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Area Development - Site Selection, Facility Planning and Workforce Development

Buffalo Rock Company Expands Distribution Hub in Birmingham, Alabama

11/13/2020
Buffalo Rock Company, a soft drink distributor, will invest $75 million to expand its distribution hub with the purchase of a 1-million-square-foot warehouse facility in Birmingham, Alabama. The company plans to hire about 50 employees.

According to Birmingham city officials, Buffalo Rock purchased an estimated 895,000-square-foot warehouse and an approximately 120,000-square-foot office building. The warehouse at 400 Industrial Drive and office building at 800 Lakeshore Drive together span almost 77 acres.

The warehouse property sits on about 64 acres and includes a 780,000-square-foot dry storage warehouse, a shallow bay warehouse that is 70,000 square feet and out-buildings (cross dock/fleet) totaling 45,000 square feet. The office building and its parking lots make up the remaining almost 13 acres.

The warehouse will serve as Buffalo Rock’s central distribution center, while the office building will house the central distribution office. Buffalo Rock’s investment in the facilities will include state-of-the-art technology that will integrate a high-speed automated warehouse. Between 25 and 50 new jobs will be created just in the initial phase of the project.

“Renovating these sites represents a significant investment for our company, and the scale of these projects will give us additional capacity to expand our operations as we continue to grow into the future,” said Matthew Dent, Buffalo Rock’s President and COO. “This investment will also enhance our ability to serve our customers with excellence. Today is a very exciting day for our employees and the entire Buffalo Rock family.”

“This is the largest infrastructure investment in our company’s history, and we are proud to make it in Birmingham,” Buffalo Rock Company Chairman and CEO Jimmy Lee said. “We’ve been in business in Birmingham since 1901, and today’s announcement is a reflection of our ongoing commitment to this community. We are grateful for the hard work of all our employee-partners and for local elected officials whose support sustains our continued success.”

Buffalo Rock noted it operates one production facility in Birmingham, Alabama, and produces over 40 million cases of product annually with the capacity to produce in excess of 55 to 60 million cases annually. This plant is operated by 260 employee-partners. Its Birmingham facility holds eight production lines, three cans, four PET and one bag-in-a-box. Buffalo Rock bottles its own brands, including Buffalo Rock Ginger Ale, Grapico, Dr. Wham and Sun Fresh Brands, as well as Cadbury Schweppes and PepsiCo carbonated products at this facility. It produces about 90% of the products it distributes.

“Buffalo Rock has been a great corporate partner to the City of Birmingham for well more than a century,” Mayor Woodfin said. “We are grateful for the company’s investments that create jobs in our community, as well as the Lee family’s significant contributions over all these years to support education, workforce development and other city initiatives. Jimmy, the Lee family, and Buffalo Rock have demonstrated unwavering commitment to our city.”

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