West Berkshire Brewery (WBB) has announced the creation of 23 production jobs since covid-19 struck, bucking the downturn.
This brings the number of staff to 122 — a strong comeback from the challenges of early lockdown, when the business was forced to furlough down to a skeleton team of eight.
A key hire during this time was David Sopko (whose previous roles included time with the Carlsberg Group), who was brought in as head of production. Despite the challenging climate, David and his team have since built the WBB brewing and packaging up to a 24-hour-a-day, five-days-a-week operation.
The business cites its people and their high standards as being a key factor in the growth of customer demand. This has grown by 4,000% year on year, with the volume of the WBB pipeline of contract customers now exceeding 79 million cans or bottles per annum. This is up from 1.9m cans in 2019.
Despite the UK recession, the brewery remains committed to creating new jobs as it continues to grow its portfolio of brands, which includes the much-loved Good Old Boy, Detour, Renegade, and alcohol-free Solo.
Ecommerce sales for these are also on the up, having increased more than 23 times during lockdown, with Good Old Boy remaining a best seller, followed by Renegade Lager. The company’s five-litre mini-keg also increased sales, as consumers sought fresh draught beer for at-home consumption. Subsequently, WBB has installed a mini-keg filling machine.
West Berkshire Brewery’s managing director, Tom Lucas, said: “We’re proud of our brilliant team for the growth we’ve achieved despite the climate.The same goes to our loyal customers, whose support for our taproom and the Eat Out to Help Out scheme helped us achieve a record-breaking number of 1,800 covers a week. We’re maintaining the discount to keep eating out affordable.”
