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 Buffalo Rock Company Takes Beverage Industry’s Bottler of the Year
Press Release – January 1, 2007
Birmingham, AL -- Buffalo Rock, one of the nation’s largest food and beverage distributors was recently named Beverage Industry’s 2006 Bottler of the Year.
With 106 years in business and an average 30 years experience among its executive leadership team, the company is certainly not resting on its many accomplishments and letting the changing industry pass it by.
Buffalo Rock – as a private, family-owned Pepsi and Cadbury Schweppes bottler – has the flexibility to make quick decisions. James Lee III, president, chief executive officer and fourth generation Lee, brings more than 40 years experience to his in excess of $575 million Company. He attributes the management team’s staying power and knowledge of the industry as a huge advantage.
“They know the ins and outs of the company,” Lee says. “They know their employee-partners’ personalities and the team has good continuity. Overall, turnover is minimal in the management ranks and we have been able to promote within the company, which is good for morale.”
“What we have chosen, as a company, is to go down the path of continuous improvement and never get off,“ says Matthew Dent, executive vice president and chief business officer.
Recently acquiring Southeast Canners, a bottling facility in Columbus, Georgia, the company is increasing their production capability by more than 30%. Buffalo Rock plans to continue expanding its business through new products from its franchise companies and other new products it will pick up in the future.
Buffalo Rock’s 14 distribution centers throughout Alabama, northwest Georgia and the panhandle of Florida are run by 14 general managers. The company currently employs almost 2,700 employee-partners who are empowered by a culture entitled “Team Rock” which applies to all aspects of the business. “Many of our recent beneficial changes,” states Lee, “have been established due to employee-partners’ submissions, as well as customer recommendations through a survey process. I can attribute most of our successes and this award to our customers, our employee-partners and the communities that we service.”
 2006 Alabama Quality Award Winners Announced
November 2006
Tuscaloosa, Ala. – The Alabama Productivity Center today announced the recipients of the 2006 Alabama Quality Award (AQA), the state’s honor for quality and performance excellence.
The highest level of recognition,
Level 3- Alabama Excellence Award, was awarded to Buffalo Rock Company – Alabama Divisions – Birmingham, Dothan, Gadsden, Huntsville, Mobile, Montgomery, Talladega, Tuscaloosa and Tuscumbia.
Recipients of the
Level 2 Award- Progress Toward Excellence were Buffalo Rock Company – Corporate Logistics, Manufacturing, Operations, and Facilities, Birmingham.
The AQA is modeled after the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. The AQA recognizes and honors organizations that use effective productivity and quality improvement strategies, techniques or practices which can be shared with other organizations to help contribute to the overall economic well-being in the state of Alabama.
 The award is based upon performance criteria that include the following: excellence in leadership; strategic planning; attention to customers and other stakeholders; market focus; process management; and analysis of organizational performance. Companies use the criteria as a self assessment tool to determine at which level of the AQA they should apply.
“For most organizations, the most valuable aspect of going through the award process is the feedback that an organization receives, both external and internal,” said Dr. David Miller, Director of the Alabama Productivity Center. “Externally, the award process provides an audit of whether the organization is doing the right things the right way.
“Internally, the process forces an organization to do a self assessment by going through the steps of preparing an application.”
The awards will be presented at the Alabama Quality Award Annual Conference and Award Ceremony the evening of November 30 at the Bryant Conference Center in Tuscaloosa. In addition to the presentation of awards, winners of the Alabama Quality Award will share their best practices. The conference will be held November 29-December 1.
“Once again, we are extremely pleased that our Alabama Sales divisions have exceeded the 2005 Award by achieving the highest level of recognition,” stated Jimmy Lee, President and CEO. “We are proud also that our Manufacturing Operations, applying as a separate property, received the Level 2 Award. This reflects all of our employee-partners’ commitment to quality, management processes and overall customer satisfaction. This is truly a great honor and our employee-partners and customers deserve this acknowledgment.”
 U.S.
Department of Labor Honors Birmingham Company
for Creating Opportunities in the Workplace
WASHINGTON
- Buffalo Rock Company, Birmingham, is one of eleven companies
and organizations to be honored by the U.S. Department of
Labor for their efforts to foster workplace diversity. The
recipients will be recognized at an annual awards ceremony
on Thurs., Oct. 17, hosted by the Labor Department’s
Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP).
Three
awards -- Secretary of Labor’s Opportunity Award,
Exemplary Volunteer Efforts (EVE) and Exemplary Public Interest
Contribution (EPIC) -- will be presented to recognize excellence
and leadership in the implementation of effective equal
employment opportunity standards.
"Each
of these employers can take great pride in their efforts
to provide women, people of color, veterans, and people
with disabilities access to equal employment opportunities
in our 21st Century workforce," said U.S. Secretary
of Labor Elaine L. Chao. "They create opportunity in
America’s workforce and serve as role models for employers
across the country."
Buffalo
Rock Company, a mid-size soft drink manufacturer and beverage
distributor and one of the oldest and the largest family-owned
Pepsi franchises in the U.S., will receive an EVE
award for its exemplary EEO programs. Particularly
effective is the company’s "First Response Professional
Workplace Conduct Program," which provides a strong
policy statement, extensive manager training and a confidential
and easy-to-use reporting procedure for handling sexual
harassment. In training, the company emphasizes the important
role employees play in reporting potential harassment and
makes clear the support they will receive from top management.
A toll-free harassment help-line has been installed to ensure
confidentiality for complainants. Supervisors and managers
are trained in "first response" techniques to
recognize early signs of harassment and to respond properly
to employee reports of such behavior. "First response"
also addresses workplace violence, including possible warning
signs.
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Caleb
Bradham Award 
1984
- Bottler of the Year Award, Southern Division,
presented to us by the Pepsi Cola Company.
