Birmingham bottler buys Rome Coca-Cola territory

16 new associates have already joined the Rome center’s staff.

Sixteen new associates have already joined the Rome distribution center’s staff.

Coca-Cola Bottling Co. United, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, has closed a deal with Coca-Cola Refreshments to expand its franchise territory into the Rome area.

Over the past three years, Coca-Cola United has successfully acquired 26 distribution territories and four production facilities from The Coca-Cola Co.

The deal includes Atlanta and several other franchise territories in North and Central Georgia. More acquisitions are planned through the end of October.

Tony Ray, sales center manager for United, said they have already added 16 associates to the workforce in Rome. Some of them were brought on to start training last month. The new staff brings the total workforce at the Rome center, 2066 Cedartown Highway, up to 135. “United’s service model provides more service to the customers,” Ray said. “Rome Coca-Cola is ready to build on that tradition and grow our presence in this community.”

The Rome territory includes Floyd, Bartow, Gordon, Polk and Haralson counties along with a portion of Chattooga, Cobb and Paulding counties.

The Coca-Cola Co. has been in the process of encouraging U.S. bottlers to increase in size by obtaining more territory adjacent to their primary service area.

Longtime Rome Coca-Cola bottler Frank Barron said the changes are taking place due to pressures in the market and existing conditions of the soft drink business.

He said at one time the local bottlers dealt directly with local customers, the local Kroger for example.

“As they got bigger and more centralized in their purchasing and merchandising, the decisions were taken away from individual bottlers and individual stores,” Barron said. “They’re just completing a market driven, technology driven change,” Barron said.

At one time, Barron operated bottling operations in Rome, Cartersville, Carrollton, Fort Valley, Cedartown, Valdosta and Dalton.

Noah Syverson / Rome News-Tribune As part of the sale of the Rome territory, the Rome CocaCola distribution center at 2066 Cedartown Highway has 16 new staff members, bringing the total to 135.