The market
The global beer market represents just under $ 110 billion in turnover worldwide. In 2011, market volume should have increased by 2.5 %. China and Africa experienced 5 % in the same period, and Latin America by almost 3 %. China is the largest beer drinker in the world, followed by the United States and Russia, which places Germany in fifth row behind Brazil. The first country for per capita consumption is the Czech Republic, followed by Ireland and Germany. While European beer sales have dropped 7 % in the past five years, alcohol -free beer sales have increased by 37 %. With 5.8 liters per person in 2010, Spain is the world leader in non -alcoholic beer consumption per capita, with a market share of 13%. The sector is dominated by four brewers who control just over half of the world market of 1.8 billion hectoliters. These major players generate 70 % of profits from the sector. Belgian company Anheuser-Busch Inbev, based in Belgium, sold some 350 million hectoliters in 2010, just under 250 million hectoliters, long before Sabmiller. Heineken brews just over 200 million hectoliters and Carlsberg around 125 million, while Chinese brewer Tsingtao sells 50 million per year. The market share of the ten main brewers increased from 37 percent of the world total in 1998 to 62 percent in 2004, and it continues to increase. All the beer brewers take a position in China with InBev having in 2011 already 30 factories in 8 provinces. The globalization of beer has transformed this once artisanal drink and produced locally into a brand product such as soap and detergents, strongly supported by advertising. This development is confirmed by advertising expenses. Procter & Gamble and Unilever are the world's largest advertisers. The brands of personal care products have just replaced the automotive industry in the front row, followed closely by the Anheuser-Busch Inbev and Sabmiller brewers. While major brands globalize, the number of microbreweries and breweries are estimated at 4,000 that eat market share and take advantage of global players on niche markets. The success of these small operations demonstrates the ability to maintain art and continue quality at a high price. Belgium still has seven monastic breweries which have been in production for centuries and which continue this practice with a remarkable commercial appeal. Despite high global demand and easily available investment funds, these breweries are not ready to increase their production, stating their exceptional quality based on traditional art. Several craft breweries in Flanders (north of Belgium) still harvest wild yeast each year. It is calculated that in Flanders only, a region with a strong brewing tradition, more than 3,000 different yeasts are available for the fermentation of beer.
Innovation
Globalization has forced brewers to embark on the search for scale savings thanks to standardization. The traditional brewing process according to the highly estimated German law on purity stipulates that beer is brewed from malt, hops, yeast and water. Instead of using barley, the brewers started using rice, a much cheaper product. The master brewers of the great conglomerates, supported by sophisticated laboratories, then decided to outsource the extraction of starch and introduce enzymes to accelerate the modification and stability of starch. The temperature modulation has further reduced the fermentation time by several weeks to a week or less. This represents a saving time and considerable space, which increases the flow of a ten factor with the same basic equipment. The reduction in space and time leaves few new possibilities to further reduce costs. The time may have come to generate more income. Jim LUEDERS studied brewer at the Doemens Brewing School in Munich (Germany). After graduating in 1990, he visited and studied more than 200 breweries and related installations in 15 countries. He sees the brewing industry as an artisanal industry that worships quality, which allows him to master each stage of the procedure to make an exceptional beer. He developed detailed expertise in the creation of the business plan, the sizing of the installations, the choice and the installation of the equipment, the training of the new operators, the choice of the product mix and the development of operations . He has always been faced with demand to reduce costs and had to do his best. However, when exposed to the concept of generating more income with the available sources of the brewery, a new business model has emerged. George Chan with the Tunweni Brasserie de Tsumeb (Namibia) since 1996 where the concept of integrated agriculture based on the five kingdoms of nature has been tested in cooperation with the Ohlthaver and List Group. He then took the time to design a new company which provides more income and thus reduces the risk of investment.
The first cash flow
Jim has the experience necessary to design, build and exploit a small brewery that can cost as little as $ 120,000. Combined with a restaurant, this set of activities can increase food sales by 25 %. The profitability threshold is between 3,000 and 6,000 barrels per year. When the beer is sold directly to the customer, the balance point can only be reached for half this quantity. One of the main costs is that of bottle filling lines with equipment that will cost at least $ 60,000. Jim often offers small aluminum or glass barrels that have returned by the customer to be recharged, which reduces the investment, while reducing the cost per pint for customers. With more than 20 projects of the traditional type implemented in the United States, Mexico, the Antilles and Japan, and equipped with these new knowledge, Jim bought land in Stevensville, Montana (United States), and started to buy used equipment from a wooden barn of a century with copper kettles recovered after a bankruptcy. He started to put more value on each of his waste flows starting with the worn grains. Rich in fiber and protein, this waste represents 92 percent of the dry weight of malted barley, which means that only eight percent have received a value. Starch emptying, these residues are partly mixed in a bread paste as has been done for centuries in Germany, and partly used as a substrate for the cultivation of mushrooms. The worn substrate, after harvesting mushrooms, is enriched with amino acids. A food which was at the beginning of poor quality and which was given to livestock farmers for the cost of transport, is now converted into a quality nutrient for chickens and pigs that Jim plans to raise and cultivate. The pork slurry and the wastewater that have been used to clean the barrels, tanks and enclosures are transported in a digester that produces biogas. The drinking of the digester is used to nourish the seaweed in the shallow ponds. This process contributes to the production of Benthos, Phytoplankton and Zooplankton, ideal for fish feeding. Brasseries generally need 5 liters of water for each liter of beer. This water is ideally used for fish farming. A process where building materials and recycled equipment are recycled for building and operations, and where everything that enters the installation is used to generate more food, water, energy and jobs meets the basic conditions of the blue economy. In January 2012, Jim released his first batch of craft beer and exclaimed that the process is just beginning.
The opportunity
The brewing of beer, as described and implemented by Jim, presents great similarities with the project on the cafe that was discussed previously (case 3). Jim has the advantage of being able to deliver turnkey operations, reducing investments and risks, while improving income. This is particularly logical in high -growth regions like China and Africa, where there is a thirst for beer, but also a shortage of water and a need for food security. If Jim's program becomes a standard, the brewery will become a catalyst for local economic development. Bhoutani beer of non -alcoholic buckwheat Pawo, proposed in cooperation with Japanese supporters, also demonstrates that beer must not necessarily be associated with alcohol, which could represent another option for entrepreneurs. Jim offered to support this initiative so that it meets the highest technical standards and the most demanding taste buds in the world. The magic beer brewery produces a traditional or non-alcoholic beer, bread and mushrooms. But, as the production of mushrooms could reach large volumes due to the massive quantity of waste generated, these can be transformed on site into vegetarian sausages. Today, with beer, bread and sausages, it seems that a real Bavarian party is about to become a money generator, while offering healthy and pleasant products, creators of jobs. It is such a surprise for many people that it is considered as possible, that the concept has been described as magic. The power of entrepreneurs is to materialize what others thought they were impossible, and to make it a reality.
