Alcohol regulation is set individually by states, each of which have different terms under which alcohol vendors can operate. In Michigan, for example, even after brewpubs were legalized in the mid-90s, it was another several years before it was legal for a company to brew beer for both package sale and on-premises sale from the same location (read: a brewpub couldn't bottle its product, a brewery couldn't operate a pub). In Michigan, for that matter, A company or syndicate can only own and operate one brewpub, so brewpub chains like Hops haven't gotten much room here.
Getting past that, each state's alcohol sales (and laws) are tightly controlled by a few licensed distributors which are going to be loathe to be warehousing the products of a company who's suddenly the competition.
From the marketing angle, why should they? They've already got top international brand recognition. Operating the retail fronts isn't going to improve their standing. In any event, there are already plenty of bars in America, but comparatively few espresso cafes before Starbucks.
Probably a better question to ask is why hasn't a small well-identified brand like Sierra Nevada or Red Hook started a retail operation. A-B starting a chain of bars would be like Folgers starting a chain of coffee counters.
(Yeah, it's a gedankenexperiment, but i'm in a literal frame of mind this morning.)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
syntheid
no subject
Date: 2003-04-28 04:35 am (UTC)Alcohol regulation is set individually by states, each of which have different terms under which alcohol vendors can operate. In Michigan, for example, even after brewpubs were legalized in the mid-90s, it was another several years before it was legal for a company to brew beer for both package sale and on-premises sale from the same location (read: a brewpub couldn't bottle its product, a brewery couldn't operate a pub). In Michigan, for that matter, A company or syndicate can only own and operate one brewpub, so brewpub chains like Hops haven't gotten much room here.
Getting past that, each state's alcohol sales (and laws) are tightly controlled by a few licensed distributors which are going to be loathe to be warehousing the products of a company who's suddenly the competition.
From the marketing angle, why should they? They've already got top international brand recognition. Operating the retail fronts isn't going to improve their standing. In any event, there are already plenty of bars in America, but comparatively few espresso cafes before Starbucks.
Probably a better question to ask is why hasn't a small well-identified brand like Sierra Nevada or Red Hook started a retail operation. A-B starting a chain of bars would be like Folgers starting a chain of coffee counters.
(Yeah, it's a gedankenexperiment, but i'm in a literal frame of mind this morning.)