Chairman’s comment Roy Allkin on the power of collaboration

Collaboration is key

Running a brewery can sometimes feel like taking one step forwards and two steps back. Just as we begin to see the hospitality industry returning to some normality and the crucial festive period for pubs on the way, brewers are faced with rising costs that make turning a profit all the more difficult.

Prices are rising across the board for brewers, with figures published by SIBA recently showing price increases in supplies such as CO² (up 73%), brewery energy (57%), beer cans (up 20%), cardboard packaging (up 22%), as well as an average of 17% increase in vehicle fuel costs. With margins as tight as they are these increases make profitability incredibly difficult and we as a Board have this issue in the forefront of our minds, and have discussed how SIBA can where possible help brewers reduce costs and increase sales.

Ultimately SIBA wants to help you reduce your costs, gain access to better prices on raw materials and essential services, and use our cumulative buying power to get us all a better deal.

As individual brewers we are being pushed to the back of the line for supplies such as cans, with Global companies buying up what’s available and helping to push prices up for everybody else. But by working together independent brewers, spearheaded by SIBA, can fight for more reliable, fairly priced supplies. That said some changes are largely out of our control and I know that for many SIBA member breweries - particularly those of you who run pubs and taprooms which employ a number of staff - the recently announced rises in the National Minimum Wage and National Insurance contributions for over 2 million people will put a further burden on your business. As the cost of living rises employees need to be treated fairly and have wages which reflect inflation, but the National Minimum wage changes shouldn’t be viewed in isolation and are yet another cost increase for us as small breweries. Ultimately if businesses go under then jobs will be lost.

SIBA wants to help you reduce your costs, gain access to better prices on raw materials and essential services, and use our cumulative buying power to get us all a better deal.

Getting costs under control and giving brewers access to competitive prices is hugely important, but I also want SIBA to help you sell more beer, and a clear benefit of SIBA membership is the promotion of your businesses at events, trade shows and in the press. By working collaboratively we as SIBA members can push the message that quality beer from independent breweries is what consumers should be buying. By the time you’re reading this we will have just been pouring award-winning member beers for some of the UK’s most influential journalists at the British Guild of Beer Writers’ Annual Awards Dinner, as part of our sponsorship of the Brewer of the Year Award. By working together independent brewers can get presence at events like this, which would otherwise be prohibitively expensive for a single brewery to take on, and which up until now have been largely sponsored by Global brewers – often trying to push their new ‘crafty’ beer ranges. We really are stronger together and with industry events and trade shows now able to happen pretty much as normal we hope to be able offer more promotional opportunities to members throughout the next 12 months. I’d like to finish on that point of the importance of collaboration by saying that if you haven’t already done so then please do make sure you complete this year’s annual survey. The data from the survey is a hugely important part of the SIBA British Craft Beer Report, which has become an industry-leading insight into our segment of the market and a hugely powerful tool in promoting independent craft beer to consumers, the trade, and of course in lobbying Government on your behalf. I know completing the survey takes a little time which is why this year we are delighted to have partnered with SIBA Supplier Associate Croxsons, who are offering a £1,000 prize draw for completing the survey. Having accurate, up to date data on member businesses is hugely powerful and allows the SIBA Senior Management Team and Board to fight on your behalf for a better deal on a variety of fronts. At times it can feel like a fight to keep a brewing business in the black, but I want you to know that it’s not a fight you’re in alone.

Roy Allkin

Chairman

SIBA