Beam Global Announces Major Reorganization.

October 20, 8:51 PMChicago Drinks ExaminerCharles Cowdery

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Beam has been a Chicago-area company since 1933.
Beam Global Spirits & Wine

Yesterday, Beam Global Spirits & Wine announced a major corporate reorganization. Beam Global is a subsidiary of Fortune Brands. Both are based in Deerfield. The press release is here.

The brand portfolio is being realigned into three groups: bourbon, ‘mixables’ (rum, tequila, vodka and cordials) and ‘classics’ (cognac, scotch and Canadian whisky).

Beam’s bourbon portfolio includes Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark, Knob Creek, Booker’s, Baker’s, Basil Hayden, Old Grand-Dad, and Old Crow. The ‘mixables’ group includes Sauza Tequila, Cruzan Rum, and DeKuyper Cordials. The ‘classics’ group includes Laphroaig Single Malt, Teacher’s Blended Scotch, Courvoisier Cognac, and Canadian Club Canadian Whisky.

That this realignment involves brand management is to be expected but the three groups will also have their own finance, operations and human resources functions, with profit-and-loss responsibility. Presumably, ‘operations’ includes production, i.e., the distilleries. All this suggests that the groups will not be simply marketing divisions, but more like wholly-owned and self-contained subsidiaries.

Sales will be separate. The U.S. sales organization will be distributor-specific. It and the three brand groups will report to Bill Newlands, president of Beam Global’s U.S. business.

Internationally, Beam Global will merge its two current European regions into one, resulting in three groups based on geography: Europe, Asia/Pacific, and Emerging Markets/Travel Retail. The international units will report to Donard Gaynor, senior vice president and managing director – international.

Newlands and Gaynor will report to Matt Shattock, president and chief executive officer of Beam Global.

The reorganization announced yesterday is fallout from 2005, when the company helped Pernod Ricard buy Allied-Domecq, then the world’s #2 distilled spirits company. That deal elevated Beam to the top rank of worldwide spirits companies.

This reorganization is the first major move by new CEO Shattrock, who was hired in April from outside the company.

Viewed from the narrow vantage point of the bourbon enthusiast, yesterday’s announcement is good news. In effect, Beam Global has set-up an independent company just to look after its American whiskey assets, a company that is free to compete aggressively against its own stable mates in the scotch, Canadian, and other spirits categories.