With the success of the Adirondack Craft
Beverage Trail, a program of the Adirondack
Regional Chamber of Commerce–and the
launch of Paul Smith’s College’s craft beer studies
minor–the college has chosen to base the fall
semester’s field studies class on the Trail and the
craft beverage industry.
Each year Paul Smith’s College offers a course
to their Hotel, Resort, & Tourism Management
majors called Field Studies in Hospitality. It
provides an immersive experience to the junior/
senior level students in the field of hospitality
and gives the students a chance to create
strategic management plans and review business
standards and procedures to understand their
current operations.
“Working with the Adirondack Regional
Chamber of Commerce on the Adirondack Craft
Beverage Trail is a wonderful opportunity for
our field studies in hospitality students to gain
hands-on experience in the fast-growing craft
beverage tourism industry,” said Kelly Cerialo,
assistant professor at Paul Smith’s College.
“The project supports the experiential learning
component of our Craft Beer Studies Minor by
allowing students to develop cross-marketing
strategies for a real-life craft beverage program.
We are very excited for this opportunity and
believe the knowledge gained will be beneficial
to everyone involved.”
The students will be focused on completing
a comparative analysis of other craft beverage
trails, developing a cross-marketing plan for
local hospitality entities including restaurants,
hotels, and retailers and creating surveys to
assess the economic impact of the proposed
cross-marketing initiatives.
“The scope of what these students are going
to do is beyond anything we could have hoped
for,” said Greg Chanese, project coordinator for
the Adirondack Craft Beverage Trail. “We can’t thank Paul Smith’s College enough for selecting
the Trail to base this semester’s class on and for
seeing the importance that the craft beverage
industry has on the hospitality and tourism
industry in our region.”
On Sept. 8, the students took part in a
specialized tour to meet with a number of
the craft beverage makers on the Trail, key
stakeholders, and other hospitality individuals
impacted by the craft beverage industry. The
students came with sets of interview questions
aimed towards gaining a deeper understanding
of the craft beverage industry and how it’s tied
to hospitality and tourism.
At the end of the semester the students will
present the Chamber with their findings and give a
formal presentation to the ARCC board of directors
followed by a round-table discussion.
Photo Courtesy Paul Smith’s College