Building a Profitable Beverage Program with Virginia Craft Products (1:30 PM)
Learn how to strategically incorporate Virginia beverage products into your beverage program to drive profitability. This panel will cover pricing, by-the-glass opportunities, menu placement, and storytelling techniques that help increase sales while highlighting local producers.
Rob Davenport
Rob Davenport joined the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services in December 2020 as Director of the agency’s Division of Marketing and Development. In 2024, Rob received a federal appointment to serve as an advisor to the USDA and USTR on international trade focused on processed foods.
Prior to working for the Commonwealth of Virginia, Rob spent 30 years in the grocery industry. During the first 18 years of his career, he worked for Conagra Brands in a variety of domestic sales and marketing roles across several agriculture-related sectors. Over the last 12 years of his private-sector career, Rob worked for Sauer Brands, where his responsibilities included managing the company’s export business, with a concentration on markets in Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America.
In addition to his professional career, Rob is actively involved with nonprofit organizations and currently serves in several board leadership positions.
Moderator
Kari Rushing
Chef Kari Rushing is the founder and executive chef of Vault & Cellar, a New Appalachian kitchen and bourbon bar in Middletown, Virginia. Raised in Front Royal, and trained in acclaimed kitchens, she returned home to create food rooted in regional heritage and thoughtfully paired with an extensive bourbon collection. Her work celebrates local ingredients, heritage grains, and the evolving story of Appalachian cuisine.
Panelist
Michelle Lim Warner
Michelle Lim Warner is the Co-Founder and CEO of DCANTER, a modern wine retail brand that is redefining how people discover and experience wine. Since founding DCANTER in 2013 with her husband, Michael Warner, she has grown it into a thriving wine lifestyle brand rooted in connection, sustainability, and hospitality, with boutique wine shops in Capitol Hill, Washington, DC and Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. DCANTER is best known for Concierge by DCANTER, a personalized wine shopping service that blends proprietary technology with sommelier expertise to connect clients with organic, small-producer wines from around the world. Beyond the shop, Michelle is passionate about building a more inclusive, joyful wine culture through education, community, and mentorship, including her role as Mentorship Director for Vin. Vitalité.
Panelist
Tim Labbe
Tim has 14 years of working in the craft beer industry. He has been Beer Buyer for a moderate restaurant chain in Boston, as well as a GM, Sales Representative, Sales Manager and National Sales Director for multiple breweries on the east coast. Tim’s passion for craft beer recently sent him on a two-and-a-half-year journey by camper, plane, train, boat and helicopter to all 50 states where he visited almost 400 breweries. Tim is currently focused on distribution of Oozlefinch Beers though multiple distributors in multiple states and has been working hard at growing the account base and awareness of the Virginia Beer Distribution Company.
Panelist