“American craft brewers need to stick together and find new ways to meet the challenges of the 21st Century marketplace – Steve Hindy Brooklyn Brewery
Brooklyn Brewery has announced that they have invested in San Leandro, California’s 21st Amendment Brewery and Fort Collins, Colorado’s, Funkwerks to create a national platform that will share sales and distribution duties.
Clearly this new innovative, which will become effective next January 1st, is aimed at countering the considerable power of global beer entities like AB InBev.
And once in place it will create a “combined sales organization includes a field sales and key accounts team of 70 salespeople and 90 Brand Ambassadors covering 38 states.”
This is an exciting new alliance on the part of these three breweries, and a model that we expect will be duplicated going forward by other craft breweries looking to strengthen their positioning in an increasingly competitive environment.
And you can read their entire press release below…
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Brooklyn Brewery, 21st Amendment, Funkwerks Announce Joint Sales & Distribution Platform
The Brooklyn Brewery (Brooklyn, NY), 21st Amendment Brewery (San Leandro, CA) and Funkwerks Brewing Company (Fort Collins, CO) are launching a new sales and distribution platform effective January 1, 2018. The combined sales organization includes a field sales and key accounts team of 70 salespeople and 90 Brand Ambassadors covering 38 states.
“The changes in the competitive landscape demand creative new go-to-market strategies” says Robin Ottaway, President of Brooklyn Brewery. “We consider ourselves incredibly fortunate to have found partners who share our passion for beer, want to remain independent, and hold a long-term view.”
“The three breweries and sales teams really fit together well,” says Dave Duffy, VP of Business Development for Brooklyn who’ll lead the new platform. “We’re aligned where we need to be, complementary where we need to be, and have a lot of domestic and international territory to grow into together. We can’t wait to start adding value to our retail and wholesale partners in a compelling new way.”
“Each of us brings something different to the table,” adds Dave Wilson, President of 21st Amendment. “From the diverse beers we produce to our unique perspectives, origins and brand personalities, we’re thrilled to band together with Brooklyn and Funkwerks and bring great beer to more craft drinkers across the US.”
Brad Lincoln, co-founder of Funkwerks, adds: “What attracted Funkwerks to this platform is gaining access to a large and well-trained sales team and top-quality brewing skill. From there we get to stay independent, control our destiny, and focus on doing what we truly love to do- make creative, compelling, and delicious beers.”