Commitments and Contingencies

9 Months Ended

Sep. 27, 2020

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Manufacturing Cooperatives

The Company is obligated to purchase at least 80% of its requirements of plastic bottles for certain designated territories from Southeastern. The Company is also obligated to purchase 17.5 million cases of finished product from SAC on an annual basis through June 2024. The Company purchased 21.9 million cases and 22.2 million cases of finished product from SAC in the first nine months of 2020 and the first nine months of 2019, respectively.

The following table summarizes the Company’s purchases from these manufacturing cooperatives:


	Third Quarter				First Nine Months
(in thousands)	2020		2019		2020		2019
Purchases from Southeastern	$	31,196	$	31,178	$	94,835	$	102,118
Purchases from SAC	37,006		42,870		119,225		120,309
Total purchases from manufacturing cooperatives	$	68,202	$	74,048	$	214,060	$	222,427

The Company guarantees a portion of SAC’s debt, which expires at various dates through 2024. The amount guaranteed was $14.7 million on both September 27, 2020 and December 29, 2019. In the event SAC fails to fulfill its commitments under the related debt, the Company would be responsible for payment to the lenders up to the level of the guarantee. The Company does not anticipate SAC will fail to fulfill its commitments related to the debt. The Company further believes SAC has sufficient assets, including production equipment, facilities and working capital, and the ability to adjust selling prices of its products to adequately mitigate the risk of material loss from the Company’s guarantee.

The Company holds no assets as collateral against the SAC guarantee, the fair value of which is immaterial to the condensed consolidated financial statements. The Company monitors its investment in SAC and would be required to write down its investment if an impairment, other than a temporary impairment, was identified. No impairment of the Company’s investment in SAC was identified as of September 27, 2020, and there was no impairment identified in 2019.

Other Commitments and Contingencies

The Company has standby letters of credit, primarily related to its property and casualty insurance programs. These letters of credit totaled $37.6 million on September 27, 2020 and $35.6 million on December 29, 2019.

The Company participates in long-term marketing contractual arrangements with certain prestige properties, athletic venues and other locations. As of September 27, 2020, the future payments related to these contractual arrangements, which expire at various dates through 2033, amounted to $168.1 million.

The Company is involved in various claims and legal proceedings which have arisen in the ordinary course of its business. Although it is difficult to predict the ultimate outcome of these claims and legal proceedings, management believes the ultimate disposition of these matters will not have a material adverse effect on the financial condition, results of operations or cash flows of the Company. No material amount of loss in excess of recorded amounts is believed to be reasonably possible as a result of these claims and legal proceedings.

The Company is subject to audits by tax authorities in jurisdictions where it conducts business. These audits may result in assessments that are subsequently resolved with the authorities or potentially through the courts. Management believes the Company has adequately provided for any assessments likely to result from these audits; however, final assessments, if any, could be different than the amounts recorded in the condensed consolidated financial statements.