Chris Natale, president of Ritchie & Page Distributing Company, moved his company from Trenton to Robbinsville in 2011(new facility above). and his brother-in-law bought the company from its founders. Page were well known Trenton business and political leaders. Today, Natale co-owns the business with his brother Lou Natale III and sister Jo Natale Cameron. Even though the owners of Ritchie & Page
Distributing Company would celebrate 50 years of business in Trenton in 2013, president Chris Natale knew they couldn't afford to be sentimental. The decision to move the beer distributor into a new, 150,000-square-foot warehouse in Robbinsville, was made after the company acquired Monmouth County-based Crown Beer Distributors in 2011. The acquisition did more than double Ritchie & Pageβs customer base, as nearly half of their more than 1,600 clients are now in Monmouth and Ocean County. The rest are in Hunterdon, Mercer and Burlington counties. Ritchie & Page is open 24 hours a day during the week, runs between twenty five (25) and forty (40) tractor trailers daily, and employs approximately 130 employees. There are currently 1300 SKUs on site that are zone picked, with a 99.75% accuracy rate. Shipment rates range in the winter from 12,000 cases a day to 40,000 cases a day shipped in the summer. After the 21st Amendment to the Constitution repealed Prohibition, the government established the three-tiered system by which beer is distributed in the United States. The system called for distribution companies like Ritchie & Page to receive packaged beer from breweries, in cases or kegs, then sell it to retail customers such as liquor stores, restaurants and bars. Brewers cannot sell directly to stores, and distributors cannot sell directly to consumers.