Layoffs

Michigan’s Founders Brewing Company has cut eight jobs as it restructured its business to focus on the on-premise channel, a spokesperson confirmed to Brewbound.

About 30 employees have been let go following the integration of the Bell’s Brewery organization into New Belgium after the latter’s parent company, Kirin-owned Lion Little World Beverages, acquired the former last fall. The layoffs amounted to less than 3% of New Belgium and Bell’s combined workforce.

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.

Visalia, California-based Bueno Beverage Company will lay off 43 of its 160 employees next week following the announcement of Constellation Brands’ termination of the Anheuser-Busch InBev-aligned wholesaler.

After terminating four workers from its Indianapolis taproom earlier this week, BrewDog has also let go of the employee who approved the firings and hired an external human relations firm to investigate. All four of the workers who were terminated on Monday, March 8, are members of the LGBTQ community; two are women and two are non-binary.

Heineken USA (HUSA) is cutting 14% of its workforce, effective January 1, 2021, Brewbound has confirmed.

2020 will see Captain Pabst’s final voyage. Pabst Brewing Company announced yesterday that the Captain Pabst Pilot House, its Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based brewery, taproom and event space, will permanently close on December 21.

Eugene, Oregon-based Ninkasi Brewing Company has instituted “organizational and operational changes” over the last month that has led to cuts within its field sales, hospitality and management teams, Ninkasi Brewing CEO Nigel Francisco confirmed to Brewbound.

Grand Rapids, Michigan-headquartered Founders Brewing Company laid off 89 retail workers at its taprooms in Detroit and Grand Rapids, effective November 18, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) filed that same day with Michigan’s Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, Workforce Development.

Surly Brewing management and workers attempting to organize a union at the Minneapolis-based craft brewery have reached an agreement on a union election after several weeks of negotiations, Unite Here Local 17 announced Thursday.

Two days after a majority of its hospitality employees announced their intention to unionize, Minneapolis-based Surly Brewing Company announced it will close its beer hall indefinitely beginning November 2.

After some tense weeks of picketing and negotiating, Philadelphia-based Dock Street Brewing announced it would change its service model so that front-of-house employees at its West Philadelphia location would be paid regular hourly wages, rather than relying on tips.

A pioneer of the Vermont craft beer industry will no longer have a physical presence in the state. Magic Hat Brewing, now owned by Rochester, New York-based FIFCO USA, will vacate its brewery and performing arts center, called “The Artifactory,” in South Burlington, Vermont, next month, according to a press release.

Harpoon Brewery parent company Mass. Bay Brewing has disbanded its distributing company and sold the rights to sell its products in the Boston area to Randolph, Massachusetts-based Burke Distributing.