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Lagunitas Brewing lays off 12 percent of its workforce

October 3, 2018Keith Gribbins

Lagunitas Brewing Co. LogoMore beer pros are out of jobs. The Press Democrat, the biggest paper in San Fran’s North Bay area, where Petaluma, Calif.-based Lagunitas Brewing Co. resides, ran a story yesterday detailing a big layoff of about 100 employees (12 percent of its 900 employees). Industry shakeup. Corporate streamlining. Bad business decisions. New directions. Whatever it is, the biggest beer companies both in the world and in the U.S. craft world are shedding employees this year. Here’s a shortlist.

  • Constellation’s Ballast Point Brewing Co. laid off 60 employees
  • Anheuser-Busch laid off 380 employees from its craft, imports High End division
  • MillerCoors announced plans to cut 350 salaried jobs in September
  • In January, Pabst Brewing Co. eliminated 70 positions
  • New Belgium Brewing laid off 28 full time employees in February
  • Green Flash Brewing cut 33 workers earlier this year, along with announcing it would abandon its newly-minted East Coast hub and distribution

For more on the Lagunitas layoffs, read this excellent summary from Bryan Roth right over here.

StLouis_brewery
Anheuser-Busch eliminates 40 jobs across North America
SAB Miller pic
MillerCoors eliminates 350 salaried positions, cites ‘volume declines amid a challenging industry’
Constellation’s busy week: invests $4 billion in cannabis company, maybe lays off craft team, announces Ballast Point restaurant in San Fran
Ballast Point sells for $1 billion, Anchor Brewing sells for $85 million. What’s the big difference?

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. K Bunta Lyons says

    October 4, 2018 at 9:23 pm

    I know these guys from marin I tried to get KN to invest but he didn’t .. maybe I should remind him. They raised a bunch of $’s and made a bunch when sold.

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  2. Steve Druce says

    October 4, 2018 at 4:23 pm

    Yeah, big beer buying independent breweries while saying nothing will change…

    http://draughtlinesmag.com/brew-news/behind-the-suds-winter-2016/

    https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/www.marinij.com/2017/06/27/lagunitas-brewing-goes-global-but-stays-the-same/amp/

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  3. David Lucas says

    October 4, 2018 at 2:27 pm

    It seems as though “Nation wide” “craft breweries” need to be in a different category than the smaller craft breweries with s much smaller footprint and limited distribution.

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    • Craft Brewing Business says

      October 4, 2018 at 5:00 pm

      Interesting. Thanks David.

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  4. Rick Boyd says

    October 3, 2018 at 3:12 pm

    I find it very interesting that Lagunitas has so much excess capacity between all its operations. It seems that they had an overly optimistic expectation of the market committing to what amounts to more than 3 million bbls even though their highest performing year was less than a million. I think it safe to assume at least one and possibly even two of those breweries will be sold off in the not so distant future.

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