General Tobacco Gears Up for Rapid Growth

Source from:  MIAMI, /PRNewswire/ 05/17/2005

General Tobacco announced today that it completed negotiations on the construction of a new 300,000 square foot facility that will serve as the company's new headquarters. The facility will allow General Tobacco to consolidate its warehousing needs and provide room for manufacturing some of its product in the U.S. The facility, located in the Flagler Station Development area in northwest Miami-Dade County, Florida, will take 14 months to complete. The state-of-the-art facility, to be built on 13 acres of prime lakefront real estate, will centralize all of General Tobacco's current warehousing needs and will increase capacity by almost 100,000 square feet based on company growth projections. The new facility will include a bonded warehouse and will serve as a master receiving and distribution center. As one of the largest tobacco companies in the country, with approximately $400 million in annual sales, General Tobacco stands poised to continue on its steady growth trajectory by opening distribution centers in California, Kentucky, and New Jersey. "By adding regional distribution centers on the east and west coast, and one in the center of the country, General Tobacco can speed up delivery time to better serve its regional customers and provide steady supply to the market," reported Vidal Suriel, the owner and founder of General Tobacco. These developments follow the recent hiring of more than 30 highly experienced staff by General Tobacco, including regional directors and area managers across the country. Current plans call for a doubling of the sales force by the end of the year with the objective of increasing the company's presence in the market and building strong relationships with existing and new customers as well as retailers. The mission of General Tobacco is to distribute superior quality tobacco products at competitive prices. The company began distributing its own generic cigarette brand, GT One®, in May 2000 and now distributes three additional brands of generic cigarettes: Bronco®, Silver® and Champion®. General Tobacco's products are distributed throughout the United States, including markets such as Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico as well as internationally. Enditem