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Changes in consumer trends leads to changes for G&M Distributors

G&M Distributors in Galesburg made a big announcement late last week that the company will no longer sell Pepsi products. According to G&M President, Adam Vitale, the company made the decision to “divest” in Pepsi products after offering them for over 68 years. “It’s time to shift some strategy at G&M,” Vitale said. “We’ve really been looking at some things, and we’re going to sell it to the company that actually has the bottling rights for the area: A.D. Huesing Corporation of Rock Island. So we’ll do that at the end of the month. It’s giving us the opportunity to restructure and re-strategize the company – and kind of give us some new energy and new focus.” Pepsi contributes to about 15% of the company’s overall business. The Pepsi division will be sold to A.D. Huesing Corporation of Rock Island at the end of this month. “Trends – it’s no secret in soft drinks haven’t been that great,” Vitale added. “Consumers are changing constantly. A lot of us – I grew up drinking Pepsi – but a lot of people are changing now. But it gives us the opportunity to change stuff up.” Pepsi has been changing strategy as well – G&M was one of the last two independent distributors in the United States. A new product that G&M plans to supply is Polar Seltzer water – a zero calorie, flavored water as well as Teavana teas which is owned by Starbucks and is represented by Anheuser Busch. Vitale says that with the boom of craft brews and technology trends there’s plenty of opportunity for the changing habits of consumers. When G&M first opened, it offered about six options of beverages for customers – today the company offers around 3,500 options. G&M, with another location in Dixon, Illinois – serves a total of 24 counties – basically the entire north-western corner of Illinois.

 

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