The agency tasked with stocking alcohol on Naval bases told the nation's only disabled-veteran-owned distillery it would not stock their products.
The Navy Exchange Service Command (NEXCOM) told Travis Barnes it would not stock whiskey made by his company Hotel Tango after meeting with him to review the product. Barnes, who served three tours of duty in Iraq as a Recon Marine, said the decision came as a complete surprise to him. He said his meeting with a NEXCOM purchaser had gone well but months later he was told his company was too small to get in the door.
"That was kind of their weak sauce excuse, 'you're not national so we don't think you can handle the volume.' That was it," Barnes said. "That was never brought up in any of the meetings. That was never brought up before or after. When we were in the meetings it was all sunshine and rainbows, 'we love the product, love the taste, love the packaging, love that you're a disabled-veteran-owned company.' And then two month later we just get a flat no."
"They love our product, loved our packaging, loved everything about it but they said that because we are not a national brand they are not going to take us on."
Barnes said NEXCOM's decision not to stock his whiskey will make it more difficult to reach servicemembers with his product. Without an order from the national agency, Hotel Tango will have to get approval on a state-by-state basis to get distribution into local bases. "Because we are not nationally purchased by NEXCOM we have to go piecemeal and go one by one," he said.
In an email to Barnes explaining NEXCOM's decision not to stock Hotel Tango, one of the agencies said the brand didn't have enough name recognition or distribution. "Unknown brand with very little distribution," the email said in part. "Those are things which make a brand sellable and viable. I have to make decisions based on a best business practice, not emotions."
Kelley Stirling, public affairs officer at NEXCOM, reiterated the point when asked to comment on the decision. "The NEXCOM buyer made a business decision to not stock Hotel Tango products at this time based on Hotel Tango not yet having enough brand identity within the US market," she said. She added that Hotel Tango is "encouraged to re-engage with NEXCOM" once it has gained "more identity in the marketplace."
"Stocking decisions are made based on national selling data and internal NEX selling data, if applicable," Stirling said. "For a new brand, we look at the breadth of distribution and the marketing efforts presented by the supplier. If we decide not to carry a particular brand because of insufficient brand identity in the marketplace, we often ask the vendor to continue to keep us informed of their successes and to submit their product again the following year."
Normally a small business owned by a veteran who became disabled while in the service would receive preferential treatment when contracting with federal agencies due to Executive Order 13360. However, the Department of Defense exempts NEXCOM from the order.
NEXCOM said it does stock brands from other veteran owned companies like American Born Moonshine, Heroes Vodka, Gelisi, Revolution Vodka, Dezzani, and Soldier Valley Bourbon.
Barnes said he thinks the idea that his company couldn't handle the demands of filling an order from NEXCOM is unfounded. "We're nowhere near capacity with the three states we're distributing in right now," he said.
"They asked 'do you think you'd be able to handle 20 bases or so if we were to bring you on?' I said 'oh, yea, absolutely that's no problem at all' because we're already distributing for Kroger, Publix, and other national chains."
Barnes said he was unhappy with the way he was treated by NEXCOM and compared it to delays at the Veterans Administration. "It's very frustrating," he said. "No one can tell me or explain to me why this is happening. It's almost like the VA where there seems to be this unwritten rule that if you brush them off long enough they'll stop coming back."
"It's the same mentality."
Update 9:30 A.M.: An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated that NEXCOM declined to stock Hotel Tango's whiskey. In fact, they declined to stock other kinds of alcoholic products--whiskey was not among those in consideration.