LeVecke Corp.’s ties to Orange County run deep, more than a decade after the formerly Tustin-based alcohol and spirits bottler and distributor moved its operations to Riverside County.
The company, which got its start more than 60 years ago, now operates in Mira Loma. But all seven shareholders in the family-owned business—which sees annual sales in excess of $100 million—live in OC, as do many of its employees.
Charitable foundations started by LeVecke family members have set aside more than $25 million to fund educational and faith-based organizations, many of them OC-based.
The student activities center at Santa Ana’s Mater Dei High School carries the LeVecke name. Other local schools and organizations the family has supported include Servite High School of Anaheim, the Providence Speech and Hearing Center in Orange, and Loyola Marymount of Los Angeles.
Running a booze company might sound like the best job in the world to many, but helping the family foundation is “much more fun,” said Tim LeVecke, the company’s current chairman.
The company’s president is Neil LeVecke, Tim’s younger brother and part of the third generation of LeVeckes to run the business.
“You didn’t know you really wanted to do it, but you knew it was in your blood. It was part of the dinner-table talk in our family,” Neil LeVecke said in a recent profile in the Riverside Press-Enterprise.
LeVecke’s nephew recently joined the company, the first member of the fourth generation of family members to start working there.
Longevity Award
LeVecke Corp. received the Longevity award at the annual Family Owned Business Awards luncheon hosted by the Business Journal and California State University, Fullerton’s Family Business Council on Nov. 30 at the Hyatt Regency Irvine.
A willingness to adapt to changing market conditions, consumer tastes, and competitive factors are big factors in the company’s longevity, its executives said.
LeVecke Corp. was founded in 1949 by William LeVecke and his two sons, primarily as a beer importer. The then Los Angeles-based company said it took six months for the trio to sell their first case of beer to a grocery store.
In the 1950s the company began making distilled spirits, and in the 1960s it primarily supplied beverages to the Southern California marketplace. At that time, there were more than 25 chain stores that serviced the Southern California market. Now there are six major chains that service the entire country, including LeVecke.
In 1971, the company moved its headquarters and manufacturing facilities from Los Angeles to Cerritos, and a decade later it moved to Tustin, where it operated out of an 80,000-square-foot facility.
Mira Loma
A desire to expand capacity and storage space saw the company relocate in the mid-1990s to Mira Loma, where it now operates in about 160,000 square feet of space. It also has operations in Hawaii and New Hampshire, where it opened a new facility earlier this year.
LeVecke Corp. employs about 100 people, about 40% of whom live in OC.
The company manufactures its own house brands, with a mix of higher-end “ultra-premium” products and more affordable offerings, as well as private label products for major grocery stores and various national labels. Products include brandy, bourbon, tequila, whiskey and vodka.
LeVecke is one of only three independent bottlers and distributors in California, and its Mira Loma facility mixes and bottles 2,500 different spirits and cordials, according to the Press-Enterprise.
“We’re master bartenders,” said Neil LeVecke, who is a member of the Newport Beach branch of the Young Presidents’ Organization.
