A member of an elite class, D. Bertoline & Sons, Inc. is celebrating its 75th anniversary as a beverage distributor.

“There are only a handful of us in the Anheuser-Busch system who are fourth generation, family-run companies,” says Dominick Bertoline, the company’s president and chairman of the board. “We’re very proud of that.”

Of the 120 employees in the company, 10 are named Bertoline. The extended family still lives near each other, in Peekskill, N.Y., USA or the surrounding suburbs, and are integral members of their community. The territory Bertoline serves in New York’s Westchester and Putnam counties includes a bit of everything: The urban centers of Yonkers and White Plains, the white table cloth commuter communities of Chappaqua (home to Bill and Hillary Clinton) and Mount Kisco, and the more blue collar Peekskill and Ossining.

The current chairman’s grandfather, Dominick A. Bertoline, became a distributor in 1933 with his sons Nicholas (Dominick’s father), Bennie and Angelo. Grandfather Dominick had been in the junk business for over a decade when Prohibition was repealed, so he was one of the few people in Peekskill who had a truck. He got a license and added cases of beer to the junk, selling Piels Beer brewed in Brooklyn, Krueger’s, and Molson as his only import. When he realized he was making more money selling beer, being the smart man he was, he eliminated the junk.

Though an A-B distributor since 1949, Bertoline went exclusive only in 2005. “It keeps our guys focused 100 percent on the core brands, which gave us an edge against our competitors who have huge portfolios,” says Tom Bertoline, VP of sales and one of the principals of the company. “A retailer will only have so much time. If they give you 15 to 20 minutes, you have to be targeted with your objectives.”

Soon after A-B reached a deal to become the exclusive US importer of InBev’s beers, Bertoline jumped at the chance to take on the portfolio of Beck’s, Stella Artois, Hoegaarden and other imported beers. Bertoline had previously sold Beck’s for 40 years until they went exclusive with A-B, so the company welcomed the return of the brand. Since the deal, Bertoline’s numbers went up slightly on its A-B core products, while the InBev portfolio brought in a 23 percent increase.

“Acquiring InBev has changed our approach to selling beer,” says Chris Bertoline, import, craft and specialties brand manager and Dominick’s son. “The days of one-beer-fits-all approach is over. We have a brand for everyone. And it’s actually opened doors for our core brands like Budweiser and Michelob to get into upscale restaurants. We decided to go in and explain our products and why it would benefit them to bring on our beer.”

In another major expansion, this year D. Bertoline & Sons is looking forward to returning to the spirits market. In the early ’90s, the company sold wine and spirits, even importing its own Bertoline wine from Italy. Bertoline will now sell A-B’s 100-percent organic Purus Vodka, along with other A-B spirits and beverages including those from the Margaritaville spirit company.

“We’ll probably branch into another sales department with the spirits,” says Tom. “We’re into hand-selling. That’s the way to get the right product into the right account.”

To serve its 2,100 accounts, Bertoline has a sales department of 45 people with two brand managers. Several new salesmen were brought on last year with the acquisition of InBev. At the same time, A-B requested that Bertoline realign its service orientation, so the company switched from geographic managers to brand managers. Dominick Bertoline Jr. is now in charge of the core brands, premium and below, while his brother, Chris, along with the responsibilities outlined above, also handles the InBev beers. Tom’s sons, Donnie and Jason, also are part of the sales team.

To highlight their new InBev offerings, Chris began organizing promotional beer dinners with local restaurants last year. They start out with a beer tasting with a chef who chooses from their specialty crafts and imports, and decides whether to complement or contrast the beer with the meal. For example, the chef might pair a darker stout with oysters. “We describe the beer and the food and talk about balances. People really get into it,” adds Chris.

“The evolution of our sales organization has enabled us to sell smarter and work better,” says Joe Conciatori, sales manager for Bertoline, who started in the industry 16 years ago. “Anheuser-Busch as a partner is terrific in the goals they provide on a daily basis and the tools they provide, like the BudNet online system tracking wholesalers and the sales analysis program Siebel.”

The Bertoline sales team uses a hand-held called the Fujitsu Lifebook that is larger than a palm pilot, but smaller than a laptop. The Virtual Cooler software was tailored for Bertoline and facilitates two-way communication.

The company also bought Roadnet routing software offered by A-B, which has helped the sales team become more efficient with its territory planner, optimizing the amount of time each account needs for the sales team to achieve their goals. Roadnet also enabled Bertoline to cut back on the number of trucks they have on the road and keeps costs to a minimum by monitoring gas and tolls. Before last year, the routing was done manually. Now it only takes 15 to 20 minutes for Bennie Bertoline (Jim’s son) to route the deliveries, saving manpower and money.

“The InBev portfolio has been a home run for Bertoline,” says Jim Bertoline, operations manager and one of the principals of the company. “Warehousing is a problem we face every day with the additional SKUs and more brands, so we have to be smarter in the way we order beer and forecast beer. A-B’s forecasting team is working with us to make sure we have the right amount of product during the year.”

To handle the expanding portfolio, the company is breaking ground this month on a 10,000-square-foot addition to its facility. The 22-year-old facility is currently 65,000 square feet, with 52,000 dedicated to the warehouse. The  three-phase expansion will result in an additional 30,000 square feet of warehouse space and a separate warehouse for spirits.

Bertoline flourishes by giving every employee as much room to succeed as possible. “I want them to grow and have their own corner of this world we’re all in,” says Dominick. “When there’s a success I want them to take the bow. If there’s failure, they have to be accountable. It gives them a sense of responsibility.”

Bertoline also is serious about its social responsibility, following the A-B Consumer Awareness Education program. Last year the company sponsored talks to local high schools about drinking and driving and the dangers of underage drinking. Bertoline also is proactive about providing retailers with born-on-this-date calendars, ID signs and designated driver programs for on-premise establishments. Last year Bertoline bought 1,500 license booklets  with information on how to spot a fake license and provided them to its retailers and the local and state police.

Dominick is currently chairman of the NY State Wholesalers Association. He also was a chairman of the A-B advisory committee and helped write their new equity agreement. “You have to be politically involved,” he says. “This month I’m going with my two boys, Dom and Chris, to lobby day in Albany to talk about bottle bill issues and taxes. It takes a lot of time, but it’s important to protect your industry’s interests.” Sounds like time well spent for a family that continues to leave its mark on the beer business.

VITAL STATS
D. BERTOLINE & SONS, INC.
PRESIDENT & CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD: Dominick Bertoline
HEADQUARTERS: Peekskill, N.Y., USA
’07 CASE VOLUME: Nearly 3 million cases
EMPLOYEES: 120
GOALS: To enhance the partnership between Anheuser-Busch, our customers and ourselves through quality products, quality service and quality people for our mutual financial success.

From Beverage World March 15, 2008