Management shakeup at craft brewer Stone
Does Greg Koch, the co-founder and CEO of California’s craft brewer Stone, really only want to take Tuesday afternoons off? On 11 September 2015 Mr Koch, 51, announced he will become Chairman of Stone, while rejecting all speculation that a sale was in the offing.
Mr Koch told U.S. media that he will assume the duties of Executive Chairman, focusing on long-term strategic planning for the company, handing day-to-day management over to a successor. The company has begun the search for a new CEO, but says there is no set time frame to find a candidate.
Mr Koch co-founded the brewery in 1996 with Steve Wagner. It is the ninth-largest craft brewer in the country, with over 1,100 employees, an estimated annual output of over 340,000 hl beer (2014) and revenues in excess of USD 137 million (2013). Last year, it expanded its production operations beyond the U.S., announcing plans to open a USD 25 million facility in Berlin, Germany.
Mr Koch will continue to oversee development of that facility as well as a recently announced brewery expansion into Richmond, Virginia.
“My tomorrow is going to look functionally the same as my yesterday,” Mr Koch was quoted as saying. “I think this is a long-winded way of saying I may finally be able to take a Tuesday afternoon off.”
While a high profile executive shuffle at Stone might worry craft beer enthusiasts, Mr Koch was quick to squash any speculation that the company could be positioning itself for a sale or equity investor.
“This move signals nothing in that regard,” he reportedly said. “Stone Brewing will never sell out. Stone Brewing is sacrosanct. We’re not interested in participating in a cash grab. There are two ways of operating a business – commodity or artisan. We operate as an artisan. We make decisions based on our passions. … Anybody that thinks commodity can operate as an artesian is ignoring the basic facts about how businesses operate.”
To market observers, Greg Koch is merely following in the footsteps of his namesake Jim Koch of Boston Beer, who transited from CEO of Boston Beer to Chairman in 2001, without to all appearances reducing his hours spent on behalf of Boston Beer. He still serves as Boston Beer’s inveterate salesman. Perhaps Greg Koch and his partner saw that running a beer empire, which stretches from California to Berlin, requires a full-time marketer and not a CEO tied down in California?
(see below) In recent years, Greg Koch has displayed some restlessness, says the San Diego Union-Tribute. In February 2014, he embarked on a four-month sabbatical that took him around the world. In January, he began talking to co-founder Steve Wagner about leaving the CEO position and taking on a new role. Photo: Stone Brewing Company
