Boston-headquartered fruited hard seltzer maker Willie’s Superbrew has laid off most of its staff and is considering a sale of the brand, according to Good Beer Hunting.
The layoffs took place in two waves, with at least eight employees being terminated on April 8 and five employees on March 25, an anonymous former employee told Good Beer Hunting. The employee, who joined the company last year, said that the only workers remaining at Willie’s Superbrew are founder Nico Enriquez and CFO Jason Halsted.
An option for the future of Willie’s could be a sale to Boston-based Downeast Cider, which also handles contract production for Willie’s. Requests for comment from Enriquez and Downeast were not returned at press time.
The news comes less than a year after Willie’s appointed former-New Belgium CMO Greg Owsley as the company’s first Chief Brand Officer (CBO). Owsley was hired to help lead the company in a new growth strategy, which included attempting to create – and market Willie’s Superbew within – a new category “entirely different than hard seltzer,” Owsley told Brewbound in October.
Owsley oversaw a packaging rebrand – launched in stores February 1 – which included new ocean-inspired packaging and a rename of its variety packs. The rebrand also introduced Wilie’s new Beach-ade hard lemonade, available in four flavors: Lemonade, Limeade, Peach Lemonade and Half & Half.
During the October conversation with Brewbound, Owsley and Enriquez said the company was aiming to double its sales in 2022, and complete its expansion across the entirety of the East Coast.
Willie’s rebranded from Farmer Willie’s to Willie’s Superbrew in 2018, and shifted production from ginger beer to “superbrews” – a “hybrid of hard cider and hard seltzer.” The rebrand was followed by two consecutive years of production growth, with 50,000 case equivalents produced in 2019 (about 3,629 barrels) and 115,000 CEs (about 8,346 barrels) in 2020, Enriquez told Brewbound in August.
Enriquez declined on several occasions last year to share 2021 production numbers, but noted that the company was “up more than 5X over the last four years.” As of mid-February, the company’s sales were up triple digits for Q1 2022, with +125% projected growth for the quarter, Craft Business Daily reported.
In 2021, the company expanded into Virginia (through Reyes Beer Division) and North Carolina (through Tryon Distributing), following an offer from the grocery chain, Harris Teeter – an expansion that was originally planned for 2022. The move brought Willie’s total distribution network to 11 states, including Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine Pennsylvania and New Jersey. In March, the company added distribution in Florida, Georgia and Alabama.
Last summer, Enriquez told Brewbound about 50% of the company’s sales came from Massachusetts and New York. Willie’s two variety packs – its original pack (renamed G.O.A.T Variety Pack) and a cocktail-inspired pack (renamed Happier Hour) – accounted for 50-60% of its total sales in 2021, Enriquez said.
Willie’s produces all its offerings through Downeast and does not operate its own production house or taproom. However, Wilie’s published a job posting on Brewbound’s job board in February for an “innovation brewmaster.” The job description mentioned a “Wille’s Superbrew taproom,” and noted the position would include overseeing the “buildout and activation of the space.”
In a conversation on Beer Business Daily’s BeerNet Radio podcast last month, Enriquez said the company had made an offer on a lease for a taproom and had its “fingers crossed.”