If you drink beer in Mon County, you probably have the King of Beer Distributors to thank: Mona Supply.
It’s no surprise that, nationally, the demand for beer peaks in summer. Not so in Mon County. “When the kids come back in August for the fall semester,” says Larry Oleksa, president of Mona Supply beverage distributor, “then, and football season, that’s when demand really spikes.”
As a college town that appreciates everything from mass market lagers to esoteric craft ales, Morgantown takes its beer seriously. And for getting the cases to the beer caves and the kegs to the taps, the unsung hero is Mona Supply.
The Making of a Beer Empire
“I have two brothers,” Oleksa says, “and my dad wanted all three of us to have a business.” When Mona Supply came up for sale in 1979, the patriarch saw it as a solid enterprise—it had the exclusive rights to distribute Anheuser–Busch products in Monongalia County. “Quinto DeProspero owned Mona Supply, and my dad and Quinto were classmates. So they had lunch, and within an hour, the deal was done.” The company became a subsidiary of Oleksa Enterprises, alongside his brothers’ Brock Oil Company and Suburban Sanitation.
A–B brands back in the ’70s included Budweiser, Busch, Michelob, and Natural Light. Mona Supply competed with the distributors of Miller High Life, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Schlitz, and Stroh’s for taps at bars and restaurants—those are customers where the beer is consumed “on-premise”—and shelf space at retailers—“off-premise” customers. It had a 12% share of the beer market in Mon County.
Six years later, Mona Supply had tapped 40% of the market.
Oleksa credits the company’s early and continued growth to good sales incentives internally and lots of hard work. He’s proud of a team that he says builds relationships and serves customers well.
That extends to details like training on-premise customers’ bartenders how to get glasses not just clean, but “beer clean.” A three-step soap–sanitizer–rinse process strips all residues and ensures formation of a good head, which makes for an appealing presentation—and the most pours per keg. “If you have a nice collar on a draft, as opposed to the glass being poured all the way with no foam at all,” he says, “the one with the collar is more profitable.” Mona Supply is also the only distributor in Monongalia County that delivers draft beer on refrigerated trucks, he says.
But he’s also quick to credit A–B’s high standards—and its robust brand support. “Anheuser–Busch’s advertising has been second to none.” By way of example, he points to the country music ads that helped propel Bud Light past Miller Lite to the top light beer spot in 1994. “George Strait was just getting more popular in the early ’80s, and that’s when Anheuser–Busch was getting more aggressive with its marketing campaign,” he says, and he continues with a raised eyebrows: “You know what the big thing about George Strait was, other than his musical talent? It was when he would turn around and walk away on the stage so all the women could see his butt. It’s the truth! A number of guys from Anheuser–Busch have told me that through the years!”
Here’s another A–B move that has contributed to Mona Supply’s success: sheer variety. Its giant portfolio is anchored these days by Budweiser, Bud Light, Busch Light, Natural Light, and Michelob ULTRA. Alongside those blockbuster brews are offshoots like the Bud Light Cheladas and craft brands including Elysian, Goose Island, and Kona Big Wave. For the non–beer lover, there are also hard seltzers.
Mona Supply distributes for other brewers, too. Today, that includes Yuengling, West Virginia craft brands like Big Timber and Screech Owl, and more. In all, the company’s 600 individual SKU codes give it now a 48% market share in Monongalia County.
Looking Ahead
Mona Supply delivers half of the beverages in the county with just 19 employees, including Oleksa and his sons Cory and Tyler. “They knew all along that I wanted them to come to work here, because they used to go with me before they could even drive.”
His sons are set to take over the business—but the family didn’t get the only say in the matter. “You may want your kids to go into the business, but Anheuser–Busch has to say OK, too,” Oleksa says. They underwent training over a period of years to understand Anheuser–Busch’s quality and selling standards as well as its equity agreement. “They had to be approved.”
So no worries about the future of your beer in Monongalia County. The Oleksa family, and Anheuser–Busch, have you covered.
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