More beer pros are out of jobs. The Press Democrat, the biggest paper in San Fran’s North Bay area, where Petaluma, Calif.-based Lagunitas Brewing Co. resides, ran a story yesterday detailing a big layoff of about 100 employees (12 percent of its 900 employees). Industry shakeup. Corporate streamlining. Bad business decisions. New directions. Whatever it is, the biggest beer companies both in the world and in the U.S. craft world are shedding employees this year. Here’s a shortlist.
- Constellation’s Ballast Point Brewing Co. laid off 60 employees
- Anheuser-Busch laid off 380 employees from its craft, imports High End division
- MillerCoors announced plans to cut 350 salaried jobs in September
- In January, Pabst Brewing Co. eliminated 70 positions
- New Belgium Brewing laid off 28 full time employees in February
- Green Flash Brewing cut 33 workers earlier this year, along with announcing it would abandon its newly-minted East Coast hub and distribution
For more on the Lagunitas layoffs, read this excellent summary from Bryan Roth right over here.
K Bunta Lyons says
I know these guys from marin I tried to get KN to invest but he didn’t .. maybe I should remind him. They raised a bunch of $’s and made a bunch when sold.
Steve Druce says
Yeah, big beer buying independent breweries while saying nothing will change…
http://draughtlinesmag.com/brew-news/behind-the-suds-winter-2016/
https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/www.marinij.com/2017/06/27/lagunitas-brewing-goes-global-but-stays-the-same/amp/
David Lucas says
It seems as though “Nation wide” “craft breweries” need to be in a different category than the smaller craft breweries with s much smaller footprint and limited distribution.
Craft Brewing Business says
Interesting. Thanks David.
Rick Boyd says
I find it very interesting that Lagunitas has so much excess capacity between all its operations. It seems that they had an overly optimistic expectation of the market committing to what amounts to more than 3 million bbls even though their highest performing year was less than a million. I think it safe to assume at least one and possibly even two of those breweries will be sold off in the not so distant future.