Breakthru Beverage Illinois
Welcome to

Breakthru Beverage Illinois

As the state’s oldest and most established distributor, Breakthru Beverage Illinois first began its operations out of a single warehouse in 1946. Today, Breakthru Illinois delivers to every corner of the state, utilizes the most innovative technology and employs the industry’s most knowledgeable salesforce.


Formerly known as:
Wirtz Beverage Illinois

For those interested in community donations, please fill out our donation request form.

 

We take pride in delivering our customers innovative solutions to help them build their businesses, and we are able to meet their unique needs because we have a best-in-class workforce of talented and nimble associates, we offer a diverse range of brands from the industry’s leading suppliers, and we consistently achieve operational excellence through strategic planning and our state-of-the-art facilities.

 

To meet the demands of the ever-evolving eCommerce landscape and provide our customers with a immersive and intuitive digital solution, we have launched BREAKTHRU NOW, our proprietary eCommerce platform. BREAKTHRU NOW provides customers with 24/7 access to our full product portfolio including real-time pricing and deals, detailed product information, and tools to help them manage their businesses anytime, anywhere.

Visit BREAKTHRU NOW

 

Leadership

The Breakthru Illinois Leadership Team supports the company’s core operations and strategic vision.

Close Cristina Desmond Portrait

Cristina Desmond

President, Central U.S. Region

Cristina Desmond has been appointed Regional President, Central U.S. Effective June 1, Cristina will be responsible for all aspects of market and business operations performance, including growth strategies for our supplier and customer partners, for the Central U.S. Region, including Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin.

Cristina is a highly versatile leader with a proven track record in achieving the business objectives of Breakthru’s partners and in challenging and empowering her associates with a focus on their continued growth and development. With more than 20 years of industry experience, Cristina joined Charmer Sunbelt in 2002 and has held various roles with increasing responsibility with a focus in commercial sales, strategic planning, trade marketing and sales execution. Most recently, she served as Market EVP for Breakthru Pennsylvania where she was responsible for all market performance and business operations. Prior to that, Cristina served as Vice President, National Accounts Retail, where she managed a large team of national account directors to develop and execute growth strategies with supplier partners and customers, driving deeper channel and customer focus, along with enhanced trade marketing, pricing management and e-tailing while leveraging increased data and analytics. She also held the role of Vice President, Marketing, Retail Sales & Promotions from 2013-2019, leading commercial retail sales, marketing, headquarter chain and control sales with great success, outpacing the market channel growth.

Cristina brings her demonstrated passion for people development, culture building and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives to bear in all her leadership roles and to the benefit of her team and colleagues.

Cristina received a bachelor’s degree in Communications from Temple University and completed the Women in Leadership Executive Education Program at Columbia Business School. She is a mentor with Breakthru’s Mentorship Program and a longtime supporter of the Central PA Food Bank and Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation. Cristina currently resides in Chester Springs, PA, with her husband and two sons and their chocolate lab, Berger. She and her family will be relocating to Illinois.

Close David Lockie

David Lockie

Executive Vice President, Illinois

David Lockie serves as Executive Vice President of Breakthru Illinois, leading the company’s operations in Illinois and Tenzing. In this role, he drives the Illinois strategy and aligns priorities with the company's corporate and strategic vision.

David is a seasoned leader with more than 30 years of industry experience.  Most recently, he was Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Wirtz Beverage Illinois and Minnesota.  There he successfully led sales strategies including planning, implementation, measurement and supplier acquisition, and was also responsible for the company’s joint venture in Iowa.

Prior to joining Wirtz Beverage, David served as President of Glazer’s Illinois, managing the company’s portfolio on a statewide basis. His experience also includes a tenure as President of Johnson Brothers of Illinois. David is a seasoned integration and change management leader.

He began his career with Romano Brothers, eventually transitioning to E&J Gallo Winery.  At Gallo, David was the Midwest and Mid-Central Division manager of the company, overseeing execution of Gallo’s retail programming and brand standards in each of the respective regions.

David is a graduate of DePauw University.

Close Mike Shiffer

Michael Shiffer

Vice President, Sales, Wine, Illinois

As Vice President of the Avant & Premier Division, Shiffer’s team is responsible for driving sales performance of all Breakthru Beverage IL suppliers in some of the most specialized accounts in the state.  He is also tasked with properly aligning with Trade Development and building long-lasting relationships with customers and suppliers.
Prior to this role, he served as Director of the Horizon Division for Wirtz Beverage IL, where he led the team to peak performance year-over-year.  The Horizon Division covers Chicagoland, Heartland and encompasses several teams that represent all WBI suppliers.

Prior to his time with Wirtz Beverage, Shiffer spent time with multiple distributors as well as the E&J Gallo Winery, where we worked as Field Marketing Manager, Division Manager and Director of Customer Development.

Shiffer began his career in the alcohol beverage industry immediately after graduating from the University of Iowa.

Close Al Bruni

Al Bruni

Vice President, Sales, Spirits, Illinois

As a veteran of the beverage alcohol industry for over 20 years, Al Bruni joined Wirtz Beverage Illinois in 2011 as the VP for the Alliance Division. In that role, he was responsible for building and overseeing the division.

In January of 2013, Al transitioned into his current role as VP of Sales and Marketing Spectrum Division: Spirits for Breakthru IL where he is responsible for over 55 key spirit suppliers. Al also manages the Summit and Horizon sales division, as well as the Illinois shared divisions.

Previously, Al spent 20 years with Bacardi USA where he held in various sales management roles in 11 different states throughout the USA.

Al is a graduate of The University of Miami.

Aidan Lynch

Aidan Lynch
Vice President, Sales, On Premise, Illinois

Close Matt Wind

Matt Wind

Vice President, Business Development, United Division
Matt Wind serves as Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing for Breakthru Beverage Illinois. The industry veteran brings more than 20 years of experience to this role.

Matt’s seasoned history includes Vice President Sales & Marketing, Director of Corporate Accounts, Director of On Premise and Director of Off Premise General Market for Wirtz Beverage Illinois. His leadership supported many achievements and the overall success of Wirtz Beverage Illinois’ Regal Division.

Brandon Scott
Vice President, Sales

Alchemy Room in Cicero, IL

Alchemy Room

Within Breakthru Beverage Illinois’ 600,000 square foot warehouse, you can step into The Alchemy Room, a state-of-the-art beverage laboratory where bar staffs and managers can work with our experts to take their beverage program to the next level. The Alchemy Room is fully stocked with the latest appliances, bar tools and the world’s best products. It is the perfect place to host trainings, tastings and industry events.

Our Brands

 

This catalog does not reflect inventory or availability. Please reach out to your BBG sales consultant or local office for more information.

 

Become a Customer

Backed with a portfolio that is unrivaled, Breakthru Beverage is proud to call the industry’s elite suppliers our partners. Investments in facilities, technologies and our people ensure best-in-class service of the brands you want, when you need them. Learn more about how we can do business together.

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