It was 1879 when Louis Glunz I left Westphalia, Germany for America in pursuit of fulfilling his dream of owning his own business. With the clothes on his back and little in his pocket, Glunz settled on the East Coast of the United States until Oscar Mayer (yes, that one), who he traveled to America with, wrote him from Chicago and convinced him to relocate. It was there, in 1888, that Glunz’s dream came true with a beer, wine and spirits shop at Wells and Division streets.

One hundred and twenty years later, the fourth and fifth generations (when they are on break from college) of the Glunz family are still living the dream having become “Chicago’s premium specialty, micro and import wholesaler,” says Janet Bischoff, CFO of Louis Glunz Beer, Inc.  

With 68 employees and more than a century in the beverage business, the Glunz family business has continued to thrive. Jack Glunz, grandson of Louis Glunz I, leads the company today, and has since 1992, as president with five of his seven children—John Glunz Jr., imports manager; Jane Delaney, sales support manager; Jerry Glunz, general manager; Jennifer Faulk, director of marketing and Bischoff—guiding the way to the future.
“We will be the people that are looking for the next trend,” says Jerry Glunz. “We feel that we are trendsetters.”

The Lincolnwood, Ill., USA-based company has continued to stay ahead of the trend in its territory of the Chicago metropolitan area. Now the No. 1 Stella Artois distributor for the Midwest, Louis Glunz Beer, Inc. has metro Chicago’s largest portfolio with 665 micro, specialty and import beers from 67 suppliers representing 152 breweries worldwide.

Even through Prohibition, Louis Glunz & Son (as the company was called then) set trends through the development of flavors, non-alcohol beverages, sacramental wines, spirits for medicinal purposes and ingredients for the home brewer and wine maker (then legal to produce in limited quantities for personal consumption) to continue business.

As one of the oldest beer distributors in the US, the company strategically changed gears 15 years ago to offer specialty beers, looking to push the company in a new direction by tapping into surrounding ethnic communities.

“Chicago is a melting pot of people from all over the world and that gives us a great advantage,” says Bischoff.
Years later, that foresight was recognized by the National Beer Wholesalers Association and the Brewers Association with the 2007 “Craft Beer Distributor Achievement Award” given for promoting craft beer and making consumer choice a top priority.

The key to that success was education. The company holds weekly classes for its sales force to educate them on new brands in the company’s portfolio. Each salesperson is referred to as an Ambassador of Beer, explains Glunz, and is encouraged to pass on that knowledge to retailers, asking them to attend educational seminars so they too can become Ambassadors of Beer.

“We feel that one of the best things we do is a lot of hand selling,” he says, “where we go out and really try to help sway the trend of what is going to be the next beer… show our customer how to be a little different than the regular rubber stamp beer list.”

Glunz and Bischoff are quick to stress that the employees are the true faces of Louis Glunz Beer, Inc. With second- and third-generation employees at the company, they are as much a part of the family as those who share the company name. To show them gratitude, the privately held company cuts employees 25 percent of the profits before taxes based on years of service. A percentage of that is given at Christmas and the remainder is given in April after taxes are due, explains Bischoff.

This act not only gives employees a sense of company ownership, but also is letting them know that they too, are part of the dream.

From Beverage World April 15, 2008