The award was presented to Matthew Dent, President and CEO at Buffalo Rock Company by PBNA CEO Ram Krishnan and Paul Finney, SVP, Strategic Partnerships for PBNA at an awards ceremony held on Monday, July 15.   

As a three-time Donald M. Kendall Bottler of the Year Finalist and our largest single-family run PBNA bottler, Buffalo Rock Company is being recognized for delivering outstanding business results, exhibiting executional excellence, embracing a people first mentality, and giving back to their community. Since partnering in 1951, Buffalo Rock Company has demonstrated that they are leaders in fostering a strong, mutually beneficial relationship with PepsiCo. This is a company that not only continues to deliver bottle, can and fountain volume growth year after year but has been instrumental in helping us roll out key partnerships. Additionally, Buffalo Rock Company is actively involved in their local communities, recruiting Veterans at their Fort Moore site and volunteering at local events like MLK Serve Day at Safehouse Ministries and Earth Day at Columbus State University.  

“Buffalo Rock Company has a long history of outstanding results, and their team is integral to our shared success,” said Heather Hoytink, President of PBNA’s South Division. “Their achievements can be largely attributed to their ongoing commitment to putting their people first and using their platform to advance the greater good of their business, their community and their partners.” 

"Winning this award validates the hard work and innovative efforts of our Columbus franchise team and encourages all of us at Buffalo Rock to continue striving for excellence,” said Matthew Dent, Buffalo Rock Company’s President and CEO. “An important aspect of this recognition is that it reflects our customers and community partners are also winning, which is incredibly important to us." 

"This award is a true reflection of the dedication and passion for our customers that we bring to work each day,” stated Trent Davidson, Buffalo Rock Company’s Regional Vice President for the Georgia region. “All of our Employee-Partners are very proud of our Columbus franchise for their exceptional achievements and for setting such a high standard for others to follow." 

Also honored as Donald M. Kendall Bottler of the Year finalists were Territorial Beverages Yellowknife of the Northwest Territories in PBNA’s Canada Division, WP Beverages LLC of Madison, WI in the Central Division, Leader Distribution Systems, Inc. of Brattleboro, VT in the North Division, and Nackard Pepsi of Flagstaff, AZ in the West Division.