Coca-Cola United to move operations to Dublin

Coca-Cola Bottling Company United has announced plans to move its area operations to Laurens County. 

The company, an independent corporation that serves as the bottler and distributor for Atlanta-based beverage giant Coca-Cola, intends to build a new sales center and warehouse to serve a 10-county area. The move comes after United’s McRae center was damaged by Hurricane Helene. 

“Following the significant damage to our McRae facility caused by Hurricane Helene, we had to evaluate options for how we can best serve our associates, customers and communities moving forward,” said Jack Sherman, a United vice-president, in a statement announcing the move. “The new Dublin facility will optimize our distribution network in the region and strengthen our long-term operations.” 

Coca-Cola United purchased a roughly 10-acre plot in the Dublin-Laurens County Development Authority’s Entrepreneur and Small Business Industrial Park in March. The site is near the U.S. 411 bypass off Honeysuckle Road. The Dublin facility will employ about 60 workers, many of which will be transferred from the McRae operations. 

Details on the size of the new building and United’s full investment in Laurens County were still being finalized and will be announced later, a United representative said. 

Development Authority President Mitch Griggs said the company reached out to local officials earlier this year interested in purchasing industrial property. He said about half United’s McRae workforce commute from Laurens County. 

“We see this as a job retention project. The fit could not be more perfect,” he said. “There are an awful lot of projects like this out there and the small business park is doing exactly what we designed it to do. It will give them some visibility from the 441 corridor and they are excited about that, and we are too.”

The Birmingham-based Coca-Cola Bottling Company has a long history in the region. Founded in 1902, it once operated bottling facilities in Dublin and McRae. The Dublin plant, on East Jackson Street, was eventually shuttered while the McRae operations were shifted to distribution. The old Coke building still stands and now houses The City of Dublin’s natural gas utility department. 

United return to Dublin strengthens Laurens County’s stance as a shipping and logistics hub, a position local authorities have touted due to access to major highways, the interstate system and railroads. 

“The addition of this iconic company to our community demonstrates how well positioned we are for distribution and logistics, which is an important sector of our local economy,” said Roger Folsom, who chairs the development authority’s governing board, in a statement. “Coca-Cola United will bring quality jobs and positively impact our community for years to come.”