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FoodChain Issue 173 June 2021

Page 49

Coastal Beverage Company Tuney Nunnelee, CEO and Chairman of the Board, and Tee Nunnelee, President

“We have a very strong portfolio and we always keep our eyes open for new opportunities with new supplier partners. In this business, if you don’t have good brands and good supplier partners, your products won’t sell; that’s why we aim to build strong, lasting connections with some of the best suppliers around.”

A partner for major breweries, including Molson Coors, Constellation, Yuengling, Mike’s Hard Lemonade, and New Belgium, to name a few, CBC has grown substantially during the last decade. In a market that was previously dominated by brewery giants such as Anheuser-Bush, Miller and Coors, a

renaissance of innovation, largely driven by relatively new suppliers such as Mike’s Hard Lemonade, New Belgium and a host of smaller craft suppliers, has completely changed the landscape of the adult beverage category. CBC’s ability to recognize this change and willingness to invest behind new segments, has allowed the firm to take advantage by partnering with some of the most visionary and innovative suppliers in the industry. “Over the last five years, many of our great supplier partners have entered into the seltzer side of the business and we have partnered up with a couple of innovative new brands like White Claw,” explains company President Tee Nunnelee. “Seltzer wasn’t even a category five years ago, but now it is one of the more dominant sub-sectors in the whole industry. “I have to give a lot of credit to all the distributors around the country who have made the investments necessary to encourage continued innovation in the beverage sector,” Tee continues. “I am also proud of the way we are always able to adapt. Without our ability to pivot and adjust and make these brands work, we wouldn’t be as successful as we are.” A recipient of multiple industry performance awards, most recently Mike’s Hard Lemonade’s Distributor of the Year Award in 2019, CBC’s enduring appeal is driven by its ability to build and maintain strong, meaningful relationships. This was again highlighted in January when local North Carolina brewery NoDa decided to partner with CBC. “NoDa

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