Starting a Distributorship?

I often thinik about how I can get more of the beers that I like and It occurred to me that I should start my own little boutique distributorship.
It would ahve the advantage of being an established company when I finally (read as years away) was able (skill and financially) to start my own nano type brewery. Ha -Ha I will thwart the three tier system and become the Sam Calagione or Fritz Maytag of microDistribution!

Then I started reading, and reading, and reading some more and whoa.

I think that for a craft brewer they would really appreicate a distributor that appreciated beer and wasn't a slave to the BMC network, but alas they crowd out all the others. Then add the Three tier sytem, "fairness" laws and franchise agreements and my head is swimming.

Anyone have any first hand experience or info?

(wind whistling through shattered window panes)



This thread is a ghost town....

Little Guy Distributing (now World Class Beverages) started out by one of the partners in Papago Brewing starting his own company to supply Papago with beers that were unavailable.

It's possible, but I think that you'd have to get luck with something truly niche and a bigger gamble than a current distro would pick up. I mean, just because RR isn't in Illinois doesn't mean that Vinnie is waiting for your call.


I can't even imagine navigating through the fiefdoms in Chicagoland. That's a whole new subject.

Illegal in some states to be a member of two tiers at the same time.

South Carolina sucks.

So check the laws in your state. I say go for it, but be prepared to haul a ****-ton of beer in and out of stores. Read Beer School by the guys at brooklyn, theres a good bit about distributing in there.

olllllo said:

I can't even imagine navigating through the fiefdoms in Chicagoland. That's a whole new subject.

Click to expand...

That's the bigger issue....

I wasnt; thiking Vinnie was waiting with baited breath:
Bells, and New Glarus have alreadd had their own toussles in chicago (an their "original" partenrs are owed a handsome pay day for the redistrubition.... (disclaimer: bells has already, over a year ago worked it out but "terms undisclosed" is always the tag...)

Da MOB.


-OCD

GreenwoodRover said:

That's the bigger issue....

I wasnt; thiking Vinnie was waiting with baited breath:
Bells, and New Glarus have alreadd had their own toussles in chicago (an their "original" partenrs are owed a handsome pay day for the redistrubition.... (disclaimer: bells has already, over a year ago worked it out but "terms undisclosed" is always the tag...)

Click to expand...

As another inhabitant of the Great State of Illinois, I can tell you that if you pursue your dreams far enough, at some point you will politely be told you can't do it. If you pursue the matter, things may become less polite. Beer distributing in Illinois always has been, is now, and always will be a racket; you'll have better luck trying to distribute heroin.