Shannon
Deary-Bell
PRESIDENT AND CEO, NOR-CAL BEVERAGE
SHANNON DEARY-BELL HAD been working in the family busi-
ness, Nor-Cal Beverage, for less than a decade in 1998 when
workers at the Stockton branch she managed went on strike
over pay and benefits. She put in 18-hour days, sometimes
sleeping in her office instead of at home with her 2-year-old
son, trying to negotiate with the union. “It hurt my heart,” she
says, knowing employees weren’t getting paid and some lost
their jobs.
“Sometimes unions play really dirty, and you learn a lot
about yourself and your strength and what you really believe
in, and I continued to believe that [the Stockton Teamsters
Union was] not treating our employees fairly or correctly,”
Deary-Bell says. Within three months, the Stockton employees
decertified the Teamsters and voted in their own union. “That
was a big growth time in my life. Because I knew what we need-
ed to do for the betterment of our company and the betterment
of our employees.”
Deary-Bell, whose grandfather founded Nor-Cal Bever-
age in 1937, has served as CEO and president since 2010 and
oversees roughly 600 employees. Her nearly 30-year tenure at
Nor-Cal Beverage has been marked with several growth mo-
ments, including major pivots in company strategy.
In 2007, as executive vice president of operations, Deary-
Bell was involved with the company’s decision to significantly
change its strategy by selling off its small franchises in order to
double down on the co-packing side of the business, bottling
and packaging raw formulas for companies that make AriZona
teas and Monster Energy drinks, among others.
This was one of the toughest decisions the family ever had
to make, Deary-Bell says, because the company’s identity had
been that of a small bottler and distributor. But they needed
to take drastic action in response to shrinking profit margins.
In 2014, the company sold its beer distributorship and invest-
ed those proceeds into creating a state-of-the-art can line at
its Anaheim manufacturing facility. “Our philosophy has
changed, our strategic plan has changed,” she says, “and we’ve
had to change with the times.”
In 2017, Deary-Bell secured a long-term contract with a
major customer (she declined to give the name) that was four
years in the making and the product of a $30 million invest-
ment. “It’s continued security. It’s more jobs. It’s possibly an
expansion outside of California,” she says of the partnership’s
implications. “We will continue to keep operating our Califor-
nia packing facilities, but this will give us opportunities for our
existing companies outside of California to help offset our Cal-
ifornia costs, which are through-the-roof expensive.”
The accomplishment was shared by the whole family, she
says, including her father who worked until shortly before
his death in May 2018. “He left this Earth proud of where the
company is today and where it’s going in the future, and he felt
good,” Deary-Bell says. “All I can do is hope I can continue to
keep him happy up there.” n
– Sena Christian
Words of Wisdom: Stay true to yourself, be open-minded, be strong and always be honest.
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