Coca-Cola Company today signed a letter of intent with Great Lakes Coca-Cola Distribution L.L.C., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reyes Holdings, granting the company exclusive rights to sell and distribute Coca-Cola products in four new states.
Consolidation in the wholesaling business continued today when two prominent multi-state distributors of beer, wine and spirits — Chicago-based Wirtz Beverage Group and New York-based Charmer Sunbelt Group — announced a merger and the creation of a jointly owned venture, Breakthru Beverage Group. The two companies have signed an agreement that will combine their beverage alcohol operations into a new entity and simultaneously create the second-largest distributor of beer, wine and spirits in the U.S., with sales of more than $6 billion annually, behind Southern Wine & Spirits.
Brewbound is pleased to announce that Brew Talks — a traveling meetup for beer industry professionals — will make its final stop of 2015 in Los Angeles next month. The event, taking place at Golden Road Brewing (5410 W. San Fernando Rd., Los Angeles, CA), will feature two discussions with brewery co-founder Meg Gill and Brian Mulvaney, the senior vice president of Bank of America’s beverage group.
Boulevard Brewing today announced it would expand distribution to Arizona and Kentucky, inking deals with two wholesalers — Arizona’s Hensley Beverage Company and Kentucky’s Beer House Distributors.
Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits, Inc. today filed a form S-1 with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), indicating its intent to become a publicly traded company. The initial public offering (IPO) is valued at $172.5 million, according to filings, and underwriters include Goldman, Sachs & Co., Morgan Stanley, Baird, BMO Capital, Cowen and Company and Nomura. Ballast Point’s proposed NASDAQ Global Select Market symbol is “PINT.”
In the acquisition age, few craft brewery founders are “selling in.” But that’s exactly the route Charles and Rose Ann Finkel, the founders of Seattle-based Pike Place Brewing, have taken. The company today announced the sale of a “significant minority” stake to three key employees: Drew Gillespie, Vice President Operations; Patti Baker, Vice President Controller; and Gary Marx, Executive Chef.
In an effort to keep up with the growing consumer desire for local craft brands, executives from Craft Brew Alliance stressed the importance of their 2016 regional strategy during the company’s annual national CBA-Con meeting with Anheuser-Busch InBev wholesalers, held on Wednesday in Las Vegas.
The 5th edition of the Startup Brewery Challenge, Brewbound’s one of kind business pitch competition for emerging craft brands, will return to the upcoming Brewbound Session, taking place on Dec. 3 in San Diego, Calif. Presented by Craft Brew Alliance, the Startup Brewery Challenge gives U.S. craft breweries who have been on the market for less than two years a chance to show off their business plans, sample one core product offering and receive immediate feedback from a panel of five expert judges.
Recently, some of the biggest headlines in the craft beer industry haven’t been about the beer; they have been about the mergers and acquisitions of the brewers of the beer. With the increased frequency of craft brewery transactions, owners should be thinking about what the future holds for their business (and what could be their most valuable asset). That future may include a transition to a family member, selling only a part of the business in order to fund growth or to allow owners to take some chips off the table or, in the right circumstances, to sell the entire business. Even if you have no immediate plans or desire to sell or transition your business, these tips will help you position your business so that you can take advantage of opportunities and respond to challenges that cause you to rethink your plans.
In an effort to continue providing our audience with valuable insight in areas like finance, investment, branding, marketing, sales, and distribution, we’re excited to introduce “Brewbound Voices,” an avenue for experts to contribute their knowledge to our readership. Kicking off the initiative is Mike McCann, the chairman of Kansas-City-based law firm Spencer Fane’s corporate practice group.
Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller are one step closer to making history after tentatively agreeing to a merger worth nearly $104 billion, a deal that would be the largest takeover in U.K. history. In a press statement, Anheuser-Busch InBev said Tuesday that it reached an agreement, in principle, to acquire a majority of the London-based SABMiller for 44 pounds a share.
Presentations from the 78th annual National Beer Wholesalers Convention, being held at the Caesers Palace in Las Vegas, concluded this afternoon with a panel of industry leaders who discussed, among other topics, the pending tie-up of the world’s two largest beer companies. Five prominent brewery executives (listed below) joined the panel, which was moderated by Mike Gretz, president of Gretz Beer Company, a wholesaler in Hatfield, Penn.
Craft Brew Alliance today announced that Kurt Widmer, the co-founder of Widmer Brothers Brewing and the current chair of the CBA board, would resign at the end of the year. In an effort to support the transition as CBA’s board of directors selects a new chairperson, Kurt Widmer — who started the brewery with his brother Rob Widmer in 1984 — will remain in his role through December 31, 2015 and assume the honorary title of Chairman Emeritus upon exiting, the company said.
Revolution Brewing has announced plans to officially expand distribution to Massachusetts, signing with Massachusetts Beverage Alliance (MBA) for statewide coverage beginning Nov. 2. The decision to begin selling beer on the east coast is more of a personal one for Revolution founder Josh Deth, who was born and raised in Newton, Mass., a Boston suburb.
