Business View - February 2016 97
actually dropped it, because it didn’t sell. We picked it
back up and during the World Wars is when it started
to take off. Then in the ‘50s, when the Baby Boom hit,
that’s when it really took off.”
The Chesterman Company, now 143 years old, also
grew along with America’s changing tastes and grow-
ing fortunes. In addition to Coca-Cola, it now distributes
several different brands of carbonated soft drinks, as
well as coffee, juice, tea, water, and energy and sports
drinks. It also owns Premium Food and Beverage, a
full-line vending company that offers beverage and
snack products from name brands such as Frito Lay,
Mars, and Hershey, as well as products from some lo-
cal area companies.
And although it no longer sells off a horse and buggy,
it still gets its concentrate from the Coca-Cola Compa-
ny. “We mix up the syrup, add it to carbonated water,
and then we put it in cans and bottles. We sell from
Wal-Mart down to smaller, rural mercantile stores, and
convenience stores,” says Chesterman. “We also have
a lot of at-work vending, a lot of cold-bottle restaurant,
and fountain products. We have a pre-mixed product
that’s put in canisters that we put in smaller restau-
rants that don’t do quite as much volume. When they
do more volume, we convert them to a bag-in-a-box
type system.”
AT A GLANCE
WHO:
The Chesterman Company
WHAT:
An independently owned and operated
Coca-Cola bottling company and distributor of soft
drink and snack products
WHERE:
Sioux City, Iowa
WEBSITE
:
FOOD & BEVERAGE
