One of my biggest peeves of the year is this trend to proclaim, “Millennials are killing _________”, insert random declining, crappy business. Whether it’s Budweiser, Applebees, TGIF, car sales, etc. Don’t fail to change to your business model, push a crappy product, or fail to recognize that economic conditions are changing and blame it on
“Millennials”. Do a little research, and find out if there’s a legit reason before you blame it on cultural changes. For example: wage growth has been down the last few years, so people may not be buying new cars, or dining out at Applebees.
Other pet peeve: Lazy, clickbait article titles. “How a small bird took over a delta flight”, “Millennials are killing _____”, etc.
Anyway, I’d like to propose new headlines to remedy this:
“How coked up stock brokers built a Beer king”-Lazy, clickbait version
“Applebee’s: No one wants your sugary $10 cocktails”
“Plane delayed: Yawn”
“Everyone hates bureaucratic corporate structures”
I considered posting about this when I first read it a few days ago, my take was more that carbonated beer colored water has replaced real beer [yes BudMillerCoors original beers are real beer, like them or not] for the top 3 spots in sales. This in the era of craft and crafty beer. Go figure.
I have long suspected that many of the people drinking beer, especially light beers, aren’t really all that fond of beer, they drink it largely cuz what else is there for them to drink, and because advertising & peer pressure offer lots of reasons to drink the stuff that has the highest markup for the manufacturer.
Interestingly, Corona was #5 on the list, IIRC. Advertising and peer pressure again, maybe.
As for the millennials being the proximate cause of Bud’s descent from it’s former throne, one could just as easily make the argument that it is more the result of the large number of my geezer generation who have substantially reduced their beer consumption, or in many cases completely given up drinking beer altogether. No king reigns forever.
Different regions, different realities. Off the top of my head, with the exception of Melvin and Uinta, I can’t recall a taproom I’ve visited that sold only beer. Around here that would be a guarantee of quick failure. I wonder how many even states offer beer only licenses.
I believe it is the norm rather than the exception for state licenses to permit beer sales without food sales.
However, it’s a pretty bad business model not to have food trucks show or have at least snacks on hand. Food definitely keeps people around and helps keep some of the alcohol consumption under control.