Brewberry eyes premium spot

It markets three Belgian draught beers, namely Stella Artois, Hoegaarden and Leffe.

The company was established in late 2006 and positioned itself as an independent beer firm importing only premium draught beer.

It began by selling Hoegaarden white beer and Stella Artois lager beer late last year. It is expected to launch Leffe fruity beer in May.

Focusing on importing and sellling premium beer will enable the company to achieve strong growth despite the beer market showing sluggish growth at less than 3 per cent, said general manager Rawin Suphavanij.

The market will likely see fierce competition as more consumers turn to draught beer.

Rawin said the share of premium draught beer in the whole beer market had jumped 48 per cent.

"Draught beer has a better taste. It also offers better opportunities to connect with consumers and allows us to get close to customers. We have to keep explaining to them in detail about the quality of premium beer," Rawin said.

The executive said that during the initial marketing period, Stella Artois would educate bartenders at restaurants to become more familiar with its products.

As well, it will attempt to educate beer drinkers.

Its initial marketing budget this year is Bt30 million, with Inbev contributing half of it.

It plans to have up to 70 restaurants supplying its beer, from 30 now.

Apart from focusing mainly on restaurants that sell draught beer, Brewberry is also working with supermarkets and hypermarkets as other distribution channels.

Advertising would be mainly in selected magazines, Rawin said.

It would resist sponsoring major events in the first year of marketing as Inbev has done overseas.

Rawin said Brewberry did not see any importer as a direct competitor and expected to gain a 15-per-cent share, worth Bt200 million, in sales this year by marketing the three brands.

Nitida Asawanipont

The Nation