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Press Release
Coca-Cola Beverages Florida Purchases South Florida Distribution Territories and Production Facilities
TAMPA, Fla.-- Coca-Cola Beverages Florida, LLC (“Coca-Cola Florida”) announced that it has closed a transaction with an affiliate of The Coca-Cola Company (“TCCC”) to purchase 1) the distribution rights for brands owned and licensed by TCCC in four South Florida territories: Big Pine Key, Hollywood, South Dade and West Palm Beach, and 2) production facilities in Hollywood and Tampa that produce a number of well-known beverage brands, including Coca-Cola trademark brands, Sprite, Fanta, smartwater and Dasani. This transaction follows the October 26, 2016 announcement by The Coca-Cola Company that it reached definitive agreement with Coca-Cola Florida to purchase nine distribution centers and four cold-fill production facilities in North and South Florida.
“Today is truly a great day for our associates and the customers, consumers and communities that we serve in the Sunshine State,” said Troy Taylor, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “We are excited to welcome our new associates to a dynamic, transformative team that is focused on becoming the best bottler in the Coca-Cola System. We are all looking forward to greater engagement with our local customers and communities, and delivering consumers beverage offerings that are customized specifically for Florida!”
This transaction closing is the last in a series of three by Coca-Cola Florida, all tied to its participation in the Coca-Cola System’s 21st Century Beverage Partnership Model, which is anchored in TCCC selling its company-owned distribution territories and bottling operations to independent owner/operators (the “Refranchising”). The Refranchising is designed to position the Coca-Cola System, TCCC and its independent bottling partners, to be more effective and agile in its responses to rapidly changing market dynamics and better in its service to consumers and customers through the creation of regional bottlers that are engaged locally.
“There’s no place in the world that I’d rather be a bottler than right here in the state of Florida,” Taylor added. “The people and communities of Florida have been warm and welcoming, and for that we are grateful. I look forward to leading Coca-Cola Florida in serving the customers and communities of the Sunshine State with the same spirit. ”
About Coca-Cola Beverages Florida
Coca-Cola Beverages Florida, LLC (“Coca-Cola Florida”), headquartered in Tampa, is one of the largest privately held, independent Coca-Cola bottlers in the United States. Coca-Cola Florida became an independent bottler in May of 2015, initially serving distribution territories in Central Florida. Today, Coca-Cola Florida employs over 4,500 associates and serves customers, consumers and communities of the Sunshine State across seventeen (17) distribution territories located throughout North, Central and South Florida. As the local steward of the world’s most complete non-alcoholic ready-to-drink portfolio of consumer-centric beverages and brands, including over 600 unique products and twenty billion-dollar brands, Coca-Cola Florida is fully committed to delivering mutually beneficial value propositions to its local partners and being an integral part of every community it serves. For more information, visit www.cocacolaflorida.com.
