With a leadership team all well under two years on the job, it would be logical to view 2025 as a rebuilding year for Heineken-owned Lagunitas Brewing. But the Petaluma, California-headquartered brewery took distributor and retailer feedback to heart in the past year-plus, which drove Lagunitas to develop a 2025 plan that’s consistent, focused and hinges on collaboration with its partners.
In reporting full-year 2020 earnings today, Heineken NV announced plans to cut its global workforce by 8,000 full-time employees as part of a reorganization plan first announced in October. Heineken, the world’s second largest beer manufacturer, also recorded several impairment charges totaling more than $1.1 billion (€963 million) to “tangible and intangible assets in operating profit.”
Non-alcoholic brand Heineken 0.0 is pushing toward 2 million cases this year, Heineken USA chief marketing officer Jonnie Cahill shared during last week’s national sales meeting.
Hard seltzers, a Michelob Ultra challenger and a strong push for cans were among the key takeaways from Heineken USA’s national sales meeting held virtually Thursday across three regions.
Another major brewer is teaming up with a non-alcoholic beverage maker to create a hard seltzer. Heineken USA and AriZona Beverages’ Hornell Brewing Company are working together to launch AriZona Sun Rise Hard Seltzer nationwide in the first quarter of 2021.
After five years at the helm of Heineken N.V.-owned, Petaluma, California-based Lagunitas Brewing Company, CEO Maria Stipp is exiting the company, according to a press release. Effective February 21, Dennis Peek, who most recently served as managing director of Heineken Canada, will take over the CEO role.
The hard seltzer category could reach about 10% of the beer market in the next few years, according to research reports from two leading financial services firms. Meanwhile, FIFCO USA has stopped production of Pura Still, the 95-calorie, 4.5% ABV spiked still water brand after less than two years, according to a memo sent to wholesalers this week. Finally, Iron Heart Canning, the country’s largest mobile canning service provider, announced today an agreement to acquire Michigan Mobile Canning.
After 15 years of leading global brewer Heineken N.V., CEO and chairman of the executive board Jean-François van Boxmeer will vacate the top role on June 1, the Supervisory Board of Heineken N.V. announced in a press release today. The board has also zeroed in on van Boxmeer’s successor: Dolf van den Brink, a 22-year veteran of the Dutch beer company who currently serves as president of Heineken’s Asia Pacific region.
Heineken USA (HUSA) is giving away 1,000 31-packs of its non-alcoholic beer, Heineken 0.0, as part of a campaign to win beer-drinking occasions during “Dry January.”
“I did not take this job to lose,” Heineken USA CEO Maggie Timoney said near the close of the company’s national sales meeting with wholesalers in New York City last week. “We’re going to win and win together.”
In this week’s Last Call: Budweiser becomes the ‘official beer’ of the National Women’s Soccer League; California revises the definition of ‘beer’; A-B back away from its Asia Pacific IPO; Founders Announces the end of CBS; and more news.
In an effort to attract a growing number of drinkers who are moderating alcohol consumption, several beer companies are looking toward non-alcoholic brews as a way to boost sales and court the 30 percent of U.S. adults who don’t imbibe. Among major producers, both Heineken and Pabst have recently announced plans to roll out non-alc offerings nationwide in the first quarter of 2019. There’s also an emerging group of startups focused exclusively on crafting alcohol-free libations.
Midway through 2018, Lagunitas Brewing Company is the only top five U.S. craft beer brand gaining dollar share, according to CEO Maria Stipp. Speaking to Brewbound, Stipp shared the company’s results through the first half of 2018, noting that Lagunitas ranks fourth in dollar share (up 4 percent) and sixth in volume (up 5 percent) through July 14, according to data from market research firm Nielsen.
In the latest edition of Press Clips: Beer rationing begins in Europe; trademark infringement fights continue; Beavertown feels the fallout from selling a minority stake to Heineken; and more.
