Beer Marketer's Insights - “Fundamentals” Solid, ’Gansett Grew 6% in 2023, Led by Lager; Investing in Chains; Big Aspirations

Settled into its own lane, Narragansett is cruising. Its total volume grew about 6% last yr, reaching between 108-109K bbls, CEO Mark Hellendrung told Craft Brew News. “The fundamentals are strong,” Mark shared, with both ’Gansett’s core mkt and its flagship lager up 8% last yr. And get this: its on-premise biz grew 10% with draft up 12%, he added. Draft growth was “split 50/50” between distribution and velocity, Mark reported, noting particularly strong growth in the 1st qtr of last yr as some places were “still reopening” in early 2022. Tho some question the old adage about building brands on premise, he’s still a believer. It’s “where people learn about things.” Little-to-No Bud Light Lift, Mark Thinks; Paring Mark noticed no notable change in trend for the brand pre- and post-Bud Light fallout, so doesn’t think it was a major driver of the co’s year. Work to “continually pare the portfolio or shrink markets” offset the co’s core strength, as Narragansett sets more limits on which brands go where. That included pulling back its seasonal vty pk and the Del’s shandy brand fam in some mkts. Del’s also likely lost some biz to the fast-growing growing FMB and RTD landscape, Mark supposes. Investing in Newfound Chain Growth; Pragmatism But ’Gansett’s seeing “accelerated velocity in the Mid-Atlantic and South in chains,” he said. So the co’s investing more in those capabilities. He brought on Dave Bertoldi from Sheehan Family Cos as new sales director, leading efforts in chains. Narragansett’s long-time sales veep will retire in a couple wks. Mark also recently “hired a director of marketing,” who’s implementing plans that “give each of these brands space to live in,” he shared. During this transition, Mark is also taking a “greater role in sales,” getting “back to my roots,” taking the lead in mkts with lots of indie retailers. (Recall, prior to taking over and revitalizing ’Gansett, Mark ran Northeast-based juice co Nantucket Nectars, before a stint at Magic Hat in the early 2000s.) He sees a “large step this year” in chains, with 2 sales folks working under Dave and some sizable step-ups in space, including from the likes of Walmart, adding placements in more urban mkts where brand tends to outperform. Spending more time on sales brought Mark in more regular contact with co’s biggest distribs. He’s been observing both wholesalers and retailers focus more on what moves the needle for their own bizzes, cutting off some of the slack. “We’re in the top five for maybe a dozen of our wholesalers,” Mark noted, and those houses are just “cranking.” But there are a bunch of others where the brand is #10-30. He’s pragmatic about that status and tries to be “frank” in those discussions, asking “how do we win with you once or twice a year?” Providence Brewery Hosts 150K/Yr, “Nurturing” Local Mkt After opening a couple yrs back, the co’s Providence, RI brewery hosts some 150K folks per yr at this point. Tho difficult to quantify, that “can’t help but help,” Mark observed. That facility produces around 3,000 bbls per yr, half sold on draft on site, with a small amount headed out the door in package and the rest put into local distribution. With those specialty brands, Narragansett has been focusing on the “heritage of lagers” and “keeping it super tight.” For instance, co built a Bohemian Pilsner to around 100 tap lines nearby and is slowly “nurturing that,” Mark said. “An Heir” to the Story of American Lager? That focus on lagers also helps serve some of Mark’s big picture, ambitious thinking about the ’Gansett brand, which recall dates back to 1890. American lager has always been core to the story of US beer, with different chapters led by different brands, as he sees it. Some time ago, many of the largest brewers “left behind those opportunities” when they shifted focus to “light,” it seems to him. So the story was picked up by brands like PBR or Corona for a time. It’s now being led by Modelo, as Mark tells it. “Aspirationally,” Mark wonders if Narragansett could “go on a 10-year run and just go for it” and be “an heir to” or “the next kind of piece of that story.” Whether that comes to fruition or not, the vision focuses him on the everyday work: “let’s dig in, let’s get deeper, let’s keep building the brand.”

“Fundamentals” Solid, ’Gansett Grew 6% in 2023, Led by Lager; Investing in Chains; Big Aspirations

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