CannabizTeam - Executive Search and Staffing’s Post

Tilray Brands, the Canada-based international marijuana conglomerate, has bought into the American beer industry by buying seven craft beer breweries off of Anheuser-Busch Inbev for the price of $85 million, including Shock Top, Blue Point and Redhook Brewery. As far as industry M&A goes, it’s not especially huge — Tilray is a $2 billion company, and AB Inbev makes more than that in a single day — but it is a fascinating look at what a cool-down looks like for an increasingly mature and not especially growing craft beer industry that is happening at the same time that pot is becoming a bona fide industry. The maker of Bud Light has plenty of exposure there — after the sale, they still own 11 craft breweries — while the rest of Tilray’s growing business of adulterants is still in a holding pattern until there’s federal approval.

Cannabis & The Drink: an interesting development as the cannabis industry continues its funky but nonetheless amazing ascent as the fastest growing #CPG industry. Who would have thunk it, a cannabis company is now the 5th largest craft brewer and is likely uniquely positioned for the inevitable hard pursuit of #alcohol consumers for cannabis beverages and other products post federal legalization. “Anheuser-Busch InBev has offloaded a clutch of US breweries to Tilray Brands, the Canada-based cannabis that has been building its presence in beer. Tilray, which owns beer brands such as Sweetwater and Montauk, has struck a deal to buy assets including Blue Point Brewing Company and Square Mile Cider Company.” “…the deal, once completed, will make the company the “fifth-largest craft brewer” in the US, up from its current position of ninth.” “The transaction also includes Shock Top, Breckenridge Brewery, 10 Barrel Brewing Company, Redhook Brewery and Widmer Brothers Brewing.” #cannabisindustry #cannabiscommunity #craftbeer #alcoholicbeverages #alcoholindustry

Instead of wine, let’s look at craft cannabis vs craft beer, which holds 24.7% of total US beer market share at retail! This means craft cannabis will be the same? Right? Not really… At wholesale, (where they actually make their money) craft brewers only hold 13.3% of sales. In some ways, yes, there are models in this category that could be feasible for cannabis companies to follow, (Tilray thinks so…) But that’s the point….TILRAY is the #6 ‘craft brewing’ company in the country… Simply put, ‘craft cannabis’ doesn’t equate to ‘craft beer’. “Craft Brewers” are defined by the Brewers Association as: SMALL Annual production of 6 million barrels of beer or less (approximately 3 percent of U.S. annual sales). Beer production is attributed to a brewer according to rules of alternating proprietorships. INDEPENDENT Less than 25 percent of the craft brewery is owned or controlled by a beverage alcohol industry member that is not itself a craft brewer. So… you can own 3% of total national market share, and Anheuser Busch can own 25% of your company, and you’d still be considered a craft brewer. This includes companies like: Boston Beer Co. (2,793 employees), $2B in sales Sierra Nevada (1,050 employees), $320M in sales Tilray , (1,600 employees*), $152M in sales *includes cannabis employees One vital point being missed in the comparison between wine and beer and cannabis… we have to note that both wine and beer exist in complex supply chains, wher the grower of the grape very often may not bottle or brand (i.e.selling bulk), and where beer requires hops and barley, which are grown by farmers. So… who are the cultivators in this scenario? The brewers? Or are they barley farmers?

Below is a great article written by my colleague Jim Amend. There are so many parallels between craft brew and craft cannabis. How can we all better support both our cultivators and our retailers alike to improve our cannabis supply chain? #cannabissupplychain #cannabisbusiness #cannabis #240logistics #poweredby240L

Cannabis company Tilray Brands, Inc. said it has reached a deal to purchase eight beer and beverage brands from Anheuser-Busch. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Tilray will acquire Shock Top, Breckenridge Brewery, Blue Point Brewing Company, 10 Barrel Brewing Company, Redhook Brewery, Widmer Brothers Brewing, Square Mile Cider Company and HiBall Energy. The expected sales volume of the acquired brands will elevate Tilray to the 5th largest craft beer player in the U.S., up from 9th place. The purchase comes as cannabis companies deal with a crowded marketplace and struggle to make meaningful progress in the U.S. without federal regulations, leaving them to turn to other revenue channels for growth. I have been through many mergers and acquisitions over my career as such this is good time for enterprises to review their operational and sales planning cycle as part managing a new product line. This is fantastic time to update the profitability model as part of integrating a new product line into a capacity and demand planning cycles.   Here are key links that can assist enterprises with their data and AI journey as part of the regulatory and management reporting cycles:   Blog – Stock Market Analysis for the week-ending July 21, 2023 - https://lnkd.in/gP_4tdyv     Are you ready for the new Global ESG reporting Standards? - https://lnkd.in/gnms3fy7   Close, consolidate, and reporting - https://lnkd.in/gARHRXB4   Data Management - https://lnkd.in/g8SvPfDx   Blog – Ways that Scenario Planning is Essential for your Business Plan - https://lnkd.in/g2M6Rka4   Blog - How is AI and Machine Learning Changing the Way We Manage the Supply Chain - https://lnkd.in/g7MUPUca  

Good read Jim! Thanks for the thoughts.

Check out Jim Amend's insightful breakdown on the parallels of the craft beer & cannabis #CannabisEducation #CannabisInsights

In today's CBD: Two of the largest Black-owned breweries, California's Crowns & Hops Brewing Co. and Full Circle Brewing Co., have struck a watershed alliance to leverage its members’ strengths and show up at market in a much bigger way. The new shared resources platform is dubbed “Circle of Crowns Beverage Group” (CCBG). The alliance “combines two leading Black-owned brands and centralizes production, sales and marketing between the two companies,” per announcement. Production will be centralized at Full Circle. Currently, the brands produce about 10,000 barrels collectively. It’s about “unlocking untapped opportunities” in the craft market, by "leveraging retail and venue diversity programs." Historically, Black suppliers have lacked the infrastructure to address these opportunities on a wide scale. CCBG also includes the historic Speakeasy Ales & Lagers brand, one of the oldest in San Francisco, and Sonoma Cider. "As you know, there's 9,000-plus breweries out there, and there's only 1% that are Black-owned," Arthur Moye, Full Circle founder, told CBD. "And I think, during a good period of the last half a decade or so, people have wanted to support Black-owned businesses. So you have major retailers reaching out to those 1%; you have distributors reaching out to those 1%; but then there hasn't been a structure by which they could significantly respond, because that 1% is mostly represented by people that don't have production facilities and can't create the margins and the economies of scale to sit on the shelves throughout the distribution networks of the chains." This starts to solve that. More here, we left the story open to all. https://lnkd.in/gsHErbeK

Exciting parallels have been drawn between the craft beer and cannabis industries. As someone who enjoys both, I find this analysis fascinating. The challenges and opportunities in both industries are similar as they evolve. This makes me optimistic about the future of Craft Cannabis. #craftcannabis #cannabisindustry

𝘿𝙧𝙤𝙥 𝘽𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝘽𝙚𝙚𝙧 𝘾𝙤 𝙥𝙪𝙧𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙨𝙚𝙨 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙗𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙠𝙨-𝙖𝙣𝙙-𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙖𝙧 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙮 😍 🍻 Alcohol-free beer specialist Drop Bear Beer Co. | Certified B Corp™ has acquired the brewery and assets of fellow Welsh brewer Tomos Watkins. The Swansea-based business raised £1.9m from a combination of private investors and crowdfunding to fund the acquisition and make upgrades to brewing equipment on site. Co-founder Joelle Drummond MA (She/They)🌈 said the “watershed” purchase of Drop Bear’s first physical brewery would enable it to produce up to 25 million cans of its alcohol-free brews a year. They said owning production and packaging of Drop Bear’s beers would increase profitability “10-fold”, giving it more funds to spend on sales and marketing efforts. Tomos Watkin’s two full-time staff members have been retained, and Drop Bear plans to continue to produce the brand’s beers alongside its alcohol-free offer. “We’re really passionate about keeping independent Welsh breweries alive,” Drummond said. “We’re in the situation at the moment where we’re seeing breweries close constantly, so we saw this as an opportunity to save one.” “It’s great to have a more diverse portfolio of businesses. Most of the growth in alcohol is currently being driven by people who drink but don’t have alcohol all the time, so this enables us to target our customers both when they are and aren’t drinking.” Production at the new 16,000 sq ft site would begin “within the next three weeks” to enable Drop Bear to scale up ahead of an official launch in January. From then, retail expansion is on the agenda as the brewer looks to build on its 200-store footprint across Co-op in England and Tesco stores across the UK. “The number one place that people are discovering alcohol-free is still supermarkets,” Drummond said. “So retail is really key for us. “We’re also looking to do more beer in keg format, and export – which has been really important for the brand.” Drop Bear Beer Co is also stocked nationally on Ocado and Amazon. Its range comprises Tropical IPA, Yuzu Pale Ale, Bonfire Stout, and New World Lager variants, all of which have an abv of 0.5%.