Beck brewery
| Beck brewery GmbH & Co. KG
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|---|---|
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| legal form | GmbH & Co. KG |
| founding | 1873 |
| Seat | Bremen , Germany |
| management | Heinz Biermann, Chris Cools, Alexander Gerber, Nico Weber-Knittweis |
| Number of employees | approx. 1,480 (January 2014) |
| Branch | brewery |
| Website | www.becks.de |
| Status: January 2014 | |
The Beck GmbH & Co. KG brewery is a brewery based in Bremen . It produces beers and mixed beer drinks for the German and international market under the Beck’s brand name . In 2002 it was bought by the Belgian Interbrew group. In 2004, the companies Interbrew and Companhia de Bebidas das Américas ( AmBev ) became the largest brewery group in the world with InBev . The merger of InBev and Anheuser-Busch became Anheuser-Busch InBev at the end of 2008 .
Companies
The Beck brewery is based in Bremen and, in addition to its internal presence, is clearly oriented towards exports . The brewery is owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev, based in Leuven (Belgium). Under the Beck’s brand, it produces various beer products not only in Bremen, as well as the Haake-Beck regional brand, which is known not only in northern Germany, and the naturally cloudy Haake-Kräusen herb beer .
The company employed around 1,500 people in the early 2010s. On October 17, 2013, the company's management announced massive job cuts. According to Beck's parent company AB Inbev, 151 jobs of the approximately 1400 employees in Bremen should be cut.
The brewery exports to a total of around 120 countries around the world. Beck's sold 2.5 million hectoliters of beer and mixed beer drinks in Germany in 2017.
Chronicle of the company
Founding phase from 1873
On June 27, 1873, the businessman Franz Gustav Thomas May , the entrepreneur Lüder Rutenberg and the master brewer Heinrich Beck founded the Kaiserbrauerei Beck & May oHG . From 1874 the Kaiserbrauerei sold beer in green, hand-blown bottles to Bremen restaurants. On October 1, 1875 Thomas May left the company, and the company was now emperor brewery Beck & Co renamed. Starting in 1876, a beer based on the Pilsen brewing style was developed, which was ideally suited for transport overseas. The beer won the gold medal at the Philadelphia World's Fair for "the best of all continental beers". The image of the medal and the Bremen key (from 1877) first appeared as a logo on the label. The beer became known worldwide as the key beer and key beer . In 1884 the oval label was protected as a trademark with a key pointing to the right . The export of the Kaiserbier began in 1886 with the Reichspostdampferlinie to the Far East.
Beer cooling was switched from natural ice to machine-made ice in 1888. In 1882, Rutenberg's son-in-law Lambert Leisewitz took over the management of the brewery. He expanded and modernized the company. After Rutenberg withdrew from the brewery, Leisewitz and Georg Wertgen were personally liable partners of the brewery from 1890.
After Lüder Rutenberg's death in 1890, the company became the Kaiserbrauerei Beck & Co KG . In 1893 a bacteriological laboratory was set up to test raw materials and beer. In 1900 export sales rose to over 100,000 hectoliters for the first time. Australia became the most important international market in 1906 with an annual purchase of over 30,000 boxes. The Kaiserbrauerei Beck & Co KGaA was founded in 1909 . The Nienburger Glashütte Himly, Holscher & Co took over a limited partner's share in the company. The total output exceeded 200,000 hectoliters for the first time in 1911. Due to the war, the export business came to a standstill with the beginning of the First World War . The brewery supplied the German troops and was able to survive. However, the output fell to 100,000 hectoliters.
In 1917 the Wilhelm Remmer Brewery in Bremen was bought and in 1918 the majority of shares in the St. Pauli Brewery - the strongest competitor on international markets - was taken over. In 1921 the entire domestic business was transferred to the newly founded Haake-Beck Brewery A.G. The Kaiser brewery now named in Co. Export Beck & order. In 1924 Beck & Co. took over the majority of the Nienburger Glashütte Himly, Holscher & Co. The V2A stainless steel barrels for beer transport, which at that time were not very common in contrast to the traditional wooden barrels, were introduced in 1928. In 1931 Beck & Co began building two breweries in Batavia and Java. The ABC breweries (Archipel Brewerie Company) started operations in 1933 and 1934.
As a result of the Nazi takeover and calls for a boycott against Germany, the export market collapsed from 1934. The delivery dropped to 70,000 hectoliters. In 1936 Beck & Co. KG took over the assets and liabilities of the Kaiserbrauerei Beck & Co KaA, and one year later Beck bought the Winterhuder brewery in Hamburg. With the beginning of the Second World War , beer exports came to a standstill. The breweries in Singapore and Batavia were seized. Sales in 1939/40 fell to 40,616 hectoliters. In 1944 large parts of the production facilities were destroyed by bombs. The brewing activity had to be stopped in 1945.
Developments after 1945
Beer was not brewed again until 1948. In December, the first 200 boxes were exported to Bangkok. Beck’s was first sold domestically in 1949 . In 1953 a can filling plant was opened for export to America. The first nationwide advertising campaign in the magazine » Der Spiegel « ran in 1955 under the slogan: "Beck's (beer) quenches men's thirst". The first spot on German television followed in 1958.
Domestic sales exceeded 100,000 hectoliters for the first time in 1960 and in 1964 domestic sales of 248,242 hectoliters were for the first time greater than sales abroad of 189,637 hectoliters. The triple can pack was developed in 1967, and in 1968 the "Beck'ser" was developed, a six- pack for 0.33 liter bottles. One million hectoliters of beer was sold in 1973 (domestic: 604,000 hectoliters, abroad: 597,000 hectoliters) and Beck’s was introduced as draft beer in Germany in 1974 . The slogan was changed in 1975 from a man's thirst to a connoisseur's thirst ("Beck's (beer) quenches the connoisseur's thirst").
The Bremer Erfrischungsgetränke GmbH was acquired in 1979. On October 1, 1981, Beck & Co. merged with Haake-Beck Brauerei Aktiengesellschaft. With total sales of 2,964,000 hectoliters, the one million mark for export was exceeded in 1983. A tall ship with green sails has been promoting Beck’s since 1984 . The tall ship, the Alexander von Humboldt , has been advertising Beck’s since 1988 . In 1990 the new slogan - " Beck's - Top Pilsener von Welt " - came onto the market. In 1992, "Sail away" became Beck's promotional song. The song was first sung by Hans Hartz and from 1995 by Joe Cocker . From 2001 a new slogan is called “The Beck's Experience”.
From 1989 Beck & Co. took a stake in the North American Dribeck Importers , which was renamed Beck's North America in 1998 . The USA became Beck & Co.'s largest foreign market. After the fall of the Wall , Beck & Co. took over the Rostock brewery in 1991 . In 1992 a cooperation began with the Southeast Chinese Golden Key Brewery , which built a new brewery to brew Beck’s under license for the Chinese market. In 1993 Beck's Non-Alcoholic was introduced. Beck & Co.'s total sales exceeded the five million hectoliters mark in 1994. The new visitor center opened its doors in 1997.
In 1999 Beck & Co. became a shareholder in Namibia Breweries Limited (NBL) in Windhoek ; From 2000 Beck's was brewed for the African market.
The Belgian group Interbrew (today: Anheuser-Busch InBev) took over the brewery in February 2002 for a price of 1.8 billion euros. The following have now been sold: Nienburger Glas GmbH to Rexam in 2002 , Rostock brewery to Radeberger Gruppe Brau & Brunnen in 2003 , Bremer Erfrischungsgetränke GmbH in 2005 and a stake in nordIT GmbH in 2007. For cost reasons, the group also got rid of the traditional Bremen beer coachmen who had delivered the beer by horse and cart in 2005. The horse stable was only a few years old and is now used as an office.
From 2003 to 2006, Beck's Gold , Beck's Green Lemon , PerfectDraft for home dispensers, Beck's Chilled Orange and Beck's Level 7 were launched . In 2008 the products Beck's Green Lemon alcohol-free and Beck's Ice were introduced. The so-called Weserkeller - a conspicuous building standing directly on the Weser, in which there were no longer used fermentation and storage tanks - was demolished.
After the takeover of the Munich Spaten-Löwenbräu Group by Interbrew (now Anheuser-Busch InBev ), the German holdings and brands are increasingly managed and controlled from the company's headquarters in Bremen.
In January 2014 the Bundeskartellamt imposed a fine of 106.5 million euros on four large breweries for fixing prices for draft and bottled beers in a beer cartel from 2006 to 2008. Beck's himself was excluded from a fine because the owner had reported these agreements (this in the sense of a leniency program applied here ).
Products under the brand
- Beck’s - light beer
- Beck's Gold - light and mild beer
- Beck's Blue - non-alcoholic beer
- Beck's Lime - Pilsner with a dash of lime
- Beck's Green Lemon - mixed beer drink with low alcohol content and lemon flavor
- Beck's Green Lemon Zero - Beck's Green Lemon without alcohol
- Beck's Ice - transparent mixed beer drink with low alcohol content and lime and mint flavor .
- Beck's Summer Elderberry - mixed beer drink with low alcohol content and elderberry flavor . Winner of a competition on Facebook ., Formerly a limited edition.
- Beck's Lemon Brew
In addition, the beers 1873 Pils , Pale Ale and Amber Lager were launched in 2015 . In 2016 this series was supplemented by the Red Ale . (These no longer exist)
The following are brewed in the USA exclusively for the American market:
- Beck's Sapphire - Pils with 6.0% alcohol,
- Beck's Premier light - a reduced-calorie version of the classic pilsner especially for the US market
limited edition
- 2011: Beck's Black Currant - mixed beer drink with low alcohol content and the taste of black currant
- 2012: Beck's Asia - mixed beer drink with low alcohol content and ginger - grapefruit flavor
- 2013: Beck's Chili Mango - mixed beer drink with low alcohol content and mango flavor
Previous products
- until 2011: Beck's Level 7 - Energy -Beer mix drink with low alcohol content and caffeine
- until 2012: Beck's alcohol-free
- Beck's Twisted Orange (formerly Beck's Chilled Orange ) - mixed beer drink with low alcohol content and an orange flavor .
Pure export products
- Beck's Dark - dark lager beer
- Beck's NEXT - light pilsner in a clear glass bottle, similar to Beck's Gold
- Beck's Vier - mild lager for Great Britain , Ireland and the Netherlands
- Beck's Oktoberfest - appears as a special edition once a year
Advertisement for Beck's
Very early on, the Beck’s brand began to stand out from the competition not by highlighting product features, but by creating a clear image . In this regard, Beck’s is one of the pioneers of this strategy in the beer sector alongside Warsteiner .
The "advertising flagship" for Beck's was the Alexander von Humboldt . Together with the entrepreneur Egon H. Harms and the Sail Training Association Germany Stifter, the brewery donated the DSST and thus enabled the conversion of the former lightship Reserve Sonderburg into the barque Alexander von Humboldt .
The first ship for the advertising campaign was the “Activ” by the Hamburg architect Volkwin Marg . The Beck's song Sail Away was by Hans Hartz , sold 1.6 million times worldwide and was later sung by Joe Cocker . Sail has been the Beck's song from the band Awolnation since 2015 .
A recent advertising success is the launch of Beck's Gold . A more typical lager was introduced to the market through a clever combination of targeted shortages and deliveries to selected customers (e.g. at trendy bars) in such a way that customers were initially even willing to pay higher bottle prices than for conventional Beck’s .
Together with the electrical appliance manufacturer Philips and other beer brands from the InBev group, the PerfectDraft system was introduced in 2005 , a new type of dispensing system for domestic use. Above all, emphasis was placed on ease of use and design in order to attract new customer groups. This is to be achieved, among other things, by a patented system for the required barrels that cannot easily be copied by competitors.
Notation
The spelling of the brand name Beck’s is no longer incorrect in German after the spelling reform, since according to the new rules for clarification of proper names in the genitive case, an apostrophe can be used. The spelling was common in the 19th century. It can be explained by the international orientation, especially in the English-speaking area.
Brand logo
The Beck’s logo shows a red coat of arms with a white key. The similarity to the Bremen city arms , from which it was borrowed from 1876, can not be denied . In search of an appropriate symbolization, the company founders originally decided to take over the Bremen coat of arms one-to-one. However, this met with objections from the city, which did not want to be associated with the production of alcohol. It was therefore decided to change the shape of the coat of arms a little and to mirror the key depicted in it horizontally, i.e. simply to display it reversed. The result was satisfactory to both of them and has since been used as a symbol of the brewery and brand.
Green bottle
Beer was traditionally bottled in brown bottles. Since the Nienburger Glashütte Himly, Holscher & Co. only produced (green) wine bottles, the decision was made to go for the green bottle. The Nienburger Hütte was a Beck's company until it was taken over by InBev. Today it is part of Ardagh Glass .
International manufacturing and export policy
Beck's is exported to around 120 countries around the world. Beck's was only delivered abroad until 1949, after which sales on the German market began. Under license from AB InBev, Beck's is brewed and sold by Molson Coors Europe for mainly Eastern European countries.
National peculiarities in consumer taste require special orientation on markets outside Germany. Beck's Green Lemon is not offered on the US market, nor is Beck's Gold . The latter is less competitive against the long and successful light and mild lagers such as Miller or Budweiser .
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ See planned job cuts. Works council fights for jobs at Beck & Co ( Memento from May 25, 2014 in the Internet Archive ). On: Radiobremen.de from January 15, 2014; Retrieved May 25, 2014.
- ↑ ntv.de: Up again: InBev swallows Anheuser , July 14, 2008
- ↑ https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/499098/umfrage/bierausstoss-von-beck-s-nach-art/ Statistics from Inside beverages via Statista
- ↑ AFP / dpa / cat: Warsteiner & Co .: Cartel Office imposes high fines on breweries. In: welt.de . January 13, 2014, accessed October 7, 2018 .
- ↑ horizontjobs.de: Crowdsourcing: Beck's fans choose limited edition “Summer Elder” , accessed: March 30, 2013.
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento from August 27, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) “Tall ship laid on keel” on mediamaritim.de
Coordinates: 53 ° 4 ′ 36 " N , 8 ° 47 ′ 33" E