Beverage Company Pours Values Into Business

TAMPA - It's a hip, environmentally friendly office space you'd expect to find at Apple, Microsoft or Google.

The walls were removed. The ceiling is gone. In its place, 12 skylights illuminate a wide-open work space, where top executives work side-by-side with rank-and-file employees.

It's a former warehouse that was gutted and transformed into the new global headquarters for Cott, the world's fourth-largest nonalcoholic beverage company. North of Tampa International Airport, the 60,000-square-foot facility is green from top to bottom and was designed to eliminate waste.

No cubicles. No offices - not even for the company's highest-ranking officers. The executive team sits together in the center of a large open space. In fact, they don't even have their own desks. They have to share.

Brent Willis, Cott's energetic chief executive, wouldn't have it any other way. Not only is it less wasteful, but it's also more efficient.

"If you're sitting right next to each other, you get to make decisions right on the spot," Willis said Friday after the grand opening of Cott's global headquarters.

The floors, the furniture, the countertops and the boardroom were made from recyclable materials selected based on emission levels and other environmental impacts.

Headquarters Will Employ 150

Turning the old warehouse into a green building cost about $10 per square foot, Willis said. That's well below the $31 per-square-foot cost to set up Cott's previous headquarters in Toronto.

"It doesn't cost more to be green," Willis said. "It just takes willingness and creativity."

Cott's new headquarters will employ up to 150 people, with salaries averaging more than $72,000 a year. Cott employs about 3,500 worldwide.

"This project will generate demand for additional business services," said Ken Hagan, Hillsborough County Commission chairman. "The impact will extend beyond the 150 new jobs we're announcing today."

Cott also operates a bottling plant in Tampa, which opened in 1997 and employs about 100 people.

Cott's soft drinks, juices, teas and energy drinks are sold at retail outlets in 63 countries. The company's products include RC Cola, Mr. Fizz, Top Pop, Dr. Thunder, Vess and Vintage. They are sold by retailers across the nation, including Publix Super Markets and Wal-Mart.

"We make beverages for most of the retailers around the planet," Willis said. "And we do it for 40 to 50 percent less than our competitors."

About 200 people, including Gov. Charlie Crist and Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio, attended Friday's grand opening.

"I couldn't be more grateful," Crist said of Cott. "What you've done is make Florida a better place to live for all these people here today."

Officials Praise Office, Products

Crist has asked the Legislature to appropriate $200 million to promote the use of renewable energy in Florida through grants, rebates and tax credits.

"Those are the kinds of things that will make Florida flourish in the future," Crist said.

Iorio said she was impressed by Cott's lower-cost products, its office space and its effort to improve the environment through the use of recyclable materials.

"I will never again go down the aisle at Wal-Mart and look at those beverages in quite the same way," Iorio said. "We want more companies like you.

"I'm so pleased you selected Tampa to be your global headquarters. Apparently, they don't drink as much in Canada."

COTT FACTS

Cott is a manufacturer, marketer and distributor of nonalcoholic beverages worldwide. It is the fourth-largest nonalcoholic beverage company in the world. Its products are sold in 63 countries and its brands include RC Cola, Mr. Fizz, Top Pop, Dr. Thunder, Vess and Vintage. The company, which had $2 billion in revenue last year, recently moved its global headquarters to Tampa from Toronto. The Tampa office will employ up to 150 people, with salaries averaging more than $72,000 a year. Its products include soft drinks, juices, teas, water and energy drinks. Its menu even includes a peanut-butter flavored drink for dogs.

Russell Ray