Beverage World - May 2008 - (Page 44) [UPCLOSE] Hard at Work John Lenore & Co. is a wholesaler that creatively finds its space in the marketplace. By Jennifer Cirillo » JOHN LENORE, president and CEO of John Lenore & Co., is flanked by his sons Jaime Lenore, left, vice president, and Jay Lenore, vice president of operations, who both play integral roles in the company. J company from the ground up (along with a handful of others, including a leasing truck company, PJJ Enterprises; a real estate company, JDL Properties and Logret Import & Export Co.), Lenore makes a point to credit his upbringing. He says that when visitors walk into the entrance of the John Lenore & Co. offices, they are greeted by a large photograph of his maternal grandparents, to which the company is dedicated. “This company was founded on the principles of family, faith and hard work; that VITAL STATS in this country, you can be whatever you want to be if JOHN LENORE & CO. PRESIDENT & CEO: John Lenore you want to work hard enough HEADQUARTERS: San Diego, Calif., USA and that is what it’s all about. So ohn Lenore, soon to turn 80 on Aug. 8, was ’07 CASE VOLUME: Nearly 3 million we did.” never one to take the easy road. He was EMPLOYEES: About 150 As a beer distributor in the always up for a challenge; in fact he sought GOALS: To create a legacy for its employees, its early days of the company that out many of the challenges he faced growing community and the Lenore family that will endure didn’t have Bud, Miller or Coors up in the Appalachia region of the United for a long time. in its portfolio, Lenore found States during World War II. himself in a position where he Born into an immigrant Sicilian family that had to make things happen by being creative. Part of that cresettled in West Virginia, Lenore was raised on three principles, ativity led to John Lenore & Co. becoming one of the early dishe says—family, faith and hard work. And whether he was working on a section gang on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad to tributors to take a chance on an unknown non-alcohol brand— support himself at age 14, attending West Liberty College while Snapple. Lenore also played a role in the rollout of SoBe. According to company literature, Lenore assisted as a major working nights in the coal mines of West Virginia during the distributor in the United States, helping to develop marketing beginning of his marriage, or learning the ropes of the beverstrategies and to convince other distributors around the counage business while working for Dr Pepper or Hamm’s Brewing try that SoBe was a brand to invest in. John Lenore & Co. is Co., it was those three principles that have kept him on course, still a distributor of the Pepsi-owned brand today. as they say. As Lenore says, “That’s where the future is—creating new Today, Lenore is president and CEO of John Lenore & Co., a products and God gave me the ability and the talent to do that, New Age beverage and craft beer wholesaler based in San Diego that he founded in 1966. Proud to say that he built the not just to deliver stuff.” And create he has. BEVERAGEWORLD.COM 44_BEVERAGE WORLD_MAY 2008 http://BEVERAGEWORLD.COM
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