Whosale Growler Sales

[brijen]

Does Anybody whosale filled growlers to stores for resale?

How do you charge for the glass? And how do you work the return of the growler to them for exchange or to you for refill??
If I close my eyes I picture going back to this store and picking up cases of moldy Glass. Thanks for your help... Brian

[yap]

you should probably picture yourself returning to the store to pick up no glass. i think you will have a hard time getting retailers to set up a "bottle return" system for you. it simply won't be worth their time.

there was a brewery in my area that started out selling growlers wholesale. it worked well for them for a while, but there was never any anticipation of getting the empties back from the retailers. of course this was 7 years ago and there was nowhere near the number of craft brands here that there is now. these days it would be hard to just get placement for growlers at a retailer do to shelf space/configuration challenges...

as always though, your situation/market may be different..

[jesskidden]

Climax Brewing Co. in New Jersey sold their bottled beer only in 64 oz. "growler" type jugs up until recently and treated the bottles like any other "throw-away" bottle at the retailer and customer levels. (NJ is not a deposit state, so most stores are no longer set up for bottle returns).

They were usually priced at $10-12 a 64 oz. bottle and it was somewhat annoying that they went with 12 oz. bottles just as many NJ off-premise liquor store retailers started filling growlers --- and charging $8 and up for an empty one. Sure would have many buying a Climax pre-filled growler much more attractive, seen after consumption you wound up with a empty jug that could be refilled at the local store.

(I've read that owner/brewer Dave Hoffman intents to use the growlers and his growler filler for a future root beer he has planned).

[brijen]

Thanks

Thanks. Vermont is a deposit state. That’s my next ball of wax!

[Brewtopian]

Rogue does wholesale growler sales on select beers but I don't think its particularly successful. From a retailers perspective they are more expensive per ounce than a bomber or 12 oz bottle and our margins have to be cut in order to move them quickly so quality doesn't suffer.

I think that it could be done successfully but the biggest problem from my point of view is the saturation of growlers in the customers kitchen. The customer is only going to be willing to have so many growlers laying around so at some point they are going to avoid buying more growlers because they have to many.

I would think that your energies would be much better spent selling more kegs to more accounts that will fill growlers vs spending a bunch of time filling growlers to sell to accounts.

[einhorn]

I would think that your energies would be much better spent selling more kegs to more accounts that will fill growlers vs spending a bunch of time filling growlers to sell to accounts.

In CA this is against ABC laws. Only the producing brewery can sell growlers from their own tap room/restaurant.

[Thirsty_Monk]

I would think that your energies would be much better spent selling more kegs to more accounts that will fill growlers vs spending a bunch of time filling growlers to sell to accounts.

I also disagree.
Draught market is difficult and less profitable then grocery stores/liquor stores market (glass market).
Growlers are easy entry to the glass market eventhou they have their disadvantages.
I think it is well worth the effort.

[brijen]

Thanks for your advise

I am going to try it . I am thinking of a refill at brewery sticker, and a 1.00 trade in at the stores I sell at

[Thirsty_Monk]

I am going to try it . I am thinking of a refill at brewery sticker, and a 1.00 trade in at the stores I sell at

My deposit cover cost of my growlers. I think $1 is just a little bit too low.
Get a quote from your growler supplier.

[Brewtopian]

My deposit cover cost of my growlers. I think $1 is just a little bit too low.
Get a quote from your growler supplier.

This is great point. We order 288 at a time and our cost for a 64oz Growler, lid and freight is about $3.25. There's a couple ways you can approach this. Make the deposit $5 and keep the cost of the beer inside a little cheaper or raise the cost of the beer and keep your deposit low.

In the long run you're better off going with a higher deposit in my mind as you want to order as little glass as possible.

Have you given any thought to how you're accounts will safely store the returned, empty growlers while they wait for pick up and resupply?

What happens with breakage?

Who's handling the deposit, you or the account? This becomes a real challenge if the account isn't responsible for broken returned glass and you're taking the hit on the deposit. I would leave the deposit to the account so they have a compelling reason to keep it safe. You'll want to have some sort of written agreement though that says they can only charge so much deposit.

[brijen]

deposit

My glass cost me the same, but new is clean; I was going to charge my cost on the glass and my wholesale price on the Beer. I want the price at the store to be close to mine at the brewery, But I want the retailer to have a good chance on repeat customers, I would pay the retailer 1.50 on each glass returned, They would make about 30% on the transaction but also have $1.00 of there money tied up in the deposit.

What do you think??
I sell filled growlers for $12.00 $6,00 and $6.00

[Chuck Noll]

Bear in mind that if you are not filling them at the tap at time of purchase, the Federal government treats them like any other bottle and requires label approval.

[Thirsty_Monk]

Look at the growler as a sixpack and price it accordingly.
I made it just a little cheaper then sixpack but not too much.
Remember growlers are non traditional package and you might need to educate your customers what to do with them (how to return them...).
Finally yes label on your growler (Printed or glued) MUST be TTB approved. Each brand has to have its own approved label.