Kalamazoo Beer Distributing featured at Taste of Kalamazoo
Excellent planning and perfect weather drew more than 30,000 people to the 21st annual Taste of Kalamazoo over the July 20-22 weekend. Samplings from local restaurants were complemented by 120 barrels of Michelob products supplied by Kalamazoo Beer Distributing (KBD).
“It's amazing to see all the behind-the-scenes work done here at KBD, and at the event, by our employees,” explained Controller Deanna Rothe.
An entire team of people is needed to complete the effort at festivals. On Premise Supervisor Bernie Beverwyck led the effort at the Taste of Kalamazoo, while his counterpart Bob Rudy coordinated special event activities in the distributor’s southern region.
In compliance with Michigan laws, KBD employees handle all activities except actually serving the beer. The barrels must be purchased and served by a “24 hour licensee,” typically a charity organization.
For 2006, volunteers from the local Jaycees group handled beer sales and received all the profits to fund their community projects. KBD employees, however, are on hand throughout the entire festival to change kegs, monitor the beer supply and advise on serving.
“Our biggest challenge is perfectly timing the beer supply to ensure there’s no waste,” noted Bernie. “We don’t want the Jaycees to purchase more barrels than necessary, but we also don’t want to run out before the end of the festival.”
Involved with the event since 1989, KBD offered festival attendees Michelob products, including Michelob Light, Michelob Ultra and Amber Bock.
“People were able to get a taste of something new and different,” said Bernie – which may be just what the Taste of Kalamazoo organizers intended.
Great Northern Hydroponics Achieves Superior Rating "Three-peat"
Food safety auditors have declared the 50-acre state of- the-art greenhouse facility of Great Northern Hydroponics “Superior” once again. For the third consecutive year, the gourmet tomato-producing and packaging firm, Great Northern, has received the highest rating possible from AIB International, an internationally recognized food safety auditor.
This certification verifies to customers that a company’s products are created in a food-safe environment. Food Safety Certification has only recently become mandatory in the industry. As an industry leader, however, Great Northern Hydroponics has been “Food Safety Certified” since 2003. On May 4, 2006, the “Superior” rating – and banner – were bestowed for the current year.
President Darrin Didychuk and Quality Systems Manager Kimberley Monminie give credit for this accomplishment to the long-standing commitment and continuous efforts of the entire staff.
“I would like to say a ‘special thank you’ to all of the members of the Food Safety Team for consistently working hard to ensure the success of our program,” Monminie notes. Ontario-based Great Northern Hydroponics is also very proud to be ISO 9001-2000 certified, the first hydroponics greenhouse in North America to receive such certification.
CITY Beverage Wins Golden Bucket Again
The summer months brought impressive performances by the CITY Beverage divisions, and as they won several “Golden Bucket” Awards. The incentive program is staged by Anheuser-Busch and based on retail execution during key selling periods.
Competing against wholesalers across Illinois and Wisconsin, Sales Managers Tom Defacci and Tom Hincks won the top two spots for the month of May.
Mike Gertz of CITY - Beverage Arlington Heights won largest display increase for the period. In the key account division, Dave Dwyer of CITY - Beverage Markham took first place, and Chris Nunkovich of CITY - Beverage Chicago took second.
CITY - Beverage Markham received highest honors for May, and then tied with CITY - Beverage Chicago for June.
In July, CITY - Beverage Chicago received the Golden Bucket for best retail execution. Dave Dwyer, of CITY - Beverage Markham, won the key account manager incentive and Tom Hincks placed second for the sales manager incentive.
Also distinguishing itself this summer, CITY - Beverage Bloomington was awarded 4th place in the Region 5 “Take it to the Streets” Incentive. The Bloomington, Illinois distributor competed against other markets similar in size, based on sales trend, trend improvement and share of display increase versus previous year.
Congratulations go to the entire CITY team for another impressive effort!
Ferrous Processing Upgrades Florida Operation
Recent improvements to Ferrous Processing & Trading’s Miami, Florida facility have resulted in a 15% improvement in productivity.
“With the addition of a new power source, a new picking station, and a new feed roll system, the strength of the entire operation has been significantly upgraded,” explains Tony Benacquisto, Executive Vice President of Operations. “Simply put, we now have the ability to process more scrap.”
Posting its best month ever, the southern outpost of Ferrous Processing produced 23,000 tons of scrap in June 2006. Over 54 loads of non-ferrous materials were also processed during the same period.
“All of these accomplishments are due to improvements made by Ferrous’ Head Engineer Dennis Garlough and his team,” credits Benacquisto.“ Our congratulations and kudos go to the engineering staff.”
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