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The corona pandemic leaves a bitter aftertaste in Swiss breweries. Because restaurants, bars, and concert halls were closed for a long time, they sold significantly less beer in the first half of the year than in the previous year. The desire for the cool blonde was also great in the confinement.
“Overall, sales in the catering sector are likely to have declined by around 40 percent in the first half of the year,” Managing Director of the Swiss Brewers Association (SBV) Marcel Kreber told the AWP news agency. According to Kreber, the drop was most dramatic in April, when beer sales in the catering sector fell a good 80 percent.
Drink beer at home?
However, at first glance, SBV’s estimated total sales fell less than expected based on sobering figures in the catering division: “For the first half of the year, we are assuming a sales drop of more than 4 percent”, Kreber said.
The industry owes this to increased sales in stores. According to Kreber, retail beer sales increased about 12 percent between January and June. Many Swiss also drank beer in their own four walls during the closing period.
“The development in our retail channels and in our own beverage markets is extremely positive,” said Reto Preisig, managing director of the Schützengarten brewery in St. Gallen. While there was less demand for draft beers and returnable containers due to the closure, more beers were sold in non-returnable bottles. “We also had an above-average development with our specialty beers.”
Bad beer year
Schützengarten sells about half of its beers in shops, the other half in restaurants and in the event industry. Positive developments in retail could not offset the drop in sales of around 20 percent in the gastronomy division in Schützengarten, Preisig said. “We will close the beer year with significantly lower sales.”
This is the case with many breweries, as SBV Managing Director Kreber said. The shutdown occurred exactly at the time they usually do their best business, April, May and June. According to Kreber, the losses from this time can no longer be compensated, even if the weather conditions are ideal and all the restaurants are fully open.
The fact that estimated total sales did not decline further is also related to how the SBV counts. There is no distinction between the sale of domestic or imported beers. “The proportion of imported beer is much higher in stores than in catering, where mainly local beer is served,” explained Aurèle Meyer, general manager of Appenzeller’s Locher brewery, whose beers include the Quöllfrisch and Vollmond brands.
96 percent less sales
Not only Swiss breweries benefited from increased sales in the retail trade, but also breweries of beers imported from abroad. “In any case, more beer is sold in retail than in catering,” Meyer said. Therefore, store sales have more weight in the total figures.
According to the head of SBV, Kreber, there are several breweries in Switzerland that have a very high share of gastronomy. The restaurant and bar closures were devastating for them. An example is the local Zürcher Turbinenbräu brewery, whose beer is available in bars, restaurants or events, but cannot be purchased in stores.
“For this reason, the lockdown hit us particularly hard, we recorded a drop in sales of around 96 percent during this time,” said Managing Director Adrien Weber. According to Weber, the only source of income was sales through the ramp, which, however, only account for a small proportion of sales.
The openings failed
Since reopening in the catering industry, the brewery has not been able to reach last summer’s level, as Weber put it: “Events like open-air events are still canceled, as are private parties, for which people you can buy ten, you would buy twenty cases of beer were canceled in rows. ”In 2020, your brewery will probably only reach about half of the previous year’s sales.
However, Adrien Weber from Turbinenbräu also doesn’t want to sell his beer through retailers in the future. “We are configured differently and we want to continue to offer our beer exclusively to the catering sector,” Weber said, “although of course we are currently paying for this strategy. (pbe / SDA)
