Speakeasy Distribution taps into changing tastes for tremendous growth
Ron Elkouri’s office is a lot nicer since his company’s move to south Wichita. He spends as little time there as possible.
“About two minutes a day,” Elkouri said. “I’m out doing sales.”
Since Speakeasy Distribution’s start in 2016, the company has grown from a two-person operation – Elkouri and business partner Riley Stephens – to 30 employees.
Speakeasy distributes about 500 different beers, wines and spirits, plus a small number of other products. The company’s 15 trucks make deliveries across Kansas.
To handle that growth, Speakeasy last year moved from a 10,000-square-foot warehouse at 13th and Mosley to a building with about four times that much space in the light industrial area between Hydraulic and K-15.
Elkouri and Stephens, who worked together at a large distributorship, say they went into business to take advantage of what they call a seismic shift in consumer tastes. While mass market brands such as Bud Light and Jack Daniels still command a huge share of sales, microbreweries, craft distilleries and small wineries are gaining in popularity, especially with young consumers.
“When you and I were growing up, we were brand loyal,” Stephens said. “Now consumers are style loyal. They’ll drink IPAs from five different breweries.”
And while big distributors control the best-known labels, small producers often prefer smaller companies such as Speakeasy so their brands “don’t get lost in the mix,” Elkouri said.
“It’s a super competitive business. You’ve got 10 or 20 distributors fighting for the same space on the shelf.”
Some popular labels Speakeasy handles include Harpoon and Evil Twin beers, Peg Leg Porker whiskey, Infinity vodka and Montimore Estate wines.
In general, Elkouri said, Speakeasy looks for beverages with good packaging and something unique about them, “priced correctly for this market.” Then it’s a matter of promoting those products to bars and liquor stores. “We’re willing to build brands from scratch,” Elkouri said.
One promotional tool is a party room set up like a bar inside Speakeasy’s new place.
“It’s so much easier to bring (customers) here where our products are rather than bring our products to them,” Elkouri said.
The new warehouse is climate-controlled and features a refrigerator for kegs, a requirement of some microbreweries who want their products in bars as well as liquor stores. Speakeasy was never busier than in mid-November, when workers were preparing for the night before Thanksgiving, traditionally one of the biggest nights of the year for liquor sales, and beyond.
“It’s a sprint from now to the end of the year,” Elkouri said.
Speakeasy Distribution
2940 S. Minneapolis, 316-927-3022
Owners: Ron Elkouri and Riley Stephens
Website: speakeasyks.com