Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/5037
I f you think that producers, distributors and retailers are all there is to the three-tier sys- tem, think again. There's also BevLink. Walking into BevLink's 18,000-plus- square-foot facility 15 minutes south of down- town Los Angeles is a revelation. The 100,000- case-capacity warehouse is stacked high and wide with case upon case, pallet upon pallet of familiar brands—and a few unfamiliar ones as well. This is the domain of Michael Harvey and his team. When Harvey launches into an explana- tion of what it is that he does here—a detailed and enthusiastic description full of beverage industry jargon ("Type 14 license") and acro- nyms ("3PL," "DSD")—you can tell this guy is a pro. "BevLink is a unique concept that we felt would really help the industry," Harvey explains in a nutshell. First, some background. For nearly a decade, Harvey worked for Southern Wine & Spirits, helping the nation's largest wine and spirits distributor handle warehousing issues in both California and New York. He devel- oped an innate sense of how product moves through the distribution system—where it flows, where it slows and, most important, where it sometimes comes to a stop, creating overstocks of dead merchandise that Harvey calls "undertow." While at SWS, he also culti- vated a solid network of strategic partners— from drayage companies to wine and spirits brokers—that would stand him in good stead as future BevLink associates. "I was fortunate to have many good leaders when I was at Southern, who both inspired me and gave me the invaluable experience and opportunity to learn and grow. My years at Southern, along with the support of my professional family, gave me the courage to start my own company," remarks Harvey. Noticing many areas where a third-party com- pany might synch seamlessly into the supply- chain mechanism, he remembers thinking, "There's a real opportunity here." As he began to bounce ideas off his industry contacts, Harvey's complex, layered business model evolved. His colleagues said, "This is a niche that would really help the industry," he recalls. In 2008, Harvey left Southern ("Only after I got the proper blessings," he smiles) and cre- ated BevLink as a one-stop shop for logistics, including drayage, storage, inventory control, warehouse management, consolidation of merchandise and many other services that smooth the hook-up between suppliers, dis- tributors and retailers. Harvey, whose mind always seems to be thinking of new ways to increase his own work load, went to the ABC for Type 14 (spirits storage), Type 13 (import/export) and Type 10 (beer and wine) licenses. He has also dealt di- rectly with the U.S. Department of Commerce to facilitate interstate shipping. But aside from BevLink provides the missing links in the three-tier system This logistics dia- gram illustrates the many services Bev- Link can provide to producers, distribu- tors and retailers. 76 / the tasting panel / december 2009 Beyond Logistics and In the Biz