RocketBlocks

Turnaround Consulting Case Interview: Craft Beer Decline (W/ BCG & EY Consultants)

The video walks through a mock consulting case in which Dashes Brewery, a top‑10 U.S. craft brewer, faces an 11% decline in volume and a $10 million revenue drop despite a modest 2.9% growth in the overall craft‑beer segment. The CEO has hired the interview team to decide whether to stay the course or pivot the business model amid broader shifts such as Gen Z’s reduced alcohol consumption and a 22% annual surge in non‑alcoholic (NA) beer. Abby outlines a four‑bucket framework: market sizing, customer deep‑dive, competitive landscape, and financial analysis. She estimates the national craft‑beer market at roughly $33 billion and the NA‑beer market at $1.6 billion, highlighting the stark size difference but also the rapid growth of the latter. The analysis also surfaces that Dashes’ decline is steeper than the industry trend, suggesting company‑specific issues. Key moments include a live market‑size calculation using Portland bar data, where 300 bars (2% of on‑premise market) translate to a $33 billion craft‑beer TAM and a $1.6 billion NA‑beer TAM after scaling. Abby emphasizes benchmarking against peers on price, SKU count, and margins, and proposes gathering customer surveys to capture shifting preferences toward NA‑beer and alternative beverages. The takeaway for Dashes—and similar brewers—is to prioritize high‑growth segments, consider product innovation (e.g., NA‑beer lines), explore new distribution channels, or pursue strategic M&A to regain volume. Without data‑driven adjustments, the company risks further erosion in a fragmented market.