The New Hampshire Liquor Commission (NHLC) has been recognized among the top control states in the country for the seventh consecutive year by StateWays Magazine in its annual Control State Best Practices Awards. NHLC was awarded Best Stakeholder Outreach Program for its $4 billion milestone educational campaign and Best Technology Innovation for its curbside sales and in-store pickup program. Pictured above, left to right, at the awards ceremony: NHLC Division of Enforcement Field Operations Lieutenant Ben Williams, StateWays Magazine Editor Kyle Swartz, NHLC Division of Enforcement Chief Mark Armaganian and NHLC Division of Enforcement Deputy Chief Danielle Ellston.

CONCORD – The New Hampshire Liquor Commission (NHLC) has been recognized among the top control states in the country for the seventh consecutive year by StateWays Magazine in its annual Control State Best Practices Awards. NHLC was awarded Best Stakeholder Outreach Program for its $4 billion milestone educational campaign and Best Technology Innovation for its curbside sales and in-store pickup program. StateWays Magazine is the only nationwide magazine devoted to issues and subjects impacting the beverage alcohol control state system.

“NHLC is honored to receive this recognition from StateWays Magazine, as the two awards together speak to our ongoing efforts to enhance the customer experience through maximizing efficiency, developing engaging educational opportunities, and implementing promotional sales incentives,” said NHLC Chairman Joseph Mollica. “We are grateful to our dedicated team of 1,100 employees, whose hard work makes it possible for us to continue delivering creative and innovative ways to meet consumer demand and to maximize sales revenue for the betterment of the state of New Hampshire.”

With its $4 billion milestone educational campaign, NHLC celebrated surpassing $4 billion in net revenue since it first started selling wine and spirits in 1934, while also emphasizing NHLC’s role as a critical resource to the New Hampshire General Fund, supporting education, health and social services, transportation, natural resource protection, addiction treatment and prevention programs. Despite the General Fund’s crucial role in New Hampshire, the broad description can make its purpose seem unclear to stakeholders and customers. To answer the question of where that revenue goes and to thank key stakeholders, NHLC developed an engaging and informational campaign through the launch of a new website www.wheredoesthemoneygonh.com.

Through the website, NHLC highlights that Outlet sales go directly back to the people of New Hampshire, while taking visitors on a fun and informational journey to better understand NHLC’s business and the positive impact the $4 billion in net revenue has had on the Granite State. The site also offered customers the opportunity to win one of four $1,000 NH Liquor & Wine Outlet gift cards in celebration of the milestone. The campaign was extremely successful, generating nearly one million impressions, 33,552 website visits and 11,361 email entries. The website was designed to be evergreen and will be updated as NHLC continues to produce record revenue for the New Hampshire general fund and educate consumers and stakeholders on how they have helped millions of people statewide.

NHLC also earned the Best Technology Innovation award for its commitment to meeting consumer demand despite unprecedented circumstances. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, NHLC fast-tracked a Curbside and In-Store Pickup program, which allows customers to place orders online and to pick them up either curbside or inside at one of 27 NH Liquor & Wine Outlet locations and counting. As NHLC has continually expanded the program to allow customers to select from a menu of more than 9,500 wines and spirits, it was imperative NHLC enhance the program to make it as efficient and streamlined as possible for NHLC’s limited in-store employees.

Through the program, NHLC installed a specialized lighting system near the manager’s office to provide a visual indicator for the volume of curbside and in-store pickup orders, which helps staff manage orders as they come in. The light indicates orders in Open or Picking Status. Once an order is placed in Picked Status, it no longer is applied to the indicator light. The light color, green, yellow, or red indicates the order volume. In addition to the lighting system, NHLC utilizes iPads from which staff manage the lighting system and order status: Open Orders, Picking, Picked and Complete. The program has been especially successful over the past two years and played a critical role in NHLC generating record-breaking total sales of $801 million in Fiscal Year 2021. NHLC plans to continue expanding the program and its Commerce Deployment feature.

NHLC was previously recognized for Best Technology Innovation in 2015, Best Warehouse Innovation in 2016, Best Retail Innovation in 2018, Best On- and Off-Premise Partnership in 2019, Best On-Premise Partnership and Best Technology Innovation in 2021 and Overall Winner in 2017 and 2020 in StateWays’ annual Control State Best Practices Awards. The StateWays Best Practices Awards launched in 2015 to recognize control state agencies that are leading the industry in innovation, education, and enforcement.