7) What are some the more common mistakes that you see/hear of craft brands making in Philly (& elsewhere)?
Choosing the Bud house. No, actually that’s partially true. Blindly choosing a wholesaler based on on its distribution footprint has zero influence on whether or not their brand is going to be in those accounts. Lets face it. Craft beer makes up 12-15% of our market in total dollars which is about 10-12% in terms of volume. Most of that is local so if a representative of a non-local brewery does the math, his/her beers will be in about 5% of the licensed retailers at best. Just because Bud is in nearly every account out there does not mean your craft brands will be alongside them. We hear stuff like, “Oh, well they are the biggest wholesaler in the market or they are in the Bud network so it was a perfect fit.” Less than six months later, they will see stagnant sales and out of stocks happen because the wholesaler sees it to be difficult to get the brand off the ground. The wholesaler comes back saying, “We need a rep in the market, or you need to change the packaging, or your date coding is too short.”
8- How are craft beer sales for BV for the first half of 2011 vs. the first half of 2010?
We just posted on our Facebook page about this being the best six months ever in the history of the company, and we have been around for over 26 years now. We have heard some of the bigger guys are flat or down by 5% or more in our area but we are up over 12% from last year and last year we were up over 14% from the previous year. That growth is manageable and sustaining healthy gains, allowing us to grow organically, as when we invest more into our infrastructure, trucks, sales force, cold storage, etc. We do so paying for it up front and not through financing or reaching out to investors. We are a debt-free company that has our accounts and better beer drinkers everywhere in our region to thank.
9) One of the main parts of your job is obviously to sell your product and that requires placements at retail and tap handles in bars. Are you guys more frequently competing with an opposing wholesaler’s craft brands or mega brands?
The one misnomer we hear is arrrgh kill yellow fizzy beer!. Thats not the battle on the front lines here in Philly and beyond. We are always battling other wholesalers for tap placements and shelf space that is primarily designated for craft beer. The one thing that we do see is more and more people have gone from an Inbev or MillerCoors product to a craft product or entry level craft product such as Sam Adams, Sierra, or Yuengling. Floor and shelf space that is owned, in part, by kick backs is just going to swap those items by season or need. You certainly aren’t going to see a Dark Horse display up front for Labor Day Weekend unless that retailer wants it there for no other reason than to give it play or because they like us as a wholesaler. Thank god there are many of those guys in our market!
The only way to gain new placements from Inbev/MillerCoors brands and their ilk is if
a) a new leaf has been turned at the retailer level
b) if lackluster sales due to stagnant tap handle placements force a retailer to look at things from a different perspective and are willing to try new things or
c) if a new manager comes into the establishment that is gungho for better beer.
We have seen the latter a few times but poor execution can have adverse effects. Educating staff on beer handling and proper pouring etiquette goes a long way and translates into turning over draft lines quicker. Removing the ‘commodity stigma’ that beer has from the equation and making it a better sensory experience pays dividends in itself.