I am in the midst of a career change. Have been in Executive Search for the past 8-9 years, working for various sectors in the financial field. Suffice to say, I have been in the business of selling for a bit. One thing that has remained constant for me is my love of food and beverage, especially craft beer. I have been lucky enough to have toured around Oregon in Portland, Hood River, and elsewhere around the Columbia Gorge. I also have a former classmate from college who opened his own brew pub specializing in Belgians in Vermont, where I hear tons of new brews are coming from. I would love to learn more about becoming a beer broker with an eye towards bringing some of these tasty beverages to my home in New York and Brooklyn. Any thoughts, ideas, advice, contacts out there?
I'm not sure what you mean, can you explain what you would be doing in more detail, and why the market needs this position?
Although the craft beer market has grown markedly over the past 10 years, or at least it seams so since I've been drinking legally, there seems to be a lack of high quality craft beer available at beer bars and restaurants in New York. Time and again I come up against the same brewers with the same beers. Whether that's at Blind Tiger, a good beer bar, that rotates, but is loyal to certain brands, or the Pony Bar in Hell's kitchen, or Ginger Man. Yet that's not to say that what's available is bad, or that there aren't other beer bars out there doing great things. This may simply be because of market penetration of certain brewers (good brokers and distribution networks, and regional popularity). I think there is room to educate the public about the plethora of beers available both in the growing North Eastern market, and those from the West Coast. I hear there are interesting things in the middle states as well. Without having tried too many east coast beers, I tend to prefer the Northern Pacific breweries, if only because I have been out there and am more familiar with them. Let it be said, I am no expert, for now I am an appreciator with ambitions. The role I envision would be to reach out to up and coming and small breweries to learn about what they are trying to do and to see if they would be interested in distributing to a wider audience. To be fair, some breweries just aren't interested in that. It took a while before Double Mountain in Hood River started to bottle their own, and I think, if memory serves, they still don't plan on distributing widely. I see a market for distribution as craft beer becomes more popular, whether or not there is interest in breaking into that market depends upon the brewery. For now, I am trying to step out of my zone to do some due diligence to see if there is a place for me in that capacity.
Seems to me what you're talking about seems in part like being a beer distributor, finding good brands and then getting them into the hands of people in NY who will appreciate them. If so, your first step is to learn the legalities of the three tier system as implemented in NY State. To see if you want to continue. Then find out how much a license would cost you to fill that middle tier because you can't arrange to bring beers into many states without a proper license. That may also require some sort of federal licensure. Then decide if you still want to continue. While much of information you'll be looking for can be found with some fairly straight forward googling, at some point it will probably be a good idea to find a lawyer specializing in the laws governing alcohol sales whol knows something about what happens within NY, and possibly in target states you might be interested in importing from, as well as at the Federal level because there are laws in the state of origin, state of destination, and at the federal level that have to be dealt with. Even if you only bring beer into NY from one other state there are going to be 3 sets of laws to contend with.
All good advice from @drtth. I think you are going to find that beer distribution in New York, much like the other states, is a highly regulated industry. I would expect that most distributors in New York are constantly on the lookout for new brands and have dedicated personnel to establish relationships with breweries. So you may be best served looking for a job with a distributor. Also, many of the highly sought after craft beers have limited distribution due to brewery capacity, rather than lack of a relationship with a distributor. Best of luck!
OP, I think you might be onto something here. For example, last night I was at the Flying Saucer and I ordered a Pliny the Elder, standard DIPA offering or so I thought. It was a shock then, when the server informed me we don't get that beer in Texas. It sounds like what you're proposing would fix this problem, which would be great.
How to Become a Beer Distributor from the National Beer Wholesalers Association (hope you like paperwork).
I would educate yourself first. Your competition is remarkably well qualified to judge and sell beer. What is the name of your friends brewery in Vermont? Wouldn't be Stone Corral or Queen City, would it?
Sorry, but his idea wouldn't help in the case of your example or other similar situations. There's already too many people and places that know about and want PtE so demand already far exceeds supply (and has for years). So even if you had somebody in Texas looking to do in TX what he's suggesting doing in NY there are some beers you just won't see distributed in TX.
Re-focus on what you do currently. A lot of places carry the beers they do for a reason, it sells given their demographics, etc. We have all been in a ton of places that offer big box brands. For example, I once asked Joey why no bars/restaurants on Clearwater Beach carry CCB beers. His answer was that the beach crowd (even considering vacationers) is an Ultra or Corona consuming group. Now Jai Lai does show up more regularly now but the beach drinks lite beer by the truckloads. If you think that businesses aren't aware of what their demographics want, I would challenge that. If you think that people just aren't educated, I would challenge that as well. If you are running a biz and putting in say 80-100 hours a week, you have probably considered a ton of choices including different beverage choices.
To the OP, never come to BA forums seeking professional advice. Everyone here is an expert and should be making the big bucks in craft beer consulting.
