Gov. Andrew Cuomo's recent Beer, Wine and Spirits Summit was much more than a cheerleading event for the industry or the governor. It was a summit with substance that has a real chance of producing good jobs around the state, and significant revenue for local and state governments. Now, we need to follow through on the promises made, and that falls on industry as much as government.
The challenge facing New York wine is no mystery: We need to get more New Yorkers to drink New York wine. People who are familiar with New York wine generally like it and will buy it. But those people make up a small minority of wine drinkers in our state. Most people look past the New York wine for bottles from California or France or any number of other places around the world.
For the last two years, wine store owners around the state have been advocating for a broad-based education campaign to push New Yorkers to try a local wine. We have argued we should concentrate that effort in New York City, where advertising is expensive but the payoff is potentially huge.
Frankly, it was frustrating that retailers were not included in the summit discussion panel. After all, we sell wine and spirits every day. Our frustration grew when one panelist said he would have to survey his association members of bars and taverns to find out why they don't sell New York alcohol products. We could have answered the question immediately: because customers don't ask for it, and often the only time they try it is when a store owner or waiter pushes it.
The suggestion that we need a "blowout event" to reach 30,000 people in New York was equally frustrating. Big events are fine, and we support them, but one-off events with limited reach pale in comparison to what we really need.
Fortunately, our frustration was wiped away when the governor presented his decisions at the end of the event. After ticking off a list of regulatory changes and other ideas that will help wineries and similar small businesses, he focused on the solution that really got to the heart of the challenge:
His pledge to fund a TV campaign targeted largely on the New York City market with $1 million in state money was exactly on target. But he went further: He pledged another $2 million of state money if industry chipped in $2 million. In all, he laid out a path for a $5 million TV campaign to push New York wine, beer, spirits and hard cider that gets government and industry working together.
As retailers, we have been selling New York wine one bottle at a time, one customer at a time. I am sure the wineries feel as lonely in their efforts as we have. Now, the governor has come up with a plan that will reach millions of people with what we hope and trust will be a targeted and effective message: Drink New York products because they are good.
New Yorkers love wine, and I am sure they love beer and spirits, too. By getting them to drink more New York products — not necessarily drink more overall, just more local products — it will spur job growth and increase tourism in wine regions around the state. That is the kind of substance that makes a summit a success.
Jeff Saunders is president of the Retailers Alliance and founder of the Last Store on Main Street Coalition.