Columbia Distributing ' s Corporate Office and Warehouse in Kent , WA .
and communication . We are a transparent company . It should not be all push — we need to create pull with suppliers , so cultural fit is one thing we look for ,” he says .
Another factor that comes into play when choosing a supplier to partner with is scale . With the company ’ s portfolio size in beer and natural beverages , they are covering 21,000 accounts from Washington and Oregon . So they definitely need scale , and bigger suppliers can provide that .
“ As I look for white space opportunities , rather than going and getting another supplier , I would prefer to ask our current suppliers if they can get what we ’ re looking for . We have close-knit supplier partners where we can go out and get more business together . They become more im-portant to us , and us to them in that kind of relationship ,” Renney explains .
REVENUE GROWTH STRATEGIES
Aside from filling in the white space in its portfolio , Columbia Distributing also grows its revenue through strategic acquisitions . Over the years , it has acquired a variety of different companies , including Marine View Beverage and General Distributors , Inc ., that help to increase its distribution geography .
“ We ’ re inquisitive , but we ’ re also disciplined to where the acquisition has to make sense for us ,” says Columbia Distributing CFO Paul Meade . “ We ’ re not going to buy someone in Miami — that won ’ t benefit us . We ’ re always looking for new brands and geographies , as demonstrated with the recent moves we ’ ve made by acquiring multiple brands in the areas we ’ re already serving .”
The third big area that helps boost revenue is through continued expansion in the company ’ s Wine & Spirits business . In the last five years , Columbia Distributing has made a concentrated effort to get into wine and spirits . Bringing 38 years of experience in the industry to Columbia , Renney has been monumental in helping this business grow .
“ When I met with Chris and Paul to outline our plan for this , we realized that we didn ’ t want to be a traditional wine and spirits distributor with hundreds of brands and thousands of SKUs . We need-ed brand productivity by SKU , so we went in asking what would work for us and started execut-ing that plan ,” Renny says .
Constellation Brands was Columbia Distributing ’ s first major entry into wine
“ CHARITY IS PART OF THE FOUNDATION OF OUR CULTURE . WE HAVE 3,000 AMAZING EMPLOYEES , AND WE ALWAYS WANT TO BE GREAT CORPORATE CITIZENS .”
– Columbia Distributing CEO and President Chris Steffanci .
and spirits — and it went very well . Constellation eventually integrated with Southern Glazer ’ s Wine & Spirits , but Renney , Meade , and Steffanci truly believed they could make something in this space . So they started over .
In 2020 , Columbia was awarded distribution rights in the state of Oregon for TWE . It did so well in Oregon that TWE eventually awarded it to Washington just six months later . In the first two years of this partnership , Columbia doubled its portfolio .
10 Beverage Wholesaler • Winter 2023 www . beveragewholesaler . com