Q: Mr.
Cornelious, please introduce our readers to N.U.M.B.A
A: N.U.M.B.A. stands for National United Merchants Beverage Association. It is an organization of African-American licensed beverage retailers. We presently represent thirteen chapters across twelve urban markets throughout the United States.
Each one of the local chapters has been organized under its own separate charter and all thirteen predate the existence of the present national office.
Q: Will you describe what you mean when you say licensed beverage retailers?
A. These are people who own or
manage an establishment that has been granted a license by their home state to sell controlled alcohol beverages.
Q: In other words, liquor
salesmen?
A: At best, that description
is misleading. It gives the impression that our business as
African-American retailers is limited to the sale of liquor.
Depending on the state where a business is located, a retailer may
be involved in selling a variety of products. These may include a
wide menu of beverage products-from bottled waters to champagne-food
and a host of sundry items. The majority of NUMBA. members consider
themselves to be in the licensed beverage and hospitality industry.
We have members that run restaurant bar operations, entertainment
clubs, cocktail lounges and taverns, in addition to beverage stores
that sell liquor and wine. All of us, moreover, have a growing
identification with being minority entrepreneurs. This is how our
members increasingly prefer the public to see them. |
National President of
N.U.M.B.A.
by Ennis Roberts
Q: When was N.U.M.B.A.
started and what is its mission?
A: The roots of the
organization go back over 30 years. Black licensees came together
about that time to
impress upon the beverage industry the importance of hiring and
promoting minority sales staff to serve our market.
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N.U.M.B.A. came officially into being in June 1991. Our present chapters were then members of the National United Affiliated Beverage Association
(N.U.A.B.A.). That organization became overly weighted with internal conflicts that were preventing us from moving forward as a group. Twelve of fifteen chapters felt it was necessary to reorganize. It was our desire to transform the organization into a trade group that could advance a more specific business agenda on behalf of the minority marketplace within the industry.
N.U.M.B.A. came into being for that purpose. We currently represent thirteen local chapters across the following markets: Chicago, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, New York, Detroit, Milwaukee, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Oakland, Los Angeles, Kansas City, and St. Louis.
N.U.M.B.A.'s goal is to position itself as the leading trade group seeking to upgrade and transform the manner in which wine and spirit companies conduct business within the minority marketplace. It is our aim also to assist in the development of a new generation of "conscious" entrepreneurs who will work to improve the quality of life in our marketplace.
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