Everybody knows that when Constellation Brands has distribution volume up for grabs, those cases are Reyes Beverage Group’s to lose. (As it happens, this is also true when distribution volume wasn’t really up for grabs; just ask the Modelo maker’s former wholesalers in California.) But straight-up saying so would undermine the idea of a robustly competitive and totally independent middle tier. And we can’t have that, can we? Perhaps that’s why Constellation was so tight-lipped about its plans after Beer Business Daily broke the news that the macrobrewer had moved to terminate Coors Distributing Company in Colorado—a market Reyes just so happens to have entered earlier this year via its acquisition of Republic National Distributing Company’s unit there. Constellation’s statement:
The beer industry continues to evolve in terms of service models, route-to-market capabilities, retailer expectations and consumer needs. We regularly evaluate our business to ensure we are positioned to serve the long-term interests of our portfolio, retailers and consumers.
That sure is a lot of words to say “we’re probably going with Reyes!”
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