There used to be beer. Just beer. Then there was beer and light beer. Now there are dozens of colors, styles and flavors of beer: coffee beer, honey beer, chocolate beer, even chili beer.
“Just walk the beer aisle in any store, and you’ll see that there are more and more and more offerings,” says Jack Ketvirtis, president of Pike Distributors, a family-owned business since 1937.
As craft beers and hybrid beers proliferated, the market expanded exponentially. Wholesalers, retailers and distributors scrambled to keep up. Pike Distributors, a family-owned company that stocks beer and wine for retailers across the U.P. and wholesalers nationwide, is one that is succeeding in a spectacular way.
Ketvirtis credits much of the company’s success to its new, state-of-the-art warehouse in Gladstone. Completed in 2023, the 50,000-square-foot warehouse has enabled the company to consolidate its operations, more than doubling its workforce.
New software has brought Pike a long way from the days when drivers scribbled orders on notepads. It is enabling Pike to sequence everything according to package size. The company is using scanning technology to make sure the right product is on each pallet. Employees can keep track of use-by date codes for all three warehouses. As a result, products get to the customer more quickly and accurately, says Ketvirtis.
“The market has gotten so complex,” explains Ketvirtis, who is among the third generation of the family to run the company. “Consolidating our operation into one warehouse has allowed us to set ourselves up to deliver on that complexity.”
Pike’s footprint
Pike Distributors serves Marquette, Delta, Alger, Mackinac, Schoolcraft, Luce and Chippewa counties. Based in Marquette, the company has three warehouses – in Gladstone, Newberry and Marquette.
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Michigan Beer & Wine Wholesalers AssociationPike Distributors serves retailers in Marquette, Delta, Alger, Mackinac, Schoolcraft, Luce and Chippewa counties.Although Pike has consolidated its base of operation to the new distribution center in Gladstone, the company still uses all three warehouses, shuttling cases from the Gladstone facility to the other two every night.
“We really wanted to keep our presence in all the communities we serve and be very local,” Ketvirtis says.
Pike now delivers beer and wine to more than 400 customers across the U.P., as well as about 25 wholesalers nationwide. Pike stocks retailers of every size, from Walmart to local grocery stores, restaurants and bars, gas stations and corner convenience stores. Pike also supplies wholesalers who sell to their own customer base.
“Our new beer distribution center in Gladstone represents a major milestone,” says Sarah Ketvirtis, vice president of Pike Distributors. “It reflects our commitment to innovation and exceptional service while enabling us to attract and retain top talent with competitive wages and superior benefits. Our team is the heart of what we do, and we couldn’t achieve this success without them.”
Jack and Sarah Ketvirtis now run Pike Distributors. Their grandfather, Stan Ketvirtis, started the business nearly 90 years ago, first selling beer out of the back of a pick-up truck, then buying shares from the Pike family, beer distributors in Newberry, and eventually taking over the operation. His son, Joe, who is Jack and Sarah’s father, continued expanding Pike Distributors, and then it passed to Jack and Sarah.
Both have young children whom they are already familiarizing with the business, taking them to the warehouse and customer stores. Of course, they’re hoping for a fourth generation to run Pike Distributors down the road, but they aren’t pushing them in that direction.
“One of the best things our parents did for us is not to push us into the business,” says Sarah. “We’re trying to do the same for our children.”
Jack says he and Sarah are proud of their company’s rich history.
“Since 2018, we have grown from about 45 employees to over 110 and operate a fleet of 45 semi-trucks across the United States. This success is built on the strength of our partnerships with suppliers and wholesalers in northern Michigan and Wisconsin and the dedication of our hardworking team.”
About seven years ago, the company purchased Niagara Logistics, an over-the-road trucking company now called Pike Transport. That enabled them to expand into the long-haul trucking business. Now, they deliver all kinds of products nationwide — paper from U.P. paper mills, for example — and fill the empty trucks with beer and wine from manufacturers there, to bring back to the U.P.
Pike’s focus on its team
Pike Distributors is meeting the challenge of the complex and expanding beer market. The company still faces challenges though. One is hiring and retaining great talent, Jack says.
“We want to advance people through our organization,” he explains. “Maybe they're just a loader working in the warehouse, and they have this dream of driving one of our trucks. To do that they need a commercial driver’s license. We partner with Upper Peninsula Michigan Works to help them get that license. We have quite good retention rates, because we are able to promote within and really like to invest in our people.”
The Gladstone warehouse manager is a prime example.
Dave Downey came to Pike in 2017 as a part-time summer helper. He worked really hard, Jack recalls, so when a full-time job opened up, he got it, crushing cans and glass. Then he started taking orders in the warehouse. He wanted to drive for Pike, so the company helped him get a commercial driver’s license. He started delivering on their routes.
“He became one of our best delivery drivers,” Jack says. So, when opening the new Gladstone warehouse required some management changes, Downey got the job. "From crushing cans to managing the warehouse, that’s the kind of progress we like to see.”
Spencer Nevins, president of the Michigan Beer & Wine Wholesalers Association, sees Pike Distributors as a poster child for the way beer and wine distributors in Michigan positively impact the economy.
“Pike Distributors is a true example of the dedication that defines Michigan’s independent beer and wine distributors,” he says. “Despite economic headwinds, they have grown significantly, creating good-paying jobs and strengthening the local economy. Michigan’s beer and wine distributors are committed to enhancing the communities where they live and work, and Pike Distributors exemplifies this commitment through investment in their hardworking employees and exceptional service to hundreds of customers.”
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Michigan Beer & Wine Wholesalers AssociationA portrait of the family behind Pike Distributors -- now run by the third generation.
Like Pike Distributors, many in Michigan trace their beginnings to the end of Prohibition in 1933. It's common for them to remain family-owned operations, according to the Michigan Beer & Wine Wholesalers Association.
As Pike Distributors looks to the future, the focus remains on fostering growth, investing in its team, strengthening partnerships and a continued commitment to enhancing the communities where they live, work and serve.
"Our management team is young and hungry,” says Jack. “We're always going to have our eyes open for different opportunities, maybe expand our footprint and our distribution business. That would be one of my main goals, to gain more territory and expand our suppliers, what we can offer to our customers.”
Sarah agrees. “I think we have a great, great team of people, and they're aggressive and interested in growing, just like Jack and I are,” she says. “We will continue to invest in them and in our communities that we care about, to provide great service, to be their local distributor, based in the U.P., with roots in the U.P.”
Jennifer Donovan is a reporter with more than 40 years of experience on daily newspapers, magazines and university writing and editing. She is retired as director of news and media relations at Michigan Technological University and lives in Houghton.