MILWAUKEE, WI April 29, 2024.  Running a small business is hard, with an infinite number of daily tasks that require attention. And those in competitive industries need all the help they can get. Dan Klasen is the Founder of the Milwaukee-based Beverage Federation.(www.beveragefederation.com) The Beverage Federation is a Group Purchasing Organization (GPO) dedicated to the craft industry and designed to help breweries, distilleries, and wineries reduce costs by pooling their purchasing power together. The Federation handles everything from pint glasses and hops to wine bottles and cleaning supplies, the goal is any product/service you may need from production to taproom.

Very few small to medium breweries don’t have the purchasing power or resources to compete against larger organizations in their market or state.

This is where the Federation GPO comes in to help. Their goal is to educate and support ‘David’ as they take on ‘Goliath’ and level the playing field. A GPO purchasing model organizes businesses that are buying similar goods and leverages their buying power for improved costs from supply partners. “I describe it as the COSTCO model to a lot of our new brewery and distillery members. The idea is that with membership you get better pricing and the purchasing services that are typically only accessible to larger organizations”, said Dan Klasen.

Dan is a current and former small business owner who wishes he was aware of resources like the GPO when he used to run his former business. “When I was just getting started, I wanted to spend my time in sales, or marketing and not in accounting or HR. These areas are just as important to the success of the business, but there aren’t always scalable services for businesses to use when they are smaller,” said Dan Klasen. Dan is combining his passion for purchasing and small business development to give his members a resource to run a ‘little leaner’ this year. The program is clearly striking a chord with brewery owners looking for ways to save time and money. With over 225 Craft members and 65 supply partners so far, the Beverage Federation is growing quickly.

Much of the craft industry is a maturing market, especially the craft brewing industry. After years of explosive growth, the industry is going through a variety of changes and challenges; from new forms of craft beverages (i.e.Hard seltzer and THC infused), to changes in consumers’ drinking habits, to increased preferences in non-alcoholic (NA) alternatives. Besides consumer changes, breweries and wineries are dealing with economic factors like increased costs, inflation, and an influx of new supply partners, all of which are outside their control.

“Our focus is setting up easy-to-use programs that help ‘lean out’ our members’ business operations. Our goal is to reduce costs, so they can be in business for years to come. If we are doing our job right, they can spend less time on purchasing operations and more time on producing the craft products their patrons love” said Dan.