Elite Brands grows with demand for specialty wine and beer market

Focusing on specialty brands that are hard to find elsewhere in Michigan and good old-fashioned customer service, Elite Brands is growing its beer and wine distribution company. It recently landed an account with the new MGM Grand Detroit.

Excerpt:

"We try to find a quality and value relationship, and we look for family-owned wineries that have a succession of heirs and that have no intent of selling out to the big wine companies," said Gerald Hammerschmidt, part owner, vice president and eastern sales manager of Elite.

The result: Elite's annual sales increased from about $2 million in 2001 to about $9 million for fiscal-year 2007, which ended Sept. 30.

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