Tobacco Business Magazine’s Antoine Reid recently sat down with Swisher’s President John Miller to discuss Swisher’s new blueprint for success in any retail channel with a sales and marketing strategy that puts adult consumers front and center. Selected excerpts from the resulting article appear below. The full story is available at Tobacco Business Magazine’s website, here.
THEY’RE EVERYWHERE. In every state, in grocery stores, in convenience stores and beyond. Swisher International is one of America’s oldest and most successful tobacco businesses, with a portfolio of top-selling tobacco products. The company’s story dates back to 1861, when David Swisher received a small cigar business as part of a debt settlement. The company began rolling hundreds of cigars by hand in what it called a one-room “manufactury” that was located in Newark, Ohio. In 1888, David Swisher’s sons, Harry and John, purchased the company from their father and renamed it Swisher Brothers. The company continued to grow, and by 1895 it had expanded to include three factories and employed more than 1,000 people who helped to produce an average of 300,000 cigars each day.
In 1913, John Swisher bought his brother out of the company and relocated its headquarters to Jacksonville, Florida, where it remains today. Business continued to grow, and the Ohio facilities were eventually closed and consolidated as part of the Florida plant. By 1941, King Edward cigars emerged as the company’s most successful cigar brand, and the Jacksonville plant was recognized as the largest cigar factory in the world. Like any business, success led to scaling, and Swisher expanded its footprint in Florida by opening a number of other facilities in the nearby tobacco-growing areas that would handle processing, storing and shipping huge quantities of tobacco. The Swisher Sweets brand entered the market in 1958, a brand that still exists and continues to be a staple for many tobacco retail outlets today. Swisher International continues to remain at the forefront of the tobacco industry through its ability to expand and scale. It also adapts to changes in the market.
In 1986, the company sparked its own growth through several acquisitions, including the purchase of Helme Tobacco Co., a manufacturer of smokeless tobacco products. To further expand its portfolio of products, Swisher International acquired Drew Estate—a premium cigar manufacturer of not only handmade premium cigars but also of mass-market cigar products which celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2019. Product innovations, consumer engagements and acquisitions are only part of Swisher’s long history and success. The visionaries and entrepreneurs who have helped steer the company through its evolution have each helped push the company to new heights. Currently at the head of Swisher International is John Miller, a man who has worked in the tobacco industry for over three decades. In 1986, Miller got his start in the tobacco industry as a campus representative for U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co. (USSTC). It was an entry-level, parttime position that only paid $5 an hour, but it gave Miller experience and insight into sales, retail and distribution, as well as taught him the importance of adult consumer engagement events, all areas of sales and marketing that are used regularly by Swisher International today to grow its business and brands.
About Swisher:
459 E 16TH STREET JACKSONVILLE, FL 32206 | WWW.SWISHER.COM
Swisher is an international leading lifestyle company for adult consumers. Best known for their Swisher Sweet Cigars, the company is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. Swisher also has a global manufacturing presence in Santiago, Dominican Republic; Esteli, Nicaragua and Wheeling, West Virginia. Swisher’s superior customer relationships matched with an unwavering commitment to innovative thinking and action have driven the company to grow and adapt to the evolving preferences of adult consumers for nearly 160 years. Visit https://swisher01.wpenginepowered.com/about/ to learn more.
Source: Swisher
459 E 16th Street
Jacksonville, FL 32206
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