Summerhill Growler/Craft Beer Destination Store
Posted: Fri May 22, 2015 8:57 pm
The LCBO revealed some information at the annual trade day last week regarding growlers as well as other plans for craft beer in the province. I've highlighted some of the more noteworthy points below...
The Board has bought out the Timothy's shop attached to the Summerhill store and will be converting that space into a destination "craft beer store", set to open this coming August. The intention is to showcase every craft beer SKU and possibly offer some selections that will only be made available there. The emphasis will be on Ontario craft beer (the impression I got was that it'll be exclusively OCB, though don't quote me on that).
Included will be a growler fill station that, initially, will offer only 3 Ontario brands (though they've said if it proves successful they will increase that number). We were told that initially these will be existing products already listed at the LCBO, though they welcome the idea down the road of collaborating with local brewers to offer seasonal/exclusive brands otherwise not available in can/bottle.
The LCBO will sell its own branded growlers and also offer pre-filled growlers (as micros do now). It sounded to me like they won't accept outside growlers, but again this is an assumption on my part. Their intention is to select a handful of 'beer ambassadors' to run the section much as 'product consultants' currently do the Vintages department, ideally providing them with a little extra product knowledge training. They will be the ones permitted to fill growlers. There was no mention of deposits or returns.
The LCBO has also targeted 24 stores throughout the province where they've seen the largest percentage of craft beer sales. Depending on the outcome of this project, the intention is to make those stores similar "craft beer destinations". (No actual details provided as to what that encompasses.)
While the category manager spoke in detail about the fall of domestic sales and the drastic rise of craft sales, she also mentioned they will likely be shrinking the beer category. She said they carry too many brands as it is. To wit, they have now limited the seasonal releases to maximum 10 beers, with each agency only allowed to submit 3 brands for consideration per. The Christmas and Halloween releases are likely to be reduced too and may be merged with the fall/winter. The brewery spotlight program is officially on hiatus (not likely to ever return, so I've been told unofficially).
Hesitancy with regards to seasonal products was related to the fact that they've had difficulties selling through orders once the season passes.They put the onus for beers arriving late to market or stale dated on agents and external forces (which, to be fair, is sometimes true. But still, they're not innocent and I wish they would constructively address this problem rather than try to avoid any blame).
Ciders, coolers, and RTD ("ready to drink") will continue to be grouped in with beer, meaning those items are reflected in each stores' SKU count for the beer category. (What this essentially means is that each summer cooler forced to stores equals one less listing of craft beer.) There was no mention of increasing store SKU counts nor increasing the allocation of stores on the "specialty beer program" (i.e., the ones that get the seasonals). The Board also put out a call for ciders, with preference being for "mixed" or "variety" packs and "flavoured" ciders.
By way of conclusion, the Board's prerogative as outlined multiple times at trade day is to shift away from beer (low margins, labour intensive, seasonal sensitivity) and renew/heighten the emphasis on spirits (high margins, long shelf life, etc). The outlook for craft beer that I got was a grim one, with no commitment to improving (or even capitalizing on current successes). For better or worse, Ontario brewers is clearly the focus. The growler project sounds very limited in so far as what it will offer. While they addressed beer in corner stores they shed no details on what the plan is there nor what their plan is in response. There continues to be no sincere effort to work with trade partners or to address the deficiencies in this beer market.
The Board has bought out the Timothy's shop attached to the Summerhill store and will be converting that space into a destination "craft beer store", set to open this coming August. The intention is to showcase every craft beer SKU and possibly offer some selections that will only be made available there. The emphasis will be on Ontario craft beer (the impression I got was that it'll be exclusively OCB, though don't quote me on that).
Included will be a growler fill station that, initially, will offer only 3 Ontario brands (though they've said if it proves successful they will increase that number). We were told that initially these will be existing products already listed at the LCBO, though they welcome the idea down the road of collaborating with local brewers to offer seasonal/exclusive brands otherwise not available in can/bottle.
The LCBO will sell its own branded growlers and also offer pre-filled growlers (as micros do now). It sounded to me like they won't accept outside growlers, but again this is an assumption on my part. Their intention is to select a handful of 'beer ambassadors' to run the section much as 'product consultants' currently do the Vintages department, ideally providing them with a little extra product knowledge training. They will be the ones permitted to fill growlers. There was no mention of deposits or returns.
The LCBO has also targeted 24 stores throughout the province where they've seen the largest percentage of craft beer sales. Depending on the outcome of this project, the intention is to make those stores similar "craft beer destinations". (No actual details provided as to what that encompasses.)
While the category manager spoke in detail about the fall of domestic sales and the drastic rise of craft sales, she also mentioned they will likely be shrinking the beer category. She said they carry too many brands as it is. To wit, they have now limited the seasonal releases to maximum 10 beers, with each agency only allowed to submit 3 brands for consideration per. The Christmas and Halloween releases are likely to be reduced too and may be merged with the fall/winter. The brewery spotlight program is officially on hiatus (not likely to ever return, so I've been told unofficially).
Hesitancy with regards to seasonal products was related to the fact that they've had difficulties selling through orders once the season passes.They put the onus for beers arriving late to market or stale dated on agents and external forces (which, to be fair, is sometimes true. But still, they're not innocent and I wish they would constructively address this problem rather than try to avoid any blame).
Ciders, coolers, and RTD ("ready to drink") will continue to be grouped in with beer, meaning those items are reflected in each stores' SKU count for the beer category. (What this essentially means is that each summer cooler forced to stores equals one less listing of craft beer.) There was no mention of increasing store SKU counts nor increasing the allocation of stores on the "specialty beer program" (i.e., the ones that get the seasonals). The Board also put out a call for ciders, with preference being for "mixed" or "variety" packs and "flavoured" ciders.
By way of conclusion, the Board's prerogative as outlined multiple times at trade day is to shift away from beer (low margins, labour intensive, seasonal sensitivity) and renew/heighten the emphasis on spirits (high margins, long shelf life, etc). The outlook for craft beer that I got was a grim one, with no commitment to improving (or even capitalizing on current successes). For better or worse, Ontario brewers is clearly the focus. The growler project sounds very limited in so far as what it will offer. While they addressed beer in corner stores they shed no details on what the plan is there nor what their plan is in response. There continues to be no sincere effort to work with trade partners or to address the deficiencies in this beer market.