Here is an interesting take on this from a college buddy whose family owns a distributor. For the record, I think Budweiser is monkey ******.
his could be really good or really bad. As tim put it to me the other day, it just can’t get any worse than the ****** we have been putting up with. Of course there is always the chance he could be wrong.
I think the family and the board knows they have made a mistake letting IV take the helm. This is a man that appointed our friend and former Mollys’ barkeep Evan Ethanos to Executive VP after he served as his ****** for several years.
The folks at Inbev are really a bunch of accountants and cost cutters and whoa Nellie are they going to have a field day hacking the fat at AB. If they succeed at cutting the fat the new company might be a whole lot leaner and therefore might be more hands off to the distributors. Then again, if they cut the folks that know how to market the stuff to the average joe then they will really go down hill fast because I hate to say it but there are lots of great beers out there not made by AB. AB just knows how to market here. ******, ******, some funny dogs and a few good catch phases and a product that doesn’t surprise. Very consistent beer making abilities. ****** off the teamsters who represent the brewery employees, and they will have a fifty billion dollar turd on their hands.
As for the distributor channel, AB has always been so heavy handed that in the past few years they really just felt like sharecroppers. On the plus side, AB has used the distributor network as a defense against Wal Mart and the other national grocers who have repeatedly asked for either direct pricing from the brewery or special beers made only for them. AB always holds that these violate their distribution agreements although they could bust them it they really wanted to I’m sure. The agreement is 100+ pages. In bev should follow suit or risk becoming a slave.
If Inbev will take the shackles off and let them run more efficiently and not by the AB playbook, most distributors will stand and cheer. They need more imports which of course InBev can bring in droves so it might be just great for the distributors.
Of course I might be seeing the bright side.
