We are starting up a sake import company, could you help?

Hello,
We are considering starting an alcohol import business in the United States. We will be starting as a small company and we would like to focus on sake as our primary import initially.

There are some large importers here in the U.S. and there are now even some sake breweries. Sake is gaining popularity here and we would like to help it along. I would like to know if you have any or know of any premium sake that is not already being imported into the United States?

We would like a product that is not already being purchased by large corporations if possible. We are currently working on getting our permits and getting our company off the ground and would appreciate any advice you may have. We do not need a sake that has never been to the U.S. but we would prefer one that is not easy to get here so that we may find distributors that want to add our sake to their product line.

We are only interested in high quality sake at this time. We would like to know what you already have available and how much you are currently shipping here. We are on the west coast (California) and would like to bring in something no one here has yet.

We would be interested in ordering a sample case to try what you have available.Thank you very much for any information you can help us with. We are interested in working with a small company like ours and growing together.

Thank you for your message, I really hope that you will be able to start your sake project soon.

Well, that’s good you see the opportunity of sake demands in your country, as you mentioned some wine importers are interested in sake nowadays too. Hopefully, more sake will be available in the US.

I think the highest priority for you right now is to get your import license, this may take some time. You are saying that your interest is importing high quality sake, but as you can guess normally quality items cost more. So if I were you, I would start calculating the necessary costs of importing such as duties, logistics cost, warehouse cost, delivery cost and etc…

Also, your clients or customers will show their interests to sake if you have great knowledge of it, therefore learning about it, or even coming to Japan to visit breweries should help you a lot.
 
Unfortunately, we won’t be able to export sake to you, but we would like to find someone who wants to work with you. One of our clients who got the export license may show their interest to your project.