Ozarks Coca-Cola finalizes deal for new territories

Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper Bottling Co. last week finalized a purchase agreement for new territories with Atlanta-based The Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO).

Completed Oct. 30, the deal for undisclosed terms gives Ozarks Coca-Cola access to new territories starting Oct. 31 in northern Arkansas, southeast Kansas and adjoining parts of Missouri. With the move, the company will do interstate business for the first time, said Ozarks Coca-Cola Vice President of Corporate Strategy Sally Hargis. She noted trucks were loaded on Saturday and deliveries started today in the new territories.

“We have not done business before in Arkansas and Kansas,” Hargis said, noting the deal grows Ozarks Coca-Cola’s business by 60 percent.

In April, the Springfield-based bottling company signed a letter of intent with Coca-Cola Co. The deal, which includes distribution centers in Joplin and West Plains, adds 37 new counties. The company had served 32 Missouri counties and some 850,000 consumers through distribution facilities in Springfield, Bolivar and Rolla, Hargis said.

“As a family-owned company, we welcome nearly 160 new employees into the Ozarks Coca-Cola family, and look forward to sharing our distinct brand of customer service with our new partners in the beverage industry,” said Edwin “Cookie” Rice, the company’s chairman and CEO, in a news release.

Founded by the Rice family in 1920, Ozarks Coca-Cola employed over 300 before the transaction.

The deal with the local bottler is part of the Atlanta corporation’s multiyear refranchising plan, dubbed the 21st Century Beverage Partnership Model. Under the plan, Coca-Cola would refranchise half of its company-owned U.S. bottler-delivered volume by the end of 2017.