FYI
Inaugural BDLive! Conference Draws National Retailers
ore than 30 beverage alcohol retailers from around the country convened in New Orleans at the Downtown Marriott for the first annual BDLive! Conference, held on January 27. The attendees joined their on-premise colleagues from the Cheers Beverage Conference for an opening reception the night before at Club XLIV at the Superdome, where they swapped ideas, networked, and sampled cocktails created by celebrity mixologists.
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The next morning began with a rousing keynote from Jeremy Gutsche, founder of TrendHunter.com, who told retailers they can innovate and profit in this challenging econ- omy by exploiting chaos. He reminded everyone that some of the most successful companies were founded during a recession and they shouldn’t be afraid of harnessing opportunities. Gutsche was followed by Nicholas Lake, VP of Client Service, Beverage Alcohol Team for The Nielsen Company. Nick walked attendees through the biggest trends affecting the industry, which categories are surging and which are slumping, and encouraged everyone to “learn about social media first thing when you leave today.”
Building on the social trend, Jason Richelson, the founder of ShopKeep and owner of the Green Grape, a wine and liquor shop in Brooklyn, NY, presented the concept of cloud
Trend guru Jeremy Gutsche opened BDLive! with a keynote explaining how operators could innovate and profit in a tough economy.
Gary Fisch, owner of Gary’s Wine & Marketplace in Wayne, NJ, asks a question during a BDLive! seminar, as Dan Manning (left), president of Haskell’s Wine & Spirits in Minneapolis, MN, and Cedric Martin (right), owner of Martin Wine Cellar in Metairie, LA, look on.
10 • Beverage Dynamics • www.beveragedynamics.com • March/April 2011
Beverage Dynamics editor Richard Brandes presents Retailer of the Year Ken Lewis, president of The Party Source in Bellevue, KY, with a laminated reproduction of the cover from the January/February 2011 issue of Beverage Dynamics.
