Building strong foundations

Newly appointed SIBA Chief Executive Andy Slee outlines his initial priorities for the organisation in this, his first update for Independent Brewer magazine…

Independent Brewing is a rare British manufacturing success story, so it’s a great privilege to write this as Chief Exec of SIBA as we enter times of challenge and opportunity. A particular thanks to everyone I met at the recent regional meetings and for the warm welcome you have given me in the role, I look forward to working with all of you in what lies ahead.

Thanks also to the fabulous SIBA team for the sterling work they do. In the last few months, supported by the Executive Committee, they have stepped up tremendously at a time when they could have taken their eye off the ball.

I have spent the last eight years working in the independent brewing sector so have a good feel for the challenges we face. However, as part of my induction I was especially keen to understand the challenges facing smaller brewers.

My overriding emotion is that SIBA members have so much we can achieve if we stick together and focus on the many things we all agree on. I find when you dig deeply into many organisations, the majority of people agree on 90% of things but spend 100% of the time arguing about the 10% they disagree on. In truth, many of the challenges facing brewers of all sizes are common and well documented; access to market, high levels of taxation, spiralling input costs, Covid debt and availability of labour were common themes across the membership.

Maximising SIBA’s potential SIBA members currently have 6% market share of UK beer, which I believe under-represents the impact and good will our beers have with beer drinkers.

In order to improve that, SIBA needs to become the best members organisation it can possibly be.

There is a lot of work to do on longer term plans but in the short term it’s clear to me that whilst SIBA lobbying is universally appreciated, we need to be better at communicating other member benefits which could help your business. So what to look out for?

• SIBA is leading the industry in calling for lower duty on draught beer ahead of the Alcohol Duty Review in August. Please support the “Make it 20%” campaign by writing to your MP to give this campaign as much momentum as possible.

• The Alcohol Duty Review includes a number of changes to the way beer duty is calculated and we expect a detailed announcement in the Chancellor's Budget in March. We will of course be helping you through these changes when we know more.

• BeerX is always the focal point of the SIBA year and I look forward to welcoming you to Liverpool on March 15/16 for a range of seminars, events and business awards. Amongst our guest speakers will be Bob Pease, the Chief Executive of the American Brewers Association, SIBA’s sister body in the US. Bob has years of experience in campaigning for independent brewers so his views and insights will be fascinating.

• The launch of a bespoke legal portal, set up and operated by Napthens. This supports the SIBA legal helpline from which you all have an hour’s free legal consultation for every legal issue facing your business. This includes confidential advice if you are concerned about the financial state of your brewery and your duties as a director. Please us it!

• Members in Scotland and Northern Ireland will soon have their own bespoke legal service, representing the unique legal challenges facing members in those countries.

• The Scottish Deposit Return Scheme affects every brewer in the UK who sells small pack beer to Scotland (or anyone who supplies their beer in small pack to the Scottish market). We will be keeping you all updated as to how you are affected.

• We are presently in pricing discussions with our Beerflex customers with every penny increase we achieve in these discussions being passed straight to you, our members, with nothing staying with SIBA.

As a members’ organisation, SIBA prides itself on supporting brewers in this way whilst commercially driven companies look to maintain and grow margins.

Some of these initiatives are the foundations on which any successful members organisation is built.

Over the months ahead we will be building on these to develop a strategy to deliver an aspiration for profitable share growth as well as building on the services you have come to appreciate.

I look forward to working with you on the journey, and of course to enjoying a beer or two.

Cheers!

Andy Slee Chief Executive SIBA