Supply Chain Risk Assessment: A Story of Vermont’s Beverage Companies During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic, responsible for more than 6 million deaths at the time of the case, caused businesses to assess and manage risk in their products/services and operations supply chains. Although several industries experienced varying levels of disruptions, the agribusiness and the food and beverage companies were instantly and the most negatively impacted by the pandemic. In Vermont, restaurants were closed for a short period and then had to limit their services to takeout and outdoor dining. Many Vermont bars shuttered operations because they provided mostly in-person services. The Vermont local beverage companies that usually supplied these restaurants and bars, or “on-premise” accounts, had to pivot and formulate new process strategies to remain relevant and in operation during the pandemic. The descriptive case offers a first-hand account of four key players in Vermont’s local beverage supply chain as they identified and assessed risk factors experienced by the network at three different stages of the pandemic (initial, middle, and later period stages) and summarizes how they managed (i.e., adapted to, responded to, and recovered from) these key risk factors.