Editorial
Front Page - Friday, December 17, 2010
Holidays or year-round, it’s all in the family with Athens Distributing
Erica Tuggle
During the holidays, wine and spirit sales peak, says president of the Chattanooga office of Athens Distributing, Trey White, grandson of Athens Distributing founder Howard White. Fifty years ago, the Chattanooga office opened and now still provides support to the community with its services. Crown Royal is just one of the many products that Athens Distributing works with and one of the popular holiday choices.
- Erica Tuggle
Although you may not make the punch bowl your first stop at a Christmas party, for those who enjoy seasonal selections of wine and spirits, Chattanooga is in luck, with a major distributor right next door.
Athens Distributing, established in Nashville in 1946 by Howard White and “Chink” Donnelly, is named in recognition of Nashville’s Parthenon, where the founding pair sat and had a drink while discussing their business opportunity. The business has since grown with offices also in Memphis and Chattanooga. The Chattanooga branch turns 50 next year and is still providing local jobs, support and tasty products year round.
Now, Chattanooga’s Athens Distributing has a list of 15 pages, front and back, of wine and spirit products they place in any wine and spirit store in the area with the appropriate license. This includes 35 stores in town and 250 restaurants. Of the over 20 wholesalers in the state, Athens Distributing is the only wholesaler that has three of the four statewide markets. They employ approximately 35 people regularly, and serve the community by living here, paying taxes here and donating to about 45 charities each year, Trey White, the president of the Chattanooga office and grandson of Howard White, says.
A current issue they are working on is keeping wine out of the grocery stores. Currently, each retailer of wine and spirits can only own one store. This means these small businesses live locally and put their funds back into the community. With the larger retail stores like Wal-Mart, Bi-Lo, Publix and others that would be able to carry wine if this law was changed, the profits would go out of town and the local stores would struggle to remain in business.
White says, “This is going to heat up over the next few months, with big box stores trying to get in on this profit, and some people want it for convenience to get while they are at the grocery store. But I counted the other day on Hixson Pike, there are seven liquor stores and five grocery stores. It’s pretty convenient from that standpoint to keep local ownership versus for a little bit of convenience.”
During these holiday months, Athens Distributing sees a noticeable peak in sales as family gatherings and parties increase. The cool weather also brings with it a shift to more sales in brown goods, such as bourbons, Canadian whiskies, Jack Daniels and Crown Royal, and red wine sales.
Another great holiday pro-duct is the gift packs Athens Dis-
tributing brings to the local wine
and spirits stores. These items, full
of flasks, glasses and/or a favorite
alcoholic beverage, guarantee
that the recipient will not be re-turning this gift, White laughs.
Other seasonal favorites are punches from Bacardi and Captain Morgan, Evan Williams bourbon eggnog, Christian Brothers brandy or eggnog, St. Brennen’s Irish crème and a new product this year, wine eggnog. A new product also available in time for the holidays is the raspberry and chocolate infused Godiva Vodka. This spirit is as sweet as the well-loved Godiva chocolate and is good straight or in a fruity punch.
Athens has recently rec-eived a new Pinot Noir wine product from California company BlueBird packaged in a bag. White says this product has gone over big, and its ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 85 percent by packaging in a bag instead of a bottle is welcome news to the environmentally conscious.
For those interested in bringing a bottle of wine to the next holiday party, White suggests “Miracle One,” named after the first miracle Jesus performed in the Bible and made by one of White’s cousins in Napa Valley.
“We are all cousins up in the Memphis and Nashville offices in second and third generations, so it’s cool now to have another cousin now in the wine making business,” White says.
White says one of the biggest things he likes about working for Athens Distributing is the attitude his employees have in working like the company is their own and like they are all a family. This actually isn’t too far off because literally five father-and-son pairs have worked at Chattanooga Athens Distributing.
Athens Distributing already has boxes upon boxes of champagne piled in their warehouse for the New Year, but White says they preach day after day at Athens to indulge in moderation when it comes to enjoying their products.
White also says that his son, a sophomore at Baylor, asks about the family business frequently, and so it looks like we can expect that Athens Distributing will continue their family ownership and local support for another 50 years.
To view the brands and locations of Athens Distributing products visit their Facebook page and Web site at www.athensdistributing.com.
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