Anheuser-Busch InBev (A-B) has combined the U.S. field sales teams from its craft brewery and “high end” divisions to create a new high end field sales team. The news was first reported by Beer Business Daily.
The 400-person team will be charged with supporting A-B’s premium and super premium brands – “leading and developing” segments which are a “top priority” for the beer giant, Andy Thomas, A-B president of The High End and the Brewers Collective (A-B’s craft brewery arm), said in a statement to Brewbound.
“We have the right portfolio to win across a multiple of consumer interests and price points,” Thomas said “This revamped High End field sales team is now more than 400 people strong across the U.S. and better positions us to address evolving consumer needs and trends while building national brands and winning our home markets.”
The new team structure has resulted in the elimination of “several roles,” Thomas said. The number of people affected was not shared, but A-B is “working with “impacted employees to assist them through this transition.”
A-B has 21 craft brands in its Brewers Collective (BC) portfolio, including six national brands: Kona (outside of Hawaii), Goose Island, Elysian, Omission, Virtue Cider and Golden Road.
Cleveland, Ohio-based Platform Beer Co. – part of the BC East division – also announced staffing changes over the weekend, Cleveland.com reported. The brewery has reportedly laid off “several” employees from its Cleveland production facility as the brewery works to “evolve its production plan,” Platform founder Paul Benner said in a statement shared with Brewbound.
“Since we started brewing at our Cleveland production facility in 2016, the building has been an important part of our business and will continue to play an integral role in our consumer-first strategy,” Benner said. “We will continue to brew and package beer at the facility, but moving forward, we will evolve our production plan to best fit the space, focusing on brewing high-quality, great tasting beer. Unfortunately, several employees at the production facility were impacted and we’re working to assist them through this transition.”
Seventeen employees were laid off, according to Cleveland.com. A-B did not share a number with Brewbound, or which positions were affected.
The layoff news was “solely an internal people announcement at Platform last week,” and the High End sales team news was “not in relation to the Platform announcement,” an A-B spokesperson told Brewbound.
Platform produced an estimated 22,500 barrels in 2021, a flat year after a -13% decline in 2020, according to estimates from the Brewers Association (BA). Platform was the smallest craft brewery of the 13 breweries listed within A-B’s craft portfolio by the BA. The next largest brewery was Patchogue, New York-based Blue Point, which produced an estimated 75,000 barrels in 2021. BA estimates do not include beyond beer offerings such as hard seltzer.