The Founding Brand
A Scotch whisky import brand migrated all operations off a major national platform on July 1, 2025. This is what changed.
Background
This case study is different from the others. This is not a client story. This is our story. The founding brand of Stateside Imports was itself an operational client of a major national pay-to-play operator before Stateside existed. The decision to build Stateside came directly from what that billing experience revealed.
The brand sources and imports single-cask Scotch whisky from Scottish distilleries — Springbank, Glenallachie, Balvenie, and others — and sells through specialty retailers across the U.S. East Coast and select national accounts. Not high volume. High value. Bottles priced between $80 and $250. Small release quantities. Multiple SKUs per year.
Under the incumbent operator, the structure appeared straightforward: a fixed monthly platform fee, per-case handling charges, and pass-through costs for freight and compliance. The mechanics were familiar. The total number, accumulated over nine months, was not.
The Data
These ratios are drawn from actual billing records accumulated in the nine months prior to the July 2025 migration. They represent a real operating brand with real transaction history.
Revenue Consumed by Operator Fees
67%
Of gross revenue paid out in platform, warehousing, and distribution charges
Revenue Retained by the Brand
33%
Before product cost and cask sourcing expenses
Months Tracked
9
Continuous operating period on the major platform
Fee Ratio vs. Industry Benchmark
2.3x
Operator fees as a multiple of what the same brand pays today under Stateside
Fixed Monthly Cost
Variable
Platform minimum ran regardless of that month's sales volume
Fee Structure vs. Stateside
Significantly higher
Per-SKU, per-case, and platform charges all applied simultaneously
The platform fee was not the problem. The problem was the platform fee plus warehousing plus per-case handling plus per-SKU charges plus state distribution margin, all running simultaneously against a catalog where individual releases sell through in weeks, not years.
For a high-velocity single product with national retail distribution, the fee structure of a large platform operator can be rational. Fixed costs spread across high volume produce an acceptable per-unit economics. For a multi-SKU, limited-release brand with premium pricing and specialty distribution, the math inverts. Fixed platform costs run regardless of monthly sales. SKU fees stack with every new release. Warehousing charges accumulate whether pallets are moving or sitting. The operator's revenue is relatively insensitive to whether the brand is having a good month or a bad one.
After nine months, the conclusion was clear enough to act on.
The Transition
The transition involved taking direct operational control of every service that had been contracted out: importer of record management, state compliance and registration, warehousing, and distribution. The goal was not to eliminate cost — it was to make cost proportional to activity and visible at every line item.
| Function | Before (Platform Operator) | After (In-House / Stateside) |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly minimum | Fixed platform fee regardless of sales | $600 base, activity-variable above that |
| Warehousing | Third-party contracted facility, markup applied | Company-owned facility, Northern Virginia, no third-party markup |
| Distribution | Platform wholesale account, per-case platform margin | Managed master account, same retail reach |
| SKU management | Per-SKU charges accumulated with every release | Unlimited SKUs included in monthly minimum |
| Termination | 6-month notice window, inventory repurchase required | 30 days notice, no repurchase obligation |
| Pass-through costs | Billed with platform margin applied | Billed at exact cost, no markup |
Retail reach did not change. The same states, the same retailers, the same ability to fulfill orders across 8 markets from a single warehouse. What changed was who captured the margin between the brand's revenue and the retailer's shelf price.
What This Built
Stateside Imports was not built in theory. It was built from operational experience running a real brand through both sides of the market — as a client of the major platform operators and then as the operator itself.
The infrastructure that was assembled to run the founding brand's operations — the centralized warehouse, the compliance management process, the managed wholesale distribution account, the per-activity billing structure — became the infrastructure that Stateside offers to other brands today.
We did not model what clients would want from a pay-to-play operator. We experienced what we wanted and built it. That distinction matters when you are deciding who to trust with your product and your U.S. U.S. operations.
The founding brand continues to operate through Stateside infrastructure today, alongside client brands. We have skin in what we are selling. If the platform did not work for our own product, we would know immediately.
The Implication
The founding brand is not unusual. It is a typical independent bottler with premium pricing, multi-SKU releases, and specialty retail distribution — exactly the profile of many domestic and international spirits brands evaluating the U.S. market. If your brand fits that description and you are currently operating through a major platform operator, the billing data we accumulated over nine months is a reasonable proxy for what your own invoices may show.
We are not interested in making that argument with competitors' names attached. But we are willing to run the numbers with you. Bring your current cost structure and we will show you what a comparable Stateside operating model would produce.
Run the numbers with us