The Liquor Marketing Group (LMG) has revealed details of a new Craft Beer Program at its Queensland state conference, which is taking place in Port Douglas this week.
The program aims to provide LMG members with opportunities to maximise the growth potential of the craft beer market and help them to navigate the complex craft segment.
Speaking at the conference, LMG’s National Category Manager for Beer, Spirits and RTDs, Scot Hayman, said that the program will kick off later this year and will help LMG members to improve their overall beer offering.
“One of our big challenges is, how do we navigate through the craft market? It’s complex, it’s challenging,” Hayman said.
“We are a national retailer so we can’t just concentrate on the niche elements of the craft segment, but at the same time we have to create the credibility that allows us to stand up and represent this segment and attract people to our stores.
“The whole idea of this craft program is to provide a roadmap for independent retailers to be able to bring to life craft beer in our stores and to be able to maximise the trend.”
He added: “The program will leverage the craft trend, which is not going away, and will help guide us all through this complex world of craft beer.”
The program will see LMG establish a range on a state-by-state basis, with Hayman saying that the group did not want to simply apply the same range everywhere.
“What makes craft beer different is that you’ve got different states that are concentrating on different things, and so should we.
“In the same way that we have with the Premium Wine Program we will pull together a lot of material for our members around this and they will have a lot of information that will help with educating members, staff and shoppers.”
The program has seen LMG source more than 20 new suppliers and Hayman added that this program has been a long time in the making, but it is just the start of LMG’s craft beer journey.
“This won’t all just happen overnight, in a year’s time we will all be here and we will probably reflect on the journey that we have been on to establish our credible status in the craft beer space.”