Coke Canada Bottling president on company's growth plans
“Being local isn’t a strategy. It’s fundamental to who we are,” says Coke Canada Bottling president Tony Chow. More than a year into the role, Chow—who joined the Canadian producer and distributor of Coca‑Cola products in April 2025 from Kellanova and Kellogg Company—is helping fuel the company’s next phase of growth. From beverage innovation to expanding its facilities in cities like Brampton and Calgary, Chow says he’s firmly focused on the future.
Below, he discusses Coke Canada Bottling’s growth strategy, its 2027 priorities and three lessons that shape his leadership style.
What are the top priorities in Coke Canada Bottling’s growth strategy?
Our ambition is to grow our proudly Canadian, family-owned business for generations. That means investing in Canada, growing alongside our customers, consumers and brand partners, supporting our employees coast to coast and helping the local communities where we operate thrive.
We feel confident in the long-term growth opportunity for beverages as Canadians explore new choices and occasions. We’re seeing exceptionally strong momentum in areas like low- and no-calorie beverages, energy and sports nutrition. These trends reinforce the opportunity to innovate with our brand partners and customers, giving Canadians more choice and shoppers new reasons to engage with the beverage category.
We believe strong brand and customer partnerships, local manufacturing capabilities, our national distribution network and industry-leading service are the foundation for long-term growth. Bringing those strengths together allows us to respond to shoppers’ evolving needs and get more Canadian-made beverages into their hands. It’s what our strategy is all about: Human-powered. Customer centric. Future ready.
How have the Brampton and Calgary expansions strengthened operations?
These investments reflect our confidence in Canada and our owners’ generational view: invest today to build for the long term. Our most recent Calgary and Brampton infrastructure investments expand our capabilities and capacity, strengthening our ability to serve customers.
Calgary is a critical hub for our Western Canada operations, and since 2018 we’ve invested more than $130 million in our facility there. Our new Automated Storage and Retrieval System is a high‑density, technology‑enabled warehouse system that brings self-sufficiency to our local operations, improves operational efficiency and helps us grow with our customers in the region.
In Brampton, we’re expanding our facility and adding a new, technology-enabled can line. As we grow, it’s critical we increase our speed and agility. This investment will allow us to produce millions of incremental cases per year, helping us support customers in Ontario and Eastern Canada more efficiently and effectively.
What are your biggest priorities for next year?
In 2027, we’re building on our momentum with customers by giving shoppers more reasons to explore the beverage category. Canadians can expect new flavour combinations, limited-time offers and unexpected collaborations, backed by impactful national programs that will deliver the moments that matter. Pairing innovation with the brands consumers already love, like Coca-Cola, Canada Dry, Monster and A&W, while tapping into partnerships and programs that create connections, will drive excitement and sustainable category growth.
Building on our Calgary and Brampton investments, we’re advancing our Lachine, Que. facility and continuing to expand capacity in Richmond, B.C. and Toronto, so we can get products to store shelves faster.
Technology is also a clear priority for 2027. With our retail partners, we’re making our products easier to find and choose online, with offers and messages that matter to their shoppers. Inside our business, we’re stepping up investment in plant automation, better tools for our frontline sales teams and AI that simplifies everyday work. It’s about equipping our people to do their best work, so they can focus on what matters most and deliver an even better experience for our customers. That’s what being “future ready” looks like.
We’re also developing our people and the next generation. With youth unemployment a real challenge, businesses have a role to play in helping young Canadians build skills and connections. Through our partnership with Junior Achievement Canada, our employees mentor high school students and open doors to careers they may not have considered. This year, our teams have mentored more than 500 young people at 14 events across Canada, with six more before year-end.
Environmental sustainability remains an important priority. A business built for generations must also protect the communities and resources it depends on. That’s why we’re focused on practical, measurable progress: using water and energy more efficiently, reducing emissions and evolving our electric vehicle fleet. It’s the right thing to do, and it makes our business stronger and more resilient for the long term.
Why is supporting local communities important to Coke Canada Bottling? How has Canada's Kindest Community campaign grown?
As Canada’s Local Bottler, we want our communities to be better off because we’re part of them. Now in its third year, Canada’s Kindest Community brings that to life, shining a light on local acts of kindness and making it easy for Canadians to get involved through the retailers and restaurants they visit every day.
Our retail customers are the program’s greatest enablers, with national in-store and online activations at Walmart, Loblaws, Sobeys and Metro. During the peak holiday season, more than 10,000 displays featuring nomination QR codes ran in over 5,000 large and small stores, driving a lift in Coca-Cola unit sales and market share.
And it keeps growing—twice as many communities took part last year and we’ve doubled the grand prize to $100,00. And this year Canadians can vote for the community that best represents kindness.
It rallies customers, employees and neighbours around the kindness already happening in their communities. That feels especially important right now, and to me, distinctly Canadian.
READ: Canadian Grocer's 2026 Impact Award winners in Community
You talk about Coke Canada Bottling’s “proudly Canadian” and “family-owned” messaging. How does it fit into the company’s broader strategy amid the Buy Canadian movement and U.S. trade tensions?
Being local isn’t a strategy. It’s fundamental to who we are.
Coke Canada Bottling has been an independent, family-owned business since 2018. We make, move and sell Canada’s most-loved beverages through our local manufacturing, distribution and sales operations coast-to-coast-to-coast. More than 95% of our beverage portfolio is made right here in Canada, either by our teams or through Canadian production partners. We’re also active participants in the Ontario Made program as well as the Aliments du Quebec certification program, which highlight products proudly made in those provinces.
Since then, we’ve invested more than $825 million locally, while supporting more than 6,000 employees and their families. We believe deeply in what we can accomplish in this country and want Canadians to know that when they choose one of our beverages, they’re supporting their neighbours, local businesses and investment in the Canadian economy.
You’ve spent more than 25 years in CPG, including leadership roles at Kellogg and Kashi. What career lessons have shaped how you lead today?
Three lessons have shaped how I lead. The first is that growth starts with the customer. I began my career in sales, where I learned that you win by understanding your customers and helping them grow their businesses. That conviction is central to how Coke Canada Bottling competes today. When our customers succeed, we succeed.
The second is that leaders must hold two time horizons at once. I’m passionate about this business, and that passion drives me to look as far ahead as possible while acting with urgency today. Transformation only sticks when you’re honest about where the business is now and clear about where it needs to go.
The third is that people are the engine of every business. That’s why “Human Powered” comes first in our strategy. The best ideas often come from those closest to the work, especially our frontline teams who represent us with customers every day. A leader’s job is to set clear direction, then empower people to do what they do best.
Underpinning all of it is trust. Whether with customers, brand partners or employees, you can’t win without it. Trust is earned through transparency, clear communication, and consistent follow-through, doing what you say you’ll do, every time. That’s what turns a good business into an enduring one.