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New Coca-Cola bottler makes debut in Louisville market
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Coca-Cola Consolidated opens new sales and distribution center
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$12 million investment in 305,000 square foot facility in
Southwest Louisville
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Currently has 350 Louisville-based employees
LOUISVILLE, Ky.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar. 26, 2015--
Coca-Cola opened a new chapter in its 114-year history in Louisville, KY
today as Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated (NASDAQ: COKE) celebrated
the grand opening of its new Sales and Distribution Center and made its
formal debut as Louisville’s new Coca-Cola bottler.
Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer joined Coca-Cola officials, civic and
community leaders and key customers at an open house and ribbon cutting
ceremony at the company’s new 305,000 square foot sales and distribution
center in Southwest Louisville.
“We are very excited about being the new Coca-Cola bottler in Louisville
and becoming part of the Louisville community,” said Coca-Cola
Consolidated Chairman & CEO Frank Harrison. “This is a great, vibrant
city with a long Coca-Cola history. We look forward to serving our
customers and consumers from this new, state of the art facility.”
Charlotte NC-based Coca-Cola Consolidated, the nation’s largest
independent Coca-Cola bottler, formally became the Coca-Cola bottler for
the Louisville Coca-Cola franchise at the end of February. On the
25-acre site in Southwest Louisville, the company has renovated a
once-vacant warehouse, created office space and added 100,000 square
feet of new construction for a make ready center with an investment of
more than $12 million.
“I am very pleased to welcome Coca-Cola Consolidated to the City of
Louisville,” said Mayor Greg Fischer. “This major investment in their
new facility is a positive statement about the company’s commitment to
Louisville, and we look forward to working with Coca-Cola Consolidated
as they become part of the Louisville community.”
“Coca-Cola has a long history in Louisville,” said James Reddish, Vice
President of Greater Louisville, Inc (GLI). “On behalf of the business
community, we want to welcome GLI top investor Coca-Cola Consolidated to
our city and applaud them for the significant investment in this new
facility and their commitment to strengthen our region.”
The new facility will handle sales and distribution of Coca-Cola
products in a 21-county area stretching from Owen County to Hardin
County in Kentucky and Jefferson County to Harrison County in Indiana.
The company currently has 350 employees working in the Louisville
franchise territory. In addition, a new ‘make ready center’, which will
handle deployment and refurbishing of vending and other sales equipment,
is still under construction and will open later this spring. The
facility is located on Global Drive in Southwest Louisville.
Louisville traces its Coca-Cola history back to 1901 when it became the
third franchise to sell what was to become the world’s best-selling soft
drink and most recognized trademark. “Louisville has played a
significant role in the history of Coca-Cola and was one of the first
cities in the world to bottle and sell this great brand,” Harrison said.
A fourth-generation bottler himself, Harrison’s family roots in the
business started with his great-grandfather, J.B. Harrison, who launched
Coca-Cola in Greensboro, NC in 1902. Over the last century Coca-Cola
Consolidated has expanded to become the largest independent Coca-Cola
bottler in the United States.
The plan for Coca-Cola Consolidated to acquire the Louisville franchise
territory from an affiliate of The Coca-Cola Company was first announced
in early 2013 and a definitive purchase agreement for the acquisition
was signed in December 2014. In addition to the Louisville franchise,
Coca-Cola Consolidated also acquired the franchise in Evansville,
Indiana. The Company has signed definitive purchase agreements for
additional Kentucky franchises, including Lexington, Pikeville and
Paducah, and hopes to conclude those transactions later in 2015.
Headquartered in Charlotte, NC, Coca-Cola Consolidated is the nation’s
largest independent Coca-Cola bottler with franchise territories in 11
states. The Company’s current major markets include: Charlotte, Raleigh,
Wilmington, Greenville, the Triad, and Asheville in NC; Greenville,
Columbia, and Charleston in SC; Charleston, Beckley, and Parkersburg in
WV; Roanoke and Bristol in VA; Cleveland, Nashville, Johnson City,
Morristown and Knoxville in TN; Columbus and Albany in GA; Mobile, AL;
Panama City, FL; and Biloxi, MS.
Learn more about Coca-Cola Consolidated at www.cokeconsolidated.com,
and be sure to follow us on Facebook,
Twitter
and Instagram!
Cautionary Information Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Included in this news release and other information that we make
publicly available from time to time are forward-looking management
comments and other statements that reflect management’s current outlook
for our performance in future periods and management’s expectations for
the proposed territory expansion described in the Letter of Intent
between the Company and The Coca-Cola Company entered into in April
2013. Consummation of the plan for Coca-Cola Consolidated to acquire the
Louisville and Evansville franchise territories and the other
transactions contemplated by the definitive purchase agreement is
subject to a number of conditions precedent and future events occurring
that are described in our filings made with the Securities and Exchange
Commission.
These statements and expectations are based on currently available
competitive, financial and economic data along with our operating plans
and are subject to future events and uncertainties that could cause
anticipated events not to occur or actual results to differ materially
from historical or anticipated results. Among the other events or
uncertainties which could adversely affect our performance in future
periods are: lower than expected selling pricing resulting from
increased marketplace competition; changes in how significant customers
market or promote our products; changes in our top customer
relationships; changes in public and consumer preferences related to
nonalcoholic beverages; unfavorable changes in the general economy;
miscalculation of our need for infrastructure investment; our inability
to meet requirements under beverage agreements; material changes in the
performance requirements for marketing funding support or our inability
to meet such requirements; decreases from historic levels of marketing
funding support; changes in The Coca-Cola Company’s and other beverage
companies’ levels of advertising, marketing and spending on brand
innovation; the inability of our aluminum can or plastic bottle
suppliers to meet our purchase requirements; our inability to offset
higher raw material costs with higher selling prices, increased
bottle/can sales volume or reduced expenses; consolidation of raw
material suppliers could impact our profitability; increased purchases
of finished goods subject us to incremental risks that could impact our
profitability; sustained increases in fuel costs or our inability to
secure adequate supplies of fuel; sustained increases in workers’
compensation, employment practices and vehicle accident claims costs;
sustained increases in the cost of employee benefits; product liability
claims or product recalls; technology failures; changes in interest
rates; the impact of debt levels on operating flexibility and access to
capital and credit markets; adverse changes in our credit rating
(whether as a result of our operations or prospects or as a result of
those of The Coca-Cola Company or other bottlers in the Coca-Cola
system); changes in legal contingencies; legislative changes affecting
our distribution and packaging; adoption of significant product labeling
or warning requirements; additional taxes resulting from tax audits;
natural disasters and unfavorable weather; global climate change or
legal or regulatory responses to such change; issues surrounding labor
relations; bottler system disputes; our use of estimates and
assumptions; changes in accounting standards; impact of obesity and
health concerns on product demand; public policy challenges regarding
the sale of soft drinks in schools; the impact of volatility in the
financial markets on access to the credit markets; the impact of
acquisitions or dispositions of bottlers by their franchisors; and the
concentration of our capital stock ownership. The forward-looking
statements in this news release should be read in conjunction with the
more detailed descriptions of the above factors located in our Annual
Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 29, 2013 under Part I,
Item 1A “Risk Factors” as well as those additional factors we may
describe from time to time in other filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission. Except as required by law, the Company undertakes
no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements
contained in this release as a result of new information or future
events or developments.
—Enjoy Coca-Cola—
Source: Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated
Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated
Lauren C. Steele, 704-557-4551
Mobile:
704-905-7073
Senior VP, Corporate Affairs