Pizza Boy Haters' Tears Controversy

His argument is spot on, but his delivery is way off.

 

People are always going to complain about prices. I personally think the label is pretty funny but he's just fanning the flames at this point. I can't see this necessarily being good for business.

 

I also found it funny that two of the three descriptors of their beers are "ultra rare" and "corked and caged." I mean, I'm sure the $33 is a justifiable price, there's no doubt in my mind that what they're selling is an expensive thing to create, but those two factors are kind of silly to me.

 

The thing with the Bruery is that they have a reputation and a proven track record.

 

Pizza Boy has the right to sell their products for a price they deem to be appropriate.

Consumers have the right to accept or reject that price. Consumers also have the right to speak out about product pricing if they believe it is unfair.

I'm not a sour guy so I don't have any idea about appropriate prices for such beers. I will say that I faithfully go to Al's (Pizza Boy) every time I visit Harrisburg. I never have been disappointed in their beer (the food is a different story - it kinda sucks).

 

Now this is the question worth asking

 

Oh shit!! Al's going to come on here and blast you now!

 

A bit snarky and juvenile, but his point is solid. Business owners shouldn't have to defend their price points. If the demand is there, and it all sells, the end result justifies the how's and why's. He may have alienated a few potential customers though.

 

I don't care how good your beer is with a name like "Pizza Boy"... i'm going to avoid your brewery altogether.

 

With... to soothe all the butthurt

 

So does Pizza Boy's brewer Terry Hawbaker. See there's this brewery called Bullfrog . . .

 

Probably. But I gotsta speak 'da truth.

 

So, I typically have very little patience for price complaining. And as far as I'm concerned, they can charge whatever the hell they want for their products and don't have to justify it for anyone.

That said, while his logic is sound (most people who complain about prices don't know the first thing about overhead costs), his lesson is an exercise in why it's a bad idea to justify pricing to price complainers. Pizza Boy beer is fantastic, but there are other brewers who make similar style beers, who presumably have similar overhead costs to cover, and manage to find a price point under $33. The second a business owner tries to explain pricing, they open themselves up to these kinds of questions, valid or not.

It's best to ignore the haters and recognize that the "if you don't wanna pay that price, don't buy it" argument is congruous with the idea that someone who *is* willing to pay the price likely isn't going to be persuaded by their cheap friend. They both rely on the logic that peoples' purchase behavior should line up with their individual price sensitivity.

 

Haha yall should look at De Garde's to go list and price this weekend. $33 is insane for any beer not being imported. Worse is not saying "hey guys and gals, our products take a lot of time and manpower to produce..we are flattered by interest in our products and we feel like we've priced our products in line with achieving our long term goals". Blaming a customer is a difficult business choice i imagine

 

I feel this is a fantastic point. When i visited PB this winter, their asking 33 dollars for sours that are at best, pretty good. Alot of comments above leave similar sentiments; its alot of money to be asking for a new, untried brewery


Moreover, when you price your beer that highly, i judge it ALOT more harshly. When you can sours for 12 bucks a 6 pack, i see that as a daily beer. When its 8-15 dollars a serving, i expect the absolute best, and i find that pizza boy falls short on this measure

 

I don't know, a lot of people complain about the prices of barrel-aged beers in general, and this lets those see all the money that actually goes into it. Some are surely still on the high side, but the fact is that it costs a lot to make these beers, particularly when there is fruit and a lot of time aging involved. Seeing this may incline some folks to consider why these things cost what they do.

(That said, $33 for a bottle is a TON. Most breweries, even ones that have to also use separate facilities, are far less. De Garde and Funk Factory come to mind, each $20 or under generally, and the latter of which have beers that spend 2+ years in the barrel. Both are similarly small operations to Pizza Boy. Even some imports like Drie Fonteinen and Cantillon (who obviously specialize in sours and are larger scale) are cheaper than that, and they have to make the trip across the ocean and deal with import tax and Shelton tax.)

 

Never heard of the brewery. Now it is a little bit much for the business to explicitly state why they charge as much as they do but for many people who don't know what goes into pricing, it might open their eyes as to why the price is the way it is.

I'm not going to pay $33 for a bottle of beer so their beer and pricing strategy don't apply to me and people like me.

 

What about the snob Ferrari analogy ? I certainly didn't need that..

The name of the beer seems like they were expecting to get some flak.. Looking at it now that I've had some time to think I don't kno if I would willingly support an asshole of a brewery like this.. Yep it only takes one thing like this for me .. Theres plenty of other breweries for me to enjoy

 

I'm assuming this beer is fermented with the naturally occurring wild yeast strains and bacteria found in the used kleenex bits.

 

100 lbs of fruit per barrel will never be cost effective but more than likely tasty.

Still haven't pulled the trigger on anything bottled by Pizza Boy, I don't even consider buying their barrel aged stuff.. but even the regular beers are on the high end of the spectrum.