Beer distributors address industry’s opportunities at annual NBWA meeting
The National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) addressed strategies for its membership to return to growing beer volume during its annual convention and trade show, which took place from Oct. 16 to 19 in Las Vegas. The trade show featured products and services from 275 exhibitors, including beverages, warehouse technology, fuel management systems, software and promotional products.
The association’s leadership spotlighted NBWA’s achievements in the last year, including federal legislation pursuits, improvement in the quantity and quality of relationships with distributors, and defeat of Costco’s ballot proposal to deregulate alcohol sales in Washington state. The association partnered with several organizations to donate time and money to defeat Costco’s initiative last year, but the retailer has returned with a new proposal that does not include beer, but seeks to allow retailers larger than 10,000 square feet to directly sell wine and spirits. The association continues its actions to defeat the proposal this year.