Lagunitas Brewing to lay off 12 percent of its workforce, affecting more than 100 employees

Discussion in 'Beer News' started by ESHBG, Oct 4, 2018.

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  1. ESHBG

    ESHBG Pooh-Bah (2,099) Jul 30, 2011 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Society

  2. THANAT0PSIS

    THANAT0PSIS Pooh-Bah (2,201) Aug 3, 2010 Wisconsin
    Pooh-Bah

    The squeeze on national breweries continues.
     
  3. bound4er

    bound4er Maven (1,347) Jul 4, 2007 Wisconsin

    It's weird if I think about the national or large regional breweries that I used to buy from regularly five years ago. Today all have disappeared from my shopping cart except for an occasional seasonal release and in their place are smaller, more local breweries.
     
  4. dennis3951

    dennis3951 Initiate (0) Mar 6, 2008 New Jersey

    This will not be the last time we read this story.
     
  5. THANAT0PSIS

    THANAT0PSIS Pooh-Bah (2,201) Aug 3, 2010 Wisconsin
    Pooh-Bah

    I still buy Sierra Nevada and Boulevard fairly often, but I couldn't tell you the last time I bought a standard or even a seasonal release from Bells, Lagunitas, Founders, New Belgium, Stone, Anchor, and so on. It's not that I'm focusing on locals for the sake of it, either. Around half of my money goes to imports with Sierra Nevada, Boulevard, regional breweries, and locals splitting the remaining half.

    Lagunitas is a great price point, but as I said in a different thread about Stone, their lineup is absolutely stagnant. Sure, Super Cluster is a good beer, but is it really that different than Sucks, IPA, Sumpin', Hop Stoopid, Born Again Yesterday, etc.? Lagunitas has some of the most prominent house character, for better or worse, and that just bores my palate as well as exhausts it because of all the IPAs.
     
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  6. raynmoon

    raynmoon Initiate (0) Aug 13, 2011 Colorado

    With the talent they have, it's been a surprisingly dull year from them in terms of their Seasonal and One Hitter releases. Super Cluster was a great move though!
     
    mogulskier and flaskman like this.
  7. jrnyc

    jrnyc Pooh-Bah (2,988) Mar 21, 2010 New York
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    I used to drink Lagunitas a lot, but the lack of readable bottle dating and the explosion of awesome local breweries means I never buy their beer, except once a year when Born Yesterday comes out.
     
  8. flaskman

    flaskman Initiate (0) Aug 3, 2015 New York

    I feel bad for those employees. I have close friends that work for breweries and they absolutely love their jobs and the culture surrounding them. I hope Lagunitas can stop the slide. They have always been on my go to list but I have to admit not as much now as in the past. Too many other great choices.
     
  9. Giantspace

    Giantspace Pooh-Bah (2,879) Dec 22, 2011 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Society

    I do not buy small locals due to price being way too high.

    Besides Hamms I do not buy any beer regularly.

    I buy what ever is on sale. Many times it is larger breweries, Victory, Ballast Point, Cigar City, Goose Island etc. Sometimes smaller like Neshaminy Creek, Ale Smith or imports. Never is it local local small guys.

    I cant see paying $38-40+ on just average beer from these breweries. When on sale for $24-28 a case Im in.

    Last time I bought beer Lagunitas was one of the sale beers. I did not check case dates(most times sales are very fresh) as I did not want to spend $32-34 on Pils, Dogtown or IPA.

    Not sure if these cases are being dumped or sold as pallet quantity discounts to turn over more beer or why. This was the first time I have noticed Lagunitas in some time. I used to buy Dogtown and Maximus all the time 6-7 years ago as well as the sucks releases. Cant tell you the last time I had a Lagunitas or even saw one at a friends house.

    As the local small guys keep gaining more local dollars these mid to large guys will get hurt even more. Wont be a shock if Victory or a brewery their size goes out of business. These guys just cant keep up with the trends as they come and go. I know for me before I would buy an ok new beer from Victory at $15-16 I would buy a 4x16 for the same price from a good local small guy.

    Enjoy
     
  10. LADEDA

    LADEDA Initiate (0) Jul 29, 2014 Florida

    Born yesterday, dead tomorrow.
     
  11. Oktoberfiesta

    Oktoberfiesta Initiate (0) Nov 16, 2013 New Mexico

    Shocking since I see them sell well here and they are among the most affordable six pack IPA options around. I saw them on sale for $7.99, while others are $8.99-$15.99.

    That just sets an almost Armageddon situation for other breweries who aren't priced low. If the priced right breweries can't survive, where are we really headed?

    Drinking local crap that may not be up to par and priced higher? I hope not.

    I haven't bought their products in many months. Local core ipas are priced a touch higher but are better. And I hope we trens toward that.

    I think every metro area has a local core IPA that tastes similar to lagunitas IPA. I'm surprised they want to double down on that beer. They hit it out of the park with affordable ba stouts.
     
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  12. HorseheadsHophead

    HorseheadsHophead Grand Pooh-Bah (3,708) Sep 15, 2014 Colorado
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    That's sad. I still buy Lagunitas pretty often. But I can't say as I'm surprised. There's just too much competition out there.
     
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  13. Steve_Studnuts

    Steve_Studnuts Maven (1,281) Apr 21, 2015 Pennsylvania

    I guess this is a case of affordable price points not paying dividends. Truly a shame.
     
    beernuts likes this.
  14. TrojanRB

    TrojanRB Grand Pooh-Bah (3,185) Jul 27, 2013 Texas
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

  15. BBThunderbolt

    BBThunderbolt Grand High Pooh-Bah (7,282) Sep 24, 2007 Kiribati
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    Nor is it the first time.
     
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  16. BBThunderbolt

    BBThunderbolt Grand High Pooh-Bah (7,282) Sep 24, 2007 Kiribati
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    The corporate bean counters make these decisions. The boss man sells the company, talks up a lovey-dovey future, and then, the inevitable happens. Tony still got his though.....
     
  17. Oktoberfiesta

    Oktoberfiesta Initiate (0) Nov 16, 2013 New Mexico

    This quite scares me
    That's from the Santa Rosa link from the sfgate piece.

    They don't mention specifics but they say some lifelong workers were affected. And why not? Get college aged Sebastian to do the same job for $5 less per hour and he'll be happy with a case of free beer/week. I see it too often

    Craft beer feels and seems like a brotherhood to last a lifetime. But you do what's best for you and your family. Loyalty does.not exist unless you have some ownership stake.

    Another article mentions that lagunitas IPA is actually up 8% in restaurant sales.
    I do see that they mention it for last year so this year may be flat. They're preparing for the worst by cutting their best.
     
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  18. jesskidden

    jesskidden Grand Pooh-Bah (3,071) Aug 10, 2005 New Jersey
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    The BREWBOUND article on the layoffs does:
    Or as their former head of field marketing, Jeremy Grenert (left in September), tweeted in a subtle but obvious dig at the sale to Heineken:
     
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  19. jesskidden

    jesskidden Grand Pooh-Bah (3,071) Aug 10, 2005 New Jersey
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Oh, yeah, forgot to mention that the article also notes that the opening of the new Lagunitas brewery in Azuza CA, scheduled originally for 2017 has again been postponed. According to a Lagunitas webpage for the facility:
     
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  20. Prince_Casual

    Prince_Casual Savant (1,212) Nov 3, 2012 District of Columbia
    Trader

    The market is the market, but this they can and SHOULD fix.

    They make a TON of beer. Sucks for example- is a great beer. I bought something at a Wegmans from a 50c+ display (this was probably 2 years ago mind you), tasted off, it was more than a year old. It was not good at all.

    All of these big regional/national breweries who bought tons of capacity with borrowed money, are in a real conundrum because they need to run at as high a rate as possible to make the beer to pay back the interest, but if the beer is not selling through they are going to be getting backed up at the wholesaler level and have either old product on the shelves (bad representation of their brand) or are going to burn money swapping out and buying back (whatever they can or want to do to take care of their wholesalers and retailers who are carrying the product that isn't selling through).
     
    algebeeric_topology likes this.
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