Our Craft Beer Marketing Idea of the Week series turns to Lake Charles, La., for something that maybe isn’t quite a marketing concept. Maybe it’s filed under distribution? All we know is it’s innovative enough to get a moment in the spotlight.
The idea, like all great ideas, first starts with a new beer: Crying Eagle Brewing Co.’s A Nice Pear. The Louisiana brewery came up with it special for a partnership it formed with Waitr, a restaurant on-demand platform that connects local restaurants to hungry consumers. Today, Waitr has more than 2,500 restaurant partners and hundreds of thousands of users in more than 100 cities.
And now, it has this specialty beer to offer that will now be available in the restaurants it is working with. You follow that?
The collaboration was Bayou-born, as both companies were founded in Lake Charles, with the initial idea taking shape over “a couple of beers” at an event where Eric Avery, president of Crying Eagle Brewing, and Chris Meaux, founder and CEO of Waitr, were in attendance.
“As we talked, we agreed it was a cool idea,” said Avery. “Rarely if ever has a brewery collaborated with a technology company to create a unique style for the market.”
“We’re really excited to see Waitr’s A Nice Pear in our partner restaurants,” said Meaux. “Waitr is committed to fueling the success of its restaurant partners and that means doing things that drive business into their restaurants. This is an example of creativity helping our local restaurant industry.”
Crying Eagle Brewing, started only a year ago, has quickly become a thriving hub of activity in Lake Charles. The taproom and beer garden are the site of numerous community activities, fundraisers and business-hosted events.
Tell us about the beer
A Nice Pear is a saison brewed with organic pear juice and fermented with Northern French Saison yeast. The beer is then dry-hopped with Bramling Cross hops to add additional orchard-fruit notes. Considered an excellent choice for pairing with food, this style was chosen for the originality of having a food-related item in the beer, thereby tying in Waitr’s business. Pear was chosen because it has a floral sweetness and the color reflects the green found in the Waitr logo.
[…] Crying Eagle collab with restaurant app […]