Lakeport Brewing Company
Encyclopedia
The Lakeport Brewing Company is a beer
brewer located on Burlington Street East and Wellington Street North
in Hamilton
, Ontario
, Canada
. It is the largest discount brewer in Canada, and uses the motto "Lakeport, Great beer, Fair prices." The company was incorporated on April 27, 2005. Lakeport produces nine proprietary beers, of which the most popular are Lakeport Honey Lager and Lakeport Pilsner. As of 2006, Lakeport has an eleven percent share of the Ontario beer market the only province in which Lakeport beer is sold. They also have other brand names, such as Brava, Wee Willy, and Steeler lager.
The parent company of Lakeport Brewing is Lakeport Brewing Income Fund, now wholly owned by the Labatt division of Anheuser–Busch InBev
.
Lakeport was founded in 1992 as a premium beer brewery. It produced its own brands of premium beer, as well as taking contracts to brew beers for other brands such as President's Choice
. Lakeport's retail outlet adjacent to the brewery was the first store in Ontario to sell beer on Sundays.
The brewery was in bankruptcy
protection in 1999 when AlphaCorp Holdings Ltd bought the brewery and hired Teresa Cascioli to manage the brewery. Lakeport took on contract manufacturing work for other beverage brands and reworked its operations to make the brewery profitable. Cascioli later bought out the other investors to gain complete ownership of the company which she retained until the initial public offering
, at which point her ownership fell to twenty percent.
In 2002 Lakeport held one percent of the market share
in Ontario when it pioneered a retail strategy of selling twenty four beers for twenty four dollars, the lowest legal price in Ontario.
Lakeport used its low prices as the basis for its marketing to much success. The Lakeport Honey Lager brand in particular became popular. Teresa Cascioli feels the success is due to Lakeport's willingness to take ownership of their discount beers. She stated, "We are the only one at $24 plus deposit that actually puts our company name on it." This was a departure from the norm, especially for a brand such as honey lager. Typically specialty beer brands, such as honey lager, released under a company's name, were sold at premium prices. The marketing of Lakeport Light, Pilsener, and Honey Lager was combined to keep costs down.
There were few advertisements for Lakeport that appeared on television at this time. One advertisement that was aired featured both Teresa Cascioli, and a shop steward of the Teamsters Local 938, representing the workers who brew Lakeport, discussing how they hoped to make a good product at a reasonable price for their consumers. This "grassroots marketing approach" was quite different from most beer marketing strategies in Ontario, Canada, which primarily focus on creating an image for a particular individual brand. The homepage on the Lakeport Brewing website declared Lakeport is "Proudly Union-Made in Ontario".
Lakeport's share of the Ontario beer market rose from less than two percent in 2003 to seven percent in 2004 to ten percent in 2005 and eleven percent in 2006. In 2005, Lakeport had one of the top ten selling beers in Ontario. By 2006 two Lakeport beers were among the ten top selling beers in Ontario.
, made an offer of $201.4 Million CAD to purchase Lakeport. CEO Teresa Cascioli, and the board of directors, recommended the sale; Cascioli owns a 21 percent share in the company and stands to gain an excess of $40 million CAD from the sale of shares.
On March 30, 2010 Labatt Brewery announced that it would be closing the Lakeport Hamilton Brewery on April 30, 2010 and shifting production to London, Ontario.
Several offers for the facilities have been surfacing following the closure notice. Calgary
based Minhas Creek Brewing Company was interested in the plant, but Labatt declined, not wanting any new lease owner for the site to produce beer there. The Teamsters Union Local 938 called for a boycott of Labatt products due to this.
Beer
Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
brewer located on Burlington Street East and Wellington Street North
Wellington Street (Hamilton, Ontario)
Wellington Street, is a Lower City arterial road in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It starts off at Charlton Avenue East as a two-way street for only one block where it's then blocked off by the Corktown Park and a couple of Canadian National Railway lines that cut through it...
in Hamilton
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. It is the largest discount brewer in Canada, and uses the motto "Lakeport, Great beer, Fair prices." The company was incorporated on April 27, 2005. Lakeport produces nine proprietary beers, of which the most popular are Lakeport Honey Lager and Lakeport Pilsner. As of 2006, Lakeport has an eleven percent share of the Ontario beer market the only province in which Lakeport beer is sold. They also have other brand names, such as Brava, Wee Willy, and Steeler lager.
The parent company of Lakeport Brewing is Lakeport Brewing Income Fund, now wholly owned by the Labatt division of Anheuser–Busch InBev
Anheuser–Busch InBev
Anheuser-Busch InBev N.V. is a Belgian-Brazilian publicly-traded company, based in Leuven, Belgium. It is the largest global brewer with nearly 25% global market share and one of the world's top five consumer products companies by EBITA....
.
History
President's Choice
President's Choice also known as “PC,” is a private label or store brand owned by Loblaw Companies Limited, Canada’s largest food retailer. As the company’s premium line, President’s Choice includes a wide variety of grocery and household products, in addition to financial services and mobile...
. Lakeport's retail outlet adjacent to the brewery was the first store in Ontario to sell beer on Sundays.
The brewery was in bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
protection in 1999 when AlphaCorp Holdings Ltd bought the brewery and hired Teresa Cascioli to manage the brewery. Lakeport took on contract manufacturing work for other beverage brands and reworked its operations to make the brewery profitable. Cascioli later bought out the other investors to gain complete ownership of the company which she retained until the initial public offering
Initial public offering
An initial public offering or stock market launch, is the first sale of stock by a private company to the public. It can be used by either small or large companies to raise expansion capital and become publicly traded enterprises...
, at which point her ownership fell to twenty percent.
Two-Four for Twenty Four
Market share
Market share is the percentage of a market accounted for by a specific entity. In a survey of nearly 200 senior marketing managers, 67 percent responded that they found the "dollar market share" metric very useful, while 61% found "unit market share" very useful.Marketers need to be able to...
in Ontario when it pioneered a retail strategy of selling twenty four beers for twenty four dollars, the lowest legal price in Ontario.
Lakeport used its low prices as the basis for its marketing to much success. The Lakeport Honey Lager brand in particular became popular. Teresa Cascioli feels the success is due to Lakeport's willingness to take ownership of their discount beers. She stated, "We are the only one at $24 plus deposit that actually puts our company name on it." This was a departure from the norm, especially for a brand such as honey lager. Typically specialty beer brands, such as honey lager, released under a company's name, were sold at premium prices. The marketing of Lakeport Light, Pilsener, and Honey Lager was combined to keep costs down.
There were few advertisements for Lakeport that appeared on television at this time. One advertisement that was aired featured both Teresa Cascioli, and a shop steward of the Teamsters Local 938, representing the workers who brew Lakeport, discussing how they hoped to make a good product at a reasonable price for their consumers. This "grassroots marketing approach" was quite different from most beer marketing strategies in Ontario, Canada, which primarily focus on creating an image for a particular individual brand. The homepage on the Lakeport Brewing website declared Lakeport is "Proudly Union-Made in Ontario".
Lakeport's share of the Ontario beer market rose from less than two percent in 2003 to seven percent in 2004 to ten percent in 2005 and eleven percent in 2006. In 2005, Lakeport had one of the top ten selling beers in Ontario. By 2006 two Lakeport beers were among the ten top selling beers in Ontario.
Takeover
On February 1, 2007 Labatt Brewery, owned by InBevInBev
InBev is a subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev. The company existed independently for several years - since the merger between Interbrew and AmBev and until the acquisition of Anheuser-Busch. InBev has operations in over 30 countries and sales in over 130 countries...
, made an offer of $201.4 Million CAD to purchase Lakeport. CEO Teresa Cascioli, and the board of directors, recommended the sale; Cascioli owns a 21 percent share in the company and stands to gain an excess of $40 million CAD from the sale of shares.
On March 30, 2010 Labatt Brewery announced that it would be closing the Lakeport Hamilton Brewery on April 30, 2010 and shifting production to London, Ontario.
Several offers for the facilities have been surfacing following the closure notice. Calgary
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
based Minhas Creek Brewing Company was interested in the plant, but Labatt declined, not wanting any new lease owner for the site to produce beer there. The Teamsters Union Local 938 called for a boycott of Labatt products due to this.