Pretoria - While the unbanning of alcohol sale may have provided some much-needed relief, the craft beer industry has been too hard hit to recover.
It is estimated that business owners and craft brewers lost 7 400 jobs, R14.2 billion lost in sales revenue, and more than R7.8bn in taxes and excise duties.
A survey by the Craft Brewers Association of South Africa indicated that 87.5% of operators were still at risk of permanent closure.
Speaking to Pretoria News, Johan Auriacombe, the owner of Capital Craft in Menlo Park and African Beer Emporium in the CBD, said the ban had been brutal to the industry.
“Everyone understands that there is a pandemic, and what has been the hardest is the uncertainty. You sit with beer in your tanks and fridges expiring, and you have no idea when the ban will lift or what to do with all the stock.
“It has been impossible to plan due to the virus and the spike.”
He said some of the significant changes effected to stay afloat included having to close Capital Craft Centurion permanently.
“It was hard for us to float three restaurants after the first ban, and we predicted that there would be another ban, and it did happen.
“So, we had to cut some costs and lost staff members; we tried to re-hire as many as possible, and even after giving packages it is not enough. You wish you could keep them on board, but your hands are tied.
“Our sales dropped by 80% – not because people are not coming, but because they spent less and have just a meal and a soft drink.
“This affected the reps who work for the craft beers, the brewers and the logistics guys who transport the beer; so many people have had it bad.”
He said their industry was small and the break-even mark was high. They needed to make sales to stay afloat and could not really absorb all the pressure.
“Some have merged and became a brewery together, and others have had to take out big loans that they had barely started paying off when the lockdown hit.
“So if your product was not being sold, when the ban is lifted its a different environment as some places you supplied have closed and others are not stocking a lot due to fear that they won’t be able to stock or cannot afford too much stock.
“Big beer has also shed billions, so it is a widespread issue in the alcohol industry. We cannot even predict the demand during this time. Even the companies that produce glass to store beer have also been affected, so it’s a long chain of people being affected.”
He said while it had been a week since the reopening of alcohol establishments, they had been seeing more foot traffic in the restaurant.
Auriacombe said they were in a bad place, but still lucky.
“Some craft beer guys and restaurants in Cape Town are in a really tough spot as tourists are not coming in at all and they have taken big hits.
“Those who were struggling before Covid, most of them have closed, and this last ban was the last nail in the coffin. Most people have really been creative and started online sales and such to market and keep pushing.”
He said despite the losses they were optimistic, and were looking forward to recovering.
Pretoria News