When a distributor-supplier partnership yields sustained year-over-year growth and a steady supply chain, there’s something to be learned. That has been the case for Brighton-Best International and Red Rhino Industrial for more than a decade.
Brighton-Best International is a fastener supplier that joined NetPlus Alliance in 2004. The company’s business has expanded over the years into several other related categories, including hand tools, abrasives, cutting tools, safety, and more.
Red Rhino Industrial, based in Springville, UT, opened shop in 2014. According to Red Rhino Partner Kevin Swenson, his relationship with Brighton-Best was one of his first priorities.
“When I started this business, my first move was to get an opening order with Brighton-Best set up,” Kevin said, “We knew that was our strategic play right from the get-go.”
In 2025, Kevin and his team started looking for strategic avenues for growth in a competitive industry. He looked to Brighton-Best Regional Manager Mountain States Dustin Henderson for a recommendation. Dustin happened to also be the NetPlus liaison for Brighton-Best.
“We started realizing that it would be in our favor to join a buying group,” Kevin explained. “Dustin was already a strategic partner, so his opinion was important to me. When he pointed to me toward NetPlus, that’s the direction we went.” By November of 2025, Red Rhino was officially a NetPlus distributor member, with Kevin set up as the NetPlus liaison.
Partners to Count On
As with all great partnerships, support goes both ways between Brighton-Best and Red Rhino. Kevin’s team loyally and effectively sells Brighton-Best lines, and Dustin’s team can be counted on to get Red Rhino exactly what they need in the timeframe their customers need it.
“Red Rhino has been such a good partnership with us,” Dustin explained. “Anything that we have brought on board — whether it’s gloves, stainless product offerings, hand tools, cutting tools, packaging tape, safety PPE, fasteners, struts, whatever the commodity is that we get into — Kevin has always looked at those lines. He is just an overall, well-rounded, full master distributor of our products. He even gets involved in the mill side of our business.”
That decision to back new products from Brighton-Best is easy for Kevin; he trusts in the proven quality and reliable partnership their years of business have established. From brands like Proferred to Ironclad and beyond, Kevin’s team is committed to Brighton-Best products because they know they will serve their customers well. Ironclad hand protection has been a particular area of focus over the last couple of years.
“As product lines have been added over the years, quality is not sacrificed,” Kevin said. The fastener business that brought them to Brighton-Best in the first place is still strong. These added opportunities support not only increased purchases within the group, but additional sales to their customers. “We’ve always counted on them being good quality product lines that help us as distributors maintain healthy margins and ensure good availability and access.”
“We’ve never skimped on any kind of quality to sell at every price point,” Dustin echoed; a value both men praised several times. That model has proven to be extremely successful for this partnership and doubtless many others.
Exponential Growth
This will be Red Rhino’s first full year as a NetPlus member, but they’ve already demonstrated their ability to reach consistent year-over-year growth.
“Every year when we go over our performance, it’s just ‘you grew again, you grew again, you grew again,’ which we want to hear,” Kevin said. On average, these partners have grown their sales together by 32% each year they’ve been in business together since the very beginning.
Red Rhino is about a 45-minute drive from Brighton-Best’s regional warehouse just outside of Salt Lake City. In the early days, Kevin would drive up to Brighton-Best to pick up will call orders. Red Rhino wasn’t ordering enough to warrant a delivery yet. That gave him an opportunity to get to know the warehouse team, to understand how their business and culture worked. Now, with significantly increased business, they’re up to daily orders and three deliveries from Brighton-Best each week.
“Even though we’re not right in their backyard, we get very good service,” Kevin said. “It’s consistent, we count on it.” The steady supply chain they have established with Brighton-Best earns a significant amount of loyalty. As Brighton-Best continues to expand their product offerings, Red Rhino can continue to shift from products they offer out of convenience to products they push.
Part of that confidence in the supply chain stems from the very same warehouse team Kevin built a relationship with when he was hustling to grow his brand new business. The newest employee in that warehouse has been with the team for 19 years, Dustin added. The only personnel change during that time was one well-deserved retirement.
“As we’ve been able to add product lines that are backed by Brighton-Best over the years, they go from being like a throw-in item or product line that we don’t necessarily push to the product line that we push because we know it’s backed,” Kevin went on to explain. “We’re confident there’s a strategic supply chain behind it keeping the flow, so we don’t feel hesitant about pushing it.”
New Opportunities Ahead
Dustin and Kevin are already setting the stage for their next opportunity for growth: nitrile glove expansion.
“We were doing a really good job pre-COVID, but then when COVID came around, nitrile gloves were saved for everybody in the healthcare industry,” Dustin shared. “Kevin’s got a really deep footprint in nitrile gloves already. We’re going to be working together to convert him over to our Ironclad and CleanFit nitrile glove lines.”
This has been a recent priority for Kevin, but current market conditions surrounding petroleum and manufacturing have him looking to Dustin’s team for a steady supply, consistent margins, and quality he can sell with confidence.
“One thing I’ve noticed over the years working with Dustin is that Brighton-Best has a strong culture of protecting their distributors,” Kevin said. “They know what we’re up against, and they don’t let us get squished by the big players. They make sure we’re successful — I’ve heard Dustin say it many, many times, ‘If you guys are successful, I’m successful.’ And I’ve watched that played out in so many circumstances over the years where we’ve needed our supply chain protected, the sourcing, the distribution and allocation of product, and they’ve come through.”
These partners are 12 years into a successful relationship, and they’re just getting started. They’re both eager to step into new avenues of growth together and sustain their success. With the added connection of NetPlus, the rebates Red Rhino will benefit from, the planning tools both organizations can take advantage of, and more, we’re sure to see continued growth from these organizations for years to come.
