a mistake.

Coming soon

How the guides work

01

Real experience

Built from 20+ years inside drinks and horeca. No borrowed frameworks. No theory without proof.

02

No fluff

12–15 minute reads. Dense, direct, opinionated. Every chapter ends with something actionable.

03

Built to use

Every guide ends with a practical checklist or audit framework. Read it once, apply it the same day.

04

Goes deeper

The guides are the entry point. The Diagnostic is what happens when you want this applied to your specific brand.

Beyond the guides

Ready to apply this
to your brand?

The guides give you the framework. The Diagnostic applies it to your specific situation — in 90 minutes.

See how to work together →