The Michigan Liquor Control Commission in 2023 toasted to more than nine decades of operations. In honor of this milestone, the Commission hosted an event in December of that year.
“Let me tell you, it was a lot of fun,” says MLCC Chairperson Kristin Beltzer, reminiscing about the celebration. “We probably had over 200 people there, and our team did such a great job. It was just a really great way for us to showcase the work that we’ve done over the years.”
The MLCC has also done a lot of work for the communities it serves.
Having been around for 92 years, the MLCC has set a firm foundation for the future of the beverage alcohol industry within the state. But as with any successful organization, change is necessary to keep the Commission functioning and up to date with the industry, as it adjusts to consumer preferences.
This is Beltzer’s goal during her time as Chairperson.
“When I became the Chairperson in 2023, I wanted us to have a much more open process and be out in our communities and help people,” she says. “I think there was the impression that the MLCC was difficult to work with and we weren’t very business friendly. So with my strong background in business, I knew the advantages of building a system that actually went out to help licensees be successful.”
The MLCC's Grip on Michigan's Alcohol Industry
Working alongside Beltzer are four other commissioners at the MLCC, including Dennis Olshove (Administrative Commissioner), Poon-Yung Hopgood (Administrative Commissioner), Lee Gonzales (Hearing Commissioner) and Edward Toma (Hearing Commissioner). Together, this team works hard to ensure the safety of beverage alcohol sales within the state.
“Our mission at the MLCC is to make alcoholic beverages available for consumption while also protecting the consumer and general public through the regulation of those involved in the sale and distribution of alcoholic products,” Beltzer says.
Michigan operates under the three-tier system, which, as Beltzer calls it, is the “hallmark of the state’s alcohol regulatory structure.” And while this is slightly different than how other control states operate, Michigan prides itself on promoting competition and choice by having the three tiers separate from each other.
And according to Beltzer, all three tiers have a good relationship with one another in the state:
“We have made a point to build relationships with all of them,” she says. “We have many distributors in Michigan, one of them being RNDC. We also have Great Lakes Wine & Spirits and Imperial Beverage, and the MLCC has great relationships with all of them.”
It’s important for control states to have close relationships with other organizations within the beverage alcohol industry. Without the ability to communicate effectively, the system can very easily fall apart and cause disruptions in sales.
This is why Beltzer makes it her priority to ensure the MLCC continues to work closely with all three tiers.
“This system works really well for us, not only with the facilitation and collection of excise taxes, but also for product safety,” she explains. “It’s important for us to not only stay on top of safety issues and recalls, but also to work closely and build relationships with both the suppliers and retailers.”
Keeping these relationships strong requires a lot of dialogue, which Beltzer is great at achieving within her communities.
“When there’s consistency in terms of the people that you work with and the relationships that are in the MLCC, it truly makes for a greater, stronger system,” she says. “That’s not to say that there won’t be issues along the way, but for the most part, we feel very good about the three-tier system that we have.”
MLCC On The Road
Since her Chairmanship began in 2023, Beltzer has worked hard to bring innovation and creativity to the MLCC, molding the organization to set up the businesses in the surrounding communities for success.
“I talk with our team all the time about us being beacons of positivity and just to build relationships with stakeholders, licensees and applicants,” Beltzer says. One of the things we’ve done is set up a podcast called MLCC On The Road, where we go out into the communities and meet with licensees, trying to educate them and help them understand the entire process before they fully get into business.”
Throughout the process of attaining a license, many businesses can get stuck halfway with delays or questions they don’t know the answers to. With the help of Beltzer’s ambition and the podcast, businesses can now get the help they need.
“There was an instance where we did an MLCC On The Road show at the Detroit City Distillery,” explains Beltzer. “This gave one of our partners there, Jamie Wright, the opportunity to showcase the distillery. And at the same time, we brought in people from the city of Detroit who were new entrepreneurs, as well as people who had been in business for a while, so they could ask questions.”
Starting any business is a difficult endeavor, but starting a business in the beverage alcohol industry can prove to be even more difficult with the different rules and regulations that need to be followed. With the help of the MLCC, entrepreneurs can get the proper help they need.
“We’re just trying to make the system a little bit easier for people to navigate,” says Beltzer.
The MLCC has helped quite a few businesses throughout this journey, one of the many being Gin Gin’s restaurant in Grand Rapids.
The owner, Dave Reinert, owns a few other restaurants in the area, which has resulted in Beltzer establishing a relationship with him.
“Dave feels comfortable now where he will text me about something and say, ‘Kristin, here’s what we’re trying to accomplish. Is there anybody on your team that I can get in touch with to give me some direction?’ And I say, ‘Absolutely, I have someone on my team.’ Next thing you know, it’s working in the right direction.”
Reinert has shared multiple times just how helpful and great the MLCC team is with everything they’ve done to help his businesses.
“That’s what we’re here for. That’s what we do,” Beltzer says. “And then what happens is the people that we help tell other people. Next thing you know, those other people reach out to us, too. So, it’s really become a network of positivity.
Not every time can the MLCC find a solution to a business’ problem, but Beltzer explains that the most important thing is to try.
“Sometimes what we’re trying to accomplish isn’t going to work, but we can certainly try and figure out a way to do it and help them,” she says.
Yet another instance in which the MLCC came to the aid of a business in need was when the owner of Sugah Please Brunch Bar in Detroit approached Beltzer about opening another location in Grand Rapids.
“I live in Grand Rapids, so she talked to me about opening up another entity in that location,” Beltzer explains. “I got on the phone right then and there and called a guy I know to make that happen. Since then, the two of them have met, and soon her second location will open.”
Sugah Please is expected to open its second location in Grand Rapids in the fall of 2025, introducing soulful brunch and cocktails to West Michigan.
“We’re really happy about that,” Beltzer says. “For us to go out and for the team to be open to people and let them know that we’re trying to help them accomplish their goals, it makes me feel really good about the work that we’re doing.”
Through these personable works of service, the MLCC proves just how much they’re willing to help the businesses in their community. The team doesn’t just stand there and proclaim their good deeds ─ they’re actively out in different neighborhoods, building relationships with people and trying to help answer their questions.
The MLCC Enters the 21st Century
Aside from helping licensees sort out their new business plans, the MLCC also prioritizes sales, inventory and purchasing of beverage alcohol products. On November 3rd, 2025, the organization implemented a whole new Sales Inventory Purchasing System called SIPS+.
SIPS+ replaces the MLCC’s previous sales, inventory and purchasing program that was more than 40 years old, as well as the registration programs for spirits (Equote) and beer, wine and mixed spirit drink products (MWPR).
The new program provides the MLCC with greater functionality, flexibility and control in its finance, inventory and product registration.
“We’ve been working on this system for at least the last couple of years,” explains Beltzer. “Our old system is just not adequate anymore for us to be able to manage. We need to make sure that our system is monitoring everything correctly and that it’s handling the complex orders and the number of products that we have.”
According to Beltzer, Michigan has about 15,000 different beer, wine and spirits products, which is a lot to manage.
“This new system not only brings us into the 21st century, but it also gives us greater accountability and the opportunity to have oversight, which is very important for us,” she says.
To keep things running smoothly, the MLCC began communicating with licensees on the new system weeks prior to its launch.
“There’s also information on our website about the new system and what it’s going to look like in terms of navigating everything,” Beltzer says. “Again, it’s really important to keep communication open with them so they know what’s coming. We want to make sure they understand and where they can go if they experience any problems.”
Now that the new system is finally live, the MLCC has other innovative plans in store for 2026, to continue to better the beverage alcohol industry within the state.
While Beltzer can’t share every plan that the MLCC is working on, she’s hopeful they can do more work with companies, similarly to how they worked with Proximo Spirits in the past.
The spirits company owns 1800 Tequila, which is the official tequila of the Detroit Lions. In 2023, Conrad Haremza, senior regional director at Proximo Spirits and Michigan Spirits Association director, called the MLCC to see if the organization would be open to creating a Detroit Lions logo for the 1800 Tequila collaboration.
“I said, ‘Sure, but let’s sit down with the team and figure out what we need to do,’” Beltzer explains. “So, we sat down with them, talked to our finance division and came up with a SKU for them. This way, the new product wouldn’t be confused with the other 1800 Tequila’s they have.”
This also allowed Proximo Spirits to track the sales of the new Detroit Lions tequila bottle.
“By October or November of 2023, they sold out of all of their cases before the end of the year and had to order more,” Beltzer reminisces. “What was really neat about this partnership was that we had people coming in from Indiana, Illinois and Ohio to buy these limited edition 1800 Tequila Detroit Lions branded bottles.”
The best part? Beltzer says putting everything together with the new logo and SKU proved to be an easy task.
“In the grand scheme of things, it really wasn’t that difficult,” she explains. “All we did was listen, which we’re trying to do more of. We’re trying to listen and meet people where they want to be. We just want to figure out a way to make things work and not have to tell people, ‘No.’”
Women Leadership at the MLCC
Being a woman leader in the beverage alcohol industry can be quite daunting. While the industry has certainly made strides over the years to be more diverse, we still have a long way to go.
However, Beltzer says she has been welcomed very graciously during her time as Chairperson and has not felt any discrimination for being a woman in a leadership role.
In 2023, the Beverage Information Group featured Beltzer in an article titled, “Celebrating Female Leaders in the Beverage Alcohol Industry.”
“My experience has been that the alcohol industry is very open to women leaders,” Beltzer told the Beverage Information Group in the article. “The reception that I have received from my fellow commissioners, industry stakeholders, legislators and business owners has been overwhelming. I’ve spent a great deal of time connecting with people, and being open to new ideas, processes, and how we can improve and grow the beverage alcohol industry in the state of Michigan. I’m surrounded by very strong women in my office. All four of the directors at the MLCC are women, and they are exceptional at their jobs.”
Not much has changed for Beltzer in the two years since the article was published.
“Even today, people in the industry are still very open to me,” she says. “It’s really kind of overwhelming for me, not only with the opportunity to lead at the MLCC, but also because most of our directors, as well as our business manager, are all women. We only have one male on our leadership team.”
Aside from leadership, there are many other great women in the industry that Beltzer and her team get to work alongside.
“These women are very strong and confident,” she says. “They also bring a lot to the table. In general, there’s a sense of pride that comes with this for me because I thought it would be more challenging being a woman in a leadership role, but it hasn’t been hard at all.”
And while there’s still work that needs to be done in the industry for it to be more welcoming and inclusive to women, Michigan seems to have a headstart with this movement.
“Women are great collaborators and they’re always asking questions on how they can be better, which is the kind of aspect that inspires creativity and stronger productivity,” Beltzer says. “For the most part, women see a task in front of them, and they get it done. And that’s exactly our approach with the MLCC. We just want to get the work done so that our team can go home to their families.”
The MLCC and Cannabis
Aside from helping licensees, according to Beltzer, the MLCC is also very heavily involved in the cannabis industry.
“We’ve had some really great conversations with our partners at the Cannabis Regulatory Agency,” she says. “We actually talk to them quarterly and have scheduled calls, so there have been a lot of conversations as of late.”
Given the maturity of the legal cannabis market in Michigan, the MLCC has quite a few industry stakeholders that regularly ask for information on THC-infused and hemp-infused beverages.
“Stakeholders reach out to us about these infused beverages to see what it might look like from a regulatory standpoint, as well as to encourage the MLCC to be open to these beverages legislatively,” Beltzer says. “We already have a structure in place to regulate the beverage alcohol industry with the three-tier system, so I think that with our 90-plus years history, this is really a good fit for us if and when things start to move forward.”
At the end of the day, there’s never truly enough time to accomplish everything on your task list. This reigns true for the MLCC, especially with all the new licensees that strive to open their businesses each year.
But after speaking with Beltzer and seeing all the hard work the organization has done for its community, they do a great job at checking off as many tasks as possible.
“We need more opportunities to showcase the work that we’re doing and to get out on the road more, which is why we started the MLCC On The Road podcast,” Beltzer says. “We’re able to go out, highlight different businesses and put a name to people that we work with. It gives people the chance to listen and then ask questions themselves, along with spreading the word on what we do.” •