Brewbound Live 2021 - Livestream Studio: Donn Bichsel Jr., Founder, 3 Tier Beverages

Justin Kendall [00:11] Everyone. Welcome to a special Brewbound sponsor interview. My name is Justin Kendall and I am the editor of Brewbound. I am joined by the one and only Don Bixel Junior, the founder of Three-tier beverages. Don, welcome to Brewbound Live.

Speaker 2 [00:28] Well, I'm not sure I'm the one and only because I'm the junior, so I would be the second.

Justin Kendall [00:32] That is right. But, there's really only one you though.

Speaker 2 [00:36] I, I, I, I, I do

Justin Kendall [00:37] appreciate that. Look at that shirt.

Speaker 2 [00:39] Well, this shirt came from one too many nights in Las Vegas at NBWA. We passed by that, uh, shirt shop multiple times and decided that this shirt. Had to be mine and it was purchased just for this event.

Justin Kendall [00:52] I, I couldn't let that shirt go without comment, but here we are, we are in Santa Monica. It's been two years since we've done Brewbound Live, and you had a hell of a Brewbound Live in 2019. Uh, why don't you tell folks about your experience and the path to starting three-tier beverage?

Speaker 2 [01:10] Yeah, 2019 was exciting to get out here. I had just left a company that I've been with for a number of years and came out here to do some networking to try to figure out uh what was going to be next. If I was going to stay on the supplier side of the industry, was I gonna look at the uh distributor side of it, uh, maybe even the retailer side and had started doing some consulting for some suppliers on the East Coast actually started with a friend of ours at Castle Island Brewing. And quickly found that uh not having data was uh uh kind of detrimental to being able to call on your distributor partners and on your retailer partners. So while I was out here actually the idea for three tier beverages was born and, uh, soon afterwards approached, uh, our friends at, uh, Vermont Information Processing which a lot of, uh, the beer, wine and spirits clients all know, uh, about, um. Kind of putting together a platform in which Nielsen scan data could be accessible within the IDG platform so people would have, uh, one spot to be able to log into to be able to gain access to data and then we as a company we form kind of the facilitators of it on top of the consistent learning that is added to it. I mean our tagline is, uh, come learn and grow with us and uh we provide ongoing opportunities for. Uh, webinars that are held every single month with industry leaders, uh, one of which was actually just hosted recently by, uh, Justin Fonte.

Justin Kendall [02:37] That's right. You guys are hosting webinars. You've got Tom Fox who joined from Fox Sales. You also got Danny Brager who used to be at Nielsen IQ with you doing stuff. Tell us about this team that you've built.

Speaker 2 [02:50] Well, the exciting thing about it was the fact that my, my background is primarily been in beer. Uh, most of my experience has been with, uh, big beer companies, small beer companies, beer companies kind of in the middle, and knowing that we needed to be a little bit more well rounded, knowing that we didn't just want to work with beer suppliers. Um, I've always been fascinated by the cross category, uh, looking across things across the, the RTD platforms that have blown up. Over the last couple of years, so having an opportunity to get the Godfather himself, Danny Brager, uh, kind of a legend in the data analytics side of the industry to come and join us. Uh, Danny's specialty is, um, first and foremost in wine and has a lot of knowledge of the spirit side, uh, helped round out the team of my co-founder and myself. Um, my co-founder Joe Sepka came over. He was with PepsiCo for a lot of years and was with me at Revolution Brewing. So him and, uh, Danny and then partnering with Tom Fox from Fox Sales Coaching. And then recently we've added another team member, uh, who came over from, uh, Anheuser-Busch.

Justin Kendall [03:52] So we know what you do now, but who are you looking to partner with? We've, we've seen the lines of the beverage industry blur. Who are the type of clients that you're looking to partner with?

Speaker 2 [04:03] Yeah, yeah, it's a great question. I mean, I, I, I think primarily what we're looking to do is, you know, not only take care of the existing beer clients, the existing spirits clients, obviously the existing wine clients, but, you know, most exciting right now is watching everybody kinda play across every single genre right now. You've got people that are in beer making seltzers and they're moving. Into non-alcoholic drinks, uh, you have seltzer companies that are moving in or spirits companies that are moving into RTDs, uh, wine companies that are moving into, uh, ready to serve containers. I mean, I think the ones that excite us the most are the ones that are touching, uh, you know, all, all, all avenues of it, both beer, wine, and spirits.

Justin Kendall [04:42] So you're looking to partner with clients of all sizes though, right?

Speaker 2 [04:47] Yeah, anything, I, I, I think the most exciting thing for us is realizing that there's so many suppliers that haven't been able to best utilize data over the years. So what we've been able to do is not only provide them access but also provide them, you know, the knowledge they need in order to be able to put together successful sales presentations, to be able to talk to their distributors in a meaningful fashion. And then to also be able to train their people to be able to change the vernacular of their organization so they're actually talking in, you know, real data as opposed to wishes and dreams, uh, it's actually based on reality.

Justin Kendall [05:20] So Donn, for the folks who out there who want to partner with you, how can they find 3 Tier?

Speaker 2 [05:25] Uh, uh, the easiest way is to get in touch with me. I'm pretty easy to find either on LinkedIn or, uh, through my email. It's just Don with two N's at 3, the number tier beverages.com, uh, but I'm pretty easy to find. But we are looking to, uh, continue to add new supplier partners. Uh, we're very happy that after 2 years, uh, we're working with over 125 suppliers and, um, look to continue to add talent to our staff. Uh, we've got an open position right now and looking to add new supplier partners that can come, uh, learn and grow with us.

Justin Kendall [05:55] And in that shirt, no one's ever gonna miss you.

Speaker 2 [05:57] Uh, I can guarantee you, uh, especially tonight when we're out and about in, uh, Santa Monica or over the next couple of days, you know, uh, drinking some good beer from Lost Abbey and, uh, spending some time at JJ, uh, but it is great to be back in Santa Monica and, and hanging out with our industry. Folks,

Justin Kendall [06:12] all the Allegians come together again.

Speaker 2 [06:14] Yeah, we're gonna miss a couple of them, but it will be good to, uh, to enjoy some of the ones that are based out of the West Coast. Absolutely.

Justin Kendall [06:21] Well, Don, we appreciate the support of 3 tier, and we appreciate the support of everyone out there. Stay tuned for more Brewbound Live.