10
Beverage Media
December 2012
www.BevNetwork.com
SPECIAL
REPORT
organized a special dinner to help Babbo
executive chef Frank Langello, whose
Staten Island home was destroyed.
An online fundraiser spearheaded
by Alex Lapratt, chef sommelier at Jean
Georges, had raised $25,000 in donations
by November 15
th
.
Many restaurants de-
livered food directly to relief centers in
hard-hit Staten Island and the Rock-
aways, and some served as clearinghouses
to accept and redistribute food, clothing
and other relief supplies.
Among distributors, Phoenix/Bee-
hive’s Columbia Waterfront/Dumbo
location in Brooklyn also experienced
extensive damage due to the storm surge
and flooding. Fedway Associates’ facility
in South Kearny, NJ, at the north end of
Newark Bay was smacked by wind, rain
and tidal surges. A Facebook post on
November 3
rd
reported: “The first floor
of our office building and the main floor
of our warehouses were wiped out. Our
computers, servers, telecommunications
equipment were all compromised, as was
our delivery fleet and warehouse. That’s
the bad news…”
The “good news” was “an around the
clock clean-up project of super human
proportion”—which helped get the dis-
tributor up and running. Less than two
weeks after the storm surge, Fedway was
posting Facebook updates showing re-
plenished inventory photos of piled-high
pallets in their temporary staging facility.
Relief in Multiple Forms
Among the numerous examples of sup-
port, The Charmer Sunbelt Group cre-
ated the CSG Associate Relief Fund
to assist employees who were impacted
by the storm. Greg Baird, CSG’s COO,
said, “Our hope is to provide expedited
financial aid for significant damages or
loss where other sources of relief may
not be available.”
Palm Bay, partnering with South-
ern Wine & Spirits, collected much
needed items for adversely impacted and
displaced families from Palm Bay and
Southern W&S, and made donations
on top of that, coordinating with Long
Island Harvest for distribution to the
community. For two weeks in November,
Verity Wine Partners earmarked $1 per
case shipped for Sandy relief efforts.
Pernod Ricard USA donated
$100,000 to the Red Cross and organized
employee fundraising and in-kind dona-
tions. In addition, Absolut Vodka and
Pernod Ricard USA Wines and Cham-
pagnes are making donations to the Red
Cross for every bottle sold in New York
liquor stores through December 31
st
.
Beam Inc. also made a $100,000 do-
nation to the Red Cross, half of which
was earmarked from Skinnygirl founder
Bethenny Frankel.
Martin Scott Wines, Red Tail Ridge
Winery and Pellegrini Vineyards part-
nered in the tri-state hurricane relief ef-
fort. Through Christmas, Martin Scott
is donating $50 to the American Red
Cross Disaster Relief Fund for every case
sold of Red Tail Ridge Semi Dry Ries-
ling and Pellegrini Cabernet Franc, the
largest sellers from each of the wineries.
Constellation Brands matched em-
ployee donations two-to-one, up to
$100,000, to the American Red Cross in
support of Hurricane Sandy relief efforts.
The company also encouraged its em-
ployees across the U.S. to participate in
local blood drives to alleviate shortages
in areas impacted by the storm.
Diageo, in partnership with the Bridge
Foundation, delivered two high-powered
generators to Newark, NJ—one to a re-
tirement home where 900 residents had
beenwithout power for three days, and the
other to Engine Company 16, whose boat
patrols extracted residents from flooded
homes along the Hudson River. In addi-
tion, Diageo also facilitated the delivery
of 84,960 bottles of water for distribution
throughout New York and New Jersey.
New York State Helps Out
The state of New York was also quick to
respond, adjusting normal SLA require-
ments and deadlines in order to help
businesses focus on recovery. Gover-
nor Cuomo announced that due to the
impact of Hurricane Sandy, licensees
in New York City and the counties of
Westchester, Nassau, Suffolk and Rock-
land, whose licenses are due for renewal
in October or November, would auto-
matically receive a 60-day grace period,
after the expiration date, during which
they may continue to operate.
Additional SLA relief initiatives
announced by the Governor included:
extension (15 days) of retailers’ time to
pay distributors; free replacement of lost
or damaged license certificates; exten-
sion of New Year’s Eve “all night” per-
mit applications, from November 16
th
to December 1
st
;
extension of 60 days
for license applications conditionally
approved during the week of the storm;
and refunds for special events permits
relating to events that were cancelled,
or the issuance at no additional cost of
permits for events that were rescheduled,
even if moved to a new location.
For more information regarding
Hurricane Sandy relief or to request a
refund or temporary permit, contact the
SLA directly at
sandyrelief@sla.ny.gov
or
(518) 474-3114.
■
After being hit by a 10-foot tidal surge, Fedway Associates warehousemen, drivers, salespeople,
admins and managers worked 8 hour shifts, 24 hours a day. Within days they were receiving
replacement inventory at a temporary warehouse.