TAMPA, Fla. — A new nonprofit organization is working to help veterans and veteran-affiliated businesses enter the adult beverage industry.
The Coalition to Represent American Flavor & Tradition, known as C.R.A.F.T., started less than a year ago and is already working with 120 organizations in the adult beverage industry, according to Michael Waskewich, the organization’s president.
Waskewich said C.R.A.F.T. supports veteran-owned, veteran-founded and veteran-allied businesses by helping them navigate the industry.
“It’s just a very hard system to get into,” Waskewich said. “So it takes a specialized group of individuals to kind of help those organizations grow and reach new customers.”
Joe Faino, CEO of Tropicana Craft Distilling Group, has been making alcohol for more than a decade. He said he is not a veteran, but his father, grandfather, father-in-law and brother, Tom Dow, all served.
“I’ve done a lot of events over the last 11 years,” Faino said. “Never have I done one that was veteran-oriented.”
Faino said C.R.A.F.T. has helped connect his business with new opportunities, including exposure to a distributor and the ability to show and sample products during an event.
“They started mentioning a lot of opportunities for us,” Faino said. “Getting us in front of a distributor, the ability to see products the day of the event, as well as do the sampling.”
Dow, an Army veteran, said Faino helped him figure out his next steps after leaving military service. He said that type of support has continued with other recent hires.
“They don’t teach us when we’re in the Army what we’re going to do in the afterlife, what we call the civilian world,” Dow said.
Faino said he is proud to work with C.R.A.F.T. and hopes sharing his story encourages other veterans to consider opportunities in the industry.
“We should do everything we can to reach out to that community,” Faino said. “And this gives us that opportunity to help close that loop, to bring them in.”
C.R.A.F.T. is hosting Frontline Tastings with veteran entrepreneurs on Sept. 24. The Military Influencer Conference starts Wednesday and runs through Saturday.