Hi all,
Anyone on here happen to know, or know where I can find out, the cost of a making a can or Red Bull?
I know the actual can (can, opener, decoration) is about 20p, but anyone have any idea about the ingredients?

Ta, Duane.

it’ll be mainly water so given the volume they churn out, no more than 0.1p ??

The can will cost waaaaaaaay less than 20p

I would expect the can to be about 3 or 4 pence

Decorated can in those volumes will be about 9p, i reckon. Contents about 2p. Filling storage and distribution perhaps as much as 5p. marketing and sponsorship £££££££!

Hmm, I was just going by what the second last dude said here;
http://www.bevnet.com/bevboard/energy-drinks/30169-price-energy-drinks.html

If it’s any more than 10p a can all in I’ll be surprised!

aldi do a copy for 30 p ish

red bull is a private company so you cant even work off the company accounts.

as an educated guess and based on estimates online of c.1bn unit sales and revenue of c.€1.15bn in 2002, then it implies revenue at about €1 per can.

Pepsi and Coke have gross margins of around 50-60% so for Red bull the fixed and marginal cost of producing a can might be around €0.60. But thats not the cost of an individual cans production, rather the cost of the entire business stated as a function of can production volume.

aldi do a copy for 30 p ish

but you shouldn’t take supermarket prices as general cost guide – they sell plenty of stuff at less-than-cost, booze for instance.

The can will cost waaaaaaaay less than 20p

+1

I would think something more like 2p

The cost of the product is nanoscopic in comparison to persuading people it is worth drinking, at the moment this involves:

Formula 1 team (600 strong work force)
WRC involvement
Planes flying between gigantic balloons
Numerous crash helmets for X-T-reem sports persons
Man in flying squirrel suit
Irritating ad campaign

keppoch

One of those businesses where the “product” isn’t really the product.

As above, its going to be pennies at most to produce a can of red bull.

A bit like a company I used to work for, we bought in powders from quarries (sometimes litteraly the ‘factory’ floor sweepings) for ££ per ton and sold it for ££ per gram. It didn’t make mega bucks though as theres a lot of less tangible stuff that makes the value like testing, acreditiation, ISO 9001, certification etc, a bit like red bull not actualy making £1.28 every time it sells a can for £1.29.

I got 6 cans of red bull copy from Lidl for 64p so the cost to produce must be less than 10p a can.

Dont they have 2x F1 teams, Torro Rosso too?

I think its great they have such a simple product and splash the cash on all sorts of crazy sports stuff.

Very rarely drink it though, although it is the only energy drink I have ever bought.

Shipping the stuff must be reasonably dear as cans stack with quite alot of air between them and also quite heavy.

20-30p per can?

Shipping the stuff must be reasonably dear as cans stack with quite alot of air between them and also quite heavy

But I assume they do it as others do it – in country of sale under licence – yes there will be transportation costs, but not as large as you might think.

but you shouldn’t take supermarket prices as general cost guide – they sell plenty of stuff at less-than-cost, booze for instance.

I like this, cheap booze, it is good.

There will likely be more info available on the costs of pepsi or coke, so find those and try and work it out.

Duane, out of interest did I sell you a trailstar frame on SDH years ago?

If you’re asking how much of a cash cow Red Bull is, bear in mind that if it costs (say) 30p to produce a can of RB and you pay £1.30 for it, that doesn’t directly mean that RB are making £1 profit on every sale (and by extension, ripping you off).

It’s the CD argument isn’t it; just because you can buy a blank CD for 50p doesn’t mean that the other twelve quid you pay for an album is going into Metallica / U2 / JLS’s pockets.

COuple of footy teams too no?

New York Red Bulls and Red Bull Salzburg. I believe they own the teams rather than just sponsoring them

(Now, you want a real cash cow – postmix soft drinks in cinemas and fast food outlets)

(Now, you want a real cash cow – postmix soft drinks in cinemas and fast food outlets)

Agreed – 1000%s profit to be had there. Pubs love it when people order coke – then just squirt some shite masquerading as ‘the Real Thing’ out of a ‘Wunderbar’.

I know the actual can (can, opener, decoration) is about 20p

The alloy can/opener would cost you about 2p (depending on metal price) and the decoration could be 1-2p (depending on the quality required) – OT but when I worked for an aluminium company that produced the cans for the expensive dog/cat foods (Cesaer was one), and we were paid enough to hand-check every one for quality… and contents maybe a 1p.

So maybe the 20p is actually for the IP (transfer price) to whichever low-tax country they are registered in.

I got 6 cans of red bull copy from Lidl for 64p so the cost to produce must be less than 10p a can.

No, that doesn’t mean anything!

Red Bull is a brilliant business model. I’d love to see their production v marketing costs.

I kind of see them as a public service. They persuade stupid people to drink mad induced water in a cool can and in return they give us F1 teams, planes, motorcross, mtb sponsorship etc etc.

I’m pretty sure it is 3p or so.

Was on a snowboarding holiday earlier this year with someone who works for Red Bull GP. Had a week full of Red Bull stories and I’m sure he said it was 3p a can at some point.

Cheers for all the replies 🙂

Basically, I have to do an essay looking into the marketing mix (product, price, place, promotion) used by Red Bull GmbH for their Red Bull energy drink.
So I obviously have to look into how much each can costs to make (hence this thread). I am aware of cheaper alternative, the large expense of promotion etc.

Would you say Red Bull are making a killing in general? Or are the huge promotion costs keeping profits down? Because theyre obviously making loads from the (price of can – cost of can), but other costs are enormous.

Cheers, Duane.

it’s currently 2p per can inclusive of can.

How do you know that rolkin, if you dont mind me asking?

The price we pay for small measures of fizzy flavoured water…. hilarious

Would you say Red Bull are making a killing in general? Or are the huge promotion costs keeping profits down? Because theyre obviously making loads from the (price of can – cost of can), but other costs are enormous.

<pure speculation>

You have to imagine that they are making a killing. They don’t need two teams in F1…

</pure speculation>

Isn’t it filled with bullock piss?

Well, those F1 teams cant be cheap, so maybe after the cost of the teams, they’re no longer making a killing?

Kuco, all the ingredients are made synthetically. No bull semen.

As above, you can buy a copy product called Effect for 30p, same can, with print, similar taste.

my wife went to a marketing conference recently and red bull were there talking about their campaigns, sponsorships etc. i’m afraid i cannot tell you much other than the 2p per can thing, as that is all that stuck in my mind when she talked about it, she goes on a bit!