Origin Story - Crest Beverage and the Sourapas Family

Reyes Holdings recently celebrated 47 years in business, but you may not know that our partners in San Diego, the Sourapas family, established Crest Beverage in 1956. In 2009, Crest Beverage became part of Reyes Beverage Group and, to this day, Reyes Holdings' only full partner.

The Sourapas family members have been great partners to us over the years because they do business with integrity and are constantly looking towards the future.

Chris & Jude Reyes Founders and Co-Chairmen

Steve Sourapas, Sr. established Crest Beverage in 1956 originally as a Hamm’s brand distributorship in San Diego after working for the brand in Minnesota and then in California. In his first year, Steve Sr. pushed about 8,000 cases of Hamm’s products with only three employees. Crest Beverage, a name chosen by the Sourapas family from perusing the dictionary, quickly acquired Coors brands, at the time a small, growing brand, as well as Pabst and Olympia brands.

With Coors brands quick rise to popularity, Crest Beverage had about 70% of the San Diego market housed in one 16,000-square-foot warehouse. When asked about the early days of Crest Beverage, Steve Sourapas, Jr. said his father was “persistent and open to change because if you don’t keep up with change, you won’t last”.

In 2009 Crest Beverage, still run by the Sourapas family, became Reyes Holdings' first and only partner. This merger of two long-standing, family-run businesses has been fantastically successful. In fact, Steve Sourapas, Jr. recalls that the partnership discussions were codenamed, “Project Shotgun” to reflect the marriage of two family businesses.

When remembering the early days of the partnership, Steve Sourapas, Jr. said, “Our families have a lot of similarities in the way we think and the way we do stuff. The Reyes family has been respectful, fair, open and transparent, and we have returned that.”

Similarly, Chris and Jude Reyes hold the Sourapas family in high regard and said, “The Sourapas family members have been great partners to us over the years because they do business with integrity and are constantly looking towards the future. Key relationships are built on trust, and the Sourapas and Reyes families have enjoyed a solid partnership for 14 years with Crest Beverage.”

Fast forward to March 13, 2023, the Sourapas and Reyes families were proud to open the new 350,000-square-foot Crest Beverage facility in San Diego. The new facility includes “Steve & Joe’s” employee bar to represent Steve Sourapas, Sr. and Tiger Joe Reyes. Currently, Steve Sourapas, Jr. runs Crest Beverage as President and co-owner. He and his wife live in San Diego and have three sons, two of whom currently work in the Reyes Family of Businesses.