Listening to and empowering employees remains a critical part of Knight ' s work in Vermont.
better than others. So when we think about where to put an 802 store, we make sure it’ s not in a floodplain, and is near where tourists like to visit.”
Vermont is a popular destination for tourists in the Northeast, known for numerous ski and summer resorts, plus several of the most-famous breweries in New England. Knight and her staff have tapped into this revenue opportunity through streamlining operations while promoting local Vermont producers and retailers.
Knight and her team expanded the ways that Vermont producers can sell to customers, and implemented new methods to help introduce these locally crafted spirits at retail.
venience. This has reduced paperwork, improved accuracy and helped businesses better manage their inventory and cash flow.
“ Like Amazon, there’ s a‘ repeat order’ function,” Knight said.“ It’ s much more efficient way for on-premise licensees to order from us.”
Additionally, Knight created a newsletter from the agency to keep licensees up to date on the latest pertinent information. She also added a position within the department specifically for helping on-premise licensees. Seeing a problem at hand, Knight designed and implemented several common-sense solutions that have paid dividends for all parties involved.
Along with this pro-business overhaul, Knight made it easier for Vermont’ s spirits producers to list with the state.“ And I made sure we were highlighting these local craft distillers,” she says.“ We came up with ways to introduce their products more visibly within our 802 stores. We expanded the ways that Vermont producers could sell to customers, especially to tourists.”
Knight’ s team made retail and network tools that tracked sales, demographics and consumer traffic patterns. One way this real-time data recently came in handy was after a series of damaging floods swept through the state.“ Our analysis helped us understand the gaps in our coverage,” Knight says.“ Some of our locations were
PERSONAL LEVEL
Part of Knight’ s business focus at the Vermont Department of Liquor and Lottery includes recognizing the value of all the people involved.
“ Employee engagement is extremely important to me,” she says.“ That’ s one of the lessons I learned running a retail business: You’ re making a mistake if you’ re not paying attention to your employees.”
“ I have spent a great deal of time listening to my employees,” she adds.“ I want to make sure that they have the tools, resources and compensation that they need.”
This level of personal attention also extends to customers.
“ In 2023 we launched our first-ever customer satisfaction survey,” Knight says.“ We focused on 64 customer groups, and received great feedback. We’ ve been using that to make decisions internally.”
CURRENT TRENDS
By all indications, the alcohol industry
16 StateWays • Spring 2026 www. stateways. com