Sales Opportunity with the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board

Deadline: Monday, January 7

ACT NOW

The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board is currently accepting submissions for white, rosé, and sparkling wines from Oregon wineries that do not currently do business with the PLCB. To be considered, documents detailing information about your wines must be submitted by the end of the day Monday, Jan. 7. No wine shipment is required. 

BACKGROUND INFO

Last summer, John Wagner, buyer of North American wines (except California) for the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB) attended the Oregon Wine Board’s Summer Trade Tour which takes place in regions across the state and includes Oregon Pinot Camp. His positive experience sparked an exciting partnership with upcoming opportunities for Oregon wineries of all sizes.

The PLCB is a big deal. It operates more than 600 stores and regulates the manufacture, importation, sale, distribution and disposition of liquor, alcohol and malt or brewed beverages for the entire state of Pennsylvania. John Wagner buys North American wines for 100 of those stores, focusing exclusively on luxury wine and the outlets where Oregon does best.

INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE PLCB

Below is information about the Luxury Offering #1 for 2019. We will continue to make changes in order to streamline the process and make it more efficient for both the PLCB and our Vendor Partners. You can contact John Wagner, North American Buyer of the PLCB with any questions you have.

Summary:

1. Download and complete the Offering Submission Form
2. Email to RA-lbotb@pa.gov by end of day Monday, Jan. 7
3. Category Managers will start reviewing the submissions on Jan. 8, 2019 and finish reviewing items by Jan. 30, 2019. PLCB Category Managers will either qualify or reject submissions based on internal criteria.

Step 1: Download and complete the Offering Submission Form 

• Download the Offering Submission Form
• Please only submit items that can be in our stores by May/June of 2019
• All items for the same vendor should be submitted on the same form
• Open the “Vendor Contact Info” tab
  • All requested information must be filled in or the submission will be returned until all is complete as we will be using this to update your information in our system.
• Open the next tab “Categories of Interest”
  • Please review these categories carefully as we will only be reviewing wines from these categories. All items from categories not listed will be deleted and not reviewed.
  • Please note that if more than 25% of your submissions are from incorrect categories your submission form will be denied
• Open the final tab “Submission”
  • Only the “white” cells can have any information entered, the “gray” cells either auto-fill or are drop down boxes for you to select from.
  • The auto-fill may take a long time depending on the spreadsheet program being used.
  • All columns must be filled out, except for columns that have BLUE text, those are optional.
  • Column C – “Supplier” is a new addition and will ensure that submissions are evaluated and replied to correctly. This allows both clarity, and for a vendor to submit the same item from multiple suppliers (if applicable) for quantity, price, or other reasons. For example, Vendor #3765 is Fruit of the Vines, and they are supplied by Sovex, Twins, LDVins, Sichel, and many others.
  • Column P & Q – Case size, Minimum cases ordered and Maximum cases ordered should contain numbers only.
  • Column R – It is very important that you ONLY select from the Shipping Points outlined below. If you do not understand the shipping points or which one you need to choose, please email John Wagner. View consolidation pricing here to assist you in determining your costs for any product that is shipped through Garden State or Hillenbrand.
    1. Domestic Direct – Vendor Ships directly to the PLCB’s 3 Distribution Centers
    2. East Coast Consolidation – Vendor uses Garden State to deliver to the PLCB’s 3 Distribution Centers
    3. West Coast Consolidation – Vendor uses Hillebrand to deliver to the PLCB’s 3 Distribution Centers
    4. International Consolidation Europe – Vendor uses Hillebrand to deliver to the PLCB’s 3 Distribution Centers
    5. International Consolidation South America – Vendor uses Hillebrand to deliver to the PLCB’s 3 Distribution Centers
    6. International Consolidation Africa – Vendor uses Hillebrand to deliver to the PLCB’s 3 Distribution Centers
    7. International Consolidation Australia and New Zealand – Vendor uses Hillebrand to deliver to the PLCB’s 3 Distribution Centers
  • Column S – ‘Expected Delivery Time…’ is how long (in days) it is estimated that it will take for the product to get to the listed consolidation point once a PO is received.
  • Column T – Enter “Yes” if the product is Sparkling for Customs Purposes, otherwise enter “No”. This should be filled out for all products.

Step 2: Email the Offering Information

• Email Offering Submission Form to RA-lbotb@pa.gov by end of day Monday, Jan. 7
• Late submissions WILL NOT be processed or accepted.
• A form submitted to any other email address WILL NOT be processed or accepted.
• If the information on the spreadsheet is not completely filled out correctly, we will not accept the submission.

You can contact John Wagner, North American Buyer (except California) of the PLCB with any questions you have.