The Next Competitive Advantage in Drinks Isn't AI. It's Being Ready for It.

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The Next Competitive Advantage in Drinks Isn't AI. It's Being Ready for It.

Jul 10, 2026

The drinks industry loves a good story; a vineyard, a family, a cellar, a recipe guarded for generations. But there is another story sitting underneath most drinks businesses, and it is less romantic. Nobody knows where anything is.

At this year's London Wine Fair, one topic kept surfacing in conversations across the industry: AI.

A panel discussion, later covered by The Buyer, asked a question every drinks business should be taking seriously: what happens when consumers no longer search Google for what to buy, but simply ask AI?

That shift reaches far beyond marketing. AI is changing how consumers discover products, how sales teams access information, how distributors find the latest brand assets and how businesses organise years of accumulated knowledge.

Some industries have spent years preparing for this. While much of the drinks sector is still running on shared drives, outdated asset libraries and institutional knowledge trapped in the heads of a few people who are, naturally, always in a meeting.

AI is only as good as the information it can access. And that is where many drinks businesses have a problem.

Does this sound familiar?

Your sales team asks marketing for the same bottle shot... again.
Distributors are using last year's presentation because no one knows where the latest version lives.
Thousands of beautiful images and videos have been created over the years but rarely get used because nobody can find them.
Product information lives in multiple spreadsheets, PowerPoints and folders, with different versions depending on who you ask.
New employees spend weeks learning where everything is instead of getting up to speed quickly.

These aren't just operational frustrations anymore. They're becoming commercial risks.

As AI becomes part of how businesses work, and eventually how consumers discover products, the brands with organised, accessible, properly structured digital assets will move faster. They will collaborate better. They will make better decisions. While everyone else will still be searching through folders called FINAL_FINAL_NEW.

At this year's London Wine Fair, one topic kept surfacing in conversations across the industry: AI.

AI is only as good as the information it can access. And that is where many drinks businesses have a problem.

Does this sound familiar?

Your sales team asks marketing for the same bottle shot... again.
Distributors are using last year's presentation because no one knows where the latest version lives.
Thousands of beautiful images and videos have been created over the years but rarely get used because nobody can find them.
Product information lives in multiple spreadsheets, PowerPoints and folders, with different versions depending on who you ask.
New employees spend weeks learning where everything is instead of getting up to speed quickly.

These aren't just operational frustrations anymore. They're becoming commercial risks.

At this year's London Wine Fair, one topic kept surfacing in conversations across the industry: AI.

AI is only as good as the information it can access. And that is where many drinks businesses have a problem.

Does this sound familiar?

Your sales team asks marketing for the same bottle shot... again.
Distributors are using last year's presentation because no one knows where the latest version lives.
Thousands of beautiful images and videos have been created over the years but rarely get used because nobody can find them.
Product information lives in multiple spreadsheets, PowerPoints and folders, with different versions depending on who you ask.
New employees spend weeks learning where everything is instead of getting up to speed quickly.

These aren't just operational frustrations anymore. They're becoming commercial risks.

Consumers want people

Before anyone starts mourning human creativity, our own Insights & Imagination consumer research tells a very different story.

Consumers don't want AI to replace expertise. They still value authenticity, craftsmanship and genuine recommendations from people they trust. What they do want is for brands to use technology to remove friction, improve service and create better experiences.

In other words, let AI do the admin so people can do the work only people can do: tell stories, build relationships, read the room and create memorable moments.

That belief has shaped our digital-first approach at Chelsea Co. for years. The drinks industry has always been about bringing people together. Great brands are built on heritage, craft and stories worth telling. AI should not replace those things. It should create more time for them.

Consumers want people

Before anyone starts mourning human creativity, our own Insights & Imagination consumer research tells a very different story.

In other words, let AI do the admin so people can do the work only people can do: tell stories, build relationships, read the room and create memorable moments.

Consumers want people

Before anyone starts mourning human creativity, our own Insights & Imagination consumer research tells a very different story.

In other words, let AI do the admin so people can do the work only people can do: tell stories, build relationships, read the room and create memorable moments.

We built Alkemi Cellar before AI became fashionable

Long before ChatGPT dominated every panel, pitch and LinkedIn post, we kept seeing the same pattern across our clients: extraordinary brands and brilliant creative work, but disconnected systems.

Beautiful campaign photography hidden in Dropbox folders. Sales presentations scattered across laptops. Product information duplicated across departments. Marketing producing fantastic assets that sales teams either couldn't find or didn't know existed.

Nobody loved managing it and more importantly, nobody had the time to.

We realised the problem wasn't creativity, it was accessibility.

So we built Alkemi Cellar – an AI-assisted digital asset management platform designed specifically for the drinks industry. Not because AI suddenly became fashionable, because the foundations needed fixing.

Alkemi Cellar helps organise, categorise and surface the right content in seconds, making it easier for sales, marketing and distribution partners to work from what we call “a single source of truth”. Less searching. Less duplication. Fewer outdated decks in circulation. More time spent actually selling, telling and building.

As Brian Ariss, Digital Product Director at Palm Bay International, explains:

"Alkemi Cellar has transformed how we manage our brand assets. After working with other comparable platforms that always felt forced into our workflows, Alkemi fit seamlessly into our digital ecosystem from day one – saving significant time and making collaboration across sales, marketing and partners dramatically easier."

That is what being AI-ready really looks like. Not replacing people; backing them up properly.

We built Alkemi Cellar before AI became fashionable

Long before ChatGPT dominated every panel, pitch and LinkedIn post, we kept seeing the same pattern across our clients: extraordinary brands and brilliant creative work, but disconnected systems.

Nobody loved managing it and more importantly, nobody had the time to.

We realised the problem wasn't creativity, it was accessibility.

As Brian Ariss, Digital Product Director at Palm Bay International, explains:

That is what being AI-ready really looks like. Not replacing people; backing them up properly.

We built Alkemi Cellar before AI became fashionable

Long before ChatGPT dominated every panel, pitch and LinkedIn post, we kept seeing the same pattern across our clients: extraordinary brands and brilliant creative work, but disconnected systems.

Nobody loved managing it and more importantly, nobody had the time to.

We realised the problem wasn't creativity, it was accessibility.

As Brian Ariss, Digital Product Director at Palm Bay International, explains:

That is what being AI-ready really looks like. Not replacing people; backing them up properly.

Heritage is your greatest asset. AI helps unlock it.

The brands that will thrive over the next decade won't necessarily be the ones spending the most on AI.

They will be the ones with the strongest foundations. The ones whose knowledge is organised. Whose assets are discoverable. Whose sales and marketing teams work from the same source of truth. Whose people spend less time searching and more time selling, creating and building relationships.

The drinks industry has always been built on stories that span generations. AI does not replace those stories. It changes how easily they can be found, shared and brought to life.

The next competitive advantage is not AI itself. It is being ready for it.

Discover how Alkemi Cellar is helping drinks brands prepare for the future of sales and marketing – and schedule a demo.

Heritage is your greatest asset. AI helps unlock it.

The brands that will thrive over the next decade won't necessarily be the ones spending the most on AI.

The drinks industry has always been built on stories that span generations. AI does not replace those stories. It changes how easily they can be found, shared and brought to life.

The next competitive advantage is not AI itself. It is being ready for it.

Discover how Alkemi Cellar is helping drinks brands prepare for the future of sales and marketing – and schedule a demo.

Heritage is your greatest asset. AI helps unlock it.

The brands that will thrive over the next decade won't necessarily be the ones spending the most on AI.

The drinks industry has always been built on stories that span generations. AI does not replace those stories. It changes how easily they can be found, shared and brought to life.

The next competitive advantage is not AI itself. It is being ready for it.

Discover how Alkemi Cellar is helping drinks brands prepare for the future of sales and marketing – and schedule a demo.

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