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| Image is from UpaDowna's site |
They're a business, that's exactly what any successful business is suppose to do. Buy low, sell high. The truth is these beers are advertised and sold with the understanding to many that 100% of the proceeds are going to the Venetucci Farm, it says it right there on the bottle. What does this mean? Are all these stores that have hiked up the price pocketing off of this? Or are they donating 100% of the profits back to the charity, hmmm? The truth is they're not all doing this, if any are at all.These things have happened before. A few months ago we posted to facebook an article from the Washington Post about rare beers sold on eBay for large amounts of money. (More discussion on that post is here and here.) A number of brewers are really upset that this is happening. But, similar to the Bristol beer, Russian River made a beer called Framboise for a Cure:
[The beer] sold for $12 per bottle to raise money for a local breast cancer treatment center. The beer sold out in a day, and soon somebody sold a bottle on eBay for $400. Then someone else put one up for sale. “We contacted that person,” Cilurzo says, “and we said, ‘This is absolutely ridiculous, because we donated 100 percent of this for charity.’”....The seller didn’t budge. “The guy said, ‘I have to support my habit somehow.’ ” Not heroin or cocaine. He meant craft beer.This is an interesting thing to think about and I wanted to see what your thoughts were on the matter - Is it okay for liquor stores to jack up the prices if it is for their own profit? Obviously this happens with specialty rare beers but how about these not-for-profit-fundraising-beers? What do you think should be done about the situation? Is what's happening a problem, or is that just the way things go? Bristol is donating the money they get, so does it matter what happens once it changes hands? Ultimately the higher price builds a type of buzz about the beer, which makes it increasingly popular, which makes it sell out fast, which brings more and more attention to Venetucci and Bristol...Is this a bad thing? What do you all think?
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One thing I wanted to say as well is that let's say Bristol says a couple cases to a local restaurant. Is it actually not okay for that restaurant then to make a profit from the beer? I mean Bristol knew they were selling to a place that needs to make money to survive. The restaurant hasn't necessarily entered into the same contract that Bristol has with Venetucci...
ReplyDeleteI agree: "Selling" it to a for-profit store allows them to make a profit off it. It is actually their responsibility as a Corporation to make a profit. They can choose to donate all or a portion of that profit to the original charity, an that would be nice, but not necessary.
ReplyDeleteA side note is that when a product is sold at a fixed price, it creates shortages, meaning those who really want the beer, and would be willing to pay more for it, might not get the chance. They should be sold at the price the market can bear, and what is done with the profits is another issue. Although, I am all for charity to the craft beer drinker, myself.
Bristol does a great thing with all of their community beers, but they need to fix a basic problem...the price. Most consumers by the product outside of bristol because you are not limited to quantity. So bristol can sell it all in house or raise the price. They could just raise the price for distribution and if stores want to carry it they can pay to have it and more money is brought in for the charity, but once it hits the open market what is raised is out of their control and if consumers are willing to pay the problem won't go away. Bristol also has distribution cost attached to selling the beer to other locations and those locations have cost involved in selling the product. The only reason Bristol sells it outside of the tap room is because of pressure from accounts to buy it...so if as business owners we want it that bad Bristol should charge us based off that demand and the charity will revive more money. If less off site locations buy it because the price is to high then that well mean more to sell at the tap room our more supply for the places willing to pay the higher price, either way brings in more money for the charity. But the consumer can't have it both ways, if you want the ability to buy outside the tap room it is going to cost much more, to get more of that money back to the charity means Bristol has to charge those locations more.
ReplyDeleteAs a side note we are choosing to sell it at a reasonable price based off of what we were charged but because we received so little we are keeping it reserved for regular costumers...either way will impact the consumers ability to find it.
ReplyDeleteThat's why 100% of the profits from this beer will go to support their farm. So enjoy this subtly spiced, malty treat. And here's to Nick and Bambi, and the great legacy of generosity.
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