Employee Jennifer Adams on Serving what’s best for breweries
When we say Columbine Label Company is a family, we aren’t kidding.
Take sales representative Jennifer Adams, for example, who has been with the company since 2008. It just so happens her sister is also a sales rep with Columbine Label. Jennifer brought years of customer service experience and a proven work ethic to the table before she was hired.
“I was working another full-time job and would come into the print shop on the weekends to help with a packaging job,” Jennifer explains. “We had a lot of fun working on the weekends with the owner Greg Jackson and his wife Judy. I think Judy must’ve seen something good in me because she suggested that the company bring me on full-time.” She says Greg was a little reluctant to have sisters working together and he wondered how we would get along. “But we’re pretty close, so it has worked out fine.” she laughs.
All about breweries
Jennifer has developed an expert niche in the labels for the brewing industry. “I am very familiar with the TTB process, the canning process, different materials and adhesives that work best, and the rapid product development in the industry. Breweries are always creating new blends and sometimes new releases come out weekly,” notes Jennifer. “Luckily, our turnaround time is usually just a few days, so we can help fulfill their needs.”
It’s a market that Jennifer continues to cultivate with great success. “When I first joined Columbine Label 13 years ago, we only had one brewery account,” she says. “It was Brooklyn Brewery out of New York. We printed adhesive keg collars, which is a legally required warning and product identification label.” Seeing the potential in the market, Jennifer increased her outreach to other breweries tapping into a booming craft brew industry. She works with many notable accounts (too many to name), including New Belgium Brewing Company, Lonetree Brewing, Bruz Beers, as well as players in the spirits industry, such as Rocker Spirits.
Keeping up with market trends
Part of what makes Jennifer so responsive to clients is keeping in tune with industry trends. “With the ongoing can shortage and extended lead times on printed cans, we’re seeing a lot more orders for shrink and printed labels on blank cans. The turnaround time is so much faster which allows breweries to get their products out without waiting.”
Recycling solutions continue to trend, too. “We can produce shrink sleeves with a zipper, which is a perforated area with a tab that the end-user can pull to remove the label before recycling the can,” Jennifer describes. “It’s a great solution for environmental considerations.”
A personal touch
“Customers always go back to their last experience with you. So, if you make it a positive one, they’ll come back,” explains employee Jennifer Adams. “That’s why I strive to stay on top of all orders, respond to messages quickly and just give a personal touch to my customer service. Our customers have so much going on that the label should be the last thing they have to worry about.”