Sales in alcohol are at record lows in this country. This is 100% a good thing. This guy made the decision to get into an absolutely saturated (pun!) market full of competition and now he’s complaining about his competitors. Maybe he’s been drinking too much of his own brew?
Margrave75 on
Have grown to like craft beers more that the more widely usual beers.
Disappointing that more pubs don’t stock a few varied cans of IPA.
No-Pressure1811 on
I’ve seen white hag, galway bay, and hope brewery all at bars in the last week, both on tap and in bottle/can.
You don’t see kinnegar complaining that only one bar in Ballybofey does their drinks on tap, the market isn’t there for it. Instead, they’re popping up in busy bars throughout the country.
Unfortunately for Dundalk Bay Brewery, there’s multiple established Irish Breweries with better branding and solid drinks in the market already.
It’s not Guinness or Heineken that is the problem. It’s the direct competition.
seoras91 on
>We’ve invested €5.5million of plant and equipment in it and a lot of people don’t even know we exist!
Wouldn’t ad expenses be a more important figure for his point? Investing in the business doesn’t tend to do much for brand awareness etc really.
SoloWingPixy88 on
It’s called exclusive agreements. Pubs can decide not to sign them.
Usually deals like this allow for X% of local or independent firms to trade to encourage market development. Surprised diageo don’t have this. It feels very harsh and aggressively anti-competitive.
james02135 on
>“It’s really the elephant in the room and up until now nobody has been talking about it,” he says as he highlights the problem faced by independent breweries in getting their beers into Irish pubs and hotels.
Sorry, but that’s total bs. I’ve been working in, and focused on Irish craft brewing for over 15 years and every single microbrewery in the country has been fighting this battle for at least that long.
Browsin4ever on
I didn’t like their beer much, the Ravenrock Gin is very nice tho.
Luimneach17 on
Having lived away for over 25 years I find it so depressing when I come back to see the same 5 or 6 beers on tap when I visit a pub. An American friend who came with me one time was so disappointed as he thought Ireland had a huge drink culture but couldn’t believe the limited selection available. In England they have a brilliant selection to choose from, cask ales, Belgian bottled, etc. we just seem to have the same old…
Hucktheberry on
Managed/ owned bars for over 25 years.
– If a bar only sells Diageo products it has an exclusivity deal.
– If a bar only sells Heineken products it has an exclusivity deal.
– If a bar sells both products it does not exclusivity deal.
Of course there are incentives.
– Stock Beer A and they will supply all your outside furniture (branded of course)
– Stock Beer B and they won’t. Makes the decision easier.
There are other factors.
– Beer A is known to sell and you know ordering, supply and cleaning are easy.
– Beer B have to take a risk on whether it sells or not, whether supply etc is good.
– Beer B is quite often more expensive. Easy to understand why but customers are very price sensitive.
– Lines are very valuable. Even the big companies get told I’m not trying that in case it doesn’t sell and I’m not your Guinea pig! Islands Edge is an example of this.
– there are specialist pub that just sell craft beers. Difficult to compete with them and many real craft beer drinkers go there.
– I would prefer to have more of a selection but it’s a difficult thing to balance.
– there is certainly not big sums of money being thrown at publicans just to stock beer. It’s more deals on amount of kegs sold. Eg 5+1 if sell X amount, 3+1 if sell Y amount.
DeusExMachinaOverdue on
It seems a shame that this brewery has a decent product (yes, I’ve tried their beers), but can’t make significant sales. I lived in Dundalk for 20 years, and for about 2 years before I left I regularly drank beers from the Dundalk Bay brewery. But the striking thing is they were never available in the pubs in Dundalk. I don’t understand why local publicans didn’t stock some of these beers or have them on tap for a trial period. Having something produced locally is an excellent selling point. But if you went into a pub in Dundalk, you’d never know that they were less than 5km away from the Dundalk Bay brewery, it seem like such a missed opportunity.
10 Comments
Sales in alcohol are at record lows in this country. This is 100% a good thing. This guy made the decision to get into an absolutely saturated (pun!) market full of competition and now he’s complaining about his competitors. Maybe he’s been drinking too much of his own brew?
Have grown to like craft beers more that the more widely usual beers.
Disappointing that more pubs don’t stock a few varied cans of IPA.
I’ve seen white hag, galway bay, and hope brewery all at bars in the last week, both on tap and in bottle/can.
You don’t see kinnegar complaining that only one bar in Ballybofey does their drinks on tap, the market isn’t there for it. Instead, they’re popping up in busy bars throughout the country.
Unfortunately for Dundalk Bay Brewery, there’s multiple established Irish Breweries with better branding and solid drinks in the market already.
It’s not Guinness or Heineken that is the problem. It’s the direct competition.
>We’ve invested €5.5million of plant and equipment in it and a lot of people don’t even know we exist!
Wouldn’t ad expenses be a more important figure for his point? Investing in the business doesn’t tend to do much for brand awareness etc really.
It’s called exclusive agreements. Pubs can decide not to sign them.
Usually deals like this allow for X% of local or independent firms to trade to encourage market development. Surprised diageo don’t have this. It feels very harsh and aggressively anti-competitive.
>“It’s really the elephant in the room and up until now nobody has been talking about it,” he says as he highlights the problem faced by independent breweries in getting their beers into Irish pubs and hotels.
Sorry, but that’s total bs. I’ve been working in, and focused on Irish craft brewing for over 15 years and every single microbrewery in the country has been fighting this battle for at least that long.
I didn’t like their beer much, the Ravenrock Gin is very nice tho.
Having lived away for over 25 years I find it so depressing when I come back to see the same 5 or 6 beers on tap when I visit a pub. An American friend who came with me one time was so disappointed as he thought Ireland had a huge drink culture but couldn’t believe the limited selection available. In England they have a brilliant selection to choose from, cask ales, Belgian bottled, etc. we just seem to have the same old…
Managed/ owned bars for over 25 years.
– If a bar only sells Diageo products it has an exclusivity deal.
– If a bar only sells Heineken products it has an exclusivity deal.
– If a bar sells both products it does not exclusivity deal.
Of course there are incentives.
– Stock Beer A and they will supply all your outside furniture (branded of course)
– Stock Beer B and they won’t. Makes the decision easier.
There are other factors.
– Beer A is known to sell and you know ordering, supply and cleaning are easy.
– Beer B have to take a risk on whether it sells or not, whether supply etc is good.
– Beer B is quite often more expensive. Easy to understand why but customers are very price sensitive.
– Lines are very valuable. Even the big companies get told I’m not trying that in case it doesn’t sell and I’m not your Guinea pig! Islands Edge is an example of this.
– there are specialist pub that just sell craft beers. Difficult to compete with them and many real craft beer drinkers go there.
– I would prefer to have more of a selection but it’s a difficult thing to balance.
– there is certainly not big sums of money being thrown at publicans just to stock beer. It’s more deals on amount of kegs sold. Eg 5+1 if sell X amount, 3+1 if sell Y amount.
It seems a shame that this brewery has a decent product (yes, I’ve tried their beers), but can’t make significant sales. I lived in Dundalk for 20 years, and for about 2 years before I left I regularly drank beers from the Dundalk Bay brewery. But the striking thing is they were never available in the pubs in Dundalk. I don’t understand why local publicans didn’t stock some of these beers or have them on tap for a trial period. Having something produced locally is an excellent selling point. But if you went into a pub in Dundalk, you’d never know that they were less than 5km away from the Dundalk Bay brewery, it seem like such a missed opportunity.