Dive Brief:
- MillerCoors LLC is shutting down its Eden, NC, brewery, which has about 520 employees and produces Coors Light, Miller Lite, Miller High Life, and Blue Moon. The company will "gradually" shift production to other breweries until officially closing the Eden brewery in September 2016, a company spokesperson told Brewbound.
- The Eden brewery has "significant overlap in distribution" with MillerCoors' nearby brewery in Elkton, VA, which is the company's most modern facility following a $300 million renovation in 2007.
- MillerCoors said in a news release that "economic challenges, an explosion of choice and fragmentation within the beer business, and a dramatic change in the way consumers engage with brands" were causes of the downturn in business that led to the brewery's closing.
Dive Insight:
Craft beer continues to snag market share and loyal consumers from major brewers, and these beer companies, particularly Anheuser-Busch InBev and MillerCoors, are feeling the effects. Last month, MillerCoors posted a barrel volume decrease of 1.9% and a 0.5% decline in revenue. Meanwhile, AB InBev recently said its first-half volume fell 3.5% and revenue dropped 2.3%.
Some major brewers, such as AB InBev, have attempted to counter falling sales by acquiring fast-growing craft breweries. MillerCoors was late to that game due to high valuation prices involved, but last week, the company announced it would be acquiring Saint Archer Brewing Co.
Job cuts at the closing brewery will not begin until 2016, a MillerCoors spokesperson told Brewbound.
In other MillerCoors news, the company decided to give interim CEO Gavin Hattersley the top job permanently.