My Favorite Cigar
Wayne Chaplin • Spirits Distributor • Partagás Serie D No. 6
Wayne Chaplin, 68, is the CEO of Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits LLC. The $26 billion corporation, based in Miami, is the largest distributor of its kind in the United States, ranked by Forbes magazine as the 10th largest private company in the country. It moves more than 7,000 brands and operates in 44 states, plus the District of Columbia.
Southern Glazer’s was formed in the 2016 merger between Southern Wine & Spirits—founded in 1968 by Chaplin’s father, Harvey, who passed away in June—and Glazer’s Inc., which traces its roots back to Texas in 1909. Wayne Chaplin, who joined Southern in 1984, became chief executive officer of Southern Glazer’s after the merger.
“I think about Southern Wine & Spirits’ humble beginnings in 1968, when we faced so many competitors who had been around since Prohibition,” Wayne Chaplin told Marvin R. Shanken in a Shanken News Daily interview. “To reach this point, based on my dad’s vision to build out this business, to roll the dice every single time and to invest the farm every single step of the way, is really an incredible story.”
Chaplin enjoys smoking smaller Cuban cigars, particularly the Partagás Serie D No. 6.
