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BEVERAGEWORLDBEVERAGEWORLDINTELLIGENCE FOR THE GLOBAL DRINKS BUSINESS JULY 15, 2009
Special Report: Distributor’s Toolbox»
(L TO R) ERIC LEVIN, president, Felix Williams, CEO and Ross Levin,executive vice president of operations.
»
RushGoldGold
Rush
Highlights From Beverage Forum 2009»
Florida-based beer distributor Gold Coast Beverageshines bright with its most recent expansion.
Florida-based beer distributor Gold Coast Beverageshines bright with its most recent expansion.
07Cover1c:SPRING INDEPENDENT.qxd 7/10/09 10:00 AM Page 1
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FEATURES
BEVERAGEWORLD.COM JULY 2009_BEVERAGE WORLD_3
[ JULY2009 ]Volume 128 • Number 7 • Issue 1800
BEVBEAT8 SABMiller to Reduce
Emissions • PepsiCo Opens ‘Green’ Plant in China
14 New Beverages18 Market Metrics
UPCLOSE WITH...48 BOCCCHO52 Bay Area Beverage Co.53 Beer Capitol56 Beverage Alliance57 Refreshment Services Pepsi
60 Epic Enterprises62 Pepsi-Cola Bottling Co.
of Davenport64 Burke Distributing Co.66 Matesich Distributing Co.68 Del Papa Distributing Co.70 Guiffre Distributing Co.
72 High Country Beverage74 Minhas Craft Brewery75 Saratoga Liquor76 S.R. Perrott77 Nappi Distributors
Cover Story: Striking GoldWith strategic acquisitions under its belt and a rapidly expanding business, Gold Coast Beverage is jumping the economic hurdles and going for the gold.
20
26
A look back at Beverage Forum 200938
Distributor’s Toolbox: A look at some of the tools that can ease today’s distribution challenges.
The 2009 Financial Report
Beverage World Vol. 128, No. 7 (ISSN 0098-2318, USPS 526-550) is published monthly by Ideal Media LLC., 303 East Wacker Drive, 21st Floor, Chicago, IL 60601. Tel: 312-456-2822. Subscription rates for US: $89.00/one year, $139.00/twoyears, $189.00/three years. Single copies: $10.00; Canada: $99.00/one year, $159.00/two years, $209.00/three years, Single copies: $15.00; All other countries: $159.00/one year, $229.00/two years, $279.00/three years. Single copies $15.00.Periodicals postage for Beverage World paid at Chicago, IL, and additional mailing offices. Canada Post: Publications Mail Agreement #40612608, Canada Returns to be sent to BleuchipInternational, P.O. Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to Beverage World, Subscription Services, P.O. Box 2054, Skokie, IL 60076.
44
DEPARTMENTS
[ JULY2009 ]Volume 128 • Number 7 • Issue 1800
DEPARTMENTS CONTINUEDBEVSOLUTIONSSupply Chain78 The Warehouse Wishlist
Production80 In-House PET Manufacturing82 Chasers
R&D83 Sweetener Alternatives
Packaging85 The Latest on
Lightweighting
Distribution89 LiftGate Tips91 Fleet of the Month:
Standard Sales—Littleton, Colo.
PLUS6 Editor’s Note
88 Operations Observations95 Road Ways96 BevSource: Supplier News
& New Products97 Classifieds98 Ad Index
TO REQUEST A SUBSCRIPTIONgo to beverageworld.com and click subscribe
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[EDITOR’SNOTE]
At the beginning of the summer I came to the startling realization that this is aparticular milestone anniversary of my college graduation (I’m not telling exactlyhow many years. You’ll have to friend me on Facebook to learn that!) Suchmoments invariably send me spiraling into a fit of nostalgia and thinking aboutmy college days always means fondly recalling my tenure at Rutgers University’sstudent-run newspaper. (Shout out to The Daily Targum!) As editorial page editorof the paper I got to compile the weekly “Laurels & Darts” column, which essen-tially gave the thumbs up or thumbs down to whatever was going on that particu-lar week. So in the spirit of nostalgia (and summer), I’ve decided to do a beverageversion of “Laurels & Darts” (But to avoid a lawsuit from Targum Publishing Co.,we’ll call it the more liquid-oriented “Toasts and Spills”).
A big Toast goes to the Brewers Association for another successful Savor: anAmerican Craft Beer & Food Experience. I was lucky enough to attend the inaugu-ral event last year and the 2009 edition, both in Washington, D.C. A sell-out crowdpacked D.C.’s National Building Museum to pair fine food with beers from thenation’s finest craft brewers. It was once again a highly classy sipping-and-min-gling event with subdued music, insightful conversation and interactive education(both at the brewer tables and the salons). I really hope this continues as an annu-al event. Heck, I’d vote for semi-annual.
The lone Spill I will bestow in this edition kind of makes me feel a little dirty.Being a fairly green-minded person, it’s always difficult to condemn anything withan eco-sensitive proposition. However when those entities rely on propagandisticscare tactics to sell a product, it’s time to speakout. In its marketing campaign, the Eco-Canteen, a portable reusable container to befilled by tap/purified water, resorts to mislead-ing sky-is-falling histrionics to sell a few bot-tles. (“Plastic water bottles could be poisoningyou and your family!”) I’ve stated ad nauseumin this column how the bottled water industryrepresents possibly the most proactively greenbeverage segment and it’s unfair to attack it onthe environmental and safety front with suchfactual distortions. The International BottledWater Association already has filed a com-plaint against the campaign, so we’ll see how itplays out.
Let’s end on a positive note, shall we? Lastmonth the Big Apple played host to the first-ever New York Sake Experience Week, celebrating Japan’s most famous contribu-tion to global alcohol beverages. To kick things off, the folks behind GekkeikanSake, in conjunction with Sidney Frank Importing Co. and Southern Wine &Spirits of New York, hosted an exclusive tasting of select Gekkeikan sakes at theupscale Eastern eatery Japonais. The week likely will do wonders to boost sake’sprofile among US consumers so it’ll be interesting to see how the event—and therice wine itself—continues to grow in popularity. It was the Toast of the town.
200 East Randolph Street, 70th Floor, Chicago, IL 60601
Kevin Francella, Chief Operating Officer+1.646.708.7327 [email protected]
Toasts & Spills
EDITORIAL OFFICES 90 Broad St., Suite 402, New York, NY 10004 +1.646.708.7300 Fax: +1.646.708.7399
beverageworld.com REPRINT INQUIRIES Lisa Abelson+1.516.379.7097 [email protected] SUBSCRIPTION
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Jeff Cioletti, [email protected]
Kevin Francella, Group Publisher Beverage World+1.646.708.7327 [email protected]
EDITORIALJeff Cioletti, Editor-In-Chief
+1.646.708.7303 [email protected] Kaplan, Managing Editor
+1.646.708.7301 [email protected] Landi, Senior Editor
+1.646.708.7302 [email protected] Cirillo, Associate Editor
+1.646.708.7307 [email protected]
ARTRosanna Bulian, Art Director
+1.646.708.7312 [email protected]
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Michael Bellas, Tom Kelley
John Koss
EDITORIAL RESEARCH Joy Francesconi
+1.978.299.3499 [email protected]
PRODUCTIONJeff Carlson, Production Manager
+1.312.447.5112 [email protected]
E-MEDIAAmanda Westbrooks, Website Manager
+1.312.447.5107 [email protected]
GROUP DIRECTORSBarbara Killeen, Director of Operations and Research
+1.646.708.7325 [email protected] Fiden, Group Marketing Director
+1.312.447.5103 [email protected] David, Director of E-Media
+1.312.447.5106 [email protected]
SALES DEPARTMENTJeff Blanch, Northeast/Mid-Atlantic Sales Director
+1.203.739.0775 [email protected] Adams, Midwest/West Sales Director
+1.773.871.0757 [email protected] Fahlbusch, Europe
+49.202.271.6915 [email protected] Cantwell, Advertising Sales Coordinator
+1.646.708.7315 [email protected]
BEVERAGEWORLD
6_BEVERAGE WORLD_JULY 2009 BEVERAGEWORLD.COM
BW
The new target relates to the fossil fuel emissions generated fromenergy used within SABMiller’s on-siteoperations.
“Climate change is an issue of grow-ing global concern; with likely impactson weather patterns, water availabilityand crop yields our business will feeldirect effects,” says Graham Mackay,SABMiller CEO. “Our new strategicapproach to reduce fossil fuel gas emis-sions per unit of product will allow usto contain our emissions by 2020,despite growth in production volume.This follows our commitment last year
to reduce our water consumption by 25percent per hectoliter of beer by2015—a target towards which we arealready making progress.”
The company also is committed to reducing carbon emissions within itsvalue chain. For example, SABMiller’sColombian business, Bavaria, invested$145 million to implement ‘superreturnable’ bottles, which have areduced carbon impact. These arelighter, shaped to reduce wear during transportation and have a special film to protect the surface of the glass, meaning they can be used
twice as often—around 40 cyclesinstead of 20.
The company’s most recentannouncement, which was made at theend of June, came with the launch ofSABMiller’s Sustainable Developmentreport for 2009, which also details someof the steps that are already beingtaken around the world to achieve theemission reduction goal.
These include:• The Czech busi-
8_BEVERAGE WORLD_JULY 2009
BEVBEATMARKET UPDATE
news and analysis on a changing market
» CONTINUED ON PAGE 10
BEVBEATABMiller, one of the world’s leading brewers, is setting out to
reduce fossil fuel emissions from its beers by 50 percent per
liter of beer produced by 2020. The company aims to achieve
this through greater energy efficiency and by utilizing renewable
energy sources such as brewing by-products and agricultural waste.
SABMiller anticipates that this initiative will enable it to contain
absolute emissions across its 200 beer brands at their 2008 level by
2020, despite production volume growth.
SABMiller to Cut Fuel EmissionsWith its new environmental initiative, the brewer hopes to reduce fossil fuel emissionsfrom its beers by 50 percent within its on-site operations.
BEVERAGEWORLD.COM
S
INSIDE BEVBEAT
BEVERAGE ROUND UPNamed after the family dog, Margo’sBark Root Beer offers consumers a
naturally sweetened root beer. PAGE 14
MARKET UPDATECheck out photos from the secondedition of Savor: An American Craft
Beer and Food Experience.PAGE 12
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Bill AndersonChairman & CEO
310-481-5101 | www.firstbev.comFirst Beverage
To grow your business, you need the ability to take swift action when opportunities come your way. For
years, we’ve helped beverage operators turn their real estate into ready cash through sale-leaseback and
build-to-suit transactions.
Now, with the addition of our newest division, First Beverage Financial Advisors, we provide you with a wide
range of financial services, including debt advisory, mezzanine financing, and mergers & acquisitions.
Call us for an in-depth explanation of our financial solutions.
404-442-8760
Sean McLarenPresident
First Beverage Financial Advisors
In this time of rapid change and consolidation, you need afinancial partner with a comprehensive range of services.
ness, Plzenský Prazdroj, has alreadyreduced its carbon emissions by morethan 50 percent. In addition, biogasfrom its wastewater treatment plants isnow being used as an auxiliary fuel forbrewing. Reducing CO2 emissionsenabled the brewery to sell surplusallowances at auction in 2006 andinvest the money in further environ-mental projects.
• SABMiller India has invested inrenewable energy sources such as agri-cultural waste, including rice husks. InMay 2007, a boiler fired by rice husks
was installed as part of the expansionof the Rochees brewery in Rajasthan.This reduces the reliance on fossil fuelsand also generates additional incomefor local farmers.
SABMiller also will be making theresults of its Sustainability AssessmentMatrix (SAM) public for the first time.This is the tool used in all its business-es to measure performance andprogress against its 10 SustainableDevelopment priorities. The results willbe contained in an interactive onlinetool on its website sabmiller.com.
[BEVBEAT]
BEVERAGEWORLD.COM
SABMiller to Cut Fuel Emissions» CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8
Pepsico to Open ‘Green’ Plant in ChinaAs part of s $1 billion investment effort, PepsiCo opened its first overseas
“green” plant in China last month in the western city of Chongqing. Thestate-of-the-art beverage facility reinforces PepsiCo’s ongoing strategy toexpand in emerging markets and broaden its portfolio.
PepsiCo plans to fund a variety of major capital programs to grow its man-ufacturing capacity in China, particularly in interior and western areas. Overthe next two years, the company expects to open five beverage manufactur-ing plants in Kunming, Zhengzhou, Quanzhou, Lanzhou and Nanchang.
“Despite the current uncertainty in many parts of the world, we have nodoubt that China will remain a powerfulengine of global economic expansion,” saysIndra Nooyi, PepsiCo chairman and CEO.“This is the largest, most ambitious develop-ment effort we’ve undertaken in our morethan 25 years of doing business here.”
The Chongqing plant is the first “green”beverage plant built in China to comply withthe sustainable engineering standardsknown as Leadership in Energy andEnvironmental Design (LEED), set by the
Green Building Council. The facility is designed to use 22 percent less waterand 23 percent less energy than the average PepsiCo plant in China. To savewater, the plant utilizes a high-pressure cleaning system, water-free conveyorbelt lubricant and water-saving fixtures. Plant associates re-use water for land-scaping and general cleaning instead of using potable water. To save energy,75 percent of the plant’s indoor areas feature natural lighting, including askylight in the packing area and warehouse. A roof garden insulates the officebuilding and saves energy for cooling and heating.
“This plant reflects our deep and long-term commitment to China,” saysNooyi. “It is also an important milestone in our green journey, on which weare partnering with the Chinese government, industry and others to continueto promote the health and longevity of our planet.”
10_BEVERAGE WORLD_JULY 2009
NOOYI
IN MEMORIAMWalter Dunn, a former Coca-
Cola executive who was creditedwith pioneering sports marketingfor The Coca-Cola Company byhis peers, died of cancer June 22at the age of 86 in his home inAtlanta.
After spending 40 years work-ing in various positions for TheCoca-Cola Company and its bot-tlers, Dunn retired in 2000 as thesenior vice president and specialassistant to the chairman’s office.Though his career with the com-pany was extensive, he was bestknown for leading Coke’s pres-tige accounts department.
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SABMILLER is incorporating sustainability effortsacross its global brewing operations.
»
*When used in conjunction with a low calorie diet and exercise. For healthy individuals over the age of 18. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
*Only Meltdown Drink available at CVS
Meltdown bottle is protected by U.S. Copyright.©2009 VITAL PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
[BEVBEAT]
12_BEVERAGE WORLD_JULY 2009 BEVERAGEWORLD.COM
1 WASHINGTON D.C.’s stately National Building Museumplayed host to the sold-out second edition of Savor: AnAmerican Craft Beer & Food Experience, presented by theBrewers Association; 2 The 1,700 attendees got to samplebeers from nearly 70 craft brewers, paired with a varietyof fine food; 3 Boston Beer Co./Samuel Adams founderand brewer Jim Koch gets wired for an interview. SamAdams was among the event’s sponsors.
»
Savoring the Experience
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People NewsHeineken N.V. appoints Stefan Orlowski to managingdirector, Scottish and Newcastle UK. Orlowski was thegroup commerce director for Heineken N.V… PepsiCoappoints Tessa Hilado to senior vice president, financeand treasurer, reporting to chief financial officer,Richard Goodman… Foster’s appoints David Drearie asmanaging director of its newly created Australian winedivision, covering the group’s wine business in Australiaand New Zealand… Ray Chadwick of Diageo Chateau &Estate Wines is elected Wine Institute chairman for the2009-2010 fiscal year at Wine Institute’s 75thCommemorative Annual Meeting of Members… PernodRicard announces seven new appointments: Brian Fry asmanaging director of Pernod Ricard Brasil, Victor Jerezas managing director of Wyborowa, Sergio Marly as man-aging director of the Pernod Ricard Benelux Cluster,Béatrice Morane as managing director of Pernod RicardBelgium, Erik Zaal as managing director of Pernod RicardNederland and Christian Barré as managing director ofDemecq Bodega, Spanish affiliate of quality wines.
A-B InBev Sells Can Plants to Ball Corp.Anheuser-Busch InBev announced earlier this month it is
selling four metal beverage can and lid manufacturing plantsto Ball Corp., a leading supplier of metal and plastic packag-ing to the beverage industry, for $577 million. The canplants were part of A-B InBev’s US metal subsidiary, MetalContainer Corporation (MCC).
As part of the transaction, Ball Corp. will enter into a long-term supply agreement to continue to supply A-B InBev with
metal beverage cans andlids from the divestedplants. The divested canplants are located in FortAtkinson, Wis., Columbus,Ohio and Rome, Ga., andthe divested lid plant is inGainesville, Fla.
A-B InBev CEO CarlosBrito said in a statement, “The sale of this group of softdrinks-focused plants represents another step in our de-leveraging program, allowing us to rationalize capital whileretaining those facilities that remain most relevant to ourbeer business.”
1 3
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14_BEVERAGE WORLD_JULY 2009 BEVERAGEWORLD.COM
[BEVBEAT]
Exotic EnergyPower Trip Beveragesadds a coconut flavoredenergy drink to itsexpanding roster of vita-min powered energydrinks. The new coconutflavor, initially availablein 16-ounce cans, wasborn during a businesstrip to Trinidad whenPower Trip Beveragepresident, Doug Stuart,recognized the populari-ty of the flavor. Inefforts to capture thatflavor of the Caribbean,Power Trip teamed upwith flavor house BRCfor the creation of itscoconut energy drink.powertripbev.com
Classic to ContemporaryNew Amsterdam Straight Ginpays homage to the Dutch ori-gins of gin while taking a con-temporary cue from The BigApple—New Amsterdam beingthe former name of the originalDutch settlement that is todayNew York City. With a distinc-tive bottle design inspired byManhattan’s iconic cityscape,New Amsterdam is a premiumspirit that includes a balance ofcitrus elements and a lighteremphasis on juniper berriesthan other gins, resulting in asofter mouth feel, describesthe New Amsterdam Spirits Co.,producers of the gin. NewAmsterdam is available nationwide for a suggested retailprice of $13.99. newamsterdamgin.com
NEW BEVERAGES
alibu Island Melon is thenewest flavor to join theMalibu family, whichincludes Malibu, Malibu
Tropical Banana, Malibu Mango, MalibuPineapple and Malibu Passion Fruit.
“We are thrilled to introduce thisgreat new flavor to the Malibu portfo-lio,” says Craig Johnson, Malibu branddirector at Pernod Ricard USA. “MalibuIsland Melon delivers a naturally freshripe Melon taste with a hint of Malibu’strademark creamy coconut flavoradding an exciting new dimension tothe Malibu range.”
A digital campaign that taps into themost popular trends among its coreconsumers will support its launch.Aimed to appeal to an audience that
increasingly turns to the web toview its favorite television shows,Malibu has developed web filmsthat will appear on video sitessuch as Hulu.com and Fox.com.The bowling-themed videos,created to encourage somelaughs, promote MalibuIsland Bowling, a mobilephone application that allowsyou to bowl “island style”with a melon. The game willbe available online on theMalibu website, as well asother sites includingFacebook.com.
“Melon appeals to bothmen and women and is a nat-ural extension for the brand
that truly melds with the essenceof Malibu,” adds Johnson. “In test-ing, consumers chose the melonflavor as having the best fit with
the Malibu trademark andranked it at, or near, the topin terms of uniqueness andCaribbean spirit. MalibuIsland Melon represents anew opportunity to buildawareness with consumersand help our trade partnersincrease sales.”
Malibu Island Melon isavailable in 1.75-liter, 1-liter,750ml and 50ml sizes. Thesuggested retail price for the750ml is $12.99.
malibu-rum.com
MMelon Meets Malibu
NEW SUPER POTENT 2-OUNCE SIZE
16_BEVERAGE WORLD_JULY 2009 BEVERAGEWORLD.COM
Red Stag Brings FlavorBeam Global Spirits & Wine,Inc. and Jim Beam Bourbonlaunched last month Red Stagby Jim Beam, a KentuckyStraight Bourbon Whiskeyinfused with natural flavors.Through a unique, artisanalinfusion process, naturalblack cherry flavors areinfused into four-year-oldJim Beam Bourbon. Thetasting notes are distinc-tively fruity, describes thecompany, without disguisingthe nose of Jim BeamBourbon. The 80-proof RedStag has a suggested retailprice of $17.99, and isavailable in 50ml, 750mland 1-liter bottles. beamglobal.com
[BEVBEAT]
Fruit for the DayFruit2day from Hero-WhiteWave is a drinkable and edible fruit snackwith real fruit bits in the bottle that is designed to provide naturalfruit nutrition. Fruit2day is made with a combination of real fruitpieces, fruit puree and fruit juice without any added sugar or preser-vatives. It packs in two servings of fruit and antioxidants in 6.75ounces with 110 to 120 calories, depending on the flavor combina-tion: Cherry Grape, Mango Peach, Pineapple Banana and StrawberryOrange. The suggested retail price for each two pack is $3.79.fruit2day.com
Vodka from the CropDubbed “The CleanestVodka,” Crop is artisanalflavored vodka distilledfrom certified organicAmerican grain grown free
of artificial fertilizers,pesticides and chemi-cals. New York-basedCrop Harvest EarthCo., makers of Crop,says it is distilled insuch a way that nocarbon treatment orcharcoal filtering isrequired. Crop is avail-able in artisanalvodka, cucumber andtomato. Available inall major markets, theSRP for the product isUS$28.99.cropvodka.com
Jones Gets FunctionalJones Soda Co. partnered withMitsubishi Corp. and PharmaFoods International to introduceJones GABA, a bev-erage they sayimproves mentalfocus, balance andclarity, whilereducing stress.The tea-juiceblend gets itsname, and func-tionality, fromPharmaGABA, thenatural form ofGABA (gamma-aminobutyricacid), a popularingredient inJapan. It is avail-able nationally in FujiApple, Lemon Honey, Nectarineand Grapefruit. Single serve 12-ounce cans contain 150 mg ofPharmaGABA and retail for$2.99. It is 100-percent naturaland ranges from 80 to 90 calo-ries. jonesgaba.com
Root Beer With BarkMargo’s Bark Root Beer grew out of Oscar Youd’s ele-mentary school science fair project. Named after thefamily dog Margo, a rescued black lab-pit bull mix,100 percent of the proceeds benefit shelter and res-cue dog organizations. Available in 12-ounce glass bot-tles, it is an all natural cane sugar root beer with nopreservatives. SRP is $1.30 to $1.35. margosbark.com
BEVERAGEWORLD.COM
Every. Gram. Counts.
Life is liquid. (3)
Find out more at:
www.krones.com/en/solutions
Hall B6
Accounting for a hefty 60 per cent of your production
costs, packaging is in truth a weighty consideration.
But happily Krones has its own PET design people: our
lightweighting specialists are fully capable of coaxing
another superfluous gram or two out of even high-price
containers. Ideal for anyone seeking to significantly
improve their Bottle Mass Index and slim down their
costs – permanently.
[BEVBEAT]
MARKET METRICS
ith summer comes America’snational pastime, and beer and
baseball just seem to go handin hand. And while it’s not sur-
prising that consumers who attended atleast one Major League Baseball (MLB)game in the past year were more likely thanthe average consumer to have consumed adomestic beer or light beer during the pastmonth, what is interesting when looking atScarborough Research data is the type ofbeers that index high with MLB fans.
For instance, MLB fans are 62 percentmore likely than the average consumer tohave enjoyed an import beer in the pastmonth. Data on specific import brands (notshown) indicates some surprising results asBecks has an index of 166, Corona indexesat 164 and Dos Equis has an index of 189.In fact, MLB fans are almost twice as likelyto consume a Guinness, while Amstel Lighthas a sky high index of 252 and HeinekenPremium Light indexes at 255 among MLBfans. Also, craft beers score high points withbaseball followers as game attendees are 89percent more likely to have enjoyed a coldSam Adams in the past month.
Also interesting to note, those who attendMLB games don’t limit themselves to justbeer as they also are more likely to splurgeon a bottle of wine or a fine spirit. Baseballgame attendees are 82 percent more likelyto have bought a bottle of Pinot Noir in thepast three months and 74 percent morelikely to have consumed a glass of Scotchwhiskey in the past month.
In fact, it seems baseball and spirits con-sumption go hand in hand as well sincegame attendees are 22 percent less likelythan the average consumer to haveabstained from purchasing distilled spiritsduring the past month.
W
BEVERAGEWORLD.COM18_BEVERAGE WORLD_JULY 2009
INDEX* OF BEVERAGE PREFERENCES OF CONSUMERS WHO HAVEATTENDED A MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL GAME IN THE PAST YEAR.
*INDEX REFERS TO HOW MORE OR LESS LIKELY THAN THE NATIONAL AVERAGE (100) CONSUMERS ARE TO HAVE CONSUMED A BEER OR DISTILLED SPIRIT IN THE PAST 30 DAYS
OR WINE IN THE PAST THREE MONTHS. SOURCE: SCARBOROUGH RESEARCH
BEER
Any Beer
0 50 100 150 200
139
144
150
162
Domestic Light Beer
Domestic Regular Beer
Import Beer
Blended or Rye Whiskey
Bourbon Whiskey
Brandy
Canadian Whiskey
Cognac
Gin
Scotch Whiskey
Tequila
Vodka
0 50 100 150 200
126
142
125
134
133
149
174
150
158
Merlot
Cabernet Sauvignon
Chardonnay
Pinot Grigio
Pinot Noir
Sauvignon Blanc
Shiraz
Rose
0 50 100 150 200
164
176
169
176
182
184
175
138
Hitting the Big Leagues
SPIRITS
WINE
Index*
Index*
Index*
Beverage Category
Beverage Category
Beverage Category
BW
*When combined with strength training & a low calorie diet. Use only as a dietary supplement. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
[COVERSTORY]
t Pompano Beach, Fla.-based Gold Coast Beverage Distributors,management and employees are reminded every day that run-ning a beer and wine wholesale operation is not just a job, but apersonal commitment to top performance. A catchphrase now
permeates the Gold Coast offices and warehouses—“Take it Personal”—amessage that is now part of the sales and marketing philosophy. First spo-ken by company chairman Steve Levin back in February, the phrase isalmost a battle cry to employees to remain 100 percent committed to notjust winning in the marketplace, but dominating the competition.
“We talk a lot about executing your job with excellence,” Eric Levin, presi-dent of Gold Coast Beverage and Steve Levin’s son, says. “It’s not enough towin, but we talk about how you’ve got to dominate your account. Our newcatchphrase, ‘Take it Personal’ means that if the competition outmaneuversyou, that’s an immediate reflection on your execution in that account.”
That sense of accountability, pride and commitment to excellence hashelped propel Gold Coast to a position of leadership within the alcohol distri-bution industry, serving as a shining example of what can be achieved whenstrategic marketing and sales execution meet a dogged persistence to win.
“This business gets in your blood. You develop a passion for it and yougotta love this business to succeed. I think the recipe for success is findingand retaining people that are like you and are driven by the desire to offercustomer service and sell brands,” Levin says.
A MillerCoors house, Gold Coast is now selling about 28 million cases ofbeer annually, making it the largest beer distributor in Florida and quitepossibly one of the top 5 beer distributors in the country with annual rev-enue set to top $600 million this year.
Worth Its Weight Felix Williams, the company’s new CEO, couldn’t have taken over the
reins at a more challenging time as he stepped into the executive role threemonths ago after former CEO Art Friedman resigned. Not only are Williams
Striking
20_BEVERAGE WORLD_JULY 2009 BEVERAGE WORLD.COM
A
GoldWith strategic acquisitions under its belt and a rapidlyexpanding business, Gold Coast Beverage is jumping the
economic hurdles and going for the gold.
By Heather Landi
JULY 2009_BEVERAGE WORLD_21BEVERAGE WORLD.COM
THE EXECUTIVE TEAM AT GOLD COAST BEVERAGE is composed of (l tor) Christina Cioeta-Borger, vice president of marketing; Martin Sweren,corporate treasurer; Eric Levin, president; Steve Levin, chairman; RossLevin, executive vice president of operations; Alfonso Fernandez, exec-utive vice president of administration and Felix Williams, CEO.
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and his management team facing a faltering economy, butthe company is integrating a new business from a recentacquisition, which expanded the company’s product portfolioand sales territory. Founded back in 1946 as a water and beerwholesaler carrying the Pabst-Coors portfolio, the Levin fami-ly purchased the distributorship in 1996. Fifteen years ago,Gold Coast had less than 25 percent market share and todaythe company boasts a 59-percent share across its total territo-ry. With its original territory covering Monroe, Broward andMiami-Dade counties in Southeast Florida, Gold Coast dra-matically increased its sales volume with strategic acquisi-tions, beginning with J.J. Taylor Distributing in Miami in2000 and Thies Distributing in Fort Lauderdale in 2001,which added the Miller, St. Pauli Girl, Sam Adams andHeineken beer brands to the company’s portfolio.
The company expanded its territory to West Palm Beach inJune 2008, increasing its sales and volume by about 25 per-cent. In October 2008, the company acquired the SouthernWine and Spirits beer brands.
The company’s continued growth is due in large part tothe broad portfolio of beer brands that it carries, from econo-my brands like Keystone Light and Milwaukee’s Best, toimports like Brazil’s Brahma and Germany’s Warsteiner tocraft and specialty beers like Abita Brewing from Louisianaand Chimay from Belgium.
“We basically have a beer for everyone,” Levin says. With economy brands making a comeback, Gold Coast is
well positioned to leverage that trend, especially the popular-ity of 18-packs in the South Florida market.
“We’re leveraging growth in both the high-end and low-end by doing all the things that a beer distributor does—increasing visibility, increasing shelf space, building moredisplays with these brands and increasing marketing invest-ment and activity behind them,” Levin says.
Although many businesses consider themselves to be “per-formance driven,” Gold Coast “walks the walk” and continues
to win in the marketplace by maintaining high expec-tations for its employees and keeping a steadfastfocus on executing with excellence.
“We manage through a hands-on approach rootedin constantly striving for perfection and a relentless
desire to improve the areas of the business forwhich we are individually responsible. From thetop down, we have very high standards,” Levinremarks. Even during a down economy, the com-pany remains committed to its market share domi-nance as part of its long-term growth strategyrather than focusing exclusively on sales and profits.
“If we have declining sales and profits, which isthe case in most markets now, our goal is to win themarket share battle and we can live with that
because we know the economy will turn around. If we lose marketshare, that means the competition is outperforming us,”Williams says.
Gold Coast’s dedication to executing at the highest level andachieving aggressive, yet realistic, growth translates to a dedicat-ed sales force on the street.
“During this past Cinco de Mayo, senior management fromCrown Imports were in our market and they commented itwas one of the best market rides for Cinco de Mayo they’dseen. We also had a senior vice president of sales forHeineken who said he’s starting to see the momentum comeback for Heineken brands in South Florida due to an aggressiveprice promotion and distributor execution at a very highlevel,” Williams says.
The company also sets retail standards in large formatstores to have the “big four” on the floor at all times, namelyCorona, Miller, Coors and Heineken brands.
“When we execute those standards, we’re able to get otherbrands on the floor, like Presidente, Yuengling and SamAdams, in our market. During the Memorial Day holiday, weaveraged about nine displays in every account in our largeformat division,” Williams says.
The company’s managers are a big driver of Gold Coast’ssuccess, Levin adds, by setting the pace and driving employ-ees to perform. “One thing that separates Gold Coast fromother companies is that I think our managers are better atmanaging details as they tend to have a lot of standards tofollow. We measure success not only by volume, but by awhole host of criteria,” he explains.
Levin and Williams also credit the company’s supplierpartners for stepping up their investment in Gold Coast’smarkets to help reinvigorate brand sales.
[COVERSTORY]
BEVERAGEWORLD.COM22_BEVERAGE WORLD_JULY 2009
GOLD COAST operates out of a 375,000-square-foot facility in Pompano Beach.
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Along with its beer business, which is the mother lode ofthe company’s sales, Gold Coast also sells a small number ofwine brands. Three years ago, Gold Coast jumped into thewine business with both feet, capitalizing on the growth ofwine consumption in the US. The company found that alarge portfolio of wine brands did not complement the beerbusiness and the company ultimately streamlined its wineportfolio down from 350 SKUs to 40. “It’s not a businesswhere we’re going to go out and try to be the most dominantwholesaler in our market, but we do want to maintain asmall presence in that particular segment,” Williams adds.
Mining for GrowthThe alcohol distribution business is challenging enough
when rising fuel prices, increased competition and growingSKU counts are factored in, but throw in a gloomy economicclimate and the life of a beverage wholesale operation canseem downright daunting. In Southeast Florida, Gold Coastalso has to contend with high unemployment, a housingmarket crash and a decline in tourism that ultimatelyimpacts sales. Challenged with increasing sales and prof-itability without impacting customer service levels, Gold
Coast team members view these hurdles moreas opportunities to step up their game.
With large ethnic populations in its mar-kets, Gold Coast relies heavily on sales of itsimport beer brands, which make up animpressive 57 percent of the distributor’s vol-ume. However, lagging sales of imports hasimpacted the company’s bottom line.
“We’ve been forced to become more efficient by streamlin-ing our costs relative to deliveries, breakage, out of code andreturn rate. By doing so, it has helped us upset the lack ofsales and profit from the decline in our import segment,”Williams states.
Taking advantage of employees’ knowledge of internaloperations, Gold Coast created a program called Ideas Count,much like a suggestion box, to encourage employees to comeforward with ideas on how to save operational costs.
“People have come up with ideas like putting timers onlights so the lights shut off automatically when they’re not inuse. We’ve seen a rebirth in the creativity of people throughthis program,” Levin notes.
Focusing on the bottom line also means finding ways to
BEVERAGEWORLD.COM JULY 2009_BEVERAGE WORLD_23
increase efficiencies in its operations. Servicing 10,000 cus-tomers across a 7,000-square-mile area, Gold Coast can haveup to 200 trucks on the road everyday—300 during peak hol-iday periods—and relies on routing software such as UPSRoadNet to build the best routes in order to maintain itshigh customer service levels.
“We made a strategic decision two years ago to get awayfrom the mega facility and spread our warehouses out withinour territory so our warehouses are closer to our customerbase. So, we’re able to reduce the amount of time back andforth and we factor in the cost of delivery, which is just asimportant as the cost of warehousing,” Alfonso Fernandez,executive vice president of administration, says.
The company operates two large facilities in Miami andPompano Beach as well as two smaller warehouses inHomestead and Rockland Key.
Cost savings also come through re-routing deliveries andre-routing sales to tighten up territories.
“We want to be geographically compact and still get themost volume, so we’re sending trucks out with the fullamount of cases without having them drive around.Fortunately for us, most of our customers have big enough
volume that we route them effectively and we don’t have alot of drive time to the furthest reaches of our territory,”Ross Levin, executive vice president, operations and son ofSteve Levin, says.
Much has been said in the financial world about howthe current economic climate has forced businesses torethink how they operate. To this end, Gold Coast hastaken the battle to new ground by challenging its competi-tion, namely Anheuser-Busch, where they tend to bestrong, which is the domestic beer segment. In the pastthree months, Gold Coast has managed to increase its mar-ket share based on the strength of domestic brands likeMiller Lite, Coors Light, Coors, Blue Moon and Yuengling.
“We’re proud of the way we’ve performed and steppedup and attacked our competition,” Eric Levin adds.
Williams and Levin believe that the company’s contin-ued investment in craft and specialty brands will pay offas the consumer trend of spending discretionary dollars onhigher end beers will gain momentum once again.
“When the economy gets better we think our craft brandportfolio will grow even faster. And the things we’veaccomplished from an operations standpoint, tighteningour belts and becoming a more efficiently run company, isonly going to make us a better organization in the future,”Williams remarks.
Looking past the current economic climate, Gold Coast isalready focusing on the 2010 Superbowl, which Miami ishosting, and the company has its hands full preparing forthe inevitable spike in business. But, at the end of the day,the Gold Coast team realizes it’s also a golden opportunityto have some fun.
“We’re not selling Bibles here. We’re selling beer so you canlet your hair down and enjoy yourself too,” Levin says.
[COVERSTORY]
BEVERAGEWORLD.COM24_BEVERAGE WORLD_JULY 2009
BW
STEVE LEVIN, chairman of Gold Coast Beverage, purchased the company in1996, building its growth on the strength of the Coors and Miller portfolios.
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t’s been a rather eventful period of time since
we published our last Distributor’s Toolbox,
in 2008. For most of us, business has been
extremely challenging, as a new marketplace
takes shape—one where finding ways to trim
inefficiency in your supply chain can make all the
difference when it comes to profits.
This year’s Distributor’s Toolbox is designed
to help you learn a few new ways to streamline
your supply chain. The savings are most likely
waiting to be uncovered—you just need the
right tools.
26_BEVERAGE WORLD_JULY 2009 BEVERAGEWORLD.COM
solution spotlightWarehouse DesignCompany: Fabiano Brothers, Inc.Business Type: Beer and wine distributor servingcentral and northern MichiganChallenge: Reduce escalating operational expenses Solution: The selection of a water cooled chilledwater system, energy efficient fluorescent lightingand addressing the building envelope as a whole.
Fabiano Brothers, Inc. contracted HDA Architects(Chesterfield, Mo.) to assist in reducing escalatingoperational expenses in the company’s new corpo-rate headquarters. Among the things addressedwere a concrete tilt-wall system, a white single ply roof, energy effi-cient fluorescent lighting and a water cooled chilled water system. Theconcrete tilt-up wall system is among today’s most cost effective con-struction methods offering energy savings and improved temperaturestabilization with little maintenance required as the walls are createdby assembling forms and pouring large slabs of cement called panelsdirectly at the job site. The panels are then tilted up into positionaround the building’s slab to form the walls. A white single ply roof
membrane is leak-proof, resistant to chemicals, fire and high winds andvirtually maintenance-free. For the lighting, 6 Lamp T8 Energy efficientfluorescent lighting was used instead of traditional metal halidebecause it offers maximum lighting control of specific work areas whilereducing energy consumption by nearly 50 percent. The use of a watercooled chilled water system requires less energy than a conventionalair-cooled system. It contains larger motors, which employ the use ofvariable frequency drives. The Fabiano Brothers facility also has a build-ing automation system that manages the runtime and schedules.
IDistributor’s Toolbox
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JULY 2009_BEVERAGE WORLD_27BEVERAGEWORLD.COM
solution spotlight
Route Accounting/Management SoftwareCompany: J.J. TaylorBusiness Type: The J.J. Taylor Cos. is one ofthe largest wholesale beer distributors in theUnited States with corporate headquarters inJupiter, Fla. J.J. Taylor distributes MillerCoorsproducts, import beers and microbrews.Challenge: Using outdated route accountingsoftware Solution: eoStar route accounting and man-agement software from Rutherford andAssociates, Holland, Mich.
Recognizing the need to update its route accounting software in order to cut costsand improve efficiencies, J.J. Taylor began looking into alternative technology vendorswith a richer database, faster communication and better support for a wide-range ofmobile devices and focused on Rutherford, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner andMillerCoors Strategic Partner. “In less than 12 months, J.J. Taylor went from not knowinganything about eoStar and Rutherford to being up and live on the system,” says BruceWhitely, chief information officer at J.J. Taylor. “That was incredibly quick, particularly forthe magnitude and impact.” Benefits of using eoStar have been: timesaving throughgreater speed and accuracy; more cost-effective and reliable software; better productivi-ty from increased memory and ease of maintenance and administration.
solution spotlight
Warehouse Cooling/FansCompany: College City Beverage, Dundas, Minn.Business Type: Beverage distributorChallenge: Consistent facility temperatures, employee comfort and safetySolution: High-Volume/Low-Speed (HV/LS) Revolution Fans from Rite-Hite
A top priority for College City Beverage is to ensure temperatures remain consistentin keg rooms, cooled warehouse areas, truck bays and loading docks—despite often-
harsh Minnesota weather. Doing so isimperative to product quality andemployee comfort. Equally importantis employee safety, which is why slip-pery floors in truck bays are unac-ceptable. Although faced with multi-ple issues, College City successfullyaddressed them all with the help oftwo Revolution High-Volume/LowSpeed (HV/LS) industrial ceiling fans.The 24-foot-diameter fans move stag-nant warm air trapped at the ceiling
toward the ground. Each fan uses four aluminum Propell-Aire blades, which vary in widthand pitch angle along their entire length, to economically move more than 360,000cubic feet of air per minute. With the fans in place, temperatures remain steady yearround. Workers and truck drivers also appreciate the comfortable conditions.
Distributor’s Toolbox
Handheld ComputersHandheld devices are becoming
smaller and smarter. “Now all the pow-er of the enterprise can come to thedoorstep,” says Patrick Byrne, presidentand CEO, Intermec. “But,” he contin-ues, “there’s a lot of contribution stillto come from the IT industry in termsof improving the productivity of thatmobile business process.”
Case in point, Intermec recentlyintroduced the CN50 and CN4,
what it calls “the mostadvanced, rugged 3GWireless WAN(WWAN) mobilecomputers for fieldmobility applica-tions.” The CN50includes 3.75GWWAN HSUPAradio technologyin a small, light-weight, ruggedi-zed form factorprovidingmobile work-forces with ahigh perform-
ance mobilecomputer. The
CN4 is targeted atoperations requiring sup-
port for fully-rugged front line transac-tions, including commercial trans-portation and store delivery. Bothproducts enable customers to leverageenterprise mobility applications withhigher data exchange requirements,and offer a range of features designedto maximize mobile worker productivi-ty, uptime and on-the-route servicecapability. These more powerful hand-helds are aiding large beverage distrib-utors as they make the change to real-time upload and download of informa-tion, the benefits being real-timeinventory management and invoicing.
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hile the pallet is at the heart of the CHEP equipment pooling solution, an equally critical
element of the system is the technology that supports pallet operations throughout the supply chain. Providing the optimal number of pallets to deliver products efficiently from the point of production to point of consumption is why retailers and suppliers have relied on CHEP for more than half a century.
Helping CHEP and its partners ensure that the right pallets are in the right place at the right time is PORTFOLIO+PLUS, the company’s web-based customer portal application. CHEP has used part of a $160 million investment in quality and customer service on upgrading the functionality of PORTFOLIO+PLUS – the rest of money is going to buy new equipment, improve other information technology systems and improving the pool of roughly 100 million pallets in the Americas.
The new version of PORTFOLIO+PLUS enables customers to increase the quality of their decision-making, lower costs and work with their trading partners more effi-ciently and effectively. Using the web portal, customers can view and track accounts anytime, review invoices electronically which reduces hassle and waste, reconcile invoices, confirm customer requests live and have visibility to the most current status of customer inquiries.
“The improvements in PORTFOLIO+PLUS are exactly what our customers have told us they want, and were developed with input from both retailers and manufacturers. Our partners said they wanted not only ease of ordering and reporting pallet movements, but a true management tool that empowers them to optimize their inventories and flows.
So we made it as simple as online bank-ing, which most people are familiar with, but with power management tools built in” said Brian Malloy, senior vice presidentand chief customer officer at CHEP USA.
Usability benchmark surveys show that CHEP is meeting industry expectationson navigation and system performance. Direct customer feedback has been posi-tive across the board.
“Village Farms has found the PORTFOLIO+PLUS site to be a very user-friendly site as well as a most effi-cient tool in the processing of our CHEP pallet transactions. We find this reporting method to be quick and easy and the re-ports available to us are very useful,” said Diane Shannon, Sales Administrator, Village Farms, an Eatontown, NJ-based grower of tomatoes.
PORTFOLIO+PLUS offers a variety of bene-fits to customers including:• View and track accounts anytime• eInvoice – less hassle and less waste and easy tools for reconciliation• Live confirmation of customer requests and visibility to the most current status of customer inquiries • Dedicated PORTFOLIO+PLUS specialists available 24x7
Retailers and suppliers can save time and money with the CHEP pooling solution through reduced labor costs and capital ex-penditures. They also have less product damage and fewer unsaleables. The recent improvements in PORTFOLIO+PLUS help customers streamline the supply chains even further, enabling them to focus on their core competencies.
Innovative Technology Empowers CHEP CustomersBy Ronald Margulis, RAM Communications
ADVERTORIAL
CHEP © 2009 All rights reserved.
PORTFOLIO+PLUS
Technology
solution spotlight
Recycling SolutionsCompany: Gold Coast BeverageDistributors, Pompano Beach & Miami, Fla.Business Type: Beer DistributorChallenge: To maximize the revenues fromthe recyclable materials produced by thecompany during the course of business.Solution: Implement EnvironmentalDynamics, Inc.’s (EDI) Direct Selling modelby selling the materials directly to the enduser, bypassing the local “recycler” andgenerate incremental revenues for Gold Coast Beverage.
EDI (Charlotte, N.C.) determined that Gold Coast was receiving less than 25 percent ofthe value of its recyclable materials. EDI worked with Gold Coast to find the right vendorby implementing its Direct Selling model to earn the company the highest revenue. Theend result is that Gold Coast Beverage increased the “net” revenues received from thesale of its waste Polyethylene plastic (shrink wrap) by 500 percent. Since beginning theprogram, in 2006, Gold Coast Beverages has shipped nearly 400,000 pounds of shrink-wrap, which has earned the company nearly $100,000 in revenues.
30_BEVERAGE WORLD_JULY 2009
Labor ManagementSystems
A labor management system is asolution that provides a means ofdefining and documenting the mostappropriate way to perform a task.
Among the companies offeringsuch systems for distributors areManhattan Associates, Red Prairieand Infor.
Manhattan Associates describes itsLabor Scheduling Optimization as anintuitive solution that uses advancedtechnology to adeptly match employ-ee skill sets to meet specific work-load forecasts during the laborscheduling process.
RedPrairie’s Workforce Manage-ment changes the way managementand associates think about labormanagement. Customers go from thetraditional “carrot and stick” mentali-ty to one where everyone is focusedon maximizing performance andcustomer service.
Says Mark Humphlett, Infor’sdirector of product marketing -Supply Chain, “Our solution captur-ing all of their work activities so youcan keep all that information up-to-date and then compare that with rea-sonable expectancies or engineeredlabor standards.”
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»»solution spotlight
Collision Avoidance/Obstacle Detection SystemsCompany: Del Papa Distributing, Beaumont, Texas Business Type: Beer distributorChallenge: With a fleet that consists of 45 delivery trucks traveling on heavily traffickedroads in the Houston and Galveston, Texas areas, Anheuser-Busch beer distributor DelPapa Distributing was seeking out ways to improve its safety record and keep deliverydrivers out of harm’s way.Solution: Safety Vision Collision Avoidance Camera System
Safety Vision (Houston, Texas) provided Del Papa with its Collision AvoidanceCamera Systems, consisting of rear-vision cameras and monitors installed in each truck.Designed to help prevent costly accidents and workplace injury, Safety Vision’s camerasystem affords greater visibility in any direction through rear-, side- and forward-viewmobile video cameras. With a distribution fleet that covers millions of miles and makesthousands of stops weekly, moving accidents are a constant concern for the beer dis-tributor. The installation of Safety Vision’s mobile video cameras has helped the distribu-tor’s fleet reduce parking lot and backing accidents.
solution spotlight
Greener ForkliftsCompany: Nestlé Waters North AmericaBusiness Type: Bottled water marketerChallenge: To find a clean energy to power its lift trucksSolution: Nestlé Waters North America has installed 32 GenDrivehydrogen fuel cells to use at its Dallas, Texas bottling facility. As aresult, the bottled water marketer has converted its entire fleet of sit-down counterbalanced lift trucksfrom internal combustion (IC)engines powered by liquid petroleumgas to Yale class I electric lift truckspowered by GenDrive power units.
Rising fuel costs coupled withhigh greenhouse gas emissions havecompanies like Nestlé Waterssearching for alternative solutions toIC engines. Electric lift trucks pow-ered by hydrogen fuel cells provide acost effective alternative to traditionalpower sources.
“Nestlé Waters assessed all their IC engine replacement optionsand found that the GenDrive fuel cell solution was less expensive thaninvesting in lead acid batteries and costly battery equipment,” saysTony Troutt, director of sales at Plug Power. “Fuel cells were alsofound to be more efficient. Most importantly, converting their fleet tohydrogen fuel cells allows Nestlé Waters to eliminate exhaust emis-sion issues.”
solution spotlight
Fuel Tracking SolutionsCompany: Wil Fischer Cos., Springfield, Mo. Business Type: Anheuser-Busch and InBev beer distributorChallenge: With 13 delivery routes in the winter and 15 routes inthe summer, the distributor was looking for ways to makes its rout-ing strategy more efficient as well as cut down on fuel costs. Solution: UPS Logistics Technologies suite, including Roadnet,Territory Planner, FleetLoader and MobileCast
Wil Fischer adopted the Baltimore-based UPS Logistics’ logis-tics tools several years ago to improve its bottom line and opera-tions. With the Territory Planner tool, the company is able to do acomplete re-route every six months. “We have a lot of changeswith our account bases, with accounts opening and closing andvolume shifting. The economy has changed and so have consumerbuying habits, so re-routing makes the routes more efficient,”Jeffrey Gower, president of Wil Fischer Cos., says. The companysaw measurable return on investment by saving $75,000 in fuelcosts the first year alone. “With this technology you see a snapshotof your market to see where customers are located and how muchvolume is going through on a weekly basis. So you can assignservice times and build routes so you’re not wastingmileage or fuel,” Gower says.
JULY 2009_BEVERAGE WORLD_31BEVERAGEWORLD.COM
Mobile PrintersLightweight, compact and rugged,
mobile printer solutions on the mar-ket today allow delivery drivers andsalespeople to print a legible andaccurate invoice for customerrecords while in the field.Technological advances haveenabled a range of choices to meetdistributors’ needs, whether thermalprinters, in-vehicle printers or wear-able receipt printers.
For instance, Andrews Distributing,a Dallas, Texas-based MillerCoors dis-tributor, implemented a combinedmobile computer and printer solution
to improve efficiency and service at thepoint of delivery. AndrewsDistributing’s delivery drivers foundZebra Technologies’ RW 420 printerscould withstand the tough demandsof delivery environments due to the
printer’s durability, ease of use andprint quality. Zebra also offers theEconomy Mobile 220 (EM 220), apocketsize, lightweight mobile solu-tion for printing receipts.
Intermec’s new PB2 and PB3 light-weight two-inch and three-inchmobile receipt printers are low-cost,wearable printing solutions for
direct-store-delivery/route accounting.Printek’s new FieldPro RT20 MobileThermal Printer is the lightest ruggedprinter in the industry. At only twoinches wide and weighing 12 ounces,it can survive four-foot drops to con-crete, according to the company.
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Distributor’s Toolbox
ADVERTISEMENT
Beverage Manufacturer Finds Recipe for Efficiency with Integrated ERP System
Contact:
Deacom, Inc.950 West Valley Road, Suite 3000Wayne, PA 19087Phone 610-971-2278 ext. [email protected] www.deacom.net
JUS-MADE LP is a quality manufacturer anddistributor of frozen beverages and juices,including smoothie concentrates, coffeedrinks, fruit juices, and bar mixes. For morethan 50 years, the Dallas-based company has been developing innovative products anddispensing concepts. As part of JUS-MADE’seffort to expand its industry-leading presencethrough high-quality production and prod-ucts, the manufacturer decided to select anddeploy a single, fully integrated EnterpriseResource Planning (ERP) software systemdesigned for the beverage industry.
Until recently, the 50-employee companywas running its business with a “blended system” of multiple software programs.Because the systems weren’t integrated, thecompany faced many problems that hinderedproductivity.
The main struggle was inventory management. Because JUS-MADE had a manual inventory process, it was difficult tomanage multiple shelf lives for the sameproduct based on different customers’requirements. Likewise, because sales werehandled manually – from order entry throughshipment – JUS-MADE struggled to accurate-ly plan for its material requirements so it hadthe right amount of the right inventory itemsto fulfill its orders. Then, when workerspulled inventory for production, they wrotelot numbers on batch tickets to track rawmaterials. This created a lengthy, cumber-some tracing process if JUS-MADE needed toidentify the lots used in a shipment.
In order to ramp up its business processes,JUS-MADE searched for a single, integratedbusiness software system to link every aspectof the company, including recipe manage-ment, inventory control, lot tracking, pur-chasing, production, sales, regulatory report-ing, and accounting.
"The more a company relies on manualprocesses, the greater the opportunity formistakes," says JUS-MADE President JohnHampton. "Our goal in selecting a new system was to integrate all our processes in one location so we could easily access
reliable data on a consistent basis."After exploring several options, JUS-MADE
selected the DEACOM Integrated Accountingand ERP Software System, produced by Deacom, Inc.
With DEACOM, JUS-MADE will have complete inventory visibility and control.The system will allow JUS-MADE to establishand control multiple expiration dates for the same raw material or product based ondiffering customer requirements.
The integrated DEACOM Shop Floor DataCollection System will let the company gath-er and trace lot data via bar code technology:
it will generate bar codes to label lots uponitem receipt, and then use hand-held scan-ners to track items as they move throughinventory, production, and shipment. Thecompany will be able to view a detailed lottracking report showing the path of a particu-lar raw material from the moment it wasreceived to the moment it was shipped.
Upon implementation completion, JUS-MADE will eliminate the businessprocess inefficiencies caused by the use ofmultiple systems and manual processes.DEACOM will serve as JUS-MADE’s singlepoint of control for its entire operation so itcan better serve its customers for continuedsuccess.
To learn more about DEACOM ERPSoftware for your beverage manufacturingbusiness, visit www.deacom.net to schedulean online demonstration today.
D e a c o m , I n c .p h o n e 6 1 0 - 9 7 1 - 2 2 7 8 e x t . 1 5 | i n f o @ d e a c o m . n e t | w w w . d e a c o m . n e t
Whether the goop you make is beer, coffee, or juice - or actually just goop - with DEACOM, you only need one software system to manage your entire business.
The DEACOM Integrated Accounting and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Software System seamlessly integrates all areas of your business - from formulation and QC testing, to lot tracking and invoicing - giving you a comprehensive view of your operation from one system.
Visit www.deacom.net to arrange an online demonstration, and learn how DEACOM can maximize your productivity and profitability today.
How Many Software Systems Does It Take to Sell a Gallon of Goop?
PURCHASING
PRODUCTION
ORDERENTRY
STORES/POS
LABORATORY
INVENTORY
REGULATORY REPORTING
ACCOUNTING
34_BEVERAGE WORLD_JULY 2009 BEVERAGEWORLD.COM
solution spotlight
PalletsCompany: Foster’s Group and Lion Nathan AustraliaBusiness Type: BreweriesChallenge: Occupational health and safety risks fromthe storage, transportation and delivery/collection ofdraught beer kegs was unacceptably high.Solution: A challenge was issued to CHEP to leadthe first joint initiative between these two leading mar-ket competitors and utilize its Six Sigma methodology,material handling and project management knowledge and skills to help reduce this risk.
The objectives were to reduce keg handling risk within the filling plants, as well asrisk in the loading and unloading of kegs to delivery trucks, the transportation of kegsfrom plant to customer sites and warehouses/DC’s, the movement of kegs between thedelivery trucks and customer premises, the movement of kegs from cellar door to cellarstorage and keg ‘runaways’.
Having identified the root causes, CHEP and the team developed short, medium andlong-term solutions that have reduced the risk to Fosters and Lion Nathan’s employees,their 3PL providers, venue staff and the general public.
Warehouse Management SystemsA warehouse management system is the use of advanced technolo-
gies to effectively manage every activity in a beverage distributionwarehouse, from the movement and storage of product to order pro-cessing to tracking returns. WMS systems are increasingly becomingsmarter and more versatile with applications such as voice-directedpicking and automated material handling systems. For instance, FKILogistex’s EASYpick Pick-to-Light uses a highly visible Trak3 modularpick-to-light hardware system. Red Prairie’s Warehouse Managementsystem includes the industry’s only embedded 3D mapping to integrateand synchronize operations from extended supply networks all the wayto the “last yard” of the retail shelf.
Alternative FuelsHere is a breakdown of the differ-
ent alternative fuels available.Ethanol: Light duty truck manufac-
turers including General Motors andFord have sold hundreds of thou-sands of “flex fuel” vehicles capable ofrunning on E85, a blend of 85 percentethanol and 15 percent gasoline.
The E85 fuel is not widely availableyet, so most flex fuel capable vehiclesare still run predominantly on con-ventional gasoline.
Biodiesel: Similar to ethanol,biodiesel can be derived from a num-ber of organic sources, with soybeansbeing the most predominant sourceat this time. Unlike ethanol, the soyderivatives used for biodiesel have lit-tle other use, creating less of animpact in commodity prices.
Unfortunately, biodiesel productionis not quite a standardized process atthis point.
Natural Gas: The most practical ofthe alternative fuels is natural gas.With a huge delivery infrastructurecovering most population centersalready in place, natural gas offers arealistic alternative fuel source that iswidely available now.
Although most natural gas is still a“fossil fuel,” its virtue lies in the factthat it contains far less carbon thanpetroleum fuels.
Conventional diesel engines can befactory-adapted to use natural gas,delivering virtually identical perform-ance to the diesel version with farlower emissions and less need forexhaust after-treatment.
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solution spotlight
Energy Efficient LightingCompany: Brown Distributing Co., Austin, TexasBusiness Type: Anheuser-Busch wholesalerChallenge: To reduce lighting expenses or costsand improve lighting levelsSolution: An energy efficient lighting systemupgrade from Lime Energy, Elk Grove Village, Ill.
Lime Energy completed a major energy efficient lighting system for Brown Distributingreplacing 733 fixtures in the office, warehouse and loading docks. Financial highlights ofthe upgrade include a utility rebate of $31,911, an average monthly savings of $5,219,an annual electric savings of $62,627 and a 58 percent return on investment. The proj-ect saved 567,906 kWh, equivalent to removing 76 cars from the road. “We have a clean-er more uniform looking facility,” says Brad Card, operations manager for BrownDistributing. “Lime Energy did everything they said they would do, and more, with no dis-ruption to our daily operation.”
ERP SoftwareEnterprise Resource Planning solutions plan and manage “enterprise-
wide” the resources needed to take customer orders, ship them,account for them and replenish all needed goods according to cus-tomer orders and forecasts. It often includes electronic commerce withsuppliers. Examples of ERP systems are the application suites fromSAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft and others. Another supplier, DEACOM, offersan ERP system specifically targeting the beverage sector. DEACOM’sIntegrated Accounting and ERP Software is engineered with a specialsecurity focus, providing the security and audit trails required by theFDA’s Bioterrorism Act and current Good Manufacturing Practices(cGMP). To prevent data corruption and insure data integrity, the DEA-COM Software System utilizes a SQL Server database.
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Storage and Racking Systems
A warehouse is really just a verybig box—it’s how your organizewhat’s inside it that can make allthe difference to your operation.
There are several providers ofstorage and racking solutions tohelp you do just that. Elite StorageSolutions offers a full line of prod-ucts including Pushback, Drive-In,Cantilever and Pallet/Carton Flowproducts. The company will design,manufacture and install even themost complex multi-level pick mod-ules and high-rise racking systems.
Another supplier, UNEX, offeredits carton flow solutions to Barre,Vt.-based grocery wholesssalerCapital Candy Co. (above). Applyingthe multifaceted carton flowapproach allowed Capital Candy toreconfigure its warehouse andunleash greater productivity foreach pick area. The grocery arearequired the construction of a three-level pick module while UNEX engi-neered a custom flow rack installedwith gravity conveyor sections toaccomodate the requirements ofCapital’s dairy line.
Distributor’s Toolbox
Make
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expanded distribution
and successful product introductions?
Beverage marketing opportunitiesaren’t scarce. What is scarce is theindustry experience it takes to spotthem. That’s what the consultants atBeverage Marketing Corporation bring to the table. Then, we help you profit from these opportunities to the fullest.
When we sit down,we focus on one thing:your needs. Our broadexpertise, resources,and years of experience
lend objectivity to planning discussions. We can help with strategy, markettrends, long-range planning, productintroductions, distribution, and more.
Let’s sit down and talk about the goals you’ve set. In turn, we’llgive you something you may otherwise miss—the opportunity
to realize them.Got a challenge, large
or small? Give us a call at 1-800-275-4630. Or [email protected].
us your drinking buddies.
©2003 Beverage Marketing Corp.
RESEARCH • DATA • CONSULTING
[BEVERAGEFORUM2009]
38_BEVERAGE WORLD_JULY 2009 BEVERAGEWORLD.COM
How to successfully grow your brand in additional marketsaround the world was the subject of the panel “Effectively
Marketing Locally and Regionally Within a Global Context.”The moderator for the panel was Kevin Lane Keller, Ph.D, E.
B., Osborn Professor of Marketing, The Tuck School ofBusiness, Dartmouth College. The panelists included RalphSantana, vice president, Colas, PepsiCo North AmericaBeverages; Keith Levy, vice president-marketing, Anheuser-Busch and Jim Murphy, vice president, director, Jack DanielsGlobal Marketing, Brown-Forman Corp.
Keller introduced the panel warning marketers not to“take shortcuts” when trying to expand their brands intonew global markets, but to painstakingly build them fromthe ground up. “It’s so tempting to take your current marketprogram and just export it over there,” he said. “And thattypically doesn’t work. Don’t get ahead of yourself. To builda brand, you’ve got to be able to make that brand work inthose marketplaces. You don’t build a brand from 30,000feet.”—Andrew Kaplan
Globe TrottersGoing global? Think local, panel tells attendees.
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T his year marked the 16th annual Beverage Forum held atNew York City’s Waldorf=Astoria. Wrapped around thetheme of Global Challenges and Local Solutions Forum
discussions explored the issues beverage professionals face today, where the industry stands in this economy and how tomove forward.
“We are dealing with a climate none of us has seen,” saidMichael Bellas, chairman and CEO of Beverage MarketingCorporation, who co-chaired the Forum with Kevin Francella,Beverage World publisher. For the first time, Bellas noted, liquidrefreshment beverage consumption declined by 2.1 percent. “Inthe past, giving up LRB wasn’t an option,” he said. “Now,
it might be; every dollar counts to the consumer.” In light of not such a sweet economic climate Bellas did offer
Forum-goers glimmers of good news. Over the next 20 years,population growth is expected to account for an 11 billion gallonincrease in beverage consumption. Bellas advised those listeningto take advantage during this time to invest in quality manage-ment, deliver strong products that are quality and value drivenand continue to back those products with creative and innovativemarketing. “It’s fortunate that we are in beverages,” Bellas said, “but recovery will be sluggish in ’09 and 2010.” But thenagain, he added, “We know beverage producers have never beenafraid of hard work.”—Jennifer Cirillo
Global Challenges & Local Solutions
JULY 2009_BEVERAGE WORLD_39BEVERAGEWORLD.COM
“I fundamentally believe we are in thebest industry in the world,” said Neville
Isdell, former CEO and chairman, The Coca-Cola Company, who was presented with theBeverage Forum’s 2009 Lifetime AchievementAward. Isdell said if he had the chance tolive his life over again, he’d do it exactly thesame way, working at Coca-Cola. “I want tosee this industry grow and grow and grow.That’s what will make me happy,” he said.
Isdell spoke on many issues that morningincluding innovation, how strong, healthycompetition has helped grow the beveragepie and, a subject that was a recurring topicof discussion at the Forum this year—theeconomy. But he offered some sound advice,which was to look at these challenging timesas an opportunity to grow businesses andconnect with consumers through innovation.“These are the times that you build yourmarket share,” he said.—J.C.
BELLAS, ISDELL AND FRANCELLA
This year, the SmallCompany of the Year
award went to CytoSport/Muscle Milk and the LargeCompany of the Year awardwent to Hansen NaturalCorp. While both compa-nies demonstrated notableperformances in 2008,Hansen’s sales were up 14.3percent from the previousyear, for example, there wasmuch focus on the future.Rodney Sacks, CEO ofHansen Natural Corp., saidthat as the consumerdemand for energy drinkscontinues to expand, “weare continuing to grow ourproduct lines,” announcingfour new product launchesincluding a trio of nitrousoxide-infused energy drinkscalled Nitrous Monster.—J.C.
Companies receive awards for Large and Small Companies of the Year
The Former Coca-Cola Company CEOand Chairman shares his expertise.
RODNEY SACKS, HILTON SCHLOSBERG AND MARK HALL
During a keynote interview, DavidPeacock, president and CEO of
Anheuser-Busch Cos., Inc. and a 14-yearveteran of A-B, shared his insights aboutthe integration of Belgium-based InBevwith A-B and opportunities for A-Bbrands in the US and global beer market.While Peacock said that the integrationprocess would never completely be overas the business continues to evolve, thecombined entity has been able to leveragesynergies and has realized savings on the supply side. The company alsois focusing on a global expansion of its brands, propelled by the strongbrand image of Budweiser, Peacock said. Despite the economic downturn,AB InBev has been surprised by above-expectations sales of Bud LightLime as well as strong growth of Bud American Ale. —Heather Landi
AB InBev Surges
Hansen Natural Corp. and CytoSport Honored
PEACOCK
PICKETT
Isdell Honored for LifetimeAchievement
Peacock shares insights of integration
[BEVERAGEFORUM2009]
40_BEVERAGE WORLD_JULY 2009 BEVERAGEWORLD.COM
V ice president of international mar-kets, FEMSA-CCM, Luis Durán,
touched on many points relating to thebeer industry including the perform-ance of the brewer’s brands, particular-ly, Dos Equis, Tecate and Tecate Light,and the continuation of consolidation.
Durán highlighted the success of theaforementioned brands, in particularTecate Light, which is a 60 million-casebrand in Mexico and is ramping up dis-tribution in the US through HeinekenUSA.
“The most important thing is youneed to understand the market,” saidDuran when discussing the platform forthe campaigns. The Tecate and TecateLight campaigns, for example, speak tofirst and third generation Mexican con-sumers in the US, respectively, deliver-ing the ads in Spanish using particularMexican words and phrases. “These arevery emotional,” Durán said of the TVads, and they evoke a personal connec-tion to the brand for the consumer.
And in regards to what is going tohappen with consolidation? Duran said:“There is no question, in the future thisis going to continue to happen.”—J.C.
DURAN
A ttendees to this year’s Forum all have shared in the challenges that the eco-nomic downturn has brought with it. So they were especially interested in
hearing this year’s Wall Street Roundtable, a panel consisting of Carlos Laboy, man-aging director, Equity Research, Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, Judy Hongvice president, Goldman Sachs & Co. and Christine Farkas, CFA, managing director,Banc of Americas Beverages. The panel was moderated by Andrew Conway, manag-ing director, Credit Suisse.
Among the predictions that came out of the panel’s discussion was the strongpossibility of the eventual merger of a major alcohol company with a non-alcoholone in the US. Laboy also said the move by PepsiCo to merge with its anchor bot-tlers made sense in a market he described as “dysfunctional, with overlapping andconflicting routes to market.”—A.K.
Wall Street Makes Waves
During a panel discussion about the successful strategies of beverage entre-preneurs, several leading innovators—Scott Henderson, president, 5 Hour
Energy, Mark Rampolla, founder and CEO of Zico Pure Coconut Water andGreg Pickett, founder and CEO of CytoSport, maker of Muscle Milk—sharedtheir insights about how to make it big in the compet-itive global beverage arena. Rampolla shared Zico’sstory of early success by describing how the companyfocused on the New York City market by going neigh-borhood to neighborhood. All three panelists agreedthat while a great product and great strategies couldget a company through the door, distribution is key togetting to the next level.—H.L.
Leading the PackBeverage entrepreneurs share insights into making it big
Panel looks at the lingering impact of the financial meltdown.
FARKASHONG
SUDANO
RAMPOLLA, PICKETT AND HENDERSON
LABOY
Mexican Beers on the RiseDurán highlights FEMSA’s success
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BEVERAGEWORLD
Thank You...to all of the attendees, sponsors and speakers who participated in The Beverage Forum 2009
www.beverageforum.com
In the panel discussion “Complexities Facing New Entrepreneurs in theBeverage Distribution Landscape,” panelists Ed Maletis, board mem-
ber, Columbia Distributing (Portland, Ore.), Lewis Hershkowitz, CEOand co-owner, of Big Geyser, Inc. (Maspeth, N.Y.) and Gerald Martin, vicepresident-marketing and sales, immediate consumption, Polar Beverages(Worcester, Mass.),discussed some ofthe challenges ofbuilding a distri-bution network.Moderated by RonWilson, presidentand chief execu-tive officer ofSkinny NutritionalCorp., the panelanswered ques-tions from theaudience thatincluded topics onhow to handle amulti-beveragehouse, likeColumbia forexample, whichdistributes beer, wine, CSDs and non-alcohol brands, and how distribu-tors deal with the buyouts of brands, such as the Coke deal with vitam-inwater. Each panelist had his own take on both matters. In response tothe buyout question, Maletis suggested equity sharing contracts as onesolution while Hershkowitz told audience members that his approach atBig Geyser is to keep looking to the future.—J.C.
42_BEVERAGE WORLD_JULY 2009 BEVERAGEWORLD.COM
D’AMORE
Opening Thursday’s sessions, Deryckvan Rensburg, president, Venturing &
Emerging Brands, Coca-Cola NorthAmerica, described how Coke goes aboutnurturing emerging beverage brands.
“We have to accept that growth justtakes time. It takes time to build thesebrands and we need to be patient andbuild them in the right way,” he said. Forexample, he said putting a large billboardin a grocery store was not the right wayto build an emerging brand.
Consumers want to discover brands andnot have them forced on them. “Trying toscale a brand too quickly is a mistake,” hesaid.—A.K.
VAN RENSBURG
Coke’s van Rensburg talks brands.
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[BEVERAGEFORUM2009]
A t the closing of Wednesday’s sessions, Massimo d’Amore, CEO, PepsiCoAmericas Beverages, shared his insights about the company’s recent efforts to
reinvigorate its carbonated soft drink portfolio, including packaging redesigns andnew advertising campaigns. As a CSD brand, Pepsi, which is 110 years old, beganto lose relevance with the millennial generation and the company found that thebrand performs best when it is fully in sync with the youth culture, d’Amore said,adding, “Our primary objective was to put the Pepsi brand back at the core of pop-ular culture.” To this effort, the company redesigned the packaging and launched anew marketing and advertising campaign. The brand has enjoyed great perform-ance since the Super Bowl in February, when the new campaign launched, andmarket share has been growing, d’Amore said.—H.L.
Self-Discovery
Distribution Challenges
HERSHKOWITZ
MARTIN
MALETIS
Panelists discuss the key issues facing beverage distributors
WILSON
Reinvigorating the Beverage MarketMassimo d’Amore outlines PepsiCo’s reinvigoration strategy
T he current economic downturn pres-ents a great deal of challenges for
beverage companies, yet there are anumber of advantages, according to TomLong, president and chief commercialofficer, MillerCoors. The economic cli-mate had, in essence, forced the countryto press a “reset” button, which can be acatalyst for change.
Sometimes a reset can change the fun-damental basics of competition, giving anew window to a new innovation whileaccelerating trends that are already inplay for a brand, according to Long. “Tosurvive a ‘reset’, it boils down to twoimportant things—the survivors andthrivers are those that are going to takethe opportunity to really sharpen theirbrands on the key components of differ-entiation. And the second thing to do isyou have to get alignment in your valuechain,” Long said. To this end, Long dis-cussed MillerCoors’ strategy to acceleratethe growth of Coors Light this summer,leverage the continued success of MGD 64and “fix” Miller Lite.—H.L.
MillerCoors’ Tom Long advises howto survive the current economy
Surviving an Economic ‘Reset’
LONG
THIS YEAR’S BEVERAGE FORUM served as an opportunity for attendees to not only get someinsightful information from top beverage executives,but also interact with one another. In addition tothe Forum’s two-day agenda, breakout sessionswere held at the end of day two where attendeesgot to hear about some current trends in the marketplace. Gary Hemphill, managing director andCOO Information Services, Beverage MarketingCorporation (above left) spoke on market trends inthe non-alcohol segment. Jonathan Ford, creativepartner, Pearlfisher, (center) discussed innovativepackaging and Ted Wright, managing partner, Fizz,Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM), (right) led apanel discussion on the marketing medium.
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JULY 2009_BEVERAGE WORLD_43BEVERAGEWORLD.COM
44_BEVERAGE WORLD_JULY 2009 BEVERAGEWORLD.COM
ReportThe 2009
FINANCIAL
Financing the Next Innovation Wave
he beverage world is one ofthe most entrepreneurialindustries in our economy.Even in this recession, there is
no shortage of innovators determinedto produce the next vitaminwater orGrey Goose or 5-Hour Energy. Whilethe entrepreneurial focus on ourindustry always will be on new prod-uct development, as it should be, thenext few years also will bring a newwave of financing and recapitalizationideas that will be just as creative.
In fact, our industry has been facinga perfect storm for capitalization inno-vations for some time now: consolida-tions at all tiers, increasing fixed costs,pricing and sales uncertainties, suppli-er constraints on capital structures, adecline in trading up and continuingdemands on family businesses.
As consolidation sweeps the beerdistribution industry, for example,many longtime competitors are analyz-ing the prospects for mergers. Thebest example is the merger of Mt.
Hood and Columbia Distributing inthe Northwest, now creating a $1.2 bil-lion Miller/Coors beer and non-alcoholbehemoth that competes against nineAnheuser-Busch InBev distributorships.Mergers have been prevalent amongwine and spirits wholesalers for years.
Private equity (PE) is now fully im-mersed in the beer industry, at least onthe supplier end. KKR has just closedon its purchase of the OB Breweryfrom ABI, and KKR and other PEfirms are said to be close to acquiringsome of ABI’s Eastern Europeanassets. KPS, the New York-based PEfirm, closed earlier this year on itsacquisition of High Falls Brewing andLabatt. Basso Capital is an investor inthe Independent Brewers Union(Pyramid and Magic Hat) and is likelylooking for other acquisition targets inthe craft beer industry.
As the pace of brewery and distribu-tor consolidations persist, additionalstreams of financing sources are likely toemerge as a source of capitalizing this
next wave of transactions. Mezzaninefinancing sources also are likely toincrease their presence in part to fundthe most aggressive consolidators.
Our firm recently created a newdebt advisory business, led by a for-mer leading beverage banker, to fillthe void of experienced debt advisorsexclusively serving the beverage indus-try. We think that beverage operatorswill need a wider range of debtoptions in the months and years aheadand that the industry deserves a dedi-cated financing resource on their side.
Look for innovation not only inpacking or bottle design or vitaminenhancements, but in financial prod-ucts that will help this industry contin-ue to consolidate, gain operating effi-ciencies and build for the future.
Tby bill anderson
VIEWPOINTS
All wineries, including evensmall ones, are complex manu-facturing facilities vulnerableto a long list of potential loss-es. It's absolutely critical to askthe right questions before plac-ing your insurance with anagent or renewing it with yourpresent agent. Here are ques-tions you may want to ask:
1. Does the insurance agentknow the winery business?Question prospective insuranceagents to find out if they knowyour business or if they justwant to get the insurance
account. If you're not satisfied,move on.
2. Do I understand the indi-vidual coverages ofmy existing policy orthose being proposedby an agent? There isnothing more danger-ous than not knowingwhat your policy cov-ers. It is extremelyimportant for you to take thetime to go over your existingand proposed insurance pro-gram thoroughly with youragent.
3. Who will handle myclaims? When all is said anddone, you want the person whois most involved with youraccount to take personal
responsibility for yourclaims and that's yourinsurance agent, notthe insurance compa-ny. If you're interview-ing a prospectiveinsurance agent, askwho you should call
first in case of a loss. The rightanswer is the agent. If you aregiven an 800 number that goesto an insurance company, that'snot a good answer. Your agent
should want to manage theclaim, not hear about it laterfrom someone at the insurancecompany.
You should expect more froman insurance agent than some-one who just sells you a policy:your insurance agent should beyour advocate. The right insur-ance agent can be an effective"wingman" in helping you pro-tect your winery’s assets.
—James T. Hilbrant, aCertified WorkComp Advisor, isthe winery insurance specialistat Invensure Insurance Brokers,Irvine, Calif.
Bill Anderson is the chairman &CEO of First Beverage Capital inLos Angeles, Calif. For moreinformation, visit the company’swebsite, firstbev.com.
BW
HILBRANT
Some Tips for Insuring Your Winery
T his year, for the first time, plastic is themain form of packaging for beverages with
one-third of the market share worldwide, justahead of glass and well ahead of cans. Almostall types of packaging are represented at drink-tec 2009, the fair where exhibitors display theircapabilities and packaging innovations.
Plastic is Racing AheadIn the plastics segment, PET containers are
the top favorite in the one-way container bot-tling sector. According to estimates by marketresearch company Euromonitor, in 2009 thenumber of PET containers produced will riseto 350 billion per annum, whichmakes it all the more important toproduce PET containers as eco-nomically as possible.
A range of exhibitors at drink-tec, producers of preforms andmachine manufacturers, areaddressing the issue of light-weighting. Reducing the materialused can result in considerablecost savings when purchasingmaterials. And PET containers arecontinually increasing in size.Large-volume PET bottles are indemand in South, Central andNorth America in particular, asthe market for soft drinks there is for 3-litercontainers or bigger. In parallel with this, themarket for PET water dispensers with acapacity from 5 to 20 liters for offices, busi-nesses and households is booming in manycountries.
In the soft drinks and mineral water sectorthere is great interest in lighter, more cost-efficient closures, and so it is expected that atdrinktec 2009 producers will be displayingnew closure concepts with special designs,which also enable weight savings.
The 3rd PET World Congress is takingplace during drinktec in the InternationalCongress Center (ICM) on Sept. 16-17, whereproducers from all over the world will beexhibiting the latest PET technology for bev-erages and liquid food in Hall B3.
While PET continues on the road to suc-cess, other plastics such as HDPE or LDPE are
of greater interest to some other segments,such as milk and milk-based drinks. At thesame time, new means of packaging are beingdeveloped. On the subject of sustainability,‘organic plastics’, based for example on starch(PHA) or lactic acid (PLA), are gaining inimportance. The 2nd PLA Bottle Conference,on Sept. 14-15 at the Holiday Inn hotel, givesan overview of this subject and takes a look atthe availability of raw materials plus the latestdevelopments and waste managementoptions.
For more on beverage packages that will beon display at drinktec, visit drinktec.com.
drinktec At-A-Glance
What: The largest trade exhibition for beverages in the world
When: Monday, Sept. 14 toSaturday, Sept. 19, 2009
Where: New Munich Trade Fair Center, Munich, Germany
Visitors: 70,000 from 170 countries expected
Visitor Target Groups:Producers of soft drinks, fruitjuices, energy and wellnessdrinks, packaged mineral water,dairy drinks, wine and cham-pagne and distilled spirits;brewers; wholesale and retailbeverage merchants; hotels,restaurants and caterers; serv-ice providers and advertising;public authorities, universitiesand specialist colleges.
Exhibitors: 1,500 from 60 countries expected
Website: drinktec.com
Contact: Anika Niebuhr 646.437.1014 • 212.262.6519 (fax)[email protected]
countdown to
Good Packaging is Half the Battle
This Special Promotion Section was produced by Beverage World’s Special Projects department.
July 2009 Edition
A Special Promotion Section
days 6 hours 27 minutes. . . 60 days 6 hours 27 minutes. . . 60 days 6 hours 27 minutes. . . 60 days 6 hours 27 minutes. . .
September 14–19, 2009
New Munich Trade Fair Cente
10ReasonstoVisit
2009
This e-book was produced and distributed for by
See It Now Access an exclusivee-book that puts you inside thedrinktec experience. Go to beverageworld.com/go/drinktec
World Fair for Beverage and Liquid Food Technology
where the world’sdecision makers meet
14–19 September 2009
New Munich Trade Fair Centre
See It Now Access an exclusive e-book that puts you inside the drinktec experience.Go to www.beverageworld.com/go/drinktec
USA:Ms. Anika Niebuhr . Tel. 646-437-1014 . Fax 212-262-6519 . [email protected]
“The process of aseptic cold filling wasof great interest to the non-alcohol drinkssector in particular,” according to oneexhibitor summing up the last drinktecin 2005. Since then, interest has contin-ued to grow with cold-aseptic processesproving more popular than hot fill andfilling using cold sterilization agents.drinktec 2009 brings together producersof cold-aseptic beverage filling technologyat one site, giving visitors an opportunityto compare the two processes.
Consumer demand is growing formore natural beverages, i.e. those with nopreservatives, and for products with addi-
tional benefits. As far as possible bever-ages with little or no carbonation, andoften with a high pH level that makesthem very easily digestible, should beoffered to consumers. This calls for asep-tic cold filling, which allows the imple-mentation of consumer-oriented productconcepts, providing the public with bev-erages that have been bottled gently, withno additional thermal stress, as is thecase with hot filling, for example, and noadded preservatives.
Recommended for Many BeveragesAseptic, cold-aseptic, sterile, beverage-
sterile—many terms are used to describe‘aseptic filling’. The process involves bot-tling a product at ambient temperatures,that is without tunnel pasteurization orhot filling and without the use of preserv-atives or cold sterilizing agents, in such away that it attains a specified shelf life.The products are only briefly heated
before filling. Aseptic filling is recom-mended for beverages such as fruit juices,tea beverages, sports drinks, vegetablejuices, spritzers, milk-based mixed drinks,UHT-milk (ultra-high-temperature milk),near-water drinks and flavored waters. Itcan be used for still and carbonated bev-erages. The international fruit juiceindustry will be discussing what itexpects from cold-aseptic filling in thefuture at its annual convention‘International Fruit World,’ which for thefirst time will take place on Sept. 15 and16 in parallel with drinktec, with themotto ‘From the Tree to the Bottle.’
Fully Integrated System An aseptic system must
always be implemented and complied with consistently. Onlya fully integrated system canensure the efficiency of a cold-aseptic process.
The peripheral equipmentmust be right and do the ground-work for the aseptic process, orbe aseptic itself. This applies toeverything from the process tech-nology for the flash pasteurizeror ultra-high temperature system,to the mixer with sterile buffer
tank, the aseptic fittings and to the mediapreparation of disinfectant solution, ster-ile water, sterile air, steam and inert gas.
Integrated ApproachA cold-aseptic filling system can
replace hot-filling processes, or bottle andcan filling systems that use tunnel pas-teurizers. There must always be an inte-grated approach in which equal attentionis paid to filling safety, operating costsand operating safety, and which factorsthese aspects in during implementation.The opportunities provided by cold-asep-tic filling mean that filling plants areinvesting in the future of their company,which will be able to implement new,consumer-oriented product concepts.Drinktec 2009 is the optimum informa-tion platform for that purpose.
For more information on aseptic coldfilling, visit drinktec.com.
Cold-Aseptics Beats Hot Fill
A Special Promotion Section • July 2009 Edition
Travel TipsHotel Rooms:Book your hotel now, rooms are goingfast! The closest hotels to the fair-grounds with rooms available are the NHMünchen Dornach am MCC and the HotelPrinzregent an der Messe. UsingTRADEFAIRS.com you can book yourroom(s) as well as airline, train or bustickets. drinktec.com also provides thehotel directory of Messe MünchenInternational with links to hotels, guest-houses and travel agencies.
Tickets:Buy your ticket for drinktec online atdrinktec.com to save half the cost. A 3-day ticket is half price (44 euros,about $60). You’ll receive a ticketvoucher by e-mail that you can print outand bring to the fair.
Air Travel:Munich Airport is Germany's second-largest airport, and is considered by travelers’ surveys to be the "BestAirport in Europe." The fastest way togo directly from the airport to drinktecis to use the airport shuttle bus (depart-ing every 30 minutes). Subway trainsalso go to the New Munich Trade FairCenter, and the station is only stepsaway from the terminals.
Train:Most major European cities connect byrail to the Munich Central Station locat-ed in City Center, minutes away from thefairgrounds. Using the “Train & Auto”rental car service, you can rent a car atthe Munich Central Station and drive todrinktec.
Automobile:The New Munich Trade Fair Center is adjacent to the easy-to-use A94 motor-way. Limousine and transfer servicestravel to and from the airport with pas-sengers getting off and on at designatedlocations along the way.
Public Transportation:With your online purchase of an admis-sion ticket for drinktec, your voucherentitles you to use public transportationon the local underground and Munich railnetwork (U-Bahn and S-Bahn) from theday before until the day after the fair.
Go to drinktec.com to arrange your trip!
[UPCLOSE]
BEVERAGEWORLD.COM48_BEVERAGE WORLD_JULY 2009
ixty years since its founding, Budweiser ofClarksville, Cookeville, Chattanooga, Hopkinsville &Owensboro (BOCCCHO) has been led by three gen-erations of the Hand family and has continued to
grow with each sitting president. Raymond Hand founded the company in 1949 and his son,
Charles, took over the family business in the early ’60s and iscurrently chairman and CEO. Charles had a vision of growthand helped expand the company from a 2-million-case opera-tion to a 3.5-million-case operation with a key acquisition ofWilliam Enterprises in 1996.
In 2008, J.R. Hand, Charles’ son, took over as president andhas actively carried on the vision of his father. Within thepast three years, BOCCCHO has purchased three companies,the most recent being Beasley Distributing Co. Inc., anAnheuser-Busch wholesaler based in Chattanooga, Tenn.,which added about 3 million cases to BOCCCHO’s business.
Prior to that, in 2006 and 2007,respectively, the company pur-chased two other A-B wholesalers,DEW Distributing in Hopkinsville,Ky. and Quality Beers Distributingin Owensboro, Ky.
“It’s been good growth, and it’sbeen great for our company. It’sreally reinvigorated our people andadded a lot of depth to our manage-ment team,” Hand says.
In 2007, BOCCCHO also becamea non-exclusive A-B wholesaler,which also has contributed to thecompany’s growth. “We looked atour portfolio and although webelieve Anheuser-Busch really has
the strongest brands out there we felt the need to diversifyour portfolio some,” says Hand. “There were some othergreat suppliers that were looking to come into the state andso we looked to take advantage of that opportunity.”
BOCCCHO now distributes brands from Yuengling, NewBelgium Brewing Co., Magic Hat Brewing Co., HighlandBrewing Co. and Terrapin Beer Co. as well as Joose MaltBeverage, a United Brands company.
Around the same time BOCCCHO went non-exclusive, thecompany also added non-alcohol brands to its portfolio, oneof the first being Monster Energy Drink, which it distributesthroughout its 20,000-plus-square-mile territory with theexception of its Chattanooga market. In addition, the whole-saler also distributes Function Drinks, a line of functionalwaters, and Lean Body, a ready-to-drink protein shake fromLabrada Nutrition.
“We are no longer just a beer distributor, we are a complete
Bud-ing Growth
VITAL STATSBOCCCHO
PRESIDENT: J.R. Hand
HEADQUARTERS: Clarksville, Tenn.
EMPLOYEES: 285
’08 CASE VOLUME: 10 million
GOALS: To continue to be a volume Leader and a bench-mark organization in the wholesale beverage industry.
Over 60 years three generations of the Hand family playeda role in the continued expansion of BOCCCHO.By Jennifer Cirillo
J.R. HAND, president of BOCCCHO (l) sits withhis father, Charles, current chairman and CEO,who took over the family business from hisfather in the 1960s.
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JULY 2009_BEVERAGE WORLD_49BEVERAGEWORLD.COM
beverage supplier,” says Hand. And with a military base locatedin its Clarksville market, non-alcohol brands are a “very bigdeal,” says Hand, “especially nutrition based products.”
Though beer still makes up 98 percent of BOCCCHO’sbusiness, its non-alcohol brands represent good growthopportunities for the distributor, which represent, Hand says,“a lot of extra cases we wouldn’t have sold last year.”
BOCCCHO is comprised of five facilities located inClarksville, Cookeville and Chattanooga, Tenn. andHopkinsville and Owensboro, Ky. Since the most recentacquisition, the decision was made to regionalize the compa-
ny to provide better management depth and focus morespecifically on certain areas. Hand explains that the companyis broken up into two regions—east and west withChattanooga and Cookeville in the eastern region and theremaining three locations in the western region.
“It’s really helped us out a lot,” says Hand. “We’ve got two VPsthat oversee each area and run day-to-day general business.”
With a more organized management system in place, thecompany was able to use its scale to its advantage.
“It also helps us hire and retain good employees,” he says.“There are a lot more opportunities as we grow. You are notjust stuck in one location that has two members of middlemanagement. In our business, if you are willing to move to
Advertisement
B.R. MILLER & COMPANY, INC.B. R. Miller & Company, Inc. has been honored to be involved in thegrowth and success of Budweiser of Clarksville. As Budweiser ofClarksville has grown and expanded, B. R. Miller & Company, Inc. proudlyprovided construction for new buildings, additions and renovations for theClarksville TN facility. Thank you, Budweiser of Clarksville, for a success-ful business relationship. Contact: Mike Boisseau 931-552-2228
BOCCCHO IS BASED in Clarksville, Tenn. and distributes throughout a 20,000-plus-square-mile territory.
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one of our other locations there’s ample opportunity foradvancement and for growth within our company. I thinkthat’s a big advantage.”
Hand explains that because of the company’s size it hasalso been able to grow its chain store business by beingable to provide them with better service. Hand says,“Essentially what we gain there is we are a bigger supplierfor a particular customer therefore we have more relevancethan we did as a single entity. So, with that we get moreinfluence, more time, more attention with the larger chaincustomers that we didn’t get before.” Among the chainsBOCCCHO delivers to are Kroger, Food Lion and Wal-Mart.
While running a larger operation has its advantages,
Advertisement
POWELL-WALTON-MILWARDPowell-Walton-Milward a division of J.Smith Lanier & Co. has been fortunateto handle the Property and Casualty Insurance needs of Charles Hand andthe Hand Family since 1978. Since that time, the company has grown fromone location to five locations. It has been a pleasure for our firm to workwith Charles and JR Hand, and with their Controller and Risk Manager,William Moseley. We wish them the best of luck and continued successfor many years to come as one of the top AB Distributors in the country.
with rapid growth can come additional challenges, Handnotes. On the logistics side, for example, the company hastaken its first steps in consolidating four different routeaccounting systems. By the end of next summer, Handexpects the consolidation to be complete.
As the company continues to grow, it’s the drive anddedication of BOCCCHO’s employees that allow day-to-dayoperations to run as smoothly as possible.
Hand says: “Our people are very competitive. We cele-brate a victory, but then the next morning everybodyshows up trying to get better and trying to further help thecompany grow. The biggest thing for us is we just continueto try to succeed.” BW
JULY 2009_BEVERAGE WORLD_51BEVERAGEWORLD.COM
Advertisement
BB&T CORPORATIONFounded in 1872, BB&T Corporation (NYSE: BBT) offers full-service commercial and retail banking and additional financial services such asinsurance, investments, retail brokerage, corporate finance, asset management and trust. We strive to help our clients achieve economicsuccess and financial security; create a workplace where employees canlearn and grow; optimize long-term rewards for shareholders; andimprove our home communities.
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alifornia is known for being ahead of thecurve when it comes to a lot of things. So,perhaps it comes as no surprise that theRichmond, Calif.-based Bay Area Beverage
Co. prides itself on being one of the first solar-pow-ered beer distributors in the country.
The company’s territory encompasses the com-munities east of San Francisco, south of the winecountry, north of San Jose and west of Sacramento,leading TJ Louderback, the company’s president toadd with a laugh: “We didn’t get the prettiest patchof territory, though there are some very nice com-munities in our market.”
Bay Area Beverage was actually started by TJ’s father Tom
and some partners in1969. Tom eventuallybought out the partnersand now runs the compa-ny with his son. Since thattime, the company hasgrown into a 7 million-case beer wholesaler with
just under 200 employees. “Our market is very diverse,”Louderback says. “We have a significant urban community
comprised of a mix of ethnicities, and we have alsoacquired some more suburban territory as well.”
Bay Area’s product mix has changed over the years, too.While back in the ’80s, the company “learned to survive onmalt liquor and non-alcohols like Snapple,” Louderbacksays the company has gotten more into craft beers andimports, and the suburban areas have fueled its Coorsbusiness. “So, now we have a much more balanced, stableportfolio,” he says, “where we’re selling MillerCoors, ourtop supplier, as well as Heineken USA and Diageo, andabout 80 percent of our non-alc volume is Snapple withthe rest mostly bottled waters.”
A few years ago, the company made the decision to ceaserenting a warehouse in Oakland, and buy a 250,000- square-foot former Ford plant in Richmond. The company soonafter installed a Vertique picking system in the warehouse toimprove efficiencies. “We’re always looking for ways to getthe same job done with a lot less work,” Louderback says.Also, since the building needed to have its roof replaced, BayArea added solar panels to about half of the roof which willeventually supply 100 percent of the warehouse’s electricalneeds. “I really crammed to learn how solar works, and we’repretty confident that it will pay for itself,” he says. “It’s a veryeasy way to make more money.”
Louderback says his father took a little bit more con-vincing when it came to the solar energy project, however.“I told him this goes immediately to operating profit andnobody has to work any harder for it. He was skeptical ini-tially. But we worked through that and now he’s thebiggest cheerleader.”
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California DreamingBAY AREA BEVERAGE president TJ
Louderback (l) and his father,Tom, show off the solar panelsadorning the company’s ware-house roof.
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The progressively minded Bay Area Beverage Co. is a pioneer in the use of solar energy. By Andrew Kaplan
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t’s been a busy time for BeerCapitol Distributing Co.
In December 2008, the beerwholesaler, based in
Wauwatosa, Wis., completed itsacquisition of Miller Brands-Milwaukee LLC, which distributedMiller brands in MilwaukeeCounty. Miller Brands was thelargest single distributor inWisconsin for Miller Brewing Co.,explains Aldo Madrigrano, chair-man and CEO of BeerCapitol, and the acquisitionquadrupled the size of BeerCapitol’s business.
“As MillerCoors cametogether, it was good tim-ing for both companies,”says Madrigrano of theacquisition. Madrigranoalso is the immediate pastchairman of the NationalBeer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) and currently serves
on the association’sboard of directors andits executive committee.
“The group thatowned Miller Brandsfelt it was time for them
to step away from the business and myself andmy two partners felt that it was time to aggres-sively go forward in the business. And when theJV of MillerCoors came together it was the righttime for these two businesses to come togethertoo.”
Beer Capitol is now the largest beer distributorin Milwaukee County delivering just shy of 9 mil-
lion cases a year. The company’s portfolio includes a selec-
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VITAL STATSBEER CAPITOL DISTRIBUTING CO.
CHAIRMAN & CEO: Aldo Madrigano
HEADQUARTERS: Wauwatosa, Wis.
EMPLOYEES: 215
’08 CASE VOLUME: about 9 million
GOALS: To be a brand builder and have the appro-priate and right amount of products to service itscustomers needs.
At Beer Capitol, it’s workforce has allowed the company to achieve continued growthand success in Milwaukee County. By Jennifer Cirillo
MEMBERS OF THE BEER CAPITOLDISTRIBUTING CO. staff are(front row, l to r) Jack Radichal,on-premise division manager andKen Zeman, off-premise divisionmanager; (back row, l to r) JimButenhoff, craft and import man-ager; David Neville, vice presi-dent of sales; Aldo Madrigranochairman and CEO and MikeMeriman, president.
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Capitol Takeover
JULY 2009_BEVERAGE WORLD_53BEVERAGEWORLD.COM
tion of 250 beer brands including crafts, imports anddomestics. Along with MillerCoors, its suppliers includeHeineken USA, Crown Imports and Boston Brewing Co., toname a few.
“As in any other consolidation there’s always a lot of challenges,” says Madrigrano. For example, Beer Capitol was
a 100 percent pre-sell operation while Miller Brands wasnot. Making the shift to a 100 percent pre-sell operationhad its challenges, Madrigrano admits, but he says thateven in the short period of time since the completion ofthe acquisition, Beer Capitol has transitioned nicely.
“We feel that we are really about six months ahead ofwhere we thought we would be,” he says. One advantagewas that Beer Capitol and Miller Brands shared the samefootprint, meaning that there was ease in already knowingmany of the same customers. And, Madrigrano says, “Thescorecards from the customers are all good, so we arehappy about that.”
The scorecard from Beer Capitol’s suppliers also hasbeen positive. Last year, for the second year in a row, Beer Capitol was recognized as Crown Imports’ Distributorof the Year based on sales, distribution and execution ofprogramming.
“They have been a great supplier do deal with,” saysMadrigrano of Crown Imports, which imports brands like Corona and Modelo Especial. “We have a good sizeHispanic marketplace here in Milwaukee and [their brands]have been doing very well.”
The wholesaler attributes its success to the quality of its workforce. “I think the key to our business is our people,” Madrigrano says. “Our people have done a greatjob from melding Beer Capitol, which was really a high-end beer company, with a company that sold a lot of domestic business.”
He continues: “The customers are happy because theyhave people that understand their business of selling high-end, of selling crafts, of selling premiums and then sellingsub-premiums and popular priced beers also.”
The relationships Beer Capitol has with its customers,on-premise accounts in particular, which make up a largepart of its business, has contributed to the continuedgrowth of its craft beers, for example. The company
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PRIDING ITSELF on it customer relations, Beer Capitol was the recipient of Crown Imports’ Distributor of the Year Award in 2008 and 2007. The wholesaler attributes its success to the quality of its workforce, which has helped the company through its most recent acquisition of Miller Brands-Milwaukee LLC.
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spends a lot of time working with its local restaurants onbeer and food pairings.
“It’s allowing us to get into some of the finer restau-rants,” Madrigrano says. “It helps us develop the brands.”In addition to national craft brands, Beer Capitol also dis-tributes beer from Lakefront Brewery (Milwaukee), CapitalBrewery (Middleton, Wis.), Stevens Point Brewing (StevensPoint, Wis.), Pabst Brewing Co. (Milwaukee) and Bell’sBrewery (Kalamazoo, Mich.).
“The craft trend is doing very well in our marketplaceand continues to grow,” he says, “which tells us that theconsumer is saying, ‘Even in these tough times I want toget something that I really enjoy and I’m going to spendto get that.’” And consumers, Madrigrano finds, are visit-ing their neighborhood establishments rather than ventur-
ing to new places that are farther away from home.Taking that into account, he notes: “We really look for
the right beers for the marketplace,” summing up the com-pany’s strategy when taking on new brands. “There arepeople out there who want to make sure they get every-thing. Well, we really want to be known as brand buildersto our suppliers and really take a look at, when a brand iscoming to the marketplace, what its attributes are andwhat the marketplace is looking for.”
Through all of the busy changes that have taken placeover the past several months and all of the challenges thatcome with those changes, Beer Capitol has been able tomaintain a focused outlook for the future, thanks to itspeople.
“We know we have great brands to sell and great brandsto put out there, but I can’t stress enough, the most impor-tant asset that we have is our people,” says Madrigrano. “Ourpeople, we believe, are the best in the marketplace.”
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AFTER ITS RECENT acquisition of Miller Brands-Milwaukee LLC, Beer Capitol,based in Wauwatosa, Wis., is the largest beer distributor in Milwaukee County.
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ormerly a subsidiary of Carlsberg USA,Beverage Alliance became an independentimporter earlier this year in an effort toexpand its portfolio of beers.
The $18 million company, which sells about 1.1million case equivalents, is based in New Canaan,Conn., and also now imports Kronenbourg,Tetley’s English Ale, Grimbergen and Okocim.
The company’s owner and president, MikeMitaro—who previously ran Carlsberg USA forfive years—answered some questions about hisnew company.
Beverage World: Why do you carry these particular brands
in your portfolio?Mike Mitaro: Thosebrands all have had a goodbase of volume, cash flowand profitability in theUnited States before wegot them.
BW: How are they dis-tributed?MM: We have a networkof distributors, a combina-tion, depending on the
market, of Anheuser-Busch wholesalers, MillerCoors whole-salers, a few wine and spirits wholesalers and some small-er independent wholesalers. We operate in all 50 states.Though 15 states make up 80 percent of the volume,which I guess is true for every import.
BW: How have the brands been performing?MM: Fortunately, they’re doing very well and we’re thank-ful for that in this economy. Carlsberg is up 10 percent sofar year to date this year. Our draft business is where ourlargest growth is for the Carlsberg brand. Carlsberg is oneof the leading brands associated with international soccerand has a big presence in all the soccer bars and pubswhere people watch matches from Europe.
Kronenbourg also is growing, but it’s off a somewhatsmaller base. We’re finding more growth for it as an alter-native to Stella Artois. Kronenbourg has a lot of that simi-lar appeal. So in New York City, for example, we’re havinggreat trends on Kronenbourg because we’re getting it intomore and more upscale restaurants and nightclubs.
BW: Do you do any marketing to help grow the brands?MM: We do a lot of promoting at the point of sale andthat seems to help our business a lot. Anything aroundsoccer we do a lot of promotions with in the bars. In off-premise we have themed promotions that we do. WithKronenbourg this July we have a promotion around theTour De France and it just rallies our wholesalers to focuson our products for that period of time. Because so muchof this business is about getting wholesaler execution andwholesaler focus around your products.
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Kicking Up Sales
BEVERAGE ALLIANCE owner and president Mike Mitarokicks back with a Carlsberg.
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Beverage Alliance brings Carlsberg and other European beers to America.By Andrew Kaplan
JULY 2009_BEVERAGE WORLD_57BEVERAGEWORLD.COM
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lot of companies talk the talk, but not all of themcan truly walk the walk. But for RefreshmentServices Pepsi, an independent Pepsi bottler, it’sthe talking—and the listening, for that matter—
that makes the difference. Its open-door policy with employ-ees and customers is a point of pride among its managementteam, according to president Mike Bartel. “Anyone at anylevel can come into my office at any time to talk about any-thing,” he says.
The lineage of this family-owned enterprise dates back tothe 1920s in Taylorville, Ill., when founder Louis Vecchiebegan a soft drink company that bottled its own flavors—think grape and orange. It wasn’t until 1934 that Vecchiemet Pepsi, but at first, customer response was tepid and saleswere slow. Bartel says that they’d swap out a couple oforange or grape bottles in a case for Pepsi bottles, a subtlemove that ensured that the cola wouldn’t go to waste. Thesmall operation has grown considerably, with 400-plus
employees in Illinois (Quincy,Macomb and Decatur), Indiana(Terre Haute), Iowa (Burlington)and Florida (Key West andTallahassee). “In those days, it wasthe same person selling, bottling,packaging, distributing and deliver-ing it,” Bartel says.
Times have changed, but somethings have remained. The Vecchiefamily—now in its fourth genera-tion—is still involved in the busi-
ness on the board of directors. And Refreshment Servicescontinues its longstanding affiliation with PepsiCo; Bartelsays that they are perhaps one of the earlier bottlers of thesoda in the state. The business has grown though there areof course some challenges, many of them stemming from thefact that its bottling territories are not at all contiguous. Infact, the two regions it covers in Florida couldn’t be fartherapart. There’s no real rhyme or reason for why it evolvedthat way; Bartel says it’s just the way the operations werebought over the years. “The challenges become trying to rec-ognize what pieces of our business need to stay decentral-ized. We will err on the side of leaving as much of the deci-sion making locally to our general managers,” he explains.And the customer base is different, too. “In the Midwest wehave a high share and in Florida we’re at parity.”
Because geography works against the company, the abilityto communicate effectively is critical. “We try to be good lis-teners with customers and employees. We don’t want to get
At Your Service
VITAL STATSREFRESHMENT SERVICES PEPSI
PRESIDENT: Mike Bartel
HEADQUARTERS: Quincy, Ill.
EMPLOYEES: 400
REVENUE: $100 million
GOALS: “Our theme for 2009 is ‘Take the Business.’ It is basedon the fact that since the CSD category is not growing thisyear, then the only way for us to grow our business is to go‘take it’ from our competitors.”
MIKE BARTEL, president of RefreshmentServices Pepsi, leads the bottler’s “Take theBusiness” strategy.
»Refreshment Services keeps the lines of communicationopen and a Pepsi in every hand. By Carrie Havranek
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caught in the trap that we have all the answers,” Bartelexplains. For example, he says someone came up with the ideato survey the employees in the other offices to find out whatthe main office was doing well, and what could use improve-ment. “Now we are in the middle of going personally to eachof the locations to talk through the results, which takes a lot oftime.” While it’s easy for a company leader to say that they lis-ten to its people or want feedback, the process is difficult; it’stime consuming. “We hear about problems. But if you’re get-ting to the point where you are not hearing about the prob-lems, you’ve got a big problem,” he says.
The approach naturally extends to its customers, too. Lastfall, the managers went out on a “listening tour” armed notwith laptops loaded with PowerPoint presentations, but justa sheet of paper with about a half-dozen questions theydevised in order to find out what the customers needed,what they liked about the company and what they didn’t. Hedescribes the experience as “eye-opening, something we needto do on a regular basis.” Service is a considerable issue andso recently, Refreshment Services established different serv-ice levels with its customers. “The more they work with us
and want to truly partner, we’ll up the service.” Once feedbackhas been solicited, though, expectations rise. “The easy part islistening; the hard part is how are you going to respond to
AL HUDGINS is general manager of Refreshment Services Pepsi’s Tallahassee,Fla. operation.
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their needs so it’s just not another check off in a box?” Its communication philosophy extends to Pepsi, too,
whom Bartel describes as “a great partner” and “good listen-er.” As an independent bottler, the company enjoys consid-erable autonomy to develop marketing tailored to localaccounts. “We have the ability to say no and to do our ownthing, but 95 percent of the time you are going to do whatthey [PepsiCo] want because they know the business andwhat they want to do makes sense,” he says. Initiativessuch as buying and using its very own sign-makingmachine helps with creating customized promotions, butthen Pepsi “will still come in with national overlays, like
with the Super Bowl or Halloween, that we will participatein,” he says.
The PepsiCo-bottler relationship is a unique one, he says.Bottlers have the ability to work closely with and help com-munities, combining the muscle of a national brand withthe relationships that independently owned smaller compa-nies can create.
“What’s made it so successful is that if it was just one bigcompany, you probably wouldn’t get that grassroots stuffthat goes on, the baseball teams, little leagues, specialevents, things to help support the community in fundrais-ers and schools,” he says.
Bartel puts the rewards of his work this way: “You can goto bed at night and think, ‘Maybe somehow I’ve made asmall difference.’ There are not a lot of businesses anymorewhere you have the opportunity to do that.”
JULY 2009_BEVERAGE WORLD_59BEVERAGEWORLD.COM
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Advertisement
GREAT RIVER ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATIONQuincy University is a Catholic, independent, liberal arts institution ofhigher learning in the Franciscan tradition celebrating 150 years in2009. Great River Economic Development Foundation has been a driv-ing force in Quincy and Adams County since 1978. Together GREDF andQuincy University thank Refreshment Services Pepsi for their contribu-tions to the outstanding quality of life the Quincy area enjoys.
REFRESHMENT SERV-ICES PEPSI’S Floridamanagement teamincludes VP of opera-tions Dave Faulkner.The Florida territoriesthe company servesinclude Key West andTallahassee.
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BEVERAGEWORLD.COM60_BEVERAGE WORLD_JULY 2009
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s primary and secondary-packagingsizes continually change and inno-vation brings a rapidly accelerat-ing crop of new products into
the market, Epic Enterprises has shown formore than 40 years that the key to stayingahead of the curve is employing a can-do attitude.
The Epic tale begins in 1968 when 12 independent Pepsibottlers, primarily in New England, formed the Ayer, Mass.-based canning co-op.
“Over the years,” says Epic Enterprises general managerDon Smallwood, “some of those have been bought by PepsiBottling Group and one was bought by Pepsi BottlingVentures. So our ownership has changed, but we’re still con-sidered, in the Pepsi system, a co-op.”
Epic is responsible for most of the can volume of Pepsiproducts throughout New England and in some parts of NewYork State. The co-op produces about 20 million cases annually.
Interestingly, the co-op’s can plant is located next door toanother co-op that fills only bottles. “We’re two separate co-operatives, but have similar ownership,” Smallwood explains.“We don’t get into bottles and don’t aspire to get into bottles.They don’t get into cans and don’t aspire to get into cans.”
Forty-one years ago the company openedfor business with a single can line; it nowoperates three. Two of those primarily run12-ounce cans, while the other is a flexibleline for specialty cans of varying sizes. EpicEnterprises cans all of the trademark Pepsi
brands, as well as some DrPepper Snapple Group products,including Dr Pepper, Crush andHawaiian Punch.
In this era of rampant SKUproliferation, flexibility and nim-ble execution are central impera-tives and Epic has prided itselfon its ability to adapt to an ever-
changing market. It’s especiallychallenging in the Pepsi system when it comes to the limit-ed-time offers (LTOs) the company has released in recentyears (Though, the operation didn’t produce the recentThrowback brands).
“We like to have the volume, but it can be difficult to getin and get out with these things,” Smallwood notes. “The pro-liferation of SKUs is a real issue and we’ve had to adjust toit…The thing with these LTOs is if one of them is successful,they tend to bring it back permanently—without deletingsomething on the other end.”
For instance, Epic has been gradually replacing its blenderswith ones that offer enhanced efficiency and reducedchangeover times. As a result, the co-op has been able to doshorter runs and switch to another SKU fairly rapidly.
Secondary packaging changeovers also represent an areaof significant challenge and ongoing improvement. “Wemake a 36-pack that’s going into the Club Stores, and chang-
Epic ScaleTHE EPIC TEAM assembles before one of its new trucks.
(l to r) Allen Gallaher, controller; Wanda Belanger, humanresources; Tim Duprey, quality assurance manager; LisaHjelm, plant manager; Don Smallwood, general managerand John Blood, maintenance manager.
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More than 40 years on, Epic Enterprises continues to refresh New England as the little Blue System co-op that can. By Jeff Cioletti
VITAL STATSEPIC ENTREPRISESGENERAL MANAGER: Don SmallwoodHEADQUARTERS: Ayer, Mass.ANNUAL VOLUME: 20 million casesGOALS: To be as flexible as possible; quickly and effi-ciently changing can body sizes and flavors whilekeeping product yields high.
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ing from 24 [pack] to 36 is apretty easy change,” explainsSmallwood. “But changing froma 36 back down to a 12-pack isa fairly major change on thepackaging end.”
On the flexible can line, thechallenge is speeding upchangeovers among can sizes.“It’s fairly easy to go from the same body diameter in an 8-ounce can, to a 12-ounce can, to, say, a 16-ounce can; you justraise the filler and close it,” Smallwood notes. “But the chal-lenges come when you’re dealing with a Slim can or Sleekcan, or even a 24-ounce can, where the can body is changingnot only in height, but its width. [The key is] being able to dothat quickly and efficiently and with all of the flavor changescoming down the road.”
The transition to Pepsi’s recently redesigned packages was
a pretty seamless one for EpicEnterprises, thanks to the highlyorganized effort among Epic,PepsiCo and the co-op’s owners.“It’s always about coordinationwhen you have something as big asthis was that came as quickly as itdid,” recalls Smallwood. “I firstheard about it in October of lastyear. By the end of December wewere almost fully converted. That’show fast it happened in the Pepsisystem. Frankly it went more
smoothly than I had anticipated.” As Epic Enterprises has illustrated in its more than four
decades of existence, success lies in how effectively an opera-tion can adapt to whatever twists and turns the industry mayhave in store. “It used to be that 12-ounce cans were king—that’s all we ever made, and after a while it became routine,”Smallwood observes. “But now that routine is gone, so we’rechanging all the time.”
With every epic challenge, there’s an Epic solution. BW
SWITCHING TO PEPSI’S new packaginggraphics was fairly quick and seamless forEpic Enterprises.
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here have been many changes in distribution andproducts since the Pepsi-ColaBottling Co. of Davenport
became an official independent fran-chise in Iowa in 1995. But one thing hasnot changed: adhering to the fundamentals of operating thebusiness.
“We’ve always been focused on providing accounts withthe best possible customer service we can—whether it’stimely service to repair vending equipment that breaks down,or responding on a weekend when a store is out of product.We always have someone on call,” says Todd Johnson, vicepresident and general manager of the distributor whose ori-gins date back to the 1930s as part of A.D. Huesing BottlingWorks in Rock Island, Ill. Johnson’s grandfather eventuallybought out the last Huesing family member.
The company operates in three counties in Iowa: Scott,Clinton and Muscatine. Its Pepsi portfolio includes: Pepsi,Diet Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Diet Dew, Code Red, Caffeine Free Pepsi, Diet Caffeine Free Pepsi, Caffeine Free MountainDew, Diet Caffeine Free Mountain Dew, Sierra Mist, Mist
Free, Live Wire, Orange, Mug Root Beer, PepsiLime, Diet Pepsi Lime, Pepsi Vanilla and DietPepsi Vanilla.
“We carry the entire Pepsi portfolio, as well as Frappuccino, Lipton and SoBe,” says Johnson.“In addition, we carry Klarbrunn water andrecently expanded into Muscle Milk, which isowned by Cytosport.”
The distributorship has 80 employ-ees, including full- and part-timeworkers. Through a cross-countyagreement, two other distributors helpDavenport deliver its products.
“It’s a unique arrangement,”explains Johnson. “One distributoroperates in Clinton County and oneoperates in Muscatine County. Theypurchase all the products from us
and they actually deliver it, invoice it andservice those areas for us.”
In this economic slowdown, business is down for the cor-porate parent, but above the national average. “Pepsi wasdown 4 to 5 percent and we were down 2 percent,” Johnsonreports. “This year, we are trending flat.”
Davenport Pepsi maintains its competitive edge by invest-ing in more SKUs for distribution and more equipment forits sales force. “We went to pre-sell about 12 years ago andwere ahead of the curve on that one,” he says. “Recently,we’ve doubled the size of our warehouse so that we can carrymore SKUs.” The company has about 800 SKUs.
The company also has upgraded its warehouse picking system, both in terms of new technology andrearrangement to facilitate operations on the floor. Thesales force, for example, is using new laptop computers that enable them to track inventory more effectively, while
Focus on FundamentalsALL OF PEPSI’S BIG HITTERS are carried by Pepsi-Cola Bottling
Co. of Davenport.
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TVITAL STATSPEPSI-COLA BOTTLING CO. OF DAVENPORTPRESIDENT: Bill JohnsonHEADQUARTERS: Davenport, IowaEMPLOYEES: 80’08 CASE VOLUME: 3.5 millionGOALS: To provide the best customer service at alltimes.
Pepsi-Cola Bottling Co. of Davenport has found success by sticking to its way ofdoing business. By John Karolefski
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management is using MarginMinder, a sales managementsoftware system from Salient.
Johnson explains that the company has developed an operating philosophy ofempowering its decision makers in the field. “We allowour managers flexibility in their levels of expertise in theareas they cover,” he says.
“Whether it be the managementover supermarkets, the management over super centers or the management over smaller formats, we just try toguide them.”
He commends his sales and management team for doing“a very good job” handling individual relationships withthe accounts they are in charge of. The relationship withvendors has always been one of the key attributes for suc-cessful beverage distribution. Johnson understands this andmakes it a priority in trade relations.
“The most important thing we do is try and treat every-one on an equal playing surface,” he elaborates, adding thata Davenport salesperson will service a grocery accountevery day and will speak with managers and co-managersabout upcoming promotions and displays.
Davenport supplies many retail channels, includingsupermarket chains and independents, super centers, drugstores and convenience stores. Some of its larger customersinclude Hy-Vee, Fairway, Schnucks, Wal-Mart, Target,Walgreens and CVS. The sales territory includes four Wal-Mart super centers and eight stores operated by Hy-Vee, itsbiggest customer. Johnson appreciates his “strong” relation-ship with Hy-Vee. “There is not a lot of central control;most of the decision making is done at the store level,” heexplains. “They are more likely to take into account themarket share of individual franchises like us.”
Meanwhile, Johnson is quick to recognize the fine workof the entire organization.
“You can’t have breakdowns anywhere,” he says. “Thesales force is reliant on the drivers to get the product there,the merchandisers to get the product to the customer, anddown to the warehouse with loading the trucks properlyand filling the trucks properly.”
Sounds like a focus on the fundamentals is paying off.
SOME OF THE COMPANY’S newest productsinclude waters like SoBe and one of thehottest selling new drinks, Muscle Milk.
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BEVERAGEWORLD.COM64_BEVERAGE WORLD_JULY 2009
he economy may be a challenge, but Burke DistributingCo. considers that an opportunity to innovate. Afterseeing a large fragmentation in consumer buying in2007, the company decided it would be better to man-
age its portfolio by category rather than supplier.“We were seeing the consumer was shopping inside category,
whether it was based off an occasion, an event, economy, craftor import,” says Scott Adams, VP of sales for Burke. “Our mar-ket was also becoming more fractured in terms of neighbor-hoods and different classes of trade—bars, restaurants andstores. The consumers were behaving that way, so we changedour management style to mirror their behavior, and startedlooking at our portfolio as categories rather than individualbrands.” By establishing divisions within the company that
focus on categories, Burke has beenable to bring its entire portfolio to mar-ket. “It’s a very targeted approach. Nowthe company can bring the productdirectly to where the demand is,” says
Bill Burke, president andgrandson of the founder.
Founded in Clinton, Mass., in1935 by Walter Burke, BurkeDistributing has wholesaledbeer, spirits and non-alcoholdrinks throughout the metroBoston area. Its beverage distri-bution portfolio includes MillerLite, Coors Light, Guinness, Sam
Adams, Mike’s Hard Lemonade,Brinley’s Rum and Red Bull products. Inaddition to Bill, the third generation ofBurkes in the business also include Tim(GM for the Red Bull division), Austin(operations manager), Patrick (ware-house manager) and Alina-Burke-Visconte (accounts payable).
Burke’s current market share is 37percent in beer and 62 percent in ener-
gy drinks. “The Boston metropolitan area is unusual in that ourmarket is 40 percent on-premise, and a large portion of that isthrough draft,” says Adams. The influx of a quarter-million col-lege students creates some unique expectations as far as focus,and resource allocation from a supplier standpoint. So Burkecreated an entire division devoted to on-premise sales: largevolume accounts, on-premise in downtown and a C-group thathandles both on- and off- premise in the suburb accounts.
“They want demos, and they’ll do what it takes to get them,”says Tim Burke. “We have to battle with Anheuser-Busch. Theymove so fast that we have to move fast. We find ourselves com-peting daily on everything from the 6-pack in the cooler to drafthandles. We’re constantly challenging each other to improveand as we do it we’re making ourselves better.” The company
Changing with the Times
VITAL STATSBURKE DISTRIBUTING CO.
PRESIDENT: Bill Burke
HEADQUARTERS: Randolph, Mass.
EMPLOYEES: 260
ANNUAL CASE VOLUME: 6.8 million
GOALS: To be the preferred wholesalerto every retailer in its market.
BURKE LEADERSHIP TEAM From l to r, Scott AdamsVP of sales; Austin Burke, VP of operations; BillBurke, president; Tim Burke, general manager/RedBull; Jim Devaney, director of specialtymarkets/Red Bull; Alina Burke-Visconte, accountspayable; Kerry Walsh, director of human resources;Scott Kacherian, director of sales/Red Bull; DottieOlson, assistant to the president, Leo Schick, direc-tor of IT; Charlie Balkam, controller
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Responding to consumer behavior, Burke Distributingimproves its bottom line. By Susan Wright
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also continues to invest. “We feel that if we invest appropri-ately, once this economy gets back to an equal playing fieldthat will gain our share in the long term,” says Bill.
One key technology investment has already been completedin-house for the Red Bull division. The all-new handhelds andsales reporting tools are “excellent” according to Tim. Theinvestment in data and software systems has been a greatasset in managing routes and becoming more efficient by giv-ing the company a better line of sight into retail sales. Next,Burke will acquire handhelds for all of the delivery drivers inorder to make the company paperless.
Burke also is investing in people, especially in hiring andtraining in areas where the company thinks it neededimprovement. Thanks to a 50/50 Workforce Training grantfrom the commonwealth of Massachusetts, all 260 employ-ees have received more training in the past two years than“ever in our history,” according to Bill.
Burke Distributing has all the proof it needs that the lat-est changes in management style are working. In 2008, thecompany had the remarkable accomplishment of being rec-ognized by Diageo as the distributor of the year in thesame year it received the Coors President’s Award. BW
BEVERAGEWORLD.COM66_BEVERAGE WORLD_JULY 2009
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ounded during the height ofProhibition by an enterprising teenager,Matesich Distributing now deliversAnheuser-Busch and Hansen products
throughout southeastern Ohio. The companyhas a 65-plus percent market share and serves 10 counties.
Despite the tough economy, Matesich is holding its own. Lastyear, John Matesich III, chairman of the board, and his salesteam won the Ambassadors of Excellence Award with a stellarsales performance for the year. The management and supervi-sory team of Matesich feel compelled to carefully managethe resources, and that trickles down to drivers and salespeo-ple. Those saved nickels and dimes really add up when run-ning a facility with 27 routes and 90 employees.
Matesich recently invested between $10,000 and $15,000 toclean up its electrical power; the company had a higher ratebecause the capacitors needed replacing. It also re-amped theentire 115,000-square-foot facility in Newark, Ohio, to high-effi-ciency fluorescent lights, which reduced power consumptionconsiderably while improving the lighting.
To continue to add value, Matesich also has focused on tak-ing on new brands like Hansen’s and the import portfoliofrom InBev. “If you want to do an intro right, it takes time,”says Matesich. “Since we’re primarily a rural wholesaler, we
want to focus on products that have a wideappeal. We look at it carefully because wehave to maximize the dollar since we have alot of geography to play with, so we want tomake sure we spend wisely.”
Technology has been another investment.Matesich was on board as soonas the A-B Mobility SellingSystem first came out, and isin its second hardware phaseand fourth upgrade in soft-ware. Salesmen and routesales people have handheldsand data downloads. The dif-ference with the handhelds ismost noticeable in the swing
drivers who have the difficultjob of stepping up on the different routes. Now they can easily take inventory and tell the customer what he’s out oror running low on.
“Last year was the first full year of this latest upgrade andwe saw a half-percent increase in sales just because of that,”says Matesich. “Because of the training and education wegive our people, they can utilize the electronic tools we gavethem. As the learning curve goes up, their professionalismalso goes up.”
The company’s business model is validated through thevoice of the retailer. “We have fewer than 900 accounts,” hesays. “That’s all our customers so we take care of them on aday-to-day basis. Ninety to 95 percent of the accounts don’teven check the order, and that holds true for deliveries as well.When someone is on a route, they’re there for a decade andknow the customers as well as their own friends. That consis-tency pays off in a high trust level. It pays off in value.”
The sales and merchandizing team also develops a relationship with each account so when there is a problem,
Countryside LessonsMATESICH DISTRIBUTING CO. enjoys a market share of
65 percent across 10 counties in southeastern Ohio.
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Matesich is streamlining processes to increase efficiency. By Susan Wright
VITAL STATSMATESICH DISTRIBUTING CO.CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD: John Matesich IIIHEADQUARTERS: Newark, OhioEMPLOYEES: 90’08 CASE VOLUME: 3.6 millionGOALS: To keep growing and providing the best possi-ble customer service to everyone in a cost-effectiveand profitable way.F
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there are two or three people working on an issue toresolve it rapidly.
The Matesichs know the area well because of their longhistory in Ohio. John Matesich Jr. was 17 when he decidedto open a distributorship in 1928. His 16-year-old brotherMatt joined in, and financed by their father John MatesichSr., they sold product in seven counties. After Prohibitionended, the company’s biggest hit was Redtop Beer in the'30s and '40s, and after that another Cincinnati beer—Weidemann.
“My father and uncles were very vocal about telling sto-ries about how the business started, and how it should berun,” says Matesich. “We’re looked upon as being incrediblylucky and we probably are, but the harder we work theluckier we are.”
Along with great brands and suppliers over the years,and the company’s long relationship with A-B, Matesichcredits great employees more than anything as the reasonfor their success, many of which have been with the com-pany for more than 10 years.
“Everyone makes everyone else lucky in this companyand it’s a real pleasure to come to work every day.” BW
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BEVERAGEWORLD.COM68_BEVERAGE WORLD_JULY 2009
ext year will mark the centennial anniversary of DelPapa Distributing Co. The mid-sized Texas-basedwholesaler began with Omero Del Papa Sr. who cameto the United States from Italy in 1900 and started a
retail grocery distributing company in 1910 in Galveston,Texas. That business eventually became a beer distributor-ship, delivering Anheuser-Busch products in 1933, and todayoffers a diversified beer and non-alcohol beverage portfolio.
Preparation is in full swing for the year-long activities slatedfor 2010 beginning with a breakfast in each of the company’smarkets—it has distribution centers (DC) in Galveston,Beaumont and Victoria, Texas—in January when the companyplans to announce an endowment program for the communi-ty colleges and four-year universities in its 17-county territory.
Other highlights from the planned fes-tivities include galas at each of thethree DCs complete with the appear-ance of the Budweiser Clydesdales—next year will mark the 80th anniver-sary with A-B, a partnership that beganin 1930 with the distribution of thecompany’s non-alcohol products.
The true reason for celebration isn’tjust to recognize a number,but the service of theemployees throughout thedistributor’s history.Manuel Ortega, vice presi-dent of logistics, says with-out hesitation that it hasbeen “our people” that havebeen the key to the compa-ny’s success. “And the rea-
son that our people are thekey,” he says, “is because of our owner-ship—the Del Papa family—and theway that they conduct the business.We are a mid-sized company, but ithas the feel of a small, family-run busi-ness at the same time.”
That family feeling that Ortega refersto extends beyond Del PapaDistributing to the customers, suppliers
and neighboring businesses it interacts with. Take for examplethe recent devastation experienced in Texas, just east ofGalveston, where Hurricane Ike hit in September of last year.Del Papa Distributing suffered losses including sales vehicles,damage to tractor-trailers and infrastructure damage to itsGalveston distribution center so great that the 4-million-caseoperation had to be executed from its Victoria DC, which onlyhandles half of Galeveston’s volume. But Del Papa was able topull through. In some cases it borrowed delivery vehicles fromneighboring A-B distributors, including Brown Distributing(Austin, Texas) and L&F Distributors, with locations in lowerTexas—even competing Miller and Coors distributors offeredassistance. Del Papa Distributing also was able to rely on com-panies it has longstanding relationships with, such as Way
A GoodNeighbor
VITAL STATSDEL PAPA DISTRIBUTING CO., INC.
PRESIDENT: Larry Del Papa
HEADQUARTERS: Galveston, Texas
EMPLOYEES: 350
’08 CASE VOLUME: 10 million
GOALS: To maintain a team of quality people thatwork hard to continue to build brands and friendshipsone case at a time.
DEL PAPA DISTRIBUTING’S Beaumont distributioncenter is one of three that this Texas-based beerwholesaler operates out of.
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Gearing up for its centennial celebration next year, DelPapa Distributing continues to build brands and friends.By Jennifer Cirillo
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Service, Ltd., a Texas-based HVAC/R company. Ortega notesthat Way Service, Ltd. can trace its business back with thedistributor to 1930.
Despite the damage Hurricane Ike caused, Del Papa’sSeptember’s case volume was up from the previous year and2008 marked a record year in sales and case volume.
“Our people and our retailers were resilient; we were able tobounce back,” says Peter Williamson, vice president of per-formance systems.
“We had people that we sent down from Galveston livingin Victoria in motels and they were actually rerouting byhand sitting in a conference room,” adds Mike McAfee, vicepresident of marketing. “It was a huge effort by the wholecompany to keep things running.”
Still recovering from the natural disaster, Del Papa faces newchallenges: Over the past two years, the company’s SKU counthas gone from 250 to nearly 600. Its portfolio is comprised ofAnheuser-Busch InBev brands in its Galveston market, Modeloin select markets, and a selection of brands it purchased fromGlazer’s including Sierra Nevada and Saint Arnold, and non-alcohol brands like Sweet Leaf Tea and Jones Soda.
To handle the added volume at the warehouse level, Ortega
explains lower volume items are picked by route instead ofstop (how the distributor picks the rest of its orders) to mini-mize the number of touches and the pick line. “At the point ofdelivery the driver marries the two or three cases of additionalvolume of the lower volume SKUs to the order,” he says.
At the end of the day, Williamson notes the company’snew slogan says it all: “Quality people building brands andfriendships one case at a time.” He says, “The idea is that ourjob is to build our brands. We are trying to evolve ourselvesfrom a distribution system to a sales and marketing compa-ny, heavy on the marketing side, because anybody can deliv-er the beer, but what sets us apart is what we do with thatbeer in that retail account…which is what we do best.” BW
Advertisement
WAY SERVICE, LTD.In 2007 Del Papa Distributing partnered with Way Service, Ltd. to designand build a chilled water system to meet the distributor’s HVAC/Refriger-ation needs. After Hurricane Ike, Way was there to get Del Papa’s mechani-cal systems up and running again, repairing or replacing many units justdays after the storm. Way understood this company’s needs, and willunderstand yours too.
BEVERAGEWORLD.COM70_BEVERAGE WORLD_JULY 2009
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n the early 1930s, just after the repeal of Prohibition,Tony Guiffre set up shop as a beer distributor servingrural Alexandria, Va. This year, Guiffre Distributing Co. iscelebrating its 75th anniversary.
Along the way, the company has expanded the business while adhering to its core values: Enhance the foundation of this fourth generation family-owned businessby strengthening relationships with customers, employeesand suppliers.
“That’s written on the front of our company handbook,”says Wayne Biggs, vice president and general manager.“When someone walks through the front door, they can tellwe are a customer-based company.”
And those customers appreciate the dedication to servicethat has made Guiffre a trusted distributor to supermarkets,convenience stores and gas stations. More than three-quar-ters of the business involves chain stores, and several militarybases in the sales territory make for an attractive trading area.
Today, the company is a diverse beverage distributor withseveral beer suppliers adding to the core, growing portfolio from
Anheuser-Busch. Other suppliers includeCarlsberg, Grolsch, Coastal, Star Hill,Hook and Ladder, Kona and Red Hook.
“Number one, we want to be a multi-branded beer distributorship,” explainsBiggs. “But we also want to look at theopportunity we have in the market in
growing the non-alcoholic area, beginning with Boylan’ssoda, which we are picking up.”
Boylan’s is a premium soft drink that uses cane sugar as asweetener. Other soft drinks in the non-alcohol portfolioinclude Dominion Root Beer and Ginger Ale. The distributoralso carries bottled water brands such as Deer Park,Mountain Valley Spring Water, Icelandic Glacial andSaratoga Spring Water.
The challenge, according to Biggs, will be obtainingenough brands to enable Guiffre to go to market in non-alco-hol accounts.
These plans build on a business expansion that began afew years ago. In October 2007, Guiffre acquired the InBevportfolio prior to its purchase of Anheuser-Busch. “Webrought all those brands in-house, which gave us a lot ofsales opportunities,” says Biggs.
In November 2007, Guiffre acquired neighboring KingWholesale, which expanded its distribution to part of nearbyFairfax County and Arlington County. The latter is an adult-based area with a lot of volume potential, according to Biggs.
A Family Affair
GUIFFRE DISTRIBUTING CO.’S (l to r) Mike Guiffre,president, Mark Stephens, VP operations and admin-istration, and Wayne Biggs, VP sales and marketing,work hard to build profitable market share.
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Guiffre Distributing Co. celebrates its 75th anniversary. By John Karolefski
VITAL STATSGUIFFRE DISTRIBUTING CO.CEO: Joe GuiffrePRESIDENT: Mike GuiffreHEADQUARTERS: Alexandria, Va.EMPLOYEES: 100CASE VOLUME: 3.1 millionGOALS: To advance its reputation for excellence in people, products andservice while growing profitable market share.
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Biggs stresses that a focus going forward is to becomemore efficient by improving route dynamics and upgradinghardware and software. He points to a new selling tool thathis company uses.
“It’s a drill-down software system that allows managementto pull sales reports and account-based presentations whileon the road through laptops via the Internet,” he explains. “It allows sales and management to go into our sales history and drill down by account manager or by accountinformation.”
Biggs says the business is moving more toward informa-tion-based selling, and that Guiffre is keeping pace. “As youbuild your relationships, you have to make sure you are tak-ing advantage of all the technology and information that isavailable so that you can offer those things to your customers.”
Also, he believes that in these times of rapid SKU expan-sion, Guiffre must do everything it can to keep up with theamount of product flowing in and out of the warehouse.
“I would start by complimenting Mark Stephens, our vicepresident of operations, and all of our warehouse manage-ment and employees on the job they do in a very tight ware-house,” he says. “We are investigating right now how we can
expand it; we’re somewhat busting at the seams.” According to Biggs, relationships with suppliers and
retailers are important, but the relationships among employees in-house are critical. The company retains its traditional family-based atmosphere, Biggs stresses. “We have 100 employees,” he says, including many with morethan 30 years of service. The patriarchs of the business, Mike and Joe Guiffre, are respective president and CEO. AsGuiffre grows, however, so does the challenge of maintainingthat close-knit feeling.
“It can only happen when employees work together well,”he admits. “The word that comes to mind is passion,” he goeson to say. “When employees sense the passion that a familymember has towards the business, whether it’s Joe the CEO,or Mike the president, it enhances performance on the street.The passion that the Guiffre family has for the business hasbeen incredible for decades. It makes a huge difference.”
In celebration of 75 years in the distribution business, anew company logo has been unveiled to bring attention toGuiffre’s tenure. Also, a grand company celebration isplanned in the fall to commemorate the milestone. It’s sureto be a family affair. BW
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orthern Colorado’s High CountryBeverage is a growing family-run busi-ness with a commitment to the envi-ronment, community and the cus-
tomers it serves.In 1972, Dave Nichols got his start as a delivery driver for
Coors Distributing Co. in Denver. He ascended the corporateladder in Coors Brewing Co., via positions in distribution, fieldsales, national accounts and human resources. When he leftCoors in 1996, Dave Nichols was vice president of distributordevelopment. He struck out on his own with the purchase oftwo smaller distributors in northern Colorado, which he mergedto create High Country Beverage. Son Steve Nichols joined thefamily business in 2000 and is vice president and generalmanager of the Loveland, Colo. beer distributor.
Recently, High County acquired distribution of New BelgiumBrewing Co. brands. The high-profile craft brewer is located inneighboring Fort Collins.
“It’s a neat acquisition for us,” says Steve Nichols. “We arethe local distributor selling the local beer.”
High Country is laying the groundwork for the addition ofother brands to its portfolio. The company just purchased anew 25,000-square-foot warehouse facility in Fort Collins to
augment its 45,000-square-foot warehouse.“We’d out-grown our facility here,” explainsNichols. “So we bought a bigger facility thanwe needed to accomodate future growth.”
He estimates High Country now hasenough capacity to expand by 75 percent.
“The stronger we can get ourportfolio, the more valuablewe are to our customers,”points out Nichols.
Among the larger brandsthe company now handles areCoors and Coors Light,Molson, Blue Moon, Corona,Pacifico, Modelo and St. Pauli
Girl. The portfolio alsoincludes the likes of Mike’s Hard Lemonade and RockstarEnergy Drink.
Although overall beer sales are flat, Coors Light trendshave been phenomenal for the past few years, according toNichols. In the wake of the recent Miller-Coors merger, thecompany also is working to acquire the Miller portfolio, gear-ing up its warehouse and procedures.
In addition, High Country’s craft beer business has increasedwell over 100 percent during the past five years. Craft brandsinclude Dale’s Pale Ale, Flying Dog, Grand Teton, Alaskan andPete’s Wicked—and now, of course, New Belgium.
“The craft segment has become an increasingly importantpart of our business,” says Nichols. “Craft additions allow usto offer customers a wider selection.” High Country is contin-ually looking to add even more brands. “We’re looking at allareas–even wine and non-alcoholic beverages.”
To handle all those SKUs, the company has made a num-ber of operational changes over the past few years. In the
High AspirationsTHE HIGH COUNTRY TEAM includes (l to r) Tom Morlan,
VP of sales; Eric Osthoff, delivery manager; ToddDaggett, product supply and warehouse manager; SteveNichols, VP and general manager; Bryce Kopperud, on-premise sales manager and Ron Terrin, off-premise salesmanager.
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From humble beginnings, High Country Beverage is moving up in the world.By Tom Strenk
VITAL STATSHIGH COUNTRY BEVERAGEPRESIDENT: Dave NicholsVICE PRESIDENT/GENERAL MANAGER: Steve NicholsHEADQUARTERS: Loveland, Colo.EMPLOYEES: 50’08 CASE VOLUME: 1.6 million GOALS: To be the best beer distributor in the country.N
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warehouse, it implemented gravity-flow racking, whichallows loaders to get to products easier and speeds up load-ing times. Fifty percent of beer is now delivered in bulkdelivery vehicles and 100 percent of delivery to grocerystores are loaded by stop with pallets weighed for accuracybefore they leave the warehouse. “We’re able to delivermore beer with fewer people,” says Nichols.
To deliver better service to customers—as well asenhance vendor relationships, High Country has equippedsales staffers with tablet computers hooked to an aircard sothey can send orders to the warehouse as they take them.
“They are online 100 percent of the time, and now we’reable to build orders 24 hours a day. That means no waitingon orders anymore,” relates Nichols.
High Country has gone green with a number of eco-friendly initiatives. In the warehouse, conversion of refrig-eration fans to a sensor-monitoring system has reducedpower consumption by approximately 26,000 kilowatts peryear. The switch to motion-sensor lighting systems coupledwith installation of energy-efficient light bulbs have alsoresulted in substantial energy savings. The sales fleetswitched to smaller, more energy efficient cars for salescalls. And speed governors on deliv-ery trucks and idle shutoffs on trac-tors save fuel and the atmosphere.Plus, all the chemicals now used inthe warehouse are biodegradable.
Another key part of High CountryBeverage’s community stewardship isits trademarked Take Care responsiblebeverage program aimed at college-agestudents. In partnership with Coors,High Country Beverage has created anumber of venues preaching responsi-ble alcohol use. “We’re very commit-ted to our community, our vendorsand customers and our employees,”sums up Nichols. “We’re very blessedto live in Colorado and sell beer andhave fun doing it.”
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ENCOMPASS TECHNOLOGIESHigh Country Beverage’s innovative opera-tions processes are backed by forward-think-ing investments in technology to maximizeefficiencies from the back door to the backoffice. Encompass Technologies has proudlyserved High Country Beverage since 2005,and continues to provide innovative web-based Route Accounting Software and MobileSolutions that help keep High CountryBeverage at the forefront of the industry.
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onroe, Wis. might be known as thecheese capital of the world, but as itturns out, it’s also the home to the sec-ond oldest brewery in the United
States—Minhas Craft Brewery, brewer of Huber,Rhinelander and Mountain Crest brands, as well asBlumer soda. Founded in 1845, the brewery saysit’s the 14th largest brewery in terms of production,producing 200,000 barrels a year of more than 50beer varieties available primarily throughout theMidwest and the Canadian provinces of Alberta,Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and soon, Ontario.
After new ownership took over in 2006, a $6 million capitalinvestment added 50,000 square feet to the brewery’s ware-
house, a filtration system, a24-ounce can line, packag-ing equipment, two three-story silos for malted barleyand a second fermentationroom, for the production ofCorsairs and Peelers, fla-vored malt beverages.
Gary Olson, president ofMinhas Craft Brewery, who has been with the company forseven years, shares with Beverage World three fun facts
about this historic brewery.1. Ravinder Minhas, 27, and sister, Manjit Minhas, 29,
could be the youngest, as far as Olson is aware, breweryowners in the world. The pair took over as principal own-ers in 2006 having previously been the brewery’s largestcontract account. Olson relays that Ravinder saw an oppor-tunity to offer a quality beer in Canada at a lower pricepoint. “Canadian beer is typically more expensive thanAmerican beer because it’s taxed higher; there are just afew players in the Canadian marketplace and that’s kind ofthe story of their success and why they own the brewerynow—they were able to sell beer,” says Olson.
2. Minhas Craft Brewery sits on seven acres of land andin addition to a guest house that was recently built on thecomplex, the brewery is in the process of opening a muse-um, hosting a rotating beer exhibit courtesy of Herb andHelen Haydock, of Wisconsin Rapids, Wis., who have oneof the largest collections of beer memorabilia from aroundthe world, Olson says.
3. During Prohibition, the brewery brewed near beer,sold ice cream and even rented out the cellars that weren’tbeing used to store cheese.
Today, the focus is back on beer. The brewery released anew craft beer line in the summer of 2008 including LazyMutt, a wheat-based farmhouse ale, a red ale called SwissAmber, a pilsner called 1845 Pils and Billy Bock, a bock beer.
“Our goal is to hit over 300,000 barrels,” Olson says.“That’s the volume we expect to be doing once we becomethe brewery we think we are going to become, that is, aworld-class brewery and production center.”
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150 Years and CountingMINHAS CRAFT BREWERY brews
and contracts a variety of bever-age products.
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Minhas Craft Brewery has a history of more than 150 years and, in less than adecade, has quadrupled its production. By Jennifer Cirillo
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third-generation, family-owned spirits and winedistributor based inSuperior, Wis., Saratoga
Liquor Co. is celebrating its 75thanniversary this year. It wasfounded shortly after Prohibitionby Morley Smith, the great-grand-father of Morley Smith III, who isstill involved with the company.The $35 million company has 65employees and covers 19 countiesin northwest Wisconsin. Recently,Beverage World spoke with Mike Streveler, COO and VPsales and marketing.
Beverage World: What is your territory like?Mike Streveler: The biggest metro area we service is EauClaire/Chippewa Falls. But our territory is very unique inthat we have much more landmass than we do population.So it’s a tough climate to do business in because we have alot of licensees in northwest Wisconsin with many miles inbetween. It’s kind of a logistics nightmare when about 70percent of our business is done in about 25 percent of ourarea.
BW: Which brands do you carry?MS: We carry spirits, wine, non-alcoholics and also havesome malts. We are not a beer house per se, but we do han-dle a few specialty beers as well as some specialty maltproducts like Bartles & Jaymes and Jack Daniels CountryCocktails. On the spirits side, we represent Diageo, BrownForman, Pernod, White Rock and just recently Sazerac. Onthe wine side, we’re a Gallo house, we have the Icon portfo-lio of Constellation, WJ Deutsch and Sons, Coppola andothers and several of the more highly allocated wines aswell. Premium spirits is what over the past ten years hasdriven the business as well as some of those highend wines.
BW: To what do you attribute the company’s 75 years?MS: One of the biggest things has been the willingness and the ability of the family to put the profits back into the company, which has allowed us to make moves that we needed to whether it was in the past buying other
distributors or being able to stay in the forefront of technol-ogy. We also have some greatpeople, and very, very littleturnover. We have several 20-year-plus employees and welive in an area where we’vealways been fortunate to findpeople with diverse back-grounds that have been loyaland work hard and bring some great experience to thetable. We also try to give back
to the community as much as we can.
A
Taking Care of BusinessReinvesting in the business has kept Saratoga Liquor Co. at the top of its game.By Andrew Kaplan
JULY 2009_BEVERAGE WORLD_75BEVERAGEWORLD.COM
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SARATOGA’S MANAGEMENT TEAM includes (l to r) owner Skip Smith,COO Mike Streveler, CFO Sandy Bergerstrom and owner Bruce Smith.
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s far as jobs go, it would be hard to say thatselling beer near beautiful Daytona Beachdoesn’t have its perks, but that doesn’tmean the folks at S.R. Perrott, Inc. don’t
take their jobs seriously. A female-owned beer dis-tributor based in Ormond Beach, Florida, S.R.Perrott has garnered numerous supplier awards,including a dozen Miller Brewing excellenceawards and seven awards from Coors Brewing, forits outstanding performance.
According to Michele Connors, president of S.R.Perrott, the company earns these accolades byworking hard to satisfy each supplier’s needs. “We just wantto be No. 1 with them,” Connors says. “We deal with 66 brew-
eries and 548 SKUs andone winery with six SKUs;we take care of business.”
Founded in 1962 bySamuel and MariettePerrott, the family-runbusiness is now into itsfourth generation of thefamily being involved in
the operations. A MillerCoors distributor, the company’s beersupplier partners include Heineken, Fosters, Pabst Brewing
Co., Boston Beer, Guinness and Yuengling while continuingto expand its portfolio with the acquisition of craft andimport brands. The distributor now carries Kirin, Sapporo,InBev and High Falls Brewery brands as well as an import-ed wine brand from Italy.
The company sells approximately 3 million cases a yearin a 360-square-mile area that stays busy year-round, yet seesspikes in business during big events like the Daytona 500.
“Those big bumps represent about 30 percent of ourbusiness,” Connors notes.
With an ongoing goal of being No. 1 in the marketplace,the company strives to grow its market share each year,with the ambition of eventually reaching a 40 percent mar-ket share. Connors credits the dedication of the company’semployees and the spirit of teamwork that pervades thecompany for the distributor’s continued success, despitethe current economic downturn.
“We’re analyzing deliveries and we’ve gone to almost 60percent bulk loading. We’re always analyzing the bottomline and that takes a lot of teamwork,” she says.
The largest female-owned employer in the OrmondBeach area, S.R. Perrott has the unique distinction of hav-ing women in most of the key management roles.
“I think we bring a caring side to the table,” Connorssays of the management team.
Looking ahead, S.R. Perrott has plans to build a newwarehouse facility on 15 acres in order to keep up with itsportfolio expansion. “My long-term goal,” Connors says, “isto see my children have a continued leadership role in thebusiness and teach them the ropes.”
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BEVERAGEWORLD.COM76_BEVERAGE WORLD_JULY 2009
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Sunny OutlookMICHELE CONNORS, CEO of S.R.
Perrott, is the second generationto run the company.
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Ormond Beach, Fla.-based S.R. Perrott sets the bar for superior execution and customer service with an ever-growing beer portfolio. By Heather Landi
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third-generation, family-owned distributor, NappiDistributors based inGorham, Maine has
grown into one of Maine’s largestbeer and wine wholesalers. Threebrothers, Frank Sr., Nick and SamNappi, followed in their father’sfootsteps and started the distribu-tion company in 1960.
The company has steadilygrown through a series of strategicacquisitions with other Maine dis-tributors and continual facility up-grades. In 1979, Nappi purchasedYork Bottling Co., which doubled the company’s territoryand sales. The company purchased Dirigo Distributors in1985 and Cumberland and York Distributors in 2002. FrankNappi Jr. now serves as president of the company andBeverage World spoke with him and Elmer Alcott, chieffinancial officer, about the company’s strategy for success.
Beverage World: What are Nappi’s keys to success?Elmer Alcott: We’ve got a very diverse portfolio. The broth-ers (Frank Sr., Nick and Sam) worked hard to obtain newbrands like Corona and Sam Adams and they sold WildIrish Rose, which grew into Constellation Brands, thelargest wine company in the world. They saw the comingtrend for craft beer and picked up all they could.Frank Nappi, Jr.: Our major suppliers are MillerCoors, SamAdams, Pabst, Crown and Guinness and we carry a lot ofMaine-based microbrews such as Shipyard, Geary’s,Allagash and Sebago. We have 600 beer SKUs and 3,500wine SKUs from suppliers such as Constellation Brands,Kendall Jackson, Banfi, Wine Group and Diageo.
BW: What makes Nappi unique?FN: I would have to say the people. We have a lot of dedi-cated, loyal people who have been here 20-plus years andit’s the family atmosphere. The family is known in south-ern Maine as being synonymous with the beer business.EA: We take care of our employees. No employees ofacquired distributors were terminated, instead we grewinto the number of people we employed.
BW: Your company recently moved into anew 155,000-square-foot warehouse. Howhas this improved operations?FN: This building, the way it was construct-ed, was to be as green as possible. All thelighting, heating and cooling are as effi-cient as possible. Our old facility was actu-ally seven buildings and it was extremelydifficult to work out of, especially as wegrew. The new facility has a truck drive-thru area for loading and fleet dock areasand we have a new wine mezzanine pick-ing system, which improves accuracy.
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Maine AttractionNappi Distributors continues to build on its reputation as one of Maine’s most successful beer and wine wholesalers while looking to the future. By Heather Landi
JULY 2009_BEVERAGE WORLD_77BEVERAGEWORLD.COM
BWFRANK NAPPI JR. continues to run the operations
started by his father and two uncles.
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1. Location. This, they say, is perhaps the most critical piecebecause of the need for good in- and outbound transportationservices. Transportation comprises, for a beverage distributor,up to three-quarters of logistics costs. “If you focus only onwarehousing, you’re missing the real story because the driverof costs is going to be transportation,” says Dan Sanker, presi-dent and CEO of logistics service provider CaseStack (SantaMonica, Calif. and Fayetville, Ark.).
2. Labor availability. Once you’re in a market that mightlook like a good central location, make sure it also has ware-housing-trained skilled labor. Experts say this is not alwayseasy to come by.
3. Height matters. Make sure the height of the building isenough that it offers you enough flexibility to change yourracking and storage options with your product mix. “If youhave a lot of height, and you use it right, and you rack itproperly, you can fit more in a building,” says Sanker.
4. Plentiful dock doors. When things get really busy, it’simportant to be able to move product in and out as smoothlyas possible. So make sure the facility has plenty of dock doors.
5. Be flexible. It can seem easier tocreate a layout for your warehouse and then leave it at that, instead of get-ting preoccupied by all the little firesyou need to put out each day. But putaside time on a firm schedule to reeval-uate the layout of your facility. “Ananalysis of your building layout cansave you money on energy and hourly
employee time,” says Sanker. 6. Choose a sensible racking and storage system. You
want to have multiple-sized racking systems in the samebuilding for the multiple different-sized pallets you want tobe able to accommodate.
7. Install a voice or light-directed picking system. If youhaven’t already, this minimizes the amount of time youremployees spend looking for product. And time is money.
8. Install a task or labor management system. Such a sys-tem, says Mark Humphlett, Infor’s director of product market-ing - supply chain, will answer such questions as how muchlabor do you need throughout the different areas of yourwarehouse, based upon the upcoming activities for the dayor the week ahead? And it goes even further, actually assign-ing the next tasks for specific workers resulting in a boost inefficiency for your operation. “It keeps all that informationup to date and compares it with reasonable expectancies asfar as how much time it should take, or engineered laborstandards,” says Humphlett.
He continues, “Labor is such a huge portion of the cost
BEVERAGEWORLD.COM78_BEVERAGE WORLD_JULY 2009
Warehouse Wish ListExperts offer 10 things that can improve the operations in a beverage facility.
In-house PET manufacturingbecomes a more viable solution.PAGE 80
PRODUCTION
by andrew kaplan
BEST PRACTICES
INSIDE BEVSOLUTIONS
BEVSOLUTIONSBEVSOLUTIONSdistribution • packaging • production • r&d • sales & marketing • supply chain
DISTRIBUTIONSome important tips to help youchoose a good liftgate.PAGE 89
s a companion piece to this issue’s Distributor’s Toolbox
report, we thought we’d focus a bit more on that nexus of
the supply chain—the warehouse. So we asked some
experts if they could build a warehouse from the ground up in
2009, which factors would they take into consideration? Here are
some of their responses.
A
associated with working in a warehouse and the margins aresomewhat thin, so you really need to understand how you
are using those labor resources across all thosedifferent tasks to get the most out of thoseresources in the warehouse.”
9. Use RFID. Radio frequency identificationsystems are being applied to a variety of differ-ent tasks in the warehouse, from directing lifttrucks to track and trace of products as they enterand leave a facility. RFID still has some troubleaccurately tracking caseloads of liquid product,but the technology is continuing to improve.
10. Sustainability. Those who incorporate sus-tainable practices into their operations are see-ing real benefits. Explains Sanker, “If we canmake the processes or the buildings or whateverwe’re doing sustainable, then we are takingwaste out of the system, we’re becoming moreefficient. And, as a result of less waste, you canmake more money.” Sustainability can be assimple as building your warehouse near publictransportation; installing skylights in your roof;painting the warehouse roof white for tempera-
ture control or installing low-flush toilets to reduce theamount of water that is used.
JULY 2009_BEVERAGE WORLD_79BEVERAGEWORLD.COM
BW
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Strategies for Best-in-ClassThis chart reveals how the practices of Best-in-Class sup-ply chain companies are based on a philosophy of continu-ous improvement. Many Best-in-Class companies havealready implemented a WMS and have been able to alignoperations with their overall business goals, and theirfocus is now on continuing to improve.
80
60
40
20
0
74%
65%
28%
12%
19%
31%
18%
35%
16% 19%
Implement more efficient
warehouse processes
Improve visibilityto warehouseactivities andinventory andorder status
Make greater useof warehouseautomation
Create moreagile, flexiblewarehouse tokeep up withrapid changes
Make better use ofwarehouse space
through more effi-cient use of existing
storage mediums
All Best-in-Class
SOURCE: ABERDEEN GROUP’S “FIVE STEPS TO OPTIMIZING WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT”
80_BEVERAGE WORLD_JULY 2009 BEVERAGEWORLD.COM
[PRODUCTION]BEVSOLUTIONS
o matter what aspect of the production process abeverage company is focusing on, reliability, flexi-bility and profitability are three things that crossthe minds of those behind plant operations. When
analyzing the manufacturing of PET in-house, choosing thebest turnkey provider is a thoughtfully made decision.There are a number ofoperators out there thatoffer blow molding andcomplete solutions for PETmanufacturing. Here aretwo supplier case studiesshowcasing internationalbeverage companies thathave implemented solu-tions from Sidel and KHSthat have made in-housePET manufacturing morecommercially viable.
Record Speed at NestléWaters Erikli: Founded in1965 by the Aslanoba fami-ly, the Erikli company bot-tles spring water fromMount Uludag in Turkey. In1993, the company decidedto invest in a new plant tobottle its water in PET, asopposed to glass. By doingso, the company gained astrong presence in the retailand home and office delivery channels in Turkey,which eventually resulted in the company becom-ing a leader in the Turkish PET bottled water market holding15.6 percent share of sales. The Nestlé Waters Group tookover Erikli in 2006, and today looks to future productiongrowth. Since June 2008, Nestlé Waters Erikli, based inBursa, Turkey, has been running a Sidel line equipped with aCombi 34, seven days a week, 24 hours a day to package61,200 PET bottles (0.33 and 0.5 liter) per hour—a newrecord in Europe and Asia, according to Sidel.
Today, the Turkish bottled water market is seeing double-digit growth and Nestlé Waters estimates that the marketwill grow 20 percent in volume by 2011. According toNestlé Waters, this growth is “related to evolving lifestylesand consumer expectations as the average standard of liv-ing increases within the population.”
To better handle the vol-ume increase, Nestlé WatersErikli has invested in a linefrom Sidel, equipped with aCombi that integrates blowmolding, filling and cap-ping functions. “We chosethe Sidel Combi for thelevel of hygiene it ensuresand for Sidel’s expertise inblow molding, equipmentproductivity and packagelightweighting,” explainsNestlé management.
Currently, NestléWaters Erikli, withfive plants, produces1.2 billion liters ofwater a year in a vari-ety of PET formats.
Non-Refillable PETfor Maltin: CerveceríaPolar, the biggestbrewery group inVenezuela, invested ina KHS turnkey line forMaltin, the company’s
alcohol-free malt beverage, because of “the trend towards thenon-refillable PET for soft drinks,” explains Joaquin Tresselt,technical director of Cervecería Polar.
As a non-alcohol malt beverage, Maltin is competing witha number of other soft drinks in the marketplace, 60 percentof which are sold in a disposable PET bottle. With the newKHS PET line for Maltin, Cervecería Polar is able to meet thegrowing demand for malt beverages in PET bottles.
N
IN-HOUSE PET MANUFACTURING
PET Can Offer Added ValueIn-house PET manufacturing becomes a more viable bottling solution for two internationalbeverage companies. By Jennifer Cirillo
PREFORMS FOR MAKINGnon-refillable PET bottles forMaltin are directly conveyedto KHS’ InnoPET Blomaxstretch blow molder with 14cavities.
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BEVERAGEWORLD.COM
Currently, Maltin is being filled in 1.5-liter and 0.5-literPET bottles. The main disposable bottle used for Maltin,however, is the 1.5-liter PET, which in Venezuela is the typ-ical family-size bottle. KHS’ line equipment is designed tohandle 22,000 0.5-liter disposable PET bottles per hour or15,428 1.5-liter PET non-refillables per hour. The systemalso can process other types of PET bottles offeringCervecería Polar flexibility.
The non-returnable PET bottles are produced inline by an InnoPET Blomax stretch blow molder with 14 blowstations. The preforms are fed to the blow molder andheated in the machine oven according to a precisely specified heating profile. In the blow stations, the preformsare then stretched and simultaneously inflated with compressed air. The finished PET bottles are turned andthen transferred to the Innoline LTR air conveyor. It wasimportant to Cervecería Polar that the blow molds could be changed within a minimum amount of time for product changeover. The InnoPET Blomax 14 has thusbeen equipped with the Speed-Loc quick-change system,designed to guarantee that mold pairs and bases can beswitched in a short time, in turn promoting the efficiencyof the line.
“The important thing for us is the outstanding results weachieve with this new KHS turnkey line with regard toproduct quality—and the great flexibility of the line thatmakes us fit for the future,” Tresselt says. BW
THE MAIN DISPOSABLE bottle used forMaltin is a 1.5-liter PET. In Venezuela,it’s considered to be the typical family-size bottle. In the Innopack SP 060 V,the PET bottles are first distributed intolanes and divided into specified productgroups by a servo-controlled groupingunit; Nestlé Waters Erikli, based inBursa, Turkey, runs a Sidel line equippedwith a Combi 34, seven days a week, 24hours a day to package 61,200 PET bot-tles (0.33 and 0.5 liter) per hour—a newrecord in Europe and Asia, according toSidel.
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The 1,000th Variopac SoldIn September 2009, Krones AG, Neutraubling, Germany, will bedelivering its thousandth Variopac packer. Ten years ago thefirst Variopac was commissionedfor VMH Rosbach, a bottler ofmineral water. In just 18 months,100 machines had been sup-plied to clients for packingcans, glass or plastic containers.
The Variopac shrink-wrapperfor non-returnables soonbecame available to handlehigh-speed production rangesof up to 100 cycles per minute.In 2007, the Variopac got a newname—Variopac Pro, which is now available in the global mar-ket in the following versions: TFS (tray-film-shrink), PFS (pad-film-shrink), FS (film-shrink) and T (tray). krones.com
CHASERSDubai to Host Beverage MeetingThe Arab Asian Beverage Meeting (AABM) is slated in conjunc-tion with Dubai Drink Technology Expo for Dec. 6-8, 2009 withthe support of the UAEMinistry of Economy and the Federationof UAEChambers of Commerce and Industry and in collabora-tion with Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority (JAFZA) and theDepartment of Naturalizations and Residency in Dubai as astrategic partner of the event.
The event will focus on promoting the latest drink processingand packaging systems, light machinery, equipment used in theprocess of manufacturing, treatment, filling, supply, packaging,transport, preservation and distribution of beverages. TheAABM is the first forum specialized in beverage and technologyto be organized in the Middle East. drinkexpo.ae
Diageo Enhances Perfect Plant ProgramDiageo looks to Informance International to drive manufactur-ing performance in its plant facilities in Relay, Md. andPlainfield, Ill. The global spirits, wine and beer company lever-ages Informance solutions and advisory services to support itsPerfect Plant Program with elements for the operating systemfoundation. Diageo uses Informance to monitor and measuremanufacturing performance. Then the manufacturer bench-marks operations performance to identify improvement oppor-tunities. With Informance IMPACT, Diageo can develop actionplans based on probability of success.
“The Informance pilot effort that led to the deployment inPlainfield was an eye-opening experience, exposing the extentof minor interruptions on our production lines,” Ish Ahamed,vice president supply, Diageo Plainfield. informance.com
[PRODUCTION]BEVSOLUTIONS
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f the IFT show in Anaheim, Calif. in June was any indi-cation, sweeteners derived from natural sources, Reb-A,for example, will be the next hot ingredient poppingup in mainstream beverages. Many exhibitors at the
Institute of Food Technologists’ AnnualMeeting and Food Expo showcased the latestsweetener innovations that offer beveragedevelopers what many consider the “holygrail” of sweeteners—natural, zero-calorie anda sugar-like taste.
Several exhibitors at the IFT show high-lighted Reb-A stevia sweeteners, includingWild’s OnlySweet, Enliten from CornProducts International, Cargill’s Truvia,Sweet Green Field’s high purity Reb-A 97percent and PureCircle, a supplier of highpurity Reb-A.
Ever since the Food and DrugAdministra tion granted Reb-A(Rebaudioside A) Generally Recognized asSafe (GRAS) status in December 2008, therehas been a whirlwind of new product devel-opment activity as beverage companies takeadvantage of the sweetener’s potential.Derived from the leaves of the South Americastevia plant, Reb-A is a stevia extract that’s 350 to 450times sweeter than sugar, according to SiddPurkayastha, Ph.D., technical director, PureCircle.
The GRAS status means Reb-A can be used as a generalpurpose sweetener at 95 percent purity or higher. While ste-via has been available in the US for years it was only FDAapproved as a dietary supplement. Reb-A sweetener is calo-rie-free and temperature and acid stable, allowing it to beused in a wide range of beverage products.
The Coca-Cola Company and Pepsi both announced newproduct launches or reformulations of beverage productssoon after the FDA approved the sweetener. Pepsi launchedTrop50, an orange juice with 50 percent less sugar and calo-ries, and three flavors of enhanced water brand SoBeLifeWater with PureVia, a stevia-derived sweetener developedby The Whole Earth Sweetener Co. Coke introduced Sprite
Green and two Odwalla juice drinks withCargill’s Truvia rebiana natural sweetener.
GLG Life Tech, a supplier of high gradestevia extract, provides Cargill with Reb-Afor the development of Truvia. Zevia, thefirst carbonated soft drink on the marketto feature stevia as a sweetener, recentlyreformulated its products using GLG LifeTech’s Reb-A stevia extract to enhance thedrink’s taste profile.
High grade stevia extracts have several flavors issues, according to GregHorn, senior director, SweetenerTechnology, Wild, including delayed onset in exhibiting the sweetness coupledwith a lingering sweetness.
“The stevia extracts also have a slight bitternesss. Like all high intensitysweeteners, they lack mouthfeel that
caloric sweeteners provide. The delayed onset insweetness is especially problematic in beveragessince the sweetness/acid balance is changing asyour drink. The tartness from the acid is quicklytasted before the stevia’s sweetness is perceived,”
Horn says.Formulating with Reb-A may require the use of flavor
modifiers, depending on the purity level (95 percent versus98 percent) and many ingredient suppliers offer taste or flavor modifiers to help resolve these issues. KerryIngredients and Flavors offers flavor modulation technologythat can mimic the intensity and mouthfeel of sugar to get afull flavor profile with stevia. Wixon developed Mag-nifique,a taste modifier that enhances sweetness and reduces thelingering aftertaste of stevia and Givaudan is developing flavor masking technology to enhance the overall taste performance of stevia.
Wild offers stevia blends with its Taste ModificationTechnologies, which were designed to provide upfront
INaturally SweetSWEETENER ALTERNATIVES
SPRITE GREEN is one of numerous new product launchescontaining a Reb-A stevia sweetener. Trop50 and SoBeLifewater contain PureVia, a branded stevia sweetener.
»
[ R&D ]BEVSOLUTIONS
Beverage developers are exploring new alternative sweeteners or combining them with mainstream high-intensity sweeteners to hit the right sweet note. By Heather Landi
[ R&D ]BEVSOLUTIONS
sweetness, cut the lingering sweetnessand eliminate the bitterness of steviawhile providing mouthfeel, Horn says.
Reb-A also can be blended with caloricand non-caloric sweeteners for a syner-gistic effect that reduces stevia’s after-taste and provides fuller mouthfeel.
For instance, Zevia also contains ery-thritol, a natural sugar alcohol, to helpovercome some of the stevia extract’sbitterness. Vitaminwater 10 contains acombination of crystalline fructose, another natural sweeten-er, and stevia extract. According to Stacey Walton, seniorfood scientist, Tate & Lyle, crystalline fructose rounds outthe sweetness profile of beverages by adding up front sweet-ness and improved mouthfeel. Tate & Lyle markets KrystarCrystalline Fructose, which exhibits a sweetness synergywhen blended with many nutritive and non-nutritive sweet-eners and has high solubility. Sweeter than sugar, it can be
used at a lower level than sugar whilemeeting consumers’ interest in naturalbeverages, Walton says. It’s also low calo-rie and low glycemic.
“Beverage developers can increase thehealth and wellness profile and lower thesugar content of their beverage by com-bining Krystar Crystalline Fructose with ahigh-intensity sweetener, like Splenda
Sucralose, to deliver a lower-sugar product. Krystar also hasbeen shown to enhance or intensify fruit, spice, chocolate,caramel and other sweet flavors,” she says.
PureLo is another non-caloric, natural sweetener that’sgaining ground as its highly stable, soluble and is 300 timessweeter than sugar. Derived from the Luo Han Guo fruit,PureLo has been affirmed as a GRAS food ingredient andwas developed by BioVittoria. BW
ALL SPORT ZERO was formulated with a stevia-basedsweetener to enhance its health and wellness platform.
»
[ PACKAGING ]BEVSOLUTIONS
Less is Moret last year’s Beverage Forum in New York City, KimJeffery, CEO of Nestlé Waters North America, sharedwith the audience how his company had reducedthe weight of its packaging by 40 percent. And, he
said, that was just the beginning.In the 12 months since then, container lightweighting has
caught on like wildfire inthe beverage sector. Stungby criticism about wastefulpackaging—criticism thathas led some municipalitiesto ban the sale of bottledwater in government build-ings—beverage marketersare fighting back by literallydoing more with less.
And it is not just water inPET. Glass bottles are get-ting lighter, as are cans, car-tons and even secondarypackaging. In fact, closuresare even shedding a fewounces, too.
According to PepsiCo’smost recent sustainabilityreport, the company savednearly 6 million kilogramsof packaging in 2008 and cut annual greenhouse gas emis-sions by 18,000 metric tons with adoption of a 20 percentlighter half-liter PET bottle with a 10 percent smaller labelfor Aquafina flavored waters, Lipton Iced Teas and Tropicanajuice drinks.
And just recently, PepsiCo went one step further, introduc-ing a lighter weight, eco-friendly package for its Propel fit-ness water. The newly launched bottle was designed by4sight inc., a structural branding and packaging firm in NewYork City. The bottle uses 33 percent less plastic than theprevious 500-ml bottle and 30 percent less label material.“Using dynamic, uplifting form elements throughout the bot-tle, we reinforced a theme of water in motion with a sense ofenergy reflecting the Propel brand,” says Stuart Leslie, presi-
dent, 4sight Inc. “We created swooping lines of varying thick-nesses in an uplifting visual motion that travel from thelower left to the upper right in the mid section.”
For Honest Tea, having a package that is environmentallysensitive augment’s this organic brand’s overall eco-con-sciousness. The RTD tea company became the first this past
May to adopt Graham Pack-aging’s new Escape bottle,what it says is the lightestweight bottle in the smooth-walled, hot-fill category. “Asa company we have a veryhigh commitment to mini-mizing our environmentalfootprint,” says SethGoldman, president andTeaEO of Honest Tea. “Ourpackaging has always beenour biggest challenge in thatregard. This is the singlelargest improvement we’veever taken in terms ofreducing our environmentalimpact.”
Paul Kelley, senior engi-neering manager for PETR&D at Graham, says,
“We’re taking about 20 percent of the weight out of the con-tainer.” The Escape is 6.5 grams lighter than the PET bottleHonest Tea was previously using. “It takes fewer resources tomake the bottle and fewer resources to transport the bottle,”Kelley says.
After the bottle is filled and capped, it goes through aCMA, a “continuous motion activator,” a machine that invertsthe base, which takes up the vacuum in the bottle and cre-ates a slight overpressure. “This process gives the bottle arigid feel, like glass, but it’s lighter,” says Phillip Sheets, sen-ior project manager for Graham Packaging. “There’s no struc-tural waste—no hoop rings or backing panels,” Kelley adds.
Honest Tea also has partnered with Georgia Pacific (GP) tolightweight the secondary packaging for its Honest Kids
LIGHTWEIGHTING
Don’t call them lightweights! They are helping beverage companies save face, and money. By Andrew Kaplan
A
BEVERAGEWORLD.COM JULY 2009_BEVERAGE WORLD_85
THE NEW PROPEL BOTTLE makes new inroads when it comes to lightweighting PETand label materials.
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BERICAP North America Inc.835 Syscon Court · CDN-Burlington, Ontario L7L 6C5Tel. +1/905/634-2248, Fax +1/905/[email protected] · www.bericap.com
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SuperShorty®
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� solutions for aseptic filling available
� optional with oxygen scavenger
SuperShorty® crown-Design
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[ PACKAGING ]BEVSOLUTIONS
drink pouches market-ed at Sam’s Clubstores. The new pack-aging features one lithocorrugated B flute boxfor all 24 pouches.According to GP, the newpackaging is 41 percent lighter, ismade with 35 percent post-consumer wasteand the handle is made with 45 percent post-consumerwaste. It annually reduces fiber use by 1,200 tons, elimi-nates 2,600 tons of carbon dioxide emissions and savesnearly 12,369 BTU of energy per year.
Even Tetra Pak says it is finding ways to reduce theamount of material in its cartons. “In 2006 we introduceda new generation of packaging material that providesgreater security against leakage and reduces its use ofpolymers by up to 35 percent of the inner layer,” saysIvano Selmi, vice president Tetra Pak Carton Value andmanaging director Tetra Pak Packaging Solutions. “Thisthinner polyethylene inner layer makes the packagelighter, increasing the percentage of renewable content.”Selmi adds that they are also working on a second genera-tion of closures that will contain up to 15 percent lessplastic.
Much headway is also being made in lightweightingglass. Fetzer Vineyards, one of the largest US wineries, hasbeen working with O-I to lightweight its 750 ml and 1.5Lwine bottles. Another glass company, Vitro Packaging, isalso offering lighter bottles. “The basic process is on redis-tribution of glass and cooling during the process,” saysHoracio Trujillo, marketing manager. “All this is done byreducing the walls of the glass container and in case of thewine reducing the size of the punt of the bottle, but at thesame time maintaining the strength of the container.” (SeeBeverage World June 2009 for more on glass lightweight-ing.)
And what better way to close then with closures?Considerable work is being done in lightweighting clo-sures. For example, the low-profile Aqua-Lok mini closurefrom Closure Systems International (CSI) cuts resin con-sumption 40 percent versus a standard 1844 26-millimeterclosure for PET water bottles. Savings stem from the short-skirt design of the cap and the bottle finish, the companysays. BW
HONEST TEA’S secondarypackaging for its Honest Kidsline cuts down on the use ofmore than 1,000 tons ofmaterial while also reducingCO2 emissions.
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ET (polyethlyeneterephtalate)plastic containers appeared inthe beverage packaging marketduring the 1980s with empha-
sis on the 64-ounce bottle. Reasonswere broad and varied ranging fromcost effectiveness, replacement forreturnable glass and material handlingissues in plant and retail areas.
Having been involved in initialdesign stages for the body/base cupconfiguration, the main issues becamecontainer production and cost. Whatwould the design configuration be andwho had the capability of producingthe container? This meant starting fromscratch with injection and blow molddesigners and manufacturers, resin type,content and suppliers, container specifi-cations including finishes and closuresand acceptance among franchisees andparent companies. The main issuesimmediately became production capa-bilities, capacities and costs.
Strategies were developed that estab-lished third party manufacturers as thesource of PET bottles; however, injec-tion and blow molding capability forthis type of material and container hadto be developed. Two entities wereneeded to complete the PET bottlemanufacturing cycle: 1) the mold man-ufacturer and 2) the bottle producer.Mold manufacturers with some capabil-ities enhanced existing molding tech-nologies, improved knowledge basesand provided feasible production plans.However, all mold manufacturers didn’tnecessarily produce plastic bottles;therefore, other production sources hadto be established. With mold develop-ment and production sources madeready, PET bottle specification develop-
ment was accelerated to meet plannedmarketing schedules. This PET bottleproduction scenario has existed for sometime with some variation; however, sig-nificant impacting changes have occurred.
PET bottle sizes now range from 8ounce to 3 liter in either standard orproprietary configurations. Although28mm and 38mm finish and closuresprevail, other “top of the bottle” designsare used. The most significant designchange has been the resin reduction inthe bottle body. The resin reductionand a one piece bottle have been twocost effective measures taken.
The cost issue is still pending: Howeconomically can you produce a PETcontainer? Many studies have beenconducted considering upsides anddownsides to self-manufacture of PET.The results have prompted many largebeverage producers into a self-manufac-turing mode for PET containers. In thisscheme, producers are provided withflexible manufacturing capability, costbenefits, potential over capacity salesand better control of material.
Even though PET bottles, in any con-figuration, size or package havereceived varied viewpoints and opin-ions, they have been in a progressivelyoperating mode for almost 30 years.Such constant progress has benefittedthe producers, retailers and consumersand will continue to do so.
P
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88_BEVERAGE WORLD_JULY 2009
Progressively PETOPERATIONS OBSERVATIONS
BEVERAGEWORLD.COM
John Peter Koss, a beverage operationsadvisor, has more than 45 years ofbev erage business experience asso -ciated with General Cinema Bev erages,Carling Brewing and Pepsi-Cola. Hewas an assistant professor ofindustrial engineering at Kent StateUniversity. Contact him at Tel: 305.829.3631; Fax: 305.829.2484
by john peter koss
[PRODUCTION]BEVSOLUTIONS
PMMI has launched "TroubleshootingPackaging Machinery," an online self-study course open to all packaging pro-fessionals. The e-course is offeredthrough PMMI U, PMMI’s training anddevelopment effort.
Developed incooperation withthe University ofFlorida,"TroubleshootingPackaging Machinery," presents entry-level theory, process and logic of trou-bleshooting and applies them to pack-aging operations. It is designed to helptechnicians improve observation, think-ing and communication skills andbecome more effective in findingsources of and solutions to machineryproblems on the packaging line.
Materials in the online course arebased on PMMI’s technical manual ofthe same name. The online servicebrings principles of troubleshooting tolife with animation, video and interac-tive exercises. It teaches a logicalapproach to troubleshooting, so a tech-nician understands what questions toask—and why —to locate the most like-ly cause of a problem before makingadjustments or repairs.
Students can access the course attheir convenience, and because it isonline, they can move at their ownpace, focusing the bulk of their timeand effort on the sections they findmore challenging or less familiar. Shortquizzes following each unit ensure stu-dents understand the material beforemoving to the next topic, and a mas-tery test at the end assesses each par-ticipant’s understanding of the subjectas a whole. pmmi.org/pmmiu/
IN BRIEFPackaging E-TrainingLaunched by PMMI
[DISTRIBUTION]BEVSOLUTIONS
BEVERAGEWORLD.COM JULY 2009_BEVERAGE WORLD_89
s SKU counts grow exponentially and other marketforces cause loading and routing strategies to be re-evaluated, more and more distributors are lookingat fleet changes to gain a competitive edge.
One of the more visible changes is the emerging trend offavoring bulk (dry-box/dry-van) bodies and trailers, over themore traditional side-load beverage trailers and bodies. Inour 2009 Truck Trends survey, side-loaders were still in themajority, but dry vantrailers took the topspot in future pur-chase plans.
The problem withmoving to bulk bod-ies and trailers is thatmost delivery loca-tions do not haveloading dock facilitiesavailable. The answerto this problem is theaddition of a liftgatethat uses an electro-hydraulic poweredplatform to moveloads between thetrailer/body floor andground level. A lift-gate can pay hugedividends inincreased productivi-ty, reduced productdamage and reduceddriver injuries. Here are few tips for fleet managers to followwhen choosing a liftgate.
1. When choosing a liftgate, it’s important to know not onlythe types of loads it will move today, but also the loads it maymove as your delivery operations evolve. Retention ramps arecompatible with both carts and pallets, but a manual reten-tion ramp can take more time to operate than a cart stop.
“We use a 24-inch retention ramp on our platform to keepthe load angle shallow for use with an electric pallet jack,making it easier to move the load on and off the platform,”
says Brent Jones, service & warranty manager for HollandLiftgates.
Peter Collins, VP of sales & marketing for Waltco Liftgates,says, “We’ve worked with a cart supplier to develop an autocart stop that acts as the ramp when the gate is on theground, but as soon as the gate is about four inches abovethe ground, it becomes a cart stop.” While a distributor maynot adopt a cart delivery system concurrent with the move
to bulk trailers/bod-ies, selecting a lift-gate that is compati-ble with both palletsand carts will allowfor “future-proof”growth.
2. It’s important tohave some “breathingroom” in the liftgate’sspecifications.Ordering a 5,500-pound capacity gateto move 5,500-poundloads, means the gatewill always be oper-ating at 100 percentof capacity, wearingon all of the gate’ssystems much fasterthan 5,500-poundloads on a 6,600-pound capacity gate.According to Arnold
Kowal, technical support manager for Maxon Lift, “I wouldalways put in at least 10 to 20 percent of capacity headroom.I don’t think that’s a matter of over spec’ing, but rather oneof proper spec’ing.”
3. At the spec’ing stage, making the choices that willensure sufficient amperage and voltage reaches the liftgateis the key to trouble-free operation. Proper alternator ratingson the truck/tractor, enough of the proper batteries andproper feeder wiring, all play a role in delivering the powerrequired by the liftgate.
ANeed A Lift?FLEET EQUIPMENT
Here are some important tips for choosing a liftgate. By Tom Kelley
LIFTGATES offer flexibility for moving loosecases/barrels, palletized loads, or the increasinglypopular cart systems that expedite product handlingfrom the warehouse to the store shelf. Largerrail/column style liftgates such as this Maxon BMRSeries are a popular choice among beverage distrib-utors; (inset) Retention ramps such as those shownon this Holland DH Series liftgate are compatiblewith both carts and pallets.
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On trailer installations, the liftgate is usually powered bya dedicated battery pack, so these batteries can be optimizedfor the liftgate’s needs. On a straight truck, however, thebattery pack is usually shared by the truck’s existing electricalsystem and the liftgate. Batteries that are good at providingthe short burst of power to start the truck, aren’t as good atproviding the sustained power needed by the liftgate, so acompromise between battery characteristics is required.
4. Corrosion protection of the liftgate's components isboth an aesthetic and maintenance concern. The liftgateplatform is subject to considerable abrasion, from pave-ment below and product/equipment above, so the finish-ing process needs to mitigate corrosion spreading from theinevitable scrapes and scratches. Maxon offers an optionalzinc rich epoxy urethane hybrid primer, MaxPro Z+, thatacts as a sacrificial anode in the case of a break in theouter barrier of the finish.
5. Preventive maintenance is the next step in mitigatingpotential headaches. Here again, the electrical side of theliftgate’s systems is critical. Maxon Lift’s Kowal says,“Battery voltage testing should be done at least once peryear. Any bare terminal connection should be cleaned ofany corrosion, re-tightened and treated with a protectivecoating that will prevent further corrosion. Electrical con-nectors should be disconnected, treated with dielectricgrease and reconnected to prevent airborne moisture fromcausing corrosion from the inside.”
6. The final step to ensuring trouble-free liftgate opera-tion is in the hands of the driver. Nobody should operatethe liftgate without having thoroughly read the operator’smanual. Knowing the safety precautions and operatinglimits of the liftgate are absolute requirements.
Part of the driver’s daily pre-trip inspection of the truckshould include testing the gate through its full operation cyclebefore leaving the warehouse. It’s much easier to replace abattery at the warehouse than it is when the liftgate is stuckin the down position in a customer’s lot across town.
[DISTRIBUTION]BEVSOLUTIONS
BEVERAGEWORLD.COM
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AN AUTOMATED CART STOP such as this configuration offered on the WaltcoWDV Series liftgate saves the step of latching/unlatching a manual cart stop orretention ramp.
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BEVERAGEWORLD.COM JULY 2009_BEVERAGE WORLD_91
or many distribution fleets, the perilsof making deliveries are fairly mun-dane, but when the market area beingserved includes a number of North
America’s top ski resorts, bad road condi-tions, inclement weather and extreme ter-rain are an everyday part of the job.
The Littleton, Colo. branch of StandardSales employs specialized equipment, highlytrained drivers and a flexible routing strate-gy to serve such a market in the mountainareas of Colorado. The Littleton branch isone of Standard’s nine distribution centers.The others are located in Odessa, Lubbockand San Angelo, Texas; Colorado Springs,Pueblo and Alamosa, Colorado and OliveBranch and Corinth, Mississippi. Standard’scorporate offices are located in Odessa.Today, Standard employs more than 400people, and is one of the largest beer distrib-utors in the United States.
The Littleton branch serves the southDenver metro area as well as the “front range” and mountainareas west of Denver. “Our sales region is Standard’s largestterritory and the most challenging geographically in whichto deliver, particularly during the winter months,” says MattCampbell, fleet manager for the Littleton branch. “Our trucksmust handle pulling loads up hills and passes with 6 to 8percent grades.”
Standard employs a multi-branch strategy to serve the
more urban areas of Colorado. With Colorado Springs locat-ed one hour south of Littleton, and Pueblo another hour far-ther south, the transit time spent just getting to routes wouldmake a single distribution center impractical.
Serving the ski resorts brings a seasonal variation in vol-ume. The peak season volumes of more than 130,000 cases amonth for the Littleton branch can drop to as little as 80,000cases per month in the off-season. Between the dramatic sea-
sonal changes, and still significant day-to-day changes, the company’s routingstrategy is dynamic by necessity.
According to route supervisor ChrisWafford, “On any given day in the off-season, we may combine two to threeroutes in the mountains and foothillstogether. Some days we only have nineout of 11 routes running, saving 20percent of our fuel consumption forthe day.”
Beer MountaineersFLEET OF THE MONTH
Top equipment and team effort keeps the cold ones coming at Colorado’s top ski resorts.By Tom Kelley
Standard Sales Co. -Littleton, Colo. BranchFounded: Littleton, Colo.Branch - 2004; ParentCompany - 1954Annual Volume: 1.2 millioncasesAnnual Sales: $20 millionTotal Employees: 47 (15drivers)
Suppliers/BrandsRepresented: Anheuser-Busch InBev, Monster,Hansen’sDelivery Area(s): southernmetro Denver & mountainareas of Colorado
Operations Executive/FleetManager: Matt CampbellShop Manager: Rodger
Palmer (PacLease)Route Supervisor/SafetyManager: Chris WaffordBrand Manager/Safety TeamCaptain: Tom TuffieldHR Manager: Pam Duzanica
Warehouse Location:Littleton, Colo.
FACT
S &
FIG
UR
ES
F
STANDARD SALES’ Littleton, Colo. branch uses extensivetraining and a team effort to keep trucks intact and deliverieson time in the precarious mountain terrain outside of Denver.Members of the team include (l to r) Jeff Perizzolo, driver;Matt Campbell, operations/fleet manager; Corey Johnson,driver; Tom Tuffield, brand manager/safety team captain;Glen Johnson, general manager; Chris Wafford, safety manag-er/route supervisor and Daniel Doerr, driver.
»
[DISTRIBUTION]BEVSOLUTIONS
Graciously Sponsored by
Graciously Sponsored by
Beverage World would like to thank all attendees, sponsors and speakers that helped to make the 4th Annual BevOps/Beverage Fleet Summit an
educational and enjoyable experience for all.
We look forward to seeing you again in 2010.
Thank You!
Campbell relies on a full-service leasingpackage from PacLease for his trucks andtrailers. With one of Denver’s twoPacLease locations on the south end oftown, the mechanics can get toStandard’s location quickly to performsmaller repairs on-site, enabling deliveryschedules to stay on time.
Even under the best weather condi-tions, serving the mountain area requires specialized equip-ment. While many fleets are able to use the medium-dutyClass 7 tractors to pull the larger side-load trailers, most ofStandard’s Littleton trucks are heavy-duty Class 8 KenworthT-800 tractors, ranging from 350 to 475 horsepower, gearedto run at freeway speeds on the mountain grades whenloaded.
Between the terrain and the weather, extensive drivertraining is a key element in Standard’s success formula.Campbell explains, “Almost all of our training is hands-on inthe truck. New hires usually start off as a helper on the routewith our existing drivers to get familiar with driving in themountains in the wintertime. You’re addressing two things,
the mountain driving and the winter driving, together there’sa lot to learn. It’s a long process of them being on the trucks,watching the other driver, then when they feel confident,they take a turn driving.”
Passing along the strategy that has kept Standard’sLittleton team safe and successful in a hostile environment,Tuffield says, “Extensive training of our guys has helped outand benefitted us in the long run, it has saved us moremoney than anything else. We’re not fixing trucks that arejust smashed up on the side of the road, or having a guy notknowing how to shift and tearing the transmission out.People can never have enough training, and that’s what wetry to pride ourselves on and strive for.”
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FLEE
T M
AK
E-U
P Type Quantity Primary Brand(s)
Pickups 6 Chevrolet
Straight Trucks 1 Kenworth T270 w/ Hackney 8-Bay Side Load
Medium Tractors 3 Kenworth T300
Heavy Tractors 9 Kenworth T800
Route Trailers 15 Hackney 18-Bay Side-Load
[DISTRIBUTION]BEVSOLUTIONS
ately, there has been no shortageof bad news for fleet managers,but to paraphrase WinstonChurchill, somebody who saw
more than his share of tough times, apessimist sees adversity in every oppor-tunity, and an optimist sees opportunityin every adversity.
With equipment sales just nowbeginning to find the bottom of amonths-long free-fall, dealers and man-ufacturers are more willing than ever towheel and deal on new trucks and trail-ers. As fleets in more volatile segmentsof the economy fall on hard times, usedequipment can be acquired for a frac-tion of its original cost. Most repairshops are similarly affected by theslowdown, so there may be huge bar-gains to be had on that overhaul orpaint-job that was originally scheduledfor next year.
Perhaps more importantly, the cur-rent economic adversity also encour-ages the fleet manager to look inwardlyto cut waste and inefficiency fromdelivery operations. When times arebooming, a fleet’s focus naturally tendsto shift toward meeting increaseddemand, but when business slows, boththe time and the incentive to improveoperations are present.
Rather than cutting new equipment purchases, now is the time to take advantage of bargainprices on equipment that can makeserious improvements to both customerservice and the bottom line. Recently in these pages, we’ve looked at optimization practices that can result in delivering more product while running fewer miles, and the shift tobulk bodies and trailers that enables
an increasing variety and volume ofproducts to be delivered with fewertrucks.
Every mile that isn’t driven and everytruck that can be eliminated, withoutreducing customer service, is that muchless fuel that needs to be purchased, atprices that are about as stable as aMichigan weather forecast.
Even though today’s trucks are cleaner than ever, there is still somelevel of public belief that reducingvehicular CO2 emissions will have apositive benefit, so it’s in a fleet’s best interest to track, document andpublicize any significant reductions infuel consumption and the resultingexhaust emissions.
Rather than cutting a dispatcher’shours if deliveries are down, maybenow is the time to put his/her analytical skills to work performing afleet energy audit. Not only does this provide the data needed to publi-cize the fleet’s “green” efforts, but it also can create a new awareness of thedispatcher’s ability to impact energyconsumption in typical day-to-day dispatch decisions.
Look around your fleet’s equipmentand operations. What can you improvenow, that you didn’t have the time toaddress 18 months ago? Take the opti-mist’s view and find opportunity inadversity.
Networkfleet, Inc. has unveiledthe soon-to-be-availableNetworkfleet 4200, a low-cost GPS vehicle tracking system for commercial and government fleets.The new system is designed forfleets that need reliable locationtracking, but do not require thepatented remote engine diagnosticsoffered by the Networkfleet 3500
wireless fleetmanagement sys-tem. Both prod-ucts use thesame full-fea-tured, user-friendly Web-based applicationto provide accessto vehicle infor-mation.
TheNetworkfleet4200 gives fleets a vehicletracking system
that includes a rugged, automotive-grade device backed byNetworkfleet's full service and sup-port. The company says the 4200,designed by Networkfleet's experi-enced telematics engineering groupand built in the U.S., is tamper evi-dent and hermetically sealed, allow-ing it to withstand harsh environ-ments. Additionally, Networkfleetsays, the 4200 works on all vehiclesand is built to pass SAE J1455 certifi-cation, an industry standard forelectronic equipment design inheavy-duty vehicles.
The Networkfleet 4200 will beavailable for purchase immediatelyfollowing the completion of externalnetwork certification processes,which are estimated to be finalizedin the middle of the third quarter of 2009.
IN BRIEFNew vehicle trackingsystem unveiled
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BEVERAGEWORLD.COM
Half Empty, Or Half Full?ROAD WAYS
JULY 2009_BEVERAGE WORLD_95
Truck industry journalist TomKelley is a former fleet managerwho now travels throughout NorthAmerica to stay on top of the latestproducts, strategies and trends forefficient and reliable fleetoperations.
[DISTRIBUTION]BEVSOLUTIONS
by tom kelley
[BEVSOURCE]
96_BEVERAGE WORLD_JULY 2009 BEVERAGEWORLD.COM
3D SafetyPilz Automation Safety L.P. is offering SafetyEYE, a camerasystem for three-dimensional safety monitoring, for factoryand non-factory automation. SafetyEYE is the basis for atechnology that detects objects in a three-dimensionalzone and alters a robot or a machine’s movement to pre-vent accidents. Developed by Pilz in conjunction withDaimlerChrysler, SafetyEYE places a customized 3D protec-tive cocoon around a danger zone with a single system,which has the potential to replace a multitude of two-dimensional sensors currently in use today. pilzusa.com
Performance Audit ProgramFKI Logistex is offering a performance audit program forits sliding shoe, linear belt and pop-up wheel sortationequipment and systems, including the UniSort productline. The audit is designed to reveal cost-efficient waysto optimize system capacity and throughput, improveequipment utilization and extend system life. fkilogistex.com
New Products
Four-Hose TapThe Octopus Tap is a multi-spout beer tap (four hoses) thatprovides a 300 percent increase in flowwith the High Capacity Hand Pump, according tothe founders, longtime friends Cody Payne and Ryan Welch.The Octopus Tap is made from rustproof 303 Stainless Steel or4 Port Noryl Plastic. octopustap.com
Pallet WasherThiele Technologies, Inc.’s pallet washer is designed to unstackindividual pallets from a stack, wash them and restack the cleanedpallets. Allowing stacks up to 14 pallets high, the pallet washercleans up to five pallets per minute, automatically removing con-tamination from all areas of a reusable plastic pallet, reducing odorand the potential of disease due to bacteria build-up, the companysays. The Thiele pallet washer has an optional PLC and touchscreen that shows diagnostic information, allowing operator inter-face. thieletech.com
Blow Printer ApplicatorTharo Systems, Inc.’s latestaddition to its product line ofprint-and-apply systems is thePA2000t/b Tamp/Blow LabelPrinter/Applicator. With orwithout a computer attached,the PA2000t/b Tamp/Blow canprint and apply labels, thecompany says. It has the abili-ty to apply labels to convex,concave or flat surfaces, oneither the top or side of aproduct. The adjustable prod-uct sensor stops the Tamp Padbetween 0.5 and 2 inches fromthe product—from there the
label is blown on, accordingto the company. tharo.com
Dispensing ClosureBericap “Transatlantique” dispensing closure hasbeen developed and designed to launch a brandnew premium product “Le Fruit de Monin” on thesmoothie market sold in cafés, hotels and restau-rants. This closure, according to the company,offers ergonomic and comfortable design allow-
ing a one-hand opening in a fast-serving bottlewith constant flow and automatic closing toensure continuing product integrity.bericap.com
[CLASSIFIEDS]
BEVERAGEWORLD.COM JULY 2009_BEVERAGE WORLD_97
FOR SALE
Buy, Sell or Trade 201b or 501b CO2 gas cylindersin test. Used fountain dispensing equipment,
5 gallon stainless steel syrup tanks reconditioned with stainless steel lids.
Call for prices 800-642-9124, ask for Mel ext. 112or [email protected]
P.O. Box 1326, Vineland, NJ 08362-1326.
J-Cor Trailer Sales“Your Premier Dealer of Liftgate Trailers”
Liftgate Trailers for Bulk/Cart Operation
Contact: Corey North at 770-954-3215 (office) or
[email protected] www.jcortrailers.com
US BEVERAGECOMPANY
For Sale--Company Name--in business for 20 years, since 1988.
No activity in 2009.
Contact Al Burke, US BeverageCompany, at 1.903.757.2168 oremail: [email protected]
Technical Beverage Servicestbsparts.com • 800-289-6527
Vent Tubes and Components• Crown
• Simonazzi• H & K
• Krones• Meyer
All SS tubes are electropolished!
Great prices, fast lead times. Not just a shop,
WE KNOW FILLING!
ADVERTISE TODAY! • CONTACT US!
Advertise in Beverage World’s Classified Section!
Call us today @ 1.646.708.7300
[CLASSIFIEDS]
98_BEVERAGE WORLD_JULY 2009 BEVERAGEWORLD.COM
ADINDEX Action Air 50
Advance 79
BB&T 50
BERICAP North America 86
Beverage Marketing Corporation 36 - 37
BevOps Fleet Summit 92 - 93
Big Systems 53
Bond Beebe Accountants & Advisors 71
B.R. Miller & Company 51
Central Beverage Company 56
CHEP 28 - 29
Closure Systems International 5
Deacom 32 - 33
Dr Pepper Snapple Group 59
Elite Storage Solutions 35
Encompass Technologies 73
Environmental Systems 54
First Beverage Capital 9
General Motors Corporation 2
Great River Economic Development Foundation 58
Group Hesse 77
Halvor Lines 75
Heineken USA 65
John Koss 59
KHS 74
Krones AG 17
Labrada Nutrition 100
LANXESS 82
Lujack’s Northpark Auto Plaza 63
Maxon Lift Corporation 90
Messe Muenchen 45 - 47
Michele & Group 76
MillerCoors 55, 73
National City/PNC 67
Navistar 65
Nestlé Waters 52
Northeastern Pennsylvania Carton Company 4
Padgett-Young & Associates 67
Page, Scrantom, Sprouse, Tucker & Ford P.C. 51
PMMI/Pack Expo 25
Powell Walton Milward Insurance 49
Power Trip Beverage 7
Presidente USA 23
Rechtien International Trucks 24
ROHA Natural Food Colours 84
Sidel Corporate SAS 81, 87
Swisslog 13
The Beverage Forum 2009 41
Truck Country 63
VPX Sports 11, 15, 19
Way Service 69
Welchs 16
World Trade Center Miami 94
Worldwide Food Expo 99
Zambelli USA 61
HELP WANTED
McCLAIN RECRUITING SERVICE: We are In needof job candidates for all positions in the beverage industry. Please send resume and salary information to Dianne McClain, or Brian Cupp at208 Bethel Drive, Salisbury, NC 28144. Telephone: 704-638-9710, Fax: 704-630-0754. All information confidential. Email: [email protected]
WANTED TO BUY
LOOKING TO BUY FINISHED PRODUCTS OR RAW MATERIALS.
• short-coded• discontinued• overstocked
Call Jerry at (847)947-6128
$$$ $$$
AMERICAN WHOLESALE CO.NEW/USED WALK-IN-COOLER-FREEZER-BOXES
REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS-EQUIPMENT.Large Inventory, All Sizes• Buy • Sell - Nationwide
Wholesale PricesPhone: 216-426-8882 • Fax: 216-426-8883
www.awrco.com
JUDGE INCAn Industry leader for over 35 yearswith a strong concentration in food/beveragemanufacturing.Contingency or Retained search • VPEng./Mfg./Quality • Plant Mgrs/Quality Mgrs •Warehouse/Distribution Mgrs • Engineers -Plant/Process /Project /Etc • Maintenance Managers/Supervisors • ProductionSupervisors//Quality Supervisors • SanitationSupv/Mgrs
To submit resumes or engage searches pleasecontact: Kristin GordonAssociate Vice President, Judge Inc888-819-3916,ext. 1322 Fax:[email protected] • www.judgeinc.com
http://www.judgeinc.com/brochure/Food_Flash/food_flash.html
We buy all food & beverage
out of code/overruns/pkgchanges we export cans/
bottles/dry/frozenJon at Wham Foods
Ph (954) [email protected]
CLOSEOUTS
We private label. Call for prices. Over 45 years in busi-ness. Contact Mel at Vineland Syrup., Inc. Vineland, NJ
1-800-642-9124www.vinelandsyrup.com• [email protected]
SYRUPS - Energy drinks and fruit juices. 11/2, 3 and 5gallon BIBBARBECUE SAUCES - Gallons, BIB or BucketsKETCHUP - BIB
PACKAGINGCO PACKER
Hot fill Juice & BeveragesCan, Glass & PET Call about sizes
Contact: Dodson Galloway956-585-8321
Mission,Tx 78572email:[email protected]
CONTRACT PACKAGING
Be Seen Online!Call us today @1.646.708.7312
In a market like this, you need to operate at peak performance. Beverage processors need every advantage they can get. Today, your biggest opportunity lies in innovation. At the Worldwide Food Expo, you’ll see how new technologies can address today’s hot topics — from trends and ingredients to food safety, sustainability and how to “green” your operations and packaging. This is the one event that encompasses the entire dairy, food and beverage production process from beginning to end.
W W W . W O R L D W I D E F O O D . C O M
QUENCH YOUR
INNOVATION
OCTOBER 28–31, 2009 CHICAGO, ILLINOIS McCORMICK PL ACE
MOVING AT THE SPEED OF INNOVATION
So go ahead, quench your thirst and better your bottomline.
WHERE THE DAIRY AND FOOD INDUSTRY COME TOGETHER
REGISTER TODAY!USE PRIORITY CODE ABW07
THIRST FOR
