People are preferring to drink at home

Local brewers expect 10 to 50% less revenue this year. There are many reasons for this, including the shortened opening hours of the restaurants.

Water can also becomes a noble drink when mixed with malt and hops – and there are some breweries in the canton of Zug that really do make a fine drink out of water, or specifically beer. The Bachweg brewery in the town of Zug, the Eisbock brewery from Baar or the Einhornbräu, which is located in Hünenberg, are just some of them. But they too have also felt the effects of the Corona crisis. "For us as a brewery, restaurant operator and event organiser, the first wave of the pandemic and its consequences had a fatal impact on turnover and sales throughout the company," explains Freddy Niklaus from the Hünenberg brewery. He quantifies the losses caused by the Corona crisis: "We will now see a 10% decline in sales of beer, and a reduction in sales by the company of at least 50% compared to the previous year."

This is because the brewery generates 60% of its sales in the spring - autumn and winter months. Over the normal course of the year, Freddy Niklaus could have expected sales of beers to increase by 30%. The beer production for spring and part of the summer for the various trade fairs, events and also restaurants, which would, of course, have taken place under normal conditions, is already finished, and the year itself had been planned and budgeted.

Tasting sessions decreasing
Where have the losses come from? They are due to various factors. One difficulty, for example, is that the catering companies had to close their doors in the lockdown, and the many of the sellers of the Zug craft beer brands disappeared. Even though the restaurants are open again, the effects can still be felt. "The restaurateurs that we supply have reduced the number of places, and thereby also reduced the volumes sold, although they have not closed," says Roman Zwicky from the Eisbock brewery. In this case, however, this wasn’t too serious in terms of revenue, as they have re-oriented themselves. Due to the loss of events and tasting, he suspects sales will be 10% less than in the previous year. The Eisbock brewery has switched to other distribution channels – such as online marketing – and has therefore been able to compensate for the reduced gastro business, reveals Zwicky.

The Bachweg brewery moved to the old town of Zug less than a year ago. But it now expects to see almost 50% less in beer sales this year.

Thomas Döbeli of Bachweg-Brewing in the town of Zug confirms the observation of Roman Zwicky. He describes the problem of shorter opening hours: A bar makes its main sales after 11 p.m., and "their turnover has therefore completely collapsed". In addition, fewer people are eating out, and the individual visits are also shorter. "Beer consumption has also slumped at restaurants," he concludes. It’s not easy as a start-up brewery, as he describes. "We have a very good partnership with a few beverage retailers. But we are just one of many providers on the shelves." He hopes that the politicians will work out solutions to boost the gastro industry. The Bachweg Brewing has been hit even harder than the other two. As Thomas Döbeli explains: "Our decline in sales shrank to about half of the previous year’s sales."

Second wave is a heavy blow
The operators of the Einhorn brewery were also able to breathe a sigh of relief in the period after the lockdown, and experienced "four months of reasonably good sales". Freddy Niklaus even believed that he could make up for the lost spring business, but was particularly confident about the outlook for the autumn, with events such as October Fest and the Christmas business. Then came the heavy blow of the second wave. As he tells us: "The second wave and its measures have ruined everything, and we had to react immediately." Replanning has been the order of the day since April – investment projects were cancelled, for example.

In order to limit the losses, the brewers have mainly moved into the online area. The Eisbock brewery, for example, has offered online tastings. They also brewed at home, and the brewery benefited from the sale of home brewing systems, according to Roman Zwicky:

"We noticed that many people started brewing beer at home again during the pandemic, which makes us happy of course – in this way the variety of beers is maintained or grows."

Freddy Niklaus also describes that he experienced the customers acting in solidarity. Despite the crisis, Thomas Döbeli doesn’t see the situation as a dead end either: "Even if the Swiss beer market collapses, we still have great growth potential as a start-up brewery."