Yuengling on expanding methodically, up 20-30% in Florida this year
In 1999, Stroh sold all their breweries, and we went down to Tampa and bought one. That is 1,000 miles from Pennsylvania, and we threw out our beer in Florida, but we found the reception from the wholesale community down there was not as enthusiastic as we had expected. So we struggled down there for about ten years. But ten years later, we’re growing between 20-30% there, our brands are out on the shelves. My point is, you can get ahead of yourself going too
far from home. We’re up and down the East Coast now, and we just went into Ohio. But Ohio is contiguous with Pennsylvania, and we have a great wholesaler network in Western Pennsylvania. So mainly we grow that way. I think it’s very important for craft brewers to grow their brands market by market. You want to develop a reputation and once that’s done, you move on to another market. – Dick Yuengling at recent NBWA conference
via Modern Brewery Age (subscription only).
Breweries: D.G. Yuengling and Son
