BevMo!
Encyclopedia
BevMo! is a privately held corporation based in Concord, California
, selling mainly alcoholic beverages. The company was founded in January 1994 as Beverages & More! in the San Francisco Bay Area
, and re-branded as "BevMo!" in January 2001. By October 2009, the company had 100 stores in Arizona
and California
.
The company's growth has not been without conflict. Expansion into Nevada
and Florida
in the late 1990s was followed by BevMo! closing those stores for financial reasons. Residents of towns such as Santa Barbara
have resisted the establishment of a BevMo! store, citing possible effects ranging from small business decline to increased traffic patterns.
In 1995, BevMo! hired Wilfred Wong as cellar master. Wong, a native San Franciscan who is a veteran wine competition
judge and wine writer, assesses wines for the retailer and gives them scores on a 100-point system. Wong keeps a blog on the company's website, and helped establish "Vineyard Partners", an in-house label composed of wines that are specially blended for the retailer.
s, 1500 types of spirits
, and 1200 types of beer
s. Most BevMo! stores cater to the community by having weekly beer and wine tasting
for a nominal charge, in line with state law, to any consumer of legal age. Because the vast majority of products within the stores are alcoholic, one must be either over the age of 21 or with an adult over the age of 25 in order to enter the store. The Arizona stores accept unexpired identification from all US states, military IDs, passports and Mexico and Canada IDs.
. In the first year, the company opened six stores in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Veteran executive Bannus Hudson joined as CEO in 1997, coming from Procter & Gamble
. Expansion into the states of Nevada and Florida led to Hudson and Executive Vice President David Richards closing those stores in 1998. Later, a company executive would say of this period, "we almost went broke. We tasted success and then expanded too quickly". After cutbacks, Bannus and Hudson determined that future expansion should be limited to Arizona and California, and that store size should be around 7000 square feet (650.3 m²), a more manageable size than the chain's biggest 12000 square feet (1,114.8 m²) store. By 2000, the company was making $130 million in sales annually and was the second-largest alcoholic beverage retailer in the US.
In January 1999, Glenn Sobel Management registered the website www.beveragesandmore.com, but Sobel was sued a year later by Beverages & More! for trademark infringement under ICANN
jurisdiction. Beverages & More, Inc. aimed to show that their registered trademark "Beverages & More!" was being violated. Their testimony noted that the ampersand
and the exclamation point in their trademark were not allowed in domain names, and that the www.beveragesandmore.com domain was the closest analog available to them. In court, Glenn Sobel did not deny that he was in the business of selling domain names, and that his company had never been known as "beveragesandmore". Sobel was admittedly not in the business of selling beverages. In March 2000, the domain was ordered to be immediately transferred from Sobel to Beverages & More! with no fine or penalty—a decision reached by Richard D. Faulkner, an ICANN judge in Dallas, Texas
. The decision set a precedent that has since been quoted by complainants in cybersquatting
cases to show that a domain name matching a trademark, one held by other than the trademark holder, "is evidence of bad faith registration and use".
Earlier, consumers had been calling the chain "BevMo" as a nickname; as a result, the corporation registered the domain www.bevmo.com in August, 2000. In January 2001, the company officially launched the new website and formally adopted the nickname as their brand.
In February 2007, BevMo! was acquired by TowerBrook Capital Partners
, L.P., a New York- and London-based private equity firm. With the acquisition, Bannus Hudson retired as CEO—to replace him, TowerBrook brought in Jim Simpson. In February 2009, Alan Johnson was made CEO and he named Charlotte Russe's Dan Carter as CFO and Bare Escentuals' Maria Devries as head of operations. Johnson, a native of Australia, was initially hired as a consultant by TowerBrook to assess BevMo! as an acquisition, and he "fell in love with the company"; by November he was reportedly driving a black BMW with a personalized license plate
reading "I ♥ BEVMO" ("I[ heart] BevMo"). In September 2009, Johnson reported annual sales of the 1,600-employee company to be "well over" $500 million—a record year. Johnson noted that the introduction of the custom blended and packaged "Vineyard Partners", BevMo!'s private wine label, was a "significant" fraction of sales. Johnson said that the company would be expanding into other states, and that the ideal store would be a 10000 square feet (929 m²) location sited on a corner with 100 feet (30.5 m) of street frontage, dedicated parking, and upscale demographics. Johnson said that about 17 employees work at the average store.
In October 2009, the company opened its 100th store, a 10,000-square-foot location in Torrance, California
; the second BevMo! store in that city. Torrance Mayor Frank Scotto was pleased; he said the chain's first store in Torrance was "a huge success" and that the new one would create jobs and bring in more sales tax. At that time, 90 of the chain's stores were in California, with the remaining 10 in Arizona. Johnson told reporters, "it took us 15 years to open the first 100, and we'll open the next 100 in the next five or six years." He said, "we know we can take our exact concept, like it is now, and do exactly what we're doing in at least 16 more states."
Not all BevMo! expansion has been welcomed by city residents. In March 2010 in Santa Barbara, California
, a group voiced opposition at a city board meeting, delaying approval of a BevMo! store. Concerns brought up at the meeting included complaints about the company's plans to cut down a tree in the parking lot, and about loading dock plans that would increase congestion in a narrow alley. The city's Architectural Board of Review member Paul Zink recommended against BevMo!'s plans to have pedestrians cross a parking lot to enter the store, saying that "there's a tie-in between what's inside and the street". Zink continued, "here in Santa Barbara, we like to window shop." Area retailers noted that a new liquor store within range of nine smaller liquor stores and several supermarkets that sell liquor would decrease sales for longstanding area businesses. Sarkis Abdulhi, a liquor store owner, asked, "how can a politician say they support small business when they bring in giant chains? How many employees are they going to have, 13? What good does that do anybody when they put nine or 10 small shops out of business?" Area resident Trudy Fernandez said the opening of chain location "takes away from what people like me who have been in Santa Barbara 40 years came here for. This is a small town—we don't want to be L.A." The store, BevMo's 105th, saw brisk business upon opening.
based on his own version of Robert M. Parker, Jr.
's 50–100-point system. Wong, a veteran industry analyst and wine writer who has written regular columns for Vineyard & Winery Management magazine and Beverage Industry News, tastes some 8,000 bottles a year for BevMo!, and may taste 40 wines a day. A San Francisco native and resident who grew up working in his family's upscale grocery store in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, Wong was hired to work for BevMo! in 1995, when they had six stores. He told a New York Times
reporter in 2006 that it can be tricky working as a wine critic inside a large retail chain that sells wine—there can be conflicts between appropriate scoring for a wine and business plans for that wine. He reported that he has, upon occasion, been encouraged by company management to give a high score to a wine, especially one that did not receive a high rating from other reviewers, or one that was purchased by BevMo! at a good price. Wong said, "we have fights all the time." Wong made assurances that he does not treat a wine to a good score based on company founders' wishes. Executive VP David Richards agrees: "If we were to impinge on Wilfred's credibility, it would be very bad for our brand." Wong reports only to Richards, to keep him from being influenced by wine sellers or BevMo!'s own buyers. Richards said, "we have to give him independence within the organization." Alder Yarrow
, publisher of the wine blog Vinography.com, said of Wong, "he is not a shill ... He knows what he is talking about when it comes to wine." Professor Emeritus Robert Smiley, Director of Wine Studies, Graduate School of Management, University of California, Davis
, said about Wong's ratings: "I think this is a good innovation and he's helpful to the consumer. It brings more people to BevMo and it probably moves them up in price because typically, the higher-price wines get the better scores." Smiley said that shoppers were too smart to be fooled: "If Wilfred and BevMo fix the ratings, people will catch on and go elsewhere."
In scoring, Wong uses a 100-point system that he developed before working for the large retailer. Wong reports that his system is aimed at the taste of the consumer rather than at that of the intellectual, unlike Parker's system which is more cerebral. One of the differences, said Wong, is that Parker may give a "fruitful" wine 88 points when Wong will give it 92, noting that it may be well-made for its varietal. He reports that he has only given two wines a score of 100, one a 1990 Montrachet
from Domaine Ramonet-Prudhon and the other a late 1990s vintage from Opus One
. His personal favorites to drink are French wines such as second- and third-growth Bordeaux reds, and California Pinot noir
from the Russian River Valley. Other wines he likes include Chenin blanc
from the Loire Valley
, Pinot gris
from Alsace
, high-end Chardonnay
from Australia and various biodynamic wine
s. Wong publishes his thoughts about wine regularly on "Wilfred's Blog", hosted on the company website; a forum that he uses to name his current favorites and to recommend wine and food pairings.
Concord, California
Concord is the largest city in Contra Costa County, California, USA. At the 2010 census, the city had a population of 122,067. Originally founded in 1869 as the community of Todos Santos by Salvio Pacheco, the name was changed to Concord within months...
, selling mainly alcoholic beverages. The company was founded in January 1994 as Beverages & More! in the San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
, and re-branded as "BevMo!" in January 2001. By October 2009, the company had 100 stores in Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
and California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
The company's growth has not been without conflict. Expansion into Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
and Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
in the late 1990s was followed by BevMo! closing those stores for financial reasons. Residents of towns such as Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
have resisted the establishment of a BevMo! store, citing possible effects ranging from small business decline to increased traffic patterns.
In 1995, BevMo! hired Wilfred Wong as cellar master. Wong, a native San Franciscan who is a veteran wine competition
Wine competition
A wine competition is an organized event in which trained judges or consumers competitively rate different vintages or bands of wine. There are two types of wine competitions, both of which use blind tasting of wine to prevent bias by the judges....
judge and wine writer, assesses wines for the retailer and gives them scores on a 100-point system. Wong keeps a blog on the company's website, and helped establish "Vineyard Partners", an in-house label composed of wines that are specially blended for the retailer.
Overview
BevMo! offers more than 3000 types of wineWine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
s, 1500 types of spirits
Distilled beverage
A distilled beverage, liquor, or spirit is an alcoholic beverage containing ethanol that is produced by distilling ethanol produced by means of fermenting grain, fruit, or vegetables...
, and 1200 types of beer
Beer
Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
s. Most BevMo! stores cater to the community by having weekly beer and wine tasting
Wine tasting
Wine tasting is the sensory examination and evaluation of wine. While the practice of wine tasting is as ancient as its production, a more formalized methodology has slowly become established from the 14th century onwards...
for a nominal charge, in line with state law, to any consumer of legal age. Because the vast majority of products within the stores are alcoholic, one must be either over the age of 21 or with an adult over the age of 25 in order to enter the store. The Arizona stores accept unexpired identification from all US states, military IDs, passports and Mexico and Canada IDs.
History
The corporation was founded by Steve Boone and Steve McLaren in January 1994, calling itself Beverages & More!, based in Concord, CaliforniaConcord, California
Concord is the largest city in Contra Costa County, California, USA. At the 2010 census, the city had a population of 122,067. Originally founded in 1869 as the community of Todos Santos by Salvio Pacheco, the name was changed to Concord within months...
. In the first year, the company opened six stores in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Veteran executive Bannus Hudson joined as CEO in 1997, coming from Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble is a Fortune 500 American multinational corporation headquartered in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio and manufactures a wide range of consumer goods....
. Expansion into the states of Nevada and Florida led to Hudson and Executive Vice President David Richards closing those stores in 1998. Later, a company executive would say of this period, "we almost went broke. We tasted success and then expanded too quickly". After cutbacks, Bannus and Hudson determined that future expansion should be limited to Arizona and California, and that store size should be around 7000 square feet (650.3 m²), a more manageable size than the chain's biggest 12000 square feet (1,114.8 m²) store. By 2000, the company was making $130 million in sales annually and was the second-largest alcoholic beverage retailer in the US.
In January 1999, Glenn Sobel Management registered the website www.beveragesandmore.com, but Sobel was sued a year later by Beverages & More! for trademark infringement under ICANN
ICANN
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is a non-profit corporation headquartered in Marina del Rey, California, United States, that was created on September 18, 1998, and incorporated on September 30, 1998 to oversee a number of Internet-related tasks previously performed directly...
jurisdiction. Beverages & More, Inc. aimed to show that their registered trademark "Beverages & More!" was being violated. Their testimony noted that the ampersand
Ampersand
An ampersand is a logogram representing the conjunction word "and". The symbol is a ligature of the letters in et, Latin for "and".-Etymology:...
and the exclamation point in their trademark were not allowed in domain names, and that the www.beveragesandmore.com domain was the closest analog available to them. In court, Glenn Sobel did not deny that he was in the business of selling domain names, and that his company had never been known as "beveragesandmore". Sobel was admittedly not in the business of selling beverages. In March 2000, the domain was ordered to be immediately transferred from Sobel to Beverages & More! with no fine or penalty—a decision reached by Richard D. Faulkner, an ICANN judge in Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
. The decision set a precedent that has since been quoted by complainants in cybersquatting
Cybersquatting
Cybersquatting , according to the United States federal law known as the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, is registering, trafficking in, or using a domain name with bad faith intent to profit from the goodwill of a trademark belonging to someone else...
cases to show that a domain name matching a trademark, one held by other than the trademark holder, "is evidence of bad faith registration and use".
Earlier, consumers had been calling the chain "BevMo" as a nickname; as a result, the corporation registered the domain www.bevmo.com in August, 2000. In January 2001, the company officially launched the new website and formally adopted the nickname as their brand.
In February 2007, BevMo! was acquired by TowerBrook Capital Partners
TowerBrook Capital Partners
TowerBrook Capital Partners L.P. is a private equity firm based in the United Kingdom and United States. Their offices are in London, San Francisco, and New York City. TowerBrook seeks for complex, control-oriented investments in large and middle market companies in European and North American...
, L.P., a New York- and London-based private equity firm. With the acquisition, Bannus Hudson retired as CEO—to replace him, TowerBrook brought in Jim Simpson. In February 2009, Alan Johnson was made CEO and he named Charlotte Russe's Dan Carter as CFO and Bare Escentuals' Maria Devries as head of operations. Johnson, a native of Australia, was initially hired as a consultant by TowerBrook to assess BevMo! as an acquisition, and he "fell in love with the company"; by November he was reportedly driving a black BMW with a personalized license plate
Vanity plate
A vanity plate or personalized plate , prestige plate, private number plate, or personalised registration or custom plate or personalised plate is a special type of vehicle registration plate on an automobile or other vehicle...
reading "I ♥ BEVMO" ("I
In October 2009, the company opened its 100th store, a 10,000-square-foot location in Torrance, California
Torrance, California
Torrance is a city incorporated in 1921 and located in the South Bay region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. Torrance has of shore-front beaches on the Pacific Ocean, quieter and less well-known by tourists than others on the Santa Monica Bay, such as those of neighboring...
; the second BevMo! store in that city. Torrance Mayor Frank Scotto was pleased; he said the chain's first store in Torrance was "a huge success" and that the new one would create jobs and bring in more sales tax. At that time, 90 of the chain's stores were in California, with the remaining 10 in Arizona. Johnson told reporters, "it took us 15 years to open the first 100, and we'll open the next 100 in the next five or six years." He said, "we know we can take our exact concept, like it is now, and do exactly what we're doing in at least 16 more states."
Not all BevMo! expansion has been welcomed by city residents. In March 2010 in Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
, a group voiced opposition at a city board meeting, delaying approval of a BevMo! store. Concerns brought up at the meeting included complaints about the company's plans to cut down a tree in the parking lot, and about loading dock plans that would increase congestion in a narrow alley. The city's Architectural Board of Review member Paul Zink recommended against BevMo!'s plans to have pedestrians cross a parking lot to enter the store, saying that "there's a tie-in between what's inside and the street". Zink continued, "here in Santa Barbara, we like to window shop." Area retailers noted that a new liquor store within range of nine smaller liquor stores and several supermarkets that sell liquor would decrease sales for longstanding area businesses. Sarkis Abdulhi, a liquor store owner, asked, "how can a politician say they support small business when they bring in giant chains? How many employees are they going to have, 13? What good does that do anybody when they put nine or 10 small shops out of business?" Area resident Trudy Fernandez said the opening of chain location "takes away from what people like me who have been in Santa Barbara 40 years came here for. This is a small town—we don't want to be L.A." The store, BevMo's 105th, saw brisk business upon opening.
In-house scoring
BevMo! employs Wilfred Wong, an expert taster and wine competition judge, who assigns bottles a wine ratingWine rating
A wine rating is a score assigned by one or more wine critics to a wine tasted as a summary of that critic's evaluation of that wine. A wine rating is therefore a subjective quality score, typically of a numerical nature, given to a specific bottle of wine...
based on his own version of Robert M. Parker, Jr.
Robert M. Parker, Jr.
Robert M. Parker, Jr. is a leading U.S. wine critic with an international influence. His wine ratings on a 100-point scale and his newsletter The Wine Advocate, with his particular stylistic preferences and notetaking vocabulary, have become very influential in American wine buying and are...
's 50–100-point system. Wong, a veteran industry analyst and wine writer who has written regular columns for Vineyard & Winery Management magazine and Beverage Industry News, tastes some 8,000 bottles a year for BevMo!, and may taste 40 wines a day. A San Francisco native and resident who grew up working in his family's upscale grocery store in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, Wong was hired to work for BevMo! in 1995, when they had six stores. He told a New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
reporter in 2006 that it can be tricky working as a wine critic inside a large retail chain that sells wine—there can be conflicts between appropriate scoring for a wine and business plans for that wine. He reported that he has, upon occasion, been encouraged by company management to give a high score to a wine, especially one that did not receive a high rating from other reviewers, or one that was purchased by BevMo! at a good price. Wong said, "we have fights all the time." Wong made assurances that he does not treat a wine to a good score based on company founders' wishes. Executive VP David Richards agrees: "If we were to impinge on Wilfred's credibility, it would be very bad for our brand." Wong reports only to Richards, to keep him from being influenced by wine sellers or BevMo!'s own buyers. Richards said, "we have to give him independence within the organization." Alder Yarrow
Alder Yarrow
Alder Yarrow is an American wine blogger and restaurant blogger, and since 2004, publisher of "Vinography", one of the internet's most highly rated wine blogs...
, publisher of the wine blog Vinography.com, said of Wong, "he is not a shill ... He knows what he is talking about when it comes to wine." Professor Emeritus Robert Smiley, Director of Wine Studies, Graduate School of Management, University of California, Davis
University of California, Davis
The University of California, Davis is a public teaching and research university established in 1905 and located in Davis, California, USA. Spanning over , the campus is the largest within the University of California system and third largest by enrollment...
, said about Wong's ratings: "I think this is a good innovation and he's helpful to the consumer. It brings more people to BevMo and it probably moves them up in price because typically, the higher-price wines get the better scores." Smiley said that shoppers were too smart to be fooled: "If Wilfred and BevMo fix the ratings, people will catch on and go elsewhere."
In scoring, Wong uses a 100-point system that he developed before working for the large retailer. Wong reports that his system is aimed at the taste of the consumer rather than at that of the intellectual, unlike Parker's system which is more cerebral. One of the differences, said Wong, is that Parker may give a "fruitful" wine 88 points when Wong will give it 92, noting that it may be well-made for its varietal. He reports that he has only given two wines a score of 100, one a 1990 Montrachet
Montrachet
Montrachet is an Appellation d'origine contrôlée and Grand Cru vineyard for white wine from Chardonnay in the Côte de Beaune subregion of Burgundy. It is situated across the border between the two communes of Chassagne-Montrachet and Puligny-Montrachet and produces what many consider to be the...
from Domaine Ramonet-Prudhon and the other a late 1990s vintage from Opus One
Opus One
Opus One may refer to:* Opus One Winery* Opus No. 1, a tune by Sy Oliver and Sid Garris...
. His personal favorites to drink are French wines such as second- and third-growth Bordeaux reds, and California Pinot noir
Pinot Noir
Pinot noir is a black wine grape variety of the species Vitis vinifera. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from Pinot noir grapes...
from the Russian River Valley. Other wines he likes include Chenin blanc
Chenin Blanc
Chenin blanc , is a white wine grape variety from the Loire valley of France. Its high acidity means it can be used to make everything from sparkling wines to well-balanced dessert wines, although it can produce very bland, neutral wines if the vine's natural vigor is not controlled...
from the Loire Valley
Loire Valley
The Loire Valley , spanning , is located in the middle stretch of the Loire River in central France. Its area comprises approximately . It is referred to as the Cradle of the French Language, and the Garden of France due to the abundance of vineyards, fruit orchards, and artichoke, asparagus, and...
, Pinot gris
Pinot gris
Pinot gris is a white wine grape variety of the species Vitis vinifera. Thought to be a mutant clone of the Pinot noir grape, it normally has a grayish-blue fruit, accounting for its name but the grape can have a brownish pink to black and even white appearance...
from Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
, high-end Chardonnay
Chardonnay
Chardonnay is a green-skinned grape variety used to make white wine. It is originated from the Burgundy wine region of eastern France but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand...
from Australia and various biodynamic wine
Biodynamic wine
Biodynamic wines are wines made using the principles of biodynamic agriculture. Biodynamic refers to both the agricultural methods and the handling and processing of the fruit post-harvest.-Biodynamic viticulture:...
s. Wong publishes his thoughts about wine regularly on "Wilfred's Blog", hosted on the company website; a forum that he uses to name his current favorites and to recommend wine and food pairings.
Awards
- 2008 The Tasting Panel "Lifetime Achievement Award"
- 2006 Wine Enthusiast "Retailer of the Year"