Evolution in the Beer Industry Post Pandemic

Zdenek Havlena, Sales Director Domestic Market at Bud?jovický Budvar n.p.

What are some of the major challenges and trends that have been impacting the food industry lately?

The biggest challenge recently was,obviously, the COVID-19 pandemic which impacted not only our industry, but also our lives significantly. In terms of beer business, we were impacted heavily by several lock downs where our HoReCachannel practically stopped. Part of the sales volume were transferred to retail but in total, sales went down significantly. COVID itself brought long termlifetime changes where people got used to spending more time at home instead of going out to restaurants and pubs.

In post covid times, the whole business became normal but still did not recover from the whole situation. Apart of COVID, the whole beer business is relatively stable with a slightly declining volume trend, but the situation is quite different, country by country. Our big advantage is the fact that we export to more than 70 countries, giving us quite a good balance and diversification between those different trends by country.

Considering the size of our company and the worldwide beer consumption, there is a big opportunity for future growth and these are positive trends for the business itself. People care more about quality of products, the way the beer is brewed, and observing more and more beer styles which exists in the world. It is something we are quite happy with and we can build our strategy around this trend.

What keeps you up at night when it comes to some of the major predicaments in the food Industry?

The whole food industry is suffering due to high inflation in Europe, driven by post pandemic economic issues and energy crisis. This is impacting general demand. On the top, thegovernment needs to stabilize state budget deficit which might bring high taxes for the industry. But in the long term, I am optimistic that the economy will grow back and the situation will be stabilized. The beer industry is quite stable in Czech Republic in the long run and still has good perspective for the future.

Can you tell us about the latest project that you have been working on and what are some of the technological and process elements that you leveraged to make the project successful?

I would mention two big commercial projects we did recently. We successfully launched a new beer, Budvar 33, for the domestic market which is becoming our key growth driver for Czech Republic. We are in the start of the journey but this beer has great potential.

Secondly, we introduced a new non-alcoholicflavored brand, BIRGO, with our partner Mattoni, who just finished their first successful year. Common success factors for both projects were the right business insights and understanding of the market with high quality product launch done with 360 activations.

What are some of the technological trends which excite you for the future of the food Industry?

I would stay focused on the beer industry. The key trend is to limit energy and water consumption, which will bring significant economic benefits. As for the other industries, sustainability agenda is getting more and more traction to be active in this area. Reduction of CO2 emissions and waste reduction with focus to recycle our packaging are high priorities in our sustainability agenda.

In terms of our brewing technology, we stick with the tradition of our high-quality brewing with our recipes, which delivers the best beer in the world. To keep this tradition unchanged is something which differentiate us from the others.