Between the kitchen and the factory lies an expensive and often risky gap for brands trying to launch a new drink.
The First Round exists to close it.
We're a specialist beverage scale-up and test facility where you can create professional-quality samples using industry-grade canning equipment — in a controlled, low-risk environment, at a fraction of the cost of full production.
At The First Round we take quality seriously. Our equipment is identical to that found in the industry's best factories but designed to give you flexibility and control on an affordable scale. We can blend 20 to 200 litres, fill and pasteurise products with or without carbonation into a range of can sizes and sleeve them on site.
You don't need to commit to thousands of litres to find out if your idea works. Bring your recipe. We'll blend, fill, and sleeve professional samples you can put in front of buyers, investors, or consumers without the factory costs.
Whether you're refreshing a recipe, developing a seasonal variant or preparing samples for a retailer sell-in, our facility gives you the precision and speed to test concepts without delaying NPD timelines.
Your customers want to see your ingredients performing in a finished, shelf-ready product — not always a glass bottle. We extend your capability to produce professionally canned, sleeved and quality-tested samples at low volumes that impress, without you needing to invest in your own equipment.
When your client needs more than ten samples or something canned rather than bottled, we're here to help. We don't develop recipes — that's your expertise. We simply extend your capability, getting your clients' concepts into professional, factory-quality sleeved cans.
Your factory runs best at volume. Small trials and sample requests are a necessary part of the business but they're rarely the most efficient use of your line or your team. Our equipment is designed to emulate full production processes, giving your clients the confidence to develop and validate their recipes with us first — so they arrive at your factory ready to run. We keep your factory moving. They get better results. Everyone wins.
After 20 years in the industry, we kept finding the same problem: brands had no reliable way to test a new beverage without wasting cash and stock, so we built one. The First Round lets you test different recipes and flavours, validate shelf life and substantiate health claims — before you commit to a full production run. Many brands fail because they weren't aware of common issues such as loss of carbonation, can corrosion, recipe taints, sedimentation, and vitamin and flavour loss due to pasteurisation. In most cases factories just follow your recipe, leaving liability for quality with you. Don't take the risk. Test it with First Round.
Whatever your ingredients, our high-tech blend tanks can hold 20 to 200 litres with precise carbonation and oxygen control.
150ml to 500ml, carbonated or nitrogen flushed, we can pack it all to industry standards.
Produce eye-catching results with in-house sleeving and make the best first impression with buyers.
built for accuracy not quantity
