The CEO of Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) is out this morning following the distributor’s loss of two major suppliers in the country’s largest spirits market.
Nick Mehall, CEO and president of RNDC, will be departing effective today, according to an email sent to company employees. Robert Hendrickson, RNDC chief operating officer and executive vice president, will temporarily step into the role March 3, while the board of directors conducts a search for a new CEO. At the time of publication, RNDC had not returned BevNET’s request to comment.
Mehall took the helm as CEO in January of 2022, after serving as RNDC’s CFO since 2017. Prior to joining RNDC, Mehall held a number of leadership roles at Diageo.
The swift departure comes two days after Brown-Forman announced it was ditching RNDC for evolving total-beverage distributor Reyes Beverage Group in California. The whiskey giant plans to jump ship in May, one month after top-selling spirit Tito’s Handmade Vodka exits RNDC for Reyes Beverage. Sazerac was the first to kick off the exodus in early 2023, when it announced plans to leave RNDC and move to a combination of beer and spirits distributors, including Reyes in California, Hawaii and some markets in Texas.
It’s possible the spirits suppliers with ready-to-drink (RTD) products are aiming to optimize their positions with distributors who have been faster to embrace total beverage and are equipped with appropriate capacities.
RNDC, the second largest distributor in the U.S., is now clearly navigating a changing market. The company said in January that it is “facing tighter margins, higher costs and shifting consumer preferences” and plans to lay off at least 60 employees in California effective March 8, which coincides with Tito’s exit on April 1.
The company claims to employ 14,000 associates across the country, but like other mid-tier players and major spirits companies, employee numbers are getting slashed as companies reconcile with slower spirit sales. Last fall, competitor SGWS reportedly laid off wine and craft spirit roles among others.