Breakthru Beverage Group today announced it has completed the acquisition of California-based wholesaler Wine Warehouse, which is now operating as Breakthru Beverage California. The Wine Warehouse team, its facilities in both northern and southern California and its strong, diverse portfolio of wine, spirits and beer suppliers are all part of the Breakthru integration. The company also announced it is bringing Aspect, its specialized fine wine solution, to the California market. The Aspect team of fine wine certified experts will enhance service to select retail and on-premise accounts.
“The Myerson family built Wine Warehouse around its passion as fine wine collectors and has by far the most prestigious fine wine portfolio in California but they also assembled an excellent portfolio of emerging spirits and beer brands along the way,” said Tom Bené, Breakthru Beverage Group President and CEO. “Launching Aspect Fine Wine is the first of many investments we intend to make in the business. We couldn’t be more excited about the dedicated and experienced team on the ground and the opportunities to serve customers in California.”
Breakthru Beverage California will be led by acting EVP Greg Akins and operate within the parent company’s newly defined West Region, which also includes Arizona, Colorado and Nevada. As the company optimizes how it supports local markets and leverages capabilities across its footprint, Breakthru will now operate as four North American Regions under the leadership of Chief Operating Officer Julian Burzynski.
“This regional model leaves financial responsibility at the market-level while ensuring we deliver an even better, more consistent experience for our enterprise-wide partners,” Burzynski explained.
In addition to a fine wine portfolio serviced by Aspect wine certified experts, Breakthru will also assume a significant portfolio of spirit and beer brands. Breakthru has a long and successful legacy as a high-performing TBA wholesaler. It intends to bolster the efforts of the legacy team with additional sales supports, commercial tools and business intelligence capabilities to reach deeper and broader into both on and off-premise accounts throughout the state.
“California is a critical market to our growth strategy and with the best professionals in the business, strong supplier relationships and a differentiating and scalable model, Breakthru is well positioned to earn more business and further accelerate growth,” Bené added.
The addition of California expands Breakthru’s footprint to 16 markets, with more than $7.5 billion in annual sales revenue.
About Breakthru Beverage Group
Breakthru Beverage Group is one of the leading alcohol wholesalers in the United States and the largest broker in Canada representing a full total beverage alcohol portfolio of spirits, wine and beer. Breakthru is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion and supports a wide range of notable organizations as well as local charitable initiatives across its North American footprint. Across all markets, Breakthru aligns a nimble and insightful approach to sales, marketing and operations. Family ownership is active in the business and committed to being stewards of heritage and champions of innovation. For more information, visit www.BreakthruBev.com.
