In post-RNDC PNW reshuffle, Columbia buys into Hayden

Editor’s note: This is a developing story and will be updated periodically with new information. If you have tips about what’s going on at Columbia or Hayden, please get in touch by emailing me ([email protected]) or texting me on Signal (dinfontay.11). Anonymity available.—Dave.

Meet the new joint-venture partner, same as the old joint-venture partner? Idaho’s largest wine wholesaler, certainly hopes not.

On Monday, the Gem State giant Hayden Beverage Company announced it had taken on investment from Oregon’s hard-charging Columbia Distributing, which will move into a partnership role previously occupied for 18 years by Republic National Distributing Company. Fingers was first to report in early May that Hayden had bought out the collapsing mega-distributor for an undisclosed stake. Now, it has forged a new arrangement with a different middle-tier counterpart.

“As with our prior announcement regarding RNDC, Boise Sales Co. remains the licensed distributor of record in Idaho, and there is no change in control or ownership of our Idaho distribution license because of this partnership,” wrote Andrew Mitchell, Hayden’s chief executive officer, in a memo to customers obtained by Fingers from a supplier who has been granted anonymity to protect professional relationships with the firms. “Hayden remains operationally independent, and there will be no changes to our people, our support, our processes, or our operations.”

“As part of the proposed transaction, the Hayden ownership group will also take an indirect ownership interest in Columbia, aligning long-term priorities and supporting continued regional growth,” Columbia noted in a corresponding press release.

It’s just the latest aftershock to ripple through the middle tier in the wake of RNDC’s dramatic decline, which has accelerated considerably since the top of the year. A Fingers analysis of the various sales of the company’s markets indicates that its empire, which covered 38 states and Washington, DC as recently as 2024, could be pared down to as few as four states once the dust settles.

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