Frank Lewis

 

            This week’s interview is with Frank Lewis.  Frank has roughly 20+ years in the beverage industry with a lot of knowledge in his background.  Frank had a unique way of getting into the industry.  He started in his family’s business which was flowers and plants.  He expanded the business from 1 location to 4 locations.  He met a beverage recruiter one day who worked for Railey.  After talking with John, he decided to take the leap of faith and help launch Fuji water.  Frank ran the Western States for Fuji water.  His beverage career started with water, then evolved to energy drinks, soft drinks (carbonated drinks), and liquor.  The only beverage he hasn’t sold is milk.

           Frank went to California State University and graduated with a Master of Science in Plant Science/Horticulture.  With his degree being such a unique degree, I was intrigued to ask why he picked that major.  It isn’t a major you hear too many people graduating with.  And his answer was simple… He already knew the subject growing up with a family who owned a business for plants and flowers.  Some might way he took the easy way out.  But that isn’t the case. 

            Franks favorite position so far has been the one he is in now.  Frank will disrupt beverages from different countries and sell them to different countries.  An example of this would be, selling an African made beer to a store in the US.  He gets to educate the customer, present new products, and does a lot of international travel.  So far, this position has been the most rewarding for him. 

            When he first started his company, he thought he would be an importer for beer.  However, he quickly learned the drawbacks and the struggles that come with being an importer.  One of the drawbacks is working with Utah and other controlled states, making sure the labels were correct with the different products, and most importantly importing enough stock.  Having the right amount of stock was one of the hardest setbacks he had.  Never backing down from a challenge Frank found ways to overcome them and pushed through them to become successful.  With a lot of hard work and working long hours he was able to bring in different beers from around the world and sell them in the United States.  Educating and getting information out is one way he finds joy and pride with his position.

            Franks road to success has been LinkedIn and hard work.  Using his network and building his network on LinkedIn has helped him educate suppliers and product recognition.  His father taught him hard work would be a major key to success in his future when he went to work with his father at the age of 13.  The first day Frank went to work at his family’s business his father gave him a pen and a pad of paper and had him write of list of “Things To Do” that needed to be completed that day.  Frank was not able to leave work until the list of was completed.  Now, at the age of 13 he wasn’t too happy, as he wanted to go play ball with his friends.  Now as an adult he has learned his father was teaching him good work ethics.  To this day Frank will write out a “To Do List” and will not end work until every task on the list has been crossed off.

            Frank shared some of his experiences he also shared a funny story with me.  It was in the beginning of his career, working as a merchandizer. At the time, he was working closely with the liquor sales representative and a local store.  As a merchandizer you build the floor displays for the stores.  He was told by the sales representative to be at the store at 3am.  Frank showed up at 2:45am and was the only one there.  He finally called the sales representative around 3:15am to find out where he was at and learned that it was all a joke.  The sales representative was still in bed sleeping.  This is what Frank calls “paying in your dues” in the industry.

            Having mentors can be beneficial to your career.  Jack has been lucky enough to have 2 close mentors who he keeps in contact with.  One mentor has taught him the domestic side of beverage disrupting, and the other one has taught him the international side.  Through these mentors he learned the important of cost production, shipping, and laws to name a few.  Both also taught him to connect with as many people as he could in the industry as, it is hard to be successful without the connections you make.

            If you are looking at getting into the beverage industry Frank suggests starting off as a barback and then moving toward being a bartender.  Also, if your schedule allows you to try working in a liquor store also.  Liquor stores will have different brands that most bars do not carry.  And working at a bar will help you to know which liquor pares up well with other liquors, mixers, and food.  Getting to know your products is a key to success.

            Balancing work and personal life have been hard for him.  Since most of his customers are on different time zones it makes it hard to have a set work schedule.  He feels if he isn’t working, he might miss out on a deal.  The positive side to this is, he will get first dibs on quoting unique products since he is the one typically working when other distributors in the United States are sleeping.  The downside is that he has lost out on relationships due to not having time. After all working around the clock has made successful.