People are Still Drinking

When the economy is in trouble, one of the first things to be cut from many people’s budget is dinning out.
Across the country, restaurant and bar sales are down. But, the beer is still flowing. Eric Briggerman, the head brewer at the Rochester Mills Beer Company believes that when times are good, people celebrate by going out and drinking, and when people are down on their luck they go out and drown their sorrows with alcohol.
“Beer is the common man’s drink,” Briggerman said. “Because it is that blue collar beverage, and it’s a little more affordable, even good beer is more affordable than good wine. It seems that beer is just not something that people want to cut out of their budget.”
Briggerman said that beer sales have been steady at the Mills. And the trend is the same with a lot of beer industry people that he talks too.
“Overall, most of the places I’ve talked to, it’s been pretty steady, there hasn’t been a ton of growth.” Briggerman said. “We’ve been slightly up with beer volume here at RMBC. I know that the places that sell a lot of beer in stores, the ones that package there beer, they have seen some decent increases, which makes you think that people are buying more beer from the store. Instead of paying 4-5 dollars a pint, they are instead going to the store and paying 12 dollars for a six-pack and just drinking at home. That’s the one thing I’ve noticed a little bit. But there is resilience to the bad economy in the beer business as opposed to food.”
Food sales are down at RMBC and according to Dan Walter, a manager at RMBC, the decline of the auto industry is a major factor.
“We used to do a lot of business with the big three, but the companies don’t pay the bill anymore, so it’s just people paying for themselves. So, if the company isn’t paying for it, people are less likely to spend, or they will go and drink, but not eat.”
Despite the bad economy and a cut in company parties, RMBC still manages to operate.
“That’s the great thing about a restaurant, as long as you have a base clientele, you can make adjustments. Sales do go down, but as long as you have a good product and your staff is doing a good job, people will come. You watch your labor and costs, keep everything tight to get through the lean times, good times will happen again.”