Feature Story

THANK YOU TO OUR EVERYDAY HEROES!

Every American has been challenged during the Coronavirus pandemic and our industry has been struck like many others. Thankfully we have been in a position to continue delivering products to off-premise retail customers and the efforts made by Associates and suppliers alike have been amazing.

When the order came on March 15 for all restaurants and bars to close in Ohio, many retailers donated food that they had on hand to local food pantries or neighborhood shelters for the homeless.

Also, many restaurants and bars – too many to name – got the word out via social media that they would share the proceeds of any gift certificates purchased during the Coronavirus with employees who had to be laid off.

Our Associates have shown their compassion and toughness throughout this crisis and despite the difficult circumstances that many people in our communities find themselves in, we wanted to share some good news. We have turned the “Doing Good” section of our newsletter into a front page story of some of the positivity we have experienced as a company over the last month! Here is a sampling of more generosity and positivity throughout our markets in Ohio and Kentucky!

SPIRITS MARKETING GROUP

Many distilleries around the nation have helped out and jumped in to produce hand sanitizers for their communities. Pat Keith, Director of the Spirts Marketing Group helped to get the ball rolling working with Jobs Ohio to procure more than 3,100 cases – totaling more than 1 million oz. of hand sanitizer for Ohio’s 12 food banks. Pat got Heidelberg Supplier Partners; Ugly Dog Distillery and Hotel Tango on board first before other distilleries joined in as well!

DAYTON

Team Dayton worked with Jobs Ohio, Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association and Crocs Distribution in Vandalia to get 14,000 pairs of crocs donated to local area hospitals! Crocs donated 7,000 pairs and Jobs Ohio matched the donation and purchased 7,000 more. HDC sorted, separated, and delivered the shoes to various hospitals in the Miami Valley. The following Associates helped to sort and load all of these Crocs: Brian Oakes, Chris Rammel, Terry Neece, Ryan Moore, Rod Owens, Dan Rich, Rob Vanmetre, Mike Raines, Dave Pitzer and Jason Michaels. The following Dayton Drivers made the deliveries to area hospitals: Eddie Lipker, Jim Clapp, Lance Mooney, Justin Harper, Brian Waymire, Dan Rich, Rob Vanmetre and Nick Jarmin. Great work by all!

TEAM DAYTON SORTED, SEPARATED AND DELIVERED 14,000 PAIRS
OF CROCS TO LOCAL HOSPITALS!

NOT A USUAL STOP ON THE ROUTE. A BUD LIGHT LABELED TRUCK LOADED
WITH CROCS MAKES A DROP OFF AT DAYTON CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL.

On April 25, the Ronald McDonald House in Dayton held a unique fundraiser with local chefs and restaurants hosting a virtual cooking class. The virtual cooking class was hosted by chefs Casey and Patrick Van Voorhis of Grist and featured a wine tutorial by our very own Brent Wagener!

Also on April 25, Heidelberg Dayton helped to sponsor a first-ever virtual 5K Walk/Run for the Xenia Family Violence Prevention Center (FVPC). The event, which helped raise money for FVPC’s mission of providing services and safe housing for families and children. Participants were encouraged to wear full superhero costumes or capes and run anytime and anywhere on race day.

We have been fortunate in Dayton to have several beer and wine suppliers step up to provide meals in support of our operations and driver teams during this time. E&J Gallo Winery, The Wine Group, Winery Exchange, Santa Margherita Group, Mark Anthony Brands, Fifco and Delicato have all helped out our Dayton Associates. THANK YOU!

 LORAIN

Loyal customers of Kurt Page’s Speak of the Devil and AWOL in Lorain supported the March “pizza night” drive-through, with all proceeds going to the restaurants’ employees. THANKS, sales professional Courtney Rice, for the good news!

LORAIN SPIRIT! LOYAL CUSTOMERS LINE THE STREET
FOR THE EMPLOYEE FUNDRAISER.

TEAM MEMBERS OF SPEAK OF THE DEVIL DISPLAY THEIR THANKS!

CLEVELAND

*Two Heidelberg “alumni” who now work for Trinchero Family Estates gave each of our 36 drivers a gift card for a carry-out dinner at Corleone’s Restaurant to say THANK YOU! Dave Harrington is Trinchero’s Retail Manager for Northern Ohio and Chris Naptik is the On premise/Fine Wine Manager for Northern Ohio. We say THANK YOU to Dave and Chris!

Throughout COVID-19, several suppliers generously donated weekly box lunches for Admin/warehouse Associates and drivers: WX Brands, The Wine Group, Delicato Family Vineyards, Santa Margherita USA and Foley Family Wines. THANK YOU!

CLEVELAND’S BREAK ROOM FRIDGE IS STOCKED FULL OF LUNCHES
DONATED TO OUR TEAM BY SUPPLIERS.

Sales Pro Christy Dibartolo’s daughters Chloe and Lily helped to spread cheer to a couple of little girls who are missing friends and family during this crisis. Christy’s niece Camilla was having a down day, so Christy and Lily drove to her house to “chalk up” her driveway and make her smile.

When she is home from college, Chloe babysits for a six-year-old named Olive. Olive had been asking for Chloe to come over for a while and trying to understand why she could not. Chloe texted Olive’s mother and asked if she could come over and chalk her driveway to help cheer her up!

The girls’ latest “project” is to leave painted rocks with inspirational messages after “chalking up” a driveway. Way to Be the Roar DiBartolo family!

CHALK ARTWORK FROM THE DIBARTOLO GIRLS,
A THANK YOU TEXT FROM OLIVE’S MOM AND ROCK ART.

DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC, VICTOR THE LION SENT OUT ACTIVITY SHEETS TO OUR ASSOCIATES AND THEIR FAMILIES TO HELP PASS THE TIME. FIVE YEAR-OLD NICO UTTERBACK, SON OF WINE GSM RON UTTERBACK, SHOWS OFF HIS COLORFUL VISION OF VICTOR THE LION.

COLUMBUS

On April 1 Heidelberg Columbus and Fireproof Restaurant teamed up to provide carry-out meals to hospitality professionals who were displaced by COVID-19. About 180 people were served $10 meals prepared by Fireproof. On premise Field Sales Manager Justin Wise and sales professional Holly Sue Southern helped plate and box everything up. Justin says the recipients were very appreciative! THANKS, Justin and Holly Sue!

PROMOTING FIREPROOF RESTAURANT’S MEAL GIVEAWAY.

JUSTIN WISE WITH JOSH MYNES, OPERATIONS MANAGER
OF PEERLESS MANAGEMENT, WHO ALSO HELPED SPONSOR
THE EVENT.

A HAPPY RECIPIENT PICKS UP ONE OF THE CARRY-OUT MEALS.

BRAND NEW AMERICAN AND STATE OF OHIO FLAGS FLY
HIGH ABOVE THE COLUMBUS OFFICE.

The Columbus Admin team found a way to put a smile on Associate’s faces and brighten up the plain old face-mask everyone else seems to have!

SPIRTS MANAGER ASHLEY COWENS, DAN HOGAN SPECIAL EVENTS,
DRIVER VINCENT FOUSE AND GSM, BEER DAN DIEM TAKE
“FACE-MASKING” TO THE NEXT LEVEL!

YOUNGSTOWN

Day Operations Associate, Gary Markasky, has a next door neighbor who works as a nurse. She mentioned to him that there isn’t water for the hospital employees to drink in the staff lounge area. Team Youngstown decided that they would each pitch in $5 per week to buy cases of water for the staff until the current crisis is over.

An office that “rocks” together stays strong! The Admin team is keeping their spirits high! They listen to music throughout the day to keep everyone positive. Deby Koniowksy plays Spotify during the day. The office staff gives Deby their requests for her to add to the play list. She comes through and the next day, the requested tunes get played!

Operations and Drivers are shining bright during the Covid-19 crisis. The drivers have really stepped it up with the teamwork making sure no driver comes back early until they are all done. The night crew is working really hard and producing great results despite being short staffed.

TOLEDO

MATT CLARK & NICOLE ZAM DELIVERED BOXED LUNCHES & WATER TO
PERRYSBURG TOWNSHIP POLICE/FIRE DURING COVID 19 TO THANK THEM
FOR ALL THEY DO FOR THE COMMUNITY

OHIO VALLEY

A shout out to Craft Beer Manager Seth Bullock, who has come in on Thursday nights to the warehouse to help the night shift pull cases. Over the summer in 2019, Seth along with a couple other sales managers got trained on the rabbits. It has been a big help having him come in to assist the nightshift crew!

On April 16, there was a driver that needed to bring his truck back but still had nine stops before his route was completed. Driver Zach Shanabrook had just finished his route and was going home for the day. Operations manager Scott Rheude asked Zach if he could help out and complete the unfinished route. Without hesitating, he said “yes” and that he just needed to call home to let his family know. Zach ended up working a 12 hour day. Great teamwork!

IT’S A WAREHOUSE AND ADMIN LUNCH, SOCIAL DISTANCING STYLE!
OV ASSOCIATES ENJOYED LUNCH FROM SHOOTER’S SPORTS GRILL
COMPLIMENTS OF KEVIN KLUESENER AND BOSTON BEER

 Wine Trends

Wine Trends has started a weekly Winery Trivia Contest which is held every Friday on Zoom.  They have been joined by surprise special guest hosts including Erni Loosen, Laura Catena and Jean-Charles Boisset.

WINEMAKER ERNI LOOSEN HOSTS “WINE TRENDS TRIVIA”
FROM HIS WINERY AND HOME IN BERNKASTEL, GERMANY