"We're currently in 12% of the United States, but we believe what we want to do is very achievable one market at a time with the right distribution partners," Cliff Ritchie, CEO of Cheerwine and a fifth-generation member of the family that founded the company, told the newspaper.[image-nocss]
"We plan to grow out contiguously from our core. It's certainly not an easy goal, and we'll earn our way," he added.
The company, based in Salisbury, N.C., just entered Tennessee in a major way this year, said the report, and has retail or restaurant sales in 10 other states, with its heaviest presence in the Southeast.
"Success in Tennessee is very pivotal--failure is not an option there," Ritchie said.
Cheerwine has secured Pepsi Bottling Ventures LLC to handle bottled and can products in Delaware, Idaho, Maryland, New York, South Carolina, Vermont and Virginia, said George Suddeth, the vice president of corporate affairs for Pepsi in Raleigh.
"Cheerwine has been a welcome addition to our retail portfolio because it adds a distinct flavored beverage," Suddeth told the paper. "It's in our best interest to offer as broad a range of flavors to our customers as we can. I've known Cheerwine for 31 years, and they've got a great product and they'll do a great job taking it out of North Carolina."
How the company plans to blanket the country is a tricky strategy--touting the cherry-flavored soft drink's legacy as a classic Southern drink while also playing up its youthful appeal.
"The irreverence may put some people back, but that's part of what we need to do," Tom Barbitta, vice president of marketing, told the Journal. "We need to try to recapture the luster of the soft drink with adults by bringing back the joy they felt when they drank Cheerwine as a teenager."
During the presentation, officials assured employees, bottlers and customers that it will not stray from its family-owned and independent heritage, said the report. But they said that the 94-year-old company has demonstrated that it can learn new revenue tricks, such as embracing social media and online sales.
"We had to make sure Cheerwine was not a legend in our own minds," Barbitta said. "Gaining more than 65,000 Facebook fans helped establish that."
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