Beverage rules

No one knows that better than Troy Taylor, who runs one of Florida's biggest startups, Coca-Cola Beverages Florida. The company owns the exclusive rights to bottle and distribute Coca-Cola products to almost all of Florida. The 46-year-old CEO leads the third-largest privately held and the fifth-largest independent Coca-Cola bottler in the U.S.

Taylor started his career in banking, and made his way to a division that advised large corporate and consumer brands with franchise and trademark finance. It was 1995 on a red-eye flight back from working with the Bacardi de la Cruz family when he realized he wanted to be a Coca-Cola distributor.

Though it took him 20 years to get there, in May 2015 he won the exclusive rights to sales distribution and operations in Central Florida. At the time, the operation had around $380 million in annual revenue. Last October, the company acquired the North Florida territory, and in February, the South Florida territory. After starting with 10 employees, Taylor's company is now at 4,700 employees spread across four manufacturing plants and 17 sales and distribution centers in Florida. Revenue is close to $1.2 billion, with the company producing 100 million cases of beverages a year.