Members abounding

Red White and Food has always been a campaign for the people who want wine in retail food stores. To date, we have more than 3,500 members who have joined the cause.

We will soon add 150 more names to that list. These are people who stopped by our display at Kroger Green Hills last Saturday during our in-store membership drive. This was the largest one-day increase in membership since the early days of the campaign last year. We are excited to have these new members and thank them for joining the campaign.

That’s not the only member news. Our Facebook group has grown more than 20% since early January. If you’re on Facebook, we encourage you to join the group. We are planning some online events soon that you don’t want to miss.

Thanks to all our members. Please continue to tell your friends and family about Red White and Food.

You can’t make this stuff up

Chip Christianson owns J. Barleycorn’s liquor store and is listed as president of Tennessee Wine & Spirits Retailers Association. Here’s what he told a reporter from WKRN when interviewed about Red White and Food earlier this month:

“Citizens didn’t start this movement. Very high paid [public relations] firms by large grocery chains started this movement,” Christianson said.

Christianson is right on one point. The Tennessee Grocers and Convenience Store Association is using not one but two PR firms for the Red White and Food campaign. He neglected to mention that his organization provided support to the opposing PR and direct mail campaign that ran afoul with a legislator last session.

A toast to the rational

The 106th Tennessee General Assembly convenes today. Soon, the words will undoubtedly fly between us and our opponents.

Before that happens, however, we would like to compliment two liquor-store industry reps who can see beyond the apocalyptic rhetoric of their peers. 

Come get your whoopin’

The Nashville Business Journal has a one-question poll about wine sales in retail foods stores:

Should Tennessee grocers be allowed to sell wine?

As of this posting, the results weren’t even close.

Michigan makes six

Meagan Frazier and her new husband took this picture while visiting relatives in Michigan. Cheers to them for adding to our collection.

Our goal is to collect a picture from every state that allows wine sales in retail food stores. Here’s the remaining list.

More on competition

Two ways to make money in business:

• Manipulate the economic and/or legal environment in your favor (see rent seeking)
• Build a business responsive to the marketplace

Guess which one benefits the consumer?