Yacht Club markets taste of R.I.

DRINKING IT UP: Nearly a century old, Yacht Club Bottling Works mainly sells to small markets, cafes and restaurants. Pictured above, from left, are John Sgambato, company president, his father, Bill Sgambato, and brother, Mike Sgambato. / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY
DRINKING IT UP: Nearly a century old, Yacht Club Bottling Works mainly sells to small markets, cafes and restaurants. Pictured above, from left, are John Sgambato, company president, his father, Bill Sgambato, and brother, Mike Sgambato. / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY

Located deep in the heart of Centerdale village, Yacht Club Bottling Works has been a fixture in the state for more than 90 years. This family-owned-and-operated business has managed to increase its sales despite a down economy thanks to some new marketing and good, old-fashioned know-how.
“In the last two years we’ve grown about 38 percent,” said President John A. Sgambato, 28. He has taken over for the recently semi-retired Bill Sgambato, 70, his father.
John Sgambato’s grandfather started at the company in 1935 before purchasing it in 1961. Prior to that it had been owned by the Sharp family since the day it opened in 1915.
Yacht Club offers 33 flavors, from birch beer and sarsaparilla, to diet cream soda and everything in-between. Everything is made on-site, including the family’s flavor-syrup recipes. The water is pumped from an artesian well drilled in 1923, the date of the current building, to a depth of 180 feet. This natural mineral water – hence the name of the street – is primed for carbonation.
However, don’t be surprised if you don’t find the soda at your neighborhood’s national supermarket chain – chances are it’s not there. Yacht Club is made using quality ingredients and not a cheaper high fructose corn syrup. As a result, it costs more to make than a nationally branded soda sold to supermarkets in bulk.
“They want it for nothing,” Sgambato said of the retailers. For this reason the company usually supplies smaller markets, cafes and restaurants. Food trucks are also a growing segment where Yacht Club is supplied. The company’s business plan is to provide a high-quality drink with no corn syrup and to go local. With no major food markets to sell their product in bulk, the soda has survived by selling one bottle at a time in small venues. Not only has it survived but now business is growing.
A new outlet for the drink and a departure from the norm is the Hope Street Farmers’ Market in Providence, where Yacht Club is sold as a locally made product, no different from vegetables or fish.
The company’s new and growing focus on social media has contributed to a boost in sales. If you ever need to fill an order, it’s simply a point and a click away. If you need historical information, there are a few videos on YouTube that are available. But according to Sgambato, the biggest factor for the upswing in business has been a complete rebranding of the soda, including a new logo and labels; its timing coincides with the improved sales. The new label’s look was the idea of two students from the Rhode Island School of Design working on their master’s thesis. One provided watercolor landscapes of different locations in the state, the other crafted the new triangle and anchor logo. Only the cursive script remains on the bottle from the past. “They did a great job and it has really helped out,” he said. “RISD is a great resource,” he said. The landscapes – or rather seascapes – vary from the Cliff Walk in Newport to Warwick Neck.
For those trying to remember, the old labels featured either a yacht, a drawing of a yacht club much like the old Edgewood club, or a bearded sea captain. So why the change? “Our look was the same look we have had forever, so we kept the script and gave them a clean slate. When it came back we all loved the way it looked so we went with it. We needed a fresh look. We needed something that looked old but had a new feel to it,” Sgambato said. One retro feature is that the drink is sold only in 12-ounce, glass bottles.
When they aren’t delivering, the family is bottling; washing, sterilizing, filling, capping, mixing and labeling, as well as making their syrups. Bottles are sold in six-packs or cases of 24, and the company is a strong advocate of recycling. They accept bottles back for reuse as well. It is all made using the same process from when the plant first started. As for the equipment, some of it dates back to the 1940s and 1950s; it takes a good mechanic and some skill to keep it running.
“Farm Fresh Rhode Island does a lot of deliveries for us,” Sgambato said. “We do the market mobile program; it’s a great program, one that’s helped us out a lot with our distribution. It’s a family operation, so the Sgambatos even do their own deliveries, and brother, Michael, and mom, Carole, are always willing to help out.
“It’s been a lot of hard work and late nights,” Sgambato said, commenting on the last two years, “but business is good.” •

COMPANY PROFILE
Yacht Club Bottling Works
OWNER: John A. Sgambato, president
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Food service
LOCATION: 2239 Mineral Spring Ave., North Providence
EMPLOYEES: 5
YEAR ESTABLISHED: 1915
ANNUAL SALES: WND

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