Business View - February 2016 99
FOOD & BEVERAGE
After a series of acquisitions beginning in the 1980s
and continuing up through the new century, the Ches-
terman Company now has nine different locations
and approximately 600 employees. Its territory covers
about five counties in Illinois, and parts of northwest
Iowa, southeast South Dakota, and northeast Nebras-
ka. “Since my great, great, great Grandpa Cilo founded
the business, we’ve had a franchise with the Coca-Co-
la Company for a certain amount of territory,” Ches-
terman explains. “Back in those days, the territories
were designed around the railroads, but they’ve geo-
coded them to zip codes, nowadays, so we have a very
specific territory, and we abut a number of other Coke
bottlers on the fringes – independents and Coca-Cola
Refreshments which is a big corporate Company.”
Because the distribution system is built around as-
signed territories, Chesterman admits that it’s difficult
for his company to expand without acquiring other ex-
isting bottling enterprises. “We always want to pose
ourselves for growth, but with such set territories, it’s
kind of hard to grow unless somebody wants to sell.” At
present, the company has submitted a letter of intent
to take over a territory that includes Omaha, Lincoln,
Grand Island, North Platte, and Long Pine, Nebraska.
“Before 2011, most of the distribution in the U.S. was
done through Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE). In 2011,
the Coca-Cola Company bought CCE, so they’re now
running those operations,” Chesterman says. (The
renamed company is the aforementioned Coca-Cola
Refreshments.) “They have a number of different rea-
sons why they want to turn that territory back over to
existing bottlers,” he adds. Chesterman is hoping that
his company will get the nod, and with its long-stand-
ing history in the Midwest, its chances are good.
Meanwhile, Chesterman and his brother continue to
run the Coke side of the business, while their father, Cy
W. Chesterman, runs Premium Waters. In carrying on
the family tradition, Jay Chesterman says that the com-
pany’s long-standing goals include making operations
more efficient while trying to do right by his customers,
his employees, who he views as the company’s great-
est asset, and his community. “We get out of bed and
go to work, every day – that’s kind of how you get that
done,” he quips. No doubt, great, great, great Grandpa
Cilo would have agreed.
