Category: Distribution & Retail
News pertaining to the distribution and retail tiers
News FTC Sues Southern Glazier’s for Price Discrimination
The Federal Trade Commission sued Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits, the largest distributor of beer, wine and spirits in the country for price discrimination, alleging that Southern favored large chain buyers such as Costco, Total Wine & More and Kroger over smaller independent retailers.
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News NBWA ‘Beer Purchasers’ Index’ Shows Beer Contracting as Summer Ends
Hopes of a strong summer for beer sales are beginning to fade as most signs are pointing to flat or down sales for the summer months. The National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) has just released the Beer Purchasers’ Index (BPI) for August 2024, which shows “a downshift in distributor sentiment to a more cautious outlook for the beer industry heading into the end of summer,” the NBWA said in a statement.
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News Columbus & Delmar Distributing to Acquire The House of LaRose in Ohio
In another shakeup of the Anheuser-Busch distribution network in Ohio, Columbus & Delmar Distributing has announced that it will purchase family-owned The House of LaRose, another AB wholesaler in the state. The announcement comes just a week after AB announced it was closing its brewery-owned distribution business in the Canton area and transitioning the brands to The Columbus Distributing Co.
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News Hard Fought Franchise Reform Passes in Wyoming
Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon has signed Senate File 0079 (SF 0079), a franchise reform bill into law. The bill has been a long fought and negotiated compromise between the states beer wholesalers and craft brewers to provide some relief to small brewers when terminating a distributor.
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News Featured Interview: BevPort Aims to Offer New Distribution Model for Craft Beverages
The traditional three-tier system for beer distribution is often a challenging and frustrating experience for brewers. Although self-distribution can work for brewers in their local market, for distribution on a wider scale, the three-tier system is the brewers only alternative. The BevPort Distribution Portal aims to change that by offering brewers a three-tier compliant digital distribution portal.
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News Cape May Brewing Ends Self-Distribution – Moves to MillerCoors Network
Cape May Brewing Company has announced that it will divest its distribution rights and cease self-distribution of its products through Cape Beverage Distributing. The move may be a rising trend among craft brewers who decide to focus their attention on the brewing side of the business and at the same time extract working capital by selling the distribution rights to beer wholesalers.
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News Craft Beer Makes Encouraging Rebound in August NBWA BPI
The National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) released the Beer Purchasers’ Index (BPI) for August 2023 which shows craft beer at 42 which is 14 points above the August 2022 reading of 28. The trend may indicate that the segment has bottomed out and could see higher levels of ordering in the future.
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News Seven Calif. Beer Distributors Join Forces to Create Statewide Network
As in many states, trying to piece together a network of regional beer distributors in California to cover the entire state is extremely difficult. But seven independent beer wholesalers have developed a novel idea of banding together to offer a shared distribution network called California Beverage Solution.
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News Oregon Settles Lawsuit – Allows Out-of-State Breweries to Self-Distribute and Ship DTC
The state of Oregon and the Oregon Liquor & Cannabis Commission has quickly settled a lawsuit brought by Washington breweries. The settlement will allow out-of-state breweries to self-distribute and ship beer directly to consumers in Oregon, a big win for adjoining Washington craft brewers.
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News Quality Beverage in MA Purchased by Wine & Spirits Wholesaler Martignetti
Martignetti Companies, the sixth largest distributor of wine and spirits in the United States has announced that they will acquire Quality Beverage in Massachusetts. The deal is another indication that wine and spirit wholesalers are blending into the beer distribution side as the middle-tier continues to consolidate.
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News Two Craft Distributors Shut Down in WA Leaving Brands Without a Home
Pepsi Co. has purchased the fourth-generation family-owned Washington Pepsi distributor Corwin Beverage and plans to shut down their two craft beer divisions, leaving over a hundred craft beer and cider brands without a distributor in Southwest Washington and the Seattle Metro area.
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News BPI Index Has Lowest Number Ever Signaling Pessimistic Start to 2023
The NBWA’s Beer Purchasers’ Index (BPI) had its lowest index reading ever in the month of December 2022. The December BPI shows a reading of 30, and the “at-risk” inventory index of 51 marks a very pessimistic outlook for January 2023.
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News TTB and IRS Descend on Southern Glazer’s Northern California Office
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) descended on the Union City offices of Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits last week according to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle. Union City is located just across the Bay Bridge from San Francisco.
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News Mega-Grocery Merger – Kroger to Acquire Albertsons
Kroger, which operates 2,721 supermarkets across the country announced today the acquisition of Albertsons. The marriage of the two largest grocery store chains in the country will have a combined total of almost 5,000 stores nationwide.
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News Reyes Buying Frenzy Continues with Two More Acquisitions
Reyes Beer Division (RBD) has agreed to acquire Paradise Beverages, Inc. in the state of Hawaii. The transaction is scheduled to close in early December, according to Shanken News Daily. The acquisition adds about 8.9 million cases to RBD’s overall operations, and includes brands from Molson Coors, Constellation, Boston Beer, Diageo, Heineken USA, Maui Brewing and others. RBD will operate the business as Hawaii Beverage, LLC and will maintain all five existing distribution facilities across the state.
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