Beverage Distribution News
Golden Bar Award Goes To City Beverage
July 15, 2008, Chicago, Illinois – Though they weren’t harassed by camera-wielding paparazzi, Dave Dwyer and Steve Tatgenhorst of CITY Beverage enjoyed their own red carpet moment at the Fifth Annual Golden Bar Awards.
“Until the music began playing and the announcer said, ‘The winner is – CITY Beverage!’ Steve and I had no idea we would be taking home the award. It was a shock to be accepting a golden statute in front of our peers,” said Dwyer, Import/Specialty Brand Manager for CITY Beverage-Markham. Tatgenhorst holds the same position with CITY Beverage-Chicago.
The prestigious award ceremony, hosted by Diageo, the world’s leading spirits, wine and beer company, honors its top distributors. More than one thousand guests attended the July 10th event at New York City’s Museum of Natural History. CITY’s Markham and Chicago divisions received the Golden Bar Consistency Award in honor of their sales growth and product distribution over a three-year period. The win reflects an outstanding 4.4% average annual increase.
“Out of all the awards given, the Consistency Award is the most coveted,” explained Dwyer. “All of the other Golden Bar awards are based upon a single year’s performance, but this one acknowledges our efforts over an extended time period.”
The Markham and Chicago operations distribute several Diageo products, including Guinness, Harp, Smithwick’s, and Red Stripe beers, plus Smirnoff and Parrot Bay malt beverages.
Of the more than 500 distributors who handle Diageo products nationwide, only the top 100 companies were invited to the ceremony. Thirty-two statuettes, made of 24 carat gold, were awarded to each category’s winner. Weighing nine pounds and standing more than a foot tall, the statuettes were produced by R.S. Owens, the company that created Oscar®, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Though invited to previous Golden Bar Award ceremonies, this year marked CITY Beverage’s first nominations. Diageo/Guinness USA District Manager Maria Henson nominated the company in four categories. In addition to taking home the consistency award, the Soave company was also considered for the Beer Excellence Award -Smithwick’s, Beer Excellence Award - Guinness and Beer Distributor of the Year.
The golden statuette, currently in transit to Illinois, will be a 24 carat reminder to the CITY team of their hard work and its outstanding results.
CITY Beverage – Chicago is an affiliate of Soave Enterprises, L.L.C., www.soave.com. Soave Enterprises is a diversified management and investment company founded by Detroit businessman Anthony L. Soave that provides strategic planning, financial and other management resources to its affiliated business ventures in the real estate, automotive retailing, beer distribution, scrap metal, industrial services and transportation industries, among others. Recently, Forbes Magazine ranked Soave Enterprises as the 251st largest privately held company in the United States.
