ward reinforcing the collaboration
that the craft community has long
prided itself on, rather than finding
themselves forced to compete over a
limited market share amongst 9,000
breweries. The technology around
blockchain is relatively simple, and
easy to outsource to technology professionals.
In contrast, the industries
that are truly leading in this space,
such as the U.S. transportation sector,
understand that it is the development
of new processes and business relationships
that can drive change, but is
more difficult to achieve from a strategic
standpoint. Leaders within the
craft brewing industry must establish
a new direction that doesn’t compromise
the quality, originality, and authenticity
of its beer, but enables its
distribution from transactional improvements
in the supply chain from
sourcing to production to distribution.
If Craft can envision this as a vision,
it will crack the code of how it will
grow in the 21st century. 1
Businesswire, 2021. “2021 Global Beer Market
and the Impact of COVID-19: Market
Volume, Value and Dynamics for Past Five
Years.” April 22. Found at: https://www.
businesswire.com/news/
home/20210422005588/en/2021-Global-
Beer-Market-and-the-Impact-of-COVID-
19-Market-Volume-Value-and-Dynamicsfor
Past-Five-Years---ResearchAndMarkets.
com.
Mattison, Lindsay (2021). “10 of the Biggest
Food Companies Basically Own Every
Grocery Item You Buy.” Open Wide Eats.
July 6. Found at: https://www.wideopeneats.
com/biggest-food-companies/.
Morris, Chris (2021). “Despite Zoom happy
hours and day drinking, 2020 wasn’t a great
year for craft brewers.” Fortune. April 6.
Found at: https://fortune.com/2021/04/06/
craft-brewers-2020-sales-market-shareclosings
beer-independent-brewers-association/.
By Dr. Jack Buffington
Director of Supply Chain and Sustainability
First Key Consulting
blockchain technology as an industry
solution; in comparison, the transportation
sector has had an industry consortium
focused on the development
of blockchain for a few years now
(Blockchain in Transport Alliance, or
BiTA), and even a well-known executive
from a top company as its leader
(Dale Chrystie from FEDEX). There is
a strategy, not only to develop and implement
process and technology
standards, but to collaborate across
competitors (e.g., UPS and FEDEX) for
the betterment of the supply chain. In
contrast, the beer industry has no
BiTA nor Dale Chrystie to drive
change, leaving any initiative taken
on by a company to be proprietary and
siloed.
Imagine the possibilities of a centralized/
decentralized ledger-transactional
system for the beer industry that
would provide transactional economies
of scale for the craft breweries
given their current state! Given the
stagnant forecasts of this segment
over the next decade or so, this could
become the most important initiative
in its history!
Can blockchain save the craft beer
industry in the 2020s? The answer to
this question depends on the craft
community’s understanding of the
problem that it currently faces: if it
continues to believe that the answer
is in Craft’s roots from the 2000s, it
will continue to head in the wrong direction.
In contrast, if it believes that
it already makes great products, and
needs to become more proficient from
a supply chain and retail standpoint,
this could become a rallying point toplications
in blockchain technology as
first-generation technologies will be
useful in the craft brewing industry,
but likely not sufficient to gain market
share over the larger brewers. Instead,
blockchain needs to be applied
to create a transactional supply chain
system rivaling the traditional supply
chains of today, from planning to
sourcing to production to distribution
and retailing. It is to achieve a 21st
century frictionless supply chain that
can compete against the big players.
Think about how a decentralized beer
supply chain driven by these crypto
platforms could be a game changer in
the beer business, leveling the playing
field where craft competes with big
brewers. On the front end of the brewing
process, a blockchain platform
could enable smaller craft breweries
to procure raw materials and transportation
services through creating
virtual economies of scale through
pooling arrangements through local
or even regional craft breweries.
Through a centralized-decentralized
transactional ledger system, barley
growers could transact directly with
these craft brewers, as easily as the
larger farmers do today with Anheuser
Busch InBev and MolsonCoors, in a
similar efficient, cost-effective manner.
A blockchain transactional system of
centralized-decentralized could make
it as seamless for a barley farmer to
procure with a large brewer as it
would 50-100 craft breweries. Likewise,
the retail environment could
fragment as well in an efficient manner
that would allow smaller craft
breweries to be competitive in selling
in smaller retail outlets versus today’s
dominance of large brands at large
retailers. This would be accomplished
through a centralized-decentralized
ledger transactional system that allows
decentralized supply chains to
operate in a similar manner as these
larger relationships have as their advantage.
In comparison to others, the beer business
is behind the curve in the use of
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