Melbourne’s Hawkers Beer and Sydney’s White Bay Brewery have come together as the founding brands of the freshly minted hospitality outfit, Social Drinks Group. The group starts officially trading on 1 February.
The move means SDG has two state-of-the-art breweries – Hawkers’ seven million litre facility in Reservoir, Melbourne and White Bay’s two million litre facility in White Bay, Sydney.
Judd Michel, a brewery industry veteran including CEO and MD of Heineken Group in Australia and former director at Coca-Cola Amatil (now Coca-Cola Europacific Partners) for alcohol and coffee, has joined as CEO.
He told F&DB/BARTENDER that the genesis of Social Drinks Group was looking for an opportunity to find some synergy for brands that didn’t compete with each other as well as a bit of respite from the challenges the brewing industry has been facing in recent years.
“Hawkers and White Bay make damn good beer. They’re different brands in different regions and when you create the right portfolio, you can start looking at sustainability as a business,” Michel said.
The merger gives Social Drinks Group a broad reach across the country, as well as combining sales, marketing, supply chain, and finance teams to rationalise those costs and streamline processes allowing – as Michel said – the breweries to keep making “exceptional beverages”.
Last year was brutal for craft breweries, with around 22 going out of business or into voluntary administration in the 12 months to August 2024. Hawkers Beer was one of them but was able to restructure and return to trade. Already this year, South East Brewing Company – parent company of KAIJU! – has gone into voluntary administration, citing the level of debt they were carrying, including excise owed to the Australian Tax Office (ATO).
Hawkers Beer founder and CEO, Mazen Hajjar, told F&DB/BARTENDER it had been challenging over the last year to navigate how to “not dilute our vision, stay independent, and survive”.
“The goalposts have shifted so much in recent years. With Social Drinks Group we have a shared vision. We can service our local crowds as well as getting access into new markets. Combining our sales, distribution, rationalising processes and advancing quality controls takes some of the pressure off,” Hajjar said.
Michel said the Social Drinks Group model is a disciplined one, agile, not limited to beer but always focused on brand.
“I am a pragmatist. You are not going to challenge the duopoly, the excise is ridiculous, and the landscape is not equal. I have worked in organisations with big brands, and it is hard to make a profit if you’re not in the duopoly. But it is what it is.
“So, you find your niche, work on it, and make good commercial decisions,” he said.
In establishing Social Drinks Group, Michel said it started with a “carefully considered decision” of finding brands that had synergy but would not cannibalise each other. And maintaining that focus on brand, not shareholders and their demands.
From White Bay Brewery and Hawkers Beer, the group has plans for further growth, either through mergers, acquisitions, or distribution partnerships.
“It will be finding a partnership where there are no brand conflicts, where we can optimise operational synergies. It will be maybe four or five brands, that’s it. It could be an RTD, or a pro-biotic mineral water, our minds are open. It’s about sustainability through optimisation, and people.”
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