About the Panel

Kimberly Shannon Beer, Wine and Liquor Specialist at Giant Eagle, Inc

Kimberly Shannon has been in the wine and spirits industry for the last 16 years. She is currently a Corporate Beer, Wine & Liquor Specialist for a large independently owned grocery chain headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pa. and spanning 5 states. She holds the WSET level 3 advanced certification, along with the Certified Specialist of Spirits certificate from the Society of Wine Educators.

She has also earned the title of Certified Cicerone and numerous other specialty certifications in areas such as Sherry and Agave based spirits. Her role at Giant Eagle includes shelf selection, staff education, and working with distributor partners to create and execute programming across the chain. She truly enjoys her time spent on the sales floor working directly with team members and assisting guests. When not at work, Kimberly enjoys travel, cooking and hosting dinner parties, spending time with her family, and playing golf with her husband of 23 years.

Jeff Feist

Divisional Manager - Alcohol, wine, beer & spirits. Save Mart

Have worked in the consumer products / wine and spirits industry my entire career. Started with E&J Gallo as a sales representative, district manager, and field marketing manager. Recruited to Phillips Distilling Company in 1997. Was promoted to National Sales, VP, and finally Executive VP for US and Mexico, reporting directly to the CEO.

Directly responsible for growth from 700,000 cases in 2003 to 2.5 million cases in 2013. Revenues increased to over 125 million in that same time. Phillips expanded from a regional Midwestern sales organization to a cross-functional National sales and marketing company doing business in all 50 states. In March of 2019, moved to California to become the Category Lead Buyer for Spirits & More for the BevMo! chain. Reporting directly to the CEO, full responsibility for buying, brand execution in-store, pricing, e-commerce and distributor / supplier relations.

BevMo! operates 160 stores in California, Washington and Arizona. Accountable for a $500M sales budget, and a team of 8 direct reports. My teams executed double digit growth in both 2020 and 2021, leading the company growth in back to back record years.

Sid Patel

CEO and Founder at Beverage Trade Network

Sid Patel has been in the wine and spirits industry for over 18 years. He is the founder of Beverage Trade Network, a company that owns some of the world's leading events and trade shows like USA Trade Tasting, International Bulk Wine and Spirits Shows, London Competitions, USA Ratings, Sommeliers Choice Awards, Paris Wine Cup, Cannabis Drinks Expo and more. BTN also owns media assets around the world like Sommelier Business, On Trade, Drinks Merchants, London Drinks Guide, New York Drinks Guide, San Francisco Drinks Guide, Paris Drinks Guide, Bartender Business, and more.

Sid started his career in the drinks industry with his own private label wine brand from Australia called "Friday Monkey". He grew his private label wine business in the USA and also was a wholesaler in the state of Delaware and was using a self distribution route in New Jersey.

He had a total of 10 private label brands and operated in 36 states before he started the Beverage Trade Network. Recently Sid also launched a new gin brand called 'Quokka' which is made in London and is now available in the UK market.