Who Owns the Breweries?

Who owns the breweries?

Hopefully over Easter you discovered a rare craft beer, preferably brewed by an anarchist collective in a garage in Fitzroy or a previously unheard-of tribe of Taswegians, with some punny name like Scotchness Monster or Here we Joe Again.

But who really owns the craft beer industry? More than 170 beer and cider brewers are exhibiting at the GABS festival, for example, but large global brewers regularly buy out the small breweries, and also launch their own brands that, on the surface, look like small breweries.

One hilarious example is 4 Pines, whose ‘Our Story’ starts with: ‘4 Pines was born more than a decade ago from a casual conversation between a father and son, post surf, who simply wanted an exceptional beer…’. It is owned by the world’s largest brewer, AB InBev, but its website still has a crafty old-time font and plenty of heart-warming kooky messages about the community and workers (referred to as ‘our family’).

Some businesses, such as New Belgium Brewing Co in USA, have taken the direction of employee ownership, and are 100 per cent employee owned.

Local brewer Stone & Wood say they are inspired by the idea of being a village brewery, and part of their idea is that all their employees will become owners of the business in the future, alongside the founders. After a year with the brewery, you become eligible for the share offer, and they say 72 per cent of the team are now owners in the business.

‘Our share scheme not only gives the team a sense of pride and ownership when they come to work each day, but it has the potential to generate a nest egg for them and their family over time,’ said managing director Ben Summons. ‘We believe that to create a sustainable business for generations to come, we all need to have skin in the game.’

by Simon Haslam

Original Article