The Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) has released its annual report, Mission in Review 2012, highlighting gross sales of $734 million, up $41 million from the previous year, and profit transfers of more than $132 million.
Fiscal year 2012 marks ABC’s 14th consecutive record-setting year for sales, where retail sales surged 6.5 percent and sales to restaurants (licensee sales) increased 4.9 percent over last year. ABC profits combined with state taxes, sales tax, and wine and beer taxes, resulted in an all-time high of $360 million transferred to Virginia’s general fund. In the last five years alone, ABC has contributed $1.7 billion to the commonwealth to support state services, including substance abuse prevention and treatment.
“The growth in sales is attributed in part to the shopping convenience of Sunday sales and the opening of three additional stores during fiscal year 2012, but the increase in overall and especially restaurant sales points to a recovering economy,” said ABC Chief Operating Officer Curtis Coleburn.
Jack Daniel’s 7 Black (Tennessee whiskey) topped the list of ABC’s top-selling brands, followed by Smirnoff 80 (domestic vodka); Grey Goose (imported vodka); Jim Beam (straight bourbon whiskey); and Crown Royal (Canadian whisky).
ABC store associates were successful in reaching a 99 percent compliance rate for not selling to underage buyers, up from 98 percent the year before. “We applaud our sales associates for their vigilance in not selling to underage,” said ABC Director of Enforcement Shawn Walker. “Public safety and adherence to Virginia’s alcohol laws is and will always be our number one priority.”
In other agency business, ABC’s Bureau of Law Enforcement conducted more than 9,600 criminal investigations and inspected 7,300 licensed establishments; more than 700 cases were referred to ABC’s Hearings & Appeals Division; and ABC’s Education section reached three million viewers with its Alcohol and Aging Awareness PSA campaign, and saw best attendance in recent years at its YADAPP (Youth Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention Project) summer leadership conference.
“Virginia ABC is committed to achieving excellence through its control, service and revenue mission, and fiscal year 2012 was a banner year for this agency,” said ABC Chairman J. Neal Insley. “ABC employees worked efficiently and effectively to achieve these results, and are striving to do the same and better in 2013.”
The Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) is a major source of revenue for the commonwealth, contributing $1.7 billion to the general fund in the last five years. The agency currently operates 339 state stores. Its Bureau of Law Enforcement oversees more than 16,000 ABC licensed establishments while the Hearings and Appeals Division considers more than 700 cases each year. The agency also provides alcohol education and prevention programs for people of all ages. Now in its 79th year, ABC remains committed to progress and innovation in carrying out its control, service and revenue mission.
Source: https://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/12/prweb10253315.htm