Tom Cole
President and CEO, Republic National Distributing Company
The biggest news to hit the national wine and spirits industry over the past year happened last November with the announcement that Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) is merging with Breakthru Beverage.
The two companies currently hold the titles of second- and third-largest wine distributors (respectively), with RNDC posting $6.5 billion in annual revenues, followed closely by Breakthru at nearly $6 billion. Together they are estimated to hold nearly a 60 percent market share with the new company, the name of which has yet to be announced.
It has been announced, however, that RNDC president and CEO, Tom Cole, who has led the 9,500-employee company since its 2006 inception, will serve as the CEO of this new venture. An Ohio native, Cole has called New Orleans home for 28 years. The company operates in Louisiana out of New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Lafayette.
“The beverage industry is consolidating and as we looked at opportunities to continue to grow — we’re in 23 states now plus the District of Columbia — Breakthru was a good fit,” he says. “It’s a solid, family-run company, like us, that shares our values.”
The merger is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year but work has already begun to create a company Cole says will be “different, sustainable and transformative.
“You’re only new once,” he says, “so we’re going to make the most of it. We’re good now, but the goal is to be the best.”
