ACQUISITIONS
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Southern Eagle Distributing
Locations: Warehouse at 5300 Glades Cut Off Road,
Fort Pierce; satellite office in West Palm Beach
Employees: More than 300
Fleet: More than 100 delivery vehicles
Territory: Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River,
Hendry and Palm Beach counties
Brands Carried: Budweiser, Bud Light, Busch,
Natural Light, Corona, Modelo
Craft Beers: Sailfish, Islamorada, American Icon,
Hop Life, Motorworks, BluePoint, SweetWater
Spirits Carried: Walker’s Cay Bourbon,
Hope Town Vodka, Costa Tequila,
Cantera Negra Tequila and Cape Fear
Nonalcoholic Beverages Carried:
Celsius, Essentia, Nestle, Arizona, Sparkling Ice,
Nesquik and Good 2 Grow
on helping the less fortunate in society. He has particular fondness
for the mission of the Boys & Girls Clubs.
“In the 12 years I’ve known Philip, he’s been a loyal supporter
of Boys & Girls Clubs not just financially — which we really appreciate
— but he also has great ideas, like our Learn & Earn food
truck,” said Will Armstead, CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of St. Lucie
County. “His family foundation was the first to invest in the food
truck for our Teen Workforce Readiness program.”
RIGHT TIME TO GO
Philip said he feels fortunate his father decided to step away
from the business in 2012 and hand the reins over to him. He said
the Anheuser-Busch family has seen too many difficult transitions
between different generations.
“My father legitimately walked away,” Philip said. “He wanted
me to figure it out on my own. We do financial reviews together
and he is available for annual budgeting. He’s up to date with the
big picture about the company, but I handle all the day-to-day
operations. I feel we are partners.
“I did ask for his advice over the Brown transaction because it
was such a big undertaking for us,” Philip continued. “We made a
lot of obligations to our bank, so projections of future business
are even more important. Now it’s a new business, with new
retailers. Everything is different.”
The Busch family recently welcomed a fifth child into the world.
Philip has two girls, 14 and 12; and three boys, 7, 2, and 8 weeks.
He said he’s particularly close to the girls.
“I encourage them to have a passion for working,” he said. “They
need to apply themselves. In the back of my mind I see I could use
an attorney and an IT person in the future, so I’d welcome them
into the company in some capacity. But I’d require them to first
work for another distributor and learn the ropes somewhere else.”
The Busch family business seems poised to stretch for another
generation soon. That’s fitting for a company whose motto is
“Making friends is our business.”
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