{"id":3738,"date":"2016-11-08T06:00:13","date_gmt":"2016-11-08T11:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beerbusinessunplugged.com\/?p=3738"},"modified":"2016-11-05T19:18:47","modified_gmt":"2016-11-06T00:18:47","slug":"we-live-in-a-world-of-denial-and-we-dont-know-what-the-truth-is-anymore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beerbusinessunplugged.com\/?p=3738","title":{"rendered":"We live in a world of denial, and we don’t know what the truth is anymore.."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"beer-brands-1070\"Relax, this week\u2019s post is not about today\u2019s election! \u00a0It is about…. Beer! \u00a0In 1970, the Jos. Schlitz Brewing Co. sold 15,129,000 bbls. making them a strong second place brewery behind AB. \u00a0Even by 1980, Schlitz sold over 12,000,000 bbls. that year but the loss of more than three million bbls. was due to the quality issues they were beginning to experience.<\/p>\n

In the early 80s, I had around a 40% share of market with Schlitz, but as the trend worsened, the Schlitz wholesalers became worried. \u00a0Schlitz ultimately returned to brewing the quality of beer they had brewed prior to the QA issues.\u00a0 Unfortunately for Schlitz, by that time it was too late, and Stroh purchased the Schlitz Brewing company. \u00a0Although this was initially well received by the wholesalers, it soon came apparent that even Stroh could not, or would not, be able to save the brand.<\/p>\n

Obviously, Schlitz wholesalers were very nervous as they watched their businesses die. \u00a0Almost all had to make a decision:\u00a0 buy or sell. \u00a0Many, including Schlitz wholesalers in big markets like San Antonio, Dallas and Austin, sold out, feeling it was time. \u00a0Other Schlitz wholesalers, especially those in south Texas where Coors had expanded, but had not become a market success, went after those Coors houses.\u00a0Pundits can make a case that the death of Schlitz created the beginning of the consolidation of the beer industry.<\/p>\n

Even today, it is difficult to believe that Schlitz lost all that volume! \u00a0More than 15 million bbls. of beer is huge, but put that number in perspective, and consider that since 2008, ABI and MC have lost over 17 million bbls.! \u00a0That is more beer lost<\/em> than Schlitz sold<\/em> at its peak!<\/p>\n

Just last week, both ABI and MC reported their third quarter results and the numbers have shown that their declines are not only continuing, but appearing to accelerate. \u00a0ABI and MC were both down about 4% in depletions. \u00a0Bud Light depletions were down 3.8%, resulting in their worst quarter of the year.<\/p>\n

For MC, the numbers indicate that their premium lights gained segment-share, while Lite was down mid-single digits and Coors Light was down low-single digits. \u00a0AB had previously published that Bud Light share was down 65 bps. \u00a0All three leaders in the light segment were down. \u00a0All three beers lost a great deal of volume.<\/p>\n

It took Schlitz 20 years to become an insignificant brand after being the number two brewery. \u00a0Both MC and ABI have now been on the losing end for 10 years. \u00a0Wholesalers for both must to be concerned about the future of their businesses. \u00a0Compared to the Schlitz wholesalers of the 70s, both MC and ABI are in a much better situation and, based upon their portfolio diversity, are positioned for survival.<\/p>\n

There have been, however, a number of wholesalers selling out in recent months. \u00a0The continuing AB negative trends must be part of this emotional decision-making process for these wholesalers. \u00a0As long as the senior brewery executives continue to be highly compensated on increasing shareholder value, their focus will not be altered. \u00a0Similar to the Schlitz wholesalers, is it time to throw in the towel?<\/p>\n

We have been hearing so much political spin in recent months that maybe we are numb to the spin the brewery executives are spouting. \u00a0Gaining share, while losing volume from another brand, who is losing more<\/em> volume and<\/em> increasing dollars, is a formula that will eventually hit a wall. \u00a0Wholesalers see exactly what is happening.<\/p>\n

We live in a world of denial, and we don’t know what the truth is anymore….<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Relax, this week\u2019s post is not about today\u2019s election! \u00a0It is about…. Beer! \u00a0In 1970, the Jos. Schlitz Brewing Co. sold 15,129,000 bbls. making them a strong second place brewery behind AB. \u00a0Even by 1980, Schlitz sold over 12,000,000 bbls. that year but the loss of more than three million bbls. was due to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2xRTi-Yi","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beerbusinessunplugged.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3738"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beerbusinessunplugged.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beerbusinessunplugged.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beerbusinessunplugged.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beerbusinessunplugged.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3738"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.beerbusinessunplugged.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3756,"href":"https:\/\/www.beerbusinessunplugged.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3738\/revisions\/3756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beerbusinessunplugged.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beerbusinessunplugged.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beerbusinessunplugged.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}