Camden Town undergoes restructure

Camden Town Brewery is being restructured and full integrated into parent company AB InBev.

In a move first reported by The Grocer, founder Jasper Cuppaidge, who sold the brewery to AB InBev for £85m in December 2015, will step back from the business into a consultant role.

CEO Adam Keary will leave in March after managing the transition into the parent’s UK division, a letter sent to Camden’s on and off-trade customers revealed.

A number of roles across the executive, finance and sales teams at Camden are being looked at in the shake-up as AB InBev seeks to simplify the business and eradicate duplication.

Many of the functions are expected to be moved and run centrally from the London headquarters of Budweiser Brewing Group, the UK arm of the brewing giant headed by Paula Lindenberg.

AB InBev is currently running a consultation process with the employees at Camden about the changes, with the final number of jobs to be axed yet to be finalised.

The remaining staff in production, engineering, supply chain and distribution at Camden’s breweries in Kentish Town and Enfield, the warehouses and back office will continue to operate as normal at the current sites.

“Starting in January 2021, Camden Town Brewery will become fully integrated with the UK AB InBev business, Budweiser Brewing Group,” the letter to customers written by CEO Adam Keary said.

“We will unify the two businesses, bringing the best of both and ultimately creating one bigger and better partner for you and all of our other customers.”

The integration will take a number of phases, starting by joining the two sales teams as AB InBev aligns one account manager per customer, the letter added.

Paula Lindenberg, president of Budweiser Brewing Group UK&I, said in a statement that the move was part of a long-term strategy and would pave the way for future growth and expansion at Camden.

“As Camden has continued to see phenomenal growth, with the start of 2020 showing an anticipated 10th year of 50% consecutive gains, now is the time to fully integrate to keep up with consumer demand and to grow further,” she said.

“We believe that our teams complement each other and that our ambition is the same. I couldn’t be more grateful for the strong company the team has built.

“Camden Town Brewery will continue to be focused on getting more fresh, high-quality beer into the hands of more people in the UK. We love the Camden Town brand and ethos, and we do not want to change this, but to see it continue to grow.”

A spokeswoman for Budweiser Brewing Group added that the group would try to minimise the total number of redundancies during the integration.

Founded in 2010, the business has grown rapidly under AB InBev’s ownership, with annual revenues now at more than £50m, compared to £14m at the end of 2015.

The majority of Camden’s sales are generated in the on-trade across 3,500 pubs, but retail has grown to represent more than 20% of the business.