Let's talk about distribution

I cannot give industry experience but I can relay what my local stores told me about a similar thing. We have a few local breweries who won't allow product into stores close to their brewery so folks will go to the brewery directly.

Not saying this is the reason but they could want local folks to drive to their brewery for sales and then they ship out to more distant areas to get their product out there.

Just my two cents from a conversation I had a little ways back about why some locals are not on shelf etc.

Cheers and good luck with info.

 

And if the local beer consumers are willing to travel to the brewery that makes perfect business sense. Direct sales from the brewery yields greater profits.

Cheers!

 

I think most would travel over to the brewery since the stores in question were only 5 miles from the brewery so if the customer is willing to drive to the store they are a stones throw from the brewery.

 

There is a very local brewery that opened less than a year ago and they are selling cans of their beers at my local Retail Beer Distributor. The brewery and the Retail Beer Distributor are only about 1 miles from each other (practically walking distance). I am uncertain why the brewery is selling their beers via this retailer. My guesses are:

• The Retail Beer Distributor is located on a heavily trafficked road (better 'pop in' customer base?) while the brewery is more nestled in an industrial park setting
• Since the brewery is brand new they need all of the retail locations they can get

Cheers!

 

Another possibility is that they are concerned about maintaining the good will of the retailer and not having someone complaing about to their professional friends and associates. Especailly if there is it is a chain store, there will be a beer manager in the central office who will know about the issue either way.

Personally, If I'm looking for tap beer and an evening out I'll go to the bar. If I'm looking for their packaged beer to take home I'll get it while grocery shopping since I'll not be interested in making two stops when I can make one. I know folks who will change their grocery store to combing shoppnig for food and beer.

 

I agree with @drtth's points. Also, I've spoken to taproom-oriented brewery owners who say they use retail essentially as advertising for their taprooms. People walk into a bottle shop, see cans of a new-to-them brewery, and think, "Oh, there's another brewery I should check out" (especially if they give the beer a try and like it, but often even if they don't buy the beer at all). It's another way to get their names out there into the public consciousness.

 

While I do not know anything about CA distro, I can make three guesses:

1. Often times brewers and distributors don't always play nice.

2. Chain stores can greatly affect where beer does and does not go. Getting a chain set in a dozen stores can affect distribution of said beer.

3. Demographics can be a factor too. Beer goes where the $$$ is. We have a distributor here in MI who sends most of his good stuff to Oakland county because that is one of, if not the richest counties in MI.

 

There are very many reasons a brewery might be selective with its distribution of certain beers. I think the most likely ones have already been covered. My take:

1. They are serving their best markets first. This is the most likely explanation, I think. While I'm sure there are plenty of beer geeks in LA/OC, I gotta think that San Diego and San Fran are just more mature, established, and better craft beer markets overall. If you only have a limited amount of product, you cater to your best markets and best accounts first. That's just how it goes.

2. Maybe LA is still a developing market for these guys, and they want to establish their core brands first before bringing in a bunch of rotational/one-off stuff. Specialty beer is great, but it doesn't keep the lights on at the brewery, and you can't build reliable shelf sets and points of distribution with it. A distributing brewery needs to focus on building a sturdy foundation in the market with their core beers first, and then supplement that with the specialty releases. Too many brands up front would muddy the waters. You want to hone in on your lead brands and establish those first.

3. A lot of distributors push back on what they call "sku-mageddon." They hate having too many different brands/packages in stock because there is a lot of extra cost and hassle associated with it. As related to #2 here, it also makes it much harder for them to focus their team and build the market the right way. It could just be that the particular distributor that services your area did not want to take on a bunch of extra specialty brands.

Really though, why get so wrapped up in it? With all the beer available to you, focus on the brands you can get rather than worrying about the ones you can't.

 

And the customers don't understand it isn't your fault the distributor won't give beer to your region so you get the blame. All they see is other regions in the state getting it.

 

Which is why I all but stopped worrying about what the people who treat craft beer as some neck bearded version of Pokemon think, and started focusing on better curating the selection I can get. Yes you have to explain some of the finer nuances of distro a few times a week but its part of the game. Stores that jump through hoops and break laws to get EVERYTHING on their shelves are starting to get called out for 8 month old IPAs. Times and trends are changing and customers becoming more aware of freshness so instead of engaging in pay to play so I can get bottles of Speciation, for instance, I try to forecast, limit and monitor what I can get without too much hassle.

Life is too short for the bullshit.

 

A couple stores in my area have sent employees out to get limited brewery only releases from the source to put on their shelves as well as every day beers that are packaged and also only available at the source. This is illegal in MI but some folks really want to be THE store so they stupidly risk their license. As mentioned before, pay to play has crept from the tap rooms to the retail stores which is also illegal.

Once these two practices became common I threw up my hands on being the guy with everything because its not worth my time/store's license but my reputation has taken a hit since "I can't get X,Y,and Z beers". Fuck it.

 

A great balanced shop is always more pleasing to the greatest number of people. I' can walk into a store and know the buyer's familiarity with beer history by seeing how the beer set is laid out. These days the local scene gains the prime locations, but a great store has the bones of choices from the world.

 

With regards Mikkeller SD, I find it unlikely that someone from LA/OC is going to drive to the taproom in Mira Mesa which is 80-100+ miles away. Depending on your starting point you would have to drive past breweries like Beachwood, Monkish, Modern Times, Green Cheek, Bottle Logic, Highland Park, Bruery, Bagby, Pizza Port, Burgeon, Lost Abbey, Stone, Rip Current, Alesmith and many more. I have to think Mikkeller reached the same conclusion with regards pulling LA/OC folks into their taproom...it isn't material to the bottom line.

More likely, I think, is saturation in the LA/OC distribution market that doesn't yet exist in NorCal. Mikkeller sends the special releases to NorCal because they know they will stand out and sell and potentially build a loyal following. Something that's nearly impossible here in LA/OC as Mikkeller probably discovered awhile ago.

 

My intent was not to be dismissive. I can appreciate your curiosity, as well as your drive to provide the best service to your customers. However, in your initial post you mentioned that you "personally see it as a slight" when breweries skip your market with these specialty releases. To me, that colors the tone of it with a lot of frustration and negativity. What I was trying to get across was more along the lines of what @ypsifly conveyed in his post. You are better served directing your time and energy into things you can control rather than being frustrated by the things outside of your control. I got my start in this industry in off-prem beer retail, and I understand the job and its frustrations very well. I can be sympathetic, but I can also tell you that it just goes with the territory and it is what it is. There's always going to be someone that comes in asking for something you don't carry or can't get. I'd just give them as genuine an answer as you can, that you've looked into it and that particular beer isn't distributed in the LA area, and then make some recommendations of similar products you do have available to try to keep the sale in-house. If they don't believe you, let them go crazy driving around to every store in the area and coming up empty. That's on them. In my retail days, I'd found that regulars are almost always understanding. The ticker/FOMO people that only come in looking for the rare stuff may not be, but they aren't adding much to your overall business anyway.

 

An anonymous call to the state Alcoholic Beverage Commission might help curb some of this.