People aren’t buying as much beer as they used to. Or flavored malt beverages. Which is bad if you’re a mid-major supplier with an institutional legacy in beer and a massive exposed flank in FMBs. Which is what Boston Beer Company is. Here’s co-founder, chairman, and once-again chief executive Jim Koch explaining Thursday why the firm had lowered its shipment/depletion guidance for the current fiscal year in its third-quarter earnings report:
The demand environment remains challenging, and we are prioritizing actions within our control to strengthen our business and improve market share trends.
Koch famously holds BBC’s voting shares, and has always been famously candid with the business press and Wall Street analysts, a habit likely owing as much to his innate charisma as to the fact that nobody can fire him. But simply blaming tHe EcOnOmy would invite too much follow-up from the stock-jockeys, and even he would rather not say “we’re bleeding beer buyers, buckos.” So challenging demand environments and Serenity Prayer gobbledegook it is.
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