The Beer Store had no choice but to open its doors more to small craft brewers, says the owner of a Sudbury-based brewery.
“If they wouldn't have given a little bit, they wouldn't be in existence anymore,” said Shawn Mailloux, the owner of Sudbury's Stack Brewing. “The Beer Store didn't have a choice but to change.”
Jan. 7 the Beer Store announced it would make it easier for small brewers to list their products in its 451 stores across the province, and would give them an opportunity to buy new preferred shares in the company.
The shares, which cost $100 for brewers that produce less than 5 million litres of beer per year, and $1,000 for those that produce more than 5 million litres, would give small brewers seats on the Beer Store's board of directors.
“They will start to get a role in the governance and the decision-making around financial decisions, operational policy decisions and budgeting decisions related to the Beer Store,” said Jeff Newton, president of Canada's National Brewers, which represents the Beer Store's shareholders. “We think it's a great opportunity.”
With January's changes small brewers will now be able to list two of their products at five Beer Store locations near them at no cost.
Previously, brewers had to pay an initial fee of $2,880 to list their brands, and an additional $230 for every store that carries their beer.
The new rules scrap the initial expense for small breweries, but they will still have to pay $230 for each Beer Store that carries their inventory after the initial five locations.
Mailloux said the high cost for listings has been the main obstacle that has kept him from making his beers available at the Beer Store.
He said Flying Monkey, a craft brewery based in Barrie, for example, had to pay $25,000 to list one of its beers in a number of Beer Stores.
But even with the reduced fees, Mailloux said he will still need to pay a fair sum to change his packaging so it meets the Beer Store's requirements.
“We can't just flip a switch and now we're in the Beer Store.” he said.
The changes with the Beer Store's craft beer policy comes at the heels of strong criticism against the retailer – that is owned by three of the world's largest brewers: Anheuser-Busch Inbev, Molson Coors and Sapporo.
Their headquarters are in Belgium, the United States and Japan.
The Toronto Star has alleged in a number of investigative pieces that the Beer Store has gained influence, and maintained a monopoly on private beer sales in the province, through backroom dealings and fundraising with all major political parties in the province.
But Newton said the Star's articles had no influence on the Beer Store's recent changes.
“These decisions that we've made are not things that have happened in the last couple of weeks,” he said. “Making decisions related to re-structuring the ownership of the business, and modifying our shareholder agreement, creating new classes of shares, these are complex corporate decisions that were months in the making.”
