Bitter beer, the woes of BrewDog: how a successful business has become the enemy to be killed
Born to revolutionize the market by doing anti-business and relying on crowdfunding, BrewDog is accused of misogyny, bullying and careerism by a group of former employees. And so the investors launch the latest boycott campaign and demand their money back
This is a modern story about a couple of reckless people determined to change the rules of the system and who end up being downloaded by those who loved them so much. It's 2007 when 24-year-olds Martin Dickie and James Watt decide it's time to upset the boring British beer market, which offers nothing new, and set up their small company producing craft beer under the name of BrewDog , a Fraserburgh, a town on the north coast of Scotland. They go into debt with the banks, gear up with the bare minimum, and do everything by hand by selling their Punk IPA beer to local markets from the back of a pickup truck – a couple of crates on good days, not enough to pay off the loans.
They hold up, they are revolutionaries who want to overturn the status quo of big companies, they invent captivating names for their productions ( Dead Pony Club , Indie , Lost Lager , Clockwork Tangerine ) and boldly present themselves in 2008 at the Tesco headquarters, a of the largest supermarket lines across the Channel, snatching a supply of 2,000 boxes a week in 500 points of sale. A superhuman effort that challenges the Portman Group "cartel", formed by the major producers of alcoholic beverages. Their niche conquers abroad, reaching Sweden, Japan and the United States, but more money is needed to stay afloat.
Thus was born Equity for Punks , the hop crowdfunding that allows Martin and James to climb the top, offering the possibility to people who believe in their mission to export anarchy to the world, glass after glass, to become shareholders: 1,300 respond and so what they call "an anti-business business" takes hold. They have the wind in their sails, they challenge the tastes of consumers by churning out the Tactical Nuclear Penguin in 2010. Alcoholic strength: 32 percent. A bomb. From the height of their boldness they do not stop in front of anyone and adopt direct and irreverent communication strategies: on the occasion of the Royal Wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton they come up with the Arise Prince Willy , designed to make the new wife particularly fiery.
An engaging storyline written from below that has been able to garner the support to date of over 180,000 investors and 80 million pounds, transforming the privateer BrewDog into a finished company, with admirers all over the world and its own chain of breweries, but that for a month now has an increasingly bitter aftertaste that is upsetting the punk world that revolves around it. A few statements from former employees who denounced misogynistic attitudes, a toxic work environment and an excessive aptitude for growth at any cost were enough.
"I would not have invested if I had known what the air is like inside the company", is the refrain circulating on Twitter , where the bubble burst in June, with the publication of a letter signed by 61 people who worked for the Scottish brewery : “Being treated by human beings unfortunately was not always taken for granted”, reads the document posted by the PunksWPurpose account, which aims to dismantle the toxic culture that pervades the workplace.
At first BrewDog thought of retorting by publishing its own letter signed by the current employees in the company, but later Martin and James intervened with a more diplomatic approach: “The tweet we read shows that in many cases we have not done well. We will strive to do better and not only as a reaction to what happened, but always: we will contact our teams, those who worked and those who work for us, to understand. But above all, now, we are sorry ”. Apologies sent back to the sender, just scroll through the comments on the company's posts on their social channels to advertise the beers: "Made with tears" , "Do you abuse your staff?" , “Perfect drink if you have been bullied by the employer” . And various insults with the request to have their money back, a procedure not so simple because what was a company built on crowdfunding now also involves foreign companies and lenders. Meanwhile, the people will continue to protest: the glass is getting more and more bitter and not liked by many, including the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA ), an independent organization that regulates the advertising sector in the United Kingdom, which has criticized BrewDog for misleading health claims. of a drink. Watt immediately went into battle with the ASA, but in response he was suggested to fix the troubles in the house.
The post Bitter beer, the woes of BrewDog: how a successful business became the enemy to be killed appeared first on Atlantico Quotidiano .
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Atlantico Quotidiano at the URL http://www.atlanticoquotidiano.it/quotidiano/birra-amara-i-guai-della-brewdog-come-unimpresa-di-successo-e-diventata-il-nemico-da-abbattere/ on Mon, 12 Jul 2021 03:53:00 +0000.