Team Brambleton Walks for the Arthritis Foundation
Charity-minded Loudon County, Virginia residents – along with ten Brambleton marketing staff members, gathered at Brambleton Town Center on May 31 to participate in the Arthritis Foundation’s annual Arthritis Walk. Held on-site throughout the community’s manicured hiking trails, 200 walkers raised over $33,000 to donate to the Arthritis Foundation. Thanks to Team Brambleton for representing Soave Enterprises in this meaningful neighborhood effort.
And the Award Goes to...CITY Beverage!
Though they weren’t harassed by camera-wielding paparazzi, Dave Dwyer and Steve Tatgenhorst of CITY Beverage enjoyed their own red carpet moment at the Fifth Annual Golden Bar Awards.
“Until the music began playing and the announcer said, ‘The winner is...CITY Beverage!’ Steve and I had no idea we would be taking home the award. It was a shock to be accepting a golden statue in front of our peers,” said Dwyer, Import/Specialty Brand Manager for CITY Beverage-Markham. Tatgenhorst holds the same position with CITY Beverage-Chicago.
The prestigious award ceremony, hosted by Diageo, one of the world’s leading spirits, wine and beer companies, honors its top distributors. More than one thousand guests attended the July 10th event at New York City’s Museum of Natural History. CITY’s Markham and Chicago divisions received the Golden Bar Consistency Award in honor of their sales growth and product distribution over a three-year period. The win reflects an outstanding 4.4% average annual increase.
“Out of all the awards given, the Consistency Award is the most coveted,” explained Dwyer. “All of the other awards are based upon a single year’s performance, but this one acknowledges our efforts over an extended time period.”
CITY Beverage distributes several Diageo products, including Guinness, Harp, Smithwick’s, and Red Stripe beers, plus Smirnoff and Parrot Bay malt beverages.
Of the more than 500 distributors who handle Diageo products nationwide, only the top100 companies were invited to the ceremony. Thirty-two statuettes, made of 24 carat gold, were awarded to each category’s winner. Weighing nine pounds and standing more than a foot tall, the statuettes were produced by R.S. Owens, the company that created Oscar®, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Though invited to previous Golden Bar Award ceremonies, this year marked CITY Beverage’s first nominations. Diageo/Guinness USA District Manager Maria Henson nominated the company in four categories. In addition to taking home the consistency award, the Soave company was also considered for the Beer Excellence Award - Smithwick’s, Beer Excellence Award - Guinness and Beer Distributor of the Year.
“Just like with any great award, there are so many people to thank,” noted Dwyer, “including Mr. Soave, Cecil Troutwine, Kathleen McCann, Mike Dowd and Mike Flynn. I also must recognize Joe Bury who held my job for two of the three years this Consistency Award covers. And finally, winning this honor could not have been done without a concerted group effort from every CITY employee who works with Diageo brands. Thank you to everyone!”
The golden statuette will be a 24 carat reminder to the CITY team of their hard work and its outstanding results.
CITY Beverage’s Dave Dwyer (middle) and Steve Tatgenhorst (far right)
accept the Golden Bar Award from Diageo representatives.
Planting New SEEDs
The people that run our businesses face all sorts of situations and must make difficult and challenging decisions each and every day. At Soave Enterprises, we make the best decisions when they are rooted in our Core Values which cause us to...
Strive for Excellence
- Knowing details matter
- Treating safety as a priority
- With a customer and quality focus
- Through exceptional, empowered and motivated people
- Creating a positive work environment
- By encouraging, motivating and recognizing the outstanding performance of our employees
- Through continuous learning, development and improvement
Exercise Integrity in decision-making
- In doing what is right
- With honesty and trust
- By earning our reputation
- With professionalism and accountability
- By creating customer value
- By behaving financially responsibly
Respect and value others’ needs and differences
- In dealing with each other
- In dealing with customers
- In seeking others’ opinions and listening
- In supporting teamwork
Foster Loyalty and commitment to relationships
- With employees
- With customers
- With our community
Along with the Code of Conduct, our Corporate Values have been formalized to provide guidance as each
employee faces complex questions for which there are sometimes no straightforward responses. Even
when our businesses are flourishing, a strong sense of values can motivate employees to achieve even
higher goals, while differentiating us from the competition.
Importantly, by using our key Corporate Values as foundation and guide, we can both outperform and out-behave the competition – and that’s often a real differentiation!
