Alright, let me walk you through my little adventure dealing with Breakthru Beverage down here in South Carolina. It wasn’t exactly rocket science, but setting things up took some doing, you know?
Getting Started
So, I got this idea for a small specialty shop. You know, focus on some niche stuff, maybe some local spirits too. Pretty quickly, I realized I couldn’t just call up distilleries directly for everything, especially the bigger brands. You gotta go through the distributors. And in SC, Breakthru Beverage is one of the big names you absolutely have to deal with.
First step was just figuring out how to even get in touch with the right folks there. Found a general number, called it. Got bounced around a bit, typical phone tree stuff. Eventually, I landed with someone who handled new accounts. They emailed me a bunch of forms. Lots of paperwork, let me tell you. Needed my business license, tax ID, all that jazz. Standard stuff, but it took a couple of days to gather everything and send it back properly.
The Account Setup Dance
After sending the papers, it wasn’t instant. Had to wait. Probably a week or so passed, then I got a call back. They needed to verify a few things. Asked about my expected order volume, storage, delivery access. Makes sense, they don’t want to send a huge truck down a tiny alley where it can’t turn around.
Finally got the okay, account was officially active. They assigned me a sales rep. Nice enough guy, seemed to know his stuff. He dropped off a massive product book. Like, seriously thick. It was kind of overwhelming at first.
First Orders and Deliveries
Okay, so I had the account, I had the book. Time to actually order something. My rep explained the process:
- Figure out what I needed.
- Check minimum order requirements – yeah, there are minimums, gotta pay attention to that.
- Call or email him the order by a certain day/time for the next delivery window.
My first order was pretty small. I was just stocking up the basics plus a few interesting bottles I’d spotted in their catalog. Placed it via email, got a confirmation back. Simple enough.
Delivery day came. I was kind of anxious, wondering if it would show up on time, if anything would be broken. The truck arrived within the window they gave me. Driver was professional, had the paperwork ready. We checked the inventory against the invoice. Everything was there, nothing damaged. A smooth first delivery, thankfully.
Since then, it’s been pretty much rinse and repeat. Place order, wait for delivery. Sometimes there are hiccups – an item out of stock, a delivery running a bit late – but usually, it works out. Dealing with a big company like Breakthru just becomes part of the weekly routine when you’re running a place that sells booze in South Carolina. It is what it is, you just learn the system and work with it.
