Southern Glazer’s Launches Third-Party Logistics Service for Alcohol Industry

Alcohol distributor Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits has launched a new logistics service for the alcohol industry that will offer storage and packaging services for any wine and spirits supplier, regardless of whether or not they currently have a relationship with Southern Glazer’s.

Called Ankaa Global Logistics, the new 3PL company will be operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of Southern Glazer’s. Services include:

• Inventory storage solutions for both raw materials (i.e. glass, cardboard, etc.), barrels and finished goods, including temperature-controlled rooms in secured facilities for both short- and long-term needs; and
• Packaging capabilities such as repacks, labeling and lot-tracking.

The ultimate goal is to create expanded storage capacity for the industry at a competitive price, thereby “driving increased speed to market, advancing products closer to the customer and improving storage efficiency,” explained the company in a statement. Opportunities to pre-stage new innovations, including for brand or product launches, also will be facilitated by Ankaa.

“Our team brings decades of beverage alcohol supply chain experience to the table,” said Bobby Burg, SVP and Chief Supply Chain Officer at Southern Glazer’s in a statement. “We have a unique and deep understanding of the evolving nature of our industry and want to support suppliers as they grow and expand their brands.”

Ankaa currently has facilities in Shepherdsville, Ky. and Fairfield, Calif., with a new location in Florida set to open 2024.

The idea of taking operational expertise and resources developed for your own business and offering them as services to others in the same industry was pioneered by Amazon and is growing increasingly popular among other businesses as well. Walmart is building out a suite of white-label tech and fulfillment services with its GoLocal offering; Gap launched its own 3P fulfillment service based out of its distribution centers; and American Eagle was an early entrant into the space with the late-2021 acquisitions of AirTerra and Quiet Logistics, which bolster its own supply chain while also serving other retailers.