Our History
The History of Leon Farmer and Company
September 4, 1948
The corporation was chartered as Premium Distributing Company.
May 10, 1956
H. Leon “Sarge” Farmer became President of the company, H. Leon Farmer, Jr. was elected Vice President and Eloise H. Farmer, Secretary-Treasurer.
July 1, 1958
The company was appointed as an Anheuser-Busch wholesaler in Northeast Georgia for the sale of Budweiser and Michelob beers. During the first year, sales were 150,000 cases, and share of market was 26%.
December 1961
Michelob bottles were introduced.
March 1962
Busch beer was introduced.
1965
The company purchased its first forklift and side-loaded palletized beer trucks. Prior to this time, pallets did not exist, so beer received by rail was unloaded by hand using tracks with rollers, hand trucks, and dollies.
1974
The corporation purchased its first computer, which was a great help in accounting for and reporting state and local taxes.
April 1977
Natural Light was introduced.
February 1978
Michelob Light made its debut.
1978
For the first time, the company’s annual sales exceeded one million cases. The company’s Controlled Environment Warehouse (CEW) was installed that year.
The company name was changed to “Leon Farmer and Company” to honor Leon Farmer for his many years of dedication and hard work.
October 24, 1982
March 1982
Bud Light was introduced. The company was made a Charter Ambassador in Anheuser-Busch’s Dimensions of Excellence program that year and continued as an Ambassador for 13 consecutive years (the duration of the program).
1978-1984
The company’s sales doubled in volume from one million cases to two million.
1985
The company began using hand-held computerized route commanders. Prior to that time, each sales ticket was hand-written and the math was done on scratch paper, leading to many errors that required much time and effort to correct.
January 1, 1987
The sales department began “pre-selling”, that is, selling beer to a retail account prior to delivery. Until now, each route truck was a rolling warehouse, and the beer was “peddled” or sold directly from the truck when it arrived at a retail account.
November 1988
The company moved into its new office and warehouse in Athens.
The company continued to grow with annual sales increasing from two million to three million cases.
1984-1990
1992
Leon Farmer and Company – Gainesville became an Anheuser-Busch Ambassador after winning many Dimensions of Excellence awards from 1985 to 1991.
1996
Athens and Gainesville hosted several Summer Olympic events, and many hours of planning and execution were required to meet the company’s marketing objectives during this time. The results were outstanding and Leon Farmer and Company was proud to have played a role in this historic event.
2001
Sales reached five million cases.
August 2003
Michelob Ultra was introduced.
October 18, 2004
Leon Farmer, III was elected President of the corporation.
Today
Leon Farmer and Company has an impressive portfolio of more than 100 suppliers and 5,000 packages, including wine, spirits, water, yogurt, and even pretzels in addition to beer. We’ve come a long way from four trucks and seven packages handled in 1958.