Athens Distributing Company

The Athens Distributing Company of Tennessee is a fine wine, spirits, and beer distributor that serves a vast area in Tennessee. The company has been in business for over 76 years and has been family-owned and family-run for four generations.

From their humble beginnings with only 15 employees and 2,000 square feet of a storage facility, Athens Distributing Company has grown into a massive undertaking with 350+ employees and three massive facilities across Tennessee.

Athens Distributing now serves a broad customer base in Nashville, Chattanooga, Memphis, Knoxville, and Tri-Cities. They also deliver their products to every county in Tennessee, with customers in bars, restaurants, grocery stores, and retail businesses.

Athens Distributing Company History & Facts

John Chink Donnelly, along with T. Howard White founded Athens Distributing Company of Tennessee in 1946. John Chink Donnelly and T. Howard White married Reedy and Eloise, two sisters, and the newly established company had put the family at the center of things.

Chink worked as a sales rep for an alcohol distributor when he got the idea to start his own wholesale house. T. Howard White was his brother-in-law, who worked as a Vice President of Third National Bank. Chink and Howard used their respective experiences and hopped on the train to Detroit, Michigan, to make a deal with Hiram Walker Distillery. They made the first deal on October 1, 1946, and opened Athens Distributing Company, the first office, and warehouse in Downtown Nashville with 15 employees and 2000 square feet of space.

The business started to grow, and Athens Distributing extended operations to Chattanooga, Tennessee, which started as a tiny warehouse and now serves the entire East Tennessee market.

Athens Distributing did not stop there, but the company expanded again in 1967 to Memphis, Tennessee. They did this by buying out fellow distributor Shelby Liquors, cementing their presence as the most extensive wine and spirits wholesaler in West Tennessee.

Today, Athens Distributing Company of Tennessee is the largest state-wide wholesaler of fine wine, spirits, and beer in Tennessee. The company employs 350+ people in three central locations, Memphis, Nashville, and Chattanooga, but they also serve Knoxville and Tri-Cities. The company distributes over 2800 products to bars, restaurants, grocery stores, and convenience stores.

However, Athens Distributing Company also has a strong sense of community and family. In the fourth generation, Donnelly and White work for the company and work on keeping the founders’ values. Athens Distributing also has a charitable side, and anyone in Tennessee can ask them for a donation and support during an event.

The official website is well-organized, with a strong emphasis on Tennessee. It is nodding to Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga, and Tri-Cities, where Athens Distributing has offices and most of its clients.

Contact Information

Corporate address:

Athens Distributing

3001 Owen Dr.

Antioch, TN 37013

United States

Phone:
1 (901) 774-8888

E-mail:
info@adctn.com

Official company website:
https://adctn.com/