Newest Cloquet biz park addition feeling right at home

Like clockwork, trucks roll in and trucks roll out, making the newest facility in the Cloquet Business Park function like a model of efficiency. C&L Distributing began operations here just before Memorial Day. The first few months in its new building have gone well, company representatives said, as staff settled into a daily pattern and workflow.

When presented to the city of Cloquet, the center cost was $3.4 million with more than 20 employees expected to work there. Today there are 22 full- and part-time workers.

Family-owned C&L Distributing is one of the largest beer distributors in Minnesota, providing service in 35 counties and supplying more than 2,600 retailers. After purchasing Superior Beverage in Superior, the company needed another branch in northeastern Minnesota from which to distribute products. The Cloquet Business Park fit the bill, with its close proximity to Minnesota Highway 33 and Interstate 35.

Based in Sauk Rapids, the company has seven distribution locations across the state, including the new facility in Cloquet.

"We're more centrally located than where we were before," said Jimmy Hall, operations manager of the Cloquet facility. "All of our business is in Minnesota and we were driving from Superior."

The Cloquet operations facility provides easy access for the staff to cover a large territory, including Cloquet and Duluth and stretching up the North Shore to the Canadian border and south to Hinckley, and rounding out west to McGregor and north to about Cotton. The company has neighboring branches located in Brainerd and Hibbing.

C&L announced plans for the new Cloquet facility in September 2023 and began constructing the 22,000-square foot building during the winter months. Strack Construction of St. Joseph, near the headquarters in the St. Cloud area, was the general contractor for the project.

"For the size of the building, it went up really quickly," Hall said. "It's been working really nice, and it's nice to have our own home base. Everything is new ... there's always some growing pains by adding things but we're finally settled in. The whole team likes it here."

The newest C&L facility contains a huge indoor drive-thru garage where product transfers each day from overnight semi-truck arrivals into the delivery trucks that then depart to crisscross the service area managed through the Cloquet operations center. About 20 trucks and vans of various sizes pass through the facility on a daily basis. The building also includes a full-service graphics department, conference rooms, office space, and storage. It is not a warehouse in the traditional sense as large amounts of products move in and move out each day and essentially zero product is stored on site.

Positions include truck drivers, delivery assistants, managers, office staff, tap system technicians, and a graphic designer. The company has established working partnerships with local companies including Best Oil for fuel and Blaine Brothers for truck repairs when needed. They hope to enter additional business partnerships as they move forward in Cloquet.

C&L Distributing employs 225 staff across its distribution areas, moving Anheuser-Busch In-Bev products and a portfolio of local, regional, and national craft beers, imports, non-

alcoholic beverages, wine and spirits.