(Photos by Jessica Jacobsen and Jeff Cioletti)

The BevOps Fleet Summit welcomed attendees to its return to in-person with the 15th annual conference, which took place March 22-24 at the M Resort in Henderson, Nev.

Warehousing, distribution and fleet management professionals kicked off the event early on March 22 with the scramble format golf outing. Later that evening, all were welcomed to the opening reception, which took place poolside, for a chance to network with old and new friends.

The following day, attendees were able to visit the exhibit hall where sponsors were sharing the latest innovations to support the warehousing, distribution and fleet management space. The education portion of the event also began at 8:30 a.m. with a State of the Industry panel discussion featuring Gary Hemphill, managing director of research at Beverage Marketing Corporation (BMC); Lester Jones, chief economist at National Beer Wholesalers Association; and Jeff Cioletti, editor-in-chief with Craft Spirits magazine.

Following the panel, Matthew Pechman, head of marketing at The Gambrinus Co., makers of Shiner beer, discussed the company’s journey and how it has been able to remain relevant with beer drinkers for more than a century.

Next up was a panel discussion about protecting the supply chain from cyber-attacks featuring Bill Kraich, vice president of e-commerce for Encompass Technologies; and Chris Koch, chief operating officer with Adams Beverages.

After the discussion, everyone gathered their items and departed for the Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the Ride & Drive/Equipment Demo, which highlighted some of the latest developments in electric vehicles.

That evening everyone gathered in the exhibit hall for an evening networking reception.

On the final day of the conference, the day began with the presentation of Beverage Industry awards. On hand to accept were Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirts for Wholesaler of the Year and Anheuser-Busch for Fleet of the Year. Andrews Distributing was the recipient of Facility of the Year, but was not in attendance.

For the general session, Amit Patel, senior vice president of ad monetization and partnerships with Drizly, discussed how the online platform is connecting the three tiers of beverage alcohol with today’s consumer needs.

Closing out the general session was Neal Dikeman, partner with Energy Transition Ventures, who discussed the future of energy alternatives for fleets, including electric.

BevOps closed out with the breakout sessions that dug deeper into the specific trends that are impacting the operations and fleet sides in the wholesale business.

The members of Beverage Industry and BNP Events will be announcing dates for the 2023 BevOps Fleet Summit in the coming weeks. BI