Craft Brew News # 79 – Allagash COVID Impact and A-B Drama

Craft Beer Storm

Craft Brew News 07/10/20
(Courtesy of Brewbound.com)
Allagash Founder Rob Tod Recovers From COVID-19
In an interview with a Maine NBC affiliate, Allagash founder Rob Tod revealed that he tested positive for COVID-19 in mid-March after returning from a ski vacation.
Tod told the affiliate that he self-quarantined and “rode it out” at home, not wanting to infect any other Allagashians.
Even with the diagnosis, Tod said he was “so consumed and immersed in running this company at a time when we had lost 70% of our business the day that I came down with the COVID.”
With March and the coronavirus, practically overnight people stopped going to bars and restaurants, where most of Allagash’s sales occurred. In less than a month sales tanked by seventy percent.
Since losing 70% of its business, Allagash has since refocused on building its off-premise business. The company in June shared plans to launch several years’ worth of innovations in the fall, including a line of sparkling session ales made with fruit called Little Grove by Allagash, a new stout called North Sky and 6-pack bottles of flagship Allagash White.
California Governor Orders Shutdown of Breweries and Restaurants in 19 Counties
With a growing number of new COVID-19 cases in California, Gov. Gavin Newsom has expanded the state’s temporary shutdown of bars and breweries to include a ban on indoor and outdoor dining and drinking in 19 counties, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. However, restaurants will be allowed to continue operating outdoor patio spaces, as well as breweries that operate licensed food service or partner with neighboring restaurants or food trucks.
Counties included in the order include Los Angeles, Orange, Sacramento, Santa Barbara, and Ventura. Majority of counties account for nearly 75% of the state’s population. All 19 are on the state Department of Public Health’s “monitoring list” for areas with an increasing number of novel coronavirus cases and hospitalizations.
Dichello Distributors Files Lawsuit Against Anheuser-Busch Alleging Conspiracy to Force Sale
An Anheuser-Busch wholesaler in Connecticut is suing the world’s largest beer manufacturer alleging that the maker of Bud Light conspired with a now former employee to damage the business and force a sale of the distributorship.
New Haven, Connecticut-based Dichello Distributors is suing Anheuser-Busch, claiming A-B “engaged in an ongoing conspiracy” with Sal DiBetta, a former employee who later worked as CEO of the wholesaler between 2013 and 2016, as well as “other unnamed parties,” to “undermine” Dichello and force president John Hall’s family to sell the business to A-B, according to a complaint filed on June 17 in the Connecticut Superior Court.
Dichello also alleges A-B has tried to enforce an equity agreement on the wholesaler and threatened them “with consequences for non-compliance, including forced sale of the distributorship.”
A-B has not responded to a request for comment.
DiBetta worked for A-B for more than 30 years before joining Dichello in October 2013 and departing in 2016, according to his Linkedin profile.
Anheuser-Busch to Pay Record $5 Million Offer In Compromise for Trade Practice Violations Tied to
Sports and Entertainment Sponsorships
Anheuser-Busch InBev has agreed to pay a record $5 million offer in compromise (OIC) for alleged trade practice violations related to sports and entertainment sponsorships, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) announced today.
Additionally, A-B’s importer and wholesaler permits were suspended for two days in Littleton, Colorado, and four days in Denver.
The $5 million fine is the largest offer in compromise collected to date by the TTB, Thomas Hogue, a spokesperson for the federal agency, confirmed with Brewbound. A-B’s offer tops a $2.5 million fine collected last year from Heineken USA for alleged trade practice violations.
According to the TTB, the alleged violations included:
“Entering into sponsorship agreements with various entities in the sports and entertainment industries requiring concessionaires and other retailers to purchase A-B’s malt beverages and prohibiting them from purchasing specific competitor brands;
Inducing sports industry concessionaires to purchase A-B’s malt beverages by furnishing fixtures, equipment, and services;
Reimbursing, through credit card swipes, retailers for the cost of installing malt beverage draft dispensing systems, thereby inducing them to purchase A-B’s malt beverages;
Requiring retailers to purchase A-B’s malt beverages in return for such retailers’ use of equipment A-B furnished them free of charge or below market value;
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