Relax, Recharge and Reinvest


BarryAs I sit at my desk, keyboard and 
screen at the ready, to write my column, my thoughts turn to day’s end and the start of a long overdue, well-deserved vacation week. Mind you, I love what I do, but it pales in comparison to having time off to play lots of tennis, enjoy the sights and sounds of Tanglewood, and bask in the beauty of the Berkshires.

I’ve written many times about the importance of recreating with family and friends. Vacation means not being connected, not scanning your emails and other devices and checking in with the office. I find no virtue in not being able to disengage. It is essential to recharge your batteries. We work in a frenzied, 24-7 world, and every so often you must stop. I fully intend to and I would hope all of you would too.

When I return to the hectic pace of the beverage world, I’ll be embracing a very vibrant, active industry. As we all do, on a daily basis, I receive the many posts our BevNET editors put up on the site.  Often I ask friends in the industry if we’re putting out too many emails, but they all seem to keep saying to bring it on. There have been so many launches, revamps, acquisitions and investments crossing our wires, and that’s a great thing. The need to be keep informed is going warp speed, and we’re happy to serve as the conduit.

There has been a flurry of activity on the investment front, a trend that I hope will continue. The big boys are taking on pieces of exciting brands with the DPS actively buying into brands. It’s nice that it isn’t always dominated by Red and Blue. That’s all well and good for the medium sized brands, with household names leading their charges to be the funding vehicle.

Still, I would like to see more grass roots investing for the small brands. They can only go to “family and friends” so often to keep their businesses going forward.

I’m always perplexed as to why some brands, with similar growth patterns, sales number and terrific value propositions get funding, while others don’t. Some of the dollars offered are in some cases seemingly much more than the brands actually need, while others get mere morsels. Is it a reflection on the selling ability of the principals to instill confidence in the investment community to finance them? I wish there was clarity as to how the decisions are made. For the most part, it doesn’t make sense to me.

I want every brand to succeed. If the brand has a reason to be, then give them the resources to make it happen. Invest wisely, but invest.

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