Coke Florida details Covid-19 challenges, path for growth
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Oct 8, 2021

Long before the novel coronavirus pandemic disrupted supply chains around the globe, Coca Cola Beverages Florida LLC was working to maximize the efficiency of its manufacturing and distribution network in the Sunshine State.

The family-owned independent bottler has spent $300 million on its fleet, commercial real estate and manufacturing capability in the last five years, Thomas Benford, president and chief operating officer, told the Business Journal.

Tampa-based Coke Florida was founded in 2015 after purchasing Coca-Cola’s Central Florida distribution rights and grew quickly, snapping up distribution rights in North and South Florida within months of its launch.

It is the fourth-largest privately held company in the Tampa Bay region and one of the largest Black-owned businesses in the U.S. with 2020 revenue of $1.4 billion.

“We expect to see those types of investments continue over the next three to five years because we know that these investments pay off,” Benford said. “There isn't a place in the U.S. — and I would say not a place in the world — that has greater opportunity than here in the state of Florida.”

The bottler is behind some of the most significant recent commercial real estate deals in the Tampa Bay region:

In early 2021, Coke Florida paid $19.55 million for a 400,000-square-foot warehouse in Winter Haven’s Central Florida Intermodal Logistics Center and has the right to build additional space on 37 acres there. This is an expansion of its existing Polk County facility, which was a 100,000-square-foot warehouse in Lakeland.

In early 2020, the bottler received approval from Hillsborough County on plans to build a 1.3 million-square-foot facility in Brandon that will include manufacturing, production, distribution, and office and fleet uses. Demolition of the existing buildings on the properties is underway, and Benford said he expects vertical construction to begin by mid-2022.

The forthcoming investments, Benford said, will focus on network optimization and automation. But he said automation doesn’t necessarily mean a reduced headcount; he said it will create new jobs, particularly in tech-heavy roles like managing the automated lines.

“I think what it will allow us to do is to stabilize that workforce and allow us to make sure that people are being as productive as they possibly can be,” Benford said of the automation.

Business drivers

The Covid-19 pandemic has created both challenges and opportunities for growth.

Even in Florida, where the first easing of Covid-19 restrictions occurred in May 2020 and all capacity limitations were lifted by September 2020, Benford said there was a marked shift in the bottler’s business mix shifted during the pandemic, and large retailers such as Publix Super Markets Inc. and Winn-Dixie now make up a larger share of its business than hospitality accounts.

“It made our business more efficient,” Benford said, “because we’re very good at making those large drops. In the restaurant space in particular — even though those restrictions weren't there, a lot of those locations were shutting down because they didn't have people to work or [sales were down]. And so we did see a meaningful drop off — I would estimate there were roughly 2,000 outlets across the state that stopped ordering.”

As the country emerges from the pandemic, Benford says Coke Florida has seen a resurgence in hospitality orders, particularly from amusement parks.

While the spike in at-home consumption has made up for that shift, it’s also presented a challenge: Aluminum cans are in high demand. And like virtually all businesses, Coke Florida has faced labor challenges, particularly for workers with a commercial driver’s license — there’s “intense competition” for those workers, Benford says, as well as warehouse workers and the merchandising staff that puts Coke products on display in retail stores.

In the name of network optimization, Coke Florida has also partnered with UPS on deliveries to smaller restaurants and other hospitality customers. Reaching “micro-networks” like unattended retail kiosks is also a priority.

“I would say we are not at the level that we want to be ultimately,” Benford said, “but we're in a much better place than we would be if we hadn't developed those relationships and built those partnerships to deliver to customers.”