Carolina Beverage Group

Founded in 1997, Carolina Beverage Group, LLC began as a creator and maker of high-quality craft beers. In 2001, the company expanded its operations to offer contract-packaging services. Today, Carolina Beverage Group provides world-class co-packing services for some of the most reputable brands in the world, and it has an annual capacity of approximately 50 million cases, including the latest in high-speed can filling, batching, tunnel pasteurization, flash pasteurization, hot fill and laboratory technologies.

The multi-facility operation, located near Lake Norman in Mooresville, NC, requires constant attention to quality and detail – not only as part of their packaging services, but also in their pest management program. Orkin’s team of Commercial Pest Specialists works diligently with the staff at Carolina Beverage Group to stay on top of sanitation and maintenance, ensuring pests stay out of the picture. With Orkin on watch, Carolina Beverage Group earned an IPM Partner Award, presented by Orkin, the IPM Institute of North America and NSF International.

To learn more about the success of Carolina Beverage Group’s pest management program, we spoke with Steve Vocke, Director of Manufacturing. Here is an edited transcript of that interview.

Why is Integrated Pest Management (IPM) so critical to your business?

IPM is not only important to us as a business, but it’s important for our customers; they feel very confident because of the partnership we carry with Orkin and know that our facility is doing everything possible to help keep pests out of our operations. Our team works closely with Orkin to be on the lookout for any maintenance concerns or issues around the facility so they can be addressed quickly. It’s a huge burden off my shoulders when Orkin can come in and use their scientific background in pest behavior to help us resolve any issues that come up.

Why do you continue to work with Orkin?

Orkin is incredibly helpful during third-party audits, and the auditors love to see our Pro on site. The intelligence he carries on a variety of pests has really been helpful in giving us peace of mind.

One of the most beneficial things about Orkin’s Food Safety Precision Protection™ program is the documentation. If I go into a third-party audit, I know that the information will be accurate and reliable. Auditors are always blown away by the organization of the books and records that Orkin keeps for us. The relationship that we have with Orkin comes down to trust. We know that Orkin is behind us, and if anything happens, we know Orkin will have our back.

What results have you seen from your partnership with Orkin?

Over the years, I’ve worked hand in hand with Orkin, and what I like about the partnership is that they come in and show us where we can be better – whether it’s fixing a small hole in the wall or a door that needs to be repaired.

When customer complaints have come up in the past, Orkin has been able to help prove, without a doubt, that the pest in question was not from our plant. Many of our customers are very impressed by the knowledge that Orkin has.