The Boston Beer Company, Inc. (NYSE:SAM) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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And we think, hopefully, by the end of the second quarter, it’s going to be looking better and then that will carry on. I think if we meet our expectations, we will grow — it’s not in the high end because we’re being cautious. I think — we’ve also learned in the last couple of years to be a little more cautious in how we predict the category and the brand. So but if it’s successful, we think we can grow share again. We’ve been growing it up until last year. We think we’re putting the brand on the right pathway to grow share of debt. So if we do great, and we’re — we might be beyond the high end of the range if we grow share. And if we don’t, maybe we hold share and if we do worse, we’ll lose a little share. But remember, it’s still for perspective, and we won’t be peel.

We’re not going to be happy if we lose share. But for perspective, it’s still 23%, 25% share of the Capa category and the #3 is a 6. So it’s still — we’ll keep at. And if we don’t grow share this year, we’ll find another way to do it next year. But we do feel like we don’t want to create too much change either with this brand. We don’t want to confuse consumers as a risk if we do too much change. But we feel like we’re doing the right things in the right amount of change at the right time to put the brand in the right place to grow. And that’s — so that’s our intent. But again, we’re being — we’re not letting any exuberance about our plans affect how we how we guide this year, honestly, we’re not.

Peter Grom: Okay. That’s really helpful. And then maybe just 1 last one, following up on Brad and Bonnie’s question. Just any thoughts on kind of Monster’s new product it seems like it would compete directly with kind of Hard Mountain Dew. So just any thoughts on the competitive trend of that new category entrants.

David Burwick: Yes. I mean it’s — they’re a great company. We’ve built a great brand. And I think the big question that’s looming out there is what non-out brands can play in out successfully. And right now, the answer is 0 at this point. But a year from now, there might be 1 or 2 that emerge. I think it’s too — it’s totally to be determined. I think we’ll see what — how the consumer feels about it. It’s very — I think, honestly, I think if I think Hard Mountain Dew do has a really good chance to be successful, knowing the brand in the cooling and how it plays. I mean Monster has a chance, too, but I think it’s — we haven’t even really — the product hasn’t appeared on the shelf yet. We haven’t tried it yet. So we’re not quite sure where it’s going to go, but it’s going to be interesting to see. I’ll say that.

Operator: And the next question comes from the line of Bill Kirk with ROTH.

William Kirk: I’ll be quick. It builds on some of the third-party conversations. Longer term, how much of your needs do you want to do in-house? I think that was the reason for getting to 50% over time is basically not paying someone else for some of the things they do today. And related, how much excess capacity do you have now that you would be using if not for extra fees on the volume commitments?

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