Industry All Access Exclusive
Navigating Your Brewery Through Wholesaler Staff Turnover
Whether through consolidation or layoffs, a brewery can lose its point of contact at a wholesaler. Here’s how to keep sales on track while strengthening your partnerships in the middle tier.
Whether through consolidation or layoffs, a brewery can lose its point of contact at a wholesaler. Here’s how to keep sales on track while strengthening your partnerships in the middle tier. <a href="https://brewingindustryguide.com/wholesaler-staff-turnover/">Continue reading.</a>
https://brewingindustryguide.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto/https://www.datocms-assets.com/75080/1656434232-distro-illo-issue-17-web.jpg?auto=format&w=900
It’s never been easy to be a small brewery in a wholesaler’s vast book. In the past few years, however, a host of factors have combined to make this positioning even more challenging:
- Distributor consolidation has shuffled the landscape.
- Bud Light’s struggles left Anheuser-Busch InBev–aligned houses reeling.
- A slowdown in craft sales has meant that wholesalers’ attention focuses elsewhere.
- Wholesaler portfolios have been growing ever bigger amid the growth of hemp-derived beverages, energy drinks, canned wine, and RTDs.
Then there’s staff turnover—a broader industry trend, and distributors have not been immune. It’s a trend that can have major ripple effects on small supplier partners, who often feel like they barely have the ear of their wholesaler to begin with.
“I certainly have had experiences where we established a great relationship with a craft brand manager, they leave, and then you’re left wondering, ‘Who should I talk to?’” says Michelle Forster, sales director at Black Tooth Brewing in Sheridan, Wyoming.
ALL ACCESS EXCLUSIVE
Access All of the Brewing Industry Guide
Subscribe today to access all of the in-depth brewing stories & advice you won't find anywhere else (including this article). Subscription includes unlimited access to every brewing report, brewing course (60+), article, video (55+), magazine issue (40+), and more.