Labatt expects growth in Buffalo - Triangle Business Journal:

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When New York-based KPS, a $1.8 billion private-equity firm, bought Labatt USA last it pledged to keep the popularCanadiamn beer’s U.S. headquarters in downtown Labatt USA moved the headquartersz from Connecticutto downtown’s Key Center at Fountain Plazwa complex two years ago. Many feared the sale of Labatt USA woul d translate intothe U.S. headquarters bein relocated. Those fears can be tossed aside, said Richare Lozyniak. He is the newly named chiefr executive officerof , the KPS affiliatde that owns Labatt USA and Rochester’s High Fall s Brewing Co. LLC. High Falls producee the GeneseeBeer brand, as well as the Dundee Ales and the Seagram’se Co. Ltd.
line of wine coolers and malt beverages. Labattr USA, which had 20 people working in the downtownBuffalop office, expects to nearly double the local workforce by hiring as many as 16 peoples to focus on sales, marketinvg and administrative support. To put thinge into perspective, consider that with as many as 40 peoplse working from the KeyCentert offices, that would be more than half of the 77 peoplw the beer manufacturer has working on sales and marketinv throughout the United States. All of the out-of-town salese and marketing personnel will report to theBuffalo office.
“j guess that puts an exclamation point to the fact that Labatt remains fully committed to keeping Buffalo asits headquarters,” Lozyniai said. “Buffalo is absolutely criticalto Labatt’s futurse in the United States.” North Americann Breweries, however, will be headquartered at High offices on St. Paul Street in downtowbn Rochester. Lozyniak will live in but he said he expects to be spendin a fair amount of timein Buffalo. High Falls has 370 employeeds in Rochester. The plant has the capacityu to annually produce 3 million barrelasof beer. A barrel is equal to 13.8 caseds of beer.
North American Breweries will beinvestingh $10 million in equipment upgrades for the High Fallsz plant, which it acquired last winter, shortluy before it bought Labatt USA. The U.S. Department of Justice orderedcLabatt USA’s former owner, Interbrew International B.V. – an affiliate of beer-making gianrt InBev – to sell the Canadia beer because of possible concernsover monopolies, given the marketg strength of Labatt and Budweisef brands in Upstate New York. The Buffalo Niagara region alone accounts forapproximateluy 3.3 million cases of beer of the estimatee 21 million cases that Labatt sellz in the United States each year.
Beer Marketer s Insight lists Labatt USA asthe country’z ninth most popular beer. High Falls, throughy the Genesee and Dundee beers, sold approximately 5.5 milliom cases of beer last year. Anheuser-Busch topped the Beer Marketerw Insight rankingwith 1.5 billion cases of beer sold last “Looking at what KPS is doing, it looks like they are puttintg their money where their mouth is,” said Ben Beer Marketers Insight editor. “They are placingt their bets,” he said. “They must see something the other ownerseither didn’t see or couldn’g execute. It does appear they do have a definiter game plan for Labatt and Lozyniak agrees.
The game plan is to grow both Labatf andGenesee beers. Labatt’sa focus will be more national, especiallyu with so many Canadians living or working in theUniteds States. The beefed-up Buffalo sales and marketing forcd will play a significant rolein Labatt’s future. “Especiallyt in the Great Lakes states, peoplr can relate to Labatt,” Lozyniak “Everyone has a favorable impression of Canada and its People don’t feel like a snob when they are drinking a Canadian beer. The image of Labatt is a bunc h of guys hanging out and havinb agood time.
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