Liquor-first specialist
Tasting is the business, not one line in an agency catalogue. Liquor first, with the category depth provincial regulators and buyers expect.
About Prime Sampling
Built from 200,000 shifts of operating experience.
Prime Sampling is an Edmonton-based, Canadian-owned liquor tasting specialist with experienced people and one consistent operating standard.
The founder's story
Nine years across liquor tasting and grocery sampling.
Prime Sampling's founder built his career over nine years spanning liquor tasting and grocery sampling. In that time, he had direct operational involvement in more than 200,000 shifts: systems development, staffing, training, scheduling, compliance, finance, and data integration and reporting, week after week, across the country.
Prime Sampling is the alternative he built. He saw an opportunity in the industry to make it a win for everyone: paying ambassadors above market, and building a platform and workflows from the ground up to cut the overhead that drives costs up for no reason. The result: lower costs, stronger performance, and tighter compliance, for brands and retailers alike.
"We pay ambassadors more because the work matters."
What Prime Sampling is
A specialist, not a switchboard.
Canadian and independent
Federally incorporated in Canada and headquartered in Edmonton, with no holding-company parent: no cross-brand conflicts, no head-office veto.
Accountable campaign support
A clear point of contact, an operations team that knows the campaign, and responsive support when something needs attention.
9years running national tasting operations
200,000shifts of operating experience behind Prime Sampling
$30/hrambassador pay, above market
5provinces
Where we work
Five provinces. One set of standards.
Home market
Alberta
Edmonton-based, with 1,600+ private retail stores in Prime Sampling's home market. Alberta's tasting rules and certification requirements are where the founder's nine years were spent.
Private retail
British Columbia
Private retail coverage operated within the province's tasting rules, including pour limits and per-store manufacturer caps.
Near-term
Ontario
We are positioning to apply for the LCBO in-store tasting program, the most formalized tasting-vendor gate in Canada. Preparation is under way; approval is not yet in hand.
Verified per event
Saskatchewan
Available where retailer-specific permissions apply. The province's default rules are restrictive, so we verify what is permitted before every event.
Near-term
Manitoba
An application through the province's formal in-store tasting vendor path is in progress. We will book Manitoba events once that gate is cleared.
How every event runs
Seven steps, in the same order, every time.
- 1
Brand onboarding
Campaign goals, featured products, and target stores agreed with the brand.
- 2
Campaign booking and scheduling
Dates and stores confirmed with each retailer, on the retailer's schedule.
- 3
Ambassador staffing
A certified tasting ambassador is matched to every shift.
- 4
Training and compliance preparation
Campaign-specific training completed and liquor-service certification verified before scheduling.
- 5
In-store execution
Tasting table set, point-of-sale in place, every ID checked, all run under the store's licence.
- 6
Compliance tracking and reporting
Attendance, execution standards, and results recorded for every event.
- 7
Invoicing and post-campaign review
One flat fee per event, everything included, then a review of what the numbers say.
Experience behind every event.
You get a clear point of contact backed by a team that knows your campaign.