As the craft brewing industry has grown, so has the education of styles and the ability to communicate those nuances through to the consumer, even in a three-tier distribution model for some breweries.
Years ago, explaining some less created and sold styles could be a challenge, but it has become easier for a wholesaler to learn and understand a brewery’s brand with the acceptance of craft as a viable option for generating profits.
“As the brand continues to grow, our brewery represents more and more margin dollars for our wholesalers,” explained Tin Roof Brewing CEO Jacob Talley. “Being near the top of the craft volume for our wholesalers, they can trust us to produce and deliver quality beer and quality programming for accounts with the support that they need, even as new suppliers continue to enter the market.”
MadTree Brewing‘s Director of Sales, Michelle Graef said an important point of communication and understanding is for the Cincinnati brewery to get wholesale partners to the brewery and involved in the process.
“We’ve grown our team as they’ve grown theirs,” she said. “Along the way we have figured out how to get through the initial “get to know you” stage a little faster and into the building together stage.
“We have a team of individuals that distributors want to partner with, retailers want to support and guests want to engage with.”
Tin Roof has partnered with many of its wholesalers in the Baton Rouge area and beyond Louisiana for almost seven years now, Talley pointed out.
He said the brewery will ask each wholesaler to be included regularly in sales meetings to introduce new brands, launch incentives and other key points.
“We also have an open invitation for any wholesaler that wants to come to the brewery,” he said. “If they want to bring an account with them, we absolutely welcome that. If they want to stop by the taproom to try the newest taproom specialty beer, that’s cool too. We take care of them here so that they can take care of us in the market.”
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