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

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So they are very clear defined action plans that will get us to the target margin, but the timelines are extended and it will take a couple of years to get there. And the last thing that I would mention to that is also we have invested in our coal manufacturers. And that — those investments amortize, but they’re amortizing now over a small amount of volume, and that’s driving the cost per case up as well. Those costs will go largely go away in 2025, and that will also be a significant improvement in gross margin. So that’s what we believe the target has not changed, but the timeline has extended.

Operator: And the next question comes from the line of Rob Ottenstein with Evercore ISI.

Robert Ottenstein: Great. I think most of my questions actually were picked off so far, but I still have a couple left. So I guess the question is around shelf space. And obviously, Twisted Tea deserves more shelf space. It’s doing phenomenally well and obviously has a long run rate. But I guess my concern is whether you can maintain or gain shelf space on Truly given the outlook that you have for Hard Seltzers category being down 10% to 15%. And then given the fact that based on what some well-known consultants have told us that there’s just going to be this tsunami of spirit-based RTDs hitting the shelves this year and gaining something like 20% shelf space in total beverage alcohol granted, so not just here, but in total beverage alcohol. So with those sorts of drivers going on, how do you think you will be able to gain or at least maintain shelf space for Truly in the new shelf set changes that are going to be coming in, in the next couple of months?

David Burwick: I’ll talk to both of these. First of all, the easy one, Twisted Tea. We think we’ll get 25% to 30% more shelf space on Twist this year. Remember, the shelf resets start they started March 1, generally, they ended around mid-May, but obviously, before World Day weekend. So Twisted Tea locked and loaded, it will still be under space, by the way, relative to its share of FMBs, but we’ll take it. We’ll take that space. On hard seltzer, what’s happening is the category is being cut back. And this is based on what our sales team is seeing at the end of last year called like 11% of total space went to Hard Seltzer. It’s going to come back to like maybe 9% to 10%. So it’s going to lose some of the space. But then within that space, really, the top 5 brands deliver on like 98.5% of all the needs that consumers have.

There will be a lot of brands that are — that go away. So while the Hard Seltzer category will have space will shrink, Truly space within Hard Seltzer, based on our — what we know now, would increase slightly. And then Truly — therefore, Truly’s total space of beer is going to be about the same, like to be really precise, like 2.7%. So we think the category loses Truly wins a little bit because it’s a number — it’s strong #2. And again, — as I said before, the number 3 is whatever, it’s like — we’re 15 share points behind. So we think we’ll be able to do that. We honestly do. We think not adding permanent SKUs is probably a good thing as well. And we just have to — we’ve innovated arguably a little bit too much and not build the core business enough.

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