Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com • September 3, 2018 • Hartford Business Journal 7 FANTASTIC JOB OPPORTUNITIES & BENEFIT PACKAGES QUINNIPIAC CHAMBER OF COMMERCE MANUFACTURING JOB FAIR FIND YOUR FUTURE HERE! TOYOTA OAKDALE THEATRE SATURDAY SEP 22 9AM - 1PM PRESENTED BY: SPONSORS: New Haven Regional Lending Center FOR MORE INFORMATION EMAIL DEE@QUINNCHAM.COM, CALL 203-269-9891 OR VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.QUINNCHAM.COM seen double-digit sales growth in New England over the past year. But Defeo sees room to expand his territory's piece of the pie even further given CCNNE's focus on expanded local control. He points to accounts — most especially in the quick-serve restaurant category of clients, like pizza places — that his sales team has won back this past year under the ban- ner of new ownership. "We've been able to offer some newer programs and new pricing [at a local level] and that's helped," Defeo said. When East Hartford was corporate- controlled, pricing was more black and white. Under CCNNE, local sales teams have more opportunity to offer better pricing based on, for instance, volume. That's part of regional bottler's strategy, according to Rick Sewall, senior director of large stores sales for CCNNE, which also ac- quired distribu- tion territories throughout New England and upstate New York in 2017. "We want to give each of our locations a level of autonomy aligned with our broader sales and community goals," Sewall said. That autonomy, he added, helps to create a culture of local brand ambassadors to capitalize on community relationships. Tech and workforce CCNNE is also leveraging the au- tomation of the East Hartford facil- ity's distribution wing, which was upgraded with robotics in 2015. The upgrades, Defeo says, have improved packaging and delivery efficiency, and led to more high-tech jobs for a company workforce that has grown steadily over the years. Like the industry itself, developing Coca-Cola's workforce has changed too, Defeo says. He points to his own career trajectory, which started as a Coca-Cola truck driver, then in merchandise be- fore becoming an account executive. "The majority of people still with the company started on our delivery trucks and learned the business from the bottom up," Defeo said. "But Mil- lennials have never driven a [delivery] truck, so they often start in sales." Defeo is bullish about his company's future. He sees the national brand con- tinuing to invest in product innovation, including the announcement earlier this month that Coke acquired a minority stake in Body Armor, the sports drink start-up backed by former NBA star Kobe Bryant, which will now have access to Coke's bottling system. He also joins a regional bottler that's one of the largest in the Coca-Cola system, with more than $1 billion in annual revenue, but with the flexibility to grow the brand locally. Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Northern New England's East Hartford plant employs about 500 people and was upgraded with new robotics technology a few years ago that improved packaging and delivery efficiency. Wayne Pesce, President, Connecticut Food Association

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