The answer to Buffalo’s financial problems could be at the bottom of a bottle.
After a year of searching, Canadian beer manufacturer Labatt is moving its American headquarters back to frosty Buffalo from its previous home in Connecticut. Labatt reportedly announced its move to Buffalo—one of its strongest markets—without any type of tax break or other incentive. Along with its cold brew, the move will bring corporate sponsorships and about 20 to 30 new marketing and sales jobs. Turns out this could be good news not just for beer lovers looking to be closer to the action, but for the city of Buffalo as a whole.
According to Paul Vukelic of Try-It Distributing, Upstate New York is one of Labatt’s core selling and marketing areas. In Erie and Niagara counties alone, 2.8 million cases of Labatt are sold annually. According to The Buffalo News, Buffalo residents drink roughly a half-dozen six-packs per capita each year. Chris Benbeneck, a bartender at Buffalo’s Tudor Lounge, estimates he sells about seven to ten cases of Labatt a week.
“Buffalo is where our fans are. Buffalo loves its sports teams and we recognize that they also love Labatt Blue and Blue Light. It’s a great fit,” said Brenda Williams, Labatt USA Director of Public Affairs.
Labatt is also one of the major sponsors of Thursday in the Square, a local summer music event in Downtown Buffalo. The company would have a huge presence in its most valuable market in the country. “Labatt is currently involved in a number of major sponsorships throughout the greater Buffalo area, and we expect those to continue,” said Williams.
According to The Buffalo News, about 20 to 30 sales and marketing jobs would follow Labatt into downtown’s Key Tower sometime this spring. “Even though there aren’t a lot of jobs, they are good, high paying jobs,” said Vukelic. Though 20 to 30 jobs don’t seem like a lot, Williams notes “ Labatt USA is a small beer importer, while obviously, our parent company in Canada employs thousands of people.” According to Vukelic, those 20 to 30 jobs are just the high paying senior jobs, but because most of the jobs in a business like wholesale beer are outside sales positions, there are at least a couple hundred more jobs across the country.
It seems that to attract a company to Buffalo, various incentives would have to be brought to the table, but reportedly Labatt didn’t even talk to the local government about possible tax breaks before the move was put in motion. “Our decision to move was based on our interest in being closer to our core markets, which includes Buffalo and the entire upstate New York area, where Labatt Blue and Blue Light are so popular. The availability of tax breaks did not factor into the decision,” said Williams. According to Karen Fiala, of the Erie County Industry Development Agency, the Key Tower building is under contract with them. “The whole building is under exemption though,” said Fiala, “They haven’t contacted us for assistance so there is nothing we could do for them for sales tax breaks.” Looks like Labatt just wanted to be closer to its fans.
And who said drinking never paid off?
