A Texas-based beverage distributor announced it will slash its workforce in the U.S.
In a press release this week, Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits announced that it’s shifting to a more hybrid sales model and, as a result, will cut approximately 1 percent of its 21,900-person workforce across the U.S., Canada and Latin America. But it appears the cuts will only be applied to its U.S. commercial employees.
“The marketplace is clearly signaling us to think differently about how we operate and best serve a portion of independent customers,” President & CEO Wayne E. Chaplin said in a statement.
For Southern Glazer’s, the cuts are prompted by a sales shift into a more hybrid model meant to reflect changing consumer and market trends. They say the new approach combines field sales, inside sales and digital commerce.
“We are redirecting our resources where the business is moving and towards areas of growth, all while listening to our customers and individual markets to satisfy their needs and using AI to help us adapt to a changing market,” Chaplin said.
To offset the cuts, Southern Glazer’s says it will potentially place the employees impacted into remaining open roles in the company. Chron reached out for a comment and was told Southern Glazer has no additional information beyond what’s contained in the press release.
In 2016, Southern Wine & Spirits merged with Glazer’s Wholesale Distributors to become the current incarnation. Glazer’s began as a bottling plant in Dallas in 1909, and Southern Wine & Spirits of America traces its history back to 1968 in Miami, Florida. The current conglomerate is one of the country’s largest wine and spirits distributors, and remains headquartered in both Dallas and Miami.
According to Drinks Intel, the distributor is set to drop “Wine & Spirits” from its name, and will eventually transform into Southern Glazer’s Beverage Co.