“There is no reason for black-and-painting”, says Michael Huber, chief representative of the Veltins brewery, in conversation with the F. A. for example, the German Brewers Federation speaks because of the Corona of a pandemic of a “black year”, but the brewery from the Sauerland is not quite as pessimistic: “people are still thirsty for beer,” says Huber: “We will make it with half a blue eye.” Temporarily it will, of course, hard, industry bankruptcies, and new combinations, but also threatened: “We have the means of such a crisis.”
Tillmann Neuscheler
editor in the economy.
F. A. Z. Twitter
The family brewery was spoiled in recent years by the success. Contrary to the shrinkage rate in the industry Veltins was able to increase its beer production in the last 25 years by more than 33 percent. Also, the workforce has increased in this period to 285 to 680 employees. Corona, however, is also at Veltins not unscathed: “Between mid-March and mid-may, we have sold a single barrel of beer,” says Marketing Director Volker Kuhl: “Our draught beer system, we have mothballed in that time and cleaned.” Since June, the draft beer business in the course of slowly – but only “on the back burner”. Because Veltins has achieved already before the crisis, only about 17 percent of its revenue with the sale of draught beer, the brewery is better than a lot of other brewers, the restaurant business is often significantly higher.
“In the great style of bottles downstream
The store with a bottle of beer for the end customer to be running surprisingly well. Also at Veltins it empties, therefore, to bottlenecks come: “We have bought up large amounts of bottles of counterfeit,” says Kuhl. Veltins was able to compensate for about half of barrel of beer loss due to more sale of a bottle of beer. Below the line, but a Minus remains: a Total of Veltins in the first half of the year, around 70,000 hectolitres, equivalent to the amount of 700,000 crates of beer less sold than usual. It is a decline of about 4.5 percent. “It will take two and a half years, until the revenue has recovered completely,” says Huber. It was manageable, even in the past, you have mastered difficult situations: “We have survived the Deposit on Cans,” says Huber left. As of 2003, the compulsory Deposit was introduced, was broken into over night, the entire can of beer sales.
In the Veltins brewery, the work also went on during the lock downs. In short-time work were sent for 14 days only parts of the external service. “The had simply nothing to do, because the caterers had finished the doors,” says Kuhl. Meanwhile, the workforce was back to full strength. Yet there were in the brewery, no Corona case. Thus, any new employee who comes back from the vacation, test it first, before it starts to work again.
Veltins want to hold on to Corona in Spite of its investment plans and the brewery for more than 71 million euros to modernize. In the spring the foundations for a new bottling plant were completed in this month to start Work on the building construction. In the middle of the crisis Veltins even a new beer on the market, the Trend for Bright jump. Since may, there is the “Bright Pülleken” in small, eye-catching bottle.
will be Saved only in the Marketing of, say, the two beer Manager. Also the suggestion of the German football Association (DFB), the addiction after the cancellation of the brewery for over a year, desperately seeking a new beer sponsor for the football nation team, was rejected: “Too expensive,” says Huber laconically. Conversations have given it to but. The DFB have “addressed virtually every”.