Not even halfway into 2025, Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) has hemorrhaged key supplier accounts in markets across the country, and especially in California. Now, VinePair has learned, the country’s second-largest wine-and-spirits distributor will be departing the Golden State entirely at the beginning of September.
Over the weekend, social media was abuzz with versions of this rumor. This morning, I received corroboration and more information on it from two beverage-alcohol producers on either end of the volume spectrum, one of which currently does business with RNDC in California and the other of which works for a firm that did until earlier this decade. Both sources told me the same thing: the badly bloodied wholesaler had just internally announced plans to exit its spiraling California business by September 1. Two additional sources, both former RNDC employees in California who are still in touch with colleagues at the wholesaler, told me likewise. These sources varyingly characterize this move as RNDC “leaving,” “exiting,” and “shutting down” its California business.
Kanchan Achar, RNDC’s head of corporate communications, confirmed the broad strokes in the following emailed statement on Monday afternoon:
“We’ve made the difficult business decision to withdraw from California which affects many of the roles in the state. We are complying with all regulatory obligations and are committed to handling every transition thoughtfully and smoothly and ensuring everyone is treated fairly and respectfully. We are grateful for the support of these employees and will do our best to support them during this time.”
Update 6/3/25: In a response to a follow-up request on June 2, Achar clarified that the move “takes effect September 2,” not September 1. However, that conflicts with the September 1 date that RNDC’s interim chief executive and president Bob Hendrickson gave in an internal video message that Fingers published yesterday afternoon. At 2 p.m. ET, Achar had reconfirmed that the “final date of scheduled operation is 9/2.”
This is a developing story, and we don’t have full details yet. But on Thursday, I spoke with the Teamsters’ bargainers Jeff Padellaro (director of the Teamsters’ Brewery, Bakery, and Soft Drink Conference) and Steve Beck (Secretary-Treasurer at Local 853, one of the main locals for RNDC workers in California) about a key angle on RNDC’s collapse that has received relatively little attention from even the trade press thus far: the five-year collective bargaining agreement covering ~500 Teamster sales staffers at RNDC, which was meant to be renegotiated before its expiration on May 31. That did not happen. In fact, from what Padellaro and Beck told me, the company had pulled back from traditional joint negotiations with the union that it had conducted alongside rival Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits for the past three decades.
Early this afternoon, I obtained a memo via a retailer source in California that appears to be from a Teamsters negotiator sent to the Teamsters’ workers at RNDC stating the company planned to “close all operations in California on September 2, 2025.”
Update 6/3/24: Matt McQuaid, a spokesperson for Teamsters Joint Council 39 who has led communications for the union’s national organizing efforts at beverage-alcohol firms, provided the following statement via email on the morning of June 3, “We’ll be speaking with the company and engaging with our membership on the best possible solution to RNDC’s proposal over the course of the next few weeks. The Teamsters can and will do everything in our power to get our members what they deserve.”
I’m not yet able to report what it means that RNDC is “leaving” California. Industry insiders have speculated to me that the firm is seeking to sell off its assets to the highest bidder, and/or to make itself more attractive as an acquisition target. (Recall, RNDC tried to tie up with Breakthru Beverage Group in 2019, but the deal was blocked by the feds.)
I will update this story as it comes. If you have tips about the situation at RNDC’s presence in California (or anywhere else), please send them to me. Email me at [email protected] or text me securely on Signal at dinfontay.11. I can protect your identity.
Clarification 6/2/25: A previous version of this story suggested that RNDC’s assets in California included warehouse properties, but VinePair has since learned that those properties may be leased. We have contacted RNDC for more information about its real estate holdings.
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