Frederick M. Tibbitts, Jr. is founder of Fred Tibbitts & Associates of New York City. Tibbitts has developed and manages two businesses: an international sales and marketing agency for producers and importers of beverages; and a beverage consultancy for global chain hotels and restaurants. Tibbitts knows almost everyone who's in charge of a corporate beverage list. He logs 250,000 frequent flyer miles a year and if you e-mail Fred and ask him where he is, the reply could be, "Fred from Hong Kong, or Paris, or South Africa, or Buenos Aires."

Tibbitts has been a lecturer at Cornell University's School of Hotel and Restaurant Administration and is a member of the Advisory Board for the School of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management at the University of Deleware and for Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

The following is excerpted from an interview with Frederick Tibbitts, Jr.:

Wine Business Monthly: Fred, in 1974, you left your family's Albany-based food distribution business, Tri-City Produce Company, and went to work for McDonald's Corporation. What did you do there?

Fred Tibbitts, Jr.: I was an operations management trainee, who was on the payroll from the Oakbrook (corporate) office. I worked at several McDonalds gaining operational experience, and finally edited and developed a store-level supplementary operations manual. It was being field tested when I departed.

WBM: When you left McDonalds, you segued into the wine and spirits industries. What companies did you work for that had the most powerful influence over where you are today?

FT: Joseph E. Seagram & Sons and Kobrand. After various positions of increasing responsibility from food distribution to coffee, I was hired by Seagram for national accounts. Eventually, I was promoted to director of sales-east, national accounts. Seagram was like graduate school in marketing and opened lots of doors. It allowed me to establish a majority of the relationships that continue to benefit me today. Kobrand focused on education and the strengths of an independent, family owned and operated fine wine purveyor. It was the perfect next step after Seagram to improve my wine knowledge. Seagram provided the financial strength and vast resources to make the big deals. Kobrand was about making do with less and learning finesse. Many of my Seagram and Kobrand friendships are for life.

WBM: In 1992, you started your own business. Why?

FT: To capitalize on my years of experience in the foodservice industry, particularly the wine and beverage alcohol side. I wanted to provide a service that wasn't being addressed. I knew how many millions of dollars it took to run a national accounts department for a wine and spirits producer, importer, or distributor. With corporate down-sizing, and the trend toward outsourcing services, I recognized my core competencies and created the niche.

WBM: What are your core competencies benefiting this market segment?

FT: My greatest strength is the relationships that have developed over the years. It's important to continually fortify them, so each year I host several "Fred Tibbitts Spring & Autumn Dinners with Special Friends." Last year's dinners were at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong, The Yale Club of New York City, and the Union Club of New York. This year's are again planned for Hong Kong and New York, plus Singapore. We're already planning 2003, with Shanghai, and Berlin added to the list from 2002. Typical senior executives who attend are Philip Kendall, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide F&B vice president; Jay Witzel, president/COO Radisson Hotels & Resorts; Curtis Nelson, president/CEO Carlson Hospitality Worldwide; Joe McInerney, president/CEO American Hotel & Lodging Association; and Kenneth Hill, Uno Restaurant Corporation.

My other core competencies are not only my basic understanding of national account sales and marketing, but also the monitoring of adult beverage global trends on a daily basis. I'm in constant touch with global account managers of turnkey programs for chain hotels and restaurants.

WBM: As a global beverage consultant, what's a typical day like for you?

FT: There is no typical day. Some days I'm flying to the other end of the world; some days I am just taking the train to New York. I'm as much a global beverage strategist as anything. I constantly update my knowledge of world news, events, and geography. It's all connected. I constantly read and listen to everything there is to know about the world of beverage. I constantly think about the unique relationships among all the factors, and then I suggest to others what I believe the future holds. I consult all day long on the telephone with clients, national accounts, and others about our changing environment, and how to best accomplish their goals.

WBM: How did you get from there to here... by that I mean, how does a local marketer become an international marketer?

FT: FTA isn't simply a wine and spirits broker that went national, then went global. We're a consulting agency that understands the global wine and spirits business. We study the culture and dynamics of each hotel or restaurant chain to arrive at a program and an approach, and then launch the best possible program that works for all concerned.

It's necessary to understand the products that fit and bring together all the suppliers to fund the necessary components of these beverage programs (i.e. printing, wine preservation systems, training, wine and spirits promotional events and dinners, etc.). But what separates FTA from any potential competitor is our analysis of each account's culture, intra-connectivity, and the conscious as well as unconscious needs of key players.

It may seem like a lot about nothing, but actually it's a lot about a lot. Our approach moves from the flat to the dynamic; from the static to the interactive; from two dimensional to three dimensional...My hearing is from within. I sense the next moves. I understand to the minute the timing of my actions, to have the maximum impact on every outcome. I become the customer.

WBM: So, who's your competition?

FT: At this time, I don't know anyone else who is doing what I'm doing, or anyone who has all these nurtured relationships and talents.

WBM: Why would someone want to hire you. Aren't you just another slice taken away from a client's bottom line?

FT: Well, that's one way to look at it, and a lot of business people see it that way. Then there's another group who've been around for a while. They know that the sales managers they're hiring are energetic, enthusiastic, educated, and talented; but one thing they lack is the connectedness. Without connections these managers can spend days, weeks, and sometimes even years trying to get through a door that's always open for me. Remember, my relationships have slowly and methodically been built over the last 30 years. I don't care how enthusiastic and talented they are, they can't expect to just go in and replicate in one or two meetings what I've constructed over a 30 year period. It's just impossible. The old way of thinking was, ‘Who needs another layer?' The new way of thinking is ‘economy of scale.'

WBM: ‘Economy of scale?'

FT: ‘Economy of scale' is simple. As a brand manager, do I want 10 percent of 1,000 cases, or 7 percent of 30,000 cases? It's simple math, and today's best and brightest don't need a calculator to figure it out. This is why the biggest companies keep getting bigger. They're already in tune with the concept.

WBM: You're constantly traveling. How do maintain your relationships?

FT: My willingness to be available without barriers, without qualification, is one of the reasons we're so successful, and why we're global in the real sense. I've always said that if it's important enough to call me at two in the morning, it's important enough for me to answer the phone."

WBM: What advice would you give to someone just starting out?

FT: The key to successful international marketing is to become the product or service. In the past, it has been said, ‘Think globally, act locally.' But today, a beverage marketer must ‘Think globally, act globally.' The world has become one marketplace. The key is to know your typical guest within the global context. Most importantly, successful food and beverage consultants have to understand cultural and regional differences in order to bring the world closer together; thereby, marketing to the world as a whole, as opposed to only one dimension of it. This "cultural and regional differences" concept creates markets that benefit all.

WBM: What about hotel restaurant marketing? it seems that most hotel restaurants have evolved to only take care of transient guests. Does this seem like an injustice to chefs who are wanting to build a career? And, if so, what advice would you give an F&B director?

FT: Yes, it is an injustice. From the moment customers enter the hotel restaurant, they must sense a striking beverage presence. There should be a wide range of selections, both alcohol and non-alcohol, that complements whatever they chose to eat. People eat and drink with their eyes, so let the show begin! If you create a positive beverage atmosphere that indulges the five senses with a wide variety of tempting choices that relates to your concept, your typical guests, and your menu, the guests' sixth sense will vote with their dollars to your benefit.

WBM: You must have a powerful mission statement. What is it?