About

My name is John Paddon and I’ve spent over 20 years in the food and beverage industry — behind the bar, in the buyer’s office, on the distribution side, and deep in the data that connects all of it.

I started PowerfulThirst.com as a platform for the men and women of the alcohol industry — a place to share knowledge, swap stories, and give the professionals who make this business run a voice that isn’t filtered through a corporate press release.

Over the years the path has taken some turns. I spent time in Austin working in the market there, then left in 2020 to take a position with a startup in New York City. Since 2022 I’ve been back in the industry working in distribution in Las Vegas, while building out a suite of software tools designed to solve the real problems I kept running into on the job.

That work became ThirstMetrics — a sales intelligence platform that turns public TABC data into actionable prospect lists for alcohol reps in Texas. It also led to Top Shelf Consulting, where I help beverage companies with everything from program development to AI strategy to white-label data solutions.

These days I’m focused on writing about AI in the beverage industry, building online education for F&B professionals through the PowerfulThirst Academy, and continuing to develop the tools I wish I’d had earlier in my career.

If you want to work together, have a story to share, or just want to talk shop — get in touch.