NBWA Chairman: ‘We’ve Learned that We Cannot Rely on Anyone Else to Fight for Our Businesses’

This year has been “nothing short of tumultuous” for the beer industry, National Beer Wholesaler Association (NBWA) outgoing chairman Gordon Green said during Monday’s general session at the trade organization’s Annual Convention in Las Vegas.

Green listed numerous challenges the beer industry has faced this year, including increased competition from spirits and large non-alcoholic beverage companies. But what has “shaken our industry to its core” is the effects of Anheuser-Busch InBev’s declines and the boycott of Bud Light, Green said, not directly naming the brands.

“The challenges of the nation’s largest beer brand have directly and seriously impacted many of our distributor business [and] employees,” Green said.

“We’ve learned that we cannot rely on anyone else to fight for our businesses,” he continued. “No one has our interests at heart more than we do, and it’s up to us to protect those interests.”

Green encouraged distributors in the room to “leave our brand hats at the door” and “unite and come together as an industry.”

“If our competitor is struggling, or facing challenges today, that could be any one of us tomorrow,” Green said. “We are all affected one way or another by the changing market, the diminishing consumer loyalty and the actions of our suppliers. You know, the pendulum swings both ways.”

Green is passing the baton to Jim Fabinao II, CEO of Michigan-based Fabiano Brothers Inc.

As Green steps away from his his role as chairman, he reflected on some of the NBWA’s advocacy efforts in the past year, including:

  • Helping stop a 3.8% net investment tax that legislators attempted to including the in Inflation Reduction Act;
  • Keeping direct-to-consumer alcohol shipping out of a 2022 postal reform bill;
  • Raising $1.7 million from nearly 650 contributors for the NBWA’s PAC;
  • And submitting comments to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) detailing slotting fee prohibitions, “fair and transparent trade practice investigations,” and “opposition to any change to credit laws and terms.”

Green also looked back at the NBWA’s involvement with the dispute between Constellation and Olympic Eagle, following the Mexican import giant terminating its 30-year relationship with Olympic in Washington and moving distribution to Columbia. The NBWA filed a 49-page amicus brief in March supporting Olympic Eagle Distributing in its legal case against Constellation Brands.

Following NBWA’s filing, Columbia resigned from the trade group. At the time, Columbia CEO Chris Steffanci said the NBWA “doesn’t support growth and success,” but rather encouraged “behaviors consistent with entitlement and protectionism.”

Despite the fallout, Green said the NBWA had to weigh in “due to the potential far-reaching implications of that case.” The impact of the case directly threatens the existence of franchise laws and “the ability of a distributor to seek injunctive relief,” Green said.

While an injunction was initially granted in favor of Olympic Eagle, the ruling was later reversed, resulting in a “blow to Olympic Eagle and the industry at large,” Green said.