Cheers Board addresses control issues

Cheers, June, 2005

Two Cheers Editorial Advisory Board representatives met in Alexandria, VA, earlier this spring in an informal session with top National Alcohol Beverage Control Association (NABCA) officials and several key state commissioners. Industry representatives from Barton Brands, the American Beverage Institute, and the Adams Beverage Group also attended. The meeting was organized and chaired by Lynn Walding, administrator of the Iowa Alcoholic Beverage Division and NABCA's immediate past president. The goal of the half-day session was to seek ways operator concerns could be addressed within the current legal and regulatory framework.

The operators had been seeking an effective forum to air problems that some of the larger casual theme operators felt they were running into in certain control jurisdications. Tim Johnson, director of purchasing and beverage operations for Champs Entertainment, and Debbie Allison, director of beverage and food procurement for Darden Restaurants, along with James Kramer, vp beverage operations at Landry's, who did not attend, were chosen by board operators in February to serve as a committee that would address control state issues for the group. A survey of board members conducted earlier by Johnson had identified issues such as product substitutions and availability, inconsistent rules on POP merchandising and trade practices and concern over state markups as particularly nettlesome to operators with multi-unit operations in a number of states.

Control state officials attempting to offer useful solutions to the operator concerns included NABCA president and director of the Montgomery County Department of Liquor Control George Griffen; Doug Fox of the North Carolina Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission, Randall Smith of the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board (also a former NABCA president), and Curtis Colbum of the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Board.

Many of the problems the operators said they faced seemed, after lengthy discussion, to boil down to a couple of product areas--especially wine and cordials--where the large number of discrete products were described as representing a challenge straining the regulatory agencies' capabilities as well as the operators' patience. Much of the response from the regulator attendees could be paraphrased as knowing the book on individual state practices and then seeking informal as well as formal channels to get things done. The importance of understanding how to work in different states was stressed in practical advice offered throughpout the discussion by Barton vp Rick Przebieda.

Additional information on NABCA resources available to the chain operator community came from NABCA executive director Jim Sgueo and association statistician Jerry Janicki. Both Cheers board members said they were happy with the outcome of the meeting.