Harry Walter

Why let the truth get in the way of a vitriolic social media pile on and a flurry of completely false clickbait headlines?   Last week we took a decision that will help save hundreds of jobs and the ‘controversy’ centred around the fact that since March 2022 we will have raised our national bar team wages by 20.3% and not the 26% that would have been required to retain full RLW status. If you saw the media storm last week and subsequent social media outrage, you would almost certainly believe we pay our fantastic people in the most terrible of ways. That, of course, is very far from the reality, as I shared in a detailed post on here yesterday. It is pretty fair to say that we are used to media negativity at @BrewDog, but last week was truly something else. Consequently, I wanted to share just a few of the many examples. Most of the reporting was simply false. ‘BrewDog CEO criticised for slashing London wages’ was the headline in the Evening Standard. It is, of course, untrue. No-one’s wages have been slashed and nobody had their pay reduced. When we pointed out as much, the Evening Standard changed the headline, but not before it had been viewed thousands of times during the 18 hours the false headline was live.   The BBC reported on multiple occasions last week that we had made £321 million in profits last year when we actually reported a small loss. We will ask the BBC for an apology, but we are almost certain that they will refuse to apologise as per usual when they publish lies about BrewDog. In surveys people will tell you they don’t trust the media, but the reality is, most of us take what we read at face value. So, when the Standard says we are slashing wages, people believe it. When the BBC says we have £321 million in our coffers, people believe it. Sensational headlines get clicks. And sensationalised headlines with BrewDog win the click jackpot. As Mark Twain said, a lie can get halfway around the world before the truth can even get its boots on. Furthermore, only 2 days after they tore us to pieces for trying to protect jobs and keep our bars open, The Independent ran a huge article headlined ‘Thousands of restaurants and pubs closing across UK blame soaring bills among pressures they face.’ The irony of The Independent doing a hit piece on BrewDog for trying to protect jobs whilst still offering best in class packages and then only 2 days later doing an in-depth spread about thousands of pubs closing and the pressures facing our sector was certainly not lost on us. Contrary to the hurricane of noise last week, we continue to offer best in class packages and we continue with our profit share program which saw us give over 80% of the profits that BrewDog bar’s generated in 2023 directly to the fantastic people who work in venues. We push on from here, more resolute than ever to build the best business we can for all our fantastic team members and our brilliant community. Onward.

Last week was an incredibly tough week at @BrewDog at a time when our focus is on protecting jobs whilst providing best in class packages for our teams. If you saw the media storm last week (and let's be honest - it would have been hard not to) you would be forgiven for thinking that we pay our fantastic people in the most miserly of ways. Or worse, that we had cut our teams pay. Consequently, I wanted to share some facts about how actually we pay our bar teams: ·     In 2023 we gave a huge 80.3% of our bar profits to our bar teams. This same profit share program remains in place going forward. ·     Not a single person in our business has had a pay cut as was widely and falsely reported. ·     Since 2022 our national bar team’s wages will have increased by 20.4% by April. This is almost double the UK average increase wage for that same time period. ·     In London our entry level position has a starting salary of £24,000 and we have profit share, a customer service incentive bonus program, private medical plans and a whole host of other benefits over and above that making the total starting package worth over £26,000. ·     Our starting packages are better than those of 90% of our competitors (and we don’t pay reduced rates to those under 23). ·     In 2022 I announced that I would give 20% of my own equity in BrewDog to our amazing people over a 4-year period. For free. This includes 250 members of our bar teams. Business is incredibly hard, especially when the UK economy is in such poor health, and sometimes you have to make incredibly difficult decisions. The controversy last week was because we have only increased our nationwide bar team wages 20.4% since March 2022 and not the 26% that would have been required to retain a Real Living Wage status. No nationwide companies in hospitality that have this status, to the best of our knowledge. I would love nothing more than to give everyone in our business a huge pay increase, but we simply have to balance our books, offer fair value to our customers and ensure the long-term viability of our business. And ultimately, protect jobs. More bars and restaurants closed in 2023 than any other year on record - hospitality is in crisis. Last week, for example, Revolution Bars, a business we admire, announced it was closing 8 venues - resulting in hundreds of job losses. Just yesterday The Independent ran a huge article about the thousands of bars and restaurants being forced to close in the UK. We are working as hard as we can to protect jobs and keep all of our bars open whilst offering market leading packages to our brilliant people. Yet we have been subject to ridiculous levels of criticism. Most of all I feel terrible for all our fantastic team members. The abuse they have been subjected to is unprecedented. However, we simply must push on from here, more resolute than ever to build the best business we can for all our fantastic team members and our brilliant community. Onward

We have now planted over 500,000 trees in The Lost Forest. 🌳🌲🌎 A momentous achievement & we still a long way to go! Thank you so much to Scottish Woodlands & everyone who has worked so hard to move this huge project forward.