12/27/2021
Local family business Seneca Beverage Corporation (SBC), owned by the Potter family, has entered into an agreement to sell the company to Saratoga Eagle Sales and Service (SESS), owned by the Vukelic family. The sale is aimed to close by the end of 2021, with Greg Vukelic moving to the Southern Tier to run their new extension of SESS.
Seneca Beverage informed their team of the upcoming sale in November, at which time, the entire team met with several members of the Vukelic family. The SBC team, at the forefront of the Potter’s minds with the sale, has interviewed and received job offers this past week from SESS, with the vast majority carrying on with the new company.
“Consolidation within the beverage industry has been a growing concern. John, Betsy and I have always cared about our team and the local community. This was not an easy decision to come to, but best for the organization going forward. The Vukelic’s have been in the beer business in Upstate, NY for over 90 years. They are a family business, and they too, care about their employees and their community” said John Potter, Sr.
The Potters cannot thank our team or our community enough for their hard work and support over the past 53 plus years. “Our team members are like our family. It has been our absolute pleasure to work with the very best in the business, and that’s what our team is, at Seneca” said Betsy Potter-Knapp. “We have the greatest customers we’ve had the pleasure to get to know and the opportunity to work with throughout the years”.
“It is bittersweet knowing we will not be a part of the business our father built, starting at such a young age. It has been a source of pride for my sister and I growing up.” Said John P. Potter
“We hope that by making this move, the legacy can live on, just under a different name. Seneca Beverage has alway had its own internal set of standards that we instilled in our people. Our Father coined the phrase, calling it the ‘Potter Way’. This has been instilled in not just our long-term people, but also those high school and college students, and certain brewery employees, that have come and either stayed or gone on to better themselves. Without them, we would never have achieved as much as we have.” Said John P. Potter
The Potters will miss our team, our accounts and the local agencies, fundraisers, and charitable organizations we’ve worked with for the past 53 years.
About Seneca Beverage Corporation
Seneca Beverage Corporation was started by, a then 22 year old, John Potter. Potter moved from Baldwinsville, NY, with his wife Trudy, and opened SBC on June 3, 1968. At the time, Potter was the youngest Anheuser-Busch wholesaler in the country. Today, John has retired from the business, with his children John and Betsy, running the business as President and Vice President, respectively.
The new warehouse in Elmira Heights, located at 2085 Lake Rd, was constructed in 2010 and is located just a few miles from the former location on Oakwood Ave, built in 1972, which now houses the Food Bank of the Southern Tier. The original SBC location was located on State St. in downtown Elmira, prior to the Flood of 1972.
SBC has grown from employing 17 team members in 1972, to the current 64 full time team members, at present. SBC is proud to distribute beer, wine, liquor, and non-alcoholic products in five counties: Chemung, Steuben, Schuyler, Tompkins, Cortland and the town of Waverly, NY
