Spotlight On: Cheyenne International

Officials at Cheyenne International base their mission on three basic principles: Partnership, quality and compliance. If they successfully implement each of those three factors they are confident that retailers and wholesalers, not to mention adult consumers, will flock to the brand. 

Through its nearly 14-year existence, the company must be doing something right. Cheyenne has emerged as a well-respected niche player in the suddenly hot tobacco industry, and the Grover, N.C.-based company is making a lot of retailers notice its product lines and commitment to the industry. 

“Our mission statement is pretty simple,” says David Scott, CEO and one of Cheyenne’s four founders. “We want to work with our wholesalers and retailers to make them as much profit as possible. At the same time, we want to make sure they understand our philosophy. That there is no excuse for not offering a high-quality product at an affordable price, as well as partnership that guarantees that we will do everything in our power to make sure they can reap the benefits of our company and its products. At the same time, we work very hard to make sure we are in compliance with all regulations in the industry.” 

From its humble beginnings in 2002—that included the company’s principles working odd jobs on the factory floor—Cheyenne has emerged as a full-service tobacco company. Starting with its Cheyenne line of cigarettes, the company has expanded into virtually every tobacco segment, including offering products in such categories as cigars, smokeless tobacco, pipe tobacco and items in the still-emerging vapor segment. Currently, the company does business in more than half the states across America and distributes products internationally.  

In today’s climate, perhaps the company’s most impressive feat is that its flagship cigarette segment has grown. Cheyenne offers 11 SKUs in its premium Cheyenne Cigarette brand, as well as 10 SKUs in the slightly-lowered priced Decade Cigarette label, which was introduced in 2004. Its Aura Cigarette label, a line introduced in 2007, features four cigarette styles that are simply tobacco and water. Its cigar line includes three labels: Cheyenne, Derringer and the cocktail-flavored Bodyshot Cigar line.

“It is really amazing how far we have come,” says Scott. “We opened our factory in Grover in 2003 with the intention of becoming a manufacturer of tobacco products for the Southeast region of the U.S. We saw an opportunity to create a niche in certain areas by competing with big tobacco by offering a lower-priced alternative that still offers the quality consumers want.

“As with any small company, it was quite difficult at first. But we finally hit critical mass and it was off to the races for us. Frankly, it was a lot of hard work but through blood, sweat and tears we managed to get there. Tobacco is a very hard industry to be involved with, especially with all the regulations.”

Scott says that Cheyenne still has to pick its battles. With the big tobacco companies entering into deals with the larger retailers on pricing, he says it is very hard for Cheyenne to get the lowest price points at a retail outlet. So the company focuses on smaller and independent retailers, offering them a wide array of in-store promotional materials to help push sales through. 

“We are ready and willing to work with our retail partners to create programs and signage that are unique and will help them sell more products,” he adds. “It is so important for a retailer to have good point-of-sale materials to draw the consumers’ attention. To us it is all about affordable products and sell-through.” Scott says that consumers can save as much as $10 a carton on cigarettes compared to the major tobacco brands, while retailers can retain significant margins. 

With the overall tobacco industry registering its first increase in cigarette sales in more than a decade, suppliers like Cheyenne are eager to introduce items to their overall selection. Scott says that Cheyenne is going to release a line extension to its filter cigar and pipe tobacco lines this year. “There are other things in the pipeline that I cannot discuss now but we are quite optimistic about the category’s future,” he says. 

“We want our retail and wholesale partners to realize that we are here to work with them and to make them as much money as we can through our products,” Scott says. “Cheyenne is here to help them by offering quality products, great service and compliance. We are very proud of that.”