Turnover and Turmoil at Pabst

There's a whole lot of crazy in the beer industry. Then you look at Pabst, which is setting new standards for crazy in the Eugene Kaspher era. Someone ought to throw together a script and turn this wacky story into a reality TV hit.

Last week, we learned that nine top level folks were shown the door. They included chief growth officer, Rich Pascucci, with the company since 2011, and chief sales officer, Bruce Muenter, there since 2010. These moves come on the heels of significant restructuring last September.

The thing is, the pattern of turnover and turmoil at Pabst is legendary, established even before Kaspher took over in 2014. Between 2009 and 2014, there was a virtual revolving door of CEOs coming and going. Great way to build confidence in your brands.

Some of the more recent moves are the result of ups and downs in the business. Since taking over, Kaspher has rolled with the punches, adding people during the rapid rise of Not Your Father's Root Beer, laying them off when the brand tanked. Shit happens.

The moves they made last week are evidently part of an effort to streamline and build the organization according to the visions of Kaspher and new CEO, Simon Thorpe. They want to eliminate redundant management responsibilities and make themselves agile.

In fact, Pabst's fortunes aren't looking so bad. After some lousy years, trends for 2017 are moving in the right direction. Overall sales are up 1.7 percent. PBR shipments were up nearly 6 percent in Q1 and regional brands Lone Star, Old Style, Stroh and Olympia all showed growth.

The Pabst portfolio, in case you're wondering, includes a boatload of legacy brands. Besides those listed above, Pabst owns Colt 45, Old Milwaukee, Old Tankard Ale, Rainier, Schlitz, Blatz, Schmidt's, St Ides and others. Fine stuff, ya know.

Anyway, things were evidently looking so good for Pabst that leaders decided to incite more turmoil. They did so by abruptly terminating three Washington wholesalers in February and transferring their brands to Columbia Distributing statewide.

The terminated distributors are Odom Corporation, Stein Distributing and Marine View Beverage. They were each sent letters terminating distribution rights without cause and directing them to transfer existing inventory to Columbia. You can't make this stuff up.

It's an unusual situation. Suppliers rarely terminate distributors without cause. Why? Because that kind of move tends to lead to lawsuits that cause messy, expensive court battles and massive payouts. You're generally wise to avoid such scenarios.

But not Pabst. The terminations are apparently part of its realignment strategy. They want to have their beer distributed exclusively by Columbia in the state. It makes sense, right? Working with a single wholesaler fits with their agenda of simplification and efficiency. Terrific.

The problem is, they're now entangled in lawsuits. The terminated distributors quickly sued Pabst in federal court seeking damages. They, the distributors, fully believe the law favors them and that they are entitled to significant financial damages.

Soon thereafter, Pabst filed a motion to dismiss. It claims Washington law allows termination without cause and, in such cases, that terminated distributors' sole financial remedy is from the successor distributor, in this case Columbia.

For its part, Columbia is playing along. It has connected with and made financial offers to the terminated distributors. It says it is willing to arbitrate with the individual distributors if acceptable terms can't be reached via negotiation.

But no settlements are imminent. Not until the court makes a ruling on the law. Is Pabst right? Are the terminated distributors right? For now, the parties are immersed in a rolling dispute over the law, with motions filed and words flying.

My guess is Pabst has stepped into a quagmire. Its pattern of impulsive behavior is simply being acted out on another stage. The legal argument Pabst is making is a supple one. Chances are, they aren't going to win, which means they'll be forced pay the terminated distributors.

Lawyers and judges will figure this out. However things turn out, the saga makes for entertaining theater. Thanks a lot, Pabst.