I'm in the planning stages of a new brewery, but know I need some help better understanding the brewer-distributor relationship.
Would anyone be willing to share any information on yours, or "typical" (which may not exist) brewer-distributor relationships/contracts? In specific some of the questions I have are:
- Are distributors generally receptive to ideas such as carving out small areas for self-distribution within what otherwise would be their territory?
- Are distributors generally receptive to ideas like letting the brewers make sales calls for select accounts (meaning for example that the distributors might focus only on distribution to key accounts, but would perform both sales & distribution to smaller retailers)?
- Are ride-alongs with the distributor representatives common-place?
- From a brewer's perspective, what is the general "cost" of using a distributor? Any number would be much appreciated, be it a markup percentage range, net profit when outsourced vs self-distributed, general dollars/barrel FOB figure, etc.
- How is information generally shared? Is the brewer usually updated regularly on distribution and sales (or is there generally something available on line), or is that information rarely even available?
Beyond those questions, any other intel on how your relations are would be invaluable (even if it's very general, like 'cordial', 'low-communication', 'interactive', etc.).
Thanks in advance,
-Ian
Would anyone be willing to share any information on yours, or "typical" (which may not exist) brewer-distributor relationships/contracts? In specific some of the questions I have are:
- Are distributors generally receptive to ideas such as carving out small areas for self-distribution within what otherwise would be their territory?
- Are distributors generally receptive to ideas like letting the brewers make sales calls for select accounts (meaning for example that the distributors might focus only on distribution to key accounts, but would perform both sales & distribution to smaller retailers)?
- Are ride-alongs with the distributor representatives common-place?
- From a brewer's perspective, what is the general "cost" of using a distributor? Any number would be much appreciated, be it a markup percentage range, net profit when outsourced vs self-distributed, general dollars/barrel FOB figure, etc.
- How is information generally shared? Is the brewer usually updated regularly on distribution and sales (or is there generally something available on line), or is that information rarely even available?
Beyond those questions, any other intel on how your relations are would be invaluable (even if it's very general, like 'cordial', 'low-communication', 'interactive', etc.).
Thanks in advance,
-Ian
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