2022 BEST PRACTICES AWARDS

Ohio Liquor Control

Ohio Liquor is a public / private partnership between the Ohio

by Kyle Swartz

Department of Commerce ’ s Division of Liquor Control ( DOLC ) and JobsOhio Beverage System ( JOBS ). This is meant to ensure the safe and fair distribution of high-proof liquor across the state , while directing profits from the sale of liquor — not taxes — to fund economic development in Ohio .

Privately owned retail stores contract with OHLQ to sell liquor on consignment . These stores work through OHLQ ’ s Liquor Enterprise Service Center ( LESC ). This call center has evolved from a single-person point of contact for an inventory management system , to become the nerve center of all operations of Ohio ’ s liquor enterprise .

“ The LESC may be the most important OHLQ resource ,” says Lorraine Terry , Managing Director of the JobsOhio Beverage System . “ It is not just a call center ; it is a command center for OHLQ . Staff are ready to respond and assist stores , suppliers , brokers , on-premise partners , customers and stakeholders with any question they may have at a moment ’ s notice .”

The LESC has expanded its scope in the past five years to include support for suppliers , vendors , brokers and consumers . Last spring , the LESC also added licensing activities . In this new capacity , the center now supports regular and temporary permit holders through liquor license application and renewal processes , while also responding to general inquiries about permitting .

“ The LESC is the most important aspect to provide real-time data and information to manage the Ohio Liquor Enterprise ,” says Jim Canepa , Superintendent of the Ohio Division of Liquor . “ If you ’ re a consumer and you have questions about our inventory , if you are a supply having issues with a particular agency , if you ’ re a broker and you ’ re looking at the inventory and the shelves and the category management seems wonky , if you ’ re an agency , wrestling with holiday promotion or technology change , the LESC is for you .”

Since assuming licensing support , the volume of incidents the LESC handles has increased substantially . From May 2020 to March 2021 , the LESC recorded 70,699 incidents . From May 2021 to March 2022 , the LESC recorded 86,080 incidents , representing an increase of 21.8 %.

From May 2020 to March 2021 , the LESC received 47,630 inbound calls . From May 2021 to March 2022 , the number increased to 76,791 , which is an increase of 61.2 %.

The LESC is about more than just numbers , though .. In an age of bottomless , frustrating , automated customer support systems , this call center aims to provide a different kind of exprience .

“ It ’ s not a recorded line , it ’ s manned by a person , whether it ’ s me or whether it ’ s somebody else who a caller can get a quick answer on and get a quick response to fix the problem ,” Canepa says . “ And I want the caller to walk away from that phone call feeling like they had direct access to the executives within the OHLQ .”

Still , the goal remains efficiency . Notably , 60.3 % of the recent period ’ s incidents resulted in “ First Call Resolution .” The requester ’ s inquiry was answered on the first communication , without having to escalate to any other authority . Altogether , 94 % of incidents directly resolved by the LESC were done so on the first communication .

“ The LESC has allowed us to centralize our point of contact for external users ,” says Paul Kulwinski , Director of Licensing , Ohio Division of Liquor Control . “ Furthermore , the LESC ’ s use of an incident response system has provided more visibility for the user , and better insight as to the types of questions we receive . This has , in turn , allowed licensing staff to focus their time on processing applications that affect an Ohioan ’ s ability to operate their business successfully .” The response has been positive . “ The stakeholders love it . The industry loves it ,” says Canepa . “ Happy stakeholders either means that this is a market where suppliers want to bring in their product , or customers are happy because they ’ re getting answers and know where to go , and there ’ s no barriers to a sale .”

“ The LESC is one of our most valuable tools in terms of knowing what the customer sentiments are ,” he adds . “ Unless you have real-time feedback provided in the form of data that you can get your arms around , you ’ re not set up to succeed .”

Also helping the OHLQ win Best Trade Partnership Program was the state ’ s rare bottle lottery .

Many consumers , amidst our modern whiskey boom , chase a limited supply of “ unicorn ” or “ tater ” bottles . Handling allocated spirits fairly has become a common and complex challenge . Accordingly , the OHLQ developed a select store bottle lottery for Ohioans to win a chance to purchase one of these highly sought-after spirits .

In December 2021 for Baker ’ s Single Barrel Select , and in March 2022 for Jack Daniel ’ s Coy Hill , OHLQ partnered with 16 stores across the state to promote the select store lottery , providing both in-store signage and a social media toolkit .

18 StateWays | www . stateways . com | Fall 2022