{"id":19297,"date":"2018-01-15T08:00:11","date_gmt":"2018-01-15T16:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/?p=19297"},"modified":"2018-01-16T16:16:10","modified_gmt":"2018-01-17T00:16:10","slug":"19297","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/2018\/01\/15\/19297\/","title":{"rendered":"Green Flash consolidating workforce and distribution network"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>It\u2019s easy to look at a seemingly successful large brewing company, see their beers (and those of their acquired brands) on the taps and shelves all over the county, knowing they are also distributed throughout most of the country, and assume all is well. But even though the craft-beer boom is in full swing, with a record number of new breweries opening throughout the nation, the industry has never been more challenging, especially for regional breweries ranking among the nation\u2019s largest.<\/p>\n

Last January, Mira Mesa-based Green Flash Brewing<\/strong><\/a>\u2014which also operates a satellite barrel-aging brewery in Poway as well as a production brewery in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and a soon-to-open brewpub in Lincoln, Nebraska\u2014laid off around 25 employees. Given Green Flash\u2019s status as the 37th largest craft brewing company in the U.S., this was big news. And so, too, is today\u2019s announcement that the company has made the difficult decision to let go of 15% of its workforce.<\/p>\n

That percentage equates to 33 employees. Owner Mike Hinkley <\/strong>says that while no Green Flash tasting room or Alpine Beer Co.<\/strong><\/a> (a brand acquired by Green Flash in November 2014) staff will be impacted, it will touch on other departments, primarily those serving business administration functions\u2014marketing, events and the like\u2014in both San Diego and Virginia Beach.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am greatly saddened by folks having to leave the company. We simply could not compete effectively with such broad geographic reach,\u201d says Hinkley. \u201cWe will soon discontinue shipments to distributors that currently constitute about 18% of our wholesale trade revenue. With that reduction in revenue, we have to reduce expenses accordingly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hinkley reports the company has decided to consolidate distribution, reconfiguring to best serve locales nearer to its production facilities. Moving forward, beer brewed and packaged at Green Flash\u2019s Mira Mesa facility will be shipped to California, Arizona, Hawaii, Nebraska, Nevada, Texas and Utah, while Virginia product will ship in-state as well as to Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. According to a press release, the refocus will enhance the company\u2019s operations and ability to provide consumers with fresh beer.<\/p>\n

When asked what factors led to the need to reconfigure distribution and consolidate Green Flash\u2019s workforce, Hinkley responded, \u201cThe industry has continued to grow more crowded and complex in recent years. Big Beer\u2019s acquisitions and consolidation of the biggest brewers created pressure from the top. Thousands of small brewers opening across the country created pressure from the bottom. Under those conditions, we are pulling back into the territory where we are the strongest and concentrating our resources.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked about the future of Green Flash\u2019s Poway-based Cellar 3 barrel-aged beer operation, Hinkley says it will remain open and that, months ago, the decision was made that, despite management\u2019s belief that the beers are of high quality, the amount of beer that is packaged there and shipped to retailers will be reduced significantly.<\/p>\n

Even in the midst of consolidation, Hinkley and company are looking to the future with optimism. The Lincoln brewpub is on-schedule with a February opening timeframe confirmed. Head brewer Jeff Hanson <\/strong>(formerly of Omaha\u2019s Brickway Brewery and Upstream Brewing, and Boulevard Brewing) will create Green Flash core beers under brewmaster Eric Jensen<\/strong>\u2019s supervision, as well as beers of his own devising, and that facility will eventually supply the entire state of Nebraska with Green Flash product.<\/p>\n

Should this prove a viable business model, Hinkley says they will look to replicate it elsewhere, but there are no plans for such expansion in the immediate future. For now, the company will focus on its revised approach to distribution\u2014it had distributed to 50 states, 35 more than the count listed on its newly announced business plan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s easy to look at a seemingly successful large brewing company, see their beers (and those of their acquired brands) on the taps and shelves all over the county, knowing they are also distributed throughout most of the country, and assume all is well. But even though the craft-beer boom is in full swing, with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":19299,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[368,1],"tags":[1353,95,1666,2139,1864,376,1592,442,4648,877,390,4651,4656,884,4650,2483,4646,4644,4182,2833,346,4181,3435,4652,4653,4556,4647,4654,4655,4468,4649,4082,1258,1260,4645],"class_list":{"0":"post-19297","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-beer-news","8":"category-san-diego-beer-beverage-news","9":"tag-sdbeer","10":"tag-alpine","11":"tag-alpine-beer","12":"tag-alpine-brewing","13":"tag-arizona","14":"tag-beer","15":"tag-boulevard-brewing","16":"tag-brandon-hernandez","17":"tag-brickway-brewing","18":"tag-california","19":"tag-craft-beer","20":"tag-delaware","21":"tag-eric-jensen","22":"tag-green-flash","23":"tag-hawaii","24":"tag-indiebeer","25":"tag-jeff-hanson","26":"tag-layoff","27":"tag-lincoln","28":"tag-maryland","29":"tag-mike-hinkley","30":"tag-nebraska","31":"tag-nevada","32":"tag-new-jersey","33":"tag-new-york","34":"tag-ohio","35":"tag-omaha","36":"tag-pennsylvania","37":"tag-tennessee","38":"tag-texas","39":"tag-upstream-brewing","40":"tag-utah","41":"tag-virginia","42":"tag-virginia-beach","43":"tag-west-caster","44":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/greenflash.jpg?fit=433%2C301&ssl=1","wps_subtitle":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/sdtr4y-19297","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19297\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}