Minnesota Municipal Beverage Association Newsletter
(October 11, 2015 - October 17, 2015)
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As I See It...

In many of our facilities, the liquor manager is the only full time employee.

We may have one or two who can work day shifts, but for the most part we have staff with very limited availability.

So it is up to us to know everything about vendors, their products, freight schedules and how to process invoices for payment.

We also ring, schedule, train, stock and even mop the floor.

We know it all and we should!

However, we probably aren't the best delegators either, it's just easier to do it ourselves.

We don't need any help; we can do it ourselves because we are
"Super Stars"!!

Just when we think we are all that and a bag of potato chips, "BOOM", there's a personal emergency and now we can't be at the facility.

Now What??

Who's left to do the orders?

Who knows everybody's schedule?

Due to this exact scenario a couple of weeks ago, I have seen the light!

I needed an action plan!

It was very simple and easy to do.

Just a few easy steps and all the information goes into one folder.

Step One: Make a list of Employees and their availability. This way our administrator or staff knows who is available at times they could possibly fill in.

Step Two: Generic vendor calendar. We made ours a Monday through Friday.

On the appropriate day, we listed the vendors and the approximate time they would show.

We also listed the delivery times on the appropriate day.

There is a million ways to do it.

Just make it simple for anyone to follow.

Step Three: List of vendor phone numbers and the basic products they carry.

You can adjust as well to your purchase styles.

I put all the information in one folder at the front of the top drawer in the file cabinet.

In red marker I listed it as Emergency Store Action Plan.

I also made copies and gave to my City Administrator.

The last item I couldn't put in the folder was delegating.

We all know we need trust our staff to do more, and with proper training there is no reason they can't do the orders.

Besides we're doing the training and we're all "Super Stars"!!

Right.....?

Bill Ludwig
Paynesville
Did You Know?

From: WCCO Television

The Centers for Disease Control found excessive drinking cost the U.S. $249 billion in 2010.

The dollar figure covers everything from disease to crimes where alcohol played a role.

Minnesota accounted for $3.8 billion and Wisconsin $4.4 billion.

It's a night out on the town that could cost much more than your bar tab. A breakdown from the CDC finds we all pay for excessive drinking, as much as $2 a drink.

Those costs cover everything from falls to fires, homicides to hypothermia, anything where alcohol played a part.

"This just highlights the fact that this continues to be a problem both in terms of health and in terms of economics," Commissioner Ed Ehlinger from the Minnesota Department of Health said.

Ehlinger doesn't think alcohol abuse gets the attention it deserves. He says illegal drugs often steal the spotlight, though alcohol is having a greater impact.

The Health Commissioner points to binge drinking - defined as consuming four to five drinks on one occasion - as the biggest problem.

In this study, binge drinking accounted for more than 75 percent of the costs.

"It will continue to be a problem until we do something about it," he said.

Ehlinger says raising liquor prices causes consumption to go down, along with banning Sunday sales, keeping it out of grocery stores and gas stations, and cutting back on marketing.

"We know that if we decrease it like we did tobacco, alcohol use will go down," he said.

"We don't show people it has some negative consequences," Ehlinger said.

The Centers for Disease Control also found just how deadly alcohol can be. 88,000 people die each year from excessive alcohol consumption across the country.

The report said one in ten deaths among working-age Americans can be blamed on alcohol.
What Does the Anheuser-Busch InBev Merger with SABMiller Mean for the U.S.?

By Roberto Ferdman, Washington Post

Anheuser-Busch InBev announced Tuesday that it had reached a $106 billion deal to acquire SABMiller, creating a behemoth that would control nearly a third of the world's beer supply.

The acquisition, which was agreed to after several failed offers over the past few years, would make it the fourth-largest takeover in corporate history.

Anheuser-Busch InBev, based in Belgium, owns a handful of the world's most famous beer brands, including Bud Light - which accounts for one in every five beers sold in the United States - Corona, Stella Artois, Beck's and Modelo.

London-based SABMiller, meanwhile, sells a number of well-known drinks, too, including Castle Beer, Miller Lite and Miller Genuine Draft.

The company also has found success with a selection of more localized beers, such as Aguila and Poker, which are popular in parts of Latin America.

Together, the combined reach after the pending deal would be like nothing seen before in the industry - the two companies together would generate about $64 billion in revenue annually.

And for that reason, there has been some apprehension regarding what that kind of power could mean for beer markets around the world and in the United States, where the two companies control more than 70 percent of sales.

But some analysts say there is reason to believe this deal has more to do with synergies across the world than it does with exerting power over any single market.

"I keep hearing people talk about how this is going to affect the U.S. market, but there will be virtually no impact at all," said Mike Mazzoni, a senior partner at Seema International and longtime beer industry veteran. "Things will literally be just as they were before."

The expectation, according to Mazzoni and others in the industry, is that Anheuser-Busch InBev will have to sell its ownership stakes in companies such as Miller­Coors to gain the approval of antitrust officials.

As a result, familiar brands such as Miller Lite and Coors Light could end up in the hands of a third party.

"I'm told Molson Coors, which operates globally ... and sells Molson and Coors, is the likeliest buyer," Mazzoni said. (MillerCoors is a joint venture between MolsonCoors and SABMiller.)

Gene Kimmelman, president of Public Knowledge and a former top U.S. antitrust official, says the buyer probably will have to be large, so Molson Coors would make perfect sense.

"This comes at a time when the antitrust agency has been very aggressive and forceful in the United States," he said.

"They're not only going to have to find a buyer, but also, I think, look for some other substantial entity that can run MillerCoors that's big enough to replace Anheuser-Busch InBev without hurting competition or driving up prices."

The truth is that this deal is much more about filling holes than anything else.

Expansion has long been well within Anheuser-Busch InBev's vocabulary - the beermaker, which controls more than 20 percent of the global beer market, has achieved some of the highest margins in the industry by scaling its business to cut costs, and often by way of big buyouts.

Look no further than the company's name - Anheuser-Busch InBev - for evidence of the company's merger driven growth.

Brazil's AmBev and Belgium's Interbrew combined in 2004 to become the world's largest beermaker; just four years later, in 2008, the newly formed company gobbled up American beer giant Anheuser-Busch.

SABMiller, by comparison, has built its business by establishing successful local brands, largely in markets yet untapped by Anheuser-Busch InBev.

The merger could also have downsides, other analysts said, that might be hard for consumers to notice right away.

The acquisition of SABMiller could eventually mean a more heterogeneous beer selection around the world, for instance.

It won't be long, after all, before Anheuser-Busch InBev looks to spread its big money-making brands - think Bud Light and Corona - to places where other, smaller, locally produced beers have historically sold well.

Joe Thompson, president of industry consultancy Independent Beverage Group, said it might also work in the opposite direction as well.

"We might soon see some of these local brands all over the world, thanks to the reach of their marketing and distribution power."
A Husband Who Has Six Children...

A husband, who has six children, begins to call his wife "Mother of Six" rather than by her first name.

The wife, amused at first, chuckles.

A few years down the road, the wife has grown tired of this.

"Mother of Six," he would say, "what's for dinner tonight? Get me a beer!"

She gets very frustrated.

Finally, while attending a party with her husband, he jokingly yells out, "Mother of Six, I think it's time to go!"

The wife immediately shouts back, "I'll be right with you, Father of Four!"
Future Dates to Remember
2015 MMBA Regional Meeetings

October 21
Radisson Roseville

October 22
Austin Holiday Inn

October 28
Sanford Center, Bemidji


2016 MMBA Annual Conference

April 17 - 19, 2016
Arrowwood Resort

Ask A Director

Gary Buysse
Rogers
763-428-0163

Cathy Pletta
Kasson
507-634-7618
  
Bill Ludwig
Paynesville
320-250-3325
  
Candice Woods
Hutchinson 
320-587-2762
  
John Jacobi
Isanti
763-444-5063

Michael Friesen
Hawley
218-483-4747

Steve Grausam
Edina
952-903-5732

Tom Agnes
Brooklyn Center
763-549-3710
Brenda Visnovec
Lakeville 
952-985-4901
 
Bridgitte Konrad
North Branch
651-674-8113

 Karissa Kurth
Buffalo Lake
320-833-2321
 
Paul Kaspszak
MMBA
763-572-0222
1-866-938-3925
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Minnesota SMART

The SMART campaign: Supporting Minnesota's Alcohol Regulations and Traditions, is a renewed public education and grassroots advocacy effort in support of Minnesota's current alcohol regulations and three-tier system.

 

We believe Minnesota's current alcohol regulations are smart, balanced, and supported by many citizens and our local small businesses.    

    

They work well for Minnesota!

 

The SMART campaign functions to help you engage in advocacy efforts with state legislators and others in support of Minnesota's current alcohol regulations, and to oppose issues-such as Sunday alcohol sales.

We want to make it easy and effective for you to engage.

 

Take action and send an email to your state legislators today through the new SMART campaign website.   

 

We have sample letters and legislator contact information put together that is ready to go.   

 

  Click Here for the Website
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A Father-Daughter Bond, One Photo at a Time
A long time ago in New York City, Steve Addis stood on a corner holding his 1-year-old daughter in his arms; his wife snapped a photo.

The image has inspired an annual father-daughter ritual, where Addis and his daughter pose for the same picture, on the same corner, each year.

Addis shares 15 treasured photographs from the series, and explores why this small, repeated ritual means so much.

 Click Here 

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The next best thing is the wrong thing.

The worst thing you can do is nothing.
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