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DISTRIBUTORS
Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper Bottling Co
Changes Made
Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper Bottling Co. has been bottling and distributing
beverages for 95 years and evolving with its industry. By Russ Gager
>> Over the years, Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper Bottling Co. has progressed from selling approximately 20 different SKUs to nearly 500 today.
company profile
Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper Bottling Co
www.cocacolaozarks.com
Headquarters: Springfield, Mo.
Employees: 310
Specialty: Soft drinks sales and
distribution
John Schaefer, president
and COO: “Right now, I feel
really good about where Coke is
going and where our brands are
heading.”
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T
he classic glass Coke bottle is a packaging
icon, but it represents less than 2 percent of
sales today compared to the more than 70
percent it represented in the 1970s. The bottling industry has gone through multiple changes in the
95 years that the Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper Bottling
Co. has been bottling and distributing beverages, and
those changes will continue.
“There have been a lot of changes in our business,”
President and COO John Schaefer declares. “I was thinking
food & drink international • summer 2015 volume 2 • www.fooddrink-magazine.com
of all the changes that have occurred.
I started in this business in 1973 right
out of high school and worked my
way through college for four years
off a Coke truck. When I started, we
sold about 20 different SKUs. Today,
we’re approaching 500. The beverage
space in the store is fairly static in the
sparkling soft drink sections. We will
battle with Pepsi and 7-Up for what
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DISTRIBUTORS
Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper Bottling Co
>> Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper Bottling Co.’s portfolio has
expanded over the years, and now includes sparkling
beverages and colas, as well as waters, energy drinks, teas,
coffees, drops and juices.
percent of that space we get and do that
all day long, but what’s really changed
is how many more aisles of the store we
are represented in today.”
The Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper
Bottling Co.’s portfolio now includes
waters, energy drinks, teas, coffees,
drops and juices. “We used to be 99
percent sparkling beverages or colas,”
Schaefer points out. “Today, we’re approaching a 70:30 split with the 70 be-
trucks. So the space in the store really
has grown, but also the different areas
of the store that we address.”
That same variety is found at the
fountains the Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr
Pepper Bottling Co. handles. “When we
go to a restaurant that’s doing a fountain, with the number of brands that
we carry today what used to be a little
six-head machine now may have 20 different fountain heads,” Schaefer says.
“Today it’s very little glass. For a while,
it went to 12-ounce cans, but it’s now
swinging from cans to PET packaging.”
ing what we call sparkling beverages.
We used to be just in that one sparkling
beverage aisle. Now we have a separate
water section and energy section, tea,
coffee, sports drinks, and just so many
different areas that in some stores we
can almost go down every aisle and
find something that is coming off of our
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“Now we’re doing teas, coffee, sports
drinks, and the variety the consumer
is looking for has evolved into multiple heads. As the consumer’s taste or
desire has shifted, our customers have
asked for something different. Our industry has been successful for over 100
years because we react quickly and
food & drink international • summer 2015 volume 2 • www.fooddrink-magazine.com
effectively to meet our customers’ and
consumers’ needs.
“Right now, I feel really good about
where Coke is going and where our
brands are heading,” he continues. “I
think people are beginning to listen to
each other and starting to find that common ground where both sides can win.
When that starts occurring, it’s such a
strong thing.”
The End of Returnables
The Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper
Bottling Co. manufactures in Springfield, Mo., approximately 30 percent of
the products it distributes throughout
south-central Missouri. The company
Dr Pepper is proud to be a part of Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper Bottling Company and appreciates its commitment to bottling and distributing
not only the original 23 flavor Dr Pepper, but also
a variety of Dr Pepper products to more than
850,000 local, regional and national customers.
Ozarks has a rich history of supporting the community, and Dr Pepper is privileged to partner with
Ozarks Coca-Cola by sponsoring and contributing
to a number of charities in southwest Missouri.
For more information about Dr Pepper, its rich
history, products or services, call David Gibbs at 417865-9900.
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DISTRIBUTORS
Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper Bottling Co
“As the consumer’s taste has
shifted, our customers have
asked for something different.”
has sales and distribution branches in Springfield, Bolivar
and Rolla, Mo. The majority of its customers are grocery,
convenience, mass merchandiser, value, drug and foodservice establishments, including restaurants, bars, at work and
hotels. The Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper Bottling Co. is the
exclusive distributor of its products in its market area.
The company is one of a few independent Coca-Cola bottlers in the United States that actually bottle the product and not
just distribute it. “It used to be that everybody produced, and
it was actually part of our bottling contracts,” Schaefer says.
“Pre-1980s, returnable glass bottles were the dominant package. But as returnable glass bottles became history, the bottling
business changed. As time went on, machinery became a lot
more efficient and effective. It became that one company could
produce for several neighbors at a time and be more effective
for all of them and share in that cost savings.”
Blending Drinks
The Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper Bottling Co. bottles all
the drinks in the Coca-Cola and Dr Pepper family of brands.
“We go through quite a few flavor and packaging changes in
the course of a week,” Schaefer says. The company produces its PET products and purchases the cans, packages and
still brands it sells. “We do multiple sizes of PET bottles–12ounce, 16-ounce, half-liter, 20-ounce, one-liter, two-liter and
24-ounce sizes,” Schaefer says.
The company manufactures no products in glass bottles
anymore. “Back in the 1970s, we sold returnable glass,”
Schaefer remembers. “Today, it’s very little glass. For a
while, it went to 12-ounce cans, but it’s now swinging from
cans and going to PET packaging. We’re seeing a little bit
of a resurgence in glass, as the Coca-Cola contour bottle is
celebrating its 100th birthday, but it’s not returnable.”
The production equipment can be adjusted for the seven different sizes of containers that the company fills. The
equipment includes depalletizer, rinser, filler, labeler, hicone, case packer, shrink-wrapper and palletizer. Some
products are produced in multipacks or in single containers,
and some are shrink-wrapped. “Our employees change the
line depending on what they run,” Schaefer explains.
The plastic bottles come into the bottling area already
blown and on a pallet. The depalletizer removes each layer
of bottles in a group, and then they travel a conveyor to reduce the mass to a single row and each bottle is cleaned at
the rinser. Then the bottles are sent to the bottling line for
filling, and preprinted labels are glued onto the bottles. The
entire operation is automated under employee supervision.
The company bottles products in the Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper
family for itself and others.
Transportation Fleet
Schaefer estimates that the Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper
Bottling Co. covers approximately a 200-mile radius around
its headquarters in Springfield. It has three semitractor trailers for long hauls, approximately 50 trucks for local routes
and another 50 pickup trucks and light vehicles. It also employs third-party trucking companies when necessary. “The
freight cost is just skyrocketing,” he points out.
The Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper Bottling Co. used to do
its own in-house vehicle maintenance, but it is now done by
outside companies. It also has investigated using vehicles
powered by condensed natural gas and hybrid vehicles.
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food & drink international • summer 2015 volume 2 • www.fooddrink-magazine.com
Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper Bottling Co
>> Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper Bottling Co.’s fleet includes three semitractor trailers for long hauls, as well as 50 trucks for
local routes and another 50 pickup trucks and light vehicles.
The company trains its own employees as CDL drivers. “We’re finding that
we have better luck if we train our own
drivers,” Schaefer says. The company
promotes from entry-level positions,
such as merchandisers who move products out of the back of stores, or employees who load trucks at night. “For
positions with specific skills, such as
key account people, we promote from
within and search externally to get the
best skills and fit,” Schaefer says.
The company is waiting until its 100th
anniversary to have a major commemoration. He attributes the company’s 95year longevity to many factors.
“Not all those years were easy,” he
cautions. “So if I had to sum up our success, I’d say it’s active ownership – willing to conscientiously invest in the business and its people – and really good
employees. We’ve retired in the last few
years several employees that have had
40-plus years with our company. So we
have had a high degree of loyalty.”
As a pilot site in the Coca-Cola bottler network, Ozarks
has been a true champion and partner for eOstar since
2012. eoStar provides an end-to-end ERP solution for
Ozarks, from purchasing and manufacturing to sales
and all the way through delivery and accountability.
For more information, call 800-270-7558, email
[email protected] or visit www.eostar.com
food & drink international • summer 2015 volume 2 • www.fooddrink-magazine.com
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