Of the store's total revenue, spirits sales represent 30%, beer sales 18%, wine sales 15%, tobacco sales 22% and miscellaneous 15%.
All three owners proudly note they know "80% to 90%" of the people who come into the store by name, and Bartelme says many have become close friends. "You see people regularly and it becomes more than a business relationship," he says. "I've seen their kids grow up, they've seen my kids grow up. That's something I've really enjoyed throughout the years."
Growing Up in the Business J
eff Jansen has come a long way from the days he used to open doors for his dad, going with him on deliveries as a child. He was 13 when Ron bought the store from the Vanderah family, and says he remem- bers in 6th grade, when asked what he wanted to be
when he grew up, answering 'a beer man.' "I idolized my dad and that's the business I grew up in, so it was something I always knew I would do," he says. "Having this business with its potential at my fin- gertips was a big advantage and opportunity that a lot of people don't have."
Following a hiatus to attend college and work in other industries, Jeff came back to the store and began working with his dad on the ordering and store organization. As Jeff took on more and more respon- sibility, Ron spent more time at his home in Arizona, phasing out one generation from the business and phasing in a new one. "I love working at Van's because I have a lot of freedom and control my own destiny," Jeff says.
Winning Over the Taste Buds A
head of its time Van's began holding wine tastings in the early
90's, long before its regional competition. "We wanted to give people the opportunity to learn about products they may not have tasted and open their tasting spectrum to new things," Jeff says. In the beginning, the store
held tastings in a restaurant on the third floor of the new store, where customers would gather for a spring wine tast- ing, spring beer tasting and
fall wine tasting. At that time, the 7,000 square foot restau- rant was run by Ron's mother and sisters, which was open for about six years. It was the perfect location for the early tastings, according to Jeff. "We'd have 70 to 100 craft
brews or 100 to 150 different wines, and we'd get more than 150 people coming to the tastings," he says. After the tastings, staff downstairs would initiate hand-sales based on the selections available earlier that day.
When the restaurant closed and the top floor was turned into a storage space, Van's began partnering with local restaurants and supper clubs for the tastings. Currently, the store runs a spring and fall tasting and attracts nearly 300 people to each. The tastings also serve as charity events, as the store donates proceeds from the fall event to the Hospice of Dubuque and donates pro- ceeds from the spring event to a variety of local charities.
Beverage Dynamics • www.beveragedynamics.com • July/August 2012 • 35
