Yes, there is a reason Jay Johnson’s new venture sounds familiar to you. Remember that episode of Seinfeld where Kramer gets an intern and starts a company, Kramerica Industries? Johnson hopes for better results with Jaymerica Libations (jaymericalibations.com).
The veteran liquor distributor spent the past seven years with St. Paul–based Griggs Cooper & Company, but broke out on his own this summer as an “independent libations consultant.” At bars and restaurants, “there are so many beverage programs that could be so much more profitable,” he says, if managers ordered based on comparison shopping and an analysis of needs, rather than loyalty to a distributor.
The other part of his business is teaching beverage pairings and leading tastings (as he’s been doing the first Monday of each month at The Muddy Pig on Selby and Dale in St. Paul—August is vodka month).
