Lagunitas to cut more than 100 jobs

Lagunitas Brewing, the fifth-ranking US craft brewer, is laying off 12 percent of its staff, blaming a softening US craft beer market. The brewer was bought by Heineken in two tranches in 2015 and 2017 for allegedly USD 1 billion. It sold over 1 million hl beer in 2017.

According to US media, the redundancies will affect all departments and all locations, including its headquarters in Petaluma, California, its Chicago production plant, and its Seattle taproom. The majority of the layoffs, more than 100, will take place in Petaluma.

“The craft beer market is rapidly evolving and, in many ways, more challenging. More breweries, more choices … very much like the late ‘90s when the craft beer segment had similar pressure,” Lagunitas’ CEO Maria Stipp told the Santa Rosa’s Press Democrat newspaper recently.

Lagunitas’ seems to be in deeper troubles than the job cuts would suggest. As reports brewbound.com, Lagunitas has yet to start operations at a third brewery in Azusa, California, with a capacity of 500,000 hl, which was originally slated to open in 2017.