Business Overview

Locally focused, family-owned and operated, Carroll Distributing has eagerly served its community since 1960. What began as a small warehouse off US1 has evolved into a 165,000-square-foot facility on Chad Carroll Way in Melbourne, allowing Carroll Distributing to act as the premiere distributor for Brevard County. With over 1,000 SKUs and 34+ suppliers, Carroll Distributing’s dedicated team delivers an array of fresh, high-quality beer, wine, spirits, and non-alcoholic refreshments to Brevard’s finest food and beverage locales.

Talking Shop with Carroll Distributing

Spacefish had the pleasure of sitting down with Tom, Carroll’s on premise sales manager, and Justin, the key account manager, for an an interview to learn more about their business and its rich history serving the Space Coast.

Thanks a ton for taking the time to sit down with us, Tom and Justin! Let’s start by learning a little bit about your business. When did your business open?

Tom: Chad Carroll started Carroll Distributing in 1960. I’m in my 24th year here. Mike Eubank who is the CEO now is my second CEO that I have worked for. I never had the pleasure of meeting Chad Carroll but people say he was just a great down to earth guy. Since he started the company, it has never been sold. It’s been under the same family umbrella to some facet all of these years. That’s 63 years under the same family umbrella, which is not common these days.

The story goes, Chad Carroll owned a bar in Lawrenceville Illinois. On his travels from St. Louis to Chicago, August Busch Jr. also known as Gussie Busch, who ran Anheuser Busch at the time, would stop into his bar. For a while Chad didn’t know who he was, just another customer but overtime they became friends. Gussie really like the way Mr. Carroll ran his bar. He ran a tight ship so at some point, Gussie offered him a wholesaler opportunity in Illinois. Then sometime later when the rights became available he offered him a wholesaler opportunity in Florida. He had his choice of several locations but Brevard County was starting to bustle with the introduction of the space race and it was by the beach which he liked so he chose Brevard County and the rest his history.

Tom, how did you start with Carroll Dist.?
Tom: I started with Carroll as a delivery driver. I previously worked for Chili’s in management. I knew someone that worked at Carroll and back then, it was so hard to get your foot in the door here but they were able to help me get in. It’s funny, at the time, my grandfather told me I was crazy leaving a management position to become a delivery driver but I have to say it’s worked out pretty well. I’ve been with the company 24 years and have worked my way up to on premise sales manager. I have a team that I coordinate that supports all of the bars and restaurants in the area.

Justin, how about you?
Justin: I’m a more recent employee. I’ve joined the business within the last couple of years. My wife and I are the fourth generation set to be in leadership with the company. Prior to Carroll, I ran a team that did cybersecurity. So right now, I’m learning the business from top to bottom. I spend a lot of time with the sales team because I will be taking over that role at the end of the year. I’ve done a little bit of everything from merchandising to running routes with the sales guys, help the delivery drivers, helping in the warehouse, etc. Just learning all of different parts of the business.

How many employees do you have?
Currently, we have over 140 employees that work here. It’s a big facility at over 300,000 square feet. We originally built this facility in 2006 to grow into and now it feels like we are busting at the seams. At any given point we will have about a million dollars of beer in the warehouse so you’re talking about tens of thousands of cases depending on how long the inventory lasts. We usually try to keep about 45 days on hand, that’s kind of the sweet spot. Our employees are fantastic in making sure we run as smoothly as possible and keep things moving.

What are the products you distribute?
Beer is our bread and butter and that’s what built this company but we have many other products like energy drinks, kid’s drinks, wine, spirits, etc. We are an individual business that services the Space Coast but we work with many other distributors in the state of Florida as well. There are 25 other wholesalers like us in Florida and 400 nationwide that employ tens of thousands of people across the country. What people may not realize is how large this network is and it’s primarily made up of hard working blue collar people such as delivery drivers, warehouse operators, salesmen and women, etc. A lot of good people that make sure our beverages make it to your favorite retail store, bar or restaurant.

What makes your business unique?
First and foremost is service. Carroll Distributing has an incredible culture here. It doesn’t begin and end with just our retailers. The culture exists throughout the company with all of our employees and carries over into our local community. Between the culture that we’ve cultivated over the years and the service we provide, that’s really what makes our business unique.

Can you describe your customers?
Eight to eighty, just kidding but not really. We have juice boxes to wine so we have a little bit of everything for everyone. Primarily we have two main sets of customers. The customers that consume our products and the retailers that sell our products. In terms of our retailers, it’s such a wide demographic. We have new young entrepreneurs that are starting their businesses and people that have been with us for decades and are seasoned business owners. It’s great to have so many meaningful relationships throughout our community. You name the business and we probably service it. Gas stations, restaurants, marinas, the list goes on and on. Anywhere drinks are sold we are probably working with them.

What has been your biggest success to date?
It’s hard to define a single success because we have hit so many. The first one million case mark, the first four million case mark. These are all major successes but I believe our biggest success is our culture which is about our employees, our customers and our community. If you take care of those three things the rest will fall into place. We have a saying “making friends is our business”. Being a good steward of the Brevard County community is huge for us. Our culture inside the company is incredible and we live the motto “one team one dream”. That pretty much sums it up. We have good days and bad days just like any other company but we all do it together. One thing I love about Carroll coming from another company is the get it done attitude. It’s not a “me” attitude it’s a “we” attitude and that is so refreshing.

If you look at what this business has gone through since 2020, it’s a lot. Half of the beer we sell is to the hospitality industry. The hospitality industry shut down because of Covid. We are dealing with major labor shortages, especially with CDL drivers, we are short over a million nationally. You have guys like Tom that hasn’t been on a truck in 15 years stepping up and jumping on a truck to help out.
People don’t realize the beer business is an everyday business. That beer is expected to go out every day and if it doesn’t, the world comes to a halt. That means whether you have the employees or not, whether it’s raining or sunny, whatever it looks like we get out there and get it done and that’s the culture, get out there and get it done. A lot of our team has stepped up, even simple things like running beer out to a customer on a Friday night because they ran out.

When we talk about our success, I have to mention our Carroll Distributing hall of fame. We retire our employee’s numbers with a minimum of 30 years’ service and we have a lot of them that spend their whole careers with us and that’s a testament to the culture we were talking about. We honor these folks with flags that we hang up jersey style in our main conference room. We source the flags from a company called New England Flag & Banner that has been around since the 1800’s and they are the company that hangs the real banners for professional sports teams like the Celtics and Patriots. It’s a testament to how we treat out employees and it is that mindset and culture that truly is our biggest success.

Does your business give back to your community and how?
Absolutely, we do different types of sponsorships. Over the last decade we have contributed over a million dollars to support local events and causes. The monetary value is about $100,000 per year and many of these sponsorships are $500 here or $1,000 there so we are talking about literally dozens and dozens of sponsorships. On top of that, some of the events you see the promoter might be paying for the beer but I will have my guys out there helping their people make sure the beer gets cold and stays cold and everything runs according to plan. We help with resources too like beer troughs and refrigerators trucks. We have a lot of anglers that work here as well and love to fish and as you know, we do a lot to support the fishing community by supporting local tournaments and events. You would be hard pressed to find someone in the county that is looking for support that we turn away.

Other organizations we support are Keep Brevard Beautiful, they facilitate beach cleanups. Another thing we do which makes a big impact here in Brevard County is redirect a large percentage of the taxes the business pays to local foundations in Brevard County. It would be over seven figures annually to these foundations. Two of the larger programs that we support are Step Up For Students which empowers families to pursue and engage in the most appropriate learning options for their children and Better Together which is being founded by Carroll Distributing here in Brevard. The official ribbon cutting ceremony is coming up August 17th. We have pledged $1 million dollars per year to over the next three years which will introduce this new program to Brevard County. Better Together’s goal is to keep families together and children out of foster care by providing them with a temporary loving home and helping their parents work to build a better life.

In addition, we are doing thirteen for thirteen which we are pledging 13 cents per case for every Bud and Bud Light sold over the next 13 weeks to raise $10,000 to donate to Folds of Honor which support local families of fallen military veterans and first responders. This is on top of what Anheuser Busch contributes nationally. This is something that we have been doing for a long time and will continue to do for a long time.

Wow, that’s a boat load of philanthropy! Thanks for all you do for the community, and for keeping our favorite beverages flowing. We really enjoyed chatting with you, Tom and Justin!