Our Company
Zadoc Marquis Lafayette Jeffreys in Goldsboro, North Carolina founded R. A. Jeffreys Distributing Company, originally called Jeffreys and Edgerton, in 1890. Jeffreys and Edgerton was a business that bought and sold produce, cottonseed, flower seed, vegetable seed, chickens and eggs.
In 1915, Zadoc’s two sons joined the family business and it was renamed Jeffreys and Sons. It was not until 1922 when one of the sons, Robert Alexander Jeffreys, went on a produce-related business trip to Norfolk, Virginia that the company’s future would include beverage distribution. While on this trip, Robert Alexander, discovered a popular beverage called Bevo, a “near beer,” distributed by Anheuser-Busch. He inquired about the distribution rights of this product and in 1923; Anheuser-Busch granted him the distribution rights for eastern North Carolina. In 1933, the United States Congress repealed the Prohibition Act and Anheuser-Busch granted Jeffreys and Sons the distribution rights to Budweiser and other brands distributed by Anheuser-Busch.
In 1963, Jeffreys and Sons reorganized and formed three separate corporations: Jeffreys Seed Company, Jeffreys Beer and Wine Company and Jeffreys Cabinet Company.
By then, Robert Alexander Jeffreys’ son, George Collins Jeffreys, had joined the business and began managing Jeffreys Beer and Wine along with his father. In 1964, they built a larger distribution center in Goldsboro, North Carolina to service the eleven counties that made up their beverage distribution territory. They managed the business together until Robert Alexander Jeffreys passed in 1968.
