Rock Solid 

White Rock Distilleries' Sales Continue to Escalate With Customer Demand

       Rolling stones may gather no moss, but there’s much to be said for those who can balance that momentum while being as solid as the proverbial rock. Examples abound of fame and notoriety being achieved from this solidarity, too, from Plymouth Rock to Chevrolet, but the one relative to bars and nightclubs the world over truly has chiseled its niche in the year 2005 — of course, we’re talking about Lewiston, Maine’s own White Rock Distilleries.

Rising Revenues
    “2005 was an overall great year for White Rock Distilleries,” says Bill Dabbelt, vice president. “We enjoyed record revenues and profits, and we added several talented sales people to our staff. We reached 100,000 cases sold of our single malt scotch portfolio consisting of Bowmore, Auchentoshan, Glen Garioch, and McClellands. We also had another record year for Three Olives Vodka going over 450,000 cases for the year and still waiting for the complete results.”
    The accomplishments continue. White Rock also has realized great success this year resulting from its launch of the Q “Quintessential” Gin, a creatively upscale packaged product that aligns well with today’s consumers’ increasing demand for premium flavor at an affordable price. Also, as on-premise guests perpetuate the flavor explosion, White Rock has stepped up its Three Olives line with the latest additions of Grape, Berry and Citrus. Other trends have been encouraging to Dabbelt and company, as well.   
    “The biggest trend affecting White Rock Distilleries continues to be the American consumers’ choosing distilled spirits more and more as their beverage of choice,” Dabbelt says. “No big surprise, really. We continue to see white goods out-perform brown goods.”
 
Navigating the Flood
    Still, there is much more to White Rock’s success story in the past year and — as it appears — to come in the year ahead. Dabbelt says perhaps the key growth lies not only with the massive and rapidly moving vodka category, but specifically in the often-overlooked details of carving a solid, branded niche into the category. This is where Three Olives has excelled. 
    “While the U.S. market has seen a flood of new vodkas over the past 5-6 years, it has made it difficult to break through the brand clutter,” Dabbelt says. “We have seen our on-premise sales skyrocket due to a fortunate combination of factors like packaging, taste, pricing and fun and unique flavors. 
    “Three Olives Cherry continues to be our largest volume flavor. We are seeing huge success with the new Grape and Berry flavors we started rolling out in late September,” he says. “We allocated a large percentage of our promotional budget to doing on-premise party nights and other POS-like, lit bar stands. This is paying dividends to the brand.”
    As any seasoned operator will tell you, it now is more crucial than ever to captivate consumers not with packaging, flavor or pricing alone, but with that element of proactive fun as Dabbelt noted. The budget allocation and focus on this accordingly has the Three Olive brand currently growing in all states, but especially it is poised for expansion in the major markets of New York, Florida, Illinois and California.
    What other vodka category dynamics have piqued White Rock’s interest? “Right now, we are focusing our efforts behind the newer unique flavors for Three Olives — for sure the new Grape, Berry, Chocolate, Green Apple and Cherry — but the interesting thing to us is that we are seeing growth in Raspberry, Orange and Vanilla, too,” Dabbelt says. “We have discussed this internally and believe that as more on-premise establishments see the success for Three Olives Cherry, Chocolate and Grape, they start to try more of our flavors and find out that Three Olives makes all great-tasting flavors that when blind tasted really do taste better than any other national brands. Taste is winning out.”

Fishing Where the Fish Are
    White Rock believes that working very closely with local distributors and their on-premise managers to identify and create programs for the leading volumes accounts for each market is critical to success.
    “Many companies do the same — need to fish where the fish are, so to speak,” Dabbelt says. He adds, though, that White Rock also has increased its investments in chain accounts with the addition of a director of national accounts, Mike Lindell, who is focusing intensely on major chain restaurant buyers in all parts of the United States.
    Dabbelt says the company has set the goal of taking the Three Olives brand to volume in excess of 500,000 cases in 2006, and it seems the company is well on its way to achieving that today. As Dabbelt demonstrates, at the end of the day, it comes down to dedicated belief in a brand and the effect that such enthusiasm has on others.
    “Our advice to bar managers is to stock up with the new Grape and Berry, since we are seeing unbelievable results in test markets like Phoenix, Milwaukee and Cleveland. This brand will take your sales to a new level,” Dabbelt says.  NCB

Creating the Buzz
    White Rock Distilleries prides itself on its portfolio’s spirits innovation, be it taste, packaging, price value or promotional outreach. Yet, firmly cemented in the company’s profits philosophy is knowledge of the fact that to get bar guests buzzing over a brand, they need to be aware of its cocktail potential. In fact, Bill Dabbelt, vice president at White Rock, says his company’s Three Olives line of vodkas has undergone tremendous success in the past year, largely for this reason, and he shares the following recipes for Three Olives’ newest flavor additions: Grape and Berry.

Grape Bomb
Three Olives Grape Vodka
Your favorite energy drink
Served over ice.

Barney Martini
Three Olives Grape Vodka
Blue Curacao
Grenadine
Club soda
Served in a chilled Martini glass and garnished with a lime wedge.

Grapehound
Three Olives Grape Vodka
Grapefruit juice
Grenadine
Served over ice and garnished with a lime wedge.

Three-O Berry Cosmo
Three Olives Berry Vodka
Triple Sec
Cranberry Juice
Lime Juice
Served in a chilled Martini glass and garnished with a raspberry.

Berry Blast
Three Olives Berry Vodka
Lemon-lime soda
Served over ice and garnished with a lime wedge.

Chocolate Dipped Berry Martini
Three Olives Berry Vodka
Three Olives Chocolate Flavored Vodka
White Crème de Cacao
Served in a chilled Martini glass rimmed with chocolate sugar.