The new boss of American Bottling Co., a nearly $1 billion firm formed recently, admits to knocking down four or five cans of soda daily.
That’s much more than the average consumer chugs, but Richard A. Beardon, newly named president-chief operating officer of American Bottling, knows that every little bit helps.
Especially when you’ve got a couple of well-heeled parents looking for results– Carlyle Group, a Washington, D.C.-based investment firm, and global giant Cadbury Schweppes PLC, headquartered in London, which earlier this year set up the joint venture through a major acquisition.
The acquisition of Select Beverages, in west suburban Darien, and Michigan-based Beverage America, forming American Bottling, cost $725 million.
Beardon, recently promoted from a Dallas-based post for Cadbury Schweppes to head American Bottling, where he maintains an office at the Darien headquarters for this joint venture, expects this firm, as one of the leading independent bottlers, to show significant internal growth.
Over the next 12 to 18 months, American Bottling “will be looking at some acquisitions” to further stengthen Cadbury Schweppes as a soft-drink factor in the U.S., he said Wednesday in a telephone interview.
The Darien operation was formerly the headquarters of Select, a firm whose roots date back more than six decades. As a franchisee, this firm had been a prominent distributor of 7-Up and Dr Pepper brands. Select took over A.J. Canfield Co. through a 1995 acquisition.
Cadbury Schweppes in early 1995 acquired Dr Pepper/Seven Up Cos. That deal made the British concern No. 3 in the U.S. soft drink market.
American Bottling has 10 plants in 14 states; the largest is in Northlake, which is cranking out 32 million cases a year. That’s one-fifth of the company’s overall volume. About one-third of American Bottling’s volume is in private label and contract packaging. Other labels being distributed by American Bottling include Canada Dry, Crush, Sunkist, A&W Root Beer, Squirt and Snapple. American Bottling is a co-packer of the latter.
Beardon, 51, has spent a good deal of time in the U.K., where he once was director of operations for Coca-Cola & Schweppes Beverages Ltd.
A graduate of Cornell University’s Johnson School of Management in Ithaca, N.Y., he’s largely been in operations for the companies he’s worked for.
Most recently, Beardon had been president of Cadbury Schweppes Latin America/Mexico Beverages, working out of Dallas. Over his career, he has worked for H.J. Heinz, Raleigh (bicycles) and Ford Motor Co.
Is there any difference between selling ketchup, bicycles, cars and soft drinks?
Not really. “The same management principles are always involved,” says Beardon, who reports to John Brock, chairman of American Bottling,a London-based managing directorfor global beverages for Cadbury Schweppes.
Clark on the move: Clark Foodservice could make another acquisition or two before the end of the year, following up on its recent deal for Choice Restaurant Supply, a West Palm Beach, Fla., distributor of restaurant equipment with sales of $30 million. Don Hindman Sr., chief executive of privately held Clark, an Elk Grove Village-based firm, is projecting revenues of $330 million to $340 million for 1998. Clark, one of the top 10 food-service distributors nationally, now has 14 distribution centers.
Oleff joins Malnati: Richard Oleff became director of marketing for Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria chain, a Lincolnwood-based firm with 15 Chicago-area locations (restaurants and carryouts). Other personnel: Richard Asta to VP, information technology, at Marketing Support Inc. . . . Leslie Isenberg to marketing director for KDK Restaurant Group, parent of the Vivo, Marche and Red Light restaurants . . . Richard Wharton to VP-finance and administration, Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau.
Strictly Personal: Birthday greetings to William D. Smithburg, 60; Rocco Smeriglio, 33 (Worth magazine); Ron Bess, 52; Melissa Gasper, 38; A.J. Storinge, 30 (Ogilvy Mew York); Erna Cripes, 69; Jose Villarete, 52 (Citibank); Julie Wert, 42; Martha Garnica, 29; John McQueeney, 52; Sheryl Ogg, 28; restaurateur Stefano Kontos, 31; J.M. “Jim” Hutchinson, 46; and Larry Zar, 51.
– Spiegel Inc.’s Spiegel Catalog subsidiary–sales of $769 million for the fiscal year ended Jan. 3–picked Dan Klores Associates in New York for PR.
