December 2013
| Business World Magazine | 163
he says. “I’m surrounded by fabulous
people who are as close as family. I get up
every day for the 185 people at Triangle
and 80 more at Heimark Distributing who
do all the hard work.
“That having been said, this is the
beer business. If you can’t have fun sell-
ing beer, you’ve got problems. While the
industry has changed drastically over the
last 16 years – the consolidation of the
most powerful brewers, the emergence of
the craft beer scene, etc. – there is still a
lot to be excited about day in, day out.”
“In a nutshell,” says Heimark, “the
layman drinking a bottle of Budweiser
can thank the wholesaler for the fact that
it is available, that it is fresh, that it is
cold, that it was affordable, that it looked
delicious because of an awesome display
at retail, and, if they are curious about a
new brand, all those same principles ap-
ply. With a wholesaler, your grocery store
has a few hundred SKUs in stock, fresh,
spaced appropriately and priced competi-
tively. Without a wholesaler, you have
something more like a big-box store, a
Fleming, Rudy Heimark, Donald Heimark
