Business News: Double Cola adds Cookeville market

photo The Double Cola Co. world headquarters in Chattanooga.

Budweiser of Cookeville will distribute Double Cola products in the 11-county Cookeville metro area, including Crossville, Sparta, Jamestown, Livington and Smithville, Tenn.

The Chattanooga-based Double Cola announced the new distributorship Monday and said Double Cola and Ski Citrus soda should gain broader distribution and acceptance in East Tennessee with the new business partnership.

"Many of the retailers are already familiar with our core brands, which have been available in neighboring areas," said Megan Hollar, marketing manager for Double Cola. "This partnership is truly exciting for both our company and Budweiser of Cookeville."

Budweiser of Cookeville is a sister distributor of Budweiser of Chattanooga, both of which are owned by the Hand Family Companies.


Dixie revamps Burtco lines

The Dixie Group announced Monday it has formed Masland Hospitality to consolidate the assets of its recently acquired Burtco LLC with Masland Carpets.

The new division will be led by Elizabeth Moore, a company vice president, and will offer a portfolio of flooring for large scale public space patterns utilizing CYP technology, a complete guest room offering, modular carpet and the most extensive area rug capabilities in the industry.

Dixie also said Monday it is terminating its agreements with Desso BV as a result of a change in control of Desso. Dixie signed an agreement in early 2014 with Desso, which is headquartered in the Netherlands, to distribute Desso carpet through Masland. But that arrangement was ended with the recent purchase of Desso by Tarkett, a global leader in flooring and sports surfaces.

The Dixie Group is a leading marketer and manufacturer of carpet and rugs to higher-end residential and commercial customers through the Fabrica International, Masland Carpets, Dixie Home, Atlas Carpet Mills, Masland Contract, and Avant brands.


TEMA restocks pills for nuclear neighbors

The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency is requesting another 575,091 potassium iodide pills from the federal government to replenish its supplies for those living within a 10-mile radius of the Sequoyah and Watts Bar nuclear plants.

TEMA spokesman Dean Flener said Monday the request is to maintain current supplies of the KI pills, which are similar to table salt and help block the thyroid gland's uptake of radioactive iodine. Such pills would help reduce the risk of thyroid cancers and other diseases in the event of a radiation release from a nuclear plant.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission provides such pills to state emergency agencies. In Tennessee, such pills are available to any of the 108,825 persons living within 10 miles of the Sequoyah Nuclear Plant or any of the 25,266 persons who live within 10 miles of the Watts Bar nuclear plant. Eligible persons may request the pills at any county health department office and TEMA keeps supplies to distribute, if needed, at emergency shelters it could set up if there is a serious nuclear plant accident.

In the past, TEMA distributed potassium iodide pills to all residents in the area. But for more than a decade, the state has not distributed the pills but has made them available at health department offices.

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