VIP is founded by Howard Aiken. The company focuses on data collection and sales analysis for beer, wine, and soda distributors. Clients would put their invoices on Vermont Transit buses to ship them to our Vermont headquarters, where they were keyed into a mainframe computer for processing. We’d then process it all, and send the results back to them by bus.
With computers becoming more affordable to individual businesses, VIP develops its first technology innovation for the beverage industry, the VIP Route Accounting System.
VIP’s offices are located at 101 Main Street in Burlington, upstairs from a bar and music hall. The bus station was across the street, making it easy to carry service reports to be shipped out to customers.
VIP adds Golden Brands in San Francisco, our first major customer outside of New England and New York. Golden Brands (was acquired by DBI Beverage, who was then acquired by Reyes) is still a VIP customer today.
VIP builds and moves into our own building at Water Tower Circle in Colchester, Vermont, including an on-site child care center.
VIP introduces their first mobile sales application, which runs on Palm devices.
VIP adds Heineken USA as our first Supplier Services customer. In 2001, VIP also became an employee-owned company.
VIP begins developing software solutions for suppliers. Boston Beer and Guinness come on board as Supplier Services customers.
VIP acquires Micro Vane Route Accounting System (dBEV). VIP introduces the first mobile application using Windows Mobile.
VIP acquires the WCS route accounting system.
We open our first support branch in North Carolina, and welcome our first soda bottler that didn’t also carry beer, 7Up Watertown.
VIP adds our 100th Supplier Services customer.
Apple approves VIP’s first iOS application.
VIP’s cloud service hosting successfully moves to the Markley Group in Boston, MA.
VIP completes the acquisition of BDN Collections, greatly increasing our involvement with wine and spirits suppliers.
VIP completes acquisition of TradePulse, leading to VIP now processing wholesaler depletion data for the majority of beverage alcohol products sold in the U.S.
VIP acquires Vistaar’s US Beverage Alcohol business and enters into a long-term partnership.
VIP completes the acquisition of Data Consultants, Inc. (DCI) and BizStride route planning consulting services which will add beneficial new capabilities that provide true route planning and dynamic routing for VIP distributors.
VIP completes the acquisition of eoStar (formerly referred to as Rutherford & Associates), a route accounting solution for over 100 distributors and bottlers. eoStar will operate as a division of VIP and the eoStar platform will continue to be supported to meet the needs of customers and suppliers.
