Southern Glazer’s Debuts the Served Up Book Club
Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, the world’s preeminent distributor of beverage alcohol, has launched a new online book club at www.southernglazers.com/serveduppodcast. The Served Up podcast features interviews with the hospitality industry’s most respected and celebrated leaders.
Just in time for the busy holiday shopping season, book worms in the beverage industry can check out the Served Up Book Club for recommendations on some of the latest books to buy and read exclusive interviews with the authors who are sharing their knowledge, experiences and stories.
Authors featured include:
- Derek Brown, author of Mindful Mixology: A Comprehensive Guide to No- and Low-Alcohol Cocktails
- Camper English, author of Doctors and Distillers: The Remarkable Medicinal History of Beer, Wine, Spirits and Cocktails
- Kim Haasarud, author of the “101” Cocktail Book Series
- Adrian Miller, author of Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue
- Natalie Maclean, author ofWine Witch On Fire: Rising from the Ashes of Divorce, Defamation and Drinking Too Much
- Shannon Mustipher, author of Tiki: Modern Tropical Cocktails
- Jessica Pettit, author of Good Enough Now
- Julie Reiner, author of The Craft Cocktail Party: Delicious for Every Occasion
Served Up, with hosts Bridget Albert and Julie Milroy, is available on Apple, Spotify and Amazon Music and is a source for beverage professionals to hear conversations on topics such as advocacy, entrepreneurship, and belonging with food and beverage industry and social justice thought leaders representing the diverse hospitality community.
Albert is the senior director, external communications for Southern Glazer’s, a published author of Market-Fresh Mixology and award-winning mixologist with more than 25 years of hospitality industry experience. Milroy is a vice president, supplier development & marketing for Southern Glazer’s with more than 17 years of experience in the beverage alcohol industry including roles in Sales, Human Resources, Marketing, and Commercial Strategy.
To pitch a guest for the show, to submit your book for the Book Club, or to schedule the Served Up team for on-site beverage industry event coverage, contact servedup@sgws.com. For more information about the podcast visit www.southernglazers.com/serveduppodcast.
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Save A Lot Launches Holiday Food Donation Program
Save A Lot, one of the largest discount grocery chains in the United States, is set to do “A Lot of Good” through the 2022 holiday season with its annual Bags for a Brighter Holiday food donation program, which supports the hometowns in which it operates by donating much-needed, high-quality food to local charities fighting hunger.
Now through Dec. 24, customers can purchase pre-assembled bags of food for $6 (varies) as they’re checking out at the register at any of Save A Lot’s 656 participating stores nationwide. Each bag is stocked with private label and brand name food items, including pasta, stuffing mix, canned beans and other pantry staples from Save A Lot.
As the Bags for a Brighter Holiday program enters its seventh year, Save A Lot will also leverage the campaign to again support No Kid Hungry, a national campaign to end childhood hunger in America. In addition to donating bags of food to local charities, the company will provide a matching $6 donation for every bag purchased on Giving Tuesday (Nov. 29) to No Kid Hungry. Given that $1 invested can help provide 10 meals** for children, Save A Lot encourages all shoppers to help make an impactful difference for youth across the country.
Millions of children in the United States face hunger every day– as many as one in eight kids this year. No Kid Hungry has a plan to help make sure those children get the healthy meals they need to thrive. Through a combination of emergency grants, strategic assistance, advocacy and awareness, No Kid Hungry is helping kids, families and communities get the resources they need.
“With inflation continuing at record pace, many families are still struggling to put food on the table. But it’s inspiring to see how communities are rallying together to help address food insecurity—especially this holiday season,” said Tim Schroder, chief sales and marketing officer at Save A Lot. “Our Bags for a Brighter Holiday program gives Save A Lot shoppers a direct way to help us do a lot of good. Their donations aid neighbors directly and kids everywhere through our efforts to support No Kid Hungry on Giving Tuesday.”
“Every kid needs three meals a day to grow up healthy, happy and strong, yet millions are still missing those meals,” said Diana Hovey, Senior Vice President at Share Our Strength, the organization behind the No Kid Hungry campaign. “Save A Lot’s support on Giving Tuesday comes at a pivotal moment for ensuring kids have access to the right foods they need to grow, and we couldn’t be more honored to collaborate with the brand and its shoppers to help end childhood hunger across America.”
Save A Lot stores, which are locally owned and operated, are passionate about making a difference. From supporting local charities to sponsoring in-store fundraisers, product drives and events for customers, locations are committed to doing A Lot of Good.
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Swamp Dragon Liquor Hot Sauce Aims to Slay More Taste Buds, Expand Reach
The owner of Swamp Dragon, the world’s only liquor hot sauce, is raising funds to grow the brand, which is sold online and in more than 1,000 retail stores nationwide.
“I am now raising capital in earnest to prosecute a major scale-up for Swamp Dragon,” CEO Matt Beeson wrote on his LinkedIn page. “Now that the pandemic problems are easing, opportunities that were on hold are returning, and we need investors in order to exploit those opportunities. And it’s a lot.
“If you don’t know, we make the world’s only liquor hot sauce. Bourbon is better than vinegar! We are ultimately differentiated in the market, and the product is attractive to professional buyers,” he wrote.
Beeson is aiming for a six or seven-figure haul, saying the company has “an incredible foundation laid and enormous mass market opportunities (too many, really).”
Other shelf-stable hot sauces rely on an acetic acid (vinegar) as a preservative. Beeson, a hot sauce lover in Baton Rouge, La., didn’t like the overpowering sour taste and aroma of vinegar.
After two years of research, Beeson found that no other hot sauces are based in liquor. Many are infused or flavored with liquor, but none of them contain alcohol (not enough to get drunk and it’s safe for kids). Swamp Dragon is hot sauce reimagined.
Read more in the January issue of Gourmet News. Subscribe now so you don’t miss it!
