Quilmes Industrial

Boy, it's a frustrating first day visiting companies. Quilmes Industrial, with 1998 revenues of $854 million, controls beverage and malting businesses in five Latin American countries. Image my surprise in finding a one-room office above a hair salon and woman's clothing store in the city center. It's 9:15 AM and knocking on the closed door gets no response but as I'm leaving a man steps off the dinky elevator. I ask if he knows anything about the company. Turns out he's Carlo Hoffman, a company director. It's a one-person office and Hoffman explains it's basically a token presence for taking care of legal matters. Everybody else is in Buenos Aires, Argentina.