New Belgium lays off 28 employees, most in Fort Collins

FORT COLLINS — Slow growth in craft-beer sales has prompted New Belgium Brewing Co. to lay off 28 employees — most of them in Fort Collins — the company announced Friday.

New Belgium spokesman Bryan Simpson told BizWest that Fort Collins bore the brunt of the layoffs, with three in Asheville, N.C., where the company opened a brewery in 2016.

The layoffs constitute less than 4 percent of New Belgium’s workforce. New Belgium employs more than 400 workers in Fort Collins and 740 nationwide.

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“These changes were not driven by a decline in our business,” New Belgium said in a press release announcing the layoffs. “In fact, our depletions grew in 2017 vs. 2016 which is admirable given industry headwinds. However, beginning in 2013, we expanded our staff to support a brewery about 40 percent larger than New Belgium is today, and we haven’t yet achieved our goals in the face of changing dynamics in craft brewing.”

The Asheville brewery took New Belgium’s capacity to 1.5 million barrels. At the time the Asheville project was begun, craft-beer sales were increasing at about 18 percent a year. That growth has slowed to single digits,

“We started that project in 2013, based on industry trends at that time,” Simpson said. “There’s been a little bit of slowing, and we haven’t met our forecast plans.

“We’re in all 50 states now, and we will continue to be a national brand,” he added. “But we had to re-evaluate the structure of our business to make sure that we’re competitive at the moment. We had to take a hard look at some things and make some tough decisions to correct that.”

Simpson said that laid-off employees received a severance package that included up to 20 weeks of pay. The company will also repurchase New Belgium shares held as part of the company’s employee stock-ownership plan, or ESOP.

“Today has been a tough day at New Belgium” CEO Steve Fechheimer said in the press release.  “We feel deeply for the employees impacted and wish them nothing but the best in the future. Going forward, we will have more resolve than ever to grow our business and create value for this 100 percent-employee-owned company.” 

New Belgium brews beers including Fat Tire Belgian Style Ale, 1554 Black Lager, Voodoo Ranger IPA and many other beers.