COVID-19: Pivot or Perish

In 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic changed the world in a matter of weeks. Industries simultaneously collapsed and were born at record speed, with innovation and adaptation being at the heart of these changes.

For both Granville Island Brewing and the global beer industry, this led to a dramatic reduction in the ability to sell products. British Columbia-wide, bars, restaurants, breweries, and (for a short time) liquor stores closed their doors to the public. This posed a critical problem for the business; a solution was required, and fast.

Creating an Online Solution

On March 17th 2020, Granville Island Brewing, and many other BC businesses, were instructed to close to the public. In the two weeks that followed, Brendan led the creation and implementation of a fully functioning Direct-to-Consumer beer service, the first in GIB’s history and the history of both parent organizations, Six Pints Specialty Brewing and Molson Coors Canada.

Working intimately with a multitude of stakeholders such as the Brewery team, Legal team, H&S team and the Finance team, Brendan worked at a rapid pace to come up with a plan to bring this novel concept to life.

By the end of March, www.orders.gib.ca was live, completed with 20 beer SKUs and 30 merch/apparel items available for curbside pick-up or direct delivery in Vancouver.

Delivering Profit and Parity

Once live, Granville Island Brewing saw instant engagement and demand for the service. As the platform grew, Brendan helped scale the service to include 8 cities in the lower mainland area, two full-time delivery drivers, and dedicated delivery vehicles running a 7-days-a-week service. Every day from mid-April to the end of 2020, Granville Island Brewing averaged 25 orders daily and sales revenue exceeded the loss incurred from site closure by year-end. This innovative solution offset the projected loss of the taproom closure during the pandemic and kept both the retail team and drivers employed. 

This model was quickly adopted by Granville’s sister brands across Canada, and by Molson Coors in Toronto. The ability to own their sales platform opened a wide variety of marketing initiatives that Granville Island Brewing is able to control from an ‘owned brand experience’. Not only did Brendan’s initiative become a brand-wide model, but it also created new opportunities for Granville Island Brewing. Digital marketing, CRM strategy, and consumer retention strategies developed as a result of having the Direct-to-Consumer brand-owned channel.