In the bottling world, companies recognize the importance of being proactive members of the communities they operate in and serve. For Buffalo Rock Company, Birmingham, Ala., the company’s culture is centered on investing in its people and communities.
In the beverage market, no one understands the importance of the hometown community more than bottlers and distributors. Heartland Coca-Cola Bottling Co., Lenexa, Kansas, is no exception.
Legacy takes on a deeper meaning for Charles Rogers, CEO of Pepsi-Cola Bottling Co. of McAlester, as the company looks to continue to grow its carbonated and non-carbonated businesses, a feat that not many bottlers can attest.
Founded in 1902, Coca-Cola Bottling Co. UNITED has grown to be the second largest privately owned bottler in North America. Under the leadership of its CEO John H. Sherman, the company has nearly quadrupled in size, going from 50,000 customers to 150,000, 20 facilities to 60 production and sales and distributions center and grew its revenue to $3 billion.
A privately held independent bottler of PepsiCo Inc., Refreshment Services Inc. (RSI) Key West has been quenching the thirst of residents and visitors for more than 51 years.
To keep operations streamlined and humming along, the Coca-Cola system in North America embarked on a milestone commitment nearly a decade ago to reshape its North American bottling operations by returning ownership to local partners.
As one of the largest independent Pepsi-Cola and Canada Dry bottlers in the United States, Pennsauken, N.J.-based The Honickman Group, not only is making a difference in the territories it serves on the East Coast — New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. — but also in the broader beverage community.
In 1947, six employees in a wooden World War II Army hangar in Mississippi began distributing Canada Dry products. Today, that small operation has grown into a three-generation, family-run PepsiCo Inc. franchise with 328 SKUs.
On the drive through Crenshaw County in Alabama, motorists will see a number of small towns, vast woodlands and maybe a few deer. But as drivers pass the handful of restaurants and general stores throughout the county, they might also notice something else: the Pepsi logo.