Fuller picture of Boston Beer now available shows some serious changes to the company since just 2010: big jumps in sales force and employees as well as exports and volume/distribs in the Freshest Beer Program. Craft brewers regularly refer to importance of having "feet on the street," particularly for key on-premise piece of the biz. Well Boston's invested heavily here and grown its sales force from about 275 in 2010 to 330 in 2012 and 410 by the end of 2014, up almost 50% in 4 yrs. Its total employee-count has swelled too: +70% to 1325 since 2010. In that time, the co's total shipments grew about 80%. Boston's been shipping more of its beer across borders too. It exported just 1% of its beer volume in 2010. That grew to 3% in 2012 and then to 4%, about 100K bbls last yr. Its total distributor network slimmed down a bit, based on its full-yr filings, from about 400 in 2010 to 350 in 2014 (consolidation explains much of this). Of those wholesalers, 121 that distributed 68% of Boston's volume last year participated in the co's Freshest Beer Program, which aims to cut down on inventories and time it takes for beer to go from Boston's breweries to retail shelves. Boston expects share of its biz in program to hit 72-78% in 2015.
Boston Sales Force Up Near 50% Since 2010, Total Employees +70%; Exports Near 100K Bbls
Publishing Info
- Newsletter: Craft Brew News
- Published: 03/04/2015
- Volume: 6
- Issue #: 17