• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • About Craft Brewing Business

Craft Brewing Business

Professional Insight, Unfiltered

Craft Brewing Business Craft Brewing Business
  • News
  • Business & Marketing
  • Packaging & Distribution
  • Equipment & Systems
  • Ingredients & Supplies
  • Webinars & White Papers
  • News
  • Business & Marketing
  • Ingredients & Supplies
  • Packaging & Distribution
  • Equipment
  • Webinars & White Papers
  • COVID-19

Founders Brewing updates expansion timeline, delays distribution and canning

June 11, 2013Keith Gribbins

Founders All Day IPA Can
As part of some growing pains, Founders Brewing Co. will not be introducing the new package launch of All Day IPA in 12-pack cans next month.

Founders Brewing Co. is Michigan’s second-largest beer maker. The company was ranked No. 30 on the Brewers Association’s list of the Top 50 Largest Craft Breweries in the United States in 2012 (it was No. 42 in 2011). Founders estimated it brewed about 71,886 bbls in 2012 and has projected to push that to 130,000 bbls in 2013, but with that type of aggressive expansion planned, there are bound to be a few growing pains.

Yesterday on its blog, Founders announced that: “Over the last couple of months we have been tight on production, and we have watched warehouse inventories, including ours and those of our distributors, affected by a perfect storm of activity.”

The Grand Rapid’s brewery is in the midst of a giant production facility expansion with a brewhouse extension, improvements made to its bottling line, the installation of a high-speed canning line and the addition of several 600-barrel (bbl) fermenters, but that’s all taking a lot more resources than anticipated. Specifically, the expansion has affected Founders’ ability to provide proper inventory quantities for all of its markets. We quote the blog:

After several months of effort, we can now say the end is near, and we are wrapping up our production facility updates. However, during this process, we had to undergo downtimes, which led to inventory levels becoming significantly reduced. It’s important for us to maintain a focus on our core brands in our current markets; as such, we must make some difficult decisions.

In the best interest of our wholesaler partners, retail accounts and craft beer consumers, we will hold off opening planned new markets at this time, including Florida, which was scheduled for a July launch. We also will not be introducing the new package launch of All Day IPA in 12-pack cans next month. Please know that these difficult moves affect many parts of our business but should be done for both short- and long-term success. Until we have built up core brand inventories in all markets again and are comfortable in meeting existing demand, these opportunities must wait a bit longer.

We are confident this won’t take long and hope to be able to embark on these new projects as soon as possible. We appreciate your support and your patience with us as we grow.

We interviewed Co-Founder Dave Engbers last month, discussing (among other things) the company’s aggressive production, distribution and sales standards. We also discussed how the brewery had big plans to launch All Day IPA (its spring and summer seasonal session beer, which splits the year with its hugely popular Breakfast Stout in the fall and winter). Last year, All Day IPA could only be launched into four markets (Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina and the Chicago land area).

“Our original plan was to release that over a much larger footprint, but at the time, unfortunately, our hop contracts weren’t strong enough,” Engbers explained in the article. “We had to make a decision where we put off launching it for an entire year or we do a soft launch in targeted markets. Luckily, we saw absolutely great results, so we’re really, really excited about that brand.”

It’s the story of many hugely popular craft breweries. Founders is still struggling to keep up with its growth plans and crazy demand. It’s one of the most difficult challenges successful craft brewers must deal with today. We’ll keep you updated on Founders’ progress and its revised production and distribution timelines.

Founders Brewed4Us Logo
The ‘positive turmoil’ that propelled Founders Brewing into 2014
Founders Tanks From Catwalk
Founders Brewing announces next steps in facility expansion
Founders Brewing
New Founders Brewing beer benefits ArtPrize
raft-brewing boom changing Grand Rapids
The craft beer boom has changed Grand Rapids’ culture and economy

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Primary Sidebar

Latest News

  • Craft beer marketing idea of the week: the DelaWeAre collaboration
  • Celebrate Craft Malt Week with this 2023 craft malt and barley news recap
  • Iron Hill Brewery ready to open brewpub No. 22
  • Eastern Market Brewing announces Elephant & Co. self-serve taproom expansion in former Founders Detroit location

Sign up for our newsletter

unsubscribe from list

Most Popular Today

Recent Features

  • root-shoot-maltingCelebrate Craft Malt Week with this 2023 craft malt and barley news recap
    September 27, 2023
  • Let’s take a look at California Wild Ales new Point Loma brewery and taproom
    September 25, 2023
  • Distribution update: Craftwell Cocktails arrive in Idaho + moves from Resident Culture, Good Dogg and more
    September 25, 2023
  • insurance-risk-exposureReflections in risk: How craft brewing risks evolved the past decade
    September 21, 2023
  • Watch how the bacteria in Bell’s Cube wastewater facility are raised on craft beer
    September 20, 2023
  • Can Transport (1)Cheers to 10 Years: Paradox Brewing asks the key questions to revamp retail strategy
    September 19, 2023

Footer

  • Email Newsletter Sign Up
  • About Craft Brewing Business
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise on Craft Brewing Business
  • Media Kit Download
  • Privacy and Terms

© 2023 · CBB Media LLC