When Kellie Shevlin started up the Craft Beverage Expo ten years ago, part of her ‘Phase 2’ was to launch a separate B2C event, writes Stephanie Selesnick. “It took longer than expected, but when we were offered a partnership with VisitPittsburgh, the Craft Beverage Experience (CBX) was born,” Shevlin said.
Is launching a B2C event adjacent to a B2B event in a new trend? I’m not sure – but it’s something to keep an eye on. Kellie recently joined Fast Forward Events, LLC, the newly minted owners of Craft Beverage Expo, Women in Craft Forum, and Craft Beverage Experience. Michelle Metter and Ken Loyst, founders and partners of Fast Forward Events, also joined in our conversation.
Kellie continued: “The CBX, including educational sessions, was held one Friday in March, and featured beer, wine, spirits, kombucha, cider, sake, mead and low alcohol beverages. We had 750 visitors and 85 products. It was ‘proof of concept’ – that the idea worked.”
In addition to VisitPittsburgh who provided venue space and promotion, CBX worked with the Kombucha Brewers International and the North American Sake Brewers Association among other craft beverage associations who wanted to reach consumers. (Both associations hold their own proprietary B2B events.)
She continued: “Pittsburgh is the number one Beer City in the US based on price of beer and the sheer numbers of breweries in the city. In fact, it’s been a beverage city since the Whiskey Rebellion of 1791. It was a natural fit for the launch of the B2C event. CBX aligned with all of Pittsburgh’s goals, and it was a great partnership.”
The nuts and bolts
Craft Beverage Expo’s exhibitors sell equipment and products to beverage producers for brewing or distilling brands. For CBX, exhibitors along with consumers became visitors, and Craft Beverage Expo’s visitors – the beverage producers – became CBX exhibitors once the B2B show closed. In fact, entry into the CBX was included in Craft Beverage Expo’s booth space price.
I think it’s genius because it’s an organic outgrowth of the trusted relationship the organiser already has with stakeholders. The challenge? Bringing in the end users, the consumers. That’s where VisitPittsburgh’s promotional efforts kicked in.
Kellie said: “They function as the agency for the city and know how to market events held there.”
The success of the event was ‘Proof of Concept’, meaning it worked! Michelle explained: “Proof of Concept is quite common in food and beverage consumer events. The launch of a consumer event is intentionally smaller, first, because it is normally self-funded. It’s less risk and the organiser is able to leverage other, existing in-house resources. Second, a smaller-scaled event is easier to produce – parameters are specific.”
When the launch is successful, it can then be scaled up. She continued: “As independent operators we have to be measured with our launches and B2B event out of their B2C San Diego Bay Wine and Food Festival. In this case, they started a small niche conference, SommCon (for sommeliers) held alongside the larger festival. Over the past few years, it has grown to an online platform, conference, and new this year, an exhibition. ]
So, what’s next?
The acquisition of the Craft Beverage suite of events strategically positions Fast Forward as one of the central US producers of B2B and B2C events in the US adult alcoholic beverage industry. In 2024, they are launching Tasting & Tap Room Expo in Reno, NV.
Ken said: “This acquisition will allow cross pollination throughout our shows. Now, our attendees in one show become our exhibitors in the next and we can move seamlessly between B2B and B2C within this segment.”
“Our industry has a lot of product innovation. Led by consumer demand, the trends and stories change,” Michelle added. “With our acquisition of the CBE brands, we now deliver the go-to-market strategies for the adult alcohol beverage industry from producer to importer, distributor, on and off premise buyer and, ultimately to end user.”
Proof of Concept indeed.
