About Red Dot Distributors
Built by People Who Know This Industry
Red Dot Distributors was founded by two people with deep roots in wholesale distribution who saw too many family businesses disappear. RDD brings companies together under an ESOP structure that preserves legacies and rewards employees.
We started Red Dot Distributors because we watched too many good businesses disappear.
Jim Goodman's family has been in the plumbing and heating wholesale industry for over 70-years. Adrian Cummings spent his career working as a plumber. Both of them watched the same thing happen over and over again — family-owned distributors built over decades getting acquired by national corporations who changed the names, closed locations, and laid off loyal employees.
They knew there had to be a better way.
The Idea:
The idea was simple. Making it happen was not.
Adrian and Jim believed an Employee Stock Ownership Plan could solve the succession problem — letting owners retire while keeping their businesses intact and giving employees a real ownership stake. But after talking with ESOP professionals, they discovered the reality: standing up an ESOP is capital intensive, and most individual businesses cannot do it on their own.
That is where the Red Dot Distributors model was born. By bringing family-owned businesses together under one group, each company becomes part of something large enough to support an ESOP.
What We Believe
We are not private equity. We are not a national chain.
We love family-owned businesses and would love to see every one of them stay family-owned. We also know that is not realistic for every family and every business. Not every owner has someone ready to take over. Not every business can find a buyer who will treat it with respect.
Rather than closing the doors or selling to a nationwide competitor, we are offering another solution — joining Red Dot Distributors. Your name stays on the building. Your employees stay on the payroll. And every one of them becomes an owner.
We are building a group of distributors and manufacturers that are stronger together. We are not looking to flip companies or strip them down. Every business that joins RDD keeps its identity, its team, and its reputation. What changes is that your employees gain an ownership stake, your business gains the purchasing power of the group, and you gain the ability to retire knowing you did right by the people who helped you build it.
The Founders
Built by people with roots in this industry.
Jim Goodman comes from a family with 70+ years in the plumbing and heating wholesale industry. Jim has witnessed countless articles on the acquisition of family owned distributors and manufacturers. His experienced expertise with wholesale distribution particularly brings comfort to business owners in those fields.
Adrian Cummings has years of experience in the trade as a plumber. Adrian has witnessed the service that a family-owned business provides versus a nationwide chain.
After leaving the plumbing field Adrian worked as a banker managing commercial accounts. His well rounded understanding of business and the trades has been an asset to RDD as well as to the customers he’s served in banking.
Want to learn more about how Red Dot Distributors works?
Whether you are a business owner exploring your options, an industry professional, or simply curious about the ESOP model, we welcome the conversation.