Premium Napa wines on tap to be featured at the Napa Valley Film Festival

Napa, CA, November 13, 2014—Free Flow Wines, the pioneer of premium wine on tap, today announced that several boutique Napa Valley wines are now available in a keg format and are currently featured on tap at the Napa Valley Film Festival. Free Flow Wines provides wine kegging and logistics services for a number of Napa Valley wineries and those featured at the festival include Somerston’s Priest Ranch, Peju’s Tess, DEFINE Wines, and Flora Springs. Napa Valley Film Festival attendees will get a chance to taste these acclaimed wines on tap at select film festival special events, giving attendees access to the latest trend in wine packaging. 

“When you have a high-end wine you want to make sure the quality of the wine is maintained from the barrel to the bar,” said David James, Winemaker at DEFINE Wines. “Wine in a keg stays fresh so we feel confident that each glass of wine will taste just as I intended.” 

Free Flow Wines' kegging and logistics services have allowed more than 200 premium wines to be available on tap at over 3,000 restaurants, hotels, airports, sports, and entertainment venues nationwide. The Free Flow Wines kegging equipment was custom built for placing fine wine safely into kegs and their state-of-the-art facility has been vetted by the wine industry’s most sophisticated quality control teams. Premium wine in Free Flow kegs never sees oxygen so it’s guaranteed fresh and there is never wasted wine or spoilage.

“It’s no longer difficult to get premium wines by the glass,” said Jordan Kivelstadt, Founder and CEO of Free Flow Wines. “Wine on tap allows these high-end wines to be easily poured behind the bar and we are thrilled to have so many of our Napa neighbors offer their amazing wines in this format.”

Wine on tap is currently being served at special Napa Valley Film Festival events, taking place November 12 – 16, 2014. The event will feature high-end Napa Valley wines at various locations throughout the valley. The Free Flow kegs will allow these wines to maintain quality while cutting gown on the amount of waste that is generated at the event. Over the 20-year life of a Free Flow stainless steel keg, the carbon footprint of the same amount of wine poured from bottles is reduced by 96%. Free Flow Wines has removed almost 3.9 million bottles of material waste from U.S. landfills since their inception in 2009. The company is proud of the quality of their kegs and their commitment to the environment.

About the Napa Valley Film Festival 

The Napa Valley Film Festival (NVFF) is a registered 501c3 non-profit organization headquartered in Napa, California. The mission of the Napa Valley Film Festival is to celebrate the cinematic arts and enrich the community by presenting an annual world-class festival and year-round education and outreach programs. The ultimate celebration of film, food and wine, NVFF lights up the picturesque towns of Napa, Yountville, St. Helena and Calistoga at the most colorful time of the year. NVFF features over 100 new independent films and studio sneak previews screening in 12 beautiful venues throughout the four walk-able villages, as 300 visiting filmmakers interact with audiences at screenings and intimate events. Attendees enjoy film panels & culinary demonstrations, wine tasting pavilions, the spectacular Festival Gala, Celebrity Tributes, Awards Ceremony, an array of parties, VIP receptions, winemaker dinners and more. NVFF takes place November 12 – 16, 2014. Passes on sale now here: napavalleyfilmfest.org.

About Free Flow Wines

Free Flow Wines is the pioneer of premium wine on tap and delivers the world’s wine brands to the taps of restaurants and venues nationwide. Free Flow Wines' kegging and logistics services have allowed the wine and hospitality industries to move away from bottles to a more sustainable, environmentally friendly way of serving wine on tap, while maintaining wine quality. Free Flow Wines was founded in 2009 and has more than 200 wine brands in keg from Frog’s Leap in the Napa Valley, to 10 Span Vineyards in Santa Barbara and Banfi’s Aviatto from Alto Adige. Their clients' wines are offered on tap at a variety of restaurants, premium hotels, sports and entertainment venues nationwide. The company is located in Napa, California, and you can find them online at FreeFlowWines.com, on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Flickr @FreeFlowWine.

Our "Stories Series" campaign launched last year, featuring a selection of our partners and the success they've found with wine on tap.  We know that to see continued growth in the category, we need to see success at all levels - from the production floor to first pour.   This month's Stories Series features Tablas Creek, a vineyard in Paso Robles, talking about the challenges of managing their own keg program before working with Free Flow and the success they've found with kegging their wine.

The nominations are in! Have you cast your vote for the #KEGGY People's Choice Award? We have 18 nominees representing phenomenal #wineontap programs across the country. Who will win this year's award? You decide. Vote now! http://ow.ly/UlXF300qsij

Join us for our monthly "Wine-On-Tap Sales Training' webinar on Thursday, November 17th at 10:30AM PT with Chairman & Co-Founder, Dan Donahoe.  Dan will cover the basics on how to effectively sell wine on tap, review draft equipment basics, potential market opportunities and a live Q&A.  

As of July 1^st, 2017 TAP’D Draft Solutions has merged with HHBMS, Inc., Draft Maintenance Company. The companies will do business as TAP’D Draft Solutions, a draft installation and maintenance division of Free Flow Wines.

TAP’D Draft Solution’s expanded service area will now include Alameda, Contra Costa, Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Solano, Sonoma and Yolo counties with the addition of more field technicians.

Harry Harris, the former President of HHBMS, Inc. will be taking over as General Manager of TAP’D Draft Solutions. With over thirty years of experience in Bay Area draft maintenance solutions, Harris brings a wealth of knowledge and connections. “I am looking forward to helping TAP’D Draft Solutions expand its services in the greater Bay Area and beyond,” said Harry. Additionally, Adam Beese has been named the North Bay Supervisor and will oversee operations and expansion throughout the region.

“Draft line cleaning and maintenance is the key to pouring quality beverages on tap —whether it’s beer, wine, cider, spirits, coffee, or kombucha,” said Free Flow Wines Co-Founder and CEO Jordan Kivelstadt. “Bringing Harry Harris and his team on board TAP’D Draft Solutions will allow us to continue growing our installation and maintenance services beyond the Bay Area.”

TAP’D Draft Solutions now has 33 employees and operates out of the Free Flow Wines headquarters in Napa, California. The company provides high-quality draft installation and line cleaning services for key accounts throughout Northern California including Levi's Stadium, Marriott Hotels, Hilton Hotels, Hillstone Restaurant Group, and more.

About TAP’D Draft Solutions

TAP’D Draft Solutions provides custom draft design, installation, maintenance and line cleaning for draft systems. The company’s draft solutions enable innovative new products that go beyond beer and wine, to include on-tap cocktails, spirits, coffee, and more. Formerly Cuff’s Tap Service, the company has been the leading provider of beer and wine draft services in the Bay Area since 1999. Their team has decades of experience installing, maintaining and troubleshooting all types of draft systems. TAP’D Draft Solutions is a division of Free Flow Wines and can be found online at TapdDraft.com and on Facebook & Instagram @tapddraft. Call 1-844-ALL-TAPS for more information. 

STORY SERIES: BLACKBIRD VINEYARDS

Dedicated to terroir-driven, handcrafted and expressive wines, Blackbird Vineyards does not sacrifice an ounce of quality. In effort to stay on trend and explore sustainable packaging beyond the glass, Blackbird Vineyards decided to put their premium wine in the hands of Free Flow Wines.

Paul Leary, President of Blackbird Vineyards, had several reasons for moving their wine to stainless steel kegs. His goal, was to utilize “alternate formats for restaurants that can provide consistent inventory control, less storage needs and generally a bit of savings than wine out of 750ml bottles.”

In addition to the environmental, logistic, and economic benefits of wine on tap, Leary also remarked that wine on tap opened up more opportunities and “ultimately allows us to discuss other products in our portfolio that may be appropriate for an account.” Leary also commented on the ease of his experience kegging wine, “partnering with the Free Flow team has been seamless from an operational perspective, allowing our team to focus on account development, rather than keg operations.”

Blackbird Vineyards is currently kegging Rosé, Malbec and Arise Napa Valley Bordeaux Blend, which is one of the most premium red wines available on tap in the United States.

Click here to see full version with photos. 

Free Flow Wines announced the winners of the 4^th annual KEGGY Awards to honor wineries, distributors, equipment providers and restaurant operators for their exceptional and sustainable contributions to the wine on tap category. The award ceremony, intended to be hosted at Luna Vineyards on October 19^th, 2017 was cancelled due to the Napa and Sonoma wildfires. In lieu of the celebration, both Free Flow Wines and Luna Vineyards will be collaborating to host a fire relief benefit on Sunday, December 3^rd at Luna Vineyards.

To date, more than 13.6 million bottles, or approximately 20.3 million pounds of waste, have been diverted from the landfill through the use of Free Flow’s reusable stainless steel kegs. Each Free Flow keg holds the equivalent of 26 bottles of wine and will save 1,560 bottles from the landfill over its lifetime. Free Flow currently has more than 149,000 stainless steel kegs in their fleet.

“One of our most important metrics of success is how much we reduce the wine industry's impact on the environment. As sustainability is one of our four core values, we ensure it guides our decision making – from opening an East Coast kegging facility that reduces the carbon footprint of our logistics, to offering wine canning as a sustainable alternative packaging option,” said Jordan Kivelstadt, Co-Founder & CEO of Free Flow Wines. “We’d like to thank all of our partners for their contributions. Together we build categories that make a meaningful difference.”

WINERY - AWARD RECIPIENTS

Saved more than 1,000,000 bottles from the landfill:

Gotham Project

Saved more than 500,000 bottles from the landfill:

Hahn Family Wines

The Wine Group

Saved more than 100,000 bottles from the landfill:

Clemenza Vini Imports, LLC

Dry Creek Vineyard

Foley Family Wines

Luna Vineyards

MacRostie Winery & Vineyards

Matchbook Wine Company

Peregrine Ranch / VTPR Wine

St. Mayhem & the girls in the vineyard

DISTRIBUTOR - AWARD RECIPIENTS

Saved more than 500,000 bottles from the landfill:

Republic National Distributing Company of Texas

Saved more than 100,000 bottles from the landfill:

Breakthru Beverage Arizona

Breakthru Beverage Florida

Republic National Distributing Company of Maryland

Skurnik Wines of New York

Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits of Colorado

Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits of Illinois

The Winebow Group of California

The Winebow Group of Virginia

Young’s Market Company of Washington

AMBASSADOR - AWARD RECIPIENTS ­

David Whitney of Draft Doctor LLC

Jon Schlegel of Snooze Eatery

Kent Bearden of Saint Marc Pub-Cafe

“PEOPLE’S CHOICE” - AWARD RECIPIENT

Bar Viñedo of Queen Creek, Arizona

Free Flow Wines breaks ground on a new facility and hires a Chief Operating Officer to meet the increasing demand for sustainable alternative packaging. 

Napa, CA. June 20th, 2018 – Free Flow Wines, the pioneers of premium wine on tap, announced plans to expand operations and relocate their headquarters to Sonoma, CA in January 2019. The new Sonoma facility, currently under construction at 14900 Carneros Lake Lane, will include a state-of-the-art kegging line, expanded canning services, temperature-controlled bulk wine storage and increased office space. To help support the expanded operations and company growth, Free Flow has appointed Rich Bouwer as Chief Operating Officer.

“Free Flow has been building the premium wine on tap category for nearly a decade. Our facility expansion will allow us to improve services and increase capacity, helping us achieve our goal of saving more than 100 million bottles from the landfill in the coming years,” states Jordan Kivelstadt, CEO & CoFounder of Free Flow Wines.

Free Flow’s increased production capacity will accommodate filling up to 1.1 million kegs and 5 million cases of cans per year, and store up to 375,000 gallons of bulk wine. A new custom designed Comac kegging line will fill 150 kegs per hour, with pre-designed modules that can increase capacity to 300 kegs per hour. The expanded bulk wine storage program will allow Free Flow’s customers to have more fillon-demand flexibility, improve bulk logistics and lower costs.

In conjunction with the move, Free Flow will be partnering with CanSource, the leader in can sleeving services in the US and Canada, to provide turnkey services at the new Sonoma facility. “Free Flow revolutionized the wine-on-tap category, and now together we will do the same with wine-in-a-can. Our strategic partnership will allow us to be a one-stop-shop for labeling, filling and packaging all under one roof, allowing our joint customers more flexibility while driving costs down,” said Pat Hartman, Co-Owner of CanSource.

To maintain Free Flow’s environmental stewardship initiatives, the company will continue to reclaim 95% of their wastewater, or approximately 11 million gallons per year, with a Cloacina Industrial Membrane Bioreactor. General Manager at Cloacina, Troy Ellison says “We are excited to install this revolutionary closed-loop water reclamation system at the new Free Flow facility, which will save 28-acre feet annually from the Sonoma County Aquifer, allowing for sustainable business growth and responsible water footprint management.”

Rich Bouwer began his new role as Free Flow’s Chief Operating Officer on June 11th, 2018 to support the company’s rapid growth. Bouwer has held previous roles at Saxco International, Treasury Wine Estates and Gallo, and brings more than 25 years of operational and leadership experience. “I am delighted to join the Free Flow team. They have been changing the way premium wine is delivered to restaurants and venues, and I look forward to being a part of the continued success with this first rate team,” says Bouwer. In addition, Free Flow expanded their Board of Directors to include Richard Gerstein and Lane Cardwell, bringing a wide range of experience from the logistics and restaurant industries.

About Free Flow Wines

As the pioneers of premium wine on tap, Free Flow Wine aims to deliver the freshest, best tasting, most sustainable glass of wine. Free Flow’s keg leasing, filling, logistics and canning services have allowed the wine and hospitality industries to move to a greener, fresher, better way to serve wine by the glass. Founded in 2009, Free Flow has more than 250 wine brands in keg, from wineries throughout North America, South America, New Zealand, Australia and Europe. Premium wines in Free Flow kegs and cans are available at restaurants, hotels, retail stores, sports and entertainment venues across the US. Free Flow Wines currently has locations in Napa, California and Bayonne, New Jersey. You can find them online at FreeFlowWines.com, on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Flickr @FreeFlowWines.

Free Flow Wines is recognized for their 398% growth rate of the past three years and is the only Napa-based company to make this year’s list

Napa, CA, August 18, 2015—Inc. magazine today ranked Free Flow Wines as no. 1081 on its 34th annual Inc. 5000, an exclusive ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. The list represents the most comprehensive look at the most important segment of the economy—America’s independent entrepreneurs. Companies such as Yelp, Pandora, Timberland, Dell, Domino’s Pizza, LinkedIn, Zillow, and many other well-known names are members of the Inc. 5000.

“Being named an Inc. 5000 company has been a goal of ours since we founded Free Flow in 2009,” said Free Flow Wines’ co-founder and CEO, Jordan Kivelstadt. “We are honored to be named as one of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies.”

Free Flow Wines is the pioneer of premium wine on tap, one of the fastest growing segments of the wine and hospitality industry. The company has emerged as the largest kegging service provider, supporting the wine industry with logistics and marketing to support the wine on tap category. More than 3,900 locations nationwide now offer wine and other products on tap and that number is rapidly increasing.

“We’ve experienced a growth rate of 398% over the past three years, which is astonishing,” added Kivelstadt. “We’ve worked hard to drive the adoption of wine on tap and it’s humbling to be honored for our hard work.”

Free Flow Wines was the only Napa-based company to make the 2015 Inc. 5000 list. The company currently fills over 12,000+ kegs per month for more than 220 quality wine brands. They recently expanded their wine on tap program to include other innovative draft products like spirits, coffee and sake, and the company plans to introduce additional on-tap products in the future.

The 2015 Inc. 5000, unveiled online at Inc.com, is the most competitive crop in the list’s history. The Inc. 5000’s aggregate revenue is $205 billion, generating 647,000 jobs over the past three years. Complete results of the Inc. 5000 can be found at www.inc.com/inc5000. Free Flow Wines’ Inc. 5000 listing can be found at http://www.inc.com/profile/free-flow-wines.

Free Flow Wines will be attending the annual Inc. 5000 event that honors all of the 2015 companies, October 21 through 23, 2015 in Orlando, FL.

About Free Flow Wines

Based in Napa, California, Free Flow Wines, founded in 2009 by Jordan Kivelstadt and Dan Donahoe, has emerged as the largest kegging service provider, supporting the wine industry with logistics and marketing to support the wine on tap category. Free Flow Wines delivers the world’s wine brands to the taps of restaurants and venues nationwide. Free Flow Wines’ kegging and logistics services have allowed the wine and hospitality industries to move away from bottles to a sustainable, environmentally friendly way of serving wine on tap, while maintaining wine integrity from the barrel to the tap. Free Flow Wines was has more than 220 wine brands in kegs, such as Frog’s Leap from the Napa Valley, King Estate Winery from Oregon and Diseno from Mendoza, Argentina. Their clients’ wines are offered to a variety of restaurants, premium hotels, sports and entertainment venues nationwide. The company is located in Napa, California, and you can find them online at FreeFlowWines.com, on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Flickr @FreeFlowWine. For a list of the premium wines available through Free Flow Wines: http://bit.ly/1np1mP6

Inc. 5000 Methodology

The 2015 Inc. 5000 is ranked according to percentage revenue growth when comparing 2011 to 2014. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2011. They had to be U.S.-based, privately held, for profit, and independent – not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies – as of December 31, 2014. (Since then, a number of companies on the list have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2011 is $100,000; the minimum for 2014 is $2 million.

To meet the increasing demand for sustainable alternative packaging, Free Flow Wines has relocated their headquarters and West Coast operations to a new facility in Sonoma, CA.

Sonoma, CA. February 20th, 2019 – Free Flow Wines, the pioneers of premium wine on tap, recently relocated their headquarters from Napa, CA, to a new expanded facility in Sonoma, CA. The new 58,000 sq. ft. facility, at 21945 Carneros Lake Lane, houses a state-of-the-art kegging line, increased canning services and temperature-controlled bulk wine storage. Phase two of the expansion, set for later this year, will include a new high-speed canning line and increased office space under the same roof.

“As we enter our 10th year in business, Free Flow is thrilled about expanding our operations to meet the growing demand for sustainable alternative packaging. The new facility has highly automated kegging and canning lines that will allow Free Flow to grow both categories for the next 10 years,” states Jordan Kivelstadt, President & Founder of Free Flow Wines.

The new custom-designed, fully-automated wine kegging line from Comac fills up to 150 kegs per hour, and is expandable to 300 kegs per hour. Free Flow’s expanded bulk wine storage program will allow customers to have more fill-on-demand flexibility, improved bulk wine transport logistics and lower costs.

Free Flow’s expanded canning program includes three CODI counter-pressure fillers that can fill multiple formats with an array of custom end-packaging options. Phase two of this expansion will include a fully-automated, high-speed canning line coming this summer. The new state-of-the-art Krones Craftmate filler will offer more than 15 packaging configurations to start, with industry leading wine-focused quality control enhancements and speeds for larger canning projects. Free Flow will be partnering with CanSource, the leader in can sleeving services in the US and Canada, to provide turnkey can sleeving services at the new Sonoma facility.

Free Flow’s increased production capacity will accommodate filling up to 1,100,000 kegs and 5,000,000 cases of cans per year, and store up to 375,000 gallons of bulk wine.

About Free Flow Wines

Free Flow Wines, the pioneer of premium wine on tap, aims to deliver the freshest, best tasting, most sustainable glass of wine. Free Flow’s keg leasing, filling, logistics and canning services have allowed the wine and hospitality industries to move to a greener, fresher, better way to serve wine by the glass. Founded in 2009, Free Flow has more than 250 wine brands in keg, from wineries throughout the world.

Premium wines in Free Flow kegs and cans are available at restaurants, hotels, retail stores, sports and entertainment venues nationwide. Free Flow Wines currently has headquarters in Sonoma, California, and a production facility in Bayonne, New Jersey.

New infographic from Free Flow Wines highlights the environment benefits of wine on tap. Free Flow Wines is Bay Area and California Green Certified, more than 4,285,564 wine bottles have been saved from U.S. landfills to date

Napa, CA, April 20, 2015—Ordering a glass of wine on tap is the green thing to do this Earth Day. Free Flow Wines, the pioneer of wine on tap, today unveiled new waste reduction numbers highlighting the green aspects of wine on tap in stainless steel kegs. In conjunction, Free Flow Wines unveiled their latest sustainability numbers and a new infographic, titled ‘Greener, Fresher, Better,’ that showcases the green benefits and lower carbon emissions that wine on tap in a stainless steel keg offers.

“There is a 96% reduction in the CO2 footprint with reusable stainless steel kegs,” said Free Flow Wines Co-Founder and CEO, Jordan Kivelstadt. “With more than 3,900 locations in the U.S. offering wine on tap there is a tremendous amount of packaging and solid waste that has been eliminated from our landfills and we are proud of that accomplishment.”

The company also announced today that they are now Green Certified by both the Bay Area Green Business Program and the California Green Business Program. Free Flow Wines complies with the environmental regulations that distinguishes small businesses that protect, preserve and sustain the environment. In addition to their environmentally friendly stainless steel kegs, Free Flow Wines has a state-of-the-art water reclamation system that recycles 99% of all water used by the company.

“Being green is core to our company and we are honored to be Green Certified,” added Kivelstadt. “The key to our sustainability numbers really is our stainless steel kegs. With a paltry 31.6% recycling rate for plastic bottles, most plastic kegs end up in a landfill. Our steel kegs are THE most sustainable, environmentally friendly way of serving wine on tap.”

Free Flow Wines’ kegging and logistics services have brought more than 220 premium wine brands to the taps of more than 3,900 restaurants, hotels, sports, and entertainment venues nationwide. To date, the company has removed more than 4,285,564 wine bottles from U.S. landfills, equaling more than 6.5 million pounds of trash.

Across the country, businesses are embracing wine on tap as the new way to serve wine. On example is the Neapolitan style restaurant, Brick + Wood in Fairfield, CT. Brick + Wood exclusively offers wine on tap and has 30 taps offering a variety of premium wines. Owner Clara Cavalli says, “We go through 70-80 kegs per month and in just 5 months of being open we are proud to say that we’ve saved more than 10,400 wine bottles from the landfill. Our customers are incredibly receptive to the quality and the freshness of the wines and they love to know that each glass of wine on tap also helps the environment.”

Each Free Flow Wines keg holds the equivalent of 26 wine bottles and each keg that goes into distribution will save 2,340 lbs. of trash from the landfill over its lifetime. The company currently has over 80,000 stainless steel kegs in their fleet.

Wineries are also realizing the environmental benefits of wine on tap to their business. As Bob Blue, Founding Winemaker of Bonterra Organic Vineyards says, “We believe wine on tap offers the best of all worlds; convenience, freshness and environmental consciousness. Bonterra is excited to be launching our first offering in a keg, a Sauvignon Blanc made with organic grapes.  We are constantly looking to innovate and improve the way we deliver our wine to our customers, as well as do what’s right for the environment, and wine on tap allows us to do just that.”

The Free Flow Wines kegging equipment was custom built for placing fine wine safely into kegs and their state-of-the-art facility has been vetted by the wine industry’s most sophisticated quality control teams. Premium wine in the Free Flow kegs never sees oxygen so it’s guaranteed fresh and there is no wasted wine. Free Flow Wines currently fills more than 9,200 kegs per month for wineries and distributes the kegs to thousands of venues around the country.

For a list of the premium wines available through Free Flow Wines: http://bit.ly/1np1mP6

About Free Flow Wines

Free Flow Wines is the pioneer of premium wine on tap and delivers the world’s wine brands to the taps of restaurants and venues nationwide. Free Flow Wines’ kegging and logistics services have allowed the wine and hospitality industries to move away from bottles to a sustainable, environmentally friendly way of serving wine on tap, while maintaining wine integrity from the barrel to the tap. Free Flow Wines was founded in 2009 and has more than 220 wine brands in kegs, such as Frog’s Leap from the Napa Valley, King Estate Winery from Oregon and Diseno from Mendoza, Argentina. Their clients’ wines are offered to a variety of restaurants, premium hotels, sports and entertainment venues nationwide. The company is located in Napa, California, and you can find them online at FreeFlowWines.com, on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Flickr @FreeFlowWine.

Department: Customer Success
Reports to: Customer Success Manager
FSLA status: Non-Exempt, Full-Time

FREE FLOW WINES – SAVING THE WORLD ONE KEG AT A TIME

Free Flow Wines is looking for candidates who are passionate about what they do, enjoy working hard and thinking outside the ‘bottle’, but also appreciate a work-life balance. Free Flow created the wine on tap category in 2009, and continues as the leader in keg packaging, logistics and market development. At Free Flow, a diverse, supportive and fun environment is core to our culture, and we are looking for employees who share these same values. If you enjoy a fast-paced and dynamic workplace and care about quality, customer success and sustainability, we are looking for you. We believe that by attracting and retaining the best talent, together we can build a category that will make a difference, from the wines that are poured into your glass to saving the world – one keg at a time.

SUMMARY:

As an Account Manager in our Customer Success Department, you will have your finger on the pulse of all happenings within Free Flow and the larger category of wine on tap. Top-notch customer service, category education and a can-do attitude has been critical to defining Free Flow’s reputation to date. This role will be responsible for all of our Kegging customer relationships from engaging key leads to ongoing customer management and retention. Not only will you work daily with our customers to help grow their keg programs, but you will work with every team at Free Flow to ensure success on all fronts.

RESPONSIBILITIES INCLUDE:

• Responsible for management of all Kegging customers with a proactive focus on retaining and growing their keg programs
• Track, engage & foster key winery leads
• Manage the setup of new Kegging customers from contract negotiation, paperwork collection to onboarding education
• Work with Free Flow’s Marketing and Business Development teams to provide strategic support to Sales & Marketing teams regarding category trends and market opportunities
• Liaison with Free Flow’s Operations & Production Planning teams to ensure successful execution of keg programs
• Manage and lead Annual Business Review meetings with key customers
• Compile analytics & reporting on customer program performance for presentation
• Utilize and improve CRM for customer management and process automation
• Problem-solve and manage customer escalations related to billing, compliance and production issues
• Support Free Flow’s Supply Chain team on keg utilization goals by working with wineries to optimize programs
• Manage setup and host all winery trade & special events
• Other miscellaneous projects including data entry, technical troubleshooting & administrative tasks.

This position reports directly to the Customer Success Manager.

This position has no direct reports.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Thrives working in a fast-paced, dynamic, start-up environment
• Forward thinker with a strong problem-solving mindset & desire to learn
• Polished sales acumen and desire to foster ongoing customer relationships through proactive engagement & customer meetings
• Comfort communicating with executive-level roles & navigating difficult conversations & personalities
• Strategic thinker that is flexible and adaptable to change
• Ability to multi-task, high attention to detail and excellent organizational skills
• A team player who has the ability to work independently
• Excellent verbal and written skills
• Wine industry experience preferred
• 2+ years related experience
• Familiarity with NetSuite or similar CRM software
• Proficient using MS Office Excel, Word & Google Apps

COMPENSATION:

• Salary: Depends on Experience
• Free Flow Wines offers a comprehensive compensation & benefit package
• Regular hours are 8:00am - 5:00pm Monday through Friday.
• Occasional travel and weekend work is expected
• Should be able to lift 60 lbs. on occasion

If you’d like to be considered for this position, please, submit your resume via email to jobs@freeflowwines.com and include “FFW Account Manager” in the subject line.

Free Flow Wines will be announcing our 2019 KEGGY winners at our awards ceremony on July 25th, so stay tuned! In the mean time, check out our 2018 KEGGY Awards video. 

On Tuesday October 22nd, Founder & CEO of #FreeFlow, Jordan Kivelstadt will be speaking at #InnovationNapaValley during the Emerging Entrepreneurs panel. If you're in #Napa, come listen to some great wine industry speakers and innovators. Check out the website for more information!  www.InnovationNapaValley.com 

Did you catch Free Flow Wines on WineOhTV? Check out a great episode about wine on tap filmed at Jamber in San Francisco, including a pouring of Qupe grenache!

Free Flow Wines helps venues ‘go green’ with a better tasting, environmentally friendly way to serve wine by the glass

Napa, CA, August 20, 2013 — Free Flow Wines, the pioneer of premium wine on tap, announced today that more than 250 premium wines are now on tap at more than 1,500 restaurants, hotels, sports and entertainment venues nationwide thanks to Free Flow Wines’ kegging and logistics services. Free Flow Wines has spent the past three years building the infrastructure to make wine on tap a reality for the wine and hospitality industries. Small and large venues, like Marriott Hotels and Caesars Entertainment, are now offering wine on tap at their bars and restaurants. Free Flow Wines recently spearheaded a change to two Florida laws that limited the size of wine containers to one gallon. The new laws allow restaurants and hospitality chains to offer wine on tap in their restaurants across all 50 states.

“Free Flow Wines allows us to offer great wines on tap so that our guests can experience them just as the winemaker intended,” said Lou Trope, Vice President Restaurant and Bar at Marriott Hotels. “It is not only a great quality solution but also alleviates the common wine storage challenges behind the bar.”

The Free Flow Wines kegging equipment was custom built for placing fine wine safely into kegs and their state-of-the-art facility has been vetted by the wine industry’s most sophisticated quality control teams. The company will increase their fleet of 30,000 reusable kegs to 50,000 by the end of this year and is moving to a new 22,000 square foot facility in Napa. Free Flow’s logistics services enable effective distribution of wine in this new format and wineries, from large corporations to small family-owned vineyards, are now offering their premium wines via Free Flow Wines.

“Wine on tap has allowed us to deliver wine in an exciting new way,” said Dave Nientimp, Vice President of Marketing at Constellation Brands, Inc. “The founders of Free Flow Wines are wine industry professionals who understand that quality is key in this business.” “Kegging wine is not easy,” said Dan Donahoe, Co-Founder and Chairman of Free Flow Wines. “We’ve spent a lot of time and energy perfecting the process of placing fine wine in a keg so that it is served exactly as the winemaker intended. The hospitality industry needed this solution to take their wine programs to the next level of quality and sustainability.”

Free Flow Wines is a more sustainable, environmentally friendly way to serve wine on tap for the wine and hospitality industries. These industries are moving away from bottles to tap systems to maintain wine integrity from the barrel to the glass, while cutting down on waste. Each wine keg holds the equivalent of 26 bottles and in 2012 Free Flow Wines saved 347,254 bottles, corks, capsules, labels and cases (equaling over 260 tons of packaging waste) from landfills nationwide.

“Caesars Entertainment pioneered premium wine on tap in Las Vegas,” said Chris Picone, Director of Strategic Sourcing, National Beverage, at Caesars Entertainment. “By installing wine on tap throughout the casino we have saved over four tons of trash and contributed significantly to our Code Green initiative. Wine on tap offers our valued customers a fresher product with every glass whether it’s at one of the Caesars Palace restaurants, live entertainment venues, or the casino floor.”

“The wines we are offering on tap are the wines I enjoy drinking,” said Jordan Kivelstadt, the Co-Founder and CEO of Free Flow Wines, as well as an established winemaker. “We are pleased to offer so many great wines and we look forward to offering more premium labels as we grow our business.”

For a list of the premium wines available through Free Flow Wines: http://bit.ly/11rDqxA.

Free Flow Wines History
Free Flow Wines was founded in 2009 when the company launched their wine on tap services and a proprietary wine on tap brand called Silvertap. While the company has
focused on perfecting their kegging and logistics services, the company recently sold the Silvertap brand to The Smart Wine Company and is now 100% focused on kegging and logistics services for premium wines.

About Free Flow Wines
Free Flow Wines is the pioneer of premium wine on tap and delivers the world’s wine brands to the taps of restaurants and venues nationwide. Free Flow Wines’ kegging and
logistics services have allowed the wine and hospitality industries to move away from bottles to a sustainable, environmentally friendly way of serving wine on tap, while
maintaining wine integrity from the barrel to the tap. Free Flow Wines was founded in 2009 and has more than 250 large and small winery clients from Trefethen Family Vineyards in Napa Valley, to SIMI Winery in Sonoma and King Estate in Oregon. Their clients’ wines are offered on tap to a variety of restaurants, premium hotels, sports and entertainment venues nationwide. Find them online at FreeFlowWines.com, on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Flickr @FreeFlowWine.

Wineries, distributors and restaurateurs nationwide are recognized for their sustainability
achievements at Free Flow Wines’ KEGGY Awards ceremony and 10 Year Anniversary
Celebration.

Sonoma, CA, July 26th, 2019 – On Thursday July 25th, Free Flow Wines celebrated their 10-year anniversary and 6th annual KEGGY Awards at Sebastiani Winery in Sonoma, CA. The celebration included the announcement of this year’s KEGGY Award winners, leadership team changes and highlights of Free Flow’s expanded service offerings including the launch of the first wine-specific, high-speed canning line at their new Sonoma facility.

Free Flow Wines was founded in July 2009 by Jordan Kivelstadt and Dan Donahoe with sixty used beer kegs with the idea to put premium wines in keg and serve the freshest glass of wine in the most sustainable way – on tap. Ten years later, Free Flow Wines is now the leader in sustainable alternative packaging solutions for the wine industry, providing kegging and canning services for over 180 winery partners out of a new state-of-the-art production facility in Sonoma, CA. With over 80 employees and more than 180,000 reusable steel kegs pouring at thousands of venues nationwide, Free Flow and their partners have saved an estimated 22 million bottles or approximately 32 million pounds of waste to date.

At the ceremony, Jordan Kivelstadt, Free Flow Wines’ Founder & President, announced his transition away from an active role in the company as of August 2nd. “Founding and growing Free Flow into the company that it is today has been one of the most rewarding endeavors of my life. I am excited to see Free Flow continue to as a leader in sustainable alternative packaging” Kivelstadt said. Jordan will remain involved with Free Flow as an ambassador, kegging & canning customer, and on Free Flow’s Board of Directors.

To support the transition, Rich Bouwer will now assume the role of President. “It is a pleasure to be part of such an incredibly innovative team and with the new facility complete, we look forward to executing on all that we’ve built,” said Bouwer. Additionally, Heather Clauss has been promoted to Chief Commercial Officer to oversee all commercial business. “If not for the vision of our founders, this category would not exist as we know it today. We are grateful for their contributions and look forward to continuing to actively support the growth of both the wine-in-keg and wine-in-can categories with our key partners,” said Clauss.

At this year’s KEGGY Awards, Free Flow recognized 22 wineries, distributors and restaurant operators for their exceptional and sustainable contributions to the wine on tap category. “We are excited to celebrate our successes with our partners and continue to build upon what we have achieved together,” said Clauss. Below is a list of the 2019 winners in each category.

WINERY AWARD RECIPIENTS

Saved more than 500,000 bottles from the landfill

• O’Neill Vintners & Distillers
  
• Prestige Wine Imports
  
• Francis Ford Coppola Winery
  

Saved more than 100,000 bottles from the landfill

• Terlato Wines
  
• Trefethen Family Vineyards
  
• Winesellers, Ltd
  
• Boisset Collection
  
• Tuck Beckstoffer Wines
  
• Round Pond Estate
  

DISTRIBUTOR AWARD RECIPIENTS

Saved more than 1,000,000 bottles from the landfill

• Republic National Distributing Company – TX
  
• Saved more than 500,000 bottles from the landfill
  
• Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits – FL
  
• Skurnik Wines & Spirits
  
• The Winebow Group
  

Saved more than 100,000 bottles from the landfill

• Republic National Distributing Company – IN
  
• Opici Family Distributing
  
• Epic Wines – CA
  
• Johnson Brothers-Mutual Distributing – NC
  
• Quench Fine Wines – AZ
  

AMBASSADOR AWARD RECIPIENTS

• George Miliotes – Master Sommelier and Proprietor, Wine Bar George
  
• Jessica Norris – Vice President of Beverage, Front Burner Restaurants
  
• Todd Rushing – Owner, Two Urban Licks
  

“PEOPLE’S CHOICE” AWARD RECIPIENT

Brick Wood Fired Bistro – Prince Frederick, MD

About the KEGGY Awards

Free Flow Wines created the KEGGY Awards in 2014 to recognize winery partners for their commitment to sustainability by choosing reusable stainless steel kegs – a truly zero-waste package. Since then, the awards have been expanded to include distributors, restaurants and category ambassadors throughout the US who have helped reduce the carbon footprint of the wine industry. Each Free Flow keg holds the equivalent of 26 bottles of wine and will save approximately 1,560 bottles from the landfill over its lifetime.

About Free Flow Wines

Free Flow Wines, the pioneer of premium wine on tap, aims to deliver the freshest, best tasting, most sustainable glass of wine. Free Flow’s keg leasing, filling, logistics and canning services have allowed the wine and hospitality industries to move to a greener, fresher, better way to serve wine by the glass. Founded in 2009, Free Flow has more than 250 wine brands in keg, from wineries throughout the world. Premium wines in Free Flow kegs and cans are available at restaurants, hotels, retail stores, sports and entertainment venues nationwide. Free Flow Wines currently has headquarters in Sonoma, California and a production facility in Bayonne, New Jersey.

Closing your restaurant or bar because of COVID-19 doesn’t mean you can’t be proactive. Take advantage of the extra time now and prepare your draft systems for your reopening. Get your draft systems in good condition and properly care for your keg wine, so you won’t lose inventory or time when you start 

pouring again. Here are some suggested best practices:

1. Un-Tap Kegs and store in a temperature controlled space
2. Clean valve and cover to protect from dust or bacteria
3. Winterize your draft system – drain and clean the lines
   and couplers
4. Wipe down the inside of the kegerators and clean up any spills
5. Don’t worry about wine spoilage – whether your keg has been
   tapped or not, steel kegs keep wine fresh till you can start
   pouring again

Most importantly, we are here for you. With all the uncertainty going on, you shouldn’t have to worry about your establishment losing even more costs because of lack of use or proper storage. We have draft technician partners throughout the country that can help you prepare for closures now, so you can quickly and effortlessly start serving the moment customers come back in. Check out the Regional Directory of draft system installers, equipment, and gas suppliers to find a technician near you. And, of course, if you have questions and need guidance, please contact us here. 

With quality and sustainability on his mind, Justin Beam, General Manager of Sixty Vines in Plano, Texas has been converted. “Wine on tap allows us to make certain that we are always serving super-fresh wine at the proper temperature,” said Beam. “We love wine on tap, and I cannot ever imagine going back to a wine by the glass program from bottles.” Beam has been in the hospitality industry for over 20 years, and has been serving wine on tap since 2010. Beam has no shortage of fresh premium options to rotate onto his list of 43 wines on tap . “Every month there are more incredible wines being kegged for us by Free Flow,” said Beam. “Times are changing, and the success of our program and others throughout the country is really starting to turn some heads. ”

“The wine on tap landscape, and by that, I mean the variety and quality of wines being kegged, has grown leaps and bounds and continues to amaze us.” 

When striving for quality and sustainability, Free Flow’s 100% reusable stainless steel kegs are the container of choice. “I think any winemaker would tell you that he or she would prefer their wine stored in stainless steel vs. plastic.” For Beam, there is no question about the importance of sustainability. “I have a four-year-old daughter and a two-year-old son. I wholeheartedly believe that this is the way they will consume wine when they are old enough to legally imbibe. It's extremely important to us as a restaurant group to reduce our carbon footprint, and serving premium wine on tap is just one of the many ways that we are doing that.”

Check out more Free Flow Stories Series here.